by David Smith
“10.18”
They still had one card left to play: “O’Mara, how long ‘til we’re in range of the tractor beam?”
“10.19”
“It’s a small ship sir, we could probably grab a hold at a couple hundred thousand kilometres. At this rate, about thirty seconds?”
“10.2”
“Ok O’Mara, get ready, we’ll only get one shot at this” Dave realised he had his fingers crossed and under his breath he was still repeating his mantra to the ship: “You can do this!”
“10.21!!! We’ve just equalled the speed record!!!”
“In range, ExO! Locking on!”
“10.22!??!”
“GOT HER!!!” yelled O’Mara.
With that, the engines gave up. The whole mass of the Tiger suddenly dropped into normal space, collapsing the warp-field of the freighter and dragging her back to real space too. Every member of the crew was thrown forward as the inertia-dampers failed to cope with a deceleration they’d never been designed to deal with.
Chapter 14
Dave woke up in the Officer’s Mess.
Everything hurt.
Around him were dozens of the crew, every one of them battered, bruised and bandaged.
Lieutenant Chen was hobbling through the crowd, his own arm in a sling.
“Ah ExO, you’re awake.”
“Yes, I have that misfortune” groaned Dave.
“Not as misfortunate as many of the crew sir. We’re in bad shape”
“How bad?” winced Dave.
“The engineers are worst off. Three dead, everyone else on the deck very badly injured, mostly with coolant poisoning. The containment on the warp core cracked, flooding the deck with coolant and dropping us out of warp. They were incredibly lucky. The failure of the inertia-dampers threw everyone to the front end of the compartment they were in, and knocked everyone out cold. Amazingly, the automatic protection system worked and slammed all the doors in engineering shut, isolating them from the worst of the coolant leak. Unfortunately two of the engineers were trapped in warp core area and died of coolant poisoning. The third casualty broke his neck during the crash stop.”
“We lost three other crew members to trauma injuries and everybody on board has some kind of injury with the exception of Dolplop, who seems to be built to survive such things. The injuries to the crew vary; the worst are several cases of multiple fractures and spinal and cranial injuries. We’ve got two more in sick-bay that probably aren’t going to make it. The medical staff are overstretched and are as badly injured as everyone else” he said ruefully.
“Where’s Commander Mengele?“ asked Dave.
“She’s treating the most severe cases in sick-bay, but she’s in no great shape herself. Broke her arm, four ribs and dislocated her shoulder, but she’s still working twenty hours a day.”
“Who did we lose?” asked Dave quietly.
“PO Gustavo and Crewmen Perkins and Dilley from Engineering. Sparks from Security, Crewman Estensen from stores, Yeoman Giles Henry. We don’t think crewman Kodogo from A&A will survive, or PO Garvey from the galley. The seriously injured include the Lieutenant-Commander Romanov who’s the worst-off of the coolant poisoning cases, and I suppose you could include the Captain.”
“The Captain? What happened to him?”
“Really nasty: Landed penis first and just snapped it. It’s not life threatening or anything, but you know the skipper: it’s his pride and joy. Katrin is keeping him sedated until she can think of a way to break the news to him.”
“Christ, what a mess.”
“Yeah, that skunk’s got a lot to answer for”
“Skunk?” asked Dave.
“Yeah, the freighter was even worse off than us. It broke up under stress of dropping out of warp so suddenly, killing most of the crew instantly. Among the three survivors was that scum-bag Kennickie.”
--------------------
Dave sat staring at him. He didn’t know where to begin. Certainly nothing he’d thought of so far could be construed as constructive.
For his part, Kennickie had said nothing to anyone. He was a mess, but some of his injuries looked suspiciously knuckle shaped, and Dave could sense Chief Belle’s unbridled hatred of the prisoner. She was as hard as nails, but the loss of one her team had affected her badly.
Dave decided it was best not to ask questions in that respect; he knew he wouldn’t like the answers, and he’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that he wanted to exact some kind of physical revenge on the obnoxious Kennickie.
For her part Chief Belle stood guard even though there was nowhere for Kennickie to go. She could have given this task to any one of her subordinates, but she stood there, never taking that mirror-hidden gaze off Kennickie, poised and waiting for any possible excuse to shoot him.
After gathering his thoughts, he began the interrogation.
“So, Mr Kennickie. Would you care to explain how you ended up in Sha T’Al space in direct violation of the Treaty of Par Van? Also how you came to be on an illegal, unregistered vessel, carrying substances known to be harmful to the resident species?”
“Actually, no, I wouldn’t” replied Kennickie smugly.
Dave bristled but tried to remain calm.
“You are aware, that being on a Starfleet ship, you are subject to martial law? Which means that I can keep you in the brig as long as it pleases me?”
Kennickie shuffled in his seat: obviously, he didn’t know that.
“You should also be aware that being in Sha T’Al space, they have reasonable claim to take you off our hands, and that if they do so, they will try you in whatever manner they see fit. And there’s absolutely nothing I could do about it?”
“And just to enlighten you (as everyone seems to know so little about the Sha T’Al)” Dave continued “they are an ancient and enlightened race with virtually no crime. That being the case, they haven’t amended their legal statutes in several hundred years. Apparently, dealing in drugs with harmful effects is still a crime punishable by death in Sha T’Al space.”
