Star Trek: Kelvin - Episode 2 - Attack Of The Hobwoks

[CaptainWacky]

'Captain's log, Stardate 1007.4. On our recent mission to the seventh planet in the Pran system we discovered that many of the children orphaned as a result of the Dust Wars are themselves suffering from Otto Fever caused by the biological weapons used in that conflict. This fever is always fatal if left untreated and the only known remedy requires the Moop plant which grows in the jungles of the ninth planet in the Brint system and nowhere else in the known universe. The planet is home to many dangerous indigenous species and a single sentient race known as the Puriben, an isolationist people who colonised the planet two hundred years ago. The Puriben have a supply of the Moop plant but have only agreed to hand it over after they hear in person the details of our need for it. For this reason we have picked up Federation Diplomat Hans Stormbridge from Starbase TK81 to plead our case to the Puriben.'


"I can't believe they won't lower their shield for even a minute," said first officer George Kirk as he and captain Richard Robau walked into the Kelvin's shuttlebay. "They don't even have to lower the whole thing, just a segment large enough for us to beam through. I know there's dangerous animals living in the jungles, but surely there's a spot which would be safe to open?" The Puriben lived in several large settlements, some as big as Earth cities, spread around the jungle, each removed from the outside by massive shield domes. They had refused to let the Kelvin's away team beam down and instead a shuttle would have to be taken, following a flight schedule the Puriben had sent to the Kelvin. The Puriben had massive gun towers outside of their shield domes and had been known to shoot down ships which entered their airspace without permission.

"I'm sure there is," said Captain Robau, who had never met a member of the Puriben (very few had) but liked little of what he'd hear of them. "I think it's more about power, George. Having the upper hand."

"And that's more important to them than war orphans dying on Pran?"

"Apparently so. Their security may seem ridiculous, but the Puriben shouldn't be taken lightly. They are dangerous."

"Just ask the Bolian explorers they shot down," nodded George.

"Don't worry, the shuttle journey will be short and Johnson's the most skilled pilot I've ever served with. He'll get you there okay. It's down to Diplomat Stormbridge to convince them to hand over the Moop plant as quickly as possible."

"From his reputation he seems up to the task," said Kirk. Stormbridge was well respected. Not too long ago he'd negotiated a non-aggression pact with the Klingons, which they had mostly upheld. Technically he'd actually been just one of a team of twenty diplomats negotiating that pact, but he was the most renowed of them. "Speaking of Johnson, sir, do you think I'll have any discipline problems with him on this mission, even as short as it's likely to be?" asked Kirk.

"I talked to him after his remarks during the Noodle Nebula mission and he gave the impression the matter was settled," said Robau. Johnson had made several inappropriate remarks during that mission.

"An impression you didn't share?" asked Kirk.

"I don't know," admitted Robau. "I think there's more to the issue with Johnson than he's let us know. But I don't think he'll provide any serious problems on this mission. I think you'll have a harder time with a certain botanist who's coming along."

Kirk smiled. "I think you're right," he said, as the rest of the away team arrived at the shuttlebay. There was Diplomat Stormbridge, Ensign Johnson, chief of security Lt. Commander Alnschloss K'Bentayr (known as AKB for short), security officer Blunt and the ship's botanist Wionna Kirk...George's wife. His pregnant wife. George smiled at her. She ignored him and walked straight onto the shuttle. Robau obviously noticed this but didn't want to comment. "Captain, when this mission is over...I may need to talk to you," said George. Wionna had made it clear that she did not want to have the baby on board the Kelvin and wanted to raise it and their son George Samuel (who was being looked after by the Cardassian head of stellar cartography Ensign Dukat) back on Earth.

"I hope you feel free to talk to me whenever you have need, George," said Robau. "As a captain or as a friend." George nodded, then stepped onto the shuttle with the rest of his away team.

"Flying a shuttle down to a dock, following such a rigid flight path, it's a waste of my abilities," complained Johnson as Kirk walked over beside him. "Sir," he added, as an afterthought.

"This mission is of vital importance," said George. "We need that plant and we're making sure we get everything right, including having our best pilot flying us."

"If you want the best then you should have taken T'Poo instead of me," said Wionna, referring to the ship's Vulcan science officer. George said nothing.

"Oh, a botanical officer will suffice, don't worry," said diplomat Stormbridge, perhaps not being very diplomatic. "The real challenge in this mission falls on me, and even there you don't have to worry. I've negotiated with more intimidating races than the Puriben, the Klingons, for exampe. Not to mention the Cardassians, the Dog People of Xizor Woof and the Romulans...and the Romulans were over subspace radio!" George had heard that Stormbridge had a large ego, but hadn't expected him to so blatantly name-drop the races he'd negotiated with so quickly. "The only possible danger," added Stormbridge, "would be if my diplomacy skills failed me somehow. So no danger then!"

"If that's the case, then why are we bringing along the chief of security?" asked Johnson.

"Prepare for launch, Mister Johnson," ordered Kirk, ignoring his remark. The shuttle bay doors opened.

"You are cleared for launch," came the voice of Communications Officer Rice from the bridge.

"Then let's get this over with," said Johnson. The suttle lifted off with thrusters and passed through the forcfield erected where the doors had opened and out into space, in high orbit above the planet. Kirk looked down below. Even from here the massive jungles could be clearly seen.

"Looks like quite a harsh world," said Wionna, speaking for the first time.

"Oh don't worry," said Stormbridge. "The Puriben are quite civilised. Quite civilised indeed."


In the ship's morgue, a small room off Sickbay, Doctor Slod stood over the body of Commander McDougal, pleased with himself. McDougal had died from a mystery illness months before and, as far as the rest of the crew knew, Slod had kept his body in order to determine what that illness had been. In reality Slod had kept the body in order to secretly reanimate McDougal as a mindless zombie under Slod's control, for purposes known only to Slod.

"You are the first," Slod whispered to McDougal's cold ears. "Your human life was nothing compared to the life you will have in service of Traxtor. It will be a short life, but worth more than any human could ever know." McDougal's eyes opened for a moment, flashing black like Slod's...then the door to the morgue opened and McDougal's eyes instantly shut. Nurse Jackie Bombad was standing in the doorway. She did not want to go completely into the morgue, because then the door would close behind her and she would be alone in a small room with Slod and a dead body. She'd had nightmares like that.

"The captain's yeoman, Chang, she's just been back," said Jackie. "She said Captain Robau wants to talk to you, again." Slod knew that Robau wanted to talk about McDougal's body. His family had been asking for it to be sent back to Earth for a proper burial.

"Nice of her to pass on the message," said Slod. "But I'm busy."

"I wish you would talk to him, maybe then Chang would stop coming round!" said Jackie. "All she talks about is how that new Yeoman we picked up at Starbase is trying to steal her job and I really don't care. The new yeoman seems nice actually..."

"Well now you know how I feel about everything anyone on this ship says to me," said Slod. "I really don't care."

"She said the Away Team's just went down to the planet, so..." Slod put up a hand, telling her to stop talking. He smiled to himself.

"In that case, I will go the bridge and talk to Captain Robau," he said. "You stay here and make sure McDougal doesn't go anywhere." Then he strolled right out of the morgue. Jackie looked at McDougal's body.

"He was joking, right?" she asked it. McDougal did not answer.


As the shuttle containing the Away Team descended, the massive shield domes which covered the Puriben cities and seperated them from the jungle became clearly visible. The gun towers soon became visible as well, towering above the treetops. George watched them growing larger, perhaps because he didn't want to look at his wife. They had barely talked in the last week since she had told him about wanting to return to Earth. It was not an unreasonable demand, George knew, yet he did not want to leave the Kelvin. He had been first officer for eight months and felt like he was really growing into the role. His goal was to be captain of his own ship in three to five years. He had not told Wionna thist. To leave now, to return to Earth, for however long (and he had a feeling Wionna would want it to be permanent) would seriously derail his plans. Surely there was some compromise that could be worked out? He looked at Wionna at last and smiled tentatively. She did not return it.

"So your mission will be to identify the moop plant when the Puriben hand it over, just to be absolutely sure they give us the right thing," said George.

"I know," said Wionna. "I was briefed. And that's IF the moop plant is handed over, not when."

"Oh, it's definitely when, not if!" said Stormbridge, who had annoyingly been listening in.

"It's important we're not deceived," said George.

"The moop plant is very distinctive," said Wionna. "There's really no chance they could deceive us, and no reason they would, unless they take pleasure out of being responsible for orphans dying."

"It's not funny," said George. He felt helpless. Everyone was listening in now. He was supposed to be the first officer, but he wondered if anyone on the shuttle respected him. His wife obviously didn't, Johnson didn't respect anyone, Stormbridge only had respect for his own abilities...and what AKB was thinking George could never tell. So much for growing into the role.

"I'm not laughing," sighed Wionna.

"We need our finest botantical expert on the job," said George. "I know you're up to it...ensign." That felt strange. He rarely had to talk to his wife as an officer under his command. Most of her time on ship was spent looking after their son Sam.

"T'Poo knows more about plants than me," said Wionna. It was perhaps true, T'Poo seemed to know a great many things. "But I will of course carry out my duty...commander." George said no more. He looked out the shuttle's front window.

"Not long now," said Johnson, unusually cheery. "We'll stay above the trees until we get to the dock, of course...wow, look how thick the vegetation is. Wouldn't want to crash land in that jungle."

"What are those!?" said Stormbridge, suddenly, pointing out the window. There were large shapes moving below them...then flyng up towards them.

"Just birds," said Johnson.

"They're huge! They're like dinosaurs!" said Stomrbridge.

"We have birds like that on our planet," said AKB, unimpressed. "Our females eat them for breakfast."

"They can't do our shuttle any damage," said Johnson. Some of the birds appeared to flying right at the shuttle.

"Shoot them!" said Stormbridge. Blunt laughed. AKB gave him a stern look (he'd been perfecting his human expressions recently) and Blunt stopped. Johnson sighed.

"They can't do anything to us! Unless you just hate animals...sure, I could shoot them."

"Hold your fire," said Kirk. "Nobody's shooting any birds."

"There's something on the treetops," said Wionna. "Jumping from tree to tree...it's big." A monkey had been her first thought, but it was much larger.

"Never mind that, look out!" said Stormbridge, as the birds started crashing into the shuttle.

"No wonder the Puriben shield their cities, I wouldn't want to live with constant suicide bird attacks," said Johnson.

"Take us down lower, that's an order!" said Stormbridge.

"Maybe you should take us down anyway...this is getting kind of disturbing," said Kirk, as the crew watched birds splatter against the shuttle's front window

"Hopefully the monkey won't attack us," said Wionna, meaning the animal on the treetops. The shuttle went lower, just above the trees. There was no sign of the animal...until suddenly it appeared flying through the air right at them.

"That's no monkey!" said Stormbridge. It was larger even than a human being. It seemed to land on the roof of the shuttle.

"Should I shake it off?" asked Johnson.

"Yes!" said Stormbridge.

"I don't want to kill whatever it is," said Kirk.

"It's a dumb animal, kill it!" said Stormbridge. Then, an alarm flashed. The shuttle shook, then plunged downwards , crashing through the treetops.

