Post by magicmuggle01 on Jan 28, 2019 10:59:22 GMT
Kirk battles an alien captain who destroyed a Federation outpost.
Summary
Captain Kirk and a landing party – Spock, Dr. McCoy, O'Herlihy, Kelowitz, and Lang – beam down to the Federation observation outpost on Cestus III at the invitation of its commander, Commodore Travers who has received quite the reputation for setting a fine table with his personal head chef. When the Away Team arrive, they discover that the invitation is a ruse and the colony has been destroyed.
Act One
After the landing party takes cover and Kirk declares full alert, they discover a survivor in the ruins, Lieutenant Harold. Spock quickly locates the presence of other lifeforms nearby, but, no colony survivors. His tricorder reads them as cold-blooded creatures, but definitely not Human. O'Herlihy scouts them out, but is immediately disintegrated by an alien weapon, as the landing party is bombarded by a massive shelling attack.
"Captain, I see something…!"
At the same time, the USS Enterprise comes under attack in orbit by an unidentified starship. With her deflector screens up, the Enterprise cannot beam up the landing party. Kirk orders Lieutenant Sulu to return fire with the phaser banks, but, it has little effect as the alien ship has screens up as well. Kirk orders the use of photon torpedoes, but, the torpedoes are ineffective, as the alien is too far away even for visual contact. The captain orders Sulu to take whatever action is necessary to protect the Enterprise, be it leaving orbit or engaging maximum warp. Sulu opts for the former and takes the ship away from Cestus III.
Kirk makes his way to the colony's arsenal, avoiding large blasts from the unidentified attackers and retrieves a grenade launcher. Spock and Kelowitz rendezvous with him as the first officer reports that the enemy troops are moving towards their location. Kelowitz reports that Lang has been killed and gives Kirk his best guess as to where they have moved and Kirk launches the grenade in that direction. The tactic proves successful as the aliens begin to decamp back to their vessel, allowing Sulu to return with the Enterprise and retrieve the landing party and quickly set a pursuit course of the attacking ship.
In sickbay, Harold tells Kirk and Spock of the attack on the colony. The aliens had knocked out their phasers with their first salvo, leaving the colony defenseless and confirms Kirk's earlier theory that the aliens had faked the message from the colony diverting the Enterprise to Cestus III in an attempt to destroy the Enterprise, the only protection in that part of the Federation. Such a move, a prelude to invasion, suggests the correct course: overtake and destroy the enemy, before he can return to his home base and report. The captain orders the ship to battle stations and to warp 6 to overtake the aliens. "Red alert. I repeat, red alert. This is no drill," Kirk announces to the crew through the Enterprise's intercom. "This is no drill."
Act Two
"We are the Metrons."
The aliens, aware that the Enterprise is in pursuit, jumps to warp 6 as well. Kirk orders warp 7 engaged, drawing concern from Spock and chief engineer Scott that a sustained warp 7 speed would be hazardous to the Enterprise's warp engines. Spock argues against destroying the enemy vessel on the basis of respect for sentient life. Kirk disagrees; his opinion is that a crime has been committed and the perpetrators must be punished. Sulu reports that the aliens have moved to warp 7, as well. Kirk, mulling over his options, orders the ship to accelerate to warp 8 and have all weapons departments at battle ready.
Closing at warp 8, the Enterprise records a scanning beam from an uncharted solar system at 2466 PM. The alien is not approaching this system; it appears that a third party is "curious" about the Enterprise. The alien abruptly begins to slow, going quickly to sublight speed until finally stopping dead in space. Kirk closes for the kill, but the Enterprise is soon slowed to sublight, as well, stopped dead like the alien with all power to the engines and weapons simply cut off.
The architects of this reveal themselves: the Metrons, an advanced race who regard intrusion into their space for the purpose of conflict as entirely unacceptable. They remove Kirk from the Enterprise and the Gorn captain from the alien vessel and deposit both of them on a suitably-prepared world. From there, they will settle their differences, using strength and ingenuity. The winner and his ship will be free to go; the loser and his ship will be destroyed.
Act Three
The Gorn captain is reptilian, large, and very strong – but quite slow. Kirk is able to evade him initially, but knows he can't evade him indefinitely. He'll have to find a way to defeat an opponent who is far stronger and tougher.
