Before Destruction!

by Star Trek

  he had recently learned. He wished he had a guarantee that it would

  work.

  "Checkov to Bridge. Mr Spock, ve are ready to test da shield

  integrity," the voice from the overhead speaker said.

  "Acknowledged," spoke the Acting-Captain. "Mr. Sulu, raise

  shields."

  "Aye, Sir, raising shields," he said and executed the

  procedures that brought the energy barriers up.

  The bridge lights dimmed for a moment, then regained their

  brilliance. "Shields are up, Sir, Quadruple front. Should I test

  them at maximum power?" the Oriental officer questioned.

  "Yes, Mister Sulu, channel full power to the shields."

  Sulu increased the shield energy-strength with the controls

  before him. The bridge lights dimmed again, and then completely

  went out. "Uhmmm, Mr. Spock? I think I've overloaded the

  circuits."

  "That is all too obvious, Mr. Sulu," Spock stated, as the much

  dimmer emergency lighting kicked in. "Mr. Checkov? Are you still

  there?"

  "Yes, Sir," the ensign said sheepishly.

  "It appears that the power cable split at the main junction is

  not the most advantageous solution. I suggest that you start the

  engineering crew in hooking up three more junctions directly from

  the master panel."

  "Aye, Sir. Ve vere just tinking about doing dat," the ensign

  said.

  "Proceed, Mr. Checkov. Spock out."

  First Officer's log, supplemental.

  "It is my hope that the Captain will return to the

  Enterprise as rapidly as possible."

  End supplemental log.

  * * *

  PAGE 118

  Captain Kirk sat in Kang's private quarters, behind his desk

  and glanced over the information on the tri-corder, given to him by

  Dr. McCoy. He contemplated the procedure that both Mara and Kang

  had devised, in order to transport him down to the planet, when

  they arrived at Earth. If they uncloaked, they would be shot from

  the sky as 'hostile' enemies to both parties. The transporters

  would not have enough power to beam him down, with the cloaking

  device engaged. Therefore, it was decided to channel the Warp

  engine power through the transporter and beam the Captain down at

  warp speed. It had never been done before.

  James T. Kirk was now the Captain of the Klingon cruiser. A

  fact that had not been widely spread throughout the crew. The ship

  was now divided in its loyalty, among the members who had been

  enlightened to their Emperor's identity. A mere handful gave their

  continued loyalty to Kang. It was a very dangerous situation for

  the vessel.

  Jim, Kang, Mara and Gor had held several sessions with crew

  members, illustrating the danger that both Empire and Federation

  were facing. Only a dozen had believed. The rest were now in direct

  opposition to Kang, and were preparing to take the ship. They were

  lead by the officer, Torvak. The opposition held two of the lower

  decks but were, for the moment, sealed in and temporarily

  contained. It was thought prudent by all to keep Jim's status as

  Commander of the Fury, a secret, to avoid further division among

  the crew.

  Jim pressed the medical scanner's 'on' switch and looked at

  the readings on the tri-corder. They displayed typical human

  readings for a brief period, then jumped to radically different

  readings as the cabin's doors unbolted and parted, admitting both

  Kang and Mara. Jim looked at the readings, then up to the two. He

  shut the medical equipment off and rose to meet the two.

  "Captain," Kang began, "there is no hope of arriving at your

  home planet in time. We shall be lucky if we reach Earth before the

  Thunder breaks orbit."

  "We must, Kang. Our plan will only work if we catch him in the

  open, with as many witnesses around him as possible."

  "There is the increasing danger that we may not reach your

  Earth at all," Mara spoke bluntly. "Our comrades are taking

  measures that may cripple our engines. It is possible that they

  will break through our barriers and storm this deck."

  "I have never doubted that possibility, Lieutenant," Jim said,

  giving credit to his formidable enemy; his new crew. "Kang, have

  you distributed arms to our men?"

  "Yes, Captain, but I caution you that it is unwise to limit

  our disrupter's fire power, to stun-force. If the 'others' have

  found a way to arm themselves, they will intend to kill us with

  their weapons."

  PAGE 119

  "You suggest we use deadly force against your own crewmen?"

  Jim spoke his astonishment.

  "I have no desire to shed Klingon blood, Captain," Kang stated

  in stern sincerity, "but we risk failure and perhaps death at their

  hands if we show weakness of any kind. They are honored and

  valiant brothers and they fight as I do, for the sake of the

  Empire. Yet I will sacrifice them all with a clean conscience, if

  needs be, to save my Empire. They would do no less. That makes

  them all the more dangerous."

