The third mission following was assigned
by Starfleet, without clear purpose or intent
They were ordered to become emissaries
to seek out Qyklops of tlhIngan kind
He was said to reside on the planet plH'moS
where the spirits of the warriors are buried.
It was a long flight, underlined with doubt
the crew had stopped believing the Admiralty's command
The Captain called on Lt. Uhura to guide him
She remembered too well the eyes of the patrol scout
If Qyklops was anything like the Qo'NoSian
they must be prepared, their prospects were grim.
Yet she remembered with equal clarity
their willingness to disembark, walk forward, unmask
listen to her words and measure them for worth
Before they departed, she bought gifts of surpassing rarity
Talosian pendants, Vulcan wine, Tellarite ointment
that these may aid in allowing them safe berth.
They arrived to observe the strange fertility of plH'moS
wide fields, soft rains, oceans with chalcedony coral
tangqa' grazing, lung sleeping, qagh slipping over rock
Nothing farmed, no factories, no tlhIngan, no deimos
it was hard to believe such a place could exist
among the Qo'NoSian people, whose planet was shocked.
The Captain refused to meet Qyklops without searching
for traps, surveillance, weapons, ships, war operations
despite Spock's protests they were breaking good faith
After the scouts reported back, all confirming
the land was clean, but the peoples were lawless
Kirk listened, nodded, gave their reports great weight.
His decisions on dealing with Qyklops' kind
were perhaps too formed, without room for perspectives
Lt. Uhura hailed Qyklops on the Captain's orders
saying words meaning peace, supplication, but defined
by their sudden appearance looming over the planet
a Constitution class vessel with officers and soldiers.
Qyklops was a tlhIngan who'd lost comrades by fire
fighting mad Nero's quest to reduce all to madness
fighting mad tlhIngan's quest to rebuild a great army
He took the post on plH'moS to live by the pyres
of old friends, old fields, old tangqa', old seas
He knew nothing of Kirk, but fear stirred old memory
He gathered his rusted sword from its rotting sheath
He polished it quietly while qagh coiled and slithered
He watched as it slowly emerged to new skin
For tlhIngan the fight is to honor and breathe
new life in the body, blood roaring, heart spinning
He would honor this land, his comrades with a death to win.
And if not win, then keep from destruction
his beloved fires, the tangqa's slow walking
This he resolved when he answered their message
with words meaning peace, welcome, formal introduction
His eyes taking in the eyes of the Captain
whose eyes took in what each believed was the essence
of war. Kirk beamed down with Spock, Uhura, and Bones
each gave salute to Qyklops in high form, presented their gifts
with necks bare and exposed. The Captain repeated his words
"Of a peace between tlhIngans and Federation, may our witness be stones
whose silence will carry the promise to marrow."
"But stones may be broken when selath set on herds
scattering their numbers like ships burnt to rubble."
Thus Qyklops prepared quickly to kill Kirk's companions, trap Captain and ship
in helpless surrender. He would have then summoned
his ruthless plH'moSians to slaughter their numbers and begin the long struggle.
But Kirk would have devised a sly plan to bewitch savage Qyklops
with wine and then blind the great tlhIngan a sudden
escape to the Enterprise, fly Federation, war mad and sure of a terrible fate.
All this would have passed, if they both had not tasted
the bitterness of death, war, hubris, retreat. Qyklops, defying fate and his instincts
looked Kirk in the eye with unflinching stare. There was no hate.
"You come to this planet with gifts of great value
yet send scouts to survey our land for a prize. You come with a Vulcan, a species extinct
to remind me of my loss yet despise this hallowed land of my dead
and my dearest, whose spirits walk in these sacred skies. If your truth is peace
then why approach thusly, stinking of dishonor, deceit, and lies."
"We are Achaians, coming from Troy," Lt. Uhura stepped forward and said
"We are beaten off our true course by our own Federation, whose words we hold cheaply.
Dishonor, deceit, are not our intention. Fear drove us to set out and spy
your land, your peoples in contravention of possible death, prepare for the worst.
We see now we could have risked an open trust in hospitality
yet you cannot blame us of our fear, for you share it, know it, live it too.
So we have come. So it has pleased Qun to arrange it. He thirsts
for peace and quiet waters. Will you turn away suppliants at your knees?"
And thus the seeds of words were planted, nourished with a gentle dew
that bloomed to friendship between Federation
and tlhIngan kind. So life begins anew.