The key may lie in a comment the Metron made, that the prepared environment contains elements suitable for fabricating weapons. Attack and evasion continue for some time, with Kirk narrowly evading death at the Gorn's claws. Back on the Enterprise, the crew is unable to restore power to the engines and the weapons and remains immobilized. The Metrons reestablish communications and inform the crew that Kirk is losing the battle. In view of his impending death, they allow the crew to watch what is happening on the viewscreen.
The Gorn finally communicates: it proposes that Kirk cease trying to evade him, and promises in exchange to be merciful and quick. Kirk compares this offer to the "mercy" that was shown to the Humans at Cestus III; this enrages the Gorn, who tells Kirk his people regard Cestus III as part of their space. From the Gorn perspective, they were repelling an invading force. Watching from the bridge (for the Metrons are now allowing this), McCoy posits that it is perhaps they who are in the wrong. Spock agrees it is possible.
Act Four
"If there were only some way we
could contact him."
"Yes, indeed, doctor. If only there
were…"
As the conflict continues, Kirk remembers an old formula: gunpowder. Using sulfur, coal, potassium nitrate, diamonds, and a bamboo-like plant, Kirk constructs a makeshift cannon. Spock, impressed by the captain's ingenuity, posits that Kirk might be successful if he can complete construction of the cannon before the Gorn closes in for the kill. Moments from a fatal attack, Kirk rips up his own uniform to make a fuse and uses the metallic recording-translating device provided by the Metrons to spark the coal, allowing Kirk to touch off his crude device which incapacitates the Gorn.
Kirk fires his makeshift cannon
Kirk has won the contest, but stops short of delivering the fatal stroke to the Gorn captain. He yells out loud to the unseen Metrons that he won't kill him and that they will have to find their entertainment elsewhere. The Gorn suddenly disappears and the Metron appears, expressing surprise: their analysis did not prepare them for Kirk's demonstration of mercy towards his helpless opponent. The Metron informs Kirk that he is 1,500 Earth years old and has returned the Gorn to his ship. The Metron will destroy him for Kirk, if he so chooses. Kirk declines and claims that the Federation and the Gorn can talk their dispute over and perhaps reach an agreement. This also impresses the Metron and theorizes that although Humanity is still half-savage, perhaps in several thousand years it will be civilized enough to be of further interest to the Metrons. Kirk is returned to the Enterprise, where he discovers that the ship has been relocated five hundred parsecs away from the Metron solar system.
Talking over the incident with the Gorn captain and the Metrons with Spock, Kirk tells his first officer that "We're a most promising species, Mr. Spock, as far as predators go," when Spock asks what happened after Kirk fired off his cannon. Spock remarks that he frequently had his doubts about that, but Kirk informs him that in a thousand years or so, Humanity will be able to prove it to the Metrons. "A thousand years, captain?," Spock inquires. "Well, that gives us a little time," Kirk replies as the Enterprise heads back to Cestus III.
Log entries
"Captain's log, stardate 3045.6. The Enterprise has responded to a call from Earth observation outpost on Cestus III. On landing, we have discovered that the outpost has been destroyed."
"Captain's log, supplement. We have beamed back to the Enterprise and immediately set out in pursuit of the alien vessel. It appears to be headed towards a largely unexplored section of the galaxy."
"Captain's log, stardate 3046.2. We are in hot pursuit of the alien vessel which destroyed the Earth outpost on Cestus III."
"The Enterprise is dead in space, stopped cold during her pursuit of an alien raider by mysterious forces… and I have been somehow whisked off the bridge and placed on the surface of an asteroid, facing the captain of the alien ship. Weaponless, I face the creature the Metrons called a Gorn: large, reptilian. Like most Humans, I seem to have an instinctive revulsion to reptiles. I must fight to remember that this is an intelligent, highly advanced individual, the captain of a starship like myself. Undoubtedly, a dangerously clever opponent."
"This is Captain James Kirk of the starship Enterprise. Whoever finds this, please get it to Starfleet Command. I'm engaged in personal combat with a creature apparently called a Gorn. He's immensely strong. Already, he has withstood attacks from me that would have killed a Human being. Fortunately, though strong, he is not agile. The agility and I hope the cleverness, is mine."
