Star Trek
Charlie Y
Chapter 3
Captain's Log, Stardate 6298.3
The Columbia has arrived in star system L-374, our mission is resupply and crew exchange for the long-term research mission investigating the ancient weapon that has destroyed many of the planetary bodies in this and other solar systems.
I have never in my life seen such complete devastation, only the two planets close to the sun remain; all of the terrestrial planets have been smashed into asteroids, and the gas giants have likewise been dismantled into vast wisps of gas and dust.
I can't help but think the this is what L-374 was like billions of years ago, when it was a protoplanetary disc. To think that a machine that is only a little larger than a starship was capable of doing this boggles the mind.
The massive hulk of the dead Doomsday Machine filled the entirety of the viewer.
Ben Carter shifted in his command chair. Once when he was a child there had been a hornet's nest on one of the trees in his yard. After being stung, his father has used insecticide on the nest, and then ripped it from the tree and thrown it in the gutter. It stayed there for almost a week; Ben would sit on the curb and stare at the empty husk. He knew that it was empty, that there nothing in there that could hurt him, but the very sight of it made the blood run cold in his veins.
Eventually he had set the husk on fire, and a summer shower washed the ashes down the storm drain. If only this husk was so easy to dispose of.
Ben turned to his Number One, the young man's eyes were fixed on the viewscreen, his face a mask of dread.
"Commander Tyler, did you ever know Matt Decker?" Ben asked.
His second-in-command's eyes shifted to look at him. "No sir, I'm afraid I never had the pleasure of meeting the Commodore."
Ben smiled. "He was a good man, one of the very best. Some of the very best out there served with him, and he taught them everything they know: Kirk, Wesley, Paris…"
"And you, sir, if I remember correctly," Tyler said.
"Well, there's a rotten apple in every barrel," he said with a wry grin, which quickly fell. "That thing destroyed everything he was. And that's what really scares me… I think we could take on and eventually defeat something that eats planets, but something that could destroy a man like Matt Decker?"
As they got closer the scaffolding surrounding the giant neutronium cone became visible onscreen. This was where the research crews worked and slept. The last shift had been here for six months; he couldn't imagine living in such close proximity to this leviathan for even a day.
"Hail the research station and have them prepare to take on supplies. I'll talk to Doctor Fielding about scheduling the crew-" Ben started.
"Captain," his science officer said. "Picking up a small craft approaching our location at Warp 7."
"Small? How small?" Ben asked.
"Approximately twenty meters in length," his science officer replied.
Ben stood up from his command chair. "On viewer, maximum magnification."
For a very brief moment Ben thought that Lt. Thorne had made a mistake, since what was on screen looked an awful lot like his ship.
"NCC-1702?" Ben read, aghast. "U.S.S…. Charlie? Is this some kind of practical joke?"
"A really spectacular one, with a craft with those small nacelles moving at Warp 7," Tyler said.
There was a flash of light, and suddenly people were everywhere, crowding the bridge. Some of the people were in space suits, others in starfleet uniforms or casual clothes; one man was completely naked except for a thin coating of soap bubbles. They all look as confused as he did.
"What the hell?" was all Ben could say.
One of the spacesuited figured pulled off its helmet, to revealed a bearded middle-aged man. Ben recognized him as Commander Riley, the leader of the research expedition.
"Captain Carter, I demand to know the meaning of this!" he said.
Ben was about to respond with the bridge lurched hard to port; all of the new arrivals were knocked off their feet and slid into the bulkhead. Ben managed to keep his footing by grabbing onto his command chair. Stars whirled by on the viewscreen and formed into spectral lines.
"Helmsman, report!"
"Recording speed off the scales, Captain", she managed. "Heading unknown."
"Reverse engines, maximum warp!" Ben said. Even if they weren't being propelled by the engines, providing thrust in the opposite direction of their momentum should slow them down and, eventually, stop them.
"Our speed is still not registering," the helmsman said. 'Impossible to tell if it's working."
Suddenly the ship stopped shaking as the unseen force suddenly let up; the ship then lurched to starboard.
"Reverse engines! Full stop!" Ben said, feeling like an idiot. This wasn't going in the captain's log.
The ship once again stopped shaking, and the deck kept level. People began to pick themselves off and dust themselves off.
"Full stop, sir," the helmsman said.
Ben sat down in his command chair and let out a sigh.
"Where are we?"
"Readings indicate we are in the middle of the Romulan Neutral Zone," the helmsman replied. "Just under 5 light years from Moore's star."
