Earth-Romulan War

[uniderth]

Ok here's some selections from the book I'm working on about the Earth-Romulan War. I'm looking for any comments/criticisms(Except for the fact I do not count Enterprise as canon). Yes, it's true, I do not consider ENTERPRISE as part of the Star Trek Universe. My Earth-Romulan War story centers around an ancient Vulcan weapon that when used can bring more devistation than the largest fleet of starships. It features Captain Jonathan Stiles, captain of the S.S. Enterprise UEV-47(the ring ship seen on TMP).

These selections are from the first couple chapters of the book. Well here's the first one. This selection is the start of teh book. It takes place just after the events of the TOS episode Balance of Terror. I tried to write it in a way so that anyone not familiar with Star Trek or that episode would understand.

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Captain James Kirk strode down the corridor on his way to the briefing room. He had a lot on his mind. Only a few hours ago he had barely defeated a Romulan ship. In fact, it was the first Romulan ship seen by humans in over one hundred years. It had crossed the Neutral Zone into Federation space and attacked several Earth outposts. These outposts had been established over a century ago after the conclusion of the Earth-Romulan War.

Kirk's victory over the Romulans was, however, bitter-sweet. During the battle one of his crew had been killed, Lieutenant Robert Tomlinson. Losing crewmen was not a new experience for Kirk, yet he still felt each death as if it were his own son. But there was something even more painful about this one. Tomlinson’s wedding had been interrupted by the Romulan attack.

Kirk had just finished consoling Tomlinson’s ex-fiancee. But the world of starship captains had little room for mouring and now he had some more business to take care of. He had ordered his half-vulcan science officer, Commander Spock, and one of the ship’s navigators, Lieutenant Stiles, to wait for him in the briefing room...he needed an explanation. The doors to the briefing room swished open and Kirk entered. Both Spock and Lieutenant Stiles stood up as he entered. Captain Kirk looked at both of them and nodded, telling them to sit down. He sat down at the angular table and looked at them.

“Spock, Mr. Stiles,” Kirk said. He paused for a moment as he pondered on what he should say. “You know why I called you down here. I want an explanation.”

Both Mr. Spock and Stiles sat quietly. Kirk looked at Stiles.

“Mr. Stiles, this ship requires all officers to be at their peak performance all the time,” Kirk said.

“Yes, I know sir,” replied Lieutenant Stiles. Kirk cut him off before he could continue.

“Your behavior during this conflict was unacceptable,” Kirk continued boldly.

Stiles felt ashamed for what he had said to Spock but how could he help it? He could never forget the evil that the Romulans had done to his ancestors. And after learning earlier that Romulans looked exactly Vulcans he was sure that Mr. Spock could have been a Romulan spy. After all, all he wanted to do was protect his ship, and being defeated by Romulans would have been the worst possible defeat.

"Commander Spock is the First Officer of this ship and you will give him proper respect regardless of your personal prejudices," Kirk said. He searched for words that would appropriately reprimand the Lieutenant Stiles but also give him motivation to improve himself.

“It’s been over one hundred years since humans stopped judging people based on how they look, and I expect you to behave according to that heritage.”

"I know sir," Stiles said. He tried to think of something to say to make this uncomfortable situation end quicker.

“Mister Stiles, I understand that you have a personal interest in the Earth-Romulan War, but I need you to put that aside when you’re on duty.”

"Yes, sir, you're right, it was my ancestor’s war, not mine." Stiles said. He could see Kirk was thinking of what action he should take.

"Mister Stiles," Kirk began, but was cut off my Spock.

"Captain, I believe Lieutenant Stiles already feels sufficient regret for his actions earlier. I see no reason to pursue it any further."

Kirk was well aware of Spock's logical, unemotional Vulcan background. But he also was aware of his human half and even though Spock refused it, he knew that Spock was affected by Lieutenant Stiles' earlier accusations. But he still had the human instinct to try and make Spock feel better.

“Sir, I apologize for accusing Spock of being a Romulan spy,” Stiles began, “It was unprofessional of me. And even after that he saved my life when I was trapped in the phaser control room.”

