Krikstak Plateau
Chi Herculis IV
0800 local time
The historian hadn't been kidding when said they were "fixing" the Horizon. At first Trip thought they hadn't understood what they were fixing, just replacing parts and pieces with silicon based versions of the original. But then he noticed bits and pieces that didn't belong. Close examination of these revealed they replaced components with newer, alien versions of the same thing.
The creatures seemed to have an intuitive grasp of modern starship engineering. That was troubling. It did not bode well for first contact with a pre-warp species. Trip even wondered if they might figure out how the matter/antimatter chamber worked, heaven forbid the warp engine itself.
Trip considered having the Enterprise blast the wreckage from orbit, preventing the locals from learning anymore than they already had. But the nocturnals were far too close to the wreckage. There would undoubtedly be casualties. He was forced to hope they'd simply bitten off more than they could chew and would be stopped short somewhere this side of warp technology.
Soon after they last spoke, the team noticed one of the creatures, brown in color, building a wall of glass blocks into a circular containment zone. Here the creatures gathered as the sun threatened to peer over the consulted with the historian until he was forced to take shelter with the others. Once the sun rose, all the creatures were tucked safely inside, sleeping and recharging their batteries in the morning sun.
Rojas took some time getting used to her new foot, but in the end it functioned in all ways the same as the original. It was even ticklish. She simply reclaimed her boot and placed it on the foot, determined to get along with the new appendage.
Trip was at a loss for what to do next. The copse of so-called banyan trees still represented a natural obstacle between them and the lost survivor. Trip recalled what T'Pol had said about half of their body seemingly composed of silicon based material. With what had happened to Rojas, he suspected the same thing had happened there, only with a greater amount of medical intervention by the beings surrounding the survivor.
What was most troubling was the historian's assertion that the survivor had fallen in with daywalkers, the natural enemy of the nocturnal creatures. Trip worried that they might not be there of their own accord. This lent a sense of urgency to matters.
Trip consulted with T'Pol.
"Any chance of skirting around the banyan trees?" He asked.
"It represents a delay of approximately half a day." She said, "More if we want to be absolutely sure we remain out of range. From our last encounter with the phenomenon, I estimate the range at approximately one kilometer."
"I spoke with the historian before they went to sleep." Trip said. "He's promised to lend us a scout, if we wait until nightfall. He also suggested predators were more active during the daylight hours."
"Can we expect the same resistance to phased particle beams in the local wildlife?"
"Apparently not." Trip replied. "That's a fix against the laser beams of the daywalkers. Everyone but the historian has it. His nodules are too important to be replaced with energy dispersal."
"Then it may be best to wait until nightfall and avail ourselves of the scout." T'Pol suggested. "He surely knows the range of the banyan trees in more detail."
"Let's set up camp, then."
Camp was set, with two tents erected near the glass enclosure.. One tent for Trip and T'Pol, and another for Sarev and Rojas. Rations were had and each of them lay down to catch a quick nap while the sun was still up. T'Pol set the scanner to alarm in case anything approached within two hundred meters and stood watch while everyone else slept.
Trip woke up well past midday. T'Pol's scanner had gone off.
"What have you got?" He asked, groggily.
"One biosign approaching from the east." T'Pol said. "Something roughly the size of our new friends."
Trip exitted the tent and roused Sarev and Rojas. They all armed themselves and huddled around T'Pol's scanner. The biosign was closing at remarkable speed, at least eighty kilometers per hour.
Soon enough the creature bounded into sight no more than a hundred meters away. It rode on four tracked globes, with a globular head with an open maw filled with arms extended from the dorsal ridge, armed with roaring buzzsaws.
They opened fire right away, with all but Rojas missing the first volley. Her strike splattered one buzzsaw arm and laid it open. Another volley struck true for all but Sarev, tearing into the torso of the creature. Something snapped and whined, with a small explosion marking a strike against the creature's battery. It rolled to a stop and ceased moving.
Everyone but T'Pol let out a breath, relieved that the creature had been stopped. No more than twenty meters away.
"No other contacts." T'Pol reported.
"One's enough." Trip opined. "That thing was fast."
"I believe it would be best if we remain awake until the historian and his people rouse tonight." T'Pol suggested.
"That reminds me." Trip said. "We don't even know what to call these people. We'll have to ask the historian when he gets up."
Apparently the historian and his people simply referred to themselves as "the nocturnals". At least, that was the closest translation.
Finding the humans still in the area, the historian correctly assumed that they would take him up on the loan of a scout. This scout, name Burzak, was red in color, with a blue stripe denoting a slight soldier cast to his build. He was armed with lasers and the standard energy diffusing exoskeleton.
