"Go easy," Kirk said.
Kor only nodded as McCoy j umped down beside him and scanned him. "You shouldn't be moving," McCoy said. "You've got two shattered ribs, either one of which might puncture a lung. And in these conditions, you wouldn't last ten minutes if that happens. I've got the ribs mending, but you'll have to give them some time. "
Kor nodded. "You order well, Doctor."
"Just don't cross me, Commander," McCoy said.
"Or I'll give you a sedative that will make you sleep for a full month. "
Kor only nodded, but Kirk could tell he was laughing at McCoy. And was glad the doctor was here.
Kerdoch and Kor's second-in-command were standing above the bunker. Kirk stood and looked at those around him. "It's time to get to work," he said.
"We've got to build a cover for this bunker and a shelter for that gun. We can use those fireproofpanels. Think we can do it?"
Sulu nodded.
Ensign Adaro glanced around, still looking confused.
Both Kerdoch and the warrior looked down at Kor.
Kor laughed softly. "Kirk, you are a strange one. Fighting for a planet you do not possess. " Then Kor nodded to his two men. "Do as he says. His word is as mine. "
Both nodded.
Kirk turned to Kerdoch. "We need more help. Round up as many men as you can find . And bring more water back with you, along with any tools that might help build a shelter out of those exterior dome panels."
Kerdoch nodded and without a word headed off.
"The rest of us need to start gathering panels from the destroyed shelters. " Kirk said. "Take only whole ones. We need as many of those as we can get. We have to get this bunker covered first. "
He leaned down and patted McCoy on the shoulder where he knelt above Kor. "Stay with your patient. I don't want him dying before the fight. "
Kor coughed and frowned at Kirk. "I will live to the day we fight, Kirk. It will be a glorious day."
"I look forward to that," Kirk said, laughing.
And actually, at that moment he did.
Rathbone moved quickly away from the captain, heading through the burned domes of the Klingon colony. She was having a hard time grasping what was happening around her. She felt somehow detached from her burned and aching body. And the heat seemed to wrap itself around her like a blanket, smothering the sounds.
Too much had happened to her too fast and with no preparation. One moment it seemed she had been peacefully working in her lab on the Enterprise; the next moment she was trying to survive intense heat and seeing dead bodies everywhere. Starfleet had taught her procedures to use in emergencies and on planetary missions, but nothing could have prepared her for this.
She forced herself to slow her walk and conserve energy. But it still seemed like only a few seconds before she reached the other disrupter cannon.
There was no doubt that it would take hours or maybe even days of repair before it would fire again. It lay on its side, its barrel smashed down into the hard ground. In front of the concrete base platform were two burnt bodies, the clothes and skin completely gone, the bones blackened. All the blood and bodily fluids had long since boiled away, leaving only a red powder in the dust around the remains.
She was almost afraid to look, but hearing the captain's orders again inside her head, she moved up close to the remains.
Then she saw what she'd been afraid she'd find.
Standing on end, seeming to stick out ofone pile , was a charred Starfleet insignia, blackened by the heat but still recognizable. Ensign Chop, the cute brownhaired kid from Arizona.
"Oh, no," she said, holding her hand over her mouth and forcing herself to breathe deep gulps of the hot air. The water she'd drunk threatened to force its way back up her throat, but she held it down.
After two more long, deep breaths, she reached
down and plucked the scrap of cloth from the pile of bones. She shuddered as she did so. How did people get used to this kind of duty? She took a deep breath of the hot, fetid air. Calm, she told herself. Calm. Then, grasping the singed insignia tightly in her hand, she turned and headed back for Captain Kirk.
Crossing the colony should have taken longer. She wondered if she blanked out as she walked. She knew that between the heat, the burns, and the stress, she wasn't thinking as clearly as she should have been.
One moment she had been standing near Ensign Chop; the next, she was beside Captain Kirk. When she saw him, she handed him the insignia.
He gazed at it a moment, then closed his fist over it.
