STAR TREK: TOS - Errand of Vengeance, Book Three - River of Blood

by Kevin Ryan

  For a moment, the room was quiet.

  Kell spared a glance at Parrish and Clancy, who were behind another large piece of equipment. Clancy was busy working at the console, and Kell knew that she was preparing another surprise for the attackers.

  An instant before it happened, Kell’s blood screamed a warning. On his blood’s call alone, he looked about twenty meters behind the females and saw two Klingons making their way quietly into a firing position.

  Cursing the crafty Klingon in command, he swung his phaser around and called out, “Down! Behind you!”

  Parrish was fast, but she did not use her speed to duck. Instead, she spun around and was firing before the echo of Kell’s words had died.

  Clancy was almost as fast, but not fast enough to avoid the disrupter blast that tore into her left shoulder.

  The blast turned her shoulder into a ruined mess and threw her body back into the console she had been working a moment before.

  Kell fired and hit one of the Klingons, while Parrish [212] eliminated the other. Kell allowed himself a deep breath and thought the danger was past.

  Then he saw Clancy stagger forward, trying to focus as she held out her phaser. Then the ensign was falling, firing her phaser as she did.

  Again, Parrish reacted quickly, but instead of avoiding the danger, she reached out for her partner.

  The beam cut into the underside of Parrish’s right arm, then Clancy fell to the floor and her phaser slid away.

  Kell was stepping toward Parrish before Clancy hit the floor. Leslie was dazed and trying to work her right hand, which still held the phaser but wouldn’t respond.

  Parrish sank to her knees and started to lean. She would have fallen but Kell was there in an instant.

  He reached behind her, being careful not to put any pressure on the injured right arm. Quickly inspecting the damage, he saw that she had sustained a serious phaser burn on her arm. The skin was damaged and probably some muscle underneath. It was nothing Dr. McCoy could not repair.

  She would live, if he found a way to make sure she survived the battle. He had to do something quickly. Scanning the area around him, he knew what he had to do.

  “Jon,” Parrish said.

  “You’re going to be all right,” he said. “I’m going to get you to safety.”

  He reached behind her and prepared to pick her up, when she stopped him with her good hand.

  “Clancy,” she said.

  He looked over his shoulder. Clancy was not moving.

  “I think she’s—” he began.

  [213] “Make sure,” she said, iron in her voice. Carefully, he leaned her kneeling figure against the console and ran to Clancy’s position. Crouching above her, he saw that her wound was terrible and her eyes were staring up at the ceiling. Still, he felt quickly for a pulse and found none. Ensign Clancy was beyond help.

  He turned back to Parrish when he remembered something. Twisting his body back, he grabbed for Clancy’s phaser.

  “Chief,” he called out and slid the phaser to Fuller, who acknowledged him with a nod and reached for the weapon even as he kept up his own fire.

  Kell rushed back to Parrish, who had transferred her phaser to her good hand and was trying to raise it.

  “No,” he said firmly. “You have done your part.”

  Then he lifted her off the floor and carried her at a run to the door to the freight turbolift. When he stepped in front, the lift doors opened obediently. Placing her gently on the floor in a sitting position, he made sure that she had a firm grip on the phaser.

  “Jon,” she said, her voice a whisper.

  “Leslie,” he said. “You will be fine. Wait here and use the phaser if you have to.”

  He turned to go.

  “Wait,” she said, and he stopped, turning back to her. He leaned down and kissed her fiercely, passionately and tenderly. She returned it all.

  When he pulled back she looked intensely at him and said, “Come back.”

  He looked at her, his Lady Lukura, and smiled.

  “Promise me you will come back,” she said.

  [214] Kell returned her gaze and said, “I promise.” It was the last lie he would allow himself in this world, he vowed.

  Yet it seemed to bring her comfort and he judged it worthwhile. He took one last look at her, then raced out of the turbolift and back into the battle.

  Back into the killing box.

