Second To Arrive Stardate 2258.169

Personal Log Stardate 2258.169

Its been over 60 days since Amara left and I find myself feeling her absence more strongly every day. No woman has ever affected me like Amara has. Cheated from a normal childhood. Brainwashed and manipulated into thinking her own race was her enemy. I don’t think I could ever forgive the Romulans for what they’ve done to her. Nor to Starfleet.

Captain’s Log Stardate 2258.169

Now that I have my First Officer and Bridge Officer back, the ship appears to be running in a bit of normalcy. Our new Communications Officer is not as skilled as Lt. Novak had been but she does reasonably well. We’ve detected a Minshara Class planet 7 light years away from our position and we’ve decided to take a look.

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“Standard orbit Mr. Sulu,” Kirk said as he turned to their new Communications officer. “Ensign Pierce, can you pick up any transmissions?” Kirk asked.

Natalie had been thrilled to learn that she had been assigned to the Enterprise. She was right out of the Academy and she had heard a lot about the Enterprise. She felt nervous though and everyone seemed to know each other really well. She definitely felt like an outsider though she tried her best.

“Oh, uh I don’t think so Captain,” she said.

Elyse raised an eyebrow at her response and she and Kirk shared a look. Elyse had her doubts about this girl. It wasn’t just that she was very new ( there was a learning curve to every job), it was that she was ditzy and didn’t seem to be able to fully focus on her job.

Kirk smiled. Natalie was as green as green was but Spock turned to address her. "Ensign, the Captain expects a complete report, try again," Spock said in a level tone. "If there are no transmissions," he began. He knew there weren't, he had already scanned for radio waves and found none. "Then say that," Spock corrected.

Elyse saw Kirk smile, but it didn’t touch his eyes. He hadn’t really smiled since before Amara had left. He seemed depressed and his general energy level was lower than everyone was used to.

Natalie felt her face start to flush from extreme embarrassment. She double checked and then turned to speak again. “There are no transmissions Captain.”

"Spock," Kirk asked. "I believe we are dealing with a pre-industrialized technology," Spock said. "Can our external cameras pick anything up" Kirk asked. Spock shifted forward. "I have something," Spock said. "Put it up on screen," Kirk said. They were looking at what looked to be a port on a large ocean.

"What about there," Kirk said as he pointed to the screen. "Can we look in closer?" Kirk asked and Spock zoomed in closer. It was a 3 sailed ship. Kirk, Elyse and Sulu smiled. "It's like an old sailing vessel," Sulu said. Natalie was listening and heard several languages being spoken.

Elyse watched the screen and saw what appeared to be a port on a large scale ocean and as they zoomed in she saw a 3 sailed ship. Natalie was continuing to listen and began to hear several languages being spoken.

“Uh Captain, I am picking up several languages.”

Elyse looked over at her. “Can you make out what they are saying Ensign?” she asked with slight irritation in her voice.

“No, I can’t.”

"It would be great if we could go down and just view them for ourselves," Kirk said.

Captain, may I remind you of the Prime Directive?" Scarlett asked as she spun around from her seat at the science station. Spock saw Kirk's frown.

"Lt. the Captain is well aware of the Prime Directive," Spock said though he was not looking at her. Sulu raised his eyebrows at how Spock spoke to his own wife.

"I simply meant that it was be...fun," Kirk corrected. He sighed as he watched the ship for a bit longer.

"Sulu, break orbit..." He began but Spock broke in.

"Captain, I am detecting an unusual energy reading, on the upper continent," Spock said. "Scarlett, can you identify the energy?" Kirk asked.

Scarlett and Spock had an agreement that when they were on duty that they would remain completely professional and Spock outranked her. Scarlett took no offense to how he spoke to her while on duty, although she did take note that he had a difficult time looking at her when he spoke to her in such a way. However, he would sense no anger from her. It was just the way it was.