"I've lost the engines!" said Johnson, frantic. "Still got thrusters..."

"How far are we from the dock?" asked Kirk, jumping to the controls.

"We've been thrown off course...still got thrusters...still got thrusters..."

"We need to land," said AKB, with the kind of calm only he was capable of.

"He's right, we could drop out of the sky any moment, Johnson, try to land us safely," ordered Kirk.

"But in the wild jungle, anything could happen to us!" said Stormbridge. "And he said we've still got thrusters..."

"I've lost thrusters!" said Johnson. "Going down, we are going down..." The shuttle plunged through the trees. George and Wionna each reached for the other's hand without even thinking.

"Brace for impact," said George. He found himself holding Wionna tightly now, as if that could protect her and their unborn child. Then everything went black.

 

[CaptainWacky]

On the bridge of the Kelvin, captain Robau and the Kelvin's half human/half Tellerite Chief Engineer Baakon were looking at a zoomed in view of the Puriben's largest city, and the massive shield dome covering it.

"It's remarkable," said Robau.

"It's amazing, captain!" said Baakon, as enthusiastic as Robau had ever heard him. "A miracle of engineering! The size, that's impessive enough, but to keep those shields up constantly...I wish I knew how they did it, captain. I mean, we can see those massive generators all around, you'll notice there's ones even outside the shield dome, but there must be more to it than that. I have theories, of course."

"Are they really up constantly? Is that possible? Surely there must be a maintenance cylce when they drop, if only for the shortest time."

"So conventional wisdom says, captain, but I can't find one. Nor can I find any area where the shields are weaker than full strength. But I'm going to keep analysing them as long as we're here and see if I can come up with a way to increase our own shield strength with the knowledge I gain. This is why I joined Starfleet, captain, to see alien technology like this and learn from it." At this point Yeoman Chang walked over to Robau. Baakon took his eyes off the shields for a second at the sight of the beautiful young yeoman. She smiled at him and he returned it, somewhat embarrassed, then went back to studying the shields. It wasn't the first time he'd noticed her. Maybe one day he'd talk to her.

"I'm sorry, captain," said Chang to Robau. "I couldn't get Doctor Slod to come to the bridge. I keep trying but he just won't take me seriously! You should suspend him for duty or court martial him or something..." It was then that she noticed that Slod had just appeared beside them. He had a habit of popping up seemingly out of nowhere.

"Seems you were more successful than you thought," said Robau. "Doctor, we're long overdue a talk."

"I will offer my apologies, as I know you humans appreciate that empty gesture," said Slod. "I have been busy with work both important and trivial. Can you not issue a shipwide order stating that crewmembers who suffer a skinned knee should treat themselves with a medkit?" Robau found it unlikely that anyone would go to Slod with such a minor injury. In fact it seemed more likely that crewmembers would cover-up serious injuries just so that they didn't have to see the doctor.

"I'll make a note of it," Robau said, coldly. "Now, about Commander McDougal..."

"His wailing family still want to cry over his corpse?" asked Slod.

"He should have had a proper burial by now," said Robau. "Perhaps you do not see the value in it, but we humans do."

"Starfleet Protocol 3:57 states that when cause of death cannot immediately be determined the ship's chief medical officer, that's me by the way, can keep a crewmember's body for as long as it takes to determine said cause. I'm doing so for the safety of the crew, captain."

"McDougal died months ago. No one else has even gotten sick since then," said Robau.

"Nevertheless..."

"Stop," said Robau. He was about to order Slod to return McDougal's body. But he was stopped by Communications Officer Rice.

"Captain, I'm getting a transmission from the Puriben, they say it's urgent," said Rice.

"Put it through," said Robau.

"Captain Robau, this is Puriben Minister Lak-Norr," said the Puriben who had just appeared on the viewscreen.

"What can I do for you, Minister?" asked Robau. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Slod starting to sidle away. Robau gave him a look to tell him to stop. Slod seemed to understand and did so.

"Your Away Team has not arrived yet!" said Lak-Norr. "They are over four of your Earth minutes late!"

"Perhaps the shuttle journey took longer than anticipated," said Robau, wondering why the minster couldn't have waited until the shuttle was at least five minutes late.

"Impossible!" said the minster. "We transmitted a flight path to your Ensign Johnson and instructed him to follow it to the letter. If he did so there would be no way the shuttle could be this late. Even if he did stray, even a human could not be so incompetent as to be this late!"

"Minister, I shall contact my shuttle and see what's keeping them," said Robau.

"No captain, you won't. I don't think you understand. We wouldn't have contacted you if your shuttle was merely late."

"What...what do you mean?" asked Robau, starting to feel uneasy.

"Our scans show no sign of your shuttle in our skies. And our scans are very thorough," said the minister, in what Robau thought was a gleeful tone.

"Please continue your scans. We shall conduct a search from here," said Robau.

"This is very worrying, captain," said the minister, a scolding tone now, as if he was talking to a child. "If your officers cannot complete so simple a task as arriving on time, then I wonder if your Federation can be trusted with the Moop plant, if you will actually be able to use it to cure those children you claim are suffering-"

"Minister," said Robau, interrupting and restraining himself from saying something he would regret. "I apologise on behalf of the United Federation of Planets for any inconvenience you have suffered. I can assure you that we are taking this mission very seriously and its successful completetion is of the upmost importance to us."

"Pretty words, captain," said the minister. "I shall allow you to get back to whatever it is you do. Let me know if you intend to send another shuttle to replace the one you have lost. We may perhaps grant you an audience if our agenda is clear. Could be some weeks. If you send a shuttle without our permission we shall shoot it out of the sky. That goes for any rescue shuttle too, though such a mission would prove fruitless in our jungles. I would advise using your much vaunted transporters to beam up the remains of your shuttle and the remains of its crew. Lak-Norr out."

"Another time then, captain," said Slod, walking out now without even looking back. Robau knew he'd have to let him go.

"Another time," he muttered to himself, then turned to T'Poo. "T'Poo, scan for the shuttle's transponder."

"I have, captain," she said. T'Poo always seemed one step ahead of Robau's orders. "I have not found it yet. The jungle is so dense that even our scanners are having a hard time getting through it...not to mention their shield domes scattering our scans."

"Those things are so large they effect scanning of the whole jungle," confirmed Baakon. "But if we go to a lower orbit..."

"Mister Yutti, take us lower," ordered Robau. Yutti, the ship's Deltan navigator, was handling Johnson's duties too while Johnson was away.

"T'Poo, start scanning for human and edassian life signs," said Robau. "Mister Baakon, I'd like you to go to Transporter Room 1 and take chage of beaming them up."

"Aye, captain," said Baakon, and he left the bridge.

"Perhaps Mister Johnson managed to land the shuttle," offered T'Poo. Robau wondered if she was trying to make him feel better. It would be unlike her. She was always cold, logical and pragmatic when on duty. She spent all of her time off duty with her son and seemed to have no affection for the crew. But maybe that was changing.

"Perhaps," said Robau, with a nod.

"Captain, I'm detecting something unusual," said T'Poo. "Something which does not match up with the information the Puriben have provided. Multiple lifesigns." Robau was confused. Surely T'Poo knew that the jungle was populated with wild animals? Unless she meant...

"Multiple humanoid lifesigns, you mean?" he asked.

"Aye, captain, it would appears so. Thousands of them, perhaps more. Our scanners are still finding it hard to get a fix on any of them, but I cannot see what else they could be but humanoid life."

Robau wondered what this meant.


George Kirk woke to find his wife standing over him with an anxious look on her face. He was lying on the floor of the shuttle. Diplomat Stormbridge was standing nearby, looking at his feet, worried almost to the point of panic. Security officer Blunt was standing at the door of the shuttle with his phaser out, keeping watch. George couldn't see Johnson or AKB.

"You're okay?" he asked Wionna. She nodded. She looked ready to cry as she looked down on him. George's head really hurt. He tried to sit up and almost fainted.

"George, your head!" said Wionna. He tried to sit up again, more slowly and carefully this time.

"We landed, then," he said. "Is everyone okay? Johnson and AKB?"

"They're outside trying to contact the ship," said Wionna.

"We might not be able to get a signal through here, sir," said Blunt. "We may have to go out and find a clearing..."

"Absolutely not!" said Stormbridge. "I am not leaving the saftey of this shuttle!"

George tried to stand and managed it with Wionna's help. "I'm in command of this mission, I'll decide which course of action is best, diplomat," he said.

"I'm not one of your Starfleet officers, you can't order me about!"

"Actually, regulations say he can order you about on a Stafleet operated away mission," said Blunt.

"Are you sure you're not hurt?" George asked Wionna. "And the baby, that crash can't have been good..."

"George, you cradled me in your arms," said Wionna. "You hit the ground, I was on top of you. You took the impact for me. Your head took most of it."

"That sounds about right," said George, noticing that he was now seeing double. "As long as you're okay, that's all that's important." Wionna kissed him on the cheek. Blunt did not react, but Stormbridge rolled his eyes.

"There are more people on this mission than just your wife," he hissed. With Wionna's help, George walked to the shuttle door. AKB and Johnson were returning.

"We tried to contact the Kelvin, sir, but we could not get a signal through," said AKB. "I recommend we find a clearing, or I perphaps try to scale a tree...even then we may not be able to get through, but it's worth a try."

"There were things moving in the jungle, sir," said Johnson, looking around as though he was scared those things could hear him. "Everything we know about this jungle says those things will kill us. If we try to go out further I don't think we'll survive. And that shuttle isn't going to be taking off again, I can assure your of that. That...thing that jumped on the shuttle seemed to know what it was doing and the crash finished our engines off completely from what I can see. We're probably going to die here."

"Thank you for that, Mister Johnson," said Kirk.

"We should wait in the shuttle!" said Stormbridge. "The Kelvin will scan for us and beam us up!"

"They might not be able to find us through the jungle," said AKB.

"Still," said Kirk. "If there are dangerous animals out there, and we have reason to believe there are, then it would probably be best to use the shuttle as a shelter..." But just as he said this, something came thrashing out of the jungle. It was the same colour as the vines hanging from the trees and for a second that's what George thought it was, but it was thicker and...and alive. It could only be described as a tentacle. It smashed against the side of the shuttle. AKB and Blunt aimed their phasers in its direction.


"I have them, captain," said T'Poo. "Five humans and an Edassian. I thought I had the shuttle transponder too, but I lost it."

"So they're all still alive," said Robau, with relief. "Robau to Baakon! We have them, T'Poo will send you the coordinates. Beam our people up, Rory."

"Aye!" came the engineer's voice. There was a long pause. "No, this can't be! Captain, the transporters are down...I have no idea why. They're just gone! Ack, this is impossible!"

"A malfuction?" asked Robau. What were the odds of the transporters going down right when a vital beam-up was about to take place? Alarm bells were ringing in Robau's head, but the safety of the Away Team was his top priority.

"I don't know captain, they're just...gone! There's no other word for it. The transporter's chief's working on them and I'm going through the logs now, but I can't find anything."

"I'll come down to the transporter room right away," said Robau. "T'Poo, you have the bridge..."

"Captain," said T'Poo. "Something has changed."

