Captain’s
log, stardate 48102.1:
As
we return toward the Idran system to investigate why we have lost contact with
the GammaOne relay outpost, we will be stopping at the
planet Vlitas IV, previously contacted by Starfleet personnel from DS9. The
Vlitasians expressed interest in someday joining the Federation, and our
mission is to begin the preliminary negotiations, the final aim of which may be
the eventual admission of the Vlitasians as the first Gamma Quadrant members of
the Federation.
Kale,
out.
Lt
Commander Yu-Fen Mickey Coster, called Mic by her friends and associates and
first officer of the starship Sarek,
prepared herself for the away team she would lead in just a few minutes. She could feel the vibration of the deck
beneath her feet subtly change as the starship dropped out of warp. Finishing the pre-mission check of her phaser
and tricorder, she holstered the equipment and prepared to head toward the
transporter room just as the intercom beeped.
“Lt
Commander Coster, this is the bridge.
Gather your team and report to transporter room four,” said the
captain’s voice.
“Coster
to bridge. Acknowledged.”
“Okay. Good luck, Mic.”
“Just
a routine negotiation, Captain. No
sweat.”
And
with a nod, she left her cabin, heading toward the transporter room.
Space, the Final Frontier...
These are the voyages of the starship Sarek!
Her ongoing mission;
To seek new life, to contact new
civilizations...
To boldly explore the unknown!
Star Trek: Sarek
“The Ransom of Red Chief” By PJK
(With
apologies to O. Henry)
The
away team, consisting of Lt Commander Coster, Lt(JG) A-ZuRQuIL,
the Capellan Assistant Security Chief, Lt Sylvan Xaran, the Betazoid MD and Counselor,
Commander T’Veer, the Chief Engineer and Lt(JG) Carrie Karandanz, the duty
shift security officer, materialized on the main plaza of Vlitas’ capital city
of Lectain. Almost immediately they were
greeted by a group of natives. The
Vlitasians were humanoids, on average about three-meter tall, fur covered, with
bright and intelligent looking eyes.
They reminded Karandanz of the Wookie characters from a series of 2-D
science fiction Earth films of the late 20th century she had seen in her youth. As they approached, the Vlitasians at first
seemed puzzled, but smiles, an unexpected reaction on the non-human faces, soon
appeared.
Coster
stepped forward, saying, “I am Lieutenant Commander Yu-Fen Coster, First
Officer of the Federation starship Sarek.” She then presented each member of the away
team, after which the Vlitasians introduced themselves, the largest of the
natives, who had some grey hair peeking out from under his brown fur, calling
himself Pensora Tark.
“...The
elected leader of the Descendants of Arkmed.”
He motioned his guests into one of the nearby buildings, talking as they
went.
“I’m
sorry, Lieutenant Commander Yu-Fen Coster, but one thing has puzzled us. The HooMans that contacted us previously wore
sky clothes, like your Lieutenant Sylvan Xaran.
What is the significance of your own blood clothes and your team’s sun
clothes?” asked Tark.
It
took Coster a moment to realize the Vlitasian was asking about the significance
of the away team’s uniform colors. The
initial contact team from DS9 had
consisted of science officers and wore blue-shouldered jumpsuit uniforms. Her own team wore the new command-red and
operations-gold jumpsuit uniforms that the crew had been issued when the Sarek had visited the Bajoran starbase
in the Alpha Quadrant about a month earlier.
“In
our fleet service,” she explained, “the departments we work in are signified by
the color. My red, as we call this
color, signifies the command division.
Most of my away team are all members of either the security or
engineering departments, which as part of the operations division are
represented by gold. Lieutenant Xaran
and the team you previously met from Deep
Space Nine work in the science and medical departments, represented by what
we call blue.”
“Ahh. I understand now,” Tark replied. “So your wearing of red means you are more
important than the rest of your team?”
“I’m
in charge of the team, if that’s what you mean.
In fact, I’m the Red Division Chief aboard the Sarek.”
Tark
smiled again as the party entered the government building. Two hours later, after the first day’s
negotiations had concluded, Coster contacted the Sarek.
“From
what we can tell, this planet looks like it would make a fine addition to the
Federation eventually. The technology
and engineering report the Vlitasians submitted to Commander T’Veer indicate
the planet’s level of technology is only slightly lower than ours, so there is
no conflict with the Prime Directive.
They report the planet never developed warp technology because they feel
the explorations of themselves and their environment were more important.” Captain Kalin Kale nodded as the information
was relayed. Lieutenant (JG) Setton
To’Lock Arbelo monitored its entry into the library computer where it would be
appended to an application the Vlitasians wanted to submit for Federation
protectorate status and eventually possible admission. Coster meanwhile continued.
