STAR TREK

"Grain of Salt"

It was the Klingon F5J frigate IKV Forsaken. Right out of the Academy was its captain, Gaor. In his first mission, he had lost an eye. This meant, with him in command, a second should take over in battle.

"Sir," the first officer told Gaor with a salute, "are you sure we should leave our post? If High Command finds out—"

"I don't care," the captain responded. "There is a station near the WYN Star Cluster. It has a doctor I know."

"If I may," the first officer, Kang, said in fear, "what do you need a doctor for?"

Gaor slowly swiveled in his captain's chair, "As you can see, I have lost an eye. Before we go on another conquest, I must have it repaired."

Kang asked, "Why?"

"I have been studying my condition on my free time," the captain told him. "I cannot command the Forsaken like this."

Kang said, "Very well then."

They approached the civilian station. The one-eyed captain hailed them, "Doctor Ogga, that's who I'm looking for. Is he there?"

"Hi. It's my favorite captain," he smiled on the screen.

"Every captain is your favorite captain, Ogga," Gaor felt. "I'm wearing an eyepatch."

"Why?" the alien doctor asked.

There was a pause. Then the captain replied, "I simply lost one."

Beginning his work, he replied, "Beam over. I'll be ready."

"You can't do that," the captain said standing up from his captain's chair. "We are still on duty. And don't worry, we will pay a hefty price."

"Okay," it was said after the screen turned off, "what are we going to pay him with? We have nothing of value."

"Calm down," he ordered. "We will offer him a place as doctor of this ship. Remember, our doctor was slain in our first battle."

The communications officer, Kur, noted a message, "Captain, the Klingon fleet we left is very angry."

"On screen," Gaor stated with plans to negotiate.

A general was on the screen with a smile. He started, "Are you lost?"

"I required medical attention for my eye," he pointed out. "I had to come here because I didn't have any money—"

First Officer Kang knifed him in the back. The bridge stood up and cheered. Then the general on the screen said, "Thank you. Prepare to die."

Red alert klaxons sounded. The Klingon fleet was attacking. The engineer, from below decks, hailed the bridge, "They have three ships!"

"We'll be dead in minutes," a lieutenant said with horror.

Kang began, "I suggest we... enter the Cluster."

He took the captain's chair and said, "I have a plan."

"Kang, be reasonable!" the lieutenant said. "After you enter the field, they will capture you with your power down to nothing. Boarding parties will come. Then they will steal all we have and imprison us."

Thinking, he replied, "Hum, it couldn't be that bad. Enter full warp."

"Kur, do you have a saber?" the new captain asked.

She passed it to him. He immediately severed the head of his slain captain. Scout ships captured the IKV Forsaken and were tractor beaming it. A recorded message informed them of their rights, "You are Klingon – we are not. Anything you say or do has already found you guilty. Your ship will be sold to the highest bidder."

Kang went straight to his captor. He, in fact, ran there with the head in his hands, then stated, "I offer the head of my captain to recapture my ship."

"I will give you anything you want. Just get this thing off my desk," the head of the Drisco colony promised.

Ogga was by his side this whole time. Kang dictated, "Ogga, take this down."

"You got it, boss," he replied.

On the old station he came from, they were still using paper. He used some, "Oh, by the way, can I be your doctor?"

"Yes," Captain Kang started. "But, first, cobble together as many people as possible for my ship."

It took longer than expected, but the ship left dry dock with a skeleton crew. It left with a skeleton crew because its people were not forced to stay on it. The previous captain's body was jettisoned into space.

On the starship Revere, a Federation scout, a captain named after a war hero that had served in the fleet one hundred years before was there. His name was Captain Antwon Bach.

"Captain," the communications officer stated, "the Revere has since violated Klingon space."

Kang replied, "Make their course, our course."

On the ship's intercom, he thought, "I have heard of things like this before – the only reason the Federation has been known to violate enemy space is to rescue a misguided freighter. We should attack them."

"Helm, red alert," Kang said. "And do not use drones in this battle, Grue."

"Why is that, Captain?" he asked his superior.

The captain stood up to explain, "They have sensors that can fool our drones. But they don't have much for weapons."

Meanwhile, on the scout ship Revere, Antwon was giving orders, "Kerr-class small freighter, what is your situation?"

It responded, "This is the USS Bard. We were attacked by Kzinti fighters and wandered into Klingon space."

"Is that normal?" Antwon Bach stated. "Is your guidance system damaged?"

"Yes," the captain of the freighter, Hugo, replied.

Kang engaged the scout from the rear firing only disruptors. Then Captain Bach gave an order, "Use all our sensors to disrupt their targeting ability! Then return fire! Protect the Bard!"

