STAR TREK: PHASE ONE

Stormy Weather

Part One

The Alpha-Centauri system…

The Enterprise had been damaged by the blast fired by the alien vessel. It was time for some swift action, Kirk thought to himself, or the Enterprise's return to Earth in one piece was in doubt.

"Uhura," Kirk said, "continue to broadcast our first signal. Maybe it is taking their translator, if they have one, longer to decipher our language."

"Captain," Scotty said, "the first blast has affected some of the thruster configurations, nothing major. But I can't guarantee she'll hold up against anymore blasts like that one."

McCoy, who had a tiny ear-set piece set in his ear, came over to Kirk's command chair.

"No significant casualties, Jim," McCoy stated. "A couple radiation exposures; nothing my staff can't handle."

Kirk nodded, "We got lucky," Kirk said. "We might not get so lucky next time." He shifted his attention to Chakotay. "What are the alien ships doing now?"

The three alien ships were in station keeping near the Enterprise, and unmoving.

Chakotay looked at the data on his screen. "They are just sitting out there, sir, no doubt trying to ascertain how much damage they did."

Kirk nodded. "Perhaps, or maybe they are picking a better, more sensitive target on my ship to shoot at."

"Captain, they aren't attacking," McCoy interjected, "which means maybe we don't have to retaliate."

"Excuse me doctor," Chakotay said, "they attacked us. If we don't show them some kind of backbone they might consider us easy game."

Part of Kirk knew that Chakotay was right, but McCoy was right too. The aliens may have stepped over the line, but the damage they inflicted was minor.

"Uhura, is there any progress on making contact with our friends out there?" Kirk asked.

Suddenly; Chakotay cut in.

"Sir, six more alien craft approaching from the fifth planet in this system," Chakotay said, "and they are not of the same design."

"On screen," Kirk said.

The view screen switched from the three ships that had already engaged with the Enterprise to a view of six totally different looking ships. The new ships were unlike the oval ships of the first group of alien vessels. These new six were very elegant looking, and, if one looked closely enough, resembled the frame of a prehistoric pterodactyl.

Mars:

The Reliant was in orbit of the Red Planet.

A shuttlecraft was dropping quickly through the atmosphere. The blowing sandstorm made it very difficult to see anything, as the shuttle descended downward. The pilot, Lt. Tom Paris, had trained for months in the desert sandstorms in the great African deserts east of the Sudan. But none of his training had prepared him for this much wind disturbance.

The passengers, including Captain Terrell and Lt. Nadya Chekov and two security officers, held on to their seats as best they could. Thankfully they were all strapped into their seats. But although it made them safe, it didn't make the insides of their stomachs anymore calm.

The rattling noises of the confined passenger cabin contributed to the nervous feeling they all had. But their training at the United Space Agency facility in England had prepared them, somewhat, for this kind of constant shaking. But the major difference between training in England, and actually landing in a sandstorm on mars, was like comparing apples to oranges. It was THAT different.

Captain Terrell would go down in history as the first African-man to command a Constitution-class starship. The position had not been handed to him at all. He competed against some very greatest officers of the time including Kirk, Green, Garrett and even Gary Mitchell, his acting Co on this mission, and currently in command of the Reliant while Terrell was heading down to the planet. Unfortunately, the Perry evaluation, created by numbers expert Milton Perry, chose Kirk above all others and that was why he got the Enterprise; and all the press!

The main reason Terrell was even going down to the planet was due to the D.A.T.A interface, which for this mission, establishing a status report on the condition of the first, and eventually destroyed Mars colony, was third in command behind Terrell and Mitchell. The Data interface also had a collateral duty of assigning landing parties. And due to Terrell's past positions in engineering, and familiarity with the tech, the Data found it most logical that he go down to the planet, with Chekov.

Terrell had worked on many of the old systems which were the backbone of the first colony. He could have assigned someone else, but Terrell also wanted to get off the ship and 'do' something which required more than just sitting in his command chair signing status reports.

Chekov, too, had much experience in the old tech, being that most of it was Russian origin. That was why she had been selected to accompany the Reliant on this mission to Mars.

Terrell knew that neither Chekov nor Mitchell really wanted to be on this, what would be, for them both, return mission to Mars. But no one chose their fate, or orders, as they all well knew. And just as in the previous century, a sailor, in this case an astronaut, went where they were told to go.

"Chekov," Terrell said to her, his teeth chattering as he did, "I want to thank you. I know you'd rather out there with the Enterprise and discovering new worlds. It may seem they will get a lot of glory, but I promise you, this mission will prove remarkable as well."

She smiled back at him. She gave the Reliant's captain credit for trying to put a good spin on such a mundane mission. But she knew he was right. If they could make progress with putting a colony on Mars, perhaps, someday, it would inspire large cities on Mars, and with that, the lessening of overpopulation on Earth. She chuckled to herself. If she was lucky she might get a school named after her. And then…she set the ship down.

Suddenly the ship made a thud sound as it came to a rest on the landing platform of the smashed Mars colony. Terrell and Chekov, and the security team, put their environmental suits on and prepared to depart the shuttle.

On Earth, Colonel Pike sat in his office. A signal had come that the Reliant's landing crew had landed on Earth. The last time he was monitoring a Mars mission, the Laser platform was taken control of by some outside source, and then was made to fire on the colony mission, which had been infected by some unknown Martian parasite. Since that time, Pike ordered a total redo of the computer system, which was over seen by Richard Daystrom and Martin Bishop.

Pike stood up and left his desk and entered the main control center that was in constant contact with the Reliant. Due to the sandstorm on Mars, communication with Terrell and his landing party was impossible.

Off the coast of Australia, in his island lair, John Gill could only watch tactical read outs that were being tracked by his people. The United Space Agency had been very successful weeding out the 'bugs' in their systems. But John Gill didn't need to have any real time information from Mars to know that Khan had, at least not long after the incident on Mars, survived.

Gill stood up and walked over to the large observation post in his office and stared out at the now completed Botany Bay. It, too, was a Constitution-class starship. But Gill's ship had been modified, and very soon, it would be launch in an effort to show the new United Nations that they were not the only major force on Earth.

Continued…and oh yeah, they are coming; ROMULANS! But these aren't your dad's Romulans…no sir!