by Roland Starr
“Any second now!” Den Thol said, and even as he spoke the first two of the Zukon craft vanished from their formation.
Vonner tensed, knowing they had gone into Lapse speed and were now probably a million miles ahead. At that instant the screen was obliterated by a powerful white light, and he knew the probes had exploded amidst the flight of Zukon craft. There was a tense silence around him as they waited, and when the screen cleared it was seen that the Zukon ships had been wrecked. A thin cheer echoed through the command room.
Den Thol turned his grim face towards Vonner, and there was the glint of triumph in his eyes.
“I must remember that particular trick for use in the future, Captain,” he said.
“What happened to the foremost two Zukon ships?” Vonner countered.
“Tryxx was commanding one of them. No doubt he sensed what was coming and managed to convey a warning to the second ship. I’ve come up against Captain Tryxx many times in the past, Captain, and so far I’ve found him unbeatable.”
Vonner glanced at Orion again. “If my crew are in a position to observe they will have seen what happened to those Zukon ships and know that we are friends. Can we contact Orion yet, Commander?
Den Thol motioned to his communications officer, and the man tried to raise Orion. After a few moments of silence he tried again, and Vonner glanced at Reid’s hard face. The Chief Scientist shook his head slowly.
“I don’t like it, Captain,” he said. “They must have us on their screens now. Are those Zukons getting through to them with their mind pressure?”
“That could be the answer,” Den Thol answered. “You have been immunised now, but your crew haven’t, and if Tryxx is getting to work on your men then they will lower their deflector shields and let the Zukons in!”
“Keep calling Orion,” Vonner said. “What’s our range now?”
“Two minutes to impact with them,” Thol retorted. “We have to lose velocity now! If we should run into their force-field!”
Vonner nodded grimly. He knew full well what would happen if they collided with Orion’s defensive screen! He listened to the Communications Officer repeatedly calling Orion, and as the seconds fleeted by and there was no reply he felt a cold knot of fear begin to tighten in his chest.
“Send a probe towards Orion, Commander!” Vonner ordered suddenly. “It will warn us if her deflector shields are up!”
Den Thol nodded and gave an order. They watched the forward screen, and a few moments later a minor explosion erupted at a distance from the space ship.
“Her shields are up,” Den Thol said. “At least Tryxx cannot get in at them!”
“And neither can we!” Vonner compressed his lips.
“There will be no problem in putting you aboard your ship, Captain,” Den Thol said.
“No?” Vonner demanded in surprised tones.
“We have a Transporter aboard. I expect we are already locked on to your ship! You will be able to go aboard now. We shall assume a parallel course and speed and await your report. But I must warn you to be careful. If your crew have been subjected to mental pressure by the Zukons then they might try to kill you when you show up aboard. You’d better take some of my crew along with you, and they will be armed with psycho-tubes. If your crew are under mental domination the psycho-tubes will break the power controlling them.”
“Fine, thank you, Commander. Shall we prepare for the Transporter?” Vonner was impatient to get back on his own bridge.
“At once.” Den Thol gave some orders and an officer presented himself before Vonner.
“If you and your men will follow me, Captain,” the man said.
They went along to the Transporter room, and Vonner could not control his fear as they prepared to go over to Orion. Seven Pravans were to accompany them, and they were armed with the psycho-tubes that Den Thol had mentioned. They underwent the process, and blackness encompassed them.
As they came out of it Vonner looked around quickly, and saw that they were on the bridge of Orion. The forward scanner screen showed a Zukon ship ahead, and Vonner wondered why Den Thol’s screens hadn’t picked up the alien. But he was not interested in Captain Tryxx at this moment and he looked around the bridge, relieved that his own crew were here. But they were all unconscious and slumped at their posts.
“Wait!” The Pravan officer in command of the detachment of Pravans called a sharp warning as Vonner hurried towards Howie Farrell, slumped over his console. “Let us immunise them before you attempt to revive them.”