“As I said earlier,” stated Spock matter-of-factly, “I did that to save a highly skilled navigator, nothing more.”

The mood of the room suddenly lightened as Kirk slightly chuckled. Even though Mr. Spock was unemotional he sometimes seemed to have an emotional motivation, like saving someone’s life. And Kirk thought that sometimes he did this just to irritate him. But Kirk knew that Spock would never admit to giving in to the emotional impulse of irritating somebody.
Realizing the lightness of the mood Stiles spoke up, “Actually Captain, while I was in sickbay I had Mr. Spock helped me with some research. I found two very interesting things.”

“And what are those,” Kirk asked.

Lieutenant Stiles was very excited about family history and was always excited about finding new things about his family’s past. While at Starfleet Academy his classmates sometimes teased him for spending so much time looking through old records. Be it fragmented records from the nineteen nineties, electronic flash tapes from the mid twenty-first century, or some other primitive period in earth’s history; it all fascinated him.

“Well Captain,” said Stiles excitedly, “one of my ancestors during the Earth-Romulan war was a friend of Mister Spock’s grandfather Solkar.”

“Spock your family seems to have an interesting relationship with humanity,” said Kirk.

“Yes, so it would seem,” Spock replied, so unemotionally that he almost sounded unenthusiastic.

Kirk knew that Spock struggles with his human heritage. But the idea that the descendants of two friends would meet after one hundred years, and even more parsecs of space travel, we amazing. And the fact that they came together during a conflict with the Romulans was even more incredible.

Stiles spoke again, “The second thing, is that the Stiles family has been involved in the Earth-Romulan War thousands of years before it even began.”

Kirk was puzzled. From what he knew of the Earth-Romulan War it had only lasted three years and ended in the year 2160, one year before the founding of the United Federation of Planets, and Starfleet.

“What do you mean thousands of years,” asked Kirk.

Spock sensed that Lieutenant Stile might have difficulty explaining the historical event accurately and spoke up,“Captain, I may be able to explain. According to my research there were a few ancient events that lead up to the Earth-Romulan Wars.”

Kirk leaned back in his chair preparing himself to listen to one of Spock’s overly long and detailed explanations.

Spock continued, “The events that lead to the war are buried in ancient myth. I had not believed many of them true until speaking with Mister Stiles. The first of these started two thousand years ago on Vulcan during the revolution led by Surak to bring all Vulcans to logic...


Surak felt the small red pebbles through his thin sandals as he walked the narrow path between the Trinam rainbow pools. The pools were so named for the beautiful rainbow of colors made by bacteria growing in the extremely hot water. Steam from the pools rose into the hot Vulcanian atmosphere. Surak inhaled deeply as he looked around the wide valley filled with various sized pools of boiling hot water. He looked toward the horizon and saw the conference center rising above the distant parkland.

 

[uniderth]

This selection is from later in the first chapter. I'm not quite sure how to approach this. Obviously this story is about the Romulans. But I want to try and keep the mystery of Romulans. Since in Balance of Terror Spock says neither Humans nor the allies saw the Romulans. I'm not quite sure how to approach this.

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The sun was almost set over, Demak, the capital of Romulus. A large black palace glimmered in the distance as the sun’s last few rays slipped below the horizon. This was the palace of Senak, the Preator of Romulus. The entire palace was constructed using local slaves. Senak was one of the first settlers of the planet Romulus and now was one of the most powerful. He commanded hundreds of his fellow Vulcanians and thousands of slaves.

The sky grew dark and a hooded figure could be seen walking in the main courtyard of Senak’s palace. The figure walked along a cement pathway before finally entering a large, highly decorated door. The figure walked down a long, dark corridor. His footsteps echoed in cold darkness. He approached another large door. This door was decorated with a large relief of a predatory bird holding two orbs in it’s claws. On either side of the door were two soldiers standing guard. They were dressed in full armour as dark as the night. Each guard held a large sword in his hands and as the figure approached the door the guards crossed their swords in his path.

“I have been summoned by Preator Senak,” croaked the figure.

