Disclaimer: Paramount, as everyone knows, owns Star Trek Enterprise and everything in it. Original characters are my own. Ensign Dina Samuels appeared in 'Time and Again', 'Armageddon', 'Time Stream' and 'Starlight Maiden'. Mother Patricia McCabe, Enterprise's UESPA-imposed Chaplain, was introduced in 'Cross and Crown', and her alter-ego appeared in 'Pulsar'. She has been aboard for 3 weeks.
This is the 19th story in this series (counting the AU episode 'Face in the Dark Mirror). This story begins about three weeks after the conclusion of 'Cross and Crown'. ('Face in the Dark Mirror' did not take place here, and much of the time in 'Time Stream' was negated.)
Later works will include 'Life Goes On', 'Sufferance', 'The Court Martial of Hoshi Sato', 'Extreme Prejudice' and 'Fractured'.
Rating: M. Intrigue, violence, rape, death.
Spoilers: In 'Broken Bow' it aggravated me that when Archer and Hoshi were captured by the Suliban, Archer fought several of them while Hoshi stood and struggled helplessly against one. I felt that a woman in Starfleet would receive the same self-defense training as a man, as we later saw in Season 3 with Malcolm's 'co-ed' training sessions. When it was revealed in Season 4 that Hoshi had a black belt in Aikido, I was really aggravated!
This work is inspired by, and is a century-prequel to, TOS episode "Friday's Child" by D.C. Fontana.
"What happens when the cost of life in space becomes too high to pay?"
Treaty -/- Violation
By JMK758
Prologue
'Standard orbit, Travis.' Captain Jonathan Archer thought as they came out of warp. He did not say it aloud, however. For a pilot of Travis Mayweather's experience, it was hardly necessary. In fact, Archer had been making a conscious effort over the past week to refrain from giving unnecessary orders to his officers. He was trying to see if a minimalist approach to command would work out, if he could devise a working 'shorthand' with his crew, and the first stage of this was to refrain from telling them to do the obvious.
He glanced to his left at Hoshi Sato, allowing his eyes to say what his voice might have. A moment later he was rewarded with the report that "They are answering our hail."
He looked at the forward screen, which showed the image of a blue green planet. It appeared that the oceans covered almost 60 percent of the surface; T'Pol could tell him exactly if he cared to ask.
'They' were a small survey ship, the SS Bergman, in orbit about the planet. It had been there for almost two weeks, being in the interesting position for a Survey Ship, one which did not normally have contact with any of the worlds it found and mapped, of having made First Contact with a sentient species.
Normally a survey ship, a small vessel with a fifteen man crew, would concentrate upon stellar and planetary mapping, and have contact only with technologically advanced worlds or human colonies. But this vessel's life support system had had the misfortune to fail about a fortnight before due to contaminated filters. It had forced them to send a team to the surface of this planet to gather essential materials their sensors showed were available in abundance. Consequently, they could not avoid contact with the local population.
Their report to Starfleet resulted in the immediate dispatch of Enterprise.
The planet was found to be an abundant source of a material known as topaline, found there in rough mineral form. This element was essential in the production and operation of life support systems. In fact, to use the term 'abundant' was misleading. It was 'abundant' on Theta Antari II. This world was absolutely brimming over with the stuff.
The sensor readings sent back to Starfleet Command had caused a sensation of staggering proportions. It was a find of the millennium, a stroke of the most incredible luck.
The Commander of the Bergman had negotiated for enough of the mineral to be used to repair his systems. Archer's orders: Negotiate for a billion times that much.
"On screen, Hoshi." Archer directed. A moment later the image of the planet (and the invisibly miniscule survey ship) was replaced by that of a bridge so small it made Enterprise's seem palatial. There was the central seat, already the 'traditional' place of command, though auxiliary control and tactical ran through its respective arm panels. Forward was the pilot station, to port was communications and science combined, to starboard were sensors and operations control. The three men occupying these stations looked barely out of the Academy. Their skipper probably had about five years on his subordinates. "Greetings, I'm Captain Jonathan Archer, commanding the Starship Enterprise."
"Hello, Captain." The man in the center seat greeted him cordially. "I'm Commander Barry Victor of the Bergman, out of Lunar Base." He and his fellows fairly exuded the thrill of discovery; a manner typifying the best of Starfleet explorers.
"Glad to meet you, Commander. And congratulations. You've likely made quite a name for yourself and your crew with this find."
"Thank you, sir. My crew and I are looking forward to assuming command of the NX-03."
Archer smiled. No one could accuse this man of thinking small. "Anything's possible." He agreed amiably. The other man's smile slipped a notch, but only for a moment before it was back in full force.
