Captain Riker was in his Ready Room with his top Officers playing a round of poker when the call came in. "Admiral Sandusky to Captain Riker." said the voice. "Put it on speakers." said Captain Riker, not wanting
to throw away such an excellent hand. "Admiral Sandusky here. You are to divert to Nemocrom Four and assess the situation with the natives. We have reasonable intelligence that the Romulans are trying to gain
a foothold on the planet." said the Admiral. "Aye Admiral. Anything you can tell us?" asked Captain Riker. "The planet is inhabited by a non-native pre-industrial civilization whose culture is very similar to the
Mayans of old. Sarthong I is their Emperor. If the Romulans are there, they'll be at his Court." said the Admiral. "Thank you Admiral. Over and out." said Riker as he turned off the speaker. "Gentlemen, I am sorely
tempted to let Dr. Silathi handle this one by herself. She is a master of languages and alien cultures, especially primative ones. I am sure that an ample warning from her would cause Sarthong I to reconsider who his
friends are." said Captain Riker. "Then we can get some rest and relaxation while on planet. We'll leave a small security team with the doctor of course." he added. The Senior Officers only nodded. Senior Officer McDaniel
spoke up. "Captain, these Romulans are dangerous and unpredictable. Shouldn't we go into full alert?" asked the Senior Officer. "No, we don't want the Romulans to know that we are even here. I figured out an evasive
maneuver from watching the historical tapes on the Captain of the Enterprise X. We'll hide this ship behind it's moon and take shuttle craft in. We don't want to create more upset than what has already been caused." explained the Captain. "Yes, I remember reading a few times where Admiral Kirk had wished he had kept the Enterprise-A away from primitive planets but close enough to make contact." chimed in another Senior Officer. "Problem with Kirk was that he ran headlong into hairy situations and it was amazing that he didn't get himself killed on every occasion." explained Captain Riker. "We aren't like that here. We go in with the facts
needed to make a clear judgement of the situation." said Captain Riker. The Officers nodded in agreement with him. "Security Officer Worf, gather ten men and aliens and protect the doctor as she tries to convince
our soon-to-be friend that messing with Romulans is a bad idea." said Captain Riker. "It will be an honor and my pleasure." growled Worf. Worf hated the Romulans for what they did to his honorable family name and
getting even wasn't far from his mind. "Worf, no fights with the Romulans unless they kidnap our people or fire on us, understood?" asked Captain Riker, sensing Worf's desire for revenge. "Understood Captain." said Worf, coming to attention and remembering he was not a warrior of the now faded Klingon Empire.
The Captain strode up to the bridge, after winning the game and sat at the Captain's chair. He almost missed the old man, Picard had been almost a father to him but he realized that they were both two very
different men and would make different decisions depending on the circumstances. But one thing that nagged at him when he was the "Number One" alongside Picard was that he was in Picard's shadow and
without his own Command, it would be difficult to make a name for himself in Star fleet. He also smarted (although it was less pronounced now) from the unfortunate mutiny that painted him throughout Star fleet
as a "Mr. Christian" of the Bounty ill-fame. Captain Picard had been kind enough to take him in regardless of that career ending maneuver. Riker had later on been aquitted by a Star fleet Court Martial which
favored the events as stated by Riker and his fellow Officers. He had even drafted a formal letter of resignation to Starfleet, planning to return to the Midwest of North America and help his parents with the farm, which
was largely mechanized already. He was glad he never did it because his father had died later that year and the farm went to his argumentative older brother, who resented his success and despised him. In that, he
shared a bond with Admiral Picard. Picard never really wanted to be around his family for very long and a tragic event killed his brother and his nieces and nephews. A fire, something that had been so commonplace
after the nuclear war in the late 2000's but was so rare by the 2300's that even a single event had become newsworthy. Out of all things, why a fire? Why? The question sometimes haunted him as much as it haunted
Picard. He had lost a buddy from his first assignment in a ship fire. So senseless. The ship had been in Space dock at Earth. Why? He shook his head. "Helm, set in a course using the coordinates the Admiral gave us." ordered Captain Riker. The Navigator punched in the codes and the ship turned around and proceeded to it's next location.
