The Fearful Summons

by Denny Martin Flinn

  "And what should be done with the Federation spies?"

  "Kill them!" the roar went up, reverberating in the large hall.

  "My friends, let us make this promise to the Federation Imperialists. The Federation must withdraw from this quadrant of the galaxy. For every day they remain, we will execute one of their spies." The crowd was shouting uncontrollably now, and the orator was building them to a frenzy.

  The hall was a blur of noise. The Klingon orator was screaming into his address system. The crowd was surging forward, trapping Kirk and McCoy in the front. Kirk noticed that Beta Prometheans and not Klingons were guarding the nine men, but they were having greater and greater difficulty keeping the crowd back. One Beta Promethean who seemed to be their leader was shouting at his cohorts, but Kirk couldn't make out what he was saying in the noise.

  "And let us," the Klingon orator screamed, "start today!" Before Kirk could react, the Klingon drew a disruptor from his holster and fired point blank at the back of the head of the nearest Starfleet officer on the floor beneath the platform. When the bolt hit him, the young man shook and crumpled forward.

  Chaos followed. Kirk heard Sulu shout "Spiros!" and leap to help him. The Klingons on the platform began chanting, "Death to Federation spies! Death to the Federation!" The crowd around Kirk and McCoy erupted, and tried to rush the other officers. The Beta Promethean guards surrounded the Starfleet officers and began pushing them toward the exit. Kirk tried to catch up with Sulu, but couldn't get close enough in the crowd. He passed near the dead Starfleet officer, who was being spat upon by Beta Prometheans. Kirk noticed that the guards were being exhorted to get the hostages off the floor by a screaming Beta Promethean. That must be Maldari, he thought, the pirate who started all this. He doesn't seem too happy. Kirk tried to keep his eye on the officers as Maldari and another Beta Promethean grabbed Sulu and pushed him away from the body of the young officer. In the melee, Kirk lost Sulu, but saw the rear door open and the guards hustle the Starfleet officers through. Then the guards closed the door behind them. At once the Klingon orator exhorted the crowd. Kirk found himself surrounded by Klingons, Beta Prometheans and other aliens waving their arms and shouting. He joined them.

  "Death to the Federation! Long live the Empire!" he shouted. McCoy frowned, but understood and quickly joined Kirk in the shouting.

  They carried on this way for several long minutes. Finally the crowd seemed to calm down to a low turbulence, and began leaving the building.

  When the hall had thinned out, though still one-third of the huge crowd milled around, Kirk stood next to McCoy, both pretending to read a poster tacked to the platform.

  "They went out that door?" he said as quietly as he could, though he had turned his Universal Translator off and doubted if anyone near them spoke English.

  "Yeah," McCoy nodded. "Let's get out of here, Jim."

  Kirk and McCoy joined the tide of people heading toward the exit doors. They waited until they were on the street and well away from the building and crowds before they spoke, contenting themselves with an occasional "Down with the Federation!" for the sake of anyone within hearing distance. They hurried around to the rear door of the building. There they saw the last of the Beta Promethean guards pushing the last of the Starfleet officers into a shuttle, and closing the hatch behind them. Almost immediately the small starship took off. It was suddenly quiet. The streets around them were deserted, shadows were starting to fall, and Kirk felt conspicuous.

  "That poor kid," McCoy said. "We should have blasted their guards and gotten Sulu out of there. We've got our phasers."

  "You may have noticed that they outnumbered us by about five hundred to two."

  "The Klingons are in on this," McCoy said. "That's confirmed."

  "Not officially, I'll bet. This is only the militant Klingon faction that hates the treaty. They would like to use this incident as a chance to break it. By getting the Promethean people on their side and starting a war, they'd have just what they want. Uh-oh, look who's coming."

  Kirk and McCoy stared as the Klingon orator and two of his toadies who had been talking with the Beta Promethean pirates behind the prison building began walking straight toward them.

  "They just want to be friendly," Kirk said. "We're Klingons, remember."

  "Klingons aren't friendly, even to each other. They want to know who we are, and what we are doing here. What's the answer going to be?" McCoy said.

