Chain of Attack (17 page)

And the bridge was where he would have to be, if he were going to have any chance of winning his final victory, either now or at some time in the future. For the immediate future, his primary hope centered on the excessively suspicious nature that both Hoshan and Zeator had so far displayed. Neither Belzhrokaz nor Endrakon, he was sure, would blindly accept their subordinates' claims of the
Enterprise
's powers, particularly its seeming invulnerability to their weapons. They would, Crandall suspected and hoped, ask for another demonstration, and that would be all the chance he would need.

But then, as the messages flew back and forth through subspace prior to the aliens' coming within sensor range, his hopes dwindled. To his surprise, and perhaps to that of Kirk as well, neither of the aliens so much as mentioned the demonstrations of the
Enterprise
's capabilities, let alone asked for new ones. For whatever reason, there seemed to be an air of resigned acceptance in their attitudes toward the humans.

As they had indicated during the first communications, they trusted the humans only slightly more than they trusted each other, but neither Belzhrokaz nor Endrakon, unlike the earlier, lower-ranking aliens, seemed inclined to challenge, or even question, anything Kirk said. Even when it had seemed, at least to Crandall, that the Zeator commander had doubted Kirk's claims of what the instruments on the
Enterprise
were capable of detecting, Endrakon had said nothing, had asked for no proof. And proof of that particular claim would have been far easier to supply than the proofs Kirk had originally supplied in regard to the
Enterprise
's deflectors and weaponry. A simple thirty-second demonstration would have proven it beyond a doubt, but no proof was requested.

It was, Crandall soon began to think, as if both the Hoshan and the Zeator were simply trying not to rock the boat, and that in itself made Crandall suspicious, though he was careful not to mention this to Kirk. The two alien commanders were, he was increasingly convinced, up to something, and each new development, each new uncertainty, only strengthened that suspicion and therefore strengthened Crandall's own regenerating optimism.

Finally, then, both fleets of ships came to a stop just inside transporter range. A pair of Hoshan and Zeator subordinates shared the viewscreen, maintaining communications with each other and with the
Enterprise
while the two commanders left to join their respective delegations, which would be transported to the
Enterprise
as soon as they were ready.

"It is understood," Kirk repeated, "that for your safety and our own, all delegates will be rendered unconscious briefly so that we can verify your claim that all personal self-destruct devices have been deactivated."

"Of course, Commander Kirk," the Hoshan subordinate said, as Belzhrokaz had said earlier, and the Zeator quickly agreed.

"Very well. We have a conference room prepared. As requested, it is equipped to allow the delegates to be in constant, virtually instantaneous visual contact with their own ships. Transport can begin whenever you give us the exact coordinates of your delegations."

"Hoshan coordinates already received, Captain," McPhee's voice came from the transporter room. And, a moment later: "Zeator coordinates also received. Ready to transport on your order."

"Security?"

"Ready, Captain," Lieutenant Tomson acknowledged, also from the transporter room.

"Mr. Spock?"

"Ready to neutralize the devices if necessary, Captain."

For a moment, Kirk was silent, his eyes going again to the two aliens sharing the forward viewscreen. As their commanders had been, the two were firmly expressionless.

"Your delegations are ready?"

"They are, Commander Kirk," both aliens said.

"Very well." With a last glance at Spock and Crandall, Kirk swung the command chair to face the helm. "Mr. Sulu, prepare to lower deflectors for transport."

"Ready, Captain."

"Mr. McPhee, take the Hoshan first, and don't waste any time."

"Of course, Captain."

"Mr. Sulu, lower deflectors. Bring them back to full power the moment you hear from McPhee."

"Aye-aye, Captain."

One eye on the aliens on the screen, Sulu tapped in the code that lowered the deflectors, leaving his fingers poised above the keys that would restore them.

For a moment there was total silence. Then McPhee's voice came from the transporter room.