Ben blinked; they were on the other side of the quadrant, it would have taken the better part of a year to get here at normal speeds.
"Prepare an enciphered tight-beam dispatch to Starfleet concerning our predicament, and get us back into Federation space as quick as you can," Ben said.
"Yes, sir," his navigator and communications officer said in concert.
"Captain," a voice called from behind him. Ben swiveled his chair and saw Commander Riley, now bleeding from a wound in his forehead. "What the hell is going on here?"
"Your idea is as good as mine. I want you and my first officer to determine how many of your people are onboard, and who is missing," Ben said. "I have a feeling all of you were transported over."
"Transported by who?" Riley said, bewildered.
"I don't know… but whoever had the power to do that, and throw us this far across the galaxy, has the remains of the most dangerous weapon known to our sciences," Ben said.
Ben imagined the horrified expression on Riley's face mirrored his own.
"Excuse me, captain?" a voice said.
Ben turned and saw the researcher who had been transported over while showering.
"Could you possibly tell me where I can get some clothes?"
Charlie stood in the vacuum of space, perched on the saucer section of his Constitution Class starship counterfeit, staring into the maw of the destroyer. The mottled blue of the neutronium hull quickly gave away to blackness as if light itself was afraid of the power of the awesome machine.
He flew, with no visible means of propulsion, into the maw of the behemoth. He remained within the heart of the machine for days, studying it. He was amazed with its crudeness. Kirk and the rest had believed that this machine had come from some advanced race, using technology they'd never dreamed of. The truth was that the Federation could have easily built a ship like this.
The antiproton beam was a simple proton beam generator connected to an emitter through a matter-inverter; extremely crude and requiring an ungodly amount of power. The generators themselves were simple fusion engines, capable of fusing any type of matter lighter than iron; extremely inefficient, but also incredibly large and capable of providing huge power output if supplied with a constant stream of matter. They also spat out all kinds of exotic particles which would wreak havoc with any subspace communication.
The engines were even less impressive, they were the similar to the kind that Starfleet had used in their earliest days, before they discovered that dilithium could be used to breach the Warp 4 barrier.
Kirk had suggested that this weapon had been created as some sort of bluff, an unusable weapon that would frighten both sides into peace; but someone called the bluff and both sides had ended up destroyed. Charlie had seen that kind of thinking over and over again in his study of the history of Earth, a feeling of guilt of superior firepower. If a nation or planet had won a way be developing a powerful weapon, for years afterwards the literature and entertainment of that power would be filled with stories of how that weapon was used against them, sometimes even by the other side in the war, thanks to a time-traveller. It became an obsession, and Kirk had inherited that guilt, so he couldn't see the world killer as anything else.
Charlie knew better, though; this machine had not been created by the side that was winning, or even one that was in a stalemate. This was a weapon of vengeance, made to ensure that the winner of the conflict would not enjoy their prize for long. The beings who had created this weapon might have used up all their resources to ensure its completion.
Of the course of a week he repaired the inner-workings of the machine, replacing the crude vengeance-driven design with something of more elegance, like that of the Enterprise or his own ship. In order to achieve speeds above Warp 4 he needed to add massive nacelles to the machine, which made it look like a Constitution class ship without the saucer section.
Finally he parked his ship on top of the behemoth, turned it towards Thasus, and jumped to warp.
The machine was able to handle it for twenty minutes before it dropped out of warp. Whatever changes he'd made to the efficiency of the inner workings had been wiped out by the power requirements of the enhanced stardrive.
Charlie slammed his fists into the command console and let out a bestial scream. Then he let out a sigh and pulled up the astrogation charts. There was a good sized, uninhabited, solar system within 2 light years. He should be able to make that using the power he had left, but it would take nearly a week at warp 4.
He wished he could just whisk it across space, like he'd done with the Columbia, but the machine was over ten thousand times more massive due to the neutronium shell. He would just have to bide his time then.
He just hoped that the Thassians didn't discover his plan in the meantime.
Jim Kirk stood on the balcony of the Temple of The Prophets and stared into the dense forest surrounding the city of Ashka.
"A very beautiful planet," Kirk said. "It reminds me a little of home."
"Except your Earth is not governed by a theocracy," Spock noted.
"Come on Spock, a little old time religion never did any harm," Doctor McCoy replied.
"On the contrary doctor, the examples from your own planet's history are too many to list; regardless, this planet's religion is the source of an iniquitous caste system imposed upon its inhabitants," Spock noted.
"Such systems have existed without theology, though," Kirk said. "The Vreen, for instance."