The guards stood back at attention and the large door split in the middle and slowly swung open. The figure cautiously entered the dark room. Blackness was all the figure saw when he entered the room, except for a column of light illuminating a large thrown. In the thrown sat Senak, his face concealed by shadow. There were also two other people present sitting at a semi-circular table. In the center of the table was a small pedestal. The figure didn’t know what was on the pedestal but there was one object that seemed like gold.

The figure walked to the only empty chair at the table and sat down. There was along moment of silence until Senak finally spoke.

“Welcome my friends,” Senak said in a low, dark voice, “You all know of our problem. There is a Vulcanian from the home world who seeks to destroy our way of life.”

The three seated figures nodded in confirmation.

“He seeks to purge our society of emotions an passions,” Senak said, he paused for a moment then continued, “He must be stopped.”

Senak paused for dramatic effect then spoke again, “We will take our slaves and our warriors and destroy this Surak and his path of self destruction.”

One of the Vulcanians seated spoke up in a raspy voice, “But my Lord their numbers are too great compared to those of us from Romulus.”

The Vulcanian could almost feel Senak’s eyes pierce him to the core. He knew Senak was unhappy with his statement. But Senak just sat and stared at him.

After a few moments of silence Senak spake again, “You three will be my generals in this war. As we speak a fleet is being prepared for our attack. We have been sending the local slaves to the planet Remus to mine and build our fleet. I have constructed four weapons that will guarantee our victory in this war.”

Senak made a motion with his hand, signaling one of his slaves to come forward. The gargoyle-faced slave stepped toward the pedestal in the center of the room. The slave was very large and dressed in dark grey clothing. Senaks’s symbol of a bird holding two spheres in it’s claws was branded on his left cheek.

The slave picked up one of the objects sitting on the pedestal. He gave it the Vulcanian sitting at the right of the table.

“For you M’keth,” said Senak,”the Stone of Shimtak. This weapon will give you the power to keep your troops from dying, even from the most serious injury.”

The slave handed the Stone of Shimtak to M’keth. The Stone was an angular ‘V’ shape with two uncomfortable handgrips on both sides. There were some symbols carved around the outside edge of the Stone. The symbols read:

Tiral ke napatu,
Tirusa ke simkatu.​

“This is the shadow language,” M’keth said startled

“Yes,” Senak said smiling, “The language of the Romii.

M’keth was scared. The shadow language had never been spoken in thousands of years. It was said that speaking the shadow language would draw the life out of the speaker.

“But, not even our strongest warriors dare speak this,” said M’keth, “How are you able to speak this?”

 

[uniderth]

This is a few paragraphs later than the above selection. I included this here because it features something that might be familiar to TNG fans.

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“And for you, San’kuth,” he said, “the Stone of Gol. It will give you the power to turn, against your enemies, the remaining emotions that dwell within them.”

The San’kuth in his dark hoodstared in contemplation at this new weapon that had been given to him. He could almost feel the power surging from it.

Senak wasted no time, “For you J’lan, the Stone of Shigol.”

The slave picked up one of the last two objects that remained on the pedestal and gave it to the last hooded figure. The J’lan gladly accepted to spider shaped weapon that was given to him. He looked at the weapon feeling it with his hands and then looked up at Senak.

“It will give you the power to make your troops unseen by your enemies,” Senak said with a slight grin.

Senak then stood up and stepped toward the pedestal. He grabbed the last remaining object on the table. It was a large crown-like object. It was made of an intricate golden carving of a bird with it’s wings outstretched. The wings reached backwards in a circle and almost touched at the tips, thus forming the headband. The head was turned upward, mouth open, as if screaming. In the claws of the carved bird were two clear orbs that had a faint blue glow it them.

“And finally,” he said, “the Crown of Senak.”

He placed the crown on his head. And the two orbs, which fit perfectly in front of his eyes, suddenly glowed a bright blue. Senak inhaled slowly and stood as he felt the power of the Crown flowing through him.

“The Crown,” Senak spoke, his voice sounding deeper and more evil than ever, “possesses all the powers your Stones possess but only stronger and more focused.”

A quite beep was heard and the slave put a small communicator to his ear. He listened for a moment and then put the communicator down.

“Sir,” said the slave, “The fleet stands ready to attack Vulcanis.”

