IDIC-PLANET

CHAPTER 1

Captain's log Stardate 4235.60

.....After our hostile contact with the unidentified vessel which tried to destroy us - and succeeded in damaging irreparably all our dilithium crystals, in use and reserve, by an as yet unexplained,...

Kirk glanced at Spock, who was concentrating on analyzing the readings that were recorded automatically during the attack

..energy field, we are cruising at 0.2 light speed to the nearest planet that Mr. Spock has detected by the long range scanners as being plausibly a rich source of dilithium minerals. At present we do not know whether the planet has been charted by the Federation and we do not know if it is inhabited.

Jim paused, as he reflected on how often his log entry contained those words - if it is inhabited? The vibrations of the Enterprise, leisurely cruising at such a slow speed seemed unnatural to him; it just didn't feel right. He noticeably missed the hum of the warp engines.

The noise of the turbo lift doors shook him out of his reverie. He would finish his log later, he decided when he saw that it was an unusually grim Dr. McCoy that entered the bridge and made his way towards him.

"Well?" Captain Kirk asked

McCoy shook his head wearily, but remained silent.

"Bones..!" Jim's voice pleaded

"I just don't know, Jim." Dr. McCoy looked even more miserable " He is stable, but..."

Chekov, who up to now was sitting quietly at his station, trying not to listen to the conversation going on behind him, could contain himself no longer. With anguish in his voice he turned round and demanded:

"Dr. McCoy, will he live?"

At his station, Spock, his face hidden from view by the computer hood, winced slightly at the strong raw emotions emanating from the normally reserved bridge crew. He tightened his mental block, preventing further physical discomfort that he inevitably felt at such times. Then, composed again, he too looked inquiringly at the doctor.

McCoy wished he could transport himself light years away. Away from these people he cared so much about, away from all the responsibilities he carried as Chief Medical Officer aboard a starship. "Damn it I am no magician!" he thought to himself, then realised that he MUST be one - that was part of his job.

"Chekov....he is stable, but the energy beam that hit him disrupted his cell structure pretty badly, and I don't know how much of that can be recovered in time before permanent deterioration sets in."

" Stasis field?" Kirk asked

"That would delay deterioration, but it would also stop regeneration, Jim." McCoy paused, then continued, while looking at Spock for confirmation. "If we could get him to Vulcan on time, the nerve-cell regeneration field developed by Dr. Corrigan and healer Sorel⁽¹⁾, would help him recover."

Spock inclined his head in agreement.

Jim swore under his breath; 'On time! - They had no warp drive, at this rate Vulcan was over 60 years away!'

"Keptin, may I wisit Sulu, pleaze?" The strongly accented voice of Mr Chekov broke the heavy silence after McCoy's last pronouncement.

Jim looked at Bones, who nodded slightly.

It was highly unusual for an on-duty bridge personnel to request to leave his or her station for personal reasons. But this was an unusual situation, and an over-emotional crew member was not going to perform up to standard either.' Kirk thought as he got up and approached an apprehensive Chekov.

"Now, Mr. Chekov?" the Captain queried.

A thoroughly miserable looking Chekov nodded, then quietly added, " Yes Sir." He suddenly didn't care whether this would compromise his career in Starfleet. Not when his best friend might not live.

"Very well, Mr. Chekov. Call Mr. Daniels to take over from you. Then you are relieved of duty, until further notice."

Chekov felt a chill running down his spine "..till further notice.." So the Captain was not happy with him, oh well, he had already made his decision... These unhappy thoughts kept running through his mind as he paged his relief- officer. Then, with Dr. McCoy, he left the bridge for sick- bay.

---

Jim sat at his desk, a small glass of untouched brandy in his hand. He looked up from the golden brown liquid in his glass into the deep dark brown eyes of his First Officer sitting opposite him.

"What do we know about this planet, Mr. Spock?"

"The information available to us is not very accurate, Captain. The Federation's first log of this planet is from approximately 50 years ago. The planet, designated Pl1265, was then in a state of protracted destructive war between its many tribal-like groups. It was decided then that the peoples of this planet were not ready for contact with the Federation, and the planet has been placed on interdict status 6b/sa. Since then, the planet seems to have been forgotten by the federation authorities. There have been unconfirmed contacts with the inhabitants of this planet by various free-traders."