Kennickie looked distinctly uncomfortable.
“Their schedule of crimes and punishments was written in dark days a thousand years ago, when the Sha T’Al were a primitive and barbaric race. There are many death sentences, but for drug related crimes, it’s a toss-up between forcible application of a fatal dose of the drug in question, or being burned alive in public.”
Dave actually made the last bit up, but as Kennickie was clearly worried, it seemed a good idea to turn the screw further. Rallying, Kennickie tried to go on the offensive.
“Look” said Kennickie, “I’m the injured party here! I’m there, keeping myself to myself, conducting a little business to foster good relations between the Federation and the Sha T’Al, when you and your cowboys come charging at us out of the blue. What was I supposed to do? We panicked and ran. You should think yourself lucky that I’m not suing you for the wilful destruction of my ship!”
“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere!” said Dave with a smile.
Kennickie smiled back, thinking he’d found an angle to dig himself out of a hole.
“So” Dave continued “You’ve just gone on record admitting that the unregistered illegal vessel was actually yours…..”
Kennickie froze, and the smile fell away.
“Well, I say mine….”
“And you also stated that you were conducting business with the Sha T’Al, which is also a breach of Federation trade laws associated with the Treaty of Par Van” continued Dave.
“I need to discuss this with my lawyer” said Kennickie flatly.
“Of course” said Dave “and just as soon as he finds his way here, several light-years outside Federation space, and where the law he practices has no jurisdiction, I’ll send him in to see you. Then you can both have a nice cup of tea and a bit of a chit-chat before I hand your sorry ass over to the Sha T’Al.”
Dave could see desperation creeping into Kennickie�
�s eyes.
“Lieutenant-Commander Hollins…….Dave…..” he smiled again “We’re not dissimilar you and I. We’re men of the world. We’re both looking to broaden the horizons of the Federation in our own ways. And we both care about the people who work with us. I know how much your people mean to you….” he sneaked a furtive glance towards Chief Belle, obviously painfully aware of how much her people meant to her “…..so don’t think for a minute that I’m not grieving for the crew of that ship. That I didn’t own, obviously” he added with a nervous smile “And I also didn’t know anything about the manifest either.”
“So you were just sight-seeing in Sha T’Al space then? An innocent bystander caught up in the machinations of reckless wrong-doers with whom you had no previous connection…”
“You’re starting to understand me!” beamed Kennickie.
“Oh, I understand you alright” said Dave through gritted teeth “That’s why I interviewed the other two survivors from your ship first.”
With mock surprise Dave added “Did…..Did the Chief not explain to you that there were two other survivors? Bad Chief Belle!” said Dave wagging a finger at her.
Kennickie gulped and visibly stiffened in his seat.
“I suppose she also didn’t explain that completely independently of each other, they’d already told us you owned that ship? And that they worked directly for you in your various enterprises? Which they described in significant and identical detail?”
Dave leaned across the table and whispered conspiratorially to Kennickie “By the way, they also both told us that you’re a loathsome, tight-fisted, hard-hearted bastard who’d sell his own granny just for the practice. And I’m actually quoting them when I say that.”
Dave leaned back and fixed Kennickie with a steely stare “So here’s where we’re at. You took an illegal ship, broke Federation trade and border laws, supplied an alien species with a substance with lethal effects resulting in the collapse of their society on four planets that we know of, with a death toll that could amount to twenty million individuals. Even after the loss of communication with them, you still crossed the border to try and trade more drugs for minerals, and then attempted to outrun a Federation Starship resulting in the deaths of eight Starfleet personnel, and the destruction of your own ship and the loss of twenty of her crew that we know of.”
“I can’t begin to imagine how many crimes you’ve committed under Sha T’Al law, so the only question really, is do you want to die in Sha T’Al space, or spend the rest of your miserable, worthless life in a federal penal colony? I’ll let you think that over for a few days and then we’ll have another go at this interview thing, shall we?”
The comm-set at the door of interview room beeped, showing a call from ASBeau, up in the ships probe launch control room. Glad of the distraction, Dave tapped the icon to accept the call.
"Hollins here, what's up ASBeau?"
"We have a problem, sir. A big problem....."
--------------------
When Dave arrived at the probe control room ASBeau and Ensign David were hunched over a display linked to a recently returned probe.
"What have we got?" asked Dave.
Ensign David answered: "Well I was on duty down here on my own when a probe drops out of warp with a priority return code. Well, you could have wrapped me in cling-film and called me a sausage! I've never had a probe cancel its own mission like that before!"
ASBeau added "Since we're using the probes as remote scout vessels I thought it would be best to give it clear instructions as to what information could wait until it finished its defined mission and what information we needed to know immediately. The probe analysed the situation and decided that we needed to download its data as soon as possible."
David continued "Probe 1449/3 was one of three probes assigned to fly in a loop around the Tana / Sha T'Al border."