“Doctor
Xaran’s report on their medical knowledge shows it to be superior to our own in
some ways. They have cures for some
diseases that we are months or years away from developing. My own report is that culturally, the planet
has a united, democratically run government.
That their standards of humanoid rights are comparable to the
Federation’s. And the planet’s
population apparently feels comfortable joining an interstellar alliance based
on the other side of the galaxy.”
“Thank
you, Mic. When do you plan on
returning?” Kale asked.
“We’ll
beam back up within the half hour. We
have some final negotiations to settle about shore leave rights and other
incidentals.”
“Acknowledged. Sarek,
out.”
*
* * *
Still
on the planet, the away team was seated around a table in the main government
complex, Coster and her team on one side, Pesora Tark and his aides on the
other.
“Lieutenant
Commander Yu-Fen Coster, there is something I would really like to show you,”
said Tark.
“What
is it?”
“Very
hard to explain. Much easier if I just
showed you. Would you please come with me?”
Tark
rose from the table and took a few steps toward the door of the meeting
room. Coster hesitated for a moment,
looking toward the members of her team.
A-ZuRQuIL advised the away team leader not to go
unescorted.
“But
she will be escorted, Lieutenant A-ZuRQuIL. I will be escorting her,” Tark assured.
Coster
could find no diplomatic way of refusing the request, and the Vlitasians had
been so very gracious thus far, she was afraid of inadvertently insulting Tark
and his people. Coster stood and
followed Tark out the door.
The
two walked down a long corridor, a very odd pair. The Vlitasian leader was almost three and a
half meters tall, and Coster was literally half his height. A number of the other Vlitasians watched and
commented about the short HooMan, a few even whispering conspiratorially.
After
turning a number of corners and passing through a few large halls, they
eventually came to an ornately decorated door, twice the width of any that
Coster had yet seen on this planet.
Pensora Tark pressed the keypad next to the door which was located
higher than Coster could have reached.
The door slowly slid upward into the ceiling, revealing a room filled
with statues, paintings, ornate jewelry and other treasures.
“This
is our place of valuable things,” explained Tark. “Most come from a time before our recorded
history. The time of Arkmed. Please step in and see them.”
Coster,
her face aglow with the wonder she felt about all the precious treasures,
stepped into the room, actually the largest hall she had seen within the
government complex. She never heard the
door slide down behind her.
*
* * *
At
the meeting table, Lt Sylvan Xaran blinked in surprise as the tricorder he had
been monitoring fell silent.
“Lieutenant
A-ZuRQuIL!” he called to the Assistant Security Chief. “I was monitoring Commander Coster’s life
signs. Everything just went blank!”
A-ZuRQuIL
immediately tapped his combadge.
“Away
team to Commander Coster. Commander
Coster, please respond!”
Only
silence issued from the communicator.
*
* * *
In
the treasury, Coster started to turn around to ask Tark a question about a crown-like
piece on display that would have been too big around to even fit as a belt on
the petite Asian woman when she finally realized she was alone in the
room. She rushed to the door, but could
not find anything that would open it from the inside. Finally, in frustration, she tapped her
combadge.
“Coster
to away team.”
There
was no response.
“Coster
to Sarek.”
Still
nothing. She pounded the communicator
pin once again.
“Coster
to Sarek! Damn it, respond!”
But
nobody did.
*
* * *
Tark
returned to the conference room alone.
Immediately A-ZuRQuIL stood and confronted the Vlitasian,
who towered almost a full meter over him.
“Where
is Commander Coster? What have you done
with her?”
“She
is safe and well,” Tark replied as he resumed his seat at the table.
“But
we lost her life sign readings!” exclaimed Xaran.
“If
you have harmed her...,” growled A-ZuRQuIL before Tark cut him
off, handing the Capellan a scroll-like mechanical device.
“She
is unharmed and in good hands... for now,” Tark said, quickly standing and left
the room. It was not until he was gone
that the away team noticed all the other Vlitasians had departed the room when
Tark had entered. With the Vlitasian
leader’s departure, the Sarek away
team was alone in the meeting room. A-ZuRQuIL
finally thumbed the button on the device and a sheet of paper flowed out of a
slot along its bottom with writing on it written in perfect Standard. He read the ‘scroll,’ frowning as he went,
then handed it to T’Veer, who also read it.
“It
says that in exchange for returning our Lieutenant Commander Yu-Fen Coster, the
planet Vlitas demands the plans, documentation and specifications of Federation
warp drive. Until that time, she is a ‘guest’
of the Vlitasian government. We have
twenty standard hours to comply.”
