Star Trek Reimagined.

[Charles Markov]

Stardate 309034.11

The Enterprise is currently on a course for the Larsan Union. A collection of worlds lying in the Archanis sector that has requested to begin the procedures for joining the Federation. The Unions strategic position in the sector makes its entry into the Federation as soon as possible Starfleets number one priority. Enterprise has been dispatched to begin the proceedings, with the UES Manticore and UES Warsaw scheduled to arrive some days after us.

While I am honoured to be trusted with the responsibility of beginning to procedure to admit a new member into the Federation I must admit to some trepidation. It is unlike Starfleet to send a green captain and fresh crew on such an important mission.

Regardless I have done my best to work the crew into a proper command, even with some seventy persons of her compliment not yet aboard Enterprise at the time of this log entry. Regular combat and emergency drills have made marked improvements over what the ship was capable of just a month ago when I assumed command. And have also served to bring the crew together in a remarkable way.

Commander Spock, Enterprises first officer has been a big help these past few weeks. Being the only senior officer aboard who is not newly assigned to the ship his knowledge of the vessel has been indispensable. While his calm and collected demeanour has also put many of the crew into a steady routine.

At our current speed and course we will enter into the Ooruchet system in two hours. Consisting of a single main sequence star and seven planets the system is host to a small Larsan naval base and colony of some five million and is the agreed upon rendezvous point where we are to meet with the Larsans.

James Tiberius Kirk closed the log entry and leaned back into his chair, resisting the urge to sigh loudly as the stress of a solid month of command welled up inside him. Command of one of the fleets precious few heavy cruisers was a considerable honour usually reserved for the senior most captains of the fleet. Balding men and greying women who's decades of experience commanding other smaller ships served to prepare them for the weighty responsibility and heavy workload that went into captaining a heavy cruiser.

In Kirks mind command of a destroyer along the Klingon border was not sufficient preparation for his current command. However, Starfleet was in the middle of a massive expansion of its fleets and captains were in short supply. Especially at Star base 12 where Enterprise had sat in spacedock for over a year after many of her previous crew had been assigned to other commands.

It had been made abundantly clear by the bases commodore that Enterprise was likely a temporary assignment until either a more suitable command came Kirks way, or a more suitable captain came Enterprises way. And that he was to do nothing with his ship but rigidly adhere to any orders given to him by Starfleet.

The whole experience had made Kirk feel almost like a child. But after nine months of inactivity following Nautilus`s battle with a Klingon C-9 light cruiser getting back into space felt like a massive release. Hours of inquiry and official hearings were finally over and he could get to work once more.

Memories of the Nautilus flew into his mind. The small hundred-man destroyer had been his first command after his stint aboard Farragut. And the cramped little ship had quickly become his home, as well as dream assignment. Until a Klingon disruptor volley tore through the ship and many of its crew.

"Captain sir," Lieutenant Noyota Uhura the ships Communications chief said to his right. Knocking Kirk out of his reverie.

"Subspace just went wild sir, like an old-style wave transmission was just sent," she reported a frown of concentration on her face as she worked her board with one hand and cupped her ear with the other.

Kirk was over by here side in three steps "can you get anything from it?" he asked looking at a tangled web of energy spikes and background noise on one of the displays.

"I don't think so sir, the source of the signal was to far away for us to get anything other than the last waves over subspace."

Kirk was not surprised. The Larsan tech level was said to be roughly equivalent to the 2380s United Earth. Its ships, weapons, sensors and subspace communications were all shorter ranged and less accurate than Starfleet equipment.

"Keep scanning, we may get another message once we get closer in range," he ordered probably unnecessarily. Uhura was good at her job and was likely already scanning subspace for another message. But it was necessary for the ship's records if nothing else.

Kirk tried some mental calculations. They were still some fifteen lightyears our from the Ooruchet system. At warp factor six they would reach the outskirts of the system in a little under two hours. If his memory was right then the best the Larsan subspace transmitter technology could do was perhaps eight or nine lightyears. Meaning that Enterprise could expect a decent signal sometime in the next forty-five minutes.

"Keep on it Lieutenant," he said as he left the communications station and made his way to the helm/tactical station which occupied the space just forward of the bridge center.

"Can I help you sir?" Lieutenant-Commander Hikaru Sulu the ships navigational officer asked unphased by the presence of the captain over his shoulder.

"Just checking your sensor logs, don't mind me," Kirk said as he plugged his security codes into the console and began to comb through the sensor data. It was more a brain exercise than anything. Going over the logs kept Kirks mind sharp and gave him something to do. It was unlikely that a ship would be in the area. But of one was, and it was in range of Enterprises sensors it would be in the logs. Sulu did not mind and soon was back to his panel. Even moving over some so Kirk had more room.

As expected, there was nothing. This far out in the Archanis sector and away from United Earth space traffic was sparse and very limited. Aside from the Larsan subspace transmission, which was likely to be a simple greeting, there was nothing on the logs.

He went through all logged data for the past two days before he got bored and without any joy returned to the mass of reports and forms waiting for him to approve or sign. This he did at the conn, or control station in the center of the bridge. Consisting of a backless chair with a large collection of controls and a display screen on the arms it was from here that the ships captain directed the operation of his starship.

It was a position that seemed rather glamorous when Kirk had first enlisted in Starfleet. However, he had learned aboard Farragut where he had an occasional watch commanding the bridge that the job mostly consisted of paperwork. Lots of paperwork.

When he had initially taken command of Nautilus the paperwork had seemed overwhelming. Now as CO of Enterprise he longed for the days when he had merely fifty or sixty documents to read per shift. A ship of almost five hundred persons generated a tremendous amount of the stuff. Enough to drive someone mad almost.

He was nearly done with just twenty-six more before he could call it quits and get onto something else. He thought that by the time the ship could receive clear message over subspace that he would be finishing the last of the reports.

He was almost done in fact by the time that Uhura suddenly gasped behind him, "something to report Lieutenant?" He asked just as he finished reading and signing a purser's report on the ships water consumption. He had just three more left.

"Yes sir we just received a beta band subspace transmission from the Ooruchet system, text only," came Uhura`s reply.

Similar to radio or light subspace consisted of multiple bands in a spectrum layered atop one another. Named Alpha to Lambda there were eleven known bands. With only the Alpha to Gamma bands being useful for communications.

A beta band transmission was the easiest to use, with Alpha being to unstable for a long-range message. Gamma was useful for very fast, very long-range messages. But required very powerful transmitters which was beyond the Larsan abilities.

Kirk took the printout offered by Uhura and began to read with mounting alarm. Short and to the point, likely a necessity given the limited output of most observed Larsan fusion reactors, it left very little room for interpretation. "I don't suppose there is anyway that the computer altered the translation?" He asked already certain of the answer.

"No chance sir, not with the system we are using," Uhura said her voice betraying her own surprise at the message contents.

"Something wrong sir?" Sulu asked turning to face Kirk and Uhura.

"See for yourself," Kirk offered holding out the message.

Sulu walked the short distance over and with mounting shock and surprise began to read.

Consisting of only twenty-five words the message read

"Approaching Federation Starship your presence in Union space is no longer welcome. Return immediately. Federation membership no longer needed, alliance with Klingon Empire chosen instead."

"How could this be sir?" Sulu asked as he handed the message back.

"I seem to recall in a briefing that some members of the Larsan government had lobbied for an alliance with the empire during their vote for Federation membership, but they were only a minority," Uhura said from behind Kirk.

Kirk nodded, he had read the same thing "circumstances and public opinion changes regularly," he said moving to sit down. Sulu followed and was soon back seated at the helm.

"Shall I plot us a return course to Federation space?" He asked hand hovering over his board. Kirk did not immediately respond. He thought over the possibilities for a moment.

On the one hand it was quite obvious that the Klingons had to have done at least some meddling in the Unions political structure for this sudden change in their policies and choice of alliance. This was unlikely to go unanswered by Starfleet, and any information Enterprise could bring back about the Unions current situation. And extent of Klingon involvement. Could be vital.

On the other hand, Starfleet had sent Kirk out with the Enterprise expecting a routine mission. And Kirk had personally been given strict orders to stick to his orders and not risk the ship. And anything Kirk could likely do besides immediately ordering the ship back to star base 12 would constitute endangering the ship.

After some thought Kirk decided on a bit of a compromise order. "Mister Sulu what is our maximum passive subspace and gravitic sensor range?" He asked.

"Two lightyears sir," Sulu answered eyes narrowing at the odd and seemingly out of place question. But his captains plan clicked before he could give the order. "Ill see how close I can get to the Ooruchet system sir,"

"Thank you," Kirk said once again marvelling at his helmsman's seemingly uncanny knack for anticipating his captains' orders. He simply shook his head and turned over to Uhura.

"Call all senior officers to the conference room and start scanning the Ooruchet system and any other nearby star systems for Klingon transmissions," he ordered. Glancing at his display he saw that Sulu had already completed a course that would bring the ship to the outer limits of the Ooruchet system in a little under one hour. Just enough time for a quick briefing.

 

[Charles Markov]

"Captain I must point out that Starfleet is strict in their non-interference with the political processes of alien species," the ships first officer and science officer Commander Spock said after Kirk had finished a quick summary of events.

Kirk sighed. Spock had been invaluable over the past weeks in bringing the ship together. He was a gifted officer who managed to maintain a level of approachableness while possessing a cold exterior.

The problem was that the same cold exterior was a result of his Vulcan upbringing. Making getting to know him, or even guess at what he was feeling, nearly impossible. Often times Kirk was not sure whether his remarks were meant as in insult, or a simple statement of opinion. Or something else entirely. It made any conversation with him difficult, McCoy the ships chief medical officer had already taken a dislike for the man which went far beyond his usual disdain for Starfleet officers.

"I am not intending to interfere in the slightest mister Spock, what I intend is to simply scan the Ooruchet system for evidence of Klingon activity in the system."

Spock seemed to take this in for a second before responding. "You expect there to be evidence of the empires interfering with the Union then?"

"Isn't the conclusion obvious mister Spock?" Commander Montgomery Scott the ships chief engineer said from across the briefing room table. Third in line of command Scott was the oldest officer aboard at fifty-two and was gifted in his field. But he seemed to lack any desire of advancement beyond chief engineer. And he was far from an expert on matters unrelated to his chosen field.

"I am not suggesting that the sudden reversal in Larsan policy is not suspicious and likely indicative of a Klingon presence in the Union. However, if our scans of the system are detected it would be difficult for us to explain our actions without Klingon involvement being brought up. And for that reason, I suggest that Enterprise set a course for Star base 12 and allow Starfleet command to decide on what course of action to take." Spock said turning to face his captain for the last part of his speech.

"Noted commander," Kirk answered unwilling to discuss his orders further. At least not in the presence of his other officers. Debating his decisions in such a way was the fastest way for a crew to lose trust in their captain and to begin openly disrespecting him.

Perhaps realising this Spock's changed the discussion from what needed to be done to what was going to be done. "It will take some time to process any scans we make of the system, perhaps several hours."

"You will have all the time you need to analyse our scans. We will head for star base 12 as soon as we have made our sweep of the system." Kirk said just before an alarm went off signalling that they had were approaching their objective.

All present in the conference room piled out and into the hall where they quickly dispersed for their posts. Kirk and Spock walked together for the bridge but said nothing.

"Captain on deck!" Sulu thundered as the turbolift doors swung open admitting both Kirk and Spock onto the bridge.

"Report!" Kirk ordered as he sat down at the conn which Sulu had vacated in favour of the helm. Spock to sat down at his own station.

"The ship just dropped out of warp sir and we await your orders to begin a detailed broad and tight band sweep of the system," was Sulu`s prompt reply.

"Mister Spock?" Kirk asked.

"Ready to begin sensor sweep, all stations report standing bye," Spock answered. He slid an earpiece onto his head and signed into his station.

"Begin sweep!" Kirk thundered.

In the space around Enterprise brilliant flashes of energy lanced outwards towards the Ooruchet system, who's single star winked faintly some lightyear and a half away.

Subspace, Gravitic, Tachyon and passive lightspeed sensors probed the system intently for seven and a half seconds. Creating a detailed model of the system in the ships computers precise enough to see every vessel, comet, space station and orbiting satellite present in the system. Her sensors also mapped gaseous phenomenon, population levels in the atmospheres of all the planets and above all else plasma wakes indicative of vessels dropping into or our of warp.

"Engage course for star base twelve warp factor seven!" Kirk snapped as soon as Spock signalled that the scan was done. At once Sulu slammed his fingers down on the appropriate controls and with a lurch the big ship speed into high warp.

If the Larsans had any subspace sensors then they would surely see the ship. Just as they had surely seen her sensor sweep of the system. However they would be unsure of where Enterprise was for some time until they could triangulate the ships location. Giving Enterprise more than enough time for a clean getaway.

"The computer shows a clean sweep without interference captain, I am sending all appropriate data to the science departments," Spock reported.

"Very good mister Spock," Kirk said with relief. Such scan and dash tactics had been commonplace during his command of the Nautilus. But performing such a manoeuvre with a heavy cruiser was a new trick for Kirk.

"Report mister Sulu," Kirk ordered swivelling to face the helm.

"Speed and course holding, though we will need to drop down to a lower velocity if we want to avoid burning out the engines. Aft sensors do not show any pursuit forces being launched by the Larsans, or any Klingon vessels on out tail,"

"A clean getaway then," Lieutenant Slocum said from the tactical station.

"Or so it would appear Lieutenant, keep scanning for anything out of the ordinary," Kirk ordered choosing not to reprimand Slocum for his outburst. The young man was currently stuck doing the job of a Lieutenant-Commander as Enterprises official tactical officer had not been present at the time Enterprise had been dispatched to the Larsan Union. And he had been doing an admirable job, he just sometimes forgot his place.

Slocum took the cue and said nothing else. Simply nodding affirmative and darting a nervous glance back to Kirk after he had begun a scan. The ship shuddered slightly as she passed the warp four threshold, her engines humming quietly in the background. Their vibrations could be easily felt as they worked hard to push the ship up to high speed.​

 

[Charles Markov]

Five hours later and there was still no sign of pursuit by either a Larsan vessel, which hadn't a hope to catch them at the speed Enterprise was pulling, or the Klingons who were likely in the system.

After reaching a point where Kirk was certain they were not being chased he allowed the ships speed to be eased slowly back to her cruising speed of warp factor six to avoid putting unnecessary stress on the reactor. Or run the danger of overheating the reactor and causing a horrific meltdown.

During this period Spock was busily processing data at the science officers' station. Sending off bits of data to whatever department he thought most logical to do so for examination and evaluation. This process could be done by the ship's computer, However Spock wished to be as thorough as possible and the ships computers had a nasty habit of ignoring some data that could potentially be useful.

By the sixth hour of their retreat from the Ooruchet system Spock informed Kirk that the data gathered from their scan of the system had been evaluated and that a report was ready.

It was back to the conference room for the briefing. Kirk left Slocum in charge on the bridge, a major honour for one of his age. But necessary considering all the ships senior most officers needed to be present for the briefing.

They just fit, Kirk, Scotty, McCoy, Sulu, Uhura, and Winston Peters, the ships quartermaster all arranged themselves at the table with a single seat to spare. Spock had the luxury of standing as he was presenting the findings.

Without any form of introduction Spock began "After thorough examination of the data retrieved from our scan of the Ooruchet system we have discovered some supporting data for the captain's theory of Klingon involvement in the Unions politics lately."

Using a handheld mouse he turned on the display which took up the upper half of the far wall of the conference room. A massive image of the Ooruchet system appeared showing the system primary and its planets orbiting. After hitting another button the image zoomed into the main planet of the system and a number of dots appeared in its orbit all baring several different colours.

"These represent ships and space stations orbiting Ooru, the only class m planet in the system," some dots were dimmed while all the purple dots grew brighter "these are space stations, both naval and civilian," Spock explained. The purple dots were dimmed, and green ones appeared "here we have civilian vessels with power signatures to low to be warp vessels, likely these ships are simple surface to orbit transports or short haul vessels," again the green dots were dimmed and blue dots appeared. "And here are what we extrapolate to be civilian warp vessels based on available data and power signatures."

Finally, bright angry red dots replaced the blue. There were far fewer of these than there had been of the other colours. "the red dots represent Larsan military vessels of all known types and configurations from small low warp system patrol and attack craft to their larger cruisers."

"Handsome little fleet," Sulu said as he looked over the screen. "Can you display which ships of what type each dot represents?" He asked.

"May I ask why?" Spock returned even as he moved to comply with his juniors' request.

"If we can see how many of each type of ship are in the system then we can see how the Union has deployed its fleet to its outlying systems. A large number of defensive craft shows that they are possibly expecting an attack, while the same number of cruisers could show them preparing to meet any Starfleet reaction to their refusal to join the Federation," Sulu said after examining the new data Spock placed on the board for some length.

Kirk was surprised. Sulu was gifted at his job as helmsman. But he had never expected the man to be terribly well versed in tactical thought or fleet deployments. He would have to remember to ask the lieutenant-commander about that later.

The display now showed a large number of cruisers in relation to smaller ships. Perhaps six cruisers to four patrol/attack ships. Quite a top-heavy deployment for a system outside of any major threat areas.

"What other vessels are deployed throughout the rest of the system?" Kirk asked something suddenly feeling off. Why the Larsans would have so many of their warships orbiting the planet didn't add up.

"Only a pair of smaller vessels in the outer reaches of the system captain" Spock said as he made the individual energy signatures of the Larsan warships disappear. However he refrained from doing anything else with the display.

"Is there something odd about that?" Leonard H McCoy, the ships chief medical officer asked. Spock turned to him with eyebrow raised. McCoy looked around at everyone.

"I am not an expert on space warfare so someone explain to me why you are all looking around in confusion as soon as the commander shows a couple of colourful dots on his display." He all but demanded.

Kirk had to hide a sigh. He knew that the doctor only got this way when he did not understand what was going on and felt excluded. But still he always picked the worst times to get uppity.

"It means that there is something very off with their fleet deployment. With that many ships orbiting Ooru they should have some ships to spare for patrolling the rest of the system. Not just two ships." Kirk explained, but he did not have time to answer every one of McCoy's questions, "Please continue mister Spock."

"Finally, peculiar Larsan deployment notwithstanding the final pair of vessels positively identified by our scans are these two ships here," again the red dots disappeared, this time replaced with a pair of white dots which also orbited Ooru in the same general space as the Larsan ships.

Spock let these two dots sit on the display for a second as he pulled up something on his own reader. "These two dots represent Klingon warships which when their power signatures are matched with intelligence data on the Klingon fleet reveals that one of these vessels is a C-9 light cruiser and the other is an E-10 escort. At present these are all Klingon forces known to be operating in the Larsan union."

The identity of these dots had not come as a surprise. Still some were taken back by the vessels present. While both vessels in orbit of Ooru were powerful for their size range they lacked any serious staying power in a fire fight. However their presence in the Ooruchet system suggested that heavier Klingon forces would likely be present in other more populated Larsan systems.

"The C-9 has been identified with the C9-24. A vessel first encountered last year along the Klingon border which intelligence believes to be attached to the fourth fleet as a part of the eleventh roving cruiser squadron. The identity of the E-10 cannot be confirmed at this time."

Again Spock allowed the weight of what he had just said to sink in. He switched the display back to the overview of the Ooruchet system in general and stood to one side of the display.

"That's a fairly heavy Klingon force to be deployed this far from their border, I thought the empire was keeping away from such overt interference with border governments," Uhura said. Kirk noted she had written some notes on a sheet of paper. Something she had done in prior briefings.

"It may be indicative of a much more aggressive Klingon policy in Archanis," Kirk said eying Spock curiously.

"The empire has consistently said that Archanis belongs to the empire," Sulu pointed out. And he was right, since first contact with the empire the Archanis sector had been claimed as rightfully Klingon space. Irregardless of the large number of human outposts which already dotted the region.

"Was that all mister Spock?" Kirk asked wondering why Spock had not sat down. He was anxious to end the briefing and send a message to Starfleet informing them of the situation. What level of response was required after that was their problem.

"I have one more item of interest to report from our scan sir," Spock said not moving from his spot beside the display screen. "Shall I continue?" He asked.

"Please," Kirk said motioning for him to take the floor once more.

"Fractal scans of the system revealed a complex series of war trails both leaving and exiting the system which is in keeping with Starfleet's belief that the system is a major shipping hub for the union."

A series of complex lines appeared on the map. Mostly concentrated along a narrow plane and being the thickest at the upper and lower right corner of the system the lines headed likely to the more populated Larsan homeworld of Vaial and outwards to the Federation and Orion markets where Larsan minerals were traded for Federation high technology.

Spock did not long dwell on these trails, instead zooming the map into a location midway between the orbit of Ooru and the gravity limit of the systems star. The point at which a ship could engage her warp engines fully without any serious interference from the systems star.

A trio of very brightly coloured purple-blue smudges on the map appeared and Spock zoomed in on the space around these. A knot of warp trails led into the smudges and appeared on the other side headed for the inner system.

"What are we looking at mister Spock?" Scotty asked his eyes narrow slits as he tried to look closer at the display.

"Radiation spikes consistent with a major matter antimatter explosion, seemingly consistent with the detonation of a Larsan naval warp core," Spock answered.

"A battle then," Sulu said jumping out of his seat and walking to stand beside Spock. "The drive trails, they were so erratic because the ships that left those trails were in the middle of combat manoeuvres."

"Mister Spock is there anyway to determine if the Klingon vessels orbiting the planet had anything to do with the destruction of those Larsan ships?" Kirk asked also walking over to stand beside Spock and Sulu.

"It is probable to assume that the empire had some involvement in the battle, but our instruments did not have the resolution to determine the sources of the drive trails," was Spock's reply.

Kirk did some fast thinking. If his memory served the Unions government had been somewhat divided over joining the Federation or seeking closer ties with the empire. It was possible that the pro-Klingon faction had managed a coup to seize power and reverse the decision to join the Federation, if that was the case then it was likely that the Klingons were involved.

With all the information that the scan had revealed there was likely little doubt that the empire had interfered with the Larsans, if they had been invited peacefully there would be no reason for them to deploy a cruiser and escort to one of their outlying systems.

Starfleet would likely find a fitting response, and tensions would likely become even more strained between the empire and Earth. However, the Klingons now held a key strategic forward base for their ships and colonial expeditions deeper into the Archanis sector. Putting Earth at a major disadvantage.

Kirk knew that the likelihood of war was likely to become even higher. And a repeat of the four years war was not something that anyone in the UE or Starfleet wanted. The wounds from that conflict were still to fresh, not yet fully healed.

And then a thought struck him, "Mister Spock thank you for your presentation. It was certainly enlightening," he said ending the briefing. Spock was obviously confused by this, likely having still some minutes of his presentation left. However he sensed that his captain had something else planned and so shut down that display.

The rest of the senior staff also caught the hint and began to file out of the briefing room. Kirk caught Spock and Sulu`s eye and they followed him to the turbolift.

Kirk pressed the control for the bridge after the three of them were in the lift. As the car began to accelerate along the route the onboard computer had chosen he turned.

"Gentlemen I have made a decision, I am bringing us back into Larsan space after we inform Starfleet of what we have learned." He began, moving past the shock in Sulus`s eyes, and the surprise in Spock's change of facial expression he continued, "It is safe to assume that the pro Klingon faction of the Larsan government has seized power violently, possibly with the aide of the Klingons."

"It is safe to assume that the Federation friendly members of government have opposed them and failed. However if we can prove that the empire is supporting a regime which seized power from a friendly government then the Federation can force the Klingons to back out of the Union."

"And how do you intend to prove imperial involvement and the illegitimacy of the current government captain?" Spock asked revering quickly from his initial shock.

"I intend to take Enterprise into the Yokuna system and into orbit of Fiar itself and hope that whatever remains of the government contacts us. If we can get at least some of them aboard then we can leave the system and they can officially ask for Federation assistance."

Kirk waited for a response. The course of action he had just laid out was dangerous, even potentially illegal. Taking his ship into orbit of the Larsan homeworld against their wishes was something Kirk could likely be court marshalled for. However if successful the outcome would give the Federation a major base in the sector and force the empire back several parsecs towards their border.

Eventually Spock spoke, "The Klingons, and indeed whatever government has taken power is unlikely to simply allow us to enter the system and beam up those who oppose their regime. Enterprise even being allowed to enter orbit of Fiar seems unlikely."

"I agree with commander Spock sir, it won't be easy to do what you have said," Sulu said finally catching his breath. Kirk breathed a silent sigh of relief. Both of them were in support of his plan.

"Thank you," he said with a surge of pride.

"Do you have a plan that will allow us into orbit?" Spock asked. Kirk smiled a lopsided smile. He did, or at least he had the beginnings of one.

"We are going to lie our butts off mister Spock and hope that some of it sticks," he said grinning like a little kid.

 

[Charles Markov]

Captains log stardate 309041.14

I have taken Enterprise into the Yokuna system and we are orbiting the planet Fiar, the homeworld and capital of the Larsan Union.

While our arrival in the system was met with some hostility from the Larsan navy and government, and by demands that we leave the system immediately from the pair of orbiting Klingon D-7 cruisers we have been allowed to enter orbit after claiming that we had been ordered by Starfleet to act as an observer to the signing of any formal treaties between the union and Klingon empire.

This fabrication will hopefully be looked over by Starfleet following the success of our mission to bring a member of the Larsan government who opposes the alliance with the empire to testify before the Federation council and ask for assistance.

After a full twenty-four hours Enterprise has not yet been contacted by any resistance movements. However even without the use of active sensors it is clear that the alliance with the empire was not a popular move. Wreckage belonging to several Larsan naval units scatters the system, planetary defensive platforms have been damaged and one of the Klingon cruisers shows signs of taking some weapons fire.

We have been told that this is the result of an attempted mutiny and coup by the navy however I consider this highly unlikely. I have ordered mister Spock to discretely scan the surface of Fiar to see if there are any signs of ground combat or protests. However dense cloud cover has so far impeded our sensors.

We are told that the empire and Union will sing their treaty of alliance in a little over six hours. And myself and a small landing party have been given permission to attend and look over the treaty to ensure that Federation interests are not threatened.

I hold out hope that those who oppose the alliance will contact Enterprise before the document is signed. Once the treaty is signed and ratified by the Larsans our continued presence in the system becomes ever more difficult to justify.

 

[Charles Markov]

"Anything yet lieutenant?" Kirk asked Uhura as he ended his log entry.

"Nothing on any frequency the Larsans use sir, although coded Klingon messages are still being sent between those orbiting cruisers and the ground," Uhura said in what was a variation of the words she had used since the Enterprise had first arrived in orbit.

"Captain our passive scans of the planet have also not yet revealed anything, though news channels continue to broadcast reports of resistance to the new government and major damage being dealt to several cities in the attack," Spock said before Kirk could ask him. The science officer was likely getting just as irritated as Uhura about Kirks constantly asking him the same question. He just did a better job of hiding it.

"Keep on it you to," Kirk could understand their frustration, even sympathise. But he was to nervous and frustrated himself to stop asking at least once every twenty minutes.

For not the first time he ran through some mental calculations. Enterprise had sent a subspace packet to star base twelve some forty hours previously. It would take the message the better part of three days to reach the star base. And roughly three and a half to reach Enterprise in her current position.

That meant that Kirk had roughly four days before he was likely to be relieved of command by Starfleets responding message and Enterprise ordered back to Federation space and apologies offered to both the Larsans and Klingons.

Perhaps a bigger problem was the UES Manticore and UES Warsaw. The big Majestic class battlecruiser and its escorting light cruiser carried the Federation delegation that was to formally accept the Larsan Union into the Federation.

If the vessels were turned back as Enterprise had been via a short and abrupt message then they would likely do so. They would no doubt wonder why the Enterprise had not messaged them about the sudden switch of the unions loyalties but would head for Federation space without much problem.

If, however the Larsans mentioned Enterprise being in orbit of Fiar then there may well be a problem if the captain of Manticore asked why Enterprise was in orbit and got an honest response. The ship could ruin Kirks plans and recall Enterprise, and Kirk would have no choice but to follow those orders.

Kirk did not know when the Manticore and Warsaw were to arrive at the Ooruchet system, they had been just leaving Wolf three five nine last he had heard. He also did not know if the ships had already been turned back by the Larsans.

If that was the case then Enterprise would likely receive a message from star base twelve in the next few days inquiring why the ship had not already arrived back at Rigel. No matter what happened Kirks window to do anything was rapidly closing.

He did not like to say it, even to himself, but if his gamble failed and he left the system without either proving Klingon involvement or making contact with the remnants of the legitimate government it would likely mean his commission.

That was something he could accept, captaining a starship was his dream job. But that did not mean he would never do anything to risk it. Especially if he felt his course of action was right. The thing that ate at him was the fate of his officers if his gamble failed. Like their captain they would likely lose their commissions and be forced out of Starfleet. And while he had resigned himself long ago to possibly loosing his position he was not really prepared for the effect of knowing he had possible ruined the careers of his officers as well as his own.

But the bridge was not the place to think such thoughts, and this was not the moment for it either when everything hung in the balance. "Mister Sulu," he called "could you prepare a correction to our orbit that will bring us over the Larsan capital?"

"Yes sir right away," Sulu said without turning his head. His hands flying over his board almost to fast to keep track of. "Shall I punch it in or just keep it waiting?" He asked a moment later.

"How long will it take to complete?" Kirk asked.

"Two hours sir," Sulu answered confidently.

Kirk thought for a moment. "No wait two hours until you execute the course correction, but let orbital control that we will be making a course change right now. We don't want them to enter into a panic."

"Very good sir," Sulu said again without so much as turning his head. His hands had begun moving even before Kirk had finished the order and shortly he signalled that he had informed the planets orbital control of the ship's future course change.

Kirk pulled up the course Sulu had entered, with a forty second thruster burn Sulu planned to shift Enterprises orbit a few degrees and bring her into a geosynchronous orbit above the Larsan capital of Matfshta. An orbit that brought her less than three hundred kilometres away from the Klingon vessels.

Such an orbit was necessary for the ships matter transporters to function, the system needing a clear line of sight with the landing zone to work, unfortunately that mean bringing the ship almost to close to the Klingon wolves which had previously been obscured by the bulk of the planet Fiar.

An alert appeared and Kirk called it up and read through it. "Mister Spock would you come with me please? The doctor is wanting to give the landing party their shots," he said stifling a sigh.​

 

[Charles Markov]

So that nearly wraps up the first episode of the series. I will post the last part tomorrow and then move on to the second episode. Charlie X.

 

[Charles Markov]

During the course of the four years war the Africa class cruiser was developed into several subclasses and variants, Saratoga, Yorktown and Ticonderoga. These were essentially enlarged and more combat orientated versions over the mostly scientific and peacekeeping orientated Africa. These ships performed well in the war and were the equal to the Klingon D-5 and D-6 cruisers, and especially against C-7 and C-8 class light cruisers.

With the war over in 2445 however the fleet began a massive reform of its structure and tactical doctrine. It was realised that the small and nimble prewar cruisers had been easy pickings for the Klingons and the larger command cruisers had fared equally poorly due to their lumbering size and poor speeds. Frigates while useful for missions away from the battlefleet were found to be poor screening units and scouts for large scale formations as well.

In the new doctrine that Starfleet eventually adopted several new types of ship were adopted and a fleet doctrine and deployment based on battlefleets, battlegroups, task forces, squadrons and flotillas were developed. In this new doctrine battlecruisers, massive ships boasting massive ship to ship firepower and enough space to carry a significant ground contingent for planetary assaults and defense were designed. Heavy cruisers packing sufficient firepower to stand in a line with BCs were also envisaged. With the wartime Saratoga and Yorktown classes shuffled into the light cruiser category and the Ticonderoga being reclassified as heavy cruiser.

Frigates remained largely unchanged in their intended roles prewar where they served as border and trade protection vessels, internal security and couriers. However their role as scouts and screening units for fleet formations was diverted to the new destroyers which were developed in the 2450s. Scouts to experienced a fairly limited change in role from before the war. Being used to blaze new spacelanes and discover new star systems, transport people and information throughout the UE and Federation and perform a myriad of other roles.

To fill out the new fleet a massive expansion of Starfleet was proposed with numerous new classes of ship to be designed and constructed. A force of at least twenty four Battlecruisers, fifteen heavy and fifty light cruisers, fifty both frigates and destroyers and one hundred scouts were planned. Much of this force could be made up of existing ships. But at least sixteen battlecruisers, twelve heavy and ten light cruisers, twenty frigates and thirty destroyers would be needed. In addition to one hundred scouts would be needed due to combat losses and the retirement of many prewar scouts.

In various forms new ships were designed in the late 2440s. The Majestic class BC, Constitution CA, Trafalgar CL, Nelson and Hermes class frigates, Saladin and later Gazelle class DDs, and Capella class scouts would all be designed in this period and would enter service in the 2450s. In many cases the designers of the new ships chose to work off of existing types, particularly those built during the war. In other cases, such as with the Majestic and Trafalgar classes totally new designs were developed.

Constitution class development. 2447-2449
Even before a new class of heavy cruiser was ordered designers at the San Francisco orbital shipyards of Earth knew that the Ticonderoga class, of which only three examples were built, would likely serve as the template for the next heavy cruiser. With this in mind from 2445-46 the shipyard created a small team composed of many of those responsible for the Ticonderoga design and tasked them with the early stage development for a new heavy cruiser.

Initially the team designed their new ship as a simple improvement over the Ticonderoga. Mounting the new FNM-7 Phaser ball turret over the preceding FNM-5 and FMN-6 phaser cannons of older ships. Additionally the new Mark 14 Shooting Star and Mark 15 Impact photon torpedoes were planned to include in the ships using the Ordinance Launcher type 16 torpedo tubes. The stronger Model 2446 shields then undergoing development were also planned for the theoretical ship. A maximum speed of WF 8 and cruising speed of WF 6 was also planned.

This design was to at first displace in the ballpark of one hundred and forty thousand tons. A ten thousand ton increase over the Ticonderoga, and a fifty thousand ton increase over the Africa class that started the lineage. However as the designers recognized that any new ship they built would likely need longer range and increased versatility over the ships that preceded it. This lead the design team to early in 2446 to drop the concept of modifying the Ticonderoga hull for a new build ship.

The hull form eventually chosen was very close to the original Ticonderoga. Only at almost two hundred thousand tons standard displacement the ship dwarfed all other cruisers before her. She also packed almost thirty percent greater firepower, forty percent greater shielding and stronger engines than the Ticonderoga. Much of this being due to the decision to increase the number of individual Phaser mounts and adopt the new SSCR generation three Chimera 7 (SSCR standing for Shipboard Spherical Cavity Reactor) from the Yoyodyne propulsion company. This allowed for increased shield power, weapons power, stronger sensors and the mounting of the new Sabre MK II warp nacelles onto the design.

Internally the new ship was very spacious and modifiable. Needing a three hundred man strong crew for general starship operations. However provision for up to two hundred additional mission personnel. Be they scientists, medical specialists, or even ground troops. Large amounts of internal space were left open for easily constructed laboratories, enlarged sickbay space and surface warfare vehicle equipment and command centers were also provided allowing the type to perform a wide range of missions on theoretically very short notice.

When the Starfleet board of Research and Development submitted a formal order for designs for a new heavy cruiser the SF yard was quickly chosen due to their forethought and the project proceeded at a very rapid pace for the new ship. It had been hoped that a full fifteen ship order would be placed and the Ticonderoga class reclassified as light cruisers. However Starfleet R&D only ordered twelve ships. Formal orders were submitted in 2447 and the first hulls were laid down in the first months of 2448, with final delivery for Starfleet acceptance trails expected sometime in 2453-54.

Block One.
The SF dockyards delivered on their contract and the first ship of the class UES Constitution was delivered in 2454 with the remaining ships of the class all delivered before 2458. All block one ships were named after famous American and British aircraft carriers, mostly from Earths second world war. The type represented a major shift in the posture of the fleet. Being the first ships in the fleet to match the new Klingon D-7 Battlecruisers in open one on one combat.

The type quickly was assigned to a vast array of missions. From exploration to border patrol to diplomatic missions, disaster relief, acting as part of task forces and battlefleets and participating in many of the Federation Naval reviews and war gaming exercises of the 2460s. Often times the ships were deployed unescorted. Using their weapons to defend themselves from anything faster than themselves, and superior speed to outrun anything that outgunned them.

Block one ships
UES Constitution
UES Constellation
UES Yorktown
UES Enterprise
UES Hood
UES Excalibur
UES Ark Royal
UES Black Prince
UES Intrepid
UES Furious
UES Glorious
Block Two
By the time that Starfleet had received the first ships of the Constitution class it became apparent that an arms race with the Klingon empire had become inevitable. As a result a new wave of ship classes were ordered, notably battlecruisers, light cruisers and destroyers. However due to the perceived success of the Constitution and Nelson classes Starfleet decided to simply order additional ships to an improved design. These block II ships featured many of the same systems as their predecessors. But incorporated improvements and new technologies developed since the launch of the older ships.

For the block two of the Constitution class, of which eight were ordered, these changes were mostly in the forms of new SSCR Generation Four and new sensors. The improved Sabre IIIa nacelles were also added to the class late in development. All ships in the class were named for famous American and Japanese aircraft carriers of the second world war. The first ships of the class would be laid down in 2460 with delivery planned to begin in 2465 and conclude in 2467.

The new ships performed very well in service. Supplementing the block one ships and leading to an increased Starfleet presence along the borders when it was needed most following the return of the Romulans, first contact with the Gorn, Tholians and increased Klingon hostility. Following the loss of the UES Constellation, Intrepid and Hood further ships of the block II were ordered and received the designation Block IIa in Starfleet manuals.

Block Two ships
UES Lexington
UES Bonhomme Richard
UES Wasp
UES Hornet
UES Soryu
UES Kaga
UES Akaga
UES Hiyo

Block IIa ships (ordered to replace UES Constellation, UES Intrepid & UES Intrepid)
UES Leyte Gulf
UES Essex
UES Shinano

Block Three
The arms race continued as the Klingon fleet continued its massive expansion programs as it made a serious bid to outnumber and outgun the combined Starfleet. In order to keep up the fleet began development of a new cruiser design to further increase the size of the fleet. However initial estimates for the new class placed it to be field ready by the mid 2470s. A stopgap heavy cruiser was needed to serve until the new ship design could be ready.

It was unsurprising that Starfleet chose the Constitution class to serve as this stopgap in a modified form. In fact SF dockyards had already begun to develop just such a ship and a design was in the final stages of completion by the time Starfleet ordered the block three ships. Of which ten were ordered. Fortunately soon after this the team tasked with the development of the block III ships became aware of several developments related to the Miranda class development project in its early stages at San Francisco dockyards.

The first of these developments was the SSCR Generation Four Titan reactor produced by McDonnel Douglas and Fokker jointly. The other was the creation of the new Arrow nacelle built by the Sukhoi design bureau, the first functional rectangular warp coil design. When combined the new reactor and nacelles could push the ship ahead at speeds as high as WF 10 with a cruising speed of WF 7.5. The decision to incorporate these new components would lead to a radical redesign of the block III ships.

For starters the spaceframe would undergo significant modification. The saucer and secondary hulls being massively modified and significantly enlarged to accommodate the new systems. Allowing room for new shields, sensors, torpedoes and phasers. Notably the new Mark 16 Starstreak torpedo and FMN-9 Phaser ball turrets. All designed for the Miranda class. The FMN-X Phaser cannon was also installed aboard late in development, as was an enlarged shuttlebay and cargo bay.

The changes were so significant that SF dockyards initially planned to classify the new ships as a completely new class. However thanks a refusal from the UE assembly to fund two new cruiser programs Starfleet chose to keep the Block III monicker, with clever winks exchanged between officers when discussing the new ships. The gimmick worked and approval for all ten ships was given in 2469 with the first ships to be delivered in 2472.

Unlike with the block II ships it was not initially planned to refit any preceding ships to the new standard. The changes made to the hull were seen as to significant to make such a practice possible without essentially ripping the refitted ship down to her basic structural members and starting over. However following the battle of Chandria the heavily damaged UES Enterprise was earmarked for refit, becoming the first ship of the Block III designation to see service.

The ships would be so successful in service that the trouble laden replacement class was cancelled in favor of a further Twenty ships of the Block III class being ordered. These ships designated as Block IIIa would be laid down in 2477 with the first ships completed in 2481. The ships largely replaced the vessels built in the four years war and served as a visible sign of the expanding militarism which ran rampant in the fleet in the 2470s and 80s.

By far the most numerous variant of the Constitution class these ships would serve for upwards of forty years in the fleet before the new wave of vessels mounting the Vertical Injection Reactor Tube (VIRT) totally replaced them in service. The class soldiered on for many decades more in service in various support and training roles in Starfleet, while many other ships would be sold to other Federation member states or UE protectorates. The Trill systems Republic operating the type well into the 2570s. Today numerous ships of the class have been preserved as museum ships and some vessels still serve in private hands as prospecting ships, transports and habitats.

Block III ships
UES Enterprise
UES Nimitz
UES America
UES Queen Elizabeth
UES Charles De Gaulle
UES Normandie
UES Pytor Veliky
UES Dimitri Donskoi
UES Nagato
UES Kongo

Block IIIa class ships
UES Graf Zeppelin
UES De Ruyter
UES Poltava
UES Minas Gerias
UES Seydlitz
UES Dreadnought
UES Arizona
UES Kuznetsov
UES Victory
UES Hiryu
UES Enterprise-A
UES Valley Forge
UES Ticonderoga
UES Leonardo Da Vinci
UES Courbet
UES Charles Martel
UES Astute
UES Sverige
UES President
UES Potemkin

 

[Charles Markov]

1. "I have a bad feeling about this!" Spock shouted as an explosion went off somewhere at the far end of the room, blowing shrapnel in all directions where it often intersected with both Klingon and Larsan alike.
   
   "Is the exit clear?" Uhura said as loudly as she could. Over the din of the battle that had erupted here voice was almost inaudible.
   
   Spock chanced a look and was met with a near miss from some kind of energy weapon. Plasma based judging from the din. "It does not appear so."
   
   "Great. Just perfect!" Uhura said looking around for another exit. She didn't find one but there was what remained of a Klingon shock trooper a few meters away with a mostly intact disruptor rifle and pistol still clutched in his arms. All that separated her and Spock from the weapons was a gap where a table had collapsed.
   
   "I have an idea!" She shouted turning to face Spock.
   
   "I do not like the way you said that!" The half-breed Vulcan shouted back. His face changed from grim to alarm as he caught sight of the singed corpse and the weapons.
   
   "I`m smaller than you, stay here!" Uhura yelled before unceremoniously diving for the weapons despite the protests of Spock who felt strongly that she should have remained while he fetched the weapons.
   
   Her dive brought her most of the way over to the next table. She landed flat with just her legs showing. Fortunately there was no one paying attention to her area that moment as she was able to pull her legs away without getting shot.
   
   "Made it!" She shouted triumphantly holding the weapons for Spock to see. Spock signed his congratulations a look of alarm and unhappiness still on his face. A look that grew more unhappy when Uhura threw the pistol over to him.
   
   Uhura was not in a mood to argue. She had other issues on her mind. Like who to shoot. The Klingons, who had as far as she could tell not yet shot at them, were out of the question.
   