"Have you lost the Away Team?"

"Not all of them...I told you there were five human life signs. Now there are only four."


"Phasers on stun, fire," ordered Kirk. AKB and Blunt fired at the tentacle. It drew back, for a moment. But then two more came. Both went for the shuttle, rather than the secuirty officers. AKB and Blunt continued to fire, but more tentacles came. They wrapped around the shuttle. They pulled it into the air, high, then threw it straight up.

"Move!" shouted AKB. The shuttle landed right in front of the away team as they ran from it.

"Maybe it's just a warning," said Wionna.

"Or maybe it sees the shuttle as more of a threat than us and they're eliminating it first," said Johnson. The tentacles had drawn back into the trees, but movement could be heard all around.

"We need to move," said Kirk. "Find a clearing, get a transmission through...maybe even try to reach the Puriben's shield dome and see if they'll let us in. Our intelligence says they do have entrances at ground level which they use from time to time."

"But they won't let us in!" said Johnson. "Their shuttle dock is up high, they were quite specific about only having the doors to that open for a brief time."

"They'll let us in if they know I'm here!" said Stormbridge. The group started to make their way through the jungle. AKB went first, with Blunt covering the rear.

"There's something in the trees," said Wionna, after a few minutes. George's head still hurt, his vision was still blurry, but he saw it too. It wasn't the tentacles this time. They were creatures.

"Those are the things that brought down our shuttle, shoot them!" said Stormbridge.

"For a diplomat you sure like shooting things," said Blunt, aiming his phaser.

"Wait," said George. "Look at them. They're not the same." The figures in the trees were definitely smaller than human sized, whereas the one which brought the shuttle down had been larger.

"They're more like hobbits," said Johnson. One of the figures scurried up a tree. The team caught a brief glimpse of its hairy little face. It looked somewhat like a teddy bear.

"More like Ewoks than hobbits," said Blunt.

"Hobwoks then," said Johnson.

"Commander, just because they're cute doesn't mean they aren't a threat," said Blunt to Kirk.

"But there's no reason to think they are a threat yet," said Kirk. "Hold your fire. Even a warning shot could attract unwanted attention, if not from these hobwoks then from something bigger."

"Everything in this jungle is a threat," muttered Stormbridge. "This is a hellhole. The Puriben are right to lock it out." They kept on. It was hard going. It was so hot and there was no path. They had to make one. AKB, at the front of the group, did not complain, but did struggle. George joined him in clearing a path through a thick area of vegetation.

"AKB, do you think it would be possible to open one of the Puriben entrances with phaser fire?" George asked the Edassian.

"Highly unlikely," said AKB, honestly.

"Even with the jungle this thick, the Kelvin should have been able to find our life signs by now," said Kirk. "The Puriben surely would have reported us missing. There could be something wrong with the Kelvin, or perhaps the Puriben are interfering with their scans..."

"Commander, there is no use in such speculation," said AKB. "You must simply give this team a mission, give them hope, and lead them on." AKB regretted saying this right away. George was a good first officer. He knew what he had to do and he didn't need AKB telling him. But Kirk seemed to appreciate AKB's words.

"Onwards, then," said Geroge, pulling a vine out of the way. Right after he did so he heard something whistling past him.

"What was that?" asked Wionna?

"Darts!" said AKB. He saw a Hobwok up a tree with some kind of blow pipe. More darts came flying out of it.

"Behind the trees!" said Kirk. The away team all ducked behind the nearest trees to them. None of them were hit by darts.

"I told you we should have shot them!" said Stormbridge. "They're nothing but mindless primitives, trying to shoot us with poisoned darts!"

"Tentacles, there's tentacles!" said Blunt. Everyone span round. Tentacles were curling out of the jungle, right in the direction of the away team.

"Poisoned darts one way, killer tentacles the other...I'm glad I came on this mission," muttered Johnson.

AKB, Blunt and George (who was still a bit groggy but aimed the best he could) fired their phasers at the tentacles. They disappeared into the undergrowth for a moment. But then they were back, more of them now, and closer to the team.

"Back away from them," ordered Kirk. Stormbridge, Wionna and Johnson did, while the others kept firing. Kirk and AKB began to back away too, but Blunt kept firing. "Ensign, come on," said Kirk to Blunt.

"I think I've got it on the ropes, sir," said Blunt. "I think I've found the right place to shoot it...just let me get closer..."

"No!" said Kirk, suddenly seeing another tentacle begin to coil out of the undergrowth. He also saw something lurking in there for a brief moment...something which he thought was a mouth. A gaping, tooth-filled mouth.

"Sir?" said Blunt, starting to back away now, but it was too late. The new tentacle was around his ankles. It quickly pulled him off his feet and dragged him away. Kirk and AKB fired at it.

"I have to try to get him, sir!" said AKB and George nodded. The security chief ran towards Blunt...but suddenly the tentacle pulled him out of sight with amazing strength. He vanished in the direction where the mouth had been. There was a scream and a crunch. Then, seconds later, Blunt's body appeared again, still being held by the tentacle.

But now it was missing its head.

 

[CaptainWacky]

"Damn it!" said Baakon as Robau entered the transporter room. Baakon had the transporter pad opened up. He had engineers all over the room, working on various consoles. "Damn it!" he repeated, after scanning under the pad, then banged his first down against it.

"Progress report, mister Baakon," said Robau, to announce his presence.

"Captain, I've never seen anything like this," said Baakon, still examining the transporters as he talked. "There's no signs of malfunction anywhere, the transporters just wouldn't power up. I've checked and...the software that runs them, captain? It's gone."

"What do you mean it's gone?" asked Robau. Surely it couldn't just be as simple as that.

"Captain, it's like the software has been completely erased! I've went through and through the logs, but I can't find it anywhere. I've asked the computer to reload the software but it says it doesn't have it on record! This is completely unprecedented."

"But the transporters aren't physically damaged in any way?" asked Robau.

"There's nothing captain, no signs they've been tampered with," said Baakon.

"Chief," said Robau, turning to Transporter Chief Moira Willis. "Did you see anyone come in here in the last few hours?"

"Well, sir," she said, looking at the floor. "I wasn't actually in here myself until Commander Baakon called me. Regulations don't say that a transporter chief has to be in the transporter room at all times when on duty."

She was right, of course, Robau knew. It would be unreasonable to have the chief standing there for hours on end if there was nothing for them to do. "I should have ordered you to stay in the room in case an emergency beam-up was needed," said Robau. "Before you left the room, did you see anyone here?"

"No, sir," she said.

"Do you think it was sabotage, captain?" asked Baakon. Robau did not want to say so in front of the other officers, but it seemed the only possible conclusion.

"A full investigation will be launched," said Robau.

"What about sending down another shuttle?" asked Baakon. "I know what the Puriben said about shooting any out of the sky, and given their reputation I don't doubt it, but maybe if you explained to them..."

"I asked T'Poo to contact them. It's probably better that she speaks to them than me. She's very patient."

"Aye, captain..." said Baakon, trailing off then checking a PAD. One of his engineer's said something to him. "Captain, there may be no choice but for me to rewrite the software myself," said Baakon.

"You can do that?" asked Robau. He did not doubt Baakon's abilities, but the transporter was one of the most complex and delect pieces of technology on the ship.

"Get T'Poo down here helping me, and every engineer that the ship can spare....and maybe," said Baakon. "If they won't let us send another shuttle into their airspace then I don't see any choice, captain. The software is too large to be sent by subspace radio and it would take days to go back to Starbase. Anything could happen to the team in the meantime."

"T'Poo to Robau," came the voice of the science officer over the communications system. "I think you should come back to the bridge, captain."


"Blunt..." said AKB, more shaken than George had ever seen him.

"He's not going to answer you," said Johnson, quietly. The tentacles pulled Blunt's headless corpse back into the jungle and it was never seen again.

"We need to move," said George.

"Shoot those little furry bastards out of the trees and we will!" said Stormbridge, pointing through the jungle at a tree. Three hobwoks could be seen sitting on it, their dart pipes ready.

"Phasers on stun, AKB," said George. "Fire at tree, let them know we're serious now."

"Not stun, kill!" said Stormbridge. He tried to grab George's phaser from him. Kirk knocked him back with a solid palm strike to Stormbridge's chest.

"I AM IN COMMAND OF THIS MISSION," he shouted. Stormbridge's mouth hung open with shock. Blunt was dead. There was some giant killer animal behind them, natives with possibly poisoned darts in front. George did not feel in command. He looked at Wionna, who looked concerned for him. AKB was continuing to stand guard with his phaser. Johnson just looked tired. There was a noise again, not far behind them...the noise of the tentacles.

"We need to move," said AKB. George nodded. AKB went first, with Johnson, Stormbridge and Wionna following. George took the rear, looking back for the tentacles. After what had happened to Blunt he did not hold much hope that phaser fire could stop them. AKB fired his phaser at the branch where the Hobwoks were sitting and they scattered. The away team kept on, as fast as they could. Stormbridge tripped over a tree root and Johnson helped him up. George could hear the tentacles again.

"The tentacle...monster is huge, maybe if we move deeper into the jungle it won't be able to reach us," said Wionna.

"We need to get to the shield dome, the Puribens can't refuse us entrance now," said Stormbridge.

"We just...WIONNA, DUCK!" shouted George as two darts flew through the air seemingly out of nowhere. The first hit Wionna right in the neck. She had no chance to avoid it. She side-stepped the scond. AKB fired his phaser in the direction the darts had come from. George ran over to his wife.

"I feel...funny," said Wionna, and she dropped to her knees.

"They killed her," said Stormbridge. "We're all going to die."

"Cease talking," said AKB. Wionna appeared to lose consciousness. George held her in his arms.

"Talk to me," he said. "Please..." Johnson and AKB circled around him.

"I don't see them," said Johnson.

"They live in this jungle," said AKB. "They know it better than us. They know how not to be seen."

"She's alive," said George. "I can feel her breathing, but...I don't know what they've done to her. Wake up, Wionna. You need to wake up." There was a noise from the jungle again. The now unmistakable noise of the tentacles.

"They're coming for all of us!" said Stormbridge. "We need to make a run for it...leave her." Stomrbridge seemed to regret saying this right away. But George was too focused on Wionna to react.

"Wionna, we need to move, please, let me..." Suddenly she opened her eyes.

"The baby! I need to get back to the ship and have Jackie check on the baby!" Her eyes were wild. She vomitted on the ground in front of George. It was then that a tentacle came bursting through the jungle. AKB fired on it, but it did not stop. It continued forward...then it stopped right in front of the away team. It hung in the air. It moved about...then it recoiled. Suddenly the whole thing drew back, and there was a loud noise from the jungle, like an animal in pain, then the sound of the tentacle creature moving again...but this time it sounded like it was moving away. Then silence.

"What...why aren't they eating our heads?" asked Stormbridge at last.

"Maybe Blunt didn't taste good," said Johnson.

"You will not treat a fellow officer's death like a joke, Mister Johnson," said George, regaining his composure. Wionna seemed to be recovering and there was no way of telling what effect the dart had had on her until they returned to the Kelvin.

