by Star Trek
"Capt'n, we got a problem with the main energizers. How long
are ya gonna keep ma engines goin at full tilt?" said the
definitively Scottish voice of the Chief Engineer.
"We will be going sublight in a matter of minutes, Mr. Scott.
Keep us on line until then, please."
"I'll try Sir, but the intermix reactor to me port nacelle
just went into the yellow. I wouldn'a like you to have to jettison
the whole unit."
The doctor slipped off the bridge into the turbolift. No
matter how little damage there was, you could count on 5 or 6
patients appearing in Sickbay with bloody noses and minor
abrasions. With blood dripping from his left nostril, the doctor
wanted to get in line before the "Coagul-aid" was used up.
"Coming up on the Petroski solar system and Elba II, Captain,"
reported Sulu.
"Slow to one quarter impulse power, with Mr. Scott's
permission," Jim Kirk said, looking up at the bridge speaker.
"Aye Sir, Scott out."
"Slowing, Sir."
"Keptin, we are peeking up debris on collision sensors.
They appear to be asteroids directly in front of us vair there
should be none," said Checkov.
"Increase forward viewer magnification to 40. How are
the shields holding Mr. Checkov?"
"Shields at 78 percent, Sir."
The stars were shining brightly in the distance, but in
front of them, increasingly blotting out the pinpoints of light,
were dark spinning rocks growing in size as the Enterprise neared
them.
"How much longer before we have short range sensors back?" the
Captain directed toward Uhura.
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"Tech crew says we may have short range back in 10 minutes.
They haven't given me an estimate on the long range sensors as of
yet, Sir."
The Captain nodded in acknowledgement, "Mr. Sulu, all
stop."
With steady hands on the instruments, "Slowing," Sulu stated.
"All stop, Sir," he reported. "Thrusters at station-keeping."
Spock observed the forward view screen with arms folded across
his chest. "Captain, the asteroids still appear to be advancing in
our direction rapidly." Kirk examined the distant rocks on the
screen as Spock continued. "By their angle of trajectory and
dispersal, I would estimate they originated from some central point
ahead of our present course. Possibly from the event point of the
energy dispersal that has been disturbing our communications."
"They are getting closer, aren't they." He took a deep breath
and slowly exhaled noisily, as if he was about to do something
that he wished he didn't have to. "Mr. Sulu, do you recall what
regulations state about a Starship entering a field of asteroids?"
The Oriental officer looked at his comrade sitting next to
him, and answered in an uncertain voice. "Uh, I believe section
139, paragraph 62 or 63 states 'Stay the heck away from them
unless it's an emergency'. Paraphrased, Sir."
"Are you willing to make the attempt?" Kirk asked him.
A wry smile appeared on the adventurous Lieutenant's face,
still looking at Checkov, who gave him an uncomfortable nod. "I
think so, Captain"
"In that case, shields double front Mr. Checkov. Arm Photon
torpedoes, we may need to blast our way through a few of them. Do
not wait for my command to fire. That may take too long." He
pressed the intra-ship communication switch. "This is the Captain;
prepare for rough maneuvers. We will be piloting through a
hazardous area so take all precautions accordingly. Captain out."
Then to the lieutenant with whom he now entrusted his ship, "Take
us through, Mr. Sulu, and try to save the paint job."
"Aye, Sir, accelerating to point zero-four sub-light."
The sleek giant of a Starship moved closer toward the oncoming
space debris. The first tiny particles hit the shields, making
sparks visible on the main viewer. Although the vacuum of space
made it impossible, the bridge crew could almost hear the micro
asteroids hiss, as they came in contact with the ship's protective
energy barrier.
The larger asteroids were now approaching. The collision
alarm blasted through the silence on the bridge, then ceased as the
Captain signaled its termination. The Enterprise suddenly pitched
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starboard then to port as Sulu deftly navigated her through the
deadly floating rocks. The crew was being pulled side to side,
as the artificial gravity strained to adjust to the inertial force
changes. Then their motion changed to up and down as the ship
narrowly missed a large one cutting across her bow. It was as
if they were on some mad man's ride in an amusement park, but
amusement was not what the crew was experiencing. Without warning,
spiraling in from the side, came a jagged asteroid that Sulu
couldn't move around in time. Almost immediately upon seeing it,
it exploded. It was destroyed by a torpedo that shot away from
the ship like a fiery dart to obliterate the cold rock. And still
the asteroids came.