When Sulu spoke up about the unusual energy reading on the upper continent, Scarlett spun back around towards her station to see if she could identify it. "I'm unable to identify it Captain, but it is significant."

"Captain, whatever it is, It can not be indigenous to this world," Spock said. "So, we're not the first ones to visit, I guess," Sulu said with a smile. Kirk rubbed his chin a moment. "Scarlett, does the resolution on our cameras allow for a street side look at these people?" he asked. When she smiled and tapped on her console the screen zoomed up so far that they could see the people fairly clearly. Kirk looked at them.

"Well, what do you think Spock?" Kirk asked. "Humanoid, not all that different to us," Spock said. "Scarlett give these images to the doctor. You, Elyse and Natalie meet me in sickbay...we're going down there," Kirk said as Kirk thought about it. "Spock, you have the con," he said as he stood up.

In sickbay McCoy was doing the finishing touches on Elyse. The aliens had dark chevrons down their cheeks and 2 raised areas above their temples about half a centimetre in height. McCoy smiled at Elyse. While the others began putting on their clothes. The clothing resembled mid-18th century. "You make one, sexy alien," McCoy said as he used a small brush to add a bit of color on his head.

Elyse smiled at Leonard. The two of them were having sex pretty regularly at this point. They didn't have a lot of spare time, but they made time for each other. Kirk was aware of their relationship and some nights they slept in each other's quarters. Last night she had stayed in his. They tried not to flaunt their relationship and happiness in front of Kirk though since they knew he was greatly missing Amara. She glanced over at Kirk and saw that he wasn't looking so she kissed Leonard quickly and then got up and began to get dressed.

Natalie was visibly nervous. They were going to be counting on her to communicate and she wasn't confident she could do it. Scarlett saw her fidgeting and flashed her a little smile. "You're going to be fine. Just relax."

"Well Jim, some of my best work if I do say so myself. Scarlett...don't scratch it. The itching will subside in a little while. I don't have to remind you that this is an alien race. We haven't examined the food or the water. Don't eat or drink anything that's not bee thoroughly cooked or boiled. I'd prefer you not eat or drink anything but if you must...I mean," he said.

"We understand Bones," Kirk said as he looked everyone over. He was looking at Natalie and was thinking about Amara. He must have had a look because Natalie began to blush. "Ok, we're going down to find what this energy source is about. Try to act...natural and do not speak unless we have to. We need to give the UT time to learn the language first. Tie in all of your communicators to the UT so they will help to pick up the language as well," Kirk said. He had experience doing this and only Elyse and himself had any at all. Scarlett look positively thrilled to be going if he took her expression correctly and they headed to the transporter room.

"Ok, I'll put you in a small clearing on the outskirts," the Ensign said as he handed Kirk and Elyse phasers and Scarlett a tricorder then stepped off the pad and moved to the console. "Energize," Kirk said as he stashed the phaser under his cloak.

They appeared in the clearing and for the most part, it looked like any other forest clearing in the middle of spring or beginning of summer. Kirk pointed toward the nearby road and they started to walk down it toward the city.

It was more of a town than a city and there appeared to be just two or three of the dialects being spoken here. However one seemed to dominate the others and that is what Natalie focused on. People looked at them as they stepped as a group through the middle of town. The street was packed with people and merchants hawking their wares. Every so often they huddled together so Natalie could pull out the UT and refine its work. Scarlett noticed she was getting frustrated and came over to help her.

Elyse hid her phaser under her cloak and Scarlett and Natalie did the same with the tricorder and the UT. They materialized in a forest clearing on the planet. This part of the planet appeared to be going through late spring or early summer. Everything was green and lush. However, since they weren't familiar with the foliage on the planet they avoided touching it directly since they didn't know if anything was poisonous or not. Scarlett discreetly used the tricorder to take data analysis of their surroundings for later study.