  Chapter Twenty

  KIRK SAW THE KLINGON SHIP moving on the viewscreen on the weapons panel in front of him. He immediately put down the communicator and quickly familiarized himself with the control panel.

  As he switched on the targeting scanners, he saw the Klingon vessel swing around in a rapid arc, firing its disruptors at the Enterprise.

  The battle had begun.

  Even as the Enterprise executed an aggressive evasive maneuver, his ship fired one and then another torpedo. Kirk noted with pride that both torpedoes made nearly direct hits on the Klingon ship’s shields, while the disrupter fire missed the starship entirely.

  The targeting scanners took some adjusting to give him a lock, taking up precious seconds. Looking up [216] again, he saw the Klingon vessel turn sharply and out of the viewer’s range.

  Kirk found the tracking control and hit it. The view switched to somewhere Kirk guessed was under the station. Then the Klingon cruiser shot up in a very tight arc.

  Hitting the firing control, Kirk fired the station’s phasers at the Klingon warship. The phaser beam missed its target. In fact, Kirk could see that the beam had not even come close.

  Muttering some nonregulation language, Kirk turned off the computer targeting and put the weapons system on manual.

  Then he watched as the station’s external cameras tracked the Klingon ship. It banked sharply and fired a combination of torpedoes at the station. The deck shook under Kirk’s feet and for a moment the station’s external cameras lost sight of the Klingon vessel.

  When the Klingon ship appeared again on the viewscreen, it seemed to be barreling straight for the viewscreen. Green disrupter fire flared from the warship and the shield-failure alarm began to sound on the board.

  Then the Klingon cruiser veered away from the starbase and fired a spread of torpedoes at the Enterprise.

  Two Klingon torpedoes hit the Enterprise’s shields, and Kirk winced as he saw the ship’s shields flare a brilliant violet. They were weakening, he knew.

  Quickly studying the board in front of him, Kirk noted that there were nine phaser emitters spaced at equidistant points on the outer ring of the station. Using manual control, he could target each of them individually.

  Since the starbase’s phasers were relatively [217] low-powered, that was important. He would have to achieve a sustained hit to be effective against the Klingon shields.

  He saw the Klingon vessel’s disrupters strike the Enterprise; then the Klingon warship got into a new position behind the station.

  Kirk could immediately see the Klingon commander’s plan. He was keeping close to the starbase, counting on the Enterprise to be reluctant to fire weapons when there was a chance of hitting the station.

  Of course, there were Klingons on the station as well, but that fact did not seem to trouble the Klingon commander.

  Tracking the Klingon ship carefully, Kirk anticipated the commander’s next maneuver.

  Perfect, he thought as the Klingon ship began a sharp arc around the station, following what was almost an orbit along the starbase’s plane.

  He reached for the controls for two of the station’s phaser emitters. Firing both, he was pleased to see them both strike the Klingon ship’s shields.

  Already committed to the maneuver, the Klingon ship continued on its trajectory. Kirk tracked it, firing phaser banks in sequence around the station. He was always able to keep at least one phaser beam on the Klingon ship and often was able to keep two at once.

  Finally, the Klingon ship changed direction, twisting violently up and away from the
plane of the station. Kirk tracked it, keeping two phasers locked on and firing continuously.

  Then the Enterprise was there, firing a full burst of [218] photon torpedoes. One ... two ... three torpedoes struck the Klingon ship’s struggling shields, which collapsed in a flash of red light.

  Scotty did not waste any time. A series of precise phaser beams lanced out at the Klingon forward torpedo tube, then at the right and left nacelles, which Kirk knew housed the disrupter banks as well as the ship’s warp drive.

  Swinging around, the starship struck the Klingon ship’s rear torpedo tubes with phasers, and Kirk knew the ship was no longer a threat.

  “Kirk to Enterprise,” the captain said.

  “Scott here,” Scotty’s voice replied.

  “Excellent work, Scotty. Precision shooting,” Kirk said.

