Star Trek

Charlie Y

Chapter 2

At 1700 hours the next day Sherri Glasow arrived at Charlie's quarters, as she had promised. She was about to press the buzzer when the door slid open; she felt herself jump a little. Charlie's powers of perception had been increased by the Thassians, apparently as a necessary complement to his powers. He had noted that while he could choose not to use his powers, he couldn't remove the expanded awareness he had been gifted with.

Charlie was sitting on his desk chair, looking glum.

"Hello Charlie, how did you first day as an acting ensign go?" Sherri said, pulling up a chair beside him.

"It was awful," Charlie said. "I think Chief Scott is going to have my transferred."

"Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"They don't like me there! I tried to do my best, but they just kept getting angry," Charlie said.

"Tell me what happened," Sherri repeated.

"Well I got there early, like you said, and the chief had me mind the alert board for the first couple of hours. He got mad because I talked like him," Charlie said.

"What do you mean 'talked like him'?"

"Well, like he asked me if there were any problems, and I said 'Thare haven't bin ony kinch a' mornin', chief.' And then he got mad."

"Charlie, he thought you were making fun of him," Sherri said. "You know, the way he talks."

"But I like the way he talks!" Charlie said. "People like him, and I thought if maybe I sounded like him…"

"You should never imitate another person's manner of speech, Charlie. It's considered an insult, even if you weren't intending it to be,"

Charlie scowled. "Are all these rules written down somewhere?"

"Well, there are etiquette guides, but I don't think there's one for being a human on a starship," Sherri said. "I'll see if I can find anything. Anyway, keep going; what else happened?"

"Well, someone else took over the status boards, and I was one of the technicians that fixed parts of the engine. But since the captain won't let me use my powers, I had to figure out which tools to use to fix the problem," Charlie said. "It's really stupid! The captain may as well have made me promise not to use my hands!"

"Did someone say something to you?" Sherri said. "You sound very upset."

"Some of the other technicians were complaining that I was taking too long. I know how the whole damn ship works, and they think they're better than me!" Charlie seethed.

"Charlie, calm down. It's hard starting a new job, especially when you need to learn new skills quickly. Your crewmates are just frustrated, that's all. I think they should be a little more patient with you, but you also need to learn patience," Sherri said.

"But they were making fun of me!" Charlie said.

"When did they make fun of you?" Sherri asked.

"Well one of them was telling me how they couldn't safely go much faster than Warp 8.7, I suggested that they could safely travel at Warp 9 and above by raising the melting point of dilithium. Everyone started laughing," Charlie said.

Sherri looked at him, stunned. "You can change the melting point of a substance? For everyone, everywhere?"

"Yeah,"

"Charlie… I need you to understand just how important this is… You can't go around arbitrarily changing fundamental aspects of the universe," Sherri said.

"Why not?" Charlie said.

"The universe as we know it can only exist if those sort of things remain constant; if you were to change the boiling point of water, for instance, entire civilizations could cease to exist," Sherri said.

"Fine, I won't then!" Charlie said.

Sherri did her best to collect herself, forcing herself not to sigh in frustration.

"There must have been some good things that happened."

"Aye, I suppose there was, captain," Scotty said, and then took a swig of whiskey.

The two of them sat in Scott's quarters, sampling his extensive collection of hard liquor. It seemed the good way to take an edge off of Scotty's frustrating day.

"Ya know those lousy dilithium crystals we got from Direidi? The ones that keep cracking and popping in the warpcore?"

"Of course, I wrenched my neck the last time we dropped out of warp, it still hurts," Kirk said.

"Well, I was deionizing the chamber, and he was following me around asking stupid questions, like 'whatever happened to ensign Romaine?' and 'what was it like to be possessed by Jack The Ripper?'... Anyway, he looked at the crystals, and asked if I knew that they had deuterium bubbles in them," Scotty said.

Kirk took a surprised swallow. "And did you?"

