by Barbara Paul
"We have need of your assistance," the newly named Babe told him. "Our ship has recently suffered a disastrous accident. Every officer and crew member on the bridge was killed—not one of our command personnel survived. I am a commander-in-training only. We brought you here, Captain Kirk, because we need you to captain our ship."
Kirk felt his mouth drop open. He glanced at Chekov and Uhura; their mouths were hanging open too. When he found his voice again, Kirk exclaimed, "I don't know anything about this ship!"
"You are a starship captain, no?"
"I am a starship captain, yes. But this ship—"
"This ship has many similarities to Federation starships. There are differences in size and in some particular functions, but the basic structure was taken from Starfleet Command's Constitution-class vessels."
"And the Enterprise is a Constitution-class vessel," Kirk murmured. "I see. What if I refuse?"
"You will not. Are you aware of the fact that another universe is expanding within our own?"
"I am. I'm also aware that you are responsible for its being here. And that you destroyed the very people who made it possible, and who built this ship for you, and who developed the baryon reverter."
At the words baryon reverter the two Sackers who'd come in with the commander raised their weapons and stepped toward Kirk. Babe said, "How do you know of the baryon reverter?"
He saw no reason not to tell her, but remained silent all the same.
"We have memory probes at our disposal."
Kirk shrugged. "Someone told me, obviously. A Zirgosian who was on Holox at the time you were busy poisoning the colonists. Why did you want to kill them?"
She ignored his question. "If you know about the baryon reverter, then you know it is the only way to seal out the other universe. The reverter, however, has a limited range. It will be necessary for us to return to the sector where the Beta Castelli star system used to exist. And that is why you will captain our ship. It is the only way you can stop the expansion of the other universe."
The three from the Enterprise exchanged uneasy looks; this was a development none of them had anticipated. She's got me, Kirk thought. I'm going to have to do it. "Why did you release the new universe in the first place?"
"That will be made clear in time."
"Who'd act as my first officer?"
"I will perform in that capacity. I know orbiting and docking, but my training had not advanced to the level of battle maneuvers when the accident on the bridge occurred. We are also weak in our handling of the ship's weapons systems. You will teach me, Captain Kirk, you will teach all of us. We have helmsmen, medicos, engineers, and soldiers, but we have no trainees sufficiently advanced to perform the functions of navigation and communications. The Chekov and the Uhura will complete the training in those areas."
"Oh, you've got it all figured out, have you?"
"I do not think I have overlooked anything. You three will be sufficient. Captain Kirk, do you still refuse?"
He hated being squeezed like that, but there really wasn't any question of what he should do. "No, I don't refuse. I'll captain your damned ship for you. When do we start?"
"Not for a time yet—we have preparations to make. Sustenance will be brought to you. These are your quarters—no one else will use them. A new air cycle has been initiated, so you will be able to breathe in here without your helmets before long."
"Thank goodness," Uhura murmured.
The Sacker commander pointed a red hand at some drawers built into the bulkhead. "In there is a selection of clothing we have acquired from various worlds. You should have no difficulty in finding some articles of dress that fit you. We understand that humans have an obsessive need for privacy. Therefore you will not be observed in any way so long as you remain here in your quarters. But you are not to go anywhere else in the ship without one of us in attendance. Guards will be outside your door at all times. When it is time for you to come to the bridge, you will be escorted to the turbolift. Is this clear?"
"Quite clear," Kirk said.
"If ve hef to stay in here," Chekov said, "do you suppose you could turn down the temperature?"
The voice from the box at her waist sounded surprised. "This is too warm for you?"
"Yes!" said three voices in unison.
"Strange … I am not comfortable in this chill. However, if you need a cooler environment, the temperature is controlled through the console in the corner. I will have that function restored." She paused. "There is one more thing. When you were first beamed aboard, we found three phasers but only two communicators. Which of you has the missing communicator?"
Kirk didn't even bother putting up a show of resistance. He took the communicator from his tunic and tossed it to her. "Here you are, Babe."
