Star Trek (reboot) - "The Tholian Incident"

[Endymion]

After two years of kicking this story around, I'm determined to finish it. I figured posting my progress would give me that extra kick in the pants. Enjoy.



Star Trek - "The Tholian Incident"

prologue

The hiveship M’na Tholis came out of warp at the fringes of Home System. Offset from the plane of the ecliptic, the ship spun end over end, unable to stabilize itself. Dilithium fuel poured out of the ruptured engines and flash-froze in the cold of interstellar space.

In the hiveship’s boiling interior, Second Hivemate Boksrene [The Emerald] raced on all six limbs through the corridors, his footfalls clack-clacking on the rocky deck beneath him. The lifeless forms of his hivemates littered the deck around him. He gave them little more than passing glances as he ran past. Small explosions rocked the ship. Boksrene screeched wildly and ran faster toward his alcove.

M’na Tholis had been sent to explore the Great Breach, a tear in the Vastness that had been detected deep inside Assembly space. In five hundred years of exploring the Vastness, nothing like it had ever been encountered. A naked singularity. Not like a wormhole – many of which had been encountered and catalogued by the Assembly – but rather a nexus, connecting separate universes.

They had been attacked. Inside the Great Breach another ship had been detected. The Many/One was larger and more powerful than anything they had ever encountered and had attacked them without provocation.

Turning a corner, Boksrene threw himself down one of the many chutes that connected different parts of the ship. Wrapping his appendages around himself, he rolled like a giant ball down five decks. Emerging from the chute, he hit the deck running, moving with a gracefulness one wouldn’t expect in an environment of such high gravity and crushing pressure.

Coming around the curve of the corridor now, Boksrene threw himself into his alcove. He twisted his legs around, covering his head. He was shaking. Fear as he had never known had gripped him. He felt like an animal, cowering from a dangerous predator. Calming himself, bringing his vitals under control, Boksrene allowed his mind to expand outward. A small, protective membrane slid over his eyes and the world disappeared.

Bursts of crimson buffet Boksrene like a ship on Tholia’s turbulent Belus Sea as he enters The Lattice, the telepathic network that connects all Tholai. Boksrene feels these bursts of color and emotion as physical pain. The hiveship’s Castemoot SubLink is in chaos. Mental echoes and telepathic ghosts confirm what Boksrene already knows; most of his hivemates are dead/missing/inactive. Boksrene pushes the pain aside and his consciousness expands further. Mental tendrils probe for the mind-lines of his surviving hivemates.

Boksrene recoils at what he sees/hears/feels. More than half of his hivemates have been claimed by the Many/One. He knows they are there as he can still feel them, a mental shallow breath becoming steadily weaker. Yet he knows they are not there. They have been overcome by the Many/One. The alien presence that attacked their ship in the Great Breach and has left them crippled. The alien presence that now races through the ship…

The pain grows unbearable, and Boksrene tries breaking the Link. The Lattice, once limitless and full of color and texture is now dark and oppressive. It closes on him like a vice. Boksrene watches in terror as the Many/One holds him, squeezes him. He hears a loud, piercing scream and recognizes it as his own. With a voice like a thousand waves crashing, the God-like Many/One speaks. Boksrene hears not one, but thousands of voices, all speaking together..

Surrender.

Resistance is futile.

Again, Boksrene screams.

 

[Endymion]

chapter one

Admiral Christopher Pike sat in his office sipping from a beaker of coffee and reading his morning intelligence briefing. The day every analyst in the War Department had been predicting for sixty years had finally come. A Tholian ship had crossed the border into Federation space. At 0537 that morning the Hubble-Doletskaya Space Telescope had spotted a derelict ship drifting near the Federation/Assembly border. They weren’t answering hails, but they hadn’t killed anyone yet, so right now things were looking better than the doom-and-gloom Armageddon scenarios the Defense Staff seemed so fond of. Right now, automated Border Defense drones were keeping an eye on things. Pike zoomed in on a photo showing three bulky weapons platforms surrounding the thing. They could hold their own in a fight, but if the Tholians went to warp, or Heaven forbid, more of them came across the border, it was game over. They needed to get a ship out there, quick. Pike was about to meet with his intelligence chief and strategic operations officer to discuss it. His door chime sounded.