"The Vreen are a hive culture in which the members of each caste are physically dissimilar: in essence they can't even be treated as a single species, but as a collection of separate species living together in a symbiosis," Spock said. "Whereas the people of Bajor are one species, equal in ability and intellect."
"I wouldn't go that far. Kai Luze's assistant-what was his name?" McCoy said.
"Vedek Jaro," Kirk said. "He wanted us to call his Gud, though."
"Yes, if the entire species had the intelligence of Vedek Jaro, they never would've left the trees," McCoy said.
"It is disturbing that a warp-capable species could be so backward," Spock said.
"I don't see why you should find it all that disturbing. You think everyone aside from your green-blooded brethren to be backward," McCoy said.
"Gentlemen!" Kirk said. "As the Bajoran people show no interest in joining the Federation, it really isn't any of our business. We've arranged for an exchange of ambassadors, and that's all we could have hoped for from this mission."
"They were pretty happy to get the ship and its captain back," McCoy said. "Any idea what we're going to do with that barrel of… what was it called?"
"Latinum," Kirk said.
"Yes, any idea what we're going to do with that barrel of latinum they gave us?" McCoy said.
"Apparently it's rare out in this area of space, and is something of a commodity. Starfleet has said to keep or dispose of it any way we see fit," Kirk said.
"Maybe Spock can use it to buy a vacation home here, for when he retires," McCoy said with a smirk.
Spock's reply was cut off with a beep from Kirk's communicator.
"Kirk here," he said, after he flipped it open.
"Captain, we've gotten an urgent communique from Starfleet command," Uhura said.
"I'll beam up right away, Kirk out," Kirk said.
"Well," Scotty said, finally breaking the silence that had enveloped the briefing room. "At least the Columbia got out of the Neutral Zone safely."
"Is that all you can say?!" McCoy replied.
Kirk rubbed his forehead. The unexpected assignment on Bajor had given him a chance for relaxation and peaceful reflection; but now all the tension was back.
He stared at the photograph that had been included with the communique, taken by one of the many probes that were being dispatched to the the sector that contained L-374 after the husk of the doomsday machine has been discovered missing. It was a full-length view of the planet killer as it fired its antiproton weapon; perched on top of it like an insect was Charlie Evans's ship.
Kirk let the photo fall to the table. "Mr. Spock, I want you to plot a course from L-374 to Thasus, taking into account the systems which contain planets. I want to know every possible chance we'll have to intercept him."
"Captain, are you certain that Thasus is his destination, and not Earth?" Spock asked.
"It isn't vengeance he's after, but freedom," Kirk said.
"That's a hell of an assumption to make," McCoy said.
"And if I'm wrong, Earth has an entire solar system worth of defenses. Thasus only has us," Kirk said.
"If they need us," Scotty said.
"If Charlie believes he can destroy them, I'd say there's a good chance he really can," Kirk said. "Spock, I need those intercept points as soon as possible."
"Of course, Captain," Spock said and rose from his chair.
"Scotty, we're going to need all the speed you can give us," Kirk said.
"Aye, sir," Scotty said, and followed Spock through the door.
The two of them now sat alone.
"So, what's the plan?" McCoy said.
"I need to talk to him, find a way to reach him, and make him change his mind," Kirk said.
"Because that worked so well before," McCoy drawled.
Kirk let out a sigh. "And I don't have Sherri to help me this time, and he shot holes into the case we were going to make to the Thassians."
"If anyone can talk him down, you can," McCoy said.
After exiting the turbolift, Kirk went straight to the science station. Spock looked up from the computer display, where he had been charting out the possible courses that Charlie could have taken.
"Spock," Kirk said quietly. "After our last encounter, I suspect you determined a way to destroy the planet killer."
"Yes, Captain," Spock said, in an equally hushed tone. "I believe a shuttle-craft, flown remotely, and containing eight photon torpedos would suffice to destroy the internal workings of the machine."
"Inform Scotty, he has a crew already standing by," Kirk said.
"Am I to assume that you are expecting your attempts to convince Mr. Evans to abandon his vendetta will fail?" Spock said.
"That machine must be destroyed, regardless of the outcome," Kirk said.
Spock left it unsaid, but Kirk was certain he understood. There were forces within the Federation that wanted the world killer. That was why so much time and resources had been spent on studying its remains; even though the official explanation was that they were creating a defense in case any other of the machines were found.
Kirk wasn't going to allow that to happen, and Spock had just agreed to be his accomplice. A wistful smile crossed his face.