   But what Larsans were shooting at them and what Larsans where shooting at the Larsans who had shot the first Larsans was the question. A confusing one, but the question nonetheless.
   
   She had not seen who it was who had fired the first shots and so had no way of knowing friend from foe. Or perhaps potential foe from actual going to kill her foe. After a few seconds of thought she decided to only shoot at those who shot at her.
   
   The next question Uhura asked herself was how she and Spock were going to get out of the hall and to a safer place. Hazarding another look around no exits in easy reach presented themselves. And then an idea came to her.
   
   Looking down at the disruptor rifle she took a moment to go over the various controls and power settings of the weapon. Doing her best to translate the Klingon characters into their English equivalents as she did so. Finding the setting appropriate for her plan she set the weapon, took aim and fired.
   
   A gaping hole appeared in the wall and through it another room, some form of closet or food storage area. Most importantly no shots came through it into the banquet hall. A good sign that it was unoccupied.
   
   "What are your intentions lieutenant?" Spock asked the concern in his voice going to a slight panic as he lost control of the situation. Something that happened often when he was in company with the ship's communications officer.
   
   "Getting out of here!" Uhura thundered back. "Go on I will cover you!"
   
   "No, you go first, and I will cover you," Spock ordered. "I am in a better position to do so and you are closer," he added when she appeared ready to argue the point.
   
   With Spock firing at something Uhura closed her eyes and rushed for the hole she had created, leaping through and hitting the ground in a ball before hastily rising and taking cover facing back towards the hall.
   
   "Ready!" She shouted to Spock who at once got up and rushed along to the hole and rushed past Uhura, dropping to one knee and turning around to make sure he was not being shot at. And to shoot anyone who was about to before they could have the chance.
   
   "Now what?" Uhura asked looking around the room they found themselves in. It was indeed a food storage area, the butchered carcasses waiting for the kitchen hanging from the ceiling being the tipoff. On one side there was a door. If all went well on the other side there would not be anyone trying to kill them.
   
   "Cover me," Spock offered holding his borrowed pistol and moving towards the door. Behind him Uhura took up position ready to follow the commander through if no one started shooting.
   
   "This is not how my day was supposed to go," Uhura muttered under her breath as she followed Spock out of the freezer rifle trained to the left as Spock searched the right.
   
   
   
   The Larsans had indeed known how to drive the vehicle and with a little bit of trouble with the universal translator Kirk had managed to get the point across of what he wanted to do. Amounting to going as far away from the shooting as possible it had been fairly easy to convince the Larsans to take Kirk, Averof and the injured Klingon.
   
   It proved harder for Kirk to talk them into driving around the area to look for Spock and Uhura however and Kirk had to resort to flashing his disruptor pistol to convince them. Nothing as open as saying he was armed, just bringing the thing into view to remind them that he had it.
   
   "See anything leftennant?" Kirk asked scanning the building where the firefight between the Klingons and Larsans raged. Kirk suspected that the attackers belonged to a resistance group which was against the alliance between the Union and empire. Whether or not they supported an alliance with the federation or not was beyond Kirks guess.
   
   "Nothing on my side sir. How about you?" Averof asked looking over every inch of the building.
   
   "Try that alley," Kirk commanded the Larsan at the wheel of the vehicle. Or what would have been the wheel on an earth designed car. On the Larsan vehicle it consisted of a joystick mounted between the legs of the driver with a series of levers and dials on its sides.
   
   "Safe this not is!" The Larsan hissed the translator keeping pace with his words but mangling all sense of grammatical correctness out of his sentence. Kirk got the gist though.
   
   "Just a minute more," Kirk pleaded knowing he could not continue to wave the disruptor around to get his way. "My people are still inside."
   
   Apparently his words came across to the Larsan who simply hmphed and settled deeper into his seat. The vehicle moved in the direction Kirk had pointed out slowly, all four occupants scanning the area for possible attackers.
   
   Kirk was just about ready to give up, nearly convinced that Spock and Uhura were still trapped inside, when Averof shouted "there sir!" Kirks head swivelled and his eyes focused on the area he was pointing at.
   
   He saw a smouldering hole in the side of the building and rubble strewn about the alley. Emerging out of the hole however was Spock, followed closely by the lieutenant. "There!" He cried, startling the Larsans. "You have to stop! Averof get their attention."
   
   Averof hoped out of the vehicle and ran over. Coming to a stop some ten meters away when Uhura raised a Klingon disruptor rifle in his direction. She lowered the weapon when she saw who it was and both she and Spock ran over to the waiting vehicle.
   
   It was a tight fit, seven beings in a vehicle designed for perhaps five at the most. But comfort was not exactly high on their list of priorities at the moment.
   
   "Captain I am glad to see that you and leftennant Averof made it out of the fighting safely." Spock said once again slipping on a mask of passive non-emotion.
   
   "As am I to see that you both are alright. We were worried." Kirk said trying to maintain a degree of decorum and not break down. This had been the first time an away mission had ended like this. And the thought that any of his crew could have died was not a pleasant one.
   
   The sound of distant disruptor fire reminded him that death was still very much a possibility. "Go we must now! Or wound may we get!" The Larsan not driving said
   
   Without further comment from the front seat the vehicle sped off at what Kirk estimated had to be at least a hundred kilometres an hour. The wheels of the vehicle were apparently not connected to a suspension system intended for this level of abuse and so the little thing bumped and shook all over the road.
   
   City streets and buildings became a single blurred mass out the windows at sharp turns and screeching halts caused the occupants of the vehicle to bash into each other. By this point Kirk was almost certain that the warrior was beyond hope. He had almost completely stopped making any noises and his pulse had grown very weak. He and Uhura had managed to fashion a basic bandage for his wounds. But it was he feared too little too late.
   
   The two Larsans, the driver and his companion, chattered back and forth so fast that the universal translator had trouble making any sense of what they said. Uhura did her best. But was able only to translate bits as she recognized a familiar word here and there.
   
   Spock monitored the communicator intently not wanting to miss the moment when the interference cleared and they were able to raise the ship. Averof scanned ahead for any signs of danger Uhura`s borrowed rifle at the ready.
   
   Kirk asked at one point if there was any place the driver was taking the vehicle. But apparently he was not noticed by the two Larsans who were to busy arguing about something themselves.
   
   Finally the vehicle began to slow. Looking around Kirk could see a few buildings. But they were out of the urban sprawl of the city center when the banquet hall had been. Infuriatingly though they were still in range of the comms interference. Spock posited that perhaps the attack was part of a much larger assault against the city itself. And that the firefight in the banquet hall had been just one part of a much larger attack.
   
   Something about Spock's theory didn't sit right with Kirk. It seemed off somehow. But he did not have any theories of his own to counter with and so he said nothing.
   
   "Captain I think we are stopping!" Averof said
   
   "I believe you are right leftennant," Spock said having noticed the vehicles engine beginning to throttle down. Its hum growing quieter as the vehicles speed decreased.
   
   The driver stopped in a small courtyard belonging to a decent sized house. Kirk guessed they were somewhere in the suburbs around the city, likely a fairly affluent neighbourhood judging by the architecture and general appearance of the buildings.
   
   A group of Larsans exiting from a door at the far end distracted him and he focused on them. Numbering six in total they shouted something to far away for the translator to catch at the driver and his companion who answered back something that was translated as something happened not right.
   
   Alarm bells sounded as Kirk saw one of the Larsans with a handheld weapon of some kind bring it up to bear in their direction, "look out!" Escaped his lips before he could think up a proper order to arms. But the point got across.
   
   Averof and Spock raised their weapons while Kirk fished his out from the seat beneath the warrior who by now was almost totally still. "Stop right there!" Kirk shouted as loudly as he could finally powering up his disruptor pistol and pointing it at what appeared to be the group leader.
   
   The Larsans responded by raising their own weapons. A surprising arsenal considering Kirk had originally seen just the one pistol. Each individual had their own beam weapon and now that Kirk looked harder he saw that each also carried some form of bladed weapon. Perhaps the ceremonial weapons Raj`je had mentioned what seemed like days ago.
   
   This impasse held until the driver suddenly grabbed at Kirks pistol shouting. Averof was upon him before the translation could get through, but eventually a shout of "danger not, friends of Starfleet they are!" reached his ears in English.
   
   "What was that?" Kirk asked holding Averof off the Larsans who now had eyes the size of moons and glanced about in confusion and mild terror, his companion glued to the side of the cabin trying to be invisible.
   
   Averof followed orders quickly and gave the alien room to breath muttering apologies to his captain. The Larsans fear dissipated and he collected himself before speaking. "Friends of Starfleet and federation we and they are. Contact you during treaty thing we wished. Men extreme in their views attacked first, run we did and stumble into you we did while carrying friend of us to safety who was injured."
   
   Kirk took a moment to process. Spock spoke first, "I believe that these two men were supposed to contact us during the banquet. But that others who were more violent in their opposition to the treaty signing attacked before they could speak to us. It would appear that these others are also a part of the group that wished to contact us."
   
   Kirk nodded. He had reached the same conclusion but was just slower putting it into words than Spock. "What is it that you wanted to speak to us about?" Kirk asked.
   
   "For help of Starfleet against Klingon and other Larsans their friends are," the driver answered eyes darting to the other group which had gotten much close while this conversation had been going on.
   
   "All is well now, no weapons needed for violence!" He shouted outside relief flowing into him. He suddenly grew almost limp. Sinking deep into the chair and sighing loudly.
   
   It was a feeling Kirk could well understand. The driver's words sounded clearly like a plea for help. If he could just get one of the members of the group to explain what had happened and the extent of Klingon involvement. And then get at least one of them to return to star base twelve with him he could likely get the federation to take action in favour of the Larsans. Meaning his defying of orders had not been for nothing.
   
   
   
   They were brought into a house. From the looks of it a simple residential dwelling and not the more ornate domicile of a high placed official. Not the sort of place one would expect a major attack to be orchestrated and commanded.
   
   Hastily installed monitors and plotting tables dotted the main rooms of the house while armed guards swarmed the area. Missile and laser emplacements guarded the sky and off in the distance a row of aerial combat vehicles could be seen parked along a basic runway.
   
   The basement of the house held a war room. The kind of hodgepodge and quickly assembled place normally portrayed in film as belonging to the underdog rebel cell which was used in their war against the evil empire.
   
   It was a trope Kirk could well appreciate, the grizzled man before him also fit well the stereotypical rebel leader. Gruff and scarred a line of cauterized skin ran along the side of his face as a grizzly mark of some grievous injury. Judging by the wounds freshness it was gained fairly recently.
   
   "Glad we are to see with our eyes you." The man said in a strained and throaty voice. Likely having something to do with damaged vocal cords.
   
   "I must apologize for your near-death experience, others wish to destroy the Klingon leadership and their puppets through any means necessary. They did not know of your presence at the banquet and would likely not have cared if they did know it."
   
   Kirk was somewhat taken back by the mans switching to English, but recovered quickly, "we are most grateful for your agents, without them all four of us may likely have perished," he said grateful that he would not have to put up with the translators butchered translations any longer.
   
   "I am Puv`le Kraksom, former member of the government before those supportive of an alliance with the Klingons launched their coup. And now current leader of the movement which wishes to restore the legitimate government to power."
   
   Kirk nodded, "I am captain James Tiberius Kirk of the starship Enterprise," he said. He turned and gestured to his officers, "this is commander Spock, Leftennant Averof and lieutenant Uhura." Spock stepped forward.
   
   "Greetings member," he said nodding his head slightly.
   
   "Camandey Spook," Puv`le said mulling the strange words over for a moment. "Cepten Kurk," he said as well before seemingly abandoning the effort to pronounce Human and Vulcan names. "Have you been able to contacy your ship?" He asked instead.
   
   Kirk shook his head wondering if the Larsans understood what the movement meant. "No we have not been able to reach our vessel since beaming down," he said.
   
   "We assumed as much. Jamming has effected most of this continent and the string of battles that have erupted have merely made things worse," Puv`le said shaking his head in sorrow.
   
   "We do have a tie in to the military communications network however you could use to contact your vessel," Puv`le offered. "It is somewhat patchy with all that is going on, but you should be able to hold a brief voice only communication."
   
   "Thank you," Kirk breathed already looking for the station.
   
   "Captain a moment?" Spock asked diverting Kirks attention. "Lieutenant Uhura can raise the ship."
   
   "What is it mister Spock?" Kirk could see that his first officer had a question at the tip of his tongue, though he did his best to hide it.
   
   "What do you intend to say once the ship is raised? Knowing that the channel may well be tapped by the Klingons and their supporters. And as you have yet to determine the intentions of our hosts."
   
   Spock had a point. Kirk did not really have any plan for what he was going to say. He did not even know if the men around him would even want federation help. Or if at this point if the federation would have any interest in helping the union.
   
   But then the past few hours had gone along well enough without him having time to think up a plan. And he trusted that the trend would continue for the near future.
   
   "Member may I ask you a question?" Kirk asked mentally crossing his fingers.
   
   "Of course captain," Puv`le said suddenly looking concerned at the others change in tone.
   
   "If I were to offer official help to your faction in restoring legitimate government to the union what would that entail?" Kirk asked.
   
   "We would not expect the aid of your federation until one of us has had the chance to petition your council on the matter. We would also of course plea for admission into the federation as soon as law and order is restored. And pledge to hold ourselves to the ideals such a position would demand."
   
   Kirk breathed another silent sigh of relief, that was just what he wanted to hear. "In that case," he said, "I offer federation support to you and your colleagues and request that you assign a delegation to accompany us back to our ship."
   
   Puv`le was quick to respond, clearly he had been expecting more struggle to get such an outcome, "On behalf of my government and people I accept, six of us will accompany you back to your ship."
   
   "Thank you," Kirk said feeling a weight come of his shoulder as he finally accomplished at least half of what he had set out to do.
   
   It took some time longer for Uhura to raise Enterprise. She was unfamiliar with Larsan technology and her helper did not speak English like Puv`le. Making communication over translator difficult.
   
   But she managed and before long a familiar voice crackled over the speaker, "Captain are we glad to hear from you!"
   
   Kirk could not help but smile, "its good to hear a familiar voice mister Scott. Sorry it took so long for us to get in touch."
   
   "Danne mention it captain, just glad your safe. Its not been looking good from our vantage point."
   
   "I can imagine," Kirk said wondering how widespread the fighting was. But he did not have time to ask, "mister Scott we don't have time for chitchat, out communications may be cut off at any moment. We have eight to beam up immediately if your willing."
   
   Scotty was willing and five minutes later Kirk and seven others, his original landing party and four larsans, materialized aboard Enterprise. Having just beamed down to the planet a few hours previously Kirk found the experience almost unbearable. He nearly fell over as a wave of nausea hit him. Spock had to prop up Uhura with one arm.
   
   One of the larsans, Kirk had not even learned their names, retched onto the deck. Soon another followed while the other two of the delegation ran from the transporter pad and to the doors trying to stay away.
   
   The bioscanner detected no foreign bacteria or anything harmful to the ship or its crew and with the blink of a green light the doors slid open silently and admitted the two Larsans spilling out into the anteroom of the transporter complex.
   
   "Captain sir," Yeoman Rand said from beyond the door eying the Larsans with a curious eye. Behind her a somewhat disgruntled looking crewman moved into the transporter room and began to clean up the vomit.
   
   "Were we detected by the Klingons yeoman?" Kirk asked not having time for pleasantries. If the Klingons knew, or cared what Enterprise was doing their mission could be in jeopardy. Kirk silently hoped the Klingon forces were so thrown into chaos by the fighting that they were paying Enterprise hardly any intention at all.
   
   "I don't know captain, so far they have been mostly concerned with the capital and the fighting there. Apparently most of their senior officers were in the hall when the fighting broke out and they have yet to account for all of them. They have been sending down a steady stream of drop ships and air support the past few hours though."
   
   Rand eyed the group with obvious relief. "You all made it out ok it seems though."
   
   Kirk attempted a smile, "more or less," he said wondering how dishevelled he looked. Going off Averoff or Uhura he looked pretty rough. Spock somehow appeared none the worse for wear. At least his hair and uniform were still presentable and not bloodstained and tattered like Averofs.
   
   "Yeoman would you be so kind as to show our guests to quarters, Averof accompany her. Commander, Lieutenant would you follow me?" Kirk said jumping into captain mode. He imagined Scotty would have much to say once he made it to the bridge.
   
   Rand and Averof nodded and moved off while the three others made their way out of the transporter room and to the nearest turbolift. Leaving a transporter operator and crewman alone in the room.
   
   "Captain on deck!" Scotty thundered as Kirk and company entered the bridge. Kirk waved the salutes down and got to business.
   
   "Status mister Scott?" Kirk asked sitting down at the conn and glancing around the bridge to get a gauge on the feelings of the crew. They seemed alert. Not at all scared or alarmed at the ship's situation. A good sign Kirk decided.
   
   "Could be a lot worse captain, the Klingons have been worked up into a frenzy the last few hours. It seems like they have been fighting a losing battle down there judging from the flurry of shuttles and what communications we have been able to intercept."
   
   "Have you been able to decode much of what you have intercepted?" Spock asked already at his station and signing into the computer to get access to the sensor data Enterprise was taking in.
   
   Scotty shook his head in a negative, "we have not. Klingon codes are still quite good. However one of the smaller cruisers has already left the system at high warp."
   
   Scotty moved over to the helm and leaning over Sulu`s shoulder he keyed up a report and looked over it before nodding to himself. If it was important he did not say anything about it before he moved over to the bridges engineering console. There he keyed up another report and read through it.
   
   "Anything to tell me mister Scott?" Kirk asked wondering what his chief engineer was up to.
   
   Scotty sounded almost conversational, "well sir I was just checking a program I was running on passive sensors trying to track aerial traffic on the planets surface." Scotty huffed, "haven found anything terribly useful yet," he reported.
   
   Kirk nodded wondering what use he had for this information. He himself keyed up a report on the ship's current situation. Scotty had been right one of the Klingon vessels previously in orbit was gone. And it looked like another was in the process of powering up its own engines to follow.
   
   The report went on further to say that a small nuclear weapon in the ten to twenty kiloton range had been detonated around a city on the southern continent. Fighting had also spread to much of the world and even the system with some warships firing weapons at one another.
   
   In summary the system was a warzone. A warzone with many different factions if what he had heard from Puv`le and his delegation was true. It was so far fortunate that no faction had decided to target the Enterprise. Though a few shots had been already taken at the Klingon vessels. Likely a major reason for the retreat of Klingon forces from the area.
   
   In short, the situation was chaotic and changing rapidly for the worse. And who knew if the Larsans, or even Klingons would soon turn their attention to Enterprise.
   
   "Mister Sulu I see a course is plotted for star base twelve?" Kirk asked deciding that it was best if the ship did not wait around long enough to give the opportunity for an attack to either the Larsans or Klingons. Sulu nodded hand hovering over the board.
   
   "Please enter it in and execute as soon as you are ready," Kirk ordered knowing it Sulu would have it done likely before he had even finished. As if on cue just moments later Sulu commented, "course laid in for star base twelve at warp six."
   
   "Engage mister Sulu!" Kirk said eager to once again feel the vibrations of the ship's engines under his feet. Vibrations that told him the ship would be traveling far away from Larsa and all its troubles.
   
   
   
   Captains log stardate 309044.18
   
   Enterprise managed to leave the Larsan Union without major incident, although the Klingons seemed suspicious at our sudden urge to leave. With envoys aboard we will arrive at star base twelve in a few days where hopefully they will be able to garner Federation support for their moderate faction in what seems to be a full-blown civil war.
   
   As for myself I find it likely that our actions will not be looked upon well by Starfleet. However captain's prerogative and initiative being well ingrained into the service it is unlikely either myself or members of my crew will face any punishment for their actions.
   
   If it should come down to it I shall Endeavor to protect my crew, holding that it was my orders they followed and thus my butt that should be punished. However again, as we have managed to give the federation a cause for aiding the union I doubt it will come to that.
   
   Kirk ended the entry there. It still needed work. And a lot of it at that. The entry seemed to much like he was justifying himself and mentioning to often that he would likely not face punishment. Almost as if he was saying that just to hope it was true. It also made it seem that he only cared about intervening in the civil war tearing the Union apart.
   
   He then wondered for not the first time if that was such a good thing. Allowing the federation to get involved in the Larsan civil war could conceivably result in a quick win for the moderates like Puv`le. Also it could result in a massive long-lasting intervention along the lines of Starfleet's current intervention in the triangle and other historic interventions like the American war in Vietnam or French efforts in equatorial Africa during the 2130s.
   
   And then there was the question of if the Klingons would support a side in the conflict. Such an occurrence would make the parallels with Vietnam even more pronounced. And there was also the possibility of what happened if Klingon and Starfleet came to direct blows. The Eugenics wars showed how that could likely turn out.
   
   Another sigh, this time deeper and much longer. Dammit to hell! Kirk swore to himself. He had been supposed to open the process that would admit the Larsan Union into the Federation. Not try to undermine the Klingon position by contacting resistance movements. And certainly not get dragged into a civil war in its early stages.
   
   He swore again at himself for enjoying the whole thing so much. Covert sensor sweeps, made up pretences for involving the ship in Klingon affairs, and the deadly firefight. He felt alive. Like he was doing something important. It was a feeling far more invigorating than escorting a convoy of merchant men or taking part in diplomatic exchanges.
   
   He finally turned off the computer and dimmed the lights. This train of thought would get him nowhere. Better to get some sleep and work on the log entry in the morning when he wasn't feeling so negative. Any other work he had could also wait a few hours as well.
   
   
   
   They approach ever nearer! One of the beings said. Well, not so much said as thought. Communication between beings of pure energy and light is a difficult thing for mere physical mortals to comprehend.
   
   We must destroy them as we have done to others! Another being also of light said urgently. Before they grow to important that their destruction does not cause a total collapse. I warned you all these races represent a clear danger! Yet no one listened then. Take heed now!
   
   A third being scoffed. He had heard this all many times before. And always the outcome had been the same, he had no reason to believe this latest threat would be any different.
   
   They dislike one another immensely. Perhaps they will make war upon another to their joint extinction. A fourth being said thoughtfully putting forth a plausible end to the threat. And one that required no intervention on their part.
   
   The third being sensed words on the very edge of another's tongue, or what passed for a tongue in the realm of thought-speech. What is it young one? He asked putting an abrupt end to the argument with his words. He was to be respected by all and once he spoke all stopped talking themselves to listen to what he had to say.
   
   Cautiously this new voice spoke. He was young compared to the others and normally would lack a voice in any discussion. His inclusion into the current debate was highly unusual, and he knew that but was determined to be heard.
   
   They are an interesting species. Combining violence and passion with calculation and cunning in a fascinating manner. Our study of them has not even lasted a cycle. We should continue to learn from them.
   
   The room burst into uproar as the phrase "learn from them" was processed. Uproar began with many insults being shouted back at the speaker. Words just as hurtful over thought as with traditional sound waves.
   
   And yet behind the uproar the senior being could sense something else. He sensed that the words of the young one was hardly unique amongst others of his age. Increasingly calls had been put forth for greater exploration of the races around them. Many pointed out that their home was well hidden enough that they would remain safe for many millennia to come. Why spend that time holding races back when you could observe them.
   
   Silence! The senior being boomed turning the space around him quiet. This one's idea has merit. At least for the Humans which are the far more fascinating species. For now, we will observe them in their natural environment.
   
   He had spoken, and all knew that further argument was impossible. Conversation now turned to how best to observe the Humans. All agreed that only small-scale observation, perhaps aboard one of their starships was for the best. It was also decided that the vessel would need to be subjected to both macro and micro level tests to fully understand Humans.
   
   Eventually it was worked out that a single observer would be dispatched to interact with the chosen vessel and its crew. And that it would be he that would execute any and all tests the vessel was subjected to. He would then report back his findings.
   
   But until such an individual could be selected and trained a few large tests were to be performed. Some new, others time tested. One or two of which had even been conducted already on Humanity, or at least Human vessels.
   
   After much debate all agreed and the tests were ordered to begin at once. As soon as a vessel was selected. One with a suitably large crew to give the tests as big a pool as possible to see the results.​

 

[Charles Markov]

Stardate 309063.8

Enterprise has left star base twelve after spending almost two months in berth while a hearing was held over our actions in the Larsan civil war. Both myself and vessel have been cleared of any blame for the events of that mission by a board of inquiry and we have been assigned a mission to star base ten to deliver hard copies of Starfleet command orders for the sector.

Enroute to the star base we received a message from the UES Antares, a scoutship which recently returned from a survey of the Priester cluster. In their message they claimed to have a survivor of a crashed civilian surveyor which suffered engine failure over one of the planets in the cluster. Due to our higher speed they have asked if we can take the survivor to star base ten. However, they have so far failed to give us any further information.

Antares is approaching Enterprise quickly and we shall take custody of this person as soon as the two ships have assumed a parallel course with one another. I wonder how this survivor managed to live for ten years on a barren and lifeless world like those of the Priester cluster. Surely this individual will require extensive physiatric treatment.

"UES Antares has confirmed parallel course with Enterprise sir," Lieutenant Commander Hikaru Sulu the ships flight officer in charge of her helm and navigation reported.

Kirk, who could see the same readouts as Sulu simply nodded and rose from his seat. "I will be in the transporter room to meet with the Antares captain, you have the conn mister Sulu."

Sulu nodded to this and rose to take the control chair in the center of the bridge. "Yes sir," was all he said as he began to transfer over control to himself.

Kirk disappeared into the turbolift at the back of the bride and ordered it to deck eight. As the doors closed he rubbed his eyes fighting a headache, something that despite hundreds of years modern medicine had yet to find a cure for.

It was a short ride from the bridge to deck eight and soon the lift slid to a halt and the doors opened. Kirk walked the short distance over to the transporter room and entered into the anteroom where he was greeted by Spock and a transporter tech.

"Captain," Spock said nodding to his commanding officer with either indifference or Vulcan lack of emotion.

"Good morning mister Spock, have you sorted out the fluctuation in the matter flow dilator?" Kirk asked returning the greeting and looking over into the small room where the transporter control pad and hardware were located.

"The problem if fixed, it was discovered that one of the dilator processors was flawed. It has been replaced with a new module and all tests indicate the transporter will function properly."

Kirk hoped Spock was right. At the best of times a transporter made him uncomfortable. And although irregular when they did occur transporter malfunctions were horrible. Either the device never rematerialized the individual, or did but in gruesome fashion. Every time he used the device pictures of malfunction victims came to his mind.

But Spock was not one to do anything half-way and if he said something was working then it more than likely exceeded Starfleet standards by a healthy margin. And the technician, a young woman named Albrecht, was quite capable as well.

"Antares signals ready captain," Albrecht said shortly after a beeping alert sounded on the control pad.

"Energize," Kirk ordered mentally crossing his fingers that the transporter worked.

He had nothing to worry about. In a blinding shimmer of light and energy the forms of three individuals materialised on the transporter pad. Two men wearing Starfleet uniforms, the ships captain and first officer, and a young teenager who looked out of place in somewhat large civilian clothing.

The three staggered as the transporter pad powered down, the full effect of being torn apart atom by atom never being a pleasant experience. However they seemed to recover quickly, the two Starfleet officers likely through training while the you man through the strength of youth was able to remain upright.

"They check out as clear sir," Albrecht reported. Kirk nodded in acknowledgement. From one Starfleet vessel to another the chances of foreign bacteria being discovered by the bio scanners built into the transporter were rare.

"Would you let us through miss Albrecht?" Kirk asked. She smiled at the question, as captain Kirk had no need to ask for anything ever, but he had long ago found that asking often got better results than simply commanding.

The doors from the anteroom into the transporter room proper swung open with a slight hiss of pressures matching and Kirk and Spock walked to the waiting visitors from Antares.

"Captain Fergusson?" Kirk called as the senior most of the two officers caught sight of him and Spock. He gave Kirk a look of slight surprise. A look he had become quite accustomed to over the past three months as much older captains saw how young he was.

"Kirk?" The older man called as if not quite believing that the man before him was captain of a heavy cruiser. Kirk nodded.

"My first officer commander Spock," Kirk said gesturing to his right where Spock had taken up position.

"My first, commander Lebance," Fergusson said the sight of a thirty-year-old captain and Vulcan in a Starfleet uniform beginning to register. Kirk wondered if the captain of Antares had even bothered to look up Enterprise.

Fergusson finally shook off the odd look from his eyes and placed his hand on the shoulder of the youngest man in the room. "This is Charlie, only survivor of the civilian surveyor Heralder."

The young man, who could scarcely have been much past fifteen smiled uncertainly, "captain," he said weakly.

It was Kirks turn to stare. Antares had not mentioned anything particular about the survivor they had found. Saying only that the away team had found a man amongst the wreckage.

Kirk ran through some mental math. Assuming he was fifteen then that would have put Charlie at a mere five years old at the time of the vessels crash. He tried not to judge the boy's parents to harshly for bringing a child out on a potentially dangerous mission to deep space.

The fact that there had been a survivor at all was astounding. But that he should be so young and seemingly so healthy was another matter in and of itself.

Kirk sensed some uneasiness on the part of Fergusson and Lebance, as if neither was telling everything they knew. Looking at the two Kirk also gathered that they would not be staying long.

As if reading his counterparts mind Fergusson spoke, "we must be getting back to Antares, we have been delayed significantly by this little diversion and must finish our survey mission."

"Of course," Spock said stepping forward to fill the void between the two groups of officers. "Do you have any medical records from your sickbay you wish to send over?" He asked eyeing both Charlie and the Antares crew with a cold eye.

Lebance spoke for his captain, "our medical department should have already sent a data packet over radio."

"Confirmed sir," Albrecht reported from the operator room. "Communications reports a message being sent about a minute ago that was marked for doctor McCoy."

That was not all that unusual. But something still made Kirk think Fergusson was not telling him everything. He refused to make eye contact and shifted his weight between feet constantly.

Perhaps sensing that Kirk had further questions he was not willing to answer Fergusson turned to Charlie, "these people will care for you now. They won't hurt you."

To this Charlie merely nodded, a look on his face somewhere between discomfort and joy. Fergusson and Lebance exchanged a glance Kirk could not see and then the captain of Antares spoke, "now we must be getting back. It was good to meet you captain."

"And you as well," kirk said not entirely sincerely.

"You may beam us back as soon as you are ready," Fergusson called to Albrecht who looked to Kirk. Without any reason to keep them he nodded to her.

It took a moment to warm the transporters back up and get a positive lock with the transporter room aboard Antares. When this had been done she signalled ready from her console.

"Energize!" Fergusson commanded and soon both he and commander Lebance had left the pad. Likely facing extreme discomfort as they rematerliazed back aboard Antares. Two uses of the transporter in such quick succession were not something the human body could bear on a regular basis.

Kirk and Spock were left alone in the transporter room with the boy Charlie who looked between them with some slight confusion. Finally he asked, "why are your ears so weird?"

"I am a Vulcan," Spock said stiffly. Eyebrow raised.

"He is not of Earth, the commander is an alien," Kirk said unsure how much Charlie understood of the galaxy and its many races. He could not have learned much in his time alone.

"I know what a Vulcan is!" Charlie exclaimed excitedly. "You see I used the ships memory banks to learn as much as I could. I bet I know lots more than most people seeing how all I had to do was learn."

Kirk wondered how the memory banks and at least one monitor from the Heralder had survived the crash. A thought Spock apparently shared, judging from the look he gave Kirk. But he decided this was not the time to ask about it. "You must be exhausted," he said instead. "We will have to do some medical scans and then we will assign you some guest quarters to sleep in."

Charlie nodded in understanding. His nod ended suddenly when yeoman Rand walked into view, his head jerked suddenly to one side and his eyes bulged.

"The yeoman will show you to sickbay," Kirk said returning Rand`s polite smile and shuffling the boy her way.

Charlie jerked back into reality, "you're not coming?" He asked in surprise.

Kirk did his best to ease the young man's fears, "I have other things to attend to, but the yeoman here is more than capable of taking you to our sickbay and then quarters."

He could tell his words had little effect, "I want to stay with you," Charlie protested.

Rand stepped in and took charge of the boy, "captain Kirk is a busy man with an entire starship to run, I won't hurt you. Promise."

Charlie seemed still uncertain but moved to follow Rand giving the yeoman a thorough lookover as the two left the transporter room.

"Curious," Spock commented as soon as the two had moved off.

"Its like he expected me to show him around personally," Kirk said in agreement.

"I was not only referring to the boy, the actions of captain Fergusson also lead to some questions." Spock gestured to the now vacant transporter pad.

Kirk was glad he was not the only one to sense something was off with the two other officers, "can you think of any reason the captain and first officer of the Antares would beam over to Enterprise, deliver a child and then beam back seconds later?" Kirk asked.

"They did claim to be in some hurry to get back to their survey mission," Spock suggested.

"Have you ever known a scout to be in a hurry to get back to a survey mission in a lifeless star cluster?" Kirk asked pointedly. Spock shook his head slightly after thinking for a few seconds.

"I have not, although perhaps Antares is involved in some pursuit that is not entirely legal in the Priester cluster and wish to get back to whatever it is as soon as possible."

Kirk, who had thought the same thing nodded, "certainly something to mention in a report," he said just before the comm panel beside the door beeped.

Walking the short distance Kirk thumbed the acceptance key, "Kirk here." He said in as formal a voice as he could manage.

"Captain this is the bridge," Sulu`s voice came through the speaker. "Just wanted to inform you that Antares has left our proximity at high warp and wishes to send you their regards."

"Acknowledged bridge," Kirk said. The notification was hardly unexpected given Fergusson's apparent hurry. Nor was their sending him regards, it was in fact something of a tradition within Starfleet. "Anything else?" He asked.

"Mister Scott request your presence in the reactor room, something about a minor field adjustment he wants to make." Sulu said with a hint of boredom coming into his voice. Kirk only smiled.

Commander Montgomery Scott, Enterprise`s chief engineer, was always wanting to make some adjustment or modify some piece of the ships hardware to give it marginally increased performance. Often somewhere in the range of a one to five percent boost. Kirk had grown used to such requests in the months since he first assumed control. "Tell him commander Spock and I will be down in a few minutes." He said.
​

 

[Charles Markov]

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Rand asked Charlie as the two of them left sickbay behind.

Rubbing his shoulder Charlie disagreed, "those needles hurt," he complained.

"Yes, but you lived through it and now doctor McCoy can say for sure that your healthy and none the worse for wear after going through what you did." Rand pointed out still maintaining a friendly tone. It was something she had found came in handy when she had dealt with her nieces and nephews during family reunions.

"I didn't like the doctor, he was mad," Charlie said still refusing to cheer up. "And I don't like needles. They gave me a few shots on Antares bigger than those and they really hurt!"

Rand guided Charlie to the turbolift and tried to come up with a suitable response to his outburst. None came to mind and instead she ordered the lift to deck five, the forward section.

"You actually have pretty good quarters, towards the front of the primary hull with good views and you will be very close to the forward recreational deck." Rand said trying to casually change the subject.

"Recreational deck?" Charlie asked the word sounding unfamiliar to his ears.

Rand was momentarily stunned, but then remembered the circumstances of the boy's life. "You know, fun, games and food. I`ll show you," she offered as the lift came to a stop.

Charlie was unsure but followed Rand out of the lift and to the short distance to the forward recreational deck. Informally known as Red One by most of the crew save a few holdouts.

As the doors opened Charlie gasped at the vast open space that appeared before him. The room was a massive two deck space with an upper promenade containing mostly dining booths overlooking both the three massive windows looking out to the space ahead of the ship, and the gaming area below on the lower deck.

"Its huge," he finally managed to say eyes still glued to the room before him.

"It's the largest room in the command hull," Rand said watching the excitement in the boy's eyes. She had felt something similar when she had first seen rec one, and to be honest the amazement had not yet entirely faded.

She showed Charlie a few of the different games that could be played at the big tables, he watched with intense interest with all of them. But he seemed to pay special attention when a cube building game came up. He even played it for a few minutes before moving on to the next game.

She also showed Charlie how to order different food from the automated system. The variety of dishes available to him seemed to good to believe and he spent perhaps twenty minutes doing nothing other than ordering again and again off the menu until eventually one of the cooks came personally to the table and asked him to stop.

That was the que for them to leave and with minimal prodding Rand managed to get Charlie out of rec one with promises that he would be able to go back many more times before they reached star base ten. She led him down the main corridor to a block of empty guest quarters.

She stopped in front of one of the larger cabins and used her authorisation to open the doors. "Its not the largest cabin we have, but it has a good view out ahead of the ship and easy access to the lift and rec one depending on where you want to go."

Charlie peered in the open room for a moment before he stepped in. Rand turned on the lights and showed him around, the room was rectangular in shape. With a small bedroom on one end separated from the main living space by a thin wall and a head complete with shower on the other end. The living space in between was big enough for a couch and entertainment centre with a little bit of floor left for walking around. It was about average for officers' quarters, and was far larger than her own quarters, which she shared with two other people.

"This is all mine?" Charlie said eyes wide. He wondered aimlessly around the room and finally plopped himself down on the couch and looked around. "Its so big."

Again Rand smiled, she was doing a lot of that, but Charlie was so sweet and innocent. Looking at every little thing in open wonder. Even little things like the shower seemed to be incredible to him.

"If you need anything use the comm, I will be off duty in a half hour, but someone will be able to help you."

"Your leaving?" Charlie was up off the couch and to the door in one nervous instant.

"I can't stay here," Rand laughed. Charlie sunk back into the chair dejectedly. Almost as if he was deflating. Rand could not help but feel sorry. "Look," she said moving to sit down next to him. "I will be back tomorrow afternoon to check up on you. You can go to rec one for breakfast if you like and meet me back here noonish," she suggested.

"Ok, I can live with that," Charlie said clearly not entirely happy to be separated from practically the only person he knew on the ship, but he seemed to accept that Rand could not spend every second of every day with him. "Just please don't forget about me," he pleaded.

"How could I forget about you?" Rand asked shaking her head. "Trust me you are the most interesting person I have met since I was assigned to Enterprise. It will take me a lot longer than a night to forget about you."

Charlie again brightened and walked Rand to the door, he was already chatting about what he would do in the morning once he woke up, Rand gave him access to the ships computer, basic level, before she left and Charlie spent some hours reading as much as he could about the ship and making plans for what he would explore in the morning.

So engrossed was he in what he was reading that he fell asleep at the computer terminal hunched over the display. Sometime in the middle of the night he woke up with a start only to realise what he had done and move to the bed. Where he soon fell back asleep.



Charlie woke up early the next morning and after consuming nearly a dozen fried eggs, quarter pound of bacon and a litre of coffee in the span of fifteen minutes he left rec one and began to wonder around the ship. Not every section of the vast Enterprise was accessible to him, which Charlie thought made sense. Wouldn't want just anybody wondering into what had to be really dangerous places.

He eventually got the turbolift working and it took him all around the ship, where he was allowed to go. He visited the sickbay again, though only long enough to watch the doctor perform a quick exam. He then wondered around the scientific department for around an hour, looking into the various laboratories and speaking with a number of crew when he saw them.



Captain Kirk was making his daily inspection, really just wondering around from one department to the other and speaking with the personnel on duty for a bit. It was nothing as official as a dress inspection or even his weekly reviews and all he spoke to were well at ease, not really worried about impressing their captain to much. Just doing their job and answering any of his questions.

In each department he spoke with the senior most officer in overall charge of it. Engineering had seen Kirk walk with Scotty for almost an hour, while the ships quartermaster had warranted only a ten-minute walk.

The science department under Spock Kirk hoped would take somewhere in between the two extremes. Located on decks two, three, four and five most of the science labs were close together and hardly staffed this early in the morning.

They had just toured the stellar cartography and planetary geology labs and were on their way to the biosciences department when they encountered Charlie around a corner. The young boy was startled, but recovered quickly and stammered out a greeting to Kirk and Spock.

"Exploring?" Kirk asked seeing no one with him. Not that anyone needed to accompany the child, there was not really much trouble he could get into that Kirk could think of in the primary hull.

"Yes sir, miss Rand said we could have lunch together in the afternoon and that I may like to see some of the ship before then."

It was a good suggestion, and one that the yeoman had likely made thinking it would be good for him to adjust to his changed circumstances if he were aloud some time alone. Spock obviously thought otherwise. "You have been simply walking the corridors of the ship? Without any guide or destination in mind?" He asked.

"I had hoped for a look at the bridge, but I could not get there. The computer said something about clearance," Charlie answered looking not at Spock, but at Kirk. "Could you give me a tour captain?" He asked brightening. Kirk noted that he seemed to go from low to high rather often. A side effect of the years of isolation?

"I`m afraid I have some other business to attend to currently. Maybe after you have lunch with yeoman Rand you and her can meet with me? I should be free and would love to give you a tour of the ship. How does that sound?"

"It sounds great!" Charlie yelled, startling Kirk and resulting in a raised eyebrow from Spock who looked over the child with an examining eye. Charlie noticed and gave back a look of his own, frowning at something.

Kirk glanced at the old-fashioned watch he usually wore on special occasions but had put on this morning. "You had better head for rec one soon, its almost eleven hundred and thirty hours," he said wondering if Charlie, or Spock for that matter knew how to read a watch with hands. In a completely digital age it was a rare skill for a person to have.

Charlie jumped and excused himself from Kirk and Spock's company. He did not want to be late, he even asked for the best way to the turbolift as he ran off. Not waiting for Spock's answer before he had disappeared down a long hallway.

"He seems quite attached to the yeoman," Spock said once Charlie was gone. "And also, you."

I think he may have a slight crush on Rand, she is very pretty. But he will get over it once he gets to star base ten and meets girls his own age. And I have no idea what you are talking about," Kirk turned back towards the direction of biosciences and shook his head. Though Spock did make a point, Charlie seemed very happy at the idea of Kirk giving him a tour.

"He may even look up to you as a father figure, the boy seemed not to like captain Fergusson all that much."

Kirk had noted Charlie`s seeming dislike of the captain of the Antares as well, but he did not think Charlie saw him as anything other than a starship captain. And he was not comfortable of anyone seeing him as a father. A feeling which had nothing to do with his age.

"I think you have no idea about fathers," Kirk said not wanting to talk about it anymore. Deciding to change the subject he asked, "who is on duty in biosciences right now?"



Charlie had just about made it to rec one when he realised how he would look if he went storming through the door's red in the face and out of breath. Stopping to take a breath he pushed his mind ahead and into the massive room ahead. A trick he had learned during his time as a castaway, a term he had learned in an old book.

Charlie smiled at the memory of learning the trick, his benefactors, another word he had learned from old books, had taught him it when he was rather young. Likely not to long after initially climbing out of the escape pod. The ability to extend his mind around him had come in handy a number of times since then. Allowing him to sense dangerous predators long before they could even see him. And to sneak undetected upon prey.

When he had been first rescued he had assumed all humans had this ability, but after spending time on Antares with its mean captain and crew he had decided otherwise, not only did they seem to lack the ability, but they seemed unaware he possessed it at all.

Antares had been a bad place, its crew were all older and grumpy. They did not like him, and after he tested some of his abilities on the ship's surgeon. Nothing serious, just a prank, they had become terrified of him, the ships captain had even threatened him if he did anything like that again.

When he learned he was going to be put aboard Enterprise he had decided to hide his abilities from these new people and had taken steps to prevent Antares from relaying any mention of his abilities.