  "I'll think of something," Kirk said, just as the three Klingons approached them directly. He remembered not to smile.

  "Did you attend my speech?" the Klingon said.

  "Oh yes," Kirk said, remembering that Klingons did not use salutations or greetings. "Outstanding."

  "Lifted our spirits," McCoy added.

  "You are not from the Bird-of-Prey Krogshat?"

  "No, we're not," Kirk said, desperately trying to recall what little he knew of the Klingon syntax, so his words did not appear to be translations.

  "Where are you from?" the Klingon said.

  "Qo'nos," Kirk said.

  Brilliant, thought McCoy.

  "How did you get here?" the Klingon asked.

  "Oh, we've been here a long time," Kirk said. "We're traders. Dilithium traders. We work here." Kirk nodded in the general direction of the warehouses.

  "Dilithium trade is reserved for only certain Klingons," he said. "What ship do you work for?"

  Kirk stared at him. "The Kerla," he finally said.

  There was a pause.

  "I've never heard of the Kerla," the Klingon said suspiciously.

  "It's named after Brigadier Kerla. You must remember him. He died defending the greater glory of the Klingon Empire from those filthy assassins on the Enterprise."

  "It's not a ship of the line, then. It is not a Bird-of-Prey," the Klingon said harshly.

  "No, it's … a trader. Carries freight. Nothing so glorious as a warship. Just a humble—" But Kirk's expanding eloquence was cut short.

  "In that case," the Klingon shouted, "you are arrested for illegal trading in dilithium, which is reserved for members of the Dilithium Mining Corps. Seize them," he said to the two Klingons standing next to him.

  Kirk thought it about time he and McCoy left the city of Archnos. He reached down and turned off his Translator. Then he touched his communicator. "Scotty, it's us," he said in a low voice. "Get us out of here," he said.

  But nothing happened.

  Too far from Beta Prometheus 1 to beam them up, the Princess banked into a sharp turn and came to a near-sudden stop. It hovered behind a large asteroid as the Promethean warship shot by.

  "Outstanding at the helm," Scotty said from the engine room. "It's a very good thing I was holding on to something, however."

  "Sorry for turning so sharply, everyone," Barbara said. "I saw that asteroid at the last minute. Thought it would be a good place to hide. We weren't going to outrun them without going into warp speed, and I was worried about getting too far from Captain Kirk and the doctor."

  "It was an admirable ruse," Mr. Spock said encouragingly, as he climbed back to his feet. "Let us just wait a moment for that ship to give up," he finished. They all sat quietly, as the ship hid behind the barren asteroid. Then Mr. Spock spoke up.

  "Uhura?" he said simply.

  "They've reported to base, sir. Said we've left their star space. Said they shot at us and we must have left the area at warp speed."

  "Good. Mr. Chekov?"

  "We're only about half a light-year away," he answered quickly. "But that's too far to hear them or pick them up."

  "All right. We will go in and listen every fifteen minutes. If we get a signal we will pick them up. If we do not, we will withdraw again. We will simply have to play cat and mouse with this warship until we can get out of here."

  Unfortunately they were several light-years away when the first call was sent up by Kirk.

  McCoy sighed. He and Kirk were surrounded by Klingons, and being marched along the street.
<
br />   "Great. Another Klingon jail. Maybe this time they should just skip the trial," McCoy said as the two of them were hustled along, Klingon disruptors prodding them in the back. "I don't think reasonable doubt is part of their judicial system anyway."

  "Princess, do you read me?" Kirk said quietly. "Kirk and McCoy here. We are ready to be beamed out of here."

  "They've left us and gone back to the starbase," McCoy whispered.

  "Why would they do that?" Kirk said. "They wouldn't do that. Something's come up."

  "Not us," McCoy said.

  "Bones, when we get to that corner, I'm going to trip this overweight brute next to me. We'll go that way. Turn the corner at once, and run into the crowd on the street. Maybe they won't attempt to fire with so many Prometheans around."

  "Relying on a Klingon's humanity. Excellent plan," McCoy groused. He felt increasingly irritated, not so much at their immediate jeopardy—having been in tight places with Kirk before and spent a season ministering to the complaints of Earthbound civilians, he preferred the former—but at the thought that he might have to spend another night in a foul Klingon jail.

