The Lexington

Commodore Robert Wesley was in his Ready Room, just off the Lexington's Bridge. He had sent a report back to Starfleet Command some hours ago, regarding the possibility of Tarnokh Aggadeen's presence on Omega IV. He received a disturbing response from Starfleet a few hours later.

Exeter, under the command of Commodore Ron Tracey, sent to Investigate Omega IV six months ago. No communication from Exeter since then.

Worrying, that…

Wesley and Tracey had come up together in Starfleet Academy, along with Matt Decker.

Everyone called us The Terrible Trio

They had served together as cadets and junior officers. Then, Senior Rank, Captaincy, and more beckoned, and the Terrible Trio went their separate ways, each to his own ship, to his own path.

Matt Decker was dead now, in a heroic last stand against an ancient alien weapon of very mass destruction.

Is Ron dead too?

The Comm on his work desk buzzed.

"We've reached Omega IV, sir," First Officer Steven Anders' voice came over the Comm. "The Exeter is there, in orbit. So is the Enterprise."

"The Enterprise?" Wesley stood. "What the hell is Jim doing out here?"

"We're about to find out," Anders replied. "They're hailing us."

"On my way," Wesley stepped out of the Ready Room, back onto the Bridge.

"Much to his surprise, it wasn't Captain Kirk sitting in the Enterprise Captain's Chair. It was Chief Engineer Scott.

Where's Jim? Where's Mr. Spock?

It seemed that Scotty was a mind reader today…

"Commodore…" the Scotsman's burr was a little more pronounced today. "The Captain, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy, are down on the planet's surface."

"What about the Exeter?" Wesley demanded, and Scott sighed.

"All dead," he said. "Except for Commodore Tracey. He was stranded down there, as is the Enterprise Landing Party."

With that, Scott explained how the Exeter had been found orbiting Omega IV, the crew dead of a virus that removed all the water from their bodies, leaving empty uniforms and crystals, all that remained of the bodies of Exeter's crew

"We're getting' just a mite worried, sir," Scott continued. "We haven't heard from Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, or Dr. McCoy in a while. What about you, Commodore? What brings you here?"

Another wrinkle to the suddenly deepening mystery here…

"I'll get back to you, Mr. Scott," Wesley temporized. "Give me a few minutes…"

Once contact with the Enterprise was severed, he turned to Kaiel.

"A virus that takes all the water out of a body, turns it into crystal…"

"It is not a natural virus," Kaiel stated. "It was one of Aggadeen's weapons. He joked about it, how he could turn an entire planet's population into diamond with the flick of a wrist."

"So, he is here…" Wesley looked at the view-screen, at the two starships already in orbit. Now, he knew what he had to do.

"Raise the Enterprise," he ordered.

"Scott here," Mr. Scott was back on the Lexington's view-screen.

Scotty's going to hate this…

No choice…

What he had learned about Tarnokh Aggadeen over the days leading to their arrival at Omega IV…

Whatever he was, Tarnokh Aggadeen was a threat to the Federation.

Maybe even the entire Galaxy…

"Scotty…" he took a deep breath, let it out. "There is a Galactic Order threat on Omega IV right now. I know you're worried about Jim, Spock, and McCoy. I am too. But I am under orders to investigate this threat, and, if it can be done, to eradicate it. As such, being the Ranking Officer here, I am taking over command."

Wesley hated doing this.

No choice…

Scott had risen to his feet, scowling, protest in every line of his body.

"Sir!"

"Tarnokh Aggadeen has destroyed countless worlds, killed…trillions of sentient beings. This virus was one of his weapons. If we don't stop him, he could do that to the entire Federation. You with me, Mr. Scott?"

"But…What about- "

"We'll save them, if we can, Scotty," Wesley sighed. "Jim Kirk's a brilliant guy, and so is Ron Tracey. Between the two of them, they should be able to hang on."

And here's the part Scotty really won't like…

"One last thing," Wesley continued. "Until we confirm that Tarnokh Aggadeen has been dealt with, you are not to respond to any hails by either Ron Tracey, or Captain Kirk."

"But- "

"Aggadeen is a Taurek," Wesley cast a meaningful glance at Kaiel. "As such, he is a telempath of extremely high order. You may think you're talking to Kirk, ordering you to beam him up."

"But it's really this Aggadeen fellow?" Scott was getting the idea.

"Then what do we do?" the Scotsman added. "I'm not partial to sitting on my hands."

"Neither am I," Wesley agreed. "The first thing we need to do is find out what brought the Exeter here, and what prompted Ron Tracey to beam down."

"Aye," Scott nodded. "That's what started this particular mess. But, if you beam over to the Exeter, that bloody virus will get you."

"There are other ways to get into a starship's computers…"

"Aye…I'm slow today." Scott broke out into a huge grin. "Exeter's Prefix Code. We can get all of Exeter's Logs that way."

"Yes," Wesley stood. "My party will beam over as soon as we can."