Captain Riker went down to the holodeck to sit at a re-creation of an old west bar scanned from one of Louis Lamour's old novels, one of the few that survived the nuclear war of the 2000's. Although much of the 20th
Century had been forgotten, the horrors of the war against the followers of Lee Qwan and Sighn Noonyan Khan were still fresh in the minds of everyone. Those old wounds were ripped open again when Captain Kirk
encountered the "Bounty" containing the cryogenic pods with the last of the war criminals who had fled Earth. The encounter inspired Riker's father to join Starfleet (Willaim Riker Sr. had purchased the farm on Earth after he left Star fleet years later) and William Riker Jr was inspired by his dad and his knowledge of the great Captain Johnathan Archer and his exploits. He sat down next to a rough-looking man (hologram) that stared
at him and sneered. "You must be from New York City pretty boy!" Captain Riker only smiled at that, he was wearing clothes that the hologram simulator thought would be appropriate for that age and Riker's social rank for the time. "Indeed I am. I am here to buy a mine." said Riker. The hologram followed the story but it included Rikers "additions" to the program so the story would be smooth and not too out-of-place. "A gold or
silver mine? If you want to invest in one of those, talk with John Bartlet over there!" said the ruffian. Riker strode over to the fake businessman. "So what do you want? Can't you see I am talking to this dame here?" asked
the fake person. The fake dame blinked. Riker was impressed with the detail of accuracy of the simulation. "I am interested in buying a prime piece of real estate off you." said Riker to the fake man. "Like what?" asked the
fake man. "A gold mine, I happen to have the greenbacks right here." said Riker. "CAPTAIN RIKER TO THE BRIDGE! WE ARE BEING HAILED BY AN UNKNOWN VESSEL!" said the Chief Communications Officer over the Comm. "Simulation off!" said Riker and the simulation was turned off and Captain Riker ran full speed to the turbo lift. He ran to the bridge and assumed his position. "On screen!" he ordered. "This is the Taosan Lyi" said an alien voice. "If you do not leave our space immediately, you will be fired upon." said the voice. "Helm, what is our position?" asked Captain Riker. "On course sir and we are nearing our destination, according to our
readings." said the Helm, now worried that the Enterprise might have contracted a fatal systems worm. "Taosan Lyi, this is the USS Enterprise of the United Federation of Planets we are on a mission of peace and we apologize for passing into your claimed space. We were unaware of your claim to this sector however." said Captain Riker, putting a note of irritation on "however"
"Captain, we apologize for our confrontation with you. We feared it was the Romulans with a captured vessel." said the alien commander. "I am Captain Drak'Tha of the Organi Confederation in transit. We are the scout ship for the main fleet, which will soon be passing through your Federation Space. We lost our home world to a terrible supernova and we seek a new home, and perhaps new allies." said the alien commander. "You are welcome to speak with our Federation President. I will transmit this information to you." said Captain Riker. "Our people in exile do thank you." said the alien commander. Thus ended the contact and Captain Riker
once again not only saved the Enterprise from a pointless shooting match but made an ally in the process. The Enterprise continued on it's way to the contact world and within an hour, it reached it's target moon and Captain Riker gave the "silent running" order. "All non-essential systems down." he said. The Enterprise played "dead" while the female linguist expert and her security team flew out in a shuttle craft and following closely behind was Captain Riker and Lt. McGraith, an expert in alien first contacts, in the other shuttle craft. The blue marble-like planet loomed large. "This planet is slightly larger than Earth and has more liquid mass than Earth, it has two main continents in the habitable zone, like earth, but unlike Earth, she has two moons and no southern continent." said the Lt. "Yes Data." said Captain Riker with a grin, the Lt saw the grin and blushed.
