Okay...So MAJOR DISCLAIMER HERE: I DID NOT WRITE THIS NOVEL/ORIGNAL CONCEPT. OKAY? OKAY. This novel was originally written in 1967 by MACK REYNOLDS.
Let me tell you, the original is interestingly written, and funny. When I found this novel at a garage sale I had to get it (bought it for a quarter too!) It just gave me a BILLION openings for Spirk play-by-play. Plus I added an OC (which you'll see in feature chapters, OMC) I edited this MAJORLY from the old book. Even made the dialogue more...2013. I re-wrote like the ENTIRE scene in the break-room and added quite a bit more but yeah; ANYWAYS, I'm pretty much doing what all the new Startrek Comic book series are doing by taking the new characters and rebooting old missions. Woop. AGAIN NOT MY CHARACTERS, NOT MY STORY ORIGINALLY IN ANYWAY. Although this is highly edited and all that jazz.
On another note, My best Trekkie buddy (Sophie Green) owns the rights to the OMC Gabriel Valentine, he is 100% hers. She's an English lady, so of course you get an English character!
And another note, I FORGOT TO MENTION IN MY LAST CHAPTER,I forgot to say that my best trekkie buddy (sophie green) ALSO helped me write like ALL the parts with Gabriel in it. Actually, we Rp'd it and then I edited it to make it smoother. Hope you like my OC, enjoy.
You will ALSO see that almost every other Chapter will not be getting this warning, Why? Cause ALL even chapters in this Fic, are 100% mine.
Anyways, please Review and let me know your thoughts you can even add your two-cents on how I should develop them. Please and thanks!
Also: this is totally un-beta'd anyone interested just tell me. Please excuse any grammar/ spelling mistakes, and unless you spot anything that REALLY is bad. Shut up, I don't want to hear about it.
The Mission to Horatius
Chapter 3: Mystery plus Mystery
The bridge tensed, most everyone wasn't sure how to react seeing as the Captain appeared more stressed out than usual, so everyone was a little uptight, on edge and worried.
But Captain Kirk was a good Captain, he could tell they were all weary; McCoy even had to give him a nudge or two about it. So Kirk managed to give his largest, happiest grin to his crew who were all turned to him, awaiting orders and it immediately sent a warming sunlight-like effect through the bridge.
"Mr. Chekov..." Captain Kirk asked through the sea of familiar faces, Chekov perked and looked up at him with wide doe eyes. "Y-yes Keptin?" Kirk was smiling so the Ensign eased remarkably sitting up straight at attention. "Go to my quarters, on my desk you will find a sealed drive, please bring it here." Pavel beamed, practically stuttering with confidence now. "Ah! Aye sir! I can do zat!" with a professional haste he made way to the turbo-lift, and the door slid behind him.
Sulu was almost pretending to not be interested, had a big smile, knowing that was unnecessary. But also knowing that for morale, for someone like Chekov… it actually was.
The Captains warm smile was soon sheer commanding determination as he flicked the intercom switch before him, "Mr. Scott, we have arrived at our destination, We will remain out of warp and stay at these coordinates until further orders are determined."
Scott sounded a little confused, "Aye, sir…" a small pause. "And Mr. Scott." "Yes Capn'?" Kirk smiled a little. "Good work, I can always count on you." The bridge seemed to be glowing now, even though they weren't facing their captain. They were all smiling small smiles and looking to one another, even Spock had a small imperceptible quirk of his lips.
Chekov returned soon, having noticeably been making every effort at a speedy delivery. Panting from running all the way there and back,"Here Keptin!" Kirk smiled and took it, sitting straight and acknowledging his navigator. "Thank you Chekov, you may return to your post." The ensign seemed to beam again, "A-Aye Keptin!" the navigator gave a rigid stance then took a deep breath and sat at the helm.
He broke the seal on the container and placed the chip into his corner console, which projected it to his PADD. After merely a second, Kirk frowned looking to his science officer clearly disturbed to some extent. "The sun system Horatius." Kirk muttered, flipping through the images on his screen.