“I just want to check that they’re not dead!” Vonner said.
“Zukon mental pressure cannot kill,” came the reassuring reply. “If it could then there wouldn’t be a Pravan left alive in the Odan System by now.”
Vonner waited for the Pravans to use their psychotubes, and he ordered Curran to escort the aliens around the ship to check on the entire crew. He went across to Farrell and bent over the Communications Officer, feeling for a pulse. He was vastly relieved to find Farrell alive, and the man began to stir as the effect of the psychotubes became apparent. He opened his eyes and stared at Vonner, a frown on his face.
“How long have you been back, Captain?” Farrell demanded in dazed tones.
“Never mind that, Howie. What happened here?” Vonner demanded.
“Happened?” Farrell shook his head. “Nothing happened as far as I know.”
“All right, we’ll go into it later. Right now you can open a line to the Pravan ship.”
“Yes, Captain!” There was a frown on Farrell’s face, and he rubbed his neck as he straightened.
Vonner moved to his command desk and sat down. He saw the Zukon ship on the scanner, and flicked animation into the intercom.
“This is the Captain speaking. Emergency stand-to! Red alert! Phaser banks ready!”
Answering reports began to come in, and Vonner was relieved that his crew were recovering from the insidious attack that had been launched against them. The men on duty on the Bridge were quick to resume their duties, and Vonner found, in the space of thirty seconds, that he had complete control of Orion once more.
When Den Thol’s face appeared on the communications screen it was wearing a broad smile, and Vonner was happy for the first time since Curran had walked right through the cow back at the landing ground on Omina.
“You are fortunate to regain your craft, Captain,” the Pravan Commander retorted.
“We’ll go into that shortly,” Vonner replied. “Right now I want to report a Zukon craft behind me. Are you receiving warning of it, Commander?”
“Negative!” There was surprise in Den Thol’s voice. “I’ll screen the immediate area.”
“Don’t attack the craft if you locate it,” Vonner warned. “If I am to intervene in this war between you and the Zukons then I must make contact with them.”
“We shall maintain a closed area around our craft,” Den Thol, smiling grimly, replied. “You had better keep up your deflector shields, Captain. If you want to talk with the Zukons then I suggest you do it from the security of your ship. Don’t trust the Zukons at all!”
“I’ll try to deal with them from a position of strength,” Vonner said.
He saw the Zukon ship still showing on the rear scanner, and motioned for Farrell to try to communicate with them. At that moment the inter-com flickered, and he opened the line.
“Captain, this is Doctor Morley! I am perturbed about our vulnerability to the Zukon mind attack.”
“That’s what it was,” Vonner said, his tones impersonal although his pulses leaped at the sound of Adah’s voice. “But there’s nothing to worry about, Doctor. The Pravans will immunise the crew against the Zukons. Please arrange for the whole crew to be treated as soon as possible.”
“Yes, Captain.” There was unmistakable relief in Doctor Morley’s tones.
“I have the Zukon craft for you, Captain,” Farrell reported, and Vonner looked at the Communication screen and saw the black reptilian face of Captain
Tryxx. There was a strange expression on the dark, triangular face, which Vonner supposed was the nearest thing to a smile that Tryxx could manage.
“You wish to surrender, Captain?” The Zukon demanded.
“I would like to meet you under truce and confer with you,” Vonner retorted.
“We have nothing to discuss, and you are in no position to bargain,” came the sharp retort. “We have your crew member in our power, and he has been subjected to a number of tests, mental and physical. We find that we have nothing to fear from you. As you are intruders in our Space we have the right to destroy you.”
“I think we may both find it to our advantage to talk,” Vonner said.
“You have allied yourself with the Pravans against us. That is sufficient reason for us to destroy you.”
“You have already attempted that and failed,” Vonner said tightly. “Perhaps you had better reconsider. I am prepared to talk!”
He tightened his lips as the screen flickered and faded, and he sat for a moment, considering. Then he called Den Thol.
