STAR TREK®: NEW EARTH - THIN AIR

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

  “See you in ten minutes,” Branch said, and cut the connection.

  He glanced around at the three young people staring at him. They had all heard.

  They were all good people, all good at flying ships, all had families and friends and land at stake on the planet below. It looked suddenly if they were going to get into the fight defending it.

  Branch knew that none of them had ever been in a fight before, or were even trained in any kind of military service. Their ranks were just for the flight here and nothing more. It was going to be interesting to see how they did if they got into a real combat situation.

  In a big, empty mule-driven ship, he doubted if anyone would do very well.

  He pointed to a young ensign named Gary Don. “You have the bridge. There are three thousand people on this ship. Don’t do anything until I get back. Understand?’

  Ensign Don nodded, clearly stunned.

  “Bonnie, Haines, come with me at a run.”

  It took the three of them one full minute to get to the ship’s transporter room.

  At Branch’s insistence they all grabbed flashlights and oxygen masks and shoved aside some surprised family coming on board as they headed for the platform.

  Both Ensign Barbara Bonnie and Lieutenant Stephen Haines were flushed and excited by the time the transporter took them to the empty and very dark Conestoga-class ship named the Northwest Passage.

  “We’re going to have to fly her mostly blind from the engine room,” Branch said, clicking on his light in the darkness. “Watch your step. They scavenged a lot of the flooring out of here for the floors of some townhall walls.”

  “Let’s just hope they didn’t take the engines and controls as well,” Haines said.

  “They didn’t,” Branch said. “I inspected her two days ago. She’ll fly. It’s just not going to be pretty.”

  “Captain Kirk didn’t say anything about pretty,” Bonnie said.

  “That he didn’t,” Branch said. “That he didn’t.”

  Four minutes later the big ship Northwest Passage swung out of orbit using only one of its two big mule engines.

  By the time they reached the area of the Enterprise, eleven minutes had passed from Kirk’s call.

  And Branch and his young crew had the lights on and both engines working.

  Chapter Twenty

  “THEY’RE MOVING, CAPTAIN,” Sulu said.

  Kirk leaned forward and stared at the screen. The Kauld fleet was headed their way. A lot of ships had joined the original four warships. It looked like space was full of them, in all shapes and sizes.

  “How long until they are in range?”

  “Six minutes,” Sulu said.

  Kirk shook his head. Spock said it was going to take him another fourteen minutes to get the code. That means he had to stall that fleet, or keep this fight from getting near that asteroid until then.

  “Get all available ships on the way here,” Kirk said. “Launch shuttles. I want every ship that has a screen and can fire a weapon ready and in position in four minutes.”

  “All ships are responding, Captain,” Uhura said.

  “Good,” Kirk said. “Put me through to Mr. Scott.”

  Scott had beamed over to the empty Conestoga ship with a crew to rig up the olivium explosion. Captain Branch had done a great job getting the big ship here on time.

  Scotty’s voice came back strong. “We got her rigged ta blow, Capt’n. The minute a phaser hits her screens. Or I can blow her at any point.”

  “Can you get the blast to go directionally forward?” Kirk asked.

  “Already set that way, Capt’n,” Scott said, sounding almost insulted that Kirk asked. “And the controls are rigged so I can run them from the bridge.”

  “Then get off there and get up here,” Kirk said. “The Kauld are on their way.”

  “Scott out.”

  Kirk went back to staring at the oncoming fleet. He had had a number of battles with the Kauld, including before the colony even arrived at Belle Terre. But this Kauld fleet looked to be one of the biggest he had faced. After he had defeated their laser attack, he had assumed the Kauld were finished with the human colony for a while. But the siliconic gel attack and now this proved that wasn’t going to be the case. Belle Terre was going to have to be dealing with the Kauld for a long time to come. And the bigger the lesson he could teach them right now, the better off the colonists would be in the future.

  Assuming, of course, that Spock found that code to shut off the nanoassemblers. If he didn’t, then the Kauld were going to win. And Kirk hated that thought.

