The USS Enterprise is the first Starfleet vessel to successfully navigate the Necro Cloud Nebula and travel farther into uncharted space than any other Federation ship has ever gone before. Which is why a cryptic distress signal from an unknown plan...
Captain Kirk woke to the pale white sun rising above the horizon. He rolled over, his head pounding. The mines were completely empty now. Large heaps of ash marked the remains of the fires from the celebrations. Broken pieces of platters and bowls lay strewn about. The huts were gone, as well as many of the slave driver's tents.
Kirk looked around. Dara and Idi sat on a small hill behind him, eating from earthenware bowls and speaking in low voices. Jaylah walked over to Kirk, still dressed in the long flowing robes. She sat beside him and handed him a bowl of food.
"Looks like everyone took off in a hurry," He said, picking through the food.
Jaylah nodded. "They left at red sun rise. They are heading to their home," She told him. She gestured towards Dara. "They stay behind to help us find the crew."
Kirk stretched his arms behind his back and yawned. "How are you doing?" He asked.
She said nothing for a long moment as her eyes gazed across the grey wasteland stretching far into distance before them. "We save them," She said finally. "They no longer have to fear. Or be forced to work like machines."
Kirk nodded. "Yeah..."
"This make me think of Krall's prison camp..." Jaylah told him. "We save these people here, but on this planet there must be other places as this. Everywhere you go, there are always men that are as Krall. Men who make others work when they do not wish to work. Force others to live in chains," She spit on the ground. "There is a big man in charge who is doing this here. We stop him. So others on this planet can be free."
Kirk watched her carefully, surprised at the sudden resolution with which she spoke. "Well..."
His voice trailed off. He looked at the ground and sighed, digging his fingers into the soft grey earth and grabbing a handful of the ash grey soil. Every instinct he had was telling him to find the person responsible for such brutality and hold him accountable for his crimes. But Starfleet Regulation prohibited it. Slavery was illegal throughout the Federation, but they were in uncharted space now. The same rules and laws didn't exist here. They were there to observe, not to interfere. Not to topple governments and rewrite the customs and cultures of the places they went.
"You know...I'm with you on that. What we did here was necessary...but we can't...we can't change the leadership of this place or rewrite its government," He shook his head. "Although sometimes I really wish we could." He let the ash grey dirt fall between his fingers.
"We just let them suffer?" Jaylah grimaced. "What is point of being so far out here if we do nothing to make it better?"
Kirk shrugged. "If you asked me a few years ago, I would be all over that idea."
"Why not now?"
"People change..." He said quietly, his voice trailing off again as he was lost in thought. He shook his head. "You know, we're a lot alike. You and me. Always wanting to go in guns blazing, would rather act then sit around talking."
Jaylah, who had been watching him closely, turned away. Her streaked amber eyes gazed into the distance once more. "I will help them, even if you will not help," The anger in her voice had faded. "We are not alike. Because unlike you James T, I know what it is to live in chains."
In the distance, Dara stood and placed the rest of the food into a large sack. She picked up the blanket on which they were sitting and draped it over her shoulders. Idi helped pick up their few belongings. Dara headed towards Kirk, her face still concealed deep in the shadows of her hood.
"Morning," He said with a smile.
"Mourn-eng," She repeated. She reached beneath one of her robes and took out something wrapped in a scrap of fabric.
"What's this?" He asked, slowly unwrapping it.
"Binak," She said. "Nak tir lehk bi."
"It was found by AtkDn the last night," Jaylah explained. Dara nodded.
Kirk unwrapped the fabric, revealing his phaser. He turned to Dara and nodded. "Thank you."
Kirk placed the phaser back into its holster as he stood. His head rushed a little, but he'd had suffered through worse hangovers than this. "We need to get moving," He said.
"Dar-K," Dara said.
"We need to fine a way out of these canyons and back to the mountains to find the others," Captain Kirk told her.
"Fine friens," Dara said with a nod.
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