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spacedogfromspaceSpirk Tracker
K/S Spring Fever 2025
Kirk and Spock get kidnapped by aliens and forced to participate in the Canadian reality show, Mantracker. Will these prey reach the finish line before the time runs out, or will they be captured by renowned tracker Terry Grant?
Fandom(s): Star Trek TOS, Mantracker
Character(s): James T Kirk, Spock, Terry Grant
Tags: Spirk, Reality TV
Rating: General Audiences
Content Warnings: N/A
Word Count: 2547
Type: Oneshot, Standalone
Collection: K/S Spring Fever 2025
Written for K/S Spring Fever 2025 for Anonymous
Kirk and Spock were playing a game of chess in the Captain's quarters, until they weren't. Without warning, they suddenly found themselves on a narrow dirt road in the middle of a clearing. In that blink of an eye they had not only transported to another location, but they also found themselves in clothing that they had not previously been wearing. Camouflage pants and jackets, with hiking boots and backpacks. On the ground in front of them was a flare gun, and a couple of folded pieces of paper.
"How did we get here?" Kirk asked, looking around in bewilderment.
"I do not know," Spock said bemusedly. "This is most unusual."
"Tell me about it," Kirk said. He patted his pockets. "I don't suppose they left us our communicators. We won't be able to call the Enterprise."
"And since we were playing chess in your quarters, nobody will have noticed that we vanished," Spock said. "It may take several hours for anyone to notice that we are missing and come looking for us."
Kirk sighed. "Alright, well, let's play their game for a bit. Whoever 'they' are." He reached down and picked up the objects on the ground. He handed the flare gun to Spock and unfolded the first piece of paper. "It's a note," Kirk said, and read it out loud:
"Welcome contestants, to Mantracker.
Renowned tracker, Terry Grant, is about to set out on a hunt on horseback. You are his prey.
You have thirty-six hours to reach the finish line (marked on your map). Your goal is to reach the finish line within the time limit, and avoid capture by Terry Grant and his sidekick.
You will have a two kilometre head start. To start the game, use the flare gun.
Good luck."
Kirk and Spock just stared at the paper for a long moment.
"Wait, is this some sort of reality show?" Kirk asked in disbelief.
"It appears so," Spock said.
"Well, the game doesn't start until we use the flare," Kirk said. "Maybe we can just not use it, and go look for a way out of here." He started to walk down the road, but was stopped when he bumped into an invisible wall. "What the—"
Another paper appeared and fluttered down to the dirt. Kirk picked it up.
"PS, you cannot leave this 5 metre radius circle until you have used the flare gun."
Kirk groaned. "So much for that idea."
"I suppose we will have to play their game, as you said earlier," Spock said.
"Yeah, but this time, literally."
"We should evaluate our supplies before we use the flare," Spock said.
"Good idea, Spock." Kirk opened the other folded paper that they were left with. "Here's the map," he said.
They both took off their backpacks and rummaged through them. They found that between them they had rations for two days, a tent, a compass, and some rain jackets. They packed everything back up except for the compass, which they used with the map to orient themselves.
"Looks like we can follow this road for a while," Kirk said, studying the map. "Spock, can you memorize this?"
"Already done, Captain," Spock said.
"Good," Kirk said. "Alright, let's get this show on the road. The faster we start, the faster we can get back to our ship. Probably." He gestured to the flare gun in Spock's hands. "Do the honours, will you?"
Spock nodded and aimed the flare up above his head. He fired, and a red streak shot into the sky.
"Let's go," Kirk said, and started down the road. For the first few steps he kept a hand out in front of him, worried that the force field might still be in place and not wanting to face-plant into it again. Luckily, the force field had been deactivated by the flare.
The two of the marched down the road at a brisk pace.
"We can stay on the road for about three kilometres," Spock said. "Then we will have to cross through the bush to get to the next road." He had their route already planned out.
"We only have a two kilometre head start," Kirk said to remind them both. "And if we are on the road, they'll find our tracks pretty quickly, I imagine."
"Indeed," Spock agreed. "But we can move faster on the road. I suggest we take advantage of it while we can."
"Good point, let's pick up the pace."