"The non-native humanoid population is estimated at 2.2 million beings with no known native intellegent life. It is possible that this alien species either used a generation ship or they used a gate, no matter since they
seem to have no memory of it." said the Lt. "We were able to glean this information from a clandestine Vulcan mission to the planet. The Vulcans were able to get in and out with a minimum of contact. A relative of Spock headed the expedition." added the Lt. "What else is new? Spock and his father are practically royalty." drawled Captain Riker. "Right, space is a vacuum." said the Lt. "The civilization is pre-Industrial at last contact
and it was decided to leave this race alone because although they had been a warp-capable culture, they lost that and degenerated to Stone Age levels of technology in less than two generations. Their religion is at once both hostile towards outsiders and worshipful towards anyone from the sky. We need to proceed carefully on that count, how many humans have been tempted to set themselves up as gods over an alien people with no
knowledge of modern ways or technology? I can think of an entire race of robber-baron aliens that specialize in that sort of thing." said the Lt. "And I was at the second contact." mumbled Captain Riker. "Not a friendly bunch. More like pirates if you ask me." said Captain Riker.
"Guide her into the atmosphere and land at the clearing nearest to the main Temple City." ordered Captain Riker. The two shuttle craft landed and both parties exited their vehicles. Captain Riker looked around. "Everyone donned their costumes? Good, lets go." said Captain Riker. "I look foolish in this homespun dress." objected the female linguist. "You look the part. Come on." said Captain Riker. They stomped through fields
of some maize-looking plant that grew in a foot of water. "The natives sure harnessed their city belts." said one Officer. They passed enclosures of reptiles that looked like the closest thing on the planet to what humans
would term "cattle". "This is odd, no farmers are around, I wonder what the event is?" asked Captain Riker. "Probably a sacrificial festival. These aliens sacrifice one of these beasts a week to their sun god." she said, pointing to the mammalian/reptilian beasts in the pens and fields. "Perfect timing." said Captain Riker. "How do we find this God-Emperor of theirs?" asked Captain Riker to the linguist. "Find the biggest Palace in the city
and walk in, let me do the talking." said the linguist. They walked into the city and the guards were not paying attention, they seemed stoned on a local herb. "Fascinating, everyone here is under the influence of a pot-like
narcotic. This must be a part of their religion or their society. "WALK NOW WITH US O SON OF THE SUN!" cried the High Priest to the crowd. The crowd began to sing a strange song. "Captain!" whispered the doctor in the ear of Riker. "It's the Romulans! And they are in chains!" she said. "Looks like the locals have stopped sacrificing animals and have switched their target to humanoids." said Captain Riker. "We need to stop them!" she hissed. "How do we do that without blowing our cover? The Enterprise is parked in a certain place, remember?" he hissed. Captain Riker flipped open his communicator. "Farlander, can you get a lock on those Romulans at your distance?" asked Captain Riker. "Yes Captain, we have been monitoring your every move since you left the Enterprise." he said. "On my mark. Lock." said Captain Riker. "Now." said Riker and the Romulans shimmered out of the Temple Plaza and into the teleporter bay where they were met by Security and taken to the brig as a precaution. The High Priest screamed something. "It is the will of the gods!" he said and he turned towards the God-Emperor and fell on his sword. Everyone gasped. The God-Emperor signaled with his arms and shooed the people away. "Nothing more here to see!" whispered Captain Riker. The crowd dispersed and the team ducked into a building and shucked off their costumes and strode towards the God-Emperor. "No! I will not have anymore aliens at my house!" cried the God-Emperor. "Nevertheless, since you can appear and disappear at will, you are my honored guests." he said, very worried. "We accept your invitation." said Captain Riker. The party followed the God-Emperor into the Palace and the being took off his mask
and the team received their second surprise of the day. "You are human!" said Lt. Mullins as he passed a tricorder over the "alien". "That is right, I crashed into this godforsaken jungle many many years ago on a trade mission from the free colonies and since I couldn't leave, I played the part of their god and all so I could gain a glimpse of their blueprints of their warp-engines, which the High Priest caste gaurds so jealously. When I did, I realized that I was truly stuck here because I could not read their language. When I learned their language and culture, I simply put them on the path to regaining their warp technology. I opened the first mill last year." said the human. Captain Riker said nothing. "Oh come now! Did you actually think that the Prime Directive would keep the Romulans off this planet? I had a deal with them until they reneged on their end. I figured that a public execution would be fitting for those creeps." said the human. "You do realize that the free colonies have repeatedly violated Interplanetary Law? I should ship you back to them in chains!" growled Captain Riker. "Hold it! Whoa! Let's not get carried away here. I was hoping for a rescue you know." said the man. "The High Priest almost had me figured out and was planning my overthrow." said the human. "I tapped him myself! what