  “That was some precision shooting down there. Your work, Captain?” the chief engineer replied.

  “All the real work was done by the other officers, Mr. Scott,” Kirk said. “The ones that didn’t make it.”

  “Aye,” Scott said.

  “Status of the Klingon ship?” Kirk asked.

  “Sensors show that they have lost warp power and all weapons systems. They won’t be troubling us anymore,” Scotty replied. “And our sensors show that most of the fighting on the station has stopped.”

  Kirk wondered if that was because the Klingons were standing down or if there was just no one left to resist them.

  “Captain,” Scotty said. “This is a surprise. The Klingon commander is requesting permission to begin beaming his people back to the ship.”

  [219] Kirk thought about that for a moment. It seemed unusual, but anything to get the Klingons off the station. There was still the problem of what to do with a ship full of Klingons, but at least they would all be in one place.

  “Let them begin transport, but watch them carefully, Scotty,” Kirk said. “I’ve had enough surprises from Klingons for one day.”

  “I’m getting a report ...” Scotty said. “Sir, there is a Klingon cruiser coming in at high warp.”

  It was not over, Kirk realized.

  “How long?’ Kirk said.

  “Less than one hour,” Scotty replied.

  “Get as much power to shields and phasers as you can, Mr. Scott. And begin search and rescue operations on the station. I will also need a repair crew over here to try to get power to the starbase’s shields.”

  An hour wasn’t much time, Kirk knew. He hoped the teams would find some survivors before the other Klingon ship arrived. On the other hand, he was not sure the Enterprise could protect them.

  Still, they had an hour to make repairs. Perhaps Scotty could restore the station’s shields. The station and ship had defeated one Klingon cruiser. They could defeat another.

  “Sir, there’s a communication for you from Starfleet Command,” Scotty said.

  “Have Uhura patch it to auxiliary control at the station,” Kirk said.

  “Aye, Scott out,” the chief engineer said.

  A moment later Admiral Solow’s face appeared on the viewscreen. “Captain Kirk, what is your status?”

  * * *

  [220] A phaser beam tore into the equipment in front of Karel. Then another tore into the warrior beside him.

  “Arghhhh!” Karel shouted in his rage.

  The warriors he fought with had fought well, but the honorless and cowardly Earthers had struck down too many good warriors.

  Now there were more reasons to take vengeance.

  Karel could smell his victory, though he cursed the Earthers for making the cost of it so high and the time required to take it so long.

  The small band had kept him from accessing the stairs down to the engineering level. That would soon stop; there were two, perhaps three of them left.

  And soon he would see the last of them die. Then he would deal with the troublesome Earthers who had locked themselves in with the warp core.

  He called out to Gash, and the large Klingon turned, his one remaining eye burning with rage, mirroring the burning in Karel’s own blood.

  Soon the Earthers would feel that fire.

  “Take those warriors,” he said, pointing to the Klingons firing nearly continuously on the Earthers’ position.

  Then there was a buzzing sound. In his battle fury, it took him a moment to place the familiar sound.

  Then he reached for his communicator and pulled it out.

  “What do you want?” he barked.

  “Return to the ship, disengage the Earthers,” the com officer’s voice spat back.

  [221] For a moment, Karel could not believe what he had just heard.

  “Repeat!” he shouted.

  “Move your warriors away from that protected area. You need to find a place near the exterior hull for beam-out. Captain Koloth’s order. Comply immediately!”

  “What is it?” Gash asked him.

  “We are ordered to return to the ship,” Karel said.

  “The battle is not finished,” Gash shouted.

  “No, it is not,” Karel said, “but it soon will be.”

  He ordered the Klingons in the room to pull back and collect around him. There were eight warriors left. Their losses were great indeed.

  “Gash, take the remaining warriors to a position near the external hull for beam-out,” Karel said.

  “What about you?” Gash said.

  “I will stay and finish the Earthers,” Karel said.