"Didn't anyone stop these contacts, if an interdict status was in force?" Jim interrupted.

"Negative. When Star Fleet did not intervene in the first instance, the number of contacts increased in frequency. It is known that even Vulcan merchants have been to Pl1265, which is now evidently at peace." Spock paused, raised an eyebrow and continued, "No one, however, who has been there seems forthcoming about the planet."

"So we have to break General Order 1, if we go there, Spock."

"Negative, Captain."

"What? How so?"

"The order of no contact has expired 13 months ago, and has not been renewed. As I said before, it seems to be a forgotten planet, at least by Star Fleet."

"Well, at least that's one thing in our favour. Spock... have you seen Sulu recently?"

"Forty five minutes ago. I initiated a mind meld."

Jim looked surprised at that information.

"Dr. McCoy wanted to know how aware Mr. Sulu was, Captain." elaborated Spock at Jim's surprised look.

"And...?"

"He is quite aware, Captain." Spock said softly.

"You mean, he is fully conscious, but can't communicate?" asked Jim with concern in his voice.

"Yes, he is awake and fully conscious but he cannot hear, see or feel anything. Apart from within his brain, all neural transmission has ceased. He is undergoing total sensory deprivation." At the anguished look on his Captain's face, Spock hastened to add, "He does not feel any pain. And I will mind touch him every day, Jim, to prevent insanity."

"Won't that be uncomfortable for you, Spock?

"Jim, it is not a full mind meld like we have...occasionaly ....shared. It is sufficient to touch Sulu telepathically, to ease his...alonness." Spock finished and wished that this conversation was over. He knew that Jim was distressed by the occurrences over the past few days however, and therefore let his personal shield slip a little, acknowledging openly his friendship to this special human.

Jim Kirk was aware of Spock's support and appreciated it. He was about to take advantage of this rare openness when the terminal beeped for attention. At the beep, Spock's demeanour changed and his calm efficient First Officer replaced the deep and sensitive friend the Vulcan could be to his Captain.

Jim flicked on the communications on his console. The face of Mr. Yehudy Offer, the replacement helmsman appeared before him.

"Yes Lieutenant Offer, what is it?" Jim tried to keep the annoyance from his voice at the illogical disappointment he felt at being interrupted and not seeing Sulu at the helm.

"Captain, you asked to be notified when we come into visual contact with the planet."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Offer, we'll be on the bridge momentarily." With a flick of the hand Jim switched communications off.

"Well, Spock, let's hope we have something to trade with these people." He said, raising from the chair, regarded the untouched brandy for a moment and, followed by Spock, hastened to the bridge.

---

Lieutenant Offer frowned as the communication with his Captain was cut off. Although Sulu was his superior, he was also his friend. And it felt unfamiliar to be on duty on the bridge during the main shift, without Sulu's and Chekov's presence. He glanced surreptitiously at the navigator seated beside him, Ensign LaPierre. A woman of great beauty, but also of inflexible convictions that have often led to heated disagreements between the two of them. It was Sulu who would, in his cheerful manner, quieten things down between them, before they could get out of hand. Now they had to work side by side. He hoped that they both were professional enough, to do that without the near hatred that LaPierre felt for him surfacing. No, not hatred for him as such, but for what he believed, and did not hide. He could not understand that LaPierre had managed to get into Starfleet, with her inflexible outlook on things, her belief that all other but her own ideology was inferior. Her belief that any beings but her own were lower on the scale.

He had asked her once, what she was doing on a Starship, with its multi-racial complement, and its ideology of contacting new races. He was rendered speechless by her reply: "I am here to observe the unfortunate inferiors, like you, and where possible to show them The Way."

The bridge doors opened and closed behind him. He felt, rather than saw, the presence of the commanding and executive officer on the bride.

"Status report, Mr. Offer."

"We are 22.07 minutes from attaining orbit, Captain."

