Officer In Distress Stardate 2258.62

Captain’s Log Stardate 2258.62

The USS Enterprise has made contact with their first Sentient race. In The Yiandol System, The Banean’s homeworld, Yiandol 4, though they call it Banea. They have discovered Warp 4 and are far behind the Federation but they are much more advanced in other ways. Each year they have a Science Emporium where scientists from all over the planet come to the capital to exchange techniques and ideas. The Banean Prime Minister, Reotal’Mar has given them permission to attend though they may only send 2 Scientists.

Many on Banean are wary of them and a small splinter group of dissidents have made threats of reprisals if the Prime Minister treats with the Aliens.

At the same time we’ve received a distress call from an Alien ship though Lt, Fox has yet to decypher their language. The UT does not seem to be able to figure out their language but she is working on the problem. I’ve given my First officer and Lt. Wright the use of a shuttle to attend the Emporium as the Enterprise investigates the distress call.

Nathan walked with Lt. Wright. toward the turbo lift. He carried her bag for her though she had said many times that she was completely capable of carrying her own bag. She and Spock were only going to be there for 2 days.

"We don't know much about these Beneans and its my job to take all threats seriously. So, please Scarlett, be careful ok?" Nathan said but he could see how excited Scarlett was. And most on the ship were jealous of them. Making first contact and sharing ideas. It was everything the Federation was about.

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Kaia kept playing the distress call over and over. the Universal Translator or UT for short, just wasn't getting the syntax. It didn't help that the call was short but she really needed more to be able to understand them...whomever they were. Kirk shifted over to her as she listened with her earpiece. "Careful Lieutenant or that frown will be permanent...didn't your mother ever tell you that?" Kirk said playfully.

Scarlett was beyond excited about the Emporium and being the first to interact with the first Sentient species that the Enterprise had encountered. They were a highly intelligent species, but they had learned that although the Prime Minister had invited them, there were many that didn't want them there. They would need to be careful. 

Scarlett had told Nathan that he didn't need to carry her bag to the shuttle, but he insisted and so she allowed it. She smiled at him when he told her to be careful. "We will, but this is apart of our job and mission. I'm sure everything will be fine."

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Kaia was getting frustrated. She kept replaying the distress call over and over again, but she just couldn't understand what it was saying. Even the UT couldn't understand it. She knew that Kirk was counting on her to figure it out and she didn't want to let him down. She jumped a little when she realized that Kirk was suddenly there. She stopped the message and sighed as she put down the earpiece. "I can't get it. There just isn't enough there for me to be able to understand them."

"And that doesn't make you the least bit worried? It does me,' Nathan said as they got into the turbolift. "That and...well, won't it be strange being with Spock now? For 2 days?" Nathan asked. He knew they were no longer together. "And you promised me a drink when you get back...you didn't forget did you?" Nathan asked.

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"Well, once we drop off the Nerds we can head out there and maybe you'll get more. We don't even know what race it is yet," Kirk said. "I think it's odd that they don't want us in orbit Captain," Elyse said. "Oh I agree," he said as he turned to face Elyse who had turned to look back at him. "They seem...superstitious but I see their wariness as a good thing. I mean, what if the Vulcans were the Klingons during first contact? The Federation may not have ever gotten started," Kirk said.

Scarlett gave a little shrug when Nathan asked her if she thought it was going to be weird being with Spock for 2 days after everything that had happened. "Perhaps, but he and I are going to be working together for 5 years so we need to figure out how to get along."

She looked back over at Nathan when he reminded her about her promise to have a drink with him when she got back. She smiled a little at him. "No, I didn't forget. This time maybe I won't storm out."

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Kaia nodded a little, but was still frustrated. However, perhaps once they got closer she would be able to pick up more. They needed to get into position to drop off Spock and Scarlett though. The pair would be traveling to the planet's surface via shuttle. They would then need to get back to pick them up.

Spock had taken some of the medication and he would not bring more. He needed to protect and conserve it, and bringing it along just seemed like too much of a risk. He did bring his robe, knee mat and incense though to meditate. He was also very curious about the Beneans. Their science core was massive for just a single planet. Their Minister was a scientist and the planet was ruled by science it seemed. They had gone through some kind of inquisition long ago in their history. They had once been a very religious race and culture but religious despots had them warring with one another and they schemed against other despots who schemed against them. Once they abandoned those ways and embraced logic and science, they became an enlightened people. Not everyone agreed though. Some, they called them 'radicals' wanted a return to their gods and their religions citing that it was the Despots themselves that were evil, not their gods. Spock added the Benean book he had been reading to his clothes and closed up his satchel. Time to go.