"Thank you, Captain Kirk. Is it necessary to use both names when addressing you?"
"No," Kirk said, "but the one you use is Captain."
"I understand. You are in command. But do you understand that any attempt at treachery on your part will result in the immediate incineration of one or both of your companions?"
"I do now," Kirk said, suddenly dry-mouthed.
"That is good. I am not tolerant of opposition, Captain, and we do not have time to spare. You will treat this ship as if it were the Enterprise. I expect no less of you."
Without another word the tall red Sacker and her two guards turned and left, leaving three stunned and uneasy humans in their wake.
Chapter Six
THE ZIRGOSIAN WOMAN'S STEP was firm and her eye was clear. Dorelian was ready to go back to Holox, to start building her life there.
"Remember," Dr. McCoy said as they walked through the corridor toward the transporter room, "nothing but bland food for another couple of weeks at least. Your system's had a pretty rough time, and you mustn't ask it to do too much for you just yet."
"I'll remember," Dorelian said. "Dr. McCoy, I don't know how to thank you for giving my life back to me. Anything I could say would be inadequate. But I want you to know I'll be grateful to you for the rest of my life. I owe you everything, you and the Enterprise."
"You don't owe us a thing, Dorelian. I'm just sorry we didn't get here sooner."
They'd reached the transporter room. Mr. Spock was waiting inside to do the honors himself. "I am pleased to see you in good health once again," he greeted Dorelian. "Your recovery was a matter of concern to all of us."
"Thank you, Mr. Spock," she said. "Thank you for everything. I especially thank you for keeping the Zirgosian race alive."
"You are most welcome. But we deeply regret the loss of so many of your numbers."
"Yes, it's a loss that will take a great deal of time to overcome." She lifted her head and smiled. "But we will overcome it, thanks to the Enterprise. I had hoped to say goodbye to Captain Kirk."
"Captain Kirk is … not on board at present," Spock said.
"A pity." She turned to McCoy. "Doctor, I hope we will meet again—under more pleasant circumstances."
McCoy smiled. "So do I, Dorelian, so do I."
She took her place on the transporter platform. "Please tell Captain Kirk," she said as the transporter machinery began to hum, "that I intend to hold him to his promise." And she was gone.
"I hope to be able to tell him," Spock said to the empty platform. "Even though I do not know what the promise is."
"He promised her he'd stop the Sackers," McCoy said.
"Indeed. What an extraordinary promise to make."
"Isn't it."
The transporter room intercom came to life. "Bridge to Mr. Spock! Bridge to Mr. Spock!"
"Spock here."
An anxious young voice said, "Mr. Spock, the captain's distress signal has stopped!"
"I shall be there immediately. Spock out."
"They're dead," Dr. McCoy gasped.
"Not necessarily, Doctor," Spock said calmly as they both hurried to the turbolift. "It is more likely that the Sackers have merely disengaged the distress beacon
in the captain's communicator. Bridge." The lift started up. "If they had wanted to kill him, why would they have beamed him aboard their ship first?"
"How do I know? Nobody knows why Sackers do the things they do—not even you, Spock. But I knew something like this was going to happen! I said don't go! Didn't I say don't go?"
Spock sighed patiently. "Doctor, you always say don't go." The turbolift stopped. "The captain had to make the attempt to contact the Sackers—you know that as well as I." Spock headed straight toward the young man seated at the communications station. "Mr. Wittering, a message to Starfleet Command. Inform them that Sackers have kidnapped Captain Kirk, Lieutenant Uhura, and Ensign Chekov and that we are currently attempting to effect their release. Use channel A."
Wittering looked surprised. "The Sackers can intercept channel A."
"That is the point, Mr. Wittering. The Sackers need to be reminded that when they kidnap a starship captain, they can expect to have the entire fleet to contend with."
"Yes, sir. Channel A."