  “How many of them are there, Mr. Sulu?”

  “Sixty-one ships, sir,” Sulu said.

  “Sixty-one?” Kirk said. The number shocked him. “How did they get that many ships?”

  “It seems a few are mercenary, Captain,” Sulu said. “And a few pirates as well have joined it.”

  Kirk sighed. They were after the olivium ore. Join the Kauld, destroy the human defenses, and with the planet already mostly uninhabitable with the siliconic gel, the ore in the moon and scattered around the system would be easy pickings. Made sense.

  Pirates and mercenaries were going to be another problem the colony was going to always have to deal with. Whatever ship was going to replace the Enterprise next month was going to have its hands full, just as they had had.

  And still did.

  At least Pardonnet had been smart enough to hire a few mercenaries of his own to protect ore shipments. Those crews were joining in on the human side to protect their best interests. But it still wasn’t going to be an even fight. The Kauld had over sixty ships. The best Belle Terre and Starfleet were going to be able to muster was thirty, and a number of them were shuttles, no match for a Kauld warship.

  Kirk figured he had a lot riding on the success or failure of the big mule ship, his biggest weapon. It might level the field a little, and maybe even buy them enough time to get Spock off that asteroid with the code to shut down the nanoassemblers.

  “Three minutes,” Sulu said.

  Behind him Kirk heard the lift door open. He glanced around at Mr. Scott, who moved quickly to his panel, touched a few buttons, and then smiled. “Ready to launch her, sir.”

  “Do it,” he said.

  Scott punched the button.

  On the screen the big engines of the mule ship fired, launching the massive vessel toward the oncoming fleet.

  “Open a secure channel to all our ships,” Kirk ordered.

  “Open,” Uhura said.

  “Battle stations, everyone. Spread out in a wing formation behind the Enterprise,” Kirk said. “We’re going to follow the mule ship. Then we’ll retreat back to this position and take a stand. We protect that asteroid observation station at all costs until otherwise notified. Good luck, everyone. Kirk out.”

  Kirk glanced around at his chief engineer. “Mr. Scott, how close can we safely follow that bomb ship? I want that Kauld fleet focused on all of us as a fleet and not avoiding that one ship.”

  “Match her speed an’ I’d say we’re far enough back right now, Capt’n.”

  “Do it, Mr. Sulu.”

  Kirk watched on the screen as the Enterprise fell in at the pace of the mule ship headed out to meet the Kauld fleet.

  Behind them a small distance the rest of the human fleet also fell into position.

  On the screen it looked like two massive forces were about to collide, and the advantage was clearly favoring the Kauld. Kirk hoped that the military minds in charge of the Kauld fleet would think the humans were trying to use the big ship as a shield. If they fell for that, they were going to be in for a very large surprise, very, very soon now.

  “Open a channel to the Kauld fleet,” Kirk said.

  “Open,” Uhura said. “No one is responding, but they can hear you.”

  “Attention, Kauld! You have again attacked our world, threatened our people. I will give you only one warning. Turn back now, or the ship leading us will blow you
from space.”

  Kirk indicated Uhura should cut the connection and she did.

  “I don’t think they’re going to believe you, Captain,” Sulu said, smiling.

  “It’s my duty to warn them,” Kirk said, smiling. “What they do with the information is their problem.”

  The seconds ticked past slowly as Kirk watched the two fleets get closer and closer. None of the Kauld were turning back. Well, at least he had warned them.

  “She’ll hurt ‘em bad now, Capt’n,” Scott said. “Shall I blow her?”

  “Hold until my call,” Kirk said, putting his hand up.

  Scott stood poised, his finger over the detonation button.

  On the screen the two fleets got closer and closer.

  “They are within firing range of the big ship,” Sulu said.

  At that moment the lead Kauld ship fired on the mule ship, as if to brush it aside. It was the last thing that ship ever did.

  The explosion was massive. Far, far larger than Kirk had expected.