  "I don't want any needless deaths, Kang. All we need is to

  contain them for a few more hours." The thought was cut short as

  an explosion from the deck below rocked the ship from under them,

  casting all to the floor. Shouts of battle were heard in the

  distance as Jim regained his ground. "They're through the

  barricade!" he said drawing his phaser from behind his back.

  "They'll head straight for the bridge!" shouted Kang, as he

  lifted his wife to her feet and dashed out of the room. Jim

  followed closely, running down the dim, and now, smoke filled hall.

  Both held their weapons tight in hand and slowed, as they neared

  the bend in the corridor. Shadows of movement could be seen

  through the smoke, but Jim could not tell who it was that made

  them. Suddenly a disrupter blast sliced through the haze and burned

  itself into the wall behind them. The heat of the beam was felt on

  Kirk's face.

  Jim dropped low and fired three times, with the silent,

  invisible discharge of his weapon. Kang turned, knowing by the

  disturbance in the smoke, that Jim had returned fire.

  "You use a coward's weapon, Kirk. Where is the honor in

  felling an enemy, when he cannot even detect the threat?"

  "I suppose the 'honor' comes from knowing that my weapon won't

  kill, but their's will. The honor of the outgunned." Jim said

  clicking off two more shots into the thick, dark clouds.

  Kang acquiesced with a nod, and pressed his back against the

  corridor's smooth wall. He peered around the bend, then quickly

  pulled back, as several bursts of the deadly light beams streaked

  past him. "I can't see who it is we fight! It could be our side."

  "Switch to wide spread. We can take them all down, and sort

  through them afterwards!"

  The two men adjusted their weapons and rounded the corner, Jim

  down low on one knee and Kang, standing beside him. They blanketed

  the hall with the stunning energy beams, knowing that some would be

  missed by ducking into an entry-way or by shielding themselves with

 
fallen bodies. Both Captains slowly moved down the hall, finding

  several un-conscious crewmen, lying still, on the deck.

  Kang looked at their faces as they made their way past the

  crewmen. "These are of the opposition. We were fortunate thus

  PAGE 120

  far," Kang said. Another deadly blue disrupter bolt shot between

  the two. They raised their weapons again, and fired, hugging the

  walls of the corridor as they slowly advanced. The din of muffled

  voices and distant shouts did not seem to be getting any nearer.

  Kang was, however, able to hear the battle cry of his

  Communications Officer Gor, holding the bridge from the opposition.

  Kang began to hasten their advance, for he knew that the odds would

  be at least 3 to 1 against Gor and the others on the bridge.

  More downed crewmen were found in the murky darkness as

  they neared the main access-way to the bridge. Thick dark smoke

  billowed out of the once-barricaded companionway. The air handlers

  were blowing the black clouds away from the bridge, making

  visibility much better once they were past the travel chute. It

  also made both Kirk and Kang visible to the rear of the mutinous

  crewmen.

  Gor, seeing them in the distance, behind the opposition

  forces, howled another battle cry, drawing attention to himself.

  Before Jim and Kang were seen, they fired on the crowd, and

  continued to fire until all were downed. Quickly, the two checked

  the crewmen for wounds and made certain that none were merely

  'playing' dead. Gor came towards them, unsteadily, leaving a trail

  of thick Klingon blood behind him.

  "Captain Kang," Gor managed weakly, "we... have prevailed."

  "You are wounded." Kang looked at his friend of years. The

  side of the Officer's head was scorched by the intense heat of a

  narrow miss, but Kang saw the dark purple-red blood spilling out

  from under his breastplate. He could tell in an instant that the

  wound was fatal. "Sit, my friend." Kang grabbed Gor's shoulders and

  eased him to the deck.

  Jim looked at Kang. This man had once been a hated enemy. It

  was not long ago that Jim had thought Klingons were incapable of

  the compassion he was now a witness to. His eyes met Kang's. Jim

  silently expressed the look of hopefulness towards his ally, but

  Kang shook his head in a solemn response. Jim nodded to Kang that

  he understood, and would offer his condolences later, but the

  bridge was still open to attack, and not all crewmen were accounted

  for. Jim stepped over another body and headed for the bridge

  entrance, disappearing inside.

  "Die well, my friend," Kang whispered to Gor, cradling his

  comrade's head in steady hands.

  "You will not do the same!" spat a familiar voice, from behind

  Kang.

  "You have lost, Torvak," Kang stated without turning from the

  dying man. "Our brother has paid the price for your mutiny. There

  is no need for further payment from either side."

  "I think you are mad, my former Captain, but in the least, you

  are incorrect."

  PAGE 121

  Kang looked up at his once eager, once innocent helmsman. He

  saw Mara being held to Torvak's chest, a barbed razor sharp blade

  at her throat. Kang's heart froze in that instant. Ejhak poison

  dripped from the jagged edges of the knife.