“Yeah.”

The door slid open and there they were.

“Admiral.”

“Morning, admiral.”

“Hey guys. Come on in.” Lieutenant-Commander Jason Moss and Commander Lauren Chase came in and sat down. Pike finished off the last of his coffee. “What’ve we got?” he asked. Moss jumped into it.

“New Berlin confirmed it. The Tholians crossed the border about fifteen minutes ago. They’re still not responding to hails and we’re not detecting any internal power signatures.”

“I just spoke with Secretary Stanton in Paris,” Pike said. “The President is meeting with the Defense Staff to discuss options. They’re talking about moving the Seventh and Ninth Fleets.”

“Away from the Klingons? Wow. Not taking any chances,” Commander Chase said as he scanned through a list of fleet deployments.

“Nope. She’s going to address the Council in about an hour.” Pike rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was running on three hours sleep and no food. “Does anyone want any coffee?” Moss waved him off. Chase held up his own beaker. Pike leaned over and thumbed the comm. “Yeoman, coffee please.”

“Yes sir,” replied a soft, female voice.

“How do you think the Council will react?” Pike asked.

“As expected,” Chase said. “The Torries are going to see this as an invasion of Federation space and probably move to attack. The Federalists will want to wait. Send a few ships out there to investigate.” He paused for a moment, his eyes moving across his data slate. “Since it’s only one ship that’s crossed, I can’t see the President not siding with them.” The door to Pike’s office opened and a buxom young yeoman carrying a pot of coffee entered. Pike smiled and handed her his empty beaker.

“Thanks Amanda.” Amanda smiled and winked.

“Of course Admiral.” Pike watched her leave. As the doors closed behind her, he pretended the two officers in the room weren’t staring at him. He sipped from his beaker. “Good coffee,” he said. “So, the Vulcans?” Chase was silent for a moment.

“The Vulcans. Well… who the hell knows? They’ve been pretty quiet lately.”

“Yeah. Well, we’ve got to get somebody out there.” Pike looked over at his operations officer. “Who do we have?”

“The Norton Sound wouldn’t be good in any sort of a fight.” Moss was referring to the Hermes-class starship stationed at Starbase 24, which was closest to the border.

“We’ve got the Okanogan out there,” Moss said. Chase shook his head.

“They were caught in an ion storm last night. They’re parked over Jove and engineering has already begun disassembling her warp core.”

“Anybody coming in?” Pike asked. Chase looked down at his padd.

“The Enterprise isn’t too far away,” he said. “They’re transporting… Solak N’val, he’s the Romulan—“

“I know who he is,” Pike interrupted.

“Yes sir. They’re transporting him to the Federation embassy on Pree.” Pike rolled his eyes.

“Why can’t the Romulans move their own damn diplomats? Every time I turn around we’re dealing with this stuff.” Chase laughed.

“Yeah,” he said. Pike stood up. Moss and Chase stood up.

Pike said, “I need to speak to Captain Kirk.”

 

[Count Zero]

Wow, a very promising start. I'm curious as to how this will develop and just how much this universe differs from the known Trekverse.

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

Excellent beginning! You did a masterful job with the intro segment portraying the frightened Tholian awaiting assimilation by - the Borg?! Wow - there's a twist!

So, Pike's an admiral and apparently quite healthy. The Federation has diplomatic ties with the Romulans. And a starship named Enterprise with James T. Kirk in command is being ordered into the fray.

GOOOOOD stuff! :thumbsup:

 

[BrotherBenny]

I'd like to see where this goes. It's looking good so far.

