The Rings Of Tautee

by Dean Wesley Smith

  But he could at least try.

  He turned to Rodriguez. “Take us in to the position of the Enterprise at the safest and fastest possible course.”

  After just a second, Rodriguez said, “The course is plotted.”

  “Do it,” Bogle said. Then he turned to Lee. “Keep an eye on that wave and make sure it doesn’t slam us into a damn rock.”

  “Understood, sir.”

  Bogle sat down and watched the big screen. There was little he could do now. He had to trust the skill of his navigator and his science officer. He had no other choice.

  The Farragut and the Enterprise were his responsibility. He had to risk his own ship to go after James Kirk.

  He hated that.

  And right now he hated Jim Kirk more than anything.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  BLIND, DEAF, TRAPPED in a lifeless ship in the middle of a debris field. With a subspace wave on the way.

  Kirk glanced at Prescott. She had gone very pale.

  She knew what was happening.

  It had happened to her before. All of her people had been in this situation before.

  He had risked his ship and his life to save as many of them as he could. He wouldn’t let this stop him. He would succeed, at any cost.

  “One minute until the wave hits, Captain,” Spock said.

  Kirk pressed the comm button so hard his finger hurt. “Mister Scott, I need power, at least to the impulse engines and the sensors.”

  “I’m working on it, sir,” Scotty said. His voice sounded strained and breathless, as if he’d been running.

  Kirk took a deep breath and forced himself to glance around, away from the totally blank main screen. Prescott stood, her hands grasping the rail as if she’d fall off a cliff were she to let go. Kirk didn’t blame her. He couldn’t imagine going through what she had experienced the past few weeks.

  Sulu continued to work the helm as if he could get control from his seat. Uhura was beneath the communications board, apparently trying to patch things. Chekov was beside her, offering his advice softly.

  But Kirk’s gaze kept coming back to the blank screen. He felt as if it were a curtain on the rest of the world, hiding but not preventing danger. Outside the thin hull of this ship, hundreds of huge rocks and asteroids floated. When the wave hit, the Enterprise would be in for the ride of her life.

  Kirk took his finger off the comm button. “What’s our status, Mister Spock?”

  “We have full shields, Captain,” Spock said, his face intent on the panel before him, “but no sensors or impulse power. Warp drive is still available to us, as are the docking thrusters.”

  “What’s our chance of surviving this next wave?”

  “Without impulse power and sensors,” Spock said, “we have a ninety-nine-percent chance of being smashed into an asteroid too large for our shields. There is an eighty-seven-percent chance there will be no survivors from such a collision.”

  “Oh, no,” Prescott said into the silence of the bridge. “This can’t be happening.”

  “Sensors are back,” Sulu said, his voice almost breaking in the excitement.

  Kirk whirled as the main screen lit up, showing them the debris field around them.

  “Thirty seconds until the wave hits,” Spock said.

  That last minute and a half had been the longest of Kirk’s life.

  “Mister Spock,” Kirk asked, still staring at the screen, “can we move quickly enough with docking thrusters to avoid collisions?”

  “No, sir,” Spock said.

  “Scotty?” Kirk said, holding his finger down on the comm button. “There’s no time left. We need impulse power.”

  He didn’t expect Scotty to answer. “Mister Spock, give Sulu the course just in case.”

  “I have already done so, Captain,” Spock said.

  Chekov made his way back down the bridge, returning to his position. Uhura had climbed back into her chair. Apparently the rewiring hadn’t worked.

  Kirk stepped forward and patted Sulu on the shoulder. “If we don’t have impulse when the wave hits, do your best with the docking thrusters. Avoid what you can.”

  “Aye, sir,” Sulu said.

  “Ten seconds,” Spock said.

  Kirk retreated and sat down in his command chair.

  “Nine seconds,” Spock said.

  His voice almost sounded calmer than the computer’s.

  “Eight.”

  Kirk grimaced. It seemed like his entire life had been lived with countdowns.

  “Seven.”

