Prologue

THREE MONTHS AGO

PLANET MAGHREB

SAMPLE SITE THREE

Chkal turned to his partner. Ylal was always slow, even when time was of the essence. They landed at this spot to check out some very interesting sensor readings, and alerted the indigenous creatures by accident. They wanted to grab some samples then get out fast. Ylal was meticulous, but slow. The environmental suits made things even worse.

Chkal was working the drill in retract mode and called out over the radio, "Ylal, you know if you go any slower, we will be captured by these creatures and probably killed. They are primitives, barely able to make space travel."

"Chkal, you worry too much. In order to preserve the samples, the containers must be absolutely clean. If we are right, and I believe we are, this could be the best source of dilithium yet discovered."

Chkal pulled the sample tube out of the hole they drilled and waited for Ylal to amble his way there. Just as he arrived, the ship's proximity alert triggered and messaged them. "LIFEFORMS APPROACHING, ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME TWO MINUTES."

Ylal said, "Plenty of time." And handed the sample container to Chkal.

Chkal took the container and opened it up. He inserted the tube and started to extract the core sample. Suddenly, something jammed. He tried to work the mechanism, but it would not release. Ylal said, "Let me work it."

Chkal handed it over to his partner who started working the mechanism. He could hear the aerial vehicles just over the ridge nearby. Chkal touched his radio button to the ship parked just a few meters away, "Computer, how many aliens within a two-hundred-meter radius?

The computer replied, "FIFTY LIFEFORMS, SEVEN VEHICLES LANDING WITHIN TWO HUNDRED METERS." Chkal looked up and around, the strange sound from the vehicles was gone, but the environmental suit might be masking it. He could not remember what the natives looked like exactly, only that they were frighteningly ugly.

Ylal kept struggling with the sample container, Chkal finally said, "Forget it, just bring the whole thing, we'll launch."

Another strange sound started coming over the hill. Just at that time, a land vehicle came bounding over the hill and slid to a stop near their ship. A being on the top of the vehicle fired a weapon that made a terrible noise. The dirt between them and the ship flew up, clearly showing a line not to cross.

Chkal turned and now there were many of these ugly beings coming over the hilltop. They were hideous and making sounds. Chkal and Ylal froze in place as these beings trained their weapons on them. How do they communicate? The very fact he was in an environmental suit would make it very difficult to talk. Add to that the language barrier. Chkal needed to activate the translator, he slowly but obviously moved to touch the translator button….

This could be where you could explain his hatred of aliens. He could have been warning about the possibilty of aliens as a threat to their way of life only to be rediculed by his superiors and civilians. He probably would not have wanted to capture and alien alive as much as dead. He certainly handled them wth a lot more compassion than one would expect from a xenaphobe.

Colonel Sasha had been waiting for a long time. His people to his knowledge have never encountered aliens. Their works of fiction had dealt with the alien issue for generations, how would contact with aliens be first done. Literature, whether in print or video form, almost exclusively had vastly superior and hostile aliens coming down to the planet to conquer with ease or otherwise destroy his civilization. It was stuff you grew up on as a kid, monsters from space invading. The hapless victims had various different plot devices with which to contend: death by rayguns, death by mind control, death by disease, death by aliens using victims as sport, and of course, death by being eaten.

Sasha didn't realize but growing up on this had indoctrinated him that aliens were going to be hostile. Recently, in the last few years, there had been an uptick in UFO sightings, to the point of credible witnesses giving accounts, and rampant speculation as to what aliens would actually be like. People were starting to think that aliens could be friendly, even saviors to their civilization. Sasha kept thinking whenever he heard of this was the likelihood that aliens would look on them as inferiors, and treat them as such. Best case Sasha could see would be the aliens would adopt them as pets.

Ever since these UFO sightings the last few days had been confirmed, he wanted to capture a bona fide alien, he just did not expect to see what he saw. These aliens were about his size, except while he stood erect, they crawled on the ground. They were obviously covered in some sort of environmental suit, but it still could not hide the fact that they looked like…. Crabs.

Sasha ordered the firing of the warning shot, and it seemed to work. The aliens were frozen in place. He was barking orders through his megaphone, but nothing seemed to happen. One alien started moving his large claw toward his other claw. Sasha had to make a snap decision, let him proceed or shoot him. Sasha jumped off the car and stepped forward with his gun aimed at the alien's…. head? Perhaps what amounted to eyes, the clear spot in the suit. The alien froze again. Now what?

