Chain of Attack

by Gene DeWeese

  "In effect, Mr. Sulu," Kirk had said, "we're going to park in the middle of the road. Just be prepared to take us into the ditch, fast, at the first indication that they're intentionally overloading their main antimatter power unit. Or that any weakness is developing in the deflectors, of course."

  "Aye-aye, Captain," Sulu replied, a certain grim satisfaction in his tone and expression.

  "Lieutenant Uhura, ready to transmit our recorded message at them until further orders."

  "Message loaded and ready, sir."

  "The Enterprise will be within the Hoshan vessel's sensor range in one-point-three minutes, Captain," Spock announced.

  "Lieutenant Uhura, start the message."

  The Hoshan reaction was virtually instantaneous. Obviously not taking the time to listen to the words of the message, the ship—the same one the Enterprise had decoyed away from the Zeator fleet earlier—altered its course fractionally to home in on the transmission. Seconds later, it transmitted what was apparently today's computer-generated request for today's recognition code. Almost simultaneously, a compressed thirty-seven-millisecond subspace burst was sent out.

  "As predicted, weapons preparing to fire, Captain," Spock announced.

  But none was fired. Nearly a minute went by, and nothing happened.

  "Tarasek," Kirk said, "does this mean they are listening to the message?"

  "It is possible," the computer said, translating the Hoshan's words virtually simultaneously.

  "Speak to them directly, Tarasek," Kirk said. "Lieutenant Uhura, open Tarasek's channel."

  "Done, sir," she said, tapping a single button on the control panel.

  "I am Tarasek." The computer translated the broadcast words of the Hoshan. "I was in command of Defender ship Tromak, which was recently lost in battle with six Destroyer vessels. I and two of my crew, Radzyk and Bolduc, have been taken aboard a ship called by its masters the Enterprise. It is the same ship that you saw and pursued two days ago. Its owners say they wish to be friends to the Hoshan, but—"

  "Hoshan ship accelerating to warp two-point-three, sir," Chekov broke in. "It is on a collision course with us!"

  "Lieutenant Uhura, give me the channel!" Kirk snapped.

  "Aye-aye, sir." With a touch of Uhura's finger, the Hoshan's voice was cut off.

  "This is the commander of the Enterprise," Kirk said, speaking rapidly into the translator. "You have heard our message. We are not your enemies. You have no reason to fear us or attack us. We will not fire on your ship. If we wished to harm you, we could have destroyed your ship when you first attacked us two days ago. We could destroy it now if we wished. We have been observing you for the past hour and could have destroyed your ship at any time during that period as well, but we have not. I repeat, we have no wish to harm you. We only wish to talk and to transfer Commander Tarasek and the remainder of his crew to your ship."

  "Within laser range in thirteen seconds, Captain," Spock said. "No sign of overloading in antimatter generator as yet."

  "To demonstrate our peaceful intentions—and our patience—we will allow you to fire at the Enterprise if you wish to do so," Kirk said, speaking even more quickly. "We will not return the fire."

  Even as Kirk finished speaking, the deflector shields flared violently, cutting off the direct visual image of the approaching Hoshan ship.

  "Deflectors holding as predicted, Captain," Spock said, continuing to study the science station instruments. "Still no sign of intentional antimatter overload."

  "The ship is no longer on a collision course, sir!" Chekov said, a note of triumph in his voice. "It will now miss us by more than fifteen kilometers."

  "And how long can they keep that up, Mr. Spock?" Kirk asked, gesturing at the viewscreen image of the flaring deflector shields.

  "Approximately seven minutes at the present level, Captain."

  At two minutes, the Hoshan ship shot past the Enterprise, still firing.

  At two minutes and forty seconds, it made a second, even closer pass.

  At three minutes and ten seconds, it made a third. At three minutes and thirty seconds, it came to a dead stop little more than three kilometers distant, still firing. The deflector shields toward the Hoshan ship were a wall of scintillating radiation, stretching into the ultraviolet and beyond.

  "All Hoshan power drive being diverted to lasers, Captain," Spock said a moment later. "The additional power will reduce the effective life of the lasers by approximately forty-five seconds. Still no sign of antimatter overload."

