Star Trek: Dark Archon
Chapter II: Dokimasia
James T. Kirk snapped awake instantly. Glancing around he noticed that he was in a large, cavernous room with seven walls arranged in an odd geometric pattern surrounding him. Approximately three meters from the floor the walls angled sharply toward a point near the center of the ceiling. There were a series of sophisticated computer panels attached slightly higher than eye level to all but three of the walls, from which an array of multi-colored lights winked brightly with power. Rising slowly to his feet the Captain cautiously surveyed the unusual layout of the room, trying his best to remember how he had gotten here.
"You have many questions Captain."
The voice was unexpected, its tone emotionless as the declaration was issued. Kirk spun around and noticed for the first time that a tall, well muscled humanoid stood patiently waiting at a large doorway - the room's only exit. He did not recognize the man, but took careful note of the gun metal gray jacket that he wore along with lengthy charcoal black slacks. There was no indication that the stranger carried a weapon, but he wore a sophisticated electronic headset that covered most of his dark hair and right ear.
"Who are you?"
Kirk posed the question and watched the other's reaction carefully, but the alien demonstrated an almost Vulcan-like control of his emotions. For the most part the man appeared human except for his extra large build and the total blackness of the irises in both eyes. It was impossible to determine the stranger's emotional state, since his expression continued to hold firm and the blank darkness in his eyes gave away nothing. Memories came flooding back into the Captain's mind but he pushed a majority of them aside, anxious to determine his current status first before deciding on his next move.
"You may call me the Sentinel," responded the other, his voice booming and deep. He stepped forward toward a trio of chairs in the center of the room placed next to the sofa-like furniture that Kirk had been laying on only seconds earlier. A small smile played across his face as he sat down in one of the chairs, and he extended a hand to the Captain. "Please Captain Kirk, have a seat."
Kirk still had his guard up, but relaxed slightly. He studied the features of the other for a moment longer and then shrugged. "Okay, we'll play it your way," he decided, sitting down in a chair directly opposite of the Sentinel's seated position. "Why am I here?"
The larger man did not answer immediately but instead leaned forward intently, studying Kirk very closely with a look that seemed to be one of triumph. "Are your memories intact?" he asked curiously. "Do you remember where you were and how you came to be here?"
There was a pause as Kirk weighed his options briefly and decided how much he wanted to tell the other. "I remember where I was and what I was trying to do," he said after a brief pause of his own. "But I have no idea how I came to be here. Where is this place?"
"You are aboard a massive, sophisticated starship called the Dokimasia," stated the Sentinel informatively. "I am in the process of conducting detailed experiments within the boundaries of your galaxy in order to determine which of its races are worthy of survival and which will remain extinct."
"Really," said the Captain brusquely, listening carefully to the other. "Remain extinct?"
The Sentinel's smile widened just slightly and he nodded. "All will become clear in a short while. So you do remember where you were right before you woke up here."
Kirk nodded. "Yes," he said, his eyes leaving the Sentinel just long enough to study layout of the rest of the room. His gaze rested finally on the door and the electronic control system built into the wall on the right side of its reinforced frame. "If you're here to harm my people or other species, why should I help you? From what you've already said, I can honestly say that I don't trust you."
A chuckle escaped the Sentinel's lips. "I know what you're thinking Captain," he declared with his dark, emotionless eyes flashing. "And I would advise you not to try. If you attempt to overpower me or escape, only bad things can happen to you. I know that you're going to try sooner or later just to satisfy your impetuous, determined nature. However, you should know that disobedience while aboard the Dokimasia will be promptly punished using all necessary negative reinforcement. You will not be tortured while on board this ship, mind you , but the more cooperation that you provide us with the more comfortable will be your stay."
"Why should I cooperate in any way?" wondered Kirk idly. "Obviously I am your prisoner."
"Think of yourself more like... a permanent guest," suggested the Sentinel in reply. "You are my fourth try at creating an exact duplicate of James T. Kirk, and I sincerely believe that this time we have all of the genetic drift and other oddities taken care of. My ship's computer informs me that your DNA and other vitals are a 99.9999614 percent match with the original."
The Captain kept his poker face firmly in place, but internally his mind raced. "Duplicate?" he asked with obvious surprise. "But I remember everything..."
