As the party drew closer to the Gamma colony's dome, Captain Kirk would direct his attention to Mr. Spock. He had yet to have a moment alone with his lead science officer, but that hadn't stopped him from being concerned about his friend. It was difficult to tell with the large parkas adorning the crew, but it was clear to Kirk that Spock looked troubled. It was bad enough that Vulcans were not used to such cold environments, as it was apparent that Spock was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as they traveled. He only hoped that they could be done with this mission soon so that he could attempt to comfort his troubled friend.

For a moment, the Captain believed he had perhaps been staring for too long, as Spock had suddenly stopped and turned to face the Captain's direction. Kirk offered Spock a friendly smile, but only then realized that Mr. Spock had been staring above the Captain, not at him. Curious, Kirk turned to see what had caught Spock's attention but saw nothing. "Mr. Spock? Something to report?"

The Vulcan merely stared up at the branches of the towering pine trees, his brow furrowed ever so slightly in suspicion. "…I'm not entirely certain, Captain, but for a moment, I thought I had seen an odd flash of light emanating from this direction."

Kirk once again turned to view the mysterious treetops, or at least, what he could see of them, but nothing had appeared any different to him. He believed his science officer, of course, and as such, grew wary of their current surroundings. He turned to M'Benga. "Doctor, how much longer can we last out here?"

Dr. M'Benga gave a shake of his head. "Not much longer, Captain. Ten minutes at most if we don't pick up the pace."

Kirk nodded, gesturing for their party to continue on to the Colony's dome.

They had reached the outer perimeter of the Gamma Colony soon after that. With not so much as a minute left, the colonists were able to open the airlocks and help the landing party inside. Dr. Takei, their chief surgeon, had called a small team of medics to assist in reviving the crew. Mr. Spock had received the most injuries, his Vulcan physiology no match for the deathly cold of Taurus V.

Meanwhile, aboard the Enterprise, a strange and growing swarm of particles began to collect in a narrow space between two large crates of supplies in the lower decks. It shifted and pulsed as if the swarm itself were a beating heart, purple energy gathering all around the particles and huddling them close together to begin to form a mass. The mass took shape slowly, it's pulsing growing weaker and irregular as if it were struggling to stay alive and beating.

A head formed at first, then a torso formed soon thereafter. The mass continued to take shape and condense until finally, a being collapsed on the deck floor. Aliah gasped loudly as if she had breached the surface of some deep body of water. A hand flew out to grasp at the crates on either side of her, her chest feeling tight now that she was aware of how little space she had.

An act of instinct more than anything, Aliah called on her strength to shove away one of the crates as if it weighed nothing at all. She breathed heavily and finally looked up to see that her efforts had been successful. However, she was significantly weakened by the journey and in no condition to continue her mission.

Thinking quickly, as if she suddenly realized how exposed she was, Aliah used the last of her strength to stagger back into a corner and hide behind one of the crates. Her muscles felt weak, and she felt nauseous. Everything tingled horribly, but Aliah gave that no mind right now. She needed rest if she was to continue her search of this strange alien ship. Allowing her head to rest against the crate, Aliah shut her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Mr. Spock awoke on a biobed in the Gamma Colony's infirmary, his head giving a painful ring as the light shined into his eyes. He grimaced only slightly, his Vulcan mannerisms not even momentarily forgotten. He heard an amused sigh then and turned to see his Captain at his bedside. "Captain? I do not recall how I have come to be here. Have we reached the Gamma Colony?"

Kirk gave his friend a smile and looked around as if taking in their surroundings for the first time. "Well, Mr. Spock, it would appear so, yes." He chuckled. "You had fallen unconscious just before we reached the colony. Dr. M'Benga and Dr. Takei were able to stabilize you once we arrived."

As if on cue, a pair of men stepped into the infirmary, one holding a chart and another holding a biosensor. Mr. Spock gave them a respectful nod. "Thank you for the assistance, Dr. M'Benga. Dr. Takei as well."

Dr. Takei, an older man of Asian descent, gave Mr. Spock a warm smile. "I should be thanking you and your Captain for risking your lives to deliver us those supplies. How are you feeling, Mr. Spock?"

"I am well, Doctor. I would like to be discharged so that I may return to my duties."

Dr. Takei stepped forward and swept the biosensor in his hand over Spock's form for a moment or two before giving a nod. "I'll never cease to be amazed by the recuperative factor of Vulcans. You seem to be fine to go, Mr. Spock."

