Star Trek - Sarek
Page 39
"Not to belabor Spock's point," McCoy added, "but it's time we got
ourselves out of here."
Peter gave him a sharp glance. "Valdyr's coming with us.
Where's your ship?"
Before Jim could say anything, Spock cleared his throat.
"We ... are currently without one."
Peter rolled his eyes. "So we still have to steal a ship?
That's where we were at before you showed up!"
"Miss. ... Valdyr," McCoy said, still exuding polite charm, "do you
know the layout of this spaceport?"
"The commercial freighters and off-world vessels are on that side," she
said, pointing southwest, "and the military vessels are in a shielded
underground hangar--to protect them from meteor showers--over there."
She pointed in the opposite direction.
"I was hoping to find a freighter," Peter said.
"Forget that," Kirk told him. "We're going to need something with a
cloaking device if we hope to get out of here in one piece. A
bird-of-prey should do the job nicely."
Peter's mouth dropped open. Is he crazy? But Valdyr
nodded in agreement. "My uncle's men will not expect us to go for a ship
that would be impossible for two people to pilot."
"Your uncle ... ?" Jim Kirk said.
Peter sighed and nodded. "Her uncle is Kamarag." None of the three
Federation officers said anything for another long moment while Valdyr
drew herself up stiffly.
Peter wondered if any human male in history ever had such an
uncomfortable family introduction.
The entire group climbed back into the crowded vehicle and turned toward
the manned gate half a kilometer away that was the entrance to the
military side of the spaceport.
They drove toward a cluster of outbuildings until Valdyr directed them
into a convenient alley. They were able to position the vehicle so that
the gate was within sight, while keeping the groundcar in darkness. The
group huddled inside began to confer.
"There are two guards," Valdyr told them.
"We can handle that," Kirk said, touching his pocket.
"We're armed. Phasers on stun." Spock, McCoy, and Kirk drew their
weapons. "Spock and I will move along the fence line ... "
"Jim," McCoy interrupted, "you'll be out in the open.
Don't you think they'll see you?"
Kirk gazed out of the vehicle, mulling over options.
"The chances of our approaching the guards without being seen," Spock
informed him, "are approximately ..."
"Spare me," McCoy groaned.
The Vulcan raised a surprised eyebrow.
"There is a simpler way," Valdyr said suddenly, with a sigh. "If your
weapon can stun, then give one to me. I can approach the guards as if I
were--how do you say it?--a helpless woman." She glowered at Peter, who
only smiled back at her. "They will not be expecting trouble from one as
small as myself. When I am close to them they will be easy to stun, and
there will be no chance of them sounding an
Kirk nodded and Spock handed his weapon over to the
Klingon female. When she was out of the vehicle, Kirk regarded his
nephew. "You do trust her, Peter?"
Peter nodded. "Valdyr has not only given up everything--including her
heritage--to save my life, but, I ... I'm in love with her!" He took a
deep breath.
The sudden silence in the car was shocking. McCoy's eyebrows had climbed
to his hairline, while Spock bgan an intense examination of the
vehicle's interior. Kirk gaped at his nephew. Peter swallowed. He had
wanted to find the perfect moment to discuss this with Jim; he hadn't
meant to just blurt it out in front of everyone.
"Does she know that?" the captain finally asked quietly.
Peter shook his head. "She knows ... I care for her. I know she cares
for me. We really haven't had the time or opportunity to have the kind
of meaningful discussions people like to have in a developing
relationship."
There was another uncomfortable pause, and then Spock interrupted "She
is at the gate."
The four men watched the Klingon woman as she sauntered up to the two
guards, twitching portions of her compact form provocatively. One of
them started grinning as soon as he saw her. Peter found himself
wondering how one acted sexy while wearing armor ... but, in a flash of
insight, he realized that the armor itself was exciting for Klingon
males! Whatever Valdyr was saying to the two guards made both of them
focus on her, and lose all interest in their post. This small spaceport
must not see many problems, he imagined. No doubt these two men spent
most of their time bored and restless.
Suddenly, Valdyr arched her back, stared up at the closest guard, and
bared her teeth. He grabbed her by the hair and tried to yank her over
to him, even as the other one grabbed her, pressed himself against her,
and bent his head to her neck. Peter's temper flared and his hand had
grabbed the handle of the car door when Spock's reasonable voice
intruded. "Wait," the Vulcan cautioned. "One moment ..."
No sooner did he say that than the two Klingon guards
suddenly looked amazed, then crumpled to the ground.