“Good,” said Senak with an evil smile. He turned to the three figures, “Gentlemen, tonight we attack. And we shall not be victorious as Vulcanians, but as Romulans!”

 

[uniderth]

This is a selection from when the Vulcanians from Romulus under the command Senak, attack Vulcanis. They have taken most of teh planet at this point. I tried to go out on a limb with the weapons of the Vulcans. I'm having a bit harder time justifying these actions with the statements of Surak in the Savage Curtain. I figure this happened before Surak dedicated himself to pure non violence. Also when Surak mentions the emissaries the Vulcans sent to their enemies, he is referring to something after these events.

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Senak looked around before finally looking up at the stone slab roof of the capital. Then he saw him, Surak. Surak was standing on the roof of the capital. Surak noticed the look of disbelief on Senak’s face.

“I know this capital better than you could ever know it, Senak.”

“I can see that, Surak,” replied Senak disbelievingly. “You made it past the front lines and my guards.”

Surak did his best to suppress his emotions at the sight of his enemy. He stared down at Senak.

“You’ve killed many peacelful Vulcanians, Senak,” Surak shouted. “You must realize that logic is the better way.”

Senak laughed. He knew where this conversation would go.

“And what,” Senak replied, “have my feelings kept up in a bottle never to be released? It’s not healthy!”

Surak sighed, how little Senak understood the way things really worked. Surak paused and then spoke again, “It’s not about you Senak. It’s about all of us, Vulcanians, Romulans, everyone. The universe doesn’t care about your emotional release. Or have you been too busy speaking your shadow language and forgotten the Philosophy of Nom?”

Senak stared up at Surak with an ever increasing hatred.

“No I haven’t forgotten your Vulcanian ‘nom’,” Senak shouted to Surak, “It means ‘all’ as in everyone of us, as in the betterment of society.”

Surak took his eyes off Senak and looked at the crowd of Reman soldiers. Hopefully he had stalled long enough. He looked back down as Senak.

“Then how is this war benefitting society?,” asked Surak, “It was wars like these that nearly destroyed our ancestors.”

Senak couldn’t help but see Surak’s point, but knowing that Surak was right made him even more enraged. He thought of something to say that would tear down the Surak’s argument.”

“Well,” Surak said searching for words, ”It was irrational revolutionists like you that...”

Senak was cut off by the sound of many war horns being sounded. nearby. He turned around to look at his troops and saw them surrounded by thousands of Vulcanian troops. All at once the Vulcanian troops raised their projectile weapons at the slaves and opened fire.

The first few rows of slaves that were closest to the Vulcanians fell to the ground, their bodies riddled with Vulcanian bullets. The remaining slaves scrambled to grab their weapons and return fire. Many Vulcanians’ lives were quickly extinguished as the first dozen slave troops began to return fire.

Senak’s three generals were taken by surprise with this sudden turn of events. They knew what to do however. M’keth raised the Stone of Shimtak and pointed it towards the slave troops. Suddenly the slave troops, instead of falling to the ground after being shot, marched forward and began to push the Vulcanian troops back.

Surak saw what had just happened. It was now time to act, he thought. He turn and began to run along the roof top towards the small hatch he had used to climb up.

When Senak saw Surak run he suddenly realized Surak’s plan, he was after the Crown. Senak ran into the building, passing between the large columns and saw the Crown still hidden in the shadows, resting on a small pedestal. He grabbed the Crown and gently placed it on his head. The two orbs glowed a brilliant blue as they came top rest in front of his eyes. He looked back towards the opening and saw J’Lan raise the Stone of Shigol towards the troops. And with that, a large number of the slaves faded into invisibility.

Senak looked down the long, dark corridor that lead to the inner courtyard of the building. He braced himself and ran into the darkness. Senak vanished in the darkness but not because of how dark the corridor was, but because he too became invisible.

 

[uniderth]

Selection from chapter two. I might make this chpater three depending on how long the first chapter becomes. Back in the present with Kirk and crew. No not every chapter starts with Kirk and crew. It just seemed fitting to start the story this way.

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Captain Kirk looked up at Spock, “So, Surak left this eye on Earth?”

