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The following story takes place after "Forms of Life"

Star Trek: Maximillian

Needs of the Many

2

The shuttle descended through the atmosphere of Cirrus Theta quickly, but cautiously, it's pilot being very careful to stay within the parameters set into the systems so that the planet's inhabitants would not detect them. Ensign Robert Johnson tapped the controls nervously, drifting a bit too close to a satellite's radar system, before correcting himself, watchful for the eyes of Captain Kelvok, who always seemed to be there when he made a mistake. Fortunately, at least so far this journey, there had been no mistakes. The shuttle had left the Maximillian without incident, had evaded the electrical disturbances in the area, and had made it through the heat shield with nary a scratch on the grey hull.

Lieutenant Commander Critch Starblade watched out the window, using his enhanced vision to look out for any disturbances there might be in the area, though the shuttle's computers were certainly up to the task. It just made him feel better to not trust any systems save for his own. Lieutenant Overload was enjoying the ride down, chatting with Databit about a new project he had recently undertaken, and Kelvok was simply sitting in the back, his eyes closed, calmly meditating, the cares of the physical world melting away until there was only his thoughts and himself, just the way he preferred it.

He was softly jarred out of his rest by the Ensign pilot. "Captain...we're approaching the designated coordinates." Pulling himself together, he rose, and walked quickly to the front of the shuttle.

"Were we detected?"

"No sir, I stuck to the flight plan exactly."

"Very good. Bring us into a landing position, and prepare the Argo. Get me Commander Tamak." From behind Kelvok, Critch shook his head.

"You're not serious about driving that thing around, are you?"

"Not at all, Commander. I believe Ensign Overload would be more than happy to drive us to the escape pod."

"But that...wait, HER?"

"It will give us a chance to talk about some things. And give her some much-needed practice on maneuverability. Give us a chance to, as they say, 'feel the wind through our hair'."

"If you say so." Critch groaned, unable to miss Overload's 100-watt grin, or her excited babbling to Databit about how he was going to get to man the shifting mechanism. Databit was already mulling over the possibilities of traveling at unsafe velocities.

The Maximillian hung in space above the planet, silhouetted in blue by a nearby electrical storm. Skrit watched the storm with detached interest, his thoughts still hovering over being left on the ship, denied a rare opportunity to fly his ship through the perilous conditions, to truly test his construction skill and flying abilities. He shook it off, and tapped a few controls, monitoring the conditions on the planet, and the life signs of the travelers. He noticed that they had reached the surface, and a moment later, Ensign Kitana Xan, acting chief of Communications, called out to the bridge.

"Incoming hail from the surface, the shuttle has landed."

"Good, Ensign." Tamak stood, unconsciously tugging downward on his uniform shirt, a maneuver that had been repeated throughout the ships of Starfleet for many years, though they no longer rode up as they had in prior years. He glanced back at the controls of the Captain's chair, and then nodded toward Xan, who put the call on the speakers. "Captain?"

"We have arrived, Commander. Are the electrical disturbances still in the area?"

"They are. We have had to alter our orbit twice to avoid them."

There was a slight pause as Kelvok hid his disappointment. He had hoped to have the ship in position to beam them out if need be. It seemed that particular hope would have been in vain. "We will keep you appraised on our position, do not unnecessarily risk the ship should anything happen. Kelvok Out."

Commander Tamak nodded, and returned to his chair to wait it out, his eyes firmly on the planet and the surrounding clouds of electricity, which had seemingly become more numerous as time passed. Almost unconsciously, his hand tapped the keypad on his chair, plotting a course closer to the planet below.

The shuttle had been at rest for a few moments with no motion or sound coming from it. If there had been any by passers, they could not be blamed for believing that the shuttle had been there for much longer, and had been abandoned for many a passing day. They would have been very surprised to see the back bay door come open with a short 'shushing', and then an instant later when the Argo Mark II erupted out of the darkness of the rear holding bay. The Argo, not changed much from the initial design when it was successfully tested out on the Enterprise herself, was a 4x4 all-terrain vehicle, designed to mimic the ancient Earth-vehicles that had maneuvered the swamp areas and deserts of the time. The exterior was largely unarmored, as it was not intended to be used for combat purposes, though if it came to that, an array of armaments could be found, including a rear-mounted cannon, capable of shooting very low-yield torpedoes at any combatants.

