Star Trek: The Original Series - 161 - Savage Trade

by Tony Daniel

“They get to show their serious intent to form a government by standing up for themselves.”

  “Undoubtedly, the small armada they have assembled from the ships you captured will have a negligible effect in comparison to a Constitution-class starship, but with it they can establish the principle of self-determination.”

  “What is the Federation’s interest in going along with them?” Kirk said.

  “First, we sympathize with their plight. They have been shuffled to the edge of nowhere while we attempted to decide what to do with them,” Valek replied. “Second, an act of self-defense may be interpreted as the deed of a sovereign nation.”

  “And it doesn’t bother you that while you are legally considering them to be a refugee community within the Federation, they are brazenly asserting sovereign rights outside of Federation control?”

  “Doctor Franklin made an excellent point about entangled quantum particles. They are intimately related to one another, even as they go their separate ways,” Valek said. She hooked her two index fingers together in order to illustrate for Kirk. “For normal particles, up is up, down is down. Positive is positive and negative, negative. But entangled particles share states. For them, up and down both exist at the same time, as do positive and negative, charm and anti-charm.”

  Valek released her fingers and spread her hands “It is when we decide to measure a particular characteristic that this suspension is resolved. If one particle is seen to be negative, then the other ‘becomes’ positive. They are no longer entangled, and each goes its separate way now completely unrelated. But if one never attempts to determine a particular characteristic, but assumes that, for this pair of particles, both exist in a cloud of possibility, then those particles will travel onward and onward, bound by the laws of quantum connection. Even if particle A is on one side of the universe and particle B on the other, they are still part of one another.”

  “The trick is not to measure for one thing here or there,” Kirk said, “but to consider the totality of the entangled set. So we don’t push the issue with the Excalbians.”

  “Precisely, Captain.”

  “If we do not hang together, we shall assuredly hang separately,” Kirk murmured.

  “Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Franklin put in from his spot to the rear of the bridge.

  “This reasoning I have outlined is why I agreed to let the Excalbians accompany you.”

  “Makes perfect sense,” Kirk said.

  Through the Alice’s looking glass of diplomacy, that is.

  * * *

  Once out of the system the Enterprise jumped to warp 3, which was the maximum warp the L’rah’hane ships were capable of. However, their ion drive did provide them with a measure of stealth. As had been shown before, they were very difficult to track without sensors as advanced as those of the Enterprise and a science officer as sharp as Spock.

  Inside the Vara Nebula, it was necessary to slow to impulse. The speed advantage of the Enterprise may have been negated, but there were other tricks that a Constitution-class starship was capable of.

  They followed the trail of beacons left by Sulu and Chekov. These were low-powered devices, but Kirk was mindful of the fact that they might have been detected and an ambush put in place. The captain kept a close eye on the relative density of the cloud as they plowed forward. Kirk knew where he would likely set up an ambush.

  Around the edges of a three-dimensional clearing, where I could establish lines of fire.

  They had passed through several such relatively empty bubbles as they moved forward, and Kirk had called a halt before each of them and ordered a sensor sweep.

  Spock reported another sparsely filled sector ahead, this one larger than any they’d encountered before, and Kirk again ordered the all stop for the Enterprise and the Excalbian navy.

  An order that was, this time, not obeyed.

  “Captain, the N.E.S. Agamemnon and Boreas are breaking away to five point three on the prime ecliptic,” Spock called from his science station. “The Victory and Albemarle have slowed, but have not halted relative to the nebula. They are drifting ahead into the less dense region before us.”

  “What’s going on?” Kirk turned to his communications officer. “Lieutenant Uhura, get me Admiral Nelson. Immediately.”

  “Aye, sir.” Uhura twisted a knob and calibrated her low energy subspace receiver—a secondary channel that seemed to be working far better than her primary subspace interface here in the Vara. “Captain, I have the admiral,” she reported within moments.

  Nelson’s visage appeared on the viewscreen.

  “Admiral Nelson, why are you disobeying my orders? Is there some sort of emergency?”

