"That's it for the shields, Captain. We nae
kinna
stand another direct hit."
Kirk knew the answer to his question before he
asked it. "Can you get us out of here, Scotty?"
"All we've got is impulse power, sir.
We can't
outrun those phasers."
"In other words," Kirk said grimly, "we're
sitting
ducks."
Spock looked up from his scanner. "I fail
to see how
our situation is comparable to that of an aquatic
waterfowls"
"Oh, shut up," said McCoy.
Spock raised a surprised eyebrow and
returned to
his scanner.
Kirk paid them no attention. "Divert all power
to
the deflectors, Mr. Scott."
"The cloakin" device too, sir?"
"And all the impulse power you've got."
"Sir." Scott was deeply offended by the thought of
his engines motionless, powerless.
"Do it, Scotty. Now."
"The blasts are occurring at approximately
one
minute intervals," Spock offered helpfully.
"I estimate
the next one will arrive in twenty seconds."
"She'll stop it, Jim," McCoy said. "I
know she'll do
everything she can to stop it."
"Let's hope you're right, Bones."
"Fifteen seconds," said Spock.
"She's really a Romulan," Kirk said.
"I'll be damned," McCoy whispered. "That
explains something... the to evirol."
"The what?"
"Eleven seconds," Spock chanted.
"Levirol. It's a drug that elevates
blood pressure
and slows the pulse. Emma was taking it . . .
no
wonder our sensors never showed an extra
Romulan
on board ship."
"She wanted me to give you a message."
Kirk
lowered his voice so that only McCoy could hear.
"She says she loves you."
"Six seconds."
"Damnit, Spock," McCoy yelled, "if
we must all
be blown to kingdom come in the next few seconds,
I
do not want your countdown to be the last thing I
hear."
Spock regarded the doctor with mild
surprise.
"He's right, Spock," Kirk said quietly;
but internally,
he continued the countdown. Four seconds...
Scott came back on the intercom. "I'm
sorry, Captain...
I can't raise enough power to get the deflectors
back up."
There was no point in bracing for the explosion.
They would be vaporized by a direct
hit, or in the case
of an indirect hit, struck by flying debris as
the bridge
shattered, or asphyxiated when the inner hull
tore. But
Kirk braced for the shock in spite of himself, and
prayed that Tanirius had made it to the weapons
room
before she changed her mind...
MINDSHADOW
Spock rose so suddenly from his scanner that
Kirk
almost jumped out of his chair. "Explosion,
Captain,
beneath the planet surface. I believe in the area
of..."
he squinted back at the viewer, "... the
weapons
room. The Romulans have lost attack
capability."
McCoy grabbed the captain's wrist, his face
splitting
with a grin. "She did it, Jim! She did it!"
Kirk released his breath slowly and
smiled weakly
up at McCoy as he reached toward the intercom.
"Scotty."
"Aye, Captain?"
"Forget those deflector shields. Just give us
enough
impulse power to nudge her back into orbit."
"With pleasure, sir."
"Standard orbit, Mr. Sulu. Uhura, open
a hailing
frequency to the Romulans. I want to speak
to whoever's
in charge."
"Captain," Spock interrupted, "six fighter
vessels
beaming up from the hangar area to the surface---"
"Let them go for now."
"Captain," said Uhura, "I have the Romulan
sub-commander."
Kirk caught his breath silently. "Put her
on the
screen, Lieutenant."
The Romulan male was young for his rank, the
equivalent of a starship captain. Tears streamed
down
his soot-smudged face, more from the sting of the thick
smoke than from grief or pain. From behind him
came
the death-cries of his fellows; he glared at
Kirk with
undisguised hatred.
"Captain," Spock said.
"Not now, Spock."
Spock persisted. "An explosion, sir, in the
hangar
area. The vessels that remained have been
destroyed."
Kirk studied the face on the screen for a moment
before speaking. "This is Captain James T.
Kirk of the Enterprise. Are you the commander of the
base?"
"Subcommander Tardus. My superiors are
dead. I
now command."
"Subcommander, we know that you have lost your
cloaking device, your weapons and your vessels.
I
suggest you cooperate with us."
The young Romulan regarded him haughtily.
"In
what manner, Captain?"
"We will assist your surviving personnel
to evacuate."
"To become your prisoners," Tardus said with
utter
disgust.