The IKV Forsaken was severely damaged by the Revere's phasers. Kang cried, "If they can block our ability to target, attack at point-blank range with everything we've got!"

"But, sir," a lieutenant noted, "would that not contradict your previous order?"

"It would, young one," he said. "Don't worry."

"Captain, this is engineering," it was said on the Klingon ship. "I've got bad news for you. Just as they were hit on their aft shield, we were also hit passing them."

"So?!" the captain named Kang exclaimed.

"Helm failed to raise aft shields," the engineer, Treb, replied. "I'm sorry."

He slowly walked up to the alien helmsman taking out his disruptor. After vaporizing Grue, Kang ordered one thing, "We must now retreat."

"I will assume the role of helmsman, for now," the angry captain spoke. "Grue had a wife. What was the name of that Orion slave girl?"

Kur responded, "It was Yorkus."

"Get her to take his place at the helm," he said. "And tell no one of his fate."

She got on the intercom as the ship disengaged by acceleration, "Yorkus, you are needed on the bridge."

The Klingon F5J frigate hid behind the sensor shadow of a nearby moon while repairs took place. The USS Revere accomplished its mission. Kang never took responsibility for a failure.

Then, Doctor Ogga came to his cabin. He was angry at his superior, "I am recommending you, Captain, for psychiatric treatment at starbase."

Kang casually asked, "Why is that?"

"Cameras don't lie," he began. "This is still a Klingon frigate."

The captain, in his cabin, found and waved at a camera. Then he said, "As long as it's the truth, it does not bother me."

"Here is an order to surrender your command to starbase," Ogga said passing a sheet of paper.

"Wrong. This starship is of the WYN Star Cluster," he iterated. "And, according to the law, if I've earned this command, I have absolute power over it. But you will drop off our current helmsman in our next mission."

"Engineer here," came a message from below decks.

"Yes, Treb," responded the captain. "What is it?"

Treb told Kang, "The repairs are complete. What course shall we set?"

The captain said, "The doctor will tell you."

"Thank you, old friend," Doctor Ogga replied. "May I go?"

It was the first time Kang smiled as captain, "Yes."

He put his arm around the shoulder of his doctor as they walked out the door. He stated, "We did not lose everything. Let's celebrate with some Romulan ale later."

Antwon Bach tractor beamed the small freighter into Federation space. His ship was damaged, but the USS Revere would be repaired by the time it returned home. The victory was that the Forsaken appeared Klingon to them.

On a distant world, Antwon was a captain on rest leave. It was a world in the Elohim system. His impassioned plea to attack the Klingons yielded results. Star Fleet would send an attack force.

"What do you mean you want me to surrender my case?" the captain of the USS Revere demanded. He was talking into a computer.

Star Fleet, at the other end, stood its ground, "We don't want your scout ship going into Klingon space."

"But you must admit, someone has to retaliate," Antwon Bach stated.

"Yes," the admiral said. "We will make an appropriate hit-and-run. But you're still on leave. Enjoy your home planet. I hear the kaferian apples are in bloom."

"If you'd like," they continued, "I could send you a bottle of kaferian lum on the next freighter to Earth."

"That would be nice," the admiral replied. "I must go. I'm needed in the war room."

Sitting in a floating chair, he turned the computer off. His ship was in orbit, "USS Revere, come in. Do you read me?"

"Yeah, Captain," the first officer, Brian De Leon, solicitated. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

He smiled, "Could you round up any volunteers to join me for rest leave? We have orders to stay here while Star Fleet gives the Klingons a bloody nose."

"I'll be down immediately," Brian responded. "Volunteers are headed for the transporter room now."

Then someone was found in the bushes, "You're a captain, right? Well, this Orion slave girl was caught spying."

"What is your name?" Antwon Bach asked her.

"Yorkus," she said in his office. "Am I your prisoner?"

His smile got bigger, "No. But I'm guessing you're here to murder me."

"How did you know?" Yorkus answered.

Captain Bach had to ask, "Why? I didn't think I had any enemies."

They began to walk in his rose garden, "Well, Captain, it was actions in your last battle that caused the death of my husband. He was assassinated for incompetence. So, I came here to blame you."

The captain replied, "Did you come alone—"

Just as he asked this, he saw a starship falling out of the sky. He ran to his communicator. Yorkus followed. He flipped it open to speak, "Revere, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, Captain," they responded. "We've destroyed a starship pretending to be a small freighter."

"How is that?" Antwon Bach had to ask. "Was it a Q-ship or something?"

"Yes," they said.

The captain turned off his communicator. He and Yorkus went back outside to watch the fireball fall from the heavens, "There goes the admiral's kaferian lum."

