Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek.
Chapter One:
Stardate: 2258.168
Jim stared at the mission brief he'd just received from Pike. They had been tasked with picking up a group of researchers from the dying planet, Psi 2000, of which they would soon be in orbit of. They had also been ordered to record and document the breakup of the planet. It seemed like a routine mission until Jim began reading the details.
The research team hadn't been in contact with Starfleet for months. All attempts to contact them had been meet with radio silence. Jim orders were to send a small party down to the planet in order to locate the research team and return them to the Enterprise, where they would then be taken to the closest Starbase before being transported back to Earth.
Switching off his computer screen, Jim picks up his PADD and begins to draw up a list of possible candidates for the away mission. Pike wanted it to be a small team, no more than five team members. Spock would definitely be going, he was the Chief Science Officer and head of the science department.
Suddenly Jim's comm beeps and Jim quickly picks it up and flicks it open.
"Kirk here," Jim answers.
"Captain," A voice greets him. "I need your help with something."
"What's up, Ben?" Jim asks, sitting forward in his seat slightly.
"Antimatter," Ben answers. "There's error in the Antimatter system."
"Can't Scotty fix it?" Jim questioned, wondering why the Chief Engineer hadn't already began working on it. Scotty took great pride in the ship and nothing less than perfection was suitable at any given time.
"Negative," Ben replies. "There was an accident. Scotty won't be back on duty until two days' time. I asked Chief Engineer Scott what to do and he told me to get you, as you were the only engineer he trusted with the ship while he was away… Everyone else are apparently idiots."
"He called you all idiots?" Jim asks, trying to hide his amusement.
"He implied," Ben sounded annoyed. "So are you going to help me or not?"
"As soon as the ship makes orbit, I'll be down," Jim answers. "I need to brief the away team."
"Right, see you soon," Ben replies. "Finney out."
Jim snaps his communicator shut and picks up his PADD, as much as he wanted to go down to the planet with the away team, fixing the antimatter system was far more important and with the ship's Chief Engineer off duty for the next two days, it was more important than ever that Jim stay aboard the ship. Because if he hadn't chosen the command track he'd be the Chief Engineer right now, rather than the Captain.
Stopping next to the door to his quarters, Jim quickly pressed one of the buttons on the intercom on wall.
"First Officer Spock, Lieutenant Joe Tormolen, Lieutenant William Knight, Ensign John Bellah and Ensign Majel Moss please report to the briefing room in five minutes," Jim spoke into the intercom before leaving his quarters and heading towards the said briefing room.
)o(
Captain's Log:
We've just entered orbit around Psi 2000. The planet was once a tropical paradise, but now it's nothing more than an ancient frozen waste land. The planet is less than a day away from entering the first stage of its disintegration. Spock is leading the away team to the surface to retrieve the science team. Whilst I must remain aboard the ship in order to help Engineer Ben Finney fix the antimatter system.
)o(
Spock and the four other crew members chosen by Jim beamed down to the research lab the scientists had set up on the surface of the planet. The first thing Spock notice as they materialised was how cold the lab was. The walls and floor were covered in ice and icicles hung from the ceiling.
The life support systems appeared to have failed.
"Lieutenant Toromolen," Spock orders. "Check the life support systems."
"Right, sir," Lieutenant Toromolen salutes before hurrying off in the direction of the control room.
As Toromolen checks out the control room in order to find out what had happened to the life support systems, Spock orders the other three away team members to split up and find the scientists they had been sent down to the planet to collect.
"All life systems were turned off, sir." Toromolen informs Spock as he returns from the control room.
"Commander!" Ensign John Bellah slightly hysterical voice calls from somewhere deeper in the lab.
Both Spock and Toromolen hurry in the direction Ensign Bellah voice had sounded from and it didn't take them long to find him. Ensign Bellah was standing outside a doorway, looking pale.
"Commander," Ensign Bellah greets. "I found one of the scientists… She's dead."
Spock walked past Ensign Bellah and into the room. Lying on the floor was a middle-aged women with dark brown hair and dressed in a Starfleet standard issue science uniform. Kneeling beside her, Spock pushed back the frost covered hair which had fallen over her face. The women's neck was covered in bruises, similar to bruises Jim had on his neck after Spock, Nero and Ayel had all had their turns at strangling him.
"Someone strangled this woman," Spock informs Toromolen and Ensign Bellah, who were standing behind him.