McCoy grunted. "And exactly how do you plan to 'effect their release'? As long as those three are aboard, you can't fire on the ship."
"First we try the obvious. Then if that does not produce results, we look for the less obvious." He picked up the microphone Uhura had connected to the Sacker translator. "Attention, Sacker ship," he said, watching the unreadable words appear on the screen. "You have taken aboard your ship Captain Kirk and two other officers, making a total of five Enterprise personnel you have made your prisoners. If you do not release all five unharmed within one Holox hour, we will destroy the structure you have erected on the planet surface. I repeat—you have one Holox hour to return all prisoners to the Enterprise." He put down the microphone. "Send that, Mr. Wittering."
McCoy was worried … and frightened. He'd seen Jim Kirk work his way out of hot spots before, countless times; but the captain had never been up against anything like the Sackers before. How do you reason with people who destroy whole star systems for no discernible reason whatsoever? And poison innocent colonists just to keep them from becoming a nuisance? And who seem to have no fear at all for their own safety? And now here was Spock threatening to level the Sacker structure on Holox …
"You know, Spock," McCoy said softly, "that threat didn't work before, when Jim tried it."
Spock pressed his lips together. "I am aware of that, Doctor," he answered quietly. "If you have an alternate course of action to suggest, I should be most happy to hear it."
McCoy was silent; he had no such suggestion. But now he was really frightened. The dependable Mr. Spock, the ever-resourceful Mr. Spock, the Mr. Spock who had all the answers—Mr. Spock didn't know what to do.
"I chust ate," Chekov complained. "Right before ve left the Enterprise."
"Eat again," Captain Kirk ordered. "The Sackers may go days between meals, for all we know."
They'd barely had time to shower and change out of their sweaty uniforms when a robed Sacker somewhat shorter than the others they'd seen had come in. The Sacker had brought them something to eat and informed them they had twenty minutes to finish. When Kirk asked why the hurry, the Sacker had said their plans had changed and they were even then beginning to beam up all their personnel from Holox. Kirk guessed they must have heard from Spock.
The food was some sort of stew or thick soup and didn't taste half bad. When they'd taken their helmets off to eat it, they found that the air, while still faintly redolent of Sacker, was at least breathable now. The Sacker commander had kept her word and restored the temperature-control function to their console, so now they were all physically comfortable at least.
"The first thing we have to do," Kirk said between bites, "is find out what they're holding back from us."
Uhura looked up from her dish. "You didn't believe what the commander told us?"
Kirk shook his head. "There's something fishy there. According to her, all the command personnel were killed in the same bridge accident. That means every single Sacker on this ship with command status was on the bridge at the same time. Do you believe that?"
"No," said Uhura, realizing the unlikelihood. "The entire chain of command? That is fishy."
"So the accident wasn't confined to the bridge, or something else is going on. Maybe a mutiny? We're going to have to talk to these so-called people as much as we can, see what we can find out."
Chekov finished the last of his stew and said, "At least now ve know vhy they forced the Gelchenites to poison the colonists instead of blasting the settlement to bits."
Kirk had missed that. "Why?"
"Did that red commander not say they vere veak in the use of weapons? They did not fire upon the colonists because they vere not sure they could hit them."
"Chekov, you're a genius!" Kirk exclaimed. "Of course! They don't know how to launch an attack!"
"I am a chenius," Chekov told Uhura modestly.
"That poisoner we caught—ev Symwid," Kirk went on. "He told me the Sackers teased him and the other two Gelchenites by firing all around their ship before destroying it. But they weren't teasing—they were missing, and not on purpose. That was the best they could do. Hah. Now we've got something to go on! I'll have to find out from Babe just how much they do know."
"Did you hef to call her thet?" Chekov asked Uhura. "Babe is a cute sort of name, and that red monster is not vhat I vould call cute."
"Sorry. I had no idea she'd adopt the word as her name."
"Vhy did she? Is wery strange."
