Renegade [042-ecomj]
By Gene Deweese
Synopsis
Captain Kirk and the Enterprise are sent
to mediate a dispute between a non-federation world and its
colony, which is trying to break away and become
independent. When Spock and McCoy are
kidnapped and the Enterprise itself starts to experience very
serious malfunctions, Kirk finds himself in a real
pickle. And then there is the Prime Directive
which doesn't help matters any.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places and incidents are either the product of the
author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events or locales
or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.
An Original Publication of POCKET
BOOKS
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon and
Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York,
NY 10020
Copyright [*copy] 1991 by Paramount
Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
" ?"', STAR TREK is a Registered
Trademark of [*reg] Paramount Pictures.
This book is published by Pocket Books, a
division of Simon and Schuster Inc., under
exclusive license from Paramount Pictures.
All rights reserved, including the right
to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form
whatsoever.
For information address Pocket Books, 1230
Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

ISBN 0-fga-fehad-X
First Pocket Books printing June 1991
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
POCKET and colophon are registered
trademarks of Simon and Schuster Inc.
Printed in the U.s.a.
In memory of Fahf 1974-1991 As
conscientious a cat as you'd ever want
Historian's Note
The events of Renegade take place during the
last year of the Enterprise's original five-year
mission.
Prologue
Hargemon--he'd used the name so long, that was how
he now thought of hmfulooked up at his commander and
laughed, the sound reverberating harshly in the cramped
and spartan computer lab.
"So, it will be Enterprise after all, With the great
Captain James Tiberius Kirk in the hot
seat!" The adjective dripped With sarcasm.
The commander smiled. "The luck of the draw. I
thought you might be pleased."
"It couldn't happen to a better starship captain.
He does so enjoy setting himself up as an
example for others."
"You will, of course, need to alter your appearance,
just in case."
"That would be necessary no matter what ship it was.
All Starfleet officers pride themselves on their
memories--among other less useful
traits. But under the circumstances, it will require
little more than what nature has already done." He
grinned, brushing his fingers across his full, but neatly
trimmed, reddish-gray beard.
"I will decide what is required and what is
not," the commander said, his smile abruptly disappearing.
"I will not allow half measures, not in this. There is
far too much at stake. Far too many people have worked far
too hard to allow one individual to jeopardize that
work because of carelessness. Or," he added, eyes
narrowing in warning, "because of ego or because of any
personal agenda that individual might consider
pursuing."
"Don't worry," Hargemon snapped. "I
am as aware of the importance of our objective as
you!" He waved his hands at the racks of equipment
that crammed the tiny lab. "Don't forget, I'm the
one who's put in thousands of hours on these
primitive devices you call computers! I am
also aware that without me--"
"Without you, my objective cannot be accomplished.
Yes, I am well aware of how important
your talents are. I found and recruited you, after
all. But in the event of failure, I will be forced
to reconsider my initial judgment. Just
remember I will have a second chance. You will not.
Now go, prepare. I will inspect the results when
you have finished."
"I do not need--"
"I will inspect the results when you have finished,"
the commander repeated, his voice icy as he turned his
back on Hargemon and pushed out through the plain
metal door that was the room's only exit.
The selfrighteous bastard! Hargemon seethed.
He's
getting to be as much of a tyrant as Kirk! But
he said nothing, only glowered at the door as it
clicked shut.
Turning back to the control console, he sucked in
a deep, calming breath. Once Kirk was taken
care of, there would be plenty of time for the "commander" and the
rest--plenty of time and opportunity.
Chapter One.
Captain's Log, Supplemental We are en
route to the planet Chyrellka to do--as Dr.
MaCoy might put it--a little fire-fighting.
We first made contact With the Chyrellkans ten
years ago.
They declined membership in the Federation, but at the
time of that initial encounter, Captain
Brittany Mendez of the Exeter noted that the
,Chyrellkans and their colony on Vancadia
provided a textbook example of how
to peacefully establish and administer a colony.
Unlike most emerging technological
civilizations, the Chyrellkans had established a
working world government before leaving their own
atmosphere.and once their probes showed them that
Vancadia's biosphere was almost identical to their
own--except for the absence of any lifeforms higher
than tree-dwelling primates--they went about
establishing a colony With Vulcan-like logic and
determination.
Without impulse drive technology, all early
trips to Vancadia were one-way.shuttles lifted
them into orbit around Chyrellka, where they transformd
to orbital-built interplanetary ships.at
vancadia, then, they descended from orbit in
one-way launches.it was nearly forty years before the
colonials reached the stage at which they could
manufacture the boosters that allowed them to return.
From the beginning, the Chyrellkans had planned for the
Vancadian colonists to be given their independence
once they'd achieved total self-sufficiency.a
decade ago, Captain Mendez noted that
With Vancadia's population close to eight
million, the goal of self-sufficiency seemed
only a few years away.
And yet now the Federation has received an urgent
request for help in mediating what the Chyrellkan
message describes as "an increasingly vicious
dispute between Chyrellka and her rebelling colony."
HIS PALE SKIN accentuated by a jet-black
helmet of tightly curling hair and an equally
dark, carefully sculpted beard, the Chyrellkan
leader's face loomed large on the Enterprise
viewscreen.other faces, out of focus, were dimly
visible in the background.
"Welcome to Chyrellkan space," the leader
said."...I am Kaulidren.my people and I
appreciate the promptness With which your Federation has
responded to our request."
"Thank you, Kaulidren," Kirk
said."...Premier Kaulidren, is it?"
The head inclined in an almost imperceptible nod of
acknowledgment. "And you are Captain James
Kirk, commanding the U.s.s.enterprise.am I
right?"
"You are, Premier.we will be entering orbit in a
few minutes and will be ready to beam you and your
party aboard as soon as the Enterprise matches
orbits With your ship."
"That is most kind of you, Captain,"
Kaulidren said, holding up one hand, palm out, "but
no, thank y.ccsider it superstition if you wish, but
it is
disquieting to me, this prospect of having my
component atoms disassembled and transmitted
unprotected through space in the hope that they can be
fitted back together in your transporter room."
"I wouldn't consider it superstition at all,
Premier," Kirk said, suppressing a smile as
he saw Dr.mcCoy, safely off screen,
give a quick grimace of agreement With
Kaulidren."...I assure you, however, that the
transporter is perfectly safe.but if you
prefer--"
"I do prefer, Captain, particularly since it
is my understanding that your vessel is easily capable
of receiving my entire ship.i trust I have not been
misled."
"Not at all, Premier.your ship is somewhat
larger than our own shuttlecraft, but the hangar
deck will accommodate it easily.our landing
tractor beams can handle--"
"I would prefer to bring my ship in under its own
power, if that is possible."
Kirk suppressed a frown."...It's possible,
yes, but I understand that your ship is powered by conventional
rocket engines.it would be dangerous to use them in
any enclosed area, even one as large as the hangar
deck."
"My ship is equipped With maneuvering jets--
which would surely pose no threat--and are fully
adequate for docking maneuvers in space."
"In zero gravity, yes, Premier, but in the
hangar deck, as in all parts of the Enterprise, a
constant one-g is maintained."
Premier Kaulidren was silent a
moment."...Artificial gravity," he said finally."...I
had forgotten.but is it not possible to temporarily
remove the gravity from individual areas?"
"It would be easier to use the landing tractor
beams." Or the transporter system, Kirk added
silently.
"But it is possible"...Without causing major
disruptions to your ship?"
"It's possible, yes." No point in arguing,
Kirk thought.save it for things that count, like getting the
Premier and his opposite number among the
colonists to start talking to each other."...I will make
the necessary arrangements."
"Thank you, Captain.i look forward to our
meeting face to face and to a discussion of our
problems."
abruptly, the screen went blank.
"They've ceased transmission, sir,"
Lieutenant Uhura volunteered. "Shall I try
to get them back?"
"Not for now, Lieutenant.mr.sulu, how long
till rendezvous?"
"Just under five minutes, Captain."
Kirk tapped a button on the arm of the command
chair."...Mr.scott"...ally heard?"
"Aye, Captain, I heard.i canna' say
I approve, but I heard."
"I'm on your side, Scotty, but let's go
along With the Premier on the small things.unless I
miss my guess, there'll be more than enough bigger ones
coming along."
"Aye, Captain, I know what ye're
saying.the hangar deck will be zero gravity when the
doors open.
I trust ye'll warn any affected
personn el.two o' my lads are in the
shuttlecraft bay, checking--"
"I'll leave that honor to you, Mr.scott,"
Kirk said, standing up from the command chair and heading for the
turbolift."...Mr.spock, Dr. McCoy"...From the
sound of the Premier, he will expect to be met
by nothing less than our most senior officers."
Ten minutes later the three stood looking down
on the hangar deck from the rear observation gallery--
Scotty had been able to retain normal gravity in
the rear third of the deck--as the Chyrellkan ship
slowly drifted in through the open hangar
doors.guided by minute pulses from its maneuvering
jets, the incoming ship reminded Kirk of nothing more
than a small, sleek version of the original
United States space shuttles, still kept clean
and glistening in the Space-flight Museum. Even
the insignia--seven 7-pointed stars on a
diagonally striped red-and-green back-ground--was
not all that different.
As the ship cleared the faintly shimmering
atmospheric containment field, the doors began
to clamshell shut.
But the ship continued to drift forward, its pilot
either missing or ignoring the landing target painted on
the deck.
"What the blazes is he up to?" McCoy
muttered as the ship drifted between the deck operations
control towers, toward the shuttle elevator. "If
he gets back here where the gravity is still "Don't
worry, Bones," Kirk said, glancing up at the
two ensigns standing by the controls of the landing tractor
beams."...We're ready, if it comes to that."
But it didn't.seconds before Kirk decided it
was time to signal the ensigns to take over the landing, the
forward maneuvering jets finally came to life and
cancelled the forward motion.
However, the ship was still moving, Kirk realized a
moment later, but now it was going sideways.frowning,
he again started to signal the ensigns, but before he could
complete the motion, a final series of puffs brought
the ship to a stop, one sharp-pointed wing almost touching the
wall beneath the forward observation gallery walkway.with
only the faintest of thumps and creaks, it settled
to the deck on its extended landing gear, its tires
bulging slightly as Scotty restored gravity a
moment after touchdown.
Even as Kirk and the others started down the steps from
the walkway to the hangar floor, one of the ship's
doors retracted inward and slid smoothly to one
side.
A set of steps descended from the opening, and
Kaulidren stepped out of the shadowy interior.clad
in a dark gray, not-quite-military uniform, he stood
watching silently as the three officers approached.
When they were in position, he quickly moved down the
steps, pointedly avoiding touching the handrails
to steady himself, as if to prove that he had taken the
abrupt transition from zero to one-g in stride.the
clean-shaven four who emerged after him, wearing
similar but lighter uniforms, were less quick to adapt,
gripping the metal handrails With each step.one,
carrying a metallic, briefcase-like container With
what looked like an old-fashioned keypad lock,
almost lost his footing on the first step.
"Welcome aboard the Enterprise, Premier
Kaulidren," Kirk said, momentarily lowering his
head in the fractional bow that his briefing had
indicated was the proper form of greeting.kaulidren,
however, instead of returning the bow, stepped forward and
extended his hand.
"We are on a Federation ship," he said
flatly."...We will observe Federation customs."
Its Federation custom to use transporters,
Kirk thought, but kept a smile on his face as he
took the Premier's hand.the grip, he
discovered, was as firm and practiced as any
admiral's.the other four dutifully offered their
hands as Kaulidren introduced them collectively
and anonymously as his "advisors," but their grips
were tentative, even uneasy.
"My first officer, Commander Spock," Kirk said
when the last of the four had shuttled backward to flank
Kaulidren, "and my chief medical officer,
Lieutenant Commander Leonard McCoy."
Kaulidren extended his hand to each in turn but then
turned back to Spock."...Vulcan, if I am not
mistaken, Commander."
"That is correct, Premier," Spock
acknowledged.
"That is good," Kaulidren said, nodding."...I
understand Vulcans are known for their logic and
impartiality."
"They are," Kirk agreed, ignoring the beginnings
of a puzzled frown on McCoy's face."...ally are
remarkably well informed, Premier."
"Even though we have chosen to remain independent of
your Federation, we have tried to absorb whatever information
you have offered to share With u.in any event, I am
encouraged by Commander Spock's presence.those
qualities of logic and impartiality will be
much in need if we are to resolve our current
difficulties."
"I will, of course, assist in any way I can,
Premier," Spock said.
"That goes without saying," Kaulidren said,
turning back to Kirk."...ationow, I have been told that
your computers--Duotronic, I believe they are
called--are capable of accepting information generated
by our own comparatively primitive systems."
"In all probability, yes," Kirk
said."...Duotronics, as I'm sure you know, are
remarkably versatile."
"Yes," Kaulidren said, looking around the
hangar deck, "it is my understanding that they
practicly run the entire ship."
"Supervised by the crew," McCoy put in.
"Of course.after all, computers are mere
machines, no matter how complex.they require
constant human supervision.at least, that is the
case With our own, and I assume it is still the case
even With yours."
"Absolutely," McCoy said emphatically enough
to minutely arch Spock's eyebrow and draw a
flickering sideways glance from Kirk.
"Very well." Kaulidren gestured at the
briefcase-like box still held by one of his
advisors."...I have With me records documenting a
small portion of the atrocities the rebel
terrorists have committed.i trust your computer will be
able to verify their authenticity."
"'It will be able to verify that the events recorded
were actual events, not computer-generated images,"
Spock said, "but that is all.as for the identities
and affiliations of the individuals involved, no such
authentication is possible.in such matters we must
rely solely on your words, Premier."
"Are you suggesting--" Kaulidren began,
scowling.
"I was suggesting nothing, Premier.i was simply
stating a fact."
The scowl was gone as quickly as it had come."...Of
course.my apologies, Commander Spock.i'm
afraid my dealings With the rebels--some of whom I
once considered my friends--have made me quick
to mistrust.
I ask only that you look at what I have to show
you, and listen to what I have to say."
Pulling in a breath, Kaulidren turned to look
over his shoulder at the ship.a sixth man--this one
inches taller than Kaulidren or any of the
others, and wearing a darker shade of uniform With a
sidearm of some kind strapped to its belt--had
emerged from the ship and was standing stiffly at the top of the
steps just outside the door, which now eased itself shut.
"I hope you will not be offended, Captain, if one
of my men remains on post while we are away from
our ship."
"Of course not," Kirk said, suppressing a
frown, "but I assure you it isn't necessary."
"I understand.however, irrational as it may be, I
would feel more comfortable With him there."
"As you wish, Premier.now, if you will come With
us, we can get down to business." For all the good it
will do, Kirk added skeptically to himself as he led the
way to the elevators, if you don't trust us any
more than that.
Minutes later they were settling into chairs around the
briefing room table while Spock inserted
Kaulidren's data tapes into the computer. The
control panel lights flickered as the computer began
to analyze the Chyrellkan devices and adapt its
own input circuitry to read the data.
"As I understand it, Premier," Kirk said as they
waited for the still-blank computer screen to light up,
"Vancadia was scheduled to be given its
independence only two years from now, on the
one-hundredth anniversary of Chyrellka's first
landing there."
Kaulidren snorted."...Perfectly true.but
they weren't content to wait."
"But according to Starfleet records, there was no sign
of trouble when your worlds were first contacted.
None that our representatives could detect, at
any rate."
"There was no trouble--then."
"But now there obviously is.what happened in the
meantime, Premier? How did the relationship between your
worlds deteriorate so rapidly?"
Kaulidren gestured sharply at the slot into which
Spock had inserted the data."...It's all there--the
terrorism, the killings, the destruction."
"I understand," Kirk persisted, "but does it
explain how it started? Why it started"...There have to be
reasons, and if we're to be of any help, we have
to find them."
Kaulidren frowned, then shrugged."...If you speak
With the 'rebels," perhaps they will be able to explain.
It is a total mystery to me.as you say,
Vancadia was scheduled to be given its independence
only two years from now.but three years
ago they apparently decided they needed it
immediately.the spokesman was a fire-breather named
Delkondros."
"Did they give any reasons for their sudden...
impatience?"
Kaulidren shrugged."...I can only assume that they
grew tired of waiting. Or that Delkondros
convinced them there was no need to wait.he was only one
of twenty Council members at the time, but very
ambitious," he added With a grimace."...Or,
to give him the benefit of the doubt, very
opportunistic.in either case, within weeks after he
became President of the Council he began beating
the drums for instant independence and making outrageous
accusations about our colonial administrators.but
then he turned openly to violence, although several of the
more rational members of the Council repu diated
hm.there was no reasoning With him, and in the end, we
had no choice but to declare him and the Council members
who remained With him outlaws.they went into hiding
and have conducted a terrorist campaign against us ever
since."
Kaulidren broke off, looking impatiently
toward Spock and the computer.
"The data is being processed,
Captain," Spock volunteered."...It does
appear to be genuine."
Kaulidren snorted."...Of course it is
genuineffDo you think we are such fools that we would
try to trick a Starfleet computer"...ationow, can the
data be displayed?"
Spock swiveled the screen so it faced the others
at the table.a frozen image appeared the interior
of a small room With one cluttered desk, a pair
of wooden chairs, and several old-fashioned file
cabinets.the camera had apparently been mounted
high on one of the walls.a graying man in a dark,
loose-cut tunic and trousers sat behind the desk,
his back to a large window.a younger man in a lighter
tunic stood facing him, leaning forward, both hands
on the desktop.
Both were studying some papers atop the clutter of
other papers.for the first few seconds the image was
grainy and ill-defined, but the focus sharpened instant
by instant.
"Is something wrong?" Kaulidren asked sharply.
"Why is nothing moving?"
"More processing," Kirk explained."...The computer
is staying With the first frame while it cleans up the
images.as soon The image began moving
and speaking.
"I see," Kaulidren said, motioning for the sound
to be turned down. "This is the first "incident" we
have a
direct record of.a half-dozen attacks were
made before we put all our offices under constant
camera surveillance.the man behind the desk is--
was--our chief administrator for the northwest
colonial district.
The other was his assistant, a colonial himself, but
apparently he was considered an enemy for associating
With u.or simply expendable."
Swallowing, Kaulidren averted his eyes."...I have
seen this "incident" all too often already,
Captain Kirk.your computer's "cleaning up"
can only make it all the more disquieting."
On the screen, the two men continued to talk
silently.suddenly, the window behind the desk
shattered.
Before either man could react, shards of glass
sprayed the room, and a package the size and shape
of a large brick thudded against the back of the man behind
the desk.for a split second both men started
to look toward the object, the man behind the desk
simultaneously grimacing in pain.
But then, With neither of them having actually seen the
object, both jerked about and started to flee.
But only started.the man in front of the desk
completed his turn and took a single, lurching stride
toward the door.simultaneously, the one behind the
desk jerked erect, slamming the chair backward,
and began a leap that would have taken him to the top of the
desk.
Then the explosion came.
It was over in an instant, the body of the man behind
the desk barely beginning a head-over-heels arc
upward, when the lens of the camera was shattered
as something--a piece of the chair from behind the desk?--
smashed into x.moments later a new picture
appeared, this one taken from the hall outside the
shattered room as a half dozen would-be rescue
workers uncovered the bodies in the rubble of the shattered
desk and the partially collapsed walls and ceiling.
"You see," Kaulidren said, returning his eyes
briefly to the screen, "that is typical of the rebel
butchery.
There were no warnings--unless you consider their earlier
murders to be warnings of all the subsequent
murders.those two men--both friends of mine, I
might add--were given no chance
to escape.they were simply executed."
"Is the rest of the "information" you've brought us
similar to this?" Kirk asked flatly.
"It is documentation of the brutality of the rebels,
yes."
"And nothing else?"
"If you doubt the authenticity--"
"There is no doubt of the authenticity of the events
themselves," Kirk said, "but as Mr.spock has already
pointed out, there is no way to verify who the
victims were or who their killers were.and even if
there were, that would not change the basic fact that such
happenings, no matter how barbaric, will do nothing
to help us accomplish our objective.what we
need are--"
"But this shows you what kind of people we are dealing
WithffCertainly you can see that!"
Kirk suppressed a sigh that was a mixture of
sympathy and irritation. "Premier Kaulidren,"
he
said, "we are here, at your government's request,
to attempt to mediate a peace between yourself and the
rebels.the first step toward that goal is for us to find
the underlying cause of the conflict."
"But we thought, once you were aware of the
facts--"
"That the Federation would take your side in the
dispute?"
Kaulidren blinked, apparently taken aback
at Kirk's directness.he pulled in a
breath."...Surely you would not take the side of
murderers and terrorists!"
"Premier Kaulidren--" Kirk spread his
hands before him on the table in a gesture of
supplication.
"Please understand--we are not here to take sides
at all.our prime directive does not allow us
to take sides.we are here to learn as much of the truth
as we can, and to use that knowledge in an effort to end the
hostilities."
"But Captain Kirk--"
"Captain," Uhura's voice broke in on the
intercom, "incoming transmission from Vancadia."
Kirk glanced at Kaulidren, who was frowning
at the interruption."...Patch it through, Lieutenant,"
he said.
"Right away, sir."
A moment later her voice was replaced by an
angry male voice. "--Kaulidren's
self-serving lies!" it began, obviously
in the middle of a sentence.
"I am not lying!" Kaulidren exploded,
drowning out the next few words before Kirk waved him
to silence.
"--bbf it is too late!" The voice finished and
then paused.
"It's a recording, sir," Uhura said
quickly."...Stand by for repeat."
"You must not listen to Kaulidren!" the voice
began without preamble. "No matter what lies he
has told you about our so-called terrorism, I
represent the colonists, and if your Federation is
truly committed to justice, you must speak With us before
you take any action.you must come to Vancadia and
learn the truth about Kaulidren's self-serving
liesffally must hear us, before it is too late!"
"have you located the source, Lieutenant?"
Kirk asked.
"Lieutenant Pritchard is doing a sensor
scan, Captain."
"Lieutenant Pritchard?" Kirk addressed the
young officer manning the science station while Spock was
off the bridge.
"Yes, sir, I have x.the message is coming from
a small ship launched from the surface of
Vancadia a few minutes ago.it is still under
power and is about to enter orbit."
"Lieutenant Uhura, try to establish
communication."
"Already trying, sir, but it is not a subspace
message.
At this distance, it will be at least three minutes
before any response is possible."
"Understood, Lieutenant.keep trying.we'll
move closer." Kirk turned to Kaulidren."...If
you wish, we will delay our departure until you and
your men can return to your ship."
"What?" Kaulidren exploded."...ally are leaving?
Captain, surely you are not going to meet With those
butchers!"
Kirk nodded crisply."...We will indeed be
proceeding to Vancadia, Premier.if you wish
to remain aboard, you are welcome.if not--"
"Of course I will remainffThere's no telling
what new lies they have concocted!"
"Very well, Premier." Speaking again to the
intercom, Kirk stood up. "We're on our way
to the bridge.
Lieutenant Sulu, lay in a course
to Vancadia."
"But there is more data--" Kaulidren began,
gesturing angrily at the computer screen, now
blank.
"It will still be there when we reach Vancadia,
Premier."
"As you wish, Captain, but--"
"Captain!" Lieutenant Pritchard
interrupted."...The ship transmitting that message--
it's been destroyed!"
Chapter Two.
"DETAILS, MR.PRITCHARD," Kirk
snapped, pausing over the intercom while glancing
sharply at Kaulidren and his retinue.the faces,
however, were unreadable.
"There were a dozen much larger ships already in orbit
around Vancadia," Pritchard reported."...Two of
them fired almost simultaneously on the message
ship just as it was entering orbit.it had been
transmitting continuously from the moment it left the
planet's atmosphere."
"Survivors?"
"It was too distant for the sensors to detect
survivors, sir, or how many, if any,
lifeforms were on board before the attack.tentative
mass readings indicated a craft too
small to accommodate more than two individuals."
"Very well.mr.sulu, get us under way, full
impulse power."
"Aye-aye, sir."
Kirk shut off the intercom."...Gentlemen, if
you'll come With me to the bridge..." He led the way
to the nearest turbolift, Kaulidren and his retinue
directly behind, With Spock and McCoy to the rear.
"What do you know about what happened, Premier?"
he asked as the door hissed shut behind them.
"You don't seem all that surprised."
"I am not, Captain.i assume that one of our
surveillance ships was responsible."
"Surveillance ships?"
"We maintain a constant watch on
Vancadia.the attempts to bring their terrorist
activities to Chyrellka itself have made it
essential."
"Shooting down an unarmed ship does not
constitute surveillance, Premier," Spock
pointed out.
Before Kaulidren could answer, the doors opened
on the bridge.vancadia already filled the forward
screen.
"Reducing to quarter impulse power,
Captain," Sulu reported."...Entering standard
orbit about Van-cadia."
Kaulidren's eyes widened as he followed
Kirk onto the bridge."...We have reached
Vancadia so soon?"
"For an interstellar ship, Premier,
interplanetary distances are short. Mr.pritchard,
any indication of survivors, now that we're w ithin
sensor range?"
"None, sir." Looking up, Pritchard saw
Spock and stepped back, relinquishing his position
at the science station as he completed his report."...But
neither is there any indication that the ship contained any
lifeforms before the attack.analysis of the debris
mass lowers our previous estimates of vessel
size.
It could have contained no more than a single
individual and was more likely unmanned and
remote-controlled."
"If anyone was aboard, Captain," Uhura
volunteered, "there was time for them to have received our
reply before the destruction, but there was no
acknowledgment.
The same signal kept repeating until the
end."
"You're positive there was enough time,
Lieutenant?"
"Yes, sir.the destruction was approximately
one minute after our signals would have reached them."
Which doesn't prove anything, Kirk thought
grimly.
With the surveillance ships attacking, a lone
pilot would have had other things on his mind.
Turning his attention to the forward viewing screen,
he saw that a ship, presumably a Chyrellkan
surveillance ship, was hovering in the distance.
Hundreds of times the size of the sleek ship on the
hangar deck, its blocky form was obviously
designed never to descend into a planet's
atmosphere.laser ports dotted its
rectangular prow like deadly, geometrically
perfect freckles.
"That's a formidable ship, Premier," Kirk
observed, turning to Kaulidren."...Will we need our
shields?"
Kaulidren looked shocked."...I would not want this
to be divulged to the Vancadians," he said,
stepping down into the command area of the bridge to stand next
to Kirk, "but all but three of the laser ports are
dummies, and much of the bulk is empty
space.we have learned that the more formidable a weapon
appears to be, the less chance there is that it will ever have
to be used."
"But this one has obviously been used,
Premier," Kirk persisted."...We just saw it being
used.and lasers of that power--even if there are only
three, rather than twenty-three--can still be deadly to an
unprotected ship.i ask you again, will we need our
shields?"
"Not for protection against us, certainly,"
Kaulidren said indignantly.
"But for protection against the rebels"...Is that what
you're implying?"
"They would try anything."
"The ship you just shot down--what was it
"trying"?"
McCoy broke in.
"Gentlemen, you have to understand the situation we are
confronted With," Kaulidren said earnestly."...If
we were to allow them unhindered access to space--"
"Captain," Uhura said, "electromagnetic
signal from the planet's surface coming in.no
visual."
"On speakers, Lieutenant, and patch it through
to engineering.mr. Scott, are you there?"
"Aye, Captain," Scotty's voice came
over the intercom.
A moment later another voice filled the
bridge, the same voice they had heard from the downed
ship.
"Calling Federation starship," it began, more
anxious than angry this time, and apparently not a
recording, "can you hear me?"
"We can hear you," Kirk replied."...This is
Captain James Kirk, commanding the
U.s.s.enterprise.identify yourself."
A jumble of other voices erupted briefly from
the radio, but then the original one returned, now
speaking calmly, even deliberately."...I am
Delkondros, President of the Vancadian
Independence Council.in the wanton and
unprovoked destruction of our ship, you have seen the
true face of the Chyrellkan tyrants!
You knew it would be shot down!" Kaulidren
broke in angrily."...ally sent it up to be shot
down!"
"Kaulidren?" The stilted formality vanished from
Delkondros' voice, replaced by a cold
fury."...What lies did you tell to be allowed
aboard a Federation ship?"
"Ask him!" Kaulidren demanded."...Ask him why
he sent up a ship he knew would be shot down!"
"And ask him," Delkondros shot back, "why
it was shot downffThere was no warning, simply a
vicious, unprovoked attack.your robot
killers did not know if there was a crew on board
or nffThey never know!
And you do not care!"
"And who made the first attack?" Kaulidren was
shouting now."...Who would have killed thousands if they
hadn't been stopped"...Do not blame Chyrellka for the
results of your madness, Delkondros!"
"Gentlemen!" Kirk broke in sharply."...We
are here to mediate, not to referee."
"But you saw what Kaulidren's forces did to our
ship!" the voice protested.
"We saw," Kirk said."...We have also seen
records of what the Premier claims the
Vancadians have done."
"LiesffAll liesffIf you want the truth, you
must come here, to VancadiaffWe have true evidence--
the bodies of our assassinated leadersffIf your
medical science is as great as we are led
to believe, you will find the Chyrellkan poisons still
in their tissues!"
"Don't listen to him!" Kaulidren broke
in."...Even if such poisons exist, they are his
doing, not oursffAsk him how he came to be elected
to the Council in the first place, how his opponent
conveniently died the very week before the election!"
"My opponent "died," Premier
Kaulidren, because you thought I would be easier
to control, easier to make a fool of But you were
wrongffAnd when you realized your mistake, you had your
puppets in the Colonial Administration try
to kill me, and when that didn't work, you tried to kill
our entire government!"
"You killed your government when you became
terrorists, when you began killing us."
"Gentlemen, please!" Kirk snapped,
suddenly impatient.
He had briefly hoped that by simply letting the
two go at each other, he could listen and gain some
insight into the situation, but that was obviously not going
to happen."...Screaming accusations at each other is not
going to help.now unless either of you has something more than
a recitation of atrocities' allegedly committed
by the other side"
"Very well, Captain Kirk!" Delkondros
broke in harshly."...If you doubt my word,
send someone down!
Send a physician downffLet him look at the
evidence, let him examine those of us who have
survived the slaughterffLet him decide who is
telling the truth!
Perhaps he could even find the source of the poisons!
Or provide the antidote that Kaulidren
refuses to share With us!"
Kirk cast a questioning glance toward
McCoy."...Bones?"
"You think you have to ask, Jim?" McCoy said,
heading for the turbolift. "I'll be ready as soon
as I get my tricorder and medikit."
Kirk smiled faintly."...If you wish,
President Delkondros, our ship's
physician can beam down and...evaluate your
evidence.he can also determine if an antidote
to the poison exists or can be synthesized. Will that be
satisfactory?"
"Of course it wffAll we want is an honest
investigation that will lead to the truthffAnd save lives!"
"And the Vulcan!" Kaulidren
interjected."...Ask Delkondros if he will accept
an observer who will be influenced only by logic, not
by cheap emotional theatrics."
"There is a Vulcan on board?"
Delkondros's voice crackled back, not quite
drowning out the amused snort that came from the
turbolift as the doors closed behind McCoy.
"My first officer, Mr.spock, is half
Vulcan," Kirk said mildly.
"Then of course we would welcome him,"
Delkondros said."...We have nothing to fear from logic
or impartiality.on the contrary, we have great need
of those qualities!"
Kaulidren scowled but said nothing.
"Mr.spock?" Kirk turned toward the science
station."...Would you care to join the doctor and me?"
"Of course, Captain."
"Captain!" Kaulidren frowned."...Surely you
are not going With them!"
Unable to suppress his own frown this time, Kirk
turned to Kaulidren. "I thought I might go along
for the ride, Premier.is there some reason I
shouldn't?"
"Undoubtedly he fears for your safety,
Captain," Delkondros' voice cut in, now
edged With sarcasm rather than anger."...But to tell the
truth, I, too, would prefer you remain aboard your
ship where you can keep an eye on the
Premier.i would certainly not trust him--"
"As you wish, gentlemen," Kirk said, his own
voice reflecting some of the President's
sarcasm."...Far be it from me to deny the two of you
virtually the first thing you've agreed on since our
arrival.president Delkondros, I'll have you
connected directly to the transporter room. You can
give the officer in charge the coordinates for
beam-down." Kirk nodded to Uhura, who toggled a
switch on her console."...ationow, Premier
Kaulidren "Captain Kirk," Kaulidren said,
"I strongly advise against sending your men down
there."
Frowning, Kirk turned back to the
Chyrellkan.
"And why is that, Premier"...A few moments ago
you seemed willing--even eager--for Spock, at
least, to
"I never thought for a second Delkondros would
acceptffBut now that he has, I realize it must be a
trap.
You have not dealt With these people, Captain.you do not
know them, don't know what they're capable of.
Please you must view the remainder of the data I
brought aboard before you decide to deliver your
men into Delkondros's hands."
Kirk shook his head."...The rebels have to realize
that any action they might take against my men would be
totally counterproductive."
"They are completely irrational!" Kaulidren
sputtered.
Kirk caught Spock's eye and could tell his
first officer's thoughts echoed his own Now there's the
pot calling the kettle black.he would have laughed
if the situation wasn't so clearly
desperate."...Premier," Kirk began--but before he
could continue, the computer's feminine voice cut him
off.
"Intruder alert," it said, emotionless as always.
"Unauthorized personnel have been detected in
the main computer room on deck eight."
Chapter Three.
Turning from the main viewscreen, Kirk flicked
his eyes across Kaulidren's men.none were missing.
"Computer," he snapped, stabbing a button on
the arm of the command chai r, "seal access doors to main
computer room.security, send a detail to the main
computer room, deck eight.intruder alert."
"Security, aye, sir," Lieutenant
Shanti's slightly accented contralto
voice acknowledged almost instantly.
"Mr.spock, get the computer room on the
screen."
"Trying, Captain," Spock said, not looking
up.
"Control circuits are not responding."
"Computer," Kirk said, a sense of unease
gnawing at him, "identify intruder."
"Unknown humanoid," it began, then fell
silent.
"Computer?"
The machine remained silent.
Kirk darted a glance at Spock, still working at
the science station controls."...Are the access doors
sealed?"
"Indications are contradictory, Captain."
Kirk crossed the bridge quickly to stand next
to his first officer. "Override, Mr.spock!"
The Vulcan shook his head."...ation possible under these
conditions, Captain.none of the controls are--"
Spock broke off.a moment later the cramped
aisles of the main computer room appeared on the
viewscreen. They were empty.the access doors,
sealed as the image appeared, slid quietly open
a moment later.
"The monitor circuit malfunction," the
computer's monotone announced, "has been
isolated and corrected."
"Monitor circuit malfunction?" Kirk
asked sharply.
He turned to Spock.
"I believe, Captain, that the computer is saying
that the alert was the result of a malfunction."
"Affirmative," the computer replied instantly.
"There was no one in the main computer room?"
Kirk asked.
"Affirmative."
Kirk frowned."...Lieutenant Shanti, status
report."
"Exiting turbolift on deck eight,
Captain, proceeding to main computer room."
"The alert may have been a false alarm,
Lieutenant, but be careful anyway.report
anything the least bit unusual."
"Yes, sir."
"Mr.spock, any indication of the cause of the
malfunction?"
"None, Captain.readings indicate only that
there was a conflict between two different sets of
sensors within the room.the computer's efforts
to reconcile the conflict appears to have resulted in
the temporary lockup of the control circuits and at
least the partial erasure of the conflicting readings."
Dr.mcCoy would say that sounded like a nervous
breakdown, Kirk thought."...What, specifically, was
the conflict, Mr.spock?"
"Unknown, Captain.given time, a complete
diagnostic program could be run, but because of the
apparent erasures there is less than a
ten-point-seven percent chance that a specific
cause could be isolated.
There is also a special program I have been
devising that could increase those odds an indeterminate
amount, but it is as yet untested."
Kirk nodded, turning back to the main
viewscreen.
"Do what you can, Mr.spock."
"Of course, Captain."
"Captain," Lieutenant Shanti's voice
came over the intercom, "the computer room is
empty and all appears in order.however, one of my
men reports having heard the turbolift
operate."
"Computer," Kirk snapped, "image of
turbolift interior."
The viewscreen shimmered uncharacteristically for a moment
as the computer room vanished and was replaced by the
interior of the turbolift.it was empty, its
doors just closing, giving the bridge crew a
brief glimpse of the hangar deck, With the
Chyrellkan shuttle in the distance.
"Computer," Kirk ordered, "show the hangar
deck.
Lieutenant Shanti, proceed to hangar deck
immediately."
"Yes, sir."
On the forward viewscreen, the hangar deck
appeared.
Kaulidren's ship looked the same as it had in
the glimpse through the turbolift door.the massive
guard still stood impassively at the top of the
steps, his eyes calmly and deliberately scanning
the deserted expanse of the deck.to one side were the
parked shuttlecraft, except for the one Scott's
men were working on in the deck twenty maintenance
shop.the tractor beam control room high along
one wall was empty, the two ensigns Kirk had
placed there temporarily having returned to their
regular duties.
From somewhere came a sound, a faint
scrape of metal on metal, but it was immediately
obscured by the hiss of the turbolift
doors.lieutenant Shanti stepped out, her
diminutive frame dwarfed by the two husky
six-footers comprising her security detail.her
size was deceptive, however Kirk knew that, With
her martial arts skills, she could hold her own
With either of them.
"Lieutenant Shanti," he began but was
interrupted by Kaulidren, who had remained
uncharacteristically quiet during the alert.
"What is happening, Captain Kirk"...Why have you
sent these people to my ship?"
"Lieutenant Shanti," Kirk repeated over
Kaulidren's words, "there was a metallic sound
somewhere in the hangar deck just as you arrived.can you
see anything that might account for it?"
"We heard it too, Captain," she said, "just as
the doors were opening. It seemed to come from the vicinity
of the alien ship."
"I see." Kirk darted another glance at
Kaulidren as he turned toward the science
station."...Mr.spock, scan the hangar deck for
lifeforms."
Spock concentrated on the station readouts
for a moment."...Only the security detail and the
Premier's sentry register, Captain."
Kirk turned back to the image of the hangar
deck, watching it silently for several
seconds."...Lieutenant Shanti," he said finally,
"return to the main computer room.check it out
thoroughly for any indication that the malfunction
wasn't a malfunction."
"Yes, sir," Shanti acknowledged."...For
evidence of a real intruder, you mean, sir?"
"Correct, Lieutenant."
"Captain Kirk," Kaulidren spoke up
abruptly, "are you saying there might actually have
been someone in your computer room?"
"I can't overlook any possibility,
Premier."
"Someone in the computer room--would such a person have
had access to computers everywhere in your ship from that one
room?"
"Of course.why?"
