The transporter beam released Kirk and his party in colony's main square. Kirk's customary deep first breath of the alien air revealed a musty, rustic aroma that lent the area a feel of being lived and worked in. To Kirk's left was a fountain with a pair of sculpted hawks sitting in the middle back to back, their beaks pointed straight at the brown sky, wings fully extended. Water poured from the back tips of the wings and talons. Surrounding them were silver buildings that had the rusty appearance of having been present for quite a few years. Standing several meters ahead of the Enterprise personnel were three men, the middle of whom smiled and moved towards the captain.

"You must be Captain Kirk! I'm Governor Richard Kildawe. Welcome to Tarquan."

Jim accepted the friendly handshake and gave his most winning diplomatic smile.

"Governor, it's a pleasure to meet you. May I introduce my officers, ship's chief medical officer Dr. Leonard McCoy, chief engineer Montgomery Scott, science officer Lieutenant Carol Marcus, security officers Joe Brantley and Walter Michaels." Kildawe nodded to each of them in turn before turning back to the Captain.

"I have to say, Captain, we're quite relieved to see you. Our colony is quite old, our equipment either obsolete or breaking down. We've been holding out well while resources have been needed to aid the Vulcans, but I think I can speak for all of my people when I say we've been looking forward to the arrival of you and the specialists you're carrying ever since we heard about it. The sooner you complete your evaluation the sooner we get the parts we need."

Kirk gave an understanding nod. "Then let's not waste any time. Those in the fields you've specified are awaiting my signal to start beaming down as soon as you tell us where you want them."

"Thank you, Captain. The farming technicians should probably go straight to the fields as it is some distance from here. All the others can just come straight down here. My aids, Walter Rawls and Jack Turner, will direct them where to go from here."

Kirk nodded and pulled out his communicator to relay Kildawe's instructions to the Enterprise. After finishing up with Uhura, Kirk turned back to Kildawe. "Governor, I brought my officers down to see what the Enterprise herself can do while the specialists are conducting their evaluation. With your permission…?"

Kildawe nodded eagerly. "Thank you so much, Captain. This is even better news for us than the evaluation. Technician Johannesburg and Docter Parmet," Kildawe indicated each one standing at different points around the plaza, "can give them the information they need. As for Lieutenant Marcus…?"

Kirk answered the unspoken question. "Your message specified that one of your problems was that some of your buildings were deteriorating. Lieutenant Marcus is an expert on structural damage so I thought she could take a look to see just what kind of damage there is and how we can help."

"Perfect! The general deterioration is pretty much the same throughout the colony, so this would be as good a place as any for the Lieutenant to start."

With a nod to Kildawe and then to Jim, Carol pulled out her tricorder and started taking readings from the nearest building.

"And in the meantime, Captain, I thought I could give you a tour of the colony. It may not be the fanciest settlement in the universe, but we're quite proud of it."

"If what I've seen so far is any indication Governor, you have every right to be." With that, Kildawe and Kirk set off, the former eager to show off the accomplishments of his people, the latter hoping this would prove to be a nice diversion from the stress of this mission and of one of the other men currently beaming down….

Dr. Carol Marcus moved to yet another building and began taking readings with her tricorder. She'd been at it for more than 90 minutes, and so far she'd seen a number of buildings in the colony that reminded her of nothing so much as one of Scotty's usual jobs in holding the Enterprise together with scotch tape and happy thoughts. Calling in their locations up to the ship, she'd had engineers beaming down with the appropriate tools to reinforce and replace aging materials.

She was just coming up to another house along the edge of the settlement when the muffled sounds of arguing reached her ears. She turned for a moment before shrugging it off, figuring it was just some colonists in a personal dispute that wasn't any of her business. But for the next few minutes the sounds grew louder and angrier, and Carol started getting worried. Slipping her tricorder back onto her belt, Carol turned and made her way toward the area where the sounds were emanating from. Coming around the edge of a public school, Carol saw the source of the trouble and was immediately struck by the conflicting feelings of being glad she'd come and wishing she were anywhere else. Two colonists were holding onto a third, who appeared to be straining to get away and lunge at the sneering figure of Frank Garson.

Carol debated for a moment whether or not to call for backup, but she knew that if she did this would fall onto the Captain's plate, and that was the last thing she wanted to do to him. Steeling herself, Marcus strode forward and summoned up her best mollifying tone. "Gentlemen, is there a problem?"

All those present turned to look at her, the angry colonist being the first to answer. "Yes there's a problem! This little weasel seems to think he's better than all of my people who have been working to hold this colony together!"

