#tina lawton is from the episode charlie x and she is Very young; it was a surprise to me that someone that young would be on a starship!

[kvothes]

If the idea interests you, for the ask game, no.39 for spirk?

hell YEAH i love this prompt: BECAUSE TIME HAS RUN OUT

“One hour you have,” the Shi’ni’rian says, in cut-up standard. “Contact deities. Beg them relief.” Then he slams the door, leaving the landing party once again in darkness. 

Yeoman Lawton is crying, though she is trying to keep it quiet. This cannot be helped, Kirk thinks: she is only seventeen. She has been very brave. They all have.

“Report,” he says. “One by one. Anything you noticed. Any ideas you have.”

Spock presents himself first. He is somewhere to Kirk’s left. The darkness is disorienting and terrible, but the Vulcan’s voice is familiar. “We are approximately one hundred meters underground,” he says. “There is one passage to and from this cell, presumably heavily guarded. The Shi’ni’rians avoid direct skin-to-scale contact with us.”

“Telepathic?”

“Or extremely sensitive.”

“We could work with that.” Kirk rubs his mouth. “Lieutenant Uhura?”

She gives her report: the language is not one with which she is familiar, though it has glottal stops that hint at some similarity with Klingon. Ensign Gordon is almost certainly suffering a concussion, but he managed to retain his communicator in the confusion. They’re too far below ground for a signal, but Kirk is happy they have it. Yeoman Lawton, through her tears, tells Kirk in a wobbly voice that she’s frightened and trying very hard not to be and she’s sorry she can’t be more help. He hears Uhura move closer to the young ensign to comfort her, and he’s grateful. He tells her that this is far beyond what she should be expected to handle and she is performing admirably. Dry your tears. We’ll manage just fine.

Inwardly, he is not sure. He wishes he could see Spock’s face. He reaches out and finds the Vulcan’s arm, pulls him closer so they can confer. Spock isn’t one for false hope. He does not see how they can fight their way through one corridor full of Shi’ni’rians, with Gordon concussed and young Tina Lawton not yet trained in combat. Privately, Kirk agrees. But he cannot—will not—say so. They speak in low voices. They have very few choices.

As their hour draws to a close, according to Spock’s impeccable internal chronometer, the landing party takes up positions on either side of the door, feeling their way in the dark. They will attack the first guard to enter the cell and go from there. Kirk is hopeful that their reluctance to touch the prisoners betrays some weakness. “Give it your all,” he tells his party. “Ensign, that communicator is yours. Bring up the rear and keep trying to hail the ship as we go.”

“Yes, sir,” Lawton says, and though her voice still wobbles she sounds determined.

There are footsteps thumping down the steps to their dark cell. Kirk draws in breath and holds it. At his shoulder, he can feel the heat of Spock’s body, drawing close. Just as the keys scrape in the door of the cell, Kirk feels a touch to his hand. Two of Spock’s fingers, tapping against the two first fingers of Jim’s hand. His skin is warm. Kirk hooks their fingers together for the briefest instant, drawing strength from the touch, offering his strength in return. Against his shoulder, Spock breathes. Kirk feels it against the side of his neck.

The door opens.