Janus VI was a cold, depressing world, one whose sole value was in the large amount of minerals to be found there. Minerals needed by the Terran Empire, which had set up the mining facility there using slave labour to obtain. It was a place Captain James Kirk of the Imperial starship Enterprise would happily never have visited, had not recent problems in the vicinity demanded his presence.
When he had first beamed down to the planet, he, Spock and McCoy had met with Chief Supervisor Vanderberg, who told them how the facility had come under attack from some unknown creature in the lower levels, that seared men to a crisp and was apparently immune to the weapons they had. Many of the slaves were refusing to work in the tunnels. It was clear to Kirk that Vanderberg was terrified, not just of the creature, but of a slave revolt and reduced productivity earning him the Empire's wrath. When the creature stole the facility's main circulating pump, it became even more important the monster be found and eliminated.
The brute had already killed one of the security officers sent down from the Enterprise, making it personal for Kirk. He and Spock, in the lower levels themselves, had come close to killing it themselves, but succeeded only in wounding it before the quaking silicon mass managed to flee down one of the tunnels it had burned through the rock.
At Kirk's command, he and Spock had split up, planning on meeting a short distance ahead. Now, walking through the darkness, Spock froze as, from up ahead, his ears detected the sharp, rising screech of a phaser being fired. Snapping open his communicator, Spock barked into it "Captain, do you read? Respond, what is your situation?" There was another, longer blast of phaser fire, and Spock broke into a run.
Rounding a corner, he came within sight of Kirk holstering his phaser. "No panic, Mister Spock," Kirk said when he saw him. "Our devil in the dark won't be giving us any more trouble." Joining his captain, Spock looked a few feet away to where the creature lay, large chunks of its' outer layer blasted away and its' insides severely damaged. It still throbbed, albeit much weaker, fast slowing. At last it was totally still; Spock's tricorder confirmed it was dead.
"May I remind you, Captain," Spock said, "We have yet to locate the stolen pump, and time is shortening."
Kirk nodded toward a round tunnel in the rock wall. "The thing came out of there just before I shot it. We'll wait a few minutes for it to cool, then we'll see what we can find in that direction." At the other end of the tunnel they did indeed find the missing pump...in a chamber containing a large pile of the silicon spheres they had already noticed dotted here and there in the caves beyond, many of them smashed and crushed.
"It is as I suspected," Spock said, holding some shell fragments in his hands. "These spheres are the eggs of the creature we just killed. The miners, breaking in and not realizing what they were, destroyed many of them, which is what drove the mother to attack."
Kirk grimly surveyed the undamaged eggs. "We've seen what these animals are capable of...every last one of these eggs has to be destroyed if normal operations are to resume."
"Perhaps not, Captain," replied Spock. "I think there may be a more...profitable solution."
OOOOOOOO
Sitting on the Enterprise bridge, Kirk listened to Chief Supervisor Vanderberg's voice over the communication system, transmitted from the planet below: "The eggs are hatching, Captain, and the little devils are already tunnelling. And just like you and Mister Spock said, they've already lead us to vast new caches of progium. The facility's production rate is going to be doubled! Some of us are still a little concerned though, you understand..."
Kirk grinned. "As long as you don't unduly antagonize the creatures, there shouldn't be any further trouble. And I'm hoping there won't be." His voice lowered. "The Empire won't be pleased with any further disruptions."
He could not see Vanderberg, but he imagined the man shivering. "I'll make sure everything goes smoothly," Vanderberg said.
"You'd better. Enterprise out." Kirk terminated the transmission and turned to regard Spock. "Well, I'm glad I took your advice, Spock; it seems to have paid off. You really know a good opportunity when you see one!"
"Yes, Captain," Spock murmured softly, his eyes on the starfield on the main viewscreen as the Enterprise left orbit of Janus VI, on its' way to its' next assignment.