Chkal froze again, this humanoid was obviously pointing a weapon right at him, clearly as a warning. Chkal asked Ylal, "I need to hit the translator button, but he is pointing that thing right at me. What do you think Ylal?"

"I think I would like to be in the ship right now."

"That does not help. You have worked with this kind of alien before. What do you think?"

"That depends, Humans probably would let you push it thinking you know you would be killed if you did something strange. Andorians would probably have killed you already, Cardassians would have known about you before you landed, and Klingons…"

Chkal said dryly, "Would kill us then eat us. I get your point. We are dead already."

"So, what do we have to lose?"

Chkal slowly moved his claw toward the translator button.

Colonel Sasha saw the movement and motioned for the nearest guards to close in. Everyone was already aiming whatever weapon they had at the aliens, some had heavy weapons aimed at the ship. The crab froze again and there was a long time where everyone was just standing in place and nothing moved. It was like a standoff. Just like the old videos where two groups of parties at odds were aiming weapons and no one triggered a shot. Everyone was waiting for someone else to shoot first. The pressure was immense. Sasha needed something but how do you communicate with an alien? Sasha had an idea. "Major Uptor!"

Uptor came running up. "Yes Colonel?"

"I want a frighteningly large amount of explosives. Place them right beside the ship. And place a box right here in front of me, right now. Rig a kill switch, I want a demo of the kill switch done so they can see what we are doing, and they will die if anyone dies."

"Yes Sir!" And Uptor scrambled off.

Ylal asked, "What in the deep sea are they doing? Just push the button Chkal!"

"This being will kill me if I do."

"What happened to 'we are dead already?'"

Chkal was studying. "I think this being is setting up a demonstration. He clearly is the leader. Definitely military. Probably not the leader of the planet."

"Demonstration? What for?"

"Something to make us understand the consequences for not acting in good faith. Here that other being comes. They are putting something next to the ship."

"And us, Chkal! What is it?"

"It's got to be explosives." Chkal guessed. He was patiently waiting frozen in position. Crabs could do that for a long time.

The Major handed Sasha the kill switch and yelled for people to get clear of the far box. The assembled military did give it a healthy distance, but still kept their weapons trained on the crabs. The pressure was immense on Colonel Sasha. He had the kill switch in plain sight. Looking at what he thought was the eyes behind the suit he pointed at the far box, a relatively small box. Looking at the crab. Sasha pushed the thumb safety switch, lifted the trigger guard, pulled the trigger and waited a short time.

"Chkal, what is happening?"

"He looks like he fired it but nothing happened."

"Did you turn towards him at all? Remember they don't understand how much we can already see. We have to use body language of humanoids. Turn slightly towards him. He will interpret it as he has your attention."

Chkal did turn towards this being. The being then dropped the switch he had in his hand, just as soon as he let go, the explosive detonated in the distance. It still startled him and he jumped back a little instinctively.

"What was that Chkal?"

"A Kill switch. He is now picking up the one that is connected to the explosives by the ship and us. He now has armed it. I understand. He wants assurance that we know if we do anything wrong, we are dead too."

"Savages."

"Effective."

Ylal had an idea. "Humanoids almost universally nod their heads as yes or understanding."

"Ylal, we have no head."

"I suggest you pitch your body slightly up and down. He may interpret correctly."

"And he may not, blowing us up."

"Remember he doesn't want to die."

Sasha saw the alien pitch its body slightly up and down. Is that a yes? Sasha decided to make sure. He pushed the armed kill switch into the clear part of the suit where he thought the eyes were. Then he pulled back. The alien slowly moved his claw at that button and pushed it…. Suddenly, from the alien was a bunch of clicks and wheezes. Sasha said, "I am Colonel Sasha of the Maghreb defense force. Do you understand me?"

The alien responded, "I am Chkal of the Vernali. I am a private prospector, here checking out the minerals of your planet. We come in peace, and are interested in discussing potential mining rights with your government. Please put that weapon down, we have no weapons of our own."

Sasha thought a bit before replying, "I do not know that, your technology is obviously as different as you are. A weapon may not be as obvious as ours are. That ship is certainly something I have never seen before." The Vernali ship that was on the ground was about fifty feet long and twenty feet wide. The interesting thing was that it looked like a very large blob of water.

