Kirk was not impressed with the result of the Council meeting. The members bickered and requested answers and moved into circles again, jumping back and forth in questions already answered and matters already resolved. Sitting in the middle of a round, wooden room, with all those creatures sited on various levels above Jim, made him feel as if he was on pleasure ride, which gave him no option to stop.

Finally, he could take it no more.

"Chief Phera," his voice was loud, clear, commanding and drew the attention of the council members to his person. "May I have the floor? Uninterrupted". He put an extra emphasis on the last word.

The Chief regarded him with his large eyes before nodding yes. Whispers of concern, annoyance and anger rippled through the Council.

"Kind Tree Flock People, please listen to me. No one is more sensitive to matters of democracy and fair ruling than me; I was raised by the united Federation of Planets, which advocates for open discourse and equal opportunity for all to voice their opinion. I cannot and I shall not make choices for you. However, I have a duty to fulfill towards the people of the Federation. I must return my crew to our mission soon. I have solutions to offer you, solutions which you can integrate in your own society and technology without the need of our interference again. Take them or leave as you will but decide soon".

He sat down again, letting the mingle of voices sweep over the room like a tidal wave. He had been called here for the benefit of the Council, however he believed that the council got more confused of his explanations than their absence. Chief Phera was, to Jim's surprise, not very helpful in maintaining the proper order of discussion. But then again, how often politicians were willing to eliminate all chaos?

Phera is stalling for some reason, Jim thought and his suspicion of the benign Chief grew.

"Captain James T Kirk, I am sorry for the disturbance. But would it be possible to have Mr Spock and Dr Chang brough here to explain their work to us? We are familiar with the portals and we will forever be grateful to Mr Scott and Lt Haas for their proper maintenance on our behalf".

"Very well." Jim conceded. "We will" he emphasized the word will, he must make them comprehend his intended course of action, "leave orbit tomorrow at 0900, whether you have made a decision or not".

"Oh, we will have decided by then" the Chief confirmed as Jim was escorted outside of the room.

#####

Thera was surprised when one of their guards arrived holding the one named Mr Sulu. The helmsman looked passed out and not dead, but this was not the most worrying part of the whole story. Why had the Guard been around to pick Mr Sulu up?

The Guard paused for a moment on the doorway, looking uncertain to Thera, but eventually they put the Earther on one of their beds. Thera knew their doctor had to be called as soon as she saw the grey face of the crewman. Initially she had been confused by the grumpy man's title, however respect replaced confusion once Thera realised doctor meant healer.

"Morti, go and call the one called Dr McCoy. Mr Sulu looks to need his healing" Morti had always been following Thera and now was observing the Royal Guard.

"Thank you, guard" Thera looked at the guard, a new addition to the group, surely, as all of them were known to the Chief's offspring. If not for the shiny pin, she would have immediately not called him.

The guard nodded, head low. Why so much compliance? Thera looked closer and saw that one of the eyes was looking weird, veiny and red.

For a moment she was alone with the asleep helmsman. The man looked peaceful in his Tree, reminding her of a sapling sleeping through the winter. Thera was not needed in here. The Chief's offspring exited to follow the unknown guard.

####

"Dr Chang, do you feel fit to come down here to explain your project?" The Captain's voice sounded tired through the communicator. "I have to warn you that the Council is not very... straightforward".

How much worse than a conference audience could they be? "I am willing to do what is needed to assist, sir. If my expertise is needed, then I am happy to talk to them".

"Excellent. Mr Spock is addressing the Council now. Please beam down as soon as possible. I want to be done with this side quest we found ourselves into. It has lasted longer than I originally planned" the Captain's tone indicated that he had been fed up with the locals. She briefly wondered if the Council had tasted the famous sassiness of Kirk already.

Tom got her attention. The look on his face was worried. Was he afraid that one of the walking Treemonoids would stab her again? It was Lt Opal who spoke up, however.

"Sir, permission to beam down with Dr. Chang. You are lacking security, and given last night's events, each of you should have one guard".

There a small pause. "Very well, request granting. Kirk out".

Opal nodded slightly to the direction of Tom, who smiled with gratitude. Li Ann wondered briefly what had happened with them. But she let it pass, for now. They would have more time for these questions once this side quest was over.

####

Bones was surprised to see Hikaru sleeping by himself. Where had Thera been? The guard told him that Thera was with Mr Sulu. Morti wore an expression on his face which could be described as surprised. He was a doctor though, not a detective. Leonard kneeled next to Sulu and scanned him for signs of anything abnormal.

He never heard Thera came back into the room. "Is Mr Sulu going to be well?"

"You scared me, Thera" he responded without averting his eyes from the tricorder. "He is just exhausted and passed out from fatigue. I will give him a hypo spray to help his metabolism reach an equilibrium faster, otherwise he just needs to rest".

He fumbled with his medical equipment as Thera moved away towards Morti. He looked up to see the most discernible emotion he had ever seen upon that face. "Is everything alright? You look like you saw a ghost, or at least this is how you look to me".

"I have seen something odd and I am worried, if this what you mean" Thera paced up and down.

"Thera, there is one of them coming towards us, I have not seen him before".

"What color does he wear?" Bones asked. He gave Sulu the hypospray.

"Red shirt".

"Ah, security most likely" this was not good. Did they get extra security? Now? Why? Was there another attack? So many questions, but no one ever thought to explain anything to him.

Before any of the questions could boil out of him in his trademark grumpy way, Thera spoke. "Ah, a guard. Excellent. Stay close to him, Doctor. We will be back".

As silently as they came in, Thera and Morti exited the small room.