Captain’s Log, Supplemental

Though we had to spend another four weeks in Hintaru dry dock, repairs to the Dragon have been complete, and we are already back to where we had encountered the Kiklar. Life on the Dragon has taken on a new ‘normal’ as the Hintaru and Britar officers attempt to integrate into our way of life. It definitely is not easy, especially for the Britar. There have already been four fights in the forward crew lounge, but hopefully they will be the last.

Since we came into this galaxy, we have, for the most part, had the aid of the Hintaru, and then later the Britar. Now, however, we’ll soon be too far away for them to be capable of rendering any assistance to us. Once again, we are on our own.

On the bright side, we’ve detected an uninhabited M-class planet nearby, and are taking the opportunity to explore for the first time in over a year.

"We’re approaching the planet," James Trikal stated.

Captain Chris Harriman stood up, anxious to see the planet. He had studied the sensor readings of the new, uninhabited planet carefully.

It was an unusual planet, to say the least. It was mostly covered by water, with scattered islands and one small continent in the Northern Hemisphere. However, much of the water was very shallow. In fact, so shallow in some places that he was sure that they would be able to see some of the ocean bed from orbit.

Another odd aspect of this ‘paradise world’ was its atmosphere. Though most humanoids required oxygen to breathe, most humanoid’s planets had very little oxygen in comparison to the rest of the planet.

"We’re within visual range," Lieutenant-Commander Vendar Perkins reported.

He felt more than saw Commander Sarah Caft come up along side of him, equally as anxious as he was. "On screen," he ordered.

Most planets he had ever seen seemed gem-like. M-class planets usually were blue, green and brown, retained a beauty like no other.

This planet, however, was better! The blue sky reflected on the vast, endless oceans, making most of the planet a bluish color. However, in several places, he could see the coral-strewn ocean bed. He could almost swear that he saw dark shadows moving across the ocean bed, adding to the mysteriousness of the planet.

The small continent, which was conveniently placed squarely in their view, was pure contrast to the endless blue. Pure green for the most part, dense tropical forestry covered every millimeter of ground except for a small, white sandy beach to the planetary west.

"Damn…" Sarah commented quietly, her light voice a mere breath, barely audible above the normal, quiet hum of the ship.

"If I had known this was here," Vendar added, "I would have stayed here during shore leave…"

"Doesn’t mean we can spend some time here," Chris commented.

Sarah looked at him, a look of slight surprise, but satisfied expectancy, showing on her face. "You realize we just got back from a six month shore leave!"

Chris looked at her a moment, an almost cocky grin on his face. "So then a few more days won’t hurt."

He put a hand on her shoulder and looked at the view screen. "Besides, in this galaxy…….I doubt we’ll ever see a planet like this again."

He gave a loving squeeze to her shoulder, then moved towards the turbolift. "All senior officers report to transporter room’s one and two and prepare to beam to the surface. Junior officers have the ship, but will be relieved in two hours."

As he entered the turbolift, he thought to himself, and something tells me it really will be the last paradise we see in a while…

The familiar tingling sensation from the transport subsided as Sarah felt herself materialize. Immediately, her feet ever-so slightly sank into the white, untouched sands of the beach.

Her first sight of the planet was the endless blue ocean that stretched endlessly to the horizon, meeting the cloudless blue sky with a barely perceptible line. Small waves creeped up the shore line, leaving darkened sand as they receded back into the endless depths of the great sea.

The second sensation she felt was a burning in her lungs. She thought back to the sensor readings she had studied of the planet and remembered that the planet had almost forty- percent oxygen in its atmosphere! We better not stay down here more than a few days at a time or we’ll burn out our lungs.

Energy seemed to course through her body as vast amounts of oxygen reached every fiber of her body. She began to feel light headed from the ‘overdose’ of oxygen, but she knew that the feeling would soon end as she became accustomed to the intense oxygen.

She looked to her right to see the rest of the senior officers who had used the other transporter room standing about ten meters away. She nodded to them then continued scanning the area.

Her eyes fell upon the edge of the beach, where the unusually dense forest began. Plants seem thicker than anything she had ever seen, engulfing the huge trunks of the trees. Dense areas of green leaves seemed to pour out over the top, almost like the foliage beneath the canopies of the tall trees seemed to be constrained by the trunks and the foliage was pouring out over the top, trying to escape from a dark prison.

"My guess is," Tom commented, "That, despite the green color, the underbrush relies mostly on thermal energy for photosynthesis than it does on sunlight."

"I agree," Vendar added. "There’s no other way plant life could exist underneath that dense of a canopy if it relied mostly on sunlight."

"With all of the oxygen in the air, you know there can’t be too many life forms on the surface," Sarah commented, trying to take in all of the scenery at once.

