Lieutenant Warren and doctor McCoy patiently waited together upon the transporter platform for the rest of their expected shore party. Today, the party would consist of the Captain, Bones, Spock, Lieutenant Adebayo, Ensign Dale, and for the first time in any starship's history, Lieutenant Warren.
The Lieutenant, standing with her hands gripping the tricorder in front of her, turned her head over to the doctor. "It is a bit unorthodox to have the Captain and the first officer sent on an away mission together," she commented. "Back on the Luna, Captain Li never went with the away team. And our first officer only went half of the time."
"The Luna was primarily used for transporting diplomats, wasn't it?" Bones responded, but was staring downward at his tricorder. "Captain Kirk has unmatched diplomacy when it comes to meeting new and hostile species. I've seen him talk a computer into blowing itself up."
"So I've heard," Warren scratched at her brow. "The Enterprise is also known for having one of the highest death tolls in the fleet."
"It's a fact of life, Lieutenant," Bones took on a haughty tone with her, "The Enterprise explores parts of space that haven't even been touched by the Federation. Take this planet we are going to, for example. It's part of the job, Lieutenant. We all know the risks when we join Starfleet."
"I wasn't judging," Warren defended herself. "Just stating a matter of fact, is all."
"It's understandable that you're nervous, Lieutenant," Bones said and his hard stare softened, realizing that she was likely concealing the anxiety she felt towards going on her first away mission. "But you have nothing to worry about. We're all experienced officers. Besides, there's nothing but rocks and plants down there."
"I'm not worried," she replied flatly, giving no indication that she was if ever.
As the Lieutenant finished speaking, the remaining four officers that they had been waiting for arrived at the transporter room.
The Captain stepped up to the front of the platform, spinning his head around to offer greetings, "Gentlemen." Following this, he gave Warren a coy smile and nod, "Lieutenant."
Scotty, who stood in front of the transporter console, mentally counted the group of six and requested his orders, "Aye, are you all ready?"
"Beam us down, Scotty," the Captain acknowledged.
When Spock did preliminary scans of Alvar C, he discovered that it was a Class M planet with plentiful flora and mesofauna. It may have been an ideal planet for intelligent life to develop, but Spock found zero traces of civilizations past or present.
The group appeared in a dense amount of brush surrounded by an assortment of jungle trees and penetrating humidity. Spock raised his tricorder to the air and scanned the nearby area while the rest of the group looked upon the lush greenery and the abundant collection of brightly colored pastel flowers that jutted across the canopy's floor.
Ensign Dale sniffed deeply at the fragrant air. "This place smells as beautiful as it looks!" he exclaimed, stroking at the fine petals on one of the many flowers. "It's like something out of a fairy-tale!"
Spock lowered his tricorder, raising a curious brow at the Captain. "Captain," he said, "Sensors indicate that a group of fifteen humanoid lifeforms are headed in our direction."
"Humanoid?" Kirk responded, moving next to Mr. Spock. "You said there were no traces of humanoid civilizations on this planet. Explain."
"Sensors on the ship did not indicate any presence of humanoid lifeforms, Captain. However, the fact remains that fifteen of them are headed in our direction."
"That's not much of an explanation, is it, Mr. Spock?" Kirk squinted into the thick brush trying to spot any movement.
"I'm afraid I cannot offer any explanation at this time, Captain. Only theories," Spock answered. "Perhaps the inhabitants of this planet possess technology that allows them to disguise themselves from our ship's scanners."
Bones, who overheard the two men conversing, piped in, "What's the plan, Jim? We don't know what these people want."
"The plan is to remain calm, peaceful, and diplomatic," Kirk said, grabbing onto the doctor's shoulders and showing him a confident smile.
Through the thick of the jungle flora, the group of fifteen humanoids created an impenetrable circle around the small shore party. All of the beings were identical to humans in both size and stature. They were a scrappy looking bunch with dirty faces, unkempt hair, and torn clothing. Half of the group held long steel spears and the other half held rifles that were similar to type 3 phasers in appearance.
One of the beings, an older woman with leathery skin and a wicked scar that cut across the bottom half of her face, stepped forward. "Drop everything," she said, gesturing to the phasers Dale and Adebayo held along with the tricorders Spock, Warren, and Bones were holding.
Kirk lifted his arms above his head, moving closer to the woman. "We come in peace," he said. "We mean you no harm."
"I said drop everything," the woman coldly repeated.
Kirk nodded to his crewmates and lowered his hands. "We will comply as a show of our good faith-"
"-I don't care about your good faith," the woman spat. "All I care about is how much money the six of you are going to make us. I'd say we struck gold today! We will be feasting for weeks."
Not being able to restrain himself, Bones shouted back at the woman in anger, "We are not some things to be bartered!"
Warren reached out her thin fingers and gently tapped Bones on the shoulder. "Doctor," she whispered, "Now is probably not the time to be getting upset. They have all the pointy things and we don't have anything."
Bones huffed, but acknowledged that the Lieutenant was right, "Fine."
The old woman waved her rifle at the six officers. "Search them," she said to her comrades. "Make sure they have nothing left on them but the clothes on their backs."
The soldiers patted down the Starfleet officers in pairs and removed any communicators, phasers, or tricorders they had left. After the pat-down was complete, the soldiers wrapped hefty twine around the officer's wrists, effectively handcuffing all six of them. The group was paraded through the dense forest and out into a massive clearing. Located in the center of the clearing was a large city with architecture akin to that in ancient Roman times. In between the multitude of temples, villas, and columns within that city, stood a grand colosseum four stories high. And even from their current distance, they could hear roaring cheers and shouts radiating from that very arena.
The group had been silent for several minutes, but Spock had many questions he wanted to ask the old woman, "You said that the six of us will grant you a hefty sum. How exactly do our bodies translate to currency in your society?"
The old woman stared at the strange man, her eyes slanted in anger and her head cocked in confusion.
Warren saw this, clenched her teeth, and clarified the Vulcan's question, "He wants to know what we're being sold for. Like, what we're going to be used for after you've sold us."
The largest of the soldiers, whose face was covered in so much muck that his features were unidentifiable, wrapped his long and calloused fingers around Ensign Dale's forearm. "Can we keep this one?" he gave Dale a toothless grin. "She's very pretty. She'll make a good prize."
Kirk turned his face to the Vulcan and muttered, "It's easy to say that their civilization is rather archaic socially…"
"Indeed, Captain," Spock whispered in turn.
Ensign Dale struggled to remove himself from the behemoth's grip. "I'm no one's prize," he frowned.
"That's enough!" the old woman yelled as she smacked at the behemoth's arm. "We're selling all of you to the Caesar," she answered Lieutenant Warren. "It's always the same with you aliens. You come here, we throw you to the wolves, and we get to eat for another day."
"What's the Caesar going to do with us?" Warren asked.
A part of the old woman's wrinkled scowl faded. "He's going to make you fight in the Colosseum of Cretins."
"Cretins, huh?" Warren raised her brows to both Spock and Kirk.
"You'll die like the rest of them," spoke the old woman as she slapped Warren's back, pushing her forward. "You're soft humans like us. There are beasts in the arena that can't be defeated. I've seen them tear everything and anything from limb to limb."
Kirk continued forward, stepping between the old woman and Warren. "What if we refuse to fight?" he asked.
The old woman lifted a knobby finger to the Captain's face. "In that arena of death, it is either kill or be killed."