"Something amusing, captain?"
"No, Mr. Spock, I was just thinking… how good it is to have friends."
In the end Spock was able to calculate three possible intercept points: three chances they would have to catch the planet killer before it entered Thasus's solar system.
The first intercept point was L-1138, specifically a super-Earth planet in far orbit around it. The Enterprise came out of warp near the heliopause, and its far-range scanners picked up the shattered remnants of the planet, and little more.
"Spock?" Kirk asked, looking up from his command chair.
"No subspace interference aside from the residual expected from an annihilation caused by the antiproton beam," Spock said. "The machine is not here."
Kirk sighed; although Spock calculated that they should be able to reach all 3 intercept points in time, it became dicier as they went on.
"Mr. Chekov, lay in the course for the next intercept point," Kirk said.
"Aye sir," Chekov said.
Kirk flicked the com switch on the arm of his control chair. "Scotty, I need you to give us as close to Warp 9 as you can."
"I'll give you all she's got, cap'n," Scott's voice said over the intercom.
It felt like the longest ten hours of Kirk's life, the torture he endured on Minara II not notwithstanding. He felt a surge of hope when the sensors found the outermost terrestrial planet to be intact.
Kirk untensed his shoulders and sighed with relief. "Looks like all we have to do is wait."
His relief ebbed away as he saw Spock moving about the science stations with obvious purpose: the closest he ever saw the half-Vulcan to being frantic.
Spock flicked a switch and the viewscreen switched to a band of blue gas occluding a bright star; Kirk quickly realized it was the system's sun.
"Captain, I had found a narrow band of gas and methane ices rapidly spreading approximately 30 AUs from the star. Our charts indicate this zone was once inhabited by an ice giant," Spock said.
"The energy ratio would be better," Sulu noted. "Plenty of hydrogen to fuse; why run on coal when you can have gasoline?"
"Is he still here?" Kirk asked.
"No subspace interference, captain," Spock said.
"Will his choice of fuel alter the course you computed?" Kirk said.
"Negative, I have calculated that the time he gained from consuming the ice giant will be offset by the fuel consumption and time required to alter his velocity by going farther sunward," Spock said. "He may, however, reach the final intercept point earlier than I anticipated."
"Mr. Chekok…" Kirk said, then corrected himself as he saw the orange, scaly head of his navigator. "I'm sorry, Mr. Arex."
Arex's cheek pouches puffed up and released a hiss of air that Kirk had come to recognize as an Edosian equivalent of a chuckle. "Very rarely are we confused, Captain."
Of course, he'd dismissed Chekov, as he'd already been pulling double shifts.
"Lay in the course for next… last intercept point," Kirk said.
"Yes, captain," Arex said.
It wasn't necessarily the last intercept point; there was one more chance to catch him after that, but he hoped it didn't get that far.
They were just outside of the heliopause of the star system and hadn't even left warp when Kirk knew they had him.
"Sensors are picking up massive subspace interference," Spock said.
- "What heading?" Kirk asked. Unlike the other two star systems, they were entering this one at almost a right angle to the epileptic, so there was no most likely planet here. In fact he and Spock had soberly discussed whether Charlie might attempt to consume the system's star.
"32-degrees, 516 million kilometers," Spock said.
"Take us in," Kirk said.
They found the planet killer amongst swirls of verdant gas, the remains of another ice giant; the long cone was coated with methane frost. It was a surreal, and unbelievably beautiful sight. As expected, Charlie's ship was perched atop the behemoth, just behind the maw.
"Lieutenant Uhura, can you get a signal through?" Kirk said.
"No response on any subspace channels," Uhura said. "I'm trying radio frequency, also no response."
The subspace field hadn't affected ship-to-ship communications the last time they'd encountered it. However Charlie had improved the engine and was running with a better grade of fuel now.
"It's unlikely he'd have known to build a RF receiver into his ship," Kirk said, stroking his stubbled chin thoughtfully. "In any case, it won't affect the transporter beam… Sulu, are you picking up any shields on Charlie's ship?"
"None, sir," Sulu said.
The particles that were causing the subspace interface would probably make it impossible to form a shield that close to the hull.
After a quick trip to his quarters, Kirk walked into the transporter room.
"Do you have the coordinates, Mr. Wilson?" Kirk said as he walked up to the pad.
"Yessir, Mr. Spock transmitted them. Are you going over alone, sir?" Wilson said.
"It's probably for the best," Kirk said.
"Good luck, sir," Wilson said, warily.