In the elevator he met Ensign Hicks who wanted to say goodbye to him and Scarlett and to ask Scarlett a favor since he wasn't picked to go with them. "Odd that they won't allow you to beam down nor allow the Enterprise to be in orbit," He said. Spock nodded. "They are a wary people with a very tumultuous past," Spock said. The turbolift opened up onto the shuttle bay.

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"Well, that would be nice. I'm beginning to think that maybe its just me," Nathan said. "It's like I'm bad luck or just not someone that's...datable," Nathan said.

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"Didn't Montana have weapons back then?" Elyse asked. "Yes and they'd likely have killed the Klingons," Kirk said. "And wouldn't that have endeared them to us?" Elyse asked. "Maybe, or just invited a larger attack," Kirk said. "Either way we'd likely be more like them or, just subservient to the will of the Klingons," Kirk said. "Not a very pleasant thought, is it?" Kirk asked. "Nope, not at all Sir," Elyse said then turned back to face forward.

Scarlett smiled and shook her head. "I highly doubt that that's it. It'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it," she said as the turbo lift reached the shuttle bay. She found it a little strange that the Benean's weren't allowing the Enterprise into orbit, but she didn't think too much of it since they were a wary race. They would try to be as diplomatic as possible in order to try and gain their trust and respect. She stepped out of the turbo lift and saw the Spock was already there. Nathan brought her bags over. She smiled over at Nathan after he put them into the shuttle. "Thank you Nathan. I hope that you all will be safe while investigating this distress signal."

"Uh Scarlett," Craig asked. "Could you maybe, bring me back a souvenir? I collect them," Craig said. "We need to depart," Spock said as he moved into the shuttle. He stowed his bag and began the launch sequence. Nathan stowed Scarlett's bag. "Good luck Spock," Nathan said but Spock did not respond or even look at him. "Ok," Nathan murmured as he stepped out of the shuttle and gave Scarlett a smile and then a grimace with a thumbs down. Telling her that Spock was in a mood. He stepped toward the turbo lift.

Scarlett smiled at Craig when he asked her to bring him back a souvenir. "I certainly will if I am able," she told him. She gave Nathan a little smile when he grimaced at her with a thumbs down. She was in a good mood about the Emporium and wasn't going to let Spock ruin that mood. She watched Nathan walk towards the turbolift before she got into the shuttle. She sat in the co-pilot's seat.

Before long they launched and were off toward the planet. Once the bay doors were closed the Enterprise went to full impulse and then warped out of the system toward the distress call. Long moments passed where there was silence in the shuttle. The planet was still a ways away.

Scarlett had never had the opportunity to watch a ship go into warp from outside. It was fascinating to watch. However, once the Enterprise was gone it was just Spock and herself. There was silence in the shuttle as they headed towards the planet. It would take them a while to get there. Scarlett just looked out the window for a while, but finally she looked over at him.

"I'm really excited about this. I think this is an incredible opportunity."

Spock was piloting the shuttle and wasn't certain what he was going to do about Scarlett. He would not let her be his because he felt that she wasn't his. She was young and beautiful and alive. She had her whole life to meet new people and figure out who she was and what she wanted. For Vulcans, it took decades if it happened at all. Only the Pon Farr made it possible for Vulcan to procreate. Otherwise, the males would never return home. He said nothing in response and once more the silence lingered.

"So are you considering Lt. Quinn?" Spock asked out of the blue.

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Toron'Kel would not allow a filthy alien to influence the Benean culture even further away from their religion. Religion was everything to the Benean people, if only they could remember. His radical cell had an older model missile system. It had one missile left in it and they had been tracking the shuttle. "Toron...I don't think this is a good idea Derel'Los said. She had bright red hair in a single, long braid and like all Beneans, she wore the colorful robes all women wore. She preferred green. Beneans had a large crest that ran from the base of their noses ll the way to the back of their oval shaped heads. The large the head, it is said, the more intelligence one had. "If we start allowing Aliens and their logic to mix with ours, we'll never turn back to the old way Derel. "Sir I have a target lock," another Benean said. 'Fire," Toron said and the missile shot off into the sky.

Scarlett sighed when Spock didn't answer her. Her smile faded and she just looked out the window. Why was Spock so frustrating! Some moments he acted extremely gentle and loving towards her and other moments he just ignored her and seemed angry. However, when he asked her about Lt. Quinn she blinked and looked over at him. 

"And what if I am? He's nice and he's interested in me. You informed me that we're no longer together so that means that I'm free to be in a relationship with whoever I choose."

This time Spock sighed. But before he could say anything the ship alerted them that they had target locked. When Scarlett asked what it was Spock tried to find out. "I think its a projectile of some kind. Older...primative," he said. "Fired from the planet's surface," he said. He saw it on their sensors and decided to try and avoid it with maneuvering thrusters. The missile kept closing on them but at the last minute Spock dodged the missile. However, it exploded near them. "I'm losing controL," Spock said as the engines kicked off. The concussion from the explosion knocked them from their trajectory and the shuttle began to head away from the planet. "I can not control attitude, thrusters are out," Spock said as he tried to bring them back. "It was a direct hit on our engines," Spock said as the shuttle tumbled end over end away from the planet.