"This is the price for attempted murder," he said. "Were they friends of yours?"

"Yes. I was using them for transport," she frowned. "Am I under arrest now?"

"No," he said in his rose garden. "But why were you on a Klingon ship?"

It wasn't a Klingon ship," she said. "It was a WYN ship of captured Klingon design—"

Captain Bach ran to his computer to contact his admiral post haste, "Star Fleet! This is Captain Antwon Bach! The USS Revere was attacked by the WYN Star Cluster! Not the Klingon Empire! Over!"

A pause took place. Then an officer said, "We are canceling the fleet action. Standby."

He had to catch his breath. Then he said to the Orion slave girl, "Now you're under arrest."

As security took her into custody, she begged, "On what charge?"

He, Antwon Bach, said, "Attempted murder and prostitution. You and you, take her away."

Eventually, the captain would beam back to his vessel. Repairs were in order and would be dealt with over the course of a regularly scheduled rest leave. Meanwhile, Yorkus was awaiting trial, "How could he resist my charms?"

"He was a boy scout," they explained as she was put in her cell. She could not con her way out of this one.

"So?!" she reiterated. "Is he gay?!"

Security stressed, "It only means he doesn't lie, cheat or steal. You've been beaten by the best."

The Federation scout known as the USS Revere would prowl the space lanes once more. It was a victory for everyone this time since justice had been served. Boy scouts in space were truly incorruptible.

It was the WSFV Forsaken. Kang was given an order to go into battle. They would retrieve Yorkus before her trial. She was in lots of trouble. The Revere was in orbit of Elohim. Captain Antwon Bach was in his chair.

"Captain," Clarence Hope inquired, "are you alright?"

"Yes, I am, Science Officer," he replied. "It's just, that girl on trial... I can't get her out of my head."

"I can solve that problem," he said putting his hand on the navigator's shoulder. "Let's watch her trial. Put it on the screen."

The captain smiled, "You don't have to do that because of me."

Clarence Hope responded, "You're blushing."

"I've got to see this," the navigator spoke. "On screen."

The Orion slave girl, recently freed, was afraid she was about to enter another kind of bondage. The trial was over when she realized she was in no danger. She cried, "You mean, I'm no longer a slave?"

"Yes, of course," a lawyer said. "We are not monsters."

She was bursting with joy. Then she said, "Then I plead guilty. I should have known I couldn't get away with this. I came here to kill the captain of the USS Revere. I surrender."

"I'm sorry," Antwon Bach stated as he left the bridge for the bathroom. As the doors to the turbolift closed, the bridge was crushed with weapons fire coming from the Forsaken. The Revere fell away. Ethan Parks, the chief engineer, ordered, "All hands, abandon ship."

The shuttles were launched. Only the bridge crew appeared lost. Then a yeoman peered out of a window to see Captain Bach in a spacesuit. He appeared to be coming right for them. The shuttle crew began to take steps to save the captain's life.

Kang was in the captain's chair of the Forsaken, "Yorkus did her job."

"What job was that?" Ogga said. "She was found guilty. There is no honor in it."

The captain pointed to the screen, "Yorkus distracted the humans with her charms. Transporter room, beam the Federation captain here, and our slave."

Ogga, the alien doctor, told him, "I'll check them both out."

As Yorkus was in the courtroom, she was beamed back to her old ship. Then the captain ordered, "Destroy the two fleeing shuttles."

"Yes, sir," a soldier stated. "Opening fire."

Antwon Bach was being restrained in the transporter room when Kang got there. Kang said, "I come in peace."

"I doubt that highly!" the Star Fleet officer barked. "You killed my men. I just know it!"

"This is true, but I'm of the WYN Star Cluster. This ship forges to feed starving children," Kang expressed. Antwon began to settle down.

"I like a man when he's hot," the Orion female said coming over to him.

"But my friend seems to like you," the Klingon captain noted. "I will give you dilithium crystals collected from our last mission for your... obedience."

"I'll take it under one condition. Set your Orion slave girl free," Antwon said. This made her feel faint. Still, she walked over to Kang's side.

Raising a hand, he asked, "Did you really think I'd give up my most valuable possession?"

She stabbed him in the back with his own blade. Yorkus was not going to lose the freedom she received, "I, as the ranking officer, for killing the captain, give up command to Antwon Bach, the boy scout."

"I will note the time and date in the log," Doctor Ogga noted in his papers.

Antwon took off his spacesuit to reveal him in a uniform. He headed to the bridge arm-in-arm with the Orion. He would make her the first officer. He was a truant, boldfaced liar and playboy. But at least he had found love.

The End