All this thinking was disrupting his concentration and so, breath nearly caught, he focused on Rand. Her mind was happy, appearing as a warm light. But underneath it was a nervousness, likely her wondering if he would come. Wouldn't she be surprised to hear where he had been.

He entered the room and looked around, he could sense she was close, but he had never been able to clearly see where a being was. Regardless he soon located her and he stopped dead in his tracks.

She was with a group of people, three to be exact, two men and another woman. And then Charlie got a clear sense on her emotion, it was happiness, but not at the thought of seeing him, rather she was happy about being in the presence of one of the men, the tall dark haired one sitting in front of her.

 

[Charles Markov]

Rand was enjoying a breakfast with her roommate Nancy and two others, one of whom, Steve Pratt, she had dated a few times, while she waited for Charlie. A scream at the back of rec one caused her to raise her head. She saw Charlie storming her way red faced and sputtering.

She rose to meet him confused and mildly scared. She tried to ask him what was wrong, instead he simply brushed past her and continued on to Steve. Grabbing the much taller man it initially appeared to Rand that the boy was biting off more than he could chew. Not that she understood why he was doing it in the first place.

Steve clearly thought so as well and tried to pry himself away from the much smaller teenager. When that failed, and Charlie proved to have to tight a grip he grabbed the young man and tossed him to the ground, "call security," he told Rand standing over Charlie. Rand turned and ran to the comm panel mounted in the wall.

She turned when she heard Steve suddenly scream. She had just time to see her friend consumed in pale red light, clearly in agony, and then in a blink of red-white light he was replaced with a small lizard which scampered away towards the safety of the dark recesses underneath the tables.

"You can't love him!" Charlie screamed as chaos engulfed rec one. Men and women rushing to get away from whatever Charlie was. The smell of fear and panic filled the room and screams from at least one woman could be heard.

"I had to!" Charlie moaned moving towards Rand. Thinking only that she had to get away she turned and ran as fast as she could, pursued by Charlie who cried for her from a few meters behind her.

She had not idea how long she had run for until Charlie`s screams ceased to follow her. But eventually she ran into the captain and commander Spock who had likely just finished their tour of the ship.

Kirk reached out and grabbed her, she nearly ran right past them. "What is it yeoman?" He asked noticing the fear in her eyes.

Rand struggled for a moment, but eventually she realized she was safe. Collapsing into Kirks embrace she sobbed, "Charlie! Charlie saw me with Steve and turned him into a lizard!"

"A lizard?" Spock asked somewhere between disbelief and shock. Rand did not have time to correct him as alarms throughout the ship began to blare as reports of the occurrence reached the bridge.

"Where is Charlie?" Kirk asked.

"I don't know, last I saw him he was following me up the stairwell between E and F deck." Rand was frightened by the alarms, but managed to regain some of her composure. She shook off Kirk and took a deep breath. "Would you like me to help look for him?" She asked, not out of any desire to be anywhere near him. But because she followed orders, no matter how they made her feel.

Kirk had other ideas, "get her to the bridge, she can help search for Charlie," Kirk ordered Spock. "I`m going to try to talk to him, maybe I can calm him down."

Spock moved to comply, guiding Rand towards a turbolift. But he had to ask, "what makes you think you will be able to calm the child?"

"You said that he may see me as a father figure, maybe I can use that to calm him." Kirk felt silly answering, but he had to try talking to him before resorting to a more permanent solution. Spock understood that and nodded.

Kirk ran to a comm panel and keyed for the bridge. "Captain we were just trying to alert you! It seems that Charlie has some kind of mental powers," Lieutenant Samuel, a ranking weapons specialist who had been acting as interim tactical officer said in a blur of words.

"I know, I have sent commander Spock and yeoman Rand away, they will be on the bridge shortly. Work with mister Spock and see if you can locate Charlie, also send a security team to the forward stairwell on E deck. I will meet them there." Kirk said cutting off anything else Samuel had to say.

A moment pause and Samuel spoke again, "yes sir, a team is on their way and we will be waiting for commander Spock."

"Thank you!" Kirk said into the comm before rushing off in the direction of the stairwell. Alarms ringing in his ears he felt naked running towards something that could potentially be dangerous without a weapon. Then again, he did not know how Charlie would respond to seeing him with a weapon in hand.



Charlie had stopped chasing after Rand about halfway to the stairwell and began to cry. He did not really know why, partly it was out of anger at himself for using his powers in such a public way. Partly it was out of regret for his actions, he had basically destroyed any feelings Rand may have ever had for him.

Mostly he cried for the likely repercussions for his actions. He could never live a normal life now. They would take him and study him, or throw him into prison. His benefactors would not be happy either, they had warned him that he should be careful using the gifts they had given him. Make sure he never used them obviously or to give himself to great an advantage. This counted as an obvious use of his powers.

But then again, his benefactors had warned, not threatened him. Perhaps he was beyond their reach now. Afterall he had not heard anything from them since leaving the planet. Perhaps he could use his powers and not attract their attention.

A thought suddenly occurred to him, the tales of past conquerors of the past came to mind. Alexander the great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, Khan Singh and others. They had each amassed huge empires through personal power and military might. And not one of these men of the past had wielded the power he had.

As a young boy living in exile he had dreamed of becoming one of these conquerors. With millions, perhaps billions living under his control. Without a single person to talk to for so long it had seemed like an impossible dream. But now?

Further thoughts were interrupted by the sense of a person coming his way fast. Extending his mind towards the individual Charlie knew it was captain Kirk. He was worried, worried but not frightened. Which both confused and somewhat angered Charlie. Why should Kirk not fear him? He had already demonstrated his tremendous mental powers, even if only a fraction of their full potential. Any normal human should be cowering in some dark corner from him.

It was strange Charlie thought. Just minutes prior such a thought as people cowering before him would have caused a massive panic attack. Now? Now such thoughts made him smile.



Kirk paused a sudden chill running down his back. The stairwell had been empty, without even a trace of the boy. Now on E deck something moved around the corner ahead of him.

It was Charlie, tears streaming down his face. Kirk abruptly stopped some four metres away. "Charlie," he said putting as much compassion and concern as he could into his voice. Charlie to came to a stop and looked up at him. Kirk gulped in a breath of air.

"I don't know how you did it, but you need to turn the man back from a lizard if you can," he said getting no reaction from Charlie. "You aren't in any trouble yet, but you will need to explain how you have these powers. Are you really human?"

Something about Kirks mental sense shifted in Charlie`s mind. And there was something in the way he had said human, in his mind Kirk saw Charlie as different. Which he was.

Still it was this feeling of segregation, or differentness that the captain and crew of the Antares had felt towards him. And from the mental sense of other members of the crew Charlie knew that all felt the same way.

Well, this time he could not deal the same way with Enterprise as he had Antares. Even if he could get aboard another vessel he doubted he could exert the necessary control from a such a great distance over so many minds. He didn't have the mental discipline for it. No it seemed that people would see him this way from now on.

Charlie didn't even care, he had grown in the past few hours and come to realise that if he couldn't be one of them he could just as easily be their leader. Using the same fear as Rand had he could control millions, while with his closer companions he could use a more direct control.

"I am human captain," Charlie said finally. Another shiver ran down Kirks back, the boys face and voice had changed. His posture as well had become straighter, more confident. It was as if he had made a sudden decision. Kirk had a feeling it would not be pleasant.

"Perhaps human is not the right word captain," Charlie continued. "You see I am human in body, but mentally I am far superior. Perhaps superhuman. Like the heroes and villains in old comic books."

Kirk was familiar with some of the stories he spoke of, and Charlie was talking more like a Villain. One without a corresponding hero to best him. "Don't do anything further, we can help you," Kirk offered. Charlie laughed.

At that moment four security personnel came around the corner weapons at the ready. Charlie heard them coming, he had been distracted by Kirk. Turning he caught sight of the weapons and reacted. The four men plus Kirk suddenly dropped to the floor gasping in pain as waves of flame engulfed their bodies. Or so it felt to them.

Charlie smiled. He had done this illusion before on the small animals around the wreck site. With some disappointment he felt that the feeling was much the same as those tiny creatures had felt. He got the sense of pain and fright, not anything more advanced. Their bodies also wriggled in much the same way as animals.

Charlie watched them for a few minutes as he contemplated his next move smiling throughout their intense agony. Only after making a decision did he leave them, putting them to sleep with a wave of mental energy and leaving them in the hall where they had fell. Weapons and all, he had no use for such things.



On the bridge things were not going well. The ship was in turmoil as frantic reports came in from all sections, flowing the comms board and forcing Uhura to call in an assistant to help her sort through the volume of reports.

There was no word from the captain. In fact the security team he had asked for was also overdue for a report. Spock had sent another team to investigate. But they had yet to find anything.

The only thing Spock was sure of was that Charlie was not anywhere near rec one. Possible not even in the primary hull. Or even the ship. Spock had locked down all sections immediately after arriving on the bridge, and begun a section by section search of the ship for the child. However Enterprise was a big ship. And only ten percent of the ship had so far been searched.

On top of it all Uhura had received a report from the UES Tijger, a destroyer which responded to a distress call from UES Antares. Tijger reported the entire ship destroyed, apparently in a reactor meltdown. There were no survivors.

Spock did not have time to consider the loss of Antares. Although he considered it odd that a ship belonging to a class with a generally excellent reactor safety record. Indeed, reactor meltdowns of the type which had consumed Antares were exceedingly rare, Spock was far busier with other business and so filed that away for future contemplation.

Lieutenant Uhura caught his attention and he put down a report from the ships gunnery department which said Charlie was nowhere in their section and came over. "They found the captain and security team on E deck. They were on the floor and unresponsive. The team reports they have been rushed to sickbay."

"Were their any wounds or phaser burns apparent?" Spock asked hoping the boy had not managed to somehow get his hands on a phaser. Such a weapon in the hands of an inexperienced user could be disastrous. Fortunately Uhura shook her head.

"It doesn't appear so, and the team reported that all four phaser rifles were with the original team and the captain."

"The team and captain were together?" Spock asked. Uhura nodded.

"Yes sir they were, though the team and Kirk were facing eachother. Perhaps they found Charlie and he did this to them?" She suggested. Spock had come to the same conclusion.

"What is their condition?" He asked.

"Sickbay just says they are unresponsive, doctor McCoy is trying to revive them, he warns though that he is not sure how much stress that would cause. Apparently their nervous systems have taken quite a beating."

Spock made a decision, "Inform doctor McCoy that I will be there shortly, and that he is to do everything he can to resuscitate the captain and security team. They may have information vital to our apprehension of the boy."

Spock did not consider his order overly harsh. McCoy would not do anything that would kill them. And any brain damage could be repaired once they reached star base ten.

Unfortunately doctor McCoy did not think along similar lines to Spock. "I won't do it!" He said for the fifth time by Spock's count. "Its dangerous and I won't do it!" A sixth time. Spock did not have time to debate the matter and so with a sigh brought his full demeanour to bear.

"Doctor I haven't time to discuss this matter with you, if you do not comply with my orders I will relieve you of duty and have one of your orderlies wake them. And before you mention and regulations which you feel may hold me back from such action I remind you of regulation 223C, which gives me complete authority in situations where the captain is dead or otherwise incapacitated."

"This is going in a full report!" McCoy shouted. But the desire to argue had left his eyes and he had injected Kirk and the four security men with a powerful stimulant which quickly brought them into full consciousness.

Blinking at the sudden rush of light Kirk gasped suddenly for breath and thrashed around only for McCoy to be by his side hypospray at the ready. "Easy Jim its ok, your fine," the doctor said managing to calm the captain without using whatever was in the hypo.

"What happened?" Kirk asked a confused look on his face as he took his change of surroundings in. "Last thing I remember was Charlie using some kind of torture on me, it felt like I was being burned alive!" He tore at his shirt to get a look at his chest, only to see pale unburnt skin.

"Curious," Spock muttered from beside Kirks bed. McCoy shot him a dirty look, Kirk turned, something about the tone of his first officer.

"Something on your mind mister Spock?" He asked.

Spock hesitated, it had really only been a passing thought. And an ill-advised remark. But he could not tell his captain it was nothing. "A thought captain about the boy Charlies apparent mental abilities." Kirk prodded him to say more with a look of impatience. "Humans possess some basic level of telepathic and mental abilities, about the norm for most beings. Far below the abilities of the average Vulcan."

"What a nice way to mention your superior mental capabilities, do you have a point?" McCoy asked. Spock decided it best to ignore him, casting simply a disparaging glance and raised eyebrow his way before continuing.

"It is unlikely that the boy developed these abilities on his own during his years of isolation. His demonstrated abilities outstrip even the strongest Vulcan mental powers that I am aware of by a significant margin. He had even showed substantial ability to project his power over vast distances."

"He had?" Kirk asked trying to think of an example where Charlie had done that.

"You were unconscious at the time captain, but we received word from the UES Tijger that Antares suffered an apparent reactor malfunction. Normally such a disaster would be assumed to be the result of a tragic accident or faulty engine components. However, given Charlies apparent dislike or even hatred for the ship I find it unlikely that this is a coincidental destruction."

"How far away was Antares Spock?" Kirk asked a knot forming in his chest as he pondered the true power of the boy.

"Anywhere from sixteen to thirty lightyears captain. It is difficult to day given our two divergent courses and uncertain timeline." Spock answered without a moments pause.

Playing back the conversation he had just had with Spock as a way to make sure his brain was working Kirk caught something, "you said you thought it unlikely that Charlie developed these powers on his own. How would you guess he got them?"

"Many older spacefaring species speak of a highly advanced civilization whose members possessed impressive mental capacity. Tales of vaporizing warships, controlling weather with mere thought and teleportation without any visible technology are spoken of."
"Your blaming all this on the bogey man Spock! You must be grasping at straws!" McCoy said as he walked away towards the beeping comm.

Spock waited for the doctor to be out of earshot before continuing, and even then he studied Kirks face intently. He fully realized that what he was saying sounded like a thin answer, and it was if he was being honest with himself. But it was the only thing he could think of that began to make any of this make sense.

"You think some remnant of this ancient race survived and imbued Charlie with these powers? Perhaps even his essence?" Kirk asked before Spock could speak.

"I do. It is also possible that whatever gave Charlie these powers intended for the boy to behave this way as a means of accomplishing some ultimate goal." Spock frowned, something about the way McCoy stood over the comm gave him pause. Unable to make out any words from his conversation Spock stopped talking to observe McCoy`s body language.

Kirk caught on and he to turned his head to watch the doctor. "something the matter?" He asked after a moment. McCoy flinched and hastily severed the connection to whatever he was listening to.

"Charlie is on the bridge, that was Sulu asking what your condition was. He came in while I was telling Sulu that you were more or less stable, all I heard was Sulu calling his name and then screaming." McCoy said ashen and shaking.

Before anyone could say anything further a shipwide alert sounded, causing both Kirk and McCoy to jump.

"ATTENTION THIS IS A SHIPWIDE ANNOUNCEMENT INFORMING YOU THAT I, CHARLIE HAVE TAKEN OVER ENTERPRISE AND AM SETTING THE SHIP ON A COURSE FOR EARTH."

Dazzled looks were exchanged between Kirk and McCoy, Kirk turned to Spock to see that the other was paying rapt attention to the speaker, eyes almost glazed over. Suddenly he jerked sideways and nearly fell to the ground. For a moment Kirk wondered what was going on, he was about to ask Spock if he was alright when Charlie began again.

"I HAVE DECIDED TO USE MY POWERS, A MERE FRACTION OF WHICH YOU ARE AWARE OF, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE HUMAN RACE. HEREBY I DECLARE MYSELF EMPEROR OF THE GALAXY AND CHAMPION OF HUMANITY.

IT IS MY INTENTION AFTER GAINING CONTROL OF EARTH TO LEAD US IN A CAMPAIGN AGAINST THOSE WHO WOULD DEFY MY RULE. ANY AND ALL WHO OPPOSE ME WILL BE SWIFTLY DESTROYED. THAT IS ALL FOR NOW."
​

 

[Charles Markov]

"Emperor of the galaxy?" Kirk stammered unable to even comprehend what Charlie had just declared. With a sickening thought he realized that Charlie likely thought himself fully capable of backing up such a claim.

He wondered at the silence in the room and looked around. Only to see that everyone besides him and Spock was lying motionless on the floor, including McCoy.

Spock looked around him, "Curious," he muttered breathlessly.

"What has he done?" Kirk asked running over to McCoy and shaking him violently in an attempt to wake him. "Bones!" He screamed in his friends' ear to no avail. It did nothing, but at least Kirk could feel him breathing.

Taking the more pragmatic approach Spock was scanning nurse Chapel, McCoy`s chief assistant, with a bioscan instrument. "Steady pulse, regular breathing and normal brain activity."

"He didn't kill them he merely put them to sleep." Kirk finished for Spock setting McCoy down as gently as he could back onto the deck. The doctor was his friend, but Kirk wasn't about to lift that much deadweight onto a bed.

"I wonder why you are unaffected," Spock wondered aloud. "I felt him probing me for a moment, but it would appear that he is unable to control me as he controlled the rest of the ships crew." He gave Kirk a very peculiar look. "Did you feel anything odd during the announcement by our new emperor?" Spock asked.

Somewhat taken aback by what he assumed was an attempt at humour Kirk thought back. "Now that you mention it," he said shivering. "I did for a moment feel like someone was watching me. Almost like someone was right behind me and I could feel their breath on my neck."

"Perhaps your proximity to me renders Charlie unable to control your brain?" Spock theorised. Something Kirk knew the half Vulcan did not like to do without at least some evidence.

"I`ll stick close to you," Kirk said moving to stand less than a metre from Spock in case his theory was correct.

"That would imply that you have a plan of action to neutralise the boy," Spock said not being entirely comfortable with the look in his captains' eye. "Would that assumption be correct?" He asked.

"Kirk looked around. "You could say that," he said not giving anything away that he may be planning. He doubted Charlie would be listening, but it was still he felt a safe precaution. "We need to move, preferably as out of sight as possible."

"The Jeffries tubes?" Spock suggested. Kirk paused. Although the Jeffries tube network connected virtually the entire ship it was a tangled mess and it was easy to get lost.

However, he was with Spock who in addition to having served for over five years aboard Enterprise also had an eidetic memory and habit of memorizing different parts of the ship. And the worst thing that could happen was that they were caught and killed. Hardly a different fate from being caught still in sickbay.

"Let's go," he said looking around sickbay for some form of weapon. A phaser would have been nice, but he settled for a scalpel. Casting a last look back as Bones he hoped Charlie was not controlling any of the crew, and that he would not force any of them to try to kill either him or Spock.



Charlie smiled as he sat down in the captain's chair in the center of the bridge. Around him the ships crew worked like automatons to carry out his bidding, bringing the ship to the center of human civilization. Earth, where his reign over the galaxy would begin.

His announcement had sent a surge of adrenaline through his body, never before had he done anything like that. Speaking to so many people and controlling so many minds. It had been hard, he had not even been sure he could do it. But though he strained to his mental limits he succeeded in gaining control over the hundred or so minds he needed to operate the ship and incapacitate those whom were unnecessary.

He had learned some important things from the experience and was eagre to put what he had learned to the test upon the next ship he encountered.

For instance, he learned that he did not need to exert complete control over every mind he touched at all times. Simply taking over and giving them a task was sufficient, after their task was completed the person would stand quietly until given a new job. Helpful if he were to take over entire planets and fleets of starships. He was working on making it so when their task was completed the individual would carry on with their lives to prevent someone he forgot about just standing there until they died. But for the moment it worked just fine.

He had also learned that his mental powers were not universal. During his announcement he had sensed some resistance to his power from one person somewhere in the ship, however he had been to distracted to pay much attention to this individual.

Now though he had ordered a shipwide search. Charlie doubted that one lone individual could do much to the ship, but still it would not do to have someone running around the ship that he could not control. Charlie had ordered that all crew be accounted for to determine who it was that he could not control. The count was still underway, but Charlie had his suspicions as to who it was.

The alien, Spock. Charlie had been unable to read his mind on their first meeting, even pushing back his own mental probe with apparent ease. Charlie had severed the connection before the other learned anything, but it was enough to leave an impression.

Charlie had read all he could on Vulcans, there wasn't much. The ships database not being an all-encompassing encyclopedia of galactic knowledge. But it had mentioned that Vulcans possessed some limited psionic powers.

Once he was caught Charlie would like to see if he could force control over him. Or if Vulcan mental abilities were to strong for him to overcome. It would be a useful test before any attempts were made to take over the Vulcans which it seemed possessed a large empire of their own and a military to match. If he could not take over their minds directly it may be better to conquer other races and build up his strength before taking them on.

But that was not something that he would have to worry about for some time. For the moment Enterprise was still days away from the nearest Earth outpost. And months away from the planet itself. There would be plenty to do in the meantime. Charlie would be happy for the moment with just the single Vulcan to play with.



Enterprise was big. Very big. Kirk had never really known the true size of the ship until he was crawling through her maintenance crawlspaces on his hands and knees with only his first officer's hind quarters to look at. Every time he began to doubt that Spock knew the way the commander would say something to the effect of "we are passing beneath the water processing plant" to calm Kirk.

They had just climbed down eleven decks from the primary hull to the service hull which housed the ships reactor, shuttle bays and cargo handling areas. All the while being neither found, nor running into a sealed bulkhead.

Kirk wondered at that. If it were him and he were looking for someone the first thing Kirk would do is seal off all Jeffries tubes to prevent anyone using them to evade search teams. The fact that this had not been done implied that Charlie was directly controlling the minds of the ships crew and that they were not able to suggest any possible courses of action.

"We are nearly there," Spock said suddenly coming to a stop at an intersection. Kirk had not been paying all that much attention and nearly ran into the Vulcans feet. And not for the first time either.

"How much farther?" Kirk asked. His knees hurt, his arms hurt, and his neck hurt and he was becoming increasingly claustrophobic surrounded by the metal of the Jeffries tubes.

"Not to great a distance, we are just passing the deflector control room, auxiliary control should be just a few more meters ahead and then a few decks down." Spock was confident, much more so than Kirk.

His first officer was correct however and in just a few minutes they emerged cautiously from the Jeffries tubes and into the corridor outside of auxiliary control, the ships backup bridge buried deep inside the ship. No one was guarding the entrance, something Kirk would have done for certain.

The doors were not even locked either, admitting Kirk and Spock with a quiet hiss of equalizing atmospheres. For a moment Kirk entertained the notion that Charlie had done this deliberately to trap them both. But as both he and Spock began to call up different ships systems he realized that the boy was either unable to control the people necessary to do that or had not considered the possibility.

"Captain may I inquire at this point what exactly you plan to do now that we are in auxiliary control?" Spock asked without even looking up from the engineering station which he was in the middle of bringing online.

This was going to be the difficult part, neither of his plans were especially good ones. But he had been unable to think of one that was better in the time it had taken them to crawl their way here. And if Spock objected now or refused to follow Kirk, he was not at all sure what he would do.

Giving it his best shot Kirk answered, "I have two plans mister Spock. One of them which I will call plan A does not involve us dying. The other and far less appealing, which I have named plan B does involve our deaths. Which would you like to hear first?" Kirk asked.

If Spock felt any surprise at the frankness of his captain he hid it well, "lets begin with your plan A." He requested finally turning to face him. Kirk said a silent prayer and began to explain his plan. Spock just listened and when it was done agreed to start with plan A and see where that got them.



"Your mightiness!" Sulu said almost drunkenly from the helm station. He had been at his post for roughly fourteen hours by this point that Charlie knew of and his body was beginning to protest, his mind as well. In his own mind Charlie could feel Sulu`s body ache.

And he was not the only one to be in such a position. All around him, not only on the bridge, but the rest of the ship as well, crew which had been at their posts for double or even triple shifts urged to be relieved of their duties and sleep. However Charlie could not do that as the strain of compelling so many minds to sleep while simultaneously calling replacements to pick up their slumbering comrades shifts was too much for him.

Truth be told Charlie was in little better shape than those under his control. He had not slept just as long as Sulu, and his mind had been under significantly more stress during that time. He was struggling to keep his own eyes open.

"What is it?" He asked wondering how the ship would manage while he slept.

"Mightiness someone seems to be attempting to access the ships control systems from auxiliary control. I am being locked out of my station!" Sulu said slurring his r`s while his s`s at the same time degenerated into a single drawn out hiss sound.

Charlie doublechecked Sulu only to find that indeed someone was accessing the ships systems from Enterprises auxiliary control room. And doing a very good job of it as well. Just as soon as Charlie had confirmed what was happening his console went dark, its functions transferred over to auxiliary control.

Mind racing Charlie tried to think about what was going on. He knew from looking through the ships manuals that it was impossible for the ship to be controlled entirely from the bridge, he assumed the same was true of auxiliary control.

However, with control of the ships systems a few people could send or receive messages via the ships communications equipment. Or shut down certain systems remotely.

"Tell the engine room to shunt all computer functions into backups!" Charlie roared reaching over Sulu`s shoulder to do it himself. A dozen other orders flew in the next minute both verbal and mental. Adrenaline allowed him to work almost as fast as usual and soon he was receiving reports that his efforts to block out auxiliary control from the ship had succeeded.

Without computer control it would be impossible for anyone to do much in the auxiliary control room. A team of the ship's security team were awoken to trap whoever was in the room there until Charlie arrived.

After ensuring that the ship would continue on its course Charlie left the bridge in the care of its half-asleep automatons and made his way to auxiliary control. Only getting himself lost twice but managing each time to get back on track before he was too far away.

 

[Charles Markov]

Badha`a! Kirk swore putting the limited Arabic he knew to good use for once. He had just been locked out of the main computer and alerts showed that other ships systems had been shunted to backups from the bridge.

"It would appear that plan A has failed captain." Spock said sombrely, far more sombre than usual.

Kirk swore again, this time using stronger language. Plan A had involved crippling the ships engines and shutting down the turbolifts across the ship. Perhaps even jettisoning the bridge module from the ship and then sending a signal to Starfleet command informing them of recent developments.

But without computer control that was impossible. Another spat of cursing, this time English and Spanish profanity lacing the earlier Arabic, lasting some seconds before dying down.

"Plan B?" Spock asked voice deep.

Without any plan C springing to mind Kirk nodded, plan B." He said moving over to the console directly behind the compact helm/conn station in the center of the bridge. There they began to input a series of codes into the computer mainframe.



Charlie arrived outside of auxiliary control with a frown on his face. This was clearly the work of the Vulcan, the one called Spock. Extending his mind into the room Charlie could sense him working, sense him notice his presence and disregard it. And could sense the cold resolve behind the mind.

Charlie could sense something else in the room as well. Another. Although he was unsure of the identity of this additional man Charlie was certain that his proximity to the Vulcan was the reason he was not under his power.

"Mightiness what are you orders?" The leader of the security team asked. He and his men stood ready just outside the entrance in a clump. Phasers trained at the door and primed.

Charlie was cold in his reply, "destroy them."



"A nice little trap isn't it?" Kirk asked smirking at the monitor which showed a mass of men standing outside the door to auxiliary control. Clumped like they were they would be an easy target for the flash grenade Kirk had placed outside earlier.

"Indeed," Spock said putting in the last of his codes. Silently the computer flashed once before asking for final verbal confirmation of the orders input into it. A final failsafe designed to give the people giving the order time to reconsider.

Kirk breathed in deeply and said what would likely prove to be his final words. "Computer begin autodestruct of main reactor." He turned to face Spock.

"Confirm computer." Spock said. The computer again blinked and a ten-minute countdown, enough time for the ships crew to evacuate to escape pods, began.

"Are you ready sir?" Spock asked. Kirk nodded.



Outside the flash grenade did its job well. Sending most members of the team off in many directions and knocking most of them out instantly, though not killing them.

Standing some seven metres away Charlie was spared the worst effects of the blast, only belatedly realising that he should have spread his security team around the door. Head ringing, he two figured walking calmly out of auxiliary control. Face white with pain and rage he charged them sending waves of mental power the way of the Vulcan and Kirk.

Kirk fell to the floor, Spock's shielding vanishing beneath Charlies onslaught. Again it felt as if her were being burnt alive. On his right Kirk could just barely make out Spock who appeared to be undergoing a similar amount of pain.

Neither had counted on Charlie being there. They had both taken the gamble that no further security personnel would be outside the blast radius of the flash grenade. And that both of them would have time to make it to the escape pods further down the hall.

Truthfully Kirk had not felt as if either he or Spock deserved to survive after condemning the ship and her crew to death. However, Spock had argued that someone would have to survive to explain what had happened. Kirk had taken comfort in the fact that even in the unlikely event their pod was found it would likely be months after the fact. By which point both would have likely died from lack of oxygen. A pod having only enough for a few weeks.

At least this way Kirk thought, he would die before his crew and likely Charlie would have no idea what it was that killed him and put a stop to his plans for galactic domination.



Charlie reached Kirk and began to pummel him. Kicking, punching, gouging and biting the man even as he writhed on the floor incapacitated from his mental torture.

Reading his thoughts Charlie knew the ship was doomed. Its crew doomed. And he alongside it. And there was nothing he could do about it. So far as he knew there was no way to stop an autodestruct sequence once it had begun.

And so, he hit the captain a dull sense of defeat tugging at his throat making him want to cry. But Charlie had read that for a man to die crying he was not a man at all. And so instead he decided to beat first Kirk, and then Spock to death until the ship exploded around him.



The pain was incredible. Spock had trained to withstand a fair degree of pain. And typically Vulcans had a high pain threshold to begin with. But this was something else entirely. To Spock it felt like every single atom in his body was being ripped apart all at once. Dimly Spock wondered if pain worse than this could possibly be felt.

Suddenly the pain ceased and Spock collapsed in a heap outside of auxiliary control. He nearly passed out when he noticed someone else still screaming. Turning first to Kirk and seeing that the captain was also on the floor immobile he then noticed a pale pink light.

Eyes straining Spock looked at the source of the light. Less than two metres in front of him Charlie was hanging suspended in a tangled web of energy screaming and pleading with some unseen power. And that was the last thing he saw before passing out.



YOU HAVE GONE AGAINST OUR ORDERS AND USED YOUR POWERS LIKE A GOD! A voice thundered in Charlies ears. Writhing in pain he struggled to shout back.

"I was protecting myself!" He managed weakly mind reeling to badly from the pain to think up a better defence. The voice was unconvinced.

IT WAS WRONG OF US TO BELIEVE YOU READY TO LIVE AMONGST HUMANS. THE POWER WE GAVE YOU IS TO MUCH FOR ANY MORTAL TO WIELD. FOR YOUR CRIMES YOU WILL RECEIVE A SERIOUS PUNISHMENT.

Charlie had never heard his benefactors this mad before. He wondered how much they knew. He did not wonder long though.

FOR YOUR ATTEMPTED GALACTIC CONQUEST, the voice sounded bemused, MANIPULATION OF THIS VESSELS CREW AND EXTERMINATION OF A HUMAN STARSHIP YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED. WE WILL RETURN YOU TO THE PLANET WHERE WE FIRST FOUND YOU. THERE YOU WILL BE PUNISHED.

Charlie attempted to fight back. Attempted to being all he could do when confronted with the awesome power of his enraged benefactors. In a whirl of pain and light he disappeared from Enterprise and emerged in the pouring rain of his home world.

YOUR PUNISHMENT BEGINS the voice announced. Charlie felt himself suddenly grow smaller. Not physically for he remained in the same body as before. But rather he felt his mental power suddenly vanish. And then he understood that his benefactors meant to let him die here alone and with no one to remember him. And then with no one to turn to he began to cry.



Captains log stardate 309072.11

Enterprise has been directed to star base six due to our course change. A full report has been made to Starfleet though I feel that I am inadequate to properly describe the events of the past few days.

Those effected by the boy Charlie were returned to their own minds by the child's disappearance and I and commander Spock were able to shut down the ships self-destruct sequence with three and a half minutes to spare.

Yeoman Rand has not said a single word of her ordeal, thought I suspect it has left far more of a mark on her than she lets on. Something which could be said about several of us. I have decided to bump Rand up on the list for shore leave at our next port of call. Hopefully some recreation time will help her.

Kirk paused the entry as Spock and McCoy's argument reached a new level of volume, mostly from the doctor. Resigning himself to finish his log entry following the arguments conclusion Kirk listened in.

"You really don't expect me to believe that Charlie was part of a plan to destabilize the federation do you?" McCoy asked.

"I merely suggest a theory which would begin to explain the events of the past few days," Spock answered levelly.

"Well I don't buy it!" McCoy declared.

"Very well then what is your explanation of the past few days?" Spock asked. McCoy stammered before pulling an explanation out of somewhere.

"Maybe something on the planet gave him the power." He retorted knowing full well that he was grasping at straws and had likely lost the argument. But he refused to give up.

Kirk took the moment to weight in, attempting to put a stop to the argument before it could grow truly out of hand. "I think we should hold of making any decisions about what caused Charlie to have his powers until an expert can give their opinion."

Both turned towards him. Kirk looked innocent. "What?" he asked. "Its not something that has an open and shut answer like…" he strained for an example. "Like who shot JFK, the American president."

Kirk had hoped the reference was obscure enough that neither Spock nor McCoy would get it. He was wrong and soon a new debate had sprung up over who had shot the long dead American president of some half a millennium earlier.

Kirk threw his arms up into the air and attempted to get some work done. Opening up a report he began to read, doing his best to tone out the bicker sons in his ear.

 

[Charles Markov]

"Captain!" Yeoman Rand shouted from behind captain James Kirk. He turned around to see her walking as fast as she could to catch up to him. A notepad in one hand.

"Good morning sir," she said breathlessly as she handed him the notepad which had a message from commander Spock scribbled on it. It never ceased to amaze Kirk just how bad the handwriting of his first officer was.

Normally that would never be an issue as under normal circumstances there was rarely a reason to see another persons handwriting. Computer messages being sent in digital letters only. People only used handwritten notes on rare occasions. Such as the ships comms network going down just as they reached starbase six.

Seeing that he was struggling to read the half Vulcans handwriting Rand relayed the message verbally instead. "Commander Spock wishes to say that the last of the ships crew have been taken on. Although he adds that a few stragglers have not yet arrived on station yet, though the missing personnel are not mission critical."

Kirk nodded, grateful for the help. "Thank you yeoman." With the comms down getting messages back and forth between different stations, departments and officers was a real pain. Kirk was just glad that Enterprise finally had the majority of her compliment of four hundred and thirty.

Eighty persons had been missing since Enterprise had been dispatched to the Larsan Union and it had taken Starfleet many months to get around to assigning Enterprise her missing crew.But now with few exceptions that was over. Enterprise now officially carried four hundred and twenty four men and women aboard.

The lights suddenly turning off, flooding the deck in darkness brought Kirk out of this line of thought. Kirk hid a sigh as he groped around for something to guide him along. The ships systems had been experiencing some problems since the incident with Charlie, a boy with impossible mental powers who had been recued by the now destroyed UES Antares only to try and takeover the Federation once aboard Enterprise. Gravity plating had failed, lighting bugs plagued the ship and now the comms were out.

Commander Scott, the ships chief engineer had done a marvellous job repairing the ship as best he could. But really the ship needed a stopover at a starbase for a combover of all her systems to ensure that the failures did not grow to serious.

The emergency lighting came on, illuminating the deck in a pale blue glow. Bathing everyone's faces in otherworldly shadows which gave all a slightly demonic appearance.

"Mister Scott also wanted to speak with you sir," Rand said sprawled across the floor where she had fallen as the lights failed. Kirk had nearly stepped on her.

"Lets hope the turbolifts don't fail halfway there," Kirk said helping her up before walking off. In this section he had quite a ways to go before he found the lift. But once he got there everything seemed to work just find. Taking him smoothly down to engineering with just one stop along the way.

"Excuse me," A tall alien wearing the uniform of a Starfleet engineer said as he walked into he lift pod. Kirk hid a gasp.

The man over two meters tall and thin, not gaunt but thin. Kirk got the impression of a steel beam. His skin was a dark, very dark blue, and his eyes when he looked at Kirk seemed almost to glow a deep purple. The creatures chiselled face seemed impossible flat and almost hard, as if made from stone rather than skin.

"Captain," he said voice gravely recognizing Kirks rank and position.

"You must be lieutenant Commander Rajan," Kirk said. He had never met a Laconian before, nor had he heard of all that many in Starfleet. So Kirk could be fairly certain he was speaking to the ships engineering mate.

"I am," the man said bowing a polite nod. "Commander Scott had left me a message asking that I meet with him as soon as I beamed aboard."

Kirk nodded, "He probably needs all the help he can get," he said. "We have been experiencing some systems hiccups since we arrived in system."

"Hiccups?" Rajan asked before apparently deciding it wasn't important. "Were these the result of your encounter?" He asked instead.

Kirk nodded, he had wondered how far news of Charlie had spread outside of Enterprise, apparently pretty far. "nothing to critical has been effected, but what was has been somewhat inconvenient."

"I can imagine, cancelling an autodestruct often has that kind of feedback effect on non-critical systems. Something about the way the sequence is wired into the coding of the ships processors." Rajan caught Kirks odd look, "Commander Scott and I have been in correspondence for some months ever since I was assigned to Enterprise," he explained.

The door opened, putting a stop to further conversation. Kirk for one did not approve of Scotty writing to someone off the ship about classified events. Although Rajan being technically assigned to the ship meant that it wasn't illegal.

The two walked out into the upper deck of the ships reactor control room. A vast two level space which acted as the primary control center for the ships matter and antimatter annihilation reactor. A massive sphere located just beneath their feet.

"Captain!" Commander Montgomery Scott, the ships chief engineer thundered from the left gantry as he caught site of who it was that had come 0ut of the turbolift. Grabbing the ladder rails he slid down and slammed onto the deck below with a practiced ease that made Kirk envious.

"Sorry about all the lighting trouble on E and D decks sir, we just got the comms back up and running and it looks like it bled into the lighting programs in a bleedback circuit." He said before Kirk could return his greeting.

"Its quite alright," Kirk said but Scotty had already moved onto Rajan.

"I was not expecting you to look quite this terrifying!" Scotty said examining the lieutenant commander in a manner that would have made Kirk uncomfortable. The Laconian merely laughed.

"You would be surprised how often I get that," he said shrugging. "Actually I get that quite a bit from members of my own species."

"Not a looker are ye?" Scotty asked laughing so hard he had to gasp for air. Rajan shook his head no.

Suddenly shifting to serious Scotty grabbed Rajan by the arm and steered him over towards Kirk. "Do you know anything about this mans career?" He asked. Kirk had to shake his head.

"Very little," he admitted.

"When you get the chance read his career. Its fascinating stuff. He worked on the development of the Constitution class and a few other projects, written in technical journals and even was loaned to the Vulcans for quite a bit." Scotty said listing a few achievements.

"I also clean and cook." Rajan said before Scotty could go on. He was looking around the engine room with a practiced eye Kirk noted. Taking it all in and letting it wash over him. "You said you had a bleedover to the lighting programs?" He asked walking over to one of the ready use terminals along the right bulkhead.

Scotty suddenly remembered he was on duty and with a jerk followed his second in command. "Right!" He exclaimed. "Sorry captain I will tell you more later, right now I have work to do!" He said. Soon he and Rajan were chattering quietly between themselves as they went over a solid screen of code piece by piece.

Kirk did not wait around all that long before he left for the bridge. Once again he had little trouble with the turbolifts. A smooth ride the entire time without so much as even a single stop along the way.

"Captain on deck!" Sulu thundered as Kirk walked in. Wondering how the helmsman always seemed to announce his presence with his back turned opposite to him Kirk waved down the salutes.

"Report!" He ordered once settled into the conn, the control station as it was technically known. Little more than a chair with readouts and controls on either arm it was chair from which the entire ship was commanded and Kirks personal station where he spent much of his time.

"The comms have come back on line as of around twenty minutes ago, all sections have reported in and we are cleared with orbital control, and the last of our stores and fuel has been taken aboard." Sulu said handing Kirk a notepad with a proper report written on it.

"very nice handwriting," Kirk commented leafing through the paper document.

"Thank you sir, I thought I would give it a go. Having to write all these messages got me in the mood to actually write out a report for once." Sulu answered pleased at the compliment.

Kirk finished reading the paper report and handed it back to Sulu with his signature. He then noticed that the comms station was unmanned and a large amount of backlogged messages were piling up in the unread folder. "Where is the communications operator?" He asked.

"Lieutenant Uhura was down in the subspace radio room working with the technicians there to try and bypass the faulty circuits in the network. She must not have made it back yet, it is her shift," Sulu said moving over to the helm station and working his controls for a moment.

"I just checked sir, she is still down in the subspace radio room. Shall I have her come to the bridge?" Sulu asked.

"Please do," Kirk said. "I don't know about you but I haven't the slightest idea what any of the comms section controls do. If we get an important message then we would have no way of answering it even if we knew what it was."

Sulu smiled, but said nothing as he wrote a short message and sent it to the lieutenant. With luck she would be on the bridge in a few minutes. Until then any messages the ship received would just have to wait.


Lieutenant Nyota Uhura was in a rush. With the comms you would be excused for thinking that there would be nothing for the ships communications department to do until they were fixed. Maintenance was afterall not the job of the department, but rather engineering. You would think that.

But as it turns out you would be wrong. Completely wrong. It had been nonstop work for her and her people since the comms had went down. First internal communications had broken, followed quickly by the ships subspace communications and then old fashioned radio systems. Uhura and her meagre fifteen person strong department had worked nonstop with engineering to try first to fix the systems. And then to find a workaround for them. All without success.

Scotty down in engineering had managed to finally fix the ships internal comms and radio, but the subspace communications equipment remained inoperable. And Uhura and her team had been working nonstop to try to fix it before Enterprise was inevitably called off for a new mission.

And now the captain wanted her on the bridge. Sulu`s note had mentioned a large pile of messages waiting to be looked over. But someone else could do it! Couldn't the captain ask for someone other than her?

She pushed that line of thinking from her mind. That was no way to think. Captain Kirk was doing his job. And it was not up to her to decide how he did it, or why he did certain things. She was just a lieutenant after all. And all she had to worry about was following orders.

She called the turbolift and was surprised to see commander Spock and someone else she did not know in the uniform of a tactical department. They made room for her and said they also were headed to the bridge.

"This is lieutenant commander Chekov, the ships tactical officer. He is one of our new arrivals." Spock explained after some moments of silence. The young man smiled and offered a hand.

"Pleased to meet you lieutenant," Chekov said in a heavy Russian accent. To her ears he sounded like he was from either Moscow or Saint Petersburg.

"Glad to finally meet you, are you any relation to admiral Chekov?" Uhura asked knowing full well that he was.

"She is my grandmother. Captain Chekov of the Potemkin is my father," He answered with what he likely intended to be a modest answer.

"The lieutenant commander recently graduated from the Newport Naval College," Spock added. Again it was something she was well aware of. And again Chekov nodded in what was either a genuine attempt at modesty or a poor impression of it.

They were on the bridge before anyone could say anything else. And Spock introduced Chekov to Kirk in repeat of his conversation with Uhura. She could not be sure, but she thought she saw Chekov roll his eyes at the attention.

Without anyone noticing her Uhura made her way to the communications station and began to arduous task of sifting through the huge number of messages the ship had received since he comms had gone out.

