Tournament - Captain James Tiberius Kirk vs. Viceroy Nute Gunray

[Twogunkid]

“Captain’s Log 9519.4, it is with some degree of pride and sadness, that the USS Enterprise…A” Kirk paused, that letter while meant as an homage to the original ship always gnawed at him. A reminder of what he had to do, but it was painful to think about. “Has been recalled to Vulcan following the promotion of Hikaru Sulu to Captain. He will make a fine Captain, but it does leave us without a bridge officer and a dedicated helmsmen. I have personally requested Lt. Saavik formally join the Enterprise crew…”

 

“Bridge to Captain Kirk. Bridge to Captain Kirk.”

 

“Go ahead Uhura.”

 

“Long range sensors are picking up some sort of temporal anomaly near the Halkan system. A magnetic ion storm, not dissimilar to the one that transported us to the universe of the Terran Empire. Currently on course to Halkan Prime.”

 

“Understood. I’m on my way. Uhuru set a course for the Halkan System and contact Starfleet Command.”

 

“Very good sir.” Picking up Lt. Saavik would have to wait.

 

 

---

 

 

“Jim, the Halkans are one of the most notable neutral systems in the Alpha Quadrant. They have recently signed trade agreements with the Ferengi Alliance, but preventing an ecological disaster from ravaging their system could help bring them back to the bargaining table. They have a positive memory of your earlier encounter which did help open trading negotiations. Indeed, the Ferengi Alliance has never formally made contact with the Federation. The Halkans may be the perfect middlemen to arrange the advent of diplomacy between us. 

 

Captain Bateman of the USS Bozeman and Commander Reynolds of the USS Hathaway will be en route to assist in your operations, but you should arrive a full day ahead of them. Render all possible aid to the Halkans and ensure that the magnetic ion storm does not cause damage to their planetary infrastructure.” Admiral Cartwright tersely finished his briefing. “Any questions?”

 

“No Admiral, but the Enterprise is ill-equipped for such a massive rescue operation.” Kirk noted that at the moment he was slightly short-staffed. The debacle with Saibok on the Planet of Galactic Peace had left him with a lot of crew overdue on shore leave and many were currently taking it.

 

“Kirk, focus on adjusting the trajectory of the storm if possible, if that’s not feasible at that point begin bracing the the Halkan world as best you can. Evacuation is not something we can pull off. You have your orders. Cartwright out.” The view screen switched to the Federation insignia.

 

“I think I liked Admiral Morrow better. I always got the impression that Admiral Cartwright likes my people even less than I do.”

 

“Lieutenant Konom” The half-Klingon lieutenant sat at attention to the Captain’s command. “Set course for the Halkan system Warp 6, and keep your musings about high command private. That’s the sort of thing that could harm an officer’s career. Every Starfleet Officer from Admiral Cartwright down to you is dedicated to peaceable resolution of conflicts.”

 

“Yes sir. Sorry sir.” The Lieutenant punched in the commands as the Enterprise went to warp. Ensign Konom wasn’t wrong though, Kirk mused to himself. Admiral Cartwright was something of a warhawk among Federation command.

 

“Mr. Spock, assemble the Senior Officers in the briefing room. We have six and a half hours to devise a plan and just over 40 to execute it. Ensign Bearclaw, you have the bridge.”

 

 

---

 

 

“At it’s heart any magnetic storm functions around a nucleus of a coronal mass ejection from a nearby storm. The ionization as part of this storm is caused by the relatively unstable nature of the system’s Wolf-Rayet Star. These stars have burned off all of their hydrogen and are fusing helium instead. The result is that volatile nitrogen isotopes are often expelled which interact in a way we do not fully comprehend with the abundant dilithium in the Halkan system creating this ionic magnetic storm.”

 

“So you’re saying we don’t have a clue.”

 

“Not entirely Doctor.” Kirk listened as his officers engaged in their usual repartee. He cut through the usual squabbling. Spock continued, “As this storm has already passed through an asteroid containing substantial deposits of dilithium, we know that the effect will render transporters dangerous to use, so beaming mass from the coronal ejection is out of the question.”

 

Commander Chekov spoke up, “What if we configured our deflectors to shield us from as much of the radiation as possible and use the tractor beam on its widest possible settings to adjust the trajectory?”

 

“It is possible that course of action may have the desired effect; however, as the only ship to have interacted with the unpredictable magnetic storms of the Halkan system was the original Enterprise, we do not have sufficient data to conclude what effect the storms would have on shields or tractor beams.”