"Of course not captain, you canna use scanners on dilithium, the signal doesn't bounce back. They passed visual inspection, but they have those purple and red imperfections that make it hard to see all the way through 'em. But we were able to find 'em, and with the help of a dental drill we borrowed from Dr. McCoy we were able to drill shafts in there to release them, and then fill them up xenonic resin," Scotty said, beaming with pride.

"So you're comfortable with him remaining on the engineering team?" Kirk said.

Scotty's grin disappeared. "If it was up to me, sir… It's that he just doesn't fit in."

"A leader assumes his crew's faults as his own, he doesn't use them as an excuse," Kirk said with a glare.

"It isn't just that doesn't fit in, some of my crew have told me that they're afraid of him," Scotty said.

Kirk nodded sadly. "Because of what happened last time."

"No, sir," Scotty said. "Every time I sent him to do something, he'd complain about the tools he had to use, and how he could do it so much better if he could use his powers. He kept getting more and more frustrated, and then he started to get angry.

"I decided to get him away from engineering to give him time to cool down, so I had him show me his ship. He told me about how he created it with his mind and bare hands. Captain, someone who can do that isn't going to be content with realigning the deflectors or deionizing the warp core."

Kirk rubbed his chin. "I think you may be right, Scotty."

"He's a real smart lad, don't get me wrong, and I think he's trying his best. This just isn't the job for him."

2200 hours found Charlie sitting on his bunk and scowling at the bulkhead. He sensed the Captain as he was approaching; he sighed and went to let him in. The captain looked startled as the door opened, but quickly recovered. In his hands he was holding a mound of blue fabric.

"Good evening, Charlie, I just wanted to have a little talk with you," Kirk said.

"I'm out of the engineering team, aren't I?" Charlie said, and stood aside to allow the captain entry.

"Chief Scott and I have decided that your inexperience with Starfleet engineering techniques makes his team a bad fit. I'm afraid that's my fault; due to your experience with the ship systems and the accomplishment of building your own ship, I thought you would be a natural fit. I didn't take into account that you and the engineering crew have very different M.O.s."

"MOs?" Charlie said, furrowing his brow.

"Modus operandi," Kirk said; Charlie didn't look any less confused. "It means they way people do things."

"Then why don't people just say that?" Charlie said.

Krik rubbed his chin. "I'm really not quite sure, Charlie. In any case," he said, holding up the uniform. "You can ditch the overalls and put this on. Starting at the beginning of the morning's shift, I want you on the bridge, working with Mr. Spock."

Charlie looked uneasy. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Remembering when you made recite poetry, eh?" Kirk said. "I wouldn't worry about it, Vulcans don't hold grudges."

Charlie wasn't sure he believed that; Mr. Spock treated all humans with disdain so it was hard to tell.

"I expect you at your station at 0600 sharp, ensign," Kirk said, turning to leave.

"Of course sir, I won't let you down," Charlie said.

"Glad to hear it," Kirk said.

When Kirk got to the bridge at 0547 Charlie had already gotten in over his head. The precious lad was attempting to hit on Lt. Uhura. Kirk felt sorry for him; it reminded him of when he was a kid back in Iowa and he took Tripp, his dog, to the vet to get fixed. He remembered him sitting on the floor of the waiting room, panting and wagging his tail, not knowing that he was about to emasculated forever. Charlie had the primate equivalent of that expression of ignorant bliss on his face.

'Hello lieutenant, I'm Charlie Evans, we met before, but you won't remember it because of Nomad," Charlie said. He invaded her personal space and stroked her cheek. "But you found me… charming."

"I very much doubt that, ensign," Uhura said. "If I'd wanted to play with children, I would have been a preschool teacher."

Sulu looked up from his station and grimaced. Chekov put his head down on the console.

"You didn't have to be so mean about it," Charlie said, his faux-sauve attitude dropping.