  "Open the channel to the Hoshan ship, Lieutenant Uhura," Kirk said, and when it was done he repeated what Spock had said, except for the remark about the antimatter. "When your lasers cease functioning in another two minutes," he finished, "perhaps we can start talking. Lieutenant, leave the channel open."

  The first laser failed in less than one minute, the final one a minute and a half after that. Five seconds after the final failure, yet another burst of compressed subspace radiation was emitted, this one forty-eight milliseconds in length.

  "Antimatter overload sequence beginning, Captain."

  "Destroying yourself by exploding your antimatter generators will not harm us," Kirk said quickly. "We can monitor the process and be out of danger before the explosion occurs. The ones you call the Destroyers already tried it with us, and it didn't work for them, either."

  "Still increasing, Captain. Twenty-six seconds to terminal overload."

  "Ready for maximum warp, Mr. Sulu, at my command."

  "Ready, Captain."

  "You saw how easily we outran you the first time we met," Kirk said. "We can do the same again. We can outrun the danger from your exploding antimatter generators. You will kill only yourselves, no one else!"

  "Fourteen seconds, Captain."

  "Mr. Sulu, max—"

  "Overload stabilizing, Captain," Spock cut in.

  "Stay ready, Mr. Sulu. Spock, what's happening?"

  "It is similar to what the Zeator ship did, Captain. They have stablized the overload. However, they have not yet reversed the sequence."

  "In effect, they're holding—at what? Ten seconds?"

  "Twelve, Captain."

  "And presumably they could restart the clock whenever they want?"

  "It is likely, Captain."

  "Tarasek? Any thoughts?"

  "That they stopped at all is surprising. If it were my ship, I would have allowed it to continue!"

  "Of course you would!" the computer translated for Bolduc, in whose voice Kirk detected what he had come to recognize as sarcasm. The Hoshan had made several oblique remarks before but had always backed down when pressed for further information. Nor had he ever before sounded so vehement, and Kirk couldn't help but wonder if the Hoshan were simply unable to hold back any longer or if the fact that the words were being broadcast to another Hoshan ship might have something to do with the sudden outburst. "I have seen your performance under fire before, Commander!" Bolduc finished sharply.

  "That is enough, Bolduc!" Tarasek snapped.

  "Is it, now? When the Tromak was struck by the Destroyer ships, I was knocked unconscious, but not before I saw you try to reach the override control! If you had been able—"

  "Silence!"

  "Tarasek!" With startling suddenness, a new voice burst from the speakers on the bridge, and everyone's eyes snapped to the Hoshan ship on the main viewscreen. "Are Bolduc's words true?"

  "They are." The computer translated Radzyk's thin, distinctive voice.

  "He lies!"

  "I do not believe so, T arasek," the new voice said. "Their words have the ring of truth about them."

  "But you yourself have just now overridden the—"

  "Present circumstances are quite different, Tarasek! Whether or not I believe the words of this alien commander who has captured you, I must believe my eyes and my instruments. I have seen those things of which he speaks, and I have seen my weapons rendered useless by his ship's defenses. I think it is time we learned more."
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  Abruptly, there was silence, and when the voice came again, it was obvious that it was no longer addressing Tarasek. "I will speak with you, Commander of the Enterprise. I will not, for now, reverse the overload sequence you say you are able to monitor, but neither will I continue it. We will speak."

  A collective sigh of relief swept the bridge. Even Spock seemed to relax a tiny fraction.

  "That is all we ask at the moment, Commander," Kirk said. "That's all we ask."

  For more than an hour, they talked—Hrozak, the commander of the Hoshan vessel, Bolduc and Radzyk, and Kirk and the others on the bridge, even, briefly, the Zeator—with Kirk slowly allowing himself to feel a grudging admiration for the alien commander. He could easily see himself in Hrozak's position had he been born a Hoshan rather than a human a billion parsecs or a billion years away. Protection of his home world was everything to Hrozak, as protection of the Federation—of earth—was to Kirk. But Hrozak paid a dearer price than most Federation Starfleet captains. Even under so-called normal circumstances, Hrozak's chances of ever again setting foot on his home world were slim. With the Enterprise in the picture, those chances had been essentially reduced to zero.