Captain Kirk settled himself in his chair, and regarded the approaching planet on the screen. Most planets looked tranquil and calm from space, regardless what was happening on their surface, but this planet looked different. Spaceships of varying designs, colours and sizes were in orbit round the planet, in a rather disorderly manner.

"Mr. Spock?" Jim looked towards the science station.

"There are 34, ..." Spocks eyebrow rose, he hesitated then turned round to face his Captain "point-36 ships in orbit, Captain, and two approaching, including the Enterprise."

Jim looked with consternation at his Science Officer.

"Point 36 ships!?! Mr. Spock, is that a joke?"

"Captain, there is no need to be insulting." Spock said levely. "Sensor analysis shows that the mass of orbiting debris is equivalent to .36 of an average space-ship."

"You could have said so in the first place." Jim Kirk looked at Spock, frowning, until he recognised a humourous twinkle in Spock's eye.

"Captain, I believe I just did."

"So what happened to the other 0.64 of the ship?"

"Unknown."

Jim looked pensive, then shrugged his shoulders and turned to his communications officer.

"Uhura, communications?"

After a few seconds in which Lt Uhura depressed and flicked a large number of switches on her console with a musicians precision, she answered; " Incoming, Captain." And before Kirk could ask to relay it, she continued, " They are giving us co-ordinates for orbit, Captain." She turned to look inquiringly at the Captain.

"Acknowledge and relay to navigation, please."

"Yes sir."

"I have them, Lieutenant." acknowledged LaPierre.

"Sir," Uhura looked startled at her Captain.

"Yes Uhura, what is it?"

"The K'S'vaits, that's what they call themselves, have informed us that it will cost us 4589 mofeds, or the equivalent thereof per planet rotation, for our parking space!" Uhura looked confused as she relayed that information.

"Interesting," commented Spock.

"Sir, what is a Parking-space, and how can they charge us for orbiting their planet?" asked a somewhat irked ensign LaPierre.

Jim heard a soft chuckle behind him. He turned round to see that McCoy had arrived on the bridge and had taken up his usual position.

"Clever people," commented McCoy and continued to explain to the ensign what a 'parking space' meant and the ancient use of 'parking meters, clamps, tickets' and so on.

"I never knew you were such an historian, Bones," commented Kirk somewhat dryly. Then turned to Spock. "There must be something worthwhile on that planet if they can charge for orbit and their parking lot is so full."

"Uhura, can you raise someone to communicate with?"

"Just a moment, Sir....."

The view of the busy planet changed to show two humanoid but radically different beings.

"Welcome to our humble world. We, K'S'vaits greet you. I am K'L'sak and this is my secretary, K'L'trok. What can we trade?" K'L'sak ended in a particularly non-grammatical form of Standard.

"Greetings, I am Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise, we inde...." He was cut short at a strange sound origination from K'L'trok.

"You are of the Federation Police force?" demanded K'L'trok.

"We are of Starfleet, which is not a police force, although we do help in enforcing Federation Law."

"You are, then, here to stop traders coming to our world?"

"No, not at all, that resolution is not applicable any longer. We are here to trade." Jim said somewhat impatiently.

"Aah, then greetings once more, what is it that you wish?"

"We need some dilithium crystals."

"That will be no problem. Tell us the quantity. Beam down to following co-ordinates and we will tell you our price," finished a satisfied K'L'trok, abruptly ending the communications.

"Well...that seemed relatively straight forward," drawled McCoy from behind Jim.

"Hmmm, yes, but...no, never mind," Jim half mused.

"Captain, the two beings said - we the K'S'vaits - yet they seemed of different origins," Spock said as he stepped down to Kirk's side.

"Yes, peculiar, but we do not have time to spend in idle speculation. Let's get the crystals and get to Vulcan."

"Hardly idle, Captain," Spock protested gently as he followed Kirk and McCoy to the turbolift.

"Mr. Sulu you have the...." Jim stopped in mid track. Damn! He thought, looked round the bridge and his steady gaze settled on Uhura."Lieutenant Uhura, you have the conn." He said and escaped into the waiting lift.

Footnotes and explanations

Next chapter.