Valdyr grimaced, spat on the one who had clutched her, and then
matter-of-factly grabbed the closest by the heels and began struggling
to wrestle him into the guard station.
"That's our cue!" Jim announced, and opened the vehicle's doors.
At the gate, Spock lifted one of the unconscious Klingons effortlessly
and arranged him at his station inside the small building, while the
captain and McCoy struggled with the other one.
Peter grabbed Valdyr by the shoulders. "Are you all right?"
"Uuughh? she grunted. "I had to let those veq-nuj handle me. I'm sorry
now I didn't just kill them!"
"Valdyr ..." Peter said warningly. She gave him a knowing look, then
handed Spock back his phaser.
Suddenly, a mechanical whine intruded, and the entire party turned to
look out the windows at the source of the sound. Feeling a rumble
beneath his feet, Peter glanced over at a portion of the pavement that
was rising into the air, like a huge trapdoor. Distant figures
surrounded a small vessel that was on the platform rising up level with
the landing field.
"Looks like a miniature bird-of-prey," Kirk said.
"That is essentially what it is," Valdyr confirmed. "A small, armed
shuttle, very fast and maneuverable, it usually has a crew of three to
six."
"I'd say that's exactly what the doctor ordered," McCoy said, "if only
we could get to it."
Peter shook his head. "Forget it. I can see at least three crew members
out there, as well as four maintenance staff.
We wouldn't have a prayer of swiping that ship."
Kirk sighed. "Probably not," he admitted. But the expression on his
uncle's face said otherwise.
"A helpless woman will not get you that ship," Valdyr warned.
"No," Jim agreed. "And if we try to take out the crew and the
maintenance staff, even with three hand phasers and two disrupters
against all of them, we'd be spread awfully thin. It
would be hard to get close enough to stun them. These little jobs don't
have much range."
Valdyr lifted her head proudly as the captain casually included her.
Jim continued to eye the ship specula tively. "It'll be tough enough just
taking off, much less avoiding pursuit and setting a course that will
bypass that ring ... "
"What he's sayin', miss," McCoy translated for the Klingon woman, "is
that we're going' for it, soon as he finishes tellin' us how impossible
it is!"
Suddenly, an alarm began to whoop. The crew near the ship looked up, and
automatically the fugitives ducked so that they wouldn't be seen through
the guardhouse windows.
Valdyr pointed excitedly through the front windows, toward the automatic
gate she and Peter had entered with their coded disks.
Several vehicles had just arrived, and armed Klingons, small in the
distance, were aiming heavy disrupter rifles at the gate with its
blaring alarm. Suddenly, the gate blew apart, its metal structure
screaming, its beams and support hardware twisting and shattering. The
Klingons poured through the perimeter, over the blasted chunks of debris
that had been the entrance.
"Karg's men!" the Klingon woman said. "They have finally traced us."
"Karg must've decided that they couldn't capture us undetected, so
they're staging an all-out assault!" Peter agreed.
The warriors surrounding the small bird-of-prey had noticed the
invasion, too, and were pointing at the running figures.
"Stay down!" Valdyr ordered everyone. "Don't let them see you!" Tossing
her disrupter at Peter, she leapt out of the guardhouse, brandishing her
dagger. In Klingonese, she shouted at the men guarding the small
bird-of-prey. "Enemies have come to steal your vessel] Defend
yourselvesv' Waving her weapon at the ship, she beckoned the crew. With
a roar, the ship's crew members drew their own weapons and charged
forward to confront the invaders. With a
mighty yell, Valdyr raced toward Karg's troops, and the soldiers from
the ship followed her blindly.
"Valdyr, no!" Peter yelled, and lurched after her, but Jim grabbed him
roughly by the arm.
"She's bought us the time we need!" Jim told him. "We can't go up
against that firepower with three phasers! Now come on, we've got to get
that ship!"
"She'll be killed!" Peter argued. "I'm not leaving her!"
"Spock," the captain ordered.
"Peter, please," the Vulcan said quietly, taking the cadet's arm in a
formidable grip, "I would regret being forced to carry you to safety."
McCoy was peering out the doorway at the ensuing melee of soldiers
firing at each other. Disrupters whined and crackled. "Time, gentlemen!"
The captain stuck his head out the door to confirm McCoy's diagnosis.
"You've got Peter, Spock?"
"Yes, Captain."
Peter stared at the Vulcan, calculating his chances at pulling away from
the taciturn science officer without leaving his arm behind. Uncle Jim,
McCoy, and Spock left the guardhouse at a dead run, and Peter had to
either move his feet or be dragged. Pulling back as much as possible
against the Vulcan's immovable strength, he turned his head, straining
to see Valdyr, but it was impossible to pick her small frame out from
the mass of huge, fighting men. If he left her this way, he knew he'd
never see her again. He'd never be able to live with himself, either.