"Thanks," Kirk said. "I'll definitely need it."
The interior of Charlie's ship wasn't what Kirk had expected. Given the outside appearance, he had expected the cockpit to be miniature version of his bridge. What he saw was much more in line with the cockpits of shuttles and small one-manned craft. There was a single chair, a single viewport, and an array of console that filled 270-degrees of the cockpit, the remaining 90 degrees being the entrance to the back of the saucer which housed the ladder leading up to the airlock, and a combination of library and galley.
The single chair swiveled around to face him. Charlie looked like he hadn't slept in years; which may have been the case. Kirk realized that he had no idea if Charlie required sleep, or if that was one of the basic needs that the Thasians had alleviated with their tinkering.
"Captain, I was wondering if we'd ever cross paths again," Charlie said.
His voice was tired, the usual pluck gone completely.
"Charlie, you have to stop this," Kirk said.
Charlie gave him a sad smile. "You still think you can reason with them? Make them let me go?"
Kirk shook his head. "Your actions have undermined the argument we were going to make. But you can't destroy the Thassians, Charlie."
"As long as they live, I can never be free," Charlie said. "I have no choice."
"If you've learned anything from watching us, you must understand the sanctity of life," Kirk said. "You can't kill them, especially as they only want to do what is best for everyone."
"Their life is so much like death already. No bodies, no emotions, really no sense of time at all. How can this be killing, when they aren't really alive to begin with?" Charlie said.
"Charlie-" Kirk began.
"Forget it, Jim," Charlie said. "You want me to surrender to them because you're afraid of me. You think I'm some kind of mad god, like Captain Garth was."
"No, I don't, Charlie. Both times you came aboard my ship, you tried to fit in. You could have taken control from the start, but I know you value acceptance and human company more than power," Kirk said.
Charlie stared at him in silence for several moments, then tears began to brim in his bright eyes.
Kirk walked over and crouched down next to Charlie.
"I once had a friend, he was actually my best friend, by the name of Gary Mitchell." Kirk said. "He saved my life once; he was a pain in the ass, but you couldn't ask for a better officer, or a better friend."
"What happened to him?" Charlie said.
"On the edge of our galaxy is a great barrier," Kirk said.
"Yes, it's an exposed cosmic filament, one of the few places where dark energy can be directly observed due to its interaction with the galactic vergence," Charlie said.
"Of course," Kirk tried to hide his astonishment. "When Gary Mitchell and another of my crew were exposed to the barrier, it activated latent powers within them."
"Yes, the ESPer powers which are the beginning of corporeal transcendence," Charlie said. "Something similar happened with the Thasians, they used special generators to stimulate the growth of their abilities. Once they were adept enough in their use, they were free from the need for any instrumentality."
"Uh, yes. As he became more powerful, he began to have less and less control over his actions. The human qualities that allow us to use power responsibly disappeared. In the end, I had to take his life," Kirk said.
Charlie scowled. "Are you threatening me?"
"No! Charlie, you have the control that Gary lacked. I wasn't able to save Gary, and I won't lose you as well," Kirk said.
"That really isn't up to you, Jim," Charlie said. "I will be leaving this system soon; in less than an hour. I suggest you go back to your ship while you still can."
Kirk reached behind him and took our a communicator, he sat it on one of the consoles.
"You can communicate with us using this; it's radio-frequency, the subspace interference will not affect it," Kirk said.
"I'm afraid I won't have much to say, Jim," Charlie said.
Kirk took his own communicator and flipped it open. "Kirk here, one to beam up."
Kirk strode onto the bridge and plunked down into his chair. He rubbed his mouth in frustration. Spock, Uhura, Sulu and Arex looked to him.
"Battle stations," he said.
His crew sprang to life, the red-alert klaxon blared.
"Mr. Spock, prepare to launch the shuttle," Kirk said.
"Yes, sir," Spock said. He moved over to the science stations that contained the interface to controlling remote devices such as probes. A viewscreen unfolded himself from the console at the press of a switch.
Kirk came to stand behind it, he watched in first-person point-of-view as the interior of the hangar vanished, to be replaced with open space. The ship came astern and faced down the massive hulk of the doomsday machine.
The machine was surrounded by a fog of ammonia and methane gas that it was devouring through its aperture.
"Maybe his view is obscured, he won't see it," Kirk mumbled.
Spock said nothing, but continued to work the controls. The shuttle was now perfectly lined up with the maw of the planet killer.
"Maximum impulse," Kirk said.
