Just back in his cabin after dinner with Bones and two frustrating games of three-dimensional chess with Spock—Kirk’s intuitional gambits didn’t always win the day—he decided to start not only another novel but an actual book. Although he had several yet to read, editions he’d picked up a couple of months ago on Starbase 25, he gravitated instead to a volume he’d already made his way through a number of times: David Copperfield. He slid the handsome volume from the shelf—it had been a gift from his aunt on his fourteenth birthday—settled himself onto his bed, and cracked open Charles Dickens’s masterpiece. He had read only the brilliant first line—Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show—when the boatswain’s whistle interrupted.
“Bridge to Captain Kirk,” followed the voice of Lieutenant Palmer, the beta-shift communications officer.
The captain tapped the intercom button by his bed. “Kirk here. Go ahead, Lieutenant.”
“Captain, we’re receiving a transmission from the Procyon, an Antares-class transport,” Palmer said. “It’s from Admiral Ciana.”
Admiral Ciana? Kirk thought. He flipped David Copperfield closed, swung his legs off the bed, and bounded to his feet. While he didn’t always relish hearing from Starfleet Command—and he supposed that they didn’t always relish hearing from him—he had to admit a sense of anticipation in speaking with Lori Ciana again. During their brief meeting when Enterprise had been moored at Starbase 25, she had charmed him.
“Pipe it down to my quarters, Lieutenant,” he said.
“Aye, sir.”
“Kirk out.” He closed the intercom channel.
The captain set his book down on the bed, then made his way around the half wall separating the two sections of his quarters and over to his desk. He sat down there, then reached forward and activated the monitor on the desktop. The skewed chevron of the Enterprise’s emblem appeared on the screen, then blinked off, replaced by the image of the commander in chief’s aide.
“Admiral Ciana,” Kirk said, “it’s good to see you again.” He noticed the slightly wild look of her silver-blond hair and wondered if she’d just been awakened for some reason.
“It’s good to see you, Captain Kirk,” she said. She spoke easily, in a manner that did not suggest she had contacted him out of exigency. “I hope you’ve been well.” She paused very briefly, then added, “You certainly look well.”
Despite his perception that Ciana had flirted with him during their first meeting, the compliment surprised him—though he did not object to it. “Thank you,” he said. “I can clearly say the same for you.”
“Can you now?” Ciana said. “I bet you say that to all the admirals.”
“No, not to all of them,” Kirk said through a grin he couldn’t entirely control. “Only to you and Admiral Walkowski.” Considered something of an institution within Starfleet, Louis Walkowski had recently celebrated his seventh decade in the service. Though still vital, he had lived a quarter of the way into his second century and looked twice his age.
Ciana laughed, a warm sound with a musical lilt to it. “Flatterer.”
Kirk’s grin grew broader. “So tell me, Admiral, to what do I owe this pleasure?” he said. “Am I being reassigned already?” He asked the question lightly, but he valued anything at all he could learn about the future course of his Starfleet career. After all, a mere three months remained of Enterprise’s five-year mission.
“No, not yet,” Ciana said, her tone becoming serious.
“I had hoped Starfleet Command might inform me in advance of my next posting,” Kirk said. “Or my continuation at this posting.”
“That’s reasonable to expect,” Ciana said. “Especially for somebody with your service record. But you know how . . . bureaucratic . . . Starfleet Command can be. I know how Admiral Nogura feels about the work you’ve done aboard the Enterprise—and I think you do too—but I’m not as sure about some of the other admirals.”
Kirk accepted Ciana’s comments at face value. He didn’t want to contradict her, but he actually didn’t feel that he knew Nogura’s mind about his situation, no matter what Admiral Ciana had told him. The commander in chief had a deserved reputation as a hard, often inscrutable leader, though most also considered him fair.