"Colonel Sasha, if you will permit, will you let my associate activate his translator? He has more experience with your form than I do, and may be able to talk with you easier."

Sasha thought for a minute about the risks. He raised his kill switch up so 'Ylal' could see and said, "Yes."

Ylal started speaking, "Colonel Sasha, I assume you do not want us to return to our ship, so we will need to cover some items quickly."

Sasha asked, "Such as what?"

"First, please get rid of the kill switch. We have no weapons. One slip by you and all will die."

Sasha was wanting to do that himself. He used his other hand to push and hold the safety switch, then disarmed the kill switch. He handed it off to the Major then drew his gun at Chkal. "Now what?"

"We need to understand the limit of your authority, how we can communicate with your superiors, and how we can recharge our environmental suits."

Sasha was suspicious and asked, "How long before your suits need recharging?"

Ylal said, "Approximately six hours. So, we need to do some work before Chkal and I suffocate."

Sasha nodded, and while keeping his weapon trained on Chkal, he yelled over his shoulder, "Get me a SATCOM with HQ now!' Turning to Ylal he said sternly. "Ok, I'm willing to work with you both, but at the first sign of betrayal, you both will be destroyed along with your ship. Understand?"

Chkal and Ylal both replied, "Yes." Chkal blinked at Ylal and touched a button on the claw portion of the suit. Ylal did the same, it turned off the speaker on the outside of the suit.

Ylal asked, "How do you propose we proceed sir?"

Chkal said, "We are not going to live, these primitives will kill us out of fear. Computer?"

The ship's computer came over the radio. "Standing by."

"Send this message to base: We have landed on planet Maghreb and have found it to potentially to be the largest source of concentrated dilithium yet recorded. Ylal and I have been captured by the indigenous population. Current situation is desperate, our environmental suits will be exhausted in six hours and the prospect of recharge is negligible. Request emergency help. Out."

The computer's voice came back, "Message sent."

Chkal saw a large vehicle come over the hill. "Now what are they going to use that for?"

Ylal noted many boxes coming out along with cabling of some sort. Colonel Sasha started talking at them, Chkal pushed the speaker button again, "I'm sorry, can you say that again?"

"How long does it take to recharge your suits?"

Chkal lied, "A couple of hours."

Sasha ordered, "Then one of you will recharge and the other will stay outside here. We are going to rig explosives on your ship and whichever of you remain outside. When the first one is done, the two of you will switch. Any alarming move and I will blow up everything. We have armor also aiming the best weapons we have at your ship."

Chkal said, "That will be acceptable, Colonel. We will give you no trouble. When do we begin?"

"As soon as we get everything in place."

Chkal said, "Thank you."

Chkal pushed his speaker button and said privately to Ylal. "I told Sasha it will take about two hours to recharge the suits."

Ylal responded, "It doesn't take that long."

Chkal said, "I know that, we need time for help to arrive and to take them off their schedule. First one of us that gets into the ship sends back as complete report as we can."

Ylal said, "You just did that."

Chkal explained, "Send back our location, situation, and whatever data you can. Whatever you can think that base can use to find us and motivate a rescue. Send it in code also."

Ylal replied, "I will do as ordered."

BRIDGE

IKV INDESTRUCTABLE

Captain Granak sat in his chair reading a tablet that had reports from the war with the Cardassians. The Cardassians were not the pushover that the Klingons expected them to be. For an alien species that was without honor, they certainly fought hard. They claimed to be an empire, but had less worlds in their empire than the Klingon empire. They made up for this shortfall in prowess with their technology, and their spying. They had miserable spies everywhere. Also, they had some way of gathering intelligence that the Klingons could not figure out. Every time the Klingons had an offensive, the Cardassians blocked them.

One key victory the Cardassians had was to cut a supply of dilithium to the Klingons. Without dilithium, there was no warp drive possible. As starships traveled at warp speed, the crystals slowly eroded, and needed periodic replacement. The crystals were horrendously rare and expensive to acquire. With the supply of crystals diminished, the Klingons would have to start parking ships. The Cardassians were completely without honor, they would rather face a fleet of useless ships than fight straight up.

The communication officer turned, "Sir, I'm intercepting a message from a Vernali source."

