Space… The final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship, Ebullient.
It's infinite mission: to explore strange, new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no personified country has gone before.
Chapter Two
Jalua Part 1
Alfred stared round-eyed at the screen in the front of the bridge. The screen showed a large round object, unmistakably a planet, slowly spinning in amongst the stars. It was mostly a green color, with a few swirls of white clouds and splotches of blue water. "Dudes! Look at that! That is the first planet we've encountered! The first one besides Earth!" Kiku nodded at his captain. "I just ran some tests and the data that was previously recorded appears to be accurate, sir." The captain grinned wildly. "Thank you Mr. Kiku!" "You have decided on a landing party, da?" Ivan inquired, removing the captain's attention from the small Japanese man to his larger more Russian self.
"Yes, of course. The landing party will contain Dr. Arthur, Mr. Francis, Mr. Kiku and I. The reports of the inhabitants of Jalua are that the people are peaceful, so I see no need to bring along any security personnel." "I will be staying with the ship then?" The larger man inquired. Alfred nodded. "Yeah, as you being my first officer and this being our first mission, I think it's best that the Ebullient has you aboard when I'm not." "Captain, we are now entering orbit." Antonio intervened from his place at the helm. The American spun around to watch the screen again, once more fidgeting with excitement. "Slow and steady, Mr. Antonio." "Si." The navigator agreed, reaching out to the buttons in front of him. Alfred sat in silence as the Ebullient drew closer to the planet. At the distance they were at now, it was evident that Jalua was much smaller than earth. Despite the size difference, the appearance of the planet was similar to earth. The only notable factor being that the planet was mostly land, whereas earth was mostly water. The starship moved closer to the planet and began to travel around it. Entering orbit was usually an easy maneuver, only complicated if something went wrong. Since starships couldn't land, only pull into space docs, they must enter orbit around the planet and reside there when they were visiting.
"Orbit secured." The Italian man sitting at the helm reported.
"Thanks, Mr. Lovino." Alfred s/hot out of his chair. "Mr. Ivan please take the bridge."
"Da." Ivan responded taking a seat in Alfred's now abandoned chair.
"Mr. Kiku, Mr. Francis, please accompany me as part of the landing party." The captain ordered, walking toward the automatic doors at the back of the bridge. Both men nodded in unison, got up from their respective seats, and followed to their superior. The metallic doors opened and the three men entered the elevator, the American happily waving goodbye to his men left on the bridge. "Transporter." He ordered as the doors closed. The elevator shot downwards, fast, but not at a pace that would unnerve anyone riding it. The ride wasn't long, and the elevator soon came to a stop, the automatic doors opening once again. Alfred led the small, partially assembled, landing party out of the elevator and down the long white halls. Metallic doors, the same as the elevator door, only red, lined the halls. They were far from alone, as the hallway was crowded with men and woman clad in the matching red, yellow, and blue Starfleet uniforms. They looked up briefly as they saw their captain pass by, before busily returning to their work.
"Aren't you so excited?" Alfred inquired happily, addressing the other two members of the landing party.
"Hai." Kiku said shortly.
"Oui! But we've been to other planets before, on training missions." Francis pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah! This is different though." The American retorted. "This isn't just some training mission programmed into a computer or monitored by instructors. This is real life! We're really out here exploring the universe!"
"But Jalua's been explored already." The Frenchman said simply.
"But not well." Kiku said pointedly. "Starfleet has only sent one ship there, and they could only stay for a short period of time due to an insufficient food supply."
"And on top of that there's so much more! There's the entire rest of the universe! All the stuff Starfleet has never seen! All the places they've never been!" They came to a larger grey door at the end of the hallway, and the captain stopped and faced the two men accompanying him. "This trip is something our ancestors never even dreamt about it was so impossible to them. This is the trip of a lifetime. Never will anything more fantastic ever happen to you!"
The door behind Alfred slid open, revealing an agitated Arthur. "If you're about done lolling about, it's high time you came inside so we can get on with this bloody assignment."
"Hey!" Alfred grinned at the Brit. "I'm the hero! I'm aloud to give motivational speeches!" He stepped inside the room, indicating for the other men to follow him.
"Good evening Captain, aru!" A Chinese man behind the transporter device greeted as the men entered the room.
"Thanks, Mr. Yao. Is the transporter functioning properly?" Alfred and the men walked past the device and onto the waiting transporter platform, each of them standing on individual transportation circles.
"Of course, sir." The Chinese man, Yao, surveyed the men waiting to be beamed down to the planet below. "All set, aru?"
Alfred too, looked around and checked out the men accompanying him in the landing party. There was the Doctor, Arthur, a man the captain had recently become rather well acquainted with, he was quick to anger and easily irritable. The Japanese man, science officer Mr. Kiku, was a man of little emotion yet high intelligence. He said only what was necessary, and when asked personal questions he would often dodge around answering. Communications officer, the Frenchman Mr. Francis, on the other hand, appeared to be a man of strong emotion. He would often waggle his eyebrows or wink, and add slight tidbits of affectionate French to his dialogue. Alfred saw himself in a simple light. He was purely the hero. And that was all there was to it. He felt confident and secure with that simple word as an adjective. He felt it described him perfectly, and no other was needed. "Ready!" He answered. "Beam us down, Mr. Yao!"