The Captain decided to intervene then, placing a hand atop Spock's shoulder. "Actually, gentlemen, if you would please, I'd like to speak to my first officer alone."

The group gave Kirk an odd look, Spock especially. The doctors had no objections, though, and left the pair in the infirmary. When they were alone, Spock turned to his captain. "Captain, I—."

Kirk raised his hand. "I'm sorry, Spock, but I've been trying to find a moment to speak with you, and this was just too convenient." He gave his friend a small worried smile. "I saw you earlier in the ship. You seemed distracted, just as you did here on our way to the colony. Something seems to be troubling you."

He hadn't phrased it as a question, but Spock nodded anyway. "Affirmative, Captain… Forgive me, but I have perhaps allowed too much of my concentration to remain fixed on our earlier discussion of my relationship with Lt. Uhura."

The Captain arched a brow. "Spock, if I said something then that offended you—."

"No, Jim, you misunderstand. I believe your earlier observation was accurate. Lt. Uhura is only human. It was illogical of me to assume that Lt. Uhura and I would be able to bypass the difficulties ascertained by the differences in our biology, in our relationship." Spock held his gaze not at his friend but at his hands. They were folded delicately across his abdomen.

It took a few moments for Kirk to respond. "Spock, there's no reason to throw away what you have with Uhura over a little misunderstanding." Again, he rested his hand atop Spock's shoulder. He wouldn't force Spock to look him in the eye, as it was clear that just discussing this much with Kirk was difficult for him.

The Vulcan sighed. "I would agree with you, Jim, however, this has not been the first time something like this has transpired, and I have doubts that it will be the last. Lt. Uhura is… a wonderful woman, but I am not able to give her the level of affection she requires from a partner easily."

"No one said relationships were easy."

"That may be so. However, I do not believe I am mistaken in stating that they are not typically as difficult as this one, Captain."

It was Kirk's turn to sigh now. "Are you sure this is what you want, Spock?"

Spock took a second or two to respond, finally moving his gaze up to meet his Captain's. His indifferent demeanor had returned, but it was easy enough for Kirk to see the sadness in his friend's eyes. "I am certain, Jim."

The Captain gave his friend a nod and stood then, jerking his head over to the doorway. "I think I've taken up enough of your time then, Mr. Spock. Come on, why don't we take a look around the Colony? I heard that their chief of agriculture, Ms. Lin, was able to conduct some tests on one of those Tauran cows."

With that, the pair exited the infirmary and joined the rest of the party out near the mining base of the colony. Director O'Rien had just finished assisting the party and his team in dividing up the seedlings they had gotten from Colony Alpha and prepared some shipments of their own with extra medical supplies and research reports on their attempts to find dilithium. The Federation had tasked the Gamma Colony to provide power for the other two colonies while they mined resources on Taurus V. This hadn't seemed like much of an issue before, but now it was apparent just how difficult Director O'Rien's task was to be.

"I can't make a lick of sense from these readings, Captain. It's like that damned planet is telling me that its core is practically nonexistent." O'Rien huffed and grumbled to himself some, his brow furrowed with irritation.

"That would be highly impossible, Mr. O'Rien. A planet as diverse and complicated as Taurus V would have to have a core. Even an asteroid has a core, albeit an incredibly simple one at that." Mr. Spock had been pouring over the readings from the colony's sensors, looking as mystified as he had been on the ship. "Earlier, I had hypothesized that some sort of radiation must have been emanating from the planet's internal structure to cause this level of interference, but there does not seem to be much more radiation here than there would be on Earth. I am once again at a loss, Captain."

Kirk took a moment to observe the readings himself and shook his head. "Could there be any other natural phenomena to cause these types of readings? A solar flare, for instance."

Mr. Spock gave a nod. "Solar flares have been known to give off substantial amounts of electromagnetic interference. However, if that were the case, the other colonies would have experienced something similar. Moreover, the interference would have only lasted a few days at most. Mr. O'Rien, how long have you been settled on this planet?"

"Eh… It's been nearly two weeks. The interference was there then, and it hasn't shown any damned signs of stopping."

"For a solar flare to give off that much radiation, I doubt it would mean the survival of the colonies, Captain. It also would not explain why the interference seems to be emanating from below the surface of the planet."