"I do not believe I have ever heard of it, Captain." Kirk seemed perplexed playing with a few stray hairs of dirty blonde hair on his head. "Which really, really, surprises me Spock." Kirk was going through his thoughts, information. He knew it was Roman stuff, ancient Terran history, dating hundreds of years ago. "I can't even think of the source for the name."
The Science officer nodded and inclined his head, "A legendary Roman hero, sir. The story is that when the Etruscans, under Lars Porsena, were attempting to capture Rome, there was only a single bridge crossing the Tiber River, and the Etruscans were advancing rapidly. The sole chance was to cut the bridge down before the enemy could overrun it. Horatius and two companions…"
He was at it again, going into that descriptive banter, honestly he didn't mind too much. It wasn't near as bad as when Spock thought it wise to try and constantly under mind his authority. They had a nice, nice long argument about that and apparently Kirk won. At the cost of one, wordy, history lesson a day from his first officer. Figures he'd never be left off so easily.
"We'll take your word for it Spock." The Captain returned to the perusal of his orders. He looked up at last, his face very thoughtful. "Our instructions, briefly, are to proceed to the star system Horatius and investigate the subspace distress call received by Starfleet Command."
"Who issued the distress signal, Captain?" Spock queried, hands still politely wrapped behind him.
There was an automatic frown, "It was evidently cut off before that was revealed. But, the call came through in Earth Basic, which would indicate a planet settled by humans. Please check the computer data-bases, Mr. Spock."
Spock was bent over his station scanning through information wildly through his hooded screen, muttering orders, occasionally flicking certain controls.
In a surprisingly short period of time, he raised his head, his face registering uncharacteristic amazement. "Fascinating." He spoke, at a fare mumble.
"Yeah, I'm sure Spock." Kirk smiled, dryly. "Tune us in on your new-found knowledge." Kirk crossed his legs, and gave a sly smile at the science officer making it a point to stretch them out a little for an extra flirty effect.
Spock made some sort of a frown, seemingly ignoring it, "It would seem, Captain, that there is very little information in the computer banks on the Horatian system. It is at the very extreme of this quadrant." Kirk immediately uncrossed his legs and returned to seriousness."Its very discovery, in the early days of space travel, was an accident. A small freighter inadvertently fell out of space warp and into under-space. When its crew managed to force the ship back into warp, it materialized near Horatius and set down on one of the three Class-M planets which orbit the sun."
"Three?" Kirk seemed a tad incredulous, but managed to sound professional. Space always got him excited. "Yes, Sir. Later they were named Neolithia, Mythra, and Bavarya. But to resume, the space freighter was forced to remain until the necessary repairs were made. The star was reported and charted, but since it remained in such a far sector, in a direction not being exploited by the Federation, it was largely ignored."
"But a distress signal in Earth Standard came from there." A beat. "Yes, sir, evidently, although the Federation has not reached out to that point, human colonists have. In fact, the Horatian star system was settled by people who wished to avoid contact with the Federation."
Lieutenant Uhura turned on that, "But why?" and Spocks face seemed un-phased, but turned in her direction. "The information is in-conclusive and not entirely pertinent of facts. But it would appear that the colonists of the Horatian system are not in sympathy with Federation ways and have fled to such a distant sector to escape them."
The whole bridge looked at him as if that were semi-insane and some were sitting confused. "Zat is nonsense!" Chekov pouted a little, and Sulu turned to the first officer. "Why? Are they crazy?
Spock shrugged gently and turned back to his console sliding the information down further upon the screen. "The group that first settled and named their planet Neolithia evidently wished to return to nature and abandon the highly technical civilization that exists on the Federation worlds. The second group seemed somewhat similar to the Pilgrims who settled New England; that is, they wished to find a place they could worship without interference."
"That's stupid! There are no restrictions on religious matters in the Federation." Kirk sat a little straighter, scowling a bit. "Even General Order Number one, states that no Starship shall interfere with the political, economic, or religious systems of any world." People nodded around the bridge but Spock didn't seem so sure.