 

[Mistral]

As a re-imagining(alt universe) you have me intrigued. A couple of editorial points - in the second sentence its "plane of the eliptic", and the fuel would be deuterium(as established in canon series) not dilithium as dilithium is a crystal(think quartz) and couldn't spill out in a noticeable fashion. Deuterium is the sem-liquid fuel that powers the IMpulse engines. Sorry, I shouldn't go off on a nit-hunt. Too much coffee, man. I like the way you got the tension levels up quickly. I really would like to see this continued. Its very interesting and grabbed me right away. I always wondered about the structure of Tholian society. Good job! :thumbsup:

 

[Endymion]

chapter one, continued

James Kirk was asleep. George Gershwin’s An American in Paris played softly over his cabin’s speakers. The music helped him sleep. A soft chime sounded.

“Captain Kirk.”

His eyes snapped open. He reached over, groping for the comm panel on his nightstand.

“What is it, Spock?”

“Captain, a subspace transmission from Admiral Pike at Cassini Station for you.” Kirk sat up. He had only spoken to the Enterprise’s former captain a handful of times since taking command three years ago.

“I’ll take it in here,” Kirk said. He pulled on a robe and walked over to his computer.

“Yes captain.” The computer lit up with the emblem of the United Federation of Planets. A moment later that was replaced with the image of Admiral Christopher Pike.

“Jim. Good, you’re awake,” he said. “That was a joke. Sorry about the hour.” Kirk smiled.

“It’s not a problem, admiral. What can I do for you?”

“I am transmitting to you a code-word classified intelligence document put together half an hour ago by myself and the Secretary of War.” Kirk watched as Pike tapped in a string of commands off-screen. “It details a derelict Tholian ship that has crossed the border and is currently drifting near the New Berlin star system. Border Defense has got a lid on this thing for now, but we need someone out there. I don’t need to tell you what kind of shitstorm all of this will probably turn into.”

“Of course,” Kirk said. First contact with the Tholian Assembly was one of those moments in Federation history people liked to pretend never happened. Up until sixty years ago, the only contact the Federation had with the Tholian Assembly was through pictures snapped by subspace satellites. Humans, in their infinite wisdom, looked at these pictures and declared the Tholians the most exotic animal life ever before encountered. The Federation Science Division sent a ship, unknowingly, into Tholian space to collect specimens that could be brought back to Earth for study. The ship was immediately destroyed and the Tholians began attacking Federation border colonies. They Federation had very nearly gone to war over it. Kirk’s own grandfather, Tiberius Chase, had been working for the Diplomatic Corps and had helped head that whole thing off. Since then, the Tholians had slunk back behind their borders and hadn’t been heard from since. They were still there. The satellites were still taking pictures of them, in their ships made of diamond, hiding in asteroid fields.

“I need you to take the Enterprise out there, see what’s going on. In a few days, an SCE ship, the Hepheastus, will meet up with you. Tow the Tholian ship to Starbase 6.”

“We’re not going to try and contact the Assembly? Give them their ship back?” Kirk asked. Pike shook his head.

“I’ve been over all this with Command. Intelligence doesn’t think they’re going to get unfettered access to a Tholian ship again anytime soon.” Kirk nodded.

“Understood,” he said.

“We’ve already contacted the embassy on Pree. Let them know Ambassador N’val will be a few days late getting there. Try and keep him happy.”

“Alright,” Kirk said.

“Report to me once you get out there.”

“Yes sir.” Pike smiled.

“Sorry I don’t have more time to catch up, Jim. I’ve been dealing with this thing all morning. Stanton’s on the warpath. Command is taking troops off the Klingon border to cover this thing. It’s like the war all over again.”

“Oh no, I understand completely.”

“Good. So you’re taking care of my ship?” Pike asked.

“Oh yes sir. One of these days you’ll want to get back out in the field, and she’ll be here, waiting for you.”

“And what’ll you do, Jim?”