Kirk said, "The Enterprise's record banks say they all do that—they accept names given to them by others outside their race. Even the name Sackers is just a label somebody pinned on them. They never tell anybody their real names, if they have any."
Chekov looked incredulous. "You can call them any name you like and they accept it? I cannot believe thet!"
"Here's your chance to find out," Kirk said as the door opened. "Try it."
The Sacker who'd brought them their food came in for the antigrav table they'd been eating from. The three from the Enterprise hastily donned their helmets. When the Sacker reached out a hand for the table, the robe fell away to show an arm encased in a sac filled with pale red fluid streaked with white.
Chekov stood up and bowed gallantly. "Thet vas wery good, Pinky. Ve thenk you."
The Sacker stopped. She turned slowly to face Chekov. "Pinky? Is that a name?"
"Yes, thet is a name."
The Sacker's head waggled back and forth. "Pinky."
"You do not like it? Then tell us your real name."
"Oh, no, I like it. Pinky is my name." Chekov threw up his arms and walked away from this incomprehensible state of affairs.
"Tell me," Uhura said, "are you a girl Pinky or a boy Pinky? Your computer voice is a bit androgynous."
"I am completely girl Pinky."
Chekov whirled around. "Vhat does your mother call you?"
Pinky hesitated, as if unsure of something. "Everyone will call me Pinky now."
"Give up, Chekov," Uhura smiled.
"Pinky," Kirk said, "we couldn't help noticing your coloring. Are you by any chance the commander's daughter?"
The Sacker suddenly started jiggling up and down in an alarming manner. The others didn't know whether to be afraid or to send for a Sacker doctor.
"Did I offend you?" Kirk asked worriedly. "Forgive me—I meant no insult. Is it forbidden to inquire about family relationships?"
The jiggling increased to near-violent proportions. "Kepten," Chekov said wonderingly, "I think she is laughing!"
Pinky eventually settled down a little. "Her daughter! Babe will not be permitted to donate life for years yet. She is my orthocousin." With that she took the antigrav table and left, still jiggling.
"Orthocousin?" said Chekov.
"She calls her Babe?" said Uhura.
Captain Kirk sighed. "We've got our work cut out for us," he said.
"Still no reply?" Dr. McCoy asked the communications officer.<
br />
"No, sir. Nothing yet."
Spock said, "I am sure Mr. Wittering will tell us the moment he receives a communication, Doctor. It is not necessary to query him every thirty seconds."
"Dammit, Spock, we have to do something!"
"I gave the Sackers one hour in which to respond, approximately forty-five of our minutes. They still have twenty-five minutes, thirty-seven seconds left."
"They're not going to answer, you know that!"
"I presume they will not, but I wish to give the Sackers every opportunity to avoid an exchange of hostilities. You must have noted, Doctor, that in a head-to-head confrontation between our two ships, the Enterprise would assuredly come out second best. We are outgunned, presumably outmanned, and definitely outshielded. All other alternatives must be tried before we embark upon what most assuredly would turn out to be a suicide mission."
McCoy knew Spock was right; he just didn't want to admit it. Spock for his part understood the doctor's anxiety—and even shared it to an extent, although he was careful not to show it. The bridge personnel were jittery enough as it was; they needed an acting commander who was steady and in control … or who appeared to be. Spock was struggling with the question of whether to fire on the Sacker blister dome on Holox or not. It was the next logical step to take, but Spock knew that in taking it he could well be signing Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott's death warrant.
No. He couldn't risk Scott's life when there was a way to better the odds. A ground attack on the dome might be just as efficacious as firing from orbit, and it would be safer for Scott and the security man with him, if they were still alive. That, Spock thought wryly, is a rather large 'if'. But until he had evidence to the contrary, he must proceed on the assumption that the two men were not dead.
Time was passing. McCoy was right; the Sackers were not going to answer.
Spock pressed a button in the arm panel of the command chair. "Security—full detail to the transporter room. Mortars and grenades. We shall attempt to penetrate the Sacker dome on Holox."