"The Metrons, the creatures that sent us both here, said that the surface of the planet provides the raw material… to construct weapons. There's very little here – scrub brush, rocks, an abundance of mineral deposits, but no weapons in the conventional sense. Still, I need to find one; bare-handed against the Gorn, I have no chance."
"A large deposit of diamonds on the surface. Perhaps, the hardest substance known in the universe. Beautifully crystallized and pointed, but too small to be useful as a weapon. An incredible fortune in stones, yet I would trade them all for a hand phaser or a good, solid club. Yet, the Metrons said there would be weapons… if I could find them. Where? What kind?"
"This may be my last entry. I am almost exhausted. Unless I find the weapon the Metron mentioned, I have very little time left. Native sulfur, diamonds… This place is a mineralogist's dream! Yet… there is something about sulfur… something very old. Something… if only I could remember."
Memorable quotes
"Doctor, you are a sensualist."
"You bet your pointed ears I am."
- Spock and McCoy, on the prospect of eating non-reconstituted food
"Like most Humans, I seem to have an instinctive revulsion to reptiles."
- Kirk, on seeing the Gorn captain
"This place is a mineralogist's dream."
- Kirk, describing the planet
"We appeal to you in the name of civilization! Put a stop to this!"
"Your violent intent and actions demonstrate that you are not civilized."
- McCoy and a Metron, after the Metron announces that Kirk is losing the battle
"I weary of the chase. Wait for me. I shall be merciful and quick."
- Gorn captain, attempting to persuade Kirk to surrender
"Can he do it?"
"If he has the time, doctor. If he has the time."
- McCoy and Spock, discussing Kirk's chances of firing off the cannon
"By sparing your helpless enemy who surely would have destroyed you, you demonstrated the advanced trait of mercy. Something we hardly expected."
- Metron, to Kirk
"You are still half savage. But there is hope."
- Metron's parting words to Kirk
"We're a most promising species, Mister Spock, as predators go. Did you know that?"
"I've frequently had my doubts."
"I don't. Not anymore."
- Kirk and Spock
Summary
Captain Kirk and a landing party – Spock, Dr. McCoy, O'Herlihy, Kelowitz, and Lang – beam down to the Federation observation outpost on Cestus III at the invitation of its commander, Commodore Travers who has received quite the reputation for setting a fine table with his personal head chef. When the Away Team arrive, they discover that the invitation is a ruse and the colony has been destroyed.
Act One
After the landing party takes cover and Kirk declares full alert, they discover a survivor in the ruins, Lieutenant Harold. Spock quickly locates the presence of other lifeforms nearby, but, no colony survivors. His tricorder reads them as cold-blooded creatures, but definitely not Human. O'Herlihy scouts them out, but is immediately disintegrated by an alien weapon, as the landing party is bombarded by a massive shelling attack.
"Captain, I see something…!"
At the same time, the USS Enterprise comes under attack in orbit by an unidentified starship. With her deflector screens up, the Enterprise cannot beam up the landing party. Kirk orders Lieutenant Sulu to return fire with the phaser banks, but, it has little effect as the alien ship has screens up as well. Kirk orders the use of photon torpedoes, but, the torpedoes are ineffective, as the alien is too far away even for visual contact. The captain orders Sulu to take whatever action is necessary to protect the Enterprise, be it leaving orbit or engaging maximum warp. Sulu opts for the former and takes the ship away from Cestus III.
Kirk makes his way to the colony's arsenal, avoiding large blasts from the unidentified attackers and retrieves a grenade launcher. Spock and Kelowitz rendezvous with him as the first officer reports that the enemy troops are moving towards their location. Kelowitz reports that Lang has been killed and gives Kirk his best guess as to where they have moved and Kirk launches the grenade in that direction. The tactic proves successful as the aliens begin to decamp back to their vessel, allowing Sulu to return with the Enterprise and retrieve the landing party and quickly set a pursuit course of the attacking ship.