"However Captain, suppose the religion was that of Baal." Spock tilted his head, not a question just a thought and Kirk sighed. "Once again Spock, the knowledge you hold for the small planet of earth amuses me." He smiled a little, but turned his serious demeanor back on for size. "The Phoenicians, Spock, really?" Kirk in turn asked, oh his first officer amused him alright. Made him practically burst with admiration really, who else in the world held knowledge so vast that his head could spin.
It was moments like these that made Kirk almost shiver while he watched his first officer raise his brow and make some form of half smile. Game on. "Yes, Captain, the Phoenicians chief God, who's followers were obliged to throw their first born child into the flaming maw of Baal as a human sacrifice."
Uhura grimaced and turned away, rolling her eyes at the 'my brain is bigger than yours contest.' And Kirk only seemed to look mildly perplexed. "Alright Mr. Spock, but that's an ancient, ancient belief…hardly been relevant even before reform." Spock nodded then finally continued.
"Bavarya, the most recently settled of all. Evidently only half a century or so ago. A thousand colonists, no more. Political non-conformists. And that is practically all we know of them."
Uhura finally spoke up again arms crossed. "Why all the secrecy? Why all the nonsense of waiting until we reached this point before disclosing the orders?"
Kirk had been scrolling through the information on his PADD, when he lifted his glance for a second to answer. "See, that's partially answered in what information they've given me. But all three planets were colonized by citizens of earth; which gives us some kind of moral obligation. However Starfleet Command is not ready to really expand in this direction, and are aware that if the Romulans or the Klingons thought we were… they'd start rushing their own exploration to take it."
Finally the captain's glance hardened and he looked around to his crew. "This is top secret, and in no way will leave this ship. Understood?" There was barely any hesitance before the entire bridge crew nodded and gave their ring of 'Yes Captain.' Keeping their gaze on him, as he didn't seem quite finished with his warning, "Few people even in Command know about this, so be wary…"
With a quick slip of his PADD to its rightful cover side on his console Kirk straightened and looked to his Navigator, nothing but command in his tone. "What is the listing, for the Horatius group on the star chart for this quadrant?"
Chekov looked alert and looked to his post before looking back at his captain respectfully, "The system is NGC 434, Keptin."
"Very good, lay in the course, Warp factor 6 ." Both gave positive nod, "Aye Captain." "Yes Keptin." Kirk crossed his legs and kept his eyes forward. Preparing himself for the worst, or even the unfamiliar in the unexplored space. Secretly he was giddy, secretly he was enthralled.
But alas, he held his side consoles and watched his crew, flipping his gaze between the stars, the bridge and his beloved first officer.
In times like these, with detrimental and hazardous missions Captain Kirk remained on the bridge. He didn't have the luxury to end his shift with the others, as he refused to let his best crew grow weary as he did. They were well into beta-shift when Spock rose from his console and made his way to the Captains side.
He lingered beside him, hands held behind him as he watched Kirk gaze blankly at the flying stars before them. "Captain, it would be wise that you took rest." As it was going to take another 6 hours to get to NGC 434, Spock knew with only 3 hours of meditation he could remain on duty, and work-capable for over 3.26 standard earth days. Kirk shook his head and leaned back, the first actual movement his captain made in 32.68 minutes, which was almost unheard of when it came to the vibrant and jittery James T, Kirk.
"I'm fine, Mr. Spock…" "Captain, I will not accept the term 'fine' as an applicable status of your condition as it has v…" "Variable definitions, 'Fine' is hardly an answer' I know I know I know, Spock." Kirk ran his hand through his hair. "Now, How about you let me finish my statement, Commander." The mere statement of his own rank made Spock stand even straighter, rigid with an officers stance. "Yes, Captain. I apologize for my insubordination." Kirk sighed even louder, before he gave a half-hearted chuckle and shook his head. "No, Don't you start that apology crap. You know as well as I do that you're my first officer, and my best friend." Kirk stopped there, looking through dusty blonde lashes, up at his tall Vulcan Commander. The Vulcan nodded, his tense stoic position seeming to soften, a little. Barely visible to the naked eye, but to the blue, bold, eyes of the captain, not even close to being unrecognized.
