{Audio}

[chairismine]

[Shit. Jim was lost. He'd told Spock and the rest of the away team to meet back at the transporter location in an hour. That had been three hours ago. Since then Jim had been painstakingly mapping his way through the bland, rocky terrain. Calling the Enterprise every half hour, just in case.

And now he'd come across... something that hadn't come

Comments

[audio]

[talentd_tongue]

Oh, you've got to be kidding.

We already know. And the ship won't be responding.

[Her tone is flat. She's not glad that he's here, but... she's a little glad that he's here.]

[audio]

[chairismine]

Finally. Uhura- is that you? What happened up there? Where's the Enterprise?

[audio]

[talentd_tongue]

Spock will tell you what's going on... any minute now, I should think. I'll get you off the street so you don't end up in the hospital.

[Division of labour. It's why they work so well.]

Where are you?

[audio]

[chairismine]

Yeah, he is.

[Wait.] Hospital? What's out there?

[audio]

[talentd_tongue]

Very bad things.

[The ambient noise around her drops and the sound of heels on pavement starts up.]

Where are you?

[audio]

[chairismine]

[Jim will take this opportunity to make sure this alley really is as empty as he thought it was.]

Uh. On the outskirts somewhere, there's a flashing neon sign advertising some kind of gym.

[audio]

[talentd_tongue]

Blue and green with a barbell and a pink duck?

[Definitely paid to walk the city so many times.]

[audio]

[chairismine]

That's the one. [He steps into the light a little more, so she'll be able to see him clearly when she gets here.

It bothers him a little that she sounds very familiar with this place.] How long've you been here?

[audio]

[talentd_tongue]

About two months.

[She's still walking, and her tone is short and direct. She's pretty drunk, though it doesn't show in just her voice. No slurring, no fumbled words, but she's also having to concentrate to keep her focus.]

I'm only a couple minutes from you.

[The best dive bars are in the worst parts of town, and she's less likely to be noticed there from her official appearances.]

Back to the wall, don't talk to anyone, don't try to... be yourself. This place isn't safe.

[audio]

[chairismine]

Two months?!

What- Uhura, where are we? What's not safe about this place? [he knows all too well about her low opinion of him, but this doesn't seem to be about that.]

[audio]

[talentd_tongue]

Don't shout. I thought Spock was explaining all this to you.

[She's not listening to his conversations, because she's focused on where she's going. She's got her earpiece in and it's tuned to the audio link with Kirk. Her PADD might as well be a cell phone for all the function she's currently getting out of it.]

We're in a bad place where bad people do bad things, all right? And you're in a bad part of town.

[And since she was so close, yes, that means she is also in a bad part of town.]

Just don't do anything stupid, all right? I'm a block away.

[audio]

[chairismine]

[He'd like to say he does know how to handle himself, but he decides not to push the point. No point getting her mad at him when she's just about to help him out.

He keeps an eye on the passers-by as he waits.] When've I ever done anything stupid?

[audio]

[talentd_tongue]

If you think about it, you know that you really don't want me to answer that.

[audio]

[chairismine]

[Jim laughs to himself quietly. It's nice to have a little slice of normality inamongst everything else that's going on.]

[audio]

[talentd_tongue]

[She won't say anything else until/unless he does, but she will leave the connection open until she gets there, so he'll be able to hear the noises of her progress.]