What can I say? I liked the new film. I loved the new film. It was a profoundly satisfying experience watching it. It also opened up the Star Trek universe to a whole possibility of what it common and what is not. As one review said, from the point of view of the writers, 'Take that, obsessive fan base! We can write anything we want now! We could turn Captain Kirk into a duck and you'd have to accept it! Actually, that would be pretty cool.'
This hopefully equipped with a plot and conclusion story is set after the Nero incident, but just before they all set off on that five year mission everyone no longer knows so well. As for the planet and its inhabitants featured in this story, they obviously aren't a part of Star Trek cannon, but enjoy anyway.
Getting off to a fairly crappy start
"So…we're heading for a planet of vampires?"
Probably that wasn't the best thing that he could have said; the really rather ravishing and surprisingly young ambassador they'd picked up from Earth to return to this out-of-the-way-planet before they started off on their mission did not look particularly amused, and darted a glance at Spock as if wondering who exactly had put this idiot in charge of a star ship. Spock didn't seem to be ready to volunteer any information on that subject, so she turned to look back at him with a carefully bland face.
"I'm sure Doctor…McCoy could inform you that the Sangni are hardly vampires. They merely rely on a different form of sustenance than most humanoid species."
"Which happens to be blood."
Ambassador Siobhan probably couldn't help it despite all of her training; she rolled her eyes before she realised what she was doing."Which happens to be blood, captain, yes. Or indeed any liquid from which they can gain nutrition, but blood is the most efficient source for the energy they need to sustain themselves."
"Huh." McCoy looked both thoughtful and just a tiny bit queasy as he stared at a PADD that detailed the rather unique biology of this particular race. Uhura was already buried in another PADD in a chair across his ready room, no doubt reacquainting herself with the language – or maybe just learning it straight off, she was that fast. Neither of them seemed to be willing to help out with this potentially awkward subject, in this equally awkward meeting. He wished that mad engineer was here, just to lighten things up.
"So…do they like the taste of any blood in particular?" he prompted, determined to explore this new development from every angle, which was clearly his duty. "I mean, do they just drink from one animal in general, or do they have a…you know, varied diet? Different blood types?"
"The Sangni are capable of gaining nutrition from the many animals that are native to their planet, Captain; however, I am aware that the preferred food – or drink, as it may be – of choice is the blood of the Mineen, the second race that lives on this world."
This rather bland, cool bit of information on his first officer's part didn't help to quell the leap in Kirk's stomach, or his sudden rush of anger. "'Preferred food of choice?' You mean that they keep them as slaves?"
"No, they don't." Siobhan had stood up quickly, obviously used to this reaction and taking it coolly. "Please, try not to use that word in connection with these people, Captain Kirk; they would be very offended. Slavery has been banned on their world for more than two hundred years. They have created a sustainable culture where everyone is accounted for. The Sangni and the Mineen regard each other as equals, without any exceptions."
"But they haven't always done so, have they?"
Siobhan looked at him for a few breaths, and then seemed to decide that if he wasn't going to be professional she'd have to let go of something in order to get anywhere. She sighed, her shoulders loosened and she suddenly looked a lot more likable than she had done before, if even more annoyed.
"All right, quick history lesson for anyone who wasn't paying attention to newly discovered worlds in the last fifteen years." McCoy smirked at him as she said that, no doubt knowing who the comment was aimed at. She sat back down, steepling her fingers and looking rather like Spock did when he'd burst in on him meditating. "Yes, Kirk, the Sangni did originally enslave the Mineen. They were, and still are in some ways, a rather fragile species; with the right food source they're incredibly strong and capable, but the problem at this point in history – about seven hundred years ago or so - was that they constantly needed that sustenance to be able to function at any capacity at all. The Mineen aren't nearly as strong but at this point there were far more of them; they weren't restricted to a certain diet; they could breed faster. The Sangni constantly feared being overthrown and wiped out by this very adaptable race, so they took steps to make sure that couldn't happen. Slavery and forced control of the breeding rate was apparently the best way to make sure that everyone got enough blood and was supposedly protected, since they saw themselves, as the older race, as superior and responsible for the apparent well being of the younger."
"How nice." McCoy's sarcasm could make any words sound like acid in a wound.
"However!" She held up a finger at that. "About two hundred and fifty years ago, many Sangni had already started pushing for an end to slavery and an introduction of full rights for the slaves, saying that the two species were perfectly capable of maintaining their respective needs and cultures as equals. The foundations of a new society were thus laid – a society based on understanding, cooperation, and most of all, symbiosis."
He recognised that word from somewhere. One guy he had met in a bar a few years back now had sworn up and down that members of the Trill race went around with symbiotic worms in their stomachs. Or something like that, anyway. "What exactly does this symbiosis do for those who…practise it, then?"
Siobhan hand waved, deflecting him. "As I've said before, Doctor McCoy could explain that to you more thoroughly than I could, captain."
"Going back to your second question, captain, there are at least three logical reasons why it is highly unlikely that any of the away team that will accompany Ambassador Siobhan down to the planet once we arrive will be considered as a food source; firstly, any blood with an iron or, in my case, a copper base would run a fifty two point five three percent chance of poisoning any Sangnar who attempted to sample it; secondly, the people that the crew will go amongst will be comprised almost entirely of the noble class and thus will be uninterested; thirdly, if anyone is more curious and impolite than is good for either party, the first law will protect the latter."
