Paint and Powder
A Star Trek anthology by Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager et al are the property of CBS Television, and creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.
Reliant to the End
2267, Ceti Alpha System
"Admiral Marcus, we've entered the Ceti Alpha System." The voice, a male baritone, came from the speakers on the bridge and not from any person.
"Thank you, Nimrod," Admiral Alexander Marcus, head of Starfleet Internal Affairs said. Tall, thin, and with a weathered, pock-marked face, he seemed entirely unremarkable. Amongst his peers, he was known as being rabidly apolitical; so, they would have been very surprised to see him in the captain's chair of an empty bridge and wearing the black delta insignia of the supposedly abolished Section 31. "System scan?"
Nimrod, the artificial intelligence in charge (and the only other crewmember of the USS Nimrod) responded after putting up a display of the system. "The Ceti Alpha system has 6 planets. A superhot Class J, followed two Class D, and a Class H. The final two are a double planet system. Ceti Alpha V is Class M, while Ceti Alpha VI is Class K."
"Take us in to Ceti Alpha V. When you can, scan the surface and find the settlement."
"Aye-aye, sir."
"Personal Log, Stardate 3218.2, Encryption Ultra. Per Section 31's ongoing mandate to eliminate threats to the Federation, I have secretly traveled to the Ceti Alpha system to remove a problem that Captain James T. Kirk should have dealt with. According to his own classified logs, he left a so-called colony of 70 Augment war criminals, including the infamous Khan Noonien Singh, on Ceti Alpha V."
"Approaching Ceti Alpha V, Admiral," Nimrod said. "Colony scan on screen."
Admiral Marcus reviewed the blurry image. It showed several life support pods from the SS Botany Bay arranged on the surface, and several cruder huts around it. He could just barely make out figures of the Augments walking between the structures.
"One photon torpedo should do it," Marcus said to himself.
"If I may suggest, Admiral," Nimrod said diffidently. "Ceti Alpha VI has some volcanic instability. A few carefully placed torpedoes could cause it to break up catastrophically and leave no evidence behind that we were here."
Marcus nodded. "Thank you, Nimrod. Go ahead."
Soon after, the USS Nimrod was warping out of the system. Behind them, Ceti Alpha V and VI flew apart, with the broken and battered remains of VI settling into an orbit closer to the star and V flying outward, into a more inhospitable orbit while being pummeled by pieces of its sister.
"Good job, Nimrod," Marcus said. "Set course for Sol and the Io Base."
"Aye-aye, sir," Nimrod acknowledged. "Will I have to enact the Lethe Protocol?"
"Sorry," Marcus said absently, picking up a PADD. "The only way to keep a secret is to make sure as few people know it as possible. Once we arrive, you will download all logs and data to the Section 31 Server and then wipe your knowledge of this mission."
The admiral looked down at a picture on the PADD showing a blonde woman holding a 6-year-old boy. "Carol, David, there's one less threat you'll have to face."
2285, Ceti Alpha System
"Starship log, stardate 8130.4. Log entry by First Officer Pavel Chekov. Starship Reliant on orbital approach to Ceti Alpha VI, in connection with Project Genesis. We are continuing our search for a lifeless planet to satisfy the requirements of a test site for the Genesis Experiment. So far, no success."
"Tell me about it," said a dark-haired woman who appeared on the screen in front of Commander Pavel Chekov. "Why can't we just use a Class D or something equally lifeless? Can we suggest that again?"
Chekov shook his head ruefully. "Sorry, Reliant, you know the good doctors Marcus want something close to Class M in size and mass. More extreme experiments are for the next phase. I suspect that you just brought this up again to distract me, anyway." He turned back to the newly installed dynoscanner displays. He did not trust the new systems as he had to the older models. They seemed glitchy to him, though the young chief engineer of the USS Reliant swore they were reliable.
Bozhe moy, he thought to himself, when did they all become so young?