They headed towards the nearest settlement, which appeared to be a town. Natalie was trying to refine the UT to the dominate dialect being spoken, but she was becoming frustrated and frazzled, particularly with the Captain standing nearby. Scarlett walked over to help her. 

"Just relax," Scarlett told her in a soft voice. 

Natalie glanced at Kirk and then looked back at Scarlett. "The Captain is so handsome and I just...I mean he was looking at me before...."

Scarlett sighed a little. "Natalie, he's in love with someone else."

"Then why was he looking at me like he was?"

Scarlett shook her head. "I think you might have misinterpreted his look."

"With the two women working on it, the UT suddenly peeped instead of it clicking twice which signified it needed more data. "Alright, good work, synchronize your communicators," Kirk said. "Scarlett, try to get us closer to the energy source," Kirk said.

The town was laid out in a decent way. The streets go north, south east and west. The shops were down the main street and the houses were on side streets. As Scarlett led them she noticed a couple huddle down under a small viaduct. They had lesions on their faces and looked ill. She was zeroing in on the energy source and, after a few more meters knew it was in the shop in front of them.

After they synchronized their communicators, they continued on deeper into the town. The streets were laid out in a logical manner, but everything was of a pre-industrial design. Scarlett led the way as she continued to try and locate the energy source. As she began to hone in on the source, a couple huddled under a viaduct caught her eye. They had lesions on their faces and appeared to be very ill. For the moment, she thought little of it and focused more on the energy source. Finally, she felt confident she knew where it was. 

"Captain, it appears to be coming from inside this shop," she said as she indicated the shop they were standing in front of.

Kirk looked at the shop. "Ok, Scarlett, you and I will go inside, take a look around. If you can get a scan without being too obvious, go ahead," Kirk said. "You two stay outside and give a watch," Kirk said. He and Scarlett stepped inside.

The door rang as they opened it and a man that was painting a small figurine stepped from around the counter. He was of average height and build with dark hair and dark eyes. "Heyo travellers, welcome to my shop. If there is anything you like, just let me know," He said. Kirk stepped up to him and gestured behind him to Scarlett. As Scarlett began to scan the area, she knew right away that the man was not one of these aliens. His scan was much different.

'These look interesting," Kirk said as he pointed to a couple of masks on the counter. "You won't find a more complete collection," the man said. "What about that one," Kirk said and pointed on the wall. "It looks interesting," Kirk said. The man tilted his head and pulled it off the wall. "It's Berien'al, the god of dreams," He said as if Kirk should know it.

Scarlett stepped inside the shop with Kirk and she immediately noticed a man that sat on the other side of the counter painting a small figurine. Scarlett waited while the Kirk distracted the shop owner and she began to discretely scan the shop. However, as she scanned the shop owner she quickly could tell that he was different from the rest of the aliens on this planet. So what was he doing there? She continued to scan as she tried to get a location of the energy source. She heard Kirk ask the shop owner about the masks and she began to scan them when the owner wasn't looking...particularly the God of Dreams.

Nothing else appeared on her scans until she scanned toward the store room door. The energy source was coming from there. He used his body to block the tricorder but he glanced down at it and looked at Scarlett who gave him a look. He took the tricorder from her and turned around. "You're not from around here," The man said to Kirk. "And neither are you," Kirk said as he held the tricorder toward him. The man looked at Kirk then pulled a similiar device from his belt. "And you aren't either," He said.

"What are you doing here?" Kirk asked. "I'm a traveler, like you but I've come to like these people and decided to make this planet my home," He said. Just then the door bell rang and he put his tricorder away. "Now, if you don't mind, I have customers," he said. Kirk was about to say more but decided not to and he and Scarlett were led out.

Outside they came back together. "Elyse, you and Natalie head back to the ship. "Scarlett and I will wait until dark then break into the shop," Kirk said.

Elyse gave Scarlett her phaser and wished them both good luck before she and Natalie headed back to the clearing where they had been beamed down. Once they were there, she told Scotty to beam them back up to the ship. The two women headed to the bridge.