She had got through around two hundred of them by the time she saw any meaningful messages. Mostly they had to do with the crew that would be coming aboard. All were useless as the crew transfer was already over.

A new message appeared on her board marked urgent and she opened it. "Captain sir," she called.


Kirk was speaking with Spock and Chekov, who was a lot more unassuming than a man of his family and career usually was, when he heard Uhura call him. He looked over and nodded for her to continue.

"Sir we have a message from admiral Harris requesting that you contact him immediately." She said hand hovering over the key that would call the admiral.

"Please try to raise him then," Kirk said with a sigh. He settled into his chair, dismissing Chekov with a polite nod. He then prepared himself to speak with a rather prickly character in the form of the admiral.

Uhura worked her controls and was promptly put on hold by the admirals secretary. And she remained on hold for the next sixteen minutes as the admiral was contacted and informed that Enterprise was wishing to speak with them.

And then finally his secretary said the admiral was ready. And asked for a moment longer. A moment that quickly turned into five as the admiral apparently found something more pressing to dot than speak with the ship that he had asked to contact him.

"Your on sir," an exasperated Uhura finally announced.

"Thank you lieutenant," Kirk said as an image of a short and balding middle aged man replaced the view of the starbase. He was almost glaring at Kirk.

"Admiral you wished to speak with me?" Kirk asked unsure of what would be a proper greeting in this circumstance.

That was not the correct way. "I sent a message to your ship ffteen minutes ago captain. Long enough had passed that I had just sat down for my dinner."

"I am sorry," Kirk was doing his best to loo genuine in his apology, but days of such treatment were beginning to wear rather thin. "Our communications equipment was out of order and we only just got it back online. Your message caught us offguard."

"I am aware of your technical difficulties captain," nothing Kirk could do seemed to bring him out of his perpetual bad mood. "You informed my secretary of them when you arrived. But I had thought the problem had been solved by now."

Harris seemed to loose interest in this line of conversation as he changed subjects. "I called because I have a mission for you. A Tellarite freighter, I`m not even going to try to pronounce its name, the data packet we are sending you will include it, anyway it went missing some fifteen to twenty lightyears from here without a trace. No distress calls, nothing."

He saw Kirk was about to say something and raised a hand to silence him, "I am sending Enterprise along with the seventeenth scouting group to search for the ship."

"How long before the group begins their search?" Kirk asked through clenched teeth.

"They are leaving now, you will follow as soon as you have finished with your personal transfer and taking on your supplied." Harris answered with a wave of his hand.

"We finished taking on supplies and our crew a few minutes ago." Kirk said teeth yet to unclench.

Harris was unconcerned. "Then leave with the seventeenth scouting group, and good luck," he said almost casually. Kirk did his best to be polite as he signed off. As soon as the image of the displeased admiral was gone Kirk took a moment to silently curse the man.

He was exactly the sort of person that did not belong in the fleet. Entitled, bored and without any desire to do his job. His father had been a decorated captain during the initial skirmishes with the Minoans before the border was fixed. And his son, the present admiral, had rode through his entire career on his father's fame.

Kirk had little patience for these men and women. They had no love for the service and only joined the fleet because they felt it a safe career move. Kirk spared a moment to look at Chekov`s back. He potentially was just such an officer. Coming from a very long line of distinguished service going back to the pre Romulan war United Earth Stellar Navy. Likely he would be able to coast along to admiral on his name alone.

But from what he had read of the mans record Chekov was not that sort of a man. Top of his class at the academy, served with distinction aboard UES Vixen and recently worked through the Newport Naval College. One of the most prestigious spatial warfare institutes in the entire United Earth.

Perhaps sensing the scrutiny Chekov turned around and cast his captain a quizzical look, "Something the matter sir?" He asked.

"Nothing lieutenant, I was actually just going to ask Sulu to get us underway."

Sulu needed no further prodding and had soon called up a new course to bring the ship out of the system in the vague direction of the Tellarite ship and matched course and speed with the five frigates which formed the seventeenth scouting group.

It was not long at all before Kirk gave the order and with a faint humming of her engine the Enterprise suddenly sped away from the starbase driving hard to the gravity limit that, once passed, would allow her to make the jump to high warp.

 

[Charles Markov]

Captains log, Stardate 309083.6

Enterprise is part of a search party tasked with investigating the disappearance of a Tellarite freighter. Thus far no sign of the vessel has been detected. However we have not yet given up on hope of finding the ship. Or at least some of her lifeboats.

I must say that I am pleasantly surprised at the crew we took on at starbase ten. Lieutenant Commander Chekov has proven a capable sensor operator and generally competent officer, much as his record said he would be.

I would also like to praise lieutenant Commander Rajan, our only Laconian officer, for his work with commander Scott repairing our systems. Most of the worst hiccups in our systems have been repaired through their diligent efforts.

Rajan and Chekov have even proven exemplary working together. Yesterday the two of them had the idea to boost our sensor performance by routing some input through the precision targeting arrays on the lower primary hull. Tests have showed that at least a five percent boost can be achieved in this way and I am curious to see if anything similar has been done aboard any other vessel in the fleet when we make it back to starbase six.

Currently Enterprise has entered the Alpha-Romeo-39G system. This desolate system with only a single red dwarf star and three gas giants lay along the projected course of the freighter and would likely prove to be a safe place for the ship if she was looking for a place to stop for repairs. We will begin sensor sweeps as soon as we have cleared one of the planets in the system.



"Ready to begin sir," Sulu said calmly. By this point a complete sensor sweep was a routine operation on the ship. All where by this point capable of performing the sweep while sound asleep.

And like the past three systems they had visited it did not look promising. Lacking even a proper name Alpha-Romeo-39G possessed little of interest to even deuterium collectors. Since the system had been surveyed a hundred and twenty years prior there were less than three recorded instances of the system being visited. Meaning there were no settlements in the system, no ships. Nothing the slow the sensors down.

In total eighteen systems had been scanned by both Enterprise and the frigates, meaning that it was increasingly likely that the freighter was not to be found. The most likely explanation was that her reactor had failed, either stranding the ship in deep space where it would never be found. Or going critical and spreading bits of the ship in a rapidly expanding cloud. Either way it was unlikely the vessel would ever be located.

Suddenly Chekov straightened in his chair and announced, "Captain I think I have something on my scanners!" He sent the sensor data to Kirks own monitor.

It was indeed something. The second gas giant in the system had a plume of excited gas shooting out of its northern polar region. It was not much, but it was the first lead they had that was worth following. "Take us in mister Sulu," Kirk ordered.

"right away sir," Sulu said from beside Chekov. A moment later, "Course laid in for half impulse. ETA is around an hour."

"Very good." Kirk said. He would have preferred to go there quicker. At full impulse, half of light speed, they would reach the gas giant in just over twenty minutes. But the system was cluttered with asteroids and dust, and Enterprises deflectors could not protect the ship at the speed she would be achieving. Objects would have just to much force behind them.



An hour later found Enterprise hovering above what looked very much like an entry point of a vessel into the gas giants upper layers, where exhaust gases from an impulse engine had disturbed the gas around it.

The sensors reported nothing, however the atmosphere grew to dense for effective scans below sixteen kilometres. Kirk ordered the ship in to look for the vessel that had made the disturbance. Given the state of the gas any ship which had caused it would have had to have done so at least a week prior. Meaning the ship was likely either the freighter they were looking for, or long gone.

"Got something sir," Sulu reported as Enterprise reached eighteen kilometres. "Sensors show a metal object roughly one hundred ninety metres, by seventy metres, by twenty. Consistent with the freighter sir." Sulu added before sending the sensor data to Kirk and Spock for their review.

"That's not all the sensors show," Spock said a moment later.

"What do you mean?" Kirk had just pulled up the data himself and did not see anything out of the ordinary.

"I am detecting faint traces of radioactive gases consistent with low power disruptor fire."

"My scans show it to," Chekov said. Spock looked up from his board and sent him a data packet. The young Russian looked it over for a moment and nodded, "I can confirm that sir."

"What can you confirm?" Kirk was out of the loop and not liking it.

"If that is the missing Tellarite freighter, which I suspect it is, there are no lifesigns, and the weapons fire is consistent with Orion manufactured weapons." Spock said calmly.



Spock had been correct on both accounts. They had indeed found the Tellarite freighter. Or rather what was left of it. Its hull was mangled, chewed by disruptor fire almost in two. Her reactor and cargo were gone. As was her crew.

The shuttles that had gone over, transporters being inoperable due to the gas, had reported signs of a boarding action within the ship. Corridors scorched with weapons fire, breached rooms and broken bodies. Both Orion and Tellarite. One individual, tentatively identified as the ship captain, was propped against the outer bridge bulkhead with a short sword pierced through his chest. A pile of dead Orions lying around him. It was not a pretty sight.

Kirk had taken Enterprise back out of the planet and beamed a message over subspace saying the freighter had been found and her location. In the middle of a routine sensor sweep Spock had then reported an ion trail consistent with a small fast vessel. Obviously the Orion fleeing the scene of its latest victim, a cargo hold full of fresh captives and booty.

Enterprise had followed this trail, it was rather obvious. Perhaps the pirate had been damaged in its fight with the freighter? It led to the outskirts of the system where Spock had been able to pick up a faint warp signature. Less than six hours old he had said.

Kirk had ordered Enterprise to follow the trail, beaming another message to the starbase and frigates which explained what they were doing and promised further reports as the situation developed. At high warp, with frequent stops to reacquire the warp signature of their quarry, they set off in pursuit of the pirate.

 

[Charles Markov]

Captains log, Stardate 309084.15

Enterprise has followed the Orion pirate to the Valkru system. A well known haven for smugglers, terrorists, pirates and slavers lying in the outskirts of Orion settled space.

If my suspicion is correct then the survivors of the Tellarite freighter have been brought to the slave markets of the world, the largest in in the region. There they will be sold as laborers, servants and playthings to the highest bidder.

We have notified Starfleet. However any response they send it likely to take at least a week to reach us. Meaning we are on our own as regards our next course of action.

"Can we say for certain which vessel we followed into the system?" Kirk asked. Enterprise was sitting some half lightyear out from the edge of the Valkru system to avoid detection. The system claimed independence and thus the presence of a federation flagged warship if discovered would not go over particularly well.

Kirk looked around at his senior officers. Assembled together in the conference room to decide the what the ship would do next. They had just all sat down, being forced to wait for Scotty to disentangle himself from a climate regulator repair on J deck before they could begin.

"We cannot be certain due to the large amount of traffic in the system captain." Spock answered. He had brought a pad in with him and was periodically looking down at it during the conference.

"But we do know that the vessel arrived in this system," Kirk asked knowing the answer. Feeding into his real question he continued, "if the vessel we followed in were to leave the system could we identify it for certain?"

Again Spock answered, "it is likely that the orion ship took damage. If that is the case and the damage is repaired then we may have some difficulty in identifying the vessel."

"And even if we do catch the pirate when it leaves the system we likely wont recover the crew of the freighter it mauled!" McCoy said pent up hours of frustration spilling out.

Kirk had been thinking the same thing, and had even devised what he hoped was a solid plan that would hopefully allow them to get the Tellarite crew back.

In the past if it could be proven clearly that federation citizens were being held captive in a slave market they would more often than not be handed over without a fuss. Occasionally however the operators of the market would deny the evidence, forcing federation authorities to outright buy the prisoners instead.

Neither of these options went over particularly well with those in the conference room. Spock pointed out that while those tactics had worked in the past the slave markets had been growing in recent years. Giving those who owned them a degree of ability to refuse to deal with the federation. Or if things got to bad calling on the Klingons for assistance with Starfleet.

Spock also mentioned that the orions don't typically accept Earth currency, viewing it as worthless. Sulu and the rest of the ships officers seemed to be in agreement. And Kirk could not argue the point. It had been a long shot anyway even if all had thought it worth it.

Kirk then revealed his second plan. He did not want to call it a backup plan, but effectively that what it was. This got a substantially better response from the ships officers, to varying degrees.

Kirk would lead a landing party to the slave market in a modified shuttle and there attempt to confirm the location of the captured Tellarites. Once this had been done Enterprise would be contacted and enter the system shooting down any fleeing vessels as she did so, going to lengths to ensure that any vessel with potential slaves aboard would be destroyed outright.

Once in orbit the ship would deploy further security teams to the planets surface and capture the slave market itself. Once this had bee accomplished the ship would await reinforcement from Starfleet and effectively hold the planet hostage.

"Excuse me sir," Chekov said being the first to speak since Kirk had finished. "I don't mean to appear unhappy with your plan, but would not the independence of the system preclude us from attacking it in such a manner as you described?"

"Not necessarily lieutenant commander," Spock said looking up from his pad. "If federation citizens lives are at stake, or freedom in this case, then any federation flagged vessel must immediately render any assistance that it can to those people. And slavery is also against strict federation laws as you are no doubt aware."

Kirk nodded, he had been about to say the same thing. "Are you willing to carry out my plan mister Spock?" Kirk asked knowing that Spock saying something was technically possible and willingly doing it were two different things.

However he had nothing to worry about as Spock agreed after a moment. The others followed quickly after. Taking the first officers que and agreeing to go along with the plan. All that was left then was a letter to Starfleet explaining their planned course of action and a request for reinforcements.



"Captain Kirk this is captain Freiderick Frakes, UES Emden. What have you got planned?"

Kirk tried his best to look innocent of anything the captain of Emden may know, "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Don't try to be coy Kirk," Frakes said with a wiggle of his finger. Admonishing the much younger man. "Us and the Valdez intercepted your little message to Starfleet. We want in."

"Valdez?" Kirk asked wondering where the other frigate was.

"She came in the other side of the system," Frakes answered before Kirk could finish his question. "She is waiting for you to make your move before swinging in at the Orions back."

"Why?" Kirk asked somewhat stunned by the offer. Not that wasn't the right word, the forced help. Not that it wasn't welcome. "Why potentially risk your career over this?" Kirk asked.

"Why are you?" Frakes countered. He sighed and leaned back into his chair. "If you must know I retire in six months, wife is sick, and I figure whats the worst they can do to me until then?"

"And Valdez?"

Frakes smiled an evil smile. "Well her captain, young hotshot named Daniele Somua-Kurt, is the step daughter of admiral Harris, I believe you two have met?" Frakes smile broadened. "Well she and her dad aren't exactly in the best place relationship wise. She feels like sticking it to him and doing something good all at once."

"Thank you," was all Kirk could say. And he meant it. What the captains and crews of Emden and Valdez were doing could be construed as illegal if someone had a big enough bee in their bonnet about it. The fact that two ships, who's captains Kirk did not know, would volunteer to join him on such a mission was amazing.

Frakes had more to day. "I may have one other motive captain."

"Oh?" Kirk asked trying his impression of Spock's eyebrow.

"Yes captain I do." Frakes smile was back. "Cant let you top that little stunt you pulled in the Larsan Union without help. That just wouldn't be in good form!" And with that he signed off.

 

[Charles Markov]

"Captain once more I feel I must object to your decision to personally lead the landing party. Due to this missions high level of danger it would not be advisable for an officer of your value to risk yourself."

As always Spock had a point. The mission would be dangerous and were Kirk to be killed it would not be all that bad a thing in the long run, except for Kirk himself. However were he to be captured in the course of the mission then what he knew about Starfleet security and shipboard operations would likely make him a major target for the Klingons, Kzinti, Mirak, Tholians, Tzenkethi, Mirrelians, Ariaor, Gorn and even the Romulans.

However Kirk had to lead the mission. Not out of a personal sense of adventure or anything of that nature. But simply because he could not send his people into a potentially deadly situation and then sit back and let them die.

It was something that Starfleet orders did not go into specifics about either. Only mentioning that the captain should not endanger himself, unless they believed the circumstances warranted it. And he usually felt warranted when leading a landing party. And until the orders changed Spock was just going to have to live with it.

"We are not in any danger mister Spock. We are just going down for a quick peek, we will contact you if things go haywire." Kirk said trying to calm his first officer. He doubted it worked, Spock simply raised and eyebrow and stepped back from the shuttlecraft entrance.

Kirk still couldn't quite believe what Scotty and his technicians had done to the big type H shuttlecraft, one of two the Enterprise carried. Clever use of paint and some additions to is hull had transformed the vehicle into a civilian shuttle that, in appearance anyway, looked like a souped up yacht.

A similarly souped up warp sled completed the disguise and the result was a craft that in civilian hands would be able to make short distance trips at a speed of warp factor five. While also being small enough that it could escape customs inspection in most systems. The perfect vehicle to carry federation citizens to a slave market to purchase slave girls.

Kirk stood by the entrance and watched his team enter into the vehicle. Chekov and sergeant Younge, ships security, Sulu and Rajan. All dressed as civilians of somewhat shady appearance. The sort of people that would be expected at a slave auction.

Rajan shot Kirk a look as he boarded somewhere between resignation and indignance. He had been strongly against Kirks plan, at least his involvement. But with proficiency in several different forms of hand-to-hand combat and ranged weapons he was a rare commodity aboard a starship. Kirk did not fully understand why, and Rajan had not explained it. Kirk briefly wondered if he would try something once planetside. But quickly dismissed the notion.

Granted he did not know the Laconian well. But with a twenty yearlong record in Starfleet and before that a lengthy career in the Laconian Royal Navy he was a man who could follow orders. And his orders were to be as unnoticed as possible.

Kirk boarded last and sat down in the co-pilots seat beside Sulu. Kirk wondered where Scotty had found mahogany to line the interior of the shuttle. But he had found it somewhere on the ship. And done a decent job of installing it to. Much the same could be said for the extra plush seats which were much comfier than those that came standard with the shuttle.

"Ready on your mark sir," Sulu said bringing Kirk out of his marvelling at the ships interior. Kirk glanced at the instruments, which all showed cleared for launch.

"Go for it," Kirk said seconds before the craft began to rapidly accelerate out of and away from Enterprise. Kirk doubted he had even finished the word it before Sulu had slammed the shuttle out of Enterprises shuttlebay.

"Standard approach sir?" Sulu asked pulling up the screens used to plot a course.

"No," Kirk answered shaking his head. "We cant give them any reason to suspect we are anything other than civilians looking for slavegirls. If we fly in like a Starfleet shuttle they will know. And the game will be up."

"Gotchya sir, fast and loose it is," Sulu said suddenly grinning ear to ear. Kirk was not sure what fast and loose meant. But he was certain he would not like it.



Kirk had been right in assuming he would not like fast and loose flying. Whipping the shuttle around at dizzying speeds with near constant course correction the shuttlecraft in Sulu's hands had felt more like a roller coaster than a form of transportation.

What passed for law enforcement in the Valkru system seemed to agree with Kirk that the shuttlecraft was on a collision course with something and so stopped it some five AU from Valkru itself.

"What gives?" Sulu had asked with a annoyed clip to his voice over the comm before Kirk had a chance to raise the cutter which had intercepted their shuttlecraft. "We are trying to get a rush here, why are you blowing it?" Sulu asked a moment later before whoever was on the other end could say anything.

"Shuttle this is the Valkru naval cutter Einfreincia what brings you to our system?" A gruff sounding voice asked over the comms.

"Those green babes. We want to buy a few!" Sulu exclaimed. Behind him Rajan shifted in his seat.

"The slave trade is not present in Valkru space, whatever you may have heard." The voice said. A pause followed. "We do however offer refuelling and rest facilities for spacecraft of all descriptions. Perhaps you would like to make use of these facilities before you return to where you came from?" The voice asked. Kirk had wondered idly what would happen if he were to openly say he had come to buy slaves. But he never would have asked it. Apparently nothing all that serious happened.

Sargeant Younge, apparently catching on to Sulu's ruse then spoke up, "Yeah that what we want. Some…rest." With special emphasis on the e in the word rest.

They were given permission to land soon after and made a jerky landing some hours later in one of the worlds many small craft hangars. This one, located just outside the city of Buroorum`da goosha, was positively cavernous. Large enough with the landing pads removed to fit a large cruiser.

Supporting the cutter captains warning that there were no slave markets on the world the smiling attendants that met Kirk, Sulu, Younge and Rajan all wore large metal collars around their necks, wrists and ankles. Kirk was sure that had nothing to do with slavery in the slightest.

As it was by this time quite late by their clocks the four of them found a hotel and got four separate rooms of some luxury. Room service was called and they sat down to develop a plan for the morning.

Kirk would take Younge and try the northern parts of the city while Sulu and Rajan would try for the southern sections. The city being perched along a narrow stretch of land with an ocean on one side and sheer cliffs on the other there was no east or west to the city. Simply north and south.

With a plan formulated and dinner in their bellies the four went to bed. A two hour watch at the door of Kirks room and music blaring as a further safety precaution.



"I always liked classical Orion architecture," Sulu said as he and Rajan sauntered down a major side street which ran parallel to the others in the city. "Very pretty,"

Rajan could understand why Sulu would say that. Laid out essentially in a cake pattern which each level above smaller than that below it the opalescent buildings in this part of the city were definitely attractive to the eye.

"The city dates from your Earths first century. By your old calendar." Rajan said eying the buildings. One in particular, to determine if they were fake or not. Likely he decided. But there was no use in telling Sulu that.

Sulu whistled. That was old. Very old. "On earth there are few buildings that old," he remarked trying to name a few in his head. He got as far as the colosseum in Rome before he ran out of buildings, and he was pretty sure the Colosseum was built later.

Changing the subject he asked, "you know much about Orions?"

Rajan smiled, "a little," he said clearly not wanting to delve terribly deeply into the matter. Sulu kept trying.

"Its such an old culture, spaceflight for fifteen hundred years and a written history that goes back twelve thousand. It's a shame they have never recovered from the Joffre cataclysms."

The two continued in silence for some time after that before Rajan asked, "what makes the captain think there is a market in this area?"

"Captain Kirk looked over every bit of intel he could find on the system and this part of the city seemed to see the most ground vehicle traffic when the city was observed from orbit by the Pelagic six years ago.

Rajan shook his head. "Its not here, Orion slave markets tend to be much more obvious than this. I don't care what the official stance on slavery is on the governments part slavery is a major business here. Wherever the market is it will be a lot more obvious than this." Rajan looked around and grabbed Sulu, "you see that line of people?" Sulu nodded.

"See their collars?" Squinting Sulu again nodded. Rajan began walking towards the group, most of whom looked to be under twenty years old in Sulu's eyes.

"Slaves every last one of them," Rajan said just before reaching earshot of the group. He walked towards the massive Orion male guarding the group, whip in hand. He said a few words to him in a language Sulu could not follow, nor even identify. The Orion answered back and shook Rajan's hand before shouting something at his slaves which made them pick up their pace and continue on.

"What did you ask?" Sulu asked after he was certain they were out of earshot of anyone on the street.

"I told him those were fine purchases and asked him if there were many more like them. I then asked him where I could buy them, and he pointed me in the right direction," he said in a tone that conveyed his total distaste for everything about where he was and what he was doing.

"Where is the market then?" Sulu asked looking around as if expecting one to suddenly appear.

"Its in the northern part of the city. Where the captain is searching, The guard said it was hard to miss," Rajan said glowering at the slavemasters back.



The slave market was indeed hard to miss. A massive edifice to what a truly depraved mind could do if given the budget and a society of corrupted morals. The multi-story building even from the outside managed to convey both a sense of the misery its inhabitants must feel, as well as the sense of the glee in which throngs of beings from many different races rushed in to buy beings for their own pleasure. The whole thing made Kirk ever so slightly queasy.

"Never seen one of these before. Heard about them though," Younge said eying the building and those entering it from their rooftop café where they had stopped to have lunch.

"I will tell the others," Kirk said as a waitress came up food in hand. Kirk reeled as he caught a whiff of her hormones and eyes swimming paid the check. Younge appeared even worse effected.

Momentarily Kirk forgot what he was doing and merely smiled up at the woman. "Something wrong," she asked sweetly.

With effort Kirk managed to bring himself back to ground and he shook his head. "I'm fine," he managed to stammer out. The waitress smiled again and walked off.

"Well that was new," Younge said watching the woman walk away lewdly. With effort Kirk brought him back. "I had always heard their pheromones were strong. But Jesus!" He exclaimed.

Kirk agreed. That had been a powerful experience, no wonder Orion women were so desired across the galaxy. Taking a few deep breaths he remembered what he had intended to do before their waitress arrived. This was not the time to get distracted by pretty girls.



"I don't like it one bit," Rajan said as he and the other members of the landing party stood at the entrance to the market. "I will do it, but only because you outrank me!" He practically spat. Kirk frowned.

The Laconian had been vocal in his unhappiness about the mission from the start, not out of any desire to undermine his captain or refusal to put himself in danger Kirk felt. But whatever the reason this was not the time, or the place to go against Kirks wishes. And Rajan was getting very close to that point.

"With that out of the way genteelmen," Kirk said motioning the others forward. "I believe there are federation citizens in need of rescue."

Even Rajan did not argue with that and soon the four found themselves shuffled along a seemingly never ending hallway of private showing rooms, bidding rooms and grooming rooms for newly acquired possessions to be made up as their masters saw fit.

Kirk did most of the talking, insisting with anyone that he met that they wanted to see the holding cells and get a firsthand peek at the girls. Saying that he wanted to see what he bought up close before he bid on one. Behind him the others seconded his demands, playing their parts well.

Relenting to the pressure a guard finally allowed them into the horrors that were the holding cells where slaves were kept before auction. Fear, terror, hunger, and a dozen other feelings hung on the air, alongside a fair number of smells belonging to bodily functions.

"Follow me closely, you don't want to get to close," the guard said once they had all made it into the area. He walked on an conversationally remarked, "this is where we keep the run of the mill slaves. Workers mostly. Though some are destined to be gladiators in the games elsewhere on the planet." He motioned to a group of almost skeletal Klingons huddled in a corner of a stench filled cell.

"We keep most of them on a limited diet, makes them more tame and easier to handle than if they had full meals in their bellies."

"What do you do with the bodies?" Rajan asked his voice betraying nothing but a cold disinterest in what he was seeing. Certainly not the strong emotions that must be boiling below the surface. Kirk hoped those did not get out. He also wondered if insisting that Rajan come along was such a good idea after all.

But the guard did not catch on to anything out of the ordinary. "We usually just toss them. No sense letting corpses get the others sick," he said shrugging.

"Do you treat sick ones? Or do you dispose of them as well?" Rajan may as well have been talking about old EPS conduits back aboard Enterprise for all the concern that was in his voice. Even Kirk had to look at him in stunned disbelief at the callous way he spoke.

"Usually we toss them yep. No sense spending money to cure something so easily replaced. We plan for such losses."

Kirk was certain the guard had gone to far. Rajan's eyes suddenly lit up with the fire of hate. Hate and anger at its most pure. Kirk braced himself. But nothing happened. With a shake the Laconian got himself under control and walked on as if nothing had happened. Kirk breathed a silent sigh of relief. Deciding it would be a long while before he took the man on another away mission.

Rajan did not speak again until they reached another door. "Where does this lead to?" He asked the others being to shaken to speak.

The guard, a big hulking Orion seemed to suddenly grow bigger still. "Heaven," he said before swinging the doors open.

Kirk suddenly went weak at the knees and nearly collapsed to the floor. The same feeling as the waitress at the café, but a hundred times more powerful suddenly gripped him. Dimly he heard the guard say something about not getting carried away. Remembering that they could touch the merchandise. But nothing else. This before he mentioned that a perk of his job was getting to do that something else as much as he liked anytime he wasn't working.

Kirk could not much recall what happened next. He remembered smiling teeth and green skin everywhere. Little in the way of clothing and an almost carnal lust swelling up from deep within him. He could barely speak and move and had vague notions that Sulu and Younge were in similar shape.

He did however have a very strong memory of Rajan during all this, in a room swimming in pheromones desire flooding his fellow officers. And yet there he was standing seemingly unaffected by the flood of chemicals around him. Casting the room a gaze of anger and revulsion. Kirk had a clear mental picture of Rajan speaking to one of the women and handing her something, something small and metallic.

Kirk then remembered vaguely that someone had decided they were getting to excited. To the point of spoiling the merchandise. He remembered being carried out of the room and laid onto a large plush couch and left in the dark for some time.

 

[Charles Markov]

Kirk came to with a massive headache and groaned as he sat up. Feeling as if he were going to vomit. "Well that was interesting," Kirk finally managed after his head stopped swimming.

He looked around the room disorientated and feeling out of place. Full of plush couches, pillows, tapestries, rugs and blankets the room was clearly meant for pleasure rather then recuperation. A pair of lumps buried under masses of blankets began to stir at the sound of his voice.

"I radioed the ship," a voice said from an unseen place. Kirk looked around but did not see its owner, though it sounded familiar through the fog of his mind.

"Did you?" Kirk asked being unwilling to ask who it was.

Stepping out of a sideroom Kirk had not seen in his initial sweep of the room Rajan came into view wearing a tight jumpsuit instead of the drab civilian clothing he had initially had on.

"You were passed out eleven hours captain, I changed." He explained sitting down across from Kirk.

"What did you tell the ship?" Kirk asked his mind beginning to clear. Thought and memory were becoming much easier.

Rajan took a deep breath. "I got commander Spock and told him that we had located the Tellarite freighter crew. I even spoke with them after you were hauled away." Kirk wondered how he had been able to do so, but then remembered the cold almost emotionless man he had been during their tour and so did not ask.

But then Kirk did remember something, "we never saw the Tellarites." He said interjecting. "We looked but we went through the cells to quickly."

"You were not truly looking," Rajan said smiling cruelly. "I don't think you were prepared for what you saw. You saw only the suffering, the pain and the depravity but you did not look past it to the people actually in the cells." He sighed, when he next spoke it was without the fire he had before. "I saw them during our tour, but I went back later with the guard and managed to speak with them for a moment. They are the Tellarites."

"Are they up for sale?" Kirk asked. It had been a vague plan of his that perhaps they could simply outbid all competitors when they went up for auction, rather than the more messy plan B.

Rajan shook his head, "they are, but separately. We would have to be at fifty different auctions at once. And we don't have time to bring in that many off Enterprise before they go up."

He paced the room nervously, like a caged animal. As he walked Kirk noted a slightly jerky motion in his right side. Not just his leg, but the entirety of his side seemed ever so out of sync with the rest of his body. Kirk wondered why he had never noticed that before, but then chastised himself for not focusing.

"We have to act fast as well, the first of the crew are being sold off in a little under four hours and once they are sold it will be impossible for us to find them all." A knock on the door caused Rajan to suddenly glide over to the far side of the room, out of the line of sight for whoever came in.

"Come in," Kirk said deciding that there was no point in refusing them entry. If they wanted in they would get in, and if not then they would go away.

Rajan had nothing to fear. A small shrivelled old Minoan woman shuffled in with a big tray of food, breakfast. With compliments from the auction house owners. Smiling Rajan paid the woman and saw her to the door. Either oblivious of, or overlooking the looks of horror she gave him right up until the door closed.

Picking up where he left off without missing a beat Rajan continued, "virtually the only way this will work is the main plan decided on in the conference room. Spock agreed and warned us to get away from the city as quickly as we could and be at least a hundred kilometres away to get beyond any jamming they may attempt."

That got Kirk fully awake. The first thing the local authorities would do when a federation flagged warship entered the system did would be to round up all federation citizens and attempt to use them. Or at least prevent them from contacting the vessel. And Kirk did not want to be anywhere near the city when that happened. "Lets wake the others and get going."

"I suggest we charter a sailing ship for a tour of the ocean, we will be quite a distance away and far beyond any other beings," Rajan said tossing a pamphlet Kirks way. It was written in a script he was unfamiliar with, but boasted a number of pictures of sailing ships and clear tropical waters.

"Good idea," Kirk said moving to wake Sulu.



"Have we been detected?" Spock asked exactly ten minutes since he last did so. Chekov had been keeping count of both the number of times he had asked, twenty three, and the regularity of when he asked, ten minutes on the nose.

"It does not appear so sir," he said supressing a groan. In the Academy he had always heard Vulcans were punctual. Well now he had an up close and personal lesson in why that was.

Spock nodded. Enterprise was three AU away from Valkru itself and headed towards the planet at a rate one quarter the speed of light. Using a gap in the sensor network of the system to slip in so far unnoticed.

"And the location of that patrol cutter?" Spock asked hands forming a little triangle under his chin.

"Still on the other side of the planet sir," Chekov said glancing down at his instruments.

"Interesting," Spock remarked as Chekov sent him the sensor data. It was his suspicion that the blindspot in the sensor coverage of the system was deliberate. A way for the planetary government to claim it had no involvement in the illegal activities going on. Whether or not the ruse would work if a major power should become involved was a different matter however and Spock suspected that if the Klingons or Kzinti became interested in the Valku system the blind spot would gain them nothing.

"And the Emden and Valdez? Are the frigates holding position?" Spock asked this time turning to Uhura at the communications station.

"Still signalling all sections ready," came the prompt reply. The lieutenant had been in nearly constant coded communication with both frigates over a discreet channel since Kirk had left the ship.

Spock nodded and checked the detailed map of the system projected onto the main viewer. At their current speed, just slow enough that their energy signature did not show up on anyones scopes, they would be in range of the planet in a little under a half hour. Well within weapons range, though transporters were a bit of a different story.

Expect more questions mister Chekov, Spock thought as he settled back in his chair to wait another ten or fifteen minutes before launching his attack. He wanted to be certain that no ships got away.



"This isn't so bad," Sulu said into the quiet that had erupted after the four man landing party had reached open waters in their little seven metre sail boat.

Kirk did not look up from his communicator. He was searching all available frequencies for any sign either that Enterprise had been sighted by the Orions, or that Enterprise was attempting to contact him. He groaned. He really did not like being out of the loop like that, Rajan was technically within his rights to contact the ship without his captains approval. But very few officers ever did so for fear of reprisals at a later date. The fact that the Laconian had done so showed that he had a clear understanding of regulation and guts. Were Kirk in his place he doubted he would have done the same thing.

Finding that no one said anything, either in agreement or otherwise Sulu went back to studying a chart of the waters around them. Behind him Rajan worked on the vessels only sail. What would on a earth ship be called a lateen sail, meaning a large triangular piece of fabric which was arranged running from the bowsprit of the vessel to the ships single mast. Kirk did not know if the man knew anything of sailing, but was willing to allow him to make an attempt. Younge busily threw up at the stern of the craft. His vomit attracting a sizeable school of fish from around the area.

"How much longer?" Kirk asked unable to see the chrono at the tiller from his seat amidships. Younge wiped his face and reached for the chrono queasily.

"Anytime it looks like," he answered tossing the device Kirks way. The heaving of the boat nearly caused the chrono to fall into the sea, but Kirk grabbed it at the last second and looked for himself.



"Mister Chekov unless I miss my guess we are in or nearly in a position where we will be spotted by passive sensors on the patrol ships in orbit of the planet." Spock was almost conversational. Speaking almost casually, as if he had bumped into Chekov in one of the ships corridors.

"You are correct sir," Chekov said nervously. Despite his excellent test scores and extensive training he had never actually fired weapons in anger. In the moment he found it was not something he was really looking forward to. The thought that he could be killing men and women very shortly appealed to him very little.

Suddenly master operator technician Tucket at the sensor station jumped. "We were just pinged by active sensors sir! Looks like they located us!" He reported from his feet. With a look from Spock he realized his mistake and took his seat sheepishly.

Spock looked over the sudden jump in the high end EM spectrum that had gotten Tucket worked up. It was indeed an active scan of the ship. Its likely point of origin put it as one of the patrol ships, likely the one suddenly moving into an approach vector.

With their approach discovered there was only one thing left for Spock to do, he hoped it did not result in bloodshed. "Raise hailing frequencies please lieutenant Uhura, system wide broadcast on all standard bands."

After a moment Uhura reported all frequencies open and Spock stood up, signalling as he did for the audio pickups located around the bridge to be turned on. "Valkru system authority this is the United Earth Ship Enterprise of the United Federation of Planets."

He let that sink in for a moment, though if the sensor technician on the picket ship was any good he would have already identified their sensor pickup as a Constitution class heavy cruiser, the classes sensor profile being anything but unrecognizable.

"We have confirmed that there are Federation citizens in your slave markets, victims of an Orion pirate attack on their freighter. We demand the release of these citizens and that you order your warships to stand down."

Again he let his words sink in, although he could see that all nine of the patrol ships in orbit were converging on Enterprise and charging weapons and raising shields.

"Failure to comply with my demands will result in the destruction of your orbital assets and seizure of the slave market by force. Please repond." Spock signalled Uhura to end the transmission with a cutting motion and sat back down. "Lets see if they answer," he said.

By way of an answer the lead patrol ship fired a photon torpedo at Enterprise. It struck the ship square across her bow. Spock had the foresight to raise the ships shields as soon as sighted however and so the torpedo spent its fiery destruction uselessly against an invisible wall of energy. Doing nothing more to Enterprise than tossing her about somewhat.

"Orders sir?" Chekov shouted as alarms blared. Having announce the incoming torpedo he was well braced for the impact. Even so he had been shook around hard and needed a moment to readjust himself.

"We are done with words mister Chekov," Spock said with steel in his voice. "I want every one of those ships destroyed or disabled and I don't particularly care which."

"May I take that as an order to fire sir?" Chekov asked adrenaline and excitement surging through him. He was already targeting the lead ship, the one that had fired with the ships three dorsal phaser banks.

"You may fire when ready," Spock said sardonically for the record. A thin smile tugged at the corners of his mouth that only Uhura saw.



The lead patrol ship saw that it was being targeted and swung into an evasive climb upwards. The six other patrol ships similarly scattered and attempted to encircle the much larger Starfleet cruiser. Armed with only a pair of channelled plasma cannon and a rotary photon torpedo launcher and equipped with only a low level shield they were no match on their own against a ship of Enterprises power.

The cruisers phasers, six beams in all fired from three of her banks, struck the lead patrol ship dead amidships. Her shields held back the massive energy strike, but overloaded and slagged themselves in a burst of energy. The ship reeled and was easily destroyed by a second volley from Enterprises number seven bank.

A volley of plasma fired from three of the Orion ships tore at Enterprises deflector uselessly. Her shields easily shrugging off the assault even as her ventral banks opened up. Disabling the second ship and leaving the third open to a photon torpedo burst which evaporated in a cloud of radioactive dust.

The four survivors attempted to overwhelm Enterprises weaker aft shields with a concentrated launch of torpedoes aimed just above Enterprises shuttlebay where the nacelle pylons connected to the service hull.

Spock swung the ship into a wide arcing turn and avoided all but one of the torpedoes which wasted itself against the shield, leaving it at a weakened sixty percent until the generators could recharge but otherwise intact. His turn brought the ship bow on to the four survivors. With all of her six forward facing banks having clear angles to fire, as well as her three forward launchers.

Once again attempting to scatter and hit the ship from multiple angles a volley of eight photon torpedoes found two of the Orion ships and their combined power destroyed them both. The surviving two ships threw in the towel and attempted to flee. Firing their impulse drives for all they were worth in an attempt to get as far away from Enterprise as they could.

Like a shark going after a minnow Enterprise gained on the nearest ship and obliterated her with a volley of phasers. By this time the tubes were reloaded and a burst of two torpedoes found the final surviving patrol ship. Tearing her in part after her shields collapsed. An instant later the fusion bottles for the impulse drive ruptured and the ship was consumed in a cloud of gas the same as its other squadron mates.



"Final patrol ship destroyed sir," Chekov reported scanning his sensors to see if any other threats were in range. None were at the moment. Most of the ships in the system were fleeing as fast as they could. Away from Enterprise.

"Very good mister Chekov." It had never really been much of a question of the outcome of the battle. Even combined the seven patrol ships possessed not even half of Enterprises firepower. But Chekov had handled his job beautifully. Putting shot after shot onto target with deadly accuracy.

"Any report from the assault teams?" Spock asked turning to face Uhura.

"Nothing yet sir, but they may still be descending and unable to communicate." Uhura`s hands flew across her board as she received around a hundred different hails from the planet and ships in orbit. Sifting through she found a few of importance.

"I have a message from the planets government. They demand that we cease our assault and explain why the federation is attacking an independent nation."

"Don't respond, unless they hail us to surrender I do not wish to speak with the planetary authorities." Spocks attention was drawn to Chekov's board which had suddenly erupted in a series of alerts. "What is it lieutenant commander?" He asked suddenly beside the tactical officer.

"It looks like a couple of the ships in orbit have swung around towards us," Chekov said sending a sensor reading to Spocks station. "I would guess they are covering the escape for the twenty odd freighters which just broke orbit and are tearing out to the gravity well," he added a moment later sending Spock another readout as he did so.

Another smile tugged at Spock's lips. The fleeing freighters were headed along a course that would bring them squarely into the waiting arms of the Emden and Valdez, Spock previously having guessed that route as the most likely for fleeing slavers.

And there was no doubt that those ships were slave ships. A legitimate freighter would likely not be running away so panicked. Especially after Spock had announced over all frequencies that Enterprise was coming to free slaves. In fact many freighters had not even broke orbit of the planet yet. Choosing to stay out of Enterprises attention if possible.

"Let them go mister Chekov," Spock said confident that the two frigates would have no trouble dealing with the unarmed freighters.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire commander?" Chekov asked.

"Something like that lieutenant commander," Spock said sitting at the conn once again. "Besides," he said. "We will have other things to worry about soon enough.
​

 

[Charles Markov]

"Looks like the attack has started," Sulu said as another sonic boom rocked the boat, the result of a pair of suborbital fighters attempting to reach the battle some miles above. In the distance alarms blared as citizens were cautioned to seek shelter.

Kirk could not sit down. It was his ship up there fighting. And here he was on the planets surface sitting in a boat bobbing slowly up and down on the waves. He felt absolutely useless.

But this had been his plan and he had known going into it that he would not be there when the shooting started. Well he didn't like it then, and he certainly did not like it now. But he had the choice of either sending a landing party into a potentially deadly situation and commanding his ship in battle. Or leading the landing party and trusting his first officer and crew to deal with the problem.

And then the communicator suddenly came to life. "Captain Kirk?" Came a static filled voice.

"I'm here! We are all here!" Kirk shouted relieved to have something to do finally.

"Sir this is leftennant Paulsen sir, what is your location?" The static cleared and the woman on the other end cleared her throat. "So far its not to wild up here, we should be able to grab you without to much difficulty."

"We are in the bay on a boat, a sail boat." Kirk said feeling suddenly silly at their position. "Thought it might be a good idea to get as far away from the city as possible before the shooting started," he added justifying his circumstances.

"Sounds nice!" Paulsen said dryly. A moment later she added, "we have a lock on your position. Should be there in under five minutes."

"Copy that," Kirk said into the audio pickup on the communicator. A moment later Paulsen was signed off and Kirk picked up the faint sound of a sonic boom.

"Have they began their assault yet?" Sulu asked.

Kirk shrugged. "The plan was for the shuttles to deploy the rangers around the slave market and then dispatch one to pick us up. I don't know if that is the plan they went with ultimately, but that's what was supposed to happen."



If the first battle with seven patrol ships have been uneven the brief battle against a dozen small pirate vessels could be called a turkey shoot. Lacking the structural reinforcement of the proper warship the converted transports Enterprise faced next were taken out easily enough with phaser fire alone.

"Shields holding at twenty percent sir," Scotty reported over the comms. The last surviving raider had been to close to the ship when her matter/antimatter reactor went critical. Enterprise had shuddered and shook and her lights had briefly dimmed. But otherwise she seemed to have weathered the storm surprisingly well.