"Damn," he said softly.
And then he turned away, standing alone, facing the burned Klingon fields.
McCoy came up to her.
Nothing was said.
Nothing could be said.
Captain Bogle stood in front of his chair, facing the image of Commander Spock on the main screen. As far as possible, Bogle had his ship and his crew ready for any upcoming fight. His engineer, Projeff, said the Farragut hadn't been in such good shape since it left spacedock the first time . Every system had been checked and double-checked. And for the last hour Projeff had been working long-distance with the cheif engineer of the Enterprise, Mr. Scott, on a method of strengthening the shields against the enemy weapons.
"Your estimated time of arrival, Captain?" Spock asked.
"Forty-one minutes," Bogle said.
Spock nodded, his Vulcan face unreadable. "Captain Kirk and the landing party are still trapped on the surface, along with Commander Kor and his team. Subcommander Korath reports his ship is repaired and standing by. Two more Klingon battle cruisers have been disPatched but will not arrive for twelve hours. "
"All right," Bogle said as he processed the information. "Are the alien ships still holding position?"
"Yes, sir," SPock said.
"Have there been further attacks on the colony?"
"No," Spock said.
Bogle nodded. That was as he had hoped it would be. "Commander Spock, do you have a suggestion as to our course of action?"
Spock nodded. "I do, sir," he said. "When you arrive we should endeavor to find out exactly why these invaders are attacking the Klingon colony."
Bogle stared at the Vulcan for a moment, then stifled a laugh. "And how would you suggest we do that, Commander?" he asked.
Spock shook his head, his serious expression unchanged. "I do not know, sir. But logic leads us to believe that the reason for this attack is the path to the solution. "
Bogle had never understood exactly how Kirk managed to function with a Vulcan at his side, even though Spock was becoming well know as the best first officer in the fleet, and most likely in line for the captain's chair. But at times like this Bogle wondered how SPock's logic didn't drive Kirk nuts. It would him.
"I would agree with you, Mr. SPocK," Bogle said,
"but there does not seem to be a direct course of action implied in your suggestion. "
Spock nodded. "I agree. Therefore, if the situation remains the same, the course of action I would suggest is negotiation. "
"Negotiation," Bogle said dryly. "Do we even know who these aliens are?"
"Clearly, we do not," Spock said in that infuriatingly calm tone . "We have no record of these ships, nor have we identified their makers. They do not answer our hails."
"Then how do you suggest we negotiate?"
"Obviously they want something from the planet," Spock said. "We must determine what that is."
"They want the colonists off it," Bogle said. "It seems fairly simple to me."
"Forgive me , Captain, but it does not seem simple to me. These ships may carry a life-form so alien that it does not recognize the life signs below. "
"You'd think it'd recognize that the ships above are filled with life-forms, " Bogle said.
"They did not obliterate our ships ," Spock said.
"They are attempting to obliterate the colony. "
"Do the Klingons recognize these ships?" Bogle asked.
; "They claim they do not," Spock said.
"Sounds like you don't believe them," Bogle said.
"I do not have any evidence to believe or disbelieve the Klingons, Captain. I merely report their statements. They claim they do not know. "
"But you reserve the possibility that they do."
"The attack is directed at a Klingon colony," Spock said. "Perhaps there is enmity between the aliens and the Kliengons. We are not the Klingons' allies. They may not believe we need to know who their enemies are."
Bogle nodded. For once, Spock's maddening logic made sense. The Klingons wouldn't want the Federation to know who their enemies were. Thought of in Klingon terms, the Federation might ally itself with the enemies to wipe out the Klingon Empire.
There was nothing more they could accomplish through such speculation. "Thank you for your insights, Mr. Spock," Bogle said. "Keep me informed if the situation changes. Farragut out."
The image of Commander Spock was replaced by the view of stars flashing past in warp.
Behind Bogle, Science Officer Richard Lee said, "Fascinating."
Captain Bogle could only sit and stare at the stars and wonder just what exactly he was rushing into.
