Hacker Chronicles 2/HACKER2.BIN/550.CHAP#15.TXT

Text File | 1993-03-01 | 13KB | 326 lines

                              ***    FIFTEEN    ***



            The Enterprise pulled herself higher above the planet that she
       orbited.  Her shiny hull lifted upwards and away from the strong
       gravitational pull of the blue world she very nearly embraced. Up
       into the star-spangled sky, where she was placed into a safer,
       standard orbit.  The damage that she had sustained within her tubular-
       shaped propulsion unit was unnoticeable from the exterior.  She
       still looked as if she could fight with the best of them, for, by
       most accounts, she was the best of them.

            In sickbay, Dr. M'Benga stood over Commander Montgomery
       Scott's bed and continued to argue with the Chief Engineer about
       not getting out of it. Nurse Chapel had been avoiding the Commander
       to delay getting herself involved in the same conversation with
       him.  His hand looked much better, and the lacerations on his face
       were closed and covered with synthetic skin. The missing finger
       would be replaced with a micro-bionic prosthetic digit which he
       could choose to wear or detach at his leisure. Mr. Scott did not
       like the idea of having a finger that could leap tall buildings in
       a single bound and determined within himself that he would only wear
       it to his sister's wedding, while playing the pipes, and to church.

            In his own quarters, Commander Spock was preparing an edited
       version of his log concerning the events on the planet Holberg 917g.
       Spock had promised his captain that he would be provided with a copy
       to compare with his own. Had it not been edited, it would cause Jim
       no small amount of confusion. Spock had not considered all the
       problems that locking away the Captain's memories would present, not
       that it would have prevented him from doing so.  He finished with
       his work and retrieved the flat memory square from the console.
       Rising from his desk, he exited his quarters and headed for the Main
       Bridge.  Any time now, they were expecting a visitor from the Klingon
       Empire. Spock wanted to be present for this interesting event
       foretold by Ayelborne.

            As the doors parted, allowing Spock entry to the bridge, he
       became immediately aware that his captain and Dr. McCoy were
       listening intently to a subspace message over the bridge speakers.
       Spock listened as well.  Starfleet was announcing that the
       Klingonese Emperor was on his way to Earth to join the United
       Federation of Planets. While this process of peace was taking
       place, all Starfleet vessels were ordered to maintain a low profile
       and refrain from even giving the appearance of hostility towards
       the Empire. It also mentioned the grave danger the Federation was
       now in with regards to the Romulan Empire. Spock walked over to
       his science station and recalibrated his instrument panel as he
       listened.

            While Sulu and Checkov listened, they exchanged glances of
       surprise and disbelief. "This is getting weirder all the time,"
       Sulu remarked to his partner at arms.

            "That is the end of the message, Sir," Uhura stated.

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            Jim Kirk turned to Commander Spock. "Did you catch the
       message, Spock?" he asked.

            "I did, Captain. It would seem that we are not far from the
       war Ayelborne spoke of."

            That little word 'war' was very effective in getting the
       attention of the bridge crew. It seemed to instantly dash all
       hope of the peace they had just heard of into the abyss.  Not
       trusting the Klingons anyway, their hopes of peace with them had
       not been extremely high in the first place.

            "But the Klingons as allies?  The Romulans entering the
       picture?  That's not what I understood him to mean. He mentioned
       specifically 'police action'."

            Spock pondered the meaning from every angle. "I can think of
       no explanation, with the information we have currently obtained,
       that would connect all elements of the puzzle.  We must assume that
       there are still several missing pieces."

            "Well, sounds like we're doomed, ta me," McCoy said, only half
       jokingly.  "The Klingons are famous liars and the Romulans seldom
       bluff.  Maybe we should beam back down to Organia and go native."

            "Spock," Kirk said, ignoring the Doctor's comment, "analyze
       the Starfleet transmission.  Maybe it was a counterfeit engineered
       by the Klingon ship we are expecting."

            "Doubtful, Captain, but I shall examine it," Spock responded.

            "Captain?" Sulu asked. "May I ask about what you meant about
       us 'expecting' Klingons?" The sentence did not sound quite right to
       Sulu either.

            "I'm not sure myself, Sulu. But yes, we have been informed
       by the Organians that we should expect a Klingon warship soon,"
       Jim stated. "It is presumed that this will not be a hostile
       encounter. That's all we know."

            Checkov turned to his friend, "Do not try to figure eet out,
       or you'll go crazy...  Like de time ve ver in orbit around Psi 2000
       ven you tought you ver de vorld's greatest swordsman, and you had
       to rescue Uhura."

            "That wasn't my fault!" Sulu said, not too angrily. It had
       been a sensitive point, but one that was, with time, gaining its
       calluses. "Besides, Riley was the one who really went nuts on us."

            "That's ancient history," Jim said to the two, "gentlemen," In
       hopes that they did not bring to mind the fact that Kirk had lost
       control of himself during the incident being discussed.

            "Captain," Spock reported, "I have completed my analysis of
       the Starfleet transmission. It is genuine."


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            "That's what I was afraid of," he said. "Spock, it has been
       quite a while since Ayelborne said the Klingon ship was coming. At
       the time, he said it would only be a matter of minutes."