The maw grew larger and larger, through the dense fog he could now see the glowing fusion engines deep inside. Suddenly the fog began to glow yellow, and the screen went blank.
Spock flipped a couple of switches. "The shuttle has been destroyed."
"I suppose what would work against an automated system would be inadequate against a human intelligence," Kirk said with a sigh.
"It would appear so, captain," Spock said.
"Helmsman, place the Enterprise in a plane which is tilted 17-degrees in reference to the plane of the machine," Kirk said. "And compensate to keep her there."
Spock gave him a quizzical look. "You aren't the only one who has been constantly refighting the battle of L-375, Mr. Spock."
Kirk walked back to his command chair and sat down.
"Orbit achieved," Sulu said.
"If I am correct, Mr. Sulu, you should have a bead on the maw of the machine," Kirk said.
"Yes sir, we should be able to hit it with both phasers and photon torpedoes," Sulu said.
"As long as we maintain this bearing, we can't be hit by the antiproton beam… Give them both barrels, lieutenant," Kirk said.
Sulu flicked a couple of switches; a moment passed and he repeated the action.
"Report, Mr. Sulu," Kirk said impatiently.
"I'm not getting any response from the weapons, sir," Sulu said.
Kirk flicked a switch on his command chair. "Phaser control, please respond."
"Captain, this is phaser control. Uh, sir, you're not going to believe this, but the phaser emitters and photon torpedo launchers have vanished," the voice said.
"Of course," Kirk said. Charlie had done some similar with all the hand phasers the last time he had visited.
"The machine is going to warp," Spock said.
A gaping hole appeared in the hydrocarbon fog, like a curtain being pulled back, and the planet killer was gone.
Kirk flicked another swtich. "Engineering, please tell me the warp engines are still present and accounted for."
"Uh… Aye, sir," Scotty's voice said.
"Mr. Arex, set course for Thasus, maximum warp," Kirk said.
"Yes, captain," he replied.
"What is our ETA?" Kirk said.
"11 hours, 23 minutes," Arex said.
Kirk sank back into his chair, and finally rose. "To everyone who has been pulling a double-shift, I suggest you get some rest."
There were some muttered acknowledgements.
As Kirk was waiting for the turbolift, Spock sidled up next to him and spoke quietly. "Captain, I have calculated that the machine will arrive at Thasus only two hours after we do," Spock said.
"And since he doesn't need to stoke the furnace, he doesn't need to come out of warp until he's right next to the planet," Kirk said. "Which means we will have little time, if any."
"My assessment exactly, Captain," Spock said.
"That's why I gave him the communicator," Kirk said. "So I would have a way to get through to him."
"But what could you say to him that you haven't already said?" Spock said.
Kirk clenched his hands into fists. "There must be something!"
Two hours later, Kirk still had no idea. He had been tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. He welcomed the chirping from his desk console when it came.
"Kirk here," he said, flicking it on.
"Captain, I have the embassy on Cardassia Prime, as you requested," Uhura's voice said.
"Excellent, I'll take it in here," Kirk said, sitting down. He switched on the screen.
After a few moments of a blue void, the comforting image of Sherri Glasow appeared.
"Jim, you look like hell," Sherri said, concern belying her harsh words.
Kirk couldn't help but smile. "Diplomatic as always. How is the embassy doing?"
"Well, for the most part. We've had trouble getting supplies; I assumed at first they were being intransigent because they were expecting bribes, but it appears that you need to have a little antagonism in every transaction here on Cardassia; otherwise you're seen as weak," Kirk said.
"That reminds me of that time we tried some things out of that Klingon sex manual," Kirk said with a smile.
"The Nga'chuq 'Ang, I remember it well," Sherri said with a perverted smile.
"You were a lot stronger than you looked," Kirk said.
"Did those two ribs heal satisfactorily?" Sherri said.
"Yes, but they tends to hurt on cold and humid planets," Kirk said.
A moment in silence passed as they showed plastic smiles to each other.
"You know what's happening?" Kirk said.
"Yes, the Federation sent out a communique to all outposts and embassies in the sector," Sherri said. "Do you think you'll be able to stop him?"
"I've tried… I talked to him, but I can't convince him to back down. He believes that killing the Thassians is the only way for him to have any control over his life," Kirk said.
"It's a story as old as Gilgamesh… No, as old as life itself; as long as there have been parents and children," Sherri said.
"Unfortunately Charlie doesn't have to do anything I say, so I can't even threaten to punish him," Kirk said.
Sherri sighed and shook her head. "It's obvious you never had children, Jim. There are other ways than punishment to get a child to obey. Have you considered bribing him?"