"Scarlett was able to track the energy source to a shop in town. However, they were unable to get to it. She and Kirk have remained on the planet and their plan is to break into the shop after dark," she told Spock.

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Scarlett and Kirk found a place to wait until darkness fell. They had a little time to kill though. As they waited, Scarlett looked over at Kirk. "You really miss her, don't you?" Unlike some people on the ship, Scarlett didn't judge him for his feelings for Amara.

Kirk and Scarlett found a bench in a small wooded park to sit on while they waited. This planet, this place was beautiful and much like earth had been centuries ago. Birds chirped and flowers bloomed all around them. Kirk looked up into a tree and saw something that looked like a squirrel.

"How would you feel if Spock was gone and you might never see him again?" Kirk asked. "I'm not certain I will," Kirk said. "I was...willing to give up everything for her. My commission, my career," Kirk said as he watched the odd, furry creature.

Scarlett looked at him as she considered the question he posed to her. She was quiet a moment before responding. "I think I would feel exactly as you do. However, I do not think you've seen the last of Amara. If she loves you as much as you love her then she'll find her way back to you no matter what."

She looked over at the squirrel like creature before looking back at him again. "When she does come back, what will you do? Do you think you would marry her?" The question was rather personal, but Kirk would know he could trust Scarlett and truly reveal his feelings to her without fear of judgement. She believed that was what he needed right now, someone he could talk to about all of this.

Kirk shifted in his chair and looked straight ahead. 'Would I marry her?' He wondered. Now that he had time to think he knew that a clean break was the best way. He wasn't certain if he could 'pine' away for her, for something that might be dead on arrival. He knew about Section 31 and he worried that they'd lead Amara down a similar path that she had already been on.

"Whats important is that nothing I could do, would have mattered," Kirk said. And it was obvious that that fact really upset him.

Scarlett looked over at him. "That is not true," she said. "You allowed that agent to talk to her. You made that decision. You could have told her no, but you knew it was her best option. Not only that, but you gave her her life back by revealing to her who she really was. You did that...no one else. I can see the love you have for her Captain, don't let that go...don't give up on it. A love like that only comes once in your life."

"You're right Scarlett," He said. "Once in a life," Kirk said but there was a deep, sadness in in his eyes. "I know I've...let some people down," Kirk said. "I've put her ahead of the safety of the ship and my crew. I am willing to accept my fault but I can't make that same mistake again," He said. "I think I understand what respecting the chair means," he said.

Scarlett nodded a little, but decided not to say anything more. She could tell he was upset and nothing she was saying seemed to be working. She hoped, though, that he would find a way to balance his love for Amara with his sense of duty. She had seen him both with Amara and without her and she believed that both of them needed each other. She and Spock were making it work, so why couldn't they? They sat there in silence until darkness fell.

Kirk and Scarlett moved stealthily down the street. They waited across the street from the Antique shop. Someone came out and they locked the door then stepped away down the street. They waited for a bit longer and then they stepped up to the door. Kirk knelt on one knee in front of the door as Scarlett covered him. He had a small lockpick and was jimmying the lock. Unbeknownst to them there was a cloaked figure watching them from across the street. She always watched the odd comings and goings from this shop. Ever since her brother Egol died from an odd disease, she watched for signs of oddness. Well, the proprietor of this job arrived and then a month later, people began to get ill. Coincidence? She didn't think so. But these two...she had never seen them before.

"Hurry Captain," Scarlett said. "Im going as.." he began then the lock opened and they hurried in. They closed the door and waited silently as the person stepped on by down the street. Scarlett began scanning and it was definitely inside this door. Kirk repeated the process on the store room door and after a few minutes it opened. Inside, there was the usual things. Shelves and boxes and such but there was a tapestry on a far wall that looked out of place. At closer inspection of it they revealed another door. But this one was much different than the other wooden doors. It was metal.