"Let me give you some advice, ensign. As a communications officers, the first thing you learn is not to waste energy transmitting when the recipient is turned off," Uhura said.

Kirk was now standing behind Charlie.

"She's right Charlie, you only use a line like that if you're absolutely sure she likes you," Kirk said.

"But how will she like me if she doesn't know me?" Charlie said, exasperated.

"That's the trick, Charlie, they can't. You need to get to know people, first as acquaintances, and then as friends. Once you get to know them well enough, you'll be able to determine if they'd welcome a relationship," Kirk said. "You need to crawl before you can walk."

"So that's how it works," Charlie said in wonder.

Kirk smiled inwardly; the boy was getting better.

"I suggest you go talk to Mr. Spock, I'm sure he has your duties all lined up for today," Kirk said.

Charlie nodded and walked off.

"I'm very impressed with your courage, Lieutenant," Kirk said. "Standing up to a god like that. Who knows what he could've turned you into."

Uhura shrugged. "I'm a member of this crew, captain. We stand up to gods all the time."

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Mr. Ears, er, Mr. Spock didn't seem too impressed with Charlie. He continued to look into the scope at his station for two whole minutes before he looked up.

"Ah, Ensign Evans," he said cordially. "The captain has informed me that you will be working with me at the science station until further notice."

"I'm prepared to do my best," Charlie said, actually meaning it. Spock had no problem being rude and condescending, so his casual attitude suggested he thought highly of Charlie's abilities; or else he was adopting a wait-and-see approach.

"You will work at the long-range sensor console, at Science Station III. When the Enterprise moves through space, it does constant sensor sweeps of the surrounding area. The computer determines if there is anything threatening or that may be of interest, and relays it to my station. However most of the data is never seen by anyone, and ends up being transferred to the Starfleet navigation mainframe the next time we stop at a starbase.

"There are also, for several reasons, holes in this data which can be caused by any manner of interference. The captain has informed me of your enhanced perception, and I believe it can be used to augment the sensors," Mr. Spock said.

Charlie felt warmth flood into his chest. Here was something he could actually do to help; for once his unique abilities would be helping the ship and its crew.

"Of course, Mr. Spock, I'll do my absolute best, you can count on me!" Charlie said.

Spock seemed nonplussed by his eagerness, even raising an eyebrow. However, all he said was: "Glad to hear it, ensign. Please go to your station."

It was nearly chow time when Charlie found the ship. Kirk had been keeping an eye on him all morning; he had sat silently at the science station, poring over data, making adjustments to the equipment. Spock had gone over a couple of times to check on his progress, and seemed satisfied.

Charlie had suddenly gotten up from station and talked to Spock in hushed urgency. After a moment Spock rose from his chair and walked towards the helm.

"Mr. Sulu, bring up quadrant 50 by 70 on the main viewer," Spock said.

"Yessir," Sulu said, and began flipping switches.

A small patch of orangish light appeared in the upper left-hand part of the screen.

"Magnify," Spock said.

Kirk rose from his chair to stand next to his first officer. On the screen was a motley of shapes strung together with some purpose. There were vast sheets of some yellow-orangish thing material spread along metal supports, they were connected to a central ship that was shaped like a teardrop with a flared end. Kirk intuitively knew what the long sheets of thin material were: sails.

"I wasn't getting any messages from the computer about any ships in the vicinity," Chekov said.

"It's too small, irregular and metal-poor for a ship," Spock said. "The computer was registering it as a small asteroid, but Ensign Evans realized it was something else."

"It's a solar sailer of some sort," Kirk said. He turned towards Uhura. "Hail them."

"I've been trying, sir," Uhura said. "No response."

"We are more than five light years from the nearest star," Sulu said. "It must be adrift in interstellar space. It would take decades to get this far out of a solar system."

"How large is the cabin?" Kirk said.

"Thirty meters in length, about the size of one of our shuttlecraft," Spock said.

