The Enterprise War

by John Jackson Miller

  “Earth. Qo’noS. Vulcan. Andoria.”

  “What do you mean, Spock?”

  Spock said more planet names. But Pike picked up some of the same ones again: “Earth. Qo’noS. Vulcan. Andoria.”

  “Spock, we’re still in the Pergamum Nebula. Over Skon’s World. We just picked you up.”

  Spock’s eyes opened. “What time is it?”

  “I—” Pike had no idea. He looked back. “Why does he want to know that?”

  Galadjian stood in the doorway to the intensive care unit. “His battlesuit may have failed. Perhaps that is why he got out of it.”

  That made sense.

  “We got you in time,” Pike said, reaching for Spock’s hand. It was frigid.

  “I cannot meditate,” Spock mumbled. “Not here.”

  He looked to Carlotti. “What in the world?”

  “Delirium,” she said. Her brow furrowed. “It’s an unusual case. His heart rate was sky high when he came in—almost as if something had terrified him. It might have even kept him alive.”

  Pike looked over at the Rengru, which seemed to be patiently waiting. “Spock, I want to stay with you—but we’ve got boarders. I have obligations.”

  “I have obligations,” Spock repeated.

  “Okay, yeah. But right now, you need to—”

  “Time. What is it? Am I in it?”

  Pike let go of Spock’s hand—and the Vulcan’s eyes closed. He stepped back to allow Yan to move to that side of the table and continue her work. “Keep me posted, Nurse.”

  He moved toward the exit—and the nearby Rengru moved in his direction. “Follow the directives,” it said.

  “This again.”

  “Follow the directives, Christopher Pike.”

  Pike moved out into the corridor—as did Galadjian, who had a Rengru tail of his own. The hallway bustled with Rengru, who wandered about various passing crew without harassing them.

  But not without unnerving them. Galadjian asked, “Captain, what is happening? Are we under occupation?”

  “They don’t seem to be menacing—at least not intentionally. Though I’d think twice before telling them you intend to go somewhere.”

  A mild bump resonated through the deck. “Unless I miss my guess,” Galadjian said, “I think we are all going somewhere.”

  “I’d better get to the bridge.” Pike looked to the Rengru tailing him. “Come on, Creepy. Find your partner. Let’s get this over with.”

  After an uncomfortable ride on living stilts up the turbolift shaft, Pike was back on the bridge and rubbing beneath his arms. “If you guys are going to keep this up, we need to look into saddles.”

  Raden looked back. “How is Spock?”

  “He’s—” Pike stopped. “You know, I’m not really sure. But he’s here—and he’s alive.” He looked forward at the main viewscreen. “And we’re moving. How are we moving?”

  “It’s not me, Captain.” The Rengru were still at the helm station. “I don’t think the thrusters fired either. You know the state they were in. We’re making smooth turns.”

  Pike frowned. “Give me a look on the hull again. Topside, aft.”

  Hundreds of Rengru—still in their space-traveling configuration—were arranged around the circumference of the rear half of the saucer section. Their onboard booster rockets were firing.

  “They weren’t grabbing the ship to take a bite. They were getting ready to push,” Pike said. “But we can’t go far like this.”

  As if to answer, the Rengru at the helm lashed the interface with one of its limbs. A jolt shook the bridge. Ahead, all saw the saucer section overfly Skon’s World, heading past it.

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they’ve just figured out the impulse drive,” Raden said. “The Rengru outside are just setting direction.”

  Pike watched as Rengru mother ships grew in the viewscreen—and parted, admitting the saucer section into their midst. “We’re heading into a convoy.”

  Several Rengru spoke in unison. “You will come with us, Christopher Pike.”

  “Yeah,” he said, resigned. “I think we got that.”

  59

  * * *

  Combat Module Carrier 539-Urdoh

  Little Hope Boundary Region

  Kormagan thought she knew the Rengru. It was impossible to battle an enemy for decades and not understand something about how they operated. She could never know how they thought, of course—the monsters’ use of technology was the only evidence they had minds like other beings at all. But she knew how they acted and responded, and what had happened at the Varadah Gap had not tracked with that at all.