“According to legend,” Spock said, “However I was unsure if the planet he left it on was Earth until I spoke with Mister Stiles.”

Captain Kirk moved in his chair and then looked at Lt. Stiles.

“I see,” said Kirk, “So Lieutenant how do you fit into all this?”

Lt. Stiles sat up in his chair ready to tell his part of the story. He clasped his hand on top of the Briefing Room table.

“Well sir,” said Stiles, “ Approximately nine hundred years ago during the mid fourteenth century I had an ancestor...


Sir William of Stiles stroked the neck of his horse and then looked up onto the battlefield. He saw the ranks of enemy soldiers lined up before him preparing for battle. There were rows of spear wielding soldiers dressed in simple padded armor. They were followed by several foot soldiers carrying swords. Behind them, were knights whose armor glinted in the noonday sun. And although not entirely visible archers were lined up behind the knights.

William looked the best he could to the left and right of him through the eye slits in his helm. He saw the other soldier lined up ready for the charge. He felt a slight breeze come through the breathing holes in his helm but other than that it was sweltering. His armor was built for protection not ventilation.

Suddenly a great cry rose up from his fellow soldiers and the enemy soldiers as well. With tremendous noise he saw the first few rows of soldiers run towards each other. He gripped his sword and drew it from it’s scabbard. He held it high in the air and yelled at the top of his lungs. He felt a few arrows ricochet of his armor as the first few volleys of arrows rained down upon his fellow soldiers. He even saw a few of the less protected men drop to the ground after being pierced by an arrow or two. He spurred his horse and charged into battle.

The sound of clashing weapons and armor grew louder as he charged into the battlefield. Through the narrow field of vision offered by his helm he found some vulnerable targets and swung his sword, slicing through thin armor and flesh. He looked up and saw one of the enemy knights charging towards him. He pulled his horse steady and prepared to attack this oncoming opponent. With a loud clang their swords met. William took the offence. He was doing the best he could to find the weakness in his enemies defenses.

Even though their encounter lasted only a few seconds it seemed like an eternity to William. He swung his sword at a perceived opening but his blow was quickly deflected. He noticed out of the corner of his eye a spear man running towards him. He turned and broke the end off the spear with his sword. He turned to face his original opponent but as he turn he felt a sharp pain in his left leg. He almost dropped his sword the pain was so severe. He looked at his opponent and saw him lift his blood covered sword in the air to make a killing stroke. William prepared to take the defense but as soon as he had readied his sword, the spear man used the broken end of his spear to pierce the side of William’s horse. The horse writhed in pain and fell to the ground pinning William’s right leg underneath. His head hit the ground sharply and everything went black.

 

[uniderth]

Selection from Chapter threeish. We are finally finished with the establishment of the backstory through Spock and Lt. Stiles. However there are some significant plot points of the story missing in these selections. The round ball here is from Senak's crown which mad eit's way to Earth. William of Stiles found the ball and used it's power to become King. We're now in the 2150's with Captain Stiles' father.

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“So who is in charge of this excavation,” asked a student with a Scottish accent.

The woman paused for a moment and looked over at the excavators.
“His name is Jack Stiles,” she said as she looked for Jack among the workers.

She looked around for a moment longer and then saw him.

“Ah there he is,” she said pointing to a grey haired man kneeling down on a very steep part of the slope around he wall, “He can actually trace his ancestry directly back to the lord of this castle, King William.”

Jack was in his sixties. He was a native of Earth but, after his wife, Ellen, had died, he moved off-world. However, his intense love of archeology and of medieval times constantly brought him back to Earth for special digs. He looked up from where he was kneeling and looked over at the group. He saw the blonde woman leading the group and gave a friendly wave.

The blonde woman waved back. She looked back at the students, “You’ll be able to talk with him later. Now lets continue inside.”

Jack saw the group of student walk in through one of the gates in the wall. He looked back down at what he had been doing. The weather was very hot, Jack adjusted the small cooling device on his neck. How long will it take for them to invent a cooling device that works, he thought. He grabbed a little pick that he had been using to excavate and turned to continue with what he had been doing.

