Title: Avellach

Author: Karracaz

karracaz01@yahoo.co.uk

Series: TOS

Rating: General - suitable for all

Disclaimer: Paramount/Viacom own Startrek. I merely play with the characters. I earn no money and do it only for pleasure.

Summary: The Enterprise visits a colony world experiencing strange, tectonic activity.


Avellach
by Karracaz

Avellach: the shimmering world on the main viewscreen was like a bright jewel on the dark brow of space. Jim Kirk smiled to himself. It was rare for a planet to move him to poetry, he was too experienced a space traveller for that - and most did not deserve it anyway, but Avellach - well she was different.

The planet obliquely reminded him of Earth - and home. Oh, not in the shape of the continents or ratio of sea to land, it was the world itself, the green, gold, and the blue of it. He felt an inexplicable yearning, tried to rationalize the sensation, and failed. Perhaps he was tired! He sighed deeply and looked up into McCoy's beaming face as the doctor came to stand by the Command chair.

"Homesick, Jim?"

"Hmmm, maybe. Avellach seems to have that effect on me, Bones," he smiled briefly. "Not to mention the rest of the crew. The only one who has remained unaffected is Spock!"

McCoy opened his mouth to say something suitably cutting, saw Kirk's lazy smile, and grinned wryly. "You know my opinions on that. Has he come up with any results yet?"

"Not so far! He's down there now taking sensor readings, but I doubt he'll have much luck where the equipment is concerned. That blanket effect seems to have put gremlins into everything."

"You mean he hasn't figured a way to damp down the magnetic field so that we can use the transporters. He must be slipping, Jim."

Kirk laughed. "Even Spock can't work miracles, Bones."

"Don't be too certain about that, " McCoy said tartly.

"Perhaps you're right," Kirk agreed. "That magnetic field is a problem we could do without. It's the only drawback to the planet so far, and it's no mean feat moving tons of supplies plus equipment by shuttlecraft."

McCoy nodded, and turned to look back up at the viewscreen that dominated the front of the bridge, as Lieutenant Uhura turned from her communications board.

"Captain, the Galileo has just come aboard. Mr. Spock has gone straight to the briefing room as you requested."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Call departmental heads. I want to see them there immediately."

"Aye, aye, sir."

Kirk looked at Spock across the briefing room table. His first officer was immaculately turned out as usual however, beneath the iron expression, he appeared slightly ruffled.

"As you know, sir," Spock said, addressing Kirk. "Our instruments have not been working quite as efficiently as they normally do. However I have established that the reports submitted by the colonists were in fact correct."

He paused, almost as if for dramatic effect. "A major earthquake will take place in approximately twenty-four hours, planet time."

"Twenty-four hours?" McCoy questioned, glancing up quickly at the first officer. "But there's more than twelve thousand people down there, as near as damnit makes no difference to the threatened zone. We can't hope to evacuate them all in that time."

"For once, I would agree with you, Doctor," Spock admitted patiently. He fitted a tape into the tri-screen on the desk and watched as a detailed schematic of the area appeared.

"As you can see," he continued quietly, "the colonists have unfortunately chosen to build here, a fault line in the surface crust, that will receive most of the disturbance. As the Doctor has stated, with transporter effectively out of action, it is highly unlikely we will be able to beam them to a safer area in time. Logically, therefore, the only alternative is - to divert the earthquake."

Kirk, sipping at a cup of lukewarm coffee, almost choked. What had Bones been saying about miracles----? McCoy took it even less stoically.

"And how do you figure on doing that," he asked after a shocked silence, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Do an impression of King Canute, Vulcan-style?"

There was a ripple of amused laughter from the other departmental heads around the table. Spock raised an expressive eyebrow. "King Canute, Doctor McCoy? I do not believe I know the name. Is he associated with seismic disturbances?"

Kirk hid his own amusement as he saw Bones scowl. He knew from experience that Spock's insatiable curiosity with anything human, had led him down many weird and wonderful paths of discovery. He was sure the name of an obscure British king would not have escaped the Vulcan's knowledge. Seeing the inevitable argument beginning to brew, he intervened quickly. "I think we can safely leave King Canute for later, Mr. Spock. What have you in mind?"

Looking vaguely disappointed, Spock changed tapes and indicated the picture on the screen.

"It will be relatively simple, Captain - although there is an element of risk. Here you see a particularly mountainous area on the southern continent where there have been several tremors of varying intensity, the last one three point four days ago---."

"You're quite certain about that, Mr. Spock?" Kirk asked lightly.

Spock blinked, "As certain as the latest data permits, Captain. Of course there could be a slight error due---"

"Never!" McCoy muttered under his breath, which none-the-less was audible to the rest of them.

Spock glanced at him. "You have some comment to make, Doctor?"

Bones glared like a little boy caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. "I was just making a remark that it would be illogical for you to err, Spock!"

Kirk smiled gently, "As you were saying, Mr. Spock---."

"Indeed, Captain." He turned back to the screen. "This area is riddled with cave structures, many of them leading down hundreds of feet beneath Avellach's surface. It would need only a small, planned explosion, meticulously engineered to coincide with the earthquake itself, to produce a disrupting effect."

"You mean if we release the pressure with a quake of our own, the large one won't take place."

"Exactly, sir."

"Uh-huh." Kirk pondered for a moment before looking up at his assembled staff. "What is your opinion, Mr. Mura? You're the geologist."

Mura, originally of Swedish descent with thick prematurely white hair, looked up keenly.

"The theory is sound." He said, his slow smile rivalling Kirk's own for charm factor. "There have been cases on Aleph IV and even on Earth, where this sort of thing was tried – quite successfully."

"Scotty, do you think you could rig up the sort of device, Mr. Spock would require?"

"Aye, Captain, it shouldnae be too difficult. I'll need an hour--- mebbe two."

"You've got them, Scotty."

"Hold on, Jim!" McCoy said, butting in, "don't you think we're rushing into things. There are twelve thousand colonists down on that planet. We can't just go ahead with some half-cocked scheme."

"Bones, we have twenty-four hours in which to act. "There are risks as Spock pointed out, both to the colonists and to any landing party that we send, but if you have a better idea---."

"Dammit, Jim, you know I haven't!" Kirk looked at him kindly.

"Then I propose we go ahead. Pick your team, Mr. Spock. I want you down on that planet as soon as possible. That's all, Gentleman."

"Aye, aye, Captain."



END PART 3