"Spock!" he implored. "They'll kill her!"
The Vulean's expression softened just slightly, but he didn't slow down.
"Once we're aboard the ship we may be able to effect her rescue."
Peter told himself that Vulcans never lie, and prayed that the old
saying was true.
He heard the disrupter fire cease, and looked back at the mob of
Klingons. He was shocked to see a number of bodies sprawled on the
ground, dead, and realized that the remaining soldiers, as a group, had
turned and were staring, and pointing, at them.
Spock saw it, too. "That is, if we get to the ship ..."
A loud voice Peter recognized as Karg's suddenly shouted, "HALT,
HUMANS!"
"We can make it!" Kirk insisted, as they drew closer to the ship.
"Halt, now!" shouted Karg again. "Or, we will kill this female maghwl?"
A jolt of disrupter fire charged the air, blasting the ground a few
meters in front of Peter and Spock.
The next blast nearly took off McCoy's leg.
Spock stopped running, and, even so, they nearly piled into McCoy, who
had skidded to an abrupt halt. "Jim!" the doctor bellowed. "Stop,
dammit! They've got our range!" The captain halted, and turned, his face
grim and set.
The combined group of soldiers closed the gap between them. As they did,
Peter shook his arm where Spock still gripped him. "Spock! Let me go!"
Spock stared at the cadet. "If I do, you will do nothing foolish?"
Peter hesitated.
Spock's eyebrow went up; then he sighed, loudly. "Never mind. It was a
poor choice of words. You are, after all, a Kirk." He released the
human's arm.
"They killed the ship's crew, her maintenance staff," McCoy murmured in
a shocked tone.
Peter's heart sank. And now Karg had them all, Valdyr, himself ... his
Uncle Jim. The cadet decided he must be some kind of bad-luck hex. After
all, Uncle Jim had gotten out of a million scrapes worse than this
before. As Karg drew near them, he could see he was towing Valdyr by the
hair.
She was unarmed. There was magenta blood splashed on her arm, and some
smeared on her face, but he didn't think any of it was hers.
"Won't Kamarag be pleased!" Karg gloated as the soldiers drew abreast of
them. "No doubt he's having some trouble finding his quarry in the
immensity of space. When he returns, won't he be impressed when we
present him with not only James T. Kirk and his wretched kin, but also
the gutless Vulcan computer and the butcher who calls himself a
physician! You will all pay for your crimes against Qo'nos!"
Peter heard McCoy murmur a bitter, "Oh, brother ... not again!"
"I have committed no crimes against Qo'nos," the captain said, coolly.
"I only came here to rescue my brothefts son, who is also innocent of
any crime. Besides," he added,
"Chancellor Azetbur invited me to visit her world anytime after I saved
her life at Khitomer."
The watching troops stirred when they heard their chancellor mentioned,
though Karg was undismayed by Kirk's reference. The captain glanced
around at the circle of armed Klingons. "Chancellor Azetbur knows
nothing of your betrayal ... yet," the officer reminded them boldly.
"If you abandon this scheme of Kamarag's now, you can still save ."
"Chancellor Azetbur is our enemy/" Karg bellowed furiously.
However, Peter noted that several of the soldiers shifted uneasily,
glancing at each other surreptitiously. Others glanced around,
uncomprehending, not understanding the captain because they didn't speak
English.
Peter studied them, an idea growing in the back of his mind. Perhaps not
all of these men were totally com
mitted to betraying their government.
There came a time when even good soldiers had to question bad orders ...
The cadet recognized one of them, Malak, and saw that he, particularly,
seemed uncomfortable. In the harsh glow of the spotlighted landing
field, he saw two gleaming weapons on Malak's belt. One of the daggers
was small ... delicate.
He had Valdyr's blade Karg was still ranting. "That slut! Azetbur is a
pretender/ She is ..."
"Appointed by her father," Peter said loudly in Klingonese, raising his
voice to be heard over Karg's baritone, "and ratified by the Klingon
High Command. She is no pretender, but the legal head of your Empire. A
rightfully appointed head of state, who is working toward saving your
planet!"
All eyes turned to him as, dramatically, he swung his hand overhead,
pointing to the ring, the debris of Praxis that encircled Qo'nos. "It's
still there, isn't it? It hasn't gone away, has it? The symbol of your
world's inevitable demise.
You all know that, without the help of the Federation, Qo'nos is doomed.