  Maybe he did prefer the computer’s voice. He was used to it counting the seconds of his life away.

  “Six.”

  “Scotty,” he said softly, not bothering to punch the comm button.

  “Five.”

  “Hold on, everyone,” Kirk said, making certain he sounded calm.

  “Four.”

  “Captain,” Scotty’s voice cut through the bridge. “You got your power.”

  “Three.”

  Kirk took a deep breath. “It’s all yours, Mister Sulu.”

  “Two.”

  The ship moved forward.

  “One.”

  The moaning started and the wave hit with the force of an angry child pounding on an unwanted toy.

  To Kirk this wave felt more intense than any of the others. He didn’t know if it really was, or if it just seemed to be because they had come so close to dying with this one.

  He managed to maintain his seat. Everyone on the bridge stayed at their stations and Prescott remained standing as the pounding shook the ship. It was amazing they hadn’t had something fail before now.

  Then the wave passed.

  And they were still alive.

  Every face on the bridge, except for Spock’s, had an ear-to-ear smile. Kirk could feel himself smiling as well.

  “Nice work, Mister Scott,” Kirk said into the intercom.

  “My poor girl will need every nut and bolt tightened after this ride,” Scotty said.

  “At Starbase Eleven, Mister Scott. I promise.”

  “I’ll hold you to that, Captain.”

  “The Farragut is approaching,” Chekov said.

  “And they’re hailing us,” Uhura said.

  Kirk’s grin widened. He had an idea that just might work, now that Bogle had come charging to their rescue. He turned to Mister Spock. “Do we still have time to rescue those survivors you spotted?”

  “Barely, sir,” Spock said. “We have twenty minutes until we need to close the rift.”

  “That’s enough time,” Kirk said.

  “Eight hundred people, sir,” Chekov said. “They’ll be hanging off the rafters.”

  Kirk shook his head. “No, they won’t, Ensign.”

  “But sir, we’re already filled—”

  “Yes, we are, Mister Chekov. We’ll need to find somewhere new to put them all.” Kirk leaned back in his chair. The main screen showed the Farragut, a small but growing ship against the debris field. “And I think I just might know just the place. And I’ll wager they have room.”

  Kirk stood.

  “Answer the hail, Lieutenant, and put this on screen,” Kirk said. “Let’s see just how good a poker player my old friend Bogle really is.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  THE SHAKING FROM the last wave passed. Bogle’s crew had learned to ride the waves out. No one had lost his seat, no one had even moved a finger except for balance.

  And no one said a word.

  Bogle stared at the screen, but it didn’t tell him much. Kirk, the Enterprise, and even the survivors worried him.

  Even the survivors.

  Bogle shook his head, and turned. Lee was staring into his scope. His long body was tense, and his hands were gripping the science console.

  His knuckles were white.

  “Mr. Lee?” Bogle asked, not really wanting the answer. Without power, no ship would have survived that wave.

  Lee stood slowly. “They made it. Look
s like they got their impulse engines back on line at the last second.”

  Bogle let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. This system was disaster enough for all of them. They didn’t need to lose the Enterprise too.

  At least, not on his watch.

  “Hail them,” he said as he turned back to the screen.

  “Aye, sir,” Gustavus said. “Farragut to Enterprise, come in, Enterprise.”

  Outlined against the debris, the Enterprise was moving slowly toward them. She had a battered look, some of her lights were off, but she looked sleek and powerful, like the flagship she was.

  After a moment, Gustavus said, “I have the Enterprise, sir.”

  “On screen,” Bogle said. He moved closer. He forced himself to show his most calm face. Right now he was relieved. Underneath, though, he was furious. Kirk had put four hundred of his people in danger while he broke the Prime Directive. And then he had put Bogle’s ship at risk.

  The image on the screen shifted from the exterior of the Enterprise to the interior. Kirk smiled as the picture cleared. He looked even more beat-up and tousled than he had an hour before. Bogle imagined he didn’t look much better.

  “Thanks for coming to help,” Kirk said. “That was a close one.”