Inside, the maneuvering wheel was accompanied by a roomy interior, with redesigned plating that made the seats a bit more comfortable than the original model. There were many places to store items, holders for weapons and the like, and hand holds for when the vehicle was going at high speeds. Which it certainly was now. Ensign Overload had almost immediately shifted the Argo into high gear upon its exit from the shuttle, and had quickly, after a short bout of practice with the steering, become an expert at the vehicle. The Argo rushed across the landscape, kicking up a cloud of dust and rock as it moved through the grass and sand that made up this area of the planet. The sand was not strange, but the outcroppings of grass and weed stood out, as though it had been recently planted. Critch glanced at his captain, who was obviously enjoying the ride far more than he was.

"You think the cloud we're kicking up will attract any attention?" Critch, clutching an overhead handhold, had to yell over the commotion of the Argo in its rush to the crashed pod. His face was full of worry and consternation, worry that they would be noticed, consternation at the joy that Overload had at risking all their lives for her bit of fun. Even the small Databit seemed to be enjoying himself, often as they went over a small bump raising his hands in the air, relishing in the small movement as though he was going down the tall hill of a roller coaster. Ensign Bob was trying not to be violently ill as the trip went on, but it was too fast becoming a losing battle. The only victory he would have now would be to not lose the morning's meal on his Captain. Kelvok had his eyes closed for a second before he realized that Critch had been addressing him, and his eyes fluttered to life, as he appeared to exhale slightly.

"There are frequent dust storms in this area, Commander. I doubt one more, even as unnatural as ours, will raise any suspicion." He shook his head, and leaned his head back, obviously at peace. He noticed that Critch was still ambivalent about the situation. "How would you have handled this, Commander?"

"Sir?"

"The situation, with the pod. What would you have done different?"

"I'm...not sure what you mean." Critch thought he was being led into a trap.

Kelvok leaned up, his rest forgotten, his voice steady as the ride went on. "Everyone has a different take on situations. Some would prefer that we moved the ship closer, to risk beaming up the pod. Others just to leave it be, and let the inhabitants think what they will whenever they become brave enough to investigate its origins. What do you think?"

Critch shook his head. "Well...I think coming down here was too much of a risk, especially with the Argo. Paints a pretty big target on our backs."

"So you would be in favor of forgetting the pod?"

"No. Too much information on the databanks. The prime directive still holds."

"Would you bring it back up to the ship?"

"Studying the electrical storms would have been a better option, maybe finding a way to get past them, maybe even dispersing them. If we weren't in such a blasted hurry, wouldn't have been a bad idea. And it's still risky to get the ship within beam-out range..."

"You've eliminated your options, Commander."

"Then we create new ones. The fact that the pod is there is sad, but just the pod can be explained by a lot of things. I'm sure their government could cover it up; other governments have all over the place. The main problem is the data on the computers themselves."

"How do you propose..." Critch was on a roll now.

"We hijack their satellites with our own systems, creating a daisy chain. They'll think it's an odd sunspot or interference or something. We use our link to send an energy surge right through their systems. We'd fry a few things, but I'm sure Squirrelly could rig it to fry the computers on the pod. When they find it, the computers will never be able to be recovered, at least until they're already aware of the Federation, and the most important thing is, we'll be long gone by the time that happens. Case closed, we're sipping Betazoid Daiquiri on the beach at Risa." Critch finished his scenario, obviously proud of his conclusion.

Kelvok let a hint of a smile fall across his face. "Yet you didn't bring this up before..."

"Kelvok, there hasn't been a race in the galaxy that can hide their feelings from these eyes." He tapped his finger against his left eye. "I saw your face when you talked about the Argo. Your eyebrows went up and your nostrils flared slightly, and your breathing increased. For a Vulcan, that's like you just lighting up."

Changing the subject hastily, Kelvok leaned back again, closing his eyes. "Regardless, for our sakes, I hope my decision fairs as well as yours may have." The Argo moved on, though it was now slowing down.

After noticing the speed drop several kilometers an hour, Kelvok moved up, turning towards Overload. "Road getting too rocky to drive?" Indeed, there was a great amount of desert rocks and sand jutting up in several places, effectively blocking the vehicle's path from advancing. After a moment, the Argo slowed to a halt, and Critch jumped out. "Looks like we have to hoof it from here."

"It's all right, Commander, we're well within a kilometer."

As Ensign Bob shakily got out of the Argo, losing his battle with his breakfast in the process, Kelvok glanced up at the sky as he tapped his communicator, a habit he had never been able to break. He knew he wouldn't be able to see the Maximillian, they were too far away, yet there they were, an unmistakable dark dot in the sky, like a daytime star, just not as bright. Kelvok frowned noticeably, and called up to his ship.