"And being such, you have every right to tell me when I'm over exerting myself. Even if I don't like it." Spock hadn't expected this from Jim, he expected outright belligerent groaning, immature whining, and terse responses that would last most of the shift. "But let it be known, screw regulation right now, screw sleep, I'm sitting here at my post…" "Captai…" "Spock, this is my job it is my responsibility to protect my crew. We are in foreign waters, uncharted territory and past the NGC 400." "Yes, howe…" "Mr. Spock, do you not recall that I am, in fact trained to stay awake for over 4 days straight, that I have the qualifications and the health standards, that allow this specific behavior?"
Spock nodded, "Yes Captain." "Do you not recall the many arguments we've had on this subject?" "Captain, in the last 2 years we have had a similar discussion 84 times." Kirk smacked his face into his palm and waited. Just waited.
"I am beginning to see your logic." Kirk nodded, smiling a little. "However I still find your logic, if not dangerous, highly flawed." Another face palm and Kirk snapped his face to the seemingly all serious Commander. "Report to your station, Mr. Spock."
"Aye Captain." Spock had some kind of Vulcan smile, one that only Kirk managed to see. Those big brown, human eyes; not human for their color or shape but on how they reacted to Jim managed to reflect that distinct shimmer of smile and nothing else.
Kirk couldn't help but be a genuine mixture of exhaustion, frustration, and even a tad amused. He growled a little and leapt up, boldly announcing.
"Gonna take a small nap in sickbay, Mr. Spock you have the Con." Spock quirked a brow high as the Captain slapped his shoulder jovially and left the Bridge with a hop to his step.
Why was he always right?
0o0o0
Since the claim of impending Cafard was called to notice, the crew aboard the Enterprise was taking longer recreational breaks, and were all called off-duty until their arrival to the Horatian Solar System. The rec-hall was a little more crowded than usual. Uhura spent her hours working on the long elegant list of sheet music in old-script Vulcan. While the guys sat at the largest round table in the room, playing a very long game of poker, probably not regulation…but they were having fun anyways.
Uhura was finally playing the lyre, the ka'athyra, and Lieutenant Terry placed the fourth card on the table ready to go. Sulu eyes his hand reluctantly, knowing his hand was pretty good for what was on the table and placed his bet. "Two bottles of sake and a real book, Alice and Wonderland." They never bet credits, as they felt it added an illegal air to the game, and made it much less enjoyable.
And even then, they never brought those items with them, only stated their offerings to keep things under the radar, writing them down in a message board on their PADD's.
Lt Valentine hadn't quite realized that the term 'holding your cards to your chest' was merely a term of phrase, and not an instruction. He peeled the corners away from his chest in order to peek at the arrangement and process if they were a winning hand or not. He'd not really been paying attention when Hendorff explained the rules and decided to just 'go for broke' and bluff his way through the final game.
"Stop looking at your cards and place a bet". The man known as 'Cupcake' chided, picking up a salted nut from the bowl in the centre of the table and popping it into his mouth. Gabriel had already worked out that the security officer ate two peanuts if he was bluffing, and this had been his second.
"I'm all in. One run-tor d'mallu slice. It allows the consumer to enter a state of lucid dreaming for one sleep cycle…or lucid nightmare, but that's very rare". He placed the little glass bottle on the table, along with his vials of overwhelmingly delicious alien herbs and spices. Finally, pushing the rest of his previous winnings into list on the PADD, (including Chekov's shot glasses and knitted bobble hat) Cupcake's packaged beef jerky and postcard of the American countryside. His eyes scanned the trio with faux suspicion and remained silent.