 

“Well lad, that’s not entirely true. In our universe we have no knowledge of how the shields worked, but in the other one, standard procedure was for the Enterprise to have shields up at all times, and they were experiencing the same kind of storm as us.” Mr. Scott got up and walked over to the console, “Computer, pull up personal engineering logs of Montgomery Scott, Stardate 3712.2. Authorization: Commander Montgomery Scott Code 1, 1A, 2B”

 

“Authenticating. Voice profile match. Commander Montgomery Scott. Displaying logs.”

 

“I recorded everything I could about how systems on that ship worked. So much of it was on the same principles as our technology only more primitive, but their Mister Scott had made a few modifications to the shields which helped them stay up against the storm.”

 

“Scotty, that meticulous engineering mind of yours never ceases to amaze. That sickbay was more like an iron maiden than anything else.”

 

“Mr. Scott, Mr. Chekov. I want a plan for the tractor beams to be used to adjust the trajectory. Mr. Spock,  I want you to review logs you and Mr. Kyle made. See if we can find a way to use transporters safely even if it is just for moving raw material. Dr. McCoy I want trauma packs prepared for radiation sickness and burns. If we don’t succeed, people will need that aid. Commander Uhura, prepare a message for the Halkan high council about the storm and our plan then advise the Bozeman and Hathaway. Sulu I want…” Kirk paused he was so accustomed to having Sulu there and being able to give orders to his helmsman and security officer. Teh crew paused, “Chekov I want security teams preparing shuttles for evacuation. If Mr. Spock can’t get the transporters to be safe, we will need a second option.”

 

“You have your orders. I want first rotation on the bridge at 1100 hours for arrival at the Halkan system. Dismissed.”

 

 

---

 

 

The plan was working, the Enterprise-A had to get very close to the magnetic core of the storm and it was certainly straining the impulse engines as well as playing havoc on the sensors, but from what the instruments said the storm was moving and its trajectory adjusting.

 

“Captain, I’m picking up another vessel coming in at warp.”

 

“On screen Ensign Bryce.”

 

“The interference is making the viewer inoperable Captain.”

 

“Shall I disengage from the storm Captain?”

 

“Negative Ensign Sherwood, maintain course, Spock, see if can help Ensign Bryce make anything of it.”

 

“Aye Captain.”

 

“Captain we are being hailed, but I can only get audio”

 

“Put it through Uhura.”

 

“This is Daimon Adred of the Ferengi Raider Krayton. You hew-mans are attempting to move a large quantity of dilithium that by contract belongs to the Ferengi alliance. We will be removing our dilithium now.”

 

“Captain, they are powering transporters.”

 

“Daimon if you do this the results could be-” but Captain Kirk never had a chance to finish his sentence as the familiar sensation of beaming began to engulf him and the entirety of the Enterprise.

 

 

---

 

 

“What, what did you say?”

 

“The ambassadors are Jedi Knights. I believe.” The silver protocol droid answered Viceroy Gunray’s demands.

 

“I knew it. They are here to force a settlement.”

 

“Distract them. I will contact Lord Sidious.”

 

“Are you brain dead? I’m not going in there with two Jedi. Send a droid.”

 

Within a few moments, the Viceroy had accepted Lord Sideous’s suggestion and begun landing troops on Naboo.

 

“Sir-”

 

“The Jedi are still coming through…”

 

“Where are those Droideka?”

 

“Sir-”

 

“The Jedi are no match for Droideka”

 

“Sir-”

 

“What is it?”

 

“An unknown vessel has entered the system.”

 

“What do you mean unknown?”

 

“It does not match any known configuration and is more than three times the size of the Radiant VII we just destroyed.”

 

“We have done nothing wrong. They don’t know anything. Get vulture droids ready.”

 

 

---

 

 

“Status report Mr. Spock.”

 

“According to chronoton readings and Star charts, we are far from our previous location and at some point in the distant past. Position unknown. Star Date also unknown. Attempting to ascertain position, and time.”

 

"In layman's terms, we are a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."

 

"I believe that is what I said Doctor."

 

“Sir, I am detecting several massive wessels deploying some kind of shuttlecraft.”

 

“Red alert. Shields up. No one is clear to fire. If we are in the past, we want to avoid damaging the time stream as much as we possibly can.”