The dirt around the base of the wall was fairly soft and was easily removed. He chipped away at the dirt and found a small piece of metal. The metal was heavily rusted and looked fragile. He placed the metal fragment inside a small plastic bag and wrote some information on the bag.

Jack let out a sigh and leaned slightly back. I’m getting to old for this, he thought. He reached around to his right trying to find his water bottle. After fumbling around without success he looked around and saw that his water bottle had rolled down the slope a little ways. He began to stand up to go get his water bottle when the ground under his left foot gave way. He fell down and scrambled for something to grab as he tumbled down the steep slope.

He hit the water in the moat with a large splash. The other people working on the site turned to see what had happened and seeing that Jack had fallen began to work their way over to reach him.

The force of Jack falling down the hill cause him to sink deep into the water. He tried to push himself off the muddy bottom, but his hand only sank into the soft, wet mud. He tried to pull his hand out and then he felt it...a small round object. As soon as he touched the object time seemed to stop. He pulled the object from the mud and looked at it. Through the murky water he could see the round object, it glowed a brilliant blue color. Hours seemed to pass as he stared at the object before he finally pushed off the bottom.

Jack took a gasp of air after he broke the surface. He could see quite a few people scrambling towards him. He held the object firmly in his hand and began to swim the short distance to the bank. Upon reaching the bank he grabbed one of the outstretched hands. He was pulled from the water and sat down on the bank.

“Are you ok sir,” asked one of the excavators.

“Yeah I’m fine,” replied Jack as he ran his hand through his hair. He stood up and began to walk towards the small bridge that crossed the moat.

 

[uniderth]

Jack Stiles heads home from Earth(he's a native of Earth but retired to another planet).

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A large starliner speed through darkness of space. It was a civilian ship. It’s three flat warp nacelles glowed yellow with power. The main hull of the ship was long and tall. The ship was painted a bright white and on the side was the giant logo of Carnival Starcruises, Inc. The function of this ship was dual purpose, it’s primary goal was to transport passengers to their destinations. It’s second purpose was to provide entertainment and other services to it’s passengers, some of which would be on board for month’s as the ship traveled the great vastness of space.

Hundreds of windows lined the sides of the ship and behind each window was a passenger’s room. Standing at one of the windows was Jack Stiles. He looked out and watched the stars move slowly past him. It took Jack exactly three weeks to travel from Earth to his home on Corina Two. The ship traveled at approximately warp twelve which was one-hundred and ten times the speed of light. It was fast, but not as fast as most other Earth government ships.

Jack turned away from the window and walked toward the center of his room. The room was small but brightly lit. Star and planet motifs decorated the room. A small bed was in one corner of the room and a desk with a sleek video screen was in the other.

Jack had just re-packed his suitcase in preparation to disembark. He suddenly heard a squawk sound. And a voice over the intercom said, “The S.S. Carnival Nova will be arriving at the Corina star system in approximately twelve hours. All passengers to disembark at Corina Two please report to the primary docking entry at least one hour before arrival at Corina Two. Thank you.”

Jack sat on his bed, now it was just the wait. Jack thought about going to see some of the interesting places on the ship, but he had seen them so many times before. All he wanted to do now was rest. He laid back on his bed and closed his eyes. The faint rumble of the ship’s engines was not very helpful to a light sleeper but he slowly began to nod off.

Suddenly a load bang rocked the ship. It was followed by another. Then an alarm light came on in his room and a loud klaxon began to sound. A voice came over the ships general alert system, “Warning, all passengers please report to the ships theater located on deck five. All crew members report to their assigned positions. This ship has come under attack by an unknown assailant, please remain calm. This situation will be dealt with as efficiently as possible. I repeat, please remain calm.”

Jack ran to the window and looked outside, he could see two fighter like ships firing particle weapons. The weapons were impacting on the light shielding of the starliner.

Then out of the corner of his eye Jack could see a much larger ship closing fast on the starliner.

 

[uniderth]

Last selection for now. When I started writing this I wanted to carry the ENT character "Trip" through to this ship. The difference is that Trip would have been the Navigator. But rereading this I might get rid of him in favor of an original character. Tell me what you think, should I keep Trip or dump him?