Kirk sighed. "What do you suggest then, Mr. Spock?"

The Vulcan thought for a moment, returning his gaze to the readings in front of them. "There could perhaps be wreckage from some long since extinct civilization to blame. It would explain the magnitude of the electromagnetic field."

"You think this is man-made then?"

"It is the only logical conclusion, Captain."

"Very well. Mr. Spock, gather the others and meet me at the colony's airlock. When we get back to the ship, I want you to do some research and see if any ships had made it this far out into the quadrant."

"Aye, sir."

"In the meantime, I'm going to see if there's anything aboard the Enterprise that can cut through even a fraction of that noise. We may not be as equipped to deal this sort of trouble as a science vessel, but there has to be something we can spare for the colonists." Kirk brought out his communicator and flipped it open.

Mr. Spock would set the monitor down and turn his attention back to his Captain before he left. "I seem to recall that the use of ferrite cores was commonplace to reduce small amounts of electromagnetic interference in electronic devices. Perhaps if the colonists had enough of the compound, they could reduce some interference to their sensors. It may even be enough to more accurately pinpoint the approximate location of the wreckage."

"Good work, Mr. Spock." The Captain turned his attention to his communicator. "Captain Kirk to Enterprise. Acknowledge, Enterprise."

Lt. Uhura responded almost instantly, though there was a significant amount of static on the channel. "Acknowledged, Captain. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, we're fine. The landing party made it to the Gamma Colony's settlement. Lt. Uhura, I want you to contact engineering and have them beam down any equipment we can spare that has a ferrite core. Do you understand?"

"Aye, Captain. Though whatever for?"

"I'll explain later, Lt. Uhura. Also, have Scotty standing by the transporter to receive the landing party. We're making our way back to the clearing now."

"Yes, sir. He should be there shortly."

"Acknowledged. Kirk out."

With that, the Captain led the landing party back out into the cold and towards the clearing. This time, they had managed to shave a few minutes off their trek and made it back aboard the ship without incident. Engineering had found a significant amount of equipment in storage that the crew would have recycled at the next starbase. There wasn't much in terms of ferrite, but with what the team had collected, the Gamma Colony would be able to cut down on the interference to at least a comparable degree. For that, Director O'Rien had been grateful as now they would be able to find more extensive deposits of dilithium crystals than they saw before.

After another earful from Dr. McCoy and being given a clean bill of health, Captain Kirk returned to the helm and sighed at the warmth he was receiving from a cup of coffee nestled between his hands. He enjoyed the sensation for a moment before reaching for a button on his console. "Captain's log. Stardate 4849.3. We have finally completed our mission in the Taurus Sector.

Regarding the interference emanating from Taurus V, our crew had found a considerable amount of equipment in storage that contained ferrite cores. With this compound, the Gamma colony should be able to cut down on the amount of electromagnetic interference their sensors are reading and begin to track down the source of the magnetic field. Copies of Director O'Rien's reports on sources of dilithium crystals have been sent to each of the other colonies. We have also been informed that a Federation freighter is finally on its way to the sector. As such, we have vacated the sector entirely and have again set course to the nearest starbase for shore leave."

"It's about time, Keptin," piped Mr. Chekov, turning around to give his Captain a smile.

Captain Kirk returned the sentiment, finally relaxing into his chair. "I couldn't agree with you more, Ensign."

"What did the Captain say to do with the rest of this junk?"

"I'm pretty sure he wants in packed up in the crates again by the time we reach the starbase. Said something about getting it recycled."

Back in the storage decks, a pair of engineering officers were returning an assortment of unwanted equipment to their crates. Another team had rifled through it earlier, but it was now their job to clean up the other team's mess. "Man, aren't we the lucky ones? I can't wait till we get to the base. I'm so sick of looking at these stupid crates…"

"Hey, come on, Richards. Learn to appreciate an opportunity when it comes."

"Opportunity? Have you been sipping on that Saurian brandy again?"

The other officer's laugh could be heard from some far corner of the deck. "What I mean is, how many chances do you think we'll get to be able to look around this place? I don't know about you, but I haven't been stationed on a starship this big before. My last assignment was on some crummy science vessel probably less than half the size of this baby."

A sigh left officer Richards. "Come on, Dawson. We don't have time to be looking around. I wanna finish this up before we get to the starbase. There's no way I'm cleaning up on my shore leave."

