Second To Arrive Stardate 2258.169

Scarlett covered Kirk as he picked the lock to the Antique shop. She began to feel as if they were being watched. Thankfully, Kirk was able to get the door open and they quickly stepped inside and closed the door behind them. They waited quietly as the person moved on down the street. Scarlett pulled out the tricorder again and began scanning and she definitely knew what the energy source was in the back room. Kirk was able to get that lock open as well and they moved inside the store room. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, as Scarlett scanned the room her attention was pulled to a tapestry on the far wall. She walked over and moved it aside and revealed a metal door behind it. 

"What is this guy hiding?" she asked rhetorically. "Do you think you can open this door as well?"

"Hand me the tricorder," Kirk said. He reconfigured it and as it detected the mag lock he created a magnetic pulse with the tricorder and the door opened. When Scarlett gave him a look he grinned. "Spock and I have had a few adventures," he said with a shrug. Inside there was some kind of reactor. Kirk scanned it.

"An anti-matter reactor," Kirk said. "But...the power output of this could power an entire city," he said. "There's some kind of dampening field...I can't detect anything beyond that door," he said when he looked at yet another door. The tricorder detected nothing and so he couldn't open it. It was then that they heard something from the other room. "Shhh," Kirk said and handed Scarlett back the tricorder. He stepped quietly out of the room into the store room. He listened then stepped slowly out into the main room. He didn't see anyone as he stepped toward the back of the room. As Scarlett stepped toward the door of the storeroom she saw movement pass by the door. When she peered around the door she saw a hooded form. She saw something metal in their hand and they pointed it at the back of Kirk. She only had a moment to do something.

"What are you doing here!?" a woman's voice asked. Kirk turned to face her. "Who are you, I saw you looking at this shop," she said suspicious of him.

Scarlett stood back and watched as Kirk used the tricorder to create a magnetic pulse that opened the door. She looked rather surprised and impressed and when Kirk mentioned he and Spock having had some adventures she decided she would ask Spock about those later. Inside the door they found an anti-matter reactor. There was yet another door but because of the dampening field they were unable to detect what was behind the other door. 

Suddenly, they both heard something coming from either the storeroom or the main room. Scarlett took the tricorder back from Kirk and he quietly stepped back into the storeroom. Scarlett stayed back, but suddenly saw movement pass by the door. When she looked closer, she saw it was a hooded form and they had something metal in their hand aimed at the back of Kirk's head. Scarlett quickly pulled out her phaser, set to stun, and aimed it at the person, but suddenly a woman's voice cried out and Kirk turned around. Scarlett kept her phaser aimed at her, but did not fire...yet.

"I believe we could ask you the same question. What are you doing here?"

The woman turned and in a panic her weapon fired. It was a hand crossbow. It stuck in her arm. just as she fired. The woman was hit and fell like a lump onto the floor. Kirk hurried back. "You've been hit! How bad?" He asked. as he knelt and removed the woman's weapon. It was just a small hand crossbow, nothing special about it. He stood and examined the wound.

"You'll have to have the doctor remove it," he said then grabbed a cloth that was on the counter. he wound it around the bolt then had Scarlett hold it in place as he called the ship.

"Spock, Scarlett's been wounded, beam her directly to sickbay," Kirk said.

Scarlett blinked as she looked down and saw the arrow sticking out of her arm. It was up near her left shoulder. It hurt and she winced as she tried to move her arm. Thankfully, the woman had been stunned and was on the ground. 

Scarlett was immediately beamed into sickbay. Spock had clearly warned McCoy because he seemed ready to receive her. She had a feeling that Spock was also probably on his way to sickbay judging from the feelings she was getting from him. When she saw him walk in she looked over at him. "I'm alright."

Kirk checked out the woman and scrounged through her things. He found what looked like some kind of identification. He couldn't read it so he had Natalie beam him down a UT. It appeared just next to him after a few minutes of waiting. He used the UT to read the document and discovered that Arina here was some kind of Alchemist or an Apothecary. It also gave him her address. He decided to clean up any blood and then carry her to her place of business.

He set her in a lounger she had in her shop and then decided to wait until she woke up. Arina was quite pretty with dark skin and dark hair and he didn't want her to wake up without answers. He could set this all to rights and then be on his way.

"Enterprise, as soon as Scarlett is healed, return her to the planet and tell her to look for an Apothecary shop," he said then put his communicator away as he saw her stir.

Arina slowly began to awaken after a little while. She groaned and shifted and then her eyes began to open. She quickly realized that she was back in her shop. She sat up and then saw the man from the Antique shop. She looked for her weapon and discovered it wasn't on her. 