“Your job.” Kirk smiled.

“The fact that you think you’re joking makes it funny... I’ll be in touch,” Pike said. The screen went dark. Pike had transmitted the reports from the Hubble telescope and New Berlin. Kirk spent a few minutes going through them before calling up to the bridge.

“Kirk to Spock.”

“Yes sir,” answered his first officer.

“I need the senior staff in twenty minutes.”

 

[Mistral]

Good. Very good. Patiently waiting for more.(Patience, hell, I wanna kill something!)

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

I'm enjoying your story! Small touches like Gershwin playing in Kirk's cabin give a feel of realism. (Now I've got that tune playing in my head! ) Nice job also of cluing us in to the history between the Federation and Tholians of your universe.

Great job!

 

[RobertScorpio]

Im with COUNT ZERO. Great start. Interesting premise.

Robert Scorpio

 

[BrotherBenny]

Keep it coming

 

[Endymion]

chapter two

Doctor Leonard McCoy walked into his sickbay, a padd under his arm and a beaker of coffee in his hand. Gamma shift would be ending soon and Alpha shift was just arriving to take its place. The lighting in sickbay was subdued; the ship technically still in its “night” cycle. McCoy set down his coffee and reached for the main control board.

“Here comes the pain, folks,” he said, bringing the room to full illumination. Nurses and crewmen around him blinked and squinted as their eyes adjusted to the brighter light.

“Good morning doctor.” Nurse Christine Chapel came out of McCoy’s office, a smile on her face. McCoy raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“What’s so good about it?” he asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

“I think you know.” Chapel winked and continued with her duties. McCoy frowned and went inside his office. He heard the comm-line open a split second before he heard the voice.

“Doctor McCoy.” Spock.

“McCoy here.”

“Doctor, the senior staff will be meeting on deck two in fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll be there,” he said. The line disconnected. McCoy wondered what that was about. Normally, the senior staff meeting wasn’t for another hour. Before he could give it too much thought, Chapel came in and stood in the doorway. He looked over and smiled. “Duty calls.” Christine nodded.

“Tonight?” she asked.

“Tonight?” McCoy gave an inquisitive look.

“Yeah. Dinner. Tonight.”

“Yeah. Tonight.” McCoy smiled.

“Good.” Chapel came over, kissed the man more than twenty years her senior and left the office. McCoy looked around to make sure no one had seen them. He wasted a few minutes gathering things he didn’t need and straightening up his desk. He had a feeling people on his staff were beginning to suspect something between the two of them, and walking out of his office together wasn’t going to help the situation any. Satisfied that she had enough of a head start, he headed toward deck two.
__________

As the ship’s intelligence officer, Pavel Chekov truly enjoyed few parts of his job. Thankfully, with the end of the war, that had begun to change. During the past few years, the Enterprise had often found herself on the front lines and had taken on her share of prisoners, all of whom had to be interrogated. It had been a rough war—both on Chekov and the Federation. The Federation News Service put a very cheerful and overly patriotic spin on things, so most people didn’t know that it was a war the Federation had come very close to losing. The fighting had raged on, and Chekov’s superiors had given him more and more “discretionary control” over how exactly he could gather intelligence. The results had often been stressful, mostly for the prisoners, but for Chekov as well.

His superiors and those at Starfleet Intelligence knew how to keep secrets, but in the field, on a starship, rumors spread. It was unavoidable when the ship took on so many more prisoners than she let off. Chekov had gained quite a reputation.

Rounding a corner on his way to a turbolift, Chekov fell into step beside the ship’s Vulcan first officer. Chekov had served with Spock for more than a year now, but old prejudices died hard, and Chekov was only now beginning to trust the man. Trust as much as a man like Chekov could, anyway.

“Commander Spock,” Chekov smiled.

“Commander Chekov,” the Vulcan nodded in return.

“So, the Tholians.” Spock raised an eyebrow.