"Sorry," said Johnson, and he looked like he meant it. "I liked Blunt. He was sarcastic. I'm having a hard time believing he's gone."

"As am I," said AKB.

"I think I can walk," said Wionna, standing up with George's help.

"Now's the time to really push forward," said George. "For whatever reason the tentacles aren't attacking right now. Let's get as far away from them as we can while we have the chance." The team headed on now. Wionna soon found herself back to full strength. After a few minutes they came to an area of the jungle too thick to get through.

"A dead end!" said Stormbridge. There seemed no way forward. "The tentacles were probably leading us into a trap."

"Well go back and find a way around," said Kirk, determined. As they started back they saw something on the ground moving towards them. A hobwok. It stood right before them.

"Kill it!" said Strombrudge, then a madness seemed to take the diplomat and he dived at the hobwok. It easily evaded him and was halfway up a tree in second. Then it made a noise. It was almost as if it was speaking.

"It might be calling on more of its kind," said AKB. "I recommend stunning it, commander." George loked into the hobwok's eyes. There seemed to be an intelligence there.

"No," said George. "Mister Johnson, your pack should contain a universal translator. Please take it out. We're going to find out what this hobwok has to say for itself."


"How can you refuse us a rescue mission!?" asked Robau, barely containing his anger. The smug face of Puriben minister Lak-Norr was on the main viewer in front of him.

"It is within our rights," said Lak-Norr. "As I told you before, your away team will be dead by now anyway. No humanoid life could survive in those jungles."

"And as my science officer told you she picked up the life signs of our away team on the planet!" said Robau.

"Which she has since lost," said Lok-Norr.

"You know your shield domes, the density of the jungle and the other humanoid life signs are interfering with our scans," said Robau.

"There is no other humanoid life in the jungle," said Lok-Norr.

"That's not what our scans indicate," said Robau.

"There may be life in humanoid shape, but they are not intelligent. Not sentient. They are savage, danegrous. They attack our shield domes, scale our gun towers and do damage to their systems. This planet is ours, do not presume to tell us what life lives on it."

"The point," said Robau, gritting his teeth for a moment, "is that the scans are not completely accurate. There is reason to believe that our away team is still alive. Now you say there is no chance of this, perhaps you are right. If there is a chance I will admit it is only a small one. But what do you lose by letting us try? At least let us look for our crew." Lok-Norr looked to be thinking about this for a moment.

"No," he said. "And you should know better than to ask. What do we have to lose? Perhaps our very way of life! Just because we do not leave this planet does not when we are not aware of what is happening in the rest of the galaxy. We have sources, captain, spies you may call them, deep within your Starfleet. We know perfectly well that your Federation has plans to adopt a more expansionist outlook-"

"That simply is not true!" said Robau, unable to stop himself now.

"Perhaps you don't even know of it yet. Wouldn't that be funny. And even if it is not true, it is also well know that your Federation's shield are significantly inferior to our own. You may be sending a second shuttle to attempt to study our shields more closely, or perhaps even disrupt their proper working in an attempt to replicate the technology! Perhaps the first shuttle contained a cammondo team sent to reach our shiled generators and the second shuttle will be to extract them! I never did believe your story about helping orphaned children. Pah!"

"You..." Robau almost told Lok-Narr that he sickened him. Almost. "You are wrong."

"Perhaps. We are not taking any chances. ANY shuttle you send will be shot down. You should also know that your Kelvin cannot do damage to our cities, so do not even try firing on us with your ship's weapons. Our shields will hold and any aggression against us will be seen as an act of war. You do not know what other weapons we have here, captain. You may be surprised. We have sent teams out into the jungle to serach for the remains of your team. They may be returned to you at some point in the future. You are advised to leave orbit as you have no further business here now. Lok-Narr out."

"What a horrible man!" said Communications Officer Rice as soon as the transmission ended. Robau said nothing, but he agreed with Rice's inapporpriately expressed sentiment.

"Sir, I think an attack on their gun towers would be possible, despite what he says," said Yutti. "Those towers are clearly deisgned for shooting down shuttles, not starships, and even if they are powerful enough to do so I'm fairly confident I'd be able to plot an attack which could take them out before they could hit us."

"We won't be doing that," said Robau, though the idea was tempting. "It's not what Starfleet does. We were aware of the arrangement when we sent the shuttle down. Still...plot your attack. Just out of curiousity on my part, if nothing else."

"Aye, captain," said Yutti. T'Poo raised an eyebrow at Robau.

"I know, I know, it's not an option," said Robau. "You have the bridge, T'Poo." And he headed back to transporter room, wishing for some good news for a change.


"The UT still isn't able to translate anything," said Johnson. "Not a word." They had been trying for nearly ten minutes now, but everything the Hobwok said remained unintelligable to the Away Team.

"Please," said Kirk, looking at the Hobwok. "Please keep speaking so we can establish-"

"If you can't understand it then IT can't understand you," sneered Stormbridge.

"It knows I'm speaking and I think it knows I want it to carry on," said Kirk.

"An utter waste of time!" said Stormbridge, throwing his hands in the air and giving a dirty look to the Hobwok. "One of these...THINGS shot your wife with a poisoned dart!"

"I feel fine," said Wionna, and she did.

"Yes, now you do! In a few minutes you could be bleeding out of your eyes or your arms could...drop off! Or something!"

Johnson sniggered. "These creatures live in this jungle, if we can just get them understanding us they might be able to lead us to a clearing, somewhere where we can at least contact the Kelvin," said Kirk. "They must also know how to avoid the tentacle creatures and that would be of great help."

"They're probably working with the tentacles!" said Stormbridge. "Notice how they did not attack again after thse furry menaces shot your wife. They probably have an agreement, anything shot by the rodents is to be eaten by them, rather than the tentacle creatures..."

"Hang on," said Kirk. Something Stormbridge had just said, amazingly, had clicked with him. "You're right."

"Sir, I'm afraid I'll have to relieve you of your command for showing such dangerously poor judgement," said Johnson.

"After Wionna was shot by the dart, we were trapped, between the tentacles and the Hobwoks. A tentacle came for us...then it stopped. It just stopped dead. Then it pulled away. Why? Could it possibly be because of Wionna being shot by the dart?"

"You mean," said AKB, "that these creatures have developed some kind of chemical which repels the tentacle monsters and it was that they shot Wionna with?"

"Precisely," said Kirk. AKB felt incredibly proud of his commander.

"Pah, impossible, they're savages! You mark my words that isn't the reason why! They were simply trying to kill her. They can't even speak a translatable..."

"Hello?" said the Hobwok, seemingly in perfect english. "I suddenly started to understand what you were CHEESE CHEESE...DUCKS...saying."

"Translator is at ninety five percent compatibility," said Johnson.

"I am commander George Kirk of the Federation starship Kelvin," said Kirk.

"I am Jenty," said the Hobwok. It wasn't clear if that was his personal name, the name of the species or even both. "We saw your BOAT WITH WINGS...your shuttle coming down."

"Your furry people brought it down!" said Stormbridge.

"My...what?" said Jenty. "That was one of the Gootgack. They are quite different from us, I don't see how you could ERROR IMPAIRED...mistake us."

"Why did that Gootgack bring us down?" asked Kirk.

"We don't speak to them much, but I imagine it would have been because they mistook you for the KILLERS...the inhabitants of the shielded cities," said Jenty. George wondered if the translator had mistranslated there.

"The Gootgack don't think too highly of the Puriben, then," said George. "That's the name we know them as."

"No, they do not and neither do we, or any living creature on this planet. They hunt us for sport, they drive us from our lands...but come, we should move, it is not safe to stay here too long in such a large group."

"You shot me with a dart," said Wionna.

"We injected you with a chemical that deters one of the most dangerous predators native to this planet, but not all of them. So we should go," said Jenty, looking around.

"He heard you saying that!" said Stormbridge to Kirk. "We can't trust him! There'll be a whole lot of them waiting to ambush us."

"We'll come with you," said Kirk to Jenty. He gave a look to AKB, trying to tell him to keep his phaser at the ready, just in case there was something in what Stormbridge said. AKB understood and nodded. The Hobwok went first and the Away Team followed. It went mostly by tree, but stayed low so the team could see it.

"Wait here," said Jenty after about ten minutes. He scurried off through the trees faster than the others could possibly follow.

"Well if there's going to be an ambush it'll be now," said Johnson. Suddenly, they heard the sound of phaser fire. But it wasn't directed at them.

"Orders, sir?" asked AKB.

"You and I will see what's happened," said Kirk to the security cheif. "The rest of you stay here."

"This is a trap, that Jonty..."

"Jenty," corrected Kirk.

"...whatever he is, he's pulling you away so his men can attack us!" finished Stormbridge.

"AKB, you're with me," said Kirk. But he did have to admit to himself that Stormbridge raised a genuine fear. He and AKB went in the direction the Hobwok had gone, though it was slow going on the ground through the thick jungle. They heard more phaser fire and voices crying out and hurried. They came into a clearing. There were several hobwoks on the ground, surrounded by six puriben pointing phasers at them. One of the puriben span round.

"Identify yourselves or die!" said the puriben, a female wearing body armour.

"I am commander George Kirk, first officer of the USS Kelvin. Our shuttle-"

"Yes we know all about your shuttle being lost," spat out the puriben commander. "We assumed you had perished in the jungle."

"One of our crewmembers was lost," said Kirk.

"Unsurprising," said the puriben, with no hint of sympathy. "We will escort your survivors to our city for questioning when we are finishing with these animals."

"These beings are not animals, we have communicated with them!" said Kirk. "AKB, the translator." Once a language was stored in the universal translator's larged component it could be translated remortely from much smaller units, one of which AKB had. But the puriben pointed her phaser at AKB.

"Lies!" she said. "These creatures encroached on our clearly marked territory, they are brainless! They were attempting to sabotage our shield generators."

"That does not sound like the action of one who is brainless," said AKB. The puriben's look darkened even further, if that were possible.

"The penalty for this action is death," said the Puriben. "Stand aside while we execute these creatures."

"You can't do this!" said Kirk.

"It is our planet, we can do what we want," said the Puriben.

"There creatures, as you call them, have communicated with us, asked us for help," said Kirk. "The United Federation of Planets officially recognises them as sentient beings. If you kill them here like this the Federation will launch a full invesitagtion. I know you have trading agreements with several Federation worlds which you cannot afford to lose like this."

"Tell Hell with your Federation!" said the Puriben. "Fire on my order!" The other five stood poised to fire their phasers. George gave a simple look to AKB, a look designed to tell him that his wasn't going to happen. AKB noticed a Hobwok looking down from a tree above. The Hobwok saw AKB looking, then dived from the tree. At the exact same time Geroge fired his phaser, knocking the phaser held by the Puriben commander out of her hands and AKB stunned another Puriben then rolled out of the way of return fire. The Hobwok landed on the head of another of the puriben. Two more Hobwoks ran out from the jungle. The remaining Puriben fired at them, but the Hobwoks easily evaded the fire by jumping onto and around tress. The Hobwoks on the ground jumped into action, each throwing their small bodies at the nearest Puriben trooper.