They jogged down the road, glancing behind them frequently. Spock kept a careful listening ear out for the sound of horses. Before long, they made it to the point where Spock had determined they would have to leave the road. They had yet to see any sign of Terry Grant and his sidekick, or their horses.
They pushed on through the bush at a walk, which wasn't too dense with trees and foliage, and the ground wasn't too rough. They made good time as they marched on towards the next road.
As they crossed through a clearing, Spock suddenly stopped. Kirk stopped a second later.
"What is it?" Kirk asked.
Spock gestured to their left. Kirk looked across the clearing. There, up on a ridge, were two men on horses, looking down at them.
"They can't come after us now," Kirk said. "There's no way down the ridge."
"Indeed," Spock said. "But I believe they may be able to beat us to the next road. We should expect an ambush."
The two of them turned away from the ominous sight of the two horsemen and continued on, leaving the clearing for denser brush once again.
As they approached the road, Kirk couldn't help but feel nervous. They didn't know where Terry Grant was, but he was probably close, maybe even waiting for them.
"It may not be a good idea for us to take the road," Spock said, stopping. "The road is about fifty metres ahead. I propose we keep this distance, and walk through the bush parallel to the road."
"Good idea," Kirk said.
They hiked through the bushes, trying to keep quiet, but it was impossible, as they had to push branches out of the way and tromp through shrubs. But there was a bit of wind in the air, and they hoped that would mask their noise making.
After a while, Spock stopped.
"What is it?" Kirk asked.
"We have to cross to the other side of the road," Spock said.
Kirk looked in the direction of the road. It was obscured by trees. "Do you think they're out there?
"Undoubtedly," Spock said. "However, we might be able to cross without them seeing us."
"Well, let's go take a look, then," Kirk said.
Cautiously, they walked up to the road. When they stepped out onto the flat dirt, they saw no horses in either direction. That was a good sign. What was even a better sign were the hoof prints in the dirt.
"They passed us," Kirk said. "They're ahead of us."
"Indeed," Spock said. "As long as they are ahead of us, we should be able to follow the road for a while without fear of being spotted."
"Perfect," Kirk said. "I'm tired of bushwhacking."
They started down the road, keeping quiet in case they came into earshot of Terry Grant and his sidekick. They kept a casual eye on the trail of hoof prints in the dirt. After a while, the hoof prints did something curious. They seemed to continue for a while, but the number of prints seemed to increase, as if they had doubled back. Hoof prints also lead off the trail into the bush.
"What the—" Kirk said, following the prints with his eyes. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw two horses fifteen feet away.
"Yah!" Terry Grant shouted, and the two horses charged towards Kirk and Spock.
The two prey spun and ran across the road into the woods opposite, sprinting through the brush. A glance behind them told them that the riders were still in pursuit.
"Jim, ahead!" Spock shouted.
Kirk looked to see what Spock was talking about. Up ahead was a drop, some sort of ridge or cliff. Who knew how high it was?
They were forced to stop at the top of the ridge, the sound of horses still crashing through the brush behind them. They looked down. The ridge was maybe ten feet high.
"Come on," Kirk said to Spock as the thundering of the horses got louder. He got down low and began to climb down the ridge as best he could. Spock followed suit. It was a clumsy scramble down, more sliding than climbing, but they made it to the bottom without much trouble. Despite the fact that the horses couldn't descend the cliff, they hurried on without pause.
Before long, darkness began to fall.
"We should probably stop for the night," Kirk said. "We don't have any lights. In the dark we might fall off a cliff or step in a gopher hole and break our legs or something."
"And I doubt Terry Grant and his sidekick would put the horses at risk by riding them through the bush in the dark. They will likely stop for the night," Spock said.
"Not to mention those horses have been working all day. They need a rest as much as their riders do. Alright, let's keep an eye out for a place to make camp as the sun sets."
They kept walking, keeping an eye out for their hunters as well as a good camping spot. They found a nice spot in the bush where they could set up their tent atop a bed of pine needles, which would make for a much softer sleeping pad than the rest of the terrain. They decided not to make a fire, in case the smoke or light would give away their position. They set up their tent, broke out some rations, and got ready to settle in for the night.
Their tent was small, so they had to huddle together, but neither of them minded. It even helped them from getting too chilly in the night.
