Okay, final version.
Chapter 2 will follow soon.
Space, the final frontier.
Many undiscovered planets lie hidden in its vastness, many undiscovered cultures and knowledge.
But with its discoveries of wonder also come the discoveries of dangers.
The vacuum, the enemy, the animals, the viruses.
It is the job of the captain to keep his crew from these dangers, however...
There are those who seek those dangers and use them.
Chapter 1 - A new mission
Year 2264 - San Francisco - Starfleet Headquarters
The sun only just graced the horizon of the metropolis that was now San Francisco, announcing the beginning of the night. Skyscrapers were painted red by the setting sun, like columns of fire reaching into the sky but the city never sleeps. As the night shift for the Starfleet employees started, the bars and club came to life, but none were visited by Captain James Tiberius Kirk and his crew. No, they were resting, preparing for the next day. The crew of the USS Enterprise had returned from their 5-year mission and were now enjoying the last night of their one month break. Everyone was happily sleeping in their beds, preparing their mind for another adventure, at least that's how the captain liked to call it.
While the sun finally disappeared other employees of the federation only just started their work. In the Transmission Centre a young female andorian walked through doors and corridors. She wore the red engineers uniform and was ready for her shift. The room she entered was full of beeping, buzzing, mutters and lights, a scene she knew all too well. Thousands of transmission came in everyday and even during the night. Receiving, analysing and redirection them was a never ending process.
"I'll take it from here, Cindy," the andorian whispered.
She gently placed her blue hand on another woman's shoulder, who sat in front of a big console with flashing lights. She took off her headset and turned to look at her with relief in her eyes.
"Thanks, Shromia." Cindy smiled and stood.
"Quiet day?" she asked.
"Yeah," she said, nodding and stretching. "Will be an even quieter night."
Cindy stood and cleared the seat for her replacement. Both smiled at each other while doing so.
"I hope it will stay quiet," Shromia muttered as she sat down. "Good night."
"Good night," Cindy replied as she took her leave.
The andorian put on the headset and started scanning the screen with her eyes. All the planets of the federation space were displayed on the screen. Messages came in at a regular pattern but she was on the lookout for very specific ones. Her job was to find the odd ones, the distress signals, the trouble. It rarely happened but she was still alert. An hour passed and Shromia took a sip of her favourite coffee when something caught her eye. A small speck on the screen was blinking. A red ring encased the speck with an alarming sight. She tabbed it and a message immediately appeared. Abruptly she stood and pressed a button, all relaxation gone.
"I need someone to deliver a message. This is an emergency!" she ordered.
It was hard to guess that it was the middle of the night when the corridors were lit as if it was daylight. A uniformed man took hurried strides through corridors and paused before a large door before knocking. He waited until he heard the word 'enter'. With a held breath he entered.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, sir." he saluted. "But this is an emergency."
"It's quite alright, son." the old man grumbled as he sat up in his bed. "What is it?"
"Sir, we have just received a distress signal from Targeron," the man explained.
"Targeron?" he repeated with confusion.
That planet was a peaceful one, it's inhabitants highly focused on their own well-being. They were independent as well, having no need to benefit from the federation, yet they were a part of it. A distress call from them had been labeled as an impossibility.
"They are being attacked," he elaborated.
The man handed the elder a piece of paper which he read quietly. The old and sleepy eyes slowly scanned the paper and grew more awake and alert. As quickly as his old body could manage he got up and dressed, heading to work in the middle of the night.
"Link me to Captain Kirk immediately!" the old man ordered, as he walked into his office in the headquarters of Starfleet.
"Right away, sir," came an immediate response.
Many of the younger cadets were on high alert, making calls and writing out information. The young man at the computer established a link and the old man began to speak.
"Kirk!" the old man spoke with authority but no answer came. "Captain Kirk!"
Somewhere in San Francisco in a dark bedroom, the beeping sound of a communicator made someone stirr under the covers. Jim reached out and placed the communicator to his ear but not before checking the time.
"Sir. It's so late," he groaned, rubbing his eyes.
"Captain Kirk, I have a mission for you that holds the highest priority. Get your crew together!" the old man ordered.
"What, like right now?" he groaned again, like a whiny teenager.
"Yes, now!" the Admiral shouted, but then spoke more softly. "I will send you the mission details as you go."
"Yes, Sir. I'm on my way." he answered.