The Puriben commander hit George in the face with a well-timed strike, knocking his phaser out of his hands, and quickly followed it up with another. George managed to block and grab her arm. He threw her to the ground, but she was right back up...and George kicked her in the face, knockng her out. He didn't have time to feel bad about it. Right in front of him he saw another trooper holding a hobwoke around the neck, after kicked another in the chest as it jumped at him. George kicked the trooper in the chest and the hobwok broke free. Geroge kicked the trooper again. He buckled forward...and the Hobwok brought a knife up, right into his throat. The hobwok pushed it right in then pulled it out. Blood flowed from the trooper's throat. George stared for a moment, in disbelief. Phaser battles were very different from such intimate combat as this.

"Froo bood!" said the Hobwok. George wondered if it was thanking him. He thought of helping the trooper, who was losing blood fast and might have already been dead. But another puriben had fought off the hobwoks attacking him and had his phaser rifle back. He was firing erratically at the hobwoks near him. He fired at the Hobwok near George, narrowly missing. The blast left a hole in the ground. The phaser rifle was set it disintegrate.

The puriben with the rifle was so intent on killing hobwoks that he did not notice AKB moving behind him. He turned in time to see AKB flying at him with a kick to the face, before the puriben managed to fire. Another fell as a Jenty swung on a vine, kicking him in the face, finally subduing him. He was the last.

"Are you okay, commander?" asked AKB, unable to hid the concern in his voice. George finally noticed that he was bleeding.

"I'm fine," he said. "Compared to some people." He glanced at the trooper who had been stabbed in the throat, now very definitely dead.

"It was a fierce battle," said Jenty, as AKB had brought the translator out. "Even the Gootgack would be impressed."

"Not that they would ever show it," said another of the hobwoks. "Well, only one thing remains, to execute the prisoners. We'll start with their commander."

"Wait!" said George, and even AKB looked shocked. But the hobwok took out a knife and placed it at the puriben commander's throat.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Robau did not want to interrupt his chief engineer while he worked. Hours had passed. All attempts to reboot the transporter had failed. It simply would not activate. The computer's databases has been scoured but no sign of the missing software had been found, nothing has been recovered. And they still did not know how it had happened. Baakon, T'Poo and a team of engineers were working together, rewriting the transporters controls, at least for just one beam-up of the away team. Robau didn't want to ask, but he knew he had to.

"Progress report, mister Baakon," he said.

"I'd estimate we're about five percent done," said Baakon, honestly. The away team had been in the jungle for nearly six hourse now.

"Understood," said Robau. He thought again of the possibility of a shuttle rescue. The puriben had not been replying to his hails. He wanted to tell them that he was sending a shuttle regardless of what they said, that if they shot it down it would be considered an act of war. He wished he'd said that the first time. But they weren't even putting him through to their minister. And, realistically, if he sent a shuttle now there was a very strong chance they would shoot it down. It was an impossible, helpless situation. Robau was used to being in near impossible sitatuions, of struggling to find a solution against the odds...but this was different. There was no way out and he hated it.


"This is our way," said Jenty, somewhat apologetically. "They attacked us, would have executed us if you had not helped. They are savages. They have never shown us any mercy. We are not natural killers, but they have made us this way after years of abuse."

"We have a diplomat with us, we still intend to talk to the Puriben," said Kirk. "We can tell their ministers what we witnessed here."

"They already know, these troops would have been acting under orders," sneered the Hobwok with the knife.

"Our diplomat can talk to them, put your case forward," said Kirk. "And let them know that the federation knows about your people now and how the Puriben are treating them."

"It could be worth a try," said Jenty to the Hobwok leader.

"The puriben wouldn't care what your Federation thinks," said the leader.

"You are a sentient species in your own right, you could apply for membership in the Federation, be put under our protection," said Kirk. Jenty looked at the leader again.

"We have no desire to leave our homeworld, to explore the stars with you," said the leader.

"Chief Slekty, with all due respect, some of our younger people may disagree," said Jenty.

"Membership in the Federation does not mean you will have to leave your planet, but the opportunity will be there," said Kirk. "But even without full membership we can help you."

"Perhaps it is worth some consideration," said Slekty, at last taking the knife away from the Puriben's throat.

"Can you show my team the way to the ground level entrance of the Puriben city?" asked Kirk.

"Jenty, you know these humans. You show them the way. I shall take the prisoners back to our city."

"Oh," said Kirk, somewhat surprised. "I thought we would take the puriben troops with us and release them..."

"I won't harm them, I promise you that," said Slekty. "They will likely be of more value to us alive anyway, we can use them as negotiating tools with the puriben if your Federation is unable to help us. And it would probably be better for you if the puriben didn't know you aided us in combat with their troops."

"But lying to the puriben could damage our changes of securing the moop plant," said Kirk.

"Ah, if only the moop plant still grew in the wild," said Slekty. "The areas where it grows are all under puriben control now." Wionna, Johnson and Stormbirdge made their way into the jungle after Slekty said this.

"We got tired of waiting," said Johnson, honestly. Kirk nodded.

"Are you okay?" asked Wionna, stepping over to her husband. Kirk remembered he was bruised and bleeding from the fight with the puriben.

"I'm fine," he said. "We're all going to be fine, I promise you."

"So what now, commander?" asked Stormbridge.

"Jenty is going to escort us to the puriben," said Kirk. "He knows where the ground level entry to their city is."

"And you think they'll just let us in?" asked Stormbridge.

"Of course," said Kirk. "Once they know you're with us." Stormbridge actually smiled, and not in his usual smug self-satisfied way.

"Well, you're in charge," he said.

"Then this is where we part," said Slekty. "I will return to our village with the prisoners. Jenty and whichever men he needs will go with you."

"What about...the bodies?" asked Kirk, looking at the dead body of one of the puriben who had died in the fight.

"Food for the LIVING MOUTHS...the predators of the jungle," said Slekty, the translator struggling. "It is our way."

"We must go," said Jenty. "The chemicals we have developed will repel many of the predators, but not all and the smell of flesh will attract many." Jenty and three other hobwoks went first, the Away Team following, AKB at the back again. George looked back and watched as Slekty and the other Hobwoks moved the puriben prisonesr through the jungle at spear point, their hands bound behind their backs. He wondered if Slekty had been telling the truth and if those puriben would ever make it home again.


They trekked through the jungle for several hours. It was still hard going, but somewhat easier with Jenty leading the way. Jenty told more to the away team about their history with the puriben, how thousands of hobwoks had died. They heard animal noises at times. At one point Kirk thought he heard the sound of the tentacles rushing through the trees again and stood in front of Wionna instinctively. But nothing came. At times the massive shield wall of the puriben city could be seen in front of them through the jungle. Eventually, they reached the wall. Jenty sent two of the other hobwoks ahead to scout.

"Animals have tried to bring it down," said Jenty. "Great beasts of the jungle have tried. Even the Gootgack have tried. The puriben have no idea how close they've come to bringing the shield down, to the jungle invading their city. We protected them from such attacks for years, driving the animals away, encouraging the Gootgack that it was folly to attack...sometimes I wonder why we bothered."

"Through all that the puriben never talked with you, never realised you were a sentient species?" asked Kirk.

"Some did, some few," said Jenty. "I remember talking to a puriben scientist not for from here. She told me that she would be putting the case forward to the puriben ministers that we were sentient and attempting to open trade negotiations between our people. That was over ten years ago now and I haven't seen her since. Perhaps she was lying to me. Perhaps they just didn't believe her."

"Perhaps," said Stomrbridge, speaking for the first time, "perhaps the Puriben have treated you unfairly. But from what you have told us of these Gootgack it is understandable. They sound like savages and they brought down our shuttle with no provocation!"

"We've had our own problems with the gootgack," said Jenty. "We fought wars with them before the puriben got here. In a way it was the puriben who brought our two species together, though there's still conflicts from time to time. But the Gootgack have suffered even more than us at the hands of the puriben. They tell reports from the far side of the jungle of Gootgack used for slave labour in the Gunthor mines. They would have seen you as an ally to the to the puriben, as they don't let anyone who isn't an ally enter their airspace. You were a legitimate target in the Gootgack's eyes." The other two hobwoks returned.

"No puriben activity reported, no guards at the doorway," said one.

"Their patrols are probably hunting for us in the jungle after what happened," said Jenty.

"After what we did to their..." started one of the others, then stopped, looking at Kirk for a moment. Jenty gave the hobwok a look then turned to the away team.

"Let's hurry," he said. "It isn't far now." Jenty led the way. After about ten more minutes of walking they came to an area of the shield wall with a building up against it. "This is one of their stations," said Jenty.

"Unmanned?" asked AKB, with what Kirk thought was a note of skepticism, though it was as always hard to tell with AKB.

"They are not permanently manned, there are many such stations around the shield wall," said Jenty. "In truth they have been lessening the numbers of their guards and patrols in recent years, thinking they have us beat...thinking we pose no threat."

"And do you pose a threat?" asked AKB.

"That's not what I meant," said Jenty, somewhat testy. "My point is even if this station was manned recently its patrol will have moved out in the jungle after the incident."

"The incident where a patrol of puriben attacked you with no provocation?" asked AKB.

"Yes," said Jenty, quitely. Kirk could see what AKB was getting at and wanted to ask Jenty a few questions himself, but now didn't seem like the time. "We must hurry though, they'll be sending more patrols to this area after what happened," said Jenty.

"What about that gun tower?" said Kirk. It loomed high over them ominously.

"It is designed to fire at ships on the sky, not at the ground," said Jenty.

"Our intelligence showed they can fire at the ground as well," said AKB.

"It will not be a problem," said Jenty. "Come, there isn't much time!" Jenty took out a small device, somewhat resembling a starfleet tricorder..

"That's a puriben device, where did you get it?" asked Stormbridge. Jenty did not reply. He typed something into the device and scanned it up and down an area of the shield wall. A doorway then opened.

"Good luck," said Jenty.

"If you come with us you could put your case to the puriben in person, with our translator letting you and the puriben speak," said Kirk.

"They would kill me on sight for breaching their shield," said Jenty. "You must go without me if you want your moop plant and you must not tell them you had dealings with us."

"That mission comes first, commander Kirk!" said Stormbridge.

"Thank you, diplomat, I didn't need reminding," said Kirk. "Jenty, thank you for everything. I promise you the Federation will be made aware of your situation as soon as we return to our ship." He handed a communicator to Jenty. "Our ship seems to be having communcation problems with this planet, but perhaps when this missions is over we'll be able to fix them and contact you."

"I'll climb a tree," said Jenty. "That may help. Thank you for everything."

Kirk, Wionna, Stormbridge, Johnson and AKB entered the puriben building through the doorway.

"Let's hope they don't kill US on sight for breaching their shield," Johnson said to himself.


"Any news?" asked Slod, as Jackie entered Sickbay. She was surprised. Slod never showed an interest in her life or what was going on with the rest of the crew.

"No news," she said. "The human life signs show up from time to time, so they're still alive...some of them, anyway."

"Starfleet takes such unnecessary risks," said Slod.

"If the transporters hadn't went out at that exact moment everything would have been fine!" said Jackie.

"Yes that was unfortunate," said Slod.