Granak waived it off, "A weak species. Nothing to offer. Can you decode it?"

The communications officer nodded, "I think so. Their codes are not that difficult. They are a weak species."

The communications officer worked a little while, and said, "I am getting another transmission, same source. Sir, it is a prospecting unit. They claim they have found dilithium!"

Granak came out, "Where is the source?"

The communications officer looked at the displays. "A star system, two light years away."

Granak ordered, "Change course, warp 6. Send a message to command, relay all you intercepted and that we are going to investigate."

BRIDGE

USS BOZEMAN

The communications officer checked his system twice, and made sure to get everything in order. His Captain was a Vulcan, and even though they were emotionless, he somehow still let you know when your work was dissatisfactory. If you spoke emotionally or did not have a properly thought-out report, there was some subtle change in his expression that seemed to say 'IDIOT.'

He turned, "Captain, I'm getting some signals."

Captain Saketh turned and addressed him, "What is your report?"

The communications officer gulped, "First was a coded message from a Vernali source, then shortly later a Klingon transmission to their High Command." He handed the datapad to the Captain. "I haven't broken the Vernali code yet, but the Klingon message…."

Saketh read incredibly fast, another annoying Vulcan trait. "You have already used one of our cracks on that."

The communications officer said, "I think it's logical to assume…"

Saketh said, "That the Klingons relayed the message. And lieutenant, they were just sending it to their base, not the High Command."

"Sir…"

"Small error, but you must try to be precise in your verbal summations. This is a complete report?"

The communications officer said, "Yes, everything that I received."

"Why didn't you tell me when you detected the first signal?"

"Sir, I know you prefer complete reports. I just wanted to…."

"Make the report without any errors or gaps in information. You have accomplished that, however you run the risk that I might maneuver the ship in such a way that would compromise your continued reception of the signal. You have accomplished a complete report and that is useful. Helm!"

The helmsman was trying to stay very quiet and unnoticed, "Yes sir?"

"Come to heading 247 mark 3. Warp speed six for now."

"Aye aye sir, 247 mark 3 warp 6."

"Navigator, our destination is the Delta Alpha star system planet 7."

"Aye aye sir, will plot a course for Delta Alpha planet 7."

Saketh had already done some quick calculations. There was no way they could intercept the Klingons, but they could get there just after the Klingons arrived. He pushed the comm. button, "Engineering, how long before we could make warp 9?"

The Engineer's voice came over the speaker, "You can have it in one minute. How long are we going to be at warp 9?"

"Three days, two hours, and five minutes."

The engineer said, "There is no way we can sustain warp nine for that long sir. We will superheat the engines and blow up long before then." Darn Vulcans always thought in ones and zeroes. If you were not there, then you needed to be there. If you needed to be there, then why wait on being here? So, it was always maximum warp to wherever Captain Saketh wanted to go.

"I want progress reports and a best time profile to our destination factoring in maintenance needed in one hour."

"Aye aye sir."

Saketh turned to the communications officer, "Inform Starfleet of the developments."

The comm. officer said, "Aye aye Captain."

Saketh sat back in his chair and started running the possibilities. They would have to try to keep this planet from falling under Klingon control. It would be beneficial for the Federation to have this source of dilithium, but also it would also be important to deny it to the Klingons.

PLANET MAGHREB

SAMPLE SITE THREE

THREE DAYS LATER

Chkal was impressed, the aliens here were good to their word. They had been talking to higher functionaries of the alien government via their communications device. For a first contact situation, this was going remarkably well. He and Ylal may even survive this.

Chkal was coming out of his ship after a recharge and made his way under escort back to a large vehicle that served as the conference room. Fortunately, the aliens could not come into the ship, it would require them to be able to swim and breathe underwater. It was amazing that in three days nobody had brought some underwater gear, maybe they did not have any?

They were just about to enter the vehicle when a whole bunch of shimmering lights showed up around them. The Maghreb soldiers were turning around looking around in confusion and when the lights dissipated, there were about two dozen humanoids surrounding them.

Klingons. The situation just got worse.

The Maghreb soldiers started to raise their weapons, but the Klingons beamed in with their weapons ready. In the first few seconds the Klingons dropped all the Maghreb soldiers that were outside the vehicle serving as the conference room.