"You… aren't suggesting I ask one of my female crewman to sleep with him?" Kirk said.
"Of course not, and I would be surprised if that boy even knows what sex is," Sherri said.
"He knows a lot, he was just informing me of some properties of the cosmos that even Mr. Spock doesn't understand," Kirk said.
"Baah, that's nothing; back at the Academy I knew a genius at particle physics who is developing transwarp technologies, but he doesn't know the first thing about how to touch a woman," Sherri said.
"Perhaps he was more your brother's type," Kirk mused.
"No, that occurred to me too. He told me he'd had more fun talking to computers," Sherri said.
"Well, I can't think of anything to bribe Charlie with. With his powers he can create, or take, anything he wants," Kirk said.
"That he knows of," Sherri said. "That boy knows nothing about life. Think about when you were his age, what things did you discover that you liked?"
Kirk thought about his teenage years, living on Tarsus IV amid the carnage of Kodos' reign. He remembered how he coped with the horror of what had happened, never leaving the house, rarely leaving his bedroom, sitting at his desk and…
And then Kirk knew how he was going to stop Charlie.
They had been in orbit for Thasia for more than an hour. Kirk sat in the command chair, his hands clasped together, staring into the vastness of space on the viewscreen.
"Captain?"
Kirk looked away from the viewscreen and saw Lieutenant Uhura standing to his left. She was holding a blue datacard out to him.
"Here is that special datacard you ordered," Uhura said.
"Thank you, lieutenant," Kirk said and took it.
Uhura gave him a worried look, but once she realized he wasn't going to say anything more, she returned to her station.
Kirk looked at the card he was absentmindedly turning over in his hand. Uhura had labeled it: BHB-S1 1962.
"Captain, I am detecting a ship approaching at Warp 6," Chekov said. "It has just dropped to impulse."
"When will it be within communicator range?" Kirk said.
Uhura was already trying the usual hailing frequencies, but he'd ignored those before.
"Approximately 50 minutes," Chekov said.
That would also be when it came within striking distance of the planet.
"Mr. Sulu, plot an intercept course," Kirk said.
"Aye, captain," Sulu said.
"Mr. Chekov…" Kirk started.
"I'll let you know, Captain," Chekov said.
The deck plates rattled and the bulkheads conducted the humming of the engines as they shot towards the massive engine of destruction.
"Captain, we are within communicator range," Chekov said.
In one motion Kirk took the communicator off the arm of his chair and flipped it open. He waited with bated breath for the beep which would indicate that Charlie had answered his page. It seemed like centuries had passed before it came.
"Charlie, do not attack! I have something very important to show you, and I'm sure it will change your mind about everything!" Kirk said.
For a long time all Kirk heard from the communicator was the crackle of static.
"Spock, is he powering up the antiproton beam?" Kirk said.
"It appears not, captain. The amount of subspace interference has remained constant every since he came out of warp," Spock said.
"Kirk," Charlie's voice came over the communicator.
"Charlie? Stop your attack! You've got to let me see you, one last time!" Kirk said.
"At my current velocity I will be in range of Thasia in 41 minutes. You have that long," Charlie said.
"Thank you!" Kirk said, and flipped the communicator shut. He leapt to his feet and grabbed the portable computer he'd wedged against his chair when he set down, and threw the carrying strap over his shoulder. He bolted to the turbo-lift.
41 minutes… That would be just enough time.
Charlie looked even more strung out than when Kirk had seen him last. The dark bags under his eyes convinced Kirk that he still required sleep.
"Kirk, Jim… Nice to see you. What did you want to show me?" Charlie said, a dull fascination in his eyes.
Kirk walked laid the portable computer down on a flat and empty spot on one of the navigation consoles. He pressed a button on the computer's console and a small screen emerged from inside it.
"This is something similar to what you saw on Thasia, where you watch things happen on a viewscreen. The difference is that these things are fake, and made ahead of time. Since they're recorded, you can rewatch them as many times as you want," Kirk said.
"That sounds dull," Charlie said. "What's the point, if it isn't real?"
"You should give it a chance, Charlie," Kirk said, holding up the card. "This story is the highest rated one in the history of the human race. Never before or after would so many people watch one fictional production at the same time."
"What's the point of this, Kirk?" Charlie said, annoyed.
"It's just something I want to share… with my friend," Kirk said.
Charlie suddenly sat up, a little bit of the sparkle returned to his eyes.
Kirk smiled and slid the data card into the computer.