"Actually, it's a done deal. Apparently, someone in Command is very grateful." Archer was vastly surprised and equally pleased. Columbia, NX-02, was months from completion and its crew had already been selected. He was pleased that Starfleet was being so far-seeing, and he determined to keep a close eye on the career of this man and his fellows.
"Congratulations, sir.
"Thank you."
"What can you tell us now about this planet and its people?"
"A great deal, of course. We've been studying it in detail for nearly a fortnight, at least from orbit. The star is, as you know, Capella. The planet goes now by the vastly unimaginative name of Capella IV. It's known to the inhabitants as Ectilini-zoui-quilen-xval, which will probably never catch on with Cartographers, so we can get used to 'Capella IV'. Its people are humanoid, except that they range considerably taller than humans. 2.2 meters is not unusual."
Archer schooled his expression, rather glad for the moment that Trip was not on the bridge. He would certainly make some comment about these people being ones you could look up to. In this case, though, Archer could easily agree, if 7 feet was 'not unusual'.
"They are definitely pre-warp. In fact, they're pre-industrial. Technology and society are similar to feudal Earth. We had had no intention of contacting them, but our landing party was captured almost an hour after arrival. They were not harmed, as the leader of one of a multitude of tribes; whose title is 'Teer', was more interested than aggressive." He'd pronounced the title 'T-err', with a definite verbal stop between the syllables.
"Once they discovered we were not from one of the other nine major or ninety some-odd minor 'tribes', this 'Teer' was quite accommodating. In the interest of good will, he let the landing party go and allowed us to collect a supply of topaline. The natives had never heard of it as such, of course. To them it is just one more rock, but it is found in vast quantity and essentially useless to them. We made our repairs, made our reports to Starfleet, and then hung around until you got here so we could warn you."
Archer, who was already a veteran in several 'First Contact' situations, was not wholly surprised. When strangers are encountered who are not from another, probably competing, tribe appear and are in need of something you have in tremendous quantity, something tremendously valuable to them but useless to you, it doesn't take too much experience to know that another shoe is going to drop very, very soon. "I think I can see your warning, Commander. Topaline is not valuable to them, but something else would be."
"Exactly. They're quick on the uptake, these people. They knew once we were gone, others would be back. Those others would know of their abundant resource and be willing to pay for it."
"I'm sure Starfleet would be willing to pay a reasonable price."
"I sincerely hope not."
Chapter One
Plans
Archer did not try to hide his surprise. "You hope not?" He wondered if he had heard the Commander correctly.
"Captain, there are prices and there are prices, but no price was quoted for the topaline – certainly not in currency, which would be even more useless to them than the 'rocks'. I tried to communicate this to Starfleet, but I think that Admiral John Black stopped listening when he found out just how much we can mine. My Science Officer's estimate was figured in ranges of hundreds of tons on or just below the surface, with far more as you go deeper. You can outfit a staggering number of ships, stations and outposts with that amount, but I feel the unstated price is a bit too steep."
"And that is?"
"Well, Captain, as I tried to relay, this 'Teer' Akaar is one of nearly a hundred leaders of as many tribes scattered all over the planet. There are ten major tribes and about nine times that number minor ones which owe fealty and protection to one of the larger ones. It's not an even nine-to-one split by any means, but that makes no difference. There are effectively ten tribes, and each has a number of 'satellite' tribes. We could deal with any of the other Teers; topaline is that common. But if we undercut Akaar, he'll hear about it and he and the tribes that owe fealty to him would not be happy with whoever does business with us."
"I understand."
"Furthermore, as I noted, topaline cannot be used as a weapon, but they are a fierce race who live and believe in a hard and harsh life. Akaar has visions of being the 'High Teer' of all of the Tribes, and he knows how to drive a bargain."
x
"You told all this to Admiral Black?"
"Exactly as I'm telling you. And I can even tell you the point in which I could tell from his expression that he had stopped listening."
Archer could empathize with this man's position. He'd made his report, and tried to advise his superior of the potential consequences of taking advantage of this 'windfall'. It was not his fault that the very first thing Black had done was to send Enterprise charging out to cut a deal. He wondered if Victor's 'reward' of a command of an NX vessel somehow had a bitter aftertaste.
"Don't worry about that, Captain." The man on the screen told him. "My crew, and I, earned this, and we'll be moving up as promised."
Archer was vastly surprised, and was sure his face showed it. "No, Captain, I'm not psychic, just a very careful observer of people."
"In that case, Commander, you should do well on the bridge of the Republic."
xxx
A half hour later, in the briefing room, the Command crew of Enterprise met in person their counterparts from the Bergman; Commander Barry Victor and Science Officer Lt. Philip Mendez. "As I noted, Captain, they average nearly 7 feet tall, physiques necessary to deal with a harsh, desert climate. They generally wear single piece clothing that covers them from ankle to top of head, with ornamentation at chest and shoulder to distinguish cast and rank.