Yao smiled and began tweaking buttons on the transporter device. "Transporting." A computerized electrical sound resounded in the transporter room as the four men were enveloped in a radiating light. Their molecules visibly separated and vanished, soon to reappear on Jalua below.
~()()()()()~()()()()()~
Alfred waited impatiently for his particles to reassemble in the glowing light. In a few moments, the mechanical sound faded away and he felt whole once again. Immediately he sprang forward and fist pumped. "Woot! Awesome! I never get tired of that! So cool!"
"Shut it, you bloody wanker!" Arthur snapped, pulling out a small cylindrical device out of his pocket. It made a small tweetleing noise as he waved it slowly over his body. He quickly finished and let out relieved sigh. "Good, no missing parts…"
"You should be a bit more respectful towards your captain, mon chere." Francis intervened, waving a finger at the doctor.
The bushy browed man ignored the other and pointedly turned his back to him.
"Ah, Dr.-" The Frenchman was cut of by the interested tone in Kiku's voice.
"Look at these plants." He instructed. "They are most unusual."
"They look the same as any other plant to me." Said Alfred, puzzled.
"No. Watch." Kiku insisted. He stood before a short, leafy tree, with a thick stump. Slowly and cautiously he reached forward and poked the tree in the trunk. It flinched away from the touch, scooting back several feet, causing all the men present to jump.
"Bloody hell!" Arthur shrieked, pulling a phaser from his waistband and aiming it at the tree.
"No! No! Don't shoot, Arthur!" The American shouted, grabbing the Brit's arm.
"What's your problem? We have to show the natives love, remember, mon chere?" Francis insisted, turning his back to the other men in his group and turning to the plant with open arms. The tree did nothing holding still, as if it had never moved at all.
Alfred raised an eyebrow, unease evident in his features. "Dude, I think it's just a plant, not a person. It's probably just a species that moves."
The Frenchman now only inches away from the plant, turned around and faced the assembled group of men again. "Oh? Come on-" He was cut off as a fist shot out of the bush and collided hard with the back of his head, sending him to the ground. The other men tensed immediately, pulling their phasers from their belts and aiming at the tree. Nothing. The arm hung limply from the trunk, it was tan, as if it spent most of it's time in the sun, and not in the inside of a tree. Francis sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "Merde…" He looked from his comrades, stiff and weapon ready, then turned to face the tree behind him, frowning. "It hit me!"
A loud screeching filled the previously calm forest atmosphere as the arm on the tree began flailing wildly. Suddenly, it wasn't only the arm that was flailing, but the entire tree. And then there wasn't one arm, but two, and then a leg was added to the bunch. The previously rough bark began to smooth out into a tan skin tone, combining with the limbs present. The tree seemed to melt, becoming softer as it changed shape. It transformed from thick and straight, to something more curved and shapely. A few seconds later, there was no tree at all, but a person. A woman, with tanned skin and dark green hair. Her deep brown eyes were filled with rage, and she launched herself onto Francis.
"Don't shoot!" The captain ordered. "You'll hit Mr. Francis! He'll have to hold his own."
The attacked man did in fact, hold his own. The pair tumbled around on the ground for a short while, the girl screeching all the while, but it wasn't long before Francis had the girl pinned to the ground, his hands with a firm grip on her wrists and his legs straddling her hips. He quickly blew a wayward strand of golden blond hair from his eyes and cracked a sly grin. The woman snarled, but otherwise remained submissive.
The other men visibly relaxed, lowering their weapons ever so slightly. Arthur walked closer to the pair, glowering down at the strange native. "What in god's name is your problem?"
"Who are you men?" She screeched, her high voice and thick unnamable accent was alien and foreign, but still decipherable. "Tell me now, strangers!"
"You're a woman!" Francis declared eagerly, shamelessly raking her body with his invasive blue gaze. She was wearing very little, a grass skirt and top made of leaves.
"Knock it off!" Arthur demanded, striking the indecent man in the side of the head with the butt of his phaser.
"Merde!" The injured man yelped, shaking his head furiously. "Stop hitting me!"
"Then stop molesting the bloody natives!" The Brit demanded, waving his phaser dangerously at the still crouching man.
"Chill, Doc!" Alfred ordered, crouching down next to the girl. "We didn't mean to offend you. We come in peace, we will release you if you promise not to attack us again." The native sneered at the men, but slowly nodded.
"Captain…" Kiku warned slightly, readying his phaser yet again.
"Relax, dude. These folks are soposed to be friendly, right?" The American grinned, briefly deterring his attention from the girl to the cautious man beside him.
"Yes, but-" The captain cut the Japanese man off.
"Then all we need to do is ask her to show us their rocks and them it's mission complete!"