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"I..just wanted to make sure you were alright. You took a nasty fall," he lied.

Arina was a very intelligent woman and she was immediately suspicious of this man. "Spare me your lies. I know that you aren't from around here and you are wearing a disguise. I didn't mean to hurt that woman. Now I want to know who you are and what you are doing here."

"Disguise? I'm not wearing a disguise. But you're right, I'm not from around here...I'm from...another city. I...can't tell you which one. I'm an...investigator. And I think there's something going on at the Antique shop," Kirk said. "I can't tell you more then that, right now," He added.

Arina's eyes narrowed at him. "More lies. You must be working with Haran then. He killed my brother...I know he did," she said as a few tears came to her eyes.

"Your brother?" Kirk said and then he sighed. "Look, if I wanted to harm you I wouldn't have brought you home. Talk to me, tell me whats been happening. Who is Haran?" He asked.

Arina sighed and looked at him for a moment as she tried to decide if she could trust him or not. "If you were working for Haran then you wouldn't have broken into his shop," she finally decided. "Haran is the Antique shop owner. My brother Egot got sick and died mysteriously a few months ago...right after Haran arrived. But my brother isn't the only one who got sick. Here, let me show you," she said as she led Kirk over to a map on her wall. When Kirk examined it closely he would be able to see that it was a map of the town and she had small x marks on certain houses. "These x's indicate where people have gotten sick and this all happened suddenly after Haran arrived. There is something going on with him. Tell me, why were you and that other woman breaking into his shop?"

"We think there's...something in his shop that...shouldn't be there," Kirk said cryptically. "I...can't tell you more but if you're willing to help us. Perhaps, we can help you and the people here," Kirk said. This was all stretching the Prime Directive to its limits but Haran...he doubted it was his full name, had technology that might be harming these people. He didn't know how or why yet.

It was then that Scarlett came through the doors of the shop. The woman looked at her and saw she was the one that came with this other man. Kirk shifted so that Arina would focus on him. He gave Scarlett a gesture to the small flask of water that was on her table.

"Any other information you could give us would be helpful Arina," Kirk said.

Spock had been reluctant to let Scarlett leave after Dr. McCoy had removed the arrow and patched her up, but she had reassured him that she would be fine and he had let her go. She knew that the Captain needed her and she wanted to get back to him as quickly as possible. She traced him to the Apothecary shop and when she walked in she saw him with the woman that had shot her. She looked at the flask that Kirk gestured towards. She opened up the flask and used litmus paper to take a water sample. She worked quickly and discreetly.

Arina eyed Scarlett but then looked back at Kirk. "There is a back entrance to the shop. Every few days I see a different man loading 3 chests onto a cart. He then walks them out into the forest. I don't know what's in them or what he's doing, but it seems suspicious."

Kirk looked at her for a few moments. "I think we need to find out what's in those crates," Kirk said and looked at Scarlett. "Do you have what you need?" he asked her. When she nodded he nodded. "Arina, would you show me where this back entrance is? We can wait together," Kirk said. "Scarlett, why don't you head back, I'm going to find out what it is that these men are doing," Kirk said. After Scarlett left, kirk waited for Arina to get ready to go. Once she was he left her shop with her.

Once they got onto the street she took him on a side street and around to the back alley of the string of buildings. She had them sit in a shadowy area just back away from the alley. Arina pulled out a small ledger and began to write in it. Kirk didn't look over her shoulder but was curious as to what she was writing. She murmured a bit as she wrote and Kirk softly cleared his throat. She looked him but didn't speak. Kirk returned her gaze and noticed she was studying him.

"What?" he asked. He was used to women looking at him but not aliens so much. Arina did have a nice smile and these people didn't look much different than a human. She was...pretty, maybe more than pretty. "You seem so young as an Apothecary. Or maybe you are older than you appear?" Kirk asked just to strike up a conversation. They had a while yet before it got dark.

Scarlett wasn't so certain she wanted to leave Kirk alone with this alien, but she agreed and left and was beamed back to the ship. She needed to perform some tests on the water samples anyway and she headed straight to the lab. She let Spock know that she was back and that she would be in the lab.

Arina led Kirk from her shop down a side street and around to the back alley. They found a darkened place to sit and hide while they waited for it to get dark. While they waited, she pulled out a small ledger and began to write in it. However, she paused when she heard Kirk clear his throat. She looked over at him, but didn't speak. She studied him for a while before he finally broke the silence. She still didn't know if she could trust him or not, but she had no choice at this point.

"I'm older than I appear...far older. I'm over 300 hundred years old. Our race ages far more slowly. Average life span is 700 years."