"I am certain that you do remember everything," agreed the Sentinel. "After all, your neural brain activity and memory structure at the time my probe recorded the original James T. Kirk has also been copied as precisely as your physical body. Humanoid species bear a striking resemblance to biological computers, after all. Someone in my position requires only the proper technology in order to achieve the desired result. My people have had this capability for hundreds of centuries."
"So I'm a clone?"
Again the Sentinel chuckled with amusement. "No Captain, you were not grown from a biological experiment in a laboratory," he assured Kirk. "I used a sophisticated computer scan of your adult body as a template, and then replicated a copy of you that is now so virtually identical to the original there is no appreciable difference." He stroked his chin thoughtfully with his left hand. "We had several probes in your galaxy studying the sentient species there and one of them scanned you when you encountered it."
"I don't remember being scanned by any probe," Kirk remarked. "All I remember is..." he trailed off, once again uncertain as to just how much he wanted to tell this strange alien creature who obviously planned to continue holding him against his will without a reasonable explanation.
Ignoring the Captain completely the Sentinel continued with his analysis. "The first two copies of you were very close to satisfactory but had definite identifiable flaws. This was quite understandable given the fact that I haven't ever copied humans before, but frustrating nonetheless. Yesterday I completed my tests on the third version of you, but unfortunately that copy perished in the process. He proved to be extremely vulnerable to subzero weather without adequate protection, even though he emerged victorious when pitted against my dinosaurs. So I had no choice but to create another copy and here you are! Captain James T. Kirk the fourth - my most welcome guest aboard the Dokimasia." He waved his open right hand amiably around the room.
"Who the hell are you and what do you want with my people?" demanded Kirk as a growing, festering anger began building deep inside of him.
"Ahhh, diplomacy abandoned!" grinned the Sentinel. He waved a cautioning finger at the Captain. "I'm warning you once more not to resort to violence; that would be a big mistake..."
Without warning Kirk leaped out of his chair and launched himself at the Sentinel. The alien watched regretfully as the Captain's body stopped in mid-flight, hovering in mid-air and held firmly in place by a crackling emerald force shield that appeared from seemingly nowhere as quickly as Kirk had moved. Angry cries of pain erupted from the Captain as his body continued to float above the metal floor beneath him. Seconds later, he passed out from the intense agony.
For the second time in less than an hour James T. Kirk snapped awake. Once again he was lying on the couch-like furniture next to the three easy chairs. He took a deep breath and then sat up, noticing that the Sentinel was still seated exactly as he had been when the Captain had tried his attack. The fierce looking, ebony eyed alien smiled patiently at him. "Shall we try this again?" he asked casually.
Kirk snorted in response. "Do I have a choice?"
"No you do not," stated the Sentinel tersely. "You are my creation and therefore my property. We can do things the easy way or proceed slowly as you continue to suffer excruciating pain during your futile attempts to escape. Eventually, I would hope that you will learn to behave like an adult." Once again he held up a cautioning hand in warning. "You should know that I am still in the process of deciding whether or not humanity will continue to survive. I admire your independent nature and initiative Captain, but my experiments have not ended. If you press me too hard I will deem your species more trouble than it is worth. I can assure you that you do not want that to happen. I come from a very powerful species that dwells in many galaxies and you cannot hope to defeat me and my plans. Events transpiring here in your galaxy are now completely out of your control... I ask that you accept that. Continued defiance will prove to be useless and may even prove disastrous to my plan to insure the long term survival of your species."
The Captain glared at him. "Okay, if I understand matters correctly, then I'm a copy of the original James T. Kirk and I'm also your prisoner..."
"You are not a prisoner, Captain. You can go anywhere on this vessel that you wish, interact with my crew, and ask any of them all the questions that you want to. All I require in exchange for granting you this freedom is that you do not attempt to interfere with my crew or the Dokimasia's mission."
"And just what is that mission?" demanded Kirk. "What is it you are doing here that is so important that you have to abduct... excuse me, copy people without their permission?"
The Sentinel responded by pointing at one of the bare metal walls in the room behind Kirk. "Watch," he suggested as an image flared to life on the entire surface of the wall.
