It was a small colony, isolated and on the edge of dying out. Its impending demise wasn't due to a lack of resources, the world in question would not have been colonized if that were the case. What was dooming the colony at the moment was the near impossible to meet demands of the criminal band of Sundered Ones who had found and frequently visited the colony. Giving in to the demands of the pirates who had threatened their colony in order to forestall violence had resulted in trouble, as the criminals kept returning and making even greater demands each time they did so, demands that the people who had made the place their home could no longer meet.

The leaders of the colony were meeting in secret to discuss how to deal with the situation.

"We cannot resort to violence. If we do, we become no better than they are." an elderly female named T'ari said when a middle-aged male made a particularly shocking suggestion.

"I wasn't suggesting that we resort to violence." the male who was named Stron said carefully, knowing that if the Vulcan High Council got wind of what he was planning, they would, as the American colloquialism went, shit a brick.

"But how then are we to drive them off as you suggest?" T'ari asked.

"We hire an intermediary." Stron replied. "I know of a race of highly creative savages who would suit our purposes nicely."

Stron had once spent over three months on a planet called Earth when the science vessel he had been a crewmember of had crashed into the planet (1). Despite the fact that he had hated the place since it had been far too cold for his tastes, the light gravity and the higher oxygen content of the atmosphere made him constantly dizzy, and he had found the inhabitants of that planet to be highly annoying, he had kept up with any news he could get on it. He had done so in hopes of finding word of the shipmate they had left behind. He hadn't cared too much for the other male who had been overly sentimental towards the humans, but after spending so much time in close quarters with him, he had become somewhat concerned as to his fate.

The last infodump he'd received with information that had been gathered from the planet during a recent visit made by a different science vessel had contained a number of newspaper articles about a mercenary band who went around the planet helping people in situations like theirs for a usually nominal monetary fee. Fortunately, the colony had enough mineral resources to meet their usual asking price.

"Who do you suggest we hire?" a younger male named S'tavi asked.

"A band of primitive mercenaries called the A-Team." Stron replied.

&!&!&

(1) For the full story of Stron's adventure on Earth, see the Enterprise episode Carbon Creek.