  Bogle nodded. “I know. Do you still need assistance?”

  Kirk glanced around and then looked back at Bogle. “Actually, we do. My chief engineer informs me that the Enterprise is still having problems. He needs to shut down the environmental controls on some of the lower decks. The problem is that we are stuffed to the gills with survivors. How many have you picked up? I’d like to beam some over to you.”

  Bogle glanced back at Lee who answered softly, “We have found a little over three hundred.”

  Bogle nodded and turned back to Kirk. “We have over three hundred,” Bogle said. “I doubt we could take too many more.”

  Kirk laughed. “We’re almost at a thousand. And if the environmental controls go, then I hurt them. We might even lose some of the injured ones.”

  Bogle glanced at Lee. Lee shrugged and mouthed, his controls look fine. Kirk was bluffing. He was trying to manipulate Bogle, and the manipulation wouldn’t work.

  “Take the risk, Jim,” Bogle said. “I get the ploy and I think we have enough for now.”

  The smile left Jim Kirk’s face. “Kelly, I’m the one who takes the responsibility here. You’re going to make certain I’m court-martialed when we get back, if my guess is correct. Take some more of the evidence with you. I’d hate to be court-martialed for saving lives I later lost.”

  Bogle laughed. He couldn’t believe Kirk was even asking this. What was his reason? It made no sense.

  “Kelly,” Kirk said. “I’ll go on record that you had no part in the rescue and it was my decision completely.”

  “I rescued survivors, also,” Bogle reminded him. “I am perfectly capable of standing for my own decisions.”

  “Are you, Kelly?” Kirk asked. “Are you really? Or are you just using the Prime Directive as a shield to hide behind? You’re afraid to take risks. Afraid to do anything that would jeopardize this marvelous career of yours. But being a starship captain is all about taking risks, Kelly, and if you don’t have the guts to do so, then you’ll always be one step behind the rest of us.”

  That stung. Bogle felt his face go red, even though he didn’t want it to. Bogle hated Kirk for his fast promotions and now Kirk was tossing the fact at him like a weapon. How could Kirk have known how he felt?

  Bogle forced himself to take a deep breath. “You just don’t understand, do you, Jim? Rules such as the Prime Directive were made for reasons. Damn good reasons. Not just so you could go running around the sector breaking them.”

  “I don’t run around the sector breaking them,” Kirk said. “But I do know when taking a risk is important.” He motioned behind him. A tiny humanoid woman climbed into view. She had a bruise on her forehead, and her wide eyes held a strain that Bogle couldn’t even begin to understand. “Right now, I doubt our rules would carry much weight with Prescott and her people below.”

  Across the distance between the two starships, the woman held Kelly’s gaze until he finally had to look away. Kirk played dirty. Putting a face instead of just a rule on these people made it harder.

  “Your environmental controls aren’t really going, are they, Jim?”

  Kirk put a hand on Prescott’s shoulder. “They’re strained to the breaking point, Kelly, and anything else I might do would strain them further. Let’s give these people the best chance we can. You’ve got the room.”

  The woman didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. Her wide eyes said it all. Even if Kirk was lying, even if he was scheming, Bogle now had a face that would haunt his dreams.

  And if something did happen to the Enterprise, it would be his nightmares.

  He glanced at Lee. “How long would it take to beam a large number of survivors aboard?”

  “With all the transporters,” Lee said, “including cargo transporters of both ships, not long. Maybe five minutes.”

  “Four point eight minutes for six hundred,” Bogle heard someone say behind Kirk.

  Bogle faced Kirk. “Do it. Get them over here. Then let’s go close that rift and get out of here.”

  Kirk broke into a smile. “We’ll do it. And, Kelly, thanks.”

  The screen went blank.

  Bogle turned to Lee and said, “Give the order to get the evacuation started and let me know the moment we have them all. I want to get out of here.”

  “Yes sir,” Lee said and turned to his panel. Bogle couldn’t tell if he was smiling or not.

