Agents of Influence

by Dayton Ward

  Despite his and Khatami’s best efforts not to alert Binnix and her companions about the sabotage and the suspicions of their involvement, it became obvious to the agents something was amiss when they were at first cut out of assisting with preparations to face the Orions. It had not taken Binnix long to surmise the reasons for that, and confront head-on the unspoken accusations.

  “You have to admit,” Kirk said as he reached for his own helmet, “it doesn’t look good to the casual observer.”

  “I’m not worried about casual observers,” Binnix replied. “But I need you to trust me, and my people. We spent too long doing what we were doing, sacrificing anything resembling a normal life, to throw it all away.”

  Without prompting, she had handed over to Kirk and Captain Khatami the pair of portable, encrypted data-storage crystals she and her colleagues brought with them from Qo’noS. To Khatami’s surprise, Binnix also gave them a decryption chip that she had programmed from memory so the captains could access the protected data the crystals contained. The measure circumvented the original intention of Admiral Nogura being the only person with the authority to open the crystals. While the data could not be transmitted over a communications link or transferred to another computer system without the admiral’s authorization, which included a retinal scan, Kirk or Khatami could still access it directly if the need arose.

  “Always have a backup plan,” Binnix said at the time. Her original contingency was to give such a chip to Khatami in the event circumstances warranted it. Facing accusations of treason, she decided this was one way to quickly demonstrate her trustworthiness and that of her team. The act was enough to warrant court-martial and possible incarceration, assuming she or anyone else aboard the Endeavour made it out alive.

  Like Khatami, Kirk was not completely convinced Binnix and her fellow agents were not responsible for the sabotage of the ship’s impulse power systems, or even the mysterious malfunction that plagued one of the sensor buoys. On the other hand, Binnix’s companions were as quick to denounce the accusation as she had been, and Kirk admitted his gut instinct was to believe them. Far more troubling was the notion that someone else—a member of the Endeavour crew—might well be responsible. If true, that opened up a host of new problems for Khatami and her people, to say nothing of Kirk, Uhura, and Sulu. He had already discussed this possibility with Khatami, and while it was a matter of concern, there simply was no time right now to deal with it.

  “Jim.”

  The voice belonged to Captain Khatami. She entered the prep room at a rapid pace, making her way past other rows of lockers to join him, Sulu, and Binnix. Her body language and expression were more than enough to tell Kirk she was not bringing good news.

  “Orions?” he prompted.

  Khatami nodded. “We thought they’d passed us by. I should’ve known we couldn’t be that lucky. Sensors have picked up a pair of smaller ships. Probably personnel transports. The other ship seems to have retreated almost to the limits of our scanning range.”

  After Lieutenant Klisiewicz’s initial detection of the Orion ship, everyone on the Endeavour had braced for the moment when the pirates realized they had found the crashed starship. When the ship did not approach close enough to all but guarantee a positive sensor return, Kirk wanted to breathe a bit easier. Still, nothing about the situation felt right. Despite apparently being in the clear, he pressed Khatami to put people out on the Endeavour’s hull, manning the phaser cannons placed along the saucer section. His argument was simple: Even with the buoys providing enhancement for the ship’s scanning abilities, sensors could be fooled, or otherwise rendered useless. It would be better to have people outside, ready to employ the weapons without first relying on sensor scans to identify a threat. He had even volunteered to go outside and oversee the placement of the phaser cannons and arrange people into a defensive perimeter, for no other reason than to spare Khatami from adding one more item to her ever growing list of things demanding her attention.

  His fears were confirmed less than an hour after the Endeavour captain deployed the first teams onto the hull and the sensor buoys positioned around the canyon’s perimeter ceased functioning. The result was to render the grounded ship all but blind and deaf for little beyond the canyon itself.

  “Where are they?” Sulu asked.

  “Somewhere at the far end of the canyon.” Khatami closed her eyes long enough to rub her temples. “They set down just a few minutes ago, but our sensors can’t penetrate the surrounding background radiation down here without help. I suspect they know this.”