  The screen went white; then, seemingly the next second, the subspace concussion hit the Enterprise shields, knocking Kirk from his chair with the impact.

  Kirk rolled and came up on one knee.

  Sparks flew from one panel and smoke billowed from the science station.

  The lights flickered and then stayed on.

  Emergency sirens were blaring so loud it was hard to even think.

  He climbed up quickly, using his chair to pull himself back to his feet. He stared at the screen, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. It was a mess in space, and no one was firing.

  Good.

  He turned. “Someone get that smoke stopped,” he shouted over the noise and alarms. “Open a secure hailing channel to all our ships and shut off that damn alarm!”

  Uhura, still on her knees, punched at buttons on her panel.

  “Open, sir,” she shouted.

  Then the alarm quit.

  “Enterprise to all ships. Return to asteroid observation post area and form defensive parameter. Enterprise out. Take us there, Mr. Sulu.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Sulu said.

  “Scotty, what happened?”

  Scott just shook his head. “That olivium is powerful stuff, sir. Never built a bomb with it before. That combined with the mule engines blowin’ was just more than I planned. I’ll know better next time.”

  Kirk laughed and sat back down in his chair. Then he glanced around. His crew looked fine on the bridge. “Damage reports?” he asked.

  “A number of injuries, but nothing serious,” Uhura reported.

  “Mr. Sulu, any of our ships destroyed or out of commission?”

  “No, sir,” Sulu said. “We were the closest to the explosion and took the brunt of it. All are moving back as ordered.”

  “Good,” Kirk said. “How about the Kauld fleet?”

  “They are regrouping as well, sir,” Sulu said.

  “Put a close-up of their fleet on screen,” Kirk ordered.

  The image of the main screen changed to show a much closer image of the Kauld fleet. Or better yet, what was left of the Kauld fleet.

  The area of space where the Conestoga had exploded was a twisting, spinning mass of blasted and torn-apart Kauld warships. It looked more like a space junkyard than anything else.

  “Amazing,” Sulu said.

  “That packed some power, laddie,” Scott said, clearly proud of his handiwork.

  Kirk could do nothing but stare for a moment. He had hoped to slow the Kauld fleet down with the muleship bomb, but nothing like this.

  “How many ships do they have left?” he finally asked.

  “I count thirty-seven left,” Sulu said. “Many with damage.”

  Kirk nodded, continuing to stare at the twisting, spinning junk that had a few moments before been Kauld warships intent on destroying them. “Well, that bought us some time and gave them something to think about, don’t you think? Nice job, Scotty.”

  “My pleasure, Capt’n,” Scott said, beaming.

  Tegan had helped Dr. Immi and the other staff prepare the patients for going into a battle. They had strapped Charles to his bed, even though he claimed he was well enough now not to need it. Tegan didn’t agree.

  They had secured all movable objects such as medical carts and trays.

  Then when the alarm sounded for battle stations, Dr. Immi took up a post at a panel on the far end of the room. Tegan moved to a chair beside Charles and held his hand. She could feel her son shaking, but his eyes were wide with excitement.

  “Are we really going to fight the Kauld, Mom?” he asked as the alarm continued.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I hope not.”

  “We can beat them,” Charles said. “I know we can. I wish I could see what was happening.”

  “It’s better to not fight if you don’t have to,” Tegan said. “Always remember that.”

  Suddenly the entire ship shook. It felt to her exactly like an earthquake, only sharper.

  Then silence.

  Then Charles screamed, loud and clear.

  An alarm went off on the monitor over Charles’s head as her son jerked upward, then fell back unconscious.

  Other alarms were going off over the other three beds.

  “What’s happening?” she shouted as Dr. Immi came at a run. She stopped and looked at the panel over Charles as other staff came running.

  “Damn, damn, damn,” she said, working frantically over Charles. She injected him with something, waited a moment, nodded, and then ran to the next bed.

  Tegan just sat there, stunned, staring at her son.

  What had happened?

