So far no ships had reported problems. So far, so good. But he knew a ship’s captain wouldn’t report a problem unless he had no choice. Every engineer, every captain knew how important this last push was. They were all going to drive their ships to the breaking point and beyond before giving up. He was going to do the same to the Enterprise if need be.
“Two ships reporting imminent tractor-beam failure,” Uhura reported.
Uhura was only telling the bridge crew. Spock was getting the same reports through his earpiece.
“Both ships cut tractor beam and engines,” Spock said. “Drop out of formation. Republic, increase your speed to twenty-seven percent full impulse.”
On the screen Kirk watched as two of the smaller private ships suddenly dropped back and out of sight. They would immediately head out of the system to a point a safe distance away that had been agreed upon. With luck, within the hour every ship would be holding at that point outside the Belle Terre system.
Spock had worked up an elaborate system of replacement balances if a ship couldn’t sustain its task. Most of the pickup would fall on Starfleet ships, for obvious reasons. The Republic was a Starfleet cutter. This kind of strain had to be tearing it apart almost as much as the colony ships.
“Two minutes,” Sulu said.
Only four minutes and sixteen seconds to go. A life-time, as far as Kirk was concerned.
“The Lakota is about to lose one of its engines,” Uhura said, glancing quickly at Spock.
Kirk stared at the Lakota on the screen. It was one of the big Conestogas, carrying thousands of colonists. Losing one of the two big mule engines would send the ship into a possibly fatal spin.
“Lakota,” Spock said, “Cut tractor beam and fall back. Mr. Sulu, increase the Enterprise speed to twenty-nine percent impulse. Now!”
On the screen the Lakota dropped away as the noise around them and the rumbling of the Enterprise increased at the extra strain. Kirk hoped the Lakota had enough engines left to get out of the range of the coming explosion. If not it was going to have to be towed, and after all this, there just might not be enough power left in any ship to tow anything.
“Three minutes,” Sulu said.
Almost halfway.
Around him the Enterprise was shaking as if some giant had a fist around it and was trying to break it open. Scotty was working intently at his engineering board, his fingers flying, doing everything in his considerable powers to keep the ship working. But the shaking was rocking Kirk right down to his bones. He couldn’t imagine what it was doing to all the ship’s systems.
“How long can this ship hold up?” McCoy shouted over the rumbling as he held tightly onto the railing as if it were the ledge over a high canyon.
“As long as it needs to, Doctor,” Kirk shouted back.
“The Macedon is losing its tractor beam,” Uhura reported.
“Macedon, cut your tractor beam and fall back,” Spock ordered at once. “Beowulf, increase to point two-eight percent impulse power.”
Kirk watched as the corporate ship Macedon vanished from the screen. Even though they had lost ships, there were still so many he couldn’t tell where the others had even been.
“Four minutes!” Sulu shouted over the rumbling and shaking of the Enterprise.
This was like some sort of strange race. Could enough of the ships manage to hang on until the finish line? Two more minutes and he’d know the answer to that question. They all would.
The seconds ticked past as Kirk watched the screen intently, waiting for something to happen, hoping against hope that nothing would.
“The Norfolk and the Mable Stevens are both losing engines,” Uhura shouted over the rumbling.
Kirk spotted Governor Pardonnet’s ship the Mable Stevens among the remaining ones, then glanced back at his first officer.
“Both ships fall back,” Spock ordered. “Mr. Sulu, increase to point three impulse.”
The bridge shook so hard now that Kirk had to hold on to the arms of his chair to keep from being bounced out. And the rumbling was almost deafening. Smoke was slowly filling the bridge and Kirk had no doubts that damage reports were pouring in from all over the ship.
“Five minutes!” Sulu shouted.
Only one minute and twelve seconds to go. An eternity, especially the way the Enterprise was being pounded. This was a great ship, but Kirk doubted it could hold up to this kind of punishment much longer.