Kirk stared at the strange, beautiful craft floating in the emptiness of interstellar space. Then he smiled. "We're going to take a look. Mr. Spock, meet me in the transporter room in ten minutes, bring along Chief Scott."

"Captain, the micrometeoroid bombardment over such a long period would have almost certainly penetrated the hull. If we investigate, we will need pressure suits," Spock said.

"Whatever it takes, Mr. Scott. Engisn Evans," Kirk said, turning to Charlie. "You suit up as well."

"Really sir?" Charlie said.

"Yes, consider it a reward for a job well done," Kirk said.

"Thank you, sir!" Charlie said, and rushed to keep up with Mr. Spock, who was already on his way to the turbolift.

When the tingling of transport went away and Charlie returned to his sense, all he could see around him was blackness. He took a step and lurched upwards, slamming his head on the ceiling.

A beam of light cut the darkness; he saw the beige spacesuit that Captain Kirk had been wearing in the transport room.

"No gravity," his voice said over the com. "Switch on the magnets in your boots and then push away from the ceiling, Charlie. I suggest we all switch them on."

As he fumbled with the controls on the forearm of his suit, Chief Scott's suit flew past, perpendicular to the floor of the ship.

"No need for me, captain. After spending years in the orbital shipyards, you get used to it," Scott said.

Charlie switched on his own flashlight and looked around. The ship interior was composed of wood and some metal that looked like brass. There were observation windows built into all six walls. It didn't look like any ship Charlie had ever seen, in person or on his viewer.

The captain was examining a large device which was tethered to the ceiling. It consisted of brass gears and what appeared to be a small telescope.

The captain noticed his gaze. "It's a sextant, they used them on Earth to determine their location during ocean voyages."

"Actually captain, sextants are only capable of determining latitude. Longitude was computed using a chronometer," Spock said.

"Thank you, Mr. Spock," the captain said, with just a hit of sarcasm.

Charlie shone his flashlight around the ship, on the wall that something which may have just been a decoration, but might have been an emblem of some kind. It was an bisected oval, with a circle on the bottom.

Charlie took up his tricorder and snapped a picture of the emblem and ran a pattern search on it; it quickly found a match.

"Captain," Charlie said. "According to the computer, this is the emblem of the Republic of Bajor."

"Bajor is less than ten light years from our current location, captain," Spock said. "That is well within the range of this craft."

"What kind of ship is this, anyway?" Charlie said. "You said it was a solar sailer?"

"Yes, they're a primitive type of ship. They have giant sails made of thin sheets of metal, and they are pushed through space by pressure from the nearest star; what they sometimes call the solar wind," Kirk said.

"It must take a really long time to get anywhere that way," Charlie said. "That would be slower than impulse power."

"But with a craft this light," Scotty said. "And sails that big, they'd probably be able to get up to an eighth the speed of light. That's pretty good if you intend to stay within a star system."

Charlie walked towards the helm, continuing in his original orientation; Scotty was standing on the left wall, examining a pillar with some sort of crank built into it.

As he reached the front of the ship, Charlie stared out into the void through the vast window. Far off, no larger than the end of his small finger, was the Enterprise. He probably wouldn't have noticed it at all if it weren't for its blinking lights.

He swung the beam of his flashlight around the chamber and gasped.

"Captain," he said into the suit's communicator. "I believe I've found the pilot."

There was a single chair in the forward compartment, set before a console of antiquated controls. Strapped into it was the remains of a man in a pilot suit that was the same color as the ship's sails. There was an elaborate piece of jewelry on his right ear. Clutched in his skeletal hands was a metal case.

The captain ginergly took the case from the dead man's hands. There was a metal hinge at the top, and a simple catch at the bottom, which he released. Inside was a stack of paper affixed to the top; the box was actually a book.

"A true captain's log," the captain said wistfully.

Charlie watched as the captain flipped through several of the pages; it was written in some language he'd never seen before.

"Do you know Bajoran, captain?" Spock said.