Kerdoch ran at his full pace, even though his head still pounded and he felt weak. Within a few moments he was at the well in the central area of the colony. Dozens of women and men were filling pans and bottles from the bubbling pool. It was good to see that so many had survived.
He stopped at the well and allowed himself the extra few seconds to dip his face into the water and drink fully. Then he let the cool water run down over his hot arms and neck. The medication that the human doctor had spread on his burns had helped a great deal, but the water still felt wonderful.
"Attention," he said, his voice harsh and sore as he tried to force volume from it. "Commander Kor and the human captain need help defending the colony on the west side. "
Around him three of the men nodded. "We will be there," Katanin said.
Kerdoch nodded. "Bring weapons and tools to work on the dome panels. Also bring water."
He turned and at a run headed deeper into the colony in the direction ofhis home. He had tools and waterj ugs there, and he had to make sure his wife and children had survived.
Relief swept over him as he discovered that his home was again one of the ones standing. His wife and eldest son were outside , doing what they could to cover a hole in the paneling with other panels.
She saw him coming, and her face lit up.
Such a look he would always remember.
Such a look would keep him fighting for his home and famlly until he could no longer stand or even crawl to the battle.
She hugged him, and he returned the hug. Then he slapped the back of his very excited oldest son. "Have you got water?" he asked.
"We have been to the central well twice since the allclear signal," she said. "Will the enemy craft return?"
"Yes," he said. "And this time we will knock them from the sky."
She nodded but said nothing.
He turned to his son. "Bring me my tool belt. Quickly. "
His son ducked inside their home. While he waited, Kerdoch held his wife by the shoulders, wanting to have her remain there. They had both survived the last attack. He hoped they continued to be so lucky. Many of his friends had not been.
A moment later his son appeared carrying a heavy tool belt and a canteen. Kerdoch nodded and took both. "You think clearly, son. Help your mother prepare for the next attack. Take extra panels inside and form a second line of paneling over the furniture. "
The son nodded.
"He is my right hand," she said.
"You are both my heart," Kerdoch said. Then with a light squeeze of his wife's arm, he turned andjogged toward the disrupter cannon, the heavy tool belt and full canteen a comfort in his hands.
On the way he recruited three more colonists.
Chapter Ten
KIRK, SULU, RATHBONE, Ensign Adaro, and Kahaq, Kor's officer, worked as best they could gathering the fireproof panels. Within a few minutes after Kerdoch left, three more colonists arrived with tools. Kor, from his place in the bottom of the bunker, told them to follow Kirk's orders, and within minutes Kirk had them digging Kor's bunker deeper and placing a double layer of panels over the top.
There was no way Kirk was going to let Kor get killed if he could help it. Building the bunkers big enough and deep enough for all of them to survive another attack was the first priority. The last thing he wanted was for all of them to end up as Ensign Chop had done.
Ten minutes later, Kerdoch and three more colonists returned and, also at Kor's command, set to work following Kirk's plan. Seven colonists, Sulu, Kahaq, Ensign Adaro, and Rathbone made the work go extremely fast.
Kirk could tell that Sulu and McCoy, who still sat next to the Klingon commander, didn't much care for the fact that Kor had to give his okay, but Kirk didn't care at all. As long as the bunkers got built and the protection over the gun was up and ready for the next attack, it didn't matter at all to him who gave the orders. What was important was stopping the attacks, and then maybe figuring out why they were happening.
The group, at Kirk's direction, next dug crossbunkers on either end of the first bunker and covered them with panels. The newly dug bunkers ran up the two sides of the concrete platform for the disrupter cannon. At four places along the three bunkers an opening was left so that a person could dive from the concrete slab into the bunker for protection. As fast as the alien ships attacked, Kirk knew such an escape might be necessary.
As the group began to build the shelter over the disrupter cannon, Kirk flipped open his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise. "
"Spock hare, Captain. "
"Has the Farragut arrived yet?"