“I will keep my eyes and ears open, though,” Ciana continued. “I’ll try to find out something credible for you, Captain, if not definitive. I know you want to stay out there exploring the depths of space, and even to the casual observer, that’s clearly where you belong.”
“Thank you, Admiral.”
“Although,” Ciana said, tilting her head down slightly, “I have to believe that you would enjoy being stationed at Starfleet Headquarters.”
The comment seemed almost coquettish to Kirk, though perhaps he’d misinterpreted the admiral. Still, he felt his cheeks coloring. “San Francisco is a beautiful city,” he said. Unsure what more to say, though, he decided to turn his attention to other matters. “But I’m sure you’re not contacting me to talk about the City by the Bay.”
“No, unfortunately not,” Ciana said. “A science vessel conducting astrophysical research near the Federation border has reported the detection of a considerable warp signature belonging to a ship, or possibly several ships, traversing some of the R-Seven-Hundred and into the R-Eight-Hundred sectors.”
“Did any of the ships match the configuration of those that attacked the Enterprise at R-Eight-Three-Six?” Kirk asked.
“The science vessel, the Courageous, was too distant to determine such details,” Ciana said. “But Starfleet Tactical analyzed their sensor readings, and while they couldn’t positively ascertain the configuration of the ships, they were able to conclude that the magnitude of the warp signature resulted from an aggregate reading of six to eight separate vessels.”
“But you can’t identify whether they’re friend, foe, or stranger,” Kirk said.
“No,” Ciana said, “but the warp signature comprises the drive output of enough ships that they would have to be relatively small.”
“Smaller than those that attacked the Enterprise?”
“Yes,” Ciana said. “In fact, Starfleet Tactical believes that the size of the ships might match the size of the warp ships that you and your crew found outside the cities in the R-Seven-Seven-Five and R-Eight-Three-Six systems.”
Kirk nodded, seeing the conclusion that Tactical had obviously reached. “Starfleet thinks that these vessels might be part of another colonization effort?” he said.
“We think it’s a strong possibility,” Ciana said. “Command has therefore decided that they want it investigated. The Enterprise is the closest ship.”
“What’s our mission?” Kirk wanted to know.
“First, investigate,” Ciana said. “Determine whether or not the ships belong to whoever attacked the Enterprise. If they do, then do not engage, and immediately report back to Starfleet.”
“And if they’re not the attackers?” Kirk asked. “If they are colonists?”
“Make contact,” Ciana said. “And if they’re the same people who built the two destroyed cities you discovered, then warn them about what happened, if they don’t already know. If you perceive that the destruction of the two cities was an internal matter, then tread lightly and bring that information back to Starfleet Command.”
“Understood,” Kirk said.
“Because of the obvious dangers in those sectors, Command wanted to send you backup, but there aren’t many Starfleet vessels near your position.” Continuing on its mission of exploration, Enterprise had traveled outside of Federation space. “I’m able to communicate with you because I’m traveling between starbases, on the Procyon, in the region of the Federation that your ship is closest to. But she’s a transport that’s unable to provide you any cover or support. We’re sending the Courageous and the Lexington your way, but the latter won’t arrive for at least two weeks.”
“Do you w
ant the Enterprise to wait?” Kirk asked.
“No,” Ciana said. “Because the cities you found were built and destroyed so recently, we believe that time may be a factor here. If these are colonists settling on an empty world, we want to help them avoid the fate of the other two cities. You’ll rendezvous with the Courageous in seventy-two hours, at coordinates I’ve packaged with this transmission.”
“Understood, Admiral,” Kirk said. “Is there anything else?”
“No,” Ciana said. “Except . . . be careful, Jim.”
Again, the admiral surprised Kirk—she had called him by his given name—and again, he did not object. “Thank you, Lori.”
She offered him a smile, then said, “Ciana out.” She reached forward and the screen went dark. Kirk thumbed the monitor off, then activated the intercom.
“Kirk to bridge.”
“Bridge here, Captain,” replied Lieutenant Palmer.