  "It's the best I can think of just now," Kirk whispered.

  "All right. I'm with you," McCoy answered. A Klingon soldier shouted something and shoved him forward and he stumbled, but found his footing.

  A few feet farther on, their leader stepped off the sidewalk. It was almost a one foot drop to the street, a distance the four-legged Prometheans had no trouble scuttling over. When they reached it, Kirk began to step down, then shot his foot out in front of the guard next to him. With the help of a strong push in the back, the big Klingon stumbled forward off the sidewalk and crashed into the leader. The two of them fell to the ground. At once Kirk and McCoy turned the corner. Momentarily shielded by the building, they sprinted several yards ahead and into a crowd of pedestrians.

  "Scotty!" Kirk shouted, touching his communicator. "Where the hell are you?"

  "Where the hell are we?" McCoy said, out of breath, as they hurried through the streets, keeping inside the crowds of Prometheans and other aliens on the thoroughfare. Even as the Prometheans scuttled about, Kirk and McCoy sprinted ahead of them, causing many to wonder about the two Klingons rushing past.

  Guttural noises exploded behind them. McCoy looked over his shoulder.

  "Here they come, Jim," he huffed. They heard a zing of disruptor fire. Kirk looked over his shoulder. The Klingons had their weapons up, and were pushing through the crowd. A Promethean's average height was shorter than the humans' and a good deal shorter than the Klingons', which gave the pursuers a fair range of vision.

  "Duck!" Kirk shouted, demonstrating. He bent over at the waist and hurried forward. Another zing of phaser fire heated the air. A Promethean behind them was hit, and fell to the ground. McCoy took his sounds to be swearing. The crowd around them began to panic as the Klingon soldiers stormed through, firing ahead.

  "So much for safety in numbers," McCoy said.

  An intersection ahead was blocked with traffic. The crowd began to slow down, and pedestrians other than Kirk and McCoy began scattering to the sides. Kirk looked back again. Several Klingon soldiers were well within firing range. They raised their pistols on the run.

  "Scotty, bring us in. Now would be a good time. Kirk and McCoy to Scotty. I said—"

  Kirk felt the first tingle of the dematerialization process, and knew he would be back aboard the Plush Princess in seconds. Their pursuers pounded up the sidewalk to where they had last seen the suspicious-looking Klingons who claimed to be trafficking in dilithium. Prometheans stared out at them from behind street refuse, but gave them a wide berth. The Klingons stood in the center of the intersection, staring around them in frustration.

  "That was another close one," McCoy said as he stepped off the transporter platform. "Where the hell have you been?" he said testily to Scotty.

  "Sorry, gentlemen," Scotty said. "We were out of range. A little business with a Beta Promethean warship. We were just orbiting back in when we heard you talking to those real Klingons."

  The three of them went immediately to the control deck where the others were waiting. Kirk and McCoy stood in the doorway.

  "All right, everybody, back to spacedock at 499," Kirk said.

  "Would you care to take your captain's chair back," Mr. Spock said.

  "No, I'd like to get out of this outfit. Spock, come help us get these ridiculous faces off." He turned and led the way down to their cabin's bathroom.

  On the control deck, Barbara held a brief conversation with Chekov, then announced an eminent departure. Her fingers flew over the consul and she put the Princess on a direct route to the spacedock.

  "ETA for Starbase 499 should be about thirty minutes," Mr. Chekov announced.

  "Did you know they were going to do that? Did you?!" Maldari screamed at Dramin.

  "I did not," Dramin said solemnly.

  "I don't believe you! You arranged this with the Klingons!

  The prisoners are mine! You and that fanatic had no right, no right at all!" Maldari's gray skin was black with rage.

  Dramin shrugged. "Believe me, I had no idea they intended to execute one of the officers. But it is of little consequence. One disbeliever less in the galaxy."

  Maldari tried to control his anger. He tried to think.

  "No more rallies. The Klingons will not be allowed to use the prisoners again. Nor will the Clerics."