He pulled up a star-chart on the display and pointed to a small mark on it: "Just here it crossed a plasma trail consistent with Tana drive technology and turned to follow it. Approximately eight hours later, it made contact with the Tana vessel and undertook a discrete fly-past using passive sensors only to avoid detection."
ASBeau tapped a few controls and on the compartments main screen the images of the Tana vessel appeared.
Dave gulped. It was huge.
The Tactical Officer took up the briefing at this point.
"The probe remained undetected, and its sweep indicated a mass of around one million tonnes. That's over five times the mass of the Tiger. Life signs are limited and internal spaces are small and well compartmented. The total mass compared to the observed volume indicates a heavy structure and an exceptionally massive hull. This suggests very clearly that she's a warship, not a freighter."
"Knowing that, the probe moved closer and captured dozens of images, including these of her weapon arrays. They're similar to those we observed on the scout ship we tangled with, but much, much bigger. The scout’s lasers had an output of the order of five mega-watts. I figure on these bad boys weighing in around the fifty mega-watt class. There are also more than twenty of these ports dotted around the ship. They're consistent with the dimensions and profile we have for Tana torpedo designs. This thing is big and it's armed to the teeth.”
Dave was stunned: "My god! I didn't think the Tana had anything of this size!"
ASBeau shook his head "No-one did, but I suppose our dealings with them have always been with their border patrol vessels. We've never come across a battle fleet or an invasion force."
Dave thought about it. Although well-armed and protected, the Tiger was still in essence a vessel designed for exploration. More space on board was dedicated to scientific facilities than to military operations. What they were looking at was a true battleship, built to fight and destroy enemy vessels.
Worse was to come. Ensign David continued and pointed to another marker on the star-chart.
"The probe took bearings and headings. This ship is on a heading for Todot Hahn from this point here, and bugger me gently with the rough end of a pineapple if that’s not the exact point at which we fought that Tana scout vessel. The scout must have sent a message to its HQ as soon as they spotted Tiger, and then stopped transmitting there."
The Tana were only doing exactly what Starfleet would do in the same circumstances. They'd lost a ship, possibly to enemy action and were sending in the heavy brigade to investigate.
Worried now, Dave asked "How long have we got?"
"That's about the only good news I can offer, sir” said ASBeau “She's a big girl and she's none too light on her feet. She’s probably already close to Todot Hahn, and they'll pick up our plasma trail and follow us here, but at her current limited speed that will take something like twelve days."
"Oh crap." Dave paused and pressed an icon on a comm-set on the console.
"All senior officers report to Officer's Mess immediately."
--------------------
There were some distinctly pale faces around the table as ASBeau ran through his brief on the alien ship and its course. They hadn’t looked great to start with, still suffering the effects of the run-in with Kennickie’s freighter, but now they looked like extras from a horror movie.
When he'd finished, Dave opened things up for discussion:
"Options?"
ASBeau spoke up immediately.
"Prioritise repairs to shields and phasers, rig more probes with personal tactical nukes. Use our advantage in speed and agility to find her weak spots and pick her off."
"You think we could beat that ship in a fire-fight??" asked Dave.
ASBeau shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"Errr...actually no. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try!"
Chief Deng had stood in for Lieutenant-Commander Romanov and spoke up next:
"That strategy does, of course, assume that the drives, shields and phasers will actually function properly in a combat situation. I would regard that as extremely unlikely
."
"That's not a great admission coming from the head of engineering" winced ASBeau.
Deng shrugged "I'm a pragmatist. The ship's operating with raw dilithium crystals and a power distribution system held together with bodged relays, duct tape and the power of prayer. A combat situation will stress every system to almost certain failure and there is nothing you, or I, or anyone else can do to prevent that."
O'Mara chipped in too:
"Also I wouldn't recommend layering applique haggis on the outside of the hull again. The new pattern for haggis in the transporter system includes a significant proportion of 40% proof whisky and is considerably more volatile than the original recipe."
ASBeau scratched his head “I suppose we could try and bluff our way out of it. How about sending a transmission on a frequency we know they can intercept and decrypt? Saying something about us arming our huge, ultra-secret self-destruct system?”
Crash shot this one down, “Nah! I remember reading about a ship that tried that once. The aliens were quite aggressive and called their bluff. When nothing happened, the aliens blew them to pieces.”
Everyone was quite surprised when the ships Counsellor, Lieutenant-Commander Ozawa spoke up: “They are a martial people. I will challenge them to send a champion to meet me in honourable single combat. A fight to the death, the winner controls the system.”
Everyone was speechless. Dave managed to engage his brain long enough to say “Err…..Thank you Counsellor, your suggestion is very…….honourable…..but the system is not actually ours to bargain with.”
“Well there’s nothing for it then” said Crash “we have to set a course for Hole and hope Command have sent reinforcements based on our last communication.”
Dave could see expressions change and shoulders slump all around the table.
Izzy spoke up this time. “If we retreat, we’re abandoning the Sha T’Al to their fate. That’s not what we came here for.”
Dave agreed “If we leave now there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to come back. If the Tana have despatched more ships like the one that’s on its way here, they could annexe all of Sha T’Al space adjacent the Federation border. We’d need a full battle-fleet to even challenge them. Retreat is the last possible option.”