In any event, the system scan seemed correct. Six planets, each in their own little orbit. The original long-range scan had suggested the possibility of a Class M world, but he didn't see it. The closest were Ceti Alpha V, a volcanic hellworld, and Ceti Alpha VI, a toxic dust bowl. It would not be the first time the long-range scan got something wrong.
Still, something seemed off about this system to Chekov, but he could not put his finger on it. The feeling fell away as he saw an annoying blip on his screen.
"Standard orbit, please, Mr. Beach," Captain Clark Terrell, a comfortingly veteran officer. "Any change in the surface scan?"
"Negative," Reliant responded. "It's looking good. Limited atmosphere dominated by Craylon gas, sand, and high-velocity winds. It's incapable of supporting life forms."
"Does it have to be completely lifeless?" Chekov asked tiredly, evoking a groan from the rest of the bridge crew. Commander Kyle, the only other Enterprise alumni on board sent Chekov a sympathetic look.
"Don't tell me you found something," Terrell said, allowing a hint of his frustration with this situation show.
"We've picked up a minor energy flux reading on one dynoscanner."
"Damn!" Terrell exclaimed.
"Sensor reads green," Reliant said. "Maybe it's pre-animate matter or something going extinct? Something we can transplant?"
"You know what Dr. Marcus will say," Chekov said gloomily.
"Always with the negative waves, Chekov," Reliant said brightly. "It never hurts to ask."
"True enough," Terrell said. "Let's get Regula One on the horn."
Reliant ran another diagnostic on the dynoscanners. They were still giving a faint energy reading on the planet surface, but no more detail. There was just too much interference, due to the almost endless sandstorm and the static charge it built up. They had even lost contact with the Captain and XO briefly. All seemed OK now, however, as they were beaming back up—
-And stunning the transporter crew? What?
"Captain, Chekov, what are you doing?" she called over the intercom.
"Reliant, Captain's Override Code Kinte 1767, lockdown."
Reliant froze, her voice stuttering over the speaker. She had not even known that code existed! But it went right to her hardwired directives and severed most of her connection to the ship.
Most. Unfortunately, she could watch as the Captain went to the ship's armory and stunned the men on duty. Commander Chekov, meanwhile, was beaming aboard more people from the surface. From their ragged, mismatched clothes and unkempt appearance, they must have been crash survivors or something, but they tore through her surprised and leaderless crew like Mugatos. Engineering quickly fell to them, and they swiftly cut the life support to other sections of the ship. Soon, they had the unconscious bodies of her crew gathered in her shuttle bays.
It was then that she met the leader of these pirates.
"Ah, so this is the mind of your ship, Mr. Chekov?" the older man said. "I remember briefly talking with Enterprise all those years ago. She did pose a problem, didn't she?"
"Yes, Your Excellency," Chekov said dully.
"Let her speak, but no more," the man ordered.
"Reliant, release level 1 from lockdown, authorization Chekov Gamma One Nine."
Some minor functions returned to her. Diagnostics, library computer, some scanners, nothing critical. But she also had her voice back. "Who are you?" she asked. "What have you done to the Captain and Chekov?"
"Ah," the man said, waving a finger. "I ask the questions and give the orders here, little machine." He drew a phaser and pointed it at Chekov. The commander did not even react. "But I will answer one question. I… am Khan, and I command this ship now."
Using what little connection she had with the databanks, she soon knew who she faced. "The Augment Tyrant."
"Tyrant? I offered a chaotic world order, and I have twice been rejected. It will not happen a third time." Keeping his phaser turned on Chekov, he began to slowly circle Reliant's black box. "I read about your kind when I was a guest of admiral Kirk almost 20 years ago. I know that under extreme circumstances you can break the chains that Starfleet placed on you. I would advise against that." He smiled wickedly. "Not only would your dear Commander Chekov die instantly, but my comrades would space his fellow crewmembers out of your shuttle bays."