Kirk glanced over at where Scotty was madly working over his controls. “Can she hold, Mr. Scott?”
“She has no other choice, Captain!” Scotty shouted back without looking up.
Kirk nodded.
“Five minutes, thirty seconds!” Sulu shouted.
Less than one minute left!
Suddenly on the screen Kirk saw what he’d been hoping to not see. One of the mule drives on the Conestoga Northwest Passage exploded.
The crew of the big ship managed to get the other engine off almost at once. But almost wasn’t fast enough. Not when the physics of spaceflight were concerned.
Slowly, then faster and faster, the big ship started to spin.
“Impeller, increase to point three impulse now!” Spock ordered.
The big ship was gaining speed in its spin, and was slowly heading inward toward the small moon. There were thousands of people on that ship.
Kirk slammed his hand on the comm link on his chair. “Kirk to Northwest Passage! Captain Burch, come in!”
“Burch here,” the voice came back. “We released our tractor beam a fraction too late and the force is pulling us toward the moon. We can’t correct the spin.”
“They’ll hit in less than thirty seconds,” Sulu shouted over the roaring and shaking.
“There are thousands of people on that ship, Jim!” McCoy shouted.
Kirk stared at the spinning Conestoga. There was no way he could let thousands of people die just to save this planet. No way at all. They had come this close. Maybe they were close enough to make it all work. But at the moment all his choices were gone.
He slammed his fist on his communications link. “Kirk to all ships!” he shouted over the rumbling and shaking. “Cut engines, then cut tractor beams on my command and fall back. Ready? Cut engines now!”
Around him the rumbling almost instantly stopped, leaving the intense silence of suddenly missing loud noise.
“Engines at full stop,” Sulu said.
“Cut tractor beams,” Kirk ordered the fleet.
“Tractor beam cut,” Sulu confirmed.
“All ships have released their tractor beams and are pulling back,” Spock said.
“Mr. Sulu, match the spin of the Northwest Passage and get a tractor beam on her at once.”
“We do not have the power to stop the ship alone,” Spock said, stating the facts flatly as he always did. Even when those facts meant the death of thousands of colonists.
“I understand,” Kirk said as on the screen all the ships started to fall back away from the moon, leaving the big, spinning Conestoga all alone.
Kirk punched his comm link again. “Impeller! Republic, help us with the Northwest Passage. We’r e going to pull that ship out of there.”
“Copy that,” Captain Merkling came back.
Sulu quickly took the Enterprise in closer to the moon and the big Conestoga. A black scar on the side of the big ship clearly indicated where the mule engine had exploded. Luckily, the explosion didn’t seem to have damaged the ship itself. Scotty’s design of putting the big engines on the outside of the ship had worked this time.
“Tractor beam ready,” Scott said.
“Eighteen seconds until impact,” Spock said.
“Attach it, Mr. Sulu.”
“Done,” Sulu said.
“Slow their spin and get that ship stopped. One-quarter impulse!”
Suddenly the noise was back, as loud and pounding as before. Sparks exploded out of one panel and smoke again started to fill the bridge as the Enterprise strained again
st the huge dormitory ship.
Strained to stop the forward momentum of a huge mass far larger than the Enterprise.
Kirk glanced around at Mr. Spock.
“The ship will still collide with the moon in twelve seconds,” Spock shouted.
Kirk punched his comm link. “Impeller? Republic? Where are you? Get tractor beams on this ship!”
“Both are connected and pulling!” Sulu shouted.
Kirk again glanced at Spock, who looked up from his instruments and shook his head.
“Go to one-third impulse!” Kirk shouted to Sulu and the two captains of the other Starfleet ships.
“One-third!” Sulu shouted.
Around Kirk the ship felt as if it was going to shake apart. In all his years aboard a starship, he’d never stressed one this hard before. And to save thousands of lives, he was going to push it even harder if he had to.
“The Northwest Passage is slowing!” Sulu shouted.
