Space... The final frontier... These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Our five-year mission: To explore strange new worlds... To seek out new life forms and new civilizations... To boldly go where no man has gone before.
Captain James T. Kirk trudged wearily to the bridge of the Enterprise. After consuming a generous amount of Romulan Ale during a conference with ambassadors from Romulus last night, he wasn't in the best of moods. He had planned to sleep late, but was awakened under the premise that there was important news for him to see. He arrived at the bridge and was greeted by Spock.
"Jim." Spock began.
Kirk groaned, "Why, Spock did you feel the need to wake me up three and a half hours earlier than neccesary?"
"Rest assured, Captain, that my reasons are indeed logical." Spock explained.
Kirk replied, "They damn well better be!"
Spock simply said "Captain." and gestured toward the view screen. Kirk stared briefly at the image, then turned around and said impatiently, "It's a planet."
Spock said, "Yes, Captain, it is."
"Damn it all, Spock, I've seen hundreds, no, THOUSANDS of planets. You woke me up for this?"
"No, Captain. I woke you up for THIS." Spock said as he walked to Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu's station and pointed to it's screen.
"What? What's wrong with it?" Kirk asked.
The Lieutenant answered, "Captain, we see the planet there, but our scans say that it doesn't even exist."
Kirk responded inquisitively, "Doesn't exist?"
Spock replied, "Yes Captain. With images from the viewscreen, we've been able to confirm its size and location, but we are unable to confirm it's very existance."
Kirk responded, "... ... ... Fascinating." to which Spock raised an eyebrow.
Kirk asked, "So... What do you suggest we do about this 'nonexistant' planet?"
Spock said, "Our best option is to send an away team by shuttlecraft to explore the surface."
Kirk said confusedly, "Shuttlecraft? Why can't we just-"
"Captain, we most obviously cannot beam down to a planet that we cannot scan."
"Ah... Well, then. I'm interested to see how this'll play out. I'll be going down."
Spock said, "Captain, it is my duty as first officer to remind you-"
"That it is against regulations for a Starship's Captain to go on away missions. Spock, since when do I follow regulations?"
"Very well, then Captain, I'll be coming with you."
"Very well, then Spock. Sulu, you're with me. Spock, get Bones and Cadet Carter to Docking Bay."
Spock said, "Captain, Cadet Carter is an inexperienced crew member. Bringing him on what could be a deadly away mission would be a most illogical decision."
Kirk replied cheekily, "You say this mission has the potential to be deadly? We gotta have at least one red-shirt along, huh?" and chuckled as he began to make his way to the Docking Bay.
Sonic laughed and stuck out his tongue as he effortlessly dodged every one of Dr. Eggman's missiles. The doctor growled angrily and continued to unleash his deadly arsenal on the speedy blue hedgehog.
Sonic chuckled and said, "Ol' Egghead's built some pretty weak robots before, but this one takes the cake!"
Sonic only needed one more Chaos Emerald to be able to demolish the Egg Destroyer, a space station that floated just outside the planet's atmostphere equipped with a gigantic laser cannon that had the potential to wipe out the entire world. The last Chaos Emerald was in Eggman's possesion, but it wasn't hard for Sonic to find him since Eggman also had a strong desire to possess all seven Chaos Emeralds. With them, he would be able to easily take over the world and would have no need to destroy it with his laser cannon. Naturally, this desire drew him to Sonic in an attempt to claim the rest of them. Fortunately for Sonic, Eggman wasn't the best at building tough robots. Sonic continued to outrun missiles with no sign of fatigue, but he couldn't seem to find an opening in the robot's defenses. Every time he would attempt to attack, the robot raised a shield over the area he was attacking. Sonic noted, however, that the robot couldn't shield more than one area at once. So, the key is to trick it, Sonic thought, but how? Just then, Sonic heard a familiar voice yell, "SONIIIIC!"
Suddenly, the Tornado II, piloted by Tails, zipped by and dropped one solitary missile.
Sonic wasn't concerned by the small number of explosives, though, he was concerned by it's target.
"It's gonna miss!" He exclaimed.
The missile hit the ground about three feet in front of the robot, but instead of exploding, it started spraying smoke everywhere.
Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Dr. McCoy, and Cadet Carter all met in the Docking Station and began boarding the small shuttlecraft called the "Galileo." After they all got strapped in and prepared, Sulu sat in the pilot's seat and initiated takeoff.