  Sulu asked, “So what’s their plan?”

  “They’re pirates,” Binnix replied. “Your ship represents a sizable payday if they can salvage anything of worth, Captain.”

  “They can’t be thinking of boarding us?” Kirk asked. Even in its present condition, the Endeavour still boasted a crew of over four hundred people, with an arsenal large enough to arm most of them.

  Khatami said, “They wouldn’t have to. All that’s needed is to disable the power systems and wait us out. There aren’t enough functional escape pods to accommodate everyone. Besides, where would we go? We’d never be able to clear the asteroid field before they were on us.” She gestured to the EV suits Kirk and the others wore. “There aren’t enough of those to go around, either. So, what do they do? Even if we could generate deflector shields sitting on the ground, we can’t spare the power for them. If I’m the Orions, I cut our power, force us to take every desperate action to stay alive for a few minutes longer, and then I’ve got the run of the place.” Her features hardened. “I don’t much like the idea of standing around waiting to die.”

  “And that’s before we factor in our information cache,” Binnix said. “We can’t let the Orions have that either. I’ll destroy it before I let that happen.”

  “I’ll destroy what’s left of my ship before that.” Khatami frowned. “Of course, without the warp drive that’s a bit harder than it would normally be, but I’m betting Yataro and his engineering team could figure out something.”

  Kirk shook his head. “We’re not there yet, Captain. If they wanted, they could’ve taken out the ship’s impulse engines by strafing us. They didn’t do that, which probably means they’re trying to avoid damaging us as much as possible.” It seemed so obvious now. “They’re coming to us over land.”

  “You mean outside?” Sulu asked, making no effort to hide his disbelief. “A ground assault?”

  Kirk replied, “It’s what I’d do. They can’t take us all on at once, but they won’t have to. Launch a multipronged offensive and do what Captain Khatami said. They find a way to take out our power or cause enough other damage that it places us at immediate risk. Then they just wait for us to react.”

  “But a frontal assault?” Khatami said. “That’s insane.”

  Sighing, Kirk nodded. “Right. Just insane enough to work.”

  Twenty-four

  Spock almost missed it.

  “Thank you, sir,” said Ensign Chekov as he exited the turbolift and made his way to the Enterprise bridge’s science station. “I can take over now.”

  His attention still on the console’s sensor viewer, Spock replied, “Very well, Mister Chekov.”

  The younger man, assigned to the station and freeing Spock to tend to other duties while in temporary command, had remained at his post well past his normal duty shift. Spock had almost instructed him to take a rest period, but the ensign’s natural talents for interfacing with the ship’s sensors were matched by his tenacity and devotion to, as he described it, “picking up the slack” while Kirk, Uhura, and Sulu were off the ship. As there had been no noticeable degradation in the man’s effectiveness or attention, Spock opted to let Chekov continue working, relieving him just long enough to eat a quick meal and tend to other personal matters before returning to the bridge.

  Only as he began pulling away from the viewer did Spock catch the merest flicker of… something emerging from the constant stream
of incoming sensor data; something that was not there before.

  “Just a moment,” he said, his attention still focused on the readings. With practiced ease, Spock moved his right hand across an adjacent row of controls, entering commands to manipulate the steady influx of information and tighten their focus on this new object of interest.

  No, he realized. Not just one object.

  “Two Klingon vessels on an intercept course,” he called out, leaving the science station to Chekov. “Go to red alert. Shields up, place weapons on standby.”

  His command came an instant before the alarm sirens sounded across the bridge. Stepping around the red railing and moving to stand next to the captain’s chair, Spock silenced the alarm with a touch of the proper control. Looking to the communications station, he said, “Notify Admiral Nogura.”

  Lieutenant Elizabeth Palmer turned in her seat. “Aye, sir.”

