1.9 The Captain in the Arena (mission)

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## Summary

### Cold Open

Jemer Prikor, captain of the starship *USS Tizona (NCC-26156)*, trains in his quarters when a transmission comes through his computer terminal. A Gorn official announces that the time for the 4th diplomatic trial between the Federation and Gorn Hegemony has come and that, much to Prikor's surprise, they've picked another captain to represent the Federation...Captain Rye Jae Maddox.

### Part 1

As the *Tempest* approaches the planet Kalveron, Maddox makes his final preparations in the conference room with the rest of the *Tempest* senior staff minus Commander Goodspeed. Captain Prikor is also there and after being introduced to the senior staff, is put in charge by Maddox as temporary Tempest commander.

Shortly after, the Gorn counterpart's ship, the *Ezaris* arrives in orbit - an imposing and formidable battleship. The crew scans the area where the challenge will take place to learn the general layout, finding it to be desert like with sparse vegetation and an incoming electrical storm.

Maddox beams down to the surface, finding himself about 100 meters from Captain S'Lharis, his Gorn counterpart. As S'Lharis begins to approach, Maddox holds his ground at first, before beginning to match the Gorn's movements to keep the distance between them constant. On the *Tempest*, Dr. Teal prepares a medkit in the eventuality that Maddox is injured.

Maddox surveys the surrounding area and takes cover behind a cluster of rocks near a cactus-like plant with long drooping barbs. He communicates with Prikor aboard the *Tempest*, learning that he won't be able to outlast the Gorn captain and that ultimately, he will have to fight S'Lharis in some way. Prikor also offers that the Gorn are more susceptible to cold than humans (and especially human/Andorian hybrids), prompting Maddox to locate a nearby cave in the hopes of gaining an advantage.

While moving towards the cave, Maddox examines one of the cacti more closely and discovers that the flower like formations appear to be crystalline. On the *Tempest*, Holden beams up samples of the cacti, flora, and surrounding soil and begins studying them for any potential advantages. Prikor reminds Maddox to keep his distance and stay in open areas, and that Gorn hunt primarily by smell.

As Maddox reaches the cave entrance, he notices striations of a metallic ore running through the rock, ground, and cave walls. He quickly does some push ups to work up a sweat, removes his shirt, urinates on it, and throws the shirt into the cave in an attempt to lure the Gorn further into the cave. But in the process, he also accidentally urinates onto his own pants, which he then also removes to avoid detection.

### Part 2

With the electrical storm reaches the area, S'Lharis approaches the cave entrance, Maddox hides behind a rock outcropping nearby. The Gorn captain appears to take Maddox's bait and enters the cave. But once he reaches the shirt, he appears to smell something else and reacts with a growl. Something deep within the cave roars back and the Gorn retreats back out of the cave and into the open.

On the *Tempest*, the crew studies the materials Holden beamed aboard and discovers the cactus is in effect a living battery, storing and then discharge electrical potentials.

On the planet, Maddox grabs a rock to increase his mass and bowls himself into S'Lahris, knocking the Gorn to the ground. As Maddox gets to his feet, he hears another growl coming from the cave and sees the shadow of a large creature moving in their direction. Maddox stabs the Gorn in the leg, then flees from the cave, leaving S'Lahris behind.

On the *Tempest*, the crew experiments with the catcus and discovers how to combine the components into a makeshift taser weapon. With this information, Maddox opens up the distance between him and S'Lahris and starts the process of assembling his own cactus taser.

### Part 3

As the cave dwelling creature approaches the surface, the *Tempest* scans it and learns that it is a massive wyrm like creature with a metallic skin. Nearby, Maddox continues to work on assembling the cactus taser and though setbacks delay him long enough to allow the Gorn captain to close the distance, he is ultimately successful. Maddox fires the cactus taser at S'Lahris. He scores a hit, though S'Lahris's thick skin affords him enough protection to avoid injury.

In orbit, a second Gorn ship, a small raider, drops out of warp nearby and begins an attack run. The crew hails the ship but is ignored, forcing the *Tempest* to return fire in self defense. After several volleys, the raider's shields fail and the ship suffers multiple hull breaches.

### Part 4

The raider turns towards the Gorn battleship and performs a suicide attack, colliding with the battleship but causing very little damage. Throughout the encounter, up to and including the attack on itself, the Gorn battleship has taken no action of its own, baffling the Tempest crew.

On the planet, Maddox attempts to fire the cactus taser a second time, but without success. He drops the dead weapon and climbs a nearby rock formation to the next nearest cactus. With the lightning storm now directly on top of the captains, Maddox begins constructing a new cactus weapon. S'Lahris is able to get within reaching distance of Maddox and is able to tear a second pair of pants from Maddox's legs.

The wyrm creature appears below the two captains, drawing S'Lahris's attention and giving Maddox an opportunity to fire another taser shot, knocking the Gorn to the ground. Maddox orders the Tempest to beam down a lightning rod as his one item, which he then uses as a javelin, jumping off the rock face, dropping down onto the wyrm from above and impaling it through the mouth.

The wyrm writhes in pain and S'Lahris is absolutely flabbergasted by Maddox's stunt. He speaks into a communicator and a moment later a Gorn disrupter rifle materializes in front of Maddox. Maddox picks up the rifle and tosses it to S'Lharis, who first aims it back at Maddox before turning it on the wyrm and firing, killing the creature.

The two captains share a moment in the midst of the electrical storm before returning to their respective ships. The *Tempest* crew ask the Gorn about the meaning of the earlier attack from the raider. The battleship explains that it was a rogue ship bent on disrupting relations between the Federation and Gorn Hegemony and goes on to compliment the Tempest for their handling of the situation.

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