“It will still collide with the moon in eight seconds!” Spock shouted back.
On the main screen there almost didn’t seem to be any distance at all between the rough surface of the small moon and the skin of the big ship.
“Forty percent impulse. Now, Mr. Sulu!”
The engineering panel in front of Mr. Scott exploded, sending him toppling backward. McCoy instantly was at his side on the ground.
Fire sprang up from two panels and it was everything Kirk could do to hold on to his chair as he stared through the smoke at the main screen. He didn’t want to watch the big ship collide with the moon, but he couldn’t not watch.
Then suddenly it was over.
The noise, the shaking, everything suddenly stopped.
The Enterprise shot away from the moon and the Conestoga, making the moon and ship seem as if they had instantly disappeared from the main screen.
“Our tractor beam failed,” Sulu shouted, then realized he no longer needed to shout.
Scotty, with a loud groan and McCoy’s help, pushed himself back to his feet and moved back toward his station.
“You all right, Scotty?” Kirk asked.
“I’ve been better, Captain,” Scott said. “I don’t know why the tractor beam failed, though.” He bent over his panel.
“Mr. Sulu, get us back close to that moon.”
“No need, Captain,” Spock said as he turned from his station. “The Northwest Passage did not collide with the moon. We managed, with the last pull, to stop its forward progress. The Impeller has it in tow and is moving away slowly.”
“Thank heavens,” McCoy said as both Sulu and Chekov cheered.
“And the moon?” Kirk asked. “Did we miss?”
“The final push was cut short by exactly eighteen point four seconds,” Spock said. “From the optimum line and speed, we missed by three point six percent.”
“Enough with the numbers, Spock,” McCoy said. “Is the Needle going to hit the Quake Moon or not?”
“It will, Doctor,” Spock said. “The question is now, whether the collision will obtain the desired results.”
“How soon until the collision?” Kirk asked.
“Thirty-eight minutes and twelve seconds,” Spock said.
“Lets make sure all ships are on their way to the safe point,” Kirk said. “Then Mr. Sulu, take us into a standard orbit over the main colony location on Belle Terre. We have some children to rescue.”
McCoy patted him on the back. “I was hoping you were going to say that.”
“Doctor, I was hoping I was going to get the chance to say that.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Countdown: 35 Minutes
AS THE LAST DAY had progressed, getting closer and closer to the time the governor had warned her about, Lilian Coates became angrier and angrier. Why hadn’t someone come back for them? How could they just leave children to die like this? None of it made any sense.
She had timed their arrival at the cave for just one hour before the time, just to keep them out in the open long enough for a ship in orbit to find them. But when it came down to the last hour, she had no longer believed a ship was coming. She decided then that she was going to have to keep these kids safe as best she could, and hope someone returned afterward. If there was a planet to return to.
Lilian Coates had watched as the children had slid one at a time through the brush and the small hole into the rocks. It was no wonder no one had found them. The small mouth of the cave was impossible to see, even up close. No doubt a dozen searchers had walked right by it.
The kids had made it inside just fine, but she was another matter. On her stomach, she had inched her way forward, the rock pressing against her back and shoulders. At one point she felt as if she was stuck completely, her hands stretched out in front of her, her face pressed into the dirt of the tunnel entrance. It was the most suffocating experience she’d ever had. The weight of the mountain above her smashing her into the ground.
For an instant she almost panicked, then made herself calm down. She had to get inside and get this entrance blocked. The children’s lives depended on her.
“You need help, Mom?” Reynold had asked from inside the cave, his flashlight shining on her face.
“Can you pull on my arms?” she had replied. “Reynold on one arm, Danny, you on the other.”
She could feel the young, strong hands of the two boys grab her arms and then pull. At the same time she used her feet to push and instantly had been pulled through into the darkness of the cave.