Colonel Sasha saw this from inside the vehicle, he got on the radio and ordered quickly, "Armored units, open fire on the aliens, all of them!" Sasha watched in horror as these new aliens quickly destroyed the armored units stationed fifty paces away with just the handguns that they were carrying. The new aliens had some sort of… raygun was the best way to describe it. This was like an old horror video on the old brown and white screens, but it was reality now.

Sasha switched frequencies only to hear that jamming was going on, so no word would get out. The only thing he could do is maybe sneak away. He checked the rear door on the vehicle and saw that he was surrounded by these new aliens. Suddenly, the main door opened and one of the new aliens stepped in. At least his sidearm was holstered. The alien was humanoid, large, had some sort of ridges on his head, and hair everywhere. Sasha pulled out his pistol.

"Colonel Sasha, I am Captain Granak of the Imperial Klingon Navy. I order you to surrender."

Sasha's training had not prepared him for the last few days. He saw the futility of resisting. He laid his pistol down on the floor. Granak approached him, "Too bad, I would have liked combat with you. Your species is new to us, what do you call yourselves?"

"Maghreb. We are the Maghreb."

Granak started in, "We are the Klingons. Under the Organian interstellar treaty, we are here to negotiate with your world mining rights for resources."

Granak blinked, "You come down, kill my men, and now want to negotiate?"

Granak grabbed Sasha's shirt in his fists. He raised Granak off the ground and snarled, "We are Klingons, we would have conquered your world and made it part of the Klingon Empire, but a treaty we have with another power says that you are free to decide which one to join. They will be arriving shortly, and will tell many lies about us, one of which is that we are savages. We are not savages; I have spared most of your men. The ones that were standing in the clear are merely stunned and will revive within the hour."

Sasha felt the powerful grip, and decided that struggling would be useless at this point. So, in the last week he has seen two radically different alien species, and there is a third on the way? "What of the men in the tanks?"

"Eliminated. If you did not have those vehicles here, I would not have been forced to destroy them." Granak let Sasha down and let him go. "You had orders for them to open fire?" Sasha remained quiet. "I would have if I were in your place, you would have been a fool not to have standing orders to shoot quickly."

Sasha could see some of the Klingons talking to the crabs outside, "Am I your prisoner?"

Granak handed Sasha's weapon back to him, "A testament to our good faith, no you are not our prisoner. They however will be." Granak motioned to the Vernali.

Sasha looked and saw that the Vernali were under guard and then the shimmering light effect happened again and they were gone. More Klingons were clearing explosives off the Vernali ship. "What will happen to them?"

Granak smiled a smile that gave chills to Sasha. Granak's smile bared his teeth which were misshapen and chaotically put together. "We will interrogate them, and once we are done with them, we will eat them."

Sasha stepped back impulsively, horrified. "But they are…."

Granak interrupted, "Good eating. That is what Vernali are."

Sasha was shocked and horrified. He naturally wondered what would happen if the Klingons found out that the Maghreb were 'Good eating.' And what of this other arrival? What if they are no better?

BRIDGE

USS BOZEMAN

ONE HOUR LATER

The science officer turned from his scanner displays and reported, "Captain, I have done a preliminary scan. I have found forty-two Klingons down on the planet, all localized in one area, along with a small Vernali ship."

Captain Saketh raised an eyebrow, "Where are the Vernali?"

"I've been unable to locate them, we've only just arrived into orbit. They are not at the beam down spot."

Saketh looked at the viewscreen which was showing a tactical plot. "Helm, change orbit and close on that Klingon destroyer. Approach no closer than five hundred kilometers."

Helm answered, "Five hundred Kilometers, aye aye."

Saketh asked, "Did you scan the Klingon ship?"

The science officer shook his head, "No sir."

Saketh almost showed irritation, "Why not Mr. Grissom?"

Grissom replied, "We're about evenly matched, we're only a destroyer class ourselves. I thought they might take the scan as an aggressive act and might start shooting before asking questions. I've only done passive scans so far, but those don't show life signs on board of course." The Science officer was experienced and although human, was well respected in the fleet for his ability as a science officer. He seemed to be almost Vulcan in his ability to not show emotions, he didn't want to let the Vulcan get the satisfaction of getting under his skin.