Frank scoffed. "Not think, knows he's better. Honestly, it's a wonder those houses didn't fall down the first second you put them up if you're doing things like this."

"It was a patch job you insufferable little runt! We worked with what we had!" snapped out the colonist as he struggled to get free of the hands restraining him.

Having seen more than enough, Carol decided to step in before things got totally out of hand. "I'm sure Mr. Garson didn't mean to demean your work-."

"Oh yes I did, little lady, these are the biggest bunch of incompetents I've ever seen! And just where do you think you get off talking about what I meant?"

It took every last ounce of Carol's self-control to keep from smacking the arrogant pig. "These men have worked very hard keeping their colony together, I was thinking that you would not diminish their efforts with rude and unprofessional comments."

The glint in Frank's eyes that appeared was quite dangerous; Carol found herself torn between the simultaneous urges to reach for her phaser and run for the nearest shower. "Listen up pretty lady. I won't have you telling me what I can and cannot say. You may think just because your Captain was immature enough to decide he wanted some eye candy on his ship that it gives you some kind of authority. Well let me tell you-"

"No, we won't let you tell us."

Carol had never been so thankful to hear that voice. Frank, however, just smirked.

"Well, lookie here, honey, it's your dear old Captain to the rescue. Tell me, just what are you going to do about it if I decide to tell you anyway?"

Apparently Frank had forgotten some crucial things about dealing with Jim Kirk. Either that, or he'd just been very different as a kid. Carol, however, recognized the look in the Captain's eyes, the one that said 'you've gone too far'. Carol had seen a pack of Klingons get control of their tempers when faced with that look, it was too bad that Frank was too much of a fool to know better.

"Well you've been insulting these people who've been working their tails off in less than stellar conditions, you've been unspeakably rude to one of my officers, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm sending you back to the ship. You get to explain to your superiors why the contract for this colony went to one of their competitors. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear it."

Frank sneered. "And what if I don't want to go Captain?"

Jim smirked. "Then I'll be more than happy to have you hauled up and tossed in the brig for the remainder of the voyage."

That seemed to get through to Frank, at least somewhat, as he paled. "You wouldn't dare."

Kirk gestured to Michaels and Brantley, who strode forward. Frank backtracked as quickly as he could.

"Fine! Fine, you pathetic excuse for a Captain, I'll go. But this isn't over."

"Oh yes it is. This is your one and only warning. The next time you do something to disrupt this mission, I'll have you tossed in the brig no matter what you say." And before Frank could do more than splutter, Kirk yanked out his communicator and instructed the transporter room to beam Frank back up to the ship.

As Kirk turned to the colonists to offer them the services of his engineering department to collect data for a new contractor, Carol turned and headed back to her work, her thoughts focused in one place; marveling at the strength of her captain. Jim had grown up with that man, had been with him day in and day out before he'd had the strength and backup that came with being a starship Captain. How had he managed to come out of that with his enormous heart?

The Enterprise cruised through the void, her powerful warp engines propelling her away from Tarquan now that her mission there was complete. Scotty and his people had worked feverishly to patch up the worst of the problems they found, and both he and the colonists were fairly certain their work would be enough to hold the colony together until the supply ships arrived.

Coming off an exhausting double shift, Scotty sank back into his chair in the mess hall cradling his glass of scotch as he and Hikaru Sulu listened to Carol Marcus recount the events on the planet. As usual the one thing in the universe that could outrace the Enterprise any day was gossip. By the end of the day word of the altercation on the planet had spread throughout the ship like wildfire, and Carol, Brantley, and Michaels were getting swamped with requests to give their version of the story. It was all the worse for Carol as she was the only one who had been there for the full incident. When Scotty and Sulu had asked her what happened she looked like she was about to bite their heads for being the hundredth people to ask, but since they'd both been in the briefing and knew the situation she figured of all people they needed to know.

Scotty was disgusted with what he'd heard of the way that 'man' had behaved towards the colonists. He'd spent the day up to his elbows in their patch jobs, and on the whole he was impressed. They'd done a mighty fine job considering what they had to work with, and then to insult their captain on top of it? Sulu was clearly of the same opinion.

"I don't believe that little weasel. I suppose it was too much to hope that he'd grown up and started to regret the way he'd treated the captain way back when. I have half a mind to introduce him to my new Orion Tsaril saber."