"Thank you Commander Scott, keep me informed of any further developments." Spock signed off with the engine room and turned to Chekov. "Have you found any orbital defense platforms?" He asked.

"Only three of an outdated model sir," Chekov answered sending readouts of the three small satellites to Spock's console.

Spock looked over the data quickly. Massing only three hundred tons the small stations resembled cylinders of roughly fifty metres long and twenty wide. A gauss cannon fixed to the top and bottom with a pair of lasers mounted in the centre of the station. It appeared that they lacked shielding. Little more than target practice by this point.

"Any orbital craft from the planet?" Spock asked a moment later.

Chekov nodded. "Aye sir a few, though they seem to have taken up defensive posture over the major cities. Likely wanting to prevent anything we might launch from reaching the planets surface."

Spock nodded. A prudent decision on the part of the planets military forces. But useless. Shuttles loaded with rangers had been sent in well ahead of Enterprise and had already landed around the slave markets of the planet. At least the three that the landing party had identified.

Spock now frowned. In all the excitement of the last hour he had forgotten that the ships captain and three other crew were on the surface. "Any word yet from the captain? Or shuttlecraft?" He asked feeling stupid for not asking earlier.

"Leftennant Paulsen reports that the landing party was safely picked up and that they have been brought to the slave market in the planets capital. Oh! And Emden and Valdez report the seizure of all of the slave ships which attempted to flee the system. One tried to put up a fight and its engines were crippled, though life support remains functional. Searches of all ships have begun."

Spock nodded. "It would appear than that our work is done. Please stand the ship down from red to yellow alert and release general quarters," Spock folded his hands together in his lap. From what he had seen things had gone very well. A better example of orbital assault could not be found outside of textbooks. The only thing left as far as he was concerned was dealing with the planets airborne forces to allow the liberation of the slaves on the planets surface.



Whatever Spock may have thought the mission had not gone off completely without problems, at least on the surface of Valkru anyway. The guards in the slave market, in a bid to save themselves, had barricaded themselves in and threatened to start shooting slaves if the Starfleet teams tried anything.

This impasse had lasted all of an hour though as suddenly the complex was rocket by a series of small explosions and weapons fire could be heard. Worried that the slaves were being killed enmasse Kirk had ordered the doors stormed. Only to find the slaves had escaped and begun killing the guards while their backs were turned. The explosions had been the result of the markets power generators suddenly failing, shutting down the restraints and doors to the cells and allowing the slaves to escape.

Few slaves were killed before the guards had been ripped limb from limb. Most of the casualties were flesh wounds, many of the guards having forgotten to turn their weapons from stun to kill.

Kirk managed to raise Enterprise shortly after that and got a report that all space and airborne assets of the planetary government had been either destroyed or disabled. The government had agreed to cooperate and shut down their dampening fields around the city. Allowing transporters to begin removing the slaves.



Captains log stardate 309097.4

Enterprise has, alongside UES Emden and UES Valdez, completed its business in the Valkru system. In total over seventy thousand slaves belonging to many races were liberated from the planet and over six thousand slavers were arrested. The capture of sixty former slaveships has allowed us to bring all this number, both captive and master, with us as we return to Federation space.

We received a hail from the Andorian Cruiser HIMS Shah'klint yesterday. The vessel had been dispatched by Starfleet command following their receiving our last communication. The ship has taken position escorting the transports. And its medical facilities have gone a long way towards caring for the worst of those held in bondage on Valkru. Doctor McCoy has been working around the clock alongside his medical staff to care for the many suffering bodies we rescued. Through the efforts of our own medical departments, and in conjunction with those of UES Emden, Valdez and HIMS Shah'Klint many have been treated. All seem to be in a celebratory mood. Enterprise has even thrown a feast for those former slaves fit enough to partake.

As for myself I am in a much more somber mood. Seeing the depths beings are capable of sinking into to make money, and the total lack of remorse exhibited by many of the former slave masters has left me questioning a great many things.

I find myself wondering what makes a being capable of that level of disregard for others. Upbringing? Culture? Or could it be that we are all capable of that level of cruelty? These are questions I do not truly want answered.

In compliance with Federation law we have begun formal legal proceedings to determine the fate of those discovered in possession of the slaves. Many have defended themselves merely by stating that the Valkru system is independent and so Federation laws regarding slavery have no hold over them. However We have cited the Khimbash Convention of 2396 between the UFP, Klingon Empire, Kzinti, Minoan leagues. Alongside others.

It is my hope that our rulings will be upheld when we turn these men and women over to Federation authorities when we reach starbase seven tomorrow.

Kirk sighed as he signed off. More out of frustration than exhaustion. One of the prisoners, the former mayor of Buroorum`da goosha, a woman named Veiilis had asked to meet with him one final time. During her hearing the woman had threatened Kirk and the other members of the board judging her. Kirk expected much the same thing from her this time around. Right on cue an alert signed on his computer and Kirk considered for a moment claiming to be busy, but that would get him nowhere. Veiilis would simply try to get another meeting.

"Final warning captain Kirk," the middle aged Orion females voice cooed. Despite her threats she had never once yelled or even so much as raised her voice. Delivering her threats almost as a matter of fact than out of any particular malice.

"Once the charges against me are dropped, as they will be, you will have made yourself powerful enemies in the crime syndicates. Enemies which will be more… understanding if you were to drop the charges. At least for myself and some close associates."

"That will never happen," Kirk said trying his best to match the woman's cold tone. "You are an animal, life imprisonment would be a blessing for you. Far better than you deserve," he said almost spitting out the last part of his sentence despite his best efforts to remain calm.

"Oh come captain," the woman smiled showing sharpened teeth. "There are many, even in your vaunted Federation and United Earth that have purchased slave girls. And the syndicates keep records of them all. It will not be to much effort at all to find something we can use on any judge that hears my case."

Her smile broadened, Kirk was glad that they were speaking over the computer and not face to face. Her pheromones must be firing at full throttle. She had nearly managed to incapacitate a team of rangers when being transferred to the brig. Nearly escaping before she was caught.

Kirk threw out all pretences of control and screamed at her, "you will face the full charges we have levelled against you in a federation court. Just consider yourself lucky we did not hand you over to the Klingons. Or better yet the Kzinti! There execution techniques I understand are quite brutal."

Veiilis blanched, just for a moment before regaining composure. Kirk was just happy to have scored a blow. "Do you really think they wont find out that we rescued some of their people from your market?" He asked.

Veiilis shrugged, "we have dirt on many Klingon and Kzinti. It would be just the same as dealing with a federation judge." She said confidently.

"We will see!" Kirk spat before signing off and deciding he would never speak with her again.



At the same time as Kirk was severing his connection with Veiilis Rajan was interrogating a number of former guards. Men tasked with dealing with uncooperative slaves. Thus far they had been just as unrepentive as any other Orion. And like Veiilis had even gone so far as to make threats. Rajan had decided he was done for the day.

"I will take them to their cells," he said dismissing Younge who had been assigned to the captured transport alongside Rajan and a handful of others from Enterprise.

"You sure?" Younge asked. It was standard protocol for at least two, preferably three men to accompany prisoners during a transfer.

"Yeah your tired, I can see it in your eyes." Rajan was not at all forcing Younge. It didn't really seem all that out of the ordinary for him. And really there had been a few times over the last few days where just one person escorted prisoners. And Younge was tired. Very tired.

"If you want to then go ahead," He said shrugging. He collected his things and went out the door towards what passed for crew quarters on the ship.

"See you in the morning!" Rajan called just before the door closed.

"Want to make a deal do you?" One of the former guards, a male named Verok asked smirking. "I knew at least one of you would come around." He had been smirking like that all day.

He never saw the hand coming, wiping the smirk from his face and breaking his jaw in a single fluid motion. Rajan smiled right back, pointing his phaser to one of the others who moved towards him. "I had something different in mind actually.

At phaser point Rajan marched the four guards along. Passing through the airlock which separated the main body of the ship from the cargo hold sections which were attached. As the hatch swung open on the other side row upon row of small cells greeted them. Each inhabited by between four and eight former slaves.

Just a few weeks prior those same cells would have likely carried double, or even triple the amount of people in them. Those inside glared out at the guards, anger and rage flashing.

"Ahh good to see the merchandise is still intact!" One of the guards named Boomsh said slapping his hands together. He screamed as a phaser blast set on a very high setting tore through his left leg, sending him crashing to the floor.

He turned in fear to face Rajan who was backing off slowly, weapon still trained. "Why?" He croaked out confusion and pain mixing in his voice.

Rajan did not answer. Instead he closed one of the mesh doors, shutting himself off from the guards. He then began to work some of the controls. "These cells here are occupied by the ones you and your friends tortured the most. Those that survived anyway." He remarked almost casually as he pecked away at a keyboard.

"They are healthy now. Strong enough to kill an ox, an earth animal of some size and power. More than capable of killing the four of you." He smiled a wicked smile. Appearing all the world like a demon.

"You cant do this!" One of the unhurt guards stammered as the doors to the cells suddenly clicked. "Federation law on killing prisoners is quite strict!"
"Indeed it is," Rajan said a moment before the cell doors swung wide open. "But there is no punishment if an accident occurs," he added before running away to tell the other members of the crew the horrible thing that had just happened.



Kirk was furious. He paced angrily back and forth in front of Rajan. "An accident?" He asked the question needing no answer. "Four prisoners killed and you have nothing more to say other than an accident?"

Rajan shrugged. "What more is there to say?" He asked. "I filled out an accident report and contained the situation as soon as I could. There is nothing else to say sir."

Kirk fumed. But there was really nothing else that he could do here. Without proof all he had was a suspicion that the massacre that had happened during Rajan's watch, on a ship Kirk had placed under the Laconians command with strict orders to look after the former guards was deliberate. And even if he had proof that what had happened was not an accident Kirk was not even all that certain he wanted to do anything about it.

"Get to your quarters," he finally spat. "Someone else will take over the transport until a formal investigation can be launched."

Rajan did not argue, standing from the seat he offered a salute and walked out. Leaving Kirk alone to fume. Or almost alone. Seconds after the engineers mate had left there was a chime at his door.

"Who is it?" Kirk asked pacing the room.

"Leonard, open up." Bones, the ships chief medical officer said through the microphone on the other side.

Kirk did so begrudgingly. He really did not feel like talking to anyone. He was to full of emotion. Anger at what he knew one of his crew did, and also hate towards the people that he had likely killed and the others just like them still alive.

"Whats up?" Bones asked immediately sensing that something was off.

Kirk explained what had happened, giving both the official version that Starfleet would likely accept. And his own thoughts on what likely actually occurred. McCoy listened in silence until he was certain Kirk finished before asking, "and how does that make you feel?"

"What are you a shrink?" Kirk asked again pacing the room. Something he had done a lot of over the past few days and would likely work a hole into the carpet if he did not stop before long. McCoy just shrugged.

"I saw all the video of the market," McCoy said with a shiver. "I saw the victims. Half starved, beaten, bloodied, their dignity destroyed and lives devastated. And I saw the smug look on the bastards that did it as they came aboard the ship. Saw how they could not have cared less. As if the fact that a Starfleet heavy cruiser and pair of frigates busting in and capturing thousands of their people and arresting them was some minor inconvenience. And I have seen the way many of them think they will be freed by the federation, as if we did something wrong."

Kirk nodded. "I know what you saw, I saw all the same things."

"That's my point Jim," McCoy said leaning back into his seat. A seat he had taken without an invitation. "You saw all that, and its not something I think any of us were prepared for. But seeing that for sure put me in the mood to do some killing of those that did it!"

"What your point doctor?" Kirk said sensing where this was going.

"My point is that it seems that your not so much upset at lieutenant-commander Rajan for doing what he officially didn't do but likely did. Rather I think your pissed off at yourself for secretly in some little part of yourself wishing that it had been you that had done it."

Visions of Veiili danced in Kirks head as he pictured the lanky Orion woman being jettisoned out an airlock with his own thumb over the switch. Yes he would have liked to do it. And that feeling terrified him. For it meant that he was willing to treat life every bit as callously as the Orion slavers.

But Kirk was not going to tell McCoy that. He could not. "Your wrong," he said before attempting to change the subject. "How are the intensive care patients going?" He asked.

McCoy was glad for the change of topic as well. Truth was he felt just as secretly bad as Kirk about the way he wanted to kill all of the former slavemasters. And so the conversation turned to those in the worst shape from the slave pens. And there to what would happen to the slaves once they reached a federation port. And likely what punishment awaited the slavemasters.

McCoy would eventually leave and abandon Kirk with his own thoughts. Kirk was to angsty to eat and so went to bed for what was likely going to be a rough night of little sleep.

 

[Charles Markov]

1. "Easy there Trip!" Captain Johnathan Archer, UESPA, said as the small pod he and Chief Operations Officer Charles Tucker the third, Trip to his friends, were sat in lurched again.
   
   "I said it when we left the station that if you wanted a smooth no hiccups ride that you should have ridden in with a professional pilot," Trip said with no apology. "We'll get there soon enough!"
   
   "Will we be in a single piece still by then is my question," Archer said dryly. Trip nudged him with one elbow and used his free hand to deliberately jiggle the controls. The pod shook in response. Nocking the bill of Archer cap into the transparent aluminium viewport at the front of the tiny pod.
   
   Any retort or reprimand became stuck in Archers throat as they finally hove into sight of there destination. Suddenly his face was right up against the viewport.
   
   'Quite the sight isn't it?" Trip asked smiling ear to ear with pride. Archer wasnt paying the slightest bit of attention to him.
   
   At a little under two hundred and twenty five metres long and one hundred and twenty wide the E-class long range explorer Enterprise was somewhat small by even the standards of typical Earth ships. She was barely larger than the Iroquois class patrol cruisers of the United Earth Stellar Navy. Despite of this the ship was vastly more capable.
   
   Her odd hull form spoke of some of this. A large flattened disk served as the vessels main hull. With a pair of long nacelles housing powerful warp coils were suspended from the hull by pylons which came out of the saucer like primary hulls aft.
   
   She was unusual to say the least. Well unusual compared to most ships with the exception of the handful of testbeds and proof of concept vehicles which had come before her. One of them, the Beagle, a training ship and demonstrator, was parked in a nearby orbit to Enterprise and looked positively tiny. Like a minnow beside a whale.
   
   Archer, if possible, felt even smaller in his tiny pod. Trip slowed the vehicle down with a burst of thrusters and brought them along the ship. Flying around the graceful lines of Enterprise and giving her captain a good view of his ship.
   
   "Don't scratch the pain!" Archer shouted as Trip got a little to close around the ships forward missile tubes. The tiny pod smacked the larger vessel with a resounding metallic clang and Trip wore a stunned expression so ridiculous that Archer could not help but laugh.
   
   Impromptu tour over the pod docked in the ships hangar, a large cavity sat between the warp nacelle pylons large enough to house the ships compliment of four shuttles, two tenders and a pair of cargo shuttles.
   
   In what seemed like forever, but was actually a few minutes the pod autodocked with the ship and with a hiss a secure pressure seal was established by the docking ring.
   
   "After you," Trip said motioning to the waiting ladder just outside the pod.
   
   Archer gracefully disentangled himself from the web of safety and crash harnesses of the pods passenger seat, graceful meaning he looked much like a fish caught in a net, and climbed up the ladder and onto the ship proper.
   
   "Captain sir," Helmsman Travis Mayweather said as Archer emerged from the docking ring.
   
   "Hello Travis how are you?" Archer asked shaking the mans hand. He knew he was smiling much wider than usual. He likely looked like a complete idiot. He did not care.
   
   "Pretty good, I think I finally have the helm arranged the way that I want it," Travis said. The two men stood there for a few moment awkwardly. "Sorry to hear about your dad," Mayweather finally said his voice becoming much more sympathetic.
   
   Archer coughed. His father, Henry Archer, had been largely responsible for the Enterprise and the revolution it represented. Travis, and most of the ships crew had worked with him extensively. His death to a rare degenerative brain disorder so close to the launch of his dream had been a blow to everyone.
   
   "Thanks," Archer said automatically. It had been four days. Four days since he had rushed into the hospital to see the lifeless body of his father being removed from his bed, minutes late in saying goodbye.
   
   He had been sick most of his life. Sheerans disorder as it was known was rare, and totally preventable provided it was caught early. Fortunately Archer had been treated shortly after birth, the doctors knowing to look as his father was then suffering the early stages of the disease. But for those in whom the disorder was not caught in its early stages it was a long, slow and inevitable process.
   
   Archer would never get the memory of the last time he had seen his father, the quivering and convulsing form that had cared for him all his life, been his friend and mentor throughout his life. And he had seen the look of shame in his fathers eyes as he saw his son standing in shock at seeing him.
   
   Thinking about it he nearly teared up right there. The knowledge that the last thing his father had seen of his son was shock and fear would forever haunt him Archer knew. But this was not the time to dwell on it and so he pushed such thoughts from his mind.
   
   "Are we ready to get underway?" He asked changing subjects. Mayweather sensed the hidden meaning and nodded.
   
   "For the most part, we still are waiting to take on ambassador Fel and her staff, ambassador Soval and his staff are already aboard and are expecting to meet with you at your convenience. And they did stress that." Almost as an afterthought Mayweather handed Archer a full report on the ships readiness, schedule and estimated time of departure.
   
   It looked good, very good. The ship had taken aboard all her stores and fuel, reactors were being brought on line, warp nacelles warmed up and all ships systems tested, so far with no faults. It was shaping up to be a pretty good day if not for the Vulcan presence aboard and sudden change of plans for the ship.
   
   Initially it had been planned for Enterprise to undergo an extensive shakedown period in the Sol system, humiliating the UESN as Enterprise set numerous new warp speed and endurance records in their own backyard. The ship would then be sent to Alpha Centari to commemorate the death of Zephrame Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive before the ship set out on a year long mission to explore as much space as she could before heading back to Earth for refuelling and evaluation on her performance.
   
   Instead the ships maiden voyage had been hijacked for political reasons. The current Forum chairman and leader of the United Earth Michael Rubenetov had ordered the ship to Vulcan as a shakedown cruise instead. Her new mission to flaunt Earths achievements in propulsion by transporting a group of assorted diplomats from Earth to Vulcan and then back again.
   
   He had done this Archer suspected to garner favour with his political base which wanted him to be stronger in his dealings with Vulcan, while also giving the same Vulcans a chance to look at the ship for themselves and see that it really was just a simple explorer at heart, albeit an explorer faster than any UE vessel to date with enough free volume to carry a very heavy weapons loadout.
   
   Rubenetov did not have Archers vote when he went up for re-election. Nor did he have the love of the UESPA. He had ignored even director Forrest's concerns over giving the ship such a high profile mission when she was not yet even fully tested, instead threatening to replace him entirely.
   
   Archer knew that the Vulcans had pressured the man into this, the sudden change of orders reeked of it. Director Forrest had said much the same thing, confiding that there were likely spies in the ambassadors staff who would try to get all they could from Enterprise. Something that Archer felt was entirely plausible.
   
   Archer finished reading the report and signed off on it. "Looks good," he said, handing it back to Mayweather. "I think me a Trip are going to check up on the engine room if there is nothing that needs my immediate attention." Mayweather shook his head to signify that there wasn't. He left report in hand and both Trip and Archer headed the short distance to main engineering.
   
   The room was large and sat in the center of the ships primary hull. Even so it felt rather small and cramped. Much of its volume being taken up by the massive spherical reactor that dominated the room, massive was somewhat of an understatement though as it was small by the standards of shipboard fusion reactors. Nevertheless its bulk dominated the room and took up four decks worth of space.
   
   Trip immediately descended into the chaos that was the startup sequence. A lengthy six hour long process just going into the critical hour four mark. Archer spent a little bit of time there watching, but really he was more in the way than anything else and so left after just a little bit of time to go to the bridge proper.
   
   Technically the room was the command center as the word bridge had been stolen by the UESN for their ships, but nevertheless the room was called so by the ships crew out of habit.
   
   All snapped their heads to the lift as Archer walked in. "Captain!" Mayweather said with a smile. "What do you think with the ship all put together?"
   
   Archer did not answer immediately, he was to busy taking in the bridge, last time he had seen it the room was just bare walls, lighting and panelling had not even been installed yet. "Quite a sight," he said and meant it.
   
   He had been heavily involved in the outfitting of the ship. Working closely with both his crew and spacedock workers until he had been forced to spend most of his time working with the UESPA board of directors to plan how the ship would be used, press conferences and training sessions with the officers earmarked to command the next three E class ships. Columbia, Discovery and Atlantis. His fathers passing had been the final thing keeping him from seeing the ship fully put together.
   
   "Would I be right in assuming all the consoles work properly?" He asked playing with the helm controls. Mayweather smiled.
   
   "When we power them up they should work just fine. But until we need to leave orbit there is really no need. He to grabbed at the controls and began idly flipping buttons.
   
   "My stations are fully powered up so if you would mind not playing with them," a gruff British accented voice said from behind Archer. He turned with a false smile.
   
   "How are you Malcom?" He asked Lieutenant-Commander Malcom Reed, the leader of the twelve man UESN team stationed aboard Enterprise to man and operate the ships limited armament of three point defence lasers and defensive missiles. Because he belonged to the UESN he did not fully fit in with the rest of the crew, his gruff attitude and apparent scorn for those around him was not helping to change this.
   
   "Just fine sir," Reed said glancing up for a moment to smile partially at Archer before getting back to whatever he was doing at that time. "Just making a few final checks before we leave. Want to make sure that everything is working fully."
   
   "Keeps talking about wanting all weapons to be fully functional, almost like he thinks we will be attacked by the Vulcans or something," Mayweather joked. Reed was not smiling.
   
   "I expect no such thing," he said with a sigh. "Captain I merely want to ensure that all of the ships systems under my supervision are functioning the way the are intended to. I would hate to go on our first mission with jammed missile tubes and misaligned lasers."
   
   Archer hid an internal sigh. Reed was a perfectly good, if somewhat formal and non sequitur officer. Unlike some naval personnel he had met Reed held no real malice towards the civilians he was surrounded by. Choosing to do his job and not make any enemies.
   
   His problem was that he was very much a no nonsense kind of person, the very image of a UESN officer. Humourless and icy he carried out his duties with impressive skill, but outside of necessary conversations Archer would not choose to have much to do with him.
   
   "And how are our defensive systems coming along?" Archer asked. He was not allowed to use the term weapons, Reed had explained that a warship carried weapons. UESPA vessels mounted defences. Even if the lasers Enterprise mounted were the same as those carried by the latest UESN cruiser.
   
   "Not to bad. Still waiting for the final batch of missiles for launcher three, and number two laser is still a little misaligned. Otherwise everything shows as just fine." Reed looked around his station, a cluster of consoles to the right of the captains chair located in the center of the room. He produced a report of his own. "Everything is in there sir, awaiting your final signature as soon as I have the last of the missiles and the laser aligned.
   
   Archer had to admit that as stiff as he was Reed was never late with a report, in fact if anything his reports were a little overly complex. Leaving nothing out and attempting to answer any and all questions a person may have before they could ask them.
   
   This report was no different and Archer only glanced through it. "Let me know when you want it signed and I will read it through," he said passing the document back. Reed nodded.
   
   Archer spoke with the rest of the bridge crew for a little while. He knew each of them quite well. Mayew, the ships second helmsman was stood off in a corner of the room, waiting to take over from Travis, One the aft operations station was a new addition to the crew, technical specialist Daniels, the engineering section located in its own little niche at the very back of the bridge was currently unmanned. That left the science stations which were currently manned by only a single person.
   
   "Hello captain!" Hoshi Sato, lingual prodigy and close friend of Johnathans said with a sheepish smile.
   
   "Hoshi how are you adjusting to life in space?" Archer had finally managed to convince her to join him aboard Enterprise a week prior, just after his fathers death. It would be good to have the planets foremost xenolinguist aboard once Enterprise got into truly uncharted space. Assuming she could handle it.
   
   "Not as well as you may expect," Hoshi answered holding up a, thankfully, empty vomit bag. "Artificial gravity is a harsh mistress."
   
   "It takes some getting used to," Archer admitted smiling at the joke, she was quoting a classic movie, the two of them both being major film buffs.
   
   That concluded the introductions and looking at the clock Archer realised he still had two hours before the ship got fully underway. And there was not really anything to pressing for him to do. At least not pressing enough that he could get out of the only real thing he had to do before the ship officially launched.
   
   "Malcom do you think you can look after things while I greet ambassador Soval?" Archer asked. Officially Enterprise held no second in command like aboard naval vessels. With a crew of just two hundred it was felt that such a position was unnecessary, just one more mouth to eat up valuable provisions and shorten the ships range to explore. This meant that when the captain was away command of the ship fell on whoever was there for him to give it to. Usually it fell on Mayweather, but he did not want to give the impression this early into the ships mission that he had favourites.
   
   Reed was somewhat surprised by the question, he had been given command only a few times. But he readily accepted, it did not much interfere with his duties at the moment as the ship was just parked in orbit. He went back to working on his console and generally left everyone else alone. Archer left the bridge and headed off to the ships hastily constructed guest quarters, empty science labs hastily converted to accommodation suitable for housing a few dozen members of the diplomatic corps of both Earth and Vulcan.
   
   
   
   "Captain I was beginning to wonder if I would have the privilege of meeting with you before we got underway." Ambassador Soval had answered the door himself at Archers knock. Unlike some ships in the fleet Enterprise did not have buzzers to alert a person when someone was at the door.
   
   "What kind of host would I be if I did not check up on my guests." Archer had dealt with enough Vulcans to be fairly proficient at their infernal politeness.
   
   "I am aware that you are a busy man, from what your director Forrest told me you have been rather busy as of late planetside." There was a slight undertone of curiosity in the ambassadors voice.
   
   Archer smiled, as always uncomfortable with the Vulcans obvious examination of him. He wondered if the Vulcan knew what had made it necessary for him to be on Earth but decided he probably did not. "I have been, but things cleared up so that I could get aboard an hour or two ago."
   
   "Your first class specialist Travis Mayweather informed me of your arrival," Soval said. "The two of us were discussing your fine vessel."
   
   Archer wondered if Travis had said anything specific, or if the ambassador had managed to get anything from him. He knew his helmsman had likely said only conflicting information to throw the Vulcan off.
   
   "I must say before we get underway captain how sorry I am that your mission and proper shakedown cruise were delayed. I assure you neither I nor my government had any part in your change of orders." Soval looked generally apologetic, or as close as a Vulcan came.
   
   Archer did not believe a word the man said, but he was not here to say that. "No need to apologize, chairman Rubenetov likely just wanted to show us off to our allies."
   
   Soval kept up the lies. "A senseless decision, but one that does have the happy result that I get back to Vulcan a little earlier than if I had travelled aboard one of your warships."
   
   Archer took issue with the your warships phrase but said nothing. "I was made to understand that you wanted to speak with me?" He asked instead.
   
   Soval took a moment to collect his thoughts. Obviously thinking about his next words. "There are some among my staff that have significant prejudices against humans," he said finally and with some obvious discomfort. Archer did not think he was faking it.
   
   "They will not be openly hostile or rude I assure you, we are not as aggressive even our racists as humans." Archer was amazed that Soval managed to get in an insult even here.
   
   "They have been warned repeatedly about their illogical attidutes," he continued. "But to no avail. I doubt they will do anything unwise, but they may speak to you unkindly and not treat your wishes and orders with the respect they are due. I wanted to make you aware of this before we got to far into our journey."
   
   Soval looked relieved to have gotten that off his chest. I made no difference to Archer, in his experience one Vulcan was as condescending and rude as the next and the knowledge that one may be deliberately rude did not phase him to terribly much if he was being honest.
   
   "Thanks for the warning," he said trying his best to put in some amount of false gratitude. "I will keep this in mind."
   
   He spoke further for a moment with ambassador Soval for a few minutes. Discussing their accommodations and the speed at which they would arrive at Vulcan. Soval admitted that Vulcan had no idea of Enterprises true reachable speed. But Archer was eager to get back to the bridge and get the ship underway. The ships time of departure was drawing ever nearer. He left with a promise to speak with Soval further at dinner.
   
   
   
   Soval watched the human go with a mixture of feelings working through his mind. Unlike what many humans seemed to assume Vulcans did all experience emotions, but just controlled them through mental training ad discipline, not allowing their feelings and emotions to rule over them.
   
   The captain had clearly been less than truthful and had not found his warning to be of to useful or important. Unsurprising as intelligence had already reported the man to have a bit of a prejudice himself towards Vulcans. Like many humans he believed they had held humanity back with their centuries of oversight into Earths affairs.
   
   Soval snorted at the idea. Rather than hold humanity back with their two centuries of oversight and examination Vulcan had paved the way forward for Earth to become the bustling hive of activity it was today. Smoothing over the racial and religious differences that had dived the planet and repairing much of the damage inflicted by humans to their planet in their wars. If anything Vulcan had saved humanity from extinction and pulled their development far forwards.
   
   He closed the doors to his quarters and shook his head. He doubted the staff members he had warned the captain about would get into to much trouble. But still he wanted to make it clear early in the trip that he was not responsible for their actions.
   
   "Sir would you like for me to get back to my report?" A questioning voice asked behind him. Soval dismissed thoughts of the human and their two races relationship to focus on the report he had been getting before Archer interrupted.
   
   "Please do," he said, sitting in the chair opposite the woman delivering the report.
   
   At just thirty years old T'pol was one of the youngest members of Soval's staff. As well as one of his most helpful and important. As his scientific advisor and liaison with the UESPA she had also gradually assumed many further duties as his primary aid. Currently she had been giving a report on her observations of Enterprise and her conclusions regarding the capabilities of the ship in terms of speed, range and endurance.
   
   "As I recall you were just about to speak about your views on the vessels armament," Soval said as a unnecessary reminder of her place.
   
   "Indeed I was." T'pol looked down at her notes, a pile of paper on the table between their two seats. "Selvek is actually my source for the majority of the conclusions I reached, it would be better if I just allowed you to read through his official report," she handed him a few pages and the ambassador looked over the documents. He was not a naval officer, but he knew enough to follow along with the report.
   
   "Selvek is thorough, if he says the ship is as lightly armed as this then I am inclined to believe him." T'pol nodded. It was not truly up to her to offer up opinions. She merely delivered information and made a logical conclusion.
   
   But if she had been asked she would have said her opinions about the vessel they were aboard. In her mind, if she had been given the chance to speak, she would have said that she viewed the ship as a potential threat to Vulcans long enjoyed supremacy.
   
   Earth was still a small power, in terms of its military, economy and population it was still well below Vulcan. With the current situation it was unlikely that this would change at any point in the near future. But a ship with Enterprises speed had the potential to make a major difference. Allowing Earth to circumvent Vulcan fleets in war, and spread far beyond their current frontiers in peace. Unless Vulcan possessed similar ships, and in a short period of time, they stood to be outmatched by Earth in a number of years.
   
   In her opinion Earths development of the ship should have been observed much closer than it was. Soval was perfectly correct in his decision to keep a light approach at the time Enterprise had begun development, but in hindsight it had proven to be the wrong position.
   
   T'pol knew this was likely the reason he had been recalled so suddenly. It was a mere fluke that the Forum Chairman of the UE, that man Rubetenov, had decided to order Enterprise to carry Soval to Vulcan. Giving the ambassador the chance he needed to recoup his losses.
   
   They were not spying, not in the classic sense. More realistically they had been ordered to observe Enterprises abilities and performance and report on what they saw on arrival on Vulcan. As a part of this tours of the ship and discussion with its crew would be sought as much as possible. Those were the orders anyway, realistically conversations between Humans and Vulcans tended to be rather short and to the point. An efficient use of time, but one that seldom resulted in new information being learned.
   
   "Are you paying attention?" Soval asked noticing that T'pol's mind seemed to be elsewhere. "I was asking if you would draft an initial report."
   
   "Of course," T'pol kicked herself for allowing her thoughts to drift off in that manner. She gave no external sign of this internal rebuke however and rose. "I will do so in my quarters if that suits you."
   
   "It does, we will be leaving orbit shortly, it would be best if you were in your own quarters." Soval rose and opened the door for her in a learned Human courtesy.
   
   She left and began to write up a basic report on the ship. At this point they had learned little, other than the basic layout of the ship and her general capabilities. But it would serve as a useful template to be added to and altered at a later date once more had been learned of the ship. Beneath her feet the deck pulsed and vibrated, the whole experience seeming like the ship was going to tear itself apart. Such feelings would not be found on a Vulcan ship.
   
   
   
   Hoshi Sato knew exactly how it felt to think the ship was going to tear itself apart. She clung for dear life to her console and closed her eyes. It was all she could do not to scream as the vibrating and roar of the ships engines grew louder.
   
   "Warp factor two point four," Mayweather reported from the helm. "Warp factor two point five, warp factor two point six…"
   
   He went on and on, each new point being massively faster than the last. The ship continued to accelerate and speed up and the shaking grew worse. For Sato, who had never left Earth orbit let alone travelled aboard a warp ship, it was terrifying. For the rest of the ships crew it was perfectly normal.
   
   The ships speed levelled off at the warp three point five mark, the normal cruising speed for UESPA and UESN ships. After a few moments at this speed the vibrating and noise began to die down as the ships engines let off the power, once at a given warp velocity it became much easier and more power efficient to maintain that speed.
   
   "Hold her steady Travis," Archer ordered. It might as well have ben music to Hoshi's ears. He looked over at her and smiled a daredevils grin. "What did you think?" He asked.
   
   Hoshi decided to be honest. "That was terrifying," she admitted. She could see Trip hide a grin. Archer was a lot less careful in concealing the laugh he made. "Was I that obvious?" She asked. Trip now broke out into open laughter.
   
   "You sounded like you were praying in Japanese or Orion or something!" He said between bursts of giggling. Sato blushed.
   
   "I hadn't realised I had been talking out loud," she said her face a deep crimson red.
   
   "We understand," Travis said doing his best to calm Hoshi.
   "Yes, we do," Malcom seconded. Hoshi did not know the man well. But he was the last one she expected to get any sympathy from.
   
   "You do?" She asked somewhat stunned. Everyone else apparently shared her confusion as they stopped laughing at her and looked over at Reed.
   
   "Yes, I do." Reed wondered why everyone was looking at him. He knew as a naval man he was not at all the most popular man on the ship. And he knew he could be a little cold, but did they all think him totally emotionless?
   
   "It was her first time going to warp," he looked at her. "Am I correct in that assumption?" he asked. Sato nodded. "My first time at warp was just as terrifying," he said. All looked at him.
   
   He decided it best to speak directly to Sato and ignore the stares of the others. "I was just out of school and was sent off to the Jupiter station, to get there I flew aboard the UES DaVinci. An old systems patrol ship. She only made warp one point eight, even so the little tin can vibrated so badly that I was convinced we were all about to die and tried my best to make for the escape pods, only to be restrained by the vessels captain, an old and grizzled Swede."
   
   "Sounds like fun," Sato said stifling a giggle. Malcom did not much care, for one the young lady was very pretty, and for another he had obviously helped her not feel quite so bad about her minor freakout.
   
   The vibrations had almost totally ceased to be noticeable now, she could still feel them. She had heard that the engine vibrations would never stop once the ship entered warp, and that the higher the speeds the ship travelled the worse the vibrations, though they would die down as the ships speed levelled out.
   
   Archer read through the reports from the engine room and field control rooms and smiled. Everything was going as smoothly as he could have wished for. This was not the first time that Enterprise had gone to warp he knew, but she had never gone this fast.
   
   He knew that warp factor three point five was about the fastest Earth designed vessels ever travelled, Vulcan ships were another story and could reasonably hope to reach warp factor three point eight or nine under normal cruising conditions.
   
   Enterprise had been designed to achieve speeds as high as warp factor four point six, although for comparably short periods. In theory with a powerful enough engine she could reach as high as warp five, but the reactor fitted aboard at the moment could not hope to produce power sufficient for such speeds. Her cruising speed was considered as around warp factor four, well in excess of even the fastest Vulcan vessels cruising speed, and she reached such speeds consuming perhaps as little as ten percent that of what a Vulcan ship would.
   
   Fuel was something every starship was traditionally very short on. Fusion reactors were incredibly thirsty machines, and the faster a ship wished the travel the more power was needed from the engines, equating to even more fuel.
   
   This was not a problem at lower warp velocities, but as a vessel approached the warp two point three threshold it began to become a problem. Vessels needed ever more fuel to reach even the relatively short distances between star systems, leading to larger fuel tanks, and larger ships to fit them, and then larger tanks in an endless cycle. The fastest Vulcan ship that Earth was aware of, the Deik'lavas class, were immense half kilometre long monsters capable of reaching warp factor two point five for brief periods. Much of their internal volume was devoted entirely to fuel.
   
   Not only was Enterprise faster than the Vulcan behemoth, she was also less than a tenth her displacement. And as icing on the cake with just ten percent of her hundred thousand ton displacement devoted to fuel she could travel more than six times farther than the Vulcan, a ship which devoted more than thirty percent of her displacement to fuel.
   
   That was why Enterprise represented such a leap forward. She could remain on patrol far longer than a traditional design of starship, allowing her the range to be the first truly long range explorer ever built. She had a range measured in years rather than weeks, and capability to travel hundreds of lightyears on a single fuelling rather than a few dozen like normal vessels. She promised to be an incredibly effective explorer and had the potential to open up an entirely new frontier to human colonists and explorers.
   
   That was also why the Vulcan wanted to know more about her. The ship was capable of tremendous feats of exploration with her revolutionary design. But, if armed even moderately, she represented an extremely fast and powerful ship capable of outflanking any traditional battlefleet without issue and striking deep into enemy territory. If Earth built a fleet of such warships, which the UESN seemed determined to do, then they would immediately become an extremely large threat even to the massive Vulcan space marine.
   
   It was a sombering thought. At the moment the UESN, the military branch of the United Earths spacefaring forces, possessed only thirty cruisers, twenty of which were only short ranged ships. This made Earth a small power, with a fleet mostly only capable of policing its frontiers and colonies and little else.
   
   But, with the same number of ships like Enterprise the UESN could easily send a fleet to the homesystem of any potential threat race and outflank them, or send its forces to raid and disrupt the enemies spaceborn shipping. Crippling their economy and strangling them into surrender. Granted once Vulcan designed and built their own similar vessels they would be once again the dominant power.
   
   But the problem they were evidently facing was how to design their own high warp ship. Archer had not seen any intelligence reports. But he had heard rumours that Vulcans attempts in this field had so far ended only in disaster, they understood the basic concept, but were having trouble developing it into a proper working design.
   
   Archer looked at the position board and smiled. The ship would pass Mars before to long, he had plans to beam a message to the Utopia Planetia colony as they passed. After that Jupiter lay on a direct path along Enterprise's exit course from the system. A thought struck Archer and he made a few adjustments to the course.
   
   "Travis, tell me what you think about this," he said as he handed the helmsman his math. The other man smiled as he realized what his captain had planned.
   
   "I like it sir," he grinned right back and passed the sheet of paper back to Archer.
   
   "What is it?" Malcom asked wondering what had gotten the two so amused.
   
   "You will see," Archer said wondering what his reaction would be. Frustrated Reed got back to his board. Whatever it was he could wait to see what his shipmates were on about.
   
   
   
   Reed did not have to wait very long. Just a few hours after their exchange and just past Mars Mayweather suddenly jammed the ships engines into high gear, they roared in response and the ship lurched forward suddenly as Jupiter neared.
   
   Hoshi yelped in surprise but quickly forced herself to be quiet when she saw Archer and Mayweather grinning, it had to be alright then. She dug her hands into the armsrest, digging marks that would remain in the plastic until the ship was decommissioned.
   
   Enterprise rapidly gained speed. Roaring towards Jupiter and quickly exceeding warp factor four and climbing all the way up to warp factor five. As she flew by Jupiter Enterprise flashed a message to the UESN's Jupiter Station informing them that the ship had just breeched the speed record one of their ships had set the year before to much publicity. Archer took the opportunity to order an active sensor sweep of the Jovian system. Lighting up every ship present in a deliberate act that set off every alarm in the area.
   
   Reed reported that a trio of Vulcan ships were also present in the system as Enterprise roared past, and that they had seemed to try to lock onto the ship with their own active sensors. But they had been to slow, by the time their sensors were warmed up they were pointing several million kilometres aft of the ship.
   
   Travis kept up the speed until the Sol system was well behind them, leaving the UESN fleetbase and Earth in her wake. The ship slowed only as she left the Oort cloud, and then only to warp three point seven. Holding that speed until the engine room reported some overheating issues with the reactor. But Trip said it was nothing to serious, so the ship only dropped down to warp three point five.
   
   It was quite a display of the speeds the ship was capable of. Enterprise had travelled well over half a lightyear in just under eight hours. An impressive feat and one that T'pol was careful to record in her constantly updating report. As the ship left the Sol system behind normal life quickly began, it being quite late Archer ordered dinner to be served and the crew given a moment to decompress.​

 

[Charles Markov]

It had been over a week, Enterprise was halfway through with her trip to Vulcan and in Archers opinion it could not be over soon enough. The Vulcans had been a constant nuisance, continually wanting a tour of different parts of the ship. Asking about her capabilities and generally doing their level best to discover her secrets.

Ambassador Fel meanwhile, Earths replacemet ambassador to Vulcan, made the trip even more of a headache by constantly getting in the way, asking questions, demanding to speak with Archer only for her to ask him simple questions. His favourite being how to adjust the lighting in her quarters, something anyone else on the ship could have done just as easily.

Enterprise also had a few troubles of her own. Being a new ship there was still a few problems to be worked out, some defective parts to be replaced such as malfunctioning lighting elements and haywire environmental controls, and quirks of the ship to be discovered. Perhaps the worst of these issues being when the gravity on C deck had failed without warning, Archer had phoned Trip from the shower and been nearly injured when it was turned back on. A drop of two metres onto the deck had not been fun. Fortunately no one else had been injured in the mishap and the Vulcans remained blissfully ignorant that it had even happened.

It had not been all bad however, Archer was finding that he absolutely loved the ship. Enterprise was a masterpiece of design and every waking moment he was not being hounded by politicians or Vulcans he enjoyed himself immensely.

He tested the ships systems extensively in the first number of days. Making a number of stops to ensure that the ships sensors worked, or that other systems would work properly. He even gave Reed the chance to test the ships "defensive systems" by stopping on the fourth day of the journey for some target practice against a passing meteorite. It took a salvo of missiles and a blast of laser fire for the half kilometre wide ball of rock and ice to explode, but it was quite the lightshow.

The ship was continuing on its course now, all tests Archer could think of having been concluded already, and a routine was forming. Archer sat on the bridge for the first eight hours of the day, with first Travis and then Malcom taking shifts overseeing the ship. Trip spent most of his time in the engine room and elsewhere, occasionally Hoshi would have a go at commanding the ship for awhile, though she still was not comfortable with that degree of authority.

The Vulcans had not been idle either. Over the last few days they had taken repeated tours of the ship, often with Archer leading them through the engine rooms, computer cores and weapons. In groups of just two or three at a time they asked an endless series of questions regarding the ships systems, speed and capabilities. Archer did his best to give as vague answers as he could without stooping to outright lies.

