*Disclaimer! I don't own anything Star Trek related! Not trying to steal credit or make a profit!

I was tending my garden when I heard it. Faint at first, but it definitely seemed mechanical. Sounds like that were easy to pick out on this planet, even with the developments over the past few years. But still… as far as I knew they hadn't cracked the formula for the fuel injectors yet, but strangely enough it sounded like an engine. Maybe Kartoth's motives needed to be reevaluated. His information had been good in the past, but the Roojana weren't exactly known for their loyalty.

The sound faded out, but then it came back a few minutes later. Just in case, I headed back to my hut to grab a more substantial weapon than the blade I always carried in a concealed pocket on my pant leg. Even with the peace agreement, you could never be sure what was going on in the city these days. I had heard rumors there was another revolt brewing, but…

A loud electrical cracking noise interrupted my thoughts. Pay attention! It had been a while since much action had come my way, but I was annoyed at how easily my guard went down. I scanned the sky again for any sign of a craft... and was surprised to see one coming in from the east. It was still too far to get a good idea of the build, but it wasn't very large. The flight was growing more erratic, like it was having some sort of technical problem. And it was headed straight towards my land.

After grabbing my phase rifle, I ran towards the low bushes in the hills to the north of my hut and got down on the ground. I wasn't even supposed to have this rifle, but Kartoth had smuggled it out of the city for me, nearly two years ago. It had taken us the better part of a year to get it from the central armory, but I felt safer having something with a little more power around. Maybe that was my paranoia speaking, but paranoia had kept me alive this long and I wasn't in the habit of questioning my instincts.

Something wasn't quite adding up. I stared out at the edge of the forest but didn't see any movement. The craft was getting closer by the minute, and I could start to make out its shape. It definitely wasn't the shuttle the Roojan scientists had been working on, so where could it have come from? There weren't any other inhabited planets in this star system, and the nearest neighbors didn't have interstellar flight yet. Of course, my intel on that was a few years old but it still didn't make sense. And if it was visitors from another system, why hadn't the Royal Guardsmen showed up yet? Surely they had spotted the craft on their scanners by now...

Regardless, it was apparent now that the craft was having some sort of problem because they were coming in way too steep for a normal landing. I stayed put in my hiding spot. From their trajectory I guessed they would crash in the fields less than a mile away from my hut. I wasn't sure what kind of scanning equipment they had on board but at least this way they wouldn't be able to find me visually. I wasn't exactly sure what the hell I was going to do, but for now I was just gunna sit tight and wait.

XXX

A light stream of smoke was coming out of the rear end of the shuttle. It had come down much closer than I had anticipated, maybe 200 meters from my position, but it was still intact. Watching the shuttle, and the woods, at least 5 minutes passed without any movement, so I decided I had to take action. I felt like it was safe to assume the Supreme Rajooth wasn't excepting any guests, or else the Guardsmen would have been out here by now, so the visitors must be some sort of hostiles. A force was probably sent out from the city as soon as they spotted the shuttle, giving me about 90 minutes until they reached me. So… either I stay hidden and pretend I had been out gathering in the woods, or I neutralize the threat myself and hope when the Guardsmen showed up they'd put in a good word for me in the Royal Court, maybe buy me a few more years of good favor.

Thankfully the shuttle had landed in the part of the field covered in tall grasses, so I could approach without being totally exposed. Just as I was about to get up to the side of the craft, a door decompressed and opened. A few moments later I heard a voice. Somehow the words sounded familiar to me, but it couldn't be…

A humanoid came out from the shadow of the interior, and without hesitation, I fired a stun shot at them. The body fell, half in half out of the shuttle, and I ran up to see who else was inside. Stepping over the body, I inched into the shuttle and saw one other form, slumped motionless over a console at the front. I quickly took off my belt and ripped it in half to bind the two passengers' hands behind them. Then I took a deep breath. I looked down and saw my hands were shaking. Pull it together, Callie. My body had forgotten what this much adrenaline felt like.

I dragged the passenger I had shot and leaned him up against the outside of the shuttle, and in the sunlight, I gasped. He looked human! That would mean… maybe I did recognize the language he was speaking, and it wasn't just my mind playing tricks on me. But how could humans be here, on Rooja of all places? My head was swirling and put my hand out to steady myself against the shuttle. Inside the shuttle I heard a groan.

"Ahh, Trip what happened? Wha…What the hell? Why am I tied up?" I heard the man start to struggle, so I picked my phase rifle back up and hid around the back side of the shuttle. When he stumbled outside, I waited a few seconds, then pointed the rifle at him.

"Woah, wait, just wait a minute. What do you want?" I said nothing. "Wait, are you human? You are, aren't you? We came down here looking for you, don't shoot!"

Say something! Except I didn't know what to say, it had been so long since I had spoken English out loud… and finding out they were human totally threw off my plan. If this was a shuttle, there had to be a larger ship orbiting the planet. And if there was…

"Hello? Can you understand me? What did you do to Trip?" The man was getting visibly agitated.

"He… he'll be okay… it was on stun." The words felt strange in my mouth.

"Okay, listen to me, my name is Malcolm. I'm from the Enterprise, a Starfleet ship. From Earth. I promise, we don't want to hurt you. Just… put the gun down and we can talk about this…"

I held my ground. "Why are you here?"

"We were passing through this system and wanted to get some sensor readings of the planet, so Commander Tucker and I took the shuttle down for a sweep, and then your life signs popped up on the scanner. But for some reason we started having trouble with the engine, and, well you know the rest." He seemed to be telling the truth, but I was still wary. I tried to think quickly and reevaluate my options.

"Can your shuttle fly?"

"Well, I'll need Tucker to help me make a few repairs, but I think we can get it off the ground again."

"How long?"

"I really couldn't say, Tucker is the one you should be asking. Will you please put the gun down now?"

If this was going to work, I had to act fast. The Guardsmen were still on their way, and I wouldn't be able to handle them all even with the help of my two new friends. I put the rifle on the ground and walked over to untie Malcolm.

"We don't have long. Wait here and start working." He looked bewildered, but relieved to be untied. I started back towards my hut.

"Wait, what do you mean? Where are you going?"

"To get some things. I'll be back, start working!"