Burak had downloaded the historian's translation matrix overnight. He proved a veritable font of questions and queries. What was their homeworld like? Did it have seasons? Did all the earth's creatures have endoskeletons? Were all mammals daywalkers? Did they have mating seasons? Did all mammals need flashlights to see at night?
He was shocked to discover that Rojas, Sarev and T'Pol were different species than Trip, leading to a whole new round of questions.
Trip did the best he could to answer his questions, avoiding those regarding technology. When he managed to get a word in edgewise, he learned the range of the banyan trees was, as T'Pol had ascertained, approximately one kilometer. They skirted around the copse of deadly trees to the east, then traveled due north. Sarev stayed behind to oversee the nocturnals examination of the wreckage.
Trouble found them in the sixth hour. They stumbled across a hidden predator that T'Pol's scanner didn't pick up on and Barzak's antennae didn't detect.
The creature resembled a green ball at first and it flashed a brilliant light, so bright that the team's eyes were struck blind for a few moments. Once they could see again they noted that the creature now stood on four telescoping limbs, well over four meters tall. It crept forward slowly, flashing the brilliant light every few seconds.
"Barzak, what is this thing?" Trip asked.
Barzak didn't answer. In fact, he didn't move at all. The brilliant flashes had overloaded his senses, rendering him helpless.
The team wasted no time firing on the creature, shattering the globe on its back and stopping the flashing attack.
Barzak recovered quickly, firing his laser at the creature until it was nothing but slag. The nocturnal trembled.
"That was a slaknik." Barzak said. "A creature of true dread. I am thankful you were able to withstand its attacks. I would have been helpless against it. I guess it's a good thing you're daywalkers. You are daywalkers, aren't you?"
"Like I said before," Trip replied. "We're a little bit daywalker and a little bit nocturnal. Whatever suits our needs."
Barzak seemed satisfied with that, for the time being.
They traveled on for some time before he began asking questions again.
"What's it like walking in the daylight?" He asked.
"Well," Trip said. "It's easier for us to see. We don't need flashlights. I guess we're more daywalker than nocturnal."
"Does that make you murderers? The historian says all daywalkers are murderers."
"Well, I'm no murderer, but I have been forced to kill a time or two. Always in self-defense or in the defense of recently conducted a war with a species called Romulans. That's where we lost our first captain. We lost a lot of friends and most of the original crew in that pointless war."
"Killing is good, when it's daywalkers or other predators."
"Do the daywalkers really hunt you like predators?"
"They try to kill our historians so that we'll be lost and unable to stand against them."
"Do they have historians?"
"They are much like us in that way."
"Perhaps they're more like you than you think. Has anyone ever tried to open talks with the daywalkers?"
"We tried once, long ago. But they killed our envoy."
"Has anyone tried recently?"
"That would take walking in the sunlight. That makes us sluggish and unable to defend ourselves properly."
"Maybe when we get there, we could try for you. Try to make peace between your people."
"They would probably listen at first, if you approach them in the daytime. But they won't listen for long. They only want to murder us all."
"I find it hard to believe the daywalkers want nothing more than to murder you all. There must be something they want that could establish a lasting peace."
"You think too much of daywakers..Probably because you're mostly daywalkers like them."
Trip sensed he was coming up against a lifetime of mutual antipathy. He changed the subject.
"Are all scouts armed with lasers like you? I got the impression you were the exception to the rule."
"Yes, I am. I was built to guide you to the daywalkers."
"Wait a minute. How old are you?"
"About a day. I was built when the historian offered you a guide."
"How can you know so much if you're only a day old?"
"I was downloaded directly from the historian. I'm a copy of a seasoned scout, in the body of a soldier subdivision. I remember everything my predecessor knew."
"That's incredible! Are all you guys born like that?"
"I'm the exception to the rule in that sense as well. The historian needed a scout who would defend themselves against soldiers."
"Amazing. You folks are simply amazing."
"I think you are amazing, too. To walk in the night or day without hindrance must be exhilarating. I would love to see a sunrise without feeling tired out or going to sleep."
They traveled on for a few more hours, until daylight threatened and forced Barzak to sleep.
"I trust that you'll watch over me while I sleep." He said. "I must recharge."
"No problem." Trip said. "We've got you covered."
They made camp for the day, with Rojas establishing a perimeter and discovering a slumbering slaknik nearby. She destroyed it with her phase pistol before it could cause any trouble that night. No other predators bothered them that day.
When night fell, Barzak roused and quickly hurried the team along.