They slept lightly, and woke with the dawn. They left their tent behind, saving their time and energy for heading towards the finish line. After all, it wasn't like they had asked to be there. Whoever had kidnapped them could clean up after them.
With Spock's navigational skills and their quick pace, they had made good time the day before, and again in the morning. They would beat the thirty-six hour time limit by several hours.
"Provided we don't encounter any complications," Spock said, "I believe we will get to the finish line by noon."
"Let's hope there aren't any complications," Kirk said. But both of them knew they were likely to encounter the complication of Terry Grant again before this ended.
As they were walking down another road, Spock suddenly reached out a hand to stop Kirk. Kirk started to ask Spock what they were stopping for, but Spock motioned for him to be quiet.
"Horses," Spock said. "Behind us, around the bend. Come on." He took Kirk's hand and led him off the road into the woods, along a game trail.
They both moved quickly but carefully, trying not to disturb the branches around the trail. They hoped that the ground was hard enough that their footprints wouldn't be visible on the little trail. Not far in, they ducked behind a large bush, and waited quietly.
A minute later, the clip-clop of hooves coming down the road was audible to Kirk's human ears, and the horses and men were visible through the bushes.
Kirk held his breath, hoping they would pass on by. But suddenly the horses stopped, on the road right in front of them.
"The horses hear something," Terry Grant said. Indeed, his horse was staring into the bush, right at them. Kirk and Spock held perfectly still.
Behind them, a crow flew down out of a tree and headed towards the road before soaring up into the sky.
"Just a bird," the sidekick said.
"I guess so," Terry Grant said. "Let's go."
Kirk and Spock watched the horses walk on out of sight before they allowed themselves to breathe again.
"They're ahead of us again," Kirk said. "Let's hope they don't ambush us like last time."
They headed out, but this time instead of taking the road, they took the more direct route of cutting through the woods in the final stretch of their journey. It likely would have been faster to follow the road for some time, but they didn't want to risk running into the trackers, or getting surprised by them again.
Before long, they came to a huge open meadow. A large rock sat in the centre of it.
"There," Spock said, pointing to the rock, which was a mere two hundred metres away. "That's the finish line."
"Thank god," Kirk said.
As they started walking through the meadow, they heard a sudden thundering of hooves from the left. They looked, and saw the two trackers galloping their horses towards them, lassos looping over their heads.
"Run!" Kirk shouted, and the two of them burst into a sprint towards the finish line. The horses charged towards them, and would quickly catch up to them.
"Spock!" Kirk shouted as they ran. "Whatever happens, keep running"
The horses were behind them now, and the whistling of the ropes could be heard above the thunderous hoof beats. Kirk and Spock didn't want to risk their speed to turn and look. But they didn't have to. They could practically feel the horses breathing down their necks.
A rope flashed into view, slapping Spock in the shoulder and sliding off. One of them had thrown their lasso, and missed. The second rope landed square around Jim, tightening around his middle and pinning his arms to his chest. He dropped back out of Spock's view.
"Jim!" Spock shouted, slowing.
"Go!" Kirk shouted back.
The rock was close. Spock ran for it with all the speed he could muster. No matter what happened, at least one of them would make it.
One of the horses was behind him, its rider ready to make another attempt to capture Spock. But he would not let it happen. He lunged forward to the rock, and hastily stepped up on it, turning to face his pursuer. The horse slowed, and stopped. The sidekick lowered his lasso in defeat.
Terry Grant was riding his horse at a walk towards them, leading a trussed up Kirk by the rope. "Well, that was a close one. We almost got both of you guys."
"Well, you also almost got neither of us," Kirk said.
Suddenly, a swirl of particles engulfed Kirk and Spock.
"Guess they're getting away after all," Terry Grant said just before they vanished.
They reappeared in the transporter room on the Enterprise, still wearing their camouflaged clothing.
"Captain! Mr Spock!" Scotty cheered from the transporter controls. "We've been looking all over for you since this morning!"
"Thanks for getting us out of there, Scotty," Kirk said.
"Any time," Scotty said. He gave them an odd look. "What are you wearing?"
Kirk sighed. "Don't ask."
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