"Having trouble locking on, sir. The coordinates don't—"

"Lasers on all ships preparing to fire, Captain!" Spock said sharply.

"Deflectors up, Mr. Sulu!" Kirk snapped. "Get us out of here!"

Even before Kirk had voiced the order, however, Crandall, his eyes fixed on the controls beneath Sulu's fingers, was lunging forward, slamming past Kirk, sending the command chair spinning. An instant later, he crashed against Sulu, knocking him from his chair before the helmsman had the chance to carry out either order. At the very moment Sulu was sprawling to the deck, Crandall felt the numbing sting of a phaser, but before consciousness faded he knew that it had come too late to help Kirk and his beloved
Enterprise
.

 

TO A GREAT EXTENT, it was Spock's Vulcan mental discipline, his ability to accommodate dozens of sensory inputs simultaneously and to integrate them into logical patterns, that allowed him to so rapidly interpret the countless readings his science station instruments supplied. To Spock's bemusement, Kirk had once compared it to the ability of a great symphony conductor to instantly absorb the mass of musical notations from the sheets in front of him, integrate them into the total sound the orchestra should produce, and then, with his baton, draw the required combination of sounds from the dozens of players, confident that, if even a single horn or string hit a wrong note, he would be able to detect it and pinpoint its source.

It was an aspect of this same ability that now saved the
Enterprise
from total disaster.

Even as he was announcing that the alien ships were preparing to fire, Spock heard a sudden intake of breath somewhere behind him, and as the captain began to issue his curt orders, the science officer heard a sudden motion, a motion that did not fit the expected pattern of response to his announcement.

Darting a look over his shoulder, he saw Crandall charging forward, lunging toward the helm and Mr. Sulu.

Without hesitation, Spock turned and vaulted over the handrail. As his booted feet hit the deck behind the navigator's station, Crandall was already crashing into Sulu, knocking the helmsman from his chair. In the same instant, Ensign Reems, leaping to one side to get a clear shot past Kirk in the spinning command chair, fired his phaser, hitting Crandall squarely, sending him sprawling limply onto Sulu, who was struggling to get to his feet and back to the helm.

Spock, taking one long step, leaned over Sulu's empty chair and stabbed at the buttons that would implement the program to raise the deflectors and initiate acceleration to warp speed.

In that same instant, the first of the Hoshan lasers fired.

A fraction of a second later, the deflectors only starting to build, the first Zeator lasers fired.

Within two seconds, all lasers in both fleets were firing, and the
Enterprise
shook violently as the deflectors absorbed what energy they could and the engines strove to accelerate out of range.

Within fifteen seconds, they were in warp drive and it was over.

A comprehensive damage report took a bit longer. Safely at the edge of sensor range, listening on all subspace frequencies but broadcasting on none, the
Enterprise
rested, waiting for the verdict.

"We're no' quite defenseless, Captain," Chief Engineer Scott said from the engineering deck, "but almost. The deflectors were seriously overloaded, trying to build up while under attack. Repairs are possible, but they'll take a wee bit o' time."

"How much, Scotty?"

"Several days, Captain. Each generator has to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. But that's not the worst o' the problems."

"What's the worst, then?"

"The dilithium crystals, Captain, the one thing we canna replace or repair. They're on the ragged edge. We can use them, but only sparingly. If ye need more than warp four or more than half power from the phaser banks, they'll be gone."

"Warp four should be enough to keep us out of reach."

"Aye, provided they don't gi' up the ghost altogether."

"See that they don't, Scotty."

"Aye, Captain, I'll do what I can."

"Dr. McCoy?"

"One broken arm, already being set. Beyond that, some bumps and bruises, but nothing serious."

"Lieutenant Uhura?"

"All subspace channels functional, sir."

"And the Hoshan and Zeator?"

"No longer broadcasting on any frequency."

"Mr. Spock, what are they doing?"

"They have formed a single formation, Captain. They appear to be trying to follow us at their maximum speed, warp two-point-five."