"The data I brought aboard, which your first officer
placed in the briefing room computer--could that have
been...affected by this hypothetical intruder?"
Kirk suppressed a frown and an impulse
to point out to the Premier that if there really had
been an intruder, all indications were that he had come
aboard in the Premier's own shuttle.
"If an intruder existed," he said evenly,
"if he knew precisely what he was looking for,
and if he had an encyclopedic knowledge of the computer as
well as an extraordinary skill in making use of
that knowledge, then it would be remotely possible.at a
conservative estimate, however, there are no more than
two or three dozen people With that kind of computer
expertise in all of Starfleet."
"And none are aboard the Enterprise?"
"Only one, Premier, and I assure you he was
nowhere near the computer room at the time of the
malfunction."
"How can you be so positive, Captain?"
"For the same reason you can be, Premier.mr.
Spock hasn't been out of sight of either of us since
you came aboard."
Kaulidren darted a glance toward Spock, then
seemed to relax."...Of course, Captain, my
apologies.
These last few months it's hard not to become at
least a little paranoid.but for me to entertain even
for a moment the thought that my enemies could have gained such knowledge
and then found their way aboard a Federation
starship just so they could tamper With my data is beyond
even my worst paranoid fantasies.ag, my
apologies.however, regarding the decision to allow
your people to beam down to--"
As if on cue, the turbolift door hissed
open and Dr. McCoy emerged and glanced around."...I
see you and my Vulcan logical half are still
loitering up here.does this mean you've been talked
out of it and I'll be going down by myself?."
"We had a false alarm in the computer room,"
Kirk explained, "but it's under control
now.correct, Mr. Spock?"
"All readings now appear normal, Captain,
but..." a crease furrowed Spock's brow, "I have
not been able to determine the precise cause or
nature of the malfunction."
There was a snort of laughter from the
doctor."...Did I hear you right, Spock"...Did you
just admit there was something you couldn't d"...And With the
computer, no less"...Sorry I missed x.now, are
you ready to go, or do I beam down by myself?."
"Spock is ready, Bones," Kirk said,
grimacing faintly as he gestured for Lieutenant
Pritchard to return to the science station, "but I'll
be staying on board, at the request of our
guest and his counterpart on Vancadia."
"Captain Kirk!" Kaulidren had been
looking more and more tense from the moment McCoy had
returned to the bridge."...Once again I feel it my
duty to warn you--these people, these rebel terrorists, cannot
be trusted! Bring Delkondros aboard your ship
if you must, but don't"
"Your warning is noted," Kirk
said."...Mr.spock, Dr.mcCoy, if either of you
has any reservations"
"Not after that ship was shot down, I don't,"
McCoy broke in."...ationow, are you coming, Spock,
or not?"
"I am, Doctor," Spock said, slipping the
strap of his tricorder over his shoulder and striding to the
turbolift to join McCoy.
As the door hissed shut, Kirk turned toward
the communications station. "Lieutenant Uhura, can you
get Delkondros again?"
"Yes, sir." Her fingers darted across the
panels."...Go ahead, Captain."
"President Delkondros," Kirk said,
"two of my men--Lieutenant Commander McCoy,
our chief medical officer, and Commander Spock, our
science officer--are ready to beam down to the
coordinates you gave the transporter room."
"I am most gratified," Delkondros's
voice came back."...I am sure that once they have
seen our evidence-was
"I'm sure they will evaluate it impartially,"
Kirk said.
"Of course.that is all we ask."
Kaulidren grimaced but stayed silent.
A minute later the link to the transporter room
opened.kirk suppressed a smile as he heard
McCoy's voice in the background,
unintelligible but o bviously disgruntled, lecturing
Spock about something.
abruptly it was cut off.
"Ready, Captain," the transporter chief
announced after a couple seconds' hesitation.
"Proceed, Mr.kyle," Kirk said, sitting
back down in his chair."...But be ready to beam them up
at the first sign of trouble.keep a lock on their
communicators."
"Yes, sir." A pause, and then, "Energizing
now."
The bridge fell silent, Kirk once again
glancing at Kaulidren, trying to fathom the
expression on the Premier's bearded
face.fear"...Anger?
"They're down, sir," Lieutenant Pritchard
at the science station announced, "at the prescribed
coordinates."
"Lieutenant Uhura, are you still in contact With
Delkondros?"
"No, sir.he ceased transmission when
Mr.spock and Dr.mcCoy were being beamed down."
Kirk frowned."...Get him back."
"Yes, sir," Uhura replied, her fingers
darting across the controls.
"I warned you, Captain," Kaulidren began,
but Kirk cut him off With a gesture, swiveling
around to face Pritchard at the science station.
"Lieutenant--"
"Some kind of shield, Captain.it's blocking
the sensors."
"Radio transmissions being blocked too,
sir," Uhura said, concern evident in her voice.
"Transporter room," Kirk snapped, "bring
them back, now!"
Impossible.the thought flashed uselessly through
Kirk's mind even as he spoke.^the worlds are at
least fifty yearsddaway from any type of
shield.ac to the initial survey-"Trying,
sir, but we've lost the lock on their
communicators andBut"
"The shield, yes.be ready the instant it goes
down.
Mr.pritchard, analysis of the shield.can it
be neutra-lized?
Or penetrated?"
"Penetrated, yes, by our weaponry.it
appears intended primarily to block
electromagnetically based communications in
normal space.it would offer some resistance
to material objects such as photon torpedoes and
to phaser fire, but not enough to block either.
Even a low-power phaser burst would be able to--"
"And the transporters?"
"If the power could be stepped upw"
"I wouldna' chance it," Scotty interrupted,
crossing the upper deck of the bridge to stand next
to Uhura, "except as a last resort.a wee
bit o' scramblin' is all it would take."
"Understood, Mr.scott.lieutenant
Pritchard, you said the sensors were blocked as
well.that would mean the shield has a subspace
component as well."
"It does, Captain, but the subspace
component seemswwell, "accidental," I
suppose you could say.
Just a side effect of the shield itself."
"Then it doesn't actually block the sensors?"
"Not completely, sir.it's more likelike
static.a lot of detail is lost, and what
detail there is, is probably not reliable."
"How much of the planet is affected?"
"Approximately ten thousand square
kilometers, sir."
"It's visible on the screen, Captain,"
Sulu volunteered.
Kirk abruptly turned back to the forward
view-screen.
They were passing over the night side of the planet,
but that had little effect on the sensors.for the most part,
the world looked like any other class-M planet With
its oceans and land masses and clouds except for a
single circular area along the jagged coastline of a
roughly diamond-shaped continent that filled half the
southern hemisphere. There, despite an almost
total lack of clouds, the surface looked
indistinct, almost fuzzy, and for over a hundred
kilometers the line between water and land, sharply
delineated at all other points, was not only
blurred but appeared to waver, as if seen through a
distorting lens that was constantly being shifted.
"Would a world at this technological level have the
power necessary to produce a shield like that?" Kirk
asked, already knowing the answer.
"I wouldna' think so, Captain," Scott
responded.
"For a shield o' that size, only antimatter
would do the job."
"Which, according to the Federation survey less than ten
years ago, would not be technically achievable by either world
for another century."
"Aye, Captain, and even With the power, there's the
wee matter o' knowing how to generate a shield in the
first place.i dinna see how they could manage, at
least wi'out outside help."
"My thoughts exactly, Mr.scott," Kirk
said, grimacing as an image of his old friend
Tyree, the leader of the hill people on a primitive
world, forced its way into his mind.there, too, the
natives had appeared to make a sudden
technological leap in little more than a
decade.there the new technology had consisted of
gunpowder and flintlock rifles, not a
ten-thousand-square-kilometer energy shield,
but the unexpectedness, the unlikelihood of the two
advances were comparable.
And there, on Tyree's world, the "advance" had
been the work of a small band of Klingons, secretly
doling out "inventions," subverting the natives and
stirring up war.
"Maximum range sensor scan,
Mr.pritchard," Kirk ordered as he stood up
abruptly from the command chair and strode to the science
station."...If there's any ship in this solar system
capable of warp drive, I want to know about xffOr
any other shielded areas, on or off the planet."
"Maximum range scan, yes, sir,"
Pritchard acknowledged, managing a quick glance over
his shoulder at the Captain.kirk sensed the young
officer's nervousness and knew his presence was only
adding to it, but that couldn't be helped.spock and
McCoy's lives were on the line down there, and he
couldn't afford to waste time or energy on
Pritchard's feelings.
After a few minutes Pritchard looked up
apologetically.
"Sorry, sir, but there's just nothing there.only a
Romulan cloaking device could--" Kirk shook
his head."...I doubt that the Romulans are behind
whatever is going on here, Mr.pritchard.
Unless they've changed radically, they're far more
likely to challenge the Federation openly than to use
underhanded tactics like th.keep scanning,
Lieutenant.
Look for anything out of the ordinary.anything."
Kirk straightened and turned away from the science
station to face Kaulidren."...What do you know of this
shield, Premier?"
"What should I know of x"...I am no
scientist.but I warned you of Delkondros'
treachery.
"But not of this shield.is it new?"
"I did not know of its existence, if that is what
you mean.as far as I know, they have never used it before.
But I can't say that it surprises me."
"Why n"...h they done this sort of thing before?"
Kaulidren nodded vehemently."...Why else would
we need to keep the world under constant surveillance?
Their ships, even the small ones no larger than
the one I came aboard in, are now capable of not just
achieving orbit around Vancadia but of making the
trip to Chyrellka--and returningffTheir source of
power--"
"Captain!" Pritchard interrupted
sharply."...Shield strength is decreasing rapidly!"
Whirling back toward the science station, Kirk
scanned the main viewscreen.the image of
Vancadia was shimmering.
And then the distortion vanished, leaving the planet's
surface crystal-clear.in virtually the same
instant, the link to the surface was
reestablished.delkondros's voice erupted
onto the bridge, the words rushed but ominously
clear.
"Any attempt to transport your men will
result in their immediate deaths."
Kirk's eyes widened in disbelief.choking down
an impulse to ask the man if he were insane,
Kirk signalled Uhura to suppress the
transmission from the Enterprise.
"Transporter room," Kirk snapped,
"lock on to those communicators, but energize only
on my order."
"Locked on, sir.ready for your command."
"Lieutenant Pritchard, maximum resolution
sensor scan of area."
"Eleven humanoids in the immediate area of the
communicators. Impossible to determine
identities at this range.no indication of
advanced energy weapons."
"Captain Kirk," Delkondros's voice
came again, "I know you heard me. Did you understand
me?"
"Transporter room, stand by," Kirk said as
he signalled to Uhura to reopen the link.
"I heard you, Delkondros," he went on,
"but I hope I didn't understand you
correctly.are you saying my men are now your
hostages?"
"Essentially, yes.it is the only way--"
"It is the fastest way," Kirk interrupted
sharply, "to prove that Kaulidren has been telling
the truth about yffDo you understand that?"
"In the short term, that may be true, Captain
Kirk, but we feel we have no choice,
particularly since you
have taken Kaulidren aboard your ship.he is the
madmanffally have to believe that!"
"I'd be more inclined to believe you,
Delkondros, if you weren't threatening the lives of
two of my officers!
Release them and we can talk.we can beam you
aboard if that's what you want.we are ready
to listen to whatever you have to say, to look at
whatever evidence you hffThat's why my men beamed down
to your planet, to look at your evidenceffSo if you
really have that evidence, release my men and let them
evaluate it!"
"That is precisely what I plan to do!"
Delkondros retorted."...But not in that order!"
"Let me speak With them," Kirk said tightly.
"I'm sorry, but that is impossible.but I have
no wish to harm them, believe me.only if you force
"Mad!" Kaulidren broke in."...I warned you,
the man is totally mad!"
"Security!" Kirk snapped."...Be ready
to escort Kaulidren and his men off the bridge, on
my command!"
The two officers flanking the turbolift moved
forward.
"I am not mad, Captain, just desperate!"
Delkondros shouted."...With him on board your
ship, how could I be otherwiseffHis lies--"
Suddenly, a bedlam of other voices erupted from the
speakers, all shouting at once, drowning each other
out.
"What's happening?" Kirk snapped into the
uproar.
But there was no intelligible answer--only
continued shouting, and then the sounds of things being knocked
over, being broken.
And then, suddenly, the communicator channel was
open again, carrying the same sounds, like a muffled echo
from another part of the room.for a moment it faded in and
out, like an antenna searching for a direction, but then it
steadied.and a new sound came through, one not coming through
on the other channel --something scraping directly
against the communicator, as if it were being dragged across
a rough surface.
And then, Spock's voice.it was barely more
than a whisper, but the precise diction and total
control were unmistakable."...Transporter room," it
said, "beam us up--now."
"Do it!" Kirk confirmed instantly as he
turned toward the science station."...Lieutenant
Pritchard, monitor the operation With the sensors."
"Yes, sir.transporters energizing--" Over
the jumble of voices coming from Delkondros's
headquarters there was the sizzling sound of an energy
weapon.for an instant it was louder on the
communicator channel than on the other, but then,
abruptly, the communicator went dead.
"Laser fire!" Pritchard snapped, and then
gasped.
"Both men--both lifeform readings are goneffThey
must've been hit!"
"Transporter, beam them directly
to sickbay!
Sickbay, incoming wounded, McCoy and
Spock, injuries unknown!"
"Lost the lock, Captain!" the transporter
chief broke in.
"The communicators," Pritchard said, "they were
destroyed by the blast, whatever it was!"
"Transporter, wide field," Kirk
snapped."...Bring them up!"
"Trying, but something--"
"The shield is back, Captain!" Pritchard
announced.
"Increase power to transporters!"
"No good, Captain," the transporter chief's
voice responded."...The wide field isn't
concentrated enough to alloww"
"Shield strength increasing!" Pritchard said."...The
transporters no longer have enough power to punch through,
even With communicators to lock ontoffUnless the
shield can be deactivated--"
"The antimatter the shield needs for its power,"
Kirk snapped, "can you locate it?"
Pritchard rapidly punched a half-dozen
buttons, scanned the readouts. "Negative,
Captain.the subspace component of the shield has
increased even more than the rest.sensor readings now
appear to be completely unreliable."
"Your scans while the shield was down--did they
show anything?"
"Negative, Captain.if the power source
does make use of antimatter, it must have its own
shield."
Kirk slammed his hands down on the arms of the command
chair in frustration."...Uhura--"
"All contact was lost when the communicators were
destroyed, Captain.i have been unable
to reestablish.
No response on any subspace or standard
frequency."
For a long moment there was only silence as Kirk
turned back to the forward viewscreen and the
hundred-kilometer circle of wavering distortion that
marked the area covered by the shield.it was more
pronounced now, With the distortion in some spots so
strong it seemed translucent.
His throat was aching, and his stomach felt
hollow.helpless, he thought, his fingers
clenching into fists, completely helpless despite
everything.shield or no shield, we could have wiped the
planet out. But we couldn't save Bones and
Spock.
We can't even bring their bodies back on
board...
Chapter Four.
"Do YOU believe that?" MaCoy muttered,
shaking his head as the turbolift doors hissed
shut, blotting out the sight of Kaulidren and his
somber retinue clustered on the bridge.
"If you mean, Doctor, did I believe
Premier Kaulidren's statements to be completely
truthful, no I did n.at this point, however, we
have no practical way of conclusively establishing
their worth."
McCoy snorted."...So?"
"I am merely suggesting, Doctor, that it would be
illogical to totally disregard them."
"For you, maybe.me, I'd be more worried about
beaming down to his planet, especially if he were
going With u.the Premier scares me a lot more than
those so-called terrorists of his."
"I cannot disagree, Doctor.premier
Kaulidren's objectivity does appear
to be seriously impaired by a tendency toward
emotionalism. Nonetheless, his warnings cannot be
entirely discounted.as you yourself have often claimed, the
presence of emotion does not necessarily
invalidate the--"
"If you're that worried, Spock, you don't have
to come alongffI can still beam down by myself!"
"I am not "worried," Doctor.i am, as
I stated before, simply not dismissing Kaulidren's
statements out of hand, and I would advise you to retain
a similarly open mind on the subject."
"Anything to satisfy your "open-minded"
Vulcan logic," McCoy muttered as the doors
opened, and they stepped out into the corridor leading to the
transporter room."...But he's just trying to stir things
up.surely you could see that, Spock.and we both
saw what his "surveillance ships" did to that ship
that was trying to get through to uffEven if Delkondros
did send it up just to prove that Kaulidren's bunch
would fire on it--well, they did fire on it, and
Delkondros was right. Whoever shot it down couldn't
have known whether there were people on board, not without
sensors.that should be concrete enough for your logic
to get a grip on."
"Of course, Doctor," Spock
agreed as they entered the transporter room, "but the
Premier's evidence regarding the colonists'
actions was--"
"Evidence we had to take his word forffEven you said
there was no way of telling who the people were in those
scenes.who's to say those atrocities he was trying
to show us weren't things his bunch had done to the
colonists, not the other way around?"
"Nothing, Doctor.however, when two
possibilities exist, logic dictates that one
be prepared for the consequences of either being proven
true."
"Logic be damned, Spock!" McCoy
stopped at the base of the transporter platform
to scowl up at the Vulcan, already on one of the
circles."...All it takes is a little
old-fashioned horse sense to see through
Kaulidren. In case you hadn't noticed, he
has a pretty warped idea of how the Federation
worksffHe thinks we're the same kind of bully he
is, and he wants us to do the same thing to the
colonists that he claims the colonists have been
doing to him, only in spades.he certainly wouldn't
let a little thing like the truth stand in the way of getting
what he wants!"
"I do not disagree With the substance of anything you have
said, Doctor," Spock said patiently.
"You sure have a funny way of agreeing With people,
SpockffIf--" He broke off as he heard the
sound of someone clearing his throat behind hm.it was
Kyle, the transporter chief.
"Ready, gentlemen?"
With a last scowl at Spock, McCoy stepped
up, turned, and centered himself on the circle next
to Spock's, then nodded at Kyle.
"Ready, Captain," the transporter chief
reported.
"Proceed, Mr.kyle," Kirk's voice
came back."...But be ready to beam them up at the first
sign of trouble.
Keep a lock on their communicators."
"Yes, sir," Kyle replied."...Energizing
now."
McCoy glanced at Spock, shaking his head and
sighing as he saw that the Vulcan was looking
downward, his eyes directed inconspicuously at
his tricorder, ready to scan its readout the instant
they materialized on the planet below.
"Just a logical precaution, Spock?" he
asked, but the words were barely out, when the
familiar tingle of the transporter field snatched
his attention and focussed it on himself.
Truth be known, he thought With a controlled shiver,
being squirted through space by that blasted machine
worries me more than the possibility of danger from
the colonists, or even from Kaulidren.it was the
one thing he could agree With the Premier ab.he would
never get used to the transporter, no matter how
many times he went through x.just the idea that even for a
few seconds he didn't exist, except as a
pattern of energy, had always given him
a--help-less feeling.and helplessness was one
feeling he thoroughly disliked, particularly when it
involved a machine.
He was just starting to grit his teeth, when the
transporter energies solidified their grip on
him and the room faded from view.
When they released him and he was able to move again, his
jaw muscles relaxed and he released his breath in
an inaudible sigh of relief.he stood next
to Spock on a bare concrete floor near one end
of what appeared to be a large, makeshift conference
room, two battered metal tables butted against
each other to make one long table.the chairs, no
two alike, looked like discards from waiting
rooms and assembly lines.
Roughly a dozen men stood beyond the table at the far
left side of the room, as if to keep as much distance
as possible between themselves and the area in which Spock and
McCoy had materialized.behind the men, in a
plain, concrete block wall, was a massive
metal fire door, its hinges the only part not
spotted With rust.in the wall a dozen yards
directly in front of McCoy and Spock was a
half-open sliding metal door, while behind them,
half as distant, was a fully closed wooden
door, its paint peeling.
For a moment there was only silence.out of the corner
of his eye McCoy saw Spock look up
abruptly from his tricorder and dart glances toward
all of the doors.
"I am Delkondros," the tallest and
obviously most muscular of the men said as he began
to lead them around the far end of the table toward the new
arrivals.a full beard concealed the lower half of
his face, and bushy eyebrows shadowed his eyes, but his
scalp was bare.all the men wore dark,
nondescript tunics and trousers, but
Delkondros and one other, almost as powerful-looking
as Delkondros, also had what looked like
old-fashioned projectile sidearms fastened at
their waists."...These men are all members of the
Independence Council."
McCoy started forward to greet the man, but
Spock's hand darted out to restrain him.
"The formalities of our meeting must be delayed
for a moment, President Delkondros," Spock
said, ignoring McCoy 's scowl."...We were instructed
to remain in constant contact With the Enterprise."
"You could at least wait until--" McCoy
began, but Spock cut him off With uncharacteristic
brusqueness.
"I would suggest you not question our orders,
Doctor," Spock said, his communicator already in
his hand."...As you may recall from our misadventures
on Neural, the Captain does not issue orders
without' good and sufficient reason."
McCoy frowned."...ationeural"...What the blazes
are you talking about, Spock?"
"Spock to Enterprise," the Vulcan spoke
into his communicator, ignoring McCoy.
"There will be no response, Commander Spock,"
Delkondros said With a sigh as he and the others
stopped a dozen feet away."...The area is now
shielded against all communications." His hand
moved to touch his weapon but he didn't draw x.the
other armed council member did the same.
Less surreptitiously, Spock glanced down
at his tricorder, then looked quickly around the room
again.
"Don't do anything foolish, either of you,"
Delkondros warned.
"What do you think you're doing?" McCoy
snapped, scowling at their hands hovering near their
weapons."...We're down here to help you!"
"We realize that is what your captain said,
Dr. McCoy, but--"
"It's also the truth!"
"Perhaps it is," Delkondros admitted, "but
With Kaulidren aboard your ship to influence him, we
do not feel we dare take any chances.now, place
your communicators on the table."
"What for?" McCoy protested."...I thought you said
they wouldn't work anyway."
"As long as the shield is active, they will not,"
Delkondros said, apparently trying to sound
apologetic.
"But the power required to maintain that shield is more
than we can afford for any length of time.now,
please, gentlemen, you are wasting time.your
communicators will be returned when your mission is
completed."
McCoy continued to scowl at the President for
another second, then shook his head With an
irritated sigh.delkondros' suspicions about
the captain were idiotic, but Kaulidren was another
kettle of fish altogether.
The Premier was obviously the sort who'd try
anything.he wouldn't succeed, of course, not With
Jim Kirk, probably not With any Starfleet
captain, but Delkondros had no way of knowing
t.and he obviously wasn't about to take anyone's
word for it, least of all theirs.no, if he and
Spock were going to accomplish anything at all down
here, they would simply have to go along With
Delkondros' paranoid demands.
"Come on, Spock," he said, laying his own
communicator on the table, "let's get this
foolishness over WithffMaybe then we can get on With
what we came down here to do!"
Spock hesitated a moment, then laid his
communicator on the table next to McCoy's.the
doctor looked up at Delkondros."...ationow, what
is it you want to show US?"
Before the President could respond, one
of the council members, a small wiry man With
hair and beard just beginning to go gray, stepped forward
sharply to face Delkondros.
"This is madness!" the man burst out."...I can't
let this go onffSurely even you can now see you are
only making Vancadia's plight worse!"
The President turned a frown on the new
speaker.
"We've been through this a hundred times,
Tyl-maurek.
I was under the impression you had finally come to agree
With my decision."
Tylmaurek shook his head violently."...Can't you
see what you're doing, Delkondros"...ally're
destroying our only chanceffThese people want to help us,
but if you keep up this insanity, you'll turn them
against us!
You'll make it so the Federation will never listen
to US!"
"He's right," McCoy broke in, suddenly
heartened by the appearance of someone who seemed to have a
little common sense."...Look, I know how you feel about
Kaulidren, but kidnapping us isn't going to help,
you must know t.it just makes you look bad too."
"That's what I told them!"
Tylmaurek almost shouted as he spun toward
Spock and McCoy."...Right from the start, I told
them they had to trust y.it was the only way.the
Federation can't be blackmailed, not by the likes of
us!"
He paused, glaring around at the uneasy council
members."...Can't you people see th"...Didn't you hear what
they sd"...And even if they're lying, do you think this will
make them change their minds"...And once we force them
to look at our evidence and we release them--how do
you plan to control them then"...Or do you plan to hold
them hostage forever?"
As Tylmaurek spoke, McCoy noticed
two council members--a young, beardless man in his
twenties and a tall, bulky man in his fifties--
were moving away from the group, around the table toward the
fire door.
But it was a thin, dark-haired man in the main
group who spoke. "Tylmaurek is right," he said
nervously, his eyes not meeting Delkondros'
eyes."...These people did transport down of their own
free w.you told us they would never even come near us
unless we tricked them.but they did, and now it
seems to me we should take them at their word."
"Besides," someone at the back of the group
said, "like Tylmaurek says, if they're lying,
there's nothing we can do about x.we have to take their word
for things.we don't have any choice.^the aren't just
another pair of Chyrellkan bullies."
Delkondros scowled silently for a moment, his
eyes darting from face to face."...Does Tylmaurek
speak for the rest of you too"...Do you all feel this
way?"
At first there was only motionless silence, but then,
one by one, the council members muttered their
agreement.except for the one member who, like
Delkondros, was armed.that one cast a
sideways glance at Delkondros but remained
silent.
"Very well," Delkondros said finally, "if that
is your wish, so be it. Let the results be on your
heads, not mine."
"You will lower the shield, then?" Spock said."...And
allow us to contact the Enterprise?"
"If that is your wish."
"It is."
"Very well." Delkondros nodded
resignedly."...I will have the shield lowered." Taking his
hand from where it had been hovering near his weapon, he
took a communicator-sized device from a
pocket and tapped one of the buttons on its face.
"It's about time!" McCoy muttered, starting
toward the table and the communicators, but before he had
taken more than a single step, the door directly
behind him and Spock burst open.
"What the blazes--" he began, but the words were
cut off as, without warning, Spock turned and lunged
at him, grasping his shoulders and literally diving to the
floor With him, leaving him gasping for breath as a
pulsed laser beam sizzled through the open door,
stabbing a half-dozen times through the space he and
Spock had occupied a split second bef.one
of the pulses caught the armed council member in one
shoulder.his weapon, now drawn, dropped from
nerveless fingers. Before he could fall, a second
pulse hit his chest.
The room erupted into chaos, most of the council
members shouting or screaming at once.some followed
Spock's example and threw themselves to the floor,
while others turned and raced for the door, and still others
remained frozen in shock.delkondros, snatching
his own weapon from its holster, leaped to
one side, away from the wounded man.for an instant
he pointed his weapon directly at the two
Enterprise crewmen, but before he could fire,
a man staggered through the door, a laser pistol in one
hand.
Delkondros jerked the muzzle of his own weapon
upward and fired at the intruder, the sound thunderous in
the enclosed space.the slug--it was a projectile
weapon--struck the man solidly, sending him
sprawling backward, his weapon flying from his hand and
through the door behind him, before it clattered to the floor.
Suddenly, there was only silence, and for a moment
everyone was motionless, even those who had started to race
toward the opposite door. Unlike the others,
Delkondros was expressionless, and he was looking not
at the man he had just shot, nor even at the wounded
council member, but was scowling intently at Spock
and McCoy.
McCoy, ignoring the scowl, scrambled to his
feet.
"Get that blasted shield down!" he snapped,
hurrying toward the wounded council member."...We have
to beam this man up to sickbay--immediately! Otherwise
he doesn't have a chance!"
Kneeling next to the fallen man, he brought the
sensor of his medical tricorder to the vicinity of the
wounds."...Still breathing," he muttered, "but just barely,
and if he goes into shock before we can--"
McCoy broke off, his frown deepening into a
puzzled scowl as he moved the sensor back and forth
and watched the tricorder readouts.the readings were all
wrong, even for a man as seriously wounded as this!
The heart rate, even the basic metabolic
indicationsAbruptly, he looked up at the
President."...Del-kondros, who is this man?"
"Does it matter, Doctor?" Spock broke
in, moving to the table and snatching up the
communicators as he spoke, his eyes never leaving
Delkondros."...What is important now is to have
the shield lowered."
"Darned right it matters, Spock!" McCoy
shot back."...Unless my instruments have gone
completely haywire, he isn't a man at
allffHe's a Klingon!"
"Do not be foolish, Doctor," Spock said,
again speaking With uncharacteristic force."...He is
obviously-was
"That's enough, both of you!" Delkondros said
With a heavy sigh."...I should have realized.you already
knew, didn't you, Spock"...And don't bother
to deny it.
I saw you checking your tricorder readings from the
moment you arrived. And the way you got yourself and
Dr.mcCoy out of the line of fire, you must have seen
it coming."
Suddenly, Spock's earlier actions, his
puzzling references to Neural, made sense
to McCoy.the Vulcan had been trying to warn him,
and he'd been too blasted dense to catch on, and
now-"But it doesn't matter," Delkondros said,
shak ing his head in mock sadness."...ally do know now. You
all know." His eyes darted briefly toward the other
council members. With one hand he tapped another
button on the signalling device he still held.with
the
other he raised his weapon, bringing it toward
Spock.
McCoy, even as he leaped to his feet, could
see Delkondros' finger tightening on the trigger.
But in the same instant, Tylmaurek, less
than a meter from the President's side, lashed out
and smashed his hand against Delkondros' wrist.
The gun fired, the bullet gouging a crater in the
wall behind Spock, missing him by inches as he
lunged forward.
Still gripping the gun, Delkondros backhanded
Tylmaurek in the chest, the force of the blow lifting the
small man from the floor and sending him
reeling backward, gasping for breath.half stunned,
he slammed into McCoy, sending them both to the
floor in a tangle of arms and legs.
Before Delkondros could level the gun again,
Spock grasped his wrist and struggled to keep the
muzzle away from his chest.two more thunderous
explosions sent slugs smashing into the floor,
scattering deadly fragments of concrete in all
directions, but then Delkondros abruptly
shifted position and snaked his other arm around
Spock's neck from behind, the forearm snapping up against
the Vulcan's chin, then pressing crushingly against the
tensed muscles of his throat.
Good Lord, he's a Klingon, too, McCoy
realized belatedly as he scrambled to get out from under
Tylmaurek's limp weight.
As Spock's feet were lifted from the floor,
leaving the Vulcan seemingly helpless in
Delkondros' iron grip, McCoy managed
to get to his own feet and get
his medikit open.finding the hypospray unit,
he searched out a vial and snapped it in as he
circled behind Delkondros.
Darting forward, McCoy depressed the
hypospray against Delkondros' muscular
neck, automatically activating it, The hypo
gave a telltale hiss, and Delkondros' head
jerked around as he tried to turn and face
McCoy.but the motion let Spock's feet
touch the floor again, giving him back the leverage he
had lost, and the two lurched suddenly sideways.
A guttural sound, almost a growl, welled up
in the President's throat, and for just an instant, he
stiffened, his arm jerking upward, snapping Spock's
head sharply backward.
An instant later the arm went limp and fell
away.
Delkondros' weapon hit the floor, followed
a moment later by Delkondros himself as he toppled
backwards, landing at McCoy's feet With a dull
thud.
"Thank you, Doctor," Spock acknowledged as
he turned and raced to the door through which the man With the
laser had come.
Slamming and bolting it, he turned back to the
crowd of milling council members while McCoy
hurried to the man Delkondros had shot."...Is
anyone able to shut off the shield Delkondros
spoke of?." Spock asked, his raised voice
noticeably hoarse from the pressure
Delkondros had applied to his throat.
"He's never even told us where the generators
are," one of them said, followed by a chorus of
affirmations.
"We didn't even know a shield existed until
he hatched this plan of his!"
"Then we had all best leave the vicinity as
quickly as possible."
"This man is dead," McCoy said, standing up from
his hasty examination of the man by the door, "and
human.but I can't leave this other one, even if
he is a Klingon!"
"We have no choice in the matter, Doctor,"
Spock said quickly, "if we are to have a chance
to survive ourvs.the two who actually fired the
laser before propelling this man through the door are also
Klingons, and they will be returning.delkondros
himself is a Klingon, and he summoned them.it is
a logical assumption that their next course of
action will be to kill everyone here, in order to keep their
presence on this world a secret."
Taking his communicator, McCoy
reluctantly followed Spock as he started toward
the door on the opposite side of the room.
"No, this wayffEveryone!"
Tylmaurek, though still out of breath from
Del-kondros' backhanded blow, was back on his
feet on the far side of the table, gesturing toward the
fire door.one of the two men who had earlier edged
away from the other council members was working With the
lock.
Glancing at his tricorder, Spock changed
direction and hurried toward the indicated door as it
came open With a loud scraping sound."...Come,
Doctor.we have only a few seconds."
Grimacing, McCoy fastened the communicator
to his belt and raced through the door after
Spock."...If we
get out of this, Spock, maybe someone'll tell
me what the blazes is going on!"
When the rest of the council members only continued
to mill around, Tylmaurek raised his voice to a
near shout."...Everyone, listen to me! Vulcans do not
lieffally've all read the information Captain Mendez
brought to us about the FederationffIf Mr.spock says
Delkondros is an alien, a Klingon, then he
is.and if he says that other Klingons are coming
to kill us all, then they areffIf you want to save
your lives, follow me, now!"
As if to emphasize his words, something
thudded against the door Spock had bolted.a moment
later the deadly sizzle of a laser galvanized
even the most skeptical of the council members
into motion.despite another call from Tylmaurek,
however, they all bolted through the door on the far
side of the room, one of them pausing long enough to snatch
up Delkondros' weapon and throw a look of dark
suspicion over his shoulder at Tylmaurek.
"No!" Tylmaurek screamed, but he could only
watch them gddabruptly, angrily, as the last man
disappeared into the hall, Tylmaurek turned and
followed Spock and McCoy and the other two
council members through the fire door.turning, he
grasped the door, struggling to close it.
But it was jammed.the hinges, despite their lack
of rust, had let the massive metal door sag
until it dragged on the cracked and uneven concrete
floor.
Spock, seeing the door was caught, jammed his
communicator onto his belt and gripped the door and
lifted.from the conference room the sounds of the
lasers working on the other door grew louder and less
muffled.a moment later one of the beams forced its way
through and began to burn a jagged furrow in the floor,
only inches from the unconscious
Delkondros.
As the remains of the door splintered and crashed
open, the fire door clanked shut and Tylmaurek
rammed home the bolt, sealing the door behind them.
They were in a huge, dimly lit warehouse,
crates of all sizes lining the walls and forming
shadowy corridors.
Tylmaurek immediately started down one of the
aisles."...This way," he said, breaking into a trot and
waving for them to follow."...We can talk once we're
safely out of here.maybe even make a plan of
some sort."
The others took off after hm.they continued through the
building for perhaps a minute, then Tylmaurek
stopped next to a low-lying wooden platform--a
loading dock of some sort, McCoy realized.
The Vancadian pressed an electronic key
against the lockpad of a small door next to the
dock, opened it, and stepped through.he darted quick
looks up and down the darkened, deserted street, then
motioned the others to follow.
"Over there," he said, pointing across the pot-holed
street at a densely wooded, park-like area.
As he was locking the door behind them, a faint
scream came from somewhere on the far side of the
building, then the muffled explosion of a projectile
weapon, and the barely audible, but unmistakable,
sizzle of lasers.tylmaurek winced, almost
dropping
the electronic key as he slipped it into his
pocket.
When he turned to race after the others, his face was
grim.
"What does your machine tell you now?" He
scowled at Spock's tricorder as they ran across
the street."...Does it know which of my friends was killed?"
Entering the wooded area, Spock paused and
looked down at his tricorder, then back up at
Tylmaurek and McCoy, who was also watching him
grimly.
"I am sorry," he said."...The only lifeforms
that register in that area now are Klingon."
Chapter Five.
I SHOULD have BEEN With THEM, Kirk thought
harshly, his eyes still fastened on the ten thousand square
kilometers of shimmering distortion that blurred
Vancadia's image on the viewscreen.
I shouldn't have given in to those two squabbling
egomaniacsffWith the three of us down there instead of just
the two-"I warned you!" Kaulidren's
grating voice penetrated the numbing shell that had
sprung up around Kirk's mind."...I told you they
were not to be trustedffationow do you understand what kind of
creatures they are"...ationow will you listen to me?"
Kirk, his teeth gritting in sudden anger, spun
to face the Premier."...I have been listening,
Premier, but in all your warnings, I heard nothing
about the existence of that shield they put up!"
Kaulidren shook his head sharply, his own anger
seeming to match Kirk's. "How could we warn you of
something we knew nothing ab"...We learned of the
shield's existence at the same time you didffBut
surely
it is not so powerful--I heard your Lieutenant
Pritchard say that it could be easily breached by your
weapons."
"Premier Kaulidren..." Kirk drew a
deep, calming breath.when he spoke again, his
voice was calmer, his tone more controlled."...We are not
here to take sides.and certainly not to kill thousands
of innocent people, which is precisely what firing our
weapons blindly through that shield would do!"
"But now that your own men have been murdered, are you
telling me, Captain, that this so-called Prime
Directive your Federation makes so much of
does not allow you even to defend yourself?."
"Of course nffBut firing a photon torpedo at
a helpless city is hardly what I'd call
defenseffThat would be the same kind of genocidal
revenge the Klingons engage in!"
"Is it revenge to exact justice wh en your own
men are killed, Captain?" Kaulidren
asked."...I tell you now that force is the only
language Delkondros and his kind understand."
"Then we'll have to teach them another," Kirk
replied simply.
"Captain, Captain..." Kaulidren shook his
head.
"I suppose I should have known better than
to hope for decisive, straightforward action--not that
I can entirely blame y.i have read the
historical accounts the El Dorado provided us
and seen examples of how your superiors treat
anyone who displays a little steel in his spine, a little
initiativeffGelken, Wenzler, Carmody..."
Kirk blinked, startled by the Premier's
words.if the names he had thrown out were truly his
idea of heroes, particularly Jason Carmody,
then the chances for a peaceful resolution between
Chyrellka and Vancadia were remote,
indeed.
Carmody, Kirk remembered With a mental
grimace, had been in command of the Chafee, a small
explorer scout in the days before the establishment of the
Neutral Zone.ignoring his subordinates'
urgings of caution, he beamed down to the surface of
Delar Seven a primitive world only parsecs from
an area of known Klingon activity.in a hurry
to check out what proved later to be false readings
indicating the presence of dilithium. He and his
crew found themselves in the middle of a pitched battle
between Klingon-sponsored forces and another native
faction, and instead of beaming out immediately, as the Prime
Directive--and just plain common sense demanded,
Carmody, when one of his party was wounded, took out his
phaser and began firing.he killed or wounded
dozens before his men could overpower him and get the entire
party beamed back to their ship.the entire crew of the
Chafee had later gone missing in space.