"Theirs is a society that on Earth would be described as 'feudal'. Not technologically advanced or sophisticated, but don't try to put anything over on them."
"Their principle weapon," Mendez picked up the narrative, "is called a kligat. It's a bladed weapon, disk-like, carried on the belt. It is thrown like a discus and can be accurate to about a hundred meters. I saw one of them take down a running animal at nearly that far. The creature was running a lateral path and it was caught in the neck and killed instantly. I could not visually track the kligat; I only heard it. To this, add an impressive variety of swords and knives."
Victor resumed his story. "Akaar is a shrewd man. He knew there was little I could give him, but one of my landing party tried to explain before I arrived why we were there. Akaar realized there was more profit in letting us go unmolested, with a 'sample' of their resources, than in making any trouble for us or himself."
"He knew Starfleet would jump at the chance to get a virtually unlimited supply of the stuff." Archer agreed.
x
The value of topaline simply can not be overstated. In mineral form it can be ground down to an extremely fine powder for use in lining atmospheric filters. A thin coating of the material was a perfect filter for any organic or inorganic material, which were blocked on the molecular level. Oxygen, however, passed through the topaline as if it were not there.
After the supply was saturated, it could simply be withdrawn, the waste material separated from the topaline, and then reinserted in the filter to resume its function. It took weeks of normal wear for a supply of topaline to attain a point at which it had to be replaced rather than reused. Judiciously used, a ship the size of Enterprise could last for months on a few hundred pounds.
x
"What can we expect when we get there?" Archer asked.
"I wish I could say exactly. It depends upon how accommodating Akaar wants to be. I can tell you that they respect strength, but not to the point where it becomes bullying. However, their philosophy is that the strong should live; the weak should die, so there is great incentive to appear strong. I didn't see too much of their society. My concern, frankly, was getting my landing party back to the ship in one piece without offering to outfit his army."
"Did he ask you to?"
"Not in so many words; no. But I could tell what was on his mind as I learned more about the sociological and political situation down there. He's a shrewd negotiator, as I said. He didn't come right out and ask, but he made it clear that he had something we wanted, and there was something he wanted that we were in a position to give him. He was also smart enough to know I wasn't able to make them an offer, but when my leaders found out what was available; they would send someone who could."
"Couldn't you make it clear to them that we can't either?" Tucker asked, not trying to hide his annoyance.
"Commander, there were five of us, unarmed. I thought it best not to let them get in reach of phase pistols. We had nearly half a kilometer to go on foot, through his warriors, to reach our shuttle. I did not want him to get it into his head that we were totally useless to him."
Tucker had no further arguments.
x
"Well, we're under orders by Starfleet to get a treaty to mine this stuff. What do you suppose we can offer in place of phase pistols?"
Victor's eyes flickered to T'Pol, seated silently across the table from him. He knew how the Vulcan would react to what he was going to suggest, but did so anyway. "Captain; we are, technologically, a good five hundred years ahead of these people. We could probably come up with a hundred things useful to a people living a hard life. Their planet has sufficient oceans but fairly few rivers. I believe many may have been cut off at the oceans by tribesmen trying to gain advantages over their inland 'brethren'. The territory controlled by this Teer, whom I understand is always 'Akaar', is a mountainous region that gets little annual rainfall. I know, when I was there, I would not have minded having a portable T4 water system.
"One of the guards detaining my party had lost three fingers on his left hand in battle. Dr. Gyves tells me he could have restored them with a theoretical loss of dexterity of only fourteen percent.
"Their women do not fight; though I understand they have several castes, each of whom have several different duties and roles. Basing Species Life Expectancy on theirs; the SLE comes to about sixty years, plus or minus ten percent. There are a few warriors that old, but not many. Akaar is in about his mid-fifties, so far as I could tell without asking. The average warrior sees thirty five if he's skillful; thirty if he runs into someone more skillful."
He looked at the assembled officers. "The problem is, while I can name about a hundred technological advances that could benefit them, I've yet to find one that cannot be applied in some way or another toward a method of getting one up on someone else.
"We could give them T4's, but if they can make unlimited supplies of water literally out of thin air, what happens when their other inland neighbors hear of it and want some? Or the coastal warriors find out their strategies and efforts are no longer effective? Will Akaar sell the water to his neighbors? And if so, what will he ask in return? A man could become 'High Teer' just because he has something, in unlimited supply; that everyone wants – that everyone needs. But what happens if, rather than pay that particular price, his neighbors try to take it?"