  Gash did not look pleased and his single eye still burned. Yet, he turned and led the other seven warriors back out the way they had come.

  Karel took a few seconds to scan the wreckage of the complex in front of him. His eyes and ears did not reveal where the Earthers were now.

  But his blood did.

  Then his ears told him someone was approaching him from behind.

  He barely stayed his hand and stopped himself from reducing Gash to atoms.

  “I ordered you to go with the others!” Karel shouted.

  Gash smiled. “And the captain ordered you to return to the ship,” he said.

  [222] “We will have to face our reprimands later,” Karel said. “I know where the Earthers are.”

  Kirk finished making his report of the day’s event to the silver-haired Starfleet admiral. The captain had never met the man before, but he knew his record, or, rather, his legend.

  “And, Admiral, I do not think that Admiral Justman made it,” Kirk said.

  Something touched the admiral’s face, the first expression Kirk had seen since the transmission had begun.

  Then Admiral Solow’s reserve reasserted itself and he said, “We lost a lot of good people today, Captain Kirk.”

  “Too many, sir,” Kirk said.

  “But you did some fine work down there. You and your people have done more for the Federation than you realize,” Solow said.

  “Thank you, sir, but the ones who did the most are no longer here,” Kirk said.

  “That’s always the way it is, Captain,” Solow said. “All we can do is honor their memory and the things they fought for.”

  “Standing by for your orders,” Kirk said.

  “You should know that I have just received a call from the Klingon command. They are disavowing any knowledge of the actions of the Klingon battle cruiser D’k tahg.”

  “What?” Kirk asked. “That cannot be. The attack on the station was part of a coordinated effort by Klingon command. It began with the incidents in System 1324 and the mine in 7348.”

  [223] “You and I are in complete agreement there, but officially we have to accept the Klingon story,” Solow said. Then, before Kirk could protest, the admiral said, “You are to release the D’k tahg to the Klingon ship currently on its way to your position.”

  “Sir, a lot of people gave their lives to stop the Klingons here today,” Kirk said.

  “And they did stop them, you all did. But the most important thing you have bought for us is time. Time to prepare, time to try to
make sure that what you have all been through and sacrificed for today is not replayed throughout the Federation.”

  Kirk nodded. He knew the admiral was right, but he hated the notion of simply letting the Klingons go.

  “We have no choice,” Kirk said.

  “No, if the war begins today we cannot be sure that we will win. However, neither are the Klingons or this would have been a much bigger operation than a raid on a single, nearly obsolete starbase.”

  “I understand, sir,” Kirk said.

  “Please also understand that we will not forget what happened here today, Captain, and there will be another time and another place. We will finish what began in System 1324. And when we do fight, we will fight to win.”

  “The Enterprise will be ready, sir,” Kirk said.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  BEFORE KELL FOUND SAM FULLER with his eyes, his ears told him how the fight was going.

  And how it would end-.

  The disrupter blasts were coming quickly now, and from many different places. Fuller was firing both phasers nearly continuously.

  “Chief,” he called as he rejoined the human.

  “Good to see you, Jon,” Fuller said as Kell took a position next to him.

  “You too, sir,” Kell replied, taking aim and firing in One smooth motion.

  The Klingon warriors were moving quickly on them now, as a targ does when it senses its prey weakening. Then, suddenly, the disrupter fire stopped for several seconds.

  “Let’s pull back,” Fuller said. They were at the last [225] piece of cover before the wall that was the end of the manufacturing plant. Less than twenty meters away was the door that would lead the Klingons to the engineering level.

  Fuller pointed back behind them. They would move away from the door, but find more cover and still have a line of fire on any Klingons making for the stairwell.

  It was the only move left to them. Kell knew it would likely be their last maneuver, the last order that Sam Fuller would give him.

  The Klingon commander was planning something. Kell’s blood boiled with the danger.

  Still, there was nothing to do but follow Chief Sam Fuller to the new position and follow this fight to the end and straight to the River of Blood.