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Premier
Kaulidren," Kirk said, "but it doesn't alter
the facts."
"Facts"...The facts are that Delkondros has
just murdered two of your men, and you propose to do
nothing about it!"
"No, Premier," Kirk snapped harshly, "the
fact is that we don't know who killed them!"
"But you heard DelkondrosffHe told you he was
holding them hostageffHe even threatened to do
exactly what he did--kill them the moment you
tried to transport them out of thereffSurely you--"
"All of that may be true," Kirk cut him
off, "but it sounded to me as if a fight of some kind was
going on when the killings occurred.what if some other
group --some of your own people, even--attacked
Delkondros? My men could have simply been
caught in the crossfire, Or, for that matter,"
Kirk added, scowling directly at Kaulidren as
a new possibility flashed into his mind, "we have
no way of knowing that it was Delkondros who took
my men captive.for all I know, it could have been
one of your own colonial officials saying he was
DelkondrosffThis whole affair could be nothing more
than a bloodthirsty charade, designed to trick us
into siding openly With you, even getting us
to retaliate against the colonists."
"You certainly can't believe something as outlandish as
that, Captain!"
If your heroes are people like Carmody, I could,
Kirk thought, but he shook his head
reluctantly."...ation at the moment, although the more you
urge us to retaliate, the more plausible the idea
becomes.so please try to understand, Premier.no
matter what you may have thought when you requested our
help, the Federation does not take sides in
non-Federation disputes, not under any
circumstances.we are not judge and jury, tempting
as the prospect might be in the present
circumstances.we are, here and now, mediators, and
that is all we are, all we can be!"
abruptly, Kirk turned toward the science
station.
"Mr.pritchard, set up a program
to monitor that shield constantly, something that will alert
both the bridge and the transporter room--and
engineering--the moment there's the slightest sign of
weakening, the slightest sign of any change at
all."
"Aye-aye, Captain."
"And as soon as you have that running, get back on
that sensor scan.i want to know every ship and every power
source in the Chyrellkan system."
"Right away, sir."
"Lieutenant Uhura, open a channel
to Starfleet.
This has to be reported, not only the deaths but the
existence of the shield and all it implies."
Acknowledging the order in a subdued voice,
Uhura worked the controls while Kirk settled
back in the command chair, bracing himself for what was
to come.
Spock's announcement that only Klingons were
alive in the area where there should have been more than a
half-dozen council members brought a stunned
silence from Tylmaurek and the others, then an angry
grimace from Tylmaurekddabruptly, he turned
and started into the heavily wooded park at a fast
jog.the others followed without objection.
As they ran, McCoy took his communicator from
his belt.the presence of Klingons made it all the
more imperative that they reach the Enterprise, even if
they themselves couldn't make it back.klingons
certainly explained why the situation between
Chyrellka and Vancadia had gone to the devil
in less than ten years, but it didn't explain why
they were here or what they hoped to accomplish. But
whatever it was, unless he or Spock could get word
back to the Enterprise and the Federation, chances were good that
they'd succeed. And having the Klingons succeed at
anything was bad news.the last time they'd
gone to the trouble of passing one of themselves off as
human, it had been in order to poison a shipload
of quadrotriticale on its way to a starving
planet they had designs on.no one knew how
many would have died if they'd succeeded in that little scheme,
McCoy thought angrily.
"McCoy to Enterprise," the doctor shouted,
flipping his communicator open as he
ran."...McCoy to Enterprise--come in,
Enterprise!"
Spock, a few paces ahead, turned his head
briefly, then called back, "Doctor, the
shield is obviously still up--and just as obviously,
it covers a far bigger area than just the building we
were in.i suggest we concentrate our efforts on
escaping, rather than" McCoy shut his communicator
in disgust and shoved it back in his belt, almost
dropping it in the process."...Dammit, Spock,
I am trying to escapeffI'm a doctor, not a
long-distance runner!"
They were still deep inside the wooded area, With no
lights ahead or beh.and he was running out of breath.
"Where are we going?" he called out."...And how much
farther is it?"
"Another hundred yards or so,"
Tylmaurek called back, sounding almost as out of
breath as McCoy, "and we'll be out of here, back
to where we left our Vehicles." There was a bitter
laugh between breaths.
"We started taking precautions so we'd have an
escape route in case the Chyrellkans found out
where we were meeting and raided us, but when
Delkondros--or whatever his Klingon name is--
hatched this hostage plot, and I couldn't talk him
out of it, the three of us--" He glanced around at the
other two fleeing council members."...The three of
us, we hatched our own little plot.^the two were going
to try to distract Delkondros while I slipped
you ou.i thought that once we were out of the building, we
would be out from under the shield and you could contact your ship,
but from what I've heard, I gather I was wrong about
that too."
"Looks like it," McCoy managed as
Tylmaurek lapsed back into heavy-breathing
silence.a few seconds later he brought them to a
stop just short of a line of evergreen-like
bushes.beyond was what could have been, except for the
softly rounded contours of the houses and the lack of
curbs, a somewhat run-down residential street
from twenty-first-century Earth.
Even the streetlights, circular glowing tubes,
were not all that different.there were, however, no people out
for evening strolls, though the weather, clear and dry, was
inviting.a single vehicle, a dark gray, almost
silent hovercraft, hissed by, and when it was gone,
Tylmaurek gestured them forward through an opening in the
line of bushes.
"The Chyrellkan curfew isn't for another
hour," Tylmaurek said, beginning to get his breath
back, "but no need to take chances."
"But what are we going to do?" the younger of the other
two surviving council members finally asked, almost
plaintively."...Delkondros and the Chyrellkans
I can deal With, but these aliens--"
"There is a house," Tylmaurek said, giving
them an address."...It's another precaution I was
taking, like the escape route.no one else knows about
it, not Delkondros or any of the other council
members, so it should be safe--unless the aliens have
machines like these tricorders," he added, glancing
questioningly at Spock.
"I have no way of being positive,
Councilman, but I do not believe they would have
anything comparable.
Even if they did, they would almost
certainly not be able to use them to locate and identify
specific individuals."
"That's a relief," Tylmaurek said."...From the
way you and Delkondros were talking back there, I
was beginning to think they were pure magic, and we have enough
trouble without worrying about t.for one thing,
Delkondros knows the names we've been using since
we were forced underground, even knows where we've been
living." He paused, grimacing. "I should have
killed him, I can see that now, but it's too late.
Dr.mcCoy, how long before he wakes up from
whatever you did to him?"
"I never used that on a Klingon before, so it's
hard to tell.he could be awake already, or it could be
another hour."
"Then we'd better hurry.we will be safest at
that house until we can decide what to do, make some
kind of plans.however," he went on to the other two
council members, "the two of you have families to be
concerned about." He paused and turned again to the two from
the Enterprise.
"You know more about these Klingons than I d.i read
about them in the Federation histories you'v e given us, but
that's all.what will they d"...Will they try to track us
down?"
"What they will do depends on their numbers and their
resources," Spock said, "as well as on their
reasons for being here.once they realize you have
escaped, however, I would not discount the possibility
that they would indeed go to your homes and wait for you
to return.nor would it be at all out of character for them
to take your families hostage in an attempt
to force you to give yourselves up."
"And if you did give yourself up," McCoy added
darkly, "they'd most likely kill you and your
families.
I wouldn't put anything past them.life, even
Klingon life, doesn't mean much to them, unless
it's their own.
Winning, that's all that matters to them.and to a
Klingon, the winner is the one who's still alive at the
end."
The two men paled."...They would do such things?
Threaten our families?" the younger man gasped.
"It is entirely possible," Spock said.
More than just possible, McCoy thought, suddenly
realizing that Klingons were even more alien to these people than
to himself or Spock.the history of
Chyrellka wasn't filled With the kind of
villains, the Hitlers and the Genghis
Khans, that would prepare them for the Klingons.they had
been at peace for at least two centuries, so even
for these men, who had just seen several of their friends
killed, it was hard to believe just how far the Klingons
would go, that they would go after totally innocent bystanders
if it suited their purpose.
"If I were you," McCoy said, his voice soft
but intense, "I'd get home as quickly as possible
and get your families to that safe house of
Tylmaurek's--before Delkondros wakes up and
tells his assassination squad where you live."
"He's right," Tylmaurek said when the two still
hesitated, turning their shocked, questioning faces toward
him."...Go while you still have the chance."
abruptly, the two men turned and raced down the
street in opposite directions.
"Let's go," Tylmaurek said, starting across the
street."...My own vehicle is just around the corner."
He shivered."...The sooner I get out of sight, the
better I'll feel."
As Spock and McCoy followed Tylmaurek
along the sidewalkless street, the whine of a
hovercraft starting up came from a block behind them,
then the hiss as it moved away.a moment later the
same sounds came from the other
direction.then Tylmaurek was punching the combination
on the keypad lock of a dark green hovercraft and
motioning them inside.
He was silent as the vehicle, which was even
quieter inside than out, lifted on its cushion of
air and
darted off down the street.after several
seconds Tylmaurek glanced toward them, and
McCoy could see the pain and confusion in the man's
eyes."...I guess I have to accept the fact that
Klingons are here," he said, shaking his head, "but
why"...What are they doing here?"
"Causing trouble, obviously!" McCoy
snapped.
"But what could they possibly want from u"...We're
nowhere near their technological level, so they can't
be after our k.and if they wanted to steal our raw
material-- We don't even have outposts in three
quarters of the land on Vancadia.they could land almost
anywhere out there, and we'd never even know they existed,
let alone be able to figure out a way to stop them."
He shook his head again."...To g to this much trouble, they have
to have a reason.don't they?"
"You'd think so," McCoy said With a grimace,
"but I wouldn't bet my life on x.at
least, not any reason any of us would
recognize.i've said it before, and I'll say it
again, Klingons do things for no more reason than sheer
Klingon cussedness.hell, I've always thought that was
the only reason that other bunch had for stirring up
trouble on Neural. After all, what did they
really get out of x"...Even if they'd been left
alone, what would they have gotten out of it--besides the
pleasure of watching a couple of once-peaceful
tribes slaughter each other!"
"It is difficult to say, Doctor," Spock
said when McCoy subsided into a gloomy
silence."...However, whatever their purpose on
Neural may have been, it
would appear at first glance that their pattern of
behavior here in the Chyrellkan system is generally
similar." Briefly, Spock went on to explain
for Tylmaurek's benefit how the Klingons had
given advanced weapons to one tribe and then
encouraged it to make war on another.
"The shield," McCoy muttered when Spock
paused, "the Klingons gave them the shield."
"Precisely, Doctor.tylmaurek, what do
you know of this shield"...Did Delkondros claim to have
invented it?"
Tylmaurek glanced over his shoulder at the
Vulcan, then shook his head. "He never said
specifically.he didn't tell anyone about
it--didn't tell me, at least--until he came
up With this harebrained scheme of his.
And he said virtually nothing about it even then,
except that it would be ready to operate "when it was
needed.""
"He gave you no specific information at all,
Councilman?
Not its size"...Its range"...Who was constructing the
generator"...How much power it required"...ationothing at
all?"
"Not a thing.but since I told him what I
thought of his plan and started trying to do something
to counteract it, we haven't confided in each other
all that much.i didn't tell him about the
precautions I was taking, and he didn't tell me
much of anything except how his plan was supposed
to work."
"What about what he said when he took our
communicators?"
McCoy asked."...About how the shield
took more power than you could afford, so it would have to be
shut down before long?"
"I know nothing about that, either."
"Looks like he was lying, in any event,"
McCoy commented, "which shouldn't be that surprising."
During McCoy's last question and answer, Spock
had taken out his communicator and tried again to raise
the Enterprise.once again he failed, but this time,
instead of returning the device to his belt, he
turned it over, removed the back, and studied it
briefly.finally, he closed it and returned it
to his belt and transferred his attention to his
tricorder.
"If I am not mistaken, Councilman," the
Vulcan said after a moment of studying the readouts,
"the source of power for this city is nuclear fusion.the
generating plant is located approximately
fifteen kilometers due north, is that
correct?"
Tylmaurek frowned but didn't take his eyes
from the street."...That's right.how did you know?"
"It registers quite clearly on the tricorder,"
Spock explained."...What is puzzling is the fact
that I can find no indication of the existence of an energy
shield of any kind."
A sudden burst of hope surged through McCoy.
"Maybe they finally shut it down!" he
muttered as he snatched his communicator from his belt
and snapped it open."...Or it blew a fuse.
McCoy to Enterprise.mcCoy
to Enterprise.-every in."
But there was no answer.
The momentary elation was gone as quickly as it had
come."...Maybe my communicator is damaged," he
said, still not ready to give up entirely."...Spock,
what about--"
"No, Doctor, according to the tricorder, it is
functioning precisely as it was designed to d.the
problem is obviously elsewhere, perhaps even on the
Enterprise."
"The Enterprise"...What could be wrong there?"
"Since I am not there, I could not say."
Suddenly McCoy's mind was racing."...If the
Klingons are involved--look, Spock, what if
the Klingons have come up With some new type of
shield, something that doesn't show up on the
tricorder?"
"That, too, is of course a possibility.it
does not, however, suggest a solution to our current
problem."
"It would at least mean that the problem was down here,
not on the Enterprise.and we could try
driving like the devil away from here. Maybe we could
get out of the shield's range."
"Which would have to wait until tomorrow in any case,"
Tylmaurek said, "unless you want to be stopped for
curfew violation."
Spock's reply was cut off by a beeping sound
and a small flashing light on the control panel of the
hovercraft.
Tylmaurek frowned and reached for a switch next
to the light.
"What now?" he muttered and then went on
to explain."...That means the government--the Chyrellkan
colonial government has taken over all
broadcasts, and they have a message for us."
By the time Tylmaurek had finished speaking, a
pair of tiny screens--one in the front next to the
still-blinking light, one embedded in the back of the
front seat--lit up.
"Must be really urgent," Tylmaurek said,
frowning.
"They usually don't put video on signals
going to vehicles in motion."
A sharp-faced man in a dark uniform With small
patches of the green-and-red Chyrellkan colors on
the sleeves appeared.
"The planetary governor," Tylmaurek said
disgustedly.
"His name is Ulmar."
"Citizens of Vancadia," the governor
began, bringing an even more pained expression
to Tylmaurek's face, "I come to you today With
information that could mean life or death for.both of our
worlds.
However, because I am not unaware of the ill feeling
that many of you harbor toward the Chyrellkan
colonial administration, I will not deliver this
information myfffThere must be no possibility that the
message will be dismissed because of your mistrust of the
messenger.it is too vital for t.therefore, I
will allow the man who brought the information to my attention
to present it."
The governor paused, glancing to one side, and for the
first time his facade of official calmness slipped,
letting a flash of jangling nervousness show in his
eyes and in a momentary twitch of his lips.
Then he was facing the camera again."...Citizens of
Vancadia, the President of the Vancadian
Independence Council."
The screen flared into blankness for a moment, then
steadied as the governor's face was
replaced by that of Delkondros.
"I urge every one of you to listen to me, to believe
me," Delkondros" image on the tiny
hovercraft screens began without preamble."...I have
given up my freedom to bring this message to y.it
is that important. To get Governor Ulmar
to listen to me, to get him to allow me to make this
broadcast, I had to give myself up.what I have
to say is that important, that vital!"
He paused, swallowing in a fair approximation
of a nervous human."...As you all know," he resumed,
"the Chyrellkans some time ago requested the help
of the Federation in resolving the disputes that have recently
developed between our worlds.at one time, I had hoped
that once here, the Federation representatives might
actually listen not only to the Chyrellkans who had
summoned them, but to u.now, however, it has become
obvious that that hope was impossibly naive, even
more naive than many of your own hopes that Chyrellka
would one day treat Vancadia fairly.but we
are not the only victims of that naivete."
He paused again, as if to get his thoughts back on
track from his brief digression."...The Federation's
help has arrived.a Federation vessel took up
orbit around Chyrellka only hours
ago.we have no way of knowing what it is doing
there.all communications With Chyrellka were cut off
within minutes of its arrival, and neither I nor the
governor has been able to reestablish contact.we
do, however, know that a Federation vessel is now
orbiting Vancadia.it may be the same
vessel, or it may be a second one.but that is
not important.what is important is that we do
know what the personnel of that vessel have done.we have
seen the kind of "help" the Federation has sent
us."
abruptly, Delkondros' face vanished,
replaced by a view of the room .spock and
McCoy had escaped f.the body of the other
Klingon council member lay where it had fallen, but
the body of the man who had been thrust into the room
With the laser pistol in his hand was gone.
But that was only the beginning.seven more council
members lay scattered about the floor, along With
three other men that neither Spock nor McCoy
recognized.
All were obviously victims of laser fire.
"How did they get there?" Tylmaurek almost
gasped.
"Who are they?" Spock asked as the
camera lingered on the bodies.
"Chyrellkans," Tylmaurek said
disbelievingly.
"Chyrellkan colonial supervisors, two of
them from the governor's personal staff "This is the
"help" the Federation has given Vancadia,"
Delkondros resumed."...I am sure you will
recognize members of both the Independence
Council and the governor's staff.a meeting was being
held, on neutral ground, between some of our council
members and people from the governor's staff, people With whom
we have been keeping in secret contact since we were
declared criminals.it was the first meeting, however, the
first real truce between us in more than a year, and it was
held because of the arrival of the Federation vessel.we
hoped, all of Delkondros broke off, shaking his
head in another good approximation of how a human
behaves under stress."...I can't remember what we
hoped for," he said, his voice suddenly intense, "but
what the Federation sent was an assassination team
responsible for the slaughter you have just seenffThese men,
mark their faces well!"
For another instant Delkondros' face
remained on the screen, but then it was replaced by a
pair of obviously computer-generated
images, side by side.
Presumably based on Delkondros'
memory, they were not quite perfect in a dozen tiny
ways.coloring was just a shade off.shapes of
noses, chins and ears were subtly distorted, their
expressions coldly menacing.
But there was no mistaking the faces of Spock and
McCoy.
Chapter Six.
"PERHAPS ANOTHER SHIP should take over the
mission, Jim." Admiral Brady's weathered
face filled the screen."...We could have a replacement
under way within twenty-four hours."
"No, thank you, Admiral.i prefer to see it
through myself."
"I know you do, Jim, but under the circumstances-was
"Under the circumstances, Admiral," Kirk
said, his voice tight, "it is my responsibility
and no one else's.
If you doubt my ability to remain objective,
you can order me to leave, but that is the only way I
will go."
Brady's image studied Kirk silently for
several seconds.finally he nodded."...There was a time
when I might have," he said quietly, "but
not anymore.keep us informed.i will notify Sarek
and Amanda.and Commander McCoy's daughter.what
is her name, Jim?"
"Joanna.but don't do it yet,
Admiral."
"Why n"...Do you wish to do it yourself?."
"As a matter of fact, yes, I do." Truth
be told, he couldn't bear the thought of anyone else
delivering the news.but it wasn't only that.
"Admiral..."
"What is it, Jim?" Brady asked when
Kirk didn't continue."...Is there any doubt that they
were killed?"
Kirk swallowed."...ation really, sir, but--"
"I understand.until you actually see the bodies,
there is always room for doubt.very well.when you are
satisfied, you will notify the survivors.in the
meantime I will order a review of the records of
all contacts With non-Federation worlds for other
evidence of external influence, Klingon or
otherwise."
"There is other evidence here, Admiral," said
Kaulidren, unwillingly silent until now."...ationow
that I have heard you and Captain Kirk speak of these
Klingons and their disruptive ways, I can
see it."
Kirk turned sharply to the Chyrellkan."...What
evidence, Kaulidren? Something other than the
shield?"
Kaulidren nodded emphatically."...ally were interested
in causes of the current state of affairs between our
worlds, Captain.well, I will now tell you one of the
chief things that drove us apart--the Vancadians'
apparent invention of an improved interplanetary
drive."
"But wouldn't a better drive have just the opposite
effect?" Kirk asked, frowning."...It should make it
easier to travel between the planets, easier to keep
in touch."
"If we had discovered it," he said, "that is what
would have happened. But we didn't.the Vancadians
did.or were given it by these Klingons of yours.in
any event, this discovery is what made it necessary for us
to place surveillance ships in orbit around
Vancadia."
"Explain, Premier," Kirk said With a frown
as Kaulidren paused.
"It's quite simple.as I'm sure you know, we
use shuttles to get into and out of orbit.all
interplanetary flights are made in ships
built in Chyrellka's orbital factory.or
they were until four years ago, when someone on
Vancadia developed an improved drive of some
kind.it enabled them to reach Chyrellka in a single
ship, little larger than our own shuttles.and they could
make the trip in a matter of hours, not the days that
it took--still takes--our own ships."
"And why did this make the surveillance ships
necessary?" Brady asked impatiently when
Kaulidren paused again.
"Because the Vancadians used their ships to try
to destroy our capability to reach Vancadia at
all," Kaulidren said angrily."...This was when
Delkondros was agitating for instant independence,
so I can only assume he decided to make sure
they achieved x.if we were physically cut off from
Vancadia, he assumed we would have to let them go,
so that is precisely what he tried to d.first he
attacked and destroyed a fleet of our own
interplanetary vessels.until that happened, we
hadn't even known that these improved ships existed.and
at almost the same time, a second of his ships
attacked our factory satellite.by sheer
luck
something went wrong With the new drive, and the
Vancadian ship destroyed itself before it could do more
than minor damage to our factory."
"And since then?" Kirk prompted.
"Since then we have managed to regain control of the
situation.we haven't been able, obviously, to rid
ourselves of Delkondros, but we have at least driven
him and his terrorists underground.but we were
lucky.if Delkondros hadn't been overeager
to use his first two ships, I don't know what would have
happened.but he did use them.he was too
impatient to wait ten years for the promised
independence, and he was too impatient to wait for the
new drive to be perfected.he attacked, and lost
his only two fully operational ships.and before he
could launch more, we were able to arm several of our own
ships and put them in orbit about Vancadia.in
effect, we put a lid on hm.even so, he
attempted three more launches in the following months
--and not just remote-controlled ships like the one today--but
we were able to shoot them down before they achieved
orbit.and then even he realized he was beaten, and
he quit."
"And you're sure the ships you shot down were
equipped With the improved drive"...And were armed?"
"We couldn't be positive, of course,
not without sensors such as yours." Kaulidren glanced
toward the science station."...But we couldn't take
chances.surely you can see t.if those ships had
been allowed to escape Vancadia's gravity
well, their power and maneuverability would have made
them exceedingly
dangerous.that first one destroyed a half dozen
of our own ships before we were able to down x.we
obviously can't allow that to happen again."
"And who was responsible for developing this
improved drive?" Kirk asked.
Kaulidren shook his head With a scowl."...They, of
course, have never told u.delkondros has even
denied its existence, not only to us, but to the
Vancadians themvs.he tells them we made it
all up so we would have a reason for keeping tighter
control on their shuttle flights.and for denying them
their independence.we have, however, been able to ferret out
some rumors regarding the drive's origin."
"And those rumors...?"
"That one of their scientists, one trained on
Chyrellka more than a decade ago, developed the
theory behind the improvement.but this so-called
inventor was co nveniently killed in an early test
flight.
His notes were said to have survived, and others were able
to complete his work.all this, of course, happened long
before we put our surveillance ships in orbit, so
we have no way of knowing what part, if any, is
true."
"This scientist was someone known to you?"
"Not personally, of course.at the moment I
don't even remember his name, but I do remember that
we checked his academic record at the
Chyrellkan university where he studied.he was
near the bottom of his class in almost everything.it was
definitely not the record you would expect of someone
who was going to make a major scientific
discovery."
"But he did," Kirk said when Kaulidren
fell silent, "and you therefore assume he had
help."
"Now that I know that such help may have been
available to him, yes.it would appear to be the only
reasonable explanation."
"Does a sensor scan of the system show anything,
Jim?" Brady broke in from Starfleet
Headquarters.
"Nothing, Admiral.other than the Enterprise,
there are no ships within sensor range
capable of warp drive, nor are there any
antimatter power sources."
"And none could be concealed by the shield itself?."
"No, Admiral.the shield would prevent us from
precisely locating such things, even from getting
reliable technical data about them, but I'm
confident it isn't blocking our sensors completely
enough to conceal the very existence of an antimatter power
generator or a warp drive engine. We are able,
for example, to detect a nuclear fusion power
generator somewhere under the shield.all we do not know
are its precise size and location."
"I see." Brady was silent a moment, then
nodded almost imperceptibly. "It is your
evaluation, then, that while Klingons may have intervened
on these worlds in the recent past, they have since
withdrawn?"
"Or are lying low while we're in the vicinity,"
Kirk acknowledged."...We have no way of knowing if
individual Klingons--or other aliens, for that
matter--are still present and active."
"But I trust your first priority will be to find out,
one way or the other."
"Of course, Admiral."
"Very well, Jim.carry on.and
remember--help is available if you decide it
is needed."
"I understand, Admiral.thank you."
"Keep us informed," Brady said brusquely,
and a moment later the screen went blank.
Kirk turned to Kaulidren."...Premier
Kaulidren," he said quietly, "if Klingons
gave the Vancadians the shield and the improved
drive, they may have given them m.they may be giving
them more even now, including something that would allow them
to knock out your so-called surveillance ships from the
ground.
So I would advise you, Premier, to tell us
everything, not just the alleged terrorist activities the
Vancadians have been engaging in.if there really
is Klingon involvement here, what's happened so far
could be only the opening act."
"These are the ones responsible for the slaughter you have
just seen," Delkondros repeated harshly as
Spock's and McCoy's features continued to be
displayed on the tiny screens."...They appeared in our
midst and began shooting, without warning, without
reason.i somehow managed to escape, I still don't
know how."
Delkondros paused, as if needing
to calm himself and collect his thoughts before going on, but
during the silence, three new faces appeared.this
time they were photographs, not computer-generated
images.
Tylmaurek, still at the controls of the
hovercraft, gasped as he recognized his own
face and those of the other two surviving council
members.
"And these are their collaborators,"
Delkondros' voice continued, "the traitors who
led them to uffWe don't know how long those three have
been in communication With the Federation.nor can we be
certain what the Federation promised them for their help,
nor even what the Federation hopes to gain by this
bloodthirsty behavior.the fact that they have
slaughtered half the council--as well as members
of the governor's staffmhowever, suggests very strongly that
they plan to murder all leaders on both sides and
put Federation puppets in their places."
The words stopped.delkondros' face
reappeared on the screen.
"Obviously, their work is not done," he resumed
grimly."...I can only assume there are more killings
planned, many more, including my own and the
governor's.that is why I am telling
you th.^the killers are still hereffThe Federation's
assassination squad and their collaborators are still
on Vancadia, very likely here in our capital
city, going calmly about their business.they must be
stopped!"
Again the five faces appeared."...These are the
ones," Delkondros repeated."...Watch for them but do
not approach them, not under any circumstances, not if
you value your lifeffContact the authorities, and
they will handle them."
Delkondros fell silent, but the faces
remained on the screen.after a few seconds their
names appeared beneath their faces, and then, in a narrow
band across the top of the screen, appeared a condensed
version of
the warning Delkondros had just given, telling
anyone who saw any of these people to notify the
governor's office.after another minute the
governor reappeared, and the whole process began
again, apparently the beginning of an endless loop that would
continue until Spock and McCoy and their
"collaborators" were captured or, more likely,
shot on sight.
"This changes everything," Tylmaurek said
weakly.
"The house I was taking you to won't be safe, not
after that mass of lies.someone's sure to have seen me
there, and they don't have any reason not to believe-was
He shook his head, his expression one of disbelief.
"It's like Valdreson said--the Chyrellkans
I can deal With, but this--look, Spock,
Dr.mcCoy, you've dealt With these Klingons before,
haven't y"...Do you have any ideas?"
"If you mean, Councilman," Spock said, "do
I have any suggestions as to a specific course of
action that would extricate us from our current
situation, I do n.you would yourself appear to be in a
better position than I to analyze the situation,
since a thorough knowledge of the local people is likely to be
more useful toward that end than would be a similar knowledge of
Klingons.however, I would point out that, based on the
story Delkondros concocted and on his strident
warnings that the five of us are to be avoided at all
costs, it is logical to assume that one of his
goals, in addition to capturing or killing us, is
to keep us from talking to anyone in the meantime.that, in
turn, suggests that he fears we would reveal the
truth of the situation and that there is at least a chance we
would be believed."
McCoy brightened, then nodded as he
turned back to Tylmaurek."...I hadn't thought of it
quite like that, but Spock's right.but right now the first
order of business is to get out of sight and stay
alive until we can figure out a way to either
contact the Enterprise or talk to someone down here
without getting shot full of holes." He glanced
around at the street, which was deserted except for an
occasional parked vehicle.he had seen only four
moving vehicles since they had emerged from the park.
"And if we're the only car on the road, staying out
of sight won't be easy.is it like this everywhere?"
"Probably," Tylmaurek acknowledged With a
shudder.
"And if it isn't, it will be in a few
minutes.the governor's curfew--it's been in
effect for more than a month, ever since his oldest
son was killed by a bomb probably meant for
hm.very few people even dare to leave their homes after
dark.no, we have to get off the streets or we
won't have to be turned in.the governor's nightly
sweeps will get us."
McCoy groaned and gave his communicator one
more try."...ally'd better find us a bolt hole
pretty soon, Councilman," he said as he
flipped it shut."...There must be someone you can
trust."
Tylmaurek shook his head bleakly."...At this
point I have no idea whether there is or n.ten
minutes ago I could have named a hundred people, but after
that broadcast...ally could be right about Delkondros
being afraid we'll talk to someone, but that doesn't
help me figure out who we'd have the best chance
approaching."
"As a starting point, Councilman," Spock
said, "who in authority do you know who is definitely
not a Klingon?"
"How should I know"...I didn't even suspect
Delkondros, and I've known him for years, ever
since he was elected to the Council!"
"There are a number of logical criteria you could
apply," Spock went on. "First, is the person
someone who has a family that is still living? Does
the governor, for example, have more family beyond the
son you said was killed?"
"Two other sons and a daughter.and a
wife.but does that mean he's definitely not a
Klingon?"
"Nothing is one hundred percent certain,
Councilman, but it is an indication.another
indication would be the manner in which he was
elected."
"He wasn't elected, he was appointed--almost
fifteen years ago.but what does the way someone
is elected have to do With whether or not he could be a
Klingon?"
"Based on what both Delkondros and
Kaulidren said to the captain, it is my understanding that
Delkondros was first elected to the Council
following the murder of his chief opponent."
"But that was done by the Chyrellkans,"
Tylmaurek objected."...They've been conducting a
campaign of--" Tylmaurek broke off, his mouth
dropping open.
"So that how they did it!" he said harshly."...They
put Delkondros up and killed the only other
candidate who had a chance of beating him!"
"Their operations are probably more sophisticated
than that," Spock said, "but I suspect that in
essence, that is precisely what they did. May
I assume there are a number of other similar
instances?"
"At least a hundred in the last five years!"
Tylmaurek shook his head."... In fact, all
those deaths, the poisonings--they were one of the reasons
we wanted you to come down here.we had always
thought--had always been told--that the Chyrellkans were
responsible, that it was their way of making sure that people
they didn't approve of didn't get elected!
But it must have been the Klingons who were doing all the
killing! Unless--Could these Klingons have formed an
alliance With the Chyrellkans"...Could they be working
together"...Could that whole story about Delkondros giving
himself up to the governor be a sham?"
"It is a possibility to be considered,"
Spock admitted, "particularly in light of the
remarkable speed With which Delkondros' supposed
surrender was accomplished."
Tylmaurek blinked."...ally're right.i would've
seen it myself if I--if I'd been thinking instead of
going into a panic over the lies he was telling about
u.there wouldn't have been time for--" Tylmaurek
broke off, his eyes widening."...Could Governor
Ulmar himself be a Klingon after all?"
"Anything is possible, Councilman," Spock
said, "but it is more likely, considering other
factors, that he, like yourself, has simply been
taken in by them."
"What about the Chyrellkan government?"
McCoy asked abruptly."...What about
Kaulidren?"
"It is, of course, possible he is a
Klingon, Doctor, but highly unlikely.it would
be foolhardy for even the most human-appearing
Klingon to willingly board the Enterprise.it would
take only the most rudimentary of sensor scans
to reveal his true nature, just as Delkondros'
true nature was instantly apparent to a simple
tricorder scan."
"What's foolhardy for a Vulcan might make
perfect sense to a Klingon, Spock," McCoy
retorted."...Any race that considers assassination
to be an acceptable --an admired method of career
advancement is a race that has its bolts snugged
down a little too tight for its own good!"
"I cannot disagree With your colorful metaphor,
Doctor," Spock said, glancing once again at the
deserted streets the hovercraft was speeding through.
"However, it does nothing toward finding a solution
to our current predicament.councilman, have you yet
been able to think of someone who would trust you enough to give
you a hearing?"
"There are Several I'm almost certain aren't
Klingons, but after that broadcast--" He broke
off, shaking his head."...After that broadcast, if I
didn't know the truth, I wouldn't trust
even me."
Chapter Seven.
AFTER TWO HOURS in the briefing room With
Kaulidren, Kirk was convinced that Klingons were
indeed involved in events on Vancadia.
But belief was one thing, proof another.the mere
existence of anomalous technological advances,
even major ones, did not prove that those advances were
the result of off-world interference, let alone the
result specifically of Klingon interference.there
were such things as home-grown geniuses.and the sudden
eruption of hostilities between previously friendly
factions certainly wasn't evidence of off-world
interference.
Several millennia of history on Earth and
dozens of other class-M planets had proven--
a thousand times over--that seemingly intelligent beings
were quite capable of getting into fights at all levels,
from interpersonal to interplanetary, With no outside
help whatsoever.
And even if there were proof-With a grimace, Kirk
remembered the thoroughly
unsatisfactory conclusion to the Neural
affair.regardless of their good intentions, the Federation
had, of necessity, descended to the
Klingons' level and given the same kinds of
weapons to the Hill People as the Klingons had given
to their enemies.
Nothing remotely similar could be allowed
to happen here, not at these technological levels,
no matter how happy it would make Kaulidren
to get his hands on something that would match or surpass
what the Vancadians had probably--already been
given.
"You don't have to give us the actual weapons,"
Kaulidren persisted, "only the information.we can do
the rest for ourselves."
"Impossible," Kirk said flatly."...The
result would be the same, in any event."
"The result would be," Kaulidren said
angrily, "we would at least have a chance
to surviveffIf you won't protect us even now--"
He paused, shaking his head.
"Since these Klingons of yours have given the
Vancadians the shield and the improved drive,"
he went on, "what's to stop them from giving them
phasers"...Or photon torpedoes?"
"Probably very little," Kirk admitted, "as
long as the Vancadians are willing to accept and
use such things."
Kaulidren snorted."...And why shouldn't they be?
Who in their right mind would turn down power like that if
it was offered to them?"
"Someone who didn't need it!" Kirk snapped.
"Are you suggesting, Captain, that the current
situation is our fault"...I would remind you that the first
thing the Vancadians did With their improved drive
was attack uffFor no reason whatsoever!"
"I understand t.however, they must have thought they had a
reason."
"Of course they didffInstant independenceffI
told you that virtually the moment I came on board!
Delkondros had just been elected to the
Council, and this was his way of moving upffTo bbcoming
President!
These Klingons of yours must have worked through hm.he was
obviously willing to do virtually anything to winffIt
would not surprise me the least bit to learn that he was
responsible for the death of his major opponent in the
election, the one he accused us of murderingffThe one
whose death he used in his campaign to stir up
sentiment against us!"
Breathing heavily, Kaulidren paused to calm
himself before going on. "If your Klingons were lurking
about, monitoring our communications and
broadcasts, that is all they would need to know.they would
know Delkondros was a perfect target for
them.all they would have to do is offer him the drive.and
once he had his hands on that, all he would have to do--
all he did do was manufacture some lies about
u.he blamed us for a half-dozen riots that he
probably started hmf.he blamed us for one death
after another, most of which were either accidental or his own
doing.then he started rumors about how we had changed
our minds and were going to go back on our word about
granting their independence on schedule!
And then he produced this improved drive you say
the Klingons gave him and said, "HereffThis will get us
our independence, not ten years from now or a hundred
years from now, but now!""
"Assuming that's what happened, Premier,"
Kirk said, "it's all the more reason not to give you and
your world the same weapons the Vancadians h.we
have to stop this--this escalation, not light the fuse that
makes it explode into an all-out war!"
"After what that madman did to your men, you can still
talk like that?"
Kirk swallowed away the ache that momentarily
gripped his throat at the reminder."...In the first
place," he explained deliberately,
"we still don't know what really happened down
there.even without the probability that Klingons are
involved, anything is possible.
And With Klingons--possibly With one or more of
them down there right now--whatever happened to my men
was, directly or indirectly, the doing of those
Klingons.even granting that Delkondros was ripe
to be corrupted by them, or that he was already corrupt
and was only made more powerful by the Klingons, what about
everyone else"...ally're surely not saying that all
Vancadians--all the Vancadians who would be
killed if we gave you the weapons you want--
deserve to die?"
"Of course nffBut if it comes to a choice between their
deaths and our own, I'm certainly not going to choose
oursffAnd it will come to that, if Delkondros gets more
help, if he gets phasers and photon
torppedoes.
to mount on the ships the Klingons have already given
hmffWith phasers, he could bring down our
surveillance ships, the only things that are keeping
him in checkffWith one photon torpedo, he could
destroy our orbital manufacturing stationffWith a
few more, he could destroy our world!"
Kirk shook his head sadly."...ationei world
has to be destroyed, Premier. Instead of trying
to counteract the Klingon weapons With Federation
weapons, we have to counteract them With the truth."
"And how do you propose to get that truth to anyone
on Vancadia"...Their shield is still up, and they have
refused to communicate With you since they murdered your
men!" abruptly, Kaulidren stood up from the
briefing room table."...Further discussion is
obviously pointless, Captain.i therefore insist that
I be allowed to return to Chyrellka.i have been out
of touch With my government for too long already."
Kirk scowled."...Are you so eager to throw away
lives, that you won't make the least effort to save
them?"
"I have made an effort.you have made an effort,
an effort that has already cost two lives.cctinue
to make efforts and lose lives as long as you wish,
but do so without me.i demand you return me to my
world!"
Kirk's scowl darkened for a moment, but then he
sighed."...Very well, Premier.we will continue our
mediation as best we can without y.a shuttlecraft will
be available to transport you and your advisors
whenever you're ready."