"That's not what I meant...exactly. You're out on your own. Well, you and your brother were. I take it your parents dont live nearby?" Kirk asked.

Scarlett studied the water under a microscope and then fed it into the computer. Beyond just the water, there was Tetracycline #2, an industrial lubricant. Highly toxic and obviously some of it has found its way into the soil or ground water. It would explain her brother's death and the people she saw that looked sick.

Arina looked at him. "No, they don't," was all she said in response to Kirk's question.

Scarlett studied the water sample under a microscope and then fed that information into a computer. She frowned when she saw the results. She now knew why the people were getting sick, but how was Tetracycline #2 getting into the water supply? 

She knew that she wouldn't be able to contact Kirk and would have to wait until he contacted her. However, Spock walked in to see how everything was going.  "Well, I've discovered that there is Tetracycline #2 in the water supply. That would explain why people are getting sick."

"Well we can't get a reading on the shop, just the energy signature. There must be a dampening field somewhere down there," Spock said.

"Its a noble thing to try and help the people here. To take on that responsibility and risk yourself for them," Kirk said. "Alot of people probably wouldnt," he said.

Scarlett nodded. "There is, but the Captain and I couldn't locate it. There was a metal door and behind it we found an anti-matter reactor...." Scarlett paused in what she was saying and then looked at Spock. "Could that be what's causing the dampening field?"

Arina gave a little shrug. "As an Apothecary it is my job to take care of people. I care about the people here. Haran...he does not. I think he only cares for himself."

"Its quite possible," Spock said. "You seem to be acclimating well to being on a ship Scarlett. Or perhaps, you are just so easy going?" Spock asked but he knew the answer already.

As she spoke her words became...jibberish to Kirk. He knew immediately what the problem was. And so did Natalie who was monitoring him. She quickly fixed the issue..,she had hit a wrong button but Kirk needed to reset his communicator. He seized the moment and kissed Arina when she had looked over at him. He brought out his communicator just behind her ear and tapped on it with his free hand. Arina was taken aback by his forwardness but she hadn't pulled away. Kirk was a very good kisser after all. He had to make another adjustment though and so he kissed her more deeply as he made it then pocketed his communicator as he he slowly broke their kiss. Her look was one of puzzlement and of mild enjoyment.

"Uh, sorry, someone was coming and I uh, wanted them to think..." Kirk said.

Scarlett rubbed at her left arm a little bit. It was still a little sore. "Well, being shot with an arrow wasn't pleasant, but other than that I'm enjoying being on a ship," she said with a little smile. 

Arina was surprised when Kirk suddenly leaned forward and kissed her. She didn't pull back though. She then felt him kiss her more deeply and she was about to pull away when suddenly he broke the kiss. She eyed him, but she couldn't say that she hadn't enjoyed the kiss. She was wondering why he had kissed her and when he told her that someone was coming she didn't think she believed him, but she nodded.

"I understand."

As darkness came Kirk and Arina saw a man open the back door. She had seen this part before. He loaded one crate, then another and then a third. He locked up the shop and then starting out of the city pushing the cart by himself. Kirk and Arina followed him and after about 20 minutes he stopped and set down the handles to the cart and walked back into the forest.

Kirk wondered what the hell was going on? They just left this stuff out here? He wondered.

The Melarin's detected the enterprise in orbit and used the planet's own magnetic field to shield them from their sensors. They sent their shuttle down to collect the ore...

"Sir, there's..." Sulu said and then it disappeared. "Sulu, what it is?" Elyse asked. "I thought I saw a ship but then it was gone a second later," Sulu asked.

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"Stay here Arina, I'm going to take a look, Kirk said. As he approached the cart Arina was right behind him. He sighed but didn't say anything. As he was about to open one of the boxes, suddenly a bright light appeared above them. Kirk jerked back and pulled Arina back into the trees. A shuttle came down and tractored the boxes up into it. Kirk noticed Arina's amazement. She likely never saw anything like that.

Darkness finally fell and after a while they saw a man open the back door. As usual, he loaded three crates onto a cart and then headed out of the town. She and Kirk followed behind him and after about 20 minutes he stopped and set down the handles of the cart and then walked back into the forest. Arina was confused about what was going on. Kirk told her to stay where she was while he went to take a closer look, but she ignored him and followed behind him. She was curious to know what was in the boxes. However, before they could open up the boxes there was a sudden bright light above them. Arina didn't fight him when Kirk pulled her back into the trees. Arina didn't understand what she was looking at when she saw the shuttle. She watched as the boxes were suddenly pulled up into the shuttle. Her mouth was hanging open as she watched what was happening. She looked both frightened and intrigued.

"What...what is going on?"