  “And watch out for the next wave.”

  “Yes sir,” Lee said again.

  Bogle dropped down into his command chair. Bogle had watched Kirk play poker. Kirk bluffed, a lot.

  Bogle also knew that the environmental controls on the Enterprise weren’t reason enough to ship the survivors over to the Farragut. No, Kirk had a plan. A clear plan which he wasn’t going to share with Bogle.

  There was sixteen minutes left until they had to close that rift. Sixteen long minutes. That gave Kirk a lot of extra time. The question was, what was he going to do with it?

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  BOGLE HAD GIVEN IN. Prescott had done it. Bogle hadn’t been able to argue the rules while Prescott was staring him in the face.

  Kirk should have skipped the entire business of the environmental controls. While it was true, on an odd sort of level—the Enterprise wouldn’t have been able to support all the new survivors and the old—it hadn’t been nearly as convincing as Prescott herself.

  Kirk squeezed her shoulder, then spun and hit his comm button. “Scotty, we’re emergency-beaming seven hundred Tauteean survivors over to the Farragut. Coordinate with them, and do it fast.”

  “But, Captain, I need to work on the Enterprise herself. She’s not in top shape yet and we still have some business here in this rift.”

  Kirk grinned. Scotty always wanted to work on his ship over everything else. “I know that, Mr. Scott. Keep it together as best you can. But unload the survivors. Fast. Kirk out.”

  Kirk punched the comm button again. “Dr. McCoy, to the bridge at once.”

  “On my way,” McCoy’s voice came back.

  Kirk smiled at Spock. “He’s not going to like this one at all.”

  Spock looked puzzled. “I do not understand what Dr. McCoy’s enjoyment of a situation has to do with the rescue of more survivors.”

  Kirk laughed and waved his hand from side to side. “Never mind. Just tell me how long it will take us to get to those survivors you found, get them aboard, and get to the rift.”

  “The new group of survivors number, at my latest count, approximately nine hundred and eighty. They are under a very thin layer of rock, which will allow us to bring them aboard in eight point six minutes.”

  Kirk nodded. They could do that, if everything kept working. “Will it give us
enough time to get to the rift?”

  “Yes, Captain. We will have almost two minutes to spare.”

  “Two minutes,” Kirk said. Two minutes. For the Tauteean people, those two minutes might be an entire future. “Spock, I want you to keep me informed the second we fall behind schedule. If we fall behind. Getting that rift closed is much more important than the last few hundred survivors.”

  He glanced at Prescott, who was frowning from his last statement. “I’m sorry, but it is.”

  She nodded, but the frown didn’t leave her face.

  Behind her, the lift doors burst open and Dr. McCoy came out, looking dirty, tired, and angry. “Jim, just what in blazes is going on? I had a roomful of Tauteean survivors beamed right out from under my nose.”

  “We’re putting them back on the rocks,” Kirk said. Then, before Dr. McCoy could have a brain hemorrhage, he laughed. “We’re moving them all to the Farragut.”

  McCoy seemed to stammer for a minute as Chekov and Sulu both chuckled at the joke. Then he said, “For heaven’s sake, why?”

  Kirk let himself drop down into his chair before he answered. “Because there are nine hundred more we’re going to bring aboard.” He swung so he could see the doctor’s face. “So be ready.”

  McCoy opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. But not one word came out. “How long?”

  Kirk glanced at Spock. “The last of the survivors we have aboard are just being transported to the Farragut. I would say the new survivors will start arriving in about two minutes.”

  Kirk swung back around to face the front screen. He’d better say something to Bogle before they left. No point in having him too angry. “Give me the Farragut.”

  After a moment Uhura said, “On screen, sir.”

  Kirk stood as Bogle’s face came into view. “Thanks, Kelly,” Kirk said.

  “See you at the rift?” Bogle said.

  “We’re on our way,” Kirk said, and then cut the screen.

  Then he said to the air in front of him, “We just have a few passengers to pick up first.”

  Chapter Twenty-nine