Dodging the larger ones was becoming easier, but the smaller
ones could neither be avoided, nor targeted in time. They hit the
ship in a unmerciful barrage, jolting and shaking the vessel until
she felt as if she was going to come apart. Flashes of powerful
energy lit up the viewer as torpedo after torpedo shot from the
ship's underside and either intercepted, or missed their targets.
The strain on the ship could be heard over the whine of her
impulse engines, accelerating and decelerating. And then came...
silence, as Enterprise sliced through the ebony sky on the other
side of the asteroids.
Sulu was the first to breathe a sigh of relief, before the
rest of the bridge crew realized the danger had passed. He looked
over to Checkov, who was shaking a little, then noticed that he,
himself, could not remove his hands from the controls.
The Captain, being just that, would not let his crew know the
extent of his relief, but he stepped down behind Sulu and Checkov
and rested his hands on their shoulders. "Next time we get to
Aldebaron, I'm buying."
Spock, apparently unruffled by their ordeal, noticed the green
light on his science station's short range scanner and gave it his
attention. "Captain, Short range sensors are now operational," he
announced. "We are nearing Jirus, the fifth planet in the Petroski
solar system... Fascinating," he stated, looking into the apparatus.
"Captain, Jirus does not appear to be in its natural orbit."
"This is... not good." He rubbed his chin slowly. "Uhura,
have you been able to contact Elba II at all, or receive any of
their transmissions?"
"No contact yet, Sir."
"Spock?" He turned to his first officer, who was still
looking down into his station's scanning equipment.
"One moment, Sir." Spock pressed two buttons without looking
up from the equipment, pressed another, then straightened himself
and turned toward Kirk. "Captain, " he said, "Elba II
is not
there." He waited for the full meaning of what he said to sink in.
"I believe we may have just passed through the remains of the
planet."
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"My God, Spock, are you certain?" Kirk said in astonishment.
"It would explain the orbital shift of its neighboring planet
Jirus," said the Vulcan. "The mass loss of one planet would effect
the gravitational pulls of the entire system."
"Uhura," said the captain, "Contact Starfleet Command. Tight
beam, and scrambled. I want it to penetrate that energy wave.
Fill them in and inform them we will scan the area for debris.
Then prepare a warning buoy directing all ships away from this
area." Jim Kirk paused, thinking of Governor Cory, administrator
of the Elba II colony. A good man, gone. "Launch buoy when
ready," he said.
"Aye, Sir," Uhura said while already beginning to carry
out the order.
"Klingon devils!" Checkov murmured bitterly to himself,
though just loud enough to be heard.
"Do you really think the Klingons would violate the
Organian Peace Treaty, Sir?" Sulu asked his Captain.
"Without a moment's remorse, if they had any reason to and
thought they could get away with it. However the Organians, not
us, are the enforcers of the treaty."
"What if they have found a way to cloak themselves from
Organia like the Romulans cloak their ships from us?" questioned
Sulu.
"Anything is possible, but I seriously doubt it," Kirk said as
he glanced over to his First Officer who appeared completely
engrossed with his scanner. "Opinion, Mr. Spock?"
Spock, of course, had taken the conversation in. And while
quite busy with his other duties, he had plenty of time to analyze
the situation and formulate hypotheses. "It seems unlikely that
the Klingons would have such technology to do so, Captain. I
believe we may also rule out privateers, unless their ship was
completely filled with anti-matter warheads, which I estimate as
equally unlikely," said the First Officer, not looking up from his
scanner. "There is one more possibility, which I find more
probable than the previously stated hypothesis."
Sudden remembrance flooded Kirk's mind. It had only been a
few months ago, though their many adventures had made it seem like
decades, that a once-great Starship Captain, driven mad, had
battled Kirk and nearly killed him. His last memory of the great
man was one of hope and respect born anew, for a cure to the man's
insanity had been administered. Jim became angry with himself for
letting recent events cloud his mind, keeping him from seeing what
Spock clearly observed.
"Captain Garth," Kirk said, almost allowing the sorrow of
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losing a personal hero to become apparent in his voice. 'and
something painful' the thought seemed to haunt him.
Finally looking up from his station, Spock faced his Captain.
"It is a logical conclusion, considering the potency of the
explosive he created. However one could only guess as to the
events that caused its detonation."