  "We cannot take the chance," Hrozak said, much as the Zeator had said earlier. "No matter what my personal judgment is, we cannot take the chance."

  "And if we had joined you against the Zeator?" Kirk asked. "The Destroyers, as you call them? If we had put on a show of attacking them and destroying their ships? Would you have trusted us enough then?"

  "Perhaps, in time, but I cannot know what others would say. We would have only your word that the ships you destroyed were genuine, not simply dummies constructed to be destroyed for our benefit. Or even that the ships were truly destroyed. I strongly suspect that our sensors can be fooled as easily as our eyes by the devices you possess."

  "But why would we want to trick you?" Kirk asked for what seemed the hundredth time.

  "If I knew that, then I would know everything," Hrozak said. "As it is, I can only assume the worst, that you have allied yourself with our enemies—or that you are our enemies, despite the appearance and apparent abilities of your ship."

  Kirk sighed faintly, unable to think of any argument not already made, any demonstration that he himself would, in Hrozak's place, consider proof positive. "If you would like—" he began, but Spock's voice cut him off.

  "Antimatter overload becoming more unstable,

  Captain."

  "How much time—"

  "Unknown, Captain, but the overload is growing at a much slower rate than before. The rate, however, is itself uneven."

  "Commander Kirk," Hrozak's sharply spoken words were translated, "I have not resumed the sequence!"

  "I suspect he has not, Captain," Spock said. "Nonetheless, the overload is once again growing." He paused momentarily, his eyes taking in a new reading even as it appeared. "The rate of increase appears to have stabilized. Barring further changes, terminal overload will occur in twelve-point-eight minutes. At the previous rate, it would occur in less than twelve seconds."

  "A malfunction, Mr. Spock?"

  "It would seem so."

  "Commander Hrozak, I would suggest—"

  "It is already being done, Commander Kirk."

  "If you can't bring it under control," Kirk offered, "we can take you aboard the Enterprise before any explosion."

  For nearly a minute, only silence came from the Hoshan ship.

  "Overload stabilizing once again, Captain," Spock announced. And then, a moment later: "Now decreasing. They appear to have reversed the sequence."

  "We have," Hrozak said. And then, after a pause: "We would seem to be in your debt, even though we still cannot allow ourselves to fully trust you or your Destroyer friend."

  "We don't ask that you trust us blindly," Kirk said.

  "We don't ask for the location of your home world. We only ask that you agree to take aboard the three Hoshan from the Tromak. And accept the translators that allow you to communicate, not only with us but with the Zeator. Speak with your leaders, tell them what we have told you, tell them what you have seen. Tell them that there is at least a small chance that the war that you have been carrying on for nearly two hundred years could be ended with no more bloodshed on either side."

  "And the Destroyer? The Zeator, as you call him?"

  "We will try to get his people to do the same. And whether or not we are successful, we will do whatever we can to get you and the Zeator to talking directly with each other."

  Again there was only silence from the Hoshan ship. Spock continued to study his readouts, on the alert for any sudden change, while Kirk waited, as silently as the Hoshan commander. When Sulu turned from the helmsman's station as if to speak, Kirk held up a quieting hand.

  Finally, after more than a minute, the Hoshan commander spoke. "The one thing we have not seen is your own firepower," Hrozak said. "If you are willing, expel one of the probes you say you carry. Allow us to take it within our own shields and inspect it with our own sensors. Then, if you are able, you can demonstrate your firepower by destroying the probe through our shields."

  Kirk smiled faintly. "There might be some danger to you. How large a volume can your shields enclose?"

  "Not so great as yours, but great enough. We are willing to take the risk."

  Kirk turned to Scott, who had been on the bridge throughout the talks with the Hoshan. "How about it, Scotty? Can the phasers be set fine enough to take out a probe without damaging the Hoshan ship?"

  "Without touching the ship, aye. However, I canna do anything about the secondary radiation from the phaser impact."

  "You heard, Commander Hrozak?" Kirk asked.

  "I heard. Our ships are built to withstand such radiation without our shields. We are still willing to take the risk to make sure that you are not all shell and no teeth."