Once they cleared the Enterprise, Dr. McCoy leaned over and said angrily, "Damn it, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a hiker. It's bad enough YOU had had to go on this cockamamie mission, but why the Hell did you have to drag me along?"
Kirk smiled and replied, "For the ride. Besides, Spock says this mission has the potential to be 'deadly.' We just may need a doctor."
McCoy groaned, "Deadly my ass. And what do we do if that thing is just an illusion? What if there really IS no planet there?"
Kirk said, "In that case, we attempt to land, go right through the planet, and then go back to the ship. Sound like a plan?"
McCoy leaned back and said, "Plan my ass."
Just then, the main computer began making a beeping noise.
Sulu said, "Captain, I'm getting readings from another vessel just ouside the planet's atmosphere."
Kirk rushed to the front of the shuttlecraft and looked out the windshield to see a space station floating above the planet.
He asked, "Why didn't we pick this up before?"
Sulu responed, "I have no clue, Captain. Whatever it is must be the same reason we weren't getting any readings from the planet. Take a look."
Sulu pointed at the main screen, which was now covered with readings from the surface of the planet.
Dr. McCoy, also seeing this, said, "Well, I'll be damned."
Suddenly, there was a small flash from the side of the space station. A small craft emerged from the space station and whizzed past the Galileo, firing four missiles that hit the Galileo's hull.
Kirk, shaken from the missiles' detonation, yelled, "Sulu, what the Hell was that?"
Sulu responded, "Missiles, sir. Similar to the kind Earth had in the early 2100s. As primitive as they are, they managed to take out our main thrusters."
Kirk exclaimed, "Damn! Can we make it back to the Enterprise?"
Sulu said, "On secondary thrusters, Captain, not before they attack again."
Kirk sighed and said, "Well then, it looks like we have no choice but to land on the surface. Take us down."
Sulu began to take the shuttlecraft into the atmosphere as Kirk sat down next to McCoy and said "Deadly your ass, huh?"
Sonic unleashed a barrage of homing attacks on Dr. Eggman's defenseless robot. With all the smoke surrounding it, the robot couldn't tell which area Sonic would attack, and thus didn't know which area to defend. Sonic continued to decimate the robot while Eggman sat inside, panicking. The fumes from the bomb were still coming out, and Sonic kept attacking again and again in rapid succession until finally, the robot was destroyed and all that was left was Eggman's hovercraft in which he sat, whimpering, "Oh, please, Sonic, please don't hurt me. I'll-I'll turn over a new leaf, I promise. I'll deactivate the Egg Destroyer and everything!
Sonic said smugly, "The choice is yours, Doc. You can save yourself a lot of pain if you just hand over that emerald."
"O-of course!" He reached into his pocket to grab the emerald, but was actually grabbing the remote to the Egg Destroyer's super laser. He yanked out the button and yelled, "Ha!"
Sonic went to run and grab the button, but Eggman stopped him by saying, "Ah-ah-ah. One more step, and I'll have to push this button. The laser won't be fully charged for another 24 hours, but if I activate it now, countless lives will be lost notheless. Now hand over those other emeralds like a good hedgehog."
Sonic stood there weighing his options. If he handed over the emeralds, Eggman would be able to take over the world without any trouble. If he didn't, Eggman might activate his laser and destroy half the world anyway. So what could he do. All of a sudden, a white object appeared in the sky. Both Eggman and Sonic looked up at it. When Eggman looked back down at his hand, he saw that the remote was gone. He looked at Sonic to see him wearing a cocky smile with the button's remains crushed underneath his foot. Sonic then jumped out of the way of the descending white object just before it landed softly on the ground. taking advantage of this momentary distraction, Eggman jumped backward into the seat of his hovercraft and flew away, laughing maniacally as he made his escape.
"Hey, wait!", Sonic yelled, but it was no use. Sonic figured he might as well see what the thing that cost him his victory was, so he inspected it for a few moments, then knocked on the side. Just after he finished knocking, a door opened up, and five strange-looking men stepped out.
Sulu piloted the craft straight down and landed it softly on the ground. The away team loaded their gear and prepared to explore the surrounding area, when they heard a rapping on the side of the shuttlecraft. Sulu tapped a few keys on the main control panel and the door opened up. Kirk, Spock, Sulu, McCoy, and Carter all stepped outside to see a strange, blue, hedgehog-esque creature waiting impatiantly before them.
TO BE CONTINUED