Saketh turned and looked at the tactical display. The helmsman kept the display appropriately scaled to show the relative distance between the ships and key features over the planet. He turned to the communications officer, "Have they hailed us yet?"

He shook his head, "No sir, very quiet."

Saketh ordered, "Hail them."

The communications officer started the process then reported, "Their Captain is on the planet. He will be contacting you in a couple of minutes."

Saketh asked almost irritatingly, "How long is 'a couple'?"

The Communications officer replied, "Sir, that's what came through the translation."

"Very well."

Seven minutes later, the communications officer reported, "Captain Granak is hailing us voice only. I have verified he is on the planet at the site where Mr. Grissom reported."

Saketh nodded and pushed the com button on the armrest of his command chair. "Captain Granak, this is Captain Saketh, USS Bozeman. We are here to participate in cultural observation of a pre-warp species."

"Liar, you're here for the dilithium." Granak's voice snarled.

Saketh responded, "Captain, now that you mention that, the dilithium is on our agenda. I show that you are in the presence of one indigenous life-form there. According to the Organian Peace treaty, I formally declare this planet a neutral planet in the free space territory."

Granack sneered, "I know that, we will abide by terms of the treaty. I have a military official of theirs here. Other officials are on their way."

Saketh said, "And no harm will come to him."

"No harm will come to him."

Grissom made a motion to interject. Saketh said, "Very well Captain, standby please." He pushed the mute button and glared at Grissom, "What is so important to interrupt me, Mr. Grissom?"

Grissom pushed a few buttons and the main screen showed a scan of the immediate area, "This is the current overhead view. I count at least sixty indigenous bodies along with destroyed vehicles. It looks like the Klingons made their usual blunt entrance."

Saketh pushed the mute button, "Captain, we will beam down in ten minutes to introduce ourselves. Be prepared to explain why there are dead life forms at your coordinates. Also, where are the Vernali?"

"They are on our ship. We will see you in ten minutes. Granak out."

PLANET MAGHREB

SAMPLE SITE THREE

Colonel Sasha watched six more figures appear out of that strange beaming light thing, although it was different from the Klingon's effect in appearance. They wore vastly different uniforms, not all that different from his own dress uniform except for color. They were all dressed with some sort of dark red coat and black pants, the difference being their collars and a cuff on their left arm. There was insignia that obviously meant rank, but he didn't know the rank structure. Granack approached the black-haired alien with pointed ears, "Captain Saketh, this is Colonel Sasha."

Saketh looked at Sasha with the impassive eyes of a Vulcan. Saketh had a chill, it was different from the feeling from the Klingons, but still he had the feeling that Saketh was looking at a 'lower life form', namely him. Saketh welcomed him, "Colonel, on behalf of the United Federation of Planets, I would like to introduce myself. I am Captain Saketh, USS Bozeman. We would like to participate in negotiations for mining rights on your world and prospecting in the system. Our negotiations are in competition with the Klingon Empire according to the Organian treaty between our respective peoples."

Sasha thought quickly, he looked around at the destruction of his camp and his dead men. "If we choose you as opposed to the Klingons, what guarantee do we have of our sovereignty?"

Saketh replied, "Our laws guarantee your sovereignty, your planet is your planet and we will help you as much as you will let us. The Klingons do not guarantee that."

Granack interrupted, "Federation lies. We will protect you from them and other aliens. The Federation makes a good first impression, but their ways change as time goes on. We are who you see we are; warriors, honorable."

Saketh pointed out, "What of the dead men around? The Klingons slaughtered your men. They are a violent people, we value peace, however."

Sasha said, "And the Klingons fear you enough that they obey a peace treaty with you? How powerful is the Federation?"

Granack said quickly, "The Klingons fear no one. We are forced into this treaty by the Organians."

Sasha turned and asked, "And what of these Organians? If they didn't enforce this treaty between you and the Federation, what would you have done with us? If my government said for you both to leave and never come back, would you?"

Saketh and Granack looked at each other. Saketh took the opportunity, "You would not want to do that. This is a dangerous area in space; you need our protection from the Klingons."

Granack sneered, "Lies! Your planet needs protection by us from the Federation!"

Sasha said, "This is beyond my authority, my superiors are on the way. What of the Vernali? What will happen to them?"

Saketh quickly answered, "If they were under Federation control, they would be free to participate. But we are not in control, the Klingons are, and the Vernali are prisoners of them."