"Is everything all right, Captain?" There was a slight hint of boredom, as well as faint anger in Tamak's voice, unnoticeable to most, yet to Kelvok it was like a red flag going up. This was quite unlike him to bend orders like this. Tamak more than anyone knew the consequences of not obeying his superiors, since it had cost him his turn at the Captain's chair, several years before.

"Why have you moved the ship closer, Commander? Were my orders not clear?"

"They were clear, Captain, however, Commander Meowran is picking up some interesting readings near the crash site. In case you may require a beam out we..."

"I will not have the safety of the Maximillian jeopardized because of what may or may not happen. It was made quite clear that a beam out would be too hazardous in the current conditions. We will deal with this upon my return. For now, return to your original position and await our return. We are nearing the pod now."

"Understood." The line went silent, and Tamak returned to his chair, but made no order or move to change the position of the Maximillian. It hung in its precarious orbit with a horrific electrical storm happening just off its starboard side. Skrit shook his head. Something wasn't fitting together in all of this.

"Commander, are you sure that we can't take down the R.S. Lyon just in case? I've got a bad feeling..."

"The decision has been made." Tamak ended it with that statement, as T'Purr called over Skrit, defusing the situation.

"Skrit, what do you make of these signals?" As he glanced at the odd formation, she added in a lower voice, "Something's going on with him; he's been like this for the last few days."

"I know." He whispered back. "He's never been this standoffish."

"You're not the only one with a bad feeling, Skrit." She scratched her fur-covered ear absently, swishing her tail slowly, showing caution through her actions. Skrit shook his head.

"Nothing I can put my finger on. Where are these coming from?"

"That's just it. As far as I can tell, they're all around us. There's a large concentration on the planet's surface, but I can't pinpoint a location within a thousand kilometers."

Skrit frowned as he realized that Tamak was glaring at him, and had cleared his throat. Feeling much like a child caught passing notes in school, Skrit glanced back down at T'Purr. "Send it to Jaydin, she's been looking at a lot of signals lately." Then he slinked back to his station, attempting to look busy. The ruse worked, Tamak returned to his stare at the view screen, at the planet.

In sickbay, Jaydin received the file as a text, and glanced at it quickly. The small note from T'Purr brought her up to speed, and also informed her to avoid Tamak. Jaydin didn't need any reminders of that, considering the way he had acted lately, seemingly ever since she had returned from Bajor. She began to look at the signal, represented in code format as jagged lines of various colors, and broke it down, trying to find a pattern, or a similarity to anything else she had studied. She silently gave thanks that she had taken a few courses of code breaking as electives back at the academy.

As she stared at the screen, a small vine twisted in endless pause in a stasis tube, a souvenir from the adventure that almost cost them the Maximillian. It seemed to overlook sickbay, watching everything, seeing the frustration as a silent clock seemed to countdown, and the count was nearing its end.

The pod sat, remarkably intact, half dug into the ground from the hard impact after falling through the planet's atmosphere, through the heat shield, eventually encountering the unstoppable force of gravity, found itself lacking in the face of this adversity, crashing into the surface of Cirrus Theta with all the grace of a sperm whale. Its side had been ripped in places, and the away team could see the interior quite plainly. Kelvok stepped forward on the uneven ground, appraising the situation, assessing the damage even as he worked over how to return it to the Maximillian, or at worst destroy it without attracting the attention of the planet's inhabitants. Critch, Overload, and Ensign Bob stood behind him, Overload already scanning with her tricorder with Databit leaning against her head, acting tired from the excitement of the trip over. As she scanned the environment, she squinted, looking a bit confused.

"Is there a problem, Ensign?" Kelvok had noticed her consternation.

"Not really.... I can't understand these readings."

"Let me see." Critch glanced at the pad. "Weird. Almost like its being jammed. He tapped a few buttons.

Jaydin dragged a screen aside as she glanced at the vine in the glass, and suddenly, she came to a dark realization. In a panic, she hit her communicator.

"Tamak! Get them out of there!"

As Jaydin realized what the pattern was miles above them, Critch realized the same thing by clearing away the interference. "Ah, crap."

The pod seemed to disappear before their eyes, covered in rising sand and a tangle of green and brown. A deep growl erupted as a mass of vines moved up out of the ground, settling the problem about what to do with the pod, sending it into pieces and burying them deep. They moved with a mind and purpose, finally settling the bulk of the creature above the ground, resting on the sand, appraising its enemies.

The plant-creature advanced on the away team. Slowly, forceful, driven.