"I thought Baakon was supposed to be a skilled engineer, how can he not get the transporters up agani! It's ridiculous, it's been hours and...and they're still trapped..." Jackie turned away from Slod. She wasn't going to cry, she told herself. But if she did she wasn't going to let him see.

"A better tactic would have been to bombard the puriben from orbit and simply take what was needed," said Slod. Jackie was not listening.

"They say you're supposed to have a special bond with a twin, you know? And when Wionna and I were young...I did feelt it. We used to finish each other's sentences, know what the other was thinking, all that stuff. But over the years it just lessened. Like she didn't want to be like me anymore, like she wanted to be her own person...I guess I felt the same way for a while. But in my heart I wanted us to have that bond again. I was just too proud to ever say anything to her. And then we ended up on this ship together and I thought we could finally be sisters again, be twins again...it never quite happened. And now she might be..."

"How tragic," said Slod. It wasn't a sarcastic or mocking tone, it wasn't compassionate, it was just flat and Jackie could not tell his intention, which made it worse.

"Do you have any siblings? Do you have any idea what this is like for me? DO YOU EVER FEEL ANYTHING?" She looked him in the eys now, a wild look in her teary eyes.

"I have brothers," said Slod. "Many of them. I wish there was something I could do to ease your pain, nurse Bombad. If only..." And then he had her. He caught Jackie in her moment of weakness, caught her with his hypnotic eyes and suddenly all the emotion disappeared from Jackie's face. "Listen to me," he said. "Your life as Jackie Bombad is at an end. You have a new life now, in service of Traxtor. You remember this, don't you?"

"I remember," she said. This wasn't the first time he'd controlled her in this way.

"You cannot stay like this, so enlightened, for long. But my control is growing, my mastery of your species. You, McDougal, you are the first. They death of Wionna Kirk does not matter because she was not your sister. You are not Jackie Bombad. You are MINE."

"I am yours," she said. "And Traxtor's."

"Yes," said Slod, who had almost forgotten for a moment. "And Traxtor's."

"All glory to Traxtor," said Jackie.

"All glory to Traxtor," said Slod. He tried to hold Jackie for longer. He tried to turn her utterly into what she would be when the time of Traxtor came. But it wasn't time yet, of course. He had to let her go.

"I'm sorry for shouting," said Jackie, back to her old self. "I feel better now."

"Good," said Slod. But, disturbingly, he found he really was happy that she was feeling better. It was hard to seperate the human from the perfect version he was constructing. He actually had some fondness for Jackie now. This was not good. Seeing her so upset over her sister...it was almost having an affect on him. He walked away from her and touched his hand to a console. Perhaps it would be better to not meddle in the running of the ship again, not until it was time for Traxtor to awake. He looked at Jackie. He felt disgusted at himself that he was trying to make her happy. He felt the transporter powering back up as he returned its software. He felt bad about it. Kirk was a threat, he knew that for sure. Eliminating him was something Slod had wanted to achieve before Traxtor came. But perhaps Kirk was already dead and, even if he wasn't, his confidence may be shattered at least. There would be another time. The sooner he managed to completely overwrite Jackie's personality the better.


The Away Team moved into the puriben guardhouse. "This looks like a transmitter, we should call for the puriben from here," said Stormbridge.

"Can it contact the ship"? asked Johnson. Kirk took a look.

"Doesn't seem to have the power to contact a ship in orbit," he said, after looking at it for a moment.

"Perhaps the puriben don't trust their own people enough to let them contact anyone other than their own city," said AKB.

"Do you know how to use it?" asked Stomrbridge.

"Of course," said Kirk. It was a simple design.

"Won't the puriben want to know how we got in?" asked Wionna.

"I'll think of something," said Kirk. "I agree with the ambassador, it would be better to contact them here rather than surprise them." He turned on the transmitter. "This is Commander George Kirk of the starship Kelvin. We have made it into your city. My team had an appointment with minister Lak-Norr. We apologise for being late." After a moment a reply came.

"Who is this? How did you get into our station? A patrol has been sent to eliminate you immediately!" Then it cut out.

"That went well," said Johnson.

"Put me on," said Stormbridge. Kirk handed him the transmitter. It was worth a try. "This is ambassador Stormbridge of the United Federation of Planets, offering my apologies for the way my subordinate just spoke. He is having difficulty operating your transmitter technology. I had arranged on behalf of the UFP to meet with your esteemed minister Lak-Norr on a matter of great importance to our people. He very kidnly agreed to give over some of his valuable time to me. Unfortuantely, our shuttle craft was ambushed by the savages who live in your jungles and we crash landed. We have only now made it here and thanks to the ingenuity of one of our officers managed to penetrate your mighty shield wall. It was perhaps over-zealous of this officer to do so and I can assure you he will be punished thoroughly by his superiors on completion of our mission. Now, if I you could perhaps relay this message to Lak-Norr..."

"This is Lak-Norr," came a voice. He sounded almost amused. "I was patched through after you bumbling mister Kirk's attempt to contact me."

"I apologise profusely for his clumsy words," said Stormbridge. "He will not be allowed to speak again in your presence without permission."

"Well, as it happens I have some free time and would be happy to speak with you, ambassador," said Lok-Narr. "I will have a trasnport sent to your location to bring you to me immediately."

"Thank you, on behalf of the myself, the United Federation of Planets, the crew of the USS Kelvin and must of all the orphans of Pran," said Stormbridge. The transmission ended.

"So that's diplomacy," said Johnson.

"George saved your life out there, more than once, and you treated him like -" started Wionna, but Kirk held a hand up.

"It's fine," he said. "Well done, ambassador. Let's hope you can secure the moop plant as easily."

"You did well to get us here, commander, and I do thank you," said Stormbridge. "But we enter my arena now, the arena of diplomacy."

 

[CaptainWacky]

"Transporters are back!" said Baakon. Robau had almost fallen asleep.

"You...finished?" he asked. Perhaps he had fallen asleep, but surely it hadn't been that long.

"No," said Baakon. "Nowhere near! But they just...came back."

"He is correct," said T'Poo. "I can find no reason why but everything shows they are fully operational again."

"Run a full diagnostic," said Robau, standing. He pressed a communication panel. "Robau to Rice, do you have anything yet?"

"Sir, I just lost the fix on the away team," said Rice. Robau's heart sank. "But I think they're inside the shield wall now!" said Rice after a moment.


A transport arrived just ten minutes later, containing a dozen heavily armed puriben troopers. After they had inspected the team and made sure no damage had been done to the guard station or the shiled, the team were escorted into the transport. It drove them into the heart of the puriben city. Away from the shield wall and any view of the jungle the difference between the city and the jungle outside was stark. It was like being on another planet. The city was as impressive as the finest on Earth or any Federation world. The sheer scale of it dazzled Kirk as he thought of how it had all been jungle once. He had heard that puriben cities had been transported fully from their original homeworld. Yet the puriben stayed on this planet, never travelling the stars despite obviously having highly advanced technology, and there was something sterile about the city, lifeless almost. Kirk wondered what it was they feared. He wondered if their was any sense of adventure or joy in the puriben heart.

The puriben equivalent of a turbolift took them up to the top floor of one of the highest buildings in the city. There they finally met Lak-Norr face to face. They appeared to be in the minister's home. Kirk was surprised by the informal setting and surprised Lak-Norr was alone (save several guards posted at the door.) He had been expecting an inquisition carried out by the entire puriben government. Stomrbridge strided over to Lak-Norr with a warm smile on his face. Lak-Norr extended a hand and Stormbridge shook it.

"I trust I have remembered your traditional Earth greeting correctly?" asked Lak-Norr.

"Yes, perfectly so," said Stormbridge. "Thank you for allowing me and my associates into your home."

"Oh, this is just one of my homes, the apartment I stay in for ministerial duty," said Lak-Norr. "My main home is much larger than this and has a stunning view of the jungle."

"I'd like to see it sometime," said Stormbridge.

"You must mean my home, yes? I heard you already saw the jungle."

"Unfortunately, that is true," said Stormbridge. "An experience I would not like to repeat."

"You seem to have come out of it fine," said Lak-Norr.

"One of our crewmembers died," said Kirk. "Ensign Blunt. He was a good man."

"By your measurement, perhaps," said Lak-Norr. Kirk had to stop himself from saying anything more. He looked at Johnson, who was staring a hole through Lak-Norr. It was unusual to see Johnson care about anything.

"Shall we get back to business?" asked Stormbridge with a fake smile on his face. "The moop plant..."

"Have as much as you want," said Lak-Norr. Stormbridge was stunned into silence for a moment. Kirk spoke.

"That's it?" he asked.

"What did you expect?" asked Lok-Narr. "We have plenty of it. We have no desire to see your orphans die. A whole crate was delivered to this apartment before you got here. You can beam it up with you anytime you want. I must admit I'm looking forward to watching your transporters in action."

"Beam from here?" asked Stormbridge. "But we were told..."

"The shield can easily be opened enough to beam you up," said Lak-Norr.

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST LET US BEAM HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?" exploded Johnson. AKB stepped in front of him as Lak-Norr's security guards reached for their guns. Lak-Norr signalled for them to halt.

"We had to know if you were a threat," said Lak-Norr. "Quite clearly you aren't. Beam away. I certainly don't want to keep you."

"The whole ordeal we went through...Blunt dying...it was all for nothing?" asked Wionna.

"Not for nothing," said Lak-Norr. "Certainly not for nothing. It's strange, you explore the stars but you seem to have no conception of just how dangerous space is. You don't know what's coming, do you? You really don't know? You poor pathetic little people. Your whole Federation of Planets, completely unprepared and unaware. It seems the rumours were wholly untrue about your new policy..."

"I had heard the puriben were interested in joining the Federation," said Stormbridge. Lak-Norr laughed. It was not a pleasant sound.

"Not with what we know," he said. Then he sighed. "I suppose it doesn't matter if I tell you, does it? You won't believe us. You know nothing of our people. You do not even know that we have seers." He did not appear to be joking.

"I was not aware of that," said Stormbridge. "Though there are many worlds where prescience is believed to be a genuine phenomenon."

"We do not BELIEVE it to be genuine, we know it is genuine!" sneered Lak-Norr. "Since the beginning of our civilisation there have been those who can see the future. Calls them seers with mystical power or explain it away scientifically as many tried, the fact is they were always accurate. Then, some three hundred years ago, on the old world, they all saw the same thing, every single one of them. They saw the end of everything. The end of the puriben. And they told us, that in three hundred years time, there would be a great Federation of Planets forming, but it would be wiped out. They saw something coming out of the darkness, older than any other life in the universe...something which would devour all. That time is almost here. Our people went into a frenzy. The words of the seers were believed utterly. We almost destroyed ourselves. For a centruy we lived a hedonistic lifestyle and paid no more attention to the damage we were causing to our planet. We didn't care, we were just going to die anyway! But then it came sooner than expected, the end of the our world and the seers said it wasn't time yet. So we came here. Our technology was far more advanced than that of your Federation. We moved whole cities to this planet as our old one died and we constructed shield walls around them, to keep the rest of the universe out. To keep us safe. For you see our leaders at the time believe that maybe the future wasn't unchangable, that perhaps we could survive the coming apocalypse by fencing ourselves off from the rest of the universe. We have grown highly paranoid and sometimes I wonder if it is worth it. What the seers saw...it cannot be stopped with shields. But we try, we fight on in vain. That is why we couldn't just let you beam down, that is why we keep the savages out in the jungle...we cannot take any chances. Not with what we know is coming."