T’Veer
tapped her combadge.
“Away
team to Sarek.”
“Sarek.
Kale here.”
“Captain,
signal yellow alert. Four to beam
up. We have a hostage situation here.”
“Not
again!” Kale groaned, thinking back to the mission a year earlier that had lead
to Kale gaining command of his own starship.
“I’m
afraid so,” T’Veer replied.
*
* * *
Ten
minutes later, back aboard the Sarek,
the away team was gathered with Captain Kale, Lt Setton To’Lock Arbelo and the
ship’s Chief of Security, Lt Penji Fil.
“Upon
extremely close examination, we discovered some of the reports the Vlitasians
provided for our inspection were doctored to make us think they are more
advanced then we are in some respects,” explained T’Veer. “Apparently the part about not being
interested in warp space travel was a complete falsehood. We have also discovered something else.”
The
Vulcan woman nodded toward Arbelo.
“Apparently
there is a segment of their broadcast system that works on an EHF carrier wave,
not one normally monitored by our subspace radio systems. Once we detected it, we started monitoring
all their broadcasts, hoping it might provide some information on where Commander
Coster is or how we may rescue her.
Something we learned from monitoring those frequencies is that a normal
method of conducting business on Vlitas IV is extortion,” the Operations Chief
explained.
At
the captain’s surprised expression, T’Veer continued.
“We
have also determined it was through those EHF frequencies that the Vlitasians
learned everything they know about the Federation, such as our standard spoken
and written languages. They were able to
access the unprotected files aboard the runabout the DS9 team used when they first visited this planet several months
ago. They knew exactly what they wanted
to see when we got here.”
“How
much danger do you believe Commander Coster might be in?” Kale inquired.
“From
what we have seen on the video channels we’ve been monitoring, the demands are
generally met shortly after being issued.
But there is evidence that in cases where the demand is refused...” Arbelo paused, taking in a breath. “Well...
The victim is executed. Until
that point, the victims are treated very well.
Surprisingly well, in fact.”
“Work
on a plan,” ordered the captain. “Maybe
we can make them think we’re giving in but actually just fool them?”
“Agreed,”
said the others.
* * * *
On
the planet, Coster had just finished having a pointless argument with Tark, the
Vlitasian leader explaining that the Starfleet officer would be free as soon as
they received their ransom, Coster trying to explain the Sarek would not give in to the Vlitasian demands. While Tark did not fully understand the
HooMan’s resistance, he endeavored to take it in stride and again left the
room, locking Coster inside. Several
minutes later, another Vlitasian entered the treasury, carrying a tray of food.
“You
must be joking,” Coster said.
“Please. Eat.
You will not be executed for another seventeen hours. You must be hungry.”
“Yeah,
you’re joking alright. You expect me to
be hungry in a situation like this?”
“Have
you never before been taken for negotiations? the large furry Vlitasian asked.
“No!”
Coster replied to the native’s surprise, though he again offered the food
tray. Coster took the tray from the
Vlitasian, but instead of putting it down on a table or taking anything from it
to eat, she flung it against the nearest wall, splattering brown mush over one
of the paintings. The native’s mouth
dropped open and he started to stammer.
“You...! The food...!
You threw...! Oh, dear!” And he quickly left, the door closing again
before Coster could even think about jumping through.
“Odd
reaction,” she said to herself, staring at the closed door.
Seconds
later, the door opened again, but this time Pensora Tark stepped through. He looked at the mess sliding down the wall
and pooling on the floor.
“It
is true!” he exclaimed to himself.
“You
take me hostage in exchange for Federation technology, and you don’t expect me
to protest?” Coster yelled.
“We
are conducting a simple business transaction,” Tark replied.
“Simple...
business... TRANSACTION!?!”
“You
will no doubt be released soon.”
“I
demand to be released now!”
“But
your ship has not complied. They must
still give us all plans, specifications and documentation to your warp drive
engines.”
Coster
could not take it anymore. In
frustration, she pushed a small statue off its pedestal. The statue struck the floor, shattering it
into a thousand pieces.
“WHAT
HAVE YOU DONE?!?” Tark exclaimed.
Realizing
the significance of Tark’s reaction, Coster pulled out her phaser, which had
proven useless on the energy-absorbing walls and door of the treasury when she
had tried escaping earlier, and set the control on level eight. She aimed it at the nearest wall and pressed the
trigger. As expected from her previous
experiments when she was first locked in the room, the beam was absorbed by the
wall. But not before the painting that
had been hanging there was vaporized.
“AHHHH!!!”
shouted the Vlitasian leader.