"A shuttlecraft"...But my own ship--"
"--Is incapable of covering the distance between here and
Chyrellka unaided, and I am not prepared at this
time to take the Enterprise out of orbit around
Vancadia in order to transport x.it will be
delivered to you later, once the situation here is
resolved.
Meanwhile, you can collect whatever you will need from
your ship."
"CaptainffThat is unacceptableffI demand--"
"I'm sorry, Premier, but for the time being, the
Enterprise remains in orbit around Vancadia."
"And how long do you intend to keep up this useless
observation, Captain"...If you refuse to use your
weapons, I fail to see what purpos e you hope
to serve."
"For the time being, we will continue to try to open
communications With Delkondros or anyone else
we can reach on Vancadia.and we will hope that either
the shield comes down or we find a way
to neutralize it so we can do a reliable sensor
scan of the planet."
For a long moment Kaulidren stood facing
Kirk, his fists clenching. Then, abruptly, he
turned and stalked toward the briefing room door, his
silent entourage of advisors
following.kirk gestured at the security ensign
by the door."...Ensign Carlucci will escort you."
"We can find our way to the hangar deck without your
assistance!" Kaulidren snapped.
"As you wish, Premier."
A moment later the door hissed shut behind them.
"Hangar deck security," Kirk said into the
intercom.
"Yes, Captain," Lieutenant Shanti's
voice came back instantly.
"The Premier and his people are on their way down.they
will be collecting whatever they need from their ship and
transferring it to a shuttlecraft, which will
transport them to Chyrellka.give them whatever
help they need."
"Of course, Captain."
"Assign two of your people to the shuttlecraft,
Lieutenant, one to pilot it, one to...observe
them."
"Yes, sir.brickston and Spencer."
Kirk nodded to himself in agreement.brickston had
a near-photographic memory, and Spencer would
easily outbulk Kaulidren's massive guard,
still standing statue-like at the head of the Chyrellkan
shuttle's steps."...Keep me informed,
Lieutenant.i'm on my way to the bridge."
"Aye-aye, sir."
The turbolift doors had barely hissed open
on the bridge, when Lieutenant Pritchard's
excited voice announced "CaptainffThe shield
is down!
"Transporter room!" Kirk snapped
instantly, but before he had completed the words, Kyle
was on the intercom.
"Ready, Captain, but--" A brief pause,
then an audible exhalation."...But there's nothing to lock
on
"Lieutenant Pritchard!" Kirk snapped,
hurrying to the command chair. "The sensors--"
"Scanning, sir, but there's nothing at the
original beam-down coordinates, no lifeform
readings at all.
And no communicators anywhere."
Kirk nodded, and sank slowly back into the command
chair, his eyes sweeping across the suddenly hostile
image of the planet on the viewscreen.
No matter what logic told him, he
realized, he had not totally given up hope--
until that moment.he had admitted as much when he
had asked Admiral Brady to delay
notification of survivors.as long as the shield
had been up, there had been a possibility, no
matter how small, that Spock and Bones were on the
other side, undetected, and still alive.
But no more.
"Sir..." That was Uhura behind him, and he heard
the catch in her voice before he turned and saw the
mist in her eyes."...ationo activity on normal
subspace frequencies."
Kirk nodded, struggling to maintain his own
composure.
This was not the time.spock would have been offended by any
lapse in efficiency due to human emotion, even
when that emotion was the result of his own death, and
McCoy...
"Any indication of a shield generator,
Lieutenant Pritchard?" Kirk asked, clearing
his throat.his voice sounded strained to his ears.
"Nothing detectable, sir."
"No smaller areas still shielded"...Particularly at
a point near the center of the shielded area?"
"No, sir, nothing.not even any residual
indications of massive power usage.and no
indications of the presence of antimatter.the only
major power sources within the shielded area
are a pair of stations receiving broadcast power from
orbital solar power satellites and a nuclear
fusion plant several kilometers north of the
beam-down coordinates, nowhere near the center of the
area."
"Could these have generated the power for the shield we've
seen?"
"Not for the length of time the shield was in existence,
sir."
"Lieutenant, are you telling me that the shield
that's been covering ten thousand square kilometers
can't have existed, that it was an illusion?"
"I--" Pritchard looked momentarily flustered,
then collected himself. He shrugged
helplessly."...ationo, sir.it's just that--that our
sensors don't provide an explanation for it."
Don't take it out on the kid, Jim.kirk
could almost hear McCoy chiding hm.he managed a
wan smile and nodded at Pritchard."...Keep
looking anyway." He swiveled again in the command
chair."...Lieutenant Uhura, any local
broadcasts, communications among the Vancadians
themselves?"
"None, sir.i have a continuous monitor out for
them, but the entire planet appears to be
observing radio silence."
Spock and Bones fell into a hole, Kirk
thought, and now the hole has been pulled in after
them.he toggled a switch on the command chair.
"Lieutenant Shanti, is Kaulidren on the
hangar deck yet?"
"Yes, sir.he and his people are boarding the
shuttlecraft."
"Stop hm.i want to talk to him."
"Yes, sir."
After a brief silence Kaulidren's irritated
voice crackled over the intercom."...What is it
now, Captain?
Are we being denied the right to return to our world?"
"The shield is down," Kirk said, ignoring
Kaulidren's angry questions, "a shield which, according
to our sensor readings, Vancadia should not have been able
to produce, With or without Klingon help.
Also, the entire planet's broadcast
communication system seems to have been shut down.do
you have any explanations"...Any speculations?"
"None that we haven't already discussed at
interminable length, Captain. If the presence of
Klingons can't account for your observations, I have no
other ideas.now--am I to be allowed
to return to Chyrellka or not?"
"In a minute, Premier." Kirk silenced the
channel to the shuttlebay. "Lieutenant Uhura,
get Starfleet again."
"Yes, sir."
"Engineering--Scotty, you heard?"
"The shield that canna' exist"...Aye, Captain,
I heard."
"Any theories"...Any more data on the
shield"...Its power requirements?"
"At least ten times what their nuclear power station
could supply, even for a short period.as ye' said,
it canna' exist, but it did."
Kirk squeezed his eyes shut in
frustration."...What does that leave us, Scotty"...The
real power source exists but is hidden by another
shield? A more sophisticated shield than even the
Klingons possess"...A shield which our sensors can't
even detect?"
Kirk stopped.the thought of erroneous sensor
readings reminded him of the unexplained computer
malfunction that had produced the spurious intruder
alert shortly after Kaulidren and his group had come
aboard. According to Spock, it had been the result of
mutually contradictory readings from two
separate sets of sensors.
"Run a complete check on the sensors,
Mr.scott," he said.
"Sir?" Scotty's voice came back."...Are
ye' sure?
That'll take close ta "Do it, Scotty,"
Kirk snapped."...Make it a priority."
"Aye, Captain.i'll get back to ye'."
"Lieutenant Uhura, do you have Starfleet
yet?"
"No, Captain," she said, a puzzled frown in
her tone."...ationo reply on any standard
frequency.shd I try the emergency band?"
"Run a check on the equipment first," Kirk
said, his uneasiness escalating another notch.
"Already run, Captain.no malfunctions
indicated."
"I see." He glanced toward Pritchard at the
science station, then turned back to Uhura."...Very
well, Lieutenant, try the emergency band."
"Yes, sir."
"And Lieutenant Pritchard, Spock said he
had a special program that could be run, something that
had a better chance than the ten percent the standard
diagnostic programs would have of pinning
down the cause of the apparent computer
malfunction.find it and run it."
"Mr.spock had already initiated the program
before he beamed down, Captain." Pritchard
paused, leaning over the readouts."...ationo conclusive
results.it only confirms the original general
diagnosis, that the problem originated as a result
of a conflict between two sensor readings.there is no
indication what those readings were or why they conflicted."
"Are there any other tests that could be run,
Lieutenant?"
"No standard ones, sir." Pritchard
hesitated, his eyes meeting Kirk's for a moment,
then lowering."...I understand Mr.spock had some ideas for
special modifications to his own program that
might enhance its ability to diagnose problems such
as this, in which some or all of the records of the readings that
caused the conflict are erased, but so far as I know,
those modifications were never made."
And never will be, now, Kirk couldn't help but
think, unless we get another science officer the
equal of Spock.not a very likely prospect.
"No Starfleet response to emergency hail,
Captain," Uhura reported. "Still trying."
"Try for other ships within range.the
admiral said there was at least one less than a day
away."
"Yes, Captain." Deftly, her fingers darted
across the panels before her. "No response," she
said after a moment.
Kirk's frown deepened, the feeling of unease
again notching higher. "Keep trying,
Lieutenant.and Lieutenant Pritchard--"
"Captain," Uhura interrupted, her voice a
mixture of surprise and relief, "Starfleet
is hailing us."
"On screen!"
"Yes, sir."
Vancadia vanished from the screen, replaced a
moment later by an abstract, chaotic swirl.for
several seconds it remained, until, finally, it
resolved itself into a wavering, fuzzy image of
Admiral Brady.
"Enterprise," the image began without preamble,
"this is Admiral Brady at Starfleet
Headquarters.we know you have been attempting
to contact us, but something has been interfering With your
subspace signal and apparently With our
responses.we are using emergency power
to temporarily boost our own signal in the
hope that it reaches y.we have not yet been able
to determine whether the interference is a natural
phenomenon or artificial.however, a preliminary
review of the records of our c ontacts With
non-Federation worlds in the Chyrellkan sector has
revealed other indications of possible external
influence.
Nothing is conclusive, but based on past
experience, the Klingons are the most likely to be
involved."
The image wavered and almost broke up.when it
firmed again, Brady was still speaking.?--an
organized campaign, we have been unable
to determine."
There was a pause."...If such a campaign
exists, however, it would seem probable that the
Chyrellkan system is involved.but you're the
man on the scene, Jim.you can judge better
than I, and your interpretation of the Prime
Directive as it applies to possible Klingon
interference is at least as valid as mine.what
I'm trying to say, Jim, is, we have total
confidence in your decisions, no matter what they
might have to be.you know t.we won't
second-guess you in a matter of this
importance, where there's a possibility that the
security of the Federation is involved."
The image began to waver again."...The subspace
interference appears to be getting even worse.good
luck, Jim."
And it was gone in a colorful burst of static.
"The signal is gone, Captain," Uhura
confirmed.
"Try to get it back," Kirk snapped, "and
keep trying."
"Aye-aye, sir."
Kirk was silent a moment as the static vanished
and Vancadia reappeared on the viewscreen.there
was still no sign of the shield returning.
"Mr.pritchard," he said, "do another sensor
scan for the shield--but outward."
"Outward, sir?"
"Something is interfering With signals to and from
Starfleet.i want to know if the shield was really
shut
off--or if it could have been expanded, expanded
to enclose the entire planet, and the Enterprise as
well.i know it may sound impossible," he went
on, thinking aloud, "but according to your sensor readings, the
shield on the planet's surface was itself
impossible.
As long as we already have one confirmed
impossibility, we might as well check for the
existence of a second."
"Aye-aye, Captain."
Briskly, Pritchard entered the necessary commands as
he watched the readouts.
"Nothing within sensor range, Captain," he said
after a few seconds. "No energy fields of any
kind, other than those normally associated With
planets and stars."
"And there's nothing unusual about those readings?"
"No, sir, all well within normal ranges,"
"Captain Kirk!" Kaulidren's voice
rasped from the intercom."...My associates and I are
still waiting!"
"I assume you have been listening as well?"
"We have, and what we have heard only makes us more
anxious to be allowed to return to Chyrellka before the
malfunctions--or sabotage!--extends to your
drive system and we are stranded in orbit around
VancadiaffThat may be where you wish to spend the rest
of your days, but be assured that I do not!"
Not quite gritting his teeth, Kirk reined in his
anger.
"Very well, Premier," he said tersely.the
increasingly unpredictable situation made him
reluctant to send
any of his people across the system in shuttlecraft.
"Board your ship.we will return you to orbit about
Chyrellka."
Cutting off the intercom to the hangar deck, he
turned sharply to the helm."...Take us to Chyrellka,
Mr. Sulu, full impulse, and then get us
back here."
When the hovercraft finally left the city streets
and began to make its way across the equally deserted
university campus, Dr.leonard McCoy
began to have some slight hope they would reach the destination
Tylmaurek had finally selected.
"Only day classes allowed for the duration of the
emergency," Tylmaurek explained nervously as the
hovercraft skimmed quietly along the smoothly
landscaped grounds among the multi-storied
buildings.
Except for a single hard-surfaced street that
ended at the Vancadian equivalent of the
Administration Building, there were no provisions for
wheeled surface vehicles, only shrubbery-lined
lanes through which hovercraft could pass.
McCoy glanced at Spock as the Vulcan
made one last unsuccessful attempt With his
communicator.
McCoy had tried a half-dozen times himself With
equal lack of results. As Tylmaurek
guided the vehicle through an entrance to the underground
parking area that apparently underlay most of the campus,
Spock fell silent and replaced the communicator
on his belt.
"Still no luck, Spock?"
"None, Doctor," Spock said, an arched
eyebrow the only indication that he found McCoy's
question not so much rhetorical as illogical and
unnecessary.
"We had best take the stairs," Tylmaurek
said as he settled the hovercraft into the first open
slot he came to."...There will be less chance of
encountering someone, and it will be easier to hide if we
do."
"Just a moment, Councilman," Spock cautioned
as Tylmaurek started to open the hovercraft door.
"What is it?"
"Two humanoid lifeforms are approaching from
our left," he said, looking up from his tricorder.
Tylmaurek ducked down and peered
nervously in the indicated direction. "Probably
just some students leaving," he said softly after a
moment. "Half of the faculty live in this building,
and since the shutdown of formal evening classes, some
of the professors have been conducting informal ones in
their living quarters.
It's the only time many of the working students have
free."
In the next aisle over, a hovercraft whined
to life and departed, not nearly as quietly as the other
vehicles they had heard.after a minute there was
only silence.
"Is anyone else coming?" Tylmaurek asked,
his voice unsteady."...It's already past curfew, so
there shouldn't be, but--"
"No one, Councilman.nor," Spock added,
"can I detect any Klingons within the building."
"After that broadcast," McCoy said With a
grimace, "it's not just Klingons we have to worry
about.
Tylmaurek, are you sure this Professor
Rohgan is the only person you can trust"...There
isn't someone else, someone who lives in a
slightly less populated area?
These uniforms and those ears don't
exactly blend into the background."
"I'm sorry," Tylmaurek said, swallowing,
"but he still strikes me as our best bet.in a way,
I'm in the same position now that he was in five
years ago," he went on, and as the councilman
talked, MaCoy began to wonder uneasily if
he was as uncertain as he sounded, if maybe he was
talking simply to convince himself that he'd made the right
decision.
"He was a member of the Council when it was a
legitimately elected body, before we were
outlawed," Tylmaurek continued."...When
Delkondros decided to try to get us our
independence by attacking the Chyrellkan orbital
factory, Rohgan and a half-dozen others
resigned." He frowned."...They may even have told
the Chyrellkans about Delkondros' planned
attack, I don't know.that might be why it
didn't succeed.but the point is, Rohgan saw
through Delkondros five years ago and
disassociated himself from the Council.i haven't
talked to him since the Council was outlawed, but now
--" He paused, shaking his head again."...It's just a
feeling, but he's the only person I can think of who
might hear me out before shooting me or
turning me in.and who might be able to get through
to someone in authority With the truth about Delkondros.
Assuming there is anyone in authority who isn't a
Klingon."
He paused, frowning."...ationow that I think about it,
I'm surprised Delkondros didn't include
Rohgan in his list of collaborators.when the
Council was first outlawed, after our ships were
destroyed, Delkondros wanted to have him killed,
but the rest of us were able to convince him it would be
counterproductive at best."
"He does sound like our best bet," McCoy
said, trying to sound encouraging when Tylmaurek fell
silent."...ationow, let's get going before Spock
tries to change our minds.or we get caught."
"Why should I attempt to change your minds,
Doctor"...I agree that contacting Professor
Rohgan does offer us the best odds for survival,
under the circumstances."
McCoy widened his eyes."...Based on
Tylmaurek's "feeling," Spock?"
"Of course not, Doctor.my agreement is
based on the logic of the rest of what he
sd.however, I must point out that in this instance, the best
odds are not good odds at all."
"And they're getting worse every second we sit
around here discussing them!" abruptly, McCoy
pushed open the door and climbed out.
After another quick check of the tricorder, Spock
and Tylmaurek followed, and seconds later the
three were entering an enclosed stairwell a dozen
yards from the parked hovercraft.
"The hallway is clear," Spock said when they
reached the fourth floor, and then they were all
standing in the spartan corridor in front of a plain
brown door.
"Is Rowgan alone, Mr.spock?"
Tylmaurek asked.
"If you mean, Councilman, is there only a
single individual in the room beyond this door,"
Spock said, looking up from the tricorder, "there
is. Whether that individual is the one you call
Rohgan, I have no way of knowing.readings do
indicate the individual is not a Klingon, that he
weighs approximately ninety kilograms, has
a physiological profile that corresponds
to an Earth human age of approximately
sixty, and is currently extremely agitated."
Tylmaurek blinked, then glanced at the
tricorder."...I don't suppose that thing can
tell you why he's agitated?"
"No, Councilman, but logic would suggest that his
emotional state is related to Delkondros'
broadcast assertions that his world is, in effect, under
attack' by the Federation.you yourself are in a similar
state."
"If you two are finished discussing your emotional
states," McCoy broke in, gesturing at the
door.
Tylmaurek nodded and rapped sharply.
The door opened almost immediately, revealing a tall,
slender man With white, thinning hair.he wore the
same kind of loose-fitting tunic that
Tylmaurek wore, but With an outer covering,
possi bly the Vancadian equivalent of a
sweater.his eyes widened as he saw
Tylmaurek.a moment later, when he darted a
glance to the side and saw Spock and McCoy, he
involuntarily jerked backward.
McCoy tensed, ready to run, but then,
abruptly, a small smile appeared on the older
man's face."...Ah," he said softly, "the Federation
assassination squad and one of their traitorous
collaborators.do come in, quickly, before some
loyal citizen sees you."
Chapter Eight.
"Ai SeNSORS ChECK Out one hundred
percent, Captain," Scott's voice came over
the intercom from Engineering as Sulu brought the
Enterprise about, aiming it at Vancadia and
reapplying full impulse power.
"Communication equipment likewise, Captain,"
Uhura said a moment later. "But there has been no
further response from Starfleet, either to a standard
channel hail or emergency."
Kirk let his breath out in a frustrated sigh.the
impossibilities continued to pile up.ac to all
tests, every system on the Enterprise was operating
at, or near, peak efficiency, and yet in many
ways it was as if the ship had dropped out of the known
universe.
They couldn't get in touch With Starfleet
Headquarters or With any ship in space.the
thousands of electromagnetic signals that had
earlier been evident on both Chyrellka and
Vancadia were silent.even the sensors picked up
only the radiation from power lines and the like--no
modulated signals, no radio, no television,
nothing.
It was becoming more and more as if a shield
had been placed not around Vancadia or around the
entire Chyrellkan system, but around the
Enterprise itself.
Except, the sensors were detecting the magnetic
fields of both planets and of the sun itself and were not
detecting a shield.perhaps if he sent a
shuttle out and compared the readings of its sensors With
those of the Enterprise itself "CaptainffThe shield is
back up."
Lieutenant Pritchard's voice broke
into Kirk's speculations on the impossible, but as his
eyes darted to the forward viewscreen, he saw that he
had yet another impossibility to throw into the
equation.the shield was indeed back, but where before its
elusive shimmer had covered a circle roughly a
hundred kilometers across, it now covered at least
double that area.
And now, instead of a faint, ill-defined shimmer,
it glittered With a hard-edged translucence.
McCoy realized he had been holding his breath
only when Professor Rohgan hastily closed
the door behind the three men and turned to face them, the
smile gone, leaving only tension behind.
"I assume, Tylmaurek," Rohgan said,
"there is a rational explanation for what
I've just heard Delkondros claim."
"Lies, every bit of it!" Tylmaurek blurted.
"Our friends were not killed?" Hope flared in
Rohgan's eyes.
For a moment there was total silence.mcCoy could
see Tylmaurek's jaw tremble at the returning
pain as he shook his head."...ationo," he said, his
voice cracking, "the killings were real." Swallowing
away the unsteadiness, he went on."...I wasn't a
witness, but I'm almost certain they were real.i did
see Delkondros kill another man, but not one
of the councilre"
"You're saying Delkondros is the killer?"
Rohgan broke in."...Are you positive"...I
didn't think even he could be that mad!"
Tylmaurek snorted, a sharp, bitter
sound."...He did it, or ordered it to be done, but it
wasn't madness." He glanced at McCoy and
Spock."...At least, not any normal kind of
madness."
Then he began to explain.as Tylmaurek
spoke, Rohgan's eyes widened at first, then
narrowed.from time to time he glanced toward Spock
and McCoy, as if he could verify in their faces the
truth of what Tylmaurek was saying.
When Tylmaurek finished, Rohgan let his
breath out in an explosive sigh. "It is your
belief, then, that Delkondros is not the
overambitious paranoid I have always assumed, but a
murderous alien?"
"I know it sounds insane, Professor,"
McCoy began when Tylmaurek seemed lost for a
reply, "b"
"On the contrary, Doctor--McCoy, was
x"...On the contrary, it is the first rational explanation
I have heard for Delkondros' behavior these last
few years.
And something of a relief to my own conscience.since
I left the Council, I have had ample time
to wonder if, had I stayed, I might not have been
able to influence him toward a less-disastrous course of
action.based on what you say, however, no one could
have done that. His words and actions have all been
purposely designed to drive our worlds apart,
to cause as much discord as possible.but why"...What
reason could these aliens have for wanting to disrupt our little
worlds?"
McCoy gave a restrained snort."...It's part
of their job description. It's what they do."
"Even so--" Rohgan broke off."...But
I am wasting valuable time," he said, turning
sharply toward Spock, his eyes taking in once again
the Vulcan's ears, the faint coppery green tinge
to his skin, then lowering to the tricorder, still suspended
by its strap from Spock's shoulder. "With this device
you can detect these aliens, regardless of their outward
appearance?
And at a reasonable distance"...Is that what I am
to understand?"
"These particular aliens, Professor,"
Spock acknowledged, "but not all."
"Are there yet other types involved?"
"Not to my knowledge, Professor."
Rohgan drew in a deep breath."...Then,
assuming everything Tylmaurek has told me is the
truth, I may be able to get you in contact With your
ship.i may even be able to arrange for you to be taken
to the ship itself."
Hope flooded through McCoy, sending his heart
racing, but an instant later a wave of suspicion
struck
him like a physical blow as he realized the man
must be setting them up one way or another.it was
simply too good to be true that the first person
Tylmaurek took them to not only didn't
try to shoot them or even turn them in but had a way
of contacting the Enterprise.
"How?" McCoy asked sharply."...We've got
Starfleet communicators, and we can't get in touch
With them."
"It's a long story, and we don't have time,"
Rohgan said."...Suffice it to say, a group of us have
been working on a plan of our own.now--" Rohgan
broke off, gasping, as a siren-like beeping filled
the room. "Another bulletin," he said, his voice
trembling from the shock of the sudden sound.
Turning, he activated a screen mounted flush
With the wall.as it flared into life, the Chyrellkan
flag filled the screen, but after only a few
moments it was replaced by the governor's face.
But not his living face.it was obviously a still
image, a photograph.
Then a voice began speaking, neither the
governor's nor Delkondros' voice.
"The Vancadian colonial office regrets
to announce that Governor Ulmar and Council
President Delkondros have both been murdered
by the Federation assassination team."
With the words, the governor's picture vanished,
replaced a split second later by the
same images of Spock , McCoy, and
Tylmaurek that had been broadcast before.
"Only minutes ago," the voice went on,
"using unknown Federation technology, these three were
able to pass undetected through the governor's
security, kill both Governor Ulmar and
Council President Delkondros, and
escape.if anyone sees--" Rohgan tapped the
screen into blank silence.
McCoy saw that his face was chalk white and
wondered if the man was about to faint.instead, he
turned and darted to the door and jerked it open.
"Come With me, quicklyffI'll explain as we go."
"Wait, Professor."
It was Spock.looking around, McCoy saw that
he was once again intent on his tricorder.the
Vulcan had been glancing down at it every few
seconds since the moment they had entered the room, but
now he was continuously studying the readings, moving the
instrument slightly as he did.
"Three lifeforms have just entered the building,"
Spock went on, "on the underground parking level.
The readings indicate two are human, but the
third is Klingon.and the Klingon is carrying an
energy weapon similar to the laser that was used
in the earlier attempt on our lives."
McCoy threw an accusing glance at
Rohgan.it was a setupff"...What did you do,
Professor," he snapped, "trip an alarm when
we first came in?"
"No, Doctor," Spock said, keeping his
eyes on the tricorder."...According to Professor
Rohgan's physiological reactions, he is as
startled as you are, perhaps m.but if we are going
to leave, gentlemen, I would suggest we do so now.the
new arrivals are about to enter the elevator."
Rohgan, who had frozen at Spock's warning,
now lurched into motion, racing down the hall."...We can
go down the stairs.
"Only the Klingon and one of the humans are entering
the elevator," Spock cautioned."...The second
human appears to be returning to the vicinity of their
vehicle, which I believe has a clear view of the
stairwell door."
Rohgan shuddered to a halt at the stairwell
door and leaned against it, shaking his head."...We're
trapped, then?"
"Not necessarily," McCoy snapped,
remembering how they had gotten away from
Kaulidren.he still didn't fully trust
Rohgan, but the man was definitely preferable
to what was coming up in the elevator.
"Spock," he said, hastily digging into his
medikit, "I still have a couple loads in my
hypospray."
"Understood, Doctor," Spock said, his eyes
still focussed on the tricorder."...Professor, I
believe we will have the best chance of success if you will
stand directly in front of the elevator door, on
the far side of the hall.attract their attention as the
door opens."
"Whatre"
"Councilman, stay back, out of sight,"
Spock said, gesturing With his free hand."...Doctor,
the Klingon is on the left."
Hypospray in hand, McCoy darted to the left
side of the elevator and flattened his back against the
wall.
Spock, shifting his tricorder to his left hand,
pressed himse lf against the wall on the right.
"Second floor," Spock said, quietly
counting down, "third, and..."
The humming of the elevator stopped.spock
closed and released the tricorder, letting it hang
from its shoulder strap.for a moment there was
only silence, except for Rohgan's nervous
swallow.
The door slid open.
The human looked startled as he saw Rohgan
standing barely six feet in front of hm.he reached
for the projectile weapon on his belt, the same
kind Delkondros had used.
The Klingon, who looked just as human as
Delkondros had, already had the laser in his hand,
hanging loosely at his side.he stiffened, then
smiled, and started to bring the weapon up as disthe two
stepped out of the elevator.
His arm outstretched, Spock stepped away from the
wall.as the human and the Klingon both started
to turn toward the motion registering in the corners of
their eyes, Spock's fingers closed on the nerves
in the man's neck.simultaneously, McCoy
stabbed out With the hypospray, bringing it into solid
contact With the back of the Klingon's neck.
The nerve pinch felled the human instantly, but the
Klingon had time to recognize the Vulcan and would have
had time to raise the laser the rest of the way and fire,
had Spock not reached past the falling human and
grasped the Klingon's arm, forcing it down and sending the
laser pulse harmlessly into the floor.
Before the startled Klingon could bring his strength
into play and raise his arm against Spock's restraining
hand, the injection, made within inches of the brain,
took hold.his face just beginning to register
rage, the Klingon fell.
As the Clingon hit the floor, Tylmaurek
lunged forward and snatched the laser from his fingers."...If
I'd done this to Delkondros--" he began, but
Spock gripped his wrist and easily turned the
muzzle away from the unconscious
Klingon.tylmaurek struggled for a moment but then
went limp, letting the laser dangle from his
fingers.despite his angry words, he looked almost
relieved that Spock had stopped him.
"If we are to be returned to the Enterprise,
"Spock said, "this individual will be valuable
evidence." He turned to Rohgan."...Will we have far
to go, Professor?"
Approximately two hundred kilometers,"
he said, swallowing nervously as he tore his eyes
from the fallen Klingon and the laser burn a few inches
from his feet."...But I don't see how we can make it
now.the curfew, the bulletin showing the three of
you--"
"Would we have a better chance if we were
to use the vehicle these two came in?"
"Probably, but--"
"Then we will attempt to avail ourselves of it."
Spock turned to McCoy."...Doctor,
Delkondros apparently awakened rather quickly earlier
td.do you have something that will keep this one unconscious
for a longer period?"
McCoy no.ed.he had already changed the load in
his hypospray."...This wouldn't have worked fast enough," he
said as he pressed it to the fallen
Klingon's neck, "but it will keep him out at least
ten times as long."
Spock leaned down, picked the Klingon up,
easily slung him over one shoulder, and headed
back toward the apartment."...Do the same for the human,"
he said, "and bring him along."
Deftly, McCoy again switched hypospray
loads--this time to something more suitable to a human
metabolism--triggered it against the man's neck, and
watched as Tylmaurek and Rohgan lifted the
unconscious man and followed Spock and his
Klingon burden into Rohgan's apartment.
Less than two minutes later they were headed
back down in the elevator, the Klingon on the
floor, Tylmaurek dressed in the
human's gray, loose-fitting uniform.stopping
at the ground level, McCoy and Robgan got out
while Spock picked the Klingon up and lowered him
into Tylmaurek's outstretched arms.
Tylmaurek grunted at the weight as Spock
released it and backed quickly out of the elevator to join
the others.before the elevator doors had closed
on the straining Tylmaurek, the other three were on
their way down the stairwell.at the parking level,
Spock opened the door a tiny crack and stood
watching and waiting.
Within seconds the sound of the elevator doors
grating open announced Tylmaurek's
arrival.careful to keep his face averted from the car
where he knew the second man was waiting,
Tylmaurek lurched out of the elevator, the
unconscious Klingon still cradled in his
arms.barely able to support the weight, he
didn't have to pretend his unsteadiness as he staggered
out and let his knees buckle as he attempted
to lower the Klingon to the floor.with his face still
averted, he waved urgently for the one in the car to come
help him.
After a tense moment the hovercraft door opened
and the second man leaped out and came
running.
"What the hell--" he began, but at that point
he passed the stairwell door, and Spock's hand
darted through the suddenly widened crack.the man fell
as quickly as had his partner four floors
above.maCoy scrambled past Spock and applied
another hypospray while the two Vancadians
deposited the man in Tylmaurek's vehicle.
"If someone finds him there," Tylmaurek said
With a sudden tired grin, "I don't suppose it
could get me in any more trouble than I'm already in."
A minute later the Klingon was stowed in his own
hovercraft's storage compartment, and Rohgan, forcing
himself to be calm, was familiarizing himself With the
vehicle's controls.another minute and he was
maneuvering it out of the underground parking area and onto the
deserted campus.
"Now
that that's safely out of the way," McCoy said as
they headed back the way Tylmaurek had brought them
in earlier, "would you mind explaining how you're going
to get us to the Enterprise"...The last time I looked,
hovercraft couldn't quite make it into orbit."
"They still can't, Doctor," Rohgan said With a
nervous smile, "although after what you have told
me
this evening about your aliens and their machinations, it
wouldn't surprise me if they could.no, we have a
ship that will, I hope, do the job."
McCoy frowned skeptically in the faint glow from
the passing streetlights."...What about Kaulidren and
his surveillance ships?"
"Our ship can get past them," Robgan sd.he
swallowed audibly, as if in a continuing effort
to hold on to his hard-won calmness."...Or so
I've been assured.
However, it's becoming obvious to me that there are no
guarantees.and there are any number of
uncertainties, not the least of which is the fact that the very
device that allows the ship to elude Kaulidren's
guard ships may very well be another "gift" from
these Klingons of yours."
McCoy rolled his eyes and glanced toward
Spock, who seemed to be taking the information in With his
usual stoic passivity."...That's what I'd call
one whale of an uncertainty, Professor."
"Obviously.however, under the circumstances, I
don't see that we have any choice but to make the
attempt, do y"...To the best of my knowledge, it is your
only chance to get beyond this shield--if that is
indeed what is blocking your communicators--and
contact your ship."
"Maybe so," McCoy said, "but you said we have a
couple hundred kilometers to g.why don't you
explain the whole thing to us--including just how you, of
all people, happen to have access to the one and only ship
on Vancadia that has a chance of getting past
Kaulidren's surveillance ships."
"Yes, Professor Rohgan," Tylmaurek
added, a note of suspicion suddenly apparent in
his own voice, "I'd like to hear about it too."
Rohgan blinked, darting a startled glance at
Tylmaurek.either he was genuinely surprised
at the suspicion he had suddenly been confronted
With, McCoy thought, or he was an excellent
actor.
Finally Rohgan nodded."...Very well, gentlemen,"
he said, "but it's a long story."
After his resignation from the Council, Rohgan had
secretly kept in contact With the engineers who had
worked on the improved drive, most of whom had
agreed With Rohgan and had not wanted to use it
to attack the Chyrellkan orbital factory.within
weeks of that fiasco Delkondros had them working from
a new set of "notes" supposedly
made by the same mysterious deceased genius whose
earlier notes had led to the drive. These notes
described a form of shield that would allow whatever
ship it enclosed to slip past Tylmaurek's guard
ships undetected.
And Delkondros, to the engineers' horror, was not
only keeping the shield a secret from the remaining
members of the Council but was planning to use it
to finish the job he had failed at the first time. He
had managed to keep a ship hidden from the
Chyrellkans when the other three had been
destroyed, and he was planning to use that ship, With the
shield, to destroy the orbital factory.
Rather than go to the Chyrellkans With this information, as
he had done when the first attack was
planned, Rohgan and the engineers and several of the
former council members who had resigned With him
came up With their own plan.the engineers began
giving Delkondros fake reports, indicating
much slower progress than they were actually
making.as far as Delkondros knew, it would be
another year or more before the first prototype shield
could be built and installed.in reality, it had already
been built, installed, and tested.
"Our original plan," Rohgan said,
"was for a group of us to take the ship out, past the
guard ships, all the way to orbit around
Chyrellka. Once there, we would let down the
shield, let the Chyrellkans see us. And we would
announce our peaceful intentions, to prove to the
Chyrellkans once and for all that we did not want
war, that we could be trusted."
Rohgan paused, shaking his head."...I know it
sounds naive, but to us it was infinitely better than
attempting to kill those thousands of Chyrellkans in
their orbital factory the way Delkondros
wanted to do. And if the Chyrellkans agreed, we
h oped they would respond in a like way."
McCoy shook his head.he was inclined to believe
the man."...More people should be naive like that," he said,
"except maybe when they're dealing With
Klingons.but this ship you say it's ready to go?"
Robgan nodded."...We were almost ready to launch when
we learned your ship was on its way here.t changed
our plans.we knew that the Chyrellkans would be
filling your ears With lies, so we decided to go
ahead With the launch as soon as possible after your
actual arrival.we would do basically what we had
already planned, except we would tell the Federation
what we had planned to tell the
Chyrellkans."
"Then Delkondros made his broadcast this
evening," McCoy said.
"Precisely," Rohgan agreed."...We had no
reason to disbelieve x.so when Delkondros
told us what you had done, even showed us the bodies
of people we all knew, we could only assume that either
the Federation was as evil as these Klingons you speak of
or that Kaulidren had convinced it to take
Chyrellka's side.
And that if we approached your ship, we would
simply be destroyed.
"But everyone who was to go on the mission had already
gathered at the ship.the launch was to be tn.so those
of us who were remaining behind have been trying to get in touch
With those at the ship to stop the launch.but
communications have been cut off; we don't know why.
Some of us started to the ship earlier this evening in hopes
of getting there in time to stop them.that is where the two
you saw leaving when you arrived at my building were
going, in fact.
But now that we know the truth, we can still make the
launch.and the three of you can be aboard.the ship will
take you beyond the shield, where you can use your
communicators to contact your ship and inform it
of the situation here."
McCoy grimaced when Rohgan fell silent
and the hovercraft continued along the deserted
streets.he was finally convinced that Rohgan believed
every word he had said and wasn't purposely setting
them up, but even so, the chances of his actually getting
them out in space where they could contact the Enterprise
were slim at best.chances were much better that
Delkondros and the rest of the Klingons had known from the
start about the little conspiracy between him and the engineers. Which
meant that, if he and Spock went With Rohgan to the
ship, chances were excellent that they would be delivering
themselves right into the enemy's hands.
And yet, no matter how he wracked his brain,
he couldn't think of a blasted thing to do that would give them
a better chance of ever seeing the Enterprise again.
Chapter Nine.
KIRK SCOWLED at the viewscreen and the
now-almopaque shield that spread over more than
twenty thousand square kilometers of Vancadia's
surface.
"Can physical objects still penetrate it,
Lieutenant Pritchard?" Kirk asked.
"I can't be positive, Captain, since it now
blocks our sensors almost entirely, but
all indications are that they could."
Kirk punched a button on the arm of the command
chair."...Mr.scott," he said when the chief engineer
responded, "I'm sending a shuttle down. Pick
the most reliable one you've got, then you and
Lieutenant Pritchard set up an automated
program to take it just below the level of the
shield.let's see if we can't determine the
nature of the shield, its source, and a way to either
bypass it or shut it down."
"Aye, Captain, I'll meet the lieutenant
in the shuttlebay."
"Two minutes, Scotty.the lieutenant is
on his Still scowling, Kirk turned back to the main
viewscreen.it looked as if the shield's strength
had increased in the seconds he had looked away.
Hargemon smiled With infinite satisfaction as
he watched the Enterprise, helpless on the
viewscreen before hm.the little relay station, firmly
anchored to the starship by its kilometer-long tractor
beam, was working perfectly.if he wished, he could
set the Enterprise on an irreversible slide
toward destruction right this minute in any of a hundred
ways. Kirk wouldn't be able to stop x.scott
wouldn't be able to stop it. Certainly whoever
was now manning the science station wouldn't be able to stop
x.only Spock, if he were still on board, might
have had a chance of finding the problem and halting the
destruction.
And perhaps not even Spock, he thought With a faint
tinge of regret.it was unfortunate the Vulcan
would not have the chance to try.he had been tempted
to give him that chance, but the commander had overruled
hm.and for once the commander had been right, he had
to admit.
But Hargemon's turn would come soon enough.
A test run, the commander had called this project,
and he had been correct there as well, though perhaps not
in quite the way he had intended.
Smiling, Hargemon thought of the Klingon
battlecruiser that would be darting in to pick them up
when he and the commander and the others had completed their
business in the Chyrellkan system.it would be a
good subject for his own "test run." Its computer
would be child's play compared to the one on the
Enterprise.he could have it doing the computer
equivalent of handstands in a matter of weeks.