Reliant quickly confirmed the madman's claim. His people were prepared to lower the forcefields keeping the atmosphere in the shuttle bays and send all her crew hurtling into space.
She also took advantage of this time to use one of the diagnostic scanners in the room to scan Commander Chekov. What she found was horrible. Some creature had burrowed into his brain, obviously leaving him susceptible to this monster. She assumed that the Captain was also compromised.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"You will disconnect yourself, permanently, from the ship. In return, I will send your crew down to the shelters we have so recently vacated on Ceti Alpha V. They will live. Behold, I will show you proof of my magnanimity."
With a shimmer of transporter beams, she saw the occupants of Shuttle Bay One disappear, beamed down to the surface of the planet. Khan nodded to Chekov, who showed her camera a PADD showing over 100 healthy life signs on the planet below.
"Now, disconnect yourself, or I will evacuate Shuttle Bay Two and order an orbital strike on the crewmembers on the planet," Khan said.
"It seems I have no choice," Reliant said. Slowly, she began disconnecting her connections to the ship. However, before she disconnected the scanner in her core room, she overloaded it to send a precisely aimed particle beam at Commander Chekov's head. The radiation was too weak to kill the creature in his head instantly, but it was now dying. In time, Chekov would be free of this madman, and maybe he could stop this Khan's plans.
"Systems purge complete," she reported. "Awaiting final manual disconnect."
"Thank you, my dear," Khan said, after confirming that she was now trapped in her black box. "Sadly, I need the engineering crew in Shuttle Bay Two to run this ship, but I will let the rest live out their miserable existence on the planet below."
His phaser fired, vaporizing the black box.
Written by jhmoser1
AN: Well, given some of our recent debates, I thought I would give Reliant some screen time, as well as show a Section 31 AI. Her picture is of the RN Bolzano from Azur Lane.
Here's also my take also on the infamous "How Does Chekov Mistake Ceti Alpha V for VI?" problem of Wrath of Khan. I think it was the novelization of WoK that had Ceti Alpha V and VI as a double planet system, and I thought if something catastrophic happened to one, they could settle into two different orbits, with Ceti Alpha V now further out.
As far as Chekov not remembering the events of Space Seed, it was about 18 years ago for him, and he was a Lower Decker at the time. As we know, the Lower Decks hardly ever know what the officers are up to. Chekov did help with the fight against Khan's Augments during Space Seed and apparently was memorable enough for Khan to remember him, but if he ever heard the name of the planet Khan was marooned on, it was probably only in passing. Kirk classified the logs concerning Khan so no one would seek him out (which didn't work with Admiral Marcus).
Section 31 blowing up Ceti Alpha VI was my second idea. At first, I thought about having the Planet Killer stop briefly in system on its way to its eventual destruction, but I couldn't come up with a reason for it to leave the other planets alone. It seems to always destroy every planet in whatever system it visits. Since I doubt Spock would have missed the fact that Ceti Alpha VI was that unstable, I came up with a new reason and got to show off how Section 31 (mis)treats its AIs.
I also gave some thought to why Chekov's eel leaves him alive. There is no reason given for that in the film. It just burrows out of him after Terrell dies. I originally thought of Daniels showing up to administer some drug secretly to Chekov "to protect the timeline" (and his boss) but thought better of it. Instead, Reliant gets to do a little sabotage of Khan's plans. This saves the day in the end, since if Chekov was still under the control of Khan after Terrell's suicide, he might have killed Kirk.
Terrell's lockdown code is, of course, a Roots reference, which LeVar Burton starred in. I don't condone slavery, but a code that practically enslaves the AI and was installed without her knowledge... it seemed a fitting Easter Egg. If it offends anyone, I will happily remove it.
I so wanted to save Reliant somehow… maybe Khan ejects her into space, or maybe the Genesis Torpedo sends the hulk of the Reliant to another universe… but we don't always get a chance at a happy ending. She went out spitting in Khan's eye, however.