STAR TREK: TOS - Errand of Vengeance, Book Two - Killing Blow

by Kevin Ryan

  “We have experienced a technical and navigational failure. We are here by ... accident.”

  Spock heard the doctor mutter under his breath. The doctor’s intimation was biologically impossible, since Klingons did not communicate with that portion of their anatomy. However, Spock agreed that it was likely the Klingon was lying.

  [209] The Vulcan turned to the officer at the science station. “Sensors?”

  “Nothing unusual on the Klingon vessel, sir,” the junior science officer replied.

  “Our scans show nothing unusual on your ship,” Spock said to the Klingon.

  “I said we have a malfunction,” the Klingon said, raising his voice. Spock recognized the tone as threatening. Logically, if the Klingon was trying to threaten him, he did not necessarily intend hostile action. Of course, that did not mean the Klingon would not act with hostility if pressed.

  “We will be there shortly. At that time, we can offer you assistance and escort you back to Klingon space,” Spock said.

  “We do not need your assistance,” the Klingon said.

  “You just indicated that you were still experiencing a malfunction. We can send an engineering team to assist in your repairs,” Spock said. “Logically—”

  The Klingon seemed furious, and shouted, “If a single one of you tries to board this ship, we will destroy you!”

  Spock studied him impassively for a moment, which seemed to make the Klingon angrier. “I have only offered assistance. You, however, have violated standing agreements between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Your presence is an act of war.”

  “Are you threatening me, Vulcan?” the Klingon said.

  “I am merely pointing out—”

  “I will not be threatened by you!” the Klingon shouted. A moment later, his face was replaced by the familiar starfield.

  [210] “You do seem to have a way with people, Mr. Spock,” the doctor said from behind him.

  The Vulcan ignored the comment.

  “The Klingon vessel?” Spock asked the junior science officer, who took a moment to check the science station viewer.

  “The ship is still heading for the red-giant system, sir,” the officer replied.

  The Klingon was lying, that much was clear. Thus, it was difficult to formulate a rational basis for his actions. If the Klingon’s actions defied logic, perhaps an emotional analysis would be helpful.

  Spock turned to the doctor, who was standing over his right shoulder. “Doctor, do you have any thoughts?”

  McCoy seemed surprised to be asked, “I can’t tell you what he’s doing here or what he wants, but I can tell you that he seems inexperienced and lacks confidence. He seemed upset that you were questioning him, as if the insult were personal.”

  The Vulcan nodded. The doctor’s analysis was logical, yet not immediately useful. For the moment, he had little choice but to track the Klingon ship and insure that it did not threaten any Federation interests. However, that seemed unlikely since it was headed for a remote and uninhabited system.

  The most serious danger at the moment was to the captain. He was on a planet with an entrenched and no doubt heavily armed enemy. And given Kirk’s impetuous nature, Spock doubted he was taking reasonable precautions for his own safety.

  For the moment, there was nothing Spock or the Enterprise could do but wait. [211] Karel’s blood still burned. Klak’s communication with the Vulcan had been an embarrassment. He had accomplished nothing and had let the Vulcan antagonize him.

  Honor demanded that he not raise a hand to Klak, and he would do as honor required, but he thought that, in this case, honor was a very difficult master.

  Chapter Twenty

  THE INFORMATION Lieutenant West wanted appeared on the screen. He said a silent thanks to Admiral Justman, whose order had given West top-level security clearance and access to virtually any file or piece of information in the Starfleet computer system.

  He committed the information to memory and got up from his desk. The watch officer gave him a strange look. It was the first time he had left his office this early since he had accepted the post to the admiral’s staff.

  In the corridor, West noted that the halls seemed more crowded than usual. Then he realized that he usually left his office when most of the people currently in the corridor were asleep.

  He also realized how little of the Starfleet complex he [213] had explored. Since his own quarters were close to his office, he had had little reason to do so. As he discovered, the residence areas were huge. Nevertheless, he was finally able to find the hallway he was looking for. Then it was a simple matter of reading door signs until he found the right number.

  When he reached the right door, he realized that he could not hesitate for a moment. Otherwise, he might not be able to do what he had come to do.

  The stars favor the bold, he thought, and pressed the button outside the door.

  A moment later, the doors opened and Yeoman Hatcher leaned out. She had an odd look on her face, as if she were ... what? Annoyed?

  “Hello, Yeoman Hatcher,” he said. “I’m Lieutenant West.”

  He saw no recognition in her eyes.

  “From Admiral Justman’s staff,” he added.

  There it was, recognition, and something else. Was she annoyed? The expression almost looked like suspicion.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  West swallowed. He had been busy on his thesis his last year at the Academy and had let the social side of his life slide. But he had done this before and he didn’t remember it being this difficult.

  And Yeoman Hatcher had smiled at him on a number of occasions before her leave. He was sure of it.

  He felt like he had left a circuit open on his atomic pile and was losing power. He had to do something to get the conversation on track.

  “How was your vacation?” he asked.

  [214] “My what?” she asked.

  “Your vacation. ... You were on leave,” he said.