The rest of the ships officers were far less concerned about lying and even said outright impossibilities when asked about Enterprise. Trip was perhaps the worst. On one occasion answering that Enterprise could achieve warp factor seven and hold that speed for nine years without refuelling when asked about the ships speed.

Fortunately the Vulcans seemed unwilling to stoop to quite the level that Archer had anticipated. Never being caught or even suspected of attempting to hack into the ships computers directly. It was not something they were not entirely unfamiliar with, the Chicago scandal of a decade prior being still fresh in everyone's mind. And Archer was certain to make sure that evidence of hacking had been looked for.

Overall Archer was finding these Vulcans far less intrusive and difficult than they had anticipated. Even ambassador Soval was proving to be less of a nuisance than he had initially believed. He was perhaps less than a problem than ambassador Fel and her staff which was constantly in his way and asking an endless series of questions and difficulties. That did not mean he was enjoying it, but he was managing through it.



If Archer had learned that just on the edge of Vulcan space there lay in wait a cruiser of the Deik'lavas class which had stationed itself along Enterises projected course with the intention of ambushing her he would have suddenly found any good will he had towards Vulcans evaporate.

The ship was part of a mission organized by a reactionary element within the navy which was convinced that they needed gain as much intelligence on the E-class ships as possible. Even resorting to force to accomplish their goals.

Captain Cho'kol and his ship the Arakas were only a part of the plan however. The anchor by which the other two parts of the planned heist were dependent upon. Prior to the ships departure there was concern raised of how unstable Vulcan scientists believed the vessels warp field to be that was passed onto the UESPA and UE government. It was ignored, but when the ship went missing it would provide a convenient reason to explain why the ship was lost.

The third element of the plan involved planted agents in ambassador Soval's own staff that would cripple the ships engines and attempt to hack her computers to stop the vessel from either attempting to escape, or fight back.

The plan was necessary, at least Cho'kol and others felt it was. Earth could not be allowed to usurp Vulcan's position as the preeminent technological power in the galaxy, they had possessed warp flight for a scant few centuries while Vulcan had possessed it for close to two millennium. Humans were also dangerous, having nearly destroyed themselves before Vulcan stepped in and stabilized the situation on Earth, delivering huge quantities of relief supplies in the process and rebuilding the planets shattered environment.

"It will be another day before the Earth ship arrives," Cho'kol said as an opening to the mornings officer meeting. He looked around at everyone and saw that he had their complete attention. "Before they get here I want our sensor nets fully assembled so we have the best coverage of the system possible, missing them is not an option."

He looked down at his board. "We also need to be certain to look for the signal from those aboard the Earth ship loyal to our cause. If they fail however I am willing to resort to the use of force."

Seeing his words had registered he continued with the briefing. Receiving reports and asking questions about the ships status like any captain would. Enterprise was forgotten for the moment. All in the room knew everything there was to know and did not need to be reminded of anything, they were Vulcans afterall and possessed perfect memories.



"This conduit is the primary feedpoint for the port nacelle is it not?" Selvek asked as he and his party of three were led through the twisting corridors of Enterprises aft sections.

"Yes I believe it is," Travis answered. He was getting tired, he had just spent eight hours on the bridge and had been looking forward to a bit of rest, only for captain Archer to ask him as he had been about to get to the lift to give these three Vulcans a quick tour of the ship.

"And it feeds directly into the main reactor?" Selvek asked.

"I would have to ask Tucker, but I believe that is true," Travis shifted in his stance and leaned against the bulkhead.

"Would that not be a problem should there be a power bleedback?" Another Vulcan asked. "Would that not run the possibility of disabling or even destroying the vessel?"

Travis did know the answer to this question. "Actually the reactor has shutoffs in the injectors to the conduits that will stop any plasma feedback into the reactor and shunt it off harmlessly."

The Vulcan that had asked the question seemed to mull over this for a moment. "But the ship would be unable to attain warp speeds then would it not? Would the conduit to be warped for further use?"

Travis nodded. "Unfortunatlely yes," he wondered for a moment why three Vulcans were this interested in the plasma conduits of the Enterprise.

Apparently catching Travis's thought the third Vulcan piped up, "Vulcan vessels have several failsafes such as this and the plasma conduits themselves are easily replaceable," he said with an air of superiority.

Travis was not enough of an expert on Enterprises' technical specification to give an answer to this, but he was certain that whatever the Vulcans used it was inferior to whatever was fitted aboard his ship. Doing his best to ignore the slight against his ship he carried on with the tour. Finally he finished the tour a few hours later and went to bed.



T'pol was waiting when Selvek and his team returned for them in the shared common room between their quarters. "Have you anything to report?" She asked as the doors cycled shut behind them.

Selvek nodded. "Nothing of use," Selvek said, sitting down on the couch across from T'pol he noted that she was not in the least bit surprised.

"The humans have proven remarkably capable of keeping us in the dark about the capabilities of the ship. I must say I am impressed by that, though frustrated." T'pol slid a notepad over to him. "Anything you noted should be written down, we need as thorough a report as possible."

Selvek nodded, he was well aware of the necessity to keep records of their tour of the ship. Even if they did not find any useful information, at least anything he could share with T'pol.

He finished his report in a few minutes and handed it over to T'pol, who read through it and signed her approval of it before setting it on a pile of similar reports. She was growing frustrated at the lack of anything useful to report. Watching her Selvek had a slight pang of guilt for not being entirely truthful with her. But logically she would not be harmed by what she did not know.

He left a short time later and went to bed. Leaving T'pol alone to think over what she had observed. She knew Selvek was not being entirely truthful with her. His body language, though well hidden, showed some guilt over something. But she had no idea just what he was not telling her. It was not like looking at the ship and trying to find out what made it work the way it did had a lot of room for secrets.

On a whim, if Vulcans had whims, T'pol looked through Selvek's personal file. It showed nothing terribly out of the ordinary. He had served with ambassador Soval for a few years after he had gotten out of the navy. He went to school at a prestigious university and graduated in the top tiers of his class.

But then as she looked a little more in depth his record began to stand out a little more. For one he was well known as being somewhat prejudiced against humans. Viewing them as primitive and in need of help. He had been reprimanded repeatedly for expressing such views, even to humans.

But the thing that raised a red flag to T'pol was Selveks service in the military. She knew from experience that most military records were freely available and easy to follow. Consisting of simple lines regarding where an individual worked and for how long, and in what capacity.

But Selvek's records held none of that. Rather they were very short and held gaping holes in their records, times amounting to almost a decade, where the record read only as intelligence. This meant for certain that he had been involved in secret missions, and not in a sideline capacity like analyst. Rather he had served likely as an operator or agent.

Often those who had served in the intelligence community were never fully out, often being used for other tasks when the situation presented itself. Could he be on such a mission now?



"You believe him to be on some form of secret mission?" Soval asked, he had listened quietly as T'pol explained her theory, but it was clear that he had his doubts.

"Yes I do think that is a possibility." She handed him a sheaf of papers she had printed out. "Our database says as much here," she gestured at the second page of the report. Soval's eyebrows raised as he looked over that.

It was standard practice to copy all data stored in embassy computers when an ambassador left his post, granted this was never intended for use in this manner, but that being said Soval was glad that she had.

"Keep an eye on Selvek if you would." He ordered and set the document down. He would have to think about it and ponder what he could be doing. There was a good possibility that whatever it was it was it had the potential to end in a huge embarrassment for Vulcan if it went wrong.

Opinion on Earth towards Vulcan had shifted a lot in the recent decade, with many coming to view Vulcan as deliberately holding Earth back to ensure its dominance. It was a view captain Archer likely shared. Whether it was true or not was not up to Soval to say.



Two days later and the ship had continued along its course to Vulcan without incident. Archer had ordered another string of speed and endurance tests to be conducted. Bringing Enterprise up to warp factor four point seven for a full two minutes before he was forced to slow down due to structural stresses on the ships hull.

T'pol had continued on her investigation of Selvik, so far she had found very little. But that did not mean she had come up empty. Far from it. Instead she was all but certain that Selvik had been activated by intelligence for an operation designed to properly spy out Enterprise. Though she was unable to come to a proper conclusion as to the end of the operation.

In order to find more information T'pol had begun to backtrack on Selvek's movements. This had begun with a very cursory glance into his quarters, but that yielded nothing. Not to be unexpected if the man had any training.

She had next looked through every report that he had filed and begun to take similar tours of the ship, by herself as she did not want to attract any attention from the remainder of the ambassadors staff. She was however certain to keep Soval informed as to her movements and discoveries.

Currently she had just gone on two separate tours of the vessel, the first time she had been unable to have the same man give the tour as had given one to Selvek, the ships engineer Charles Tucker giving it instead. However, just a few hours later Travis Mayweather had become available and so he had consented to give her a tour of the ship.

She did not know what she expected to find out, the humans had been very guarded in their answers and no member one else had managed to find anything of importance, why would Selvek be any different.

T'pol then made a leap of logic and decided that even if Selvek were as careful as he could be with his movements so as to avoid discovery with the other Vulcans he would likely not be as careful with the humans. Afterall the two seldom spoke socially, their interactions confined to tours and passing conversations.

She thus decided to be very open about her intentions. She asked Travis directly to give her an account of Selvek's actions, everything he and his party said and everywhere that he took them. She did not however reveal just why she wanted him to do so.

"This was about when the three of them decided they had seen enough," Travis said standing beside in the middle of the hallway. T'pol looked around wondering what the other had seen that he considered to be useful.

"Here?" She asked beginning to feel almost like the helmsman was fooling her.

"Yes, I thought it was weird to," Travis could tell that T'pol had her doubts but wanted to make it clear he was being entirely truthful. Her honesty with him earlier had compelled him to do the same.

He gestured to the plasma conduit and shrugged. "Asked a bunch of questions about the conduit here and then we moved on for maybe five minutes more before they said they were done."

The wheels in T'pol's mind began to turn. "Where does this lead?" She asked already having a good sense of what the answer would be.

Travis sighed as he struggled to remember what he had told the other Vulcans. "It leads to the warp nacelles from the main reactor. Its where they get the majority of their energy."

T'pol at once knew the major flaw in this design feature, it represented a critical weakpoint in the ships propulsion. Normally, even under battle conditions, this was not much of a problem. But then most starship designers did not take internal sabotage into consideration. "I need to speak with your captain," she said putting a few more pieces together. She did not yet have the entire puzzle assembled, but what she knew was alarming.



"You think that this Selvek is doing what?" Archer asked his head still spinning as he began to process the information ambassador Soval's aide had given him. The four of them, Archer and Travis on the human side, and ambassador Soval and an aide Archer did not know, were in the tiny captains office. A small space just off the port side of the bridge.

"Captain T'pol did not come to this conclusion in a vacuum. She has some evidence and it is enough that we decided to come to you immediately." Soval appeared sombre, behind him the aid, Archer could not recall her name, stood like a carved stature, face lacking emotion. Travis was a study in opposites.

"Whats on your mind Travis?" Archer asked wondering what he thought of all this, he had afterall been present for both the tour with the supposed spy and the womans conclusion that he intended sabotage.

Travis shifted uncomfortably on his feet, not liking all the attention suddenly directed at him. "Captain," he stuttered before seeming to call upon some inner strength. "Sir I think she is telling the truth," he said with much more confidence in his voice. "And even if she is wrong wouldn't it be better to be prepared and nothing to happen than to dismiss her suspicions and then have a disaster?"

Archer could not fault him on the argument. Whats more he believed her himself. Vulcans were not well known for subterfuge of this sort. They would lie, hide information and forget to inform when it suited them. But lying that one of their own staff was plotting to cripple Enterprise for some nefarious purpose, weakening their own position substantially in the process, did not seem to be within their typical SOP.

"What do you propose we do about this?" He asked suddenly deciding, for the moment, to trust the Vulcans. "I will have to inform my crew about this," he said leaving no room in his tone for debate about this. "If we are to counter whatever they plan we will need help."

"Agreed," Soval said after seeming on the verge of arguing for a second. But the human brought up a good point. And, it was not as if there was much chance of word getting to Selvek via the humans. Still, some precautions needed to be taken.

"I would ask though that not every crew member is informed, I doubt your crew would tell Selvek, but they may tip him off that something is up if they become more hostile and guarded around him."

Again Archer had to concede that the ambassador had a point. "I will tell my officers, chief engineer and weapons specialist, and a few others as there is a need," he said finally. Soval nodded while the female maintained her statue like non-expression. Travis gulped loudly beside her.

"Now," Soval's voice was quiet, he sounded as if he were plotting a conspiracy. "The only question we must ask ourselves now if what we will do to stop your ship from being damaged or potentially destroyed." He looked around at Travis and Archer, neither man was forthcoming with an idea.

Finally T'pol spoke up and laid out a simple plan that required very little action on anyones part but stood the maximum chance of preventing any plot by Selvek. Its lack of action also served to avoid making him and any members of the conspiracy.

It was sound, simple and likely effective. Archer and Soval both readily agreed and that was that. As the two Vulcans turned to leave though a last nagging thought struck Archer.

"Ambassador," he asked rising from his desk, "I have just one last question if you would care to answer it for me."

Soval wore an expression of worry for just a moment before it disappeared beneath his usual tight emotional control. "You may ask it," he said his voice steady.

Archer took a moment to think over the proper wording for what he wanted to say before deciding it was best just to ask. "Why," he began, "do you think that you were not informed of this plan as Vulcans senior official aboard? Isnt it standard Vulcan procedure to do so on intelligence gathering operations?"

"I am shocked at your detailed knowledge of my governments intelligence organizations standard procedures captain," Soval said completely deadpan. He mulled over Archers words for a moment before he answered.

"To be honest with you captain that is a question that has been bothering the corners of my mind since T'pol revealed her suspicions to me." He shrugged slightly. "Perhaps I no longer enjoy the trust I once thought I did."

With that he left, Travis followed. Leaving a stunned Archer alone to think about what this could mean. As he saw things it could either go exceptionally well, with a major boost in the UE's position with Vulcan. Or it could go extremely badly, there was potential perhaps, depending on how high up this possible plot went, for a major souring of relations between the two powers. And humans were not as peace-loving as they let on, there would be demands for blood if something majorly bad happened to Enterprise.

 

[Charles Markov]

"Remind me again why we trust them all the sudden?" Trip asked for what was probably the millionth time in the past three days. He been working almost nonstop for two of them to install a bypass line of conduit running past the primary junction and complaining the entire time.
When no one answered he continued. "I thought we were suspicious of the Vulcans because they wanted to discover how the ship worked, now we are working with them?"
"Some of them," Archer corrected, "and we are only working with some of them because others may want to sabotage the ship."
"No I get that, I really do." Trip took a moment to think of the proper wording for what he wanted to say. "Why are we working with them at all if we know some of them are probably planning to sabotage the ship? Why not keep all of them at arm's length and work on our own?"
Archer did not really have an answer, on the one hand it made sense that if ambassador Soval and his aide T'pol had come to him with the plot that they would be totally innocent. On the other hand however how could he be certain that they weren't a part of the plan? Or that there was a plot at all?
"Because they know just about as much about what is going on as us and are better placed to uncover additional information," Archer said trying his best to get any doubts out of his voice and to make it seem that he wasn't open to any argument on the subject.
Truthfully this wasn't something he had a great deal of experience with. Archer was a scientist and explorer first and foremost, in his mind at least. High stakes politics and spy craft were incredibly far outside of his comfort zone."
Trip seemed to accept this, although he grumbled slightly before going back to work. Deciding it best to let him be Archer turned to Reed at the weapons station, "how goes it?" He asked noting the report already coming his way. Malcoms military promptness and preparedness were really beginning to get on his nerves.
"Fairly well sir," he said looking around at his instruments. "Of course, it would be better if we knew more about what was being planned, that way I would be able to prepare more specifically, rather than a general plan for multiple eventualities as I have done."
Archer nodded not really paying attention as he read through the four page report, Malcom continued, seemingly taking no account of his captain. "I would also feel a little better if our weapons were a little harder hitting, but that decision was not up to me."
Archer agreed with him on account of the ships weapons. The ship, while the best armed ship in the UESPA, still fell well below the standards of a proper warship. She was armed with six missile silos, two launchers and three laser cannons. She was also armoured quite well for a civilian vessel, with polarised hull plating and reinforced structural frames.
But she was still not a warship. Her lasers for instance were only short ranged low powers systems suitable for little other than interception of incoming enemy fire. Her six missile silos carried only defensive missiles in racks of nine, while her two tubes could only fire probes and general purpose defence/offensive missiles of medium range only. In any stand up match against a properly outfitted cruiser she would lose, her speed was her only trump card and it looked like the Vulcans were plotting to take that away.
The report reiterated this point strongly, advocating that in the event that the ship encountered a hostile force she was to avoid direct confrontation at all costs and only use her defensive systems to open an avenue of escape.
Archer signed off on the report, a formality Reed insisted on. It was not good enough that the captain had seen it, he had to have signed it to show that he had seen it. Yet another little military practice that irritated Archer and most of the rest of the ships crew, and the lack of which endlessly perplexed the ships scant UESN compliment.
T'pol walked in just as Reed accepted the report and looked around the bridge before speaking. "Captain, is this a good time to talk?" She asked standing ramrod straight just beside the turbolift.
Archer turned his head, the woman was dressed in the usual Vulcan service dress, tight fitting but flexible her attire left little to the imagination, but would protect the wearer in the event of a loss of pressure, also providing limited defence against radiation and variations in temperature.
In Archers mind the uniform just looked like pyjamas, but it was still a rather pointed contrast in the technological levels between the two nations, despite the advances Enterprise represented.
T'pol noticed Archers look and asked again, somewhat sheepishly Archer was snapped back into the present. "Yes," he said, "whats up?"
"Up?" T'pol asked puzzled at what direction had to do with her.
"What is it you want to talk about?" Archer said, trying again. This time T'pol seemed to understand what he was saying.
"Sir how far away are we from Vulcan territory?" She asked looking at the bridge's forward display screen. It was currently showing a view of the space ahead of them. With Enterprises' speed, power and fuel consumption and heading. It did not show the ships position however.
Archer honestly did not know the answer to that, he had a general idea that Enterprise was just a few hours away from the Vulcan border, but he did not know exactly how close the ship was in terms of distance. He looked over at the helm.
"Travis how close are we to the Vulcan border?" He asked. The helmsman wheeled around and thought for a moment before he answered.
"About five hours sir at our current speed, that amounts to about two lightyears." Travis looked back at T'pol, "would you like to see my flight data?" He asked. He had no problem dealing with the Vulcans and was developing a rather good relationship with T'pol in particular.
"I would appreciate it mister Mayweather," T'pol said, looking to Archer she asked, "may I?"
"Please do," Archer said gesturing to the helm. It was weird, before all this had went down the thought of sharing the flight data from Enterprise with a Vulcan would have been insane to him, now, now it was a fairly simple little thing.
T'pol walked over and looked through the ships flight data, including her projected path into Vulcan space. She stood up and turned to Archer, a curious expression on her face.
"What is it?" Archer asked wondering just what was going on and why she seemed so concerned.
"Nothing captain," T'pol said. "Just that the ship is entering into Vulcan territory along a fairly predictable path. Perhaps it would be wise to move the ships entry into another area where there will likely be less possibility of being intercepted by any Vulcan ships."
Archer honestly had not considered the possibility. "Do you think that there is a possibility of there being a ship waiting for us?" He asked.
Rather than answer T'pol produced a drive and handed it to Archer, who looked at it, and then her. "This drive contains copied information from Selvek's personal computer, do not inform ambassador Soval as this is a serious breech of our laws and personal privacy."
Archer nodded, this represented a serious breech of even Earths laws, he was surprised that T'pol would have done this. "What does it contain?" He asked deciding to move on and pass by her breech of laws.
"Coordinates and calculations made by Selvek which correspond to a location near where the ship was going to enter Vulcan territory, I can only conclude that this means we will be intercepted by one of our own warships."
Archer blanched. "Well we know what to prepare for," he said turning white. If the data in the drive was what T'pol said it was, a location where the ship would be intercepted, then it would not be hard to avoid it and enter Vulcan territory from a different location.
But that was assuming that it involved only one ship. If the apparent plan to seize Enterprise involved more than one starship, or if the Vulcans had FTL sensors available, then it would be still possible for the ship to be intercepted.
Archer had considered turning back for Earth and scratching the entire mission. But then he would have to answer to both the government and director Forrest. And even with the evidence they had so far collected it would likely not be enough to justify, in their eyes, the ship turning back. And so, against his gut, he had accepted T'pol's logic that any plot against Enterprise would involve only one ship.
"Travis," Archer said making a decision. The helmsman turned and smiled.
"Already working on a new course that will put our point of entry into Vulcan space several AU away from our previous course," he said. He was getting to be rather good at anticipating the orders of his captain.
Archer nodded and shrugged at Trip who was finding the whole situation rather funny. Over the last few days he had joked that it was almost like Archer did not need to every once come to the bridge because Travis could read his mind as to where he wanted the ship to go.
The ship shuddered as her course was adjusted, the warp bubble around the ship reforming slightly to create sufficient drift on one side that the vessel began to turn along the new course, the whole thing, in the words of Travis, was done almost like a rudder on a ship. It was much superior to the typical method of turning which involved firing impulse engines and forcing the ship on a new direction, Enterprise's turning circle was many times smaller as a result and the ship wasted even less precious fuel as a happy by product.

"Well? Have you seen anything yet?"Cho'kol said to his sensor operator. He was getting impatient and finding it harder and harder to control the emotion as the clock ticked down. If they missed their guess as to Enterprise's point of entry into Vulcan space then they would fail in their mission.
"Nothing yet sir, likely they are still outside our sensor range," the operator said with surprising calm. Normally men as junior as him had not yet mastered the control that he had.
Cho'kol huffed. The entire point of bringing along the subspace sensor ship the Vekia was that she had much increased sensor range over those carried by Arakas. So far this extended sensor range, up to half a lightyear, had yet to prove to have any worth.
"Keep on it then," Cho'kol ordered, unnecessarily he knew but then he had to give some form of order for the record. The sensor operator, tied into the sensors aboard Vekia, nodded but otherwise said nothing.
"We cant miss the Earth ship," Cho'kol muttered under his breath as he stared out at the darkness around the Arakas.

"Sir…" Malcom said suddenly from his station. The ship was now just a few minutes from Vulcan space and would soon penetrate along the new route set by Mayweather.
"What is it Malcom?" Archer asked his voice tense. T'pol he noted, as well as Ambassador Soval, began to make their way to the weapons station, but stopped quickly.
"Sir we are being pinged by a subspace signal," Reed reported.
"Can you elaborate?" Soval asked.
Reed looked at the Vulcan for a second and then at Archer before he answered. "Sir, it is not a communications signal, it registers to high. I think it's a sensor beam."
Someone, Archer thought Pavel Maritislaw, the ships sensor operator, swore in a language Archer did not understand. Probably Polish if it was Martislaw. "Full stop!" Archer ordered. Around him alarms blared as the ship began to rapidly decelerate from warp factor three point six down to a complete stop, the entire operation would take roughly six minutes if Travis worked the ship to her limits.
"Better send a team down to the Vulcan quarters and confirm that everyone is there," Archer said to Reed as the deck beneath his feet lurched and metal screamed from the stresses it was being put through. Reed worked quickly and reported that it was done just a moment later.

"The Earth ship has began to decelerate rapidly sir," the sensor operator said his voice suddenly going tense. Cho'kol angrily clenched his fists but gave no other outward indication of the rage he was feeling.
He had already berated the man for missing the ship until it was just under five billion kilometres. And now apparently the ship had detected the sensor beam from Vekia and begun to slow.
"Get a fix on their location and relay it to the helm!" Cho'kol ordered deciding to carry on with the plan even if the Earth ship slowed just outside of Vulcan space. He prayed that Selvek and his team would be able to accomplish their part of the mission or this could quickly turn into a massive problem.

"The ship is slowing!" Selvek said to the other members of his intelligence team. He had worked since arriving on a carefully timed and intricate plan to cripple the ship. Now it looked like that plan was impossible, he had not intended to move into action until the ship was well within Vulcan space. Now it looked like he had no choice, something was obviously wrong.
The two others in his team of three immediately moved to the door of their quarters to begin their plan. Selvek moved to the cubby where he had stashed a few small arms and detonators. He swore, they were not there.
"They were here just an hour ago!" One of the others said all his panic knocking down his walls to show plainly on his face.
"T'pol and the ambassador were in here just a few minutes ago," the other said. "You do not think?"
"I do, and when this is over we will deal with them," Selvek said brushing past the missing weapons and coming to the logical conclusion that their plot had been discovered, though he dismissed the idea that either the ambassador or his assistant had told the humans. It would damage Vulcans position to much he knew.
From his boot he produced a small sidearm, a simple plasma pistol. The weapon had a power cell sufficient for just a dozen shots on kill and perhaps triple that on stun. He set it to kill. "Lets go," he ordered gesturing to the door. Hesitantly the others followed him.
The door opened and he and his team rushed out, the sound of running footsteps met them just a few metres outside their room and without even caring who it was Selvek began to fire, hitting one of the humans, a medium height man in the light body armour used by the Colonial Rangers, though he was clearly a crewmember of the ship. He went down and the others did their best to form a line, taking cover where they could. It was clear they were not professional shipboard security, their movements were choppy and amateurish, but they were much better armed than Selvek.
"Move!" He shouted over the din of weapons fire, surprisingly accurate as one of his team went down, a gaping wound in his shoulder, the humans were using projectile weapons, primitive.
He and the man not wounded ran off in the general direction of the power conduit where they would cripple the ship. Selvek was now wondering if the ambassador had told the humans, or if the security were just there to arrest the ambassador. Either way they needed to finish their mission.

"Sir I have weapons fire near the Vulcan quarters!" Reed shouted in surprise. Archer turned.
"I thought that you grabbed their weapons," he said to T'pol.
"Obviously I missed a few," she said completely deadpan.
"I have one wounded, though he will live and it looked like at least one of the Vulcans was hit, the team asks if they should pursue." Reeds hands were flying across his board as he initiated the ships scant anti-boarding procedures.
"No!" Archer shouted over the new alarms. "I want the team to lock down the Vulcans in their cabins, we can catch them as they near the conduit," Archer felt odd giving these orders, a sudden rush of adrenaline and excitement where there ought to be panic. He was enjoying this. An odd thought.
His crew raced to carry out his orders as chaos engulfed the bridge, controlled and subdued. But chaos nonetheless. It was interesting to watch, despite a formal lack of training for such events they moved well and carried out their tasks efficiently.

Efficiency could not be said to be a trait shared by the crew of the Arak's bridge crew. Captain Cho'kol had been giving orders in a rush of raised voice and furious pacing. The plan was coming apart and he was not doing a good job of hiding it from his men. They were growing nervous and beginning to make mistakes.
The cruiser had begun the lumbering turn that would bring her on an intercept with Enterprise, her enormous bulk and sluggish handling making this an agonizing and painful operation.
Cho'kol grabbed onto the railing as the ships gravity lurched in response to the stresses it was being put through. The movement passed and normal gravity resumed. A tactical readout on the forward viewscreen was showing the relative positions of the border, Arakas, Enterprise and the Vekia. The Earth ship was gaining ground rapidly. Cho'kol had no idea of its maximum speed, but intelligence guessed it to be just below or just above that of his own ship. He needed to catch her before she was to far away.

Selvek let out a curse in Helorig that would have made a person with almost complete emotional control blush as another bullet tore just past his head. He had initially been glad that the humans were using projectile weapons as that would force them to be careful not to accidentally hit something important. But he had quickly observed that the weapons disintegrated on impact with a hard surface, like a ships bulkhead, but remained intact when entering a soft object, like a Vulcan.
Another volley followed the first round and soon Selvek was covering himself to avoid getting any shrapnel in his eyes. He would have returned fire except that his own weapon was now running critically low on power and as he did not have a detonator he would need to use his weapon to take out the power conduit.
He was still working on the assumption that the humans had no idea of his target, but still he was having difficulty getting there. Seemingly around every corner there was another team of armed crew blocking his path. He and his assistant had managed to take a pair of pistols from some of them, but now the weapons were also running out of ammunition. And the likelihood of getting more was rapidly dwindling.
Selvek saw an opening and with a shout fired off the last three rounds from his pistol, catching one of the humans in the chest, sending her to the ground with a gaping chest wound and a bloodcurdling scream. He brushed past the other man, stealing his gun and firing behind him.
His surviving team member was not so lucky. Stunned as Selvek broke out the humans behind them had been ready for him and filled the Vulcan with at least seven bullets before he fell to the floor in a heap. Selvek did not look back, he had work to do.

"Sir all sections report ready for jump to warp!" The helmsman reported much to the relief of Cho'kol, they were rapidly loosing a window where they could intercept the Earth vessel.
"What are you waiting for?" He bit out," get the ship to warp!"

Selvek had nearly made it, his teammate had managed to continue fighting after going down, firing his five remaining rounds and delaying the humans just long enough to allow Selvek to temporarily evade their grasp.
It was just a few more metres now, he grabbed his pistol and set the weapon to overload, the initial plan had been to set the detonator to a timed delay and escape the ship via an escape pod to be collected by the Arakas after Enterprise was theirs. Now it was clear that survival was no longer an option.
Selvek had not problems with death. He knew that he had done his best to serve the state and that he had led a good life, accomplishing much in his admittedly short lifetime.
He had just finished setting the weapon to overload when a new round of bullets began to come his way. Stunned and kicking himself for not hearing the humans approach he blindly ran forward around a corner.
It was a mistake. A line of humans, all armed, met him and opened fire. Catching Selvek at least nine times with their fire and sending him to the ground, as he fell he released the pistol, its trigger depressing and beginning the overload.

Trip put his gun down, tossing it aside in disgust. He was not a killer and the knowledge that he had just possibly shot a fellow being made him almost sick.
He held back his breakfast and took a deep breath, his ears were ringing from the gunfire. Or where they? The noise was growing louder, a loud dinging that seemed to be emanating ahead of him. Looking over at the Vulcan's corpse Trip expected to see a grenade or something, but fortunately did not.
He did see a sidearm though, a small energy weapon of obvious Vulcan manufacture. The teams had reported that he was armed initially with such a weapon. As Trip walked closer he could see that it was flashing, red.
"Get outta here!" He screamed, he knew enough about energy weapons to know when one was about to blow up. His team scurried for cover and he himself dove around a corner just before the weapon detonated.

Enterprise bucked around for a moment before her ride smoothened for a moment. Hoshi had just time enough to breath a sigh of relief before the ship suddenly dropped out of warp, sending all aboard off in every direction but down. Lights flickered and gravity failed as alarms screeched and moaned throughout the ship.

"Sir the earth vessel has just dropped out of warp!" The sensor operator reported, Cho'kol grinned. Finally! He thought, it seemed the plan was salvageable after all. "Time to intercept?" He asked.
"Twelve minutes," came the reply.
"They aren't going anywhere," Cho'kol said with a decidedly un-Vulcan grin.

"Damage report?" Archer asked deciding it was better to know the state his ship was in before asking why it was in that state.
Malcom looked across his board before giving a report. "It looks like the nacelles suddenly lost power sir, at the moment I cant say for certain why."
Archer had a pretty good idea, "get Trip!" He said moving up to the helm console and helping pick Travis off the deck. "Are you alright?" He asked.
"Fine sir, never better," Travis said as he gingerly tried out his left arm. His face puckered as he flexed it, but it seemed to be only bruised.
Archer looked at the rest of his crew, noting that ambassador Soval and T'pol were fine. He was surprised to see Hoshi still in her seat. "What?" She asked when she saw him looking at her.
He shrugged, "I expected you to be on the ground honestly," he said.
"I have a tight grip," Hoshi replied lifting her hands off of her chair to reveal a new series of claw marks in the leather. Despite his present circumstances Archer found himself laughing.

"Captain, we failed sir." Trips tone was sombre. He looked around at his people, fortunately no one had been killed, or even seriously injured in the explosion, just minor injuries.
"No need to apologize Trip, just glad you guys are alright," there was relief in Archers voice. "How bad is it?" He asked.
"Don't know for sure captain," Trip said. He had not really had time to look at the damage to the plasma coil, he had been busy ducking away from an explosion and then sliding around the deck as the ship dropped suddenly from warp.
"Well let me know when you have an estimate to finish repairs, there is still at least one Vulcan ship around," Archer said, in the background Trip could hear Reed giving a full report on the damage the ship had taken.
"Lets get to work!" Trip shouted to get everyone's attention. Once he was certain everyone was looking at him he continued. "We need to get the ship back to warp as soon as possible, the captains depending on us, lets go!"
Everyone that could moved to comply. Racing to exchange rifles with tools and diagnostics equipment. Trip began a quick visual inspection of the damage to the conduit, hoping it was not something to serious.

"I want to come in as close to them as possible," Cho'kol said as he leaned in close to the helmsman. The whine of the ships engines was defeaning as the Arakas clawed her way up to warp three point five. It would only get worse as the ship continued to accelerate, but fortunately she would have to begin slowing down soon to avoid overshooting the earth ship.
Rather than answer the helmsman nodded and worked his controls. The ship shuddered in response and Cho'kol noted that the whine of the engines was beginning to die down. If only slightly.

"Its not as bad as I thought, but its not good sir," Trip said. It had been five minutes since they had last spoken. In that time the ships chief operations officer had worked hurriedly to find the extent of the damage from the explosion.
"How bad is it?" Archer said a silent prayer that it would not be something that would need time in a spacedock.
There was a pause before Trip answered. "Fortunately the bastard did not destroy the whole thing when he turned himself into tiny bits. Looks from here like the blast only weakened the conduit in a small section and the computers shut down the plasma flow before it could get to bad."
"Can you fix it?" Archer asked hoping the answer would consist of three letters rather than two. Again there was a pause before Trip answered.
"Yes," he said finally to the relief of Archer, who drew an enormous sigh or relief.
"How long do you need?" He asked not caring particularly about the length of repairs, all that mattered was that the ship was not completely broken.
"Fifteen to twenty minutes and we should be good to go," Trip said much to the shock of Archer.
"Well he didn't do much damage at all then," he said.
"Well sir, its not that he didn't do a lot of damage," Trip said the old sarcasm creeping into his voice. "Its just that, well you happen to be blessed with the best engineer in the whole damned fleet!"
Archer did not doubt that, as the fleet at present had no one with Trips qualifications. But even with the quick repair time there was the question of when the Vulcans would make an appearance. He did not say that to Trip, no need to burden him with additional stress as he worked. But Archer knew he had better have a very good exit strategy for when the Vulcans came to him.
"Hurry," Archer said before signing off. He knew it was pointless to say that, but it made him feel better. Like he was doing something towards fixing the ship by uttering that single word.

 

[Charles Markov]

1. "Captain we are now out of warp sir, shall I have weapons brought to bear?" The ships tactical officer said as soon as the Arakas was back into realspace.
   
   Cho'kol shook his head, "no," he said grimly. "The plan calls for us to attempt to board the Earth ship under the pretext of looking for a criminal among the ambassadors staff, we shall then seize the ship with our boarding party, that way it is hoped that the vessel will be as undamaged as possible for later examination."
   
   The tactical officer, and really the entire bridge, nodded. In order to ensure the integrity of the plan it had been necessary for most of the ships crew to be kept in the dark about the finer points of the mission until they needed to know. Now they needed to know and Cho'kol was telling them.
   
   "Shall I prepare a boarding party then?" The tactical officer was already moving to do so even as he asked for permission, Cho'kol nodded.
   
   "Please do. I don't want to give them time to get any ideas into their minds." Cho'kol looked at the ships speed and course and sent some minor adjustments to the helm. They would need to be very careful if this plan was going to work.
   
   
   
   "One big ship," Travis said, the first to speak since the Vulcan Deik'lavas class cruiser had come out of warp half an light second off Enterprises port bow.
   
   "The vessels of this class are indeed rather large, though much of their volume is devoted to fuel." Ambassador Soval's voice flat, conversational and totally out of place in the tense environment of the bridge.
   
   "Good grief that thing is huge," Archer said as if totally oblivious to Soval.
   
   "What worries me is their armament, if they begin firing before we can get to warp we wont last very long." Malcom discretely checked the target lock on the vessels forward missile batteries. It wouldn't do much, but it was better than nothing and made him feel better.
   
   All was quiet on the bridge for a moment before Hoshi spoke up. "Captain, they are hailing us," she said the worry and fear clear in her voice. She looked at Archer questioningly. "What should I do?"
   
   Archer shrugged. "Put them on." If they wanted to talk then maybe he could keep them on the line long enough for the repairs to be completed. Hoshi worked her hands across the board and soon the comms fizzled to life.
   
   "Earth vessel this is the Vulcan cruiser Arakas, captain Cho'kol speaking," a voice said with as much entitlement as Archer had ever heard from a Vulcan.
   
   "Captain Johnathan Archer of the Enterprise," Archer answered back trying to sound as amicable as he could. "What can I do for you?" He asked.
   
   "You can come to a full stop and accept a boarding team from my vessel," Cho'kol said a tough of anger in his voice. "We believe that three of the members of Ambassador Soval's staff have committed grievous crimes. We want them."
   
   Archer could see where this was going, send over a boarding party to apprehend these fugitives, and then out of the shuttles pours enough armed men to take over the ship and capture her crew, allowing Enterprise to be captured nice and neatly. Fortunately this plan also had plenty of ways to delay it as conceivably the Vulcan captain would not want his shuttles to be fired upon the minute they left the ship.
   
   "Why do you want them now?" Archer asked, putting as much dumb innocence in his voice as possible. "We are headed to your homeworld, why not just wait to get them when we arrive?"
   
   Cho'kol did not seem to be in much of a mood for debate over this. "Their crimes are to serious to allow them any more time than necessary before their trail. Allow my boarding party to take them," he said with growing volume.
   
   Archer looked back at Soval, who responded by raising one eyebrow and shrugging slightly. Archer signed to Hoshi to cut off audio for the moment and he raised Trip. "How much longer?" He asked once he had gotten ahold of his engineer.
   
   "I need five minutes captain," Trip said, "just five minutes."
   
   "You may not have that," Archer responded. "We have a Vulcan war cruiser off our bow that is well within weapons range talking about sending over a boarding party.
   
   Trip hissed and nearly swore. "Understood, we will try our best," he finally managed to say before signing off.
   
   "Travis get a readout of the nacells, I want us to warp the moment we are able," Archer said swinging back into his chair and motioning to Hoshi to turn the audio pickups back on.
   
   "Captain I am not sure that we can do that," he said again going for the stupid but helpful human approach. "You see our small craft bay is rather cramped at the moment and we don't think our airlocks are compatible with yours."
   
   "I am sending over the boarding party captain, if they encounter any difficulties I am sure that they will be overcome," Cho'kol said dryly. "And I would remind you not to underestimate who you are dealing with."
   
   It was Archers turn to nearly swear. Clearly the Vulcan knew he was stalling, though he guessed that the man had no idea why. "Well its going to be a major embarrassment for you when your shuttles cant lock on to my ship," Archer said giving the vocal equivalent of throwing his arms up into the air.
   
   "We will see captain, prepare to receive my men," Cho'kol said haughtily before signing off. Archer was immediately in action.
   
   "How long until their boarding party reaches us?" He asked to no one in particular.
   
   "Approximately two minutes assuming they launch immediately and proceed on a direct course," T'pol said. Archer was uncertain how she had come by that figure, but something told him it was accurate.
   
   "Looks like that's precisely what they are doing," Travis announced a moment later. "Two small craft just left the Arakas' hangar and fired up their drives for a burn."
   
   Archer looked at Travis's data and this time he could not keep from swearing. "Trip for the love of all that is holy in the universe hurry up!" He said, adopting one of his friends sayings rather than resort to further profanity.
   
   
   
   "Captain the boarding party is away and reports all is normal," the operations officer announced calmly. Cho'kol nodded.
   
   "Very good," he said. Despite the human captains best attempt his men would be aboard the ship in just a few minutes. He wondered for a moment why the captain had not said anything about their drop from warp. Perhaps he could have suggested that the perpetrators of the damage were the Vulcans Arakas was looking for?
   
   It was a small thing, and something unlikely to cause Cho'kol any lack of sleep. Likely captain Archer had just been unwilling to admit to a Vulcan that his ship was not capable of achieving warp any longer.
   
   "Time before our shuttles reach the Enterprise?" He asked his operations officer.
   
   "Two minutes and eleven seconds," came the prompt reply.
   
   "At last this mission is at an end," Cho'kol said a fierce gleam in his eye. "Are the holding cells ready to receive the ships crew?" He asked now turning to his tactical officer.
   
   "They are," the man answered.
   
   
   
   "Well I was a tad optimistic when I said five minutes captain," Trip said, from his tone of voice Archer could tell that he was rubbing his neck sheepishly.
   
   "How much time do you need?" Archer asked with nothing else to say.
   
   Trip took a minute to mull over his answer before speaking. "Could you give me eight more minutes?" He asked.
   
   Archer looked over to Malcom and paused there. "Captain?" Reed asked puzzled.
   
   "Is it safe to say that the Vulcan ship will not fire on us ambassador?" Archer asked without turning to face Soval.
   
   The ambassadors eyes went wide as he realised what Archer was getting at, but he could see no other choice. "Unlikely yes captain, impossible no."
   
   Archer seemed pleased with the answer. He could work with likely not far better than he could with definitely will. "How long before the shuttles reach us?" He asked.
   
   "Forty seconds or so," Travis answered as puzzled as Reed.
   
   "Okay, we haven't got much time," Archer said putting extra urgency into his voice, "here is my plan…"
   
   
   
   "Ten seconds before the shuttles dock with Enterprise," the operations officer announced. Cho'kol was busily pacing the bridge waiting for the shuttles to dock. He turned just in time to see one of them blink off the tactical display followed by the second a moment later.
   
   "What happened?" He asked, the possibility of sudden systems failure entering and exiting his mind almost instantaneously. He knew the answer.
   
   "Enterprise has fired on the shuttles," the tactical officer announces, alarms blaring throughout the ship.
   
   
   
   "Direct hit on their thrusters sir," Reed reported grimly. "They are intact but unable to move anywhere."
   
   "Good shot Malcom!" Archer said. He had been clear that he did not want either shuttle to be destroyed outright. Killing two shuttles full of people would not go over well with either Vulcan, or Earth. Even if the shuttles occupants were going to take over the ship.
   
   "Permission to fire the second volley?" Reed asked. Without hesitation Archer answered.
   
   "Granted."
   
   
   
   "Sir I am detecting launch signatures from Enterprise! They have fired on us!"
   
   Cho'kol's head was spinning. Was Archer insane? Arakas possessed many times the diminutive Earth ships firepower and could keep up a furious barrage of fire for far longer than Enterprise just due to the amount of space she had to devote to magazines.
   
   "How many?" He asked moving to his chair as the ship entered combat standing.
   
   "Looks like six weapons signatures, all small to mid sized, likely a mixture of offensive/defensive missiles and a few defensive weapons to fly escort and shoot down our counter fire." The tactical officers voice sounded calm, controlled. Cho'kol envied him.
   
   "Prepare to engage counter fire and plot a return volley!" Cho'kol said hastily before rethinking his orders. "Target their weapons systems with our lasers," he said a half a second later. "We cant destroy or damage the vessel to badly," he said.
   