Chekov was reluctant to bet his last bottle of vodka, but did so nonetheless and the men sat in suspense, eyes on Sulu to reveal his cards.
The last bets were placed and finally the last card from the dealer was down. "Alright, lets see em guys." Terry groaned putting his hand on the table to reveal one of the shittiest hands ever. Sulu laughed and gave a cocky grin, first winking at the Russian navigator next to him. "Straight flush, read 'em and weep." Terry gave a shocked glance. "Ah I hate this… I never win. Ever."
"You boys at Poker, again?" Uhura smirked sitting closer to the guys as she strummed gently on her Ka'athyra. Sulu looked up at the communications officer. "Yep and probably just won this round." He smiled, cocky but not nearly as cocky their captain would behave.
Chekov threw down his awful cards, letting them skid across the table. "Dammit! Stupid American game". He would have liked to have seen the back of those sake bottles, he didn't know why Hikaru insisted on drinking it when vodka was far superior. This outburst was soon followed by Gabriel, who groaned and finally pried the cards from his chest and set them down on the table. "Aw, I only got pictures this time". He muttered, scratching his unnaturally neat and clean curls.
The Lieutenants woes were interrupted as Cupcake jabbed his finger down ontop of them. "Pictures!? Christ Valentine, you got a Royal Flush!" He laughed, slapping the blonde on his back and directing his chuckles in Sulu's direction. "Tough luck, he thought he was bluffing this whole time".
Chekov rested his hand upon the helmsman's shoulder trying to look sympathetic. "Oh vell, no more Sake for you". Promptly eating his words as the botanist divided the prizes back out to their respective players, swapping Sulu his own plant-based offerings for the book.
Sulu groaned loudly, eyes wide in disbelief, and Lieutenant Terry laughed at them while glancing at Uhura, "Damn Uhura you play that thing like an angel, at least we have music to cure our blues." Uhura let out a giggle before looking to Terry with a blush, "Oh shush, I'm not that good…"
Sulu nodded at that looking to Chekov. "Well at least my hand wasn't as bad as Chekov's… wasn't that your last bottle of Vodka?" Sulu smiled, adding salt to the wounds. Suddenly the party came to a halt when a red-faced CMO came in grumbling about something. "What the hell are y'all up too?" He was in the process of replicating coffee, watching the crew stare up at him a bit shocked.
"Poker? You do know that breaks like 3 regulations right?" McCoy muttered, but didn't seem too concerned. As it was more like he was stating fact then scolding them, Terry stood up straight. "Sir, it was my idea sir and I should take the fall for it." McCoy groaned and looked away. "Shit…" and Terry looked all the more frightened till the Doctor turned facing them all, hands on his hips. "You think I'd really give a flying shit?" Terry was ultimately surprised but Sulu didn't seem that much so.
"Let me teach you youngins how to play some hold'em." McCoy sat down with his cup'a'jo and started dealing, Uhura still strumming away elegantly on her Ka'athyra. He began to deal cards, placing his bet down.
"One bottle of Saurian Brandy, a 12 pack of budweiser classic, and a class five energy hypo." McCoy drawled with a grin on his face, As Sulu grabbed his cards with a sigh. The first three cards were laid out and McCoy had the most clear, stern face, not flinching for a second just stopping to sip his coffee. Finally Terry folded and sighed. "Damn I'm not even gonna bet... this is awful."
"I do hope all your bottles are Synthenol-based." Gabriel mentioned as he picked up his cards, glancing around the table at a number of guilty faces. "I don't think the Enterprise would be very useful if all the crew were drunk". He lightly scalded, being tea-drinker himself, which was a surprise to absolutely no-one. Glancing down at his cards he recognized them as being the same from the last round, and stuck.
Chekov on the other hand was on the brink of sulking. Folding his cards and simultaneously with his arms across his chest, as he grumbled something in Russian. "Fold, damn it." Cupcake sighed, slapping the palm of his hand down onto the table and taking up his glass in his other hand, downing the rest of his drink.