Scotty had been hearing similar mutterings throughout the ship since he'd beamed up. This crew did not take kindly to people disrespecting their captain. Ever since they'd set out on their first mission the crew had had a great deal of respect for Captain Kirk, given what he'd accomplished against Nero. This only increased as he'd led them through the next few months. Jim Kirk had a very unique command style, managing to balance the respect due his rank with an openness and familiarity that was more reflective of a family than a crew. The crew had responded to this. It meant something to them when their captain made a point of showing them he cared. Then, in the blink of an eye, everything had changed. They'd been ordered to go after Khan and ended up in a deadly confrontation. Twice during that incident Kirk had floored the crew with his dedication to them. If someone were asked to name one character flaw Jim Kirk had, quite a few would have called him on his pride. Thus it was hard to decide which meant more to them; that Kirk had knowingly sacrificed his life for their safety, or that he'd basically bowed before his enemy and begged for their lives. Prior to that battle the crew had been quite loyal to their captain. Now they all but worshipped him.

So when they heard that this rude upstart had been bad-mouthing him, even without most of them knowing he'd been Kirk's abusive step-father, most of them were not happy.

Scotty opened his mouth to reply to Sulu's comment when a voice from behind him froze his blood.

"And then the little punk had the gall to threaten me! Ordered me back to the ship like I was wearing one of his uniforms. I tell you, one day soon that brat is gonna get what's coming to him."

Red alert klaxons were blaring in Scotty's mind as quite a few crewmen bristled at the mocking tones of Frank Garson talking to several of his chums from his contracting company. Some started half rising from their seats. Scotty hurriedly waved them back down, knowing the very last thing Jim needed was for trouble to break out between Frank and the crew.

"Oh, but look at this! Apparently his blind dogs actually like him! Maybe even enough to defend their proud captain's honor! Never mind that the little washout was never able to do anything right."

Now even Sulu was out of his seat. Scotty stood up and put a restraining hand on the helmsman's shoulder, shaking his head at the still more crewmen who looked ready to pound Frank's face in. Scotty focused all of his attention on making sure each of the crew got the message that they were to do nothing, as it was a nice diversion for his own fraying temper. He was so close, so close, to gaining control of himself too, when the mocking tones broke out from just behind him. If only-

"From what I hear he couldn't even manage to die right."

If only.

Oh well.

Kirk strode onto the bridge, doing everything he could think of to shove that little piece of his mind back in its box. He hated that Frank's voice still held enough power to make him doubt himself, but it was unavoidable. He'd always had his own doubts about his ability to Captain a starship, and some of his earliest memories were of Frank mocking his abilities. As much as he knew in his mind that Frank was full of hot air, the man had beaten down on him in the weakest point in his life. As much as he tried to deny it, there was a part of him that still felt vulnerable to the man's poison.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the nagging whine, Kirk strode over to the science station.

"Status, Mr. Spock?"

Spock looked up from his console. "No difficulties to report, Captain. We are currently on course for Adara 2. All systems functioning normally."

Kirk nodded in response to the report. He hadn't expected anything different, but protocol was protocol, and Spock would sooner let loose a belly laugh than ignore it. Now for the real question. "What about our shadows?"

Spock raised an eyebrow. "During our orbit of Tarquan, the unidentified sensor readings appeared to maintain their distance, remaining just inside sensor range but no closer, and following as we departed."

Kirk acknowledged the report with a nod. "Keeping us in sight but no closer. Any progress on figuring out just what these readings are?"

"None. The sensors are giving no readings out of the ordinary aside from motion contacts."

Kirk rubbed his face in frustration. After a day like today, no progress wasn't sitting well with him. He just wanted some answers. Any answers. "Analysis, Spock. If these are hostile ships, what might their objectives be?"

"Impossible to determine without more data. However, at the moment the Enterprise does represent a tempting target. In addition to the normal difficulties the Federation would suffer from the loss of Starfleet's flagship, the deaths of all of the delegates currently on board would present a potentially crippling blow, at least temporarily, to technological and scientific advancement."

Kirk sighed. Spock wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know, and he knew it. All he could do was rehash the unknowns and possibilities. They weren't going to get anything done like this.

"How about we call it a night and get a fresh start in the morning? I don't know about you but I could use a-" Kirk's thought was interrupted by the shrill note of the intercom.

"Security to Captain Kirk."

Kirk closed his eyes briefly in frustration before tapping the intercom. "Kirk here, what is it?"

"Captain, there's been a… disturbance in the mess hall."

Kirk's and Spock's eyebrows raced each other to the tops of their owners' heads.

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