"Well, we have a choice," Chris said. "We can either study the planet, figure out its inner working, or we can first enjoy it, then study it."

Unanimously, the crew replied, "Enjoy!"

The senior officers started to disperse in small groups. Vendar and Kara went off by themselves into the dense foliage, followed later by Ada, by herself. Kalia seemed to lead the rest of the senior staff off towards the water, and dove into the water, regardless of the fact that she was in uniform and boots.

Chris put his arm around Sarah’s shoulder, and for a moment they locked eyes and smiled. Then, wordlessly, they walked down the beach together.

Tom laughed as Kalia walked back up onto the shore, her boots weighting her down so much that she had almost drowned. She kicked one boot of, then kicked the other towards Tom. Still laughing, he ducked out of the way, the boot barely sailing over his head.

Terry kicked his boots off and dove in, followed closely by Kalia. They started to splash each other and wrestled around. Kalia looked back at Tom, who just stood in the same location he had since the staff had separated. She waved him in, but he shook his head. He had something else he needed to do.

Kalia, knowing the complications he had been having recently, just nodded, then went back to pummeling on Terry with water.

Remembering where she had first entered the forest, Tom turned around and headed for that location. As Chris and Sarah passed by, Chris gave him a knowing nod.

For the past nine months, their relationship degraded so much to the point where they only spoke while doing their jobs. They never argued, but neither of them wanted to say anything. Tom didn’t know Ada’s reasons, but he hazarded a guess that hers were the same as his.

They weren’t meant for each other. At first, he had been very excited, thinking that he had found someone to fill in for his lack of strength, someone to lean on, someone who cared for him as much as he cared for her.

He scolded himself for thinking that alone would be enough as he pushed his way through the dense foliage. Sure, they cared a lot about each other at first, but they just never had time to be together. When they were together, it was like they were merely friends, nothing more.

It didn’t take long for their relationship to become unrealistic. Both knew it, but they both tried to save it by trying to spend more time together. That simply made the problem worse.

Now, it was time for one of them to break the ice. They had to at least remain friends! Tom couldn’t live with it being any other way! But it was time for someone to end their love relationship now, because it simply no longer existed. In a sense it already was…but they both needed to say it.

"Looking for me?" Ada suddenly said as she dropped from the trees onto the barely visible ground.

"Do you always need to make an entrance?" Tom asked, trying to make the situation lighter before he even began.

"When we’re going to talk about something like our relationship," she asked.

Tom looked away to the foliage, not wanting to face her. "Look, it’s pretty clear that our being together as more than just friends…well……it just hasn’t worked out."

"I know," she said. Tom looked back at her, glad that she thought like he did. "It seemed right for both of us at first…but it just wasn’t meant to be."

Both of their tones of voice were hollow, like neither of them wanted to admit it was over, even though it already was. It is…and there’s nothing either of us can do.

"Look, I couldn’t stand the two of us coming out of this not being friend," he said, moving past her, deeper into the forest.

He paused just past her and waited impatiently for her reply. Would she also want to remain friends?

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally replied. "I don’t know." His heart leaped to his throat. "I don’t know if it’s just me, but it just…doesn’t seem right. But then…we were good friends before. I’ve felt some very conflicting emotions about this whole thing. And…I honestly don’t know what I’m feeling."

"I know how that is," Tom said, turning to face her. "Because I feel the same way. I’m feeling something about all this…but I don’t know what. It’s like I’m a teenager again, feeling strange, conflicting emotions! It’s confusing as hell!"

"Exactly!" Ada said, shaking her head. "I think the best thing we can do is wait it out, now that the ice is broken, and see how we react to each other."

Tom nodded and was about to reply, but a sudden, blood-curdling scream shattered the calm forest air.

"What the hell was that?!" Ada asked, spinning around to face the direction of the beach.

Suddenly, Vendar darted past them, moving through the forest with an energy no normal human could have. Without saying another word, both Ada and Tom took off after her, Kara right behind them.

With a few cuts on his hands and face, Tom finally burst through onto the beach, almost tripping over a root. It was then he saw Terry helping Kalia out of the water. She seemed to be limping, and blood was coming out of her right foot.

A phaser shot from down the beach hit something behind Terry, and the odd sound of an unknown creature dying struck his ears.

"What happened?!" Kara asked, moving to Kalia’s side. The entire senior staff was soon all around her.

"Something bit my foot!" Kalia said, gritting her teeth in pain. "And it hurts like nothing I’ve ever felt before!"

Kara took out a tricorder and started scanning her foot with the small wand. "A mild poison was introduced into your body," she stated after a moment. "It isn’t life threatening, but if I don’t treat it, it could put you in bed for the next week or so."