String Theory (Spock/Kirk AOS)

The aliens are never friendly

A routine mission is never routine when you add James T. Kirk into the mix, and McCoy knows he is going to regret this because the aliens are never friendly.

—~—

2257.205

The call comes in halfway through Gamma Shift. Spock is meditating; before he even has a chance to rise, he hears Kirk answer the page from the room beyond with a mangled grunt.

"Rise and shine, Cadet." Captain Pike's voice comes in loud and clear over the comm just as Spock enters the office, already dressed. If Pike finds it peculiar that Kirk is still in his First Officer's quarters, he makes no mention of it. "My ready room, ten minutes. Both of you."

Kirk has yet to move, still sprawled on his back across the sofa, one forearm thrown across his eyes. "S'a big 'mergency?"

"My synthesizer's on the fritz, that's what. So bring up some coffee. Pike out."

"Asshole," Kirk says through a yawn, sitting up. He rubs at his eyes, elbows balanced on his knees, before blinking up at Spock. "If this is another drill, I'm going to kill him. And you're going to let me."

Another drill is a possibility; no ship-wide alert has been triggered, but that does not mean this is an exercise. He enters a selection into the synthesizer as he answers: "You would only succeed in promoting me to Acting Captain."

Kirk grimaces. "Good point." He looks up when Spock offers the cup of coffee, staring at it for exactly five seconds before accepting it. "Thanks."

Conscious of Pike's orders, Spock replicates another while Kirk digs out his uniform shirt from under the sofa.

Several other members of the command team are already present when they arrive at the captain's ready room. Spock notes that either Pike has chosen not wake Doctor Laguardia or specifically asked McCoy to join them. Cadet Uhura is unexpectedly present, and smiles at him when he takes his seat beside Pike. The rest of the crew stagger in over the next few minutes, many of them yawning and cradling cups of various steaming beverages.

"Good morning," Pike begins once everyone has gathered. He tactfully chooses to ignore the answering murmur of dissent. "Two hours ago, we picked up a subspace signal of unknown origin about a parsec outside the Hromi Cluster. Further analysis has given us a location," he pauses as the vidscreen zooms in on the system. It illuminates a Class L planet with the designation Uron IV. "Naturally, since we're a whole two days ahead of schedule, protocol mandates we investigate."

Spock immediately pulls up all known data of Uron IV on his PADD and is disappointed to see the report is minimal. According to the last assessment of the planet on 2239.109, the gravity is similar to that of Earth, with an atmosphere containing thirteen percent oxygen. It has eighty-six active volcanoes, and registers high humidity due to an abnormally high ratio of surface water for the class of planet. It predominantly features high-altitude rocky terrain, most of it volcanic in origin.

Furthermore, it is prone to volatile electrical storms due to a heavily charged ionosphere. It explains why the original data were gathered via probes — the naturally-occurring electrostatic would render orbital scans useless.

"Cadet Uhura has determined the signal is one of our own, likely from a probe that was damaged and left behind." Spock looks up at this information. While he is pleased that his student has managed to detect such a weak signal mid-warp, it should be impossible. A damaged probe should have automatically self-destructed after two weeks of no contact, or at the very least, rendered itself inert. It should not be emitting a signal seventeen years later. "Due to the temperamental nature of the atmosphere, the landing party will have to take a shuttle down to the surface."