"It was a very unstable material." Jim Kirk choked back the
strange and sudden surge of emotion that had grabbed him a moment
ago. His emotions seemed strangely 'raw' today. "He told me that
it could be set off just by dropping it to the floor."
"And tremendously powerful," Spock added. "Remember the level
of destruction that one grain caused. It is little wonder
Starfleet delayed moving the substance. With Elba II as isolated
as it was, there was far less risk in storing it in Governor Cory's
vaults than transporting it to another location."
Jim stepped from his chair, "I don't like it Spock. Something
doesn't fit." The Captain caught himself just as he was about to
start pacing. Instead he leaned against his command chair.
"Precautions had been taken in storing the explosive. It was held
in the center of a stasis sphere by anti-gravitons, with its own
power supply, much like we use to contain antimatter."
"It is possible that some hostile attempt was made against the
planet causing the containment field to fail and detonation to
occur. However that would again indicate the Klingons on several
counts." Spock placed his hands on the rail before him and nodded
toward Checkov. "First, Elba II maintained a constant planetary
force field around itself, making it virtually impenetrable to
anything smaller than a military cruiser. Second, Elba II's
scanning equipment would have detected any unauthorized traffic
long before it reached the planet unless it had a cloaking device."
Keeping in mind that this line of reasoning still lacked any
cohesive evidence, not to mention the problem the Organian's posed
in the equation, he relented. "There are actually many scenarios
that could explain much of what happened. However, until we have
more facts for our analysis, we can only speculate."
"Keep scanning, Mr. Spock. Mr. Sulu, assemble a recon team to
collect any debris floating out there. Maybe we can piece this
mystery together before Starfleet Intelligence gets here."
PAGE 9
*** TWO ***
Light-years away, at the edge of Federation-occupied space,
defense outposts guard a zone of space currently designated as
'off-limits' to all vessels, Federation or otherwise. This Neutral
Zone separates the United Federation of Planets from the ruthless
and powerful Klingon Empire. Both galactic powers were initially
allowed by treaty to peacefully enter the Zone. But tensions
between the two opposing forces had escalated to such a point that
no contact between the two powers could be called peaceful or
productive, by either government. The Zone had become a central
point for espionage and counter-intelligence, making neither side
confident that its military secrets remained secret.
Each outpost skirting the Zone is a fully armed battle
station, carrying the equivalent firepower of a light destroyer.
The border is patrolled regularly by a rotating shift of
Starfleet's finest cruisers and destroyers. These precautions are
designed as a check and balance system, assuring total compliance
with the pre-established Klingon/Federation treaty. The standing
orders at each outpost are as follows:
1. Hail all vessels approaching Neutral Zone and warn
them off.
2. If compliance is negative; fire one warning volley and
advise Starfleet via designated patrol vessel.
3. If negative compliance continues; disable vessel if
possible, destroy vessel if not.
Outpost Delta Gamma 13 spotted the distant ship streaking
towards the Neutral Zone. On the outpost's main battle bridge,
night-watch was on duty.
"Commander O'Hara, I have an outbound vessel at 038, warp
7!" Lieutenant Tomy announced. She was a bit excited, it being her
first tour of duty and first day at this post.
The tall, fair-haired Irish Commander, O'Hara, had almost
finished his
own tour of duty on DG-13. He had felt that this
assignment was a form of punishment for the practical joke he
played on his former Captain while aboard the USS Yorktown. It
is an established fact, that few people enjoy transporting down
to a planet, only to find that their underwear has materialized
on the outside of their uniform. Though the Commander had not
actually been caught in the act, everyone knew who had perpetrated
it. Neither was he openly blamed for placing nitrous oxide
cannisters in the emergency respirators just before the Yorktown
went on "Environment Alert" drills.
It was all true, what people said about him; O'Hara was a
compulsive practical joker. Though he never meant any harm with
his humorous escapades, he always seemed to over-do his pranks on
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the very people who appreciated them the least. Usually they were
the ones who also out-ranked him. And although he tried, O'Hara
could not even force himself to stop. If there were humor in it,
O'Hara would go out of his way to play or overplay the joke.
"I'm right here, me darlin'. You don't have to shout," said
Commander O'Hara to the young and nervous Lieutenant. He stood
behind her and sipped a warm cup of coffee.
"Sorry, Sir. I'm sending the standard transmission now." She
touched her index finger lightly on the pressure sensitive switch
and the high intensity warning signal was sent out, automatically
placing the outpost on yellow alert.