"It is due in twelve minutes," Spock said.
"Is there any movement from our alien friends?"
"No, Captain. We have continued to hail them and have received no response."
"Don't take them on unless you need to, Spock."
"Captain, it would not be logical to 'take on' a larger forcer. We shall do what we have to. "
"I expect nothing more. Kirk out. "
He snapped the handset shut and glanced around. The shelter over the disrupter cannon was going up quicker than he had thought. Now he j ust hoped Spock and Captain Bogle could figure out a way of stopping the aliens before they launched another attack on the colony.
After handing a panel to a colonist on the gun platform, Kirk watched Rathbone stop and wipe the sweat from her face. She and McCoy both looked beat. Sulu had taken off his shirt, and his body glistened with sweat. The twin suns were clearly sapping the strength out of everyone , almost as quickly as the heat from the attackers' plasma beams.
"Doctors," Kirk said. He motioned for McCoy and Rathbone to join him beside the bunker for a moment.
"Hot enough to bake a fish," McCoy muttered as he climbed up to where Kirk stood.
"I thought the saying was 'fry an egg'?" Kirk said.
"Not where I'm from," McCoy said.
"Well," Dr. Rathbone said, "I'm from the British Isles, and we don't have any saying at all for this kind of heat, because it never gets this hot."
McCoy only snorted, but Kirk laughed.
"I need you both, and Ensign Adaro, to go for more water," he said. "Carry as much as you can, but get back as quick as you can. I don't want you trapped outside these bunkers if another attack starts. "
McCoy shook his head. "After watching you people work this hard to build them, I damn well plan to be in them. "
"I'm with you, Dr. McCoy," Rathbone said.
Both of them turned to gather up the empty and half-empty water containers. Then they rounded up the ensign from his work on the shelter and headed into the colony center.
Kirk moved to the shelter that had gone up around three sides of the cannon. The colonists had actually braced the bottoms of the panels against the concrete base of the gun, and
used the same dome skeleton structures to support the upper ones. Then they had added a second layer of panels.
As Kirk finished his quick inspection, the six colonists were connecting in a third overlapping layer, forming a very strong wall. Kirk had no doubt it would withstand an attack on three sides. But if the aliens broke their pattern and attacked from the opposite direction, anyone inside without protection would be baked like a potato almost instantly.
"What do you think, Captain?" Sulu asked as he fixed a panel in place near the front opening.
"I think I'll have to trust my life on it," Kirk said.
Sulu nodded. "You'll need a second on that gun. "
Kirk glanced at the sweaty face of Sulu. "Yes, I will. "
"I would be honored, sir," Sulu said.
"I would be honored to have your assistance, Lieutenant," Kirk said.
Suddenly the beep of his communicator he'd been fearing filled the hot air. Inside the bunker Kirk could hear the deep tone of Kor's communicator.
That was not a good sign. Not at all.
Kirk flipped his handset open. "Kirk here. "
"Captain," Spock said, "the small ships are leaving the two transports. They will arrive at your location in five minutes and seven seconds."
"Where is the Farragut, Spock?"
"It is dropping out of warp now, Captain. "
"Stop as many of those small ships as you can, Spock... And good luck... "
"Luck will have nothing to do with it, Captain. Enterprise out. "
Kirk flipped his communicator closed and glanced at Sulu's worried face . "Let's hope that's not the last time we hear those words."
"It won't be, Captain," Sulu said.
Kirk could tell Sulu was as worried as he was. But there was no time for that now. Only action.
"The ships are on their way, people," Kirk said, turning to face his work crew. The colonists had all stopped and were watching him.
He pointed to Kahaq. "Get down below with your commander and stay with him. Take any water left up here below as you go."
Kahaq nodded and j umped toward the bunker.
Kirk turned to the colonists. "The ships will be here in five minutes. Spread out through the colony and warn everyone to take cover. Then do the same yourselves. Don't come out until someone sounds the all clear. "
Day of Honor - Treaty's Law Page 8