There was no indication as to precisely where the image was coming from, but the entire wall acted as a giant viewscreen. Kirk found himself more than a little intrigued as he watched a tall, spindly humanoid dressed completely in black walking along the edge of a tropical forest. The alien was at least seven feet tall and he was moving very swiftly, appearing to walk directly towards them. Vegetation in the background behind him consisted of a variety of bright greens, reds and yellows - trees and foliage so vividly colored that the Captain was virtually certain that he was looking at a prehistoric environment. He had walked on the surface of many planets during his long tenure with Starfleet - well, the real version of him had anyway - and during that time he had seen similar plant life on more than a few worlds. This type of ecosystem was most commonly a very vibrant but dangerous environment, populated by very wild, primitive creatures on a world in its earliest stages of development.
"What you are looking at is my test planet," commented the Sentinel helpfully as they watched. "I use it all the time during my experiments that test the physical stamina of my subjects. The very thin, extremely tall individual you see may slightly resemble a bony, walking skeleton but he is in fact my colleague Kusival, Commander of the Dokimasia."
Kirk looked intensely interested. "My guess would have been that you are the Captain of this ship. Aren't you the one in charge?"
"Not of this vessel and its day to day operations," replied the Sentinel with a smirk. "I am the commander of the mission. And although he looks extremely thin and spindly, Kusival is actually a very powerful, resilient being from a race nearly as ancient as mine. I have worked with him for as long as I can recall... he is my trusted right hand and someone I can always count on for complete, unquestioning loyalty during these types of assignments."
The Captain resisted the temptation to speak since the Sentinel was obviously baiting him in an attempt to get him to ask more questions. Instead Kirk watched the screen, noticing that Kusival's progress as he walked away from the jungle-like growth behind him was unbelievably rapid. The alien was searching for someone, and he held what looked like a hand weapon in his right hand. He stopped unexpectedly, slapping at his neck in surprise. As both Kirk and the Sentinel watched Kussival pulled a small, dart-like object out of his neck.
"Incredible," the Sentinel decided with an approving nod. "My Captain is stalking another human, and he has already studied the brightly colored plant life around him and determined that it is quite probably poisonous. Thus, since your counterpart was placed on my test planet unarmed, he has attempted to build his own weapon using venom from the local plant life." Kirk's gaze shifted back and forth between the image they were watching and the Sentinel's expression - he was astonished at how captivated the alien was with events taking place on screen.
"You've got another me running around down there?" inquired Kirk curiously.
"Not exactly," countered the Sentinel, waving a hand. Their view changed, switching instantly to another perspective that was obviously well behind Kusival, near the edge of the tree line. A thin, gray-haired balding human stood near a cluster of thickly clustered bushes holding a makeshift blowgun. As they watched he tossed it aside with frustration, noting that his alien opponent had not reacted in the slightest to the dart impact.
"The poison the human used would have instantly killed most humanoid species," admitted the Sentinel. "But Kusival is not a normal opponent." He watched Kirk's reaction closely, attempting to determine whether or not there was any recognition in the Captain's eyes. "The fact that he was careful enough not to poison himself in creating his weapon is once again proof of your species' ability to survive."
"That looks like a Starfleet insignia on the uniform," admitted Kirk. "So you've recruited yourself another officer." Beyond that, he wouldn't say more. Whether the Sentinel admitted it or not he was playing a game even as he directly interacted with Kirk, and the Captain was determined not to trust his adversary... not after what he had observed so far.
"Indeed I have," the Sentinel acknowledged. "Meet Captain Jean-Luc Picard."
They watched Picard turn and run as Kusival came to a determination as to the source of the dart and quickly reversed course back toward the trees in pursuit of his attacker. The wall's image remained focused on the human as he backtracked; huge pools of sweat were obvious on his chest and under the armpit areas of his red tunic. His dark black slacks were torn in several places from the stabbing sharp points of the bushes and surrounding undergrowth. Kusival fired several brilliant blue energy bursts from his hand weapon, directing them toward random areas in the trees. It didn't appear that he was aiming at anything specifically, but instead was hoping to flush Picard out into the open so that he could finish him off without a more intense pursuit into the jungle.
"Don't be lazy Kusival," mumbled the Sentinel with a shake of his head. "Go on in there and get the man before he escapes!" Kirk turned toward his rival and glared at him with renewed anger, outraged over the callous lack of compassion demonstrated by such an advanced life form.