“Lieutenant, have you received a set of coordinates from Admiral Ciana?” Kirk asked.
“Aye, sir,” Palmer said. “The admiral appended them to her communication.”
“Very good,” Kirk said, and then, “Lieutenant Arex.”
“Yes, sir,” replied one of the ship’s relief navigators. Kirk knew that the month’s duty roster positioned Arex as the beta-shift bridge officer.
“Set course for those coordinates,” Kirk ordered. “Adjust speed so that the Enterprise will arrive there in seventy-two hours.”
“Yes, sir,” said Arex.
“Kirk out.” The captain closed the channel, then sat back in his chair. He thought for just a moment about what would happen to his career in three months, and then for another moment about Admiral Ciana. Lori. But then he put all of that out of his mind and started thinking about the R-800 sectors and what his crew would find there.
He did not pick up David Copperfield again that night.
Fifteen
Sulu sat at the helm of Courageous and cursed his luck, not for the first time. Directly in front of him, the main viewscreen displayed the image of Captain Kirk standing in the center of the Enterprise bridge. Sulu had transferred out from under Kirk’s command specifically so that he would no longer have to take orders from the man responsible for—
Stop it! Sulu told himself. It didn’t matter that he found himself on a mission with Captain Kirk again. It didn’t even matter that Starfleet Command had placed Kirk in charge of the mission. Sulu would perform his duties as required, and soon enough, Courageous and Enterprise would go their separate ways.
The two ships had arrived a day earlier at the edge of the R-800 sectors. Together, the crews of Courageous and Enterprise conducted methodical sensor sweeps, seeking out any indications of warp activity in the region. It didn’t take long. Within twelve hours, the crews tracked half a dozen drive signatures, all leading to an unexplored star system that Starfleet called R-855.
The two crews had traveled to the system and then entered it cautiously, using its gas giants to conceal their approach. Once there, scans revealed a squadron of ships—nearly two dozen—orbiting the third planet, an M-class world. The configuration of the vessels did not match those that had attacked Enterprise, and for that, Sulu felt grateful. The anger he felt toward Captain Kirk could not match the absolute rage he harbored for those who had assaulted an Enterprise landing party with missiles.
“Our sensors show that they’re all warp-capable vessels, despite their relatively small size,” Captain Caulder said from where he sat in the command chair.
Kirk nodded. “They also appear similar to the vessels we discovered disabled or destroyed outside the two dead cities,” he said.
“Most of them are carrying either agricultural, construction, or electronic supplies,” Caulder said, “in addition to some heavy machinery we haven’t yet been able to positively identify, but that we think may relate to power generation.”
On the viewscreen, Captain Kirk peered up at his first officer, who stood beside him. “All infrastructural elements for a society,” Spock said.
“But not nearly enough for a city the size you found on the two planets,” Caulder noted. “I’ve reviewed your reports, Captain Kirk, and they suggest likely populations of between one hundred and two hundred thousand inhabitants.”
“They may just be starting,” Kirk suggested.
“Or just finishing,” offered Commander Costley, standing up from where he’d been sitting at one of the bridge’s science stations.
“If those vessels are indeed supporting the construction of a new city,” Spock said, “the builders may be anywhere along the construction cycle. It may be the case that the number of ships employed in their efforts does not reflect the ultimate extent of the city, but simply the number of ships the builders have available to them.”
Although he’d had no intention of speaking, another thought occurred to Sulu. “Based on the observations of the Enterprise crew in the two lost cities,” he said, “we know that those warp ships land. It may be that there are additional ships on the surface.”
“Perhaps,” Kirk said. He reached up and wrapped a hand around the front of his jaw and absently rubbed his chin, a gesture Sulu had seen him make numerous times. He looked pensive for a few seconds, then seemed to arrive at either a conclusion or a decision. “Captain Caulder,” he said, “from the evidence we have, I believe that these aliens are the same ones who constructed the other cities the Enterprise crew found, and I’m willing to bet that they’re in the midst of building another one on the third planet in this system. I’d like to approach the planet and try to establish contact with them.”