McCoy rolled his eyes, looking at the curly-q'd lieutenant; damn guy looked so different from when he first met him, pretty, clean… and very cute. Soon he had pulled another card without looking down, staring at the eyes around the table then right at the blonde with fierce hazel eyes that had a thoughtful disposition, and a face that says nothing, not a word.
"I believe that'd be the point sweetheart, Americans like it real, and we're all ranking officers here so it really shouldn't be a problem." He drawled, and then smiled before turning that grin back into pure perfection of a poker-face. Finally Sulu growled and folded, knowing that his hand was going no-where fast and looked to the three left with intrigue.
The lieutenant refrained from rolling his eyes in return to the Doctor. He had only the book to barter with now, and despite not wanting to give it away to anyone, he had a Royal flush. So was pretty confident that he was going to be just fine. "One antique book, Alice in Wonderland." He was staying in the game, intent on being victorious over the disagreeable Doctor.
That made things interesting, watching him now with intent, and then adding. "One antique pendant, over 300 years old." The doctor waged, slapping down the final card and watched the blonde intently for a moment, when he finally spoke up. "What'cha got darlin'?" Uhura was even interested now, peering over them both, wanting to know how it all ends.
Gabriel peered over the top of his own cards, inspecting the Doctor's cards on the table with curiosity before setting his own down. "That's funny; I think have a royal flush too!" Cupcake almost choked on the remains of his beer, making a sound of strangled astonishment. "Again! I can't believe it, so what is that, a draw?" The lieutenant was laughing and curious at the state of the game.
McCoy only stared, lips pursed and eyebrows pinched together wide eyed. "Well, well I'll be…" He smiled, and then he laughed. A real laugh, like one Uhura had never heard before, in fact the laugh was so jovial, so profound, that the entire crew stared as if a ghost had just walked in and started talking.
Sulu bent over to Uhura, speaking in whispers. "He's not gonna kill us is he?" Uhura shook her head and stared. And McCoy finally stood and downed the rest of the coffee before finally beaming a bright smile at the Lieutenant. "Well, you are sure full of surprises, lucky Kid." He finally stopped laughing and was just shaking his head in disbelief. "Now listen here cause this never really happens, but when it does you'll know." The whole table was paying attention, even a few other crew-mates who were interested.
"See that there, I have a royal flush of spades, and he has a royal flush of hearts. Spade trumps all other pairs, and hearts trumps diamonds and clubs and so on…" He grinned trying to not laugh. "All my life and its against this one." He was heading out the door before he forgot. "Keep the winnings; I'll bring them by after my shift. I don't need em." He waved off with a chuckle and now the entire table was staring at the blonde as if the whole world revolved around him.
The Botanist gaze lingered on the Doctor as he left the room, and from the reaction of the other crew members it seemed that McCoy wasn't normally much for laughter. He turned his attention to the staring group around him. "What?"
"What you spike his coffee with? Come on, you must have given him something". Cupcake asked, dumbfounded, receiving an incredulous look in return. "I don't /spike/ people's drinks; I believe the Doctor was merely happy to have won the round".
"I don't sink you understand Mr. Walentine, Ze Doctor never laughs". Chekov piped up as he and Sulu rose to their feet to fetch the next round of drinks. "I sink he likes y-" The Russian didn't finish as Sulu planted both hands on his waist and marched him away from the table. Gabriel on the other hand ran his index finger along the spine of the book, thinking that he had quite enjoyed poker after all.
0o0o0
A drowsy dirty blonde captain left the turbo-lift and hurried over to his chair, noticing his first officer still at his console, and studying the system they were about to embark on. He couldn't help but give a small smirk at the man before sitting down and making himself busy immediately. McCoy had made sure all bridge crew gained 9 hours rest, and now the bridge all sleepily made their way to their assigned sections.
"We have maintained standard orbit around the planet, the planet Neolithia, Captain." Spock pressed a few switches down, and then finally faced his Captain, standing next to him as he would usually do. "Lieutenant Uhura, open the hailing frequencies." "Yes, Sir."