  "What will you do with them?" Dramin said.

  "I'll sell them. Just as I sold the women."

  "You can't. They have little worth. Their real value is to the cause."

  "What cause?" Maldari asked, suspicious. "What are you getting out of this?"

  "Me? Nothing, of course. But Beta Prometheus must be ruled by the True Believers."

  "Meaning the Shrewdest Ones," Maldari said.

  "The Ruling Family does not have sufficient commitment to the Only Way."

  "And you think the Klingons do?"

  "The Klingons are merely of momentary usefulness. Once the Ruling Family is replaced, and Beta Prometheus is isolated from the influence of the Federation, the Shrewdest Ones will be in control of our star system. The Klingons will be irrelevant."

  "So that's it. You hope to overthrow the Ruling Family." Maldari wondered why he hadn't seen it from the beginning. "And you're using my hostages to do it."

  "The hostages are prisoners of the state. They are Federation spies who should be brought to justice."

  Maldari wanted to tell Dramin he could drop that kind of talk right now, but he saw the gleam in the fanatic's eyes, and knew it was useless. He merely sighed. Dramin watched him, then spoke up.

  "You made a good profit on the women. Your crew is happy. Let me have the men and you can return to space and pursue your trading."

  "I have nothing to trade! The Ruling Family has informed me through my freight master that I may not take dilithium off the planet until this little matter is cleared up. My holds are virtually empty, and I had to divide up the money I got for the women to keep the crew loyal. I don't even have a starship. And your temporary political bedfellows have just eliminated one-ninth of my only source of income."

  "I'm sure that the Clerics would be able to give you enough to return to trading if you were able to prove your loyalty."

  Maldari stared at Dramin. Then he said, "What do they want?"

  "Give us the hostages."

  "So you can shoot them one day at a time until you have caused a war with the Federation?"

  "Give us the hostages, and we will see that you have permission to return to trading. With your holds filled with dilithium. What do you care what happens to the hostages?"

  "Traders don't need a war. Your last holy war caused us to lose many fortunes."

  "There will be no war. As soon as the Ruling Family is replaced, the Shrewdest Ones will apologize to the Federation, and return the remaining hostages."

  "If there are any remaining."

&
nbsp; "Again, that is of little concern."

  "I'll think about it." Maldari walked away from Dramin without the typical Promethean salutation.

  When the seven crew persons left the Plush Princess in spacedock and went aboard Starbase 499, they found that rumor of the hostage execution was already spreading. The three Federation Starships were lit with activity. The rec deck was noisy with conversation. The official response, a short statement condemning the action by the Federation, seemed absurdly shallow to Kirk, who had seen the handsome young officer murdered, and seen the body lying on the floor beneath his feet.

  "They have promised to execute one hostage per day until the Federation withdraws from this sector of the galaxy," Kirk said grimly as he gave his friends a detailed account of the rally. "We have to believe them. That gives us less than twenty-four hours before another Starfleet officer is killed. We have to get those hostages back," Kirk said, slamming his hand on the table.

  From a shadowy corner of the rec deck one Beta Promethean had been watching the group since they returned from Archnos, so the sudden outburst on Kirk's part didn't surprise him. Now he judged it was time to act. He had discovered who the travelers were—retired officers from the crew of the old Enterprise, where they had served with the hostage's captain—and felt that their being out of uniform made them a reasonable target for his proposal. He screwed up his courage, slipped off his chair, crossed the room, and stood next to the Vulcan.

  "Pardon me, but I wonder if I might introduce myself," he began. "I'm a Beta Promethean trader. An honest one, I hasten to add."

  The crew stared at him. Kirk looked suspicious.

  "And you are the crew of the Enterprise, I presume," he continued.

  "The Plush Princess," Scotty said. "And we are not trading just now, so if you think you're going to sell us something here, you're wasting your time."

  "I understand. I do have something to sell, and I am guessing that you would in fact be interested. I wonder if I might—"

  "Sit down," Spock said, surprising his companions.

  "Actually, we're rather busy—" Kirk began, but Spock cut him off and spoke directly to the Beta Promethean trader.