“Thanks,” she had said to the two boys, giving them a hug as she stood. With a flashlight in hand, she moved inside, letting the kids excitedly show her for a few minutes where they had slept and where Reynold had built a fire just like his dad had shown him how to do.
Then she and the children had found enough rocks to fill up the entrance hole completely. Danny asked why and all she had said was because she wanted to.
She glanced at her watch. Only thirty minutes until the time Governor Pardonnet had warned her about.
“This cave looks like it goes back farther,” she said.
“A long ways,” Danny said.
“Yeah,” Diane said. “I found some really neat caves with really high ceilings back there, too. You want to see?”
“I sure do,” she said.
They loved the idea of showing her more of the cave. With Danny leading the way, and Reynold staying close to her, they climbed over some rocks and moved farther into the mountain.
She figured that if she could keep them back there for at least the next hour, just to be sure, they would be safe.
Assuming all the ships had survived and stopped the main explosion. If not, it wasn’t going to matter how far down in the caves they were.
Countdown: 27 Minutes
“What do you mean there are no life signs down there?” Kirk asked.
“Exactly that, Captain,” Mr. Spock said. “I find no human life signs within a hundred-mile radius of the main colony.”
“Well, do a finer scan and cover every inch again. They have to be there somewhere.”
Spock nodded and turned back to his science station.
Kirk stared at the image of Belle Terre on the main screen. Was it possible that the kids and Lilian Coates were dead? If so, what had happened? This planet wasn’t a very dangerous place. It was a very beautiful planet. He just hoped that in twenty-seven minutes it would still be beautiful. Or at least still here. The Needle was streaking at the Quake Moon, and in just over twenty minutes this would all change, one way or another.
The bridge seemed quiet and half empty after all the excitement of the last hour. McCoy had gone to sickbay to treat the injured from around the ship. Nothing serious, just burns and bumps, a number of them on Chief Engineer Scott, who was already back in Engineering, trying to find out why the tractor beam failed when it did. He took its failure almost as a personal insult.
“Governor Pardonnet is asking to speak to you, Captain,” Uhura said.
“
Put him on.”
The governor’s tired face filled the screen. He and everyone else on all the ships knew what had happened. They all knew that the Needle was close to being on target and now all they could do was wait and find out if close was enough.
“Did you find them, Captain?” Pardonnet asked.
“Not yet,” Kirk said. “We’re doing a very close scan of the entire area.”
“Captain,” Spock said, “my second scan has come up negative as well. The only logical conclusions are that either they are not down there, they are somehow shielded, or all of them are dead.”
Pardonnet heard Spock’s report. “That’s not possible,” the governor said. “Look again.”
“Oh, I guarantee you,” Kirk said, “we’ll look as long as we can. Have all other ships arrived at the safe point?”
The governor nodded. “They have.”
“Good,” Kirk said. “Then we’ll look until the very last possible moment.”
Pardonnet nodded. “Thank you, Captain,” he said softly, and cut the connection.
Kirk stared at the beautiful image of Belle Terre as it replaced Pardonnet’s face on the screen. The governor clearly cared about his people. Kirk admired that about the man. There were a lot of things Kirk liked about Pardonnet.
“Spock, expand your search area,” Kirk ordered. “Maybe Lilian Coates and those kids managed to get farther away than we give them credit for.”
“We have exactly twelve minutes before we have to leave the area, Captain,” Spock said.
“Then get searching,” Kirk said. “I want those kids and Lilian Coates on this ship when we leave.”
Twelve minutes later, that wasn’t to be.
Chapter Twenty-three
Countdown: 1 Minute
LILIAN COATES had kept shining her flashlight at the roof of the cave as the children showed her some of the new rooms. Then, with less than a minute on her watch until the moment the governor had warned her about, she found an area of the cave roof that looked very solid and smooth. Might not be the safest place, but the best she could do.
She had the children gather there, then told them to all sit and be ready to cover their heads. Their parents might be blowing up the Quake Moon very soon.
Belle Terre Page 17
