Agents of Influence

by Dayton Ward

  All through this the weapons fire continued from both sides, with neither—so far as Kirk could tell—gaining anything that might resemble an early advantage. The combination of terrain and low visibility was the biggest hampering factor, only somewhat mitigated by tricorder scans tracking enemy positions. Some of the Orions were feeling bold, as he saw several of them maneuvering between places of concealment. They were probing, looking for avenues of approach and better places to fire from cover.

  A single blue phaser beam shot across the dim landscape, catching one of the dark-suited attackers in the chest and causing its body to jerk and flail before falling to the ground. The lower gravity here ensured it was not a violent fall, with the now stunned Orion collapsing in a gentle heap to the canyon floor.

  “Captain Kirk,” said Lieutenant Brax, the Endeavour’s security chief. “A somewhat larger concentration of attackers is attempting an aggressive approach from our right. They may be trying to get around our positions to attack the ship directly.”

  “Phaser cannons,” Binnix said, punctuating her statement with a double shot from her own phaser rifle toward a target Kirk could not see around the rock protecting him.

  “Right.” Into his helmet mic, he said, “Rotate two of the phaser cannons to cover that area. They don’t have to hit anything, but maybe it’ll be enough to make the Orions rethink their strategy.”

  Brax replied, “My thinking as well, sir. I believe the remaining cannons should be ready to act in similar fashion to our other side.”

  Already ahead of him, Kirk was consulting his tricorder. The schematic now showed the dozens of green dots arrayed in small clusters of five or six moving away from one another, as though the Orions were separating into teams assigned to tackle individual objectives. Another group of eight figures were gathering where Kirk expected to see it based on Brax’s observations.

  Yes, he decided. Something’s up.

  “This is Stano,” said the Endeavour’s first officer over the open link. “All teams, pay attention to their dispersal pattern. They’re gearing up to hit us from multiple directions. Phaser cannons, lay down a spread. Let’s see if we can’t get them to back up a little.”

  No sooner did she issue the command than a bright crimson energy beam slammed into the rock that was Kirk’s temporary shelter, chewing away a large hunk of the stone and reducing it to fragments. Though the shot went high, he still felt the salvo’s impact and flinched at the sound of small rock fragments striking the back of his helmet.

  Then, despite being unable to hear it, the abrupt flash of light from somewhere to his right was enough to make him glance over his shoulder in time to see one of the phaser cannons, still sitting atop the Endeavour’s hull as it moved to track possible targets, explode.

  Twenty-six

  Knowing it was futile, Netal cast another disdainful look at his portable scanner and once again was frustrated by the unit’s inability to provide him information.

  “Use the terrain,” he hissed into his excursion suit helmet’s audio pickup. “Stay with your team. Cover one another’s advance. We still have the advantage of movement.”

  Despite its impaired condition, the Starfleet vessel was disrupting at least some of the frequencies used by the equipment Netal and his people carried. This included the communications channels available to him via his excursion suit’s helmet. He was able to talk with the other members of the advance party from the Vekal Piltari. Contacting the ship itself or even the pilots of the two transports used to ferry his people to the asteroid’s surface was proving impossible. Netal suspected the Endeavour was able to jam certain frequencies while others, including the one being used by him and his people, remained unaffected. This was a good thing, for however long it lasted.

  The sudden illumination of the ground ahead of him thanks to exterior lighting on the wrecked ship made Netal and his team scurry for somewhere to hide, and he only just made it behind an area of rock protruding from the canyon floor before phaser fire began streaking back and forth. A quick glance told him the other five members of his team had made it to cover. He had no immediate idea how the remaining members of his hastily assembled team were faring. Weapons fire from the Endeavour as well as multiple points along the ground behind the ship’s aft section told him that at least the majority of them were still mobile.

  The starship’s lights were welcome enough. Even though they complicated matters as he and his people pressed forward, it was not unexpected. Upon their arrival, he had directed his people to keep their suit lights at the lowest possible setting—just enough to see the ground ahead of them—to hopefully avoid detection. It was a risky proposition, and Netal worried his team’s approach might be detected by the Starfleet people now arrayed outside the wrecked ship. Natural rock formations and other terrain had provided sufficient concealment that allowed him to utilize his scanner as they advanced. The broken, even chaotic topography here favored his people if they could use it to cover their movements. At the same time, the vessel’s lights helped to chase away at least a small portion of the oppressive darkness choking everything down in the bottom of this immense cavern. This exposed his people’s movements, even with the obstacles guarding their approach.