In sickbay, Harold tells Kirk and Spock of the attack on the colony. The aliens had knocked out their phasers with their first salvo, leaving the colony defenseless and confirms Kirk's earlier theory that the aliens had faked the message from the colony diverting the Enterprise to Cestus III in an attempt to destroy the Enterprise, the only protection in that part of the Federation. Such a move, a prelude to invasion, suggests the correct course: overtake and destroy the enemy, before he can return to his home base and report. The captain orders the ship to battle stations and to warp 6 to overtake the aliens. "Red alert. I repeat, red alert. This is no drill," Kirk announces to the crew through the Enterprise's intercom. "This is no drill."
Act Two
"We are the Metrons."
The aliens, aware that the Enterprise is in pursuit, jumps to warp 6 as well. Kirk orders warp 7 engaged, drawing concern from Spock and chief engineer Scott that a sustained warp 7 speed would be hazardous to the Enterprise's warp engines. Spock argues against destroying the enemy vessel on the basis of respect for sentient life. Kirk disagrees; his opinion is that a crime has been committed and the perpetrators must be punished. Sulu reports that the aliens have moved to warp 7, as well. Kirk, mulling over his options, orders the ship to accelerate to warp 8 and have all weapons departments at battle ready.
Closing at warp 8, the Enterprise records a scanning beam from an uncharted solar system at 2466 PM. The alien is not approaching this system; it appears that a third party is "curious" about the Enterprise. The alien abruptly begins to slow, going quickly to sublight speed until finally stopping dead in space. Kirk closes for the kill, but the Enterprise is soon slowed to sublight, as well, stopped dead like the alien with all power to the engines and weapons simply cut off.
The architects of this reveal themselves: the Metrons, an advanced race who regard intrusion into their space for the purpose of conflict as entirely unacceptable. They remove Kirk from the Enterprise and the Gorn captain from the alien vessel and deposit both of them on a suitably-prepared world. From there, they will settle their differences, using strength and ingenuity. The winner and his ship will be free to go; the loser and his ship will be destroyed.
Act Three
The Gorn captain is reptilian, large, and very strong – but quite slow. Kirk is able to evade him initially, but knows he can't evade him indefinitely. He'll have to find a way to defeat an opponent who is far stronger and tougher.
The key may lie in a comment the Metron made, that the prepared environment contains elements suitable for fabricating weapons. Attack and evasion continue for some time, with Kirk narrowly evading death at the Gorn's claws. Back on the Enterprise, the crew is unable to restore power to the engines and the weapons and remains immobilized. The Metrons reestablish communications and inform the crew that Kirk is losing the battle. In view of his impending death, they allow the crew to watch what is happening on the viewscreen.
The Gorn finally communicates: it proposes that Kirk cease trying to evade him, and promises in exchange to be merciful and quick. Kirk compares this offer to the "mercy" that was shown to the Humans at Cestus III; this enrages the Gorn, who tells Kirk his people regard Cestus III as part of their space. From the Gorn perspective, they were repelling an invading force. Watching from the bridge (for the Metrons are now allowing this), McCoy posits that it is perhaps they who are in the wrong. Spock agrees it is possible.
Act Four
"If there were only some way we
could contact him."
"Yes, indeed, doctor. If only there
were…"
As the conflict continues, Kirk remembers an old formula: gunpowder. Using sulfur, coal, potassium nitrate, diamonds, and a bamboo-like plant, Kirk constructs a makeshift cannon. Spock, impressed by the captain's ingenuity, posits that Kirk might be successful if he can complete construction of the cannon before the Gorn closes in for the kill. Moments from a fatal attack, Kirk rips up his own uniform to make a fuse and uses the metallic recording-translating device provided by the Metrons to spark the coal, allowing Kirk to touch off his crude device which incapacitates the Gorn.
Kirk fires his makeshift cannon
Kirk has won the contest, but stops short of delivering the fatal stroke to the Gorn captain. He yells out loud to the unseen Metrons that he won't kill him and that they will have to find their entertainment elsewhere. The Gorn suddenly disappears and the Metron appears, expressing surprise: their analysis did not prepare them for Kirk's demonstration of mercy towards his helpless opponent. The Metron informs Kirk that he is 1,500 Earth years old and has returned the Gorn to his ship. The Metron will destroy him for Kirk, if he so chooses. Kirk declines and claims that the Federation and the Gorn can talk their dispute over and perhaps reach an agreement. This also impresses the Metron and theorizes that although Humanity is still half-savage, perhaps in several thousand years it will be civilized enough to be of further interest to the Metrons. Kirk is returned to the Enterprise, where he discovers that the ship has been relocated five hundred parsecs away from the Metron solar system.