"To be processed and then released to your
government."
Tardus struggled unsuccessfully to suppress a
cough. "To be used as prisoners to bargain with the
Empire. This is totally unacceptable to us,
Captain.
Surely you know that we will never surrender ourselves."
A painful spasm of coughing overtook him;
afterwards, he glared at Kirk through dull eyes.
"This
is the work of Federation spies, but we shall take them
with us. You shall learn no more about our installation,
Captain Kirk."
"We already know everything about your installation,"
Kirk said quickly. "No purpose would be
served by your death--"
"Captain," Uhura's voice was gentle,
"he's no
longer transmitting."
The flash that lit up the bridge was blinding, forcing
those present to shield their eyes until the screen
faded
to blackness. Slowly, the familiar sight of
Aritani
reappeared.
"The entire operation has been destroyed,"
Spock
reported from his viewer, "with the exception of a few
mining tunnels. Shock waves on the surface
reaching
MINDSHADOW
six-point-three on the Richter scale." He
looked
steadily at Kirk. "No survivors beneath the
surface,
Captain."
Kirk's gaze was fierce and directed straight
ahead at
&nbs
p; the quietly rotating planet. He could not meet
McCoy's
eyes; he knew the horror in them matched his
own.
The grass no longer grew as high as
Kirk's hip; in
most places the soil had been bared by the
pirates'
phasers, leaving black, evil-smelling scars.
The neat
rows of golden vines had disappeared entirely from
the
landscape, burned from existence, but the grass
persisted. Already it crept back in timid
blue-green
clumps to cover the blackened earth.
Kirk called out.
There was a rustling sound near the side of the
mountain, and the sound of small footsteps.
Natahia
appeared from behind the charred stump of what was
once a great tree. Around her stood three
male
growers who carried handmade spears.
"The pirates are gone," Kirk called. "The
earthquake
resulted from the destruction of their ships and
weapons."
They stopped several feet from Kirk.
Natahia's
beautiful blue robe was torn and heavy with mud;
her
streaming hair was wild and unkempt. But her
manner
was as regal as it had always been.
She eyed Kirk distru/lly. "Six of my people
died
in that earthquake."
"I'm sorry," Kirk said gently. "But there will
be no
more earthquakes, and no more attacks on your people.
Our enemies were using your planet as a military
base. Their weapons were hidden beneath the ground.
They wanted control of Aritani because of its
minerals
and so that they could control other nearby planets
from it as well. When we discovered their base, they
killed themselves and destroyed the base rather than
be taken prisoner."
Natahia closed her eyes. "So we stand at
last on the
bones of our enemies. And what does the Federation
want with us now?"
"We only want to offer our assistance to help you
rebuild what the pirates have
destroyed."
"We require no assistance in rebuilding our
huts--"
"I was speaking of the land, Natahia. To restore
it to
what it was."
Her eyes widened slightly. The growers with her
whispered among themselves with hopeful excitement,
but she silenced them with a quick motion of her
hand. "You have methods for doing so?"
"Yes. We can make your land fertile again. We
can
help you to produce crops quickly so that your people
can be fed."
Natahia's voice suddenly sounded very old and
feeble. "We have been eating the small animals
and
birds--it was repugnant, but necessary for
survival."
"Our offer is unconditional. However, the offer
to
join the Federation remains open."
Natahia bowed her head for a moment; when she
raised it again, her eyes had lost some of their
proudness.
"I have learned many things since the pirates
forced us to flee to the caves in the mountains. If
we
had not banded together, we would certainly have
starved. We have learned to be dependent."
"And is it such a bad thing?" Kirk asked.
"I cannot say that it is always bad, nor can I
say that
it is always good, for it often forces one to compromise
one's belief. I would call it a necessary evil."
Kirk looked down at the scarred earth and thought
of those who lay beneath it. "Sometimes, Natahia,
we
MINDSHADOW
must do things we despise, in order to achieve a
greater good."
"I must agree with you, Captain Kirk. I
speak now
for all the growers who have survived. We do not
value technology or the weapons it has
produced, but
we do value our way of life, so much so that we
will
not permit other invaders to destroy it again. And so
we shall compromise our beliefs to some
extent in
order to preserve them. We welcome the
assistance of
the Federation and wish to ally ourselves with it."
