Kirk nodded. “In her case I think greatness collapsed in on her. But since the Payav authorities looked seriously for any remnants of Klingon agents, it’s likely they removed themselves from the planet as soon as Raya’s speech hit the news-connects.” Kirk played his cards and then counted. “Did I tell you I asked Raya to find Izra orCina a job? She said she would.”
McCoy looked at Kirk sideways, studying the man as he pegged his points. “How is it you’re able to gloat without saying anything? Just by sitting there.”
Innocently, Kirk looked at the cribbage board and then up to McCoy. “I’m four points ahead. Who’s gloating?”
“Not about the game, about your hunch. You were right—about the shipments, about the Klingons, about everything.”
Kirk smiled and shuffled the cards. “Yeah, I noticed that.”
“How long are you going to be this insufferable?” McCoy asked.
“How long have you got?”
Unable to keep from chuckling, McCoy refilled both their glasses with some Payav liquor he procured before they left Mestiko.
Kirk took a drink, sucked his teeth dry, and gestured for McCoy to refill his glass again. “You sorry I dragged you along for this?” Kirk asked him.
McCoy shrugged. “Someone had to save your ass. How could I leave you all alone on a hostile planet?”
This time having just short sips of a liquor Kirk could almost describe as both fruity and buttery at the same time, the admiral contemplated the confused planet and people of Mestiko. “Not that hostile, really. All things considered.”
“You ever find out what ‘a’sloointa Dinpayav’ meant?”
For the first time in a long while, Jim Kirk actually laughed. “I made the mistake of asking Raya,” he said.
McCoy leaned forward, his brows arched with curiosity. “Well?”
“Dinpayav you know,” Kirk said tauntingly.
“Yeah, non-Payav. Got that.”
“It means, Raya told me with much embarrassment,” Kirk chuckled and took another sip of his thick drink, “no-necked.”
“Come again?” McCoy felt his neck. “I have a neck.”
“Not for a Payav,” Kirk said. “And it would seem it’s the highest insult.”
Thinking for a minute, McCoy finally nodded his head and chuckled. “You know what? I think I like it. I might use it on Nogura next time I see him.”
“Don’t start,” Kirk admonished, and felt the drink pulling at him a bit, slowing him.
“Will you at least admit that this is where you belong?” McCoy asked. “Out here, and not behind a desk?”
“If not for the papers that pushed across my desk, I’d never have known anything was going on with the Klingons and Mestiko,” Kirk said. “That must count for something.” He took another slug of the Mestikan drink.
“You convincing me, or yourself?” McCoy asked pointedly.
Kirk didn’t reply. He dealt the cards, and motioned to McCoy that it was his crib. The truth was, he was trying to convince both himself and McCoy. There was a lot of future left for Kirk—he was yet a young man. Could he picture himself behind a desk for the next thirty or forty years, an admiral’s braid on his sleeve? Maybe. Could he picture himself settling down and having a family? There was that side to him too. Did he still yearn to be in that center seat, on that starship, pushing past the frontier? Yes. Every moment of every day.
“What admiral takes a step back to captain?” Kirk said aloud.
McCoy was ready with an answer. “Since when do you wait for a precedent to act?”
Looking through the narrow doorway that led to the bridge, Kirk focused on the viewscreen above the navigation console. In the distance, stars pushed away as if spreading for his ship to pass.
This didn’t feel like his ship; it still felt like Sam’s. It probably always would.
Jim Kirk’s ship was neither as small, nor available.
His ship was named Enterprise.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Acknowledgments
I think it goes without saying, if you’ve read the other authors’ acknowledgements in this series, that the writers collectively had a blast in discussing and planning their respective works with one another. I so enjoyed the wit and intelligence of them all: Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore, Mike W. Barr, Christopher L. Bennett, Howie Weinstein, and Margaret Wander Bonanno. Working with these folks has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my writing career, and I’d not have missed it for the world.
Which leads me to especially thank Keith R.A. DeCandido for having the crazy notion to bring us all together for this most enjoyable of projects.
Thanks as well to my friends and my dad for being understanding about deadlines, and to my brother Josh for his last-minute proofreading skills. Any typos are his fault, you know. If you e-mail me with complaints about them, I’m just forwarding them to him, be warned.
Last, but most important, thanks to the folks who forty years ago brought us what would become the legacy of Star Trek: Gene Roddenberry, Gene L. Coon, D.C. Fontana, Bill Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and Majel Barrett. I could go on with a list of names that would greatly extend the length of this book—so many helped to build the mythos of Star Trek—but their names are writ on the episodes we can forever watch, and remember, and love. Thanks to all of them, and the casts and crews of all past and future Star Trek shows for reminding us that “the human adventure is just beginning.”
About the Author
DAVE GALANTER has authored various Star Trek projects, among these the Voyager novel Battle Lines, the Next Generation duology Maximum Warp, the S.C.E. eBooks Ambush and Bitter Medicine, a short story in the Tales of the Dominion War anthology entitled “Eleven Hours Out,” and most recently a short story in the Constellations anthology entitled “The Leader.” His not-so-secret Fortress of Solitude is in Michigan, from where he pretends to have a hand in managing the message board websites he co-owns: ComicBoards.com, a comic book discussion site, and TVShowBoards.com, a similar site dedicated to television and movies. He also edits and is the main contributor to his own blogsite, SnarkBait.com, on which he babbles about philosophy and politics. Dave spends his non-day-job time with family and friends, or burying himself in other writing projects. He enjoys feedback on his writing, positive or negative, and would appreciate seeing any comments you have on his work. Feel free to e-mail him at [email protected].
About the eBook (v1.0)
This eBook originated from a text file found on eMule, it was then converted into html & reformatted using a style sheet.
—Agent Orange, February 2007
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