 

“There are dozens of these wessels Captain. They appear to be landing shuttlecraft on the planet.”

 

“Only a few lifesigns Captain and based on the frequency of electronic communication from the lead ship, they appear to be mostly commanding a fleet of drones. They also appear to be jamming communications from the planet’s surface.”

 

“The small shuttlecraft are firing some sort of primitive particle blast weapons at us Sir. Shields holding. No notable damage.”

 

“There are a lot of these small drones. They could potentially pose a threat en masse. Uhura, hail the lead ship.” After a few more moments of ineffectual attack by the Vulture Droids, the lead Lucrehulk Battleship accepted the Enterprise’s hails.

 

“Our communications systems appear incompatible Captain. Audio only.”

 

“Thank you Commander, put me through.” Kirk stood out of habit as he laid out his address, but was interrupted before he could speak.

 

“Our blockade is perfectly legal, what do you want?”

 

“This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise. We bear you no hostile intent, but firing on a ship unprovoked seems very aggressive for a blockade. With whom am I speaking?”

 

“This is Viceroy Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation.” Gunray put particular emphasis on the difference in name between the two. “We have already received the Supreme Chancellor’s Negotiators, but we have no interest in negotiations.”

 

“Sir, the transport ships seem to be landing mainly at the largest city on the planet.”

 

“Viceroy, if I might be able to interject-” Kirk paused, his desire for a peaceful solution seemed to be at odds with the temporal Prime Directive. These civilizations had clearly acquired interstellar travel, even if their weapons were hopelessly antiquated. “I believe I there is always grounds for diplomacy. Hold your invasion, and let us set up a meeting between you and the people of this planet.”

 

 

---

 

 

“Sir, our vulture droids have been incapable of penetrating their shields, I do not know if even our main turbolaser batteries would have a noticeable effect.” The Nemodian looked to his B1 Star-Command droid.

 

“Very well Captain. If you can convince Queen Amidala to sign the treaty, we will happily break our blockade.”

 

“Very good Viceroy, an Officer and an away team will be over to your ship shortly. Enterprise out.”

 

“First the Jedi, now this?” Gunray sighed and prepared to contact Lord Sidious again. 

 

After the Viceroy once again breached Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord spoke, "Viceroy. There is an opportunity here. I will dispatch Lord Maul to assist you. Let this Captain Kirk assemble all the players. He may even bring the Jedi into view. Then through cunning and Lord Maul's help, you will achieve our aims."

 

---

 

 

“I’ve bought us time. Spock, I want you to figure out a way for us to get back to the Halkan system and our own time. Chekov, Uhura take a security team aboard this Trade Federation vessel. Their mercantile name and what we know of parallel universes suggests they may have some similarities with the Ferengi Commerce Alliance of our reality. First contact procedures, but consider them aggressive. Doctor McCoy, Commander Scott, take a security detachment and meet with the people of this planet. Try and ascertain why the Trade Federation has enacted this blockade and try and bring people to the negotiating table. Every second they spend talking is a moment they aren’t trying to blow each other up.”

 

“Captain, I will remind you of the temporal Prime Directive-”

“Yes Mr. Spock, but unfortunately the nature of our arrival has already disrupted the time stream. The sooner we are out of here the better. In the meantime, I’m not about to let an interplanetary war break out on my watch.”

 

 

---

 

 

“Governor Bibble, where is Queen Amidala?” Qui Gon and Obi-Wan had with some difficulty made it to Theed only to find the occupying forces waiting outside the city instead of storming it.

 

“She went with the Federation mediators from the ship Enterprise. They seemed earnest in the desire to create a negotiated peace.” Qui Gon and his Padawan exchanged glances, that did not seem to track with what the Trade Federation had said and done only hours before when they tried to kill the two Jedi.

 

“Are there any craft which can bring us to the negotiations?” Governor Bibble led them to Ric Ollie and the Royal Yacht which would ferry them to the Enterprise. 

 

“Master, this feels wrong. The Force is clouded, like something shouldn’t be here.”

 

“I agree Obi-Wan. It is good to be mindful of the Force always, but something certainly feels off.”

 

“Could this be another Trade Federation trick?”

 

“One must always be aware of the possibilities, but if the negotiations are going on in earnest, we should be there.”

 

 

---

 

 

“Sir, a ship from the surface is requesting to dock with us. It’s coming up from the surface.”