"No," the captain said. "But I know someone who does."

It had taken Sherri nearly an hour to read through the ship's log; she then met the assembly of curious crewmembers in the mess hall as she sat with the log and read it to them in English.

They sat, rapt, as she told them the story of Iku Dulki, captain of The Spirit of Tempasa, who had left Bajor 300 years ago to investigate strange occurrences in an area of Bajoran space known as The Celestial Temple.

He had encountered a phenomenon which he deemed The Eye of the Prophet, which had given him ship such momentum that he was incapable of slowing it down using the solar sails, and how he was helpless to stop the ship from leaving the solar system. Finally, she came to the last entry.

"I have been two days without food, and the air purifier is down to less than 5% of capacity. The air smells sour as carbonic acid forms in my nose and mouth. I can't understand why the Prophets would be so cruel; perhaps I had sinned by seeking out their secrets. But that can't be it, because the prophets have always told us to seek out knowledge and wisdom.

"When I saw The Eye of the Prophet, that glittering whirlpool of energy in the emptiness of space, my faith in the prophets had been strengthened to levels I hadn't known since I was a child. But as I sit here, my death almost certain, I'm can't help but wonder if the Prophets had nothing at all to do with it. At the Science Academy in Tempasa I've heard talk of black-holes which pop into existence and have a lifespan of several seconds. Some believe that the explosion that destroyed Hyloth so many years ago was this instead of a meteorite. Perhaps that's what I saw, and what ultimately lead to my death. It seems more comforting that the Prophets might not exist, than they might be malicious, or simply capricious.

"I continue to write this log in the hope that someone might find it who can return it to my family on Bajor; if the line of Iku even still exists at that point. Or perhaps I just continue it as an attempt to make sense of what's happened to me. I haven't written much about what happened to me before I started this journey, since that wouldn't seem appropriate in a ship's log. I suppose I could write something of that now, but the thin atmosphere has reduced my mental facilities, and it's hard to do even simple tasks now.

"I plan to switch off the air purifier before I go to sleep, so there will be no more entries. Even though I kept hope long after it was realistic to do so, I don't believe I've accepted my death until this very moment. I shall never see Bajor again, never see the sun set on the sea, or eat kola nuts again. The festival of Peldor has just begun, if my time-keeping is accurate. I had hoped to be back by now…"

Sherri looked up from the book. "That's the last thing he wrote."

Somber silence pervaded the room. There wasn't even the clink of utensils, everyone had long ago finished their dinner, and had stayed to hear how the story ended.

"Will we able to return the log to Bajor?" Uhura asked.

"I won't be able to," Sherri said. "The Cardassians consider tardiness to be an insult, so I must be there to assume by duties at the agreed upon date."

"I've sent a message to Starfleet asking for permission to take not only the log, but the ship in tow, back to Bajor. They were enthusiastic, especially since it would present an opportunity to open relations with such an isolated culture," Kirk said.

"You should be proud, Charlie," Sherri said. "Finding that ship was quite an accomplishment. The people of Bajor will be very happy to have this log."

"I.. uh, I mean, it was nothing," Charlie said, blushing.

Kirk clapped him on the shoulder too. "Humble, too. Keep up the good work, Charlie."

Charlie beamed with pride.

Kirk awoke with a sense of foreboding. He tried to puzzle it out as he looked at Sherri's sleeping form beside him. Then he had it: Chekov had calculated that it would take the Thassians a little less than three days to catch up with the Enterprise, and that had been more than two days ago.

They were running out of time to prepare his defense; that was, if the Thassians were even willing to listen, and wouldn't just spirit Charlie away without allowing them a say.

As luck would have it, Kirk ran into Charlie in the turbolift on their way to the bridge. He looked bright-eyed and enthusiastic; Kirk suspected he'd had a better night's sleep then he had.

"Captain, I was just thinking… Don't you think you should send someone to see if Khan and his men are all right?" Charlie said.