While
he was distracted, Coster walked past him and pulled a crown more than half a
meter in diameter off a display case. As
best she could, she held it up at her own eye level.
“No,
not the Crown of Arkmed! Perhaps we can
bargain,” pleaded Tark, a very nervous look in his large grey eyes. “We’ll change the demand to just the
specifications and documentation for warp drive.”
Coster
tossed the crown into the air. Tark
scrambled to try and catch it, but it flew out of his reach, hitting the floor
with a clang. Almost every jewel that
had been encrusted on it fell off, skittering along the floor, under cabinets
and chests. The crown itself was bent
into an odd shape, one part of the frame hanging off. Tark began to cry.
Coster
then went around the room, stopping in front of a very large, very old, very
ornate gilded vase. She placed one hand
on the vase’s side.
“P..p..please... Negotiate...
We’ll only ask for the specifications of warp drive. Please!”
Coster
shrugged, then with a quick shove that was surprising from a person of her
petite stature, she pushed the vase over.
The vase cracked as it hit the floor, rolling into other stands,
knocking over a half dozen other smaller treasures before the vase collapsed in
on itself. Coster continued walking
around the treasury, pushing, dropping and phasering items at random. After a minute, she paused, glaring at
Pensora Tark as he lay sobbing on the floor.
“Are
you going to release me? Or do I have to
get really nasty?” she asked.
*
* *
*
Back
on the bridge of the Sarek, Kale
ordered hailing frequencies to the planet opened. The crew had come upon an early design for a
warp drive the Romulans had been developing almost a century before that had accidentally
been stolen by Federation operatives within the last few years. The design, though promising, had never
worked and was abandoned when the Romulans obtained warp drive from their brief
alliance with the Klingon Empire.
“USS Sarek to the government officials of
Vlitas IV. We wish to arrange a meeting
to settle the demand you have placed on us for the return of my first officer.”
Almost
before Kale had finished speaking, a voice responded on the open frequency.
“Government
complex to starship Sarek. Anytime that’s good for you. Why not now?
See you soon. Out.”
Kale
blinked, puzzled by the unusual response, but made the preparations for beaming
down.
A
few minutes later, the away team of Kale, T’Veer, the two security chiefs Fil
and A-ZuRQuIL and security officer Karandanz materialized on the
plaza, all with phasers drawn. T’Veer
also held a padd that contained the Romulan warp drive specifications on
it. Exiting the main door of the
government complex across the plaza were two Vlitasians, each carrying a large
round gold object, followed closely by Lt Commander Coster. The two separate groups closed the distance,
the three security officers keeping their phasers on the two approaching
natives.
Once
they had moved close enough to talk, Captain Kale spoke first.
“As
to your demands for the release of our crew member...”
“What
do you want to take her?” one of the Vlitasians asked.
“Excuse
me?” asked Kale, starting to be confused again.
“Please! Take anything you want from us. Just take her away!” the other native
pleaded. T’Veer’s right eyebrow shot up
as Fil, A-ZuRQuIL and Karandanz lowered their phasers in
confusion.
“I’m
missing something here,” Kale said, holding up his hands in an effort to get
the Vlitasians to slow down and explain.
“Didn’t you want us to
give you the plans for warp
drive in exchange for Commander Coster?”
“Keep
them! Just take her! Please!!!”
Still
thoroughly confused, Kale simply nodded to T’Veer to put away the padd, then
indicated to Coster to join the away team.
Coster walked slowly past the two Vlitasians, a smug look on her face.
“Captain
Kale,” one of the two Vlitasians said.
“Please accept these items as a gift.
Just promise never to let her on our planet ever again!” They quickly placed two large gold platters
in Kale’s arms and literally RAN
back into the government complex building.
Kale turned to face his now free First Officer.
“What
just happened?”
“I
guess I wore out my welcome,” Coster said with a giggle.
“Ahhh...
yeah,” replied Kale, still very confused but pleased with the outcome. He tapped his combadge, saying, “Well, we
still need to find out why GammaOne
went silent. Kale to Sarek.
Six to beam up.”
A
few seconds later, the Starfleet officers vanished in the hum of the
transporter, leaving Vlitas IV far behind.
The
End
Author’s
Note: The origin and inspiration of this
story.
The
Star Trek: Sarek story “The Ransom of Red Chief” was inspired by a short
story of the same title, one of the most famous and best loved short stories by
O. Henry (William Sydney Porter).
The
short story, “The Ransom of Red Chief,” written by O. Henry is about a young
boy kidnapped by two men for a ransom. Bill and Sam are two fugitives who have
escaped to the deep south in order to find money to pay their own bonds of
$2000. The town in which they pay their visit is fictional
Return to 2371.
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