"That's...that's quite something," said Stormbridge. "I would be interested to..."

"Oh please, I've spent enough time with you," said Lak-Norr. "The end times are here and I do not intend to spend another minute of them in your company!"

"Well, bye then," said Johnson. Kirk was disturbed by the change in Lak-Norr. He actually sounded deadly serious, like he really believed the universe was in danger of ending.

"You can contact your little ship," said Lak-Norr, showing Kirk to a console in the room. Like the one in the guard station it was similar to Federation design.

"Kirk to Kelvin," he said. "We have completed our mission."


"We're being hailed by the puriben," said Rice.

"Put them through," said Robau.

"Kirk to Kelvin," came the first officer's voice. No one on the bridge tried to hide their joy. "We have completed our mission."

"George, are you okay?" asked Robau. "We were told your shuttle crashed."

"It's true, captain," said Kirk. "And Ensign Blunt lost his life in the jungle."

"Understood," said Robau, a sinking feeling on the inside. He had lost very few officers as captain of the Kelvin and had been hoping he would lose no more.

"The rest of my team are okay," said Kirk. "Hungry, but okay. The puriben are going to open a hole in their shield for you to beam us up."

"They can do that?" asked Robau.

"Apparently," said Kirk, bitterly.

"Okay," said Robau. There was no point mentioning the transporter problems. Baakon had carried out tests and the transporters appeared to be functioning perfectly. "We're ready."

"Aye, captain," said Kirk. Then there was sounds of commotion. "Get your hands off her!" said Kirk, obviously to someone else. Then there was no nothing.

"Kirk?" asked Robau.

"The channel is closed!" said Rice.

"And their shiled is still fully operational," said T'Poo.

"Hail them again!" snapped Robau. It wasn't going to end like this.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Armed Puriben secruity officers suddenly charged into Lak-Norr's apartment. They pointed their weapons at the away team. One of them grabbed Wionna.

"Get your hands off her!" said Kirk, starting forward, but another puriben stood in his way, pointing a phaser rifle.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Lak-Norr. "I am a minister of the puriben government and I did not give permission for my home to be invaded!"

"We have evidence that these Starfleet officers have formed an alliance with the savages of the jungle," said one of the puriben. "They were recorded by a security camera near the shield wall receiving help from the smaller savages in breaching our shield."

"Is this true?" asked Lak-Norr, turning to Stormbridge.

"There is certainly no alliance!" said Stormbridge. "The savages...they helped us make our way through the jungle, it is true. Perhaps out of guilt over bringing down our shuttle."

"Why would the savages help you reach our city?" asked Lak-Norr. "What could they possibily gain? Unless you are going to report back to the savages after this, perhaps assualt us from orbit, help them invade our city!"

"No!" said Stormbridge. "We would never..."

"I should have known better than to trust you!" said Lak-Norr. "To trust anyone outside our walls!"

"They showed us kindness," said Kirk, calmly and clearly. "They saved us from the beasts of the jungle. Protected us from harm. They guided us here to you so we could complete our mission. That mission was to secure a supply of the Moop plant, nothing more. We are not lying, we are not playing any games here, that is the truth. Now let us leave. We have more important things to do than spend another minute on this planet."

"Oh very convincing, commander, except for one thing!" said Lak-Norr. "If what you just said was true then you wouldn't have had to come to us for the moop plant, you could have just asked the savages for it!"

"No, because the moop plant doesn't grow wildly anymore!" said Wionna. "Your people burned the ground where it grew and took it all for yourselves!" Lak-Norr stared at her for a moment, then smiled. Then laughed.

"You actually believe that, don't you?" he said. "They told you that and you believed them. You absolute fools. Manipulated and lied to be tool users. The moop plant isn't valuable at all on this planet, we would have had no reason to burn it away. It still grows abundantly in the wild."

"Then why..." started Wionna. She looked at Kirk. A sinking feeling of realisation was coming over him. Jenty had indeed lied to them. And, Kirk suspected, not just about the moop plant.

"I think it's time to come clean, as we humans say," said Stormbridge. "Yes, we talked with the jungle natives. Our translators allow us to do so. But we were not attempting to make any secret alliance, minister, please, you have my word on that. They came to us, they asked for help. They told us they have been mistreated by your people, by the puriben. They told us that thousands of them were slaughtered centuries ago when you first came to this planet and they have never been able to recover since. They told us that puriben hunt them like animals in the jungle, that their cities have all been destroyed...they wanted us to talk to our Federation on their behalf, for us to negotiate on their behalf with you. They only want to live in peace and be treated as equals." Lak-Norr snorted at that. He turned his back on Stormbridge and walked over to the window. He looked out over the puriben city.

"Our people were close to developing what you call the universal translator before the seers predicted our doom, you know. The technology was abandoned at that point, in the frenzy that followed, and even when things had calmed down we never returned to it. We had very little reason to ever talk to outsiders. There were some, in the beginning, who believed the natives of this planet might have been sentient...you speak of cities, but we never saw them. We leveled the land we need for our cities from orbit with complete disregard for the widlife living their. Even to me this seems extreme, but our leaders at the time were unusually cruel and focused, giving no thought to anything other than preserving the puriben race. They attacked us many times, the jungle creatures. Perhaps you wouldn't blame them for that, even I can understand. Yes, there are some who hunt them, but it is an annual event and not many die, and it is not sanctioned by the puriben council. These jungle dwellers are not the innocents you make them out to be, ambassador. They still attack us. Sabotage our equipment where they can. Earlier today they attacked one of our gun towers. They drew out a squad of troopers who still haven't returned. They kill us when they have the chance. You do not know everything of our relations with them so do not attempt to speak from authority!"

"I apologise, minister," sad Stormbridge. "It seems we have been lied to by them. If you would allow us to leave now..."

"Yes, go," said Lak-Norr. "And don't come back."

"The moop planet," said Wionna, looking at the trooper who had grabbed the container from her.

"Oh, we'll be keeping that," said Lak-Norr. "We will not be trading with you. Some punishment must be applied for your dealings with the savages. They damaged our gun tower, took the lives of our troopers and breached the shield wall. Consider the moop plant payment for all that."

"No," said Kirk. "I can't accept that."

"Commander, let me deal with this..." started Stormbridge. Kirk shook his head.

"This is my mission," he said. "I'm not leaving here without the moop plant."

"Then I suppose you're not leaving here," said Lak-Norr. "We have prisons, some more comfortable than others, I'm not sure which one you and your team will be sent to..."

"You truly believe the end of everything is coming, don't you?" asked Kirk. Lak-Norr looked surprised but said nothing. "I suppose than it's understandable that you wouldn't care about anything. Why should you, it's all going to be gone soon anyway. Though strangely enough, you still care about your rules, perhaps because it gives you a sense of power in a universe you cannot control. Because of your rules, because you wouldn't let us beam down to your city or even simply let us beam the moop plant up, our shuttle was brought down by members of a species we now know as the gootgack. But there is another species in the jungle, intelligent, wise, they've been there since long before you came to this planet. We call them the hobwoks. And you are right, we did form an alliance with them. You see, any species who wants it can apply for membership in the United Federation of Planets. And the hobwoks want it. They have now officially petitioned for membership throgh me."

"That's impossible, they can't join your Federation!" said Lak-Norr, almost laughing. "This planet is ours and we certainly don't want membership!"

"The hobwoks are recognised as a sentient people by the Federation and it is their right to join," said Kirk. "They are in a unique sitatuion, yes, as there are other sentient races on this world, but that's no reason why they can't join."

"Fascinating," said Lak-Norr. "Get to the point."

"The point is, the Federation protects its members," said Kirk. He paused, letting this sink in. "The way you have treated the hobwoks is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue. Once they are officially recognised as a Federation member, we will send many more federation representatives here to aid them. More members of Starfleet will come too, perhaps they will set up permament bases here...yes, I'm certain they will. This planet is close to Romulan space and having a base here would be of the highest strategic importance to us. We could have a station in orbit, with starships docked and -" this was too much for Lak-Norr.

"NEVER!" he said. "This is our world, our sanctuary! Your Federation has no right to be here!"

"It was the hobwok and the gootgack's world long before it was yours," said Kirk, adding a subtle chilling tone to his voice. "When the hobwoks have joined, Starfleet will have even more reason to be here than you. It will be a Federation world! What do you think will happen then?"

"War will be declared!" said Lak-Norr, outraged. "We still have ships, a dozen at least, we will take to the skies again and..."

"Lieutenant K'Bentayr, how many starfleet vessels are currently in this sector?" Kirk asked the security chief.

"I would estimate at least twenty," said AKB.

"Considerably more than a dozen, and that's in this sector alone," said Kirk. "Do you honestly think you would stand a chance against the might of Starfleet? The Kelvin alone could reduce your cities to rubble from orbit, shield walls or not."

"Our shields would hold!" said Lak-Norr.

"Perhaps," said Kirk, evenly.

"You wouldn't anyway! You people are weak, you would never do such a thing!"

"Wouldn't we?" asked Kirk. They wouldn't, of course, but it was vital that Lak-Norr was made to believe it was at least a possibility. Kirk looked at Stormbridge for support.

"The Federation looks out for its members," said Stormbridge, which was true.

"The end of times is supposed to be coming real soon," chipped in Johnson. "How do you know you're not causing them right now by bringing on the wrath of Starfleet?"

"This is absurd!" said Lak-Norr. "Our seers said your Federation will be wiped out anyway."

"Maybe we'll wipe each other out," said AKB, contemplatively. "My species, the Edassians, have many ancient legends too, and one speaks of two great powers in the stars mutualy extinguishing the other." Lak-Norr turned his back on the team in disgust. He paced up in down in front of his window for a moment.

"Take the plant and leave," he said at last, almost whispering. "Let them go," he added to the troopers. Their weapons were lowered.

"Minister, you have my word that there will be no war between our peoples," said Stormbridge right away. "And I personally would like to be an ambassador between the puriben and the hobwoks and gootgack, to secure a lasting peace."

"Just go," added Lak-Norr, coldly.

"Kirk to Kelvin," said George into the transmitter. "Five to beam up."


"Do you have them?" Robau asked.

"Aye, captain," replied Baakon from the transporter room. "All five and the medical supply. A perfect beam-up." Robau sank into his chair in relief, then got up and headed to the transporter room.

"Captain," said Kirk. He looked more than a little worse for wear. "I must speak to you immediately." Robau nodded, then looked at the rest of the crew.

"Are you all okay?" he asked.

"Thanks to your mister Kirk, yes," said Stormbridge. His arrogance seemed severely depleted.

"I need to get to the lab and beging converting this planet into medicine for the Dust orphans," said Wionna.

"Sickbay first," said Kirk. "You were injected with an alien toxin, there's no telling how it could have effected...you." He had been going to say "the baby." Wionna nodded, understanding.