"Appear to be following?"

"They are duplicating our own departing heading almost precisely."

Kirk grimaced. "And this time, we don't dare let them catch us. Mr. Sulu, lay in a course to our original point of entry into this sector."

"Aye-aye, sir. We're going to look for the gate again?"

"If that's what it was, yes. We don't appear to be in a position to do much good around here, or to look very far afield for whoever built it, unless Mr. Scott can do something about the dilithium crystals. Security?"

"Tomson here, Captain. Dr. Crandall is confined to a detention cell, as ordered."

"Any trouble getting him there?"

"He offered no resistance, sir, but some of the crew got a little ugly when they saw him."

"I'm not surprised. Keep a close watch on him, just to make sure no one tries to do something foolish."

"Very good, sir. I'll see that no one gets to him."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Now, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Mr. Scott, as soon as you can spare the time, I think we'd better have a few words about our options."

Dr. Leonard McCoy shook his head and scowled, not at any of the other three around the briefing-room table but at himself. "I'm not saying I should have predicted what happened," he said, "but I
should
have guessed that something like it
could
have happened."

"No more than I, Bones," Kirk said. "None of us had any way of knowing what was going on inside his head, not even the computer. From all indications, he was the last person you would expect to turn suicidal, least of all the way he did." He shrugged. "Maybe it was all the self-destruction he saw in the Hoshan and Zeator. Maybe it's contagious in some way."

"Maybe for people like Crandall!" McCoy growled.

"Be on the alert anyway, Bones."

"Blast it, Jim—" McCoy began but then subsided.

"You're right. I'll have my staff keep an eye out for symptoms. So far, there's nothing beyond the tension you could expect, given the circumstances."

"Yes, gentlemen," Kirk said, looking briefly at each of the three, "the circumstances. Any thoughts as to why we were attacked?"

"Only the obvious one, Captain," Spock said. "As you yourself have pointed out, the methods by which many of the worlds in this sector were destroyed are beyond the technology of either Hoshan or Zeator. Apparently the significance of this fact was not lost on them, and their actions, viewed in a narrow perspective, were only logical."

Kirk sighed in agreement. "Once we proved that neither of
them
could have destroyed those worlds, they jumped to the conclusion that, since we had a superior technology,
we
were the ones responsible. Yes, Spock, the thought had crossed my mind even before the attack, but I tried to keep an open mind. Scotty? Bones? You agree?"

"For all the good it does, I do," McCoy said, and Scott nodded.

"Which still leaves the question of who
did
destroy all those worlds," Kirk said. "And whoever it was, are they still around? Are they the same ones who built the gate?
If
, that is, the gates were indeed built and are not, after all, a natural phenomenon. I know we've been over this ground before, but the condition of the
Enterprise
and the presence of the Hoshan and Zeator lynch mob change the picture somewhat. Before, we were free to conduct a search throughout hundreds of thousands of cubic parsecs with full power available to the warp engines and the deflectors. Now, unless we find a source of dilithium, we're severely limited in both range and safety."

"Aye," Scott said, "and I canna guarantee the crystals will hold up forever, even under limited use."

"But even if they fail," Kirk said, "we would still have warp drive."

"Aye, up to about warp two-point-five, but no' immediately. Until I could pull the crystals and wire around them, we would have no' but impulse power."

"So, gentlemen, you see the situation. Any thoughts?"

"Obviously," McCoy said, "we see if the gate has come back."

"Agreed. Anything else? I can't be sure, of course, but I'd be willing to bet that, once our two warring friends can't locate us back there where we left them, they'll come back to the area where the gate was and keep watch for us."

"Logical," Spock said. "And once they establish a sufficiently dense perimeter around it, we could not, in our present condition, penetrate it unharmed."

McCoy's scowl deepened. "You're saying it could be now or never? If we don't find the gate now, we'll never find it?"