  Abandon an important corridor to K’davu and its vital resource worlds, for what? To revisit an old battlezone?

  It made even less sense when Carrier Urdoh reached the edge of the Little Hope rift—coincidentally, not far from where Kormagan’s wave had lain in wait for Enterprise months earlier. The wavemaster had ordered Captain Baladon not to simply barge in, but to dispatch stealth probes into the region. They’d found much of the Varadah force there—and something else.

  “That’s Enterprise, all right,” Baladon said from his seat on the bridge. “Or the front half, anyway. And we count twenty-seven Rengru mother ships surrounding it.” He turned his head to face Kormagan and smiled toothily. “A veritable menu of delights. Which one should I go after first?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” The carrier was hopelessly outmatched.

  At the Lurian’s side, Connolly—who, like Baladon, rarely kept his headgear deployed outside of battle, no matter how often Kormagan chided them—simply stared at Enterprise in wonderment. He’d said nothing. As opmaster for Urdoh-Two, it was his right to be present on the bridge—and Kormagan was now glad he was. “I thought you said Enterprise was crippled, damaged beyond repair after it broke in two. What’s it doing there?”

  Connolly didn’t avert his eyes from it. “I thought the same thing you did. When the recon probes didn’t find it after we evacuated the first time, I assumed it had been destroyed—or fled.” His brow furrowed. “Maybe they ran and just got found.”

  “They couldn’t have gone far in that configuration,” Baladon said. “Not without warp nacelles.”

  That made even less sense to Kormagan. “If they’d tried to flee the rift on impulse, our probes in the clouds would have seen them. Could they have landed on some pebble here?”

  Connolly seemed reticent to say much more about Enterprise’s capabilities. Baladon rolled his eyes. “Just answer, human. You’ve got nothing to gain now.”

  “Fine,” Connolly said, shaking his head. “That part is not really designed to take off again. I mean, I guess it could, but I can’t imagine how. I’m a scientist, not an engineer.”

  “It’s obviously moving with the convoy.” Kormagan looked more closely at the surveillance imagery. “It looks like the Rengru fighters are pushing it—but I can’t imagine they’d be enough to more than turn it.”

  “Sensors detect impulse drive activity.” Baladon looked to Connolly. “Somebody’s got to be aboard that thing running it.”

  Kormagan saw Connolly’s eyes widen at that. “Did the probes detect life signs on Enterprise?” he asked. Detecting them was a major part of the Boundless’s recruiting operations.

  “Didn’t get in close enough,” Baladon said. “They’ve kind of got her wrapped up.”

  That was an understatement. Kormagan looked more closely at the visual feed in her headgear’s interface. “I don’t understand. I’ve never seen the Rengru throw this much materiél into one operation before.”

  “You think that’s the interesting part?” Baladon guffawed and slapped his armored knees. “You’re both missing the obvious.”

  Kormagan glared at him. “What?”

  “They’re not trying to destroy it anymore. They’re keeping it for themselves.”

  Kormagan had been so bewildered by the size of the force and the reemergence of Enterprise, she’d given litt
le thought to that part. “What would Rengru want with a starship?”

  Connolly looked confused. “Am I missing something here? I seem to remember them starting a fight over it. I’m pretty sure I was there.”

  She ignored the sarcasm. “They were trying to deny us the ship. That’s what they always do. But they only take raw materials for themselves. Piracy isn’t their tactic at all.”

  “Yeah, I guess we’re the tech scavengers, not them,” Baladon said. “Unless it’s something they can’t resist using.”

  Kormagan couldn’t imagine what it might be. The whole idea defied any precedent. Rengru built things for themselves, only and always.

  Connolly seemed lost in thought, she noticed. “Do you know what it is?”

