(one year has passed since the last issue...things have changed...a little…so read carefully)

STAR TREK
PHASE ONE

Double Back Red

USS Reliant on final approach to Mars…

Commander Gary Mitchell, the XO of the Reliant walked through a corridor on his way to the bridge. Recently promoted Nadya Chekov caught up to him; as she too was on her way to the bridge.

"Hey there," Gary said, as he looked over Nadya, and as usual, undressing her with his eyes.

"Commander," Nadya said, "I enjoyed our dinner in the galley last night."

Gary smiled at her; he was finally making progress with Nadya. But on advice from Jim, he had taken it slow, which for Gary Mitchell, the playboy of all playboys, was a miracle.

"I received a message from Lt. Sulu," Nadya went on to say, "the Enterprise is about to arrive in the Alpha Centauri star system."

Gary nodded in agreement.

"I know," Gary said, "I got a message from Jim Kirk too. I replied and I let him know that I'm still pissed off that you and I got assigned to the Reliant for this return trip to Mars; we missed out on history making."

Chekov smiled.

"When the Enterprise gets back, and we rejoin her, I'm sure we will get to make history with our friends at some future point.

Gary nodded his head.

"Oh, I'm not mad about not going with them, well actually I am because I was hoping that by going my action figure would start selling more," Gary came back with, "I'm actually more upset that the tin-can,(the SPOCK unit) thanks to Daystrom's whining, was made the official first officer in my absence."

Chekov giggled.

"I wish I were there too," Nadya said to Gary. "The new star-drive propelled the Enterprise several units of warp speed so that the journey to Alpha Centauri only took three weeks! Can you imagine that? Faster than light speed?"

Gary liked her enthusiasm, but, it was a bit overboard for his taste.

They entered the bridge of the Reliant. The Captain of the USS Reliant, Captain Terrell, a man of African descent, sat in his command chair and listened to the standard reports being given by his bridge grew as the Reliant entered orbit of Mars.

"Mr. Mitchell," Terrell said to his XO, Gary, as he came onto the bridge with Nadya, "ship's status please."

"We're looking good sir," Commander Gary Mitchell reported as he looked at the various console arrayed around the upper ring of the bridge.

Captain Terrell nodded his head. "Gary," Terrell continued, "How long until we can send the marine detachment down to surface and get an assessment of what's left down there?"

"Not as quick as we think," Gary reported. "The dust storms down there are not at their peak, but they still pose a nuisance. The shuttles will need to be fitted with the special filters, so," Gary concluded, "two, maybe up to four hours sir."

"Alright," Captain Terrell said. "But when I go down there with them to make my own assessment, I want our best pilot taking me." Terrell said in the direction of Chekov.

"Understood," Mitchell said.

Chekov had definitely proven herself to the Space Agency, as well as with Captain Terrell.

Back on Earth, she had become somewhat of a hero to the Russian people. Her Q rating (stardom popularity measure) was actually higher than Gary's, which irked him as well. On a personal level, Gary still hadn't 'cracked' her shy exterior, but would one day; or so he kept telling himself.

As Gary looked at her from where he was on the upper ring of the bridge, Nadya turned back and looked at him, and she smiled her innocent smile, which always turned Gary on, and somehow he knew, she knew.

But as their eyes met, Gary felt a strange sensation come over him. For a brief moment, his mind was lost. He saw strange images, and more importantly, he saw a woman grabbing at her ears, as blood poured from them; screaming in agonizing pain. The woman in total horrific pain was Nadya Chekov! Then, just as fast as it came, the vision was gone. But if anything, to Gary, it felt more like a memory; a yet to happen memory.

He turned away from her, and sat at his post. This wasn't the first time a vision such as this had flashed before his mind. And like all the others, he had to push the strange images away. Something had slowing been happening to Gary in the past year, and he shared this feeling with no one else, not even James Kirk, who was his best friend. Gary didn't want to burden his friend with concern, because Gary knew Kirk would put aside his career to help his friend.

Gary left the Bridge and headed to the hanger-bay to make sure the shuttles were being properly prepared. He did this because it was his duty, but mainly because he wanted Nadya Chekov to come back; alive.

So…reader…what had happened to Khan and the first set of colonist a year ago? Let's recap…

Those first colonists on Mars, under the leadership of Commander Khan and had been sent to the red planet to build the first stage of the future colony, and prepare it for the eventual terra-forming project.

Although the orbiting laser did indeed destroy the first colony; it had not been a tragic accident, as the public had been told.

Not even the crew of the Reliant knew the entire truth which was that most of the colonists had become infected with parasites that ended up controlling their minds. Truth be told that when the United Space Agency found out, Colonel Pike had considered using the laser platform to do just what the platform ended up doing; but before Pike could make the tough decision an unknown 'wildcard' (Section-31)gained access of the Space Agency's system, and ordered the platform to decimate the colony.

An investigation into the security breach of the Agency's computers found encrypted, deep seeded programming through-out the entire computer system of the Space Agency.

Some of the greatest minds were hired, including the greatest computer scientists of the time, including Richard Daystrom, and Milton Perry, to clean up the mess and install new lines of codes, a task that took over seven months to complete.

Next time…the USS Enterprise explores the Alpha Centauri star system and encounters…THE GORN.