Even that fool Kelgar, whom the commander had
saddled him With, would be capable of tricking that
primitive collection of micro
circuits, now that he'd been watching--and
presumably learning from--Hargemon.
His attention snapped back to the viewscreen.the
Enterprise shuttlebay was openingffWhat the devil
did Kirk think he could accomplish by sending a
shuttlecraft out?
For a moment a sinking feeling gripped his stomach.
Had Kirk realized the truth"...Hadn't getting
Spock out of the way been enough?
But no, it didn't matter.even if Kirk
did realize in general what the problem was, even
if he was sending a shuttlecraft out to check his
theory, he would never be able to figure out the
specifics.only Spock, who sometimes seemed
to live in virtual symbiosis With the computer, could
do that--at least, in the time the Enterprise had left.
Even so, there was no point in taking even that much
of a chance.
His fingers playing over the keyboard he himself had
designed, Hargemon entered a series of commands and
watched as one by one they scrolled across the bottom
of the screen and were confirmed.voice commands would have been
more efficient, but the Klingon system he had had
to adapt to his own
purposes did not have that capability,
at least not With the degree of precision and
reliability he required.
As the last of the commands echoed across the screen, the
shuttlebay doors began to close.he laughed as
he imagined the face of the shuttle pilot, and then
Kirk's as the report reached the bridge.the
captain would be beside hmf.he lived for control
--over men and machines alike--and it was slipping
away from him, heading for anarchy.
A blip on the screen indicated someone had
tried to manually override the doors, and he laughed
ag.it was almost too bad that Kirk would have to die
along With the others.it would be so much more satisfying
to be able to face him, to tell him precisely what
had been happening to him--and why.
Another blip, another attempt at manual
override.
This time it was from Engineering, probably Scott.
For several seconds nothing happened.then a
whole series of coded commands and responses, each
easily recognizable to his practiced eye, sped
across the screen.
More tests, not of the sensors this time, but of the control
circuits, the bypasses, even parts of the computer.
But not, of course, the parts that
counted.those were-Frowning, he followed one of the
data strings across the screen.he didn't
recognize x.was Spock's replacement
better than he gave him credit for"...Had he
inherited one of the troubleshooting programs Spock
had been working on and decided to try it himself?.
But no, it wasn't a string indicating a
test.it was a response--a response the computer
had produced.
A response that the computer shouldn't have produced,
he realized uneasily.
His frown deepening, he waited until the series
ended.the tests were over, at least for the moment.
To make sure they didn't start up again while
he was doing his own, he tapped in a single command, then
proceeded, sending messages flashing across the
screen.
For five minutes they continued, his eyes scanning
the patterns, recognizing and disregarding,
recognizing and disregarding.
Until-What was th"...A chill swept over
hm.had he made a mistake? After all those
months of work, could he have overlooked something this
obvious"...He scowled at the keyboard.with voice
control, something like this could never have
happened.was the whole project about to come down
around his head because of this primitive Klingon
technology?
But noffLooking it over again, he saw that it
wasn't a mistake, couldn't be a mistake.it
was far too complex for a simple keyboard error in
entering the program.
But if it wasn't a mistake, what was x"...And
how had it gotten in?
The chill of apprehension faded, replaced by an
angry determination to get to the bottom of the
mystery.had Kelgar been changing things without
authorization"...If he had-This might be the chance he
had been looking for, Hargemon thought abruptly, a
chance to get Kelgar out of his hair.if Kelgar,
mistakenly thinking he understood the intricacies of the
programs, had decided to change them, chances were
excellent he had messed something up.and if there was
one thing the commander wouldn't tolerate, it was someone
messing up.like Kirk, the commander came down
hard when things didn't go right.
A faint smile flickered across his face.the
commander had been absolutely livid when the
message outlining the escape of Spock and
McCoy had come in from Vancadia.someone
had made a mistake, and someone would pay.
And Kelgar had made a mistake here, in the
computer, and With any luck, he would pay.at the very
least, he would no longer be the incompetent
assistant and meddlesome watchdog he had been for the
past six months. Another might take his place,
but not immediately, not until Hargemon's own plans were
well under way.
So, what exactly had Kelgar done"...Or, more
likely, what had he tried to d"...Smiling faintly,
Hargemon began methodically entering commands and questions.
Slowly, as the responses began to flow, the
smile faded.whatever Kelgar had done, it was far
more complex than Hargemon had expected. This
change had been embedded in the very heart of his own
program, affecting every aspect of it.
And it was well hidden, he realized With a
start.if he hadn't spotted that one anomalous
response as it
raced across the screen, he never would have found it.
Grudgingly, he upped his estimate of
Kelgar's competence a notch.this was not the job of the
bungler he had taken the Klingon to be.this was the
work of someone who, Klingon or not, knew
precisely what he was doing.
Someone who, Hargemon realized With a new
chill, knew almost as much as he himself did about
computers--or at least about this particular computer.
But still, what did these changes do?
More questions, more commands, more responses Streaming across
the screen.until-"So that's it!" The words forced
themselves past his lips.
The changes did nothing--as long as the
Enterprise computer was fully powered and being
operated.
But when it was shut down due to complete loss of
power--as it soon would be--and its contents were read out
by another computer-"I see you've found it."
Kelgar's grating voice came from somewhere, and a
moment later his face replaced the data on the
screen.
At the same moment, Hargemon heard something behind
him--a hiss and then a click.jerking around, he
saw that the only door to the room had slid shut--
effectively locking him in.
"What the hell do you think--"
"To tell the truth, Hargemon," Kelgar said,
ignoring the other's attempt to speak, "I'm not
surprised.
And certainly not disappointed.i told the
commander that you would very likely find it."
"The commander knows about this?"
"Of course.it was his idea.as was the alarm, so
we would be alerted when you discovered the changes."
abruptly, Hargemon stood up, turned, and
pushed at the door.it didn't move.
"You will be unable to open it," Kelgar's image
said.
"Why?"
"Because we couldn't be certain how you would
react.after all, the destruction of one ship,
commanded by a man you hate, is one thing.the destruction
of all of Starfleet is another.even a traitor
like yourself might not be willing to go quite that far."
Suddenly, as he looked again at the Klingon's
smiling--smirking--face, the situation came clear
to Hargemon.kelgar, in good Klingon tradition, was
about to assassinate his immediate superior.he would put
a different face on it for the commander, of course.but
the commander would accept it and And the commander himself would soon
be assassinated, and the credit for bringing the Federation
to its knees would go to a true Klingon.
"You fool!" Hargemon snapped."...There is more
to what I've done than you could even imagineffIf you
think that simply having my program
infect the computers that will be trying to reconstruct the
Enterprise computer's memory is all it takes,
you are even more of a bungler than I imagined!"
"We shall see, Hargemon, we shall see.or rather,
I shall see.but I will give you a moment
to appreciate
my handiwork and perhaps revise your estimate of my
capabilities."
In that moment, Hargemon's world, already listing
badly, was turned the rest of the way upside-down.
Suddenly, he realized that, whether Kelgar could
succeed in his long-range plan or not, he could
certainly succeed in carrying out its first step--the
assassination of his immediate superior, Hargemon
hmf.he also realized that his only hope for
survival, slim as it was, lay With the very ship and
crew he had spent all these months plotting
to destroy.
His fingers darted across the keys, racing through the
coded commands before Kelgar could realize what he was
doing and stop him.
But nothing happened.where streams of data should have
been racing across the screen, there was only Kelgar's
image.
"You see?" Kelgar said."...The commander and
I were right in not trusting y.if I hadn't set up
those blocks to keep you from sending the reset code to the
Enterprise, you would have destroyed our entire
project before it had even gotten a good start."
abruptly, Kelgar's image was gone.the
Enterprise was back, its hangar doors once again
tightly shut.
Hargemon's mind raced.kelgar would be coming through
the door behind him in a minute, possibly less.
Visualizing the screen the moment before the door had
shut, Hargemon began entering commands.for once he
was glad it was a keyboard input. If it were
voice activated, he would have no chance at all.
Everything now would be keyed to either Kelgar's or the
commander's voice, and nothing he could do would open the
door.but With the keyboard and his memory of the
screen in the moments before the door closed, there was at
least a chance.
Commands and responses streamed across the screen,
until A There it was, the exact configuration,
including the command that had sealed the door!
He punched in another command.
The door opened.he wasn't dead quite yet.
Hargemon turned to the door--and stopped.he
might be able to reach the remaining shuttle before
Kelgar caught up to hm.he might even be able
to launch the shuttle.
But then all Kelgar had to do was return to the
control room, set the ship on his trail, and shoot
him down.he would never reach the surface of
Vancadia except as dissociated atoms.
Unless comSpinning back to the computer, he entered
another series of commands, lightning fast.his heart
leaped as he saw there had been no blocks set up
here.the ship's navigation system was wide open.
Another series of commands, a half-dozen
keystrokes, and Hargemon spun away, not waiting
for confirmation on the screen.
Ten seconds later he was through the door to the
ship's tiny shuttlebay. Punching the emergency
door-open sequence into the keypad on the control
panel
next to the remaining shuttle, he leaped inside and
pulled the shuttle hatch closed.
The hangar door swung up and the air rushed out.
He was safe, at least for the moment.luckily there
was no convenient atmospheric containment field here like
the one on the Enterprise. Kelgar couldn't get
into the shuttlebay until the shuttle was out and the door
closed behind it.
But Kelgar wouldn't waste time waiting for t.he
would have heard or seen the inner door to the shuttlebay
opening and closing, and he would already be on his way
back to the control room, probably looking forward
to the prospect of shooting the shuttle down almost as
much as he had doubtless been looking forward to shooting
Hargemon himself down in the computer room.
Taking the controls, he launched the shuttle through
the outer doors the moment there was room, seconds before
they were fully open.
Without looking back to see if his last-minute
commands to the computer had done their job, he applied
full power and accelerated toward the planet's
nightside surface.there would be time enough later
to worry about a specific destination and about how to find
Spock and McCoy.
First he had to get out of Kelgar's range--and
quickly.
Chapter Ten.
"THERE HA-DO TO BE an explanation!"
Kirk paced the bridge in frustration.on the
viewscreen, as it had been for the last half hour, was
the surface of Vancadia, the shield still covering more
than twenty thousand square kilometers and growing
steadily more opaque.on the hangar deck,
the doors stubbornly ignored all computer commands and
all attempts at manual override, including
those that Commander Scott had personally attempted on
the hangar deck xf.at the communications station,
Lieutenant Uhura had reperformed every check of her
equipment known to Starfleet and a number that she had
devised on the spot, and yet no response had
come from either Starfleet Headquarters or any
Federation starship since that one abortive communication
from Admiral Brady.
"Aye, Captain, there's always an explanation
o' some kind," Scott said, stepping back from the
science station where he and Lieutenant Pritchard had
together been trying to unravel one of Spock's
special test programs, "but if ye' ask me--
was
"I am asking you, Scotty, so if you have any
ideas at all, please, let's hear them!"
"Aye, Captain, I was only going to say, I
canna' help but wonder if we ha' not come up
against another Organia."
Kirk grimaced mentally but gave no external
indication.
The same possibility had darted through his own mind
With each new and inexplicable occurrence, but
he had refused to dwell on x.it would have been
pointless.if they had indeed encountered another group
or entity With mental or technological powers
even remotely approaching those possessed by the
Organians, the Enterprise was in all
likelihood helpless.
The first--and so far, only--time they had encountered the
Organians had been during another conflict With the
Klingons, he remembered uneasily, a conflict
that without the Organians' interference could have
developed into a full-scale human-Klingon
war.the Organians, however, when they finally lost
patience With both sides, had simply and
simultaneously disabled all Federation and Klingon
weapons throughout the galaxy. Disrupting subspace
links to Starfleet Headquarters would be comparative
child's play for someone like that.
The similarities to the present situation were
obvious, but it was equally obvious that until they
knew for sure, they had to assume just the
opposite.assuming some benevolent superpower like the
Organians was in control could be fatal if that
assumption was mistaken.they had to assume, until
and unless it was proven otherwise, that the
responsibility for the current situation
lay either in some so-far unexplained natural
phenomenon or in something the Klingons themselves--or some
new ally of the Klingons--had managed
to accomplish. To insure their own survival, they had
to assume that whatever was happening, it was something which, if
they could only dig out the truth, they could combat or
counteract.
"Anything's possible, Scotty," Kirk said
abruptly, "but let's not roll over and play dead
yet, just in case it's something else, something we have the
power to deal With.now, how are you and Mr.pritchard
coming With your analysis of Spock's program?"
He wasn't going to make it.
The last-second sabotage of the navigation
system hadn't bought him enough time.once again he had
underestimated Kelgar.the Klingon must have realized
almost instantly that the system was not working the way it
should.it had probably taken him only another
instant to realize the reason last-minute
sabotage by Hargemon.
In all, little more than a minute had passed before
Kelgar had righted the ship, set it to relocating the
proper coordinate system, and zoomed after the
fleeing shuttle.
The first shot missed by nearly a
kilometer, harmlessly converting its energy into heat and
light when it struck the fringes of the atmosphere far
ahead, but
Hargemon knew that the misses would not continue.
The ship's navigation system, which he'd briefly
locked on to a spurious coordinate system
ninety degrees away from the proper one, had not
yet completed its realignment.once it did,
once the lock-on was complete--in another thirty
seconds at most--its radius of error would be
down to little more than the diameter of the fleeing
shuttle.and even if it weren't, another minute--
or two, if he was extremely lucky--would bring
the pursuing ship so close that Kelgar could make the
kill manually.
Which, Hargemon thought grimly, the Klingon would
probably prefer to do anyway.
Another bolt of energy seared the atmosphere
almost dead ahead.the miss this time had been a few
dozen meters at the most.the realignment was almost
complete.
abruptly, Hargemon nosed the shuttle over,
sending it diving straight down.he wouldn't come down
within a hundred kilometers of where he had hoped, but
it didn't matter.this was his only chance
for survival, to get inside the atmosphere before
Kelgar closed in.kelgar's ship couldn't enter the
atmosphere, at least not very far, and the beams from its
energy weapons, designed for the vacuum of space,
would be blunted and scattered.
But then, just as he realized that even this maneuver
wasn't going to save him, one of the massive
surveillance ships appeared high up on his
screen.hope flared through him as his mind raced
to recall the codes that gave access to the ship
controls.but even as the first of the sequences began
to form, as his fingers darted toward the first of the keys, the
hope vanished.
The codes could be issued only by the computer in the
main ship, the one in which Kelgar was closing in on
hm.given enough time, he might be able to find a way
to circumvent the safeguards that blocked signals
from all but that one source and take control of the lasers
and turn them on Kelgar, but the one thing he didn't
have was time.
No, the only direct link between the shuttle and the
surveillance ships was the one that could be used
to detonate the antimatter charges planted in all
of them.
"Just to play it safe," the commander had
said."...I don't want one of those killers trying
to shoot me down if something goes wrong and it
decides not to recognize my safe-passage
code."
It had been obvious that Kelgar had only
scorn for such "human" precautions, but he had said
nothing.
And now-Another blast of energy skimmed by the
shuttle.
Without hesitation, Hargemon jerked the shuttle
to one side and then upward, its engines straining, the
force of the maneuver driving him down into the barely
cushioned pilot's chair.he could hear the shuttle
itself protesting With metallic creaks and pops.
The edges of his vision clouded for a moment as he
notched the force upward still further--and released it.
Suddenly, he was again in free fall.and on the
screen directly ahead was the monolithic prow of the
surveillance ship, its operating lasers
presumably
trained directly on hm.but they wouldn't
fire, he knew, not as long as the shuttle was
putting out its safe-passage code.for an instant
the thought of turning it off crossed his mind.if
Kelgar was directly behind him-But no,
what he wanted was a chance to survive and strike
back, not just a chance to take Kelgar With him.
And his position, directly between Kelgar and the
surveillance ship, gave him a moment to breathe.
Kelgar wouldn't fire until he was clear of the
lasers.
With or without a safe-passage code, the
surveillance ship would return fire if it thought it
was being fired upon.
At the last second Hargemon jetted
sideways, shooting past the surveillance ship at
a distance of less than a hundred meters, then
darting back in line With it, directly behind the
massive rocket unit at its rear.if he was not
completely hidden from Kelgar's
Klingon-manufactured sensors, his image would at
least be blended With that of the surveillance ship.
He sent the detonation code.
Behind him the antimatter pellet's containment
field collapsed.within milliseconds the
surrounding normal matter closed in, and both
matter and anti-matter were converted into raw
energy.like a miniature photon torpedo, the
explosion took the surveillance ship out in a flare
of heat and light thousands of times more powerful
than anything the ship's lasers were capable
of.hargemon's rear-pointing sensors flared and
failed, and the shuttle itself bucked, threatening to tumble.
Regaining control, he turned the shuttle's
nose down again, heading straight into the atmosphere.
Now at least he had a chance--several chances.if
the explosion had come just as Kelgar's ship was
passing, that would be best.kelgar and his ship would be
gone, vaporized in the multi-million-degree
fireball. A little earlier, and the explosion would have
burned out Kelgar's forward sensors, just as it had
burned out his own rear ones.a little earlier yet, and
even though Kelgar's ship might not have been damaged
at all, there was still a chance that Kelgar had lost him
in the explosion, possibly assuming he had been
destroyed in it.
He would know within the next minute, when his shuttle
penetrated the atmosphere--if his shuttle
penetrated the atmosphere.
Chapter Eleven.
THEY HAD SEEN only three moving
vehicles within the city, and all were official
government hovercraft such as the one they had commandeered
themvs.one contained a complement of three, including a
Klingon, but the others held only beings that
Spock's tricorder registered as fully
human.none paid the slightest attention to the stolen
vehicle, but the one With the Klingon aboard,
Rohgan noted uneasily, was just pulling away from
the home of one of his fellow conspirators, another
whose name Tylmaurek remembered from the
pre-Delkondros Council.
"They must know something," Rohgan said With a nervous
frown, "but obviously not everything, if they're
checking up on people who've been at the ship for more than
a day."
"Perhaps," Tylmaurek said, trying to sound more
optimistic than he was, "they're just checking up
on people I knew, people they thought I might go to for
help.perhaps that is why they came to your
quarters."
Rohgan nodded."...We can only hope."
Then they had left the city behind them, and they all,
except for Spock, breathed a sigh of
relief.even McCoy, though not letting his guard
down, allowed himself to think that, just maybe, they would not
be greeted by an army of Klingons at the ship.
Now the highway stretched ahead of them, even more
deserted than the city streets.the only light was the
faint glow from the smaller of Vancadia's
two moons, shrouded occasionally by high, thin clouds.
Not a single manmade light could be seen anywhere.
It was as if the entire world had been shut down for the
night.
"It wasn't always like this," Rohgan said as the
last of the city's sparse lights vanished behind
them."...I only hope, when your Klingons go on their
way, the life will return."
For the next hundred kilometers--rolling hills
and agricultural land that reminded McCoy of his
boyhood GeorgiaBthe two Vancadians tried
to determine when the Klingons had first arrived in the
Chyrellkan system. Within months of the Federation's
initial contact seemed most likely, they finally
decided, and neither Spock nor McCoy disagreed.
The first rumors of Chyrellka's change of
heart about granting Vancadian independence on
schedule had started about then, and the first "timely" death
of a political candidate had been only months
later.the first time anyone heard of Delkondros was
another year after that, and by that time Chyrellka had a
new and almost hysterically anti-Vancadian
Premier named Kaulidren.he promptly
tightened Chyrellka's grip on the colony,
taking power away from the Vancadians'
elected government and giving it to the Chyrellkan
overseers such as Governor Ulmar.
Then the deaths had started-- the obviously violent
deaths such as the ones documented in the tape that
Kaulidren had brought to the Enterprise.chyrellka
had responded With massive numbers of arrests.
"Sometimes they took the time to manufacture
evidence," Tylmaurek said bitterly, "sometimes
not."
The final straw had been Delkondros'
ill-timed attempt to destroy not only the
Chyrellkan space fleet but their ability
to build a new one. From that point on, the
Chyrellkans had become an occupying army
despite the fact that the vast majority of
individual Vancadians, like Rohgan, were
appalled by both Delkondros' attack and the
killings of resident Chyrellkans.
"In hindsight," Rohgan said at one point,
"it's obvious that most of the trouble was purposely being
stirred up by a relatively small group.a very
ruthless group, willing to kill indiscriminately
to achieve its goals.we--and I mean both
Chyrellkans and Vancadians--aren't like
t.chyrellka had its wars long ago, but
the planet had been at peace for two hundred
years, had a working worldwide government long before
establishing settlements on Vancadia.but those
years made us naive. We believed what
Delkondros and others like him sd.we simply
never thought" He broke off, sighing, and they continued
in silence for several kilometers.
Soon the road swung sharply to the left, and the
scent of salt air--sharper, cleaner than that of
Earth but not all that different--touched their nostrils.
Minutes later there appeared ahead the first
artificial lights, aside from a few dozen
isolated houses, they had seen since leaving the
city. Skeletal towers, looking like miniature
versions of the half-dozen launch complexes still
preserved in the Kennedy Space Park, poked into the
night sky above everything else.
Spock's tricorder showed a concentration of
lifeforms spread over several square kilometers,
With perhaps a hundred in the immediate vicinity of one of the
towers.
"Our only spaceport, now," Tylmaurek
offered.
"It's heavily guarded and, if rumors can be
trusted, is being used primarily
to evacuate Chyrellkan civilians and replace
them With military." He shook his head."...Ten years
ago the military barely existed.
There were a half-dozen spaceports like this, bringing
in hundreds of new settlers, even a few
tourists, every day.delkondros and the Klingons
destroyed all that."
"Is your ship in there somewhere?" McCoy asked
uneasily.
Rohgan shook his head."...Those are for the standard
shuttle launches. Luckily our ship doesn't
require all that support.with its drive, it can
lift off from almost anywhere."
Slowing, Rohgan veered to the right, aiming the
hovercraft at a break in the shrub-like growth that here
lined both sides of the road. Simultaneously he
boosted the power to the engines, and McCoy heard
their muffled hiss increase as the machine went into its
off-road mode and lifted itself inches higher off the
ground.for minutes, then, that hiss was the only sound
as Rohgan took them through a park-like wilderness of
trees and grass and occasional footpaths,
obviously little used in recent weeks. They were
nearing the top of a hill, Rohgan maneuvering
cautiously among the trees, when
Spock, who had been studying his tricorder
intently, looked up.
"I assume, Professor," Spock said, "the
ship of which you speak is on a bearing of
approximately fifty-seven degrees to the right of
our present heading."
Rohgan shot a glance toward the Vulcan."...How
did you know that?"
"There is a concentration of antimatter on that
bearing.i assume it is your ship's power
source.all the shuttles, now to our rear, appear
to possess low-level nuclear drives."
"Antimatter?" McCoy sighed."...There goes the
last hope that this drive--or anything else--was a
legitimate invention.that antimatter had to come from
the Klingons." He looked at Rohgan and
Tylmaurek.
"Unless Vancadia is capable of producing
large quantities of antimatter..."
Rohgan shook his head."...ation that I am aware
of.i know it is being created in laboratories on
Chyrellka in minute amounts, for scientific
experiments, but I have never been privy to the
details of any of Delkondros' so-called
inventions."
"Nor I," Tylmaurek added."...Whenever I
asked anything--"
"Unit Seventeen," a static-shrouded voice
called from a speaker somewhere in the vehicle, "please
respond."
Spock immediately consulted his tricorder."...The
signal is coming from the direction of the city," he said.
"I assume this thing we're in is Unit
Seventeen," McCoy said, looking at the two
Vancadians as the call was repeated."...Can either of you
fake an answer?"
"I would not suggest it, gentlemen," Spock said,
"unless you at least know the names of the occupants the
caller expects to respond."
"But if we don't answer--" McCoy began.
"If we do not answer, Doctor, their
suspicions will be aroused.if we answer
incorrectly, they will be confirmed."
For more than a minute the requests for a response
continued.when they finally stopped, Spock continued
to study his tricorder.
After a few seconds he looked up."...Stop the
vehicle, Professor."
"What"...Why should I--"
"Our attempted subterfuge has been
unsuccessful.
Approximately five seconds after the caller
ceased attempting to elicit a response from this
unit, an electronic device began
broadcasting a homing signal.i can assume only
that its purpose is to guide the authorities to this
vehicle."
McCoy grimaced as the hovercraft slowed and
settled to the ground.they were near the top of the hill,
the trees thinning out."...Can't you find the thing, Spock,
and remove it?" he asked.
"I have already located it, Doctor," Spock
said."...I doubt, however, that it can be removed without
adequate tools.it is approximately
twenty-five centimeters directly behind the
communication unit itself, and the tricorder reveals no
way of gaining access.a most efficient design--
most likely engineered to prevent hijackings such as
this one."
"Blasted paranoid Klingons," McCoy
muttered, "they think of everything."
"We're almost to the ship," Rohgan said."...If
we move quickly, we can be there before they can send
anyone after u.after all, we're nearly two
hundred kilometers from the city."
Spock studied his tricorder for several
seconds, scanning the area ahead."...That might be
possible, Professor," he said finally, "but I
suspect we will have some difficulty reaching the ship
itself."
"What"...Why should we have trouble--"
"We are now close enough to what I assume is the
location of your ship for individual lifeforms
to register, Professor, and two of the lifeforms in
the immediate vicinity of the antimatter register as
Klingon."
He had made xffHe was going to survive after
all!
The atmosphere, entered at a steeper angle
than the shuttle had ever been designed to handle, had
closed around him in a blanket of friction-generated
flame, taking out his forward sensors and leaving him
totally blind until the cocoon of superheated air
cooled to transparency, and even then he would be
limited strictly to what his own, low-tech but
so-far-reliable eyes could see through the emergency
viewport.
But he was still aliveffIt was, he thought With a
sudden, silent laugh, at least a start.
The viewport finally lost its shroud of
flame, and a patch of the planet's surface
appeared in the narrow opening, barely visible in the
pale light of the single moon.still going down too
steeply, he realized abruptly.bringing the nose
of the shuttle up another degree, then two, he
leaned forward, closer to the port, in an attempt
to get a wider view.
His heart leaped as he spotted, several
kilometers off to the right, the lights of the shuttle
launch complex.his luck was holding.the other
ship, the one he had to reach if he was going to have a
chance to ever get back off this world, if he was ever going
to have a chance to get his revenge on the commander, was only
a dozen kilometers inland and another dozen to the
south.he was at least in the right area--a miracle,
considering his method of descent.
But he was also a long way from being home
free.that other ship wouldn't be so conveniently lit
up, and With the shuttle's sensors dead, he would no
longer be able to home in on its antimatter.
But even if he could, he wouldn't be able to land
there.he wouldn't dare use the decaying remnants
of the nearly hundred-year-old landing strip.the
Klingons the commander almost certainly still had on
duty there might not yet have been told what
had happened between him and Kelgar, but even so, their
inborn suspicion and paranoia would be more than enough
to prompt them to notify the commander if an unscheduled
and unexpected shuttle came careening in and the
commander's right-hand man, who was supposed to be thousands
of kilometers out in space tending to the Enterprise,
came staggering out, suicidally insisting on getting on
board.
And then there was the very real possibility that he was
too late, that the ship had already been launched.
But there was no point in even considering such dire
possibilities.if the ship had been launched,
he would be stranded forever on this-The shuttle lurched,
almost dislodging him from his seatddabruptly, his mind was
again centered only on survival.what the devil
had gone wrong now?
Jabbing at the controls an instant later, he
saw what had happened. More than the sensors had
been damaged during his fiery entry into the
atmosphere.the tiny computer that operated them--and the
shuttle's controls--was gone as well, some of its
key circuits probably overloaded by feedback
before the sensors themselves had given up the ghost.damn
Klingon design anyway!
Gripping the manual controls, he
realized that Klingon design was still not through With hm.the
manual controls were designed for Klingon strength,
not for that of mere humans.he could move them, but not
With the speed or dexterity he would need in a situation
like this, where split seconds could mean the difference between
life and death.
Swearing silently, his eyes straining to spot
familiar landmarks in the dim moonlight, he fought
the controls.
He was still fighting them a minute later, when the
landscape seemed to suddenly leap upward into his
path, and a huge tree--looking remarkably like a
massive willow tree, a corner of his mind
insisted on pointing out--thrust its drooping branches
into his path and slammed the shuttle to the ground.
Chapter Twelve.
With SPOCK'S anouncement there were Klingons at
the launch site, all of McCoy's misgivings
came flooding back.robgan, if not in league
With Delkondros and the Klingons, must at the very least
be their dupe. Either way, the activities of
Rohgan's "secret" group of engineers and
ex-councilmen must have been an open book
to Delkondros, and he and Spock had never had a
chance.
"It doesn't look as if you were very good at
keeping a secret after all, Professor
Rohgan," he said With a scowl.
"Considering the conditions we have uncovered,
Doctor," Spock interjected quietly, "that
failure is neither surprising nor
blameworthy.in any event, it would be more profitable
for conu to expend our energies in an effort to plan our
future course of action rather than in expressing
recriminations regarding past courses."
McCoy turned his scowl on Spock for a
moment, then shook his head. "Logically, I
suppose you're right," he said, "but I'm afraid
I'm fresh out of ideas.
And almost out of Klingon knockout shots," he
added, tapping his medikit.
"If we could find another vehicle, one without a
beacon--" Rohgan began.
"You're the one who said we'd have a better chance in
this one!" Tylmaurek snapped."...If we'd taken
mine--"
"Professor Rohgan," Spock interrupted,
"are you knowledgeable regarding the physical layout
of the launch site area?"
After a brief silence Rohgan turned
in his seat toward Spock."...To some extent, yes."
"Then, if I were to pinpoint the locations of the two
Klingons, you would be able to route us around them on
foot and still get us to the immediate vicinity of the ship?"
"I would think so, yes."
"And are there any among those at the ship that you could
trust not to raise an alarm the moment we approached
them?"
"Several, I'm sure, although it would probably
be better if there was some way I could have a minute
or two alone With them before you showed your faces."
"Of course, Professor.however, we may not
have that luxury.
Something flashed in the night sky, a brilliant
pinpoint that momentarily hid the single moon behind a
light that rivalled a small sun.
"The ship!" Rohgan gasped, jerking around to stare
out at the fading light."...They've destroyed the ship!"
"No, Professor," Spock said almost
instantly, "your ship's antimatter fuel is still
on the ground, intact.
The source of that discharge was..." He paused,
studying the tricorder. "...bby the range of this
instrument to locate precisely, but the radiation is
of a nature that could be created only by an
antimatter explosion."
"Photon torpedo?" McCoy asked, his
voice suddenly unsteady.
"No, Doctor.this was far smaller than any
such device the Enterprise carries."
"But a Klingon vessel might--"
"That is a possibility, Doctor." Spock
continued to study the tricorder. "And a small
vessel has just come into range, descending along a
trajectory that would be consistent With its having
originated in the vicinity of the energy release."
"Klingon?"
"The readings do indicate Klingon technology,
Doctor.the sole occupant of the vessel, however,
registers as fully human."
McCoy shook his head."...What the blazes is
going on"...Tylmaurek? Professor Rohgan?"
"If it has to do With these Klingons of yours,"
Rohgan said, "you should be in a far better position
to know than either of us!"
"If it continues on its present
trajectory," Spock announced, looking up from
the tricorder, "it will come down only a short distance
from here."
"Land?" McCoy looked at
Spock."...Or crash?"
"That is impossible to determine at this point.the
pilot appears to have some control, but whether he has
enough to land safely is uncertain.in either case,
however, I suggest we investigate before making our
attempt to reach the launch site."
"Spock, are you out of your pointy-eared mind!
What we should do is make a run for the ship--now!
If this thing comes down anywhere near, it'll
provide a distraction! For that matter, that explosion
has already provided one, and we should be taking
advantage of it!"
"That does not logically follow,
Doctor.first, it is possible that rather than
distracting the Klingons and their possible allies in the
vicinity of the ship, it has made them more
alert.second, it is also possible that they either know
what the energy release was or were even responsible for
it and have therefore not been distracted in the least. Finally,
talking to the pilot, or failing that, simply
inspecting the vessel or its wreckage, could
contribute vital information."
McCoy rolled his eyes."...ally can never have enough
information, Spock, I know, I know.but there are
times when you have to stop gathering information and
act."
"Of course, Doctor, and we will, as soon as
we avail ourselves of this seemingly serendipitous
opportunity."
He returned his attention to the tricorder.
"Professor Rohgan," he said after a moment,
"you may begin With a heading approximately ten
degrees to the right of the launch site heading."
"That's where it's coming down?" Tylmaurek asked.
"That is where the vessel's present and somewhat
erratic course indicates it will touch down.i would
suggest, Professor, that we not waste any more time
in discussion."
"Something we can finally agree on," McCoy
muttered as Rohgan took the hovercraft out of
idle and aimed it generally in the direction Spock
had indicated.
Five minutes later, as they were topping another
hill, a line of small flashes appeared low in the
sky less than a kilometer ahead, apparently
confirming the tricorder readings.
"That's not heading for what I'd exactly call a
perfect landing," McCoy said With a wince as the
flashes disappeared beyond the next hill.
"Perhaps not, Doctor," Spock said a
few seconds later, "but the pilot has
survived, though not without injury."
The vessel, they saw less than five minutes
later, was small and utilitarian, obviously
meant for a single occupant.it had plowed through the
branches of the largest tree on the hillside.that
was, in fact, what had saved it from even worse
damage when it struck the ground halfway up the
slope.its single door had popped open and hung
askew.
"The pilot is unconscious," Spock said as
Rohgan lowered the hovercraft to the ground a dozen
yards away.
McCoy cast a nervous glance in the direction
of the launch site as they climbed out."...What about those
Klingons you spotted"...Are they coming to look this thing
over too?"
"It would not appear so, Doctor.within the limits
of the readings, they have not moved since they were first
detected."
McCoy in the lead, Spock continually
monitoring his tricorder for any indication that the
vessel's drive or power source was edging toward
an explosion, they hurried to the downed
vessel.mcCoy, his hand on his medical
tricorder, reached it first and peered inside.
And froze.
"What the blazes--" He reached inside the
cramped quarters With his medical tricorder but
couldn't crane his neck enough to make out the readings.
"SpockffGive me a handffThis man is
Starfleet!"
"Starfleet, Doctor?"
"He's wearing an ensign's uniformffationow, give
me a handffLet's get him out of here so I can do
something for him."
As Spock paused to force the door open wider,
McCoy continued to try to get some readings.finally,
the door was as open as it was possible to get it.
Motioning McCoy aside, Spock reached in and
managed to extricate the pilot from the seat, which had
tilted forward but had not quite come loose from its
fastenings.blood covered half the pilot's face
where it had struck the viewport.
As Spock lifted him out, the pilot groaned
slightly.
"Looks kind of old to be an ensign,"
McCoy muttered, eyeing the short-cropped graying
beard as Spock lowered the man to the uneven ground a
few yards from the crashed vessel.hunkering
down, he began running the medical tricorder
sensor over the man.
"That is because, Doctor," Spock said
quietly, "he was once a lieutenant commander."
"What?" McCoy looked up, frowning."...What
the devil are you talking about, Spock?"
"It is a long story, Doctor.what is
important now is his condition. Is he seriously
injured?"
Still frowning, McCoy turned back to the man on
the ground."...ationothing broken," he said after a few more
seconds With the medical tricorder,
"miraculously.
Lots of bruises, obviously some cuts on his
head, and a minor concussion."
"How soon can he be returned to consciousness,
Doctor?"
"Fairly quickly, Spock--if I had him
back in sickbay on the Enterprise. But here, With
no more than I have in my medikit, it would be a lot
safer to let him come out of it on his own.mixing
concussions and drugs and very limited medical
equipment isn't--"
"I realize that, Doctor, but I suspect this
man may have the answers to a number of
important questions, answers which conceivably could
measurably enhance the probability of our safe
return to the Enterprise."
McCoy was silent a moment, glancing from his
medical tricorder to Spock and back.despite
his and
Spock's seemingly perpetual disagreements,
McCoy could never bring himself, even in their most
heated arguments, to doubt the Vulcan's knowledge or
intelligence or even his intentions.
"All right, Spock," he said finally, "I know
you're never inscrutable without a reason.give me a
minute and I'll see what I can do."
Taking a hyper-absorbent swab from the medikit,
he hurriedly wiped away the drying blood from around
the head wounds.he was coating the areas With the
germicidal combination sealant and coagulant from the
spray applicator when Spock looked up from his
tricorder and briefly surveyed the surrounding
landscape.
"Can he be safely moved, Doctor?"
"As long as we don't bang his head.but I
thought you wanted me to wake him up."
"A matter of more urgency has arisen,
Doctor.the Klingons I detected near
the launch site are coming this way, apparently in a
pair of hovercraft.each also has an energy
weapon and is accompanied by three other lifeforms that
register as human."
McCoy grimaced but was not surprised.it was just
one more indication that the Klingons were far better informed,
far better coordinated, than Rohgan had
thought.once the beacon on the hijacked hovercraft
had gone off and the Klingons back in the city had
realized it was close to the launch site, they had
probably contacted their launch-site counterparts and
sent them out to collect the hijackers.
Or, more likely, kill them.
"How long do we have?" McCoy asked sharply.
"At their current rate of progress,
approximately three-point-five minutes."
McCoy grimaced as he finished applying the
sealant-coagulant and replaced the applicator
in the medikit.as the doctor stood up, Spock
slipped the tricorder strap off his shoulder and handed
the machine to McCoy.
"I will transport him to the vehicle," Spock
said as he hunkered down and slid his arms under the
man's back and legs.
With seeming effortlessness, the Vulcan
stood up, carefully cradling the man's head against
his shoulder.
Placing him in the middle of the back seat of the
hovercraft in a sitting position, he climbed in
himself and motioned McCoy to get in on the other side
so they could together support the unconscious man.
Rohgan and Tylmaurek were already in the front
seat, watching Spock apprehensively.
McCoy, still tracking the Klingons on
Spock's tricorder, climbed in. "It looks
like they're trying to sneak up on us," he said, handing
the tricorder back to Spock."...They've split up
and are coming at us from both sides."
Spock studied the tricorder only a
second."...Professor Rohgan," he said, "how
much time is required to activate the ship and take
off?."
"Running through the normal checklist would take--"
"Limit your estimate to only those essentials
required for an emergency liftoff,
Professor."
Rohgan's eyes widened in the near darkness."...I
would think a minute, perhaps less."
