A/N: Hello. So I know this is a little late, considering Anton's been gone for a few months now, but this is just an idea that's been playing around in my mind. It's sort of my tribute to him, and his beloved character. This isn't going to be very long, three chapters at most probably, but I'm warning you now, it is not happy.

So, I guess just before I'm done I'd like to say that this is for Anton, you were a wonderful ray of sunshine that I personally never had the pleasure of knowing, and you will be sorely missed.

Leonard honestly didn't know how things had gone to shit so quickly. Jim and Chekov had literally just beamed down to the planet! Then suddenly sirens had started wailing, people were shouting, and then everything went silent. They had no connection to the planet, at all. No way of knowing what had happened, if they were both okay, and it was pissing the doctor off to no end.

"Doctor, pacing back and forth will not help to solve the current situation." Spock said to him on his fifth round across the bridge. It was as close to annoyed as Leonard had ever heard the Vulcan.

"Yeah? Well it helps my nerves."

Uhura cursed and banged at her work station in frustration, still apparently unable to get ahold of either of their crewmates.

Leonard paused in his pacing momentarily to glance her direction in shock, he'd never heard her sweat before, and from the surprised divot in Sulu's forehead, he hadn't either.

"Still nothing! I don't understand, there doesn't seem to be something jamming our frequencies, they're just not getting through."

Spock's gaze remained fixed on his work station, reading some scientific mumbo-jumbo that McCoy had no chance of understanding. "It does not appear as if their atmosphere is causing the disruption."

"Maybe it's something they've built." Sulu suggested, flopping back against the captain's seat in frustration. He was full of bottled frustration and anger, and he wished he had an alien species he could take it out on.

"Nothing suggested this species was capable of such advanced technology." Spock responded without missing a beat.

"Yeah cause we've never been wrong about that type of thing before." Leonard spat back, turning to make a sixth cross of the bridge.

Spock had just turned back to McCoy when Uhura shouted in surprise, "I have them! Or, at least one of them. The signal is weak and it's fluctuating."

"Mr. Scott are you able to beam them back aboard from the signal Lieutenant Uhura has found?" Spock called into the comms, forgetting his conversation with Leonard immediately.

Leonard for his part, didn't much care what the Vulcan's retort was going to be, he was too focused on listening for the Chief Engineer's answer.

"I do believe so Commander!" Came the heavily accented voice, and that was all he'd needed to hear before he was making a beeline for the lift door, Spock, Uhura, and Sulu hot on his tails. Never mind that they had ultimately left the bridge under the command of some of the other, less experienced crew members. They could hold the fort long enough for the rest of them to check on the status of their friends.

The four anxious members of the bridge crew had just shoved their way into the transporter room when the floor lit up and the familiar swirls began to take the form of a body. But only one.

Leonard couldn't even breathe, his breath caught in his throat as he waited impatiently for the transporter to finish, so he could assess whoever they'd been able to find for injuries, so he could start to fix things.

Scotty stood and quickly made his way over to the rest of the group, shuffling his feet nervously. When the atoms finally settled everyone gasped in unity, staring wide-eyed down at the crumpled form of their captain on the transporter pad.

Jim was breathing heavily, his whole body trembling. When he glanced up at the group of them, Leonard's heart shattered, and any hope he'd been kindling that maybe whatever had happened on that planet hadn't been catastrophic died. Jim's eyes were wide and red, the too-blue irises shinning in the light, and fresh tear-streaks tracking their way down his cheeks.

He took them in for a moment before he seemed to crumple in on himself, curling into an even tighter ball as heavy sobs wracked his frame.

Leonard rushed forward and crashed to his knees before his best friend, gently prodding at the man to assess his injuries and hopefully find out what exactly had happened down there. "Hey, hey come on Jim, shhh. Shhshhhshh. Talk to me, what's going on? What happened?"

Jim shook his head, barely able to talk past the tears. "We didn't even- we didn't talk to them. We didn't even talk to them!"

"Okay kiddo, deep breaths." Leonard coached, rubbing gentle circles up and down Jim's arms.

Scotty and Sulu met nervous glances, both worried about the events that had transpired to lead to this. Uhura was breathing heavily between them, her mind having already jumped to a conclusion that she prayed was false.

"They had some sort of- weapon." Jim's hands flailed halfheartedly, deciding on the word when he couldn't think of any other way to describe whatever it was he'd been attacked by. "They were firing at us before we'd even fully materialized."

"The natives were hostile towards you?" Spock prodded gently, his eyebrows drawing closer together.

Jim simply nodded, his breath hitching in his throat.

Finally Leonard decided to ask the question that was on all their minds, the one whose answer they were fearing, dreading. "Jim, what happened to Chekov?"

Jim's body froze, his hazy eyes glancing up to look at each of his bridge crew in turn. More tears welled up and began to cascade down his already rosy cheeks, "I tried." He breathed before he was overtaken by more sobs, his whole body deflating into Leonard's strong grip. "I tried, I tried." He continued to whisper, shaking his head in utter despair.

Uhura gasped and felt tears sliding down her own face, she couldn't say she was surprised by the news, she just wished she'd been wrong. Scotty reached out to her and grasped her shoulder, almost as if he needed some way to stabilize himself, the news knocking the air out of him. Sulu simply blinked rapidly at the ceiling, his chin trembling ever so slightly. Spock was the only one who didn't show an outward reaction. Even Leonard felt tears prickling at his own eyes.

"Do you think-" McCoy had to pause as his voice wavered, "Do you think we'll be able to go down there, get his body?"

Jim's gasped harshly, tortured eyes snapping up to look at his best friend, "There's nothing left!" He wailed.

He'd quickly begun to hyperventilate after that, he was completely unable to get his breathing under control and was being assaulted by tears.

"Spock, my bag." Leonard demanded, indicating the medical bag he'd dropped by the stairs of the transporter.

The Vulcan obliged swiftly, handing him the medical supplies he needed. Leonard rummaged through the bag for a second before he found the hypo he was looking for, then plunged the needle into Jim's neck.

It took a moment for the meds to take effect, but soon Jim's body was slumping forward in unconsciousness, his breathing thankfully evening out.

Without even being asked, Spock hefted Jim's limp form into his arms and headed down to the med bay, he'd need to be fully checked over for injuries and would most certainly need a friendly face when he awoke.

McCoy released a long, haggard breath, suddenly feeling ten times older than he actually was. He glanced up at the stricken faces of his fellow crew, all of them in varying degrees of shock or sorrow. He rubbed his hands over his face, choosing to remain seated for just a little while longer. He honestly couldn't believe it, he'd just talked to the kid not that long ago. How had this happened?