Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Prime Directive
Chapter Two
Captain's Log: Stardate 53069.2
We have concluded our exploration of the Zeta Copious II Star System. We have altered course and returning to the rendezvous point for Shuttlecraft.
A leisurely pace towards the rendezvous point at warp four would take sixteen hours for the Pride of the Federation and Starfleet, the USS Enterprise, the Sixth ship to bare the name and registry of the legendary USS Enterprise NCC-1701 as commanded by Captain James T. Kirk, the man who had almost single-handedly changed the face of Starfleet and the Federation itself. Equally as legendary within his own right was Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a much loved and honoured Captain of his latest starship who commanded respect with his mere presence along with those who had become his closest friends, his command crew. Since assuming command of the Sovereign class USS Enterprise years earlier, he had the pleasure of assembling a hand chosen crew, most from his last Captaincy from the lost 1701-D although not a day went by that he did not miss the large and formidable Klingon Lieutenant Commander Worf, now assigned to the Klingon homeworld as the Federation Ambassador after the end of the Dominion War, several months earlier.
Entering the bridge from the turbo-lift, the Captain slowly paced the rear consoles with a slight smile upon his face as he nodded to each of his crewmembers before walking slowly towards the twin consoles at the front of the bridge and speaking to his two officers. Finally turning towards his first officer, he nodded slightly before sitting in the centre seat which had been vacated quickly by the command officer on duty, Commander William Thomas Riker.
"Captain"
"Will, keeping my seat warm?"
"Yes sir. We should arrive at the Rendezvous point in sixteen hours current speeds. All systems are functioning"
"Thank you Number One" He said with a large smile.
"You look relaxed"
"Ohh I am Number One. For the first time in months, I visited the Holodeck" Picard said with a smile.
"Anything interesting happen?"
"Nope, just relaxing on a beach with a book. Nothing but sun, see and no one around" Replied the Captain with a large smile on his face.
Leaning back in the Command seat of his vessel, he let out a deep sigh of content as he declared to anyone within hearing range that they should take on similar assignments more often due to the fact that most of the crew, including himself had taken the chance to relax while the astrometrics department had taken over the study itself.
Nodding in agreement with his superior officer and one of his closest friends, Riker checked the console at his side as he spoke.
"Of course. Since there is nothing to do here but relax, with your permission Captain, I'd like to check on the astrometrics department. They are a little behind with daily their reports"
"Of course" Replied the captain as Riker stood. "This wouldn't have anything to do with young Lieutenant Burke, would it Will?"
"I have no idea what you mean Captain" Riker said quickly and defensively.
"Ohh come on Will, I may be the Captain, but I am a male. She is very attractive…"
"Captain, I am receiving a distress call from the Shuttlecraft, audio only" Called out the Tactical Officer.
Clicking his fingers and pointing at the ceiling, Picard looked up at his tall first officer and shook his head as the emergency call echoed over the bridge.
"… Repeat, this is Lieutenant Alison Macdonough declaring an emergency. Enterprise, can you hear me? We have lost all power, we're on an uncontrolled decent into a planets atmosphere. Co-ordinates are to follow on a secured channel. Our shields have failed, Bill… stand by for an emergency beam out. This is a pre-warp civilisation Enterprise, I will stay onboard the shuttle as long as I can and try to avoid all populated areas. Jettisoning the Emergency beacon along with our logs. Enterprise can you hear me…"
"That's all we received sir" The tactical officer replied as the channel closed.
"I have the Co-ordinates Captain. At Maximum Warp it will take four hours fifteen minutes"
"Mister Data, Make it so" Picard said with his usual hand gesture of pointing to the screen before them.
Increasing speed to maximum safe velocity for the ship, the Enterprise roared through space towards the pre-warp civilisation while the Captain ordered his crew to begin preparations for the rescue mission. Leaving his usual post at the operations station at the front of the bridge, Data moved towards an available station and quickly accessed the ship's database on the planet itself as the Captain and First Officer joined him while he spoke.