“I listened in,” the Pravan Commander said when he appeared. “It is no more than I expected. You cannot treat with such as the Zukons. If they agreed to talk to you they would have done so with the intention of seizing you. They cannot be trusted under any circumstances.”
“If I can’t parley with Tryxx then I’ll approach Zukon and ask for a conference,” Vonner said.
Den Thol’s expression turned harsh, and alarm showed in the Pravan’s dark eyes.
“It would be suicide to contemplate such an act,” he said severely.
“One must take chances in matters of this nature,” Vonner told him. “But first we’d better return to orbit around Omina. My crew is fit again, and after immunisation they should manage against anything else the Zukons might try.”
“We shall we waiting for you in orbit,” Den Thol said, and his image faded. The next moment the Pravan space ship had faded also, and the scanner screens remained inanimate.
Vonner gave orders to Aaron Marr to plot their course back into Omina orbit, and when the data had been fed into the computer they swung around and moved into Lapse speed. When Omina loomed on the forward scanner screen they slowed and slipped into orbit without trouble, and there was no sign of Zukon presence. They regained contact with Den Thol, and the Pravan commander and some of his officers beamed themselves aboard Orion.
In his quarters, Vonner held a council of war. The chiefs of his departments were present, and the Pravans listened intently to what Vonner had to say.
“Is there any way in which we can communicate with the planet of Zukon?” Vonner demanded.
Den Thol spread his hands, and his face showed that he didn’t have much regard for such a procedure.
“We have tried to communicate with the Zukons, but there has never been any reply to the messages we’ve transmitted. We have learned to distrust them in everything, and there have been no diplomatic overtures made to them in the past five years.”
“Perhaps it is time to renew those diplomatic overtures,” Vonner said. “I will take this ship to Zukon if necessary.”
“I admire your courage, Captain,” Den Thol said, shaking his head. “But I am positive that President Treb will not agree to this mission. Now that we have made contact with an alien world we wish to maintain it. If anything happened to you or your ship then all would be lost.”
“We shall gain nothing here if the Zukons are not checked,” Vonner retorted, thinking deeply. “I would have to return to Earth with the news that Omina cannot be colonised, and it would mean our whole mission had been fruitless. President Treb said that if I could help to stop the Zukon threat then Earth could colonise Omina. My orders before we set out from our world were to use all efforts available to make colonisation possible. I am under orders to parley with the Zukons, Den Thol!”
“Then I will communicate with President Treb and report your intention to him, and I think you can count on us for all the help you may need.”
“Good. I’d like to open communications with the Zukons as soon as possible.”
“While we are making preparations we had better prepare you for some of the other unpleasant methods the Zukons use to overpower us,” Den Thol said. “I will instruct my Medical Officer to work with your Doctor.”
When the meeting was over Vonner felt easier in his mind. He knew he had to confront the Zukons, and although he didn’t know what line to take with them he knew he had to deal from a position of strength. He began to lay plans, and his officers joined him in a discussion of their prospects. Afterwards, when they had all gone about their duties, with the exception of Adah Morley, Vonner faced the woman he loved and tried to bring his mind down from the wide perspective to which it had climbed. But he was tense and nervous, impatient to get to grips with the problems preventing the successful conclusion of the entire mission.
“Max, you’re up to your neck in this business now, and I know it’s no use me telling you to try and relax,” Adah said. “I can see that we are not going to find any time for ourselves while we’re here on Omina. Perhaps you won’t need to be mentally processed on the flight home!”
“I expect the rest of the crew are thinking in those terms,” he retorted slowly. “We’ll go by the book, Adah!”
“I knew you’d say that! But we’re a long way from succeeding here, aren’t we?”
“A very long way, and I’m not happy about it. I have to contact the Zukons! It’s the very least I can do. But if they won’t see sense then I’ll have no choice but to start back to Earth and give up any hopes of turning this mission into a success.”
