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“Aye, Commander,” said Scotty, looking at the device.

Spock had moved to open the hatch. “We will stay in contact.” The Vulcan took out his communicator. “Spock here. Begin.”

Spock exited the shuttle, rappelling in one quick motion, the strong wind just managing to ruffle his close-cropped hair.

“Good luck,” Scott said. He breathed in deeply, hoping that the landing party would find something useful down there.

The command center was starting to fill up wth the freed Farrezzi. The inner part, below the cupola, was a large empty space. The control consoles were along the wall. Looking around, the captain noticed that there was no main viewscreen—then he looked up and saw symbols floating just below the transparent dome. A heads-up display made sense if you had eyes that pointed in every direction.

The consoles were unusual, circular and rail thin. Their displays were round screens that were mounted to a pole, three meters above the floor. Very ergonomic for a Farrezzi. Chekov was doing his best to cope with the design, Giotto at his side. Unfortunately, none of the Farrezzi had piloting experience, so Chekov was their best hope.

Kirk was scrutinizing the other transport on the dome display. The other ship was a twin to the one they were on. They hadn’t found Yüksel—he could be over there. Regardless, they had to stop that ship. Both ships were ten minutes from powering up their warp engines.

But how to stop them?

“Horr-Sav-Frerin, I need your help,” Kirk said, leaning against an unoccupied console to fight the fatigue.

“Assistance certainty. Argument: lack of ability. James-Kirk-Enterprise, I nonpossession of relevant skillset. Query: suggestions?”

The captain had accepted the communicator’s failure to provide a better translation of the Farrezzi language. He understood that Horr-Sav-Frerin was happy to offer its help, but it didn’t have the knowledge to operate the technology.

“I need you to tell the Farrezzi with space experience to take any controls even if they understand only vaguely.”

Horr gestured animatedly. What did it mean? Or worse, had he said something insensitive?

“Correction, James-Kirk-Enterprise. People not-name Farrezzi. Agreement: planet name Farrezz. People name Community-of-Children-of-Farrezz.”

“Thank you for the clarification,” said Kirk. “I have an assistance requirement.”

Horr gesticulated again. “Agreement. Offer: information completion. Query: acceptance?”

“Acceptance.”

Chekov was staring up at the display, his expression intent, a smile on his lips. Kirk crossed over to him. “Ensign, I see you’re enjoying yourself. Good.”

“Oh, yes, sir,” Chekov said, nodding eagerly. “This is amazing technology, completely alien—and yet intuitive.”

“Go on.”

“Let me show you, sir. Here, this is local space.” Chekov pointed up at the display. It changed to Farrezz, covered in thick swirls of clouds and green-blue oceans. “I accessed the sensors in less than a minute. I am confident that we’ll have complete control very soon, sir.”

“Any weapons?” the captain asked.

Chekov shook his head. “No weapons, sir.”

Kirk gestured at a large bank of indicator lights. “What are those?”

“Incoming transmissions,” said Chekov. “Status reports from the satellites Hofstadter found in orbit. I believe this craft deployed them.”

“Can we get a signal to the shuttles?” asked Kirk.

“I have been trying,” said Chekov, “but our communicators cannot penetrate the ship’s hull, and I haven’t discovered how to link the ship’s systems into our—” Suddenly Chekov gasped. “Captain, the other ship is going to warp!”

“Damn!” Kirk looked up at the transport, whose engines were beginning to glow.

“They probably got scared when they lost contact,” Giotto said. “Can we go after them?”

“I can activate warp drive,” said Chekov, “but it will not be good for the engines.”

“I plan on trading this ship in for a better one, Mister Chekov.” Kirk moved to the center of the room, back to Horr. “Are your people ready?”

“Affirmation.