"The Co-ordinates are located at a Binary Star system consisting of a twelve planets, the fourth planet consists of a Pre-Warp civilisation according to the last visit by the USS Copernicus eighty four years ago. They have a human appearance and they show potential for a vast intelligence, however… it is worth noting that a fragile peace had been in place between the two landmasses on the planet, the Northern and Southern continents. Captain, unconfirmed reports from the USS Copernicus have stated that a violation of the Prime Directive had occurred during their survey. The records end at this point, as classified by Starfleet Command" Data said as he looked up at his Captain slowly.
"Under who's authority?" Picard replied with anger in his voice.
"Unknown sir, the records end here"
"Dig deeper Mister Data"
"Captain, Why would Starfleet cover up something like this?" Said Riker with a look of shock upon his face.
"I have no idea Will. Find out what the hell is going on Mister Data, Contact Starfleet Command if you have to, you have my FULL Authority on this" Picard replied with a deep anger.
"Aye sir"
A long and cold night had passed by as Lieutenant Alison Macdonough was carefully led up the hillside by her companion and native of the pre-warp planet, throughout the night she had listened to him speak of the troubles as caused by the last Federation Starship to visit this planet as a horrific picture of a deadly stalemate war had emerged between the two superpowers of the planet. Continuing with their experiments in weapons technologies to the point where a powerful Anti-Matter Bomb had been created and detonated on an isolated region of the planet, where a small island once stood as the testing ground all that remained was little more then a small cluster of jagged rocks from the almost vaporised island along with the program of expansion by the Southern Coalition in retaliation of the devastating weapon.
Climbing the final peak of the hill-side, Alison looked around at the scars on the hillside which had been covered by Galen in an attempt to hide the evidence from anyone who approached. Nodding slightly, Galen pointed towards a small cave close to the hillside as he walked with the Starfleet Lieutenant at his side, now dressed in native attire.
Closing on the mouth of the cave, he smiled slightly as he cleared the brush cover he had placed over the shuttlecraft itself as she looked on with shock at the careful placement of the craft itself.
"How in the name of hell did you get the shuttle here?"
"Allow me to have my own secrets Alison? as I am sure that you have yours"
Reaching into his bag quickly, he passed the Starfleet Officer her weapon as he swung his rifle around off of his shoulder as pointed inside the cave quickly. Pulling the brush-cover over the mouth of the cave, she looked at him in shock as he placed his fingertips to his lip. Seconds later, the sound of an aircraft engine echoed through the hillside as he raised his weapon, ready while the aircraft flew low and slow over the hillside as he whispered.
"Southern Coalition heavy fighter. Stay hidden, they are looking for whatever crashed by now"
"How did you know?" She whispered.
"Excellent hearing is a trait of my species. They will not be alone, they are flying a type three search pattern. I believe you would say 'Darn it!'"
"Close enough. What should we expect?"
"It is a Hyper-Sonic interceptor, Mach-Five plus. It will not give us much time to make contact your people, if they are in the area" He whispered slowly.
"How much time Galen?"
"Roughly two hours. Once they have located a possible crash site, they will contact their transport for ground support. Depending on how large the transport I would say minimum of twelve troops"
"Assuming they have sent only one. We should start now before they find us, how well do you know these systems Galen?" She whispered quickly.
"I spent a lot of time with the old vessel, I did not have much time with this craft. One thing that I am is a quick study. I guess that you would say a photographic memory?"
"Good, I'll need your help. I've also noticed that your speech patterns are beginning to change, you are beginning to pick up my language more comfortably" Alison said with a gentle smile.
"Call it a gift. Where do we start Lieutenant?"
Backing away from the covered opening of the cave, Alison activated the hatch at the rear of the Type Two Starfleet Shuttlecraft before they both stepped inside. Although the systems inside the vessel was powered down, a single console before the pilot seat remained active as it blinked slowly at low power while Galen spoke with an almost whisper.
