Before Destruction!

by Star Trek

  were several other posts inside the building at evenly spaced

  intervals. Since his retina pattern was on file here, his status

  as a Starship Captain should guarantee his admission to the main

  auditorium. Then, it was just a matter of toasting the other sets

  of detection units that were scattered throughout the complex.

  He mounted the steps, only 10 meters from the men, when he saw

  the thing that he was hoping against. Each guard carried a hand-

  held scanner that would certainly alert them of his weapon. 'No

  turning back now,' Jim thought as he approached the men. He

  thumbed the adjustments on his phaser as quickly as possible, then

  raised his arm with his weapon extended.

  "Here you go, boys," Jim said as he handed the first man his

  phaser. "Guess I can't bring her with me, can I?"

  "No, Sir." the young man said. "Thank you, Captain."

  "Have you heard if the Assembly has come to a decision yet?"

  the Captain inquired as he allowed another guard to scan his right

  eye for identification. A third pointed his scanner at Jim and

  played it up and down to be sure there were no other weapons on his

  person.

  "They are announcing the results of the vote this minute," the

  second guard replied. "I think you've missed most of the

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  excitement... Captain Kirk," he said, reading Jim's name on the

  identification readout.

  The first guard handed Jim a receipt for his weapon. "Thank

  you; you're clear."

  "Thank you," Jim said while eyeing the sidearms on the men.

  He then turned toward the entrance of the building and considered

  his options. Silently he trod up the sloping walk between the two

  marble columns and into the building.

  The lobby was enormous, lavish, and reflected a myriad of

  cultures, Jim noted, as he saw the artwork that adorned the walls.

  Beings from all corners of the Federation hurriedly filed in and

  out of the restrooms, concessions stands, meeting rooms and hall-

  ways. Most seemed to be aliens to this world, taking care of the

  governmental business, which would not wait until their return to

  their respective homes.

  Jim spotted the hallway that would lead him, ultimately, to

  the Supreme Assembly Hall. He headed down it. Before he had made

  much headway, he came to the first of the internal security check-

  points. They allowed him to pass through as soon as the scanner

  had correctly identified him, and determined that he was no threat

  to security.

  'This way, at least, I won't have to keep destroying

  Federation equipment,' he thought to himself.

  Jim hurried his pace, passing others, many of whom were pages

  or aides to their esteemed leaders. There were no windows in the

  halls; all the lighting was artificial. They were tunnel-like

  passageways, color coded in florescent pastels, the shade dependent

  upon which wing or auditorium you were heading for. Jim passed

  through four shades of blue hallway, and four different check-

  points before he reached the final one, and after that, the last

  (and lightest blue) corridor leading to the Supreme Assembly Hall.

  The Security team looked no less lax, this deep into the

  complex, than the first team did. The five men at this post were

  keeping a wary eye on all comers, regardless of rank or position.

  Jim approached the team and allowed them to do their duty.

  They approved his access to the Hall and let him pass. As he went

  by the last man, he smiled politely and nodded at him. While the

  man returned the smile, Jim swiftly gave a Karate chop to the

  muscular cords on the man's neck, bringing him down in an instant.

  As the others turned to see what had happened, Jim had the

  immobilized guard's weapon leveled at the four of them. He fired

  without a moment's hesitation. The security men fell as if they

  had been marionettes with their strings cut, and astonished cries

  from the other beings in the hall erupted. He was glad to see

  them run for help in the opposite direction that he was going.

  Jim ran full-tilt to the last corridor, knowing that there

  would be no shortage of armed guards on his tail any second. As he

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  rounded the corner, he saw in the distance another security detail

  standing outside the doors to the Hall. He stopped himself short

  of crashing into a slender young woman with her arms full of

  documents. In fact, there were several people walking the long

  corridor between the guards and himself. They saw him with his

  weapon and turned, shouting for the security team, while the young

  woman slowly backed away, frightened.

  Jim knelt and aimed his phaser down the hall. A blue stun

  blast raced down the hall after the frightened people. They

  dropped in their tracks, but the guards were shielded by the people

  and too far from the blast to be affected. He could hear the

  footfalls of many other guards coming from the corridor behind him.

  He was on his feet again and ran down the hall firing ahead of him

  at the security men now crouched by the doors. They returned fire.

  Tight and deadly beams of crimson and blue screamed past the

  Captain, but now the stun effect had better range as Kirk managed

  to get close enough to them that they became dazed, and then one

  final blast took them out.

  The security team trailing Jim rounded the corner far behind

  him. They reacted like a crack outfit, prepared for terrorists,

  assassins or worse. There were twenty men in all. Five of the men

  lay on the floor, aiming their phasers down the long corridor.

  Five knelt behind them, five stood, while five more, slowly

  advanced towards Jim who was only ten meters from the Supreme

  Assembly Hall's doors. Jim turned. Seeing them, he stopped.

  The guards were distant, but it did not matter. Jim was sure

  that if he turned his back for a split second, he would be shot.

  He was equally certain that if he just stood there at a standoff,

  he would be shot still. He did the only thing he could think of.

  Captain Kirk slowly raised his weapon above his head with both

  hands. The guards halted their advance for a moment, cautious of

  his every move. There was still at least 40 meters distance between

  them, only a little breathing room for the Captain.

  "Drop it!" the Lieutenant in charge shouted, and began to

  advance, ever so slowly.

  With his arms still raised, Jim gave the front end of his

  weapon a sharp clock-wise twist. The phaser gave a distinct whine

  that immediately began to increase in pitch and volume. The

  security team heard it, and understood its meaning.

  "It's on overload!" the Lieutenant shouted, and in a split

  second calculated that at his best running speed, he could reach

  the Captain just as the phaser exploded. "Fall back!" he ordered

  his men, while turning himself around and retreating with all of

  his might.

  Kirk held his weapon up until he was sure that they were no

  longer a threat to him. He quickly twisted the end of his phaser

  counterclockw
ise, cancelling the power build-up. He pointed it

  down at the ground before him and discharged the excess energy,

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  burning a large crater in the floor.

  James T. Kirk turned back towards the Assembly Hall, and

  looked at the closed doors that separated him from the most

  dangerous man in the Galaxy. He took a long deep breath and held

  it for a moment. Slowly he exhaled it and nodded to himself in

  silent affirmation. 'This is it,' he thought.

  "Once more unto the breach!" Kirk quoted aloud, just because

  he had always wanted to. He rushed at the doors to the great hall,

  bursting through them like a battering ram, and into the mammoth

  auditorium.

  * * *

  "I now ask you again," The President addressed the Assembly,

  "to welcome Emperor Tromok of the Klingon Realm, as we discover

  together the result of today's vote." The president pressed the

  appropriate button on his dais and turned towards the beam-down

  point. Several moments later the Klingonese monarch and his

  entourage took shape on the stage. Admiral Sorr stayed beside

  the Emperor as they approached the President of the Assembly.

  "Again, I welcome you, Emperor Tromok," the President spoke and

  offered his hand to the Klingon.

  "Again, I am honored," he said in formal response.

  The president turned toward the gathering of beings and broke

  the seal on the document in his hand. He looked at it and began to

  read its contents for all to hear.

  "On the planet Earth, stardate 5859.5, in the seventy-third

  gathering of the Supreme Assembly of the United Federation of

  Planets, the question of the admission of the Klingon Empire to the

  Federation was decided. The decision was 'for' admission." The

  President stopped for a moment, knowing what would happen next.

  As if on cue, sizable vociferation of joy arose from a great

  many members of the Assembly who were hoping for this announcement.

  The others remained silent, accepting the outcome, if not agreeing

  with the decision. The noise died down and the President continued

  his address.

  "In the act of acceptance of this new member as part of our

  alliance, we will now engage in the formality of signing the

  document of admission." The President turned to the Emperor.

  "Emperor Mocdar Jek Tromok of the Klingon Realm, you have read the

  charter of the Federation during your journey to this world?"

  "I have," he stated

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  "Do you accept the responsibility for all contents therein and

  agree to uphold all directives pertaining to interplanetary peace

  and security?"

  "I do," he spoke deeply.

  "Then we all bear witness this day, that as Chief Spokesman

  for the Klingonese people, Emperor Mocdar Jek Tromok and all in his

  authority, are now full members of the United Federation of

  Planets, and recipients of all the benefits and privileges of that

  status." The President stepped back from his podium, and allowed

  the Emperor to stand behind it to place his signature on the

  document of admittance.

  The Emperor looked down at the Charter of the Federation,

  then he paused, lifting his head from the document and turning it

  towards Admiral Sorr. "Do you acknowledge me as Emperor of the

  Klingon Realm, Admiral? Do you recognize my authority as Supreme?"

  He spoke low enough that only Sorr and the President could hear

  him. Both Sorr and the President were taken aback by the question,

  but Sorr dared not hesitate in giving him an answer.

  "You are my Emperor. You are all I obey," spoke Sorr almost

  silently, apprehensive of the man he stood with.

  The Emperor smiled at Sorr through narrow eyes. It made the

  Admiral all the more fearful. Sorr, a Klingon who had faced

  dangers unflinchingly, now frightened by a glance, a mere facial

  expression. Sorr felt ashamed of himself, but nonetheless he was

  scared.

  It was Garth who smiled at Sorr. It was Garth who only now,

  received the full authority of the Klingon Empire from the highest

  ranking representative. He could now sign the document with the

  confidence of his signature's legitimacy.

  The Emperor of all the realm known as Klingon placed his

  signet ring on the base of the document and impressed the royal

  emblem on it. He then looked out upon the congregation and raised

  both his arms above the audience in a gesture of victory. They did

  not know the extent of his victory.

  "I must now take my leave of you," he spoke to the throng. "I

  will take this good news to my people. We will prepare for the new

  beginning that we will forge, together... Rest assured," he lowered

  his voice and discontinued his smile, "you will see my face again."

  There in that brief moment of silence, before a single being

  could respond to the Emperor's statement, before a single hand

  could strike another in applause, the doors to the immediate rear

  of the auditorium burst open with a thunder. And like the

  irrepressible backwash of a tide, all heads turned toward the sound.

  * * *

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  Captain James T. Kirk bolted through the main entryway in a

  blur of black and gold, and came to a halt atop the central, down-

  sloping isle. It took only a second for his eyes to adjust to the

  lighting and to single out his target on the distant stage. He was

  too far away. 'But not for long,' Jim silently promised the man

  on the stage.

  "Everybody DOWN!" Jim shouted, and an alarm sounded throughout

  the complex at that very moment.

  Many things happened at once, from that point on. Jim could

  see the Emperor's elite guards drawing weapons that only they and

  Starfleet security were allowed to bear. With his peripheral

  vision, he could see security running towards him from their posts

  at the emergency exits. The crowd whom he had just ordered to get

  down looked at him, dumb and unmoving, like a herd of deer caught

  in the illuminators of a land transport vehicle, but most important

  to him was the locked gaze that he shared with the man who wore the

  Emperor's face.

  All doubt that Jim might have had concerning the identity of

  the Emperor was stripped away when Jim saw the recognition, no, the

  visible shock, on the Emperor's face. He would never know how

  disturbing his presence was to Garth on that day, for in Garth's

  arrogance and pride, he had planned for every conceivable problem.

  He did not believe in the inconceivable... until he saw Kirk. Garth

  came close to losing control of his physical appearance, and he

  could feel his tenuous grip on it slipping away, moment by moment.

  With all his strength Garth silently battled for mastery of his flesh.

  The man, Kirk, moved with great speed down the aisle,

  abbreviating the distance between himself and the stage, then the

  floor exploded before him, as the Ramjep Avwi fired in defense of

  their Majesty. Jim dived over the blast, tucked and rolled, coming

  to a halt on one knee and aiming his weapon at the still too-

&nbs
p; distant enemy. Then all hell broke loose...

  The blast had shaken the frozen delegates from their shock,

  and beings were running, flying, and oozing in all directions.

  Screams and shouts made a deafening din. Both security and the

  Klingon guard had momentarily lost their target in the masses, and

  Jim was now being moved backwards away from his target by the

  press of the crowd.

  The President waved his arms at the edge of the stage,

  fruitlessly shouting for the crowd to remain seated for their own

  safety. Sarek and his aide climbed the stage in an effort to

  protect the President. They each grabbed an arm and pulled him to

  the back of the stage. It was the logical thing to do.

  Garth regained control over his body and lost control of his

  temper. No single person could be heard in the chaos, but Jim

  could see the Emperor shouting his name in fury and moving across

  the stage towards him. Garth, too, brandished a weapon now.

  Jim struggled to make headway in the stampede, and made some

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  progress until two beings directly in front of him exploded in a

  blaze of light. The Imperial guard would not let a little thing

  like killing innocents stop them from hitting their mark. If Kirk

  had a choice in dealing with this situation, it had just been

  ripped from his grasp. Jim held his phaser in front of himself

  and fired his weapon, point blank into the press.

  The group of delegates directly in front of him lit up in the

  blue stunning energy field, falling upon eachother. More came,

  stepping over and on their fallen peers. Jim fired again, mowing