   The tactical officer snorted. Mission critical or not if he were in his captains place he would immediately let loose everything the ship had and vaporize the irritating little human vessel for daring to fire on a Vulcan warship. But he moved to comply with his captain orders regardless. He could always challenge his leadership after the fact in court.
   
   
   
   "Sir the Arakas has destroyed out initial volley and is trying to get a weapons lock on us, possibly for their lasers," Reed shouted.
   
   "Launch scramblers and get us out of here!" Archer snapped, in response the ship shuddered slightly as another pair of missiles escaped the ships tubes and the thrusters engaged. Warp drive or no Enterprise could still outrun the Vulcan at impulse, and outturn her to. If she wanted to fire her lasers on the ship then she would have to work to get a suitable target lock on her.
   
   As Enterprise began her turn her missiles screamed towards the Arakas, miniature impulse drives propelling the devices at half the speed of light down the gullet of the larger warship. Arakas's impressive array of sensors detected the missiles moments after they left Enterprise's tubes, but struggled to get a homing lock for a few seconds more, all the while the weapons drew steadily closer to the big Vulcan.
   
   There was no question on if the weapons would be destroyed or not. Designed to launch volleys consisting of upwards of a dozen missiles at once Arakas was capable of defending herself against an equal number of weapons. A mere two missiles gave her defensive batteries no trouble at all in normal circumstances.
   
   But these were not normal missiles, scramblers, or Electromagnetic Spectral Distortion Device, ESDD for short, were designed to detonate a small nuclear device several thousand kilometres from the target vessel, causing no damage due to the weapons usually small size. However the warhead was messy, shooting out far more radiation and wasted energy than the latest X-Ray weapons used in most modern missiles. The wasted energy and radiation would confuse sensors and make gaining an effective target lock nearly impossible for an enemy ship.
   
   As the weapons were omni-directional they also confused a launching vessels targeting systems, though this was not usually a problem as scramblers were used most often by vessels looking to evade combat. As Enterprise was doing now.
   
   
   
   "Get this mess off my scopes!" The sensor operator screamed as alarms wailed throughout the Arakas. The scramblers deployed by the Enterprise had proven surprisingly effective, far more so than intelligence had guessed.
   
   "Push through all this and get a positive lock on the Enterprise!" Captain Cho'kol ordered. It was clear that the mission was now impossible. Somehow Enterprise had known of the plot to capture her and was now a priority target.
   
   Cho'kol doubted that the ship would be able to make it to warp again, Selvek must have managed to knock out her drive system somehow, he had accomplished at least that much. But, after seeing what the ship was capable of he would not doubt it if it did manage to jump to warp again. And that meant it had to be destroyed.
   
   Even if the ship headed back to Earth immediately after jumping to warp rather than proceed onward to Vulcan she would bring news of their attempted capture to their government, which would in turn demand an accounting from the Assembly, which had no idea that this operation was being carried out. Not that such an answer would be acceptable to the furious United Earth.
   
   The results, not just for UE-Vulcan relations, but for the relationship between the addembly and its military, would be disastrous. Currently the navy was allowed broad and far reaching autonomy in how it used its assets, manned its ships and operated in the frontier. If it was learned that the navy had carried out a secret mission without the approval of the Assembly heads would roll. Among them Cho'kols and much of the admiralty.
   
   The Arakas cleared the debris field caused by the scramblers and her sensors began to sweep the space in front of her for the Enterprise. They found the ship in moments, several light seconds ahead of them and busily making all manner of evasive manoeuvres. Not that they would do the ship much good against the arsenal of the Arakas.
   
   Cho'kol waited until the sensors had a good lock on the ship, clearing the outer edges of the scramblers field, before ordering six missiles with a further four flanking counter missiles as escorts to be loaded into the tubes. "Fire," he said as soon as they were loaded.
   
   
   
   "I have ten weapons signatures emanating from the Vulcan cruiser sir!" Reed shouted suddenly. "Looks like six ship killers and four defending counter missiles."
   
   "Confirmed sir, six ship killers and four counter missiles," Mayweather said a moment later after checking his own scopes.
   
   "Launch counter measures and defensive missiles!" Archer shouted. "Trip hows it coming?" He asked punching at the comms switch.
   
   "Beautiful captain, another three minutes and we should be good to go," Trip answered his voice tense. He wanted to know what was going on, but knew he did not really want to know.
   
   "We are going to have incoming before then, about two minutes before then, can you hurry?" Archer asked.
   
   "Didn't need to know that captain," Trip said suddenly wishing he had an up to date will. "See what I can do, but I make no promises."
   
   "Not asking for any, do your best." Archer signed off and turned to Reed. "Time?" He asked.
   
   "One minute and forty seconds sir," Reed answered. Archer hoped it was not all the time he had left in the universe. Archer looked and could see counter missiles, eighteen of them, lancing out towards the Vulcans own missiles. It was strange, he had not heard them launch.
   
   "I did not think that it would come to this," Soval said from behind him. Archer turned, he had honestly forgotten that the two Vulcans were on the bridge.
   
   "What can you tell me about that ship?" Archer asked. "All I know is that it is very big and has at least ten missiles tubes."
   
   Soval looked like he was being torn in two. On the one hand he wanted to help Archer get out of the problem he was in, but he also wanted to avoid betraying military secrets to a man who may well use them to kill his own people. It was an impossible position.
   
   T'pol came to a different conclusion. "A vessel of the Deik'lavas class, of which Arakas is a member, carries twelve missile tubes and six defensive laser emplacements. She is capable of achieving speeds as high as Enterprise, though I do not know exactly how high, I also know that her onboard fuel reserves are insufficient to permit to her maintain such speeds for very long."
   
   Archer nodded, intelligence had told him more or less the same thing. Certain Vulcan ships were as fast as Enterprise, though this was a result of incredibly massive engines and brute power rather than the revolutionary warp field streamlining used by Enterprise. But he had not known of the ships weaponry.
   
   "Can you tell me anything else?" He asked, desperate for anything that could help him.
   
   T'pol thought for a moment, she was not a naval officer and thus did not know much about Vulcan warships. It would not be at all logical for information on top of the line vessels to be readily available for anyone. But something occurred to her.
   
   "A very large proportion of the ships volume is devoted to her reactors, warp drive and fuel. Possibly as much as forty percent of her interior spaces."
   
   Archer nodded, that was hardly surprising, a ship that large would need an excessive amount of fuel to travel any significant distance. Her reactor had to be massive and would eat up an enormous amount of fuel even at low speeds. T'pol was not finished though.
   
   "A typical cruiser with similar numbers of missile tubes and lasers to the Deik'laval class ships, will carry perhaps as many as one hundred and fifty missiles of all types." Archer blanched. Enterprise carried less than a third of that, and most of those were only defensive missiles.
   
   "However," T'pol was finally getting to the point, "given her speed and the size of her fuel stores I doubt that the Arakas has a similar missile capacity."
   
   "Indeed," Soval said jumping in. He had clearly decided to throw his lot in with Enterprise and T'pol. She nodded across from him, urging him to continue.
   
   Soval took a breath. "The ship possesses extremely shallow magazines, possibly only four or five missiles per tube, though I do not know exactly how many."
   
   Archer nodded and smiled slightly. It was not much, but at least he had something he could possibly use against the Vulcan.
   
   
   
   "Time to impact?" Cho'kol asked as he impatiently paced the floor. In the minute and a half since launching his missiles he had begun to wonder if perhaps he had made the right call, or at least what his superiors would think of his handling of the situation.
   
   "Ninety one seconds sir," the answer came from the tactical station.
   
   "Has Enterprise made any effort to intercept or counter the missiles?" Cho'kol had been wondering why the earth ship had just sat there maintaining the same course as it had previously. As if unaware of the missiles headed her way.
   
   "Nothing yet, though at this range it is difficult to know for certain," the sensor operator said almost glumly.
   
   "Prepare another salvo of missiles same composition as previously," Cho'kol ordered. Even if the Enterprise managed to destroy this wave of missiles another would be waiting, and another, and another if necessary.
   
   After that Arakas would begin to run low on missiles. Her size, though impressive was actually misleading. In a Vulcan cruiser of similar armament, the Dy'krevas class for instance, the ship possessed magazines sufficient to allow each one of her twelve tubes to fire off at least a dozen salvoes before beginning to run dry, on Arakas however this was a mere five salvoes.
   
   This was due to the speed at which Arakas could travel. At speeds much beyond warp factor three point the power necessary to accelerate much farther became much greater, necessitating much more powerful reactors. In turn necessitating much more fuel if a ship was to cover any great distance even at low speeds.
   
   It was a compromise as old as warp drive itself. Faster ships were larger because they needed to be in order to carry enough fuel for them to have a useful range. In turn vessels of only moderate speed could devote much more of their volume to things other than their propulsion plants. Namely missiles, cargo and crew areas.
   
   Cho'kol did not much care for the specifics of starship design philosophy. He was more concerned about his immediate situation. He did not know exactly the effectiveness of the UE's missile defence systems, though he knew them to be below those of the Vulcan navy. Nor did he know how effective the systems fitted to Enterprise were, though he knew them to be well below those of his own ship.
   
   He did know however that he needed to take out the earth ship in a reasonably short time period or he would deplete his magazines to badly to continue to fight. Thus as the second salvo was loaded into the tubes Cho'kol made the decision to increase the number of ship killer missiles included in the flight from six to eight. Opening up the ships other tubes to permit just four counter missiles to be launched. He hoped to overwhelm the Enterprise with the next salvo, assuming the first did not destroy the ship, which it very well might.
   
   
   
   "Twenty seconds to optimal engagement range," Reed reported. UESN doctrine was to wait until incoming fire had reached a point where the ships defences would have the easiest time destroying them before engaging, and he had talked Archer into following suite.
   
   "How are we coming on those engines?" Archer asked with just a hint of the panic he was starting to feel creeping into his voice.
   
   "Another few seconds sir, how long do I have before it gets good?" Trip sounded tired and more than a little shaken up. Archer knew that the stress of the past few hours was starting to sink in. The man needed a good rest when this was all over, they all did.
   
   "Around thirty now," Archer answered deciding it was not in his best interested to lie to him. Trip would find out in the end and would not be happy to learn that his captain had lied to him. "Hurry things along, but not to the point that we blow up."
   
   "Are you doubting my work captain?" Trip asked, some of the old wit and playfulness returning to his voice.
   
   "Just hurry," Archer said before signing off and doing his best to look unconcerned for the bridge crew.
   
   
   
   "Twenty seconds to impact," the sensor operator reported. Cho'kol swore.
   
   "Why haven't they engaged their missile defences?" He asked, though he did not expect and answer and would have found it insubordinate if any of his crew had dared to put one forward.
   
   He watched the countdown and flight telemetry of the missiles as the moved ever nearer to the earth ship. At such close range it was almost suicidal for the captain to have not already engaged missile defences, so much the better for the limited magazines of the Arakas.
   
   
   
   "Missiles entering optimal engagement range!" Malcom shouted, though Archer could see the same data he was and knew the moment the missiles entered the zone of death as it was known, an area around the ship where her missile defences were at their peak performance.
   
   "Deploy all countermeasures, Travis get us out of here!" He ordered. In response the deck lurched beneath Archer as the ship began a surprisingly agile corkscrew manoeuvre in an attempt to get out of the incoming missiles paths. Alerts sounded as counter missiles and lasers raced outward to intercept the incoming warheads before they could damage the ship.
   
   Triple arcs of pale blue lanced out from Enterprise's lasers, one beam missed at first and had to be readjusted, in response the missiles veered sharply off course in an attempt to confuse the beams targeting systems. When this failed they released a cloud of metal fragments ahead of them which diffused the incoming laser fire, making it nearly ineffective. One of the missiles, a ship killer, released its cloud of chips improperly and a gap was created large enough for the laser to still find its target. The missile exploded well clear of Enterprise.
   
   In all this time six counter missiles from Enterprise had nearly reached the remaining Vulcan missiles, the escorting counter missiles moved to intercept and managed to knock two of the defending weapons out. Destroying them in a kamikaze attack. The four survivors knocked out a further trio of missiles, though one had taken damage to its guidance systems and exploded harmlessly several million kilometres away from any other missile.
   
   The lasers from Enterprise had readjusted their beams and destroyed two further Vulcan missiles. A second wave of counter missiles reached the five remaining Vulcan missiles and destroyed them all just outside of their detonation range.
   
   
   
   Cho'kol swore again, he thought he had cursed more in the last hour than he had in the last fifty years of his life. "Fire another salvo!" He ordered bellowing out the words in the ear of the tactical officer.
   
   Twelve missiles arched out of Arakas's tubes, under normal combat conditions it was standard doctrine to keep at least two tubes in reserve loaded with counter missiles to defend against enemy fire, but Cho'kol wanted to increase his chances of destroying the Enterprise in this next volley. The fact that Enterprise had not fired any further salvoes at him made it unlikely that his ship would be caught off guard.
   
   
   
   "All enemy missiles destroyed sir," Reed said his voice back to its normal volume. Travis cheered loudly, startling Hoshi. The glee was short lived however.
   
   "Wait," Reed said his voice suddenly serious again. "I count at least another ten launch signatures coming from Arakas!"
   
   "Trip how are we doing?" Archer asked into the comms audio pickup for what felt like the millionth time. There was no response.
   
   
   
   "Trip how are we doing?" The voice of captain Archer asked again over the intercom for what felt like the millionth time. Trip was busy, wrapped around the new length of conduit he and his team were having a devil of a time getting the thing aligned properly into its sleeve.
   
   Problems had also surfaced around the power feed lines to the magnetic containment generator assembly, but these were being fixed. All Trip needed was time. Time he could not spend talking to the captain. He signed to ignore the comm and continued his work, he could get yelled at later, right now he had a job to do.
   
   
   
   Frustrated Archer signed off of the connection. Trip was probably busy, he understood. But Archer was feeling helpless, doubtlessly the Vulcans would have learned from their initial engagement and launched more ship killer missiles with their next salvo. And the targeting programs in the missiles would have learned from the flight data of the first wave as well and be harder to kill.
   
   Even if Enterprise managed to destroy all of these next missiles, possible, though a bit of a stretch, then there would just be another salvo after that. And another, and possibly another. But even if the ship managed to survive through four missile salvoes, unlikely given her own limited stock of counter missiles and limited defences, the fifth would surely killed her.
   
   With each evasive manoeuvre the Arakas drew closer, by the fifth salvo she would likely be within laser range of Enterprise. Practically spitting distance. Without warp drive all Archer could do was delay the inevitable.
   
   He had considered turning to fight. Entering knife range and hoping that his ships smaller size and superior agility would allow her to land a crippling blow before the superior weight of fire from the Vulcan overwhelmed his own ship. But that would end almost surely in death. No, Archers only hope out of this was for Trip to get the warp drive back on line, and he was apparently not speaking at the moment.
   
   
   
   "Missiles will be in range of Enterprise's defences in twenty seconds," the tactical officer reported. After seeing that impressive display of missile defence he had concluded that UE defensive systems were impressive, if extremely short ranged.
   
   "Tell me when they enter optimal detonation range," Cho'kol said as he checked his magazines. He had only enough ship killers for a single salvo like the last, two if he split the ship killers. He was better stocked with counter missiles, but these were of limited utility in an offensive engagement like he had been having.
   
   He had actually considered giving a similar order to Archer, moving his ship into knife fighting range and trusting in his better armour, superior laser armament and greater staying power to win the engagement before deciding better of it. He would just have to trust in his missiles to destroy the ship.
   
   
   
   Trip cursed, something he rarely did. But he had just smashed his hand in the joiner between the new conduit and the rest of the line. Several hundred kilos worth of material had not felt good. But he worked through the pain, nothing was broken.
   
   He was rewarded a second later. Suddenly it was almost as if the conduit had gained a mind of its own and slid down into the joiner with a smooth release of pressure. Ecstatically Trip slid home the magnetic field generator and powered it on. He then crawled back through into the corridor around the conduit and checked the connection.
   
   He raced over to the comms panel and told the engine room to open the channel to the conduit. He did not need to tell the bridge, they would know he had done his job when the nacelles had powered up.
   
   
   
   "Ten seconds before incoming reached optimal engagement range," Malcom reported. Even his voice was sounding shaky. Archer understood, so far all his attempts to get a target lock on the missiles had failed. Their own countermeasures were to good.
   
   Travis suddenly jumped in his seat and shouted gleefully. "Sir! I show warp power as restored!"
   
   Archer's eyes raced down to his own displays. Sure enough just as Travis had said the nacelles were once again getting fed plasma, the warp coils were powered up and ready. There was only one thing to do.
   
   "Get us out of here!" Archer said with as much calm as he could muster.
   
   "Its going to be bumpy," Travis said with his eyes toward Hoshi. She nodded glumly, it was hard to tell if she dreaded the incoming missiles more, or the thought of making a fast acceleration through warp.
   
   The ship suddenly shook as she accelerated hard. It took her only twenty seconds to build up her speed to warp factor one, and another twenty to his warp two. She continued to drive hard into the upper warp measures.
   
   
   
   "Follow them!" Cho'kol shouted as Enterprise disappeared of his sensors. The missiles seemed confused for a moment before self-destructing.
   
   The bridge crew raced to carry out their captains order, the Arakas lumbered after the earth ship and accelerated as quickly as her greater mass would allow.
   
   The race was going to be decided by physics rather than raw power. In such a race the much larger Arakas would clearly be the victor, however this contest could only be determined by the amount of realspace drag each ships respective warp field had. The lower the drag, the faster the ship could travel.
   
   There was also a question of which ship would reach the upper limit of her speed first. Enterprise had never before been tested much past warp four, while Arakas could maintain speeds as high as warp factor four point two for brief periods.
   
   
   
   "Warp factor three point five," Mayweather announced as the deck shuddered beneath him. The hum of the ships engines was almost defeaning as he pushed the ship for all she was worth.
   
   Archer wished desperately to know if he was beating the Arakas. However while at warp the ship was functionally blind, light based sensors being useless while the ship was traveling faster than light. And she possessed only basic passive subspace sensors, none of which pointed aft due to the disturbances created by her warp field.
   
   "Captain where is our current heading taking us?" Soval asked from beside Archer. Even so he could barely hear the man over the din of the engines as they roared to keep the shops accelerating this hard.
   
   It was a question Archer did not honestly know the answer to. But Trip was to far away for his voice to reach him over the engines roar. Archer pretended he did not hear him, and when Soval touched his shoulder he acted like he could not hear the mans voice.
   
   Soval did not press the matter. He knew they were accelerating deeper into Vulcan territory. Hopefully not into the waiting arms of a Vulcan government in on this scheme to capture Enterprise.
   
   Soval honestly did not think that the plot had been officially sanctioned by the government, he knew full well the independence with which the navy operated. And how greatly its own agenda could diverge with that of the assembly. But the question remained how far the plot went, and how much of the fleet was in on it.
   
   If the entire navy was a part of the plot then the next ship Enterprise encountered would likely open fire on them, and the next one. If the ship could avoid Vulcan naval vessels as much as possible as she made her way to the very core of the Vulcan nation then she should however be safe.
   
   Soval just hoped that they could make it, or at least outrun the Arakas. He knew only that the cruiser was fast, he also knew Enterprise was fast. But he did not know which was faster, and frankly, this was not the manner in which he had hoped to find out.
   
   The deck rocked as the ship breached the warp factor four barrier. Travis attempted to announce this feat, but his voice was drowned out by the engines. Soval turned and realized that the human at the linguistics station seemed to be under great stress. He had noted that she did not like the ships acceleration before, but this race seemed to be almost more than she could handle.
   
   Honestly it was almost more than he could handle. He had been aboard ships before when they made aggressive warp jumps. But the acceleration Enterprise was pulling was just insane. The little ship was buffeted by the force of her speed, everything was shaking, one particularly big bump caused Soval to bite his tongue with enough force for it to bleed, he dismissed the pain and concentrated on the ships speed, watching as Enterprise plowed through warp factor four point one, factor four point two, four point three.
   
   Finally she reached her limit at the upper end of warp factor four point four, her engines screeched as Travis fought to make the ship go even faster, but he was unable to do so. Local subspace conditions and the vessels limitations prevented her from going any faster. Soval, and everyone aboard, breathed a huge sigh of relief as the noise and jittering of the ship began to die down finally.
   
   
   
   Again Cho'kol swore, the violence of his curse causing the helmsman to jump. Arakas was equipped with passive subspace sensors configured to detect warp signatures. Currently they showed Enterprise to be maintaining a speed as high as warp factor four point four. Arakas, even with her more powerful drive, struggled to make factor four point two.
   
   She was not quite managing even at this speed and the engine room had made Cho'kol aware of the major risk of overheating across multiple systems. In order to achieve even this fantastic speed the ships reactor was currently being pushed past the redline at one hundred and thirteen percent.
   
   It was dangerous, the magnetic fields controlling the reactors plasma could manage only so much and were now nearing the point of failure. When that happened…
   
   Cho'kol ordered the ship to begin backing off its speed. They had lost this race. All that he could do now was return to the Vekia and send a message ahead of Enterprise to inform them that she had escaped Arakas and that a new plan was needed.
   
   It was good that he had given the order to begin slowing. At warp factor three point seven the engine room reported a rupture along one of the secondary plasma feedlines to the warp coils. It was cointainable, but at any higher speed the ship would have been slammed out of warp aggressively and the rupture would have been far larger.
   
   The damage limited the ships sustainable speed to just warp factor three point one. The news did not make Cho'kol happy. But he realised it was beyond his control. Honestly he was surprised the damage had not been much worse than it had been. His ship had managed to achieve speeds for much longer than anyone had thought was possible.
   
   It was small consolation that a earth ship six times smaller than Arakas had managed to smash that warp sustainability record easily, but at least it was something to be given to command to show for his efforts.
   
   As Arakas made her ponderous warp two turn back to the Vekia Cho'kol watched helplessly as the Enterprise held warp factor four point four steadily until she disappeared from her sensors. His mission had ended in failure and the results could prove catastrophic.
   
   
   
   "Captain I cannot advise you on the proper method of dealing with your current situation. It is not my responsibility." Soval looked evenly across at Archer, and then to ambassador Fel. Archer sighed.
   
   Fel had been kept in the dark about events until well after Travis had finally taken the ship down to a cruising speed of warp factor three point four. And then only because she had all but threatened to arrest the guard Archer had assigned to her quarters. She did not have that kind of power, but the frightened mechanic had not wanted to take his chances that she did.
   
   Archer had told her all that he knew as she stormed onto the bridge, she had been calmed only by Soval, who also had to assure her that the vessel that had attacked Enterprise had indeed been a Vulcan ship. And not, as she suggested an Orion pirate vessel.
   
   Two days later, once Archer was certain they were not being pursued he had taken the ship out of warp completely in the middle of the deep space between two star systems and convened a conference to debate the ships next moves.
   
   Fel still seemed convinced that the attack was not by the Vulcan government, despite the assurances that they likely were given by ambassador Soval. It was odd to have the human apologizing and making excuses while the Vulcan owned up to his governments acts and tried to move ahead.
   
   "Whatever you do captain you must not strain the relationship between our two governments by brashly declaring that they attacked this ship," Fel said it as an order. Though she likely knew that her words carried very little weight.
   
   "And please, whatever you do you mustn't simple appear out of warp and declare that Vulcan attacked Enterprise, let them give their version of events before jumping to conclusions."
   
   Archer was not sure, but he thought he caught Soval snort out of the corner of his eye. The man clearly thought very little of his associate. Archer did not blame him. A career butt kisser Fel had only earned her position through backstabbing and openly declaring her love of and support of Vulcan. For chairman Rubenetov, who drew much of his support from Vulcan, she was the perfect candidate for ambassador.
   
   "Ma'am I am not coming to any conclusions, our sensor data is available to you if you want to confirm for yourself that we were indeed attacked by a Vulcan Deik'lavas class cruiser." Archer looked her right in the eye. Refusing to back down on his position. She finally huffed and threw her hands into the air.
   
   "Well if you want to make a major diplomatic scandal then do what you must. Just be certain that you leave me when you storm out of Vulcan territory so I can run damage control behind you." She moved to storm out of the conference room, only to be stopped in her tracts by an irate T'pol.
   
   "Do you really think that the captain is inventing something like this?" She asked, stopping Fel at the door. As the woman turned T'pol turned on her full Vulcan look of derision upon her.
   
   "And would the fact that all members of the ambassadors staff, including the ambassador, corroborate the captains story not be sufficient to convince you that he is telling the truth? Even without looking for yourself at the data from the ships sensors of the battle?" She did not give the woman a chance to answer her question before she continued.
   
   "Your refusal to accept the situation and pitiful and complete support for the Vulcan assembly shows that you are little more than a glorified pawn of your chaimans political games, and that you care little for your own government or its people." Fel moved to say something, clearly indignant at this attack, T'pol raised the volume of her voice.
   
   "You have had ample opportunity over the past few days to look over the ships flight data, and yet you have refused. Proving that you do not care for the facts, I do not believe anything anyone says will convince you of the facts, so please leave and allow the reasonable people to get on with planning."
   
   There had been enough of a command in her voice that Fel seemed to collapse, she walked out, dragging a confused aide with her out the door. T'pols glare followed her until the doors cycled shut behind her.
   
   "Forgive me," she said bowing her head slightly to Soval and Archer. "She was a distraction."
   
   "She is a bitch is what she is!" Trip said, true respect in his voice. He had always heard that Vulcans could tear a human apart, chew them up and spit them out. But he had never seen that ability used until now. He clearly found the power awe inspiring.
   
   "I'm glad she is gone. Now lets get back to business." Archer drew everyones attention back to the matter at hand. Everyone looked at him expectantly. Thinking he had a plan, he did not, but hoped that would change by the time the meeting was dismissed.
   
   "I agree with the ambassador that Vulcan itself does not have any direct knowledge of the attack, and that it was in all likelihood carrier out by fringe elements of the navy." He paused for a breath.
   
   "What we need to work out is what we are going to do once we reach Vol'Sri." He looked around, but nobody was forthcoming with an answer.
   
   Vol'Sri, the Vulcan homeworld and capital of the Assembly, was just a few days away at warp factor three point four. Between Enterprise and the system lay the core of the Vulcan civilization. Dozens of systems each likely possessing dozens of warships. Any of which were likely a part of the conspiracy to capture Enterprise. Archer had thus ordered a course directly to the homeworld to avoid any possibility of interception for as long as possible.
   
   Archer currently was assuming that he and his ship would reach Vol'Sri unopposed. A gamble, but one that made sense if the conspiracy was small and did not extend to far. He had also dismissed returning to Earth due to the likely uproar that would be caused once the ship gave word of what had happened. Better to allow the Vulcans to explain themselves and perhaps fix what had happened first.
   
   After several hours of further debate what eventually emerged was the most bare bones approach possible. Enterprise would warp into the Vol'Sri system and then radio the government, requesting that all warships leave the ships vicinity and that she be allowed to speak with the government directly, saying they had important information for them before they did anything else.
   
   The probability of the Assembly doing this was not even discussed, the plan was as basic as possible and would hopefully result in a conversation being opened quickly, creating as little time for Enterprise to be attacked again as possible.​

 

[Charles Markov]

"Sir we are entering the Vol'Sri system now." Mayweathers voice startled Archer, he was in the shower and had just woken up from his first real sleep in what felt like a year.

"I will be right there," he said, turning down the water so that only his voice would be heard on the comm.

He was on the bridge in a fresh uniform less than ten minutes later. Hair slightly damp still, but not to the point that it was noticeable.

"How long until we enter comms range?" He asked heading right for Hoshi's station.

"I can send a message now," she answered. "Just be aware that there will be a twenty second delay between when we send any messages, and when the planet receives them."

"Ok," Archer nodded. He had expected that much. But for his request he did not really need direct communications. "Send the message then please."

Hoshi nodded and a second later reported that the pre-recorded message compiled by Archer with the help of ambassador Soval had been sent to the Vulcan government requesting that all space borne traffic avoid Enterprise. No mention at this point was given of the attack by the Arakas.

"They have received the message sir," Hoshi said as an update a few seconds later.

Archer wondered how long it would take them to respond to his message. Yes it took twenty seconds to be received by the planet. But then the message had to be read by communications operators, sent to the appropriate person, their secretary would then read the message and then if said person was not to busy it would go to them to read through. And then the process would be repeated backwards for any response for Enterprise to be sent.

That being said it did not really take all that long for the message to be sent. Just a little less than fifteen minutes. For an equivalent message to be received and a reply mode for Earth it would have taken likely two, or even perhaps three hours.

"Please put it over the speakers," Archer asked even as Hoshi's hands flew over her board to do just that.

"Enterprise this is chief of naval operations home fleet admiral Yimur, your request is unusual to say the least, but not entirely unexpected. I have alerted all Vulcan warships to avoid an area sufficient to permit you safe passage to orbit of the planet."

"Interesting," T'pol said from beside Archer. He did not quite know how she managed it, but everytime he turned around the woman seemed to be there. Sneaking up on him without him ever noticing.

"That would imply some level of knowledge about the conspiracy." She looked over at Hoshi, "can you confirm the source of this message?" She asked.

Hoshi looked over her screens. "I cant say for certain, my Vulcan is patchy, and my knowledge of Vulcan comms ID tags is worse."

"May I?" T'pol asked, Hoshi shook her head and moved aside to allow room for her to work.

"It seems to check out," T'pol announced.

"Can you confirm that all Vulcan vessels are avoiding our path to the planet Travis?" Archer asked, wanting another source to corroborate that the admiral had been telling the truth.

Travis checked the ships navigational sensors for a moment before he answered. "Looks like it sir, I don't see a Vulcan warship within a million kilometres of our entry window."

"Take us in then," Archer said. He half expected another attack. But had not other option but to proceed.



The view of the system was breathtaking. As per established protocol Enterprise did not use active sensors to scan the system. Even so with just her passive scanners the ship picked up some impressive sights. Archer was impressed by the sheer scale of the systems space based infrastructure.

The Sol system possessed a dizzying array of orbital habitats, ore processing facilities, communications arrays, starship construction, repair and docking centres, and a virtual swarm of ships moving around the system at all hours. But still Sol paled in comparison to the absolute size of the traffic in the system.

With just passives, and able to scan only a tiny part of the system, Enterprise still picked up over two thousand impulse signatures corresponding to starships. All moving along steadily moving paths leading into and out of the system.

As Enterprise drew nearer to Vol'Sri itself even more was picked up. Hundreds of stations and satelites littered the planets orbitals, while thousands of shuttles and transports dotted the space between them. Constantly coming and going in a never ending swarm.

And that was not mentioning all the warships. The United Earth Stellar Navy, UESN, possessed at the moment six large and sixteen small cruisers and over a hundred patrol and attack craft. That number was more than surpassed by the thirty to forty Vulcan cruisers located throughout the system. And this impressive force represented just under a quarter of the navies total forces.

Archer was forced to admit that perhaps having the Vulcans as allies was actually a good thing. At least far better than having them as enemies. Their fleet, even the small portion that he could see, could easily take on Earth and win nine times out of ten.

The observation of the system came to an end as Enterprise entered orbit of Vol'Sri. Powering down her impulse engines and moving in on thrusters alone Archer was left feeling as if he were an incredibly small fish in a very, very big pond.

Just as Enterprise entered a stable orbit a new message flashed over Hoshi's board saying that a shuttle would be dispatched to pick up Archer, Ambassador Soval and whoever else was judged as needing to come. The shuttle would take them to the headquarters of the navy where they would speak with admiral Yimur.

With some major trepidation Archer permitted this, though he did take the precaution of having armed men to counter any boarding party if the shuttle was part of a second attempt to seize the ship. But, fortunately, that did not happen and a single pilot waved them aboard.



"Ahh captain I am so pleased to speak with you and find that you are alright." A tall, and somewhat hunched, Vulcan in a pure white naval uniform said as Archer, Soval, Trip and T'pol were brought into what looked like an office.

"Pleased to meet you," Archer and Trip mumbled as they looked around the room.

It was well decorated, wood floors melded into wood walls which in turn melded into a wooden desk and chairs. It was odd Archer thought for so much nature to be present in such a place. He normally associated Vulcans with drab metal and plastics. Not the homely and comfortable office before him.

"Admiral," Soval said from beside Archer. Yimur turned and bowed his head slightly in difference to his superior. "May I congratulate you on your appointment," he said. "Last that I had heard admiral Stevir was still in command of homefleet."

"There have been, changes," Yurim said with a touch of darkness. The man noticed Archers puzzled expression and a slight smile tugged at his lips. "Forgive me, I forget that you have been in the dark."

"Indeed we have," Soval said eying the admiral. "I gather that you have some knowledge of the plot to seize Enterprise then?" He asked.

Yurim nodded and sat down. Instinctively Archer followed suite, only to be reminded that it was Vulcan custom not to sit unless a seat was offered. This did not seem to trouble Yurim though. "Your logic is impressive," he said speaking to Soval.

"Indeed we did uncover the plot." He looked at Archer, "I must say captain you and your ship were impressive, from what we have gathered from the crews of the Arakas and Vekia you acquitted yourself quite well in the battle."

Archer was not sure how to take that. Frankly he had not anticipated this entire string of events, he also found it strange how the Vulcans were taking this whole development.

"You are talking about the Arakas attacking and trying to capture our ship right?" Trip asked, apparently as confused as Archer. "If so then you are taking a major conspiracy rather well."

Yulim smiled thinly. "I assure you that we take this entire situation quite clearly, would you like to hear of the events that have transpired since you were attacked?" He asked. Archer and Trip both nodded. Even Soval looked interested.

If they were expecting a long and detailed explanation however they were in for a let down. "Captain Cho'kol formerly of the cruiser Arakas sent a message to his superiors, my predecessor specifically, warning that his attack did not go as planned and that Enterprise was on its way. As the message was unscheduled it raised red flags when received and was decrypted, which raised more red flags. The conspiracy was uncovered and as we speak more than five hundred have been arrested. With the crew of the Arakas and Vekia adding to that figure substantially when they arrive in the nearest port."

Yulim looked at Archer, Trip, Soval and T'pol and nodded politely. "That is really all the detailed that I am going to give you at this time." Archer thought Trip was about to ask further questions, but the admirals face dissuaded him of that idea.

"So what happens now?" Archer asked finally. All eyes suddenly turned to him.

"That is up to you and your vessel captain," Yulim answered, Archer blinked. Not understanding the statement.

"What do you mean?" Trip asked.

"I mean that what happened to your vessel was a massive disaster for our government and represents a stunning betrayal of centuries of coexistence between our two races. As the perpetrators of said betrayal, even if only a tiny fraction of us as a whole, it is not up to us to decide what is to be done next." T'pol looked surprised, but she knew not to ask further questions.

Archers head swam as he felt the sudden weight of the responsibility of telling Earth about this. Doubtlessly he would be made a scapegoat, first of the government, chairman Rubenetov in particular, then by the populace as a whole. And then there would be the public reaction, the protests and striked. The madness.

Even if the government managed to remain intact, far fetched as it was due to its leaders devotion to the Vulcans, the public perception of the Vulcans would forever shift, and with it would likely come Earths stability. The UE was self sufficient in terms of its basic needs, but many high technology items and rare resources came as a result of trade with the Vulcans. With this gone the economy would suffer, in response the government would likely turn on the Vulcans. Blaming them for everything. Leading in turn to yet more anger and suspicion of the formerly close Vulcans.

It was almost more than Archer could bare to think about. It would be madness he knew. And although nothing as savage and debased as former revolutions would likely occur, the UE was to stable for that. Its reputability and control over the public would be forever altered. As would the perception of the Vulcans. No matter what they did to make right their actions.

At first Archer did not even think about the alternative, not saying a word. It would be easy to make up some story and allow the status quo between Earth and Vulcan to continue. A relationship that had its faults yes, but that had lasted for hundreds of years and was responsible for making Earth the prosperous and united planet it was today.

The question of what to do, which answer was right, the truth that had the potential to destroy everything and cause deep and lasting harm, or the lie that would preserve things as they currently stood, and potentially serve to even improve things, gnawed at Archer for almost five minutes as he struggled with his internal battle. But eventually he did come to a decision.



"Captain I must say that I am going to miss you," ambassador Soval said as he emerged from the shadows of the veranda just outside the assemblies chambers in T'pliori, the capital city of the Vulcan Assembly. Archer was startled, but recovered quickly.

"I could say the same ambassador," Archer said. And he meant it. Getting to know Soval over the past weeks, first aboard Enterprise and then on Vol'Sri in the aftermath of their arrival had been, enlightening to say the least.

And now they were to part ways. Archer had just received permission from the UESPA to begin an official tour of the worlds of the Assembly. Something that no Earth ship had done before.

It was new territory, for humans anyway. Despite centuries of interaction little was known of the Vulcans. Their culture had been shown in a deliberately sanitized and simple form by the few Vulcans that did interact directly with humanity. While virtually nothing was know of the true extent of their civilization, its history and even its age.

That was something that Archer was looking forward to changing. Following his decision the Assembly had given Enterprise free reign to explore its territory. It was a major departure from the ships original mission to chart and explore scattered frontier bordering Earths colonies. Mapping and making contact with as many of the possibly hundreds of small settlements that dotted the starscape around the Sol system before the ship pressed into truly deep space. But things had changed and Archer found himself almost liking his new assignment more.

The UE had been somewhat shocked as news of the Vulcan invitation reached them. And it had taken almost a week to get a response, in addition to the nine day delay each way for a message to reach Earth from Vulcan territory. But once their answer had been received it had been a resounding yes.

The ship was being prepped as Archer stood there. More fuel and supplies were being taken on and the damage from the battle with the Arakas was being repaired under the watchful eye of Trip.

"I do hope that events since our departure from Earth have not soured your opinion of us captain." Soval moved to stand right beside Archer, though he did not imitate the pose the human had, arms resting against the railing.

"On the contrary I think they have improved my opinion of Vulcans," Archer could feel Soval shift his position and look at him.

"How so?" He asked not expecting the response he got. "Do humans bond with their attackers often?"

Archer laughed, Soval had been plainly apologetic over the last few days, clearly he felt particularly guilty over what had happened. Likely because Selvek had been a member of his staff and yet he had not seen or deduced what was going on until it was nearly too late.

Archer decided to explain. As best as he could anyway. "I think that if nothing else this whole experience has shown us, me in particular, how similar we are as species." Archer paused to collect his thoughts before continuing.

"A few centuries ago my planet was ripped apart by factionalism. Social, ethnic and religious divisions caused us so many problems. We very nearly destroyed ourselves." Again he paused, this time to make sure that Soval was following him. Seeing that he was he continued.

"And then, after millennia of this division and strife we suddenly found a race, or rather you found us, that had managed all that. You." He paused to collect his thoughts again.

"I think that what we humans took away from our interactions with you was that your species was cold, calculating and unfeeling. And totally the same. One Vulcan was the same as all Vulcans."

"Ideally that is what we strive for," Soval pointed out. Archer nodded.

"That's my point," he said.

"We developed the idea that whatever one of you did was the sentiment of all. That you were all the same, and that you wanted us to be like you. Your pushing your Surak on us did not help matters."

"We came to see you as controlling. As a race you looked down on us."

"That was not the case captain," Soval said.

"But that was how it seemed from our point of view. And some of you did feel that way," Archer said. Soval was forced to concede that point.

"I saw all Vulcans like that," Archer admitted. "Self-praising and capable of seeing no fault in themselves while pointing out the flaws in us. Holding us back even. "

"And that attitude has changed?" Soval asked wondering where Archer attacks against his people would end.

"I think that, seeing the worst in your race, the depths that you can go to has humanized you, in my eyes at least. It shows that you have flaws and that you don't always do the right thing, that even with your logic you can reach different conclusions."

"Humanized?" Soval asked wondering where this was going.

"It's a good thing." Archer assured him. "It makes you more relatable. More understandable."

"You are coming to understand us," Soval said seeing Archers point. The human nodded. Soval smiled thinly. "Then our two species have reached a turning point," he said.

"What do you mean?" Archer asked, his turn to be puzzled.

"With the last centuries our two races have existed in a very strict manner," he said. "We delivered aid, but deliberately kept ourselves aloof of your affairs, also keeping our distance. This is going to change now." Soval looked at the human. "What it becomes is up to you."

Archer said nothing. He really did not have time to say anything. His communicator beeped, warning him that he needed to get to the shuttle that would take him back to enterprise, he said a brief goodbye to Soval and then left at a brisk jog to the spaceport.

 

[Charles Markov]

Captain James Kirk stepped off the transporter pad for the second time today. A strange mixture of nausea, exhaustion, confusion and fear holding him for a moment as the transporter room swam back and forth across his vision. Only with effort was he able to shut out the aftereffects of the beam and stabilize the world before him. Beside him chief medical officer Leonard McCoy was not so fortunate.

"Damn these things!" He hissed as he wiped away vomit from his mouth with a wipe handed to him by a waiting orderly.

Normally Kirk would argue with his friend over the virtues of the transporter, its ease of use and shortening of journeys. But after two beam outs in just six hours he could not, in fact he even agreed with Bones slightly.

"Are you alright?" Kirk asked as a second wave of vomit came up from the doctor's throat.

"Fine," McCoy sputtered again wiping his mouth. With Kirks help the two made their way out into the anteroom of the transporter room and into the ship proper. Being cleared of any foreign contaminants by a sonic disinfector as they passed through.

"I mean it Jim, that's the last time I use one of those things," Bones stated. "Short of a full-blown medical emergency requiring immediate help I`m never using one of those things ever again!"

He sounded serious. But then again, he always did and yet in a few weeks would, under protest admittedly, beam down somewhere and then beam back in one piece. Contrary to the predictions of great bodily harm that he always shouted before each beam-out.

Kirk said nothing on the matter, only remarking. "I think our repairs are complete more or less. We should be able to get underway for our next mission in a few days. Assuming our missing crew ever show up."

"What missing crew would those be captain?" Spock asked. Enterprises Vulcan first officer had been in the turbolift car that had arrived to pick Kirk and McCoy up in, and both humans looked back at him visibly startled.

Kirk recovered first, "the crew that is still missing from our official complement," Kirk said. Enterprise had been dispatched on her first mission missing some of her crew, many had come aboard at star base six, but the ship had been sent away on a mission to rescue a Tellarite freighter before she could receive less than a dozen crew members still enroute to the ship.

"Already aboard sir, they arrived just minutes ago."

It was at this moment that McCoy recovered. "What in blazes Spock!" He thundered. "Are you trying to startle us to death?" He asked shuffling into the lift car beside Kirk and Spock.

"Doctor I was merely a passenger in this car. I had no idea it would stop to pick you and the captain up." The Vulcan explained with what had to be endless patience. Despite now months of such treatment Spock had never done anything to suggest annoyance at the doctor's constant digs and questions.

"I am glad to hear it," Kirk said determined to prevent the sort of argument that usually broke out between the two other passengers of the car. He had a mild headache from all the transporter use and was looking forward to a little time to rest in his quarters.

Spock seemed on the edge of saying something more but refrained.

"Something else mister Spock?" Kirk asked unwilling to wait for the commander to get it out on his own time. He just wanted the day to be over.

Spock was unable to say whatever it was that had by the tongue as the comm suddenly chirped beside Kirks ear. Thumbing the switch that turned on the microphone Kirk stated, "Kirk here."