“So it would seem,” he said.
__________

Spock stared sidelong at Chekov. While most of his people espoused the teachings of Surak and claimed that all Vulcans were above such feelings as distrust, Spock was more than willing to admit, to himself at least, that this wasn’t always the case. Vulcans didn’t trust most peoples, and Spock didn’t trust Chekov. Spock knew that the intelligence officer’s position made him privy to a lot of sensitive information. It was his experience that Chekov enjoyed flaunting that privilege, especially to his captain. In any case, he was one to keep an eye on.

“Intelligence suggests that the Tholian vessel may have been attacked,” Spock said.

“I don’t know by whom,” Chekov replied. “Everyone here is allied with the Federation.” A calculated lie, Spock knew. No matter how unclear the situation was, Spock was sure that Chekov and his superiors on Earth had thought up a number of possible scenarios.

“A mystery, then.”

“A mystery. Yes.” Chekov sounded lost in thought. The two officers walked the rest of the way to the conference room in silence.

 

[Mistral]

Sounds almost like the Mirror Chekov. He's a real "make your skin crawl" kind of guy. I like it.

 

[JPSEric]

Not sure I like the "mirror" Chekov, but the story is good. I like the other changes made. I almost see this as a sequel to the upcoming movie.

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

An interesting spin on Chekov. Wonder what demons plague his sleep?

And Christine Chapel and Dr. McCoy are an "item." To me, that makes far more sense than Chapel's unrequited love for Spock.

I like!

 

[BrotherBenny]

Endymion, you're not Russian by any chance are you? This seems very much like the old Soviet-style navy.

It's a refereshing change.

 

[CeJay]

I like this reboot Trek. All familar charactes cast into new roles. I can see now why so many writers try their hands at it.

You are doing a good job and mixing up the different elements and your story-line of the uber-threat makes this a tense read!

 

[Endymion]

chapter two, continued

Scotty’s way to the conference room brought him past Captain Kirk’s quarters. He was just about to the door when it hissed open and Kirk stepped out, a piece of toast clutched between his teeth.

“Good morning, Scotty,” he said.

“Mornin’ sir. Whether it’s good or not remains to be seen,” the chief engineer said. Kirk smiled.

“Well, let’s go to the conference room and we’ll talk about it,” he said, patting Scotty on the shoulder. They walked together. Kirk asked, “How’s your friend?” He was referring to Ambassador N’val, who had dragooned Scotty into serving as his unofficial escort, for reasons yet to be explained.

“A politician, sir,” Scotty said.

“That says it, I guess.”

“Yes, sir. He’s not happy about the delay.”

“I didn’t expect he would be.”

“Yes, sir. Any idea as to his business on Pree?” Scotty asked.

“Redrawing the borders with the Klingons. The space we took in the Treaty,” Kirk said.

“Ah. I guess the Ambassador’s not the only one who’s upset.”

“That’s for sure.”

“You reckon we’ll see the Klingons again, sir?” Scotty asked. Kirk thought for a moment before answering.

“Yes. The Klingons aren’t the type to go away. They fall back, and rebuild. In ten years, I imagine we’ll be fighting another war.” Kirk picked up his pace a bit. “But right now, let’s worry about this one.” Scotty didn’t know what to make of that last remark.

“Yes, sir,” he said.
__________

Kirk and Scotty walked into the conference room to find the other officers already assembled. Taking his seat at the head of the table, he looked over his senior staff. Commanders Spock and Chekov sat immediately at his right and left. Commander Scott took his place between Spock and Chief of Security Salvador Giotto. Across from them were Doctor McCoy, Lieutenant Sulu and Ensign Uhura. All eyes were on him. He cleared his throat and began.