  What remained a mystery was how the Starfleet crew had deployed whatever response force awaited him. The crashed ship’s location near an area of the canyon where towering rock walls sheltered it on three sides limited avenues from which to strike, and likewise reduced any defensive perimeter’s requirements for providing covering fire along those approach angles. It did not help that the primary objective, the impulse engines, were directly in the line of defense and attack. Netal was acutely aware he and his people were challenging Starfleet officers well trained in weapons and combat tactics. Further, based on what he knew about this class of starship and assuming everyone had survived whatever event brought them to rest here, the Endeavour crew outnumbered his advance party eight to one. The real number was likely somewhat lower, if for no other reason than there probably were too few excursion suits to outfit the entire complement. Still, Netal was confident there would still be many more Starfleet people than Orions if this fight went on for any appreciable length of time. He and his people needed to accomplish their goal and get clear of this mess before it consumed them.

  “Group two,” he said into his helmet pickup. “Are you able to advance?”

  Through the helmet’s speaker, Avron replied, “There is much shooting, but we have sufficient concealment. I believe we can get close enough to the objective.”

  Thankfully, the Starfleet crew had not yet found a way to jam this low-power frequency. For the moment, at least, Netal and his people could communicate with one another. Even if that measure failed, he had already instructed his people how to proceed. He considered the Klingon frequencies programmed into his suit’s communications system, either to contact the Vekal Piltari or even the Klingon base he knew was hidden somewhere in the asteroid field. However, D’zinn had warned him such a measure was one of last resort, to avoid if at all possible exposing the Orions’ partnership with the Klingons.

  Options remain, Netal thought.

  As for Avron, despite the pilot being out of her natural element, she sounded remarkably calm and confident. It was one of the reasons Netal chose her for this task. She had participated in previous boarding parties when the Vekal Piltari had seized a wayward freighter or other civilian vessel, and her conduct during such encounters had earned her D’zinn’s notice. Based on such prior performances, the captain had agreed without hesitation to Netal’s request to add her to his team.

  Adjusting his crouching stance behind the outcropping, Netal shifted the oversized pack on his back as he studied the scene before him. The ground between his present location and the Endeavour was significant, though much of it provided plenty of natural protection thanks to the broken, uneven terrain. Weapons fire helped him identify in general terms where his people and the Starfleet ship’s crew
had taken up positions using whatever natural cover they could find.

  Netal also spied first two and then another pair of larger weapons, farther in the distance and sitting atop the wrecked ship’s hull. Phaser cannons. He had seen such armaments before, but only on rare occasions when dealing with black marketers looking to unload surplus Starfleet equipment without attracting too much attention. Unlike those, the authenticity and reliability of which he tended to question when interacting with less than savory brokers, these looked quite functional. How would their Starfleet operators employ them?

  Consulting his scanner, he noted each of the attack teams had positioned themselves according to his plan. While most of his people would serve as distraction and diversion, one group had a single mission: get close enough to utilize the devices they carried against the starship’s impulse engines. Even if the engines could not be destroyed, Netal was confident of inflicting damage sufficient to further cripple the already wounded vessel.

  For the first time, Netal gave serious consideration to the possibility of capture—or worse—at the hands of the Endeavour crew. He knew Starfleet regulations discouraged the use of deadly force even in tactical situations unless no other option remained. However, given the current situation’s chaotic nature, one could not rule out unfortunate consequences. Then there were the political ramifications of this action. Except in rare instances, the Orion Syndicate took every measure to present a stance of neutrality when it came to the Federation as well as its enemies and allies. If he or other members of his group were captured, that alone would be enough to cast unwelcome light on other Syndicate activities. Exposing the Orions’ involvement with the Klingons and their covert experiments here would cause even more strife for D’zinn and the Vekal Piltari as well as her superiors. Were the rewards they hoped to gain from this partnership worth the risk they carried?

  Those are matters for the attention of others, Netal conceded, although being relieved of such responsibility did little to ease his concerns.

  The flash of weapons fire caught his attention, and he noted his people’s movements were not going unnoticed. Already members from the Endeavour’s defense force were adjusting their fire as his own people pressed forward. Even with the cover and concealment provided by the canyon’s broken terrain, there would still be a point when there was nothing left to provide shelter. At that point, it would come down to whoever maneuvered faster and fired their weapons with greater accuracy.

  “Netal,” said Avron. “They are bringing their larger weapons to bear.”

  With no sound to provide hints or other warnings, Netal was forced to shift his position behind the outcropping to get a better look at the phaser cannons. Indeed, two of the weapons were rotating on their platforms, controlled by the two-person teams overseeing their operation. Were they tracking his people’s movements? He knew the capabilities of their targeting scanners, but the terrain would still help to mitigate their effectiveness.

  Then, one of the weapons disappeared in a brief, violent burst of energy. Ducking for cover behind the broken rock, Netal still sensed the shockwave from the abrupt explosion reverberating in the ground beneath his feet. The force of the detonation consumed the entire phaser cannon along with the two suited figures operating it as well as a section of the starship’s hull plating. He noted the puff of escaping, freezing atmosphere as it vented through the breach.

  “What happened? Did we do that?” It took him an extra moment to realize it was Ralanna speaking, the young Orion who served as one of the Vekal Piltari’s sensor technicians, drafted into this action by Netal, who needed everyone capable of carrying a weapon.