That would have thrown Kirk even if he'd had a good night's sleep. "I'm sorry, what?"

"On Ceti Alpha V. They might be having a really hard time of it. You could help them out, or maybe they'd prefer to go to prison instead of trying to build a colony there," Charlie said.

"Charlie, they're genetically augmented humans, they'll have no trouble surviving in that environment; we also left them plenty of supplies," Kirk said.

"But that's assuming nothing went wrong. They could have contracted a virus, like the one you ran across on Omega IV, and Psi 2000, and Gamme Hydra IV, and Miri's world, and-"

"I will not have my orders questioned!" Kirk said.

"Of course sir," Charlie said, and stood up straight.

They rode for several decks in silence.

"Besides… Starfleet feels any crew sent to resupply them or evaluate their progress would be in danger; they'd probably try to take over the ship, just like they did here," Kirk said.

"Ahh, I see," Charlie said.

After a few more decks, he spoke up again. "Captain, about Miri's world and Omega IV, I was always wondering-"

"Stop while you're ahead, Ensign Evans," Kirk said.

"Of course, sir," Charlie said.

Charlie would always resent that it was Spock who spotted them first.

"Ensign, there is an anomaly at 7000 kilometers by 62-degrees by 85-degrees, please train your perception upon it," Spock said.

"Yes sir," Charlie said, rising from his chair.

He peered into the scope and began adjusting the knobs. It didn't have the resolution of the main viewscreen, but he could focus it by himself and not call attention to what he was looking at. Which was for the best if it turned out to be nothing important, as it almost always was.

When the greenish blur came into the scope, he gritted his teeth. He knew there was no point in attempting to focus it for a clearer image, it would always appear blurry; the Thassian were like that.

Charlie backed away from the scope. Spock raised an eyebrow in interest, but said nothing.

How had he not sensed them? The feeling of their presence was unmistakable, even as far away as they were.

Charlie walked over to the captain's chair. The captain was currently writing something on an electronic clipboard. After a moment he looked up, curious.

"Captain," Charlie said, in a hushed voice. "They're here."

The captain pressed a button on the command chair. "Ambassador Glasow, please meet me in the briefing room."

He rose and motioned to Charlie to follow him. As they walked to the briefing room, Charlie tried to start a conversation multiple times, but the captain kept raising his hand to silence him. The ambassador was already there when they arrived.

The captain was the first to speak once they all sat down. "I've been putting off having this conversation, but the time has finally come when we must discuss your future, Mr. Evans."

"I can modify the shields so they can't take me. The thing is, I'll need to be able to use my abilities to do it. You don't have some of the materials I need," Charlie said.

"We don't want to antagonize them, Charlie," the captain said.

"He's right, Charlie. The first step in negotiation is to seek common ground between parties, where they can work out their differences in an environment free from antagonism," the ambassador said.

"You can't hand me over to them!" Charlie said.

"Charlie, if that is their wish, there is nothing we can do to stop them. However, they seemed willing to talk before, so-" the captain said.

"You need to let me protect myself, to protect this ship!" Charlie said. "You can't let them take me away, I'm part of your crew, I'm a human being!"

"Which is exactly the point we're going to make to them," the ambassador said.

"Talking isn't going to do anything! We need to defend ourselves! I can also modify the photon torpedos to disrupt their energy matrix-" Charlie said.

"Charlie, we are not going to attack them, especially not when unprovoked!" the captain said sternly.

"They have provoked you, they're going to take away a member of the crew!" Charlie bellowed, What was wrong with them? Why couldn't they understand?

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This was going horribly, Kirk thought. After yesterday he was hoping that Charlie had really changed, that he could become a fine starfleet officer, even if he didn't remain part of his crew. However the facade had developed cracks, and he saw the arrogant manchild… no, mangod that he had seen three years ago.