Talking over the incident with the Gorn captain and the Metrons with Spock, Kirk tells his first officer that "We're a most promising species, Mr. Spock, as far as predators go," when Spock asks what happened after Kirk fired off his cannon. Spock remarks that he frequently had his doubts about that, but Kirk informs him that in a thousand years or so, Humanity will be able to prove it to the Metrons. "A thousand years, captain?," Spock inquires. "Well, that gives us a little time," Kirk replies as the Enterprise heads back to Cestus III.
Log entries
"Captain's log, stardate 3045.6. The Enterprise has responded to a call from Earth observation outpost on Cestus III. On landing, we have discovered that the outpost has been destroyed."
"Captain's log, supplement. We have beamed back to the Enterprise and immediately set out in pursuit of the alien vessel. It appears to be headed towards a largely unexplored section of the galaxy."
"Captain's log, stardate 3046.2. We are in hot pursuit of the alien vessel which destroyed the Earth outpost on Cestus III."
"The Enterprise is dead in space, stopped cold during her pursuit of an alien raider by mysterious forces… and I have been somehow whisked off the bridge and placed on the surface of an asteroid, facing the captain of the alien ship. Weaponless, I face the creature the Metrons called a Gorn: large, reptilian. Like most Humans, I seem to have an instinctive revulsion to reptiles. I must fight to remember that this is an intelligent, highly advanced individual, the captain of a starship like myself. Undoubtedly, a dangerously clever opponent."
"This is Captain James Kirk of the starship Enterprise. Whoever finds this, please get it to Starfleet Command. I'm engaged in personal combat with a creature apparently called a Gorn. He's immensely strong. Already, he has withstood attacks from me that would have killed a Human being. Fortunately, though strong, he is not agile. The agility and I hope the cleverness, is mine."
"The Metrons, the creatures that sent us both here, said that the surface of the planet provides the raw material… to construct weapons. There's very little here – scrub brush, rocks, an abundance of mineral deposits, but no weapons in the conventional sense. Still, I need to find one; bare-handed against the Gorn, I have no chance."
"A large deposit of diamonds on the surface. Perhaps, the hardest substance known in the universe. Beautifully crystallized and pointed, but too small to be useful as a weapon. An incredible fortune in stones, yet I would trade them all for a hand phaser or a good, solid club. Yet, the Metrons said there would be weapons… if I could find them. Where? What kind?"
"This may be my last entry. I am almost exhausted. Unless I find the weapon the Metron mentioned, I have very little time left. Native sulfur, diamonds… This place is a mineralogist's dream! Yet… there is something about sulfur… something very old. Something… if only I could remember."
Memorable quotes
"Doctor, you are a sensualist."
"You bet your pointed ears I am."
- Spock and McCoy, on the prospect of eating non-reconstituted food
"Like most Humans, I seem to have an instinctive revulsion to reptiles."
- Kirk, on seeing the Gorn captain
"This place is a mineralogist's dream."
- Kirk, describing the planet
"We appeal to you in the name of civilization! Put a stop to this!"
"Your violent intent and actions demonstrate that you are not civilized."
- McCoy and a Metron, after the Metron announces that Kirk is losing the battle
"I weary of the chase. Wait for me. I shall be merciful and quick."
- Gorn captain, attempting to persuade Kirk to surrender
"Can he do it?"
"If he has the time, doctor. If he has the time."
- McCoy and Spock, discussing Kirk's chances of firing off the cannon
"By sparing your helpless enemy who surely would have destroyed you, you demonstrated the advanced trait of mercy. Something we hardly expected."
- Metron, to Kirk
"You are still half savage. But there is hope."
- Metron's parting words to Kirk
"We're a most promising species, Mister Spock, as predators go. Did you know that?"
"I've frequently had my doubts."
"I don't. Not anymore."
- Kirk and Spock