  “Tracking them now, Mister Spock,” said Lieutenant Rahda from the helm station. She had activated the tactical scanner, which extended up from the console, and was peering into it. “They were moving in a close formation but now they’ve separated.” She glanced over her shoulder. “They look to be scout-class vessels rather than warships, but I think they’re trying to flank us, sir.”

  It was not an outlandish tactic, Spock decided. By approaching the Enterprise from open space rather than within the field, the ships and their commanders forced him to consider using the field as cover. Complicating matters was his desire to remain close by rather than retreating from the area, in the event Captain Kirk or his team attempted to make contact.

  Chekov reported, “They’ve powered up their weapons, Mister Spock, but I’m picking up no indications they’re attempting to target us.”

  “Sound general quarters, Lieutenant Palmer,” Spock said. “All hands to battle stations.” Settling into the command chair, he added, “Helm, stand by for evasive maneuvers.”

  Consulting the astrogator situated just in front of him and between Rahda and Lieutenant Leslie at navigation, he noted its readings were being updated with the positions of the approaching ships relative to the Enterprise. Also depicted were those asteroids in closest proximity to the ship and individual trajectories as they drifted through the field. The readings were enough to tell Spock that avenues of escape from the approaching ships were few. Almost all of them involved venturing farther into the asteroid field itself.

  From the science station, Chekov reported, “Both ships are accelerating, Mister Spock. They’re definitely maneuvering to pin us between them.”

  Glancing once more at the astrogator, Spock ordered, “Evasive action. Course one four six mark nine. Speed at your discretion, helm.”

  On the bridge’s main viewscreen, the image shifted as the Enterprise banked upward and to port, effecting the turn necessary for the course into the field. Under Lieutenant Rahda’s skilled guidance, the ship glided past two immense asteroids.

  “The Klingons are changing course to follow,” Chekov said. “Sensors are detecting targeting scans from both ships.”

  Without waiting for an order, Rahda maneuvered the Enterprise into a steep bank to port, using the move to place another of the large asteroids between it and the starship’s pursuers. Using the moon-sized body for cover, she then executed a climb toward another asteroid. She repeated the move twice more, each time varying direction and angle through the field while working to place obstacle after obstacle in the Klingons’ path.

  Behind him, Spock heard the turbolift doors open and shifted just enough to see Admiral Nogura stepping onto the bridge. He did not ask for a status report, but instead simply moved to stand next to the command chair and take his own look at the astrogator.

  “Company,” he said.

  Spock raised an eyebrow. “Indeed.”

  “One of the ships has a target lock,” Chekov said. “They’re firing!”

  Rahda chose that moment to push the Enterprise to port and it arced close enough to yet another asteroid that it triggered a proximity alarm. The move was just fast enough to make the Klingons’ attack miss the ship, but Spock and everyone else were treated to a pair of brilliant crimson disruptor bolts slamming into the massive chunk of rock.

  “Well done, Lieutenant,” Spock said. “Bring us about. Mister Leslie, prepare to target the Klingon ships.”

  Before Rahda could respond to the order, there was another round of disruptor fire, this time from the other Klingon ship pursuing them from their opposite side. The attack came too fast even for her skill and reflexes, with the ship shuddering around Spock and everyone else as the Enterprise’s deflector shields absorbed the strike. Nogura, still standing next to the command chair, leaned against the nearby bridge railing for support.

  Still bent over the science console’s sensor viewer, Chekov said, “Only a glancing blow, sir. Lieutenant Rahda avoided the worst of it, and our shields handled it well enough.”

  “I suppose it’s too much to hope we might have a chat with the Klingons and convince them of the error of their ways,” Nogura said.

  His tone along with his expression were enough to communicate the sarcasm behind the comment. Nevertheless, Spock had considered the possibility of attempting contact with the Klingon ships, if only to determine whether they might provide a reason for their attack. There had to be some justification for the provocative action, which if reported to higher authorities would only serve to spark a heated exchange between Federation and Klingon diplomats.

