The Devil's Due Stardate 2259.216

Amara had been hoping to find something obvious on his ship that would explain how Arda was doing what he was doing. After checking the bridge, she walked down to the engine room with Kal.

"Have you found anything?" she asked Scotty. She knew that they were running out of time. They needed to rescue Scarlett before this guy did something to her.

Scarlett smiled at Arda. "Yes, I could definitely get used to this life."

In the engine room Scotty saw something that he didn’t immediately recognize. Amara scanned it and it was determined that the large device was some kind of holo-emitter. Scotty figures out that it was routed through the ship’s warp Engines and transporters. Kal was on the bridge and it looked like there was a probe fired down onto the planet and he was able to create some kind of harmonic feedback wave with it.

“Amara, come to the bridge, I need you to help me translate the command functions so we can take over the ship,” Kal said.

Amara grinned when they discovered the holo-emitter. "Bingo," she said. She heard Kal's request and nodded. "I'm on my way." On the way there she contacted James and informed him of their find. "Kal and I are getting ready to take over the ship," she added.

She reached the bridge and she began to translate the command functions. She was able to go through them all quickly. Once they all had been translated she looked at Kal. "How else can I help?"

“I need you to beam over to the Enterprise. I’ll remain here and Relay the commands that the Captain wants the ship to do,” he said. He had Scotty in the engine room and he locked out the main computer. Arda no longer had access to his ship and Sofia had finally recovered the command codes to the Enterprise as well.

As Amara appeared back on the bridge of the Enterprise, Kirk turned to face her. “I’m going back down there And this is what I’m planning to do so that the Ventaxians no longer believe in Arda as their god,” he said. After he laid out his plans and what he would do Amara would relay that to Kal so he could make Arda’s ship do what a Kirk wanted. Kirk transported back down with Elyse.

Arda looked up and sighed. “Back again Captain? Or do you require more convincing?” He said.

Amara was feeling more and more confident that this was going to work. Spock did not seem as calm as he normally was and Amara understood why. She gave him a little smile of reassurance and a pat on the shoulder as she pulled out her communicator and relayed James' plan to Kal. 

Elyse walked with Kirk to the Transporter room and they beamed back down to the planet. She was relieved to see that Scarlett appeared alright. Scarlett trusted Jim and knew he had a plan. She would continue to play her part though until the very end. She knew that they couldn't let on that they knew what was going on. 

Scarlett looked at Kirk. "You should have left while you still had a chance," she said and then took another sip of her drink.

Prelate Sorkis stepped up to Kirk and Elyse. "Captain, you really should just go. You're crew have been spared our fate," he said. Kirk pondered what he said then looked at Arda. "But you see, Arda is not a god. And I can prove it," Kirk said. "Arda is a con artist. On my world that means that he is someone who uses tricks and slight of hand to fool other people into thinking they are something they are not," Kirk said as Arda stood up. "I'm warning you Captain," he said in a dangerous tone. "Oh? Or what? You'll make the ground shake?" Kirk said then waved his own hand. When he did that Amara relayed that to Kal and Kal programmed the probe to create the wave. On the planet the ground shook for a few moments then stopped. Arda looked troubled and Kirk grinned.

"Well Arda, make the ground shake?" Kirk said. Arda looked to be thinking about something and then it was a measure of him masking his shock. "I do not wish to," Arda said. "Well, I much prefer to see you as a beast," Kirk said and waved his hand. Arda became a beast. Sorkis looked shocked and confused at the same time. When Kirk waved his hand again the beast image went away.

"Come on Arda, turn me into something?" Kirk said. "No? I wonder why...it's like you no longer have any powers," he said. Then turned to Sorkis. "Prelate, this is not Arda. This is just a man who was trying to trick you into thinking he was. He has a ship in orbit that allowed him to do the things I just did. We've taken over his ship and removed his command of it. Now, he is no different than you or I," Prelate Sorkis," he said. "I suggest you take him into custody, I don't know the nature of your laws for this sort of thing, But I assume the punishment for portraying a god and attempting to take control of your planet, might be harsh," he said.

Scarlett smiled as she watched Kirk at work. He was calm and confident...with just a twinge of cockiness. Elyse smiled too as she watched the color seem to drain from "Arda's" face. Whoever he truly was, he had messed with the wrong people. Elyse truly felt proud to be apart of this team. 

Scarlett looked over at "Arda" and sighed a little as she shook her head. "You're truly a disappointment." She walked back over to stand with Kirk and Elyse. She then paused and looked back at him. "Oh, and you're lucky my husband wasn't down here to witness the way you were looking at me."

Several Ventaxian guards came over and took hold of 'Arda' and began to haul him away. The Prelate came over toward Kirk. "Captain Kirk, on behalf of all of my people, I thank you for what you did here today. It would be my pleasure to speak to your Federation representatives about the possibility of joining," he said then stepped up and shook Kirk's hand. "Thank you Captain," he said with a smile. Kirk nodded a welcome back. He stepped back and flipped out his communicator. "3 to beam up...energize," he said and they were beamed up.

Spock was there when they arrived. When Scarlett came up to him his face was neutral but his emotions bloomed with relief and an explosion of love for her. Outwardly he held out his hands to take hers and their foreheads touched for only a few moments then it was done and Spock released her. For anyone else it was the equivalent of picking her up, spinning her around then kissing her profusely. Kirk stepped out of the transporter room and headed for the bridge right away. Kal came up from the shuttle bay and as they took back their places Kirk sat down in his chair and the Yeoman came over with his PADD and Kirk signed it then he stepped away. He looked around the bridge at each person. Kal and Elyse were looking back at him.

"Nice work, everyone," he said and just smiled at all of them. "Shall we continue on our journey?" Kirk asked. Kal smiled. "I sir," he said.

Scarlett knew Spock would be there waiting in the Transporter room and their eyes immediately met. She stepped down off the Transporter pad and walked over to him. Scarlett could sense Spock's emotions and they mirrored her own. She took his hands and as their foreheads touched she closed her eyes for a moment to bask in the feeling of love that bloomed between them. It was a tender, intimate moment and it made Scarlett feel whole. As Spock released her, she smiled warmly at him and the two of them exited the Transporter room to go back to work.