"Commander Spock," Ensign Majel Moss appears in the doorway of the room. "We've found four bodies, sir!"
Spock gets to his feet.
"Lieutenant Toromolen, Ensign Bellah," Spock turns towards them. "See if you can locate any of the other scientists."
Spock then followed Ensign Moss to where the four other bodies had been found. The first body they reached was that of a man in his late twenties, sitting frozen solid at his station as if he'd been in the middle of working when he had suddenly been frozen solid. But to freeze in such a way took time, meaning the man must have sat there knowing he was freezing to death, but not doing a thing about it.
"The other three are back here," Lieutenant William Knight appears through the door leading to the scientists' personal living quarters.
Spock followed Lieutenant Knight as he led the way to the other bodies which had been discovered. If Spock had been capable of showing surprise, his jaw would have dropped at the sight of one of the dead scientists taking a shower fully clothed. The frozen water from the shower holding them in their upright position.
One of the other two scientists had countless wounds to their body like they had been beaten to death with a blunt object. While the other was found huddled in a corner, their face hidden in their knees and their arms covering their head, like they were cowering away from something.
On the other side of science base, Toromolen and Bellah were still looking for the other scientists, but couldn't find any sign of them. In the end they split up and once Bellah was out of sight, Toromolen pulled of one of his gloves in order to scratch an inch on his hand he had been unable to reach through the thick material of his bio-suit.
A sudden quake shakes through the building causing Toromolen to lose his balance and reach out to grab a nearby console in order to keep his balance. But unknown to him, his hand comes in contact with an orange liquid, hidden on the underside of the console, which quickly dissolves into his skin. Toromolen quickly hurries to get his glove back on as the sound of footsteps echoes from the hallway outside.
Seconds later Spock, alongside Lieutenant Knight and Ensign Moss appear through the door way.
"The planet is becoming unstable," Spock spoke. "It is imperative we return to the Enterprise immediately."
)o(
Jim stood in front of the console, watching as the system error light continued to flash, but failed to show in which area of the system the error had occurred. Looked like he and Ben would be doing this the hard way. They now had the painstakingly long task of checking each and every part of the system one piece at a time until they found what was causing the error.
Jim had already done his shift on the bridge for the day, but he had been hoping to relax in the rec room before meeting up with McCoy when he got off his shift later and find an interesting activity to do. He'd even be thinking about doing some training with Cupcake in the ship's gym, as the two had often sparred together at the academy.
Jim glances at Ben for a moment before looking towards the antimatter system.
"So…" Jim mutters. "How do you want to do this? I start at the top, you start at the bottom?"
Ben stares at the antimatter system, before shaking his head.
"I'd rather stick together on this one," Ben answers. "I need someone to blame this on, if it goes wrong and if we're working separately, they'll know it was me."
"Oh ha-ha," Jim replies.
Ben grins at Jim, before picking up his equipment. "Well the sooner we start, the sooner we'll finish."
"Why? You in a hurry, Ben?" Jim asks, taking the warp drive offline so they can access the antimatter system safely.
While they were in orbit of Psi 2000, impulse power was more than capable of keeping the ship functioning as normal. But the warp drive would have to be back online by the end of the mission, they were on a tight schedule and any delays wouldn't go down well with admiralty.
"Expecting a call from my Mrs," Ben explains, as the two, of them head towards the antimatter system. "I missed her last call and let me tell ya, that didn't go down well at all."
Jim laughs. "I can imagine, especially since Ben Finney Jr. will be making an appearance soon."
"Oh don't remind me," Ben sighs. "It was bad enough being at the academy when Jame was born and being unable to return home in time for the birth… This time it's even worse!"
"Maybe we'll be back in time," Jim mutters, studying the antimatter system they had stopped in front of. "We've got what, about another three months out here, before we have to return to Earth or our overview?"
Ben shrugs slightly. "Maybe…"
Suddenly Jim's communicator sounds.
"Spock to Captain Kirk," Spock's voice sounds though the communicator.
"Kirk here," Jim answers, having pulled his communicator from his belt and flipped it open.
"All the station personnel are dead, Captain," Spock informed him.
Jim looks up at Ben, who gave him a slightly horrified look.
"What caused it?" Jim demands.
"The cause is unknown," Spock replies. "It's like nothing a Starfleet vessel has ever encountered before."
)o(
Hey, I hope you enjoyed the start of this story. I'm aiming to update this story once a week. So until next time,
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.