"Scarlett check the environmental controls and the subspace array, "Spock asked. When she did, she found no leaks in their environmental controls systems but their subspace transceiver was gone. Like it had been blown completely off. There wasn't even static, it was just...nothing.

Scarlett opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could she heard the distinctive beeping indicating that a missile was target locked onto them. She could do nothing to help as Spock did his best to maneuver them away from the missile's approach. Thankfully, it just barely missed them, but it exploded near them and sent the shuttle off course and tumbling through space. Finally, it stopped tumbling and they were able to check the shuttle's systems. Scarlett checked the environmental controls and subspace array. 

"There are no leaks in the environmental controls, but the subspace transceiver is gone." She sighed and sat back in her chair. "We'll just have to wait for the Enterprise to come back. I guess they really didn't want us at the Emporium after all."

"No, it must have been one of the radical factions. Our only hope is that the Beneans were watching our approach," Spock said. "Or that the Enterprise comes back soon," Spock said.

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Several hours later, The Enterprise came out of high warp. A lone ship that appeared to be some kind of cargo or transport vessel as a drift near them. "Anything Kaia?" Kirk asked. When she glumly shook her head he leaned forward in his chair. "Well take us in for a closer look Mr. Sulu," Kirk said. "I sir," Sulu responded and did so. The ship looked fairly large. Mainly a large, rectangular shape with individual cargo pods. None of the pods were there and some of them were near the ship, adrift. It was of a design none of them had ever seen before. "Craig, any life signs?" Kirk asked. "I have something, but it's faint sir. I can't determine if they're injured or in some kind of suspended animation or what," Craig said. He was not experienced at this sort of thing and it showed. But, he was all they had.

"Elyse, aasembly a team to go check out the ship. Take the doctor with you," Kirk said.

Scarlett sighed and nodded. Thankfully, all of the shuttles had energy bars on board and fresh water so they would not need to worry about that. After a while Scarlett got up from her seat just to stretch her legs. She and Spock had not said anything to each other in a while.

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Kaia continued to monitor the communication channels while continuing to try and decipher the distress signal. She still was unable to and she finally just gave up as they neared the location from which the signal had originated. She turned in her chair as they came out of warp and looked at the ship in front of them. The ship was large and rectangular in shape with individual cargo pods. However, all of the cargo pods were no longer attached to the ship and several were floating in space by the ship. Kaia was surprised to learn that there were signs of life aboard the ship, although faint.

Elyse nodded and stood when Kirk ordered her to assemble a team to go check out the ship. "Yes, Captain," she said. "Lt. Fox, please contact Lt. Quinn and Dr. McCoy and have them meet us at Transporter Room 1. You're with me as well," she said. Kaia nodded and contacted Nathan and McCoy. She then stood up and followed Elyse to the turbo lift. She and Kirk shared a brief look between them before the doors closed.

Ensign Martin took up the empty Communications chair while Ensign Rodriguez took up Elyse's seat at tactical. "Nathan dolled out phasers to everyone and they'd need coats do to how cold it was on the ship. McCoy had his tricorder. They beamed aboard in the cargo hall. The bays were all jettisoned and all of what was in the bays was gone. Nathan had his own tricorder and he was using it to assess the ship. "Looks like light damage to the hull," he said. "But their engines are gone. Whomever attacked them must have taken out their engines to stop them from running," he said. There were not alot of lights where they were, the ambient lights were not working it seemed and they had to use their wrist torches.

The ship was decored and styled oddly. Curved, rounded edges, and the controls did not work well for a human-sized hand. They were on a cat-walk of sorts that functioned as a loading dock for the bays. They could feel the loss of space where the bays would be if they were attached and a warm, odd smelling breeze flowed through where they were.

"I'm detecting power coming from that direction," Nathan said as he pointed forward. The team continued on. They ran into a doorway. It was blasted through. The metal was bent, burned and dented as if they used some kind of breaching charge. Beyond the door it was very dark and as Kaia stepped first through the doorway she fell over something and found herself face to face to a an obviously dead alien.

The alien had greenish skin though it looked like more of a kind of carapace than flesh. They had 2 large eyes and a small nose and mouth. Their heads had an odd shape that angled back over their spines. Their hands were long with 2 long, fingers and 1 long thumb. Much longer than their and they had claws on the ends of their fingers. They wore uniforms, silvery green and gold.