an ingrate!" said the human. "Well, I suppose if you plan to quit the planet, we can have you make a fancy speech about how you are returning to the gods and that you want them to appoint their own successor." said the linguist. "That I would prefer! But who is going to keep the Romulans off this planet? None of these aliens seemed to have grasped yet that their "holy book" is an ancient engineering manual for building and maintaining a warp ship." said the human. "Beam back to your ship, I will see that things remain "as they are" here." said the human. "What is your name?" asked Captain Riker. "Queziticolital" said the human with a grin. "Actually I am Frank Stevens, formerly of the New Hope colony, that was established by a fleeing band of refugees from Earth that wanted no part of the New World Order after the nuclear war of the 2000's. Don't blame me, I am not a super-human. Our genes have since faded, but we are still a bit on the smart side." said the human, tapping his head. "By the way, whatever happened to the Bounty? It was recorded as lost." said Frank with a glimmer of hope in his eye. "No Frank, the occupants tried to hijack the USS Enterprise A and murder her Captain and crew." said Captain Riker flatly. "They were outmaneuvered." said Captain Riker. "Good, we didn't like Khan or his master Kwan either! Believe me Captain, we are not interstellar criminals on New Hope, we just see things a bit differently than you socialist Federation types." said Frank. "We actually abandoned both socialism and capitalism and replaced it with a credit-voucher economy in the 2200's" said Captain Riker. "Oh yes, print your way out of life's problems, trust me Captain, your Federation won't last 70 more years without serious hyperinflation of some kind." he said. "Um, I am not a political type but the Federation Earth Government has matters well in hand. I assure you." said Captain Riker. "To each his own then. I invite you all to a feast." said Frank. "We accept your offer then, let us speak about offering a Federation Security force to keep the Romulans out." said Captain Riker. "Fine. I will hear your proposal." said Frank.
During the dinner, Frank took great care to wear his mask and formal clothing and spoke with Captain Riker and his men in firm tones in the native language of the planet, since his serving females were around. "Then we have a treaty then?" asked Captain Riker. "YES O LITTLE ONE, WE HAVE A TREATY" he said through the microphone in his mask in the native language of the people he ruled over. The Captain began to drink the wine and after a few minutes, he passed out. The whole team was passed out. "Put them in a room and lock it. We shall have their star ship." said Frank. Several strong men, all of whom looked like they could have fought alongside Sighn Noonyan Khan, came out from another room. All were humans. "Hail to the one of superior intellect!" said one of the men. "Little do they know that our colony is not in some far away sector of the galaxy, it is right here. On the other continent. Thankfully they fell for our gambit. Once we have our starship, we shall gain our revenge in the name of the great Khan!" cried "Frank" who was actually none other than Sigmund Feyorski the Terrible of the Eugenics Wars infamy. The thugs dragged the Star fleet Officers into a room and locked it. Then having taken off their tricorders, the men readied. "Five to beam up." said Sigmund.
Captain Riker was the first to awaken. "Where are we?" he felt the walls, the room was pitch black. "They took our tricorders!" cried the female linguist. "Khan..that was odd that he mentioned that so readily." said Captain Riker, rubbing his aching head. "How do we get out of here?" asked the linguist. The door opened. A local alien with a very sharp blade in his hand glowered down at them. "Come, you are to be immediately executed." said the executioner. "Not if I can help it!" cried Captain Riker. He took the alien down in one blow and took the nasty-looking blade. "We need to flee the city and get back to the shuttle craft. If the goons are still here, that is." said Riker. Everyone agreed. "We need the local dress for this. We will get some garb off one of the locals." said Riker, pointing to some Palace Guards. The team lunged at some Guards and took them by surprise, taking their weapons and clothes. The team walked out of the Palace, looking like Guards. They reached the gate and walked past the still-stoned Guards and into the fields. They reached the shuttle craft and found them operational. "My dear Captain, what a surprise it is to see you made it out of my trap alive and in one piece." said Sigmund. "Captain, Khan wasn't the only leader of the glorious movement who fled Earth, I am Sigmund the Terrible, because I killed so many weaklings, like your several greats grandfather, whom I personally strangled with my bare hands." said Sigmund. Captain Riker exploded. "I will get you! Murderer! Deceiver!" he shouted. "Too late Captain Riker, I have your Star ship." said Sigmund. "Ship to Captain Riker, that is a negative. Somehow he smuggled a communicator into the brig with him. We are still in full command of the Enterprise." said the Helmsman. One of the thug followers of Sigmund was pointing a phaser at his head. "Under and Over." said the Helmsmen in a crisp voice. The link went dead. "That is the code. The ship has been seized." said Captain Riker. "They are trying to lure us into a trap." suggested Worf. "I know Worf, and they wouldn't have seized the ship had I left you back there either." said Captain Riker. "Set in a course for Star base 12, we have no choice but to get Star fleet in on this." said Captain Riker.