On the wall image, Picard dropped into a crouch as one of Kusival's energy blasts struck the base of a nearby tree and blew burning embers, gray smoke and wooden splinters in all directions. He paused briefly as the sounds of his opponent crashing through the undergrowth continued growing nearer and then reached an abrupt decision. He ran deeper into the thicker areas of the jungle until he reached a large outcropping of rock that he had bypassed earlier. The rocky ground emerged from the trees and descended in a gradual slope that led to a sudden drop-off descending at least several hundred meters downward toward a distant river below. The distant rushing of water reached their ears, and Kirk noted from their ability to see multiple points of view that the equipment used by the Sentinel to monitor his "tests" was obviously quite sophisticated.
The image returned briefly to Kusival, who ceased his random firing into the trees and holstered his weapon. He paused to listen intensely, hoping to catch any sound of his opponent. After a few seconds he picked a direction - seemingly at random - and began walking into the forested area, moving so swiftly with his long thin legs that he closed the distance between himself and Picard within minutes.
The perspective shifted suddenly back to Picard, who had leaned as far over the drop-off on the rocky surface of the cliff face as he dared, grabbing onto the branches of a bush growing out of the side of it. Holding onto them firmly he slid over the side and dropped instantly toward the river below until the branches he held grew taut. They held his weight and kept him suspended as Kusival's profile could be seen moving through the trees toward the Captain's position.
Picard almost cried out as several of the branches he held pulled loose from the side of the rock face. As he fell instantaneously toward the rocky riverbank below he clawed desperately at other branches and managed to stabilize his position. For the moment he was safe, but he had now fallen too far to have any reasonable hope of ever climbing back up again. Nonetheless, hanging almost three meters below the precipice, Picard held tightly to the branches and waited patiently. Less than three minutes later his opponent arrived at the top of the slope, glancing briefly toward the distant river below. Kusival did not approach the edge close enough to spot his enemy, but instead stood completely still for several long moments and again waited patiently... listening.
"It is quite hot down there," pointed out the Sentinel. "I would imagine that your fellow Captain is extremely fatigued by now... he's been on the run for several hours and unlike you he is not nearly as used to physical exertion."
"You're a bastard, you know that?" decided Kirk. They watched as Kusival finished his wait and - satisfied that his adversary was nowhere in the vicinity - turned back to the tree line and hastily moved away in another random direction. Continuing his search he vanished into the jungle.
The Sentinel responded to Kirk's comment by roaring with laughter. "Oh, James Kirk, you are the rebellious one aren't you?" he decided. "Just for that, I should let him hang there until his strength fades completely and he falls to his death. But if I do so I would have to replicate another copy of him, and your own predecessor has already proven to me that humans such as you will fight to survive."
It didn't appear as though the Sentinel actually did anything, but the image on the wall suddenly vanished, restoring the wall to its original dull, metallic gray coloring. At the same time a sparkling, bright green energy surge appeared and materialized on one side of the room, coalescing into the exhausted form of Jean-Luc Picard. Fatigued beyond belief, the Captain fell to the floor and lay there, gasping for breath. As he did so the Sentinel touched the section of his helmet covering his right ear. "We're done for now Kusival," he said, quite obviously communicating with his crewman still down on the planet's surface. "You can transport back aboard ship and resume your normal duties."
"Ackowledged," crackled the raspy voice of the Dokimasia Captain in reply.
"You see Captain?" The Sentinel smiled at Kirk. "Everything that takes place aboard this ship will be open and honest. I will hide nothing from you."
In response, Kirk shrugged. "That doesn't do me any good unless I have some sort of say in your decision making process. You're running the show and there's nothing I can do about that."
"There is a possibility that - working with the two of you - things could change," the Sentinel suggested, glancing down at the sweaty, disheveled Captain Picard.
"What... what is going on here?" asked Picard, rising slightly to his knees. His head and face were coated with dirty smudges and damp with sweat. He looked first to Kirk and then to the commanding alien presence of the Sentinel.
"Welcome aboard the Dokimasia, Jean Luc Picard-3," stated the Sentinel proudly, waving a hand at Kirk. "Allow me to introduce you to James T. Kirk-4."