"Charlie last time we were unprepared, and I wasn't able to argue your case convincingly because I'm an explorer and military commander. However Sherri here is a diplomat, if anyone can convince the Thassians to let you stay, she can," Kirk said.

Charlie disappeared with a pop. A slight breeze tussled Kirk's hair as air rushed in to fill the vacuum where Charlie had been sitting. Sherri gasped.

"I suppose that could have..." Kirk started, but then buried his face in his hands.

"It might not be too late, Jim," Sherri said.

There was a whistle from the desk intercom. Kirk flicked it on.

"Captain, crewman Yang here," a voice said through the grille. "The hangar-bay doors have opened and have refused to close."

"Has the mini-Enterprise taken off yet?" Kirk said.

"No sir, it… Sir, it's taking off now!" Yang said.

"Take no action, crewman. Let it go," Kirk said, then sighed. "Kirk out."

Kirk connected the monitor to Uhura's station.

"Uhura, please attempt to contact Ensign… Charlie Evan on the frequency he previously used," Kirk said.

"Yes, sir," Uhura said, and stated flicking switches. After a moment she turned back to her monitor. "No response, sir."

"Mr. Sulu," Kirk said, switching the monitor over. "What speed and heading is Charlie's ship taking?"

"11 by 76 sir, he is now at Warp 6 and accelerating," Sulu said.

"Is the Thassian vessel still on our scanners?" Kirk said.

"No sir, it vanished around the same time that Evan's ship went to warp," Sulu said.

Kirk switched the monitor off and rubbed his face in resignment.

"You could probably still catch him, Jim," Sherri said.

"The mission comes first," Kirk said.

"It's carelessness, not tardiness, that offends Cardassians. If I arrive late for my assignment, and make it clear that I did so on purpose, they will think I'm antagonizing them, which is how they let each other know that they're serious," Sherri said.

"Even if we could talk him into coming back, this outburst undermines all the arguments we were going to make to the Thassians," Kirk said. "I really let myself believe that he could be a fine officer; I should have remembered what you said about him. He's just mimicking what he saw on the viewer screen; below the surface, he was still the angry boy that wreaked havoc and took over my ship. I guess people can't really change."

"If that were true, Jim, you'd be wasting your life away doing signal analysis in some galactic backwater," Sherri said.

Kirk couldn't even manage a smile.

Even traveling at Warp 9 it had taken Charlie five days to get to his destination. As he slowed to impulse within the comet-forming belt in the outer reaches of the yellow dwarf's solar system, he reached out with his perception.

Therefore he sensed, long before he saw, the vast asteroid belt that over 30 AUs in diameter. Mixed in with the rubble of the remains of terrestrial world was a miasma of gases and exotic ices that came from demolished gas and ice giants.

There were still planets that existed in towards the star, but Charlie had no interest in those. What interested him was the giant hollow shell that floated in orbit around the star. A hollow tube of neutronium, the substance which was not simply the hardest known, but the hardest possible.

Within that ancient shell was the ruins of a machine that had once been capable of tearing apart worlds. It had been silent for only a couple of years now, out of the millions which it had existed. Destroyed by the hero of civilization known as Captain Kirk.

He had hoped that the crew of the Enterprise would work with him to fight the Thassians; but he should have known that their idealism and physical fragility wouldn't have allowed it. Part of him was heartbroken over the missed opportunity; he had indeed wanted to be a member of their crew. There was an insufferable bitterness that came from coming so close to achieving your dream, but falling short.

As he had learned from Spock's experience on the Galileo, there were always alternatives, and he'd had a backup plan in case the crew of the Enterprise let him down. Already he was deciphering the mysteries of the ancient engine of destruction, and was beginning to believe that he could repair it; and he would. Because this dead husk and the power it contained were the only way to ensure that no one could ever impose their will upon him again.

To Be Concluded...

"How's all this going to end?" "You'll find out in the third chapter." "There is no third chapter!" "Don't you think I know that?! There will be... but not yet!"