The captain has decided to divert our course three light years to orbit Planet Q. Dr. Tiffany Leighton sent a transmission to the captain informing him that she had discovered a new synthetic food that would 'revolutionize all food shortage problems.' Her phrasing has something to be desired, but Dr. Leighton is a respectable empirical research scientist. The work she produces is steady, reputable, and occasionally brilliant. Nonetheless, I was suspicious of her message. If she had indeed found the 'miracle cure' to the Federation's supply problems, why should she notify the captain and request him to visit the planet, rather than submit her results for review and publication in a scientific journal?
As it turned out, there was no breakthrough in synthetic food technology. Dr. Leighton, by all appearances, asked the captain to assist her in settling a personal score with one actor named Anton Karidian. The captain has suddenly become extremely moody and tense, but he will disclose nothing to both myself and Dr. McCoy. We are still in orbit above Planet Q. The captain is on the planet attending a cocktail party held at Dr. Leighton's abode.
Before beaming down to the planet, the captain locked himself in his quarters for several hours. Computer logs indicate that he accessed several 'Top Secret' files and studied them thoroughly. For the past two hours, I have been employed in the highly illegal activity of breaking through Federation security to obtain the contents of those files. Dr. McCoy, as is his habit, has been nagging me incessantly as to whether I have access to the files yet.
"I want some answers, Spock."
"It is likely that these files will provide them, but as I have yet to breach their security and decode the encryption, kindly step away and allow me to do my job. I cannot devote all my mental energies to the problem, Dr. McCoy, when you are literally breathing down my neck."
The Federation, it appears, has more than a few 'skeletons in its closet.'
In 2246, the Terran Colony Tarsus IV suffered a major shortage in food supplies. The inclement weather caused a crop failure, and by some bureaucratic mistake the urgent request sent by the colony council was not processed for several weeks. During this time, one of the provincial governors of the colony Kodos seized control. His criminal profile reveals that he prescribed to some outdated eugenics theories, and decided to implement those theories in his government. Shortly after he came to power, he ordered the execution of half the colony's population.
The choice was made with great consideration. Kodos personally chose every person to be executed using his criteria. This is evident by the photographs Federation investigators took of his office. All six walls are covered with paper, the majority of which were printed with genome maps, brain scans, and bio readings of the colonists. Several of the papers have annotations by Kodos. Starfleet reports that of the 8503 colonists, 4251 individual marked for execution, 4242 individuals were executed, and 9 escaped the slaughter. Among those who survived are James T. Kirk, Tiffany P. Leighton, Kevin W. Riley, Jorge M. de los Reyes, Eleanor V. Molson, Kumar R. Aggarwal, Rossana K. Baca, Mohammad J. Khaffaji, and Annika L. Kilchenmann.
A brief glance at the list of the dead revealed that the entirety of Dr. Leighton's family was killed, as was Lt. Riley's. The captain's mother, Winona R. Lawrence-Kirk and his stepfather, Mark T. Lawrence, were also killed.
"Damn damn damn damn damn." The doctor punched a wall.
The doctor and I did not have time to discuss our findings.
"Transporter room to Commander Spock."
"Spock here."
"The captain has beamed back on the ship. He's carrying Dr. Leighton—"
"Spock?! Find Bones. Tiffany's dying."
The doctor immediately rushed out. I caught up with him.
"Doctor—"
"Get out of my way, Spock."
"I am not hindering your movement. Doctor, it is imperative that the captain does not know that we are fully informed of his involvement in Tarsus IV—"
"Why the hell not?! I've got a thing or two to say to that kid—"
"There must have been a reason that he did not choose to inform us. We have not looked at all the files the captain perused, and we have not formed a plan of action. It is absolutely necessary to deceive the captain in this matter."
"What else do I need to know, Spock? I think I know everything I need—"
We arrived at Sickbay. The doctor and I had not reached an agreement, but the captain was already there, anxiously standing at Dr. Leigton's side.
Dr. McCoy flung himself into action. The captain remained silent, his eyes haggard.
"Spock, get Jim out of here."
The captain began to protest.
"There's nothing you can do, and you're getting in the way. It's an order!" he barked.
I escorted the captain out. He was radiating guilt, fear, desperation, helplessness I'm not going back there. The captain shut his eyes and for a moment, the voice of his stepfather rang clear RUN Jim run fuck RUN they're here get out run run and a scream. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly and the emotion ebbed away.
Irrationally, I wanted to reach out to him. I suppressed the desire.
"I'll be in my quarters. You have the conn."
"Will we be leaving orbit soon, captain?"
"No. I have some stuff I gotta think about."
I was on the bridge when Dr. McCoy approached me five hours later.
"The condition of Dr. Leighton?"
"She's stable, but there's been a lot of brain damage. She might not even be able to remember her own name, when she wakes up."
"Did I delay—?"
"No. Most of the damage was done in the first few minutes the stuff hit her system. Afterwards, it was just a matter of her organs failing. I've got her automatic functions up and running again, but she's never going to discover that synthetic food she's been looking for."
"Have you informed the captain of her condition?"
"No. Ship's indicators shows he's sleeping right now, and he needs it. A lot."
I nodded in agreement.
"So. What're we going to do."
Dr. McCoy does not have the same ability as the captain to project strong emotions such that a telepath might detect them. However, as he leaned on the captain's chair tiredly, I could detect his emotions without touch and was surprised by what I found. There was a mass of hurt and confusion as well as tired anger. why didn't he tell me can't the guy just catch a break why didn't he tell me best friend best man that i know why didn't he tell me his emotions clamored.
I stood up. His emotions would only hinder my capacity to produce a correct analysis of our predicament.
"Perhaps it would be best to confront the captain. I have had the opportunity to review the remainder of the files the captain accessed. Additionally, I have run my own searches in the Federation database and found that of the nine survivors, four have died prematurely. Three of those deaths were caused by the breakdown of the autonomic nervous system and/or severe brain damage. Two other survivors have suffered from debilitating memory loss."
The doctor is fully capable of 'connecting the dots.'
"So someone's out there killing off Tarsus IV survivors. Just great, that's just what we need, a goddamn mass murderer out to finish what he started."
"There is more. I overheard the captain speak of the Shakespearean actor named Anton Karidian. I looked into his files and the travel logs of his acting troupe. Mr. Karidian's credit accounts were opened in 2248, two years after the disappearance of Kodos. Not only that, but the acting troupe was performing planetside at the time of four of the six occurrences. The other two times, they were on a neighboring planet. These facts combined are not enough to make a direct correlation between the deaths and Mr. Karidian's show circuit, but they are compelling."
"What do you mean, not a direct correlation? That's direct enough for me! And why the hell hasn't Starfleet picked upon this trail of dead bodies?! Why are we always the ones cleaning up their messes?"
"The secrecy that the Federation has shrouded the events on Tarsus IV has assisted the killer. When I looked into the criminal investigation files of the six cases, all the investigators recorded puzzlement as to the motive behind the murder. One was put on file as extremely frustrated. He encountered the wall of secrecy, and the Federation was not willing to disclose the files."
"Typical. Damn fool bureaucrats, never make any sense, people caught in stupid red tape and paperwork," Dr. McCoy grumbled. He stepped towards me. "Fine. We'll talk to Jim. We can play good cop, bad cop."
"Doctor, this is not an interrogation."
"Not if I know Jim. It's easier to pull teeth and catch a damn Mississippi catfish than to get answers from him, sometimes. You do what you do best, with all your statistics and almost-direct correlations. Make him see reason, for once in his life."
"What is it that you do best?"
"Get him to talk."