Spock glanced again at the tricorder and then to the
left and right. "The two hovercraft will be
coming over that rise, Professor," he said,
pointing, "and around that grove of trees in
approximately one minute. I suggest you take
the most direct route to the ship--if you feel
confident that you can trust the majority of your
co-conspirators to take you at your word, quickly, and
help us."
"I don't know what to think anymore,"
Rohgan said, licking his lips nervously.his
eyes darted from side to side, toward the spots where
Spock had said the Klingons would appear at any
moment.he let his breath out in a whooshing sigh."...But
I don't see what other choice we have at the
moment."
The soft idling hiss of the hovercraft increased
sharply in volume. McCoy steadied the
unconscious man as the vehicle went immediately
into off-road mode, rocking for a moment before it
stabilized and began to move up the hill.
"Both Klingons have changed course to take
into account our own motion, Professor," Spock
said a moment later."...They apparently are able
to track our vehicle directly by means of the
electronic beacon."
"I can't say that comes as a total
surprise, Spock," McCoy muttered, but the
Vulcan seemed oblivious to the words as he shifted
the tricorder to scan ahead.
"How large is your ship, Professor?"
Spock asked a moment later, his eyebrows arching
minutely."...How many passengers will it hold?"
"I don't know precisely.it was made from one
of the original landing shuttles, which had seats for forty.
But the cushions had deteriorated so badly that
we had to simply take the seats out and cushion the
floor and walls.or so I was told.i was also
told that no more than twenty of us would be aboard when
it took off."
A moment later they topped the hill and started
down.mcCoy's eyes widened at the scene spread
out before them.even in the dim light from the single moon,
he could see the entire kilometer-wide valley,
its bottom almost perfectly flat, its length--at
least ten kilometers--almost perfectly
straight.down the center ran a long-abandoned landing
strip, not unlike the ones the first Earth shuttles
had used.on each side were hundreds of decaying
buildings, all With a prefab look about them,
ranging from massive hangars and factories to what
must have once been houses.on a hill on
the far side of the valley was a complex of dozens of
power accumulator antennas, each tens of meters
acr.at one time they almost certainly would have all
been aimed at a solar power satellite high above
the planet's equator, but now only a few still
looked in that direction.most were sagging, all were
rusted, and some had collapsed entirely.
And at one end of the strip, almost directly
ahead, stood the ship, looking for all the world like a
large, blocky version of the old Earth shuttles,
except that the rocket nozzles had been replaced
by impulse engines.
And the door on one side was open, a makeshift
ramp leading up to x.a line of men and women were
climbing the ramp.
"My GodffRohgan breathed."...Talk about
timing!
They must be just getting ready to take off!" He
shook his head."...But they shouldn't be.if the people we
sent to warn them after Delkondros' broadcast--"
"There are fifty lifeforms, all registering
human, either inside the craft or about to enter,"
Spock said, looking up from his tricorder.
"That's virtually everyone here, including those who
came to warn the ones who came earlier,"
Rohgan said."...What the devil is happening?"
"That's what I'd like to know," McCoy grated.
Glancing backward, he saw the two pursuing
hovercraft appear at the top of the hill and start
down the slope of the valley after them."...But whatever it
is, it doesn't look good."
McCoy grimaced as Rohgan pushed the
hovercraft to its limit racing down the
slope.whatever the Klingons knew or were planning,
getting to that ship still represented the only real hope
he and Spock had.
The beacon made fleeing in the hovercraft
impossible.
And if they abandoned it, the Klingons in the
pursuing hovercraft would be on them within seconds,
and they didn't have even a phaser With which to defend
themselves.
Suddenly, they were among the buildings.mcCoy
winced as Rohgan snaked the hovercraft between two
hangars, their decay even more evident at this
range.
Ahead, the last of the passengers had reached the top
of the ramp. Stopping in the door, he looked back,
apparently hearing the hovercraft's
approach.behind them the two Klingon
hovercraft seemed to have slowed, making their way
along other, wider avenues than the
paint-scrapingly narrow one Rohgan had chosen.
The hovercraft lurched to a stop and settled to the
ground only yards from the foot of the ramp.rohgan
and Tylmaurek were out instantly, Rohgan waving
to the man at the top of the steps."...It's Jarlok!"
he said over his shoulder to McCoy and the
others."...He's one of the ones we sent to warn them!"
"Rohgan!" the man at the top of the ramp shouted
down."...What are you doing here"...The last message you
sent--"
"Was a lie!" Rohgan shouted back."...I have
sent no messages since you yourself left my
apartment!"
"Then why did--"
"I'll explain laterffFor now, please, you must
trust meffWe have to get on board and start the launch
immediately!"
"But the governor's broadcast said that
Tylmaurek--" Jarlok began, but broke off, his
eyes widening as he saw Spock and McCoy
climbing out of the hovercraft, Spock cradling the
injured man in his arms, McCoy again carrying the
tricorder."...Are you their prisoner?"
"It's nothing like that!" Rohgan and Tylmaurek
were at the foot of the ramp now, starting up."...The
broadcast was a lieffVirtually everything you've
heard tonight--and a lot of what we've been told the
last several years--has been lies!"
At the top of the steps now, Rohgan gripped the
other man's arm, while Tylmaurek remained a
step down, looking even more uneasy than Jarlok.
"There is an explanation," Rohgan said
urgently, "but unless we lift off immediately, I
won't live long enough to give xffWhatever you've
heard tonight about the Federation, Jarlok, it's
probably a lieffWhat is important now--
life and death important to all of us!--is that we
all get on this ship and get it up before those--" A
gesture back at the two approaching
hovercraft.?--can stop us!"
"But the startup procedure alone--"
"Can be shortcut!" Rohgan snapped."...Must be
shortcut!" For a long moment Jarlok's eyes
seemed to search Rohgan's.then, abruptly, as
Spock reached the foot of the ramp, the man backed
away, turned, and was gone.
Rohgan quickly stood aside, motioning the others
inside.spock, despite his burden,
took the steps two at a time.mcCoy, only a
second behind him, jerked to a stop, suddenly
remembering the Klingon--Spock's "evidence"--still
stashed in the hovercraft storage compartment.but there
was no time to get him, and besides, the way things were going,
they would have all the evidence they needed.with a last
glance at the hovercraft, McCoy darted inside
the ship.
The interior was a barren, quonset hut-like cabin
With some kind of thin cushioning on the floor and
walls.many of the people were already on the floor, gripping
makeshift handholds, while others were lowering
themvs.at the front was a bulkhead With an open
door, beyond which was the pilot's area.the one to whom
Rohgan had been talking was just inside the door,
talking earnestly to the man in the pilot's chair.
As Spock lowered the unconscious man to the
thinly cushioned floor, Rohgan closed and
latched the outer door.most of the people were watching
Spock and McCoy With open curiosity, three
or four With what looked like fear.
McCoy grimaced as he looked once again at
the tricorder before handing it back to Spock.the
Klingons were no longer coming after them.they had stopped
their hovercraft a good hundred meters from
the shuttle and were remaining in them, presumably
watching and reporting and asking for new instructions.
"Rohgan!" one of the passengers spoke up, his
eyes darting nervously back and forth between
Tylmaurek and the three men in Starfleet uniforms
and Rohgan.
"Why have you brought these--these assassins here?"
Robgan turned sharply from the door, now
solidly closed."...The broadcast was a lie!" he
said loudly.
"Delkondros himself killed those men, not
Tylmaurek or any so-called Federation
assassination squad!"
A dozen voices erupted at once, drowning
each other ou.rohgan quickly raised both hands above
his head."...for right this minute," he said, shouting above
the other voices, repeating the words three or four
times until the others fell silent, "for right this
minute, you will have to trust me.i know that some of you will
find it hard to believe that Delkondros is a
killer, but it's true, and there's worse to come, far
worse.but right now, all that is important is
that we and these men from the Federation, from the starship
Enterprise, get into space.if we succeed, there
will be time to explain and--"
"No, Professor Rohgan, that isn't
enough!" a new voice broke in.the pilot, an
almost skeletally thin blond man, had gotten up from
his seat and was standing in the bulkhead door, scowling at
Rohgan.
"We have been getting one different order after
another the last few hours--from you yourself, among others
--and now you come dashing in at the last minute With
three people your messengers told us only minutes
ago were cold-blooded killersffI am not--"
"They are not killers!" Rohgan almost shouted.
"They barely escaped With their lives themvsffThe
government broadcasts were liesffPlease, you must--"
The ship shuddered, shaking everyone into a sudden
silence.the pilot spun around toward the controls.
The seat he had just left was empty, but a
sequence of lights on the control panel was flashing.
Charts and calculations were scrolling across the
display screen.
Wordlessly, the pilot leaped back to his seat and
began jabbing at the controls.
The lights continued to flash, the messages continued
to scroll.
The ship continued to shudder--and then began to move.
The pilot jerked around to scowl angrily
at Rohgan.
"Another of your surprises, Professor?"
he almost snarled.
Rohgan darted suddenly fearful glances at
Spock and McCoy."...What is happening"...Were you
lying to me?"
Spock, the moment the ship's engines had shuddered
into life, had returned to his tricorder.now he
looked up."...allyr ship is being controlled by signals
being beamed to it from somewhere in space, beyond the range of
my instrument."
Rohgan and the pilot both stared at the
Vulcan.the ship was now accelerating sharply, forcing
everyone not on the floor to grip the handholds along
the walls.
"That's impossible!" the pilot
protested."...Remote control capability was not
built into this ship."
"Nonetheless, gentlemen, that is what is
happening."
"This ship of yours--this Enterprise is doing it!"
"No, gentlemen, the Enterprise has no such
capability."
"But don't you sometimes wish it did,
Mr.spock?"
A new voice jolted everyone into looking around
for the speaker until someone realized it was coming from the
vicinity of the control panel.
The pilot spun back to the control panel,
jabbing at the controls, trying to shut the voice
off.as he tried, the ship left the ground and veered
sharply upward.
"Who are you?" he asked, slumping back."...What
are you doing to us?"
Spock looked up again from his tricorder."...The
voice is coming from the same source as the signal that
is controlling the ship," he said.
"Very good, Mr.spock," the voice said
mockingly.
"May I assume you have logically deduced my
own identity as well?"
"In your current incarnation, yes, Premier
Kaulidren." A new outburst greeted
Spock's words, but almost everyone fell silent as the
Vulcan continued.
"However, I have not yet determined your true
identity."
"I wouldn't want you to die without knowing that,
Mr.spock.it's Carmody, Jason
Carmody."
Spock was silent a moment."...Certain aspects
of the situation are becoming clear, Lieutenant
Commander Carmody.starfleet has always assumed you
were either killed or taken prisoner by the Klingons."
"I thought that information would be available in your data
banks, Mr. Spock.and it's correct.i was
taken prisoner by the Klingons after Delar Seven,
along With most of the Chafee's personnel, but since
I was already a prisoner in a Federation starship
brig, the Klingons were naturally curious.in the end
we reached a meeting of minds, you might say.i have
been progressing quite well ever since, far better
than I would have fared in the Federation, don't you
think?"
"It is understandable that you would find Klingon
philosophy more compatible With your own than the
Federation's had been.as I recall, the
evidence that would have been presented at your
court-martial, all given by eyewitnesses from your
own crew, would almost certainly have resulted in your
conviction on charges of willful violation of the
Prime Directive."
"It no doubt would have." Carmody's voice
grew harsher."...Starfleet would never understand, never
accept my reasons for doing what I did
on Delar--but what I did was right.in some ways
I was sorry not to have the chance to officially present my
side of the case, my reasons." There was a mock
sigh."...It's too bad that my timid friends back in
Starfleet will never know the truth about this episode,
ei.but that would defeat the whole purpose, then,
wouldn't it, Mr.spock"...But the fact that you know that
I am responsible for your coming deaths, not to mention the
imminent death and disgrace of Captain Kirk and the
destruction of the Enterprise--and, eventually, the
entire Federation--will help alleviate the pain of
my disappointment."
A dozen other voices erupted around Spock--
questioning, frightened voices.
"You will explain to the others, won't you, Mr.
Spock?" Carmody went on. "As much as you are
able to logically deduce, that is.i would do the
honors myself, but I do have other matters to attend
to, particularly now that my assistant in all
this--Lieutenant Commander Finney--had to be disposed
of."
FinneyffInstinctively, McCoy started to turn
toward the injured man, but in almost the same instant,
he
felt Spock's iron grip on his
arm, keeping him from moving.
"SpockffWhat the devil!"
"What did Mr.finney do to earn your
disfavor?"
Spock asked With uncharacteristic loudness at the
same moment, drowning out McCoy's splutters.
"I don't have all the details,
Mr.spock," the voice said With a smile.
"Suffice it to say that, like Starfleet itself, he
didn't have the stomach for the hard decisions when the time
came.if I have the opportunity to speak to you again,
as I hope I will, perhaps I will tell you more, but
truthfully, I doubt that I sh.and if I don't
--I won't lie and say "Live long and
prosper." I will merely say goodbye. Goodbye,
Mr.spock, Dr. McCoy.you will never know
what a pleasure it has been doing business With you
and your self-righteous captain, about whom Mr.
Finney has told me so much."
abruptly, the voice fell silent, the connection
apparently broken."...It would appear to be safe
to speak now," Spock said after a brief check of the
tricorder.
"So that's what you meant, Spock!" McCoy
exclaimed as he turned and, steadying himself
With one of the floor-mounted handholds, knelt over the
man they had brought aboard."...'Once a lieutenant
commander." This is Finneyffally recognized him at the
crash!" Of course, he must have escaped before
completing psychological treatment."...But what did
Kaulidren--Carmody--mean about disposing..."
McCoy's words were cut off by a gasp from a
score of throats.
Alarmed, he looked up, his mouth still half open
as his eyes followed the gaze of the others to the
pilot's display screen.the scrolling messages
were gone.
In their place McCoy saw the menacing bulk of
an approaching surveillance ship, its banks of
laser cannon trained directly on them.
Chapter Thirteen.
"SAME RESULTS, CAPTAIN."
Lieutenant Pritchard looked up from the science
station readouts."...The program confirms the existence of
anomalous sensor readings, but it cannot pinpoint them
or determine their nature. I know it sounds
crazy, sir, but it's almost as if the computer were
deliberately hiding information from the program.if
Mr.spock were here, he could--"
"But he isn't here, Mr.pritchard!"
Kirk snapped.
"Is there anything more that those of us who are here can
do?"
Pritchard flushed at the rebuke but didn't
protest.
Of everyone on board, he knew, the captain must
feel Spock's loss the most--and dared show it the
least."...I can attempt to modify the program now that
the analysis is complete," he said, "but I can't
guarantee what the results would be without information
regarding the program designer's intentions.it
doesn't tell us why the designer wanted those
specific things done, or what he hoped to learn from
the results.or even if
the program in its present form really does what
the designer intended. He was still wor king on it when..."
Pritchard's voice trailed off uncomfortably.
Kirk was silent a moment, his features softening
as the frown faded. "Understood, Mr.pritchard,"
he said."...Do the best you can." Turning away from the
science station, he punched up Engineering.
"Mr.scott, any luck With the sensors from your
end?"
"Not a bit, Captain.the units we pulled and
replaced ha" been disassembled near down
ta the molecular level, and everything checks out
perfectly.
Whatever the trouble, it's not in the sensors--not these
sensors, at least."
"And the shuttlebay doors?"
"Two o' my men are working to rig them so we can
open them purely by hand, without even the hydraulics.
It will not be easy, Captain.the size o' those
doors--they were just not designed for anything like this."
"Understood, Scotty.keep at
x.lieutenant Uhura, have you--"
"Nothing, Captain.all circuits still check out
one hundred percent, no matter what conditions I
subject them to.we just aren't receiving any
signals, standard or subspace."
"Captain," Lieutenant Sulu broke in,
"a ship has just cleared the shield."
Kirk spun toward the science station."...Details,
Mr. PritchardffPower, lifeforms, everything!"
"It looks like a rudimentary form of impulse
drive, Captain, but that shouldn't be possible!"
"This must be the improved drive Kaulidren
told us about," Kirk said, his frown
returning.even the most basic impulse engine was
an order of magnitude more powerful--and more
technologically advanced--than nuclear-powered
drives."...How is this one powered, Lieutenant?"
"A small antimatter unit, sir."
"Antimatter"...Didn't your sensor scan
earlier show no evidence of antimatter?"
Pritchard blinked, as if just remembering."...It
did.
And this amount should have been enough to register."
Kirk grimaced."...Another impossibility, one
that even off-world interference wouldn't explain.where is
the ship headed, Lieutenant?"
"Its current trajectory will take it into an
orbit just above the orbits of the surveillance ships,
but With impulse drive, it can go anywhere it wants
within the solar system."
"Lifeforms?"
"Approximatelye" Pritchard began but
broke off as his eyes darted to the appropriate
readouts.
"Something wrong, Lieutenant?"
"I don't know, sir," Pritchard said after a
moment.
Swiftly, he called back a series of
earlier readings from the computer. "No lifeforms," he
said, and then, frowning "But I was certain,
when the ship first cleared the shield, that there were
lifeforms aboard, several lifeforms."
Kirk had come to stand behind the lieutenant.
"And now nothing?"
"That's right, sir.and when I called back the
initial readings, the ones I thought had showed
lifeforms--there," he said, gesturing at the screen,
"you can see for yourself.nothing."
"Just the opposite of the antimatter that wasn't
there but now is."
Pritchard swallowed."...allyes, sir."
"The lifeforms you thought you saw--human?
Klingon?"
"I--I don't know.human, I think, but I
only saw them for an instant out of the corner of my
eye, so maybe I just assumed--But if they weren't
really there anyway, it doesn't matter."
"Perhaps, perhaps n.is Mr.spock's
diagnostic program still running?"
"Yes, sir.i modified it to constantly
monitor computer activity." As Pritchard
spoke, he tapped in the code that brought up the
diagnostic displays."...It shows basically the same
as it has from the start, Captain.it insists there are
anomalous sensor readings, but it still cannot
identify or locate them."
"As if the computer were purposely hiding something from
the programs isn't that what you said before,
Lieutenant?"
"Yes, sir, but--"
"If that were true, then it could also be hiding the
fact that there are lifeforms on board that ship."
"I suppose so, sir, but it doesn't make
sense."
"Virtually nothing that's happened since we
arrived in the Chyrellkan system has made
sense, Lieutenant, so that's not a valid
criterion.for the moment assume it's possible.then
try to figure out how something like that could be done."
"Basically, sir, the entire computer would
probably have to be reprogrammed."
"And anything that major would have to leave traces--
huge muddy footprints, I would think."
"Normally, yes, sir, but someone who was really
good--"
"Could clean up his footprints almost perfectly.
Someone like Mr.spock.understood,
Mr.pritchard.
And it would take someone like Mr.spock to find the
few traces that were missed."
"Yes, sir."
"Do the best you can in his absence.in the meantime, how
is this ship being guided if there isn't a pilot on
board"...Remote control?"
"No, sir, there is no indication of external
control signals.it must be following a
preprogrammed path."
"Weapons?"
"No, sir."
"Then the surveillance ships will almost certainly
destroy it."
"If they operate as Premier Kaulidren said,
yes."
As Pritchard spoke, he had continued to scan the
readouts.now his eyes widened."...CaptainffThere are
weaponsffI could have sworn--"
"What kind of weapons?"
"Five laser cannon, sir.but they weren't
there before!"
"Like the antimatter and the lifeforms?"
"Yes, sir, but I could have been mistaken about the
lifeform readings, and the amount of antimatter was
small enough that it could conceivably have been missed by the
sensors in the earlier scan.but these weapons would
have registered so plainly, I couldn't
possibly have missed them!"
"The result of another "anomalous" sensor
reading, Lieutenant"...h you checked the record of the
original readings?"
"Doing it now, sir." His fingers darted across the
keys.as the readouts changed, he shook his head.
"They were there, sir, right from the start."
"According to the computer records, Mr.pritchard,
according to the computer records." The faintest glimmer of
an idea began to form in his mind."...For the moment
concentrate all your efforts on working With the
diagnostic program.get whatever help you
need." Kirk turned toward the communications station.
"Lieutenant Uhura, can I assume this new
ship isn't talking to us?"
"Nothing being broadcast, sir, and no response
to our hails."
"Captain," Sulu broke in, "two of the
Chyrellkan surveillance ships appear to have
spotted the ship.
They're on an intercept course."
"Mr.pritchard, the laser cannon on the
surveillance ships and the ones that may or may not
exist on the new ship--assuming both do exist, would
our shields hold up against them?"
"Indefinitely, sir.if the power the sensors
now show the weapons as having is accurate."
Kirk grimaced."...We have to take something for
granted.shields up, Mr. Sulu, and put us
directly between the ascending ship and those so-called
surveillance ships.i'd like a closer look before it
gets blown away."
"Aye-aye, sir, shields up, impulse
power."
The Enterprise surged ahead, sweeping down
toward the fringes of the atmosphere, the ascending ship
growing on the screen.then, as they passed directly
over it, they pulled up in a sweeping arc and
leveled off in front of it, pacing it as it continued
to drive into orbit.
Moments later the nearest surveillance ship
swept onto the screen, bearing directly down on
them.
"Sensors indicate laser cannon primed and
ready to fire," Pritchard reported, but even as
he spoke, two beams lashed out from the approaching
ship, their power dissipating against the Enterprise
shields in a coruscating band of fire.
"Shields holding, Captain," Sulu
reported, "but the second surveillance
ship is closing in from the opposite direction.we
may have to pull back and enclose the--" Sulu
broke off abruptly.alm simultaneously, the
laser fire stopped, and the surveillance ship coasted
for a moment, then pointed its rectangular prow
upward, apparently heading back toward its normal
orbit.
"Captain!" Sulu said, his voice filled With
surprise.
"The ship is gone!"
"What happened?" Kirk snapped."...Was it
shot down by the other surveillance ship?"
"No, sir, it wasn't shot down.it's
just...gone.vanished."
"It has its own shield"...Like the one on the
planet?"
"No, sir.it just vanished.as if--" Sulu
paused, casting a quick glance over his shoulder at
Kirk."...The only time I've seen anything quite like it,
sir, was when I saw a Romulan vessel as it
cloaked."
McCoy's heart sank as he watched the
massive surveillance ship grow ever larger on the
screen.
Rohgan was standing next to the pilot, who
was back in his seat, trying to get the controls
to respond.
Except for Spock, who still kept a constant
watch on the tricorder, all eyes were on the
surveillance ship.
"Has the device that's supposed to protect us
been activated?" Rohgan asked sharply.
The pilot shook his head as he continued to work.
"I don't knowffationothing responds to the controls
here, so if it has been, it's the doing of whoever is
controlling us." He turned angrily to Spock and
McCoy."...Are you in league With Kaulidren"...Is
that why you are here?"
"Yes, I would also like to know!" Rohgan had also
turned to face them. "I took your word for these things,
you and Tylmaurek, but now--" He shot an
apprehensive glance at the surveillance ship
on the screen."...Are we about to be blown out of
existence"...Is that what Kaulidren meant about being
responsible for our deaths?"
"I do not believe so," Spock said
quietly."...I assume, however, that we soon will be
destroyed, one way or another, unless we are able
to learn precisely what the one you know as
Kaulidren is planning."
"Whoever he is," Rohgan said, "he seemed
to think you already knew, Mr. Spock.and he seemed
pleased, not worried."
"I know a little and suspect more," Spock
admitted, "but not enough to save u.our only realistic
chance of survival..."
He broke off abruptly, looking up from the
tricorder to the screen."...A ship, possibly a
Federation starship, possibly the Enterprise, has
just come within tricorder range," he said, retrieving
his communicator from his belt.
As he snapped it open, the Enterprise itself
appeared on the screen, half blocking the oncoming
surveillance ship.mcCoy had his communicator out
an instant later, but neither he nor Spock got
any response.
"What the blazes is going on?" McCoy
grated, shaking his communicator as if to jar it
into cooperation.
"That shield can't be blocking us now!"
"It isn't, Doctor," Spock said,
returning to his tricorder."...The Enterprise
shields are up, but they would not--" He broke off
again as the Enterprise shields flared
under the surveillance ship's sudden laser
fire, but within seconds the firing stopped.
Seconds later the surveillance ship quickly
reori-ented itself and began a rapid climb back
toward higher orbit.
"Maybe if they come close enough," McCoy
muttered, returning his attention to his
communicator.
"I do not think we can count on that, Doctor,"
Spock said, his eyes still on the screen, where the
Enterprise, too, was rapidly shrinking. "They
appear to be returning to standard orbit themselves."
"That's crazyffThey just saved our skins when that thing
tried to blast uffally saw it as well as I."
"I saw the surveillance ship fire,
Doctor, and I saw the Enterprise shields
deflect that fire.there is no indication they knew
we were on board.in fact, their current behavior
appears to indicate they are not aware of our
presence."
"That's even crazier, Spock.they have to know
we're hereffEven if our communicators are
blocked somehow, their sensors would pick us upffAt
this range, they'd even be able to see that a Vulcan
was aboard, so why--" The screen flared brightly, far
more brightly than the wash of lasers over the
Enterprise shields.most gasped, and everyone's
eyes snapped back to the screen."...It's firing at
us again!" someone almost screamed, and suddenly there was a
hushed silence.
"It is not firing," Spock said, looking up
once again from his tricorder."...The nearest
surveillance ship has just been destroyed in an
antimatter explosion."
McCoy, abruptly giving up on making sense
of anything that was happening, shook his head.then his
eyes fell on the injured and still unconscious man
they had brought aboard.
"Like the explosion that went off just before our friend here
came down?" McCoy asked, frowning in new
puzzlement."...Is something shooting them down, Spock,
or what?"
"The explosions were quite similar, Doctor,"
Spock said, returning once again to the tricorder,
"but I suspect that they were not shot down. Another
such ship has just come within range, and it, too,
contains a small amount of antimatter.the ship's
power, however, is derived from nuclear fusion.the
antimatter is not part of a power-generating device but
is isolated in a simple containment field.it
is logical to assume that the first ship was
similarly equipped and that its containment field was
ruptured in some way."
"Why the blazes would a ship carry a chunk of
antimatter around if it wasn't using it for power--
or as a weapon?"
"I do not have enough data to form a logical conclusion,
Doctor. However--" Spock broke off again, his
eyebrows arching slightly as something new came up
on his tricorder."...I now have new data,
Doctor. The surveillance ship to our rear has just
been destroyed in an identical explosion.this
one was preceded by a signal similar to the signals
that are controlling the ship we are on."
"Which means what, Spock?" McCoy prompted
when Spock fell silent for a moment.
"It would appear, Doctor, that the antimatter was
intended as a self-destruct mechanism that could be
triggered from a distance."
"Does this mean," Rohgan broke in, "that the
antimatter in this ship can be set off the same
way?"
"That is doubtful, Professor, although not
impossible.
The antimatter here is part of the drive, not a
separate item With no discernible
function.the person to ask is ex-Commander
Finney, here. Doctor," he continued, turning
to McCoy, "the sooner you can revive him, the
better our chances."
"Reviving him and having him die on us won't do
us any good," McCoy snapped.
"Then be careful to see that he does not die,
Doctor.
I have the utmost confidence in your skills."
In the next five minutes Spock's
tricorder picked up the energy flares from two more
antimatter explosions, but McCoy barely
noticed them as he worked With the injured man.
Finney, Kaulidren--Carmody--had said, and
now that he looked at him more closely, McCoy
could see that it was true.he could even see how
Spock had recognized the man immediately despite
the superficial differences. All but a faint touch
of the red in his hair had been replaced by gray. The
entire lower half of his face was covered With a
close-cropped salt-and-pepper beard.
But the eyes had not changed.they had had a
tortured look in them when he had been found hiding
in the Enterprise after the failure of his plot
to fake his own death and manipulate the
ship's computer so that its record would falsely show
the captain issuing the emergency order that had
supposedly led to that death.and now, even With his eyes
closed in unconsciousness, his face held that same
tortured look, as if his reaction to the injustices
he had always seen as being heaped upon him by his
superiors, even as far back as Starfleet
Academy, had finally become a permanent part of his
features.
The man who even now thought of himself as Hargemon
was suddenly awake. Instinctively, he flinched as
the last images of the crash of the shuttle flashed before
his eyes.a gasp escaped his lips as even that
slight motion sent a pulse of pain through his head.
Where the devil-His vision cleared, and he
gasped again as he saw the face of Dr.leonard
McCoy, looking down at him With its usual
frown. And behind him was Commander Spock .
And Rohgan and a half-dozen of the group the commander
had been manipulating.
And overhead-With a start, he finally recognized his
surroundings --the shuttleffAnd from the feel and sound of
it, it was already on its way! If they had gone too
far-abruptly, he turned his eyes to the two men from
the Enterprise."...How far out from Vancadia
are we?"
"We appear to have achieved orbit,
Mr.finney," Spock said quietly, "but we are
still accelerating."
Finney let his breath out in a whoosh and relaxed,
letting his body go limp on the thinly cushioned
floor.
"Then we have plenty of time." His eyes went
back to Spock and McCoy. "You may not believe
me right this minute, but I'm very glad to see you
two."
"At this point, Finney," McCoy said, "why
should I believe anything you say"...How the devil did
you--"
"We'll have the chance to catch up on old times
later," he said, the old bitterness surfacing in his
voice.wincing, he struggled into a sitting position,
then swayed to his feet."...That is, there will be, once
I make a certain transmission.doctor, if you
would lend me your communicator?"
McCoy's frown deepened."...Why the blazes should
I do t"...What--" Finney held out his hand."...Because
if you don't, I will be forced to use this ship's
communication system, which has no doubt been
booby-trapped.and if I do not make this
call--and soon--this ship and everyone on it will be
vaporized."
Chapter Fourteen.
KIRK SPUN TOWARD the science
station."...Report, Mr. Pritchard."
"The vessel no longer registers on any
sensor, Captain."
"Was the pattern the same as that of a vessel being
cloaked"...Or is this something different"...And
Mr.sulu, take us back to standard orbit.i
don't want an accidental collision With that, no
matter what it is."
"Aye, sir."
As the Enterprise swooped back toward orbit,
Pritchard recalled the series of readings to the
display, studied them briefly, started to speak, then
called up another series from the computer."...Computer,
perform a detailed comparison of these two sets of
readings," he ordered.
"The two sets of readings are identical," the
computer's feminine monotone reported moments
later.
Pritchard darted a glance at the captain, then
returned to the display. "Repeat comparison," he
said after a moment."...Since the ships in the
two incidents
differ greatly in mass and volume, it seems
unlikely the readings could be identical."
"The two sets of readings are identical," the
computer repeated.
Pritchard turned to Kirk."...ally heard,
Captain," he said uneasily."...The comparison was
between the sensor readings taken during the moments it
took the ship to vanish and similar readings taken
during the cloaking of a Romulan warship.there should
have been some differences."
"Agreed, Lieutenant," Kirk said, frowning
thoughtfully.
"No two events of any kind should produce
totally identical sets of readings.but considering
the problems we've been having With the sensors, can we
trust the present set of readings?"
Pritchard swallowed."...I don't know,
Captain." He glanced nervously at the readouts
and back to Kirk.
"Commander Spock's program indicates only
that anomalous readings do exist.it has not confirmed
that any specific readings--or any readings at
all--are actually in error."
"Understood,
Mr.pritchard.mr.scott--"
"Captain!" Sulu broke in."...A
surveillance ship has been fired upon!"
Kirk turned sharply to the main
viewscreen."...Maximum magnification!"
"Aye-aye."
For an instant the screen was filled With the image
of one of the menacing-looking surveillance ships, a
molten-ringed hole where one of the dummy laser ports
had been.then it was gone, the screen momentarily
flaring in overload, then backing off the
magnification until there was a sma ll, fading sun
in its center.
"Source of the fire," Kirk snapped.
"Unable to locate a source, Captain,"
Sulu reported.
"But it would be consistent With laser fire from the ship
that apparently just cloaked."
"It fired without uncloaking"...That's impossible!"
"For a ship using a Romulan device,
Captain," Sulu acknowledged, "but we don't know
that this is a Romulan device."
"Captain," Pritchard announced, "the sensors
have picked up the ship again."
"It's not on the screen,
Lieutenant," Kirk shot back.
"Mr.sulu, check your coordinates."
"Aye-aye, Captain." A pause of no more
than a second."...Coordinates checked.still no
sign--" abruptly, the missing ship reappeared,
not wavering into view the way the Romulan ship had
when it had uncloaked, but snapping into existence, as
if a curtain had been suddenly raised.
"It's back," Sulu said, a frown plain in his
voice."...It appears to be on an intercept course
With the second surveillance ship in the area."
Even as Sulu spoke, the ship vanished from the
screen once ag.a minute later it reappeared,
above and behind the surveillance ship.the surveillance
ship had barely begun its turn to bring its own
laser cannon to bear on the attacker when it flared
and vanished.moments later the attacking ship
vanished a second time.
One by one, the remaining surveillance ships
followed the first two. One got offa single shot, but
it was more than a kilometer off its intended mark.at
least, Kirk observed With a scowl, the attacking
ship now uncloaked each time it fired.that first
time, when it had appeared to fire while still cloaked,
was certainly the result of the
still-unspecified aberration of their own sensors, which was
almost as disturbing a thought as the possibility that the
ship really could fire its weapons while remaining
cloaked.
"Captain," Uhura reported, "incoming
signalddaudio only, standard electromagnetic,
not subspace."
"On speakers, Lieutenant."
Her fingers darted across the controls, and an instant
later Premier Kaulidren's voice, thin and
plagued With background noise, filled the
bridge.
"--is happening"...I repeat, Captain Kirk,
what is happening"...The data we are receiving
indicates that our surveillance ships are being
attacked and destroyed by a ship or ships that they cannot
detect!
Is this your doing, Captain"...h you gone over to the
terrorists"...I demand to be told what is
happening!"
Kirk suppressed a groan."...The Premier is
not my first choice of people to communicate With, but at
least he's outside the Enterprise.mr. Sulu,
take us to a standard orbit around Chyrellka, so we
can make this a two-way conversation and see
if the Premier has any new ideas."
Half the people on the shuttle were talking at once,
reacting to Finney's sudden announcement that they would
soon be vaporized.while Robgan tried
to restore some semblance of quiet, Spock tried
once again to contact the Enterprise With his
communicator.
"There is still no response, Mr.finney," he
said.
"Of course not!" Finney said angrily."...ally
need the right code--my code." Just like the Vulcan,
he thought, to keep butting his head against an obvious
stone wall rather than ask for help.
"A code to do what, Mr.finney?"
"Give me a communicator, and I'll show you!"
Spock studied him silently for several
seconds."...Mr. Carmody," he said finally,
"believes you to have been--"disposed of" were his words,
I believe."
Finney tensed.if the commander knew that he was
alive--"When did you talk to--to the commander?"
"Shortly before you regained consciousness."
"You didn't tell him I was alive, did you?"
"No, it seemed best not to offer him any more
information than he already had."
Finney let his breath out in a whoosh of relief,
then smiled faintly, bitterly."...But I should have known
you didn't.we would probably already have been
vaporized if you had.the commander doesn't like to take
unnecessary chances.now please, a communicator.
Or if you still don't trust me, I could give you
the code and you could try to use x.the timing, however,
is an
important part of the code, as is the quality of the
voice that speaks it."
Spock was silent another few seconds, still
studying Finney.then he handed over his
communicator.
"Spock!" McCoy scowled at hm.finney's
eyes widened in surprise.
"Proceed, Mr.finney, Spock said.
Finney nodded."...ally always did know when to put your
trust in something," he said reluctantly, "whether
it's a person or a computer." Flipping open the
communicator, he began to speak, slowly and
deliberately, uttering a series of seemingly
random numbers and letters.
After more than twenty, he stopped.
And waited.
Suddenly, a sinking feeling gripped
Finney's stomach.
Had Kelgar changed the code"...But why"...Hadn't
all the other booby traps been enough"...Why change
the code itself when he had already cut off all means of
sending that code?
Unless-A dozen scenarios flashed through
Finney's mind.
Kelgar had planned to cut him out all along and
had changed the codes early on.
Or the commander had intended to betray him from the start,
as soon as Finney had designed the program and
installed x.and was no longer needed.
Or during the escape, Kelgar had not been
fooled by the surveillance ship explosion but had not
wanted the commander to know he had allowed Finney to get
away, so he had told the commander he had been
"disposed of" and then changed the code just to play it
safe.
But no matter what the reason-Swallowing away
the tremors that were threatening to overcome him, he
began the sequence again.
Chapter Fifteen.
FINALLY, THE PREMIER appeared on the
viewscreen.
His usual retinue, Kirk noted, was
nowhere to be seen.
"Do you have any idea, Premier," Kirk began
before Kaulidren had a chance to speak, "why we have
been unable to contact anyone, either through standard radio
or subspace, since you left the Enterprise?"
Kaulidren blinked."...Considering the rate at which
your equipment was failing before you allowed me to leave,
this does not surprise me. However, your minor
difficulties do not concern me at the moment,
Captain Kirk To all indications, our
surveillance ships have all been destroyed or
disabled.if this destruction isn't your doing, I can
only assume that Delkondros has gotten new
help from your Klingons and is even now on his way
here to complete the destruction he began four years
agoffI demand to know what you are going to do about it!"
"What would you have us do?"
"My God, Captain, isn't it
obvious"...What more do you need"...Surely this so-called
Prime Directive does
not require you to stand by while thousands of helpless people
are slaughteredffParticularly when these Klingons of
yours are obviously involved, perhaps even directly
responsibleffI heard your Admiral Brady say
you had authority to--to do whatever you felt
was requiredffWell, what is required is that that
ship be stoppedffIt is almost certainly on its way
toward Chyrellka right now.if its drive is
similar to that of the ones that were destroyed during the
initial attack on us, it could be here within
hoursffIts target--itsfirst targetationwill
undoubtedly be the same now as it was then the
orbital factory that manufactures our
interplanetary ships.there are thousands of
Chyrellkans there, both the workers and their families
and more--thousands that will die unless you do something!"
"I suggest you begin evacuation without wasting any more
time, then, Premier."
"Evacuation"...ImpossibleffWith our shuttles, it
would take days, not hours!"
"We will help.if you will have everyone on the
satellite gather in groups and provide us With their
coordinates and With coordinates of locations to which
they can be beamed, the Enterprise transporters can do
the job in the remaining time."
"Transporters"...Those machines that tear you apart and
put you back together"...I don't think--"
"Would you rather they die?"
"I would rather you removed the threat to them!"
"If all else fails--"
"If this is an example of how the Federation
helps its members, Captain, I can see why so
few have decided to joinffEven if the evacuation is a
success, the satellite will be destroyed!"