“This morning I received a report from Admiral Pike at Cassini Station. It looks like the Tholians have crossed the border.” Kirk let that sink in. Everyone exchanged glances. They all knew what that could mean. Kirk pushed a small control and a holographic representation of a star system sprang to life above the conference table. A blue line represented the Federation border, with small green dots denoting the Border Defense drones that stood guard alongside it. Kirk pushed again and the display focused in on what looked like a small, crystal football. “They’re here,” he pointed, “in the New Berlin system. The ship has lost power and no lifesigns have been detected.” Strings of information scrolled underneath the miniature ship. “Command has ordered us to go out and secure the ship so the SCE can tow it to Starbase 6.”

“We’re keeping it?” Giotto asked.

“That’s the plan. It’s not an opportunity Intelligence thinks they’ll get twice.” Kirk glanced over at Chekov, who said nothing.

“Well that’s cavalier of them,” McCoy said. “Does Intelligence remember what happened the last time a Tholian ship crossed the border?” Now Chekov spoke up.

“We do. Getting our hands on one of their ships this time will help, in case it ever happens again.” On the surface, it sometimes looked like Chekov and McCoy hated each other. In reality, Kirk knew that their friendship went back years, all the way to the Academy. Still, after listening to some of the choicer phrases McCoy had used to describe his friend on more than one occasion, Kirk still wondered…

“If we go out there and find there are breathing Tholians on that ship,” McCoy said, “what does the SCE do then?” Kirk shrugged.

“I don’t know. Go back to taking apart stars, I guess. The ship crossed over a few hours ago and we haven’t detected any activity on their side of the border. Maybe there’s no one on board.”

“At our current speed, we’ll reach New Berlin in two hours,” Sulu said.

Kirk nodded. Looking over at Giotto, he said, “I want a security team standing by. Once we’re sure the ship doesn’t pose any sort of a threat, we’ll go aboard. See what we can see.”

“Yes, sir,” Giotto said.

“I’d like to be a part of that away team, sir,” Scotty said.

“Are you sure Ambassador N’val can spare you?” Kirk smiled. There was some stifled laughter. Scotty actually blushed. Kirk nodded to show he wasn’t serious. When he spoke again, he was all business. “We’ll keep the ship on yellow alert. So far, there’s only the one ship. We don’t know how long it’ll stay that way.” Everyone around the table nodded. Kirk stood up. “Dismissed.”

 

[Endymion]

chapter three

“How long until your people are ready to move on the ship?” Solak N’val asked Chekov. The two men sat in Chekov’s quarters, sharing a bottle of something the intelligence officer called Horilka. When Solak asked, Chekov wouldn’t tell him what it was made from. Whatever it was, it was strong, and smelled like pure gasoline. Solak set his glass down on a table. He was having a hard time concentrating, which may have been Chekov’s intention the entire time.

“They’re already in place. On the station’s medical staff,” Chekov said. Solak nodded.

“Don’t forget that after they’re transferred off the ship, you have only five days to get them to Mars. My people won’t wait any longer.”

“You’re people won’t have to.” Chekov took another drink.

“Do you really think this ship is connected with the readings your satellite detected?” Solak asked.

“We can’t be sure until we examine the ship for ourselves. The ship in New Berlin isn’t the only one that’s been detected.”

“Not in Federation space,” Solak said. Chekov thought a moment before replying. How much information was he willing to share? Solak understood. He would do the same thing were he in Chekov’s place.

“No. In their space,” he finally said.

“Power signatures? Lifesigns?”

“No. They’re the same everywhere. We’re also not detecting any activity on their homeworld.”

“What could have caused this?” Chekov shook his head. Solak took the bottle of Horilka and refilled his glass.
__________

The Enterprise arrived at New Berlin a half hour ahead of schedule. Kirk sat in his chair on the bridge, watching as the Tholian ship drifted slowly across the viewscreen. A dull, orange glow emanated from inside the thing.

“Quarter impulse, Lieutenant Sulu,” he said. “Giotto, signal Border Defense. Tell the drones to give us some space.”