Granack activated his communicator and spoke into it in Klingon quickly. After that he said, "The Vernali are free to go. We were interrogating them as to why they were here and what threat they were to us." Shortly later the Vernali beamed down.

Chkal activated his speaker, "Federation! Please help us!"

Saketh said, "We will render whatever assistance you need; however, it was Colonel Sasha that freed you."

Sasha blinked; he did not realize what his simple question would start. Saketh asked another question. "Colonel, what will you recommend to your superiors about the mining rights?"

Colonel Sasha looked from Granack to Saketh and back. He saw the Vernali crawling back to their spaceship, and realized he had nothing to fear from them. He then thought that the Vernali never got the chance to show what they were like, certainly they were not warriors, the warriors he might not have seen yet. He would hate to try to do hand-to-hand combat with a Vernali with that hard shell and giant claws. Perhaps that would be called hand-to-claw. "I'm going to recommend that you all leave us alone, we can't trust anybody."

ONE WEEK LATER

STARBASE FIVE

OPERATIONS CENTER

Admiral Adama was going over fleet deployment with his staff when one of the junior officers walked up. Adama looked up from the big table showing the fleet that was deployed and said, "Yes Lieutennant?"

"Sir, we just got this preliminary report from the Bozeman, sir. It talks about a planet they came across that may have a huge source of dilithium ore."

Adama took the pad and read it quietly, "Where is the Bozeman now?"

"They are in orbit conducting preliminary negotiations. It is over here, star system NGC-0992."

Adama said, "Very well, tell the Bozeman to stay as long as the Klingons remain in orbit or until relieved. I'm going to send this to Starfleet command to get the diplomatic corps involved. Thank you."

The lieutenant nodded, then Adama looked at one of the other officers. "Let's shift some assets to be nearby the Bozeman."

"Backup?"

Adama nodded, "The Bozeman is not a heavy-hitter. I want something within a light-year. What about the Pike?"

Commander Willard nodded, "Captain Simmons, light cruiser. That should make the Klingons think twice about double-crossing us. At least they would last long enough until the Organians interfere."

Adama nodded, "Make it so."

PRESENT DAY

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

"USS Wisconsin Captain's Log, Stardate 7750.7. It has been two days since we have left the Planters and their new additions behind. Commander Paoto called us earlier today to let us know that the babies are doing well, however it sounds like nobody is getting sleep. Paoto assures us that they are not complaining, but rather are delighted at the prospect that their colony has a new hope now. I responded by telling him that the crew is having empty-nest syndrome and we miss the babies onboard."

Jacobs chuckled as he sipped his coffee and continued, "We are enroute to system SQC-122 to perform a close-range survey. That system has only been surveyed by deep-space telescopes and Starfleet would like us to get a more detailed look. We will arrive in three days, and the crew is taking the opportunity of the time enroute to catch up on routine housekeeping matters that have been set aside during our mission to Tangia. Captain out."

Leonaidas observed, "I have my housekeeping finished here, my mess is cleaned up."

Jacobs smiled, "What's next on your list?"

Leonaidas said, "I'm going to run down to the Badger Den and get some practice in."

Jacobs raised an eyebrow, "Who you going to spar with?"

"Lt. Teal'c. He has some very interesting moves that are similar to Klingon forms. It is always good to brush up on that."

Jacobs shook his head, "You could have picked on someone easier. Teal'c is hard-core."

Leonaidas said, "You've sparred with him before."

Jacobs nodded, "And was sore for days after that. He will make you humble."

Leonaidas' replacement showed up in the turbolift. Leonaidas got up. "It's what I need from time to time."

Jacobs got up, "Well, have fun. I will join you on the way. Mr. Dietrich, call your replacement, you have the conn."

Dietrich said from the science station, "Aye aye sir. I have the conn."

Jacobs joined Leonaidas in the turbolift, after the doors shut, he offered, "JJ is organizing a movie night in the officer's mess tonight."

"I heard about that. It is not going to be a chik-flik, is it?"

Jacobs shook his head, "I will claim no responsibility, I have no knowledge. Just a time for everyone to get together."

Leonaidas asked, "Scared to ask?"

Jacobs responded, "What do you think?"

The doors opened and Leonaidas stepped out, "Misery loves company, I'll be there."