"Shame about Blunt," said Johnson. "But I suppose we all have to die a pointless death eventually."

"He died in the line of duty, mister Johnson," said Robau. "I perhaps didn't know Blunt as well as you, but I know he wouldn't have considered that pointless." Johnson shrugged.

"He's dead either way," he said, coldly, then left.

"Captain, I really must speak before we leave orbit," said Kirk. Robau nodded and the two went to his Ready Room. Kirk explained everything that had happened with the Hobwoks and the puriben on the planet. Robau listened, only speaking to ask for clarification on certain points. Ten minutes later it was over.

"So," said Robau. "Do you think you did the right thing?"

"I went against Starfleet protocols...I mean, I tried not to lie. I tired to phrase it all as a hypothetical, something that could happen...but I basically threatened the puriben with the idea that the Federation would declare war on them. I don't think Starfleet Command would approve."

"But do you think you did the RIGHT thing?" Robau asked again.

"The Hobwoks...I shouldn't even call them by that silly name, Jenty lied to us. And I have a feeling he lied about a lot of things."

"You gave him a communicator. Why not ask him yourself?"

"You couldn't get through to us on the surface..."

"Rice examined the transmission you sent from the puriben city, she thinks she'll be able to get a signal through to the surface."

"Okay," said Kirk. "I need the closure." Robau nodded. He contacted Rice and soon there was a channel open between the Kelvin and the one Starfleet communicator on the planet's surface.

"Jenty, this is Commander Kirk from the Kelvin," said George. "Can you hear me?" After a long pause there was a response.

"Yet, this is Jenty! Your signal...very weak...can hear...hold on...I scaled a tree," came Jenty's voice. "So the puriben let you leave? That's great!"

"We completed our mission and secured a supply of the moop plant," said George.

"Then you can heal your sick. I am very pleased," said Jenty.

"Yes, we're all very pleased," said George. "Of course, we could have had the moop plant much sooner if you hadn't lied and said it didn't grow in the wild." There was silence for a long moment.

"So you know then," said Jenty.

"I know," said Kirk.

"I am so sorry, commander," said Jenty. "After fighting alongside you, travelling through the jungle with you, I wanted to tell you the truth. But I had to keep up the pretense, for the good of my people."

"Bringing down the shuttle...that was planned too" stated Kirk, not as a question. He was sure now.

"It was Slekty's doing, I promise you," said Jenty. "He formed an alliance with the gootgack and convinced them to bring your shuttle down safely..."

"Safely? SAFELY?" said Kirk, not able to control himself anymore. "Ensign Blunt died as a direct result of that shuttle being brought down safely!"

"That was never part of the plan," said Jenty. "I can only apologise personally and deeply for that. We knew you would be in danger from the creatures that live in our jungle, that is why I was waiting to deliver the repellent chemical via dart...but the Gootgack brought your shuttle down too early, we had to find you...then your team managed to avoid it the first time."

"Yes, because we thought you could have been firing poisoned darts at us."

"I know. My aim should have been better. I take full responsibility for what happened to your ensign."

"You also claimed that Puriben partrol had attacked you in the jungle for no reason. That's not really what happened, is it? You attacked them first, lured them out there, so that me and my away team would see you, think you were being attacked."

"It was Slekty's idea, again. I was against it, it was far too risky...but yes, we attacked the puriben gun tower and drew the patrol out into the jungle. But they really would have killed us, I can assure you of that."

"And the prisoners your chief took back to your village?"

"When I returned, I found them dead. The chief said they tried to escape and were killed accidently...it may be true."

"And all of this was so that you could gain the Federation's support against the puriben? What did you want us to do, wipe them out for you? Drive them off your planet?"

"No! That's not the case at all, we only want peace! We are desperate people, you must understand that. We have tried with the puriben before, tried to speak to them, to come to some kind of arrangement...they continue to treat us like wild animals. This was the only way! Your shuttle would have passed over our heads and you would have been completely unaware of our existence if the gootgack hadn't brought us down."

"Yet you told me not to risk speaking to the puriben on your behalf."

"Again, I must confess, we suspected you would do so anyway, or at least tell your Federation about us and send envoys back to the planet. We monitored puriben communications with you from the day before you arrived on the planet. Our plan to bring your shuttle down and show you how the puriben treat us, it came at the last minute. Like I said, we are desperate."

"But now I know the truth."

"Yes. And I do not expect to see anyone from the Federation on our planet again. I understand, commander. It is no more than we deserve, after what we did to you." Kirk waited for a long moment before replying. Perhaps he was trying to make Jenty suffer.

"We'll still be telling the Federation about what we saw on the planet," said Kirk. "And, as you asked for help, we'll try to provide it. Ambassador Stormbridge himself wants to be involved in opening talks between your people and the puriben."

"Commader, that is...I can't thank you enough. It seems everything we heard about your Federation, about Starfleet officers, is true. You are the greatest heroes in the universe!"

"We're about to leave orbit," said Kirk, feeling more uncomfortable than angry now. "Goodbye."

"Thank you!" said Jenty. "Goodbye." The communication ended.

"Well," said Robau. "I'd say you've done some good, commander."

"Was it worth Blunt's life?" asked Kirk. "I know you'll say every Starfleet officer knows what they're signing up for, that they're willing to take the risks, put their lives on the line for duty, but..."

"I know," said Robau. "I hate it when people say that too. What happened to Blunt was horrible. We need to make sure no one else dies needlessly on that planet."

"I think Stormbridge can do it, you know," said Kirk. "He's a blowhard, but from what I've seen he's good at his job. Maybe the puriben will even be convinced that there's nothing wrong with letting the rest of the universe into their cities."

"I never was one for prophecies, psychics, things like that," said Robau. "Not until I saw time travel myself at the Noodle Nebula. Maybe the puriben do know something we don't." And what Robau didn't tell Kirk was that he'd spoken to a version of himself from fifteen years in the future on that mission.

"Maybe it's that thing the pirate mentioned," said Kirk. "What was it? Traxtor?"

"Well," said Robau. "Let's be on the lookout for the end of the universe, just in case."

"I'd better get to sickbay," said George.

"I'll come too," said Robau. "There's something I have to say to Slod."


"There's nothing wrong with you or the baby," said Slod, almost sounding disappointed.

"That's great news," said Jackie, squeezing Wionna's hand.

"Thank you," said Wionna.

"It's my job," said Slod. "You can leave now."

"Can't you just accept a thank you?" snapped Jackie.

"It's fine," said Wionna. The sickbay door opened then and Captain Robau and Commander Kirk both entered.

"Is everything okay?" asked George.

"It's fine, the baby's fine," said Wionna.

"And you?"

"I'm okay," she said.

"I love you," said George, quickly. He just had to say it.

"I know," she said. I love you too. Come on, I want to see Sam."

"Okay," said George. "We really need to take him off Dukat's hands." The chief of stellar cartography had been watching the Kirk's son Sam while his parents had been away. In truth George was dying to talk about the mission to Wionna and what it meant for them, if she still wanted to go back to Earth. But it would have to wait. Part of him didn't want to know, as he suspected, if anything, she'd now want to get off the ship even more. They left together. Robau stood looking at Slod for a long moment.

"Err, I think the captain wants to speak to you, doctor," said Jackie. Slod turned round slowly.

"It's over, doctor," said Robau. A moment of panic briefly took hold of Slod. Had the captain somehow discovered what Slod had done? The panic quickly became anger, not at Robau, but at himself. He had let down Traxtor. He had failed in his mission. He quickly began to plan a way to kill Robau before security arrived. It was the least he could do.

"Oh?" asked Slod, trying to sound uninterested.

"We are returning to Starbase TK81 and Commander McDougal's body will remain there, to be returned to his family," said Robau. "That's an order." Slod did not show his relief.

"Fine," he said. "I have learned all I can from it."

"That's it? You're not putting up a fight?" asked Robau.

"Of course not," said Slod. "You are my captain. I would never disobey a direct order. I felt bad about keeping McDougal's body from his family. I know the corpse disposal ritual is important to humans."

"Yes, it is," said Robau, studying Slod. Even when he was doing what he was told Slod still filled Robau with unease. He decided he would definitely contact Fleet Admiral Hershlag at Starbase and put in a request for a new doctor. "Thank you, doctor. That will be all."

"A pleasure as always, captain," said Slod and Robau left. Slod went into the morgue. He slid McDougal's body out and look at it. "Sometimes sacrifices must be made. You were the first and I was proud of you, proud of what I had done in the name of Traxtor. But I was also too proud of my own abilities and that was a mistake. I forgot almost that I'm not doing this for personal glory. It is ALL for Traxtor. I grew sentimental in my feelings to you, it's true. Almost like...almost like a human. But I have learned all I can from you. I now know how to control the dead and my studies of you body aided me in learning how to control living humans like Nurse Bombad. The truth is I do not need you anymore and have not needed you for some time. I simply did not want to give you away. But my position here cannot be compromised. Even what I did today, disabling the transporters, was I mistake. George Kirk is a threat yes, I wanted to eliminate him and throw Robau into turmoil, make him vulnerable...but if I had been caught it would be over not only for me but for Traxtor as well. I cannot allow that to happen. I cannot allow any suspicion to fall on me, cannot let them know I can interface with technology or what I have done to you. I will return you to your human family. You will know no more of Traxtor."

McDougal's eyes flashed black for a moment. "All glory to Traxtor," he said.

"Yes," said Slod. "Always." It was then that he turned round and saw Jackie standing in the doorway looking horrified.

"What have you done to him!?" she asked. "You're made him into some kind of zombie! I'm reporting you!" Slod sighed.

"You will do no such thing," he said. Her eyes went blank, then black like his.

"I will do no such thing," she repeated.

"You are mine...Traxtor's now, fully. Your human life is the lie. It is the dream. You are only awake when I allow you to be as you are now."

"I am Traxtor's," she said.

"You won't be alone in this for long," said Slod. "Many of your crewmembers will be joining you soon. Yeoman Chang, Ensign Johnson, that fool Dukat, they will be easy to turn, they will be first. But after that, commander Robau himself shall take pride of place in my army. The end of times is coming. And it will be glorious."

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
CaptainWacky

 

[The Tomtrek]

I liked it very much!!

 

[CaptainWacky]

AKB says thank you.

 

[Loktar]

TL;DR.

Actually never got around to reading episode 1. Then my computer crashed and I lost some of my bookmarks and episode 1 doesn't seem to be showing up in similar threads. I do want to read it someday though.

 

[CaptainWacky]

I bumped it less than 48 hours ago so it should still be on the front page. If you search for the word "Kelvin" you can't fail in finding it.

 

[curiousa2z]

* waiting patiently for further revelations of Slod's treachery. The bastard.*

 

[CaptainWacky]

The Slod story will play out over season one (four more episodes loosely planned.)

 

[CaptainWacky]

Bump.

 

[curiousa2z]

I second that bump.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Don't expect to see episode 3 until 2016!

 

[curiousa2z]

'k.

 

[Harkley]

BADOINK

 

[CaptainWacky]

episode 3 now set for 2078

 

[Loktar]

Just finished reading it. Loved it!

 

[curiousa2z]

better late than never.