  She looked up at the screen over Charles’s head. His heartbeat was low, his vital signs near critical.

  Dr. Immi quickly got the other three patients stabilized, then came back. She studied the monitors for a moment, then looked at Tegan. “From the looks of it, your son and the others were hit with a very high dose of olivium radiation. It must have had something to do with that explosion we felt.”

  Tegan shook her head. Who was using olivium to fight? It made no sense.

  “Will he be all right?” she asked.

  “I don’t know yet,” Dr. Immi said. “That was a pretty intense dose for someone allergic to it. He’s young. We’ll have to wait and see.”

  Tegan just nodded. For a short time she had had her son back. Now he was gone again.

  Was this ever going to end?

  Chapter Twenty-one

  KIRK WATCHED as the Kauld fleet regrouped. For the moment they weren’t coming on, but he had no doubt they would very shortly.

  “Captain,” Uhura said, “it’s Mr. Spock.”

  Kirk punched the comm link on the arm of his chair. “Go ahead, Mr. Spock.”

  “Ready to beam aboard, Captain,” Spock said.

  “You have the code?”

  “I have it, sir.”

  “Great,” Kirk said. “And you are sure it will work?”

  “It is the correct code, Captain,” Spock said. “It will shut down the nanoassemblers if used properly.”

  “Good work, Spock,” Kirk said. He couldn’t believe they actually had a way of stopping the siliconic gel. “I’m sending our prisoners back there, so make sure things can’t be used again.”

  “Already have, sir,” Spock said.

  He turned to Uhura. “Beam Mr. Spock aboard. And let me know the moment he is here.”

  “Yes, sir,” Uhura said.

  “And beam our three prisoners back there. I want them out of my hair.”

  “Understood,” Uhura said.

  Kirk stared at the Kauld fleet floating on the screen just outside the massive field of destroyed ships. “Just stay in place for a few more seconds.”

  “Mr. Spock is aboard,” Uhura reported. “Prisoners have been returned to where we found them.”

  “Mr. Sulu, lay in a course for Belle Terre and stand by.”

  “Yes, sir,” Sulu said.<
br />
  “Open a secure channel to all our ships,” Kirk said to Uhura.

  “Open,” Uhura said.

  “On my mark, all ships return to Belle Terre. We will take up defensive positions just outside the Quake Moon orbit.”

  Kirk glanced at Mr. Sulu, who was watching. Sulu nodded.

  “Now!”

  Kirk watched the Kauld fleet intently. Were they going to follow immediately? Or later? He had no doubt they would follow. It was just a matter of when.

  “All ships are returning to Belle Terre,” Sulu reported.

  “No ship reporting any problems,” Uhura said.

  At that moment the lift door opened and Mr. Spock entered. Kirk turned and smiled at him. “Good job, Mr. Spock.”

  “Thank you, Captain,” Spock said as he moved around to his post. “But I must warn you, Captain, finding the right key to shut down the nanoassemblers was one thing. Actually shutting them down planetwide is going to be another problem of even larger proportions.”

  “I don’t think I wanted to hear that,” Kirk said. He pointed at the screen and the Kauld fleet. “One problem at a time.”

  “The Kauld fleet is moving in closer,” Sulu said. “Looks as if they are going to the observation post.”

  “They are not going to like the fact that their scientist is there, and we were there,” Kirk said, laughing. “I wonder how Yanorada explains that.”

  “I also sabotaged all the equipment as well,” Spock said.

  “How did you do that?” Kirk asked, smiling at his first officer.

  “Actually, very easily, sir,” Spock said, seriously. “Right about now the computers and communications systems in the observation post should be melting. The smell should be . . . interesting.”

  Sulu laughed.

  Scotty laughed.

  Kirk stared at the Kauld fleet for a moment, then turned to his chief engineer. “Mr. Scott, you think you and Captain Branch can get another one or two of those empty Conestogas flying again? Rig up the controls so they can be flown from here?”

  “Sure,” Scott said. “Easy as walkin’.”