"First law?" This was sounding more and more like an Issac Asimov story, narrated by a computer that happened to sound an awful lot like Spock.
"The first law is the most important of the Four Great Laws that regulate Sangneen culture." The trouble with having a really, really smart first officer was that he so very often showed you up. He wanted to glare at Spock, but didn't dare try it when Uhura looked up from whatever she was doing. She nodded to her…damn, it was weird even thinking it…her lover, and at once began speaking in a really quite pretty sounding language, all lyrical and poetry-like. He got the impression she was reciting something, especially when she kept repeating certain phrases.
"It's much fancier in the original language," she went on, switching back to Standard, "but basically the Four Great Laws are a lot of thou shalt nots."
"Such as, Lieutenant Uhura?"
Siobhan cleared her throat, all but demanding that she take over again. He could see how this woman got to be an ambassador. Uhura raised an eyebrow worthy of Spock, but gestured towards her with a distinct air of 'Be my guest'.
"The laws are taught to every child of both races while they're still learning to talk; it's practically ingrained in their psyche." She held up her hand to count off her fingers. "They go as follows: Thou shalt not feed from any that be unwilling; nor shalt thou suffer it to be so. Thou shalt not feed to kill; nor shalt thou suffer it to be so. Thou shalt not feed from a woman with child, be she willing or no; nor shalt thou suffer it to be so. Thou shalt not feed from a child if thee be grown, be they willing or no; nor shalt thou suffer it to be so." She stopped to swallow. "There's more than those four, of course, but you get the idea."
"The laws apply to both Sangni and Mineen," Spock chipped in. "Any Mineer who is complicit in breaking the laws is deemed just as guilty."
"Whoa." Too late he realised what a completely stupid thing this was for him to say and quickly tried to reboot his swiftly failing professionalism. "And all these laws carry the same weight?"
"Well, not exactly." Her fingers came together and closed over each other. She really had quite beautiful hands, and he really didn't need to be thinking about that just now. "In a justified emergency breaking the third law can be pardoned, as long as the culprit didn't take enough blood to harm the mother or the baby, and as long as she was willing, of course. The same goes for the fourth law so long as the child was old enough to be aware of the choice they were making, though the Sangnar involved would suffer from severe criticism regardless; an adult feeding from a child borders on paedophilia.
"But the second law is just as serious in their culture as in ours, and the first law is inviolate, taboo, unpardonable. Anyone who breaks it is subject to the severest punishment. Any Sangnar below nobility guilty of this crime can be 'relieved'," and her eyebrows went up, practically doing a 'finger quotes' using only her face, "of their property and imprisoned, deprived of sustenance for long amounts of time – that's a torture all by itself, but it supposedly teaches them restraint. Nobles, however, have their titles taken away and are locked up permanently and starved into madness; it might as well be an execution, since it leads to an incredibly painful death."
Bones whistled as he shook his head and his hand. "Damn. That's – well, damn, that's evil."
"But logical."
"What, are you cold blooded as well as green blooded?"
"Think about it, doctor. The nobility are a prime influence on the society of this planet. All eyes are upon them, and it would not be wise if the majority of the population knew that they could get away with murder – or far worse."
"You've got the idea, Commander." Siobhan took the PADD from McCoy now that he had finished with it, brought up a new screen and held it out to be passed around; it showed a list of punishments for crimes committed by nobles on the planet Sangneen. There were relatively few; he wondered if this meant that there wasn't any need for further laws, or if the rich simply got away with more than was apparent at first.
"Punishments for nobles are often more serious, you see. The nobility are supposed to set a good example, be the epitome of restraint, order and successful symbiosis. It's pretty hard to keep that image going when one or more of their number is defying the very law upon which their way of life is based and behaving in the manner of the old days. The punishments are twofold; they remind everyone that violation of the first law will not be tolerated no matter what your social class is, and they remove the offender from the public eye so that they can't do any more damage." She shrugged. "And it works, so far as I can see; ever since the laws have been set in progress there've been only five or so nobles who broke the first law."
"When was the last one?"
"About seven years back now. It got dealt with pretty efficiently." She had shut herself down and away again with barely a blink. She stood up again, suggesting without a word that she wouldn't be sitting down in this room again for a while. "If you'll excuse me, captain, officers, I'm feeling rather fatigued. I'll retire to my quarters for now."
"Of course." They all said their goodbyes and then stayed quiet as she left, and to be on the safe side waited for a few moments until the door was closed and she had time to walk all the way down the corridor.
"Sweet Jesus, but she's bipolar," McCoy said succinctly.
"Be nice, doctor." Uhura was already deep in her PADD again. "Perhaps she just isn't used to being around Terrans any more. She's spent about seven years on Sangneen now, they probably have very different social norms compared to us."
"Yeah, for a planet where half the population likes to drink the other half's blood, that sounds about right." He stood up now, stretching; he'd been sitting down for too long. "You know, I'm curious about that. She gets posted to the planet seven years ago, there's a big old law broken seven years ago…"
"There is such a thing as coincidence, captain."
"And there is such a thing as too much of it, Spock. I say we get her drunk."
Up until the late twenty fourth
Again, the Sangni and the Mineen are of course not part of any Star Trek cannon; I made them up to serve my story. Apologies if the biology doesn't make sense.