Just then, three Romulan Warbirds shimmered into view off the stern of the Enterprise. "Crew of the USS Enterprise! Surrender immediately or be destroyed!" said a confident Romulan Commander. Sigmund swirled around in the chair. "Kill them all!" he commanded. The Enterprise E fired off phasers and torpedoes and destroyed one of the Romulan Vessels. Then she turned to take down her other opponent. "Take the shuttle craft in, we'll have to send the signal for the manual override." said Captain Riker grimly. He had to retake the Enterprise. His very reputation rode on this. The shuttle bay door was over-ridden by the command from the shuttle craft and the craft glided in and landed. The doors closed and the away team made their way into the ship.
The arrogant human laughed as the Romulan Commander pleaded with him to have mercy. "There is no mercy for the weak!" he shouted. "Fire!" said Sigmund, the damaged Romulan vessel was totally destroyed. Just then, Captain Riker and his freed crew entered the bridge and pointed their phasers at Sigmund. "Sigmund! You are wanted for war crimes by the United Federation of Planets! Surrender now!" shouted Captain Riker. Sigmund swirled about on the chair and laughed only an evil laugh that a half-crazed super-human could manage. "So Captain, I cleaned up your little mess for you, and now you have a war on your hands. Sigmund to ground base, one to beam out." and Sigismund shimmered out before Captain Riker and Worf could fire. "Damn!" shouted Captain Riker. "We almost had him!" Then it hit him. "Their colony is ON THE PLANET SURFACE! I want all phasers locked on Sigmund's signal. All phasers locked on!" he said as he sat down in his chair. "Bad news Captain!" said Weapons Officer Fairbrough in his thick Scottish accent. "His colony is shielded, the feedback effect will destroy the Enterprise if we try it." said the Weapons Officer. "Alright, send a message to Admiral Farragut at Starbase 12: We have discovered the location of the infamous war criminal Sigmund. Please send a military vessel when possible. Captain Riker out." The remaining Romulan vessels lay smouldering, suffering from internal fires. "Get a medical team to those vessels. Pronto!" said Captain Riker. The Medical team dispatched and beamed over to the disabled war birds. The wounded Romulans were beamed over and taken to sickbay. After an hour, the surviving Romulan Commander came to the bridge and saluted Captain Riker. "I admire your courage on how you handled those human renegades. But you are no match for the combined might of the Romulan Empire. Having said that, thank you Commander, perhaps we can repay your generosity one of these days." said the Romulan Commander. "Actually you can. Want to make a trade? Get rid of that colony of super-humans, vaporize it if you have to, and in return, you get to keep that planet." said Captain Riker. The Romulan Commander blinked in utter surprise. "Gladly Captain!" and with that he was beamed out to a waiting Romulan Frigate. "Take us out of here. Our mission here is concluded. I will recommend that this planet be placed under a strict quarantine until such a time as the people of the planet build a warp capable engine." said Captain Riker. "What about the Romulans?" asked the Science Officer. "That problem will take care of itself. Just as the Enterprise left the Star system and went into warp, four Romulan Vessels and a large Romulan Frigate exploded in the dead of space, all because they had fired on the defenses of the New Hope colony. Floating in the debris of the Romulan Frigate was Sigmund, cold and dead.
The End.
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