            "That is what he indicated. I do not think that they would
       either misinform us or make an error about the point. The logical
       alternative is,"

            "The logical alternative is that they are already here."

            "Quite logical, Captain," Spock concurred.

            Jim had to stop himself from signalling a call to general
       quarters. The message they had just received forbade that unless
       there was no other option. "Uhura, open a wide band, short range
       channel and uncoded."

            The use of subspace as a broadcast medium was still
       impossible, but reception and local broadcast was undamaged.
       "Channel open now sir," the pretty, dark woman said.

            "Klingon vessel, this is Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship
       Enterprise.  We know you are out there.  Show yourself and we may
       be able to help each other," spoke Kirk.

            There was no response. The stars in front of them revealed
       nothing but the vacuous blackness between them.  "Klingon vessel,"
       Jim continued, "we have been down to the surface of Organia.  We
       now know that you are an innocent party concerning the destruction
       of Outpost Delta Gamma 13 and that our suspicion of your invading
       our space is untrue. We also have information involving the ship
       that did invade Klingon space. If you are interested then show
       yourself, or we will be on our way." Jim said, hoping to be able
       to spur an exchange of information with them.

            "Captain, look!" Uhura said, pointing at the viewer.  The
       Imperial Cruiser, Fury, became visible, not more than 1000 meters
       in front of them. The Predator class cruiser looked, to Kirk, like
       the deadly weapon that she was intended to be.

            "Captain Kirk," the familiar voice coming from the Klingon
       ship greeted Jim, "this is Command," he caught himself "This is
       Captain Kang.  It seems that the hand of providence would have us
       meet again."

            "It would seem," Jim agreed. "It would also seem that Starbase
       16 was able to return you to your people safely." Jim referred to
       the last time they had met: A time they had almost killed each
       other, more than once, and perhaps for all eternity. When Kirk and
       Kang had been forced to work together, to purge an enemy 'entity'
       from the Enterprise, an entity that forced them to fight, then
       healed their wounds that they might fight again and again. Kang's
       ship had been destroyed, so in the end the Enterprise had ferried
       the Klingon crew to Starbase 16, where they were processed and
       returned home.


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            "I am here with them," Kang stated. "Enough with the obvious,
       Captain. You mentioned that you had information on the ship that
       has entered Klingon space? I would hear this news you offer."

            "Why don't we meet? Face to face. You could beam aboard and
       perhaps enlighten us to the event as well. We too have some
       questions that you may be able to provide answers to."

            "Kirk, my one-time enemy, what makes you think that I would
       enjoy being aboard your ship again?" he posed to the Starship
       Captain. "I will give you the same offer. In addition, I will
       guarantee that this ship is free from 'Hate Consuming Entities' and
       that you will not be harmed in any way."

            "You seem gracious today, Kang," Jim said, in partial jest.
       "My First Officer and I will take you up on the offer.  We'll be
       there shortly. Kirk out." he announced. "Lieutenant Uhura..."

            "Yes, Sir, channel closed." she said in anticipation of his
       command.

            "Lieutenant Uhura," Jim continued, "you have the Con."

            "Me, Sir?" she questioned. "I mean, Aye, Sir!" she said,
       rising from her station and removing her ear-peace. Her first duty
       would be ordering her replacement for communications.

            "Let's go, Spock.  We have to stop a war that has yet to
       begin," the Captain reminded the one person who never needed
       reminding. Dr. McCoy decided that it was time he returned to
       sickbay, and followed Spock and Jim to the turbo-lift.

            Uhura set herself down in the seat of command. She placed an
       arm on each rest and felt the comfort of the chair.  "Oh boys?"
       she said to Checkov and Sulu, as the lift doors closed. They both
       slowly turned to her, wary of her tone of voice.  "If you are going
       to continue exchanging any more jokes...  they had all better be in
       good taste," she said sternly but with a partial smile on her
       face.  "That is an order," she purposely added.

            The two looked at each other for a moment, resigning
       themselves to her authority. "Yes, ma'am," They said at the same
       time and dejectedly turned back to their stations. She rested back
       into the chair, sorry that her orders were only temporary.

            In the lift, Spock handed his captain the small flat square,
       that was his altered log entry. The Captain placed it in his pocket
       with a "Thanks, Spock," and the doors opened to let the Doctor off
       at sickbay.

            "Be careful Jim," Bones said as they parted company.

            "Have you ever known me to be otherwise, Doctor?" Jim asked
       and quickly added, "Don't answer that!  G'bye, Bones."

            The doors closed again. When next they opened, both Jim and

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       Spock exited the lift and headed for the transporter room. Jim
       noted to himself that he had been down here more times than usual
       in the past few days. The maintenance crew was working diligently
       on repairing the broken unit. Kyle was again on duty, and entreated
       the two officers to choose a pad.

            "Coordinates are coming through now, Sir," Kyle spoke to his
       captain. "Ready to transport."

            "Energize, Mr. Kyle."

            The two men faded into oblivion, hopefully to be restored to
       completeness on board the Klingon warship that faced the
       Enterprise.











































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