  She studied him for a moment. “It was ... restful,” she said in a cold voice.

  Was she upset that he had checked up on her? Or had he just caught her on a bad day?

  He was committed now. He decided to see this through to the end. “Have you had dinner yet?” he asked, knowing that she had not.

  “No,” she said flatly. The tone did not invite anything more, but West was determined.

  “Have you ever heard of the Six Oh Two club?” he asked.

  “No, what is it?” she said impatiently.

  “It is a bar, in town ... would you like to go there? ... Tonight? ... With me?” he said.

  For the first time an emotion he understood crossed her face. She was surprised.

  “You want me to accompany you to dinner?” she asked.

  “Yes, I mean, if you wouldn’t—” he began.

  “No,” she said, in her flat tone.

  It didn’t make sense, he thought. She had smiled at him.

  “Maybe another time then,” he said, trying to retain some dignity in his voice.

  “No,” she said. “I do not wish to.”

  Then she pushed past him and said, “I have to go.”

  Dumbfounded, he watched her stride down the corridor.

  Well, he thought, that is one regret I can cross off my list.

  She must have been having a bad day. Yet, she didn’t [215] seem to want to hear from him again. He had been turned down before, but the girls had usually been at least polite.

  As he watched her disappear down the corridor, he realized what else was bothering him. It was her walk. It seemed different somehow.

  Maybe she pulled something, or injured herself on leave, he thought as he headed back to his office.

  For the first time, Kell saw the Orion installation, rising above the trees. It did not look like much. A simple prefabricated structure of five or six levels, barely large enough to house the two hundred Orions who lived there.

  “Most of the structure will be underground,
sir,” Leslie Parrish said from behind him, studying her tricorder.

  Of course, Kell thought. She grew up on a mining planet.

  Kirk stopped and turned to listen to her.

  “That is just the residence area. Nine-tenths of the operation—the actual mine, the warp reactors—and the heavy equipment are all underground,” she said.

  Their scout pointed to the residence and said, “A tunnel leads from that building to the upper level of the mining facility.”

  Kell translated and Kirk nodded. “Perhaps we can catch some of them napping,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  A few minutes later, the landing party was peering over a small rise at the front of the residence, which was perhaps two hundred meters away. Kell could see a large, fully-enclosed tunnel that led to another, single-level structure.

  [216] Kirk studied the scene.

  “Defenses?” Kirk asked.

  Kell repeated the question to the scout, who replied, “They have the same weapons as the green skins use, but they are larger and fire by themselves.”

  “Automated cannons, Captain,” the Klingon said to Kirk.

  “Our friend wouldn’t happen to know their positions?” Kirk asked.

  Before Kell could reply, he noticed that the Klingon scout was moving: he sneaked over the rise and darted toward the building.

  “What is he doing?” Kell heard Benitez exclaim from nearby.

  Then Kell watched as one of the automated cannons popped out of a panel in the building near the ground.

  The cannon fired directly at the place where the Klingon was a moment before. It made a large crater in the ground, and Kell understood that it was much more powerful than even the platform-based cannons the Orions had used.

  Then Kell realized what the Klingon was doing. He was showing them the location of the defenses.

  Before the thought had finished forming in Kell’s head, Kirk was already in motion, raising his phaser rifle and firing it at the cannon.

  It exploded with remarkable force, shattering several square meters of the façade of the building.

  By then the Klingon scout was racing back and forth across the open field in front of the building. More cannons appeared and tried to track him.

  [217] Kell was already on his feet, as were Brantley and the rest of the squad. They followed Kirk into the open. Suddenly there were a dozen cannons firing at the various moving targets.

  Kell saw Kirk roll and come up firing at another cannon, which exploded. He realized that the cannons must be unshielded. It made sense. The Orions thought their only enemies were primitives.

  Typical Orion arrogance, Kell thought as his own phaser rifle found its mark. Then Kell was moving again.

  He saw cannon after cannon disintegrate under the teams’ combined fire. Kell found one more target himself before they were all gone.

  He felt a hand patting him on the shoulder. It was Benitez, who smiled and said, “Flash, this is almost unfair. Maybe we should tell the others to take a break. You and I can take care of the rest.”

  Kell studied his roommate for a moment and then replied seriously, “You think it will require both of us?”

  The human laughed out loud and said, “You’re okay, Flash. You’re really coming along.”

  By then the scout had rejoined the group.

  “Thank you,” Kirk said to the Klingon, who needed no translation and nodded.

  Kirk turned to the group and said, “Let’s get inside and try the direct approach.”

  Kell approved. A direct assault was best. The Orions were not warriors in any real sense. They only fought when they had great advantage. A direct show of strength might well make their resistance crumble.

  [218] The team crossed the field to the tunnel. Inside, they could see a few Orions scurrying through the transparent aluminum structure. The Orions saw them and hurried on. As the Klingon suspected, they had no heart for a fight.

  Ensign Jawer was the first at the tunnel’s exterior access door. The door was large enough for Orions and looked very solid.

  “It’s locked,” Jawer said. Already the ensign was trying to pry open the control panel.