As soon as they were beamed on board the ship, Elyse looked around them to get a better understanding of the ship. As pointed out by Nathan, there was light damage to the hull but the engines were gone. There was no ambient light inside and so they were all forced to use their wrist torches. With the cargo bays empty, it made the space they were in seem that much more open. Nathan led the way, with Elyse directly behind him. They continued on towards the power that Nathan had detected and soon came to a doorway that was blasted through. It was extremely dark through the doorway and as Kaia stepped in first she tripped over something and as she held up her wrist torch she quickly realized it was a dead alien. Nathan quickly helped her up and they all took a closer look at it.

"Doctor, can you tell how it died? Was it from the blast that came through this door?" Elyse asked. Elyse found it strange to call Leonard "Doctor" or "Dr. McCoy", but they were trying to be discreet about their relationship and be professional when they needed to be.

McCoy bent down and scanned the alien. "Some kind of energy weapon in the back. 'She' died as soon as she hit the ground," McCoy said. "And there are more," McCoy said as he shined his light around the room. There were control panels but there was no power to them. Nathan had brought an energy cell with him. "Elyse, could you shine your light please," he asked and pointed. Once she did he went down to one knee and fiddled with the panel to open it. Once he did he was able to hook it up to the energy cell. It lit up and he stood as he began to try and make it do something. It wan't an overly complex looking panel and it had 12 sections, all the same. The lights to each section were red. Once he hit a button an alien voice began to speak.

"Kaia...'" Elyse said and Kaia took up her handheld UT device and had it listen to what was being said. Before long she thought it was saying 'Warning and something else and then Cargo," Upon hearing that Nathan hit the button again and the warning stopped. He removed the cell and they continued forward.

Elyse nodded. She would need to keep track of all of this information for her full report once they got back onto the Enterprise. Elyse followed Nathan as he walked over to the control panels that they had spotted. She shone her light in the area he indicated so he could hook up the energy cell. The panel lit up and Elyse watched as Nathan began to fiddle with it. However, one button he hit caused an alien voice to start speaking. Kaia listened intently and used the UT device to try and decipher what was being said. From what she could tell it sounded like it was saying 'Warning' and then something she couldn't make out and then 'cargo'. 

After Nathan unhooked the energy cell they continued on. "Do you suppose they were attacked for the cargo they were carrying?" Kaia wondered out loud.

"It's possible, but it looks like they jettisoned it," Elyse said. They moved through the area and the space narrowed into a hallway. Another dead alien. Hit in the back while he ran," McCoy said. There were rooms on both sides of the halls. There were odd hammock like beds. They had clothes in drawers and trunks though oddly styled. And they had view screens and personal items. Elyse saw what looked like a Holo cube. When she activated it, One of the aliens appeared. It appeared female and it was doing something...odd, with its body. The hologram spoke and Kaia was right then to try and figure out what it was saying. She replayed it a second time and she was beginning to understand the syntax. They had a slurring way of speaking. Slurs and ticks with different loudnesses and lengths. It was very complex but she got the jist of what the woman was saying. It was some very dirty talk, perhaps for her mate? The others had already moved on down the hall. When she finally turned off the holocube she thought she heard a noise back toward where they entered the hall.

The further into the ship that they walked, the more uneasy Kaia felt. They began to walk down a hallway with rooms on either sides. When they peered into the rooms they could see hammock style beds, clothes, view screens, and other personal items. In one of the rooms, Elyse spotted a holocube. When it was activated, a female alien appeared and seemed to be doing something odd with its body. That and it began to speak. Kaia listened closely and after playing it back again she began to understand the language a little more. Based on what she could make out, the female was saying something quite dirty and it actually made Kaia blush a little bit. She turned off the holocube after the others had moved on. However, as she did she thought she heard a noise back towards where they had entered the hall. She cautiously stepped out of the room and peered down that way.

It was very dark and the ship made noises once in a while. A creak of steel, the rock of the ship, the drip of moisture onto the deck. Her light was fairly bright but there were still alot of shadows. As she took a few steps back toward where they had just come, the ceiling was much higher above than in the hallway. It was then that she felt something touch her arm. In a blink she saw that it was oddly shaped, sort of alike a large spider or centipede. It screeched and quickly moved away. before she could track it with her light, it was gone but she heard it move up above her.

It was extremely dark and the ship was large. Her wrist torch could only light up so much area at once and there were quite a few shadows. She began to step back towards where they had come from. She was looking ahead and so she didn't see the thing that came down from above behind her. She felt something touch her arm and she yelled when she saw it appeared to be some kind of large arachnid or insect. It screeched and quickly moved away. Kaia tried to see it again with her torch but it was gone.

Eyse, McCoy, and Quinn had heard her yell out and they came running back towards her. "What is it? Are you alright?" Elyse asked with worry in her eyes. "I'm alright," Kaia reassured her. "I heard something and went to go try and figure out what it was. There's a giant spider or insect in here with us."