  “They’re continuing with their pursuit, Mister Spock,” Rahda called out. “Definitely trying to outflank us.”

  “Alter course to engage the closer ship, Lieutenant,” Spock said. As Rahda carried out the order, he looked to Nogura. “Doctor McCoy refers to this type of action as giving someone a taste of their own medicine.”

  The admiral snorted. “I may end up liking that man after all.”

  “Closing on Klingon ship,” Rahda said.

  Next to her, Leslie added, “Phasers ready, Mister Spock.”

  The order to fire died in Spock’s throat as the ship trembled and every light and screen and indicator on the bridge blinked, flickered, or simply died out. When the primary illumination failed, it took an extra second for emergency lighting to kick in. Even before he felt the minor yet distinct fluctuation in the ship’s artificial gravity, he knew what was happening.

  “Another of the disruption-field emitters,” Nogura said, echoing his thoughts.

  Holding on to her console to avoid being thrown from her chair, Rahda was consulting her tactical scanner. “The Klingon ships have broken off their attack, sir. They’re keeping station fifty thousand kilometers off our stern.”

  A trap?

  Spock had only seconds to consider that thought before a noticeable change in the pitch of the Enterprise’s engines reverberated across the bridge. He gripped the command chair’s arms to remain seated as inertial damping systems struggled under this new onslaught. After verifying neither Nogura nor anyone else had been knocked off their feet, he looked to the science station. “Mister Chekov, can you pinpoint the source?”

  “Working on it, sir.” Dividing his attention between the sensor readings and various other controls at the console, Chekov worked with frantic purpose. “I think I’ve got it. Bearing two five seven mark four. Distance, nine thousand kilometers.” When Chekov turned away from the station, Spock noted the perspiration on the younger man’s face.

  “Transfer those coordinates to navigation,” said Spock. “Mister Leslie, target that location and fire at will.”

  Lieutenant Rahda’s maneuvering of the ship into position brought the asteroid to the center of the main viewscreen. It took Leslie only seconds to make the necessary adjustments before he unleashed a phaser barrage at the drifting rock. Twin beams of blue-white energy joined at a single spot on the asteroid’s surface. A fleeting, intense flash of light erupted from the point of impact. Seconds later the bridge illumination returned to normal and t
he hum of the Enterprise’s engines settled into its more familiar drone.

  “Emitter destroyed, sir,” Chekov said, looking up from his console.

  Rahda added, “The Klingons are altering course to intercept us again.” She was already tapping controls, getting the ship underway and preparing to resume evasive maneuvers.

  “They know we’re onto them,” Nogura said. “Which means they’re not going to want us leaving so we can get clear and notify Starfleet of what they’re doing out here.”

  It was a logical assessment, Spock decided. To further the admiral’s theory, there was also the distinct possibility the Klingons were aware they were missing the emitter that now resided in the Enterprise’s cargo hold. They would waste little time arriving at the conclusion that their presence and their activities here were compromised. What remained in question was how far they were willing to go now that their secrecy was endangered. Based on his past experience dealing with Klingons, Spock was confident he already had his answer.

  And that is most unfortunate, he admitted to himself. While he preferred to avoid casualties if at all possible, the Klingons certainly harbored no such reservations.

  “They’re close enough for us to get a phaser lock, sir,” Leslie said.

  Using the astrogator to verify the enemy ships’ approach vectors, Spock said, “Target to disable weapons and propulsion, Lieutenant.”

  The navigator keyed the appropriate controls and Spock watched the viewscreen as multiple phaser barrages lanced across space to strike the closer Klingon ship’s deflector shields. Though smaller than the battle cruisers with which Spock was familiar, it still harbored similar design features. A bulbous forward hull extended outward from a short, cylindrical neck to a larger, more angular drive section. Two nacelles were nestled almost against the hull’s underside, giving the ship an illusion of freefalling through atmosphere toward a planet’s surface.