"If we hurry, we can reach the daywalker's realm while they are still asleep" He said. "Then we can rescue your lost survivor and retreat before the sun rises."
The team hurried as best they could in the dark, with Barzal leading the way.
They passed over into daywalker territory at 2016 hours. Time to spare, if they were quick, and managed to find the survivor without too much searching.
The southern gate of the city was made short work of with Barzak's overpowered laser. Entering the city, the team found clusters of daywalkers here and there along the way. They were short, with reticulated torsos and arms sprouting from besides of the head, much like nocturnals. T'Pol tracked the survivor with her scanner.
"Two hundred meters in that direction." She said, gesturing to the north.
The team moved on, with Barzak clearly itching to halt their forward momentum by blasting clumps of huddling soldiers. The daywalkers hadn't developed the energy dispersal trick the nocturnals had come up with and they were entirely defenseless.
"Fifty meters." TPol reported/ "Around this corner…"
The night suddenly lit up with laser blasts coming from ahead. Everyone ducked for cover except Barzak, who stood in the open, rapidly returning fire. Energy blasts hit him squarely time and again, but he shrugged them off until the pain became unbearable. Then he sought cover behind a fountain to regain his composure.
He'd clearly taken out a target or two, as the incoming fire had greatly diminished.
"How are these soldiers awake?" T'Pol shouted to Barzak.
"These are special troopers." Barzak responded. "They're equipped with superior batteries that allow them to operate after sundown."
Trip peaked out to get the lay of the land, between returning fire. Two daywaker soldiers were still alive. But Trip saw something that stopped him in his tracks.
There was a human woman with the soldiers, firing laser beams from her right arm in their direction.
Trip ducked down to recover himself, then popped up for another shot at one of the soldiers. He missed.
Rojas was having much better luck, dropping one of the two soldiers with a hit directly to the head.
Having shaken off the worst of the effects, Barsak popped up from behind his covered position, firing on, and dropping,the last soldier. Laser blasts continued in their direction, human woman was laying down withering suppression fire, clearly expecting reinforcements.
"Hold your fire!" Trip shouted. "We're human!"
The suppression fire suddenly stopped. All was quiet for a moment.
"Who are you?" The woman yelled.
"We're Starfleet." Trip answered. "I'm Captain Tucker of the Enterprise. Who are you?"
"Banes. Angelina Banes. First Officer." The woman answered. "Don't you have a nocturnal with you?"
"I do. He's our guide."
"Are you working with them?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know damned well what I mean!"
"Alright. Yes, we're working together to get you home."
"If you're working for them then you can go to hell. I don't trust you."
"What in the world are you talking about?"
"The nocturnals are nothing but a bunch of murdering bastards!"
"That's funny. The nocturnals say the same thing about your friends."
"They've got you snookered, captain. Don't believe a word they say."
"And who have you been listening to?
"The daywalkers are peaceful people, captain. They tend farms and debate philosophy. But the nocturnals come after dark every month or so and slaughter the soldiers."
"I'm told the daywalkers conduct raids of their own."
"Only to whittle down the nocturnal soldiers so they can only attack every month instead of every night."
"Look, we're coming out. Why don't we all hold our fire and talk about this?"
"You better talk fast. Night troopers are on the way."
Trip holstered his weapon and stood up. Rojas and T'Pol followed suit.
Barzak stayed under cover behind his fountain, not wanting to agitate the woman.
Trip approached, T'Pol and Rojas in tow. He could see First Officer Bane's duty uniform had been torn away from the right arm and leg.
Much like Rojas's new foot, the First Officer had been the recipient of daywalker medical treatment. Her entire right side had been replaced, including part of her scalp. Through the translucent skin, Trip could clearly see the addition of a powerful laser weapon to her right forearm.
"Banes, I'm glad to see you're in one piece." Trip said.
"One piece." Banes replied. "That's funny. Don't pretend I'm not a freak."
"No one's calling you a freak." Trip said.
"I can look in a mirror." Banes replied.
"Well, you've definitely been enhanced,"Trip said. "I'm sure it beats the alternative."
"You have to give the devil his due. I'd be dead without these enhancements."
Banes suddenly cocked her head to one side, listening as if to a transceiver.
"The soldiers are coming." She said, "You'd better keep that nocturnal out of sight."
Trip glanced back at the fountain where Barzak crouched, hidden. Trip couldn't see him from his vantage point, so he was forced to assume the incoming troopers wouldn't see him either.
"What are you going to do when they get here?" Banes asked.
"I intend to make peace." Trip replied.