  “I have no idea.” Despite the damage to the ship’s exterior, Netal suspected the vessel’s construction was strong enough to absorb the worst of the blast, but the people inside would still be scrambling to assess and repair damage. That might draw attention and resources from other, more vulnerable areas. This might well be the best chance for him and his people to press their attack.

  Peering out once more from his hiding place, he saw members of the starship’s defense contingent reacting to the explosion. At the edge of the circle of light cast off by the Endeavour’s external illumination, he caught sight of his own people scrambling among the shadows, searching for a means to capitalize on this unexpected development. Netal felt his own muscles tensing in anticipation as he hoisted his disruptor rifle. To his left and hunkered down behind another piece of exposed rock, Vodat mimicked his actions.

  “Should we move?” Vodat asked. “We may not have a better chance.” The junior engineer was here over the protests of Tath, who claimed he needed every available technician to assist with the Vekal Piltari’s repairs. Tath’s concerns were overridden by D’zinn, which resulted in Vodat being placed as Netal’s immediate companion for the assault team. To Netal’s surprise, the young Orion’s voice held no hint of fear or uncertainty.

  Before he could answer, Netal flinched at another abrupt flash of light, and looked to his left to see a second Starfleet phaser cannon consumed by a brief, powerful explosion. Like its predecessor, the blast’s effect was brief thanks to vacuum out here on the surface of the asteroid, but it still was powerful enough to punch its own hole through the crashed starship’s outer hull.

  What is causing this?

  The thought screamed in Netal’s mind, but he had no answer. He had seen no weapons fire tracking toward either of the phaser cannons. They had exploded as though of their own volition, which made no sense. Was it a malfunction, perhaps caused by damage sustained during what would have had to have been a violent landing for the Endeavour? There was no way to know. All Netal could see at this moment in time was that fate and good fortune had apparently chosen to smile upon him for reasons he did not understand.

  “Netal! Look!”

  Vodat’s shout over the open communications frequency was loud enough that Netal could not help wincing inside his helmet. The younger man’s hand on his arm made him look to where his companion pointed, and he realized that this second bizarre explosion was doing more to shake up the Starfleet personnel deployed outside the Endeavour. In pairs or even trios, people were turning from their defensive positions to investigate the new damage. Netal was sure he sensed their anxiety and insecurity as they struggled to discern what had happened.

  Now, he admonished himself. We must move in. Now!

  “Avron,” he said into his helmet’s audio pickup. “Advance on the target.”

  * * *

  Kirk had no idea what the hell was going on.

  The loss of the second phaser cannon was as inexplicable as the first. What happened? There had been no incoming fire, at least not enough to account for the total destruction of either weapon. For the briefest of moments, he felt for the four Endeavour personnel lost in the pair of explosions. They never stood a chance, and what about the ship itself? From his vantage point, Kirk could see the large wound in the crippled starship’s upper hull. There had been a brief escape of atmosphere, but so far as he knew, no one inside the ship had been in that area. The bulk of the crew was confined to interior spaces, away from compartments near the outer hull. He knew Captain Khatami and her people would already be scrambling to assess the resulting damage and take any necessary corrective action. Khatami and her crew did not need him or anyone else calling for updates or offering other unwanted distractions. There was still plenty with which to be concerned out here on the surface.

  Do your job, Captain, Kirk scolded himself. Let Khatami do hers.

  “Nothing hit those things,” said Morgan Binnix, her voice low and tight as it filtered through his helmet’s speakers. “They just exploded on their own.”

  An accident? Perhaps once, Kirk conceded. Twice? Unlikely.

  “Sabotage,” he said. “It has to be. Damn it.” Switching to the communications frequency shared by the small force he had assembled, he snapped, “Phaser cannon crews, do not activate those weapons. Repeat, do not fire those weapons.
They may have been rigged to explode. All teams, watch your fields of fire. The Orions may take advantage of this to move on us.”

  Binnix said, “It’s what I’d do.” To emphasize her point, she shifted her position next to the large piece of jagged rock extending upward from the canyon floor and raised her phaser rifle. “Movement out there, Captain.”

  “I see them.” And indeed he did. Shadowy figures lurching and leaping from one place of concealment to the next. Several of the attackers were tracked by phaser fire from somewhere along the defensive line. He thought he saw one of the Orions fall, but the pirate was too far away and lost in the gloom for him to be sure.

  “They’re shifting their positions,” Binnix said, and when Kirk looked in her direction he saw she was consulting her own tricorder. “Some of them, anyway.”

  Studying the unit’s readout was enough to confirm Kirk’s initial suspicion about the assault force’s deployment. Most of the incoming Orions were likely intended as distraction or harassment. He guessed their primary goal, aside from clearing out as many defenders as possible, was to shield the movements of two smaller, faster-moving groups from within their ranks. It was these units that required the most attention, as they almost certainly were the ones tasked with inflicting some form of serious harm on the Endeavour.