  “Give me a minute,” he said. “I might be able to—”

  Kirk put a restraining hand on Jawer and said, “Stand back, everyone.”

  Everyone fell back a few meters and Kirk leveled his phaser rifle at the door. He fired and the door blew inside the tunnel, twisting into a ball of metal.

  Kirk stepped through the door opening. Chief Brantley did the same, motioning the squad to follow. Before he stepped through himself, Brantley turned back and said, “And that, recruits, is why he is the captain.”

  Stepping inside, Kell was careful not to touch any of the still red-hot metal around the door. In the tunnel he saw Kirk and Brantley already running at full speed toward the mining complex.

  Kell was immediately following them at a run himself. It was only after a few steps that he saw why they were running. At the end of the tunnel, perhaps a quarter of a kilometer away, a blast door was closing. It was large, the full hundred-meter width of the tunnel and half that high. It was moving slowly but was already more than halfway closed.

  [219] Even as he gave the run everything he had, he could see that they would not make it. The door shut with a deep and resounding clang when they were still fifty meters away from it.

  Kirk came to a stop, using a unique array of human expletives.

  Jawer sized up the door and said, “Give me a minute with it. I might be able to get it open.”

  The words were barely out of Jawer’s mouth when Kell heard a familiar hiss. He was trying to place it when he heard the captain yell, “Overload timer, drop!”

  Then Kell was diving for the floor and covering his head and neck with his arms.

  The explosion was loud in the enclosed tunnel, and he felt the hot blast pass over his head.

  After a few seconds, he judged it safe to get up. As he did, he surveyed the door. He could see where the three explosive bolts on each side of the door had detonated. The result was that the heavy door had fused solidly to the frame.

  Kell counted the seven phaser rifles and did some quick calculations in his head. They might be able to blast through ... if they had some extra power packs and a few months to spare.

  No one said anything until the captain turned around and said, “Let’s go back to the residence and see if we can find some answers there.”

  They moved quickly through the tunnel and saw the opening to the residence area. It was open, and there was no blast door.

  They stepped inside, seeing a small amount of debris. [220] The tunnel had obviously focused the explosion into the residence and there were pieces of furniture and equipment nearby.

  As the landing party and their Klingon scout stepped inside, Kell guessed they were in some sort of large recreation room. Despite the damage caused by the blast, he could still make out some of the equipment in the room.

  He shuddered at the thought of what the Orions did for their entertainment.

  “Look for a computer terminal,” Kirk said, and the teams spread out, Kell and Benitez staying together. They found one terminal broken, then another.

  Finally, he heard Jawer’s voice call out: “I have one here, sir.”

  The rest of the landing party converged on Jawer’s position. The ensign was huddled over the terminal. On the screen, there were some graphics that meant nothing to Kell and some Orion characters that he recognized but could not read.

  “Anyone read Orion?” Kirk asked.

  No one did.

  “This terminal is pretty standard,” Jawer said. “There should be a translation circuit.”

  Then the ensign hit a switch and the display changed to English words and numerals. Suddenly, Kell had a very bad feeling.

  “It’s a countdown,” Kirk said. “For what?”

  Then Kell recognized what he was looking at. It was a warp-core schematic.

  “Tw
o countdowns. They have some sort of pickup planned,” Jawer said. Then he studied the screen again [221] for a moment and said in a remarkably calm voice, “They have also set the warp reactor to go critical in just under an hour. Their pickup will come just before that.”

  “Can we stop it?” Kirk asked.

  Jawer studied the schematic. “Yes, if we can get inside. The computer has taken all of the safety protocols offline. We would just need to reset the system manually, but I would have to be with the reactor. The computer’s controls are locked out.”

  Kirk nodded. “If we can’t get there, can we evacuate Gorath’s people? How far away do we need to get?”

  Jawer quickly manipulated the computer’s controls, obviously trying to do the calculations.

  Parrish stepped forward and said, “Sir, I grew up on a mining colony. The matter-antimatter explosion would likely not reach the surface. The problem is that when the core goes critical, it ejects down, straight into the central mine shaft. And because this is deep-core mining, that means it goes straight through the crust of the planet into the mantle, which is a combination of magma and silicate minerals. When the warp core explodes, it will cause tremendous pressure ... there will be no safe place. The pressure will tear the planet apart in minutes.”

  Kirk took just a second to absorb this and said, “Then we need to stop the core from going critical.”

  Kell looked into the captain’s eyes and saw that there was no question in Kirk’s mind that they would accomplish this. Success was inevitable and getting there a matter of details. He wondered for a [222] moment if this human had any Klingon blood in him.

  Kirk turned to Kell and said, “Ask our guide if there is another way into the mine?”

  Kell did and translated the scout’s answer. “He says there is, sir, but he doesn’t think you will like it.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  “THE KLINGONS are dropping out of warp and entering the system,” Junior Science Officer Stern said. “The star is a red supergiant and the system is unexplored, sir. However, I am reading no life signs of any kind.”

  “He’s taking us on a wild goose chase, Spock,” McCoy said.