"Standard orbit is 20 thousand mile pedigree, Captain." Sulu chimed professionally; Kirk made a thoughtful face and then turned, to Uhura.
"Lieutenant Uhura?" "No response, Sir… Captain…"
Kirk looked back with a little surprise. "Yes?"
"…Its just there seems to be no radio emanations what so ever, no radio, no satellite… nothing. Weird." Uhura looked around, again, for more information but drew blanks. Kirk turned to Chekov immediately.
"This is the planet Neolithia, right?"a beat. "Yes Keptin, that is, if the scanty information we have on the Horatian system is correct, Sir."
"Mr. Spock, your sensors on this, please." A beat "Yes sir." Spocks long, agile fingers raced and Kirk couldn't help but stare at the admirable pace. Boy what he'd do to have those long fingers wr…
Shortly the Vulcan's face registered rare surprise, Kirk almost felt himself die, Vulcans couldn't read thoughts across the room could they? God damnit…
"Most unsual." He muttered, and touched a few other controls. "Well, Mr. Spock?"
Spock turned to his commanding officer. "Sir, it would seem that not only is the planet below completely lacking any radio, or satellite, but it has never had them." Kirk frowned.
"Don't be silly, Spock, Neolithia is settled by human colonists." Spock said nothing. Kirk scowled flicking at the screen control, this just isn't right, isn't right at all. He magnified the screen, a fair few amount of times, using his fingers to pull down further into the planets map his ship was currently creating with their satellite.
It was a scene of near ancient times, not a road in sight, a scene much like old, old Iowa; No cities, no villages not even small towns, like a green, untouched earth of thousands years passed.
"Spock, atmosphere analysis?" a beat. "It is most unusual, Captain, the atmosphere is Earthlike; Nitrogen, Oxygen, with traces of argon, krypton, and neon; Temperature seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit, gravitational force identical to that of Earth. However, Captain, the sensors detect one oddity.
"Well?" a beat. "Sir, there are no traces of… no traces of what once man called 'smog.' No traces of industrial-based fumes or influences on the atmosphere from fossil fuels, such as coal and oil."
"What are you suggesting Mr. Spock?" Kirk was a bit out of his element here, he was smart, but he drew a line at global composition. That's where Spock came in.
"This planet is not inhabited by mankind, Captain." Kirk groaned. "That's speculation, and you know it. Maybe they have radiation? Nuclear power wouldn't create the ozone components…" "None, whatsoever, and if they had there would still be traces in the atmosphere."
Kirk lowered down into another scene on the planet, that had just loaded through; Land with forests, lakes and rivers, green all over and untouched. "Are you suggesting, that the colony has been wiped out?"
"I do not know, sir." Spock answered, looking almost, almost forlorn that he did not have the answers for his captain.
"But, as you see there are no signs as such, normally there would be tell tale signs of that which would be such a wholesale devastation."
Spock was correct, of course and now Kirk had to make his decision final. "Were beaming down." Kirk stood up and flipped his console switch contacting medical. "McCoy, I need you and Lieutenant Flaughrity ready to beam in ten minutes…"
McCoy looked up at the screen and sighed. "Yeah? Well remember last month?" Kirk thought for a moment and then looked to McCoy. "He's dead Jim, I thought you'd remember that."
Kirk gave a look of horror, he'd remembered now. "Billy… yeah, in my defense we only had him for 2 weeks before he…" "Croaked, yeah I know, listen Jim I got just the Botanist, he's our new chief…" "Oh yeah, Mr. Valentine, him, bring him. Kirk out." Kirk turned then looked to his helmsman. "Sulu, you too." There was a nod and an 'aye captain.' As Sulu made way onto the turbo lift alongside Spock and Kirk.
"Hope you're ready for some good old fashioned ground team." Spock said nothing, Kirk laughed, and Sulu rolled his eyes when Kirk wasn't looking.
TBC please RnR