  "Yes," Kirk said, smiling faintly, "that very thought had crossed my own mind. Very well. Mr. Spock, transport a probe to the vicinity of the Hoshan ship."

  "As you wish, Captain," Spock said, turning to the auxiliary control panel. "Probe launched," he said seconds later. "It is now five hundred meters from the Hoshan ship."

  "We might as well make this as impressive as possible. Mr. Scott, can we perform this operation from a greater distance? Say from just beyond the effective range of the Hoshan lasers?"

  "Their effective range now is zero, Captain."

  "I know that, Scotty. Their original effective range."

  "Aye, Captain, we can."

  "Very well. Mr. Sulu, take us back, impulse power. Commander Hrozak, you heard what was said. Are you still willing to take the risk?"

  "I am. And our sensors show nothing in the probe that you had not said was there. You may proceed whenever you wish."

  "Beyond laser range, Captain," Sulu said a minute later.

  "Excellent. Lock phasers onto the probe, Mr. Sulu, very carefully. How far is the probe from the Hoshan ship, Mr. Spock?"

  "Fifteen hundred meters, Captain. A shield with that range would be consistent with the Hoshan technology."

  "Ready, Commander Hrozak?"

  "Ready, Commander Kirk."

  "Very well. Phasers locked on, Mr. Sulu?"

  "Phasers locked on, sir."

  "Minimum-duration burst, Mr. Sulu. Fire."

  Instantaneously, a single blue-white beam seared a path from the Enterprise to the probe, lancing through the Hoshan screens with virtually no lessening of intensity. Almost as quickly, the beam winked out, the only evidence of its brief existence a sparking, bubbling wound across half the face of the probe.

  "Radiation levels, Mr. Spock?"

  "One-eight-seven at the surface of the Hoshan ship, Captain, but less than one percent of that within the crew compartment. Well within safety limits."

  "Commander Hrozak?"

  Once again there was silence from the Hoshan ship, but this time for only fifteen seconds. "Very well, Commander Kirk," Hrozak's translated voice s
aid, "you obviously have teeth as well as a shell. And no matter how hard I try, I can no longer see any persuasive reason for someone with your obvious capabilities to have to resort to the kind of trickery we have been discussing, or any other kind. Therefore, I will do as you ask. I will take your translators and your message and my records of what I have seen to my superiors. I will do what I can, but I can promise nothing."

  "Thank you, Commander, that's all we ask. We will transport the crew of the Tromak and the translators whenever you're ready."

  Cutting off the channel to the Hoshan ship, Kirk glanced around the bridge with a grim smile. "One down, gentlemen," he said, "one to go."

  Chapter Fourteen

  IN MANY WAYS, the meeting—confrontation—with the Zeator was a replay of that with the Hoshan. Scotty, forced to watch not just one ship but four smother the Enterprise in wave after wave of unreturned fire, at first looked as pained as before, but finally, like Sulu's, his features took on a grimly prideful look.

  The commander of one of the guard ships, however, despite all the logic Kirk could muster and all the pleas that Atragon could manage, refused to halt his ship's overload sequence. Its antimatter fuel vaporized the entire ship and disabled the nearby ship that Atragon had been on. Luckily it left the two more distant ships untouched. Also luckily for the crew of the disabled ship, Spock, having analyzed the signals needed to trigger the suicide implants, was able to override them long enough to allow McPhee, once again in the transporter room, to lock onto the survivors and pull them from the disabled ship before its automatic circuits took over and completed the overload sequence its commander had attempted to halt moments earlier, before the disabling of his ship had taken that option from him.

  As a necessary precaution, the Zeator brought aboard the Enterprise were stunned by phaser fire as they materialized, but they were kept unconscious only long enough to take them to the medical section to confirm what Atragon had said about the implanted devices and to disable the auxiliary triggering mechanisms in their rings. Atragon, his words relayed directly to the bridge and from there via subspace radio to the two remaining Zeator ships, talked almost continually from the moment of the ship's explosion, explaining what was being done, and why, including an account of the Hoshan who had succeeded in detonating the Hoshan version of the implant, vaporizing himself and seriously injuring one of the humans.