"Captain," Uhura`s voice came over the speaker, booming through the tiny lift car. "I hate to bother you sir, but commodore Stevens says he wishes to speak with you at your convenience."

"Very well, thank you." Kirk said. So much for his day being over with. "I will take it in my quarters please," he said before thumbing the comm panel off.

"Well that sounds ominous." McCoy remarked after a moment of silence.

The turbolift stopped and its doors opened onto deck six. Kirk stepped out but McCoy, with quarters located a deck below, remained in the lift with Spock who had other business. "Hopefully not to bad." Kirk said as the doors closed.



On deck five, just metres above the captain one of the ships newest crew members. Doctor of xenobiology Saraesh Nojumuo was being shown to her quarters.

"So, what is it like being a xenobiologist?" Technician master grade Phillips asked. She had been following Saraesh along like an eagre puppy dog since she had first arrived aboard.

For her part Saraesh was tired of the woman. Tired of the way in which people where looking at and acting around her more specifically. She wished that her pheromones with all their potency could be turned on and off at will. Or even gotten rid of completely.

Unable to do any of that she instead had to put up with Phillips for a few more metres until she reached her quarters. "About like being a regular biologist," she answered doing her level best to be polite. It would not do to yell.

Phillips brought them to a door along the hall and stopped, frowning into her pad. "What is it?" Saraesh asked, this would be just perfect. For the computer to have gotten it wrong and assigned her the wrong quarters.

"I think the computer has goofed up a little," Phillips said with a groan. "These are senior officers' quarters, and a single cabin at that."

Saraesh brightened, "Who's cabin?" She asked. Puzzled Phillips only looked at her. "Who is assigned to this cabin?" She repeated.

"Umm this berth is assigned to lieutenant commander Rajan, the ships engineers' mate." Phillips answered clearly wondering what difference that made. A smile from Saraesh made the young woman swoon, she took a deep breath and leaned against the wall.

She managed to regain some degree of composure here. "He is a Laconian, kinda freaky looking," she explained. Saraesh's smile broadened.

"I am well aware of what my husband looks like," she said frostily. She knew full well the horror of his face, but that did not mean she appreciated it when others pointed it out. Even if Rajan himself did not care either way.

"Hussb…" Phillips stammered before practically slamming her head into her pad. A few hastily pulled up pages later and she had an answer. "I see that, yes." She said still shocked. "Well then as you are actually assigned this cabin, and the computer did not mess things up I will let you in." She said finally managing to put a sentence together.

"Thank you. For everything," Saraesh said with another smile. One which Phillips returned with a blush.

"No problem," the young woman said as she fumbled with the lock attempting twice to get the proper combination. Eventually she managed and the doors to the dark cabin slid open. "Someone can deliver your things here in about an hour."

"Thank you," Saraesh said before shutting the door. Her Orion nostrils, far superior to those of Humans, picked up a familiar scent and suddenly it was her turn to swoon. She was home.

"Anyone home?" She asked to the room.

"Depends on if you're in a good mood," came the reply. "I don't want to deal with you in complete heat," the same voice said closer this time.

Saraesh smiled. The cabin was actually fairly spacious compared to many officers' quarters. Consisting of three rooms laid out in a rough rectangle with a central living area in the middle, and a bathroom and sleeping area on either end. The voice was coming from the bedroom.

Plodding along the soft carpet her shoes did not make a sound. "Don't exaggerate!" She called. "I am not that bad, even at my worst days."

"Hah!" Came the amused reply. "You have never met you, so therefore you would not know how you get."

The two met as the door to the bedroom slid open. Rajan had been just about to enter to living area. Saraesh leapt into his arms and wrapped her arms around her husband. Taking him back significantly.

For his part the Laconian responded quickly and embraced her warmly. "I missed you," he said burying his head in her hair. Walking over to the couch he sat down, she still in his lap.

"Tell me about it," she said sighing deeply. Letting five months of emotion out all at once.

"Never again," He said with determination. "If they want to send us to a different ship they will have to send us together. None of this separate transport garbage!"

"So what have you been up to?" She asked kissing him on the mouth, forehead, neck and chest. "All I have done is try not to tolerate people for five months."

"I went to Valkru," Rajan said deciding there was no point in keeping something like that a secret. Even if just for the evening.

"And?" Saraesh said in a tone that said she wanted far more information than just where he husband had been in the last five months. Rajan resigned himself to telling her, it would do no good trying to not do so.



"Commodore what can I do for you sir?" Kirk asked. Before him on the computer screen the grizzled balding commodore looked just as tired as Kirk felt.

"Captain I am just going to say upfront I'm sorry," the older man said with a frankness that had earned him the respect of many of those he served with.

"Sorry for what?" Kirk asked wondering just how little he would like the answer.

"You were scheduled for repairs to your computer systems at Rigel were you not?" Stevens asked knowing the answer.

"We were, what has happened?" He did not feel like beating around the bush any more than he had to.

"There has been a development I am afraid." Stevens was sombre and leaned into the camera. "The Antila, a scoutship just returned from a mission to the Archanis sector, reports that the Klingons have begun construction of a major fleet base in a system roughly sixteen lightyears outside of their claimed territory. I want Enterprise to have a little peek and see if this is true."

"How soon would you like us to leave?" Kirk asked knowing there was no reason in trying to get his ship out of the mission they had been assigned.

"How quickly can you be underway?" Stevens asked. "This is considered of the highest priority from Starfleet command."

"Understood sir, I will speak with my engineer immediately and let you know when we can be underway." Kirk said rubbing his eyes with his left hand and making a note with his right.

"Thank you, Kirk, I know you have been having some technical difficulties and were wanting a thorough look over at a star base. But this is important. If the empire is building bases, especially forward attack bases, we need to know."

"Yes sir," Kirk said signing off. Technical difficulties was something of an understatement. Ever since their meeting with the boy Charlie the ships systems had been behaving in a very odd manner. Ships systems had routinely malfunctioned, or at the least barely functioned. Scotty had been wanting repairs for over a month, but their mission to the Valkru system had delayed that somewhat, and now their mission to the Archanis sector was looking to push back their repairs for at least another month.

Kirk groaned as the memory of his meeting with his second judicial board came to his mind. Despite the raid on the slave market being the largest and most successful of its kind pressure from the Valkrian system government had led to an official reprimand being logged and a very stern talking to by a judge who had to be pushing one hundred and fifty. Her beady little eyes boring straight through Kirks soul it seemed.

Pushing such thoughts that he was the fleets youngest heavy cruiser captain, and held the record for most judicial hearings being held in his first year in command for any captain in the fleet out of his mind Kirk decided to walk to engineering and speak with Scotty himself. It would he hoped be easier that way.



"Would you mind telling me what you were thinking?" Saraesh asked after a moment of stunned silence. The news that her husband had not only been to a notorious slave market and armed some of the slaves, but then had killed some of the guards had understandably shocked her into silence.

In the very matter of fact way that he tended to speak, both making Saraesh furious and slightly proud Rajan explained, "I was thinking that those men would suffer for nothing that they had done. You know firsthand how much power the syndicates control in this area, they would have been able to get their people free. And actually, have managed to get more than a few out of any real trouble already."

Nostrils flared Saraesh was about to shout. But really there was nothing she could say that would change the situation. And even if she did yell it did not change the fact that her husband was right about the syndicates. And had managed to commit his crime without getting caught, though it seemed the captain had at least some suspicion of what had actually happened.

"Has the captain done anything to you for your actions?" She asked instead, it would be good to know if Rajan were under any form of suspension or house arrest.

"No." He said shaking his head. "He can't do anything about it," Rajan was almost to calm. "And besides," he added, "even if he could I doubt whether he would do anything. He had a very low opinion of most of the slavers we captured. I think he even considered the possibility of doing something similar."

"You disapprove?" He asked when Saraesh did not say anything.

"I am far from pleased," she said. She did not disapprove, far from it. She knew exactly how cruel the slave market could be and whatever pain could be inflicted on anyone involved in it was far to good for them. No. She could not really hold that against him. "Just don't do anything like that again. Please, for me?"

Rajan nodded and kissed her. "Something tells me the captain will be keeping me far away from any future missions involving the syndicates." He said caressing her face.

"Well good, glad he learned." Saraesh said moments before she returned Rajan's kiss with a passion.



"You can't be serious captain!" Montgomery Scott, the ships chief engineer said in dismay. "Sir this is the second time they have shafted us like this. And our systems are getting worse!"

"I know mister Scott; I am well aware of the state of our systems. But this is a priority from Starfleet command." Kirk could not really argue with his chief engineer. The ships systems were indeed in a very sorry way, and despite the best efforts of the engineering staff things had not improved to much.

"Well," Scotty said. Putting aside for the moment any remarks he may have about the competency of the admiralty to focus on the fact that the ship needed to leave immediately. "If you give me two hours then I think I can get the ship ready, any less and I fear we will forget something important."

"You can have four hours if you want," Kirk said.

"Sir?" Scotty asked confused by the generous time allotment.

"I am tired mister Scott; it has been a very long day." He smiled. "Besides if we find what Starfleet thinks we will then it wont matter if we are a few hours later in getting there than we would otherwise be, no matter how much they may wine."

Scotty smiled, it was small revenge for ordering the ship away before her repairs. But it was revenge nonetheless. "I will see what I can do to make it not look to obvious sir," he said to Kirks back.

"I know you will, now if you will excuse me, I have some other business to take care of." He did not tell Scotty that his other business involved a bed, a pillow and a few blankets. "Let me know when you are ready," he called before disappearing out of main engineering.

Even as the doors closed Scotty was already thinking of ways to slow down the process of getting the ship ready. He lamented what the ships late departure would do for his reputation as being the quickest engineer in the fleet, but that was unavoidable in his eyes. Besides, he would get the title back soon enough.

Yes, the more he thought about it the better time it seemed to give the less experienced technicians and engineers some time in the hot seat. "Get me ensign Daag and his crew, and while you're at it wake up Kolkikoloni and her crew," Scotty thundered to no one in particular knowing the job would get done. "Tell them I want them to get the ship ready for departure in two hours or it is there hide."

Scotty smiled. It was a low thing to do to threaten Daag and Kolkikoloni, two of his newest officers fresh out of the academy's at San Francisco and Nea'Thraki. But it would take them far more than two hours, perhaps as many as six if he did not help them along. And it would serve as a useful learning tool for the youngsters to get practical experience.

He briefly thought about waking Rajan to watch the fun. He quickly thought better of it, his second in command had mentioned his wife, a science officer, was coming aboard and that he was looking forward to meeting with her. He could always tell the Laconian about it tomorrow. Besides he spotted Daag now walking in as he finished putting on his uniform.

"There you are ensign, I was beginning to think I would have to send out a search party!" He thundered startling the young man. "Now as soon as that Greek woman shows up you to can show me how highly trained Starfleet officers go about getting a state-of-the-art heavy cruiser underway." Daag blanched white but managed to mutter a feeble yessir as he finished buttoning his jacket.

Scotty smiled, this would be fun. He really enjoyed teaching…

 

[Charles Markov]

Captains log, stardate 309099.10

Enterprise departed star base seven three days ago on our mission to the Archanis sector. An intelligence packet sent to us by Commodore Stevens before our departure has given us the system we are to investigate for the rumoured Klingon base. Lying in an area less than eighteen lightyears away from several UE colonies if it possesses a base it would put Starfleet at a distinct disadvantage in the event of another war. While the presence of such a base is in violation of the treaty of Axanar that ended the four years war.

Enterprise has approached the system on the Klingon side of the border to avoid detection. We have for the past three days shadowed a Klingon freighter headed in the rough direction of the system to further lessen the chances of detection.

Three days of silent running at warp four has put great strain on the ship and her crew. However, we have managed surprisingly well. Not being able to use the turbolift, limited use of the environmental systems and strict rationing has however gone over surprisingly well. Now, nearing our destination we are looking forward to using the lifts again instead of climbing up and down the ships gangways and Jeffries tubes to get from place to place.

Kirk finished the days log entry and called up a status report on the ships progress. If all went well and their freighter continued at its course and speed the ship would indeed arrive at the target system in a little under six hours.

Kirk was not looking forward to when they arrived. He could honestly say that he fully expected to see a Klingon star base under construction when they arrived. And what would happen when news of that got out was not something Kirk wanted to think about.

Almost certainly Starfleet would begin to build their own bases in the area in response. Prompting the Klingons to increase their own activity in the Archanis sector, leading to further escalation from Starfleet. The sort of thing that could easily result in another war.

Kirk had been to young to serve in the four years war between the UE, Federation and Klingon empire. Enlisting in 2447 two years after the wars end. But many of the officers he served with had fought. He had also seen the devastation left over from the war. Bombed out colonies, fields of debris floating in orbit, remnants of Starfleet ships destroyed in the early war. And if another war were to break out it would almost certainly be even bloodier than the last.

Starfleet had not been mobilised then, not fully anyway. Possessing only a small fleet of cruisers and frigates for police work and exploration, not the massive fleet of battlecruisers, heavy and light cruisers, frigates and destroyed that it had now. Entire battlegroups were already deployed close to the border, with more being likely deployed if a base were discovered.

And the Klingon empire had been less of a threat back then. Not as heavily militarised and revanchist as it was not those had been the days before followers of the cult of Khahless seized power for themselves following the assassination of much of the empire's leadership. The empire had been willing to negotiate back then. Open to reason. Now, now any war it fought would likely involve open genocide and full-scale planetary bombardment. The death toll from such a war would be staggering.

Kirk could not think to much about it, he was not afraid of war. In fact, he had joined Starfleet with the idea of fighting. Not was he a novice in combat, having fought his fare share of actions in his old destroyer the Nautilus, though he had not had a chance to command Enterprise in a fight yet.

What worried him was the effects of such a war. A total war to use the language of the twentieth century. A war in which all the resources and collective population of the warring nations was devoted to destroying the other.

Forcibly he pushed such thoughts from his mind and focused on the mission at hand. "Mister Sulu," he called startling the ships helmsman. "What is our time of arrival?"

"Just under three hours sir, assuming system JB-27 Alpha is indeed the freighters destination," Sulu answered recovering quickly.

"I doubt the freighter is headed anywhere else given its current course." Spock left his own science station to Kirks side.

"What is it?" Kirk asked taking the offered pad and skimming over the report. Fairly mundane the report was signed by commander Scott, the ships chief engineer, mentioned a major fluctuation in the ships power feedlines from to the service hull. It was alarming, but Scott went on to claim the issue under control. Kirk groaned.

"This is the second such issue we have had with the power feeds since we left." The failures were getting alarming in both their severity and length. It was Kirk hoped not a prelude of what was to come.

"Indeed sir," Spock said taking the pad back. "Shall I ask commander Scott to give a formal report?"

Kirk thought a moment. The next few days would likely be very busy for the entire ship, but if the ship was ever to have her systems repaired it would be nice to have a detailed list of what was wrong. "Yes," Kirk finally said. "Please tell mister Scott that I would like a preliminary report on my desk this this time two days from now."

Spock nodded and moved off the carry out the order. Leaving Kirk to sit back and consider the system before him. With six hours to go before arriving in the JB-27 Alpha system Kirk decided that it would be a good idea to take a brief break for a quick bite to eat before things got to terribly crazy on the bridge. He left Spock in command for four hours, eagre to add a shower and quick nap to his schedule if possible.



"Rajan could you come over here for a minute?" Scotty was not asking.

"What do you need?" Rajan asked skidding down the gangway which connected the upper and lower sections of main engineering. He was beside the ships chief engineer in mere moments.

"Look at what we got from the bridge," the tall Scotsman said handing a printed copy of the captain's order for a system report to the Laconian. "More importantly," he added, "look at what you got from the bridge."

Rajan groaned and tilted his head back to the ceiling. "Why now?" He asked. He understood the reasoning behind the order, but still wondered if captain Kirk could have chosen a worse time to give the order. The engineering department was swamped at the moment with the fluctuation of the primary power systems.

"Are you going to be able to handle the power issue?" He asked sitting down at the main engineering console and opening up a document to begin naming just the issues he could name off the top of his head.

"I got it, don't get to convinced of your usefulness lieutenant-commander," Scotty said smirking. "I'm the best engineer in the fleet even without your capable help." The older man sauntered off and headed back towards the upper gangway where Rajan had just been. "Are the main teams still tackling the B1 circuit?" He called over his shoulder.

"Yeah they are! Should be about done by the time you get there huffing and puffing," Rajan shouted at the retreating chief engineer before turning to get going on the report.



"Report mister Sulu," Kirk asked as an alert sounded on the helmsman's console.

"Sensors show that the freighter just pulled in towards the second gas giant out from the system primary. "Sulu's voice was tense and Kirk could not blame him. The man had been at his station for roughly eleven hours and had for the past three had delicately been dealing with the movements of the Klingon freighter they had been following.

The freighter had dropped out of warp without warning two and a half hours ago and had so far been manoeuvring erratically as if it suspected it had a tail. Sulu had managed to avoid detection so far and was planning to dash around to a comet and use it as cover as soon as he was able. Overall it had been a very difficult shift.

"Keep me informed." Kirk felt bad for keeping Sulu on the bridge so long, but as the best helmsman on the ship he was indispensable with the Klingon vessels erratic movements.

"Sir I am ready to dodge into the comets trail!" Sulu suddenly barked his voice tense with concentration.

"Do it," Kirk tried to keep his voice calm. He knew that this was the moment that would either make or break their mission. If the Klingon freighter turned to bring its sensors back far enough to see the comet they would be discovered and faced with an embarrassing conversation with the Klingons.

Sulu did not breath for the next six minutes as he delicately manoeuvred the ship out of the freighters exhaust trail and towards the halo of the comet. But eventually, finally he finished with a loud exhaling of breath and reported that all was looking good. Spock followed that up and reported that the ship had not been scanned by the freighter and that they were likely undetected.

Kirk too let out a breath he had not realized he had been holding. The comets course would bring the entirety of the system into range of Enterprises scanners over the next week and then provided a good exit outside the system afterwards.

"Thank you, mister Sulu, if you would like you can leave the bridge for the evening." Gratefully Sulu seemed to slump forward in the chair before leaving the bridge for his quarters and a some well deserved sleep.

Kirk would leave an hour later after making sure the ships course would remain within the comets halo. Spock took over, though even he was long overdue for a replacement.



Kirk was awoken by darkness, alarms blaring and an incessant comm chime. Barely awake he fumbled for the comm. "Captain sir," the comm said in the voice of lieutenant Uhura.

"Report lieutenant," Kirk was now more awake and coming to notice the alarms and lack of lighting. Dimly he noted that the vibrations from the ship's engines had ceased.

"Sir the ship has lost main engine power, the flow monitor blew out and commander Scott was forced to purge reactants from the primary reactor. He reports that repairs are possible, though is not sure of how long those repairs will take."

Kirk was now up and fumbling in the dark for a uniform shirt. "Has he been able to maintain the impulse engines?" He asked, worry knotting at his stomach. The main reactor powered most of the ships systems normally, but her backup fusion reactors could pick up the slack if the main reactor was out.

Importantly given the ships current circumstances the impulse engines also were responsible for propelling the ship when she was not traveling at warp via the impulse engines. And if those were knocked out than the ship would be drifting uselessly through space, easily detected by any Klingon forces in the area.

"The impulse engines are still working sir, secondary power picked up simultaneously with main power being shut down," Kirk could hear Uhura's relief just as much as he could feel his own.

"I am on my way to the bridge, alert mister Scott that I would like a report as soon as possible on our engine status. And tell Commander Spock that I would like a readout on our position and probable location of any Klingon forces in the area." Kirk signed off and practically ran to the turbolift only to find that the system was not working yet. Likely Scotty had not yet got that system tied into the secondary power feed.



Some time later Kirk managed to get to the bridge after a long climb through the ships Jeffries tubes and gangways. Those on the bridge stood at attention only for Kirk to wave them down. Catching sight of Spock, he went over to his first officer and was handed a pad which gave a quick overview of the ship's status.

It did not look great. Lighting and even life support were out on a number of decks throughout the ship. Weapons and shields were down, not yet tied into the power grid. And some of the ship's sensors were not working. However, it was not all bad. Scotty reported that all of the ships systems would be tied into the power grid by the end of the day. Similarly Scotty reported that he should be able to have main power back up and running in a few days, though he did mention that it was a rough estimate.

It could have been far worse. The Boxer disaster came to Kirks mind, the ship had suffered a total reactor meltdown and had been forced to eject the system. Lacking warp capability, the Boxer had been forced to travel six years at impulse power to a point within range of Starfleet subspace communications.

"How long until we can scan the entire system mister Spock?" Kirk decided that he wanted to complete the ships mission if possible and not allow engine problems to stop them if at all possible.

Spock answered confidently, "we should have a complete sensor sweep complete within the next few days, and we can look through the data as it comes in."

Kirk nodded. That was about what he was expecting. "How long before we have scanned all the most likely base locations?"

"Two days captain," Spock noted the most likely locations for a Klingon base on the bad and added the route Enterprise would be taking through the system via the path of the comet.

Kirk nodded, it all seemed to be a matter of just a few days. Two days to scan likely base locations, four or five to completely scan the system, five to repair the reactor. "It's a waiting game then." He said finally.

Spock nodded, "it would seem that the reactor will not put us to much behind schedule. Hopefully we will be able to report back to Starfleet on schedule."

Kirk agreed and decided to head down to main engineering to make sure that all the ships system would be sorted. As well as make a list of all the systems that would need to be repaired the next time Enterprise was in a star base. He also decided to draft a firm letter to Starfleet command explaining the ships plight and how if the maintenance scheduled had been carried out the ship would not have found itself in this predicament.

 

[Charles Markov]

Captains log stardate 309101.318
Commander Scott, our chief engineer had just delivered his report on our current status. He gives a figure of five days to complete repairs to our systems sufficient enough to bring our main reactor back online and allow us the ability to warp out of the system.
Unfortunately, our sensor scans of the system have revealed the presence of a significant Klingon base in the system. A base capable of hosting at a force at least the equivalent of a battle group. With fuel silos, repair facilities, medical centres and crew recreational areas either under construction or nearing completion.
This base currently houses just a few E-9 escorts and a single D-6 cruiser as far as we can tell currently. All of these ships are deployed some distance away from Enterprise, with the exception of a lone E-9 on a patrol mission whose projected course will put our vessel in detection range of Enterprise in a little over four days.
The Klingon escort is making regular scans of the space along its patrol vector, making it unlikely that we will not be detected when the escort enters within range of Enterprise. Even if we engaged full impulse away from the escort we would only buy a few short hours.
Starfleet has granted me permission to do whatever must be done to complete the mission, I believe this includes firing on a Klingon vessel. However, the destruction of the escort, while buying us needed time to repair our engines, would only serve to alert the empire of our presence of the system. Forcing the Federations hand long before we are ready.
I have explained all this to commander Scott and urged him to hurry along with his repairs. He has promised to shorten the repairs as much as possible, but hastened to mention that his five-day estimate was already very optimistic. If all else fails I may indeed be forced to open fire on the escort and buy us the time to escape the system.
Kirk closed down the log entry and tried to move onto the ever-growing pile of reports in his mail box. It was not easy, concern over the predicament of his ship gnawed away at him and made him almost completely unable to focus. The biggest issue Kirk had with the whole situation, aside from starfleets decision to send Enterprise out without needed repairs, was that what happened over the next five days was completely outside of his own control. The ship would escape the system regardless, but would either make a clean getaway, or be forced to destroy an unfortunately located Klingon vessel to make a hot escape from the system.
Kirk had no love for Klingons, nor was he the type of person to shy away from his duties. But this would as far as Kirk could call be the first time a Starfleet vessel fired first at a Klingon. He was also certain it would be the first time that a Federation flagged starship would be discovered in an enemy claimed system without a state of war existing.
Finally resigning himself, for the time being, that what happened was out of his control Kirk ordered a cup of coffee and determined to read through at least five of the oldest reports in the folder before he stopped for lunch. And he made a good go of it to, managing to read through the first three fairly short reports before the fourth report, an eighteen-page document detailing a scan of a rogue planet the ship had happened across during her search for a Tellarite freighter, delayed him significantly. By the time he had signed the document it was well past when he normally took lunch and his stomach was protesting. Kirk decided that the fifth report could wait to be read until he had eaten something.

"I already told you! No lunchbreak this shift!" Scotty thundered, his voice carrying far down the Jeffries tubes where somewhere ensign Kolkikoloni had just asked to be relieved for lunch. Somewhere Kolkikoloni grumbled. "What was that miss?" Scotty roared back and got only silence.
"I think she is ignoring you," Rajan said smiling quietly to himself.
"Well I would not go that far." Scotty liked to yell at his younger officers, particularly his two ensigns, young officers who showed promise and had been assigned to a ship for their final year in the academy, toughened them up he said. Of course, he also enjoyed yelling at his staff in general, though he was not quite so hard on them as he was his future officers.
"You are going to go get some rest after we finish calibrating the field oscillation you know," Rajan remarked casually. Scotty had yelled when he had first arrived aboard. However, Rajan had simply yelled back and the two had quickly become friends.
"Oh, I am?" There was a smile in the chief engineer's voice. "I like it when you talk like you think you run the place." The smile broadened.
Rajan sighed. Scotty had been on station for over sixteen hours by this point, far from out of the ordinary for the man. But if all that needed to be done in the next five days was to be accomplished on time then Scotty would need to pace himself and not work nonstop for two or three days before collapsing. Unfortunately, not even the captain had been able to get this through his thick head.
"You are," Rajan said still maintaining the conversational tone. "And for at least six hours, after which you can come back and give me a bit of a rest."
Scotty only laughed and continued to work through the delicate repairs to the magnetic fields which controlled the flow of plasma from the main reactor to the ships EPS conduit network. However, once these repairs were completed Scott did actually leave and promise to sleep no more than four hours, "a wee nap," he called it before leaving main engineering.
"I think I am getting through to him," Rajan said to Lieutenant Alierie who had replaced Scotty for the repairs to the flow modulator.
"Don't count on it sir," Alierie said shaking his head. He had served with Scott during the ships last mission as a NCO and knew him and his habits far better than Rajan.
Rajan knew that. And it did not surprise him to see Scotty returning less than four hours later, three and a half by Rajans account. He walked up to the board on one end of the engine room and wrote a string of tasks in order of most to least important.
"Listen up everybody!" He thundered, "we will have a rough few days ahead of us. None of us is going to get to much sleep, nor will we have to much time for frivolous things like meals or time with our friends. All we have time for is fixing the ship. Does everyone understand that?"
Everyone did, or at least no one wanted to argue with Scotty over not getting it. Soon everyone was hard at work tackling the tasks assigned to them by the chief engineer.

"Sir we have made tremendous progress. But other issues keep surfacing. Currently it looks like the main reactor shutdown was caused by a faulty length of filament connecting the reactor to the computers which monitored the plasma flow."
"Understood mister Scott. Please keep me informed." Kirk signed off and walked over to the science station. "Anything new mister Spock?" He asked, over the past day the ship had been using her passive sensors to scan the system.
Over that time they had found a fairly large base in varying stages of construction. It gave the appearance of a large base, capable of supporting a fleet of a decent size, and given the size of the fuel and repair docks the fleet could be supported for a decent amount of time. They had also discovered in addition to a cruiser and some escorts a pair of D-7 battlecruisers and a further light cruiser. A small fleet of support ships were also found in orbit of the small rock that passed for the second planet in the system. Mostly tankers and a supply ship or two, though from the distance Enterprise observed them it was hard to tell.
Spock looked over the sensor logs and Kirk thought that he almost, but not quite frowned through his Vulcan demeanour. "It is difficult to determine sir due to our distance from the inner system."
"However, the sensors have managed to detect a further six blips that are definitely ships, but we are unable to determine their class. I would also like to stress again that our identification of many of the other ships in the system are not complete."
Kirk nodded; Spock had done an amazing job matching the sensor readings of the ships picked up with known readings of Klingon ship classes. However, many of the matches were only sixty percent and lower. And incomplete matches was not something that Spock liked at all, especially if it went into the ships log as fact.
"Keep on them mister Spock. And run through the other ships we have detected again if you would like, just to be certain." Kirk glanced over at the viewscreen which was showing a display of the system and all the ships so far detected. A frown crossed Kirks face as he caught sight of the E-9 on a patrol of the outer system. A patrol that would cause it and Enterprise to meet in just a few days. Just under four days to be exact.
The frown did not go away. In the past day minimal progress had been made as repairs had proved more difficult than had been initially thought. At the current rate it would take close to a week and a half to get the ships warp engines back up and operational. By which time the E-9 could have passed within a few hundred kilometres of the Enterprise. Spitting distance.
Unfortunately, all that Kirk could do was wait and hope that Scotty would manage to pull out some miracle and fix the ship before that happened. And then he would be forced to destroy the Klingon. And that was looking more and more likely as the days went past.

"What do you mean you can't find it?" Rajan was starting to sound more and more like Scotty all the time, and he could not decide just how he felt about that.
"I mean sir that the feed regulator just isn't where it should be." Daag's voice was strained, he had not slept in almost four days, and they were three days into the ship's repairs. Rajan sighed, he himself had gone without sleep for just as long, and had not left main engineering in just as long. And unlike Daag he had a wife. Somewhere anyway he was sure of it.
"Would you check again?" Rajan worked through the area where Daag and his team was in his mind, trying to find out where everything was. And then he remembered. "Check the right wall across from the entrance. It should be there. We had to put it there a month back. It should be labelled with a handwritten note from Scotty."
Daag found it and soon the repairs were underway. Giving Rajan about a half second to rest before he had to get back to his own task. He was helping Scotty and lieutenant Lotterbernin with a plasma feed line regulator that gave energy to the ships port nacelle. It was slow going, but if the ship was to ever be underway it would need to be done.
The ships repairs were getting done, but much slower than the five days they had initially had been given. Currently it was estimated that the ship would take at least seven days, far from what Kirk had wanted.
But that was life, and Kirk would just have to live with whatever was done by the time the Klingon scout was within range. Honestly Rajan could did not care either way what happened to the Klingon ship. If it had to be destroyed that was just the end of it.

"Sir," Lotterbernin said swaying back and forth in the middle of main engineering. Her speech was slurred and her eyes heavy. Seeing her go down Raej jumped out from under the console where he had been working and grabbed her before she hit the deck.
"Sorry sir," she said sagging in his arms and weakly trying to get back on her own feet.
"Its fine lieutenant." Raej maneuvered her to a chair and then sat down himself, "when was the last time you had some rest?" He asked noting that the woman could barely stand.
"Don't know," she said blinking her eyes in an attempt to get them to stay open. "A few days.
Raej nodded, he had figured on an answer like that. It had been very common. Well into the third day of repairs some of the ships engineering staff had begun to collapse or fall asleep at their stations midway through the second day. Raej could not recall seeing Lotterbernin take so much as a break in the last few days, so it did not surprise him to see her in such a bad way.
Raej was just about ready to tell her to get some rest when Scotty beat him to it, "get some rest Lorretta," he said sliding down the gangway from the upper gallery.
Lotterbernin tried to argue, but Scotty was having none of it and asked a technician to bring her to her quarters for at least a six-hour rest. He walked her out of main engineering before plopping down in the chair the exhausted lieutenant had just vacated.
"You should probably get some sleep to," Scotty said looking Raej over.
Raej snorted. Montgomery Scott had gone without rest for almost two and a half days himself and looked just as bad as Lotterbernin had. His speech was slow, eyes heavy and when he walked it was with an almost drunken gait.
"Wanting to get rid of me?" He asked. "Want to have the record for going the longest without sleep for yourself?"
"You know me," Scotty leaned back in the chair and then fell to the floor sound asleep before he could finish the thought.
Raej started to laugh, falling over himself and struggling to get back up. Instead he toppled over Scotty and then himself fell asleep. The two of them went undiscovered for perhaps five minutes before the tech returned from dropping off Lotterbernin. With a sigh he called over someone to help him and arranged the two officers in along the far wall with blankets draped over them.

 

[Charles Markov]

"Hand me the driver would you?" Scotty was not asking. A four-hour rest had done wonders for his mood and concentration and he was more or less back to his normal self.

"Give me a minute," Rajan called from somewhere farther down in the Jeffries tube where he was performing a diagnostic of the computer regulator.

"I don't want it in a minute! I want you to hurry up and hand it to me now!" Scotty was not a patient man even at the best of times and as they neared the deadline to repair the ship before she was detected he was growing more so.

Rajan was far too busy to respond. His scan was showing something odd with the code in this part of the regulator. And he was struggling to work through a reason why that was.

"Well?" Scotty demanded, banging a tool against the bulkhead. When Rajan did not say anything to this either he was beside his second in command in an instant. "What it is?" He asked all impatience gone from his voice.

Instead of telling about the coding error Rajan showed him, moving aside to allow Scotty to see all the data and even alter the code as it came through.

"How long has this been here?" Scotty asked, though it was not directed at Rajan. He worked through the system, seeing just how deeply entrenched in the code the error was. Occasionally he mumbled something to himself, to low for even Rajans sharp ears to catch entirely.

Eventually, several minutes later, Scotty finally spoke. "Well this is quite the issue, I think. How about you?"

Rajan shrugged, he had looked through the program for quite a while before Scotty had come over. "If it is as deep in the system as I think it is then we may have the solution to all our problems."

Scotty shrugged. The coding troubles the ship had been experiencing since their run in with the boy Charlie had been mostly resolved over the last few months. However, some problems remained. And this appeared to be one of the bigger issues.

If the coding errors were as large and developed as they appeared then that was likely the biggest reason for the problem. And it likely had caused the shutdown to the main reactor. From the terminal in the Jeffries tube it seemed likely that the coding error had caused the ships sensor into believing that a fluctuation had broken out in the reactor. Necessitating that the whole system be shut down and likely leading to the myriad other issues in the system.

Calling other teams into the area Scotty and Rajan got to work. Attempting to understand how deep the problem was. Overall it was quickly discovered that the problem was as deep as had been initially assumed. A report had to be worked up, but Scotty let the captain know of the problem anyway and set up a tentative time for a full briefing.



"What is going on mister Scott?" Captain Kirk had been called into main engineering a few minutes prior and was clearly rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Sir I think we have it!" Scotty climbed out of a hole in the floor which gave access directly to the main reactor one deck below. His single piece jump suite was covered in dust and grime, hair was matted and crazy, and he was sweating.

"Have what mister Scott?" Kirk had been informed earlier that the underlying problem with the ship's reactor had been found, but not told what it was, or how easy it would be to fix it.

Scotty explained all that now. Kirk paid attention with what looked like half an ear, being to distracted by mention that the problem could be repaired in less than eight hours, giving Enterprise a very small window to escape the Klingon patrol ship. The rest, the explanation of how and why went completely in one ear and out the other.

"How soon do you think you can have the engines back up and running?" Kirk asked once Scotty had finished with his explanation.

"We are working on it sir, but eight hours seems like our best estimate at the moment." In reality Scotty thought sixteen hours closer to the truth, but was confident that the promise of rest would spur on his exhausted engineering staff.

"I see," Kirk said deep in thought. "Get to work mister Scott and I will begin preparations for getting the ship underway. With that, and assurances from Scotty that all effort would be made to get the engines back online Kirk left main engineering.

Scotty stood by the double doors heading out of main engineering for a heartbeat as he worked through all that would need done in the short time he had given himself. He then began bellowing orders to any and all that were in earshot.



Captains log stardate 309101.702

Mister Scott has made herculean efforts over the last five hours to get the ships warp drive back online and operational. He assures me that if the current pace of working is continued the ship will have warp capability in a little under three more hours.

Our position has not changed and, in a little under five hours the Klingon scout will enter detection range of us if we go to warp. And in nine hours we will be in weapons range of the vessel. By which point we will be detected anyway.

Hope is in sight and the ships exhausted engineering staff is now working like the damned to ensure that we can escape the system, only time will tell if we can finish our repairs in time to escape the system undetected.

Kirk ended the days log entry and moved over to the helm station where Sulu was sitting tensely waiting for the order to get underway. An order Kirk was not yet prepared to give. If they left the cover of their asteroid they would be detected all the more sooner by the E-9 scout headed for them. Better to remain undetected for as long as was possible and only expose the ship if there was no other option.

"Status of the Klingon mister Spock," Kirk ordered. Currently the ships main viewscreen, located forward of the helm and tactical stations, was displaying a forward view of their asteroid hideout, rather than a tactical overview of the system showing all the planets, moons and ships in the area as was more usual.

"The Klingon scout is still on an intercept course that will converge with our own in a little under four hours and thirty-eight minutes given current speed of half impulse." Spock turned in his chair at the science station and eyed the screen.

"Nothing at all to do but wait then," Kirk thought for what had to be the millionth time in the past few days. He settled himself into his chair. No matter what happened he was determined not to leave the bridge until this whole thing was over. One way or the other.



"Is that it?" Rajan asked, he and ensign Kolkikoloni had been working through the last of the coding bugs they had so far found and were preparing to begin the starting procedure for the matter/antimatter reactor.

From the comm came a dim reply, Kolkikoloni was herself buried up to her neck in the ships EPS conduits working on the affected systems and so the audio pickup was not all that fantastic.

"Please repeat that, you're not really coming in all that well," Rajan said, not catching her answer.

"I said that I was ready!" Came a much louder and more audible reply.

"Ok thank you ensign," Rajan began to work through the opening computer commands that would set the reactor start up in motion. He then notified Scotty on the bridge.



"Lieutenant-commander Rajan reports that the reactor restart has begun, he estimates half an hour before primary power is restored." Scotty looked out of place on the bridge, seldom manning the engineering console opposite of the science station on the bridge, preferring to leave it for his underlings and work in engineering himself.

Kirk took a big sigh, this was it. All the past days work was leading to this moment and if the reactor restart failed then nothing would stop the Klingons from discovering Enterprise. "Please tell lieutenant-commander Rajan to proceed mister Scott." There was nothing else for him to do but put the ship in motion now.

"Mister Sulu, would you please set course for star base twelve at full impulse."

"Course set… and laid in," Sulu said. Getting Enterprise underway would but an hour, allowing just enough time to get the ship into warp and undetected. If all went well in the engine room.



It was about the longest half hour in Kirks life. At regular intervals Scotty made an announcement as to what stage the reignition process was, or gave an order to the engine room. Twitching at his seat Sulu made minute course corrections as Enterprise hurled along at full impulse, abandoning the shelter of her asteroid cover for greater distance away from the Klingon scout. All Kirk had to do was sit and wait for someone to say something.

After what felt to him like a hundred days Scotty suddenly leapt out of his seat, announcing, "Sir the reactor shows to be functioning! We will have warp power in five minutes!"

"Go to warp three as soon as you have the power mister Sulu!" Kirk was now standing, and a cheer rippled across the bridge as all moved to congratulate Scotty and his team for their success. Sulu practically shouted that he would do so.

Kirk knew the ship was not safe yet. Even with an operational reactor Enterprise could not simply go straight to high warp, she had to accelerate gradually lest the gravitic force of jumping to high to fast would tear the ship apart. And if the scout suspected anything at the last minute, detecting impulse exhaust plasma or residual radiation, and activated her active sensors they would still be discovered.

But they weren't. Enterprise made the jump to warp three without incident. All sensors showing the Klingon vessel still oblivious to the starship in such close proximity to her. Kirk kept the ship at low warp to avoid detection by any subspace sensors the Klingons had deployed to watch the approaches to the system for a further day before boosting the ship to her cruising velocity of warp factor six with a deadline course for star base twelve.



"Well being a medical man and thus out of the loop of what went on I can honestly say that was terrifying." Kirk and McCoy were having dinner together in the ships forward lounge. A two-deck structure at the very leading edge of the ships command hull.

It was a custom the two had begun back when Kirk had been first assigned to the UES Nautilus, a Gazelle class destroyer deployed along the Klingon border. Kirk had insisted on McCoy following him to serve as the ships chief medical officer as he wanted someone he could talk to as a friend aboard the ship. Duty as a captain being a lonely existence for the most part.

The tradition had been continued when Kirk had been assigned to Enterprise and both made every effort to keep their weekly appointments.

Kirk was enjoying a very nice pasta, McCoy by contrast was tearing into his second plate of barbeque, a delicacy unique to the southern United States and a favourite of McCoy's. Both were enjoying a beer, smuggled aboard by Kirk in a crate labelled as "personal effects" when he had first assumed command.

"You really have no idea how helpless it can feel sometimes," McCoy continued after tearing a huge bite out of his ribs. "There is nothing to do but sit and wait for everyone else to do their jobs and hope they do it well and that everything turns out alright."

Kirk hid a smile. He felt much the same, and the week stranded without warp drive had made the feeling much more apparent.

It had been four days since they had left the system and Enterprise would be at star base twelve in another six days time where, it was hoped, the ship would finally receive her needed repairs. As well as her still missing tactical officer, the only one of her crew still not aboard.

"Bones its not a feeling unique to you and your staff. I think we all felt that way at times, you'll get no sympathy from me." Kirk used his napkin to wipe away some sauce from his mouth, hoping McCoy would catch the hint and do the same. He did not.

"I am not looking for sympathy! I was just stating fact." The doctor leaned back and sighed loudly in satisfaction, his plate only having bones left on it.

He suddenly grew more serious. "What is going to happen once you tell Starfleet about the base?" He asked, it was a question that most of the ship had been asking since the base had been discovered.

"I don't really know," Kirk admitted. "Likely we will protest and show the empire our evidence of the base. They will deny it and we will build a base of our own to defend the area if another war breaks out. The empire will send some ships to enforce the area, we will do the same and our ships will skirmish back and forth across the border."

"Sounds like the way wars start," McCoy was worried. He had worked at a star base during the four years war and could recall with crystal clarity the faces of the wounded as they returned from battles across the whole of the front.

Kirk could only nod in agreement. That was how wars started and while not a pacifist he did not want a war to break out if it could be helped. The destruction it would surely bring would be almost unfathomable in scope and scale.



"Honestly I was worried about you!" Saraesh shouted from the bathroom where she had just started a shower, having just got off her shift manning the comms station on the bridge. Like most scientific personnel in Starfleet she had secondary training to allow her to perform shifts in other departments when her degree was not needed.

"Why would you be?" Rajan was in the living room reading through a comprehensive report on the systems that needed to be repaired once they reached a star base. It had been something he and Scotty had been working on since they had got the warp reactor back online.

"Well when a wife hasn't seen her husband in two or three days they start getting a little concerned," Saraesh said coming out of the bathroom to fetch a clean pair of tights. "Besides, we chose Enterprise so that we could have more time together."

"Was that our reasoning?" Raej had been the one who had lobbied hard for assignment aboard a ship rather than a planet or station sided posting. Against the wishes of Saraesh who had wanted to be assigned to an outpost somewhere out of the way. She threw a pair of socks at him from the bedroom.

"Is it always this crazy aboard?" She asked. Rajan shrugged.

"I have only been aboard for a few months, from what I have seen though things seem to be fairly interesting most of the time." He put the report down and stretched out on the couch.

He watched his wife; he had missed her the past few days. Like she had said they had requested assignment together so that they could spend more time together. And that had not been the case so far. She had gone a little stir crazy in their quarters during the last few days. But still it was nice that she was here, and that if all went well he could see her everyday.

He heard the shower start and was up in an instant, he grabbed a change of clothes and leapt in. They wanted to be closer, and this seemed like a good way to do it.