 

“Send them to shuttlebay two. Ensign Bearclaw, I want to meet them with a full security detail. The Naboo and the Trade Federation both will wait before we bring them together in Conference Room One.”

 

Kirk made his way to the shuttlebay to receive the two Jedi Knights, who upon being greeted by the vessel’s Captain and sensing his earnest desire to negotiate a peace, were able to share the diplomatic demands of Supreme Chancellor Valorum. 

 

“Master Jinn, Mister Kenobi, perhaps you’d like to stay aboard the Enterprise for a bit. My officers should be bring Viceroy Gunray and his entourage on board as we speak. I have gotten them to agree to negotiations at 1800 hours, but that doesn’t give me much time to learn from Queen Amidala or the Viceroy about what to expect. If you are agreeable, I would like you to brief my senior staff.”

 

Armed with the knowledge of the Trade Federation’s attempt on the lives of the Jedi Knights and their illegal invasion of Naboo, can Kirk create a nonviolent solution to the Phantom Menace and therefore avert all of the prequels? Can Nute Gunray turn this situation to his advantage and still get Sidious's plan to go off? Can he keep a negotiation going long enough for Darth Maul to get aboard the Enterprise and engineer a slaughter?

[Callisto]

Learn More About
Captain James Tiberius Kirk
Read more about Captain James Tiberius Kirk at Wikipedia
Official Site: Paramount Pictures Links: Wikipedia: Captain Kirk Memory Alpha: Captain Kirk Startrek.com: Captain Kirk

Viceroy Nute Gunray
Read more about Viceroy Nute Gunray at Wikipedia
Official Site: 20th Century Fox Films Links: Nute Gunray Wikipedia page Nute Gunray StarWars.com page StarWars.com

[Twogunkid]

I had to stop myself. At 2500 words I was already over a quarter of the way to a novella. TOS Trek is just so much fun to write dialogue for. I also liked sneaking some DC Comics Star Trek characters in. Obviously set between Star Trek V and Star Trek VI, but I had to take some liberties with Star Dates.

[leroypowell3]

23 hours ago, Twogunkid said:

I had to stop myself. At 2500 words I was already over a quarter of the way to a novella. TOS Trek is just so much fun to write dialogue for. I also liked sneaking some DC Comics Star Trek characters in. Obviously set between Star Trek V and Star Trek VI, but I had to take some liberties with Star Dates.

impressive how much Trekkie detail you fit in there. I don't even pretend with the stardates. I just don't include them.

[RakaiThwei]

Great work here and very in tune with TOS! That's my favorite Star Trek series!

I am gonna go with Kirk here!

[Pizza Guy]

Gunray is corrupt and greedy to his core, he barely hesitated to try to have two Jedis killed when they presented a threat to his plans, I doubt he’d hesitate to try the same on Kirk.

Sorry but I just don’t see how Kirk is gonna stop Gunray diplomatically. Especially since Gunray knows that if he doesn’t go through with the blockade Sidious will likely have him killed.

[JohnnyChany]

Great crossover setup and use of a character in Gunray that isn't easy to use in this versus format. I grew up with TNG, but I respect the TOS and the charisma and ability of Captain Kirk.

[Twogunkid]

59 minutes ago, JohnnyChany said:

Great crossover setup and use of a character in Gunray that isn't easy to use in this versus format. I grew up with TNG, but I respect the TOS and the charisma and ability of Captain Kirk.

ToS video tapes were my childhood exposure. Pretty sure I watched The Doomsday Machine and Day of the Dove to death on VHS.

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
4.40 - Pizza Guy
5.00 - patrickthekid
4.70 - Boratz
4.80 - JohnnyChany

FPA Calculation:
4 Total Votes cast
18.90 Total Combined Score
18.90 / 4 = 4.72 Final Rating on the match

MATCH SCORE
Captain James Tiberius Kirk: 6
Viceroy Nute Gunray: 3

[Culwych1]

Sorry I missed this one, but it's brilliant. We should definitely have more Trek vs Wars on here - there is so much scope for fun setups. 

[Twogunkid]

13 hours ago, Culwych1 said:

Sorry I missed this one, but it's brilliant. We should definitely have more Trek vs Wars on here - there is so much scope for fun setups. 

Part of the problem is Trek ship and weapons tech is leagues ahead of Star Wars. As TOS weapons can wipe out things on a scale Star Wars ships of a similar size can't. Even Star Trek shuttlecraft carry ship grade phasers.