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The S.S. Enterprise floated gracefully in space. The S.S. Enterprise was the second ship of the Declaration class. Two large warp rings at the rear boasted the ship’s name in big bold letters. The main hull of the ship was long and thin and ran straight out from the center of the rings. The doors to the Enterprise’s fly-though hanger deck were open on one side, as cargo shuttles from another ship, the S.S. Mariner, where busy landing for a cargo transfer.

The S.S. Mariner was a similar class to the Enterprise. It also featured two large warp rings, however it had a large cargo area where the Enterprise had a long thin crew quarters section.

One shuttle floated towards the docking port on the side of the command section. The docking ring extended out and the shuttle docked.

On board the Enterprise, Captain Stiles, was resting in his quarters. The captains quarters were the only one-man quarters in the whole ship. He was laying on his bed reading a book. The doorbell in his quarters chimed.

“Come in,” Stiles said loudly.

The door to his quarters swished open and Lt. Commander Charles Tucker leaned in. Tucker was in his mid-thirties with dark blonde hair.

“Special delivery for the Captain,” said Lt. Commander Tucker. He held up a small box in his hand.

Captain Stiles sat up on the edge of his bed and then stood up, “Come in, Trip.”

Trip stepped in the door way, “It’s from your dad I think.”

“It must be for my birthday,” said Captain Stiles.

Trip handed him the box. “There’s also someone who wants to see you.” Trip leaned out the door, “Come on in.”

Trip stepped in the room to make room for the Vulcanian who entered. It was Solkar. Solkar was dressed in traditional Vulcanian robes and while he appeared to be in his late thirties he was actually quite a few years older. He was thin with a pale greenish complexion.

A surprised look flashed on Captain Stiles’ face.

“Solkar,” said Captain Stiles happily, “It’s great to see you.”

“It is...good...to see you too Jonathan,” Solkar replied.

Captain Stiles gave Solkar a brief brotherly hug, but Solkar was obviously not used to such human gestures as he just stood there awkwardly.

Trip noticed how uncomfortable Solkar seemed and said, “Solkar, you haven’t changed a bit.”

“Indeed,” Solkar responded.

Captain Stiles gave a slight chuckle.

“Here have a seat,” Stiles said to Solkar as he pulled out the chair at his desk. Solkar sat down. Stiles sat down on the edge of his bed and Trip leaned up against the wall.

“So what brings you out here my old friend,” asked Stiles.

“I am en route to Delphora VII,” said Solkar, “I am in charge of a scientific mission to assess the technological advances of their society.”

Trip looked at Captain Stiles then back at Solkar, “Sounds interesting. It sure is good seein’ you again.”

“Thank you, Mr. Tucker,” Solkar said, “Captain, I see you received your...birthday present.”

Captain Stiles looked at the small box he was holding.

“I guess I should open it shouldn’t I,” said Captain Stiles.
He slipped off the silvery blue ribbon that was decorating the box. He pried at the seem between the lid and the base with his fingers. Then with a pop the lid came off.

Inside the box was some grey foam padding that was softly cushioning the contents of the box. Stiles grabbed the contents and held it up so everyone could see.

It was a small glass-like orb with a faint blueish glow emanating from the center. There were three small notches on the top and another small one on the bottom.

“What is it,” Trip asked, breaking the silence.

“I don’t know,” replied Captain Stiles.

“Solkar,” said Stiles.

He noticed Solkar had a strange look on his face. It was as if he had just seen a ghost, or whatever the Vulcanian equivalent of a ghost was.

“Jonathan, may I see that” asked Solkar.

Stiles handed the orb to Solkar. Solkar took a close look at the glowing orb.

After a few moments Solkar spoke, “Captain, I need to send a transmission to the Vulcanian High Command.”

“Sure you can use my computer,” said Stiles.

“Alone, if you please,” said Solkar.

Both Trip and Captain Stiles were confused by Solkars reaction.

“Do you mind telling us what’s going on,” asked Stiles.

 

[Mistral]

Interesting, if incomplete. What you do with Trip is-entirely up to you. Your story, your character.