"After I moved the shuttle inside he cave, I spent a little time accessing your species biological database before I begun to treat your injuries, I wanted to make sure that our medicines would not harm you"
"Very considerate of you" She said as she sat in the pilot seat and activated the main computer core. "I see that you repaired some of the damaged systems, impressive work. Impulse drive is on-line, long range communications are off-line though. We're not going anywhere with that hole in the viewport though" Alison said slowly.
"This vessel must be equipped with some form of emergency bulkheads or blast screen in the event of a hull breach in the viewport?"
"It is, but with sensors off-line… piloting would be difficult, if not impossible" Alison said quickly. "So that is our next problem to solve. Hand me that emergency repair kit from behind you, will you Galen?"
Struggling for ninety minutes to bring the main sensors on-line, they finally sprung into life as Alison once again climbed into the pilot seat and looked at the read-out before her as Galen leaned over her seat in an attempt to make sense of the display before him as she spoke.
"I've got him, emergency transporters are on-line and standing by. However, we need to get close to bring Bill onboard"
"I wouldn't advise that Lieutenant. Do you see that object on the opposite of the island? That is the Interceptor. Also, it looks like two transports are in the area along with several boots on the ground. Damn, they are heading this way and fast" He said quickly.
"Shutting down main systems. I hope that I can trust you further Galen, grab three of those Phasers will you?"
"I will not fight them Alison. If they see your weapons fire, they will know exactly where we are and move in quickly. Activate your blast screens and stand by to move this vessel, I will distract them while you move" He said quietly as he picked up his rifle.
"I'll keep a transporter lock on you, just in case. Be careful Galen"
"I am a former Colonel in the Military, remember? I was trained for things like this. I know what I am doing" Galen said as he stepped out of the shuttlecraft with only his rifle in his hands. "Remember Alison. They can not get their hands on you or this ship…"
"I know my orders, Colonel. I will destroy this shuttle before I allow it or it's technology to fall into anyone's hands"
As he stepped towards the opening of the cave, it seemed like he spoke with a mutter words which sounded like 'Pity the last crew didn't think of that'. Taking position before the opening, he raised his rifle towards a group of soldiers as they climbed down the hillside and stopped before the opening while he pushed the barrel through the brush-cover as the leader of the group spoke with a firm voice of his authority.
"This is Major Jared Phelps of the Southern Coalition. Colonel Galen, I know that you are in there with the pilot of that craft. You are surrounded and there is only one way out. Surrender the craft and the pilot, or I shall take them by force"
"Major Jared. I have heard of you, it is an honour sir. However, I can not allow this pilot and technology to fall into your hands… or even that of the Alliance. It belongs to another people… do not do this Major, I would rather not serve as the instrument of your death. If you know of me, then you know that I am more then capable of defending this vessel and the occupant"
"I do know of you sir and I have twenty four highly trained officers with me. A further forty are on their way. Can you hold us all off?" Boasted the Major with a harsh smile.
From within the shuttlecraft, the voice of Alison called out as she confirmed the status of the approaching large group of soldiers from the opposite side of the island.
"Then you should leave Major. All of you, we will destroy this shuttle if needed. I believe that the explosion will likely destroy this island"
"And you along with it Galen…" The Major replied as the Interceptor hovered above the cave entrance.
"I am willing to take that chance Major. I am sorry sir, but I can not allow you or anyone else to approach this cave…"
Waving to his men with the standard hand signals of the Southern Coalition, they began to move slowly towards the entrance of the cave slowly and with their weapons trained on the brush-cover, a bluish light began to glow from inside the cave along with a strange sound which echoed through the hillside while the soldiers pushed past the brush-cover and entered the cave itself. Finally, the Major himself entered as he looked around in shock at the vast emptiness before them as he spoke with shock.
"Where are they? What happened?"