The doors shut and Jacobs ordered, "Engineering."

The turbolift stopped on the engineering deck and Jacobs stepped out and walked to the main bulkhead door. "How goes the battle today, Dom?"

Santini smiled, "Good to see you sir. We're doing well today; engines are humming just great."

"Good, we're having a movie night officer's mess tonight. I wanted to let you know."

Santini smiled, "I'll be there sir. By the way, we're almost finished dismantling the nursery."

Jacobs quietly nodded, "It's funny, we're a ship of exploration, prepared for war, and yet after those babies left, it feels something is missing, hollow."

Santini said, "It doesn't have to be hollow sir."

Jacobs said, "I know, we have our memories."

Santini observed, "We have more than that sir. We have videos and photos. I do not have the information, but I think that every Planter's baby has at least one person aboard that took care of it."

Jacobs chuckled, "Probably more like five."

Santini suggested, "So why put it behind us? Why not ask the Planters to keep us up to date? We are like Uncles and Aunts to them. They can send us pictures as the kids grow."

Jacobs smiled, "Why not. I'll ask JJ to forward that. What do we do with the pictures?"

Santini thought aloud, "Off duty places could use some reminders. The mess hall, recreation area, whatever."

Jacobs chuckled, "I can see what the brass will be thinking about me posting baby pictures all over the ship."

Santini said, "Well, if they call us 'sissys' or something like that, we'll just have to sneak up and hammer them."

Jacobs laughed, "Perhaps so, see you tonight, Dom."

COMMANDER'S OFFICE

USS TAIWAN

Ensign Mitchell rang the doorbell. He heard a terse, "Come in."

Mitchell stepped in and saw the Captain and First Officer seated at the desk. The Captain said quietly, "Have a seat Mr. Mitchell."

Mitchell sat down quietly. The Captain said, "You've had an interesting time here on the Taiwan."

"Sir, I…"

The Captain held up his hand, stopping Mitchell. "Mr. Mitchell, I want to let you know that during the short time you have been here, I have had more reports than I care to think about on your extracurricular activities. This is not the dating ship or the Love Boat or whatever. Furthermore, the competence of the officers onboard is not to be questioned by you. These officers have proved themselves to me and that is all that is required. Your stamp of approval is not needed."

"I don't know what you mean."

The Captain said, "You fully know what I mean. You're questioning how the Chief Engineer was purging the vents yesterday. You're questioning the other helmsmen on the effectiveness of Starfleet procedures in handling ships in a nebula. You're questioning the mechanical soundness of the shuttlecraft onboard. If you had any sense about you, you would realize that you have just left the academy and have only logged six light years in your career, all of it as a passenger."

"Sir, I…"

The Executive Officer cut him off, "The Captain isn't through yet."

"But this isn't a trial."

The Captain quietly said, "You are correct, this isn't even a Captain's Mast. It is a warning to you. I do not want to hear one more report from right now until we reach Starbase 5 tomorrow. If I do, I will inform Admiral Adama as to what you have been doing onboard. For your own good, you need to take a hard look at yourself and learn a little humility. I suggest you try to stay low and under the radar when you are at your next assignment. Now get out of here."

"Sir…"

The Captain said, "I said dismissed."

Mitchell looked at them, then turned and left. Jerks. Old men. The Taiwan was a tired old ship led by tired old men who only knew how to play it safe. The Wisconsin should be a bit more interesting.

SENATOR JAMESON'S OFFICE

Eli Gold walked in and announced, "Senator, you're going to want to see this."

Senator Jameson turned the video screen on and said, "What?"

Gold said, "Phase one of our operation against the Wisconsin and Starfleet."

The screen settled on the news channel. "And in other news tonight, a GNN news source is saying that a Starfleet vessel is under investigation on violating the Prime Directive. The disturbing part of this violation is that there are multiple charges that are being investigated. Our source lists kidnapping and developing bioweapons as other charges possible against this crew. As of now, we do not have any more information, but will report it as we can confirm our sources. This is Andrea Price, GNN news."

Jameson said, "Why not mention the Wisconsin?"

Gold replied, "I thought it better to not leak the whole story, but bring it out piecemeal. We will be able to gauge public interest and probably manipulate it now. I have more things I can leak to keep the issue alive until we are ready for the next phase."

Jameson nodded. The game is about to get more dangerous.