  “Who, me?” He appeared to come out of his haze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Just like Spock,” she said to Baladon. “He would never give away anything about his ship’s technology. Something about a First Directive.”

  “Prime,” Connolly volunteered. “You’re not technically the kind of civilization that we’d use it for, but meddling in your war qualifies as something we wouldn’t do.”

  Baladon chortled. “I thought you’d left all that business behind. Seems to me you’ve all been working for us for the better part of a year.”

  “Under duress.”

  “O blithering fool, you don’t know what duress feels like.”

  Kormagan put up her hands. “Enough! If only all our recruits fought the Rengru the way you two fight one another.”

  Connolly shrugged. “It kills the time.”

  “I’ll say,” Baladon said, rising from his chair. “Are we finished here? Jayko fooled with my armor lining again and it’s been chafing me for weeks.”

  Connolly blinked. “You’re going to leave Enterprise to the Rengru?”

  “We can’t fight them.” Baladon looked to Kormagan. “We can’t, can we? Because it would be a pleasure.”

  “No, of course not.” Kormagan had but one carrier. She turned to depart. “Set a course back to the Varadah Gap. We can see whether or not Dreston just got us the dregs.”

  “Wait!” Connolly said. “I don’t want to lose it again.”

  “It’s lost,” Baladon said. “They may have traded the whole Varadah Gap for it—but it’s theirs.” He tilted his head. “You’ve been thinking about Enterprise for months. Isn’t it better this way, knowing it’s gone? Now you can focus on being part of the Boundless.”

  “But the people might not be gone.”

  “If they’re on a ship full of Rengru,” Kormagan said, continuing to walk, “they certainly are.”

  “But they could have beamed off before—”

  Kormagan stopped and looked back. “Could have what?”

  Connolly froze. “I . . . said that they could have gotten off the ship.”

  “How?” She advanced toward him. “You said they probably couldn’t land and take off again. And there are no shuttlebays on this portion of the ship. We’ve known that ever since analyzing the imagery from Deathstruck!”

  “Still wrong,” Baladon said.

  Connolly fidgeted. “There are escape pods. That’s what I meant.”

  “Then why didn’t we see them from either half of the ship months ago?” Kormagan got right up against his armor. “You said they could have beamed off. Do you have some capability that you haven’t told us about yet?”

  Connolly went white—and Baladon slapped his forehead. “Oh, this is rich. Simply tremendous!”

  “Baladon . . .”

  “They don’t know!” Baladon’s armored arms went to his midsection as he bellowed with laughter. “The Boundless don’t know!”

  Kormagan grew cross. She barked, “What in K’davu’s name are you talking about?”

  Baladon wiped away tears. “I assumed you’d have found out long before you captured me. Did you ever wonder how Enterprise’s teams got down to Susquatane?”

  “The same way everyone does,” Kormagan said. “We knew about the shuttles.”

  “Yes, we landed in shuttles,” Connolly said. “They dropped us off and flew back to—”

  “Give it up, little human.” Baladon shook his head. “No, I guess if the Boundless had never caught a Starfleet vessel before, they wouldn’t know. I certainly couldn’t afford one on my ship.”

  Kormagan’s arms shot out, her hands grabbing the collars of both Connolly’s and Baladon’s armors. “Talk!”

  “My pleasure,” Baladon said, putting his hands up and smiling. “Let me tell you about transporters . . .”

  60

  * * *

  U.S.S. Enterprise

  Stardrive Section

  Cloud Complex Zedra

  “Here comes Rengruna,” Boyce said to Amin.

  “I heard that,” Una said, entering the tiny control room. She smiled from beneath the Rengru’s head, which covered hers almost like a hood. “You know, Doctor, just because I’ve melded with an alien being, we shouldn’t sacrifice decorum.”

  “Duly noted.” The name had started circulating mere days after Una reawakened—and while she understood it to be a lighthearted way of making the crew feel more comfortable about her transformation, she didn’t think it should come from senior staff.