“Aye, captain,” Giotto said. On screen, the BDS drones moved silently away from the two ships, their photon cannons never losing their aim on the Tholians.

“Ensign Uhura, send IFF codes to Öde Station.” Öde was the monitoring station that had tracked the Tholians coming across the border.

“Yes captain.”

“Closing at 50,000 kilometers,” Sulu reported from the helm. A minute crept by. Two.

“Captain.” Uhura looked up from her console. “I’m not receiving any response from Öde.” Kirk turned to his first officer.

“Spock?” he asked. The Vulcan spent a few moments studying the sensor displays. He looked up and shook his head.

“Nothing, captain.”

“Nothing?” Kirk asked. “Nothing, no lifesigns? or nothing, no station?”

“Ship’s sensors are not detecting the monitoring station.” Kirk came and stood beside him.

“Scan the Tholian ship again. Are there any changes from the readings in the initial report?” Another few moments passed. Spock looked up.

“Their hull has been reinforced by a nanopolymer we have never before encountered,” he said. “Our sensors cannot penetrate to the ship’s interior.” Everyone’s eyes drifted to the ship floating through space.

Giotto said, “That wasn’t in the initial report.”

Spock said, “It would appear the ship is not as inactive as we believed.”

Kirk said, “Hail them.”
__________

From the comfort of his quarters, Chekov watched the Tholian ship on his own monitors. Everything the sensors recorded was being sent back to his own superiors on Earth, who in turn would send it on to their superiors, wherever they were. That information was above his pay grade.

This new information wasn’t sitting well with him. Why couldn’t the sensors penetrate the Tholian’s hull? No matter how mysterious the Federation believed the Tholians to be, their technology wasn’t that advanced. The nanotechnology they were detecting now was years beyond anything they could have developed since first contact.

Chekov wasn’t generally superstitious, but he felt he had developed a sixth sense about these things. A feeling he got in the pit of his stomach when he sensed that something bad was about to go down. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. His stomach hurt.
__________

“No response,” Uhura said.

“Keep trying.” The turbolift doors parted and Doctor McCoy came onto the bridge. “Bones,” Kirk looked up. “Is sickbay ready to take on casualties?”

“Always. Why?”

“The monitoring station isn’t there any more.”

“The monitoring station? O-- Od--. What is that place called again?” McCoy asked.

“Öde.”

“Öde. What does that mean?”

“Desolation.”

“That makes me feel good.”

“Mr. Giotto, can you find any sort of docking port? An airlock?” Kirk asked. After a moment, the image on the main viewer closed up on a section of the Tholian hull. A triangular hatch was barely visible.

“Here, sir.”

“Take a shuttle. Get a security team over there.”

“Yes, captain.” Giotto turned and headed for the turbolift. As the doors parted, a small alarm sounded on the security console. Something was happening.

“Captain,” Spock looked up from the science station. “Their main systems are coming back online.” Kirk spun around to face the viewscreen. The Tholian ship had begun to glow a dark, sickly green.

“Hail them again!“

“They’re charging weapons!” Giotto was back at his station.

“Shields up,” Kirk ordered. Around them, the bridge hummed as the ship’s mighty electromagnetic generators came online. The hair on the back of Kirk’s neck stood on end as the Enterprise enveloped herself in a giant force field. To an observer, it looked as if the ship had transformed into a giant, reflective egg.

They came online a second too late.

The nuke or torpedo or whatever the hell it was the Tholians had fired hit the ship’s main antennae cluster. For a split second, lights all over the Enterprise died and the artificial gravity cut out. When they came back on, Kirk came down his chair hard. His eyes were glued to the viewscreen. Everyone watched as the Tholian ship split from bow to stern into five separate pieces. They all headed in different directions. The Border Defense drones were already firing.
__________

Chekov dragged himself up from the floor. He tasted blood on his lips.

“Shit,” he said. He got up and left for the bridge.

 

[Mistral]

Right on. This is a great take on TOS!