  "Mara will die, slowly, horribly, before your eyes," Torvak

  promised the man before him. "Unless I have my victory for the

  people of Klinzhai!"

  There was only one person who could be held against Kang, who

  could make him choose defeat over his Empire's salvation. He had

  lived with the fact that she could lose her life in battle, a brave

  death that they would share, but not like this. He had once been

  able to lie to Jim Kirk about that point. Long ago he had

  convinced Kirk that Mara was not a bargaining chip to be

  considered. His ploy bore fruit on that day, but Torvak would know

  better.

  Kang looked at his wife and took a deep breath. "I... yield,"

  he said, dropping his weapon to the deck and lowering his head

  slowly in grudging defeat.

  "The only Klingon who yields, is a dead one, my Captain!"

  Torvak spoke with victorious pride. "You may take your own life

  now, and die as a coward, or you may follow your beloved Mara."

  "Torvak," Mara tried to turn towards her captor, but was held

  fast by his powerful arm, "I beg you, do not do this." She held

  back most of her tears with great resolve. "I will do anything for

  his life, but spare him this, this indignity!"

  "Silence, my wife!" Kang commanded her, then to the man who

  held her. "I will slay myself as you will, Torvak. But not

  before you swear to me that Mara will neither be harmed, nor even

  touched by you again!"

  "I should not even consider making a bargain with one such as

  you." He looked at his former Captain with hate at what he had

  become, a traitor to the Glorious Empire. "But I give you my honor

  bound word that it shall be as you require. NOW TAKE YOUR LIFE!"

  Kang looked to his wife as he removed his own dagger from the

  thigh scabbard he wore. Mara could not restrain herself and

  struggled, futilely against Torvak. Kang placed the hilt of the

  dagger on the deck, holding it with both hands and aiming the tip

  skyward. Klingon suicide was usually done in this fashion. The

  ritual was simple. Kang would drop his head forcefully down upon

  the blade, driving it far into his skull. Kang closed his eyes,

  keeping the image of his wife in his mind. He erected himself,

  preparing to thrust his head downward, when he heard a heavy thud.

  Opening his eyes, he saw Mara standing alone, Torvak sprawled on

  the floor behind her.

  Kang rose in anger, throwing the blade into the corridor's

  nearest bulkhead and turned around to see Kirk, still holding the

  phaser, standing in the doorway to the bridge. "You certainly took

  your time!" Kang said in a fury that he had been unable to direct

  PAGE 122

  at Torvak. "I was nearly upon my blade!"

  "Sorry, Kang," Jim said in earnest. "I never saw a Klingon

  suicide before and didn't realize that I was seeing one until a

  moment before I fired."

  Mara fell to the floor in a faint, distracting Kang's anger

  and drawing him to her. Jim stepped over and looked at the bodies

  lying on the deck, then rubbed his hands together. "Well we'd

  better be getting these men tied up soon, or we will have to go

  through this all over again."

  "Is the bridge secured?" Kang asked over his shoulder.

  "Yes," Jim said. "We are nearing the innermost systems of the

  Federation. We should reach Earth in forty hours."

  Jim looked down at the fallen warriors, both the living and

  the lifeless, and was instantly filled with a sense of dread. 'The

  first men to fall, perhaps of many,' he thought to himself. 'And

  the galaxy may never be the same.'

  PAGE 123

  *** EIGHTEEN ***

  Earth: UFP Headquarters, Supreme Assembly Hall.

  Stardate: 5857.4


  Ambassadors from a multitude of worlds were present in the

  largest room of the stadium sized building. Alien races, both rare

  and familiar, filled their delegated seats of Federation member

  representation. They waited in silence as the President of the

  Assembly entered the stage and walked purposefully to his podium.

  The expression on his face betrayed the gravity of the

  circumstances which the Federation was about to face. His eyes

  looked heavy, and all knew that with the intense effort in

  preparation for this meeting, sleeplessness was one thing they all

  had in common. The President of the Assembly came to a stop behind

  the dais with the presidential emblem on it. He faced his audience

  with grace, as if addressing old friends.

  "Welcome, all races of the Federation," greeted the President,

  "to this, the most critical hour of our time. We have been forced

  into a position which could bring either galactic peace or

  unparalleled chaos to all worlds represented here."

  He looked upon the multitude of faces, seeing old friends and

  acquaintances, beings to whom his respect had been given and some

  of whom his respect had been strained. Sarek of Vulcan was seated

  in the front row. It gave great comfort to the President, seeing

  his friend, knowing the Ambassador would promote stability in all

  decision making.

  "Unfortunately, there is not much time for a formal

  deliberation of all factors concerned in this matter. Neither is

  there time to determine what consequences our decision here today