Captain's Log, Stardate 7008.4:
The Enterprise is leaving Aritani with two
extra
passengers: the Aritanian delegation to the
Federation.
Following the delivery of all diplomats to
their appropriate destinations, we will proceed to
Star Base Two for some long overdue shore
leave.
Kirk turned off the recorder and turned to look
at
McCoy. The doctor stood watching Aritani
turn
slowly on the viewscreen.
"Slow day at the office, Bones?"
"Not much to do in sick bay these days," McCoy
replied, keeping his eyes on the screen.
"A lovely place, wasn't it?" Kirk said
softly.
"What? Oh... yes, I suppose it was."
Kirk gave up his attempt at
conversation. McCoy
had for once come to the bridge for something else...
she was there, somewhere far below the surface, and
this was the only way he had to say good-bye.
When Spock stepped off the turbolift, the
captain
and the doctor were too entranced by the viewscreen
to notice. He walked over to Kirk's side and
cleared
his throat delicately.
Kirk glanced up. "What is it, Spock?"
"The Aritanian delegation has been properly
welcomed
aboard and escorted to their quarters, Captain."
"Good." Kirk sat up straight in his chair.
"I have
the feeling that this time the return trip from Aritani
will be a little less eventful."
"I sincerely hope so, Captain." Spock
turned to
regard McCoy's faraway stare. "You have been
un-characteristically
reticent as of late, Doctor."
Kirk winced. Surely Spock was
aware of McCoy's
feelings for Emma, and was capable of greater
tact...
McCoy tore his gaze from the screen at last.
"I suppose
I have, Spock," he said with unusual
seriousness.
"I think Spock misses his daily argument,"
Kirk
said in an attempt to lighten the situation.
Spock did not acknowledge the captain's
remark. "I
can surmise the cause of your depression,
Doctor, and
while I am not insensitive to it, I feel that
condolences
are somewhat premature."
McCoy suddenly became alert. "What are you
talking
about, Spock?"
"Six fighter vessels are still unaccounted for,
Doctor.
I submit that Tanirius, or Dr. Saenz
if you wish,
was on one of them."
"How would yo
u know?" McCoy struggled angrily
against hope.
"It is a perfectly logical assumption,
Doctor. The
most likely candidates to evacuate the hangar
in the
seconds preceding its destruction would be those who
knew it was going to explode."
McCoy sounded bitterly tired. "Or maybe
just rats
deserting what they figured was a sinking ship after the
weapons room was destroyed. Do you think I
haven't
thought about it, Spock? But she would have let me
know she was alive--"
Spock seemed to think for a moment before he
MINDSHADOW
spoke again. "I rather doubt that they were rats, as you
call them, Doctor, considering the fact that shortly
before he left for his new assignment, Mr. Varth
informed me that precisely six Federation
sympathizers
were working at the Romulan installation, including
Tanirius."
A small spark of hope entered McCoy and
slowly
warmed. "Is that true, Spock?"
Spock gave a slight nod.
"But why wouldn't she tell me? why would she
leave me to think that she was dead?"
"Perhaps it is necessary for her to be presumed
dead, to protect her from the wrath of the
Praetor."
The spark dimmed. "Then even if she is
alive... she couldn't risk seeing me again."
"Not as Tanirius," said Spock, "or as
Emma Saenz,
but perhaps..."
McCoy actually smiled weakly at the
Vulcan. "It'll
never happen, Spock, but it's nice to think
about." He
squared his shoulders. "Guess I'd better get
back to
sick bay."
"I thought you didn't have any work," Kirk
protested.
"Did I say that? I can't imagine what I
must have
been thinking of." McCoy walked with a slightly
brisker step to the turbolift and did not look
back at the
viewscreen again.
Kirk waited for the lift to close before turning to
face his first officer. "Thank you."
Spock frowned in puzzlement. "For what,
Captain?"
"For letting McCoy think she. might still be
alive.
We Earthers have a word for it-compassion."
"Call it what you will," Spock replied
stiffly, "considering
the doctor's current mental state, I thought
he
should be made aware of the possibility--"
"Then what you said about Varth and the six
sympathizers--comt
was true?"
Without changing his expression, Spock managed
to
convey the fact that he had been highly insulted.
"I
would not intentionally attempt to mislead the good
doctor..."
Kirk sighed. "And every woman he meets,
Star Trek-TOS-027-Mindshadow Page 28