"Premier, the coordinates--"
"As you wish!" Kaulidren's face twisted in
angry scorn as it abruptly vanished from the
screen.a moment later one of his normally silent
retinue replaced him.
"I will put you in touch With Bardak," the man said
stiffly."...He is the manager of the satellite.you
can discuss your requirements With him."
And he, too, vanished almost as abruptly as
Kaulidren had.
After the third try With the communicator, Finney
swallowed nervously and looked up at Spock and the
others."...It's not working."
"Perhaps, Mr.finney," Spock said, ignoring
McCoy's derisive snort, "you should take the
time to explain the situation to u.once we know
precisely what you and ex-Commander Carmody and
an unknown number of Klingons have been trying
to accomplish here in the Chyrelkan system, we would
be able to find a solution to our current problem that is
not obvious to yourself."
There is no solution if the code has been
changed," Finney said, shaking his head, the familiar
look of tortured hopelessness returning to his
eyes."...There is simply no way of finding the new
one.and without the code, there's no way to stop what's
going to happen."
"And what the blazes is going to happen,
Finney?"
McCoy asked harshly."...And how soon"...For that
matter, I wouldn't mind knowing whyffWe all wouldn't
mind knowing why we're about to die!"
Finney winced at McCoy's words.under lowered
lids, he saw the others, dozens of them, all
watching him, fear and anger in their eyes.for a long
moment the faces swam before him, ano nymous and
distant, strangers all, even the dozen whose names he
had known for the last three years.
Until-Without warning, one of the faces, one of the
half-dozen young women in the group, leaped out at
him.
It was impossible, but- harsh Jamie.his
daughter's name escaped in a whisper from his suddenly
constricted throat.for a blurred instant the shuttle
vanished from around him, and he was back on the
Enterprise all those years ago, his
sabotage complete, his revenge about to be completed
as Kirk's ship began its catastrophic fall from
orbit.
Then he discovered Jamie was on board, brought
there by Kirk to be destroyed.and now, somehow, he had
brought her here, on this--this-Violently, he shook his
head, sending her imagined face and the dozens of others
spinning away.he clamped his eyes shut against the
sudden vertigo.
Hands were gripping his shoulders, keeping him from
falling as the deck seemed to sway beneath his
feet.
"Finney Are you all right?" It was McCoy's
harsh voice, grating on his ears.
Fearfully, he opened his eyes.the doctor's
face was inches in front of his own, scowling.the
others were once again in the distance, steady, not shifting and
wavering as if in a waking nightmare.
The face he had thought for an instant was his
daughter's was nothing like Jamie's.that had been
delusion, he told himself, dredged up from those other
nightmares that had never completely gone away.
But she was someone's daughter, he suddenly
realized, and that thought brought a sense of reality washing
over him, enveloping him more tightly than the
momentary delusion had, more completely than anything in
his life had done for years.everyone here, everyone whose
imminent death he was responsible for, was someone's
daughter, or son or sister or brother!
All these faces belonged to real p.they were no
longer just names and numbers in the plan- the game of
revenge--he and the commander had worked ou.except for
Kirk and his other enemies on the Enterprise, he
had never had to face any of the anonymous people trapped
by his plans, had never had to look them in the eyes
and-Swallowing, he looked up but still avoided
McCoy's eyes."...One way or another," he
said, "sometime in the next few hours, the Enterprise
is going to destroy this ship, probably With its
phaser banks, possibly With a photon
torpedo."
"That's crazy!" McCoy snapped."...Jim would
never fire on an unarmed ship full of people!"
"He won't know it's unarmed.and he won't know
that anyone is on board."
"That's even crazierffThe Enterprise sensors can
pick up the bugs that digest your food.how could they
possibly miss--" He broke off, remembering
how, only minutes before, the Enterprise had come within
kilometers of them and had acted as if they
hadn't existed.
"The sensors won't miss anything," Finney
said.
"But the computer won't pass the information along to the
crew."
"How the blazes could--" McCoy broke off
again, this time in sudden comprehension as he remembered,
once again, that other time when Finney and the captain had
faced each other.
"You jiggered the computerffJust like you did when you set
Jim up for a court-martialffBut when-- how--"
Finney took a coin-sized object from where it had
been fastened tightly to his belt.he held it out
toward Spock."...Let your tricorder take a
look at this, Commander Spock."
"It emits a code that can be picked up by the
computer," Spock said after a few seconds."...I
assume that the computer's programming has been
modified to recognize this code."
"I did it just a few hours ago, when
Kaulidren--Carmody, I mean--I suppose
I should get used to calling him that, though it won't be
for long--when
Carmody was on the Enterprise.i was on the
shuttle that brought him on board, in this
uniform.that's why he refused to use the
transporter, why he insisted on bringing the shuttle
in himself, so he could park it next to a hangar wall
to give me a better chance of getting out and back in
without being seen.once the guard Carmody left With the
shuttle signalled me that the coast was clear, I
slipped out and went directly to the main computer
room.i knew the way well.i had the program
on a data cartridge, so it only took a few
seconds to enter x.part of the program, of course,
was the instruction to ignore the existence of anyone
carrying one of these devices.the sensors would pick
up my presence, but the computer, the split second
it received the code this device broadcasts, would
ignore it, would not even record the information in its
data banks."
"And that's why the computer won't tell anyone that
we're on this ship?" McCoy asked.
"No, this was only for my own use while I was
within the Enterprise, subject to its internal
sensors.
My program has no control over ^th.this
merely enabled me to get out of the computer room and
back to the shuttle.it is the information from the
external sensors, from the weapons
systems, from all the systems that let the crew
interact With the universe outside the Enterprise, that
is controlled by the main program I put in.and that
program is in turn controlled--monitored and
controlled--by the computer in Kaulidren's--in
Carmody's ship.and by the person operating that
computer.we left a small
monitor anchored to the Enterprise by a tractor
beam.
It acts as a relay station between the Enterprise and
Carmody's ship. In effect, what the Enterprise
computer shows the crew is what that other computer and its
operator want it to show them.and all the while, the
Enterprise computer will be recording, as it always
does, everything that really happens, like the shooting down
of this shuttle we're all on.there won't be any
record of the relay station, of course, and once this
is over, we'll be able--Carmody will be able to tidy
up the records to his heart's content, until it's
obvious to anyone With half a brain that the murders
of Kirk's two close friends and fellow officers
drove him over the edge, made him play fast and
loose With the Prime Directive in his thirst for
revenge."
"Dr.mcCoy was right, then,
Mr.finney," Spock observed, "when he
suggested that you have been manipulating the Enterprise
computer in a manner similar to the manner in which you
manipulated it when you staged your own death and
attempted to have the captain blamed for x.was that
another reason for removing Dr.mcCoy and me from
the ship, to keep us from recognizing the pattern?"
Finney almost smiled."...ally, Mr.spock, yes.
Carmody was afraid history might repeat itself,
and he was probably right.you are the only one on that
barge that had even a chance of figuring out what was going
on."
"Do not underestimate the captain, Mr.finney,"
Spock said.
Finney shook his head."...Oh, he may realize
something is wrong, particularly now that I'm no
longer the one in control, but he won't be able to do
anything about x.kelgar--" Finney paused,
grimacing."...Kelgar is probably the one controlling
the computer now.i underestimated him in the past,
simply because he's a Klingon, but now I don't
know.he tripped me up easily enough, stabbed me
in the back.in any event, even if Kirk
realizes what is happening, there isn't anything he
can do about it, not without virtually
reprogramming the entire computer.or stumbling across
the exact code that will initiate the program that will
return the computer to normal operation.no, this time
there's nothing he can d.this isn't a simple little
program like the one I used bef.this one I worked
on for almost two years.i'm not sure I could even
find it myself if I didn't know precisely where and
how to look.and even if I found it, I certainly
couldn't undo its effects in the time that's left, not
without the code."
"But why, Finney?" McCoy burst out."...What
the blazes were you trying to accomplish, for God's
sake!"
Finney winced ag.it seemed like a good idea
at the time, the old clichd darted through his mind.but
now that he was forced to think about it, surrounded by his
would-be victims, he was no longer so sure. The
commander--Carmody--had been convincing and, he now
knew, more than a little disingenuous.
"Kirk's the one who had you put away,"
Carmody had said, "the one who would have killed your
daughter without batting an eye, just to save his
precious Enterprise.and Starfleet backed him
up, patted him on the back for betraying you, then and
in the past.just think of my little plan as a
way of getting back at both of them, Kirk and his
precious Starfleet.
And we'll do it by using the very thing they try to live
by, their precious Prime Directive."
The fact that he would be working With Klingons, that
Carmody himself had essentially become a Klingon,
in command of a Klingon team of soldiers and
scientists, had not even been enough to dissuade him, not in
the state he had been in then.
"Ability is what counts With us," Carmody had
said, "ability and loyalty, not being slaves to a
million petty rules--or to the so-called
Prime Directive--that tie a starship
captain's hands and keep the Federation from ever getting
off its knees and becoming a force to truly be
reckoned With--like the Klingon Empire."
And finally "What do you owe the Federation or
Starfleet, Mr.finney? You were a better officer
than any of them, and you ended up on the scrap heap!
With me, With the Klingons, you will get credit for your
contributions, not a psychiatric discharge and the
humiliation of mandatory therapy, all for doing what
any honorable Klingon would do, for seeking justice
on your own terms."
And then, once he had been taken to the
Chyrellkan system and given the Hargemon
identity, he had simply been working on the
program, out of contact With everyone but Carmody and
Kelgar and a few of the Klingons. His mind had been
totally occupied
With th e program, devising, refining, testing, over
and over, until-"The original plan," Finney
said abruptly, "was to get Kirk--or the
captain of whatever starship answered the Chyrellkan
request for help in mediating --to fire on an
unarmed ship, to fire on this ship that we are on.and
that is what the Enterprise computer records will show
that Kirk did.starfleet will be humiliated, but more
importantly, they will in the future bend over
backward even farther to make sure they don't
violate the Prime Directive ag.ac
to Carmody, that will give the Klingons an edge.it
will make the Federation even more cautious, more afraid
to take chances than they already were, ripe for a
Klingon challenge--a challenge that Carmody was
planning to lead."
"So why did you bail out?" McCoy asked
contemptuously.
"Did you have a sudden change of heart?"
Finney shook his head."...I wish I could
say I did, but--" Grimacing, he went on
to explain how he had discovered the changes Kelgar
--or Kelgar and Carmody together--had made to the
program he had designed.
"They didn't think they needed me anymore, so
I was expendable.the moment I discovered what had
been done, I was as good as dead.but I also
realized."
he hastened to add, "that With those changes to the
program, when another starship came to investigate
and tried to salvage the Enterprise computer
records, my program would be picked up along
With the other information.and it would spread, to whatever
computer the information was dumped into.in a few years,
it could be in every computer in Starfleet."
"At which time," Spock picked up when Finney
fell silent, "Klingon ships could enter the Federation
at will, controlling what the Federation ships see,
destroying them at their leisure."
Head down, Finney nodded."...I don't see
what can stop them now."
Chapter Sixteen.
Looking very much like a huge Oneill colony, the
Chyrellkan manufacturing satellite filled the
Enterprise screen.
"How many, Mr.pritchard?" Kirk asked.
"Approximately nine thousand, Captain.all
but a handful have assembled at the specified
coordinates."
"We'll have to ferry them down to the surface as
fast as we can bring them aboard--the ship can't hold
that many p.start transporting, Chief," Kirk
ordered.
"I'll see what can be done about the stragglers."
"Aye-aye, Captain," the voice from the cargo
transporter control room came over the intercom.
"Captain," Uhura called, "Manager
Bardak "On screen, Lieutenant."
An instant later the balding official replaced
the satellite on the screen."...What is it,
Mr.bardak?"
The manager swallowed nervously."...I'm sorry,
Captain, but there are still a few who refuse
to cooperate.they--they say they would sooner take
their chances With the terrorists than With your
transporters."
Kirk suppressed a grimace."...We were aware
there were stragglers.i hadn't realized they were staying
away deliberately.keep after them."
"I will, but--isn't there some way you could
pick them up anyway?"
"We need their precise coordinates in order
to get a solid lock on them. Without those--there is
one possibility, Bardak.if we have sufficient
time, we could beam some of our own people to the
approximate coordinates With extra
communicators.wd your people physically resist
ours?"
"I don't know, Captain, but I suspect at
least some of them would.even the ones who have assembled as
requested are nervous.we have all heard of the
malfunctions or sabotage your ship has been
experiencing, so that even those of us who would normally not
worry in the least about being transported--"
"I understand, Mr.manager.but if Premier
Kaulidren is right, the alternative is almost
certain death."
"I know.i've explained that to them all, but it
isn't enough."
Kirk sighed."...What about your own
shuttles"...Once we've beamed everyone else off,
could your own shuttles transport these stragglers?"
"Of course, Captain, but there's no need
to wait.
Our shuttles--"
"No," Kirk broke in."...From what you and
Kaulidren say, if your shuttles start taking people
off, everyone will want to go that way and we'll have to start
all over ag.keep your shuttles standing by, but--"
"Captain!" the transporter chief's voice
broke in sharply."...Are you positive we were given
the right coordinates for the people we're to beam over?"
"They match our sensor readings perfectly--
don't they, Mr.pritchard?"
"They do, Captain."
"Then something's wrong With the transporter, sir.
I can't lock on to anyone.at those
coordinates, my instruments show only empty
space."
"have you checked--"
"Everything has been checked that can be checked without
tearing the transporter system apart, Captain!"
"Mr.scott--"
"Aye, Captain," the chief engineer's
harassed-sounding voice responded instantly, "two
o' my men are on their way."
"Thank you, Mr.scott, but I also wanted a
status report on our shield generators."
"All operating at one hundred percent,
Captain.ta the best o' my knowledge."
"You don't sound all that confident, Scotty."
"Aye, Captain, I don't.wd y"...Ten
hours ago, I wouldna' have believed any o' this was
possible, let alone all of it!"
"Understood.i know you'll keep on top of the
situation." Kirk turned back to the screen, where
Bardak's face still loomed large.
"What's happening, Captain?" the manager
asked abruptly as Kirk's eyes met his."...I
heard something about the coordinates beingm"
"Is it possible you gave us the wrong
coordinates for the assembly points?"
"I don't see how.i double-checked them just now,
andt"
"Notify your people we apparently won't be able
to transport them.tell them to stand by, to remain at
the same coordinates in case we get the problem
worked ou.meanwhile, the Enterprise will move closer
and extend its shields to enclose the entire
satellite."
Provided the guidance system doesn't fail,
too, Kirk couldn't help but think, and we crash
into the satellite instead.
Everyone was silent for several seconds after
Finney completed his account of his escape from
Carmody's ship.
"How detailed was the analysis you performed that led
you to discover Kelgar's changes to your program,
Mr.finney?" Spock asked finally.
"Very detailed.otherwise I wouldn't have noticed
anything wrong."
"If your code had been changed prior to that time,
that change would have been included in your analysis,
would it not?"
"Yes, I suppose so, but what could--"
"And the code itself could be determined from that
analysis."
"Maybe if we had a complete record of the
analysis ." Finney shook his head, a grim
smile twitching at his lips."...I didn't have quite enough
time to print out a hard copy to take With me."
"Perhaps not, Mr.finney, but according to your account, you
were observing the screen closely throughout the entire
analysis."
"Of courseffOtherwise..."
"Then all that is required is that we gain
access to your memory of what you observed."
Finney blinked, then shook his head again."...My
memory is good, but not that good.you're the one With the
photographic memory, not me."
"You were able to reconstruct the data display that
allowed you to find the command that opened the door for your
escape."
"That was only seconds after I had seen it, not
hoursffAnd I had the computer to work With,
to reconstruct the display and change it until I
got it right!"
"Which you stated you accomplished in a matter of
seconds."
A harsh, humorless laugh."...I didn't really have
any choice in the matter, Mr.spock."
"And you have none now, Mr.finney, if you wish
to survive.if you wish the Federation to survive."
"If you wish to survive the next thirty
seconds, Mr. Finney, or whatever the hell your
name is, never mind for the next few hours," a
burly, middle-aged man said, stepping menacingly
close, "you will do whatever you're toldffationow!
For the next ten minutes Finney wracked his
memory , but to no avail.the harder he tried
to concentrate, the harder he tried to build up the
fleeting images of the computer screen in his mind, the
farther the images seemed to retreat.
"It won't work," he said, slumping."...I can't
remember."
"I warned you--" the same burly man said, but
before he could say more, Spock had stepped between them,
easily restraining the man.
"There is another possibility," Spock said,
turning to Finney."...Mr. Finney, you are familiar
With Vulcan mental disciplines."
"I know they exist, but I don't know what they
are, exactly.i certainly couldn't learn them in the
next two hours, even if they could conceivably
help my memory."
"I am not suggesting that you do, Mr.finney.i
am suggesting that With your cooperation, your memories
could be made available directly to me.tgr, we
might succeed."
McCoy turned on Spock With a
scowl."...ally're talking about a mind meld--With him?"
"Would you refuse him medical treatment,
Doctor?"
"Of course not, no matter how tempting it might
be, but--"
"Do not concern yourself, Doctor.the experience is
never pleasant, so the nature of my partner is of
little importance and could not, in any event, be allowed
to inhibit my efforts in a matter of such urgency and
import."
Spock turned to Finney."...Mr.finney, I will
ask you to not resist."
Finney shrank back."...I've heard about this
telepathic trick of yours. You want to--to get
inside my mind?"
"It is more complex than that, Mr.finney, but you
can think of it in those terms if you wish.our minds will,
if I am successful, blend into each other.our
thoughts will, under ideal conditions, become
indistinguishable, as if our minds were one."
Spock's voice was as calmly rational as always, his
features as reserved, but as McCoy watched the
Vulcan's face, he could see in the eyes-- thought
he could see in the eyes--a hi nt of the coming pain.the
mind meld involved a total fusion of psyche, of
self between two people, a breakdown of barriers erected
over a lifetime.
Finney swallowed audibly."...Isn't there
anything else you could try?"
"If there were, we would've tried it!" McCoy
grated, then motioned to the burly man who had
threatened Finney.the two of them took positions
on either side of Finney, who darted looks at
both men and then, pulling in a deep breath, closed
his eyes and waited, his sweat-dampened skin
suddenly tingling With an aching hypersensitivity that
made the material of his uniform feel like sandpaper.
Unable to completely keep his rebelling body from
trembling, Finney waited helplessly for his mind
to be invaded.all sounds seemed to fade out of
existence, except for the rustle of Spock's boots
on the floor as he stepped forward, the sound of the
Vulcan's breathing as he stood only inches
away, and the pounding of his own heart as it forced his chest
to pulse against the front of his tunic.
The sound of Spock's breathing stopped for a moment,
followed by a deeply indrawn breath--and the touch of a
palm on his forehead, the grip of the Vulcan's
fingers on each temple and the crown of his head.
At first there was nothing but the physical touch, and
Finney thought It isn't working.i'm safe.we will
all die, but I'm safe.
For what seemed like minutes, the same thought kept
repeating itself like a litany while his heart continued
to pound, his skin continued to ache beneath the sandpaper touch of
his uniform.
But then, without warning, a wave of sadness swept
over him, so intense that tears welled out from beneath his
closed lids.
Not mineffhis mind shouted.not mine!
But at the same moment, he knew that it was
his.now it was his, something he had lived Withand
controlled and contained for most of his adult life, and
he wondered how he had been able to do this without his mind
shattering into a thousand aching fragments.but his mind
had shattered, when his daughter-NoffThat was another
mind, another anguish, one that he had not been able
to contain or control, even though he could see now that it
was trivial compared to this other sadness that had come out of
nowhere to drench him in its pain, but now they were becoming
indistinguishable as Kirk's treachery became
lifelong friendship and loyalty and then, a split
second later, a new betrayal as the
traitorstfriend's face--the one image common to both
pains--swirled before him, driving his thoughts into a
kaleidoscopic mix of hatred and loyalty,
unable to focus on anything else, until it was as
if Kirk were physically there before him, about
to betraystbbfriend him once again.
Jerking back, he felt Spock's fingers
press into his temples.unable to pull free, he
could only stand and endure and wonder at the intensity
until, finally--A voice.
Out of that double pain came a voice, speaking
slowly, precisely, somehow resisting that
pain, rising above it even as he was drowning in x.with
infinite stoicism and patience, it began guiding him
backward from the present moment, back through his sudden
awakening, the crash, the destruction of the surveillance
ship, his escape from the commander's ship, his discovery
Thereffthe voice said silently as the image of the
computer screen wavered in the sea of pain behind his
still-closed lids.there is what we seek.
Chapter Seventeen.
STEPPING INTO SPOCK'S QUARTERS was like
emerging from the transporter into an alien world.the
sudden desert-like heat pulled an involuntary gasp
from Kirk's throat, and the somber, red-hued lighting
made it seem for a moment as if a translucent
film of blood were blurring his vision. Normally,
Spock kept conditions in his quarters more Earth-like
for the convenience of visitors, but for the last few days,
while he had been trying to coax the seeds of a
cactus-like Vulcan plant to germinate, In this
"Vulcan-normal" state, Kirk realized as the
door hissed shut behind him, the room gave a truer
insight into Spock than anything else he had ever
seen.
More than the Vulcan's logic, more than his
habit of sleeping With his eyes wide
open, more even than his pointed ears and green-tinged
blood, this room brought home to Kirk his first
officer's non-human origins, his true alienness.
But it also brought home the Vulcan's strength and
dedication, not just to Jim Kirk but to Starfleet and the
Federation. To Spock, the bridge--the entire
Enterprise, except for this rarely used sanctuary
--had been an alien world, its lighting harsh and
overbright, its temperature chilling, its
inhabitants illogical and often pointlessly
savage.
And yet, knowing full well the physical and
psychological environment he would have to endure, he
had chosen x.and he had remained true, both to that
choice and to himself, despite the pressures, both
internal and external, to do otherwise.the constant
pressure to "be more human," a pressure to which
Kirk himself had often contributed.the neverending
pressure, though unspoken for years, to follow the
Vulcan way, the way Sarek had laid out for his and
Amanda's only son.it would have been so much
easier, so much less painful, both emotionally and
physically, to have submitted to Sarek's wishes.
But he hadn't.he had chosen Starfleet, and he
had risked his life in its service countless
times.he had even risked his honor, something more
important to him than his life, but less
important than loyalty to those who had been
loyal to him, all of which he had proven beyond any
doubt more than once, but never more clearly than on that
final journey to Talos IV With his friend and
mentor, Christopher Pike.
Grimacing, Kirk wiped the sweat from his face and
eyes.why the devil had he come here"...There could be
nothing here that would help in their current predicament.
Whatever diagnostic programs Spock might
have been experimenting With on the terminal here would be
as easily available on the bridge or at any
of the hundreds of other terminals throughout the ship.
And Spock's special knowledge, his almost symbiotic
rapport With the computer--that would certainly not be
here.t was gone, gone With Spock.it was not something
that could be left behind to be "absorbed" from his one-time
surroundings, no matter how much Kirk wished it were
possible.it was something that Spock had spent
decades developing, decades of Vulcan
discipline and self-denial.it was not something he could
"w" to someone else, not even something that could be taught,
except in its most rudimentary form.
No, he should be back on the bridge,
where the current situation was displayed on the screens,
constantly being analyzed in countless readouts.there was
no reason to be here, sweating out his regret--
guilt?--that he hadn't dug more deeply before allowing
Spock and Bones to beam down.all it would have
taken, he realized now, were a few of the right
questions.he might not have been able to learn of the existence
of the shield, but he would have at least learned of the other
inventions and been aware of the possibility of off-world
intervention.
"Captain!" The single word burst from the intercom,
shattering his thoughts.
"Kirk here," he snapped."...What is it?"
"The rebel ship has just uncloaked,
Captain," Sulu's voice crackled over the
intercom, "and it's on an intercept heading With the
satelliteffationo more than
thirty minutes until the satellite is within
range of the ship's laser cannons!"
"Keep our shields at maximum,
Mr.sulu.and Mr. Pritchard, get another
reading on the weapons while we have the chance.see if
there're been any changes since last time."
"Already done, sir," Pritchard's voice
responded instantly."...All weapons
readings remain the same.
And still no indication of lifeforms."
"The missing lifeforms.keep checking,
Lieutenant.
And keep Spock's diagnostic program
running."
"Aye-aye, sir."
"Captain," Uhura's voice broke in, "the
premier-was
"Wants to tell me again to blast that ship
to bits," he snapped."...Tell him, unless he has
some new information, I'll talk to him when I have the
time."
Releasing the intercom button halfway through
Uhura's acknowledgment, he blinked as the door
hissed open, and the corridor lights, overwhelming
after his minutes in Spock's quarters, almost blinded
hm.as he raced toward the elevator, the ghostly
chill of moments before was suddenly and uncomfortably
real as the twenty-degree-cooler air of the
corridor evaporated the moisture from his
saturated skin.
"What's happening, Doctor?" Rohgan
asked.the Vancadian stood next to--
practically right on top of--Spock and
Finney, who sat slumped facing each other in two
of the pilots' seats, silent and unresponsive.
They'd been that way for close to an hour now, the
Vulcan's hands cradled around Finney's head.
"When will we know if it's going to work?"
Though Rohgan was trying to hide it, there was a
note of anxiety in the scientist's voice
McCoy didn't l.if Rohgan slipped over
the edge and started to panic, he'd take the whole
crew of the shuttle With him. That was the last thing they
needed now.
"Now, Professor," McCoy said, taking his
arm and leading him away from the two seated
figures.spockk will get us the information we need--
it takes time to get that deep inside a man's
mind, that's all.the main thing we have to do?--he
raised a finger to his lips and simultaneously
made a show of lowering his voice--"is make sure
we don't break the meld."
Of course, McCoy thought, how loud we are
probably has no effect on the meld at all,
but at least it'll help Rohgan stay calm.
Rohgan nodded."...I understand, Doctor
McCoy.it's just frustrating to sit here,
helpless, With nothing to do."
McCoy sympathized With the man.he'd been
forced to wait through the same t hing more than once in his
career--and to tell the truth, in this instance he was counting
on Jim to come up With something almost as much as he was
on Spock.he'd never heard of the Vulcan's being
able to extract such a specific piece of information
from a meld before.
"Then let's not sit around, helpless, and wait
to die!" one of the shuttle passengers--a short,
intense-looking woman--shouted suddenly. "Let's
try and get control of the ship ourselves, turn it around
--"
"With all the booby traps the Klingons have
probably rigged?" McCoy interrupted, shaking his
head.
"No way.we'll just die quicker."
"There must be something we can do!" another passenger
said in frustration.
"You heard Doctor McCoy," Rohgan
said."...Our best chance--our only chance--is to wait for
Mr.spock to come up With the information we need."
"I say we take our chances on trying to gain
control of the ship!" the woman said."...How do we know
we can trust these Federation people anyway?"
"What choice do we have?" the
professor asked, moving forward until he stood
almost toe-to-toe With the rebellious
passengers."...Listen to yourselvesffh you forgotten that we are
scientists, that the very reason for this ship's existence
is to prevent the kind of squabbling you're engaging in
now?"
The woman stood silently for a moment, glaring first
at Rohgan, then at McCoy.finally, nodding her
head, she and the group who'd gathered behind her retreated
to the crew area.
McCoy glanced gratefully at
Rohgan."...Thanks.i think you might have just saved
my life again."
"You're welcome, Doctor," Rohgan said,
nodding his head in the direction of Spock and
Finney.this time, he didn't try to disguise the
worry in his voice.
"I only hope your friends can return the
disfavor."
For what seemed to Finney like hours, the image
of the computer screen in the commander's ship swam before
him, too blurred by his newfound pain to be
seen clearly, but held there by that other mind that, when
he tried to examine it, was somehow also his own.lines
of code danced and pirouetted at the edges
of his brain, too memories of similar
projects, his work of a lifetime ago..andmiddot; And
all the while, a voice kept silently after him,
urging him to ignore the worst of the pain, to look more
closely at the image, to remember what he had
seen.relentlessly, logically, it continued to hammer
at him again and again, never stopping, never so much as
pausing.
Until..andmiddot; abruptly, the image
cleared.a part of his mind-- their mind--was able,
finally, to focus on it, to remember that if he
didn't concentrate, didn't extract meaning from the
shimmering screen of symbols, he--and all those
aboard the ship With him--would die.
But this was an image of the screen from near the end of the
analysis, he realized.if the information necessary
to reconstruct the changed access code was anywhere in
the analysis, it would be at the beginning, not the end,
he thought and then felt himself agree.
The previous screen, that was the one in which he had
finally discovered the nature of the changes Kelgar had
inserted into the program, and he felt that other part of
himself agree again, as if it were reading over his shoulder,
not through his own eyes.
Slowly, an image at a time, hestthey
worked backward, each image seemingly sharper than
the one bef.a fragment here, a line there Kelgar had
hidden the changes well, had kept the code as
simple as possible, so that a casual glance at the
program would not reveal any alterations. Finally,
they had all the necessary information.
But it had to be extracted, interpreted, and
reconstructed.
It would be like retrieving a handful of words from a
sheet of paper, using an analysis in which the words were
only one of a hundred elements being analyzed the
way the shapes of the letters were complexly intertwined With the
chemical content of the ink in each letter, the way in which that
ink reacted With the paper, the thickness and surface
texture of the paper, and countless other details.
But the information was there, had to be there.
Slowly, meticulously, he--they--began the
process of extracting it.
Chapter Eighteen.
With everything checked that could be checked, Kirk
gestured to Uhura to put Kaulidren on the
screen.
"What in God's name are you waiting for,
Captain?"
the image almost screamed the moment it
appeared.
"We have your satellite within our deflector
shields, Premier.they will withstand the lasers of the
approaching ship indefinitely."
"But what if they fail"...allyr so-called
transporters have already failedffallyr subspace
radio has failed!
God knows what else has failed that you haven't
bothered to tell me abffIf you want to risk your own
lives by relying on your obviously unreliable
Federation gimmickry, that is your concern, but you are
now risking our lives.captain, there are more than
nine thousand men, women, and children on that satellite!
And you yourself said there was nothing on that rebel ship but
weapons--weapons that will wipe out those lives unless
you stop it, now!"
"We will keep that in mind, Premier."
"Do more than keep it in mind, CaptainffDo
something about xffBefore it's too late!"
"I will do what I can, Premier," Kirk said as
he gestured silently to Uhura to cut the
signal.when the Premier's face vanished from the
screen, Kirk punched up Engineering.
"Mr.scott, any progress--on anything?"
"Not that ye'd notice, Captain,"
Commander Scott's voice came back, sounding
decidedly ragged.
"We've torn apart another dozen o' the
sensors, but there's no' a blasted thing wrong With
any o' them!
And my men have checked the cargo transporter as
far as they can without tearing it apart, and it checks out just
as perfectly as the sensors. The only wee
difficulty is, it won't transport anything!"
Kirk was silent a moment."...Don't start tearing
the transporters apart, Scotty, not just yet.and
don't replace any more sensors."
"Aye, Captain, but what--"
"We're obviously not getting anywhere checking
systems after they fail, so let's start checking them
before they fail.monitor everything you can, as thoroughly
as you can--shields, impulse engines, warp drive,
everything.if something else does fail, and if you're
watching it while it fails, perhaps you'll learn
something."
"Aye, Captain, perhaps, but I wouldna' bet on
it." He still thinks it could be Organians, Kirk
thought, but all he said was, "If there's anything there
to be learnedea.scotty, you're the one who can learn
it."
Turning back to the main viewscreen, Kirk
saw that the approaching ship was now visible in its
center.
"Any indication why it decided to uncloak now,
Mr. Pritchard, instead of waiting until it was within
laser range of the satellite"...Power
overload"...Failure of some kind?"
"Nothing, Captain.but the sensor readings when
it uncloaked were identical to the earlier ones--and
identical to the readings from the Romulan ship years
ago."
"And Mr.spock's diagnostic program"...Is
it still reporting undefined and unlocatable
anomalies?"
"Yes, sir." Pritchard leaned forward to study
the ever-changing readouts."...It never stops.i've
made a couple of minor modifications to the
program, but--" Pritchard stiffened
abruptly."...CaptainffA whole new series--
they're everywhere!"
"Anomalous sensor readings?"
"Yes, sir, dozens of themffBut the program still
can't--"
"Captain!" Sulu broke in sharply."...The
shields are failing!"
Kirk spun toward the viewscreen."...What
happened, Mr.sulu"...Is it being caused by something that
ship is doing?"
"There's no obvious relationship, sir."
Sulu's fingers stabbed at a series of controls, his
eyes taking in the results."...They're
just--failingffationo matter how much power I divert
to them, they keep decaying!"
"ScottyffThe shields--"
"Aye, Captain, I know.the power is still going
to the generators, and I canna' see a thing wrong
wi' them, but the shields are decaying!"
"How long till they're gone entirely?"
"At this rate, no' more than five minutes."
"Do what you can, Mr.scott.mr.pritchard,
those anomalous readings--they coincided With the beginning
of the failure of the shields, is that right?"
"It looks that way, but they've settled down
now, to--well, to what I've started thinking of as a
"normal background level.""
"Could you see any pattern"...Anything at all?"
"Just that there was a flood of them all at once,
sir.
And when the program went back to look at them--
was Pritchard shook his head in
frustration."...It's like we talked about before, sir.the
only pattern is that it's as if the computer itself were
deliberately hiding information from the program.and just
now--well, I know it's probably a misleading
analogy, but it's almost as if the program saw this
new string of anomalies out of the corner of its eye,
when it had its attention somewhere else, and when it
looked directly at the sensors involved, the
anomalies were gone.
Everything checked out perfectly."
"Except that the shields are now dying on us."
"Right, sir, the shields are dying."
"It can't be a coincidence," Kirk
snapped."...Mr. Scott, did you see anything down
in Engineering, anything at all, when this started?"
"No" a thing, Captain.none o' the
monitors so much as flickered.they still haven't.for
all I can see
from here, the generators are producing the same
energy as before. More, now that Mr.sulu is tryin'
to compensate."
Kirk shook his head in frustration."...What you're
saying, Mr.scott, is the same as
Mr.pritchard--it's impossible, but it's happening
anyway."
"Aye, Captain, I could no' ha' said it
better myself."
Impossible, the thought played itself back in
Kirk's mind, but it's happening anyway.
And then, see mingly from nowhere, came a second
thought Just as impossible as that other time, when the
computer log showed that I had jettisoned Finney's
pod while under yellow alert, when I knew I had
done it only when we went to red alert.
Suddenly, everything clicked into place.
"Captain?" At the helm, Sulu turned and
stared quizzically at Kirk. "Did you say
something?"
Kirk stared at the viewscreen, at the countless
computer-driven displays everywhere on the bridge that
flashed and flickered their messages on the status of
every system on the Enterprise.
Messages he suddenly realized he could no
longer trust.
"You're damn right I did, Mr.sulu," he
said, pushing himself out of the command chair.it was the only
explanation--other than Scotty's Organians--
that made sense.the planetary shield, the repeated
equipment failures, the "anomalous" sensor
readings Spock's diagnostic program
reported but could not pin down--these were all
"hallucinations" caused by
something that had been done to the computer.
Something that was still being done to the computer.
The sensor readings when that ship had "cloaked"
--they were identical to those taken during the Romulan
incident because they were almost certainly the same readings,
pulled out of the computer's memory and replayed back
through the sensor circuits.
The sensor readings that first said there were lifeforms on
the ship and then said there were none, that there weren't
weapons and then there were--they had been nothing more than
"slips" that Pritchard had been alert enough to catch
before they could be corrected.
Even that last, peculiar, interference-plagued
communication from Admiral Brady could have been
manufactured by the computer.
And the inability to open the shuttlebay doors, that
made the most sense of all.the shuttlecraft
sensors, unaffected by the main computer, would see
things as they were, and that was something that whoever was behind this
couldn't allow.but who...
It had all started With the supposedly false
alarm in the main computer room, only minutes after
Kaulidren and his retinue had come aboard
in their shuttle.but it hadn't been a false
alarm.there had been an intruder, almost certainly
brought on board by Kaulidren, and that intruder had
almost certainly sabotaged the computer.
Which meant that Kaulidren and the Chyrellkans were
involved, not just the Vancadians.or possibly the
Vancadians weren't involved.those messages
from Delkondros, Kaulidren's inflammatory
evidence, none of it could be trusted, not now.
"Lieutenant Uhura," Kirk said, heading for the
turbolift, "you have the conn.mr.sulu, come With
me."
Finally, the last fragment of code emerged from the
shimmering mass of symbols coaxed from Finney's
memory, and Spock added it to the others. Spock was
impressed by the sophistication of the Klingon
programmer's changes--under different
circumstances, he would have enjoyed speaking to Kelgar
about them.at the moment, however, he had far more
pressing concerns.for the entire time he had had
to shield Finney, keeping hisstthe mind from being
consumed not only by Finney's own shattered emotions
but those that Spock himself had controlled and suppressed
for decades.and those, unavoidably freed
by Finney's invasion, experienced by their
temporarily composite mind, had been even worse
for the Finney portion of that mind than Finney's own.
Cautiously, Spock began to withdraw, but even
as he did, he felt new shudders rippling through that
other mind.when Spock's support was removed,
its normal defenses, barely adequate to handle
its own burdens without the aid of delusions, could
crumble like an eggshell under the weight of what it had
absorbed not only from Spock's memories, but from
the objective look it had been forced to take at
Finney's own long history of irrational and
hurtful behavior.
He would have to withdraw slowly, ever so slowly,
trying to take as much of the memory as possible With him
and giving the Finney part of the mind time to-But he
didn't have the time.no matter what happened
to Finney as a result, he didn't have the time.
Bracing himself, trying to shore up Finney's own
defenses as best he could, he prepared to withdraw.
Chapter Nineteen.
Beneath the hanger DECK, in the midst of the machinery
that operated the doors, a dozen men strained at the
jury-rigged levers that Scott had come up With.
With every connection to the computer broken, muscle power
and leverage was all they had.
From the rear observation gallery immediately in front
of a wedged-open exit door, Kirk and Commander
Scott watched silently as, no more than an inch
at a time, the hangar bay doors crept
apart.sulu sat poised at the controls of one
shuttlecraft, ready to exit the moment the opening was
wide enough.lieu-tenant Shanti sat in a
second shuttlecraft immediately behind the first.once
Sulu was out, the Lieutenant would move her own
shuttlecraft forward, anchor it just inside the
atmospheric containment field, and wait, her
radio tuned to the same rarely used frequency that
Sulu's was set to.whoever was in control of the
computer presumably could listen in on any normal
transmissions from the external shuttlecraft to
the Enterprise but not, they hoped, on communications
between shuttlecraft.even so, Sulu had been
instructed to use the link only for routine
communications.