  “No, Captain, nothing of the sort,” Nelson answered. The faintest of smiles crossed his face. “I can’t take any more of this excessive caution on your part, Kirk—starting and stopping, starting and stopping. If the pirates are anywhere around this position, I intend to flush them out. I’ve sent two of my ships to be the trap. I myself am the bait.”

  You can’t fault Nelson for not having courage, that’s for sure.

  “Admiral, you will turn those ships around, and you will order your flagship to cease its forward motion,” Kirk ordered.

  “Admiral, if I may,” put in Spock. “You have four ships. Three, if you are using one to lure out attackers. Space is quite large and quite three-dimensional. An attack can originate from above or below as well as from any gradient between them. You simply don’t have enough ships to cover yourself unless you get extremely lucky.”

  Nelson nodded. “Well, I always have been extremely lucky,” he said. “Although I suppose you don’t believe in such stuff, Spock.”

  “With all due respect,” Spock said, “that was an ocean navy. This is space, sir.”

  “I’ll have you know that I am capable of thinking three-dimensionally. Tell him, Captain Kirk!”

  Kirk nodded grimly. “I’m sure you can,” he said. “But there is one other factor you are not taking into account.”

  “And what is that, Captain?”

  “You are not Horatio Nelson.”

  Suddenly Sulu spun around to address Kirk. “N.E.S. Albemarle taking fire, sir!”

  “What, I see no—”

  “Our instruments are better,” Kirk said.

  “I’ve got to help him!”

  “No, Admiral, we’ve got to help him. Stand down until we’ve entered that sector. If you don’t, so help me I’ll blast that ship out from under you for putting my crew in danger—yet again!”

  Nelson looked suitably chagrined by this. “Moving to your port, Captain.”

  “Very good, Admiral.”

  “We’ll be right behind you, Captain!” said Nelson. Then he put a hand to his hat in the slightest of salutes. “If you so order it, that is.”

  “I do,” Kirk said. “Now let’s go.”

  * * *

  They arrived at the firefight a moment later. The Albemarle was taking a beating from five attackers arrayed around her. Her shields were failing rapidly. Nelson’s skirmishers, the ships that he had sent off to go around the clear sector, were nowhere to be seen.

  They’ll have slow going through the debris, Kirk thought.

  “Arm photon torpedoes,” Kirk commanded. “Lock onto our closest target. Get ready . . .”

  We’ll win, but we’ll be too late to save the Albemarle. We need more concentrated firepower. There must be some other—

  “Belay that order, Mister Sulu.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “Spock, the L’rah’hane impulse drive achieves about half the speed of ours?”

  “Correct, Captain.”

  “So if we engage, the Victory will be lagging behind. It will be minutes instead of seconds before they arrive to the fight.”

  “Correct, sir.”

  “Tractor beam,” Kirk said, “lock onto the Victory. Uhura, get me Nelson.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “Admiral, have you e
ver wondered what a stone in a slingshot feels like?”

  “Can’t say that I have.”

  “You’re about to find out,” Kirk said. “On my command, I want you to engage all impulse power. Direct yourself to a point at the gravitational center of those attacking pirates. We’re going to use our tractor beam to pull you toward us, then reverse the effect to repulse your ship. That ought to triple your speed. When you arrive at those coordinates, open fire on the pirate vessels.

  “Aye, Captain!”

  “We’ll be right behind you, Admiral.” Kirk looked to Chekov. “Mister Chekov?”

  “Tractor beam locked onto the Victory, sir. Procedure locked into the tractor system.”

  “Very good,” said Kirk. He glanced back at the viewscreen. The Albemarle was concentrating fire, focusing on the L’rah’hane disruptors on the nearest ship—but so far to little effect. “All right, initiate slingshot procedure.”

  “Initiating.”

  In the blink of an eye the Victory entered the viewscreen from the top and zoomed toward the fight. Within the space of a second it had arrived. Nelson was true to his word. The moment he achieved his desired position, he halted, rolled the L’rah’hane weapons platform on his underside toward two pirate vessels, and opened fire.