"Captain-"
"Relax! I'm the hero!" He turned back to the girl on the ground, signifying the conversation ended. "Get of her, Mr. Francis." The Frenchman reluctantly complied, standing up and offering a hand out to the native woman. She ignored it and instead hoisted her own self off the ground.
Kiku stepped closer to her, but still kept a wary distance. "I am sorry we offended you. Where we come from, living things do not take the form of plants. Please forgive our ignorance."
"Who are you?" She demanded once again. "Why did you appear so suddenly? Where did you come from?"
"We're from Starfleet. We beamed down here." Alfred pointed at the sky. "Our ship is up there."
The woman looked surprised. "Are you the Promised One's?"
Alfred grinned, genuinely curious. "Promised Ones…?"
"Yes! Oh, how could I not see it sooner? I beg for your forgiveness, my lords." The girl dropped to her knees, stretching her arms out in front of her. "Would you please allow me to take you to my chief?"
"You don't have to-" The doctor cut off the captain before he could correct the native.
"Wait a minute, Alfred." He whispered to the other. "If they think that we're the "Promised Ones" then we're a hell of a lot more likely to have beneficial relations with them, right?"
"We can't trick them though, Doc, it's not right!" The captain whispered back harshly. "We'll just tell them the truth and hope they still treat us well."
"Treat us well? She just attacked us!" The Brit hissed in annoyance.
"That was just a misunderstanding." Alfred insisted, brushing Arthur away. "The reports say they are friendly, remember?"
The doctor grumbled and nodded, frustrated by his captains lack of sense.
"We're not the Promised Ones." The American man announced, reaching down to the woman. "You don't need to-"
"Please!" The greed haired woman shot up from the ground. "You mustn't taint your flesh by touching mine!"
"But, I wouldn't be-"
"I will take you to my leader now." She promised, bowing low once more before turning her back to the men and disappearing into the thick jungle-like foliage.
Alfred hesitated slightly, then addressed his men. "Follow her."
"Sir, I don't think that is a good idea." Kiku warned. "She intends to take us to her leader. There will no doubt be armed men guarding him."
"We would need to meet him anyway as part of our mission. I think it's best that we go there on friendly terms. We can straighten all this out when we meet him." The captain assured, leading his men after the native.
The jungle was thick and green. There were several tall trees towering high into the sky before branching out with long leafy limbs. In between those were shorter more closely knit trees with large smooth leaves that easily dwarfed any commonly found on earth trees. Spongy moss-like growth blanketed the ground and long tangling vines draped from the trees. Every once and a while they would pass a short thickly trunked tree the same as the one their green-haired escort had transformed from. They saw no animals, but bird-like calls could be heard in the distance and tracks mapped the earth under their feet. After several long minutes of treading silently through the forest the plant growth seemed to grow more sparse, fading away to a shaggy rich green grass. It wasn't long afterwards that they had left the jungle altogether and they were following a single well tread path through a flat grassy field. The field was completely bare except for the lone trail that cut a straight line through it and several brightly colored small flowers.
"We will arrive shortly." The green-haired girl announced without turning around. "I'm sorry for the long walk."
"Ah! Don't worry about it! We are all able bodied men." Francis reassured, quickening his pace to walk beside the native.
"Francis!" Arthur protested, quickening his pace to catch up to the Frenchman.
"Relax, mon chere!" He smiled wide. "I will walk next to you next time."
The agitated British man gritted his teeth. "You know bloody well that wasn't what I meant! Leave that girl alone!"
"I'm not-" The flirtatious man was interrupted as the native woman stopped suddenly.
"We're here, my lords." She announced. They had come to the edge of the meadow, but instead of the thick leafy forest they had left so recently, the trees here were growing farther apart. Instead of shorter leafier trees growing in between there were several small huts made of branches with grass roofs. In amongst the huts and trees several more tan skinned people milled about. They all had the varying shades of green hair and simple clothing made out of leaves. "Please allow me to lead you through my village and bring you to my leader."
"We appreciate all you are doing for us." Kiku reassured, nodding at the girl to continue.
"It is nothing compared to the sacrifice you will make." She frowned shaking her head, her deep brown eyes grave.
Alfred and his crew exchanged quick panicked glances. "What do you-" The captain was cut of by a loud voice form behind.
"Marjita! Who are these men?" A large, well built man, clad only in a grass skirt, ran up to the group still standing on the outskirts of the primitive village. His bright green hair hung in tangled clumps in front of his pale brown eyes. The man came to stop next to the girl.
"Doren." The girl, Marjita, greeted, reaching out for his hand. The man took it and wound their fingers together. "These are the Promised Ones." The excitement in her previously grave eyes was startling change.
A wide, toothy grin cracked the man's, Doren's, face. "That's wonderful!" He dropped to his knees and bowed the same as Marjita had earlier. "We will be forever grateful for your sacrifice. Your deaths will bring us much peace."
Alfred stared wide eyed at the bowing man before him. Deaths? He jumped slightly as Arthur tugged on his sleeve. "Told you so!" The Brit hissed angrily. "Now what, Alfred?"
TO BE CONTINUED…