A set of signals had been arranged for
specific findings--if the shields were indeed still up
and operating, if there were or were not lifeforms and
weapons aboard the approaching ship, if there were any
ships present that didn't show up on the
Enterprise sensors.beyond that, if he
discovered anything that might have a direct bearing on the
state of the computer, he was to return to the Enterprise
and deliver it in person.
"We don't know who or what we're dealing With
here," Kirk had said as he had briefed Sulu and
Shanti and the others in an isolated section of
Engineering that Scotty had guaranteed was cleared of
anything that could serve as a listening or observation post
for whoever might be in control of the computer, "so we
take only those chances that are absolutely necessary.
And if you find something out there that will give us an
advantage, don't take a chance of broadcasting
it.
If they know that we're on to them, if they know what
our next move is, they might be able to counter it."
"Another ten centimeters, Lieutenant,"
Scott informed Sulu through his communicator, which was
tuned to another frequency they hoped would be The
only acknowledgment was the shuttlecraft lifting
clear of the deck and maneuvering to center itself even more
precisely in front of the opening.
Suddenly, the air in the opening shimmered.
"it's happening, Mr.sulu!" Kirk snapped,
though he knew Sulu had seen the shimmering himself.
"Good luck."
Scott's eyes widened slightly.he glanced
toward Kirk but said nothing. Until now he hadn't
fully accepted the fact that someone was causing the
malfunctions, but the failure of the atmospheric
containment field at precisely this moment,
apparently a last-ditch effort to prevent the launch
of the shuttlecraft, could not possibly be
coincidence.both men took a step backward toward
the door behind them.the shimmer increased, momentarily
taking on an iridescent sheen, like oil on water.
Then, abruptly, it was gone.at the same
moment, the air began to rush from the hangar deck
into space, tearing at the shuttlecraft, threatening
to slew it sideways and slam it into the too-narrow
opening.
From everywhere around the hangar deck came the sound of
exits closing and sealing, an automatic
response to the failure of the containment
field.kirk and Scott spun and, facing
directly into the out-rushing air, Struggled through the
door directly behind them, the only one not already
sealed.as they cleared the opening, Kirk kicked
free the wedge that had held it open while Scott
hit the override and sealed the door manually,
insuring that Sulu and Shanti could unseal the
door from the hangar deck side if it came
to t.at all the other exits a dozen of his men were
doing the same.
"He made it, sir," Lieutenant Shanti's
faintly accented voice came from the
communicator."...He lost a little paint, but he made
it."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Kirk acknowledged
as he and Scott headed for the turbolift.
"Captain Kirk," Uhura's voice came
over the intercom, "Premier Kaulidren wants a
word With you."
Kirk and Scott exchanged glances."...What a
pleasant surprise," Kirk murmured."...Tell
him I'm on my way to the bridge,
Lieutenant," he said more loudly.
As Scott exited at Engineering, Kirk
simply nodded, silently mouthing, "Stand by,
Scotty."
On the bridge, Kaulidren's image filled
the screen.
He was even more upset, and Uhura looked
relieved to be handing the con back to Kirk and
returning to the communications station.
"Where have you been, Captain?"
Kaulidren began the moment Kirk came within
range of the screen.
"That terrorist ship will be within range of our
satellite in a matter of minutes!"
"There's nothing to worry about, Premier," Kirk
said sharply."...Our shields will keep your satellite
safe."
Kaulidren's face froze for a moment."...They are
still functioning, then?"
"Of course."
The Premier was silent for several seconds, his
anger seemingly on hold. "Then I take it,"
he said finally, "that you absolutely refuse to fire
on the approaching terrorist ship?"
"Until we get certain....crepancies
cleared up, Premier, yes."
"Discrepancies"...What is that supposed to mean,
Captain"...Or is that Starfleet terminology for
"malfunctions"?"
"In this case, it might be," Kirk said,
putting a tone of reluctance into his
voice."...However, as I said, there is no reason for
you to worry as long "What discrepancies,
Captain"...What malfunctions?
I demand to knowffThis is not some
gameffationine thousand lives are at stake hereffationow,
what is it that you're hiding?"
Kirk glanced toward Pritchard who, along With
Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, and a dozen others, had
been at one or the other of the hurried briefing
sessions With Kirk and Scott."...Anything new on
the anomalous readings, Lieutenant?"
"Nothing, sir."
"And you're still positive about what you saw
initially?"
"Positive, sir."
Kirk turned back to Kaulidren and the
screen."...We have reason to believe, Premier," he
said slowly, putting even more reluctance into his
tone, "that there may be several passengers on the
approaching ship."
"You said your sensors showed it to be unmanned!
Or is that the malfunction you might be suffering
from?"
"All I know, Premier, is that the initial
sensor readings indicated there were lifeforms aboard,
several dozen of them.subsequent readings indicated
none, but"
"CaptainffThere are thousands of lifeforms on the
satellite this ship is going
to destroyffEven if there are a few people on the
approaching ship, they are obviously
terroristsffThey could even be those Klingons of yours,
hiding behind some shield you know nothing abffally saw what
they did to our surveillance ships--every one totally
destroyedffAnd your own men--Captain, they killed
your own men!"
"I understand all that, Premier, but until these
discrepancies can be cleared up--"
"You're simply going to let my people be
killedffIs that what you're saying, Kirk?"
"Of course n.we will keep the satellite
safe inside our own shields for as long as it
takes."
There was another long silence."...ally are saying,
Kirk," Kaulidren finally said, "that your shields
are in full operation"...Right this instant?"
"I already told you that, Premier," Kirk said
stiffly.
Yet another silence.then, suddenly,
Kaulidren's furious scowl vanished.he
laughed.
"So, Kirk," he said, "you know more than you're
admitting."
"I beg your pardon, Premier?"
"Let's cut out the games, Kirk."
"You're the one who just now said--rather emphatically,
as I recall wthat this was not a game, that the lives
of thousands of your people were at stake."
"True enough.let me rephrase that."
Kaulidren's eyes narrowed in a patronizing
smile."...allyr shields are not working, Captain
Kirk.they have not been working for some time now.you know
x.i know it.
But here is something you don't know.they will not
suddenly start working again, no matter what your chief
engineer and his ham-handed subordinates do."
Kirk affected a deep scowl."...What the devil
are you talking about, Premier"...And where did you get this
supposed knowledge about the state of our shields?"
"Please, Kirk, don't continue to play the
fool.we both know it doesn't suit y.i
don't know how much you've guessed, but it's a great
deal more than you're pretending.but not nearly enough
to save you."
"Save u"...From what?"
"Disgrace, to mention one.and death, of course."
"Are you threatening us, Premier"...I don't have
to remind you, you're dealing With a Federation starship."
"I'm quite aware of what--and who--I'm
dealing With, Kirk.you, on the other hand--but just so
we'll be on an even footing, conversationally speaking,
let me introduce myself Carmody, Commander
Jason Carmody, late of Starfleet,
currently serving With a more congenial organization.
"Those Klingons of yours," to be precise."
Carmody!
Somehow Kirk kept from reacting outwardly to the
name.until that moment he had been assuming the
Premier was a native Chyrellkan working With the
Klingons, but the sudden admission that he was instead a
renegade Starfleet officer sent Kirk's mind
racing.that Klingons on their own could have learned how
to sabotage the Enterprise's computer had not been
easy to believe.but for Carmody to have learned the
same thing-But most of all, the purpose of this
incredibly elaborate charade suddenly made a
perverted sort of sense.carmody, With the help of the
Klingons, was getting back at the Federation for his own
arrest, for the planned court-martial.he was getting
back by trying to force a starship captain to violate
the Prime Directive, just as Carmody himself had
done, only on a more massive scale.
Hoping his face had not betrayed the thoughts racing
behind it, Kirk widened his eyes in seeming
puzzlement."...ally're not a Chyrellkan?"
"You continue to play the fool, Kirk.i'm
disappointed.
Your Mr.spock warned me I should not
underestimate you, but these silly pretenses of yours
make it increasingly difficult."
This time Kirk didn't bother to hide his genuine
reaction."...Spock? When did you see Spock?"
"I didn't see him, I merely spoke With
him."
Carmody paused deliberately."...It was shortly
after he and your Dr. McCoy boarded the ship I have
been urging you to shoot down--the ship you will shoot down
in a few minutes."
Swallowing away the mixture of emotions that were
suddenly churning within him, Kirk scowled."...ationow I
know you're insane, Kaulidren or whatever your real
name isffCommander Spock and Lieutenant Commander
McCoy were both killed--"
"That was the plan," Carmody cut him off, "but
they were apparently a little too alert for their would-be
executioners.not that it will save them for long.
But to tell the truth, I'm almost glad they
managed to escape, particularly since they ended up
where they did--With a little help from me.i rather
enjoy the thought that it will be you--or at least your
Enterprise--that will actually do the deed."
Spock and McCoy were aliveffKirk could
barely keep the smile off his face--but he had
to, for the moment at least, in order to have a chance
to save them.he snorted derisively."...Let me
get this straight, Premier.you think that after what
you've admitted, you'll still be able to talk me
into firing on that ship?"
"Of course not, Kirk, and you know x.really, your
intentional obtuseness is getting tiresome."
No more to you than to me, Kirk thought, but until
I've given Sulu as much time as possible and
learned as much as possible from you-"Then enlighten me,"
Kirk said, his tone still derisive and
skeptical."...If you're going to force me to kill my
best friends, I'd very much like to know how."
Carmody smiled in mock pity."...So that's your
game, is x"...ally think that if I tell you what
I'm planning, you'll be able to pull a rabbit out
of the hat and stop me.very well, I'll tell you,
not that you haven't already guessed.i will do it the same
way I shut down your shields, the same way I
kept you from transporting everyone off the
satellite.to put it in its simplest,
most easily understood form, Captain Kirk, I
control your computer and therefore your ship, and there is
absolutely nothing you can do about it."
"Don't bet on xffMr.scottffShut it
down!"
"Aye, Captain," Scotty's voice
acknowledged instantly, and at the same moment, all
the screens, all the readouts on the bridge
flickered.
And came back on.
Carmody's laugh filled the bridge.
After the jarring exit from the shuttlebay,
Lieutenant Sulu quickly and efficiently checked
the shuttlecraft's systems even as he scanned the
immediate vicinity of the Enterprise.
The shields were down, the scanners showed.
And there-In the shadow of the massive Chyrellkan
manufacturing satellite, itself dwarfing the
Enterprise, an object smaller than a one-man
shuttle hovered, linked to the Enterprise by a narrow
tractor beam.was that what had its hooks in the
computer?
YesffEven With the shuttlecraft scanners,
Sulu could detect a steady stream of data going
both ways between the object and the
Enterprise. For an instant he thought of simply
ramming the object, even if the impact would wreck
the shuttlecraft as well.his emergency field
effect suit would keep him alive and well until
the Enterprise, With its computer restored, could bring
him in.and even if it couldn't, one life was a
small price to pay for-But there was more, he suddenly
realized.a second stream of data was flowing between the
object and something else, something beyond the range of the
shuttlecraft's scanners.this tiny object was
obviously a relay station.possibly it was a
vital link, but just as
possibly it was a mere convenience.and even if he
were able to totally destroy it, whoever was at the other end
of that second stream of data would know about x.and would,
in all probability, simply move closer and
take over directly, bypassing the relay.and
Sulu would be of no use to the Enterprise in a
disabled shuttlecraft.
No, as a last resort he might attempt
to ram the object, but for now, gathering information was more
important.the ship Kaulidren wanted destroyed
was still more than twenty minutes away, and learning its
true nature was another of his top
priorities.kirk would already know that the
Enterprise shields were down, since the absence of a
specific signal to Lieutenant Shanti would have
told him that.
First, a run to the approaching ship, and then,
depending on what he found there, either back to the
Enterprise With the information or out along that second
data stream to see whatever there was to see.
Sulu applied full impulse power.
Chapter Twenty.
"Do you have any more tricks up your sleeve,
Captain?"
Carmody asked, an arrogant smile frozen
on his face.
"I assure you," Kirk snapped, "you'll be the
first to know!"
"I have no doubt of t.but under the
circumstances, isn't there something you would like to know?
You were full of questions just a moment ago.don't
tell me your curiosity has been so easily
satisfied."
"You obviously enjoy gloating, whoever you are, so
go ahead while you have the chance."
Carmody shrugged."...As a matter of fact, I do
enjoy x.but , then, who wouldn't, given such a
perfect opportunity"...My only
regret, now that I've come to know you so well these
last few hours, is that you will have such a short time
to appreciate the situation.but the rest of
Starfleet will have more, I assure you, perhaps as much as
two years.i estimate it will take about that long
to infect all your Starfleet computers.
During that time you will be remembered as the captain
who disgraced the Federation by violating the Prime
Directive even more grossly than I. You will have
fired on and destroyed an unarmed ship full of
emissaries of peace."
Kirk interrupted."...ally're planning to take on
all of Starfleet"...Surely you can't imagine this
'bug" of yours will go undetected--and uncorrected
--for that long, in that many ships!"
"But of course it will, Captain.this was merely
a test run, and despite some minor problems--which will
of course be corrected--it has been a resounding
success.in the future, even a program like your
Mr. Spock's won't notice anything
amiss.and once everything is in place--"
Carmody paused, his smile broadening even more."...As
an old Earth saying has it, Captain, it will be like
shooting fish in a barrel."
"If you think you're going to get away
With this--"
"I know I am, Captain.and you will know it in
roughly three minutes, when your phasers begin
firing.
Now if you will excuse me, I have things to attend
to."
abruptly, Carmody's image vanished from the
screen, replaced by that of the approaching ship, the
ports for its laser cannon clear on its prow.
But a moment later the ports were gone, the prow
smooth and unbroken. Another moment, and the ship
melted into a totally different shape, a quarter of
its original size.even though Kirk had been
expecting it, it was still unsettling.he tensed,
waiting for the next sign.he didn't dare rush it,
didn't dare play his one remaining card too
soon.
"Captain!" Ensign Sparer, Sulu's
replacement at the helm, called."...All phaser
banks are locking on to the approaching shipffationothing
I do has any effect!"
"All right, then," Kirk said, the beginnings of a
smile forming on his lips."...ationow, Mr.scott!"
There was no acknowledgment, but an instant later, as
Scotty and a dozen of his men at key
points around the ship acted, the screens and readouts
went out.
And this time they didn't come back on.
Spock staggered for an instant as he completed the
mental withdrawal, pulling his hand back from
Finney's forehead.finney gasped and would have
fallen, were it not for McCoy's hands on his
shoulders.
"The information, Spock--did you get it?"
McCoy asked, his eyes still on Finney.
"I believe I did, Doctor." Quickly he
took his communicator from his belt and flipped it
open as he eyed McCoy easing Finney to the
floor. "Fortunately, the altered code does not
appear to be keyed to any specific voice."
Slowly, then, he pulled the numbers from his
memory and spoke them into the communicator while
McCoy and the others watched and waited tensely.
On the screen above the pilot's chair, the dot
in its center had finally resolved itself into a tiny
cylinder, a toy-like vision of the Chyrellkan
satellite.a nearby dot was still just that--a dot, not
identifiable as a starship, though everyone assumed it
was the Enterprise.
Finally, after more than two dozen
numbers, Spock fell silent.
For at least a half minute there was total
silence, except for fifty people's breathing and the creaks
and groans of the ship as it continued to be subjected
to the unaccustomed stress of its recently installed
impulse engines.
"Something wrong, Spock?" McCoy finally
asked.
"The Enterprise computer is not responding."
"I guessed that much, SpockffDo you have any
idea why it isn't responding"...Could you have gotten a
number wrong"...Out of sequence? Are we out of
communicator range?"
Spock was silent a moment, looking at the
gradually expanding images on the pilot's
screen."...It is possible we are out of range.i will
repeat the sequence."
And he did, not once but a half-dozen times as
the images continued to grow, though not as rapidly as
bef.the ship was obviously slowing for its rendezvous
With the satellite.
By that time McCoy had Finney back, if not
to normal, at least to a functional state."...Do you have
any ideas?" McCoy asked With a scowl as the
ex-Starfleet officer lurched unsteadily
to his feet.
Finney shook his head, not in a negative
response but as if to clear it. "About what"...What
happened?"
"That new code that Spock extracted from your
mind," McCoy said, "it doesn't work."
Finney looked blank for a second, as if the
words took that much time to get through whatever barriers his
assaulted mind had set up.then he
grimaced."...I was afraid of that," he said.
"Of what?" McCoy grated. "Come on,
Finney, if you knew that code was no good--"
"I didn't know anything, "he said
defensively."...It's just that if Kelgar knew--or
even suspected--that I survived that surveillance
ship blast, he may've changed it ag.or if one
of you," he went on, his voice suddenly
accusatory, "said something to the commander that let him know
I was here--"
"We didn't!" McCoy snapped.
"Attempting to assign blame is pointless,
Doctor.
For the moment I suggest that one of us continue
to transmit the code in the hope that there is some other
explanation for its lack of success thus
far."
McCoy turned his scowl on Spock."...Maybe
you should go back in there and check ag.isn't it
possible your imperfect human half missed
something?"
"Anything is possible, Doctor.however--"
"What's that?" The burly man who had helped
McCoy restrain Finney was pointing at the
pilot's viewscreen.
McCoy looked sharply toward the screen, his
scowl changing to a sudden grin as his eyes focussed
on the image.
"A shuttlecraft!" he exulted, throwing a
scornful glance at Finney as he flipped open his
own communicator.
"Shuttlecraft, this is Dr.mcCoyffWhat the
devil is going on"...And can you get a message through
to the Enterprise?"
There was a long silence as the shuttlecraft
coasted to a stop in the viewscreen, its bulk
entirely blocking the distant satellite and
starship.
"Shuttlecraft!" McCoy repeated."...Answer
me, blast it!"
He jerked around to face Finney."...ally
don't need that code to get through to a shuttlecraft,
do you?"
Finney shook his head."...ationo, only the
Enterprise's computer is affected. The
shuttlecraft are--"
"Dr.mcCoy?" Sulu's startled voice
came over the communicator."...Is that really you?"
"Of course it's meffSulu, is that you?"
"Yes, Doctor, but--is Spock With you?"
"Yes, LieutenantffLook, Sulu, can you
get word--"
"If you really are Dr.mcCoy, what is your
daughter's name?" Sulu asked.
"Blast it, Sulu, don't waste time--"
"For various reasons, Doctor, I must verify
your identity.please, your daughter's name."
"Joannaffationow what--"
"But that information would be available in the ship's
computer," Sulu said, as if just realizing it
himself."...I'm sorry, something else--Dr.
McCoy, the time you and Scotty and I dragged
Mr.spock to those old-time bowling lanes at
Starbase Two--do you remember what you accused him
of doing?"
"How the devil should I remember t"...That
was years ago, and I've accused him of everything in the
book!"
"If it will facilitate matters,
Mr.sulu," Spock said into his own
communicator, "the incident occurred at Starbase
One, not Two, and Dr. McCoy accused me of
deliberately setting up a seven-ten split in
order to make the game more challenging.for some reason
you found his accusation most amusing. Now, if you are
satisfied With our identities, we have an urgent
message that must be communicated to the Enterprise
computer.we have been unable to make contact through our
communicators."
"That's probably because the computer is shut
down.at least, I assume it is by now." All
suspicion was gone from Sulu's voice, replaced
by a mixture of relief and urgency."...The captain
suspects the entire system has been
sabotaged."
"The captain is correct, Mr.sulu,"
Spock interrupted.
"But we now have a code that may allow us
to reverse the effects of the sabotage if the computer
can be turned back on.however, we must be able
to contact the Enterprise before the code can be
entered into the computer."
There was a startled silence, and then Sulu said
"Give me the code, Mr. Spock, and I'll
return to the Enterprise With it and give it to the
captain.we have a special communications link set
up."
"Could you not broadcast it from here?"
"I could, but we're afraid that whoever is in
control of the computer will be listening in despite our
precautions.if they heard me giving the captain the
code, they might be able to do something else to stop
him."
"Mr.finney," Spock said, turning toward the
man, "is that possible?"
Finney swallowed nervously."...It's possible,
yes.if the commander or Kelgar knows the computer is
about to be turned on and that the access code will be
entered immediately, there's an abort sequence that he could
enter any time before the code has been completely
entered.there's no way of blocking x.it wouldn't
give him control of the computer again, but it would make it
essentially useless, wiping out all memory and
programs.unless," he added, averting his eyes,
"Kelgar has changed that too."
"Thank you, Mr.finney.mr.sulu,
are you prepared to receive the access code?"
"Ready, Mr.spock," Sulu said With a
nervous chuckle."...Maybe between us, we can make this
seven-ten split too."
Chapter Twenty-one.
COMMANDER MONTGOMERY SCOTT straightened up
from the tangle of wires spilling out of the back of the
communications console and wiped the sweat from his forehead
With the back of one hand while he tapped on the
console frame With the other.with life support
systems on non-computerized backup,
temperatures everywhere were up three or four
degrees, while here, in the service corridor that
circled the bridge behind the consoles, it was up at
least fifteen.
"That should do it, lass," he said."...allye'll at
least have power, even if ye' dinna' have the computer
to sort through a few thousand frequencies."
"Thank you, Mr.scott," Uhura's voice,
muffled by the intervening mass of the console, came
back.
"Good work, Scotty," Kirk said, peering in through
the opening where the kickplate next to the turbolift
had been removed."...Sanderson just reported in on the
intercom, and he's making good progress
on the impulse drive connections."
"Aye, Captain, but it's the warp drive that's
goin' ta take the time." He shook his head as he
made his way along the access corridor and stepped
out onto the oddly quiet bridge.all the sounds
normally associated With the computer's neverending
monitoring of virtually everything on the ship had been
silent since Scott and a dozen of his men had
simultaneously yanked its every primary and backup
power cable.
"Without the computer to balance the antimatter--"
Suddenly, a hundred lights and displays came
to life.uhura's hand jerked back as if burned
by the controls she had been using to manually make the
settings that would eventually get her in touch With
Starfleet Headquarters.the others tensed, their
eyes darting from display to display, hoping to find some
indication of what was happening.
Scott snatched his communicator from his belt as
he darted back into the access corridor."...All
posts, report in!"
By the time he had half circled the bridge and
started down the gangway to the lower decks, the
responses had told him where the trouble was.
"Lieutenant Diaz," he said to one of the
men he and the captain had standing by on every deck, "Mr.
Claybourne on deck nineteen doesn't report
in."
"On my way, Commander," a deep voice came
back as Scott reached deck three and continued
to race downward.
On the bridge Kirk could only watch
helplessly as the displays continued to come to life.his
earnest attempts to manually shut the computer off were
meeting With no more success than his and Scotty's
sham attempt earlier.the only hope now was that
Scott and his men could pinpoint the power connection that
Carmody had obviously reestablished--and take it
out a second time.
"Captain!" Ensign Sparer's voice from the
helm rose above the rest. "The navigation system
is coming back on line.three minutes until it
completes orientation and alignment.phaser banks
heading for full charge.no response to any
controls."
"Keep trying, Ensign, everyone.try anything
and everything.if we don't find something that works,
Spock and McCoy really will be dead!"
"Captain," Scott's voice, out of breath and
half-obscured by the echoing clang of his
boots on gangway steps, burst from Kirk's
communicator, "Diaz reports Claybourne's
area sealed off.he's taking his phaser ta the
door.how much time do we have?"
"Two and a half minutes, Scotty, if
we're lucky."
Without acknowledgment, the communicator went dead.
An instant later it crackled back
into life."...Shanti, Captain. Communication from
Lieutenant Sulu.i'm patching him through
directly."
Static drowned out everything for a moment, and then
Shanti's voice came in again."...Go ahead,
Lieutenant."
"Captain!" Sulu's wire-taut voice
came through instantly."...ationo time for explanations, do
precisely as I say and--damnffStand by, I'll
be back if I can!"
And he was gone.
"SuluffShantiffWhat--"
The sound of grating metal spilled out of the
communicator, and a moment later the Enterprise
shuddered as something crashed against it, though without the
sensors under their control, no one could know whether it was
matter or energy.
Finney had guessed right, Sulu realized as the
shuttlecraft came within range of the
Enterprise.a second ship, filled With Klingon
technology, hovered less than a kilometer below
the starship.a limited-range transporter was just
winding down, its destination somewhere inside the
Enterprise secondary hull.
Someone, either Carmody or the Klingon Kelgar,
would be in there, trying to restore power to the computer so
whoever stayed behind in the other ship could retake
control.
His frustration mounted as he watched.he would never
have time to get inside the Enterprise and deliver the
access code to the captain.the shuttle-craft was
already being pushed to its limits, not another iota of
impulse power was available.he had no choice but
to take a chance on the radio link With Shanti.
"Lieutenant Shanti," he said, activating the
shuttlecraft transmitter, "put me through to the
captain.no time to explain."
"Lieutenant Sulu?"
"Yesffationow put me through!"
"Yes, sir."
Decelerating at full power, Sulu watched the
Enterprise grow to fill the shuttlecraft
screen.
A burst of static came from the radio, and then
"Go ahead, Lieutenant."
"Captainffationo time for explanations, do
precisely as I say and--" Sulu broke off
sharply as on the shuttlecraft screen, he saw the
Klingon ship begin to quickly reorient xf.within
seconds it would have its weapons bearing directly
on him."...DamnffStand by, I'll be back if I
can!"
He obviously wouldn't have time to send the full
access code, might not even have time to reach the
Enterprise, definitely would not if he approached
it With any semblance of caution.swerving sharply
upward and to the right, Sulu accelerated rather than
decelerated.the other ship was below and ahead of the
Enterprise.if he could go high enough, he might be
able to make his final approach on a line that was
hidden from the other ship by the secondary hull, but even
that would give him only a few extra seconds.
Now if Scotty's men had managed to get the
doors even a little wider-But they hadn't, Sulu
could see on the screen.
Shanti's shuttlecraft still sat anchored to the
deck just inside the opening, an opening
obviously no more than a few inches wider than the
shuttlecraft.
Swerving again, Sulu was aimed directly at the
opening.no time to warn Shanti to move.he would have
to come in high, above the parked shuttlecraft.
The flash of phaser fire distracted him for an
instant, but the beam was wide of the mark, the attacking
ship just then being eclipsed by the Enterprise's
secondary hull and apparently making no move
to get the shuttlecraft back in its sights.but
if it was trying to keep a lock on whoever had been
transported to the Enterprise, Sulu realized
With a surge of hope, it couldn't move, not without
risking losing the lock and having to reacquire it, and
if they were on as tight a schedule as he
was-Focussing entirely on the increasingly
narrow-looking opening rushing toward him, Sulu
reversed the impulse engine on full power as he
nudged the shuttlecraft nose to the right a hair,
then to the left and comWith a horrendous screech of
metal on metal, far louder than when he had
exited barely fifteen minutes earlier, he was
through, the impulse engine throbbing as it did its best
to stop what was in effect a shuttlecraft-sized
missile.there was a bone-jarring thud as the
runners hit the deck and bounced, another as they
hit again and the shuttlecraft seemed, in this confined
space, to be going even faster than outside.
A final grating crash came as the nose
slammed into the rear wall of the hangar deck, throwing
Sulu bruisingly against the controls.he could immediately
hear air hissing out through a break somewhere in the
shuttlecraft hull, but he didn't bother to search
for it, barely even noted its existence.
Pulling in a deep breath, Sulu activated the
emergency field effect suit at his belt as he
got to his feet and punched the door release.the
suit's faintly luminous halo cast a softening
haze over everything, but it would give him the seconds
he needed.
But the door-He hit the release again, but it
didn't move.
JammedffThe whole frame of the shuttlecraft must
have been warped by the impact!
Hitting the release a third time, he
simultaneously slammed his shoulder against the door,
putting all of his wiry strength into the effort.
And again.
This time the door gave With a scraping sound, and an
instant later the pressure of the
atmosphere inside the shuttlecraft took over the
rest of the job, as the door literally popped
halfway open and the rush of air almost knocked
Sulu off his feet.
Catching himself, he hastily slid through the narrow
opening and raced for the nearest door in the back wall
of the hangar.if Scotty had been successful in
sealing the doors manually instead of letting the computer
do it, he would be able to override the seal from this airless
side.if not-Hitting the emergency override
switch, he gripped the lever that popped out of the wall
flush With the edge of the door.pumping at the lever
only until a narrow crack appeared, he
released the lever and jammed his fingers into the narrow
crack, now filled With a torrent of outrushing air.
But it wouldn't moveffEven With all his strength,
augmented by the adrenaline he could feel surging through
him, it wouldn't moveffHe was going to have
to-Suddenly, a second pair of hands, also sheathed
in the faint glow of a field effect suit, joined
his-Lieutenant ShantiffHe hadn't heard her
race across the hangar deck, but she was there, the
tendons of her hands standing out as she joined her strength
With his and With a metallic grating, the door lurched
open another precious few inches.
While Shanti continued to strain at the door,
Sulu, his uniform scraping and almost tearing, forced his
way through.
Inside, leaving the air rushing through the opening, he
raced to t he nearest intercom.
Chapter Twenty-two.
"ONE minute until alignment is complete,
Captain," Sparer reported from the helm."...Still no
response to any control."
His mind racing, Kirk nodded his acknowledgment.
A thousand solutions must have shot through his thoughts in the
last two minutes, but every one depended on at least
some part of the computer being under his control.the only
remotely realistic chance was if Scotty or
Lieutenant Diaz could break into the sealed-off
portion of deck nineteen and tear loose the power
connection that someone had obviously restored.
Was it someone who had been on the ship all
along"...Or someone who had come on With Carmody but
had stayed on board, biding his time until the
critical moment?
"Through the first door," Diaz's rumble filtered
through the communicators, "but there's at least one more before
--"
"Captain!" Sulu's voice erupted
onto the bridge, not from Kirk's communicator, but
from the intercom
system, one of the few systems that operated almost as
well without the computer as With.
"Sulu?" Kirk shot back."...What--"
"No time, Captain," he interrupted, his
voice knife-edge sharp, "no timeffEnter the
following sequence directly into the computer, no
mistakes, no interruptions.are you ready?"
Hesitating only a fraction of a second,
Kirk spun toward the science station."...Do it,
Mr.pritchard.go ahead, Mr.sulu."
Instantly Sulu began, pausing only once
when Pritchard fell momentarily behind his steady but
rapid-fire delivery.on the viewscreen the
approaching ship seemed more obviously defenseless
With each passing second.sparer continued to monitor
the realignment of the navigation system, counting down
silently, mouthing the numbers to Kirk.other
readouts showed that the phaser banks were fully charged
and directed toward the oncoming ship, lacking only
the lock-on and the order to fire that would come when the
realignment was complete.
Kirk's communicator started to crackle
to life, another message from either Diaz
or Scott, but he hastily squelched the sound and
turned away from the science station.he was about to whisper
a delaying message into the communicator, when
Sulu ended the transmission.
"That's it," he said, and then, the tension in his
voice notching even higher, "Is anything
happening?"
Without waiting for an answer, Sulu raced on
"Get the shields up, on minimum rangeffThere's
a Klingon
ship only a few hundred meters below, or it was
when I came in.it could be closer by now.it had
just beamed someone into the Enterprise secondary hull
and"
"Captain!" Sparers voice broke in sharply,
even as her fingers darted across the helm
controls."...We've got controlffFiring command
cancelled, shields coming--shields up, minimum
extension!"
"ScottyffMr.diaz!" Kirk snapped
into his communicator.
"Don't disconnectffWe're back in
business!"
A whoosh of relief came back through the tiny
speaker."...Aye, Captain, the doors just
unsealed."
"Stay out for the moment, both of y.whoever
reconnected the computer may still be in there, and
probably is dangerous."
"No, Captain," Pritchard broke
in."...Sensors show a lifeform--a Klingon lifeform
--just completing transport to the ship Mr.sulu
told us about."
"All right, Scotty, take a look, but be
careful anyway."
"Aye, Captain."
"Klingon ship departing, Captain," Sparer
reported, "full impulse power."
"Don't lose it, EnsignffCarmody has a
lot of questions to answer."
"Aye-aye, Captain.readying tractor
beam."
"Does it have warp capability,
Mr.pritchard?"
"Unknown, Captain, but--" Pritchard broke
off as new readings appeared. "Warp drive ship just
leaving sensor range beyond Vancadia, making at
least warp eight."
"Heading?"
"Toward the nearest border With the Klingon
Empire."
"Raise any ships you can, Lieutenant
Uhura," Kirk snapped."...If it can be
intercepted in Federation territory--"
"Subspace signal being transmitted from
vicinity of Klingon ship," Pritchard began, but
broke off sharply, his fingers darting across the controls
almost as proficiently as Spock's."...Antimatter
generator in Carmody's ship being purposely
overloaded, Captain.
Going critical any moment."
Pritchard had barely finished the warning, when the
fleeing ship vanished in a brilliant flare that
sent the viewscreen into a total whiteout.
On the bridge, there was silence as the screen
recovered and, finally, showed the dissipating cloud of
particles that had been Carmody and his
Klingon-manufactured ship.
"At a guess," Kirk said grimly, "I'd
say they didn't want us to get our hands on
Mr.carmody."
At the hiss of the turbolift door, Kirk
turned sharply from the viewscreen and Admiral
Brady's weathered face.he couldn't keep a grin
from erupting momentarily across his own face as
Spock stepped smartly onto the bridge,
followed by a scowling Dr. McCoy.
"It took you long enough to decide to let them beam us
over from that--" McCoy broke off as he saw
Brady's face on the screen.
"And I'm glad to see you too, Bones,"
Kirk said, getting control of the grin."...ally know the
admiral."
"Welcome back, Dr.mcCoy, Commander
Spock," Brady said and then went on hastily, a
touch of apology in his voice, "I'm sure you
realize the delay was nec.captain Kirk wanted
to be absolutely certain that the computer was clean, that
there were no surprises left in the circuits that
monitor transporter operation."
"A logical precaution, Captain," Spock
acknowledged when McCoy seemed at a loss for
words."...But do not allow our arrival to interrupt the
proceedings."
"Of course," Brady said, seeming momentarily
disconcerted by the exchange."...As I was saying, we have
found no trace of the Klingon ship. We assume it
altered its course as soon as it was out of sensor
range and managed to evade our search." He shook
his head."...With only two ships in the area,
it wouldn't have been hard to do."
"They undoubtedly had their escape well
planned," Kirk sd.glancing at Spock and
McCoy, he went on.
"It looks as if they delayed their departure
only until they were absolutely certain Carmody
had failed.
Delkondros and at least a dozen others who
may or may not have been Klingons masquerading as
humans vanished shortly after the surveillance
ships were destroyed.we assume it was an
evacuation.in any event, it's obvious the
Klingons weren't planning to give Carmody a
second chance any more than Carmody was going to give
Finney one."
Brady nodded."...Even if he'd succeeded, I'd
wager they would have found a way to get rid of
hm.since he was so ready to betray the Federation, how
could they trust him not to betray the Empire?"
"You can say that again," McCoy spoke up."...According
to Finney, Carmody was out for himself and no one
else." The doctor snorted."...He fit right in
With the Klingons.thought their
"advancement-by-assassination" way of doing things was
just dandy and wouldn't have hesitated a second
to use it himself."
"Will we ever be able to understand the Klingons?"
Brady asked rhetorically, shaking his
head."...Or humans like Carmody, for that matter"...But
Jim, what are the chances that the Klingons took a
copy of Finney's program With them?"
"I'd say it's virtually a certainty,
Admiral, but I doubt that they'll ever try to use
x.for one thing, they were undoubtedly listening in on
everything that happened right up to the second they took
off, so they know that we'll have protection against that or
any similar program.but even if they do,
we'll be ready for them, now that Finney's seen the
error of his ways and will be giving Starfleet all the
help he can in providing that protection, even while
he's getting the therapy he needs."
Brady nodded heavily."...Security at our
psychiatric facilities will be a bit tighter this
time.one more thing, Jim, before you leave the
Chyrellkan system--be sure that the truth of the
situation gets thoroughly circulated on both
worlds."
"That will not be a problem, Admiral," Spock
volunteered."...While we were on the Vancadian
ship
waiting to be beamed aboard the Enterprise,
Professor Rohgan and Councilman
Tylmaurek offered to work With u.they are convinced that
the people of both planets will be most susceptible
to reason now that the Klingon involvement is ended."
"I'm sure they will be," McCoy put
in."...Once they knew what was going on, everyone on
that shuttle was ready to forgive and forget.and
Professor Rohgan sounded like he was ready to start
pushing for Federation membership the second he got
back to Vancadia."
"Excellent, Dr.mcCoy.excellent work
all around, Captain, Commander Spock.keep us
informed."
As Brady's image faded from the screen,
Kirk turned again toward Spock and McCoy."...ally
two scared the hell out of me," he said With a faint
approximation of the grin he had first greeted them
With."...I would really appreciate it if you didn't
do it again."
"We will endeavor to avoid a repetition of the
incident," Spock said solemnly.
"I can't say I'd enjoy repeating it either,"
McCoy said, and then added With a shake of his head,
"But you want to know what's really scary,
Jim"...That bunch had a good chance of pulling their little
stunt off. They probably would have if they'd just
trusted each other instead of stabbing each other in the
back every chance they got."
"That is most unlikely, Doctor," Spock
said, not looking up from the science station readouts he
had turned to as the admiral had signed off.
"Oh, and what crystal ball tells you that,
Spock?"
"It does not require a crystal ball,
Doctor, or any of the other devices charlatans
employ.it is simple logic.
I am surprised you cannot see that."
"To you, solving a six-dimensional equation in your
head is an exercise in simple logic,
Spoc k.how about explaining for us mere humans who
have trouble keeping just three dimensions straight?"
"As you wish, Doctor," Spock said, turning
toward him."...It is merely that if people are inclined
to trust other people, they generally have neither the desire nor
the reason to develop such schemes in the first
place."
McCoy snorted."...And if pigs had wings,
they'd fly."
Spock minutely arched one
eyebrow."...I assume that is one of your human
aphorisms, Doctor, implying that humans as a
species are not trustworthy?"
McCoy shrugged, his eyes flickering around at
Kirk and Spock and the rest of the bridge crew."...I
guess we're improving, Mr.spock--at least
here and there." His expression brightened."...Under your
expert guidance, of course."
"It is gratifying to know that you finally acknowledge
my contribution, Doctor," Spock said,
returning his attention to the science station instruments.
Kirk laughed as he momentarily and
unsuccessfully searched the Vulcan's face for a
hint of a smile.
"Ahead warp factor three, Mr.sulu," he
said."...Take us out of here."