Jim quickly jumped out of his bed, stumbled into the bathroom, shaved, got dressed in his yellow shirt and despite the late hour, wore a huge grin on his face. He nearly tripped over his own feet when he ran out of his home. Excitement was pumping through him and as he stood in the lift he read through the mission on his PADD. He had never heard of that planet but the message was clear. They were being attacked. But why and from what? It had to be answered. On his way to the shuttle he met up with Scotty and Spock. Spock seemed as calm as ever, since he was a Vulcan, but the scottish Scotty was frowning.
"It's past midnight and the admiral wants us to go to the edge of federation space?" he growled.
"Yes," Jim confirmed.
"Those bastards take the 'a new day starts after midnight' a bit too serious, if you ask me. I was having such a great dream, too. About an ocean of pizza I was swimming through and the rules of gravity didn't apply. It was heaven." Scotty complained, flailing his arms around. "I'm telling you, being knackered doesn't really help when you're in charge of a warp core."
"I know. Look, I'm sorry but orders are orders, right?" Jim shrugged with innocents.
"You're the one to talk, capt'n." he grumbled. "I wish I was still that young."
Scotty stormed off into the shuttle, still mumbling to himself. While Spock and Jim looked over the mission details, the shuttle carrying them up into space to the docking station of the Enterprise. Both man paused their conversation to take in her sight. Jim was at awe every time he saw her. That was his ship and on board was his crew. He greeted a few when he boarded the ship, like he always did. When he walked into the lift, Spock was still following close behind.
"Let's check the medbay," Jim suggested to his first commander. "I hope Bones is cooperating. He gets really cranky when you wake him."
Spock didn't bother giving a response as the doors opened with a quiet hiss. The medbay was like busy a beehive. There was a lot going on, a lot more noise than usual but it was good news. It meant they were all in high alert. Nurses and doctors were walking around, checking lists and medical equipment. In the main bay Leonard McCoy, the Chief Medical Officer, was chasing everyone around.
"Alright, let's set everything up! We are going to have a lot of bleeders and maybe lost limbs, so prepare yourselves!" McCoy shouted around.
Spock and Jim exchanged a brief glance and stepped up to him. The Vulcan noticed something peculiar as he watched the doctor and remembered Jim's previous words.
"You seem to be in a very good mood, doctor, despite it being so early in the morning," Spock noted.
Jim withheld a chuckle. Remembering the times in the academy his roommate always hated mornings. Although it wasn't because of waking up, he was always up early. Jim usually had a lady or two around which had annoyed the doctor a lot. This weren't a hotel and it were his room as well, he had grumbled. Spock didn't know about this but Leonard had always displayed a certain dislikes to morning shifts, but only because he hated space. McCoy didn't bother to look up at the Vulcan as he swiped around on his PADD.
"Sorry if my optimism frightens you," the doctor replied with disinterest.
"It isn't the optimism that frightens me, it's you expressing it, since the only emotion you seem to show regularly is anger and annoyance," Spock revealed.
He turned on his heels and left without waiting for an answer to go to the bridge. Jim and Leonard look after him but then turned to each other.
"Why are you so excited, Bones?" Jim asked, crossing his arms.
"The people of Targeron are medical geniuses. I could learn something from them," he explained. "To be honest, I always wanted to go there."
"Why didn't you?" Jim wondered. "You could have learned from them."
"They don't share their knowledge in medicine willingly to strangers and they have developed their own equipment as well," Bones explained. "They keep to themselves."
Jim nodded in understanding. They had encountered many planets with hostile inhabitants who were either secretive or closed themselves off from the federation. But Targeron didn't count as a hostile planet. As far as Jim knew, they only agreed to become part of the federation if they were allowed to go about their business in peace. This had been allowed since they would never post a threat. There had been some criticism because they didn't want to share their knowledge, yet they were allowed to stay.
"And if they don't like sharing it what makes you think that they will share it with you?" he asked.
"I don't know. I just think I am bound to get some luck in my life at some point. Satan can burn in hell himself, I don't care."
Bones continued his work on the computer, giving Jim no more attention. Jim looked at his friend's shoulder and half smiled to himself. His eyes wandered around the medbay one more time.
"Let's go and save them then," Jim grinned and patted his friends shoulder before leaving.
Bones didn't look up from his work. He did roll his eyes but a smile tugged on his lips.