"Precisely, Doctor," Spock said. "However, the odds of finding our way back to known space have never been favorable. Recent developments have only increased already high odds against us. However, there is one possibility that has not yet been mentioned."

"Yes, Mr. Spock?" Kirk prompted.

"You will recall that, during our initial explorations in the immediate region of our arrival point, there was one planet from which anomalous readings were obtained. Deep underground, our sensors gave readings that, while not indicative of true life, at least proved that something was there—a sophisticated power source as well as something that, conceivably, could have been some unknown form of organic computer."

"I remember," Kirk said. "I also remember that you were as puzzled as I have ever seen you. And that there was no way to get more information except by beaming down into totally sealed-off areas through miles of solid rock. With the options we had then, it wasn't that attractive an alternative. With the more limited options now before us, are you suggesting it warrants a second look? Including beaming down?"

"Precisely, Captain. The planet does not lie far from the course we must take to return to our arrival point, so we will lose little time. In addition, considering the relative proximity of such a totally inexplicable phenomenon to the equally inexplicable phenomenon of the gate itself, it is only logical to assume at least the possibility of a connection."

"A control center of some kind?" Kirk asked. "Customs point for new arrivals? Automated ticket dispenser?"

"As I have said before, Captain, with no more information than we currently have, anything is possible."

"And considering the luck we've had trying to locate the gate on our own so far," Kirk said with a grimace, "even the remotest possibility of gaining new information would be worth the risk."

"My thoughts exactly, Captain. I must admit, however, that those readings have never been far from my mind. Whatever produced them has been, from the beginning, a most intriguing and frustrating phenomenon."

McCoy shook his head, a faint smile appearing for the first time since the four had entered the room. "Spock, you could be being eaten alive, and you'd spend your last minutes trying to analyze the creature's digestive juices."

"Just because one's life may soon end, Doctor, is no reason to cease all attempts to learn."

Kirk laughed. "He's right, Bones. You never know what you'll find that might be useful. We'd all be dead ten times over if—"

"Captain." Sulu's voice came over the intercom. "Hoshan and Zeator ships coming into sensor range from ahead. It looks as if they've been waiting for us to come back this way."

"How many, Mr. Sulu?" Kirk shot back.

"Three so far, sir, one Zeator and two Hoshan."

"Can we slip past them without being detected?"

"Without knowing the precise range of their sensors, there's no way to tell. From the way they're separated—fourth ship, another Zeator, just came within sensor range."

"You were saying?"

"I was saying, they appear to be evenly spaced. If their sensor fields overlap, there's no way we can get through undetected."

"But even if they detect us, we can still outrun them."

"We can—as long as the crystals hold out."

"Assuming they detect us and follow, how much time would we have in the vicinity of the gate before they arrive?"

"At the maximum warp Mr. Scott says we're capable of, we would have roughly one standard day."

Standing abruptly, Kirk said, "We're on our way, Mr. Sulu. Scotty, get below and keep your fingers on the crystals' pulse. Mr. Spock, get back to your station and locate any gaps that exist in that sensor net. And if none exists, find the weakest spots and we'll see what we can do."

"I feel obliged to point out, Captain," Spock said as they left the room and strode toward the turbolift, "that even if we successfully penetrate the perimeter the Hoshan and Zeator have apparently established, we could be less successful in finding our way back out."

"Point taken, Mr. Spock. If it comes down to it, however, we are not totally helpless. Even with the phasers at only half power, we can still punch a hole through any perimeter they set up."

"We canna take them all on at once, Captain," Scott interrupted.

"Understood, Mr. Scott. With any luck, we won't have to. Just keep those crystals alive as long as you can."

Twenty minutes later, Spock looked up from his instruments. "They know
something
passed through their perimeter, Captain," he said, "but at the range we maintained, their sensors could not distinguish between a starship coasting with all drives shut down and a small asteroid. Even so, one ship has broken formation and is approaching us. To avoid them, we will have to engage warp drive, which, at this distance, they will be able to detect."