  “Launch long-range photon torpedoes at our target, Mister Chekov,” Kirk ordered. Chekov pressed the controls and the photon torpedoes sped away, streaking toward the closest L’rah’hane pirate ship.

  Spock and Scott had used their time to analyze the L’rah’hane defensive systems well. They’d located a weakness in the L’rah’hane shield frequencies and calibrated the torpedoes’ frequency to overwhelm them.

  The L’rah’hane didn’t have a chance as the photon torpedoes slipped through its shields and both struck the engine amidships. Energy crackled, and the ship simply disintegrated.

  Kirk nodded. “Mister Sulu, take us in. Phasers set to maximum, Mister Chekov.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.”

  With phasers blasting, the Enterprise tore through the battle sector, taking out engines on one L’rah’hane ship and, in a similar manner to the first they’d destroyed, another.

  That left the two Nelson had engaged.

  “Report on the Albemarle, Mister Spock.”

  “One pirate vessel incapacitated. Second engaged.”

  “Let’s give him a hand,” Kirk said. But before anyone could react the viewscreen told the story. Nelson’s Victory had raked the pirate ship with a disruptor broadside, leaving a ragged gash along the exterior surface. A second broadside reached deep inside, and debris erupted from the damaged area. The pirate ship hung in space, dark and battered.

  “Sensors indicate last pirate ship is dead in space,” said Spock. “All systems are down on the vessel except minimal life support in some areas. They’re finished, Captain.”

  “And the Albemarle?”

  “Her shields held. Minor damage only.”

  Kirk sighed in both relief and exasperation. “Uhura, get me the Admiral, please.”

  The exterior display of the viewscreen dissolved and Nelson’s triumphant face replaced it.

  “We took the fight to them, Kirk! We truly did! I haven’t felt this exhilarated since Trafalgar.”

  “Sir, you died there. Let’s rein in the celebrations until we reach our primary destination,” Kirk said. “There’s bound to be more trouble ahead.” Kirk allowed himself a slight smile. “And let’s collect the rest of your navy, Admiral. I have a feeling we’re going to need them.”

  Nelson nodded, flashing an expression of suitable chagrin. “Apologies for overstepping our command agreement, Captain. I could have cost us lives unnecessarily with my rashness,” he said. “It won’t happen again.”

  Sixteen

  The scouting report of the shuttlecraft Keplar could not adequately convey the sheer size of the pirate base. There was a central hub, perhaps a space station, build on a planetoid. A dozen vessels surrounded it, all varying in structure. Eight displayed the characteristic slipshod repairs of L’rah’hane-commandeered vessels.

  It was the other two ships Kirk was worried about.

  “Spock, what are we looking at?”

  “Hradrian attack ships, going by the archaeological record.”

  “Those ships don’t look hundreds of years old, they look new.”

  “That assessment is confirmed by long-range sensors, sir,” Spock replied. “Welding and component seals indicate this ship was constructed within the past three to five standard years.”

  “A new Hradrian ship,” Kirk said to himself. “Remarkable.” He turned back to his first officer. “Spock, why build an exact replica of a ship that was in service hundreds of years ago?”

  “Unknown, sir.”

  “Speculate.”

  “Perhaps the culture and scientific knowledge of the Hradrians has not advanced since that time, Captain.”

  Kirk nodded, looked back at the two attack ships. “A slave-based civilization, stuck in stasis. That might explain them.”

  “Hradrian vessels were formidable, sir. Their propulsion and shielding were nearly equivalent to Starfleet’s,” Spock said. “We should not underestimate them as opponents, should they choose to fight.”

  “Noted,” Kirk said. “Do they see us?”

  As if in answer, the dozen ships began to scramble, orienting themselves toward the Enterprise and her small armada.

  Are they really forming a line? What do they teach these guys in pirate school?

  “Shields up, Mister Sulu. Take us to Red Alert.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Kirk considered their positioning. “They really don’t want us to get to that central base,” he said. “I wonder what they’ve got stashed there.”

  “Captain, if I may,” said the voice of Nelson.

  “Go ahead, Admiral.”

  “They’ve lined up in the typical manner of ships of the line in my day,” Nelson said. “Instead of going in head on, perhaps a diagonal approach would be better. That way we would limit their field of fire and ability to concentrate.”

  “I seem to recall your doing something like that maneuver at Trafalgar, Admiral,” Kirk replied. “You took out most of the French navy as a result.”

  “It did seem to work at the time,” Nelson said. “Of course, the enemy quickly adapted. Kept me on my toes, that’s for sure. Until that sniper made sure I wasn’t.”

  Kirk chuckled. “Very well, Admiral, since they teach the ‘Nelson diagonal’ at Starfleet Academy when an enemy is so gracious as to form in a line, I believe I’ll take your advice. We will, however, be engaging in three dimensions and not two.”

  “Of course, Captain,” said Nelson. “But speaking as one who has fought his share of sea battles in all kinds of weather, I can tell you that a raging sea is not so flat at all. Nor is it forgiving.”

  “As you say, Admiral. Our computer has projected attack solutions for this maneuver. Mister Chekov is forwarding those now.” Kirk paused, held out open palms in invitation. “Admiral . . . let’s do this together this time.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” said the Admiral, giving Kirk a rueful smile. “Victory out.”

  “Captain, power levels rising on the Hradrian vessels,” Spock cut in. “They are powering up weapons.”

  “Get ready to return fire, Mister Chekov.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “Give me ship to ship, Lieutenant Uhura.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “All ships,” Kirk said. “Prepare to attack.”

  * * *

  Just as Spock had predicted, the Hradrian weaponry was phaser-like and far more powerful than L’rah’hane disruptors. The armada screamed in on five separate diagonals, cutting, exchanging fire with one or, at most, two ships at a time.

  We’re outnumbered, so we have to outthink them.

  “Let’s give those Hradrians something to consider other than swatting Excalbians,” said Kirk. “Photon torpedoes away.”
r />   “Torpedoes away.”

  “Initiate full phaser barrage on the other one.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  The Hradrian weapons smashed into the Enterprise shields, and the bridge shook.

  “Oblique phaser hit,” Spock said. “Forward shields at eighty percent.”

  “Bring her about slowly, Mister Sulu. Let’s give those forward shields a respite. Mister Chekov, continue barrage while we turn.”

  “Continuing barrage, sir.”

  The bridge shook again, and it was all Spock and the other standing officers could do to remain on their feet.

  There will be injuries from that one, Kirk thought. But if we get out of this with only a few cuts and broken bones, we can count ourselves lucky.

  “Aft shields took a direct hit,” Spock said. “They are holding. Forward shields back to full power.”

  Thank you, Scotty. Kirk had no doubt the quick recovery was due to his chief engineer’s efforts.

  “Good.” Kirk glanced at his viewscreen. One of the Hradrian ships was turning, tracking with the Enterprise and attempting to close.

  “Mister Sulu, swing us back around and make a lateral yaw adjustment to seventy degrees. Let him get closer.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “Chekov, arm photon torpedoes.”

  “Torpedoes armed.”

  “Range to Hradrian vessel twenty thousand kilometers and closing,” Spock said.

  “A little closer.”

  “Hradrian vessel powering up,” Spock said. “Preparing to fire. She’s lowered her shields.”

  “Torpedoes away,” Kirk said.

  “Firing torpedoes.”

  “Shields at maximum.”

  The Hradrian got off her shot. It struck and destroyed one of the pair of photon torpedoes. The energy interaction weakened what would have been a damaging blow. The phaser blast was easily absorbed and dissipated by the Enterprise shields.

  The other vessel was not so lucky. The remaining torpedo got through. Kirk watched as the ship erupted in a slow-motion, devastating explosion.

  “Nichego sebe,” he heard Chekov murmur.

  “Hradrian ship destroyed,” Spock reported. “Armada battle reports coming in from the Victory. Two Excalbian ships incapacitated, one critically damaged. Three L’rah’hane vessels crippled or destroyed.”