  She didn’t count herself in that category. She’d been compromised, and she didn’t expect the crew to follow her orders. That they largely had deferred to her reflected a combination of factors. The behavior of the Rengru outside had completely changed—and hers hadn’t. That, plus general exhaustion, had once again made her Number One on the stardrive section—if carrying a particularly ungainly asterisk.

  Boyce rose from a command station where he had not had much to do lately. “Same picture outside as always: Rengru mother ships galore. Just sitting there—the way we like it.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.”

  “The ‘bridge,’ if this closet can be called that, is yours.” As Boyce tried to edge past her on the way out the door, the Rengru limbs extending from her conjoined partner reshaped to let him pass. He shook his head. “If we ever get home, remind me to retire. This ship is altogether too weird for me.”

  Life had not been any more normal for Una over the past several weeks. Their captive Rengru’s attack, she had come to realize, had not been that at all. She knew from their shared intelligences that it was following a preternatural drive directing it to unite with bipedal beings. Boyce had initially treated the Rengru as a parasite, and her as the host—but that didn’t seem right. Nor was she the parasite, though somehow during her coma the Rengru had reduced her need for sustenance. She was still searching for the proper metaphor.

  What she did know was that, during her slumber, her neural pathways had adapted—or been made to adapt—to the Rengru’s presence. It served as a second spine, now, rising from the small of her back and curling over her like a headdress. Several of its limbs clutched her in a bear hug, keeping it affixed as she moved—with the rest of its appendages free to manipulate objects. She found that she didn’t have to concentrate much to make use of them.

  The more important discovery had been that the Rengru had some kind of channel open to others of its kind. It was not, she suspected, telepathy; it seemed to be an evolved system, somehow making use of the many different kinds of energetic emissions crisscrossing the Pergamum. It was also why, she believed, the Rengru seemed to favor some regions over others.

  They had certainly been great in number in the space near the stardrive section—and, indeed, had been amassing for what might have been a decisive strike when Una’s joined companion reentered the conversation, literally. She’d found herself understanding what she was “hearing”—and not just eavesdropping, but participating.

  Rengru social order seemed to be based, as near as she could tell, on a theory of governance Boyce had called “Any More Bright Ideas?” While there were cells of behavior organized around starship construction, fortress building, and ot
her activities, much of that ran on automatic. Tactical insights rarely occurred, but when they did, many of their number took notice. So it was that when her Rengru familiar opened a conduit for communication, she found herself talking to parties that were not only stunned to hear from her, but fascinated by what she had to tell them.

  And willing to tell her something Rengru scouts had known of for some weeks, but decided to ignore: strange radio communications between two moons of a failed star in the area where the saucer section had disappeared.

  “The armada’s back,” Mann said, pointing to her monitor. She smiled. “They’ve brought company!”

  Una already knew. She closed her eyes and mouthed the words as she thought them: Follow the directives.

  Eyes opening, she typed a quick message and sent it, before turning to Mann. “Lieutenant, I’d like the room.”

  “Aye, Commander.”

  Then she waited. Waited for the cheers to break out aft of the control room as others saw the saucer section arrive. Waited for the alert that her particular guest had transported over. Waited for the next roars to die down, as everyone came out to see him as he made his way forward.

  And waited for Christopher Pike to be able to speak after he saw what she had become.

  “Una?”

  “Welcome aboard, Captain. We have a lot to talk about.”

  61

  * * *

  Combat Module Carrier 539-Urdoh

  Varadah Gap

  Baladon’s mouth had caused more than a stir. Kormagan had ordered him to turn Carrier Urdoh around, whereupon it had raced back to the Varadah system, and the many Boundless operations underway there. Busy plundering and consolidating positions, the other wavemasters had been most reluctant to respond to Kormagan’s appeal to meet. But Kormagan had activated a rarely used emergency power, calling for a confab of all the wavemasters in the area. It put at risk her own prestige and position—but she clearly considered it to be worth it.