They sat and watched the monochrome recording, the silence only broken by the occasionally laugh from himself or Charlie.
Kirk hadn't seen the recording before, though he knew it by reputation. The simple country folk, living out in the swamps in their shack, hunting for food. The wise old man, the shrill but hilarious old woman, the blonde bombshell and her stupid cousin. Then their lives are disrupted by the discovery of oil, and riches untold, and they're on their way to live with other rich people in a place not far from where Starfleet Command now was.
As the credits rolled Charlie cheered. "Whooo-doggie! That was great! There are more of these?"
"Yes, I think about 200 or so," Kirk said.
"Let's watch another one!" Charlie said.
"We're almost within firing range, though," Kirk said.
Charlie's grin fell, he slumped his shoulders.
"You'd forgotten about that, hadn't you?" Kirk said.
Charlie locked eyes with Kirk. "What you said earlier… you were right. I don't want to do this. I just want to be free to live my own life!"
"I think you need to accept that the changes the Thassians have made make it impossible for you to live among humans," Kirk said.
"But I don't want to live on Thasia!" Charlie yelled.
"You'd have this, and plenty of others; the Enteprise's library computer is chock-full of these things," Kirk said.
Charlie stared at the portable computer with a wantonness he'd only shown for Janice Rand before.
"And all you have to do to get it… is stop your attack," Kirk said.
"I'll do you one better," Charlie said. Suddenly the ship lurched as every molecule of it shook from a violent shockwave.
"Charlie, what did you do?" Kirk said accusingly.
His communicator started beeping, he absentmindedly flipped it open.
"Kirk here,"
"Captain, are you alright?" Spock's voice said.
"Yes, we're all fine here, Mr. Spock. What's happened?" Kirk said.
"The world killer has been destroyed, however inexplicably we have survived the shockwave from the explosion with no damage," Spock said.
"I think Mr. Evans is to thank for that," Kirk said. "Kirk, out."
Kirk flipped the communicator shut and looked at Charlie, who was now grinning.
"That thing was pure neutronium!" Kirk said, aghast. "How were you able to-"
"Oh come on, captain! Destroying neutronium is easy. Comedy," he said, motioning to the portable computer. "Now, that's hard."
"Captain, I've finished compiling the list you requested," Uhura said, handing him the clipboard.
"All the classics, it looks like," McCoy said, reading over his shoulder. "The Beverly Hillbillies, I l Love Lucy, The Untouchables, Mission Impossible, Mannix, T.J. Hooker…"
"I love that one," Kirk said with a smile.
"You should make sure to include some Mobile Suit Gundam if you can," Sulu said.
"I'll make a note of it, Mr. Sulu," Kirk said.
Charlie had landed his ship in the hangar after they'd had their talk. He had declined to come with Kirk to the bridge, much rather going to his old quarters so he could finish watching the first season of The Beverly Hillbillies.
The shimmering green face of the Thassian appeared in the air before assembled group.
"Captain, while I appreciate your efforts on our behalf, you must know that it was unnecessary, we were never in any danger from the Duzer superweapon," the Thassian said.
"I'm not so sure about that. On our way back to the Enteprise Charlie informed me that he chose the planet killer specifically. The gamma rays produced by proton annihilation are the most energetic known, in such high concentrations they would have disrupted your energy forms and probably killed you," Kirk said.
The Thassian said nothing for several moments; although his face betrayed no emotion, Kirk assumed he felt the same type of exasperation he felt when Charlie outsmarted him. He found that somehow comforting.
"Then I believe we, as you say, 'owe you one'," the Thasian said.
"I would like to beam down with Charlie, if that is possible," Kirk said.
"That isn't necessary Captain. Your barbaric solution has damaged the boy's mind. He will find fewer and fewer occasions to use his powers as the addiction progresses. His skills will atrophy and eventually he will forget how to use his powers entirely," the Thasian said. "I can't believe you would do something to terrible to one of your own people."
"We raise our children in our own way," Kirk said.
"As you say. I hope our races will never cross paths again," the Thasian said, then vanished.
After a moment McCoy piped up. "He has a point, you know. There's a reason people don't use television to raise their children anymore."
"It's not that bad; a way of keeping unruly children out of trouble," Kirk said.
"But what happens if Mr. Evans grows tired of his addiction to media and seeks other sources of stimulus?" Spock said.
"Mr. Spock, you don't know humans very well," Kirk said with a wry grin.
All of the humans laughed.
Spock stared at them, nonplussed, then walked back his station.
The End