Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newsswing.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.net!prodigy.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!diablo.voicenet.com!yellow.newsread.com!news-toy.newsread.com!netaxs.com!newsread.com!POSTED.newshog.newsread.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated Approved: ascem@earthlink.net Organization: Better Living Thru TrekSmut Sender: ascem@earthlink.net Message-ID: <140.38dfa096.2ee14ac1@aol.com> From: Istannor@Aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list ASCEML@yahoogroups.com; contact ASCEML-owner@yahoogroups.com Subject: New: TOS: A Higher Duty: 2/28 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 202 Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 05:55:02 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.198.142.218 X-Complaints-To: Abuse Role , We Care X-Trace: newshog.newsread.com 1102053302 209.198.142.218 (Fri, 03 Dec 2004 00:55:02 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 00:55:02 EST Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated:85892 X-Received-Date: Thu, 02 Dec 2004 21:55:57 PST (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Title: A Higher Duty Author: Istannor Contact: Istannor@aol.com Series: TOS Rating: PG13 for violence Part: 2/28 Codes:TOS Summary: This is set during the second 5 year voyage of the Starship Chapter 2 Kirk, Spock and a yeoman were already seated at the briefing table when McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty arrived. Sulu, Chekov, and M'Benga were only seconds behind them. By the time they had all gotten settled, Spock had signaled the Yeoman to send the info packets to their individual table screens. Kirk started the ball rolling. "We received an incoming message from Starfleet Command, marked priority, today at 1750, ship time. The content of the message is in front of you. We are ordered to go, at due speed, to Cygni Beta 1 where you will be leaving me, so I can attend a diplomatic conference as one of the Federation representatives. The Enterprise will then go and rendezvous with a transport full of media personnel at Starbase 8. You will then safely bring the aforementioned cadre of cacophonous clods to the wonderful conference, where they will look for photo-ops and speak with the famous and almost so. I have been instructed to be on my best behavior and not chew the scenery. This will be a wonderfull opportunity to improve relations with the representatives of the member and non-aligned worlds." McCoy snorted out loud and Uhura looked at the ceiling while she attempted to stifle her response. McCoy couldn't resist. "Captain James Tiberius Kirk, if I didn't know better, I would think you ain't too excited about this adventure." Kirk simply glared. "Captain," Uhura ventured, "perhaps there is something positive you can gain from the experience." "Positive...diplomats and reporters in the same mission?" He said with obvious disbelief. "There are some great caves on Cygni Beta 1," Sulu offered. That got Kirk's attention and encouraged him to continue. "You all know about my interest in geological formations, so I did a bit of a tour of the caves of Cygni Beta 1. They have a unique resonance that interferes with current communication technology and basically limits them to the use of amplified radio waves. That means deep space sensors and scanners have limited usefulness. The interference with our sensors was one of the reasons it took them so long to be contacted. We had no good way, other than direct surveillance to discover their level of technology and readiness for off-world contact. The caves are breath- taking, they have natural phosphorescence and intermittently they actually hum. " "How far are they from the conference site?" Kirk asked. Sulu looked at his screen for a few moments, " No further than 20 kilometers, by these maps. I can give you the maps I made because I went off the beaten track a ways to explore some quieter, less touristy caves." Kirk smiled. "Deal. Maybe this won't be the unrelenting pain in the ass I was anticipating." He nodded emphatically. "Alright, I do this... wonderful conference, then I'm going to hide in the caves until you come and get me, and don't be late, or else." "Captain, perhaps we should discuss the particulars of the conference," Spock suggested. Kirk waved at him to begin. "First, this conference will have Klingons, Romulans, Orions, representatives of the Non-aligned worlds and a full Federation representation from the small and large systems. The purpose: to end trade sanctions imposed the Federation on all Governments who trade with Slave holding systems in exchange for a guarantee for of an immediate cessation to all government sanctioned abductions and legalized trading in Sentient Beings." "Well, I'll be damned," McCoy exclaimed. "And about time," Scotty threw out. " How are they going to verify cooperation?" "That is a crucial point that has not been agreed on. However, it is obvious Starfleet will have to take a frontline role in the process; hence the Captain is a Starfleet's representative." "Why you, Captain, instead of one of the Command staff?" Uhura wanted to know. "The Klingons, the Romulans, and the Non-aligned World representatives specifically requested him." Spock answered. "How does it feel to be that popular?" McCoy quipped. "Sort of like being the only prostitute in port, when a deep space cruiser has just docked after ten months in space. I know I'm going to get screwed, repeatedly, and it ain't going to be fun." Everyone laughed, but Spock, who continued as soon as there was a relative break. "The Ariadne will remain in orbit during the conference to assist with security." That got everyone's attention. "Why them and not us?" Chekov asked. "We were told that many of the Orions have unpleasant memories of their clan encounters with the Enterprise, and prefer we absent ourselves." "Let me get this right," Chekov continued, "they want our Captain there, who commanded the ship that makes them nervous, but they don't want the ship around?" "Essentially accurate," Spock answered. "I don't like this, not one bit," Chekov stated. "We are a better ship than the Ariadne. We have seen more combat and made more first contacts. Sending the Ariadne instead of us is like kissing your sister." Kirk waved away the objections. "For the record, we already had this discussion with Starfleet and we lost. Spock, why don't you finish the briefing and I'm going to go and finish the packet on the attendees. We have already made the necessary course changes and we will arrive in three standard days. I will see you on the Bridge." The briefing continued after his exit. "How long is the conference? Sulu inquired. "It will take us at least 7 standard days to get to Starbase 8 and back to Cyngi Beta 1 and that means he is going to be down there without any back-up for all that time." "Understood. That is why we are going at our best speed and returning. I am planning on negotiating for him to carry one weapon to the conference, on the pretense of him leaving to go into the wilds where he will not have security back-up." "Dr. McCoy, your screen has the possible infectious agents and parasites, along with an evaluation of the local foods and water." "Yeah, I see it. Mostly heavy minerals and no real parasites that affect humans. Everything else we can handle with immunity boosters. You see anything else, Gregory?" "Looking at the list of attendees, the Zsxthys will be there. He will need to be immunized against their venom, and the Dowerg are also going to be there," M'Benga replied. "They carry lots of nasty bugs. You're right. I see they will have Vulcan Healers, so there is good news." He finished scanning the material. "We can have him ready in two days, Spock." "Acceptable. Uhura, you will have to update the translator. Can you have all of the possible languages loaded by our arrival?" "No problem. This will give us a chance to use our newest toy. We have a small earpiece we can mold into his middle ear and the program will reside at a remote site. He will get contemporaneous translation for any audio language. He's may have to depend on Starfleet Diplomatic Corp for sign and scent translation, but more of those Ambassadors carry their own translation devices to send the interpretation to any direct line receivers." The planning finished 20 minutes later and they went to get ready for their shift. Chekov went to make sure none of the reporters could get into any of the restricted areas and he especially wanted to limit computer access. Noonan Singh Khan had taught him a lesson about what can happen when you don't keep hackers out, and he never planned to forget it. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ASCEM messages are copied to a mailing list. Most recent messages can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCEML. NewMessage: