by L. A. Graf
her usual grace, scooping a bowl-shaped plastic and metal object off the
floor. Sulu frowned, then recognized it as her environmental suit
helmet when she turned it right side up and tapped the communicator
panel inside the chin. "The crystal chips in our suits survived the
surge just fine. With our shields down, I didn't have any trouble using
them to contact the Enterprise."
"I would never have thought of that." Despite the ache in his jaw,
Sulu's mouth twitched into an appreciative grin. "Have I told you
lately that you're awfully good at your job?"
The communications officer's dark eyes warmed to rich mahogany with her
smile. "Well, so are you. Most pilots would have gotten us killed if
they tried playing hide-and-seek with an Orion destroyer."
"That's true," Sulu agreed immodestly. Uhura snorted and tugged at his
elbow.
"Come on," she said. "We should be in visual range of the ship by. now.
There's a viewport on the next deck down." She slanted another concerned
look at him. "Can you climb down the ladderway in that heavy suit?"
"Well, I'm certainly not going to take it off." Sulu grinned again at
the puzzled look she gave him. "After all the sweating I've done since
we left the Hawking, even I don't want to know what I smell like."
The Enterprise swam through the darkness toward them, phaser burns dark
as bruises across her long platinum sides. Sulu's lips tightened into a
soundless whistle as he scanned the damage. The worst destruction was
concentrated near the unshielded area around the breach in the primary
hull, but a long rippled impact scar also ran the length of the
secondary hull, level with the shuttle bay. Even from here, Sulu could
see suited crews of engineers crawling out to reinforce the stressed
sections of metal.
"They're lucky that didn't cause another hull breach," Uhura said,
watching quietly at his shoulder. The words made Sulu wince, bringing
back the memory of his vacuum-shattered belongings and ransacked room.
He'd been vaguely planning to collapse in the plant-scented warmth of
his cabin after Kirk finished debriefing them. Now, all he had to look
forward to was the cold comfort of emergency quarters.
The thought made him recall something else-he'd forgotten, and he
scanned the impact scar .more closely. "That doesn't look like photon
torpedo damage," he pointed out to Uhura. "I wonder if the Orion
saboteur did it?"
"Well, he must have hidden in the shuttle bay at some point, to rig his
phaser-bomb inside the Hawking." Uhura's dark eyes widened as the
tractor beam pulled the Shras around to face the massive landing bay
doors, now splitting open to admit them. The back half of the shuttle
bay lay shielded behind a vacuum barrier, but the transparent aluminum
wall couldn't hide the torn and crumpled shuttles piled up along the
rear bulkhead. "Oh, my God. Maybe the saboteur did rig all the
shuttles."
"It looks more like he just wreck ed them." Sulu counted the empty spaces
along the walls while the tractor beam deposited them gently inside the
landing bay. "Brahe, Clarke, Kahoutek--dammit, he took out all our good
interstellar shuttles! If they haven't already caught him, I'll hunt
him down and strangle him myself!"
Uhura gave him an amused upward glance as the bay doors slid closed
behind them. "Sulu, I'm sure
Starfleet will give us new shuttles when we dock for refitting."
"That's not the point!" Sulu trailed her back toward the ladderway. He
could already hear Haslev complaining about something on the deck below
them as the Andorians gathered by the hatch. Outside, compressed air
roared around them, rattling the ship's hull as it flooded back into the
landing bay. "I liked the shuttles we had! I knew which ones handled
best in microgravity, and which ones were good on atmospheric reentry--"
The rumble of the hatch door opening interrupted him, and Sulu dropped
down the last few feet of ladderway with a thud. He followed Uhura out
past the hesitant Andorians, as eager as she was to be back in the
familiar air of the Enterprise.
"Sulu, Uhura." Captain Kirk emerged from the turbolift exit across the
bay and strode to meet them, Spock just behind him. Despite the bruise
darkening his forehead, the captain moved with his usual restless
energy. "You're both all right?"
"We're fine, Captain." Sulu swung around to survey the destruction in
the shuttle bay, more clearly visible now that they were out of the
ship. "Did the saboteur rig more of the shuttles for explosion, sir?"
"No. Apparently, he only had time to sabotage one other besides the
Hawking." One corner of Kirk's mouth turned up in rueful amusement as he
glanced back at the mess. "Chekov did the rest of this, trying to stop
the saboteur."
"Chekov did?" Uhura and Sulu exclaimed together. They exchanged puzzled
looks. "I guess we must have beamed him into the shuttle bay," Uhura
said blankly. Her eyes darkened with concern as she glanced at the
wrecked shuttles. "Is he all right, sir?"
The captain nodded. "A little battered, but that's usually what happens
when you get into a fist fight with an Orion. Dr. McCoy's standing by
to take him to sickbay as soon as the engineers cut him free."
Uhura looked dismayed. "You mean he's trapped inside one of those
shuttles?"
"Yes." Kirk smiled at her, a quick, understanding smile that lit his
eyes to gold. "I'm sure he'd be glad to have your company while he's
waiting, Commander."
She threw him a grateful look and turned toward the turbolift. "Thank
you, sir. You'll have my full report in the morning."
"Good." The captain swung to face the clatter of feet coming off the
Shras. "Captain Kanin." Kirk stepped forward and gave the Andorian
officer the polite bow his race favored. "We're grateful for your
assistance with the Orions. Your ship's courageous performance in this
battle will be duly noted in my report to Starfleet."
"Thank you, sir." Kanin returned the bow, antennae flushing pale
lavender with pleasure. "Most of the credit must go to your pilot,
however. He did an excellent job evading the Orions."
"Yes." Kirk rubbed at the bruise on his forehead, casting an amused look
back at Spock. "We could have used him aboard the Enterprise." His
amusement faded to a steely smile when his glance fell on Muav Haslev,
now handcuffed to a stocky Andorian security guard. "Ah, Mr.
Hasicy--the cause of all this havoc. We have a visitor who would like
to speak with you." He nodded at Spock, and the Vulcan crossed to speak
into the nearest intercom.
"I'll have you know that none of this was my fault," Hasler protested.
"If you hadn't decided to send me back to Sigma One--"
"--the Hawking would have exploded right here,
and we would all be dead now," Sulu finished sharply. The Andorian
physicist glared at him. "Listen, you're the one who started all
this--"
"Little weasel!" The distinctive roar of an Orion voice crashed over the
argument
like a storm wave. Sulu swung around to see the bulky form of
the Orion military commander emerge from the turbolift and stalk toward
them, flanked by a brace of security guards. The white swath of bandage
taped across his bearded face didn't make him look any less dangerous.
"You lied to us!"
Haslev tried to sidle back, his antennae curving defensively downward.
"Urn--when, Commander Ondarken?"
"You told us your trans-shield anode would make any transporter beam go
through a shield." The Orion shoved through the group around Haslev,
Andorians scattering before him with yelps of alarm. "But when we tried
to beam our agent out with it from this ship, nothing happened." He came
to a halt, looming over the gray-faced physicist. "Why?"
"Urn--" Haslev's antennae quivered. "Well, there were a few minor
details about the trans-shield anode I didn't have time to explain."
"Such as?" Ondarken's bronze eyes narrowed to slits.
"Well, in the first place, you can only beam to the anode, not away from
it." Hasler swallowed. "And I'm afraid you can't beam the transshield
anode itself anywhere--you have to carry it to your intended
destination."
"Not to mention the fact that it creates a subspace pulse on board ship
every time you use it," Sulu added.
"What?" Kirk's exasperated voice rose over the Orion commander's growl.
"Using the trans-shield anode was what made all our instruments go out?"
"It's only a minor flaw," Haslev quavered, shrinking when Ondarken
leaned over him with bared teeth. "I'm sure I can iron it out with just
a little more research--"
"I am afraid not, Mr. Haslev." The note of certainty in Spock's quiet
voice sliced off the physicist's spluttering. "Constance Duerring's
original theory of transporter electrodynamics clearly states that
energy is generated whenever a transporter beam encounters a force
shield." The Vulcan thoughtfully steepled his long fingers in front of
his chin. "In most cases, the energy is absorbed by the random
rearrangement of molecules within the transported objects. Your anode
device prevents that by diverting the energy to the surrounding subspace
boson field, where it is re-emitted as low-frequency radiation." Spock
lifted a quizzical eyebrow. "Really, Mr. Hasler, you should know that
you cannot evade the first law ofthemody-namics. Energy can be neither
created or destroyed, only transformed."
"Exactly so," Pov Kanin agreed, his lean blue face creasing with a smug
smile. "That's why the Andorian government refused to fund Haslev's
transporter research to begin with." He needled a malicious glance at
the Orion commander. "We never thought other governments would be
obtuse enough to believe Muav Haslev's wild Pr9Posals--"
Ondarken growled, spinning around to face the
Andorian. "What did you just call me, weasel?"
"Let me elaborate--"
"Gentlemen[" Kirk stepped between them, apparently oblivious to the fact
that either of the high
gravity aliens could have crushed him where he stood. His voice rang
with stern authority. "We're here to decide on the fate of Muav Hasler,
not to squabble with each other." He glanced at Kanin, ignoring the
renegade physicist's squeak of alarm. "The Orion commander has asked
for permission to extradite Mr. Haslev so that his government can try
him for trea
"I must refuse," the Andorian captain said politely. "On the grounds
that Mr. Haslev committed treason against my government first."
Kirk's mouth twitched up into a smile. "That certainly seems
reasonable." He turned to face Ondarken when the Orion commander growled
in protest. "I'm sure that when Mr. Haslev has finished serving his
prison sentence on Andor, they'll be more than willing to let him face
charges on Orion, as well."
"If he's still alive by then." Pov Kanin ignored Muav Haslev's piteous
groan from behind him. "Now, Captain Kirk,. may I have your permission
to find temporary housing for my crew on board your ship--and a secure
cell for my prisoner?"
"Permission granted." Kirk glanced at Spook, amusement glittering in his
eyes. "I'll have my first officer arrange it for you, Captain Kanin.
Perhaps he can explain the first law of thermodynamics to Mr. Hasler
along the way."
"Thank you." Kanin motioned to his crew to follow the Vulcan, pausing
only long enough to cast a silent look of triumph at Ondarken before he
went along. The Orion commander scowled after him, anger rumbling
wordlessly in his throat.
"I believe that concludes our business here, Commander Ondarken," Kirk
said crisply. "Unless you
would like to stay to answer some questions about how your agent got on
board--"
"What about our stolen property?" The Orion glared down at Kirk. "What
about the fate of the other criminals?"
"Other criminals?" Kirk followed Ondarken's glance to Sulu, and his
mouth hardened. "Commander, my helmsman was carrying out Starfleet
orders when he diverted your companion ship's fire toward your ship."
"Not that!" howled the Orion in frustration. "What he did before, on
Sigma One! He received the stolen property from Haslev's conspirator,
the human plant merchant who helped him escape from us. That's how the
trans-shield anode got smuggled aboard this ship!"
"Oh, my God." Sulu felt his stomach contract in shock when he realized
what Ondarken meant. "The trans-shield anode must have been hidden
inside my lily pond!"
"Not that black marble thing Chekov kept calling a swimming pool?" Kirk
looked equally stunned. "Oh, my God! That's what he was trying to tell
me--" He turned to meet the Orion's scowl with a grim look of his own.
"I'm afraid your stolen property is gone-- . blasted out into space
along with the shuttle your
agent rigged to destroy the Enterprise."
"Agent? What agent?" Ondarken tried to arrange his bus hy eyebrows into
an expression of surprise. "I deny all agents--"
"Of course you do." Kirk motioned the security guards forward. "Escort
Commander Ondarken to the transporter room and see he gets back to his
ship."
"Aye, sir." Lemieux tugged at one beefy forearm,
unintimidated by the glare she earned. "Let's go, Commander Ondarken."
"My government will pursue the criminals on board your ship!" the Orion
warned, shouting over his shoulder as he was led away. "We will sue for
extradition and punishu"
The turbolift doors cut off his diatribe midword, and Sulu felt his
tense shoulders relax at last. He heard Kirk sigh, and suddenly
realized how tired the captain looked. It was a mark of Kirk's force of
will that Sulu hadn't noticed it at all during the confrontation.
"Sir?" he asked tentatively. "May I have permission to see if Chekov is
still in the bay?" Something deep inside him wouldn't believe the
Russian was really alive until he saw him.
"Let's both go." Kirk headed down the vast shell of the shuttle bay,
toward where engineers were rolling aside the multisectioned vacuum
barrier. The vol
atile smell of spilled lubricant mingled with the sharp
ozone scent of metal being hit by phaser torches. Bright lights among
the shuttles showed where engineers still worked to cut them apart.
Medical aides picked their way through the morass of twisted metal, a
gravsled steadied between them. A single environmental-suited figure
scrambled after them, her dark face vivid with concern.
"The engineers must have just gotten him out." Kirk lengthened his
stride to meet them. "Bones! Is Chekov all right?"
McCoy looked up from the blanketed form on the medical sled, his face
lighting with a crooked smile. "Well, considering that I thought we were
going to need a can opener to get him out, he's doing pretty well. Some
broken ribs, a whole raft of bumps and bruisesu" He glanced down as
Chekov made a
bubbly mutter. "--and one punctured lung. Nothing I can't fix."
Kirk paused beside the gravsled, Sulu crowding at his heels. Chekov
looked awfulface red-purple with bruises where it wasn't crusted with at
least two colors of dried blood. His chest moved with painful
shallowness beneath the blanket, thick, liquid gurgles catching in his
throat with every breath. Sulu felt his own throat tighten in sympathy.
The security officer squinted up at Kirk. "I heard Orions."
"The commander of the Umyfymu came over to talk with the traitor-weasel
Haslev." Kirk's voice turned wry. "And to demand his stolen property