“From what the Pravans say the Zukons are not to be trusted, and we may be lucky to get away from here without further trouble.” There was a quiet note in Doctor Morley’s voice, and her blue eyes were steady as she gazed at Vonner.
“I’m not going to take any risks, Adah,” he told her gently. “I want to get back to Earth in one piece. We’ve got a lot of time to make up when we do sign off from this mission.”
“At least we have found another race of people,” she said.
“We’re going to have to take back as much information and data as we can assemble,” he said. “We’ve got a lot to do. I’ll have to make an effort to keep my mind off you and on my duty. Perhaps I ought to take another processing.”
“The orders are that no processing shall be used while we are in orbit! You’ll just have to suffer, Max.”
He smiled grimly, but at that moment the intercom bleeped, and he turned reluctantly to answer. Farrell’s voice spoke to him when he opened the line.
“It’s Den Thol, Captain. He wants to talk to you.”
“Put him on the line, Howie!” Vonner waited, and the next moment the Pravan’s voice sounded in the room.
“Captain, we have been in contact with Zukon and there was no reply. We shall continue to try and raise them, but in the meantime you are requested to descend to Omina and take part in a conference. President Treb will be arriving here shortly, and the talks will be of the highest order.”
“Certainly, Den Thol. I’ll bring my advisers with me. If we cannot contact Zukon then I’ll take Orion there!”
“We’ll discuss that, Captain,” Den Thol said. “Please report when you are ready to descend.”
The line went dead and Vonner turned a thoughtful face to the doctor.
“So you’ll have to do this the hard way, Max!”
“It will be hard for all of us, and dangerous,” he responded. He called the bridge and asked for the heads of departments to report there. “Even if we do make contact with them it will be impossible to get them to change their minds about their actions. It seems as if they’ve been determined to conquer the Pravans for years. They won’t stop just because I ask them to. We’ve got to produce a powerful argument to convince them of the folly of their ways. That’s the real problem.”
“I’ll leave you to work on it, Max,” she told him
. “I’d better start working in my department in case we should have to go to Zukon.”
“We’ll go there, without any doubt,” he replied.
He went to the bridge and found his chief officers waiting for him.
“There’s nothing much I can tell you that you didn’t learn at the conference with Den Thol,” Vonner said. “But I must inform you that there has been no Zukon reply to the communication the Pravans made. I think we can safely assume that the Zukons will not co-operate in any way, so we shall have to go to Zukon and try to convince them of the lunacy in this eternal war that’s being waged. It will be dangerous, and we have to take a number of important safeguards before we leave. I’m going down to the planet to talk with President Treb. Aaron, you’d better accompany me, and you, Dalus. We must check on course and distance. Brief your assistants and then we’ll leave. I want to get this business started as soon as possible.”
Lieutenant Hanton reported to Vonner for briefing, and Vonner stared into the younger man’s eyes for a moment.
“This is a tough assignment for your first taste of command, Mr. Hanton,” Vonner said. “You’ve come up against problems against which there was no solution. But it’s all part of a commander’s life, and the experience will stand by you for the future. I hope none of this has affected your sense of confidence.”
“I’ll take care of Orion, Captain,” Hanton replied firmly. “The Zukons won’t get at us next time.”
“Just maintain alert and be ready for anything. We shall soon be on our way to Zukon.”
“What about Commander Bardo, Captain? Is there any chance of us getting him back from the Zukons?”
“We can only hope!” Vonner tightened his lips. “We shall try to bring Commander Bardo into our bargaining, if we get the chance to face the Zukons.”
When he was ready, Vonner and his two officers beamed down to Omina, where Den Thol was waiting for them, and they were taken into the Commander’s private quarters. President Treb was there already, and he greeted Vonner with a serious expression on his face.
“I understand that you’re intent upon travelling to Zukon, Captain,” Treb said. “I can tell that it would be a waste of time to try and talk you out of it. But then something has to be done and I can think of no other way to settle this problem.”