“Do you want the Courageous to accompany the Enterprise,” Caulder asked, “or to hang back?”
As Kirk appeared to the consider the question, he stepped over to the Enterprise’s command chair and sat down. “Let’s approach together,” he said. “We’re going to be making first contact, so I don’t want to take any actions that could be construed as duplicitous. There are a lot of ships in this system, and more may be coming. If the Courageous is discovered hiding, it could give the wrong impression of our intentions.”
“I understand, Captain,” Caulder said.
“We’ll travel at full impulse,” Kirk said. “Captain Caulder, keep the Courageous on our starboard flank. Lieutenant Uhura will open hailing frequencies and attempt to make contact. Monitor our communications.”
“Yes, Captain,” Caulder said.
“Kirk out.”
Sulu felt relieved as the image of Captain Kirk vanished from the viewscreen, replaced by a head-on view of Enterprise. As he watched, the Constitution-class starship rolled to starboard and started toward the planet. Captain Caulder ordered Ensign Riordan to monitor communications on all frequencies, then called out Sulu’s name. “Put us fifteen hundred meters off the Enterprise’s starboard flank and match its speed,” he said.
“Aye, aye, sir,” Sulu said. He operated his controls, working to properly position Courageous and accelerate to the correct velocity. The day had not been comfortable for Sulu to that point, but as he moved Courageous through the R-855 system, he noticed the responsiveness of the helm and felt a moment’s pride for a measurable contribution he’d made to his new ship.
• • •
Kirk rose from the command chair as Enterprise approached the third planet in the system. He watched the blue-and-white marble grow to fill the screen, and he tried to pick out the forms of the vessels in orbit. Before he could, Spock spoke up from his science station.
“Captain, our presence within the system has been detected,” he said. “The ships above the planet are breaking orbit and heading in our direction.”
“Thank you, Mister Spock,” Kirk said. “Lieutenant Uhura, open hailing frequencies.”
The captain heard the snap of buttons being pressed behind him. “Hailing frequencies open.”
“This is Captain James T. Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise,” he said. “We represent the United Federation of
Planets and come in peace.” He waited for a response, but received none. He repeated his greeting, and when no reply came, he said, “Uhura?”
“Nothing, sir,” said the lieutenant. “They are receiving us; they’re simply not responding.”
“Captain,” Lieutenant Rahda said at the helm, “I’m detecting five more vessels lifting off from the planet’s surface.”
“Sensors can now confirm the presence of a city there,” Spock said. “It is roughly the same dimensions as the other two we have investigated in this region . . . but it is intact.” He paused, and Kirk glanced across the bridge to see his first officer bent over his hooded viewer. “The city appears to be largely complete, but for a section on its northern end, which is evidently still under construction. I’m reading a population of approximately thirty-seven thousand.”
“Captain,” Lieutenant Rahda said, “the vessels are converging on the Enterprise and the Courageous.”
“Magnify,” Kirk said. The image on the main viewer jumped, and a section of the planet expanded to fill the entire screen. Visible against that backdrop, numerous ships advanced on Enterprise. Though not all of the same design, they seemed mostly similar: wedge-shaped craft that narrowed from stern to bow, with a blunt nose and a pair of nacelles depending from the main body.
“The vessels appear to be powering their weapons, though they’re not yet in range to be able to use them,” Rahda reported. “Should I raise the shields?”
“Weapons?” Kirk said. “Spock, I thought the one ship we were able to examine in the first city didn’t have weapons.”
“It possessed only a relatively low-yield laser cannon,” Spock said, “which we counted more as a tool than as a weapon, since it would prove ineffective against the Enterprise if employed as an armament.”
Star Trek: TOS: Allegiance in Exile Page 21