"Lighten up. We'll get it done. I just want to see what's over here." As officer Dawson made his way to the far back of the storage deck, he would notice a large crate shoved against a back corner. "Hey, there's a big crate over here… Looks like it got shoved aside."

"Shoved? Half these crates weigh almost half a ton. There's no one on this ship who's shoving crates. I don't think even Commander Spock could do that."

"I'm telling you, man, this crate is huge, and there's marks on the floor that make it look like someone slammed this thing into a corner."

Officer Richards set down the equipment he had been clearing away to follow after Dawson. "Alright, alright, I'm coming to check it out."

He had only made it a few steps closer to his friend before he heard something large and heavy being pushed across the deck.

Officer Dawson was shouting that something had pushed the crate away from the corner. Fearing for his friend's safety, Officer Richards ran the rest of the way to the back of the deck in time to see a strange-looking creature confront them. She had long dark hair and a bizarre assortment of purple markings all over her face and hands. Richards reached for his phaser. "Hey! Who are you?"

Aliah had woken up the sound of more creatures communicating. They were loud, and it had been evident that at least one of them had been approaching her hiding spot more quickly than she would have liked. Her head was aching from the noise, but Aliah didn't have a moment to waste in her current situation. She had shoved the crate aside when she sensed the other creature was close enough but hadn't factored in that another creature would have joined them so soon.

They looked confused and afraid as if she were some sort of threat to them. Aliah could understand that, as she had felt that before when she spotted the Old One. However, these were not Old Ones. They appeared to be more round-eared aliens. Perhaps they could be reasoned with? Concentrating on the closest one to her, Aliah reached out with her mind. 'I mean you no harm. I come from the planet below.'

At first, she was met with silence, then the other alien had begun yelling at her. Aliah winced, the sound slamming against her ears. She took a step back but quickly realized the severity of the situation when she saw the yelling one reach for some sort of device on his belt.

Aliah's eyes widened, her pupils dilating to take in more light. The yelling creature was pointing the device at her, and she was sure now that it was some type of weapon. She lifted her hands in a defensive position.

It seemed to stop the aliens in their tracks. They exchanged looks with one another, but still, neither of them seemed sure of what to do. Aliah swallowed, taking a step forward again. The silence she was receiving from them told her that they could not hear her. Perhaps if she was closer, they would be able to.

"Hey! Stay back! We're armed, and we're not afraid to fire!" Officer Richards took another step forward. "Dawson, get back!"

Dawson raised his hand to his comrade, trying to calm him down. "Easy, hold on. I think she's trying to communicate. She isn't armed. Look." He used his other hand to point to her sides. There didn't appear to be any sort of phaser there.

Richards kept his phaser pointed at the intruder but didn't move. "Are you sure about this?"

Dawson ignored his friend for now, focusing instead on trying to get the strange-looking woman to answer him. "Who are you? How did you get on board the ship?"

Aliah took another step towards the closer alien. He seemed more receptive to her attempts to establish communication than the other one. She took slow, cautious steps toward this being until she was within arm's reach of him. 'Hello? Can you hear me now?'

Again, she was met with silence. She was unsure what to do now. It was clear these beings were unable to speak to her, but perhaps they could still listen? Aliah reached out hesitantly towards the alien. She did not want to frighten him, nor did she want to anger the other more hostile being. It was a gamble, but perhaps if Aliah could make physical contact with the alien, she would be able to speak to him.

"Dawson, what the hell is she doing? Get back! You don't know if she's dangerous."

"Easy, man. I don't think she wants to hurt me. Maybe she just can't talk or something?"

She retracted her claws and placed her hand delicately on the being's cheek. He was so warm. It was fascinating. Slowly, Aliah closed her eyes and attempted to reach out to the alien's mind. 'Hello? I don't mean you any harm. Can you hear me?' She waited a few moments before suddenly, she was met with a feeling of intense pain. It radiated out from the alien and shot up her arm and into the base of her skull.

"Ah!" Dawson screamed as if he had been shocked and crumpled to the ground between the woman and Richards. He wasn't moving.

"Dawson!" Richards took aim with his phaser again and shot the alien woman square in her chest.

She cried out in pain then, clutching at her head and chest before she too slumped down onto the floor. The last thing Aliah heard was the other male dragging his comrade away and loud electronic wailing.