Demands of Honor (15 page)

They descended for several minutes and Adon watched as they passed level after level of the mine. There were few lights and no people that Adon could see—and more important, no alarms.

Finally, they reached the level they needed and Adon saw an ore hauler. That changed things. He had considered simply tossing the crystals into the great pit and letting them be smashed, but they had been hard won and he was reluctant to let them go. The ore hauler was essentially a large platform with waist-high sides. It was large enough for several people and still had a cargo area big enough for twenty containers.

A new plan formed in his mind, this one complete with details. He motioned to Bethe, who nodded and landed her craft on ground as he landed his directly onto the ore hauler. He hit a switch on his controls, and a metallic clang told him the flying machine was magnetically locked into place on the hauler.

That done, he stepped off the hauler and drew his weapon. Bethe had hers out as well as they surveyed the inside of the mine. There was no movement and only the red lights that ran at night were on. It was silent except for the dim hum of the equipment.

“There is no one here,” Bethe whispered as they moved forward. The storage area was nearby and open. There had been no reason to lock the crystals away before, and not surprisingly, Gurn had lacked the imagination to take any additional precautions. The twelve
containers were there, and a quick inspection told Adon they were full. By attaching Orion lifting plates, Adon and Bethe were able to load the containers on the hauler quickly and lock them in place.

He was about to go when another idea came to him. It would take some time, but he thought it worth it. In a few minutes, they managed to place empty cargo containers where the ones they were taking had been. Then they headed for their craft.

“Can you manage the hauler?” Bethe asked, her voice even.

“I will try, thank you,” Adon said. Of course, he had piloted them before. Compared to the flying machines—which were agile predators—the haulers were slow and lumbering beasts. However, to be fair, they were designed primarily to go up and down carrying heavy loads. Adon would be asking a bit more of this one today, but not much.

The machine powered up quickly, but far from silently. If Gurn was listening, the alarm would come any second now. If that happened, Adon would have to climb onto the flying machine and abandon the hauler.

But again, no alarm came. By silent agreement, Adon took the hauler into the shaft and starting ascending as Bethe kept pace beside him, glancing over at him nervously from time to time. The trip took longer than the one down, and Adon kept waiting for an alarm or for Gurn's people to appear on flying machines, but no one came. Finally, they were out of the shaft.

There was no way to take the hauler through the trees, so Adon kept it just above them. That made the journey back quicker but more dangerous. Again he
waited for pursuit, but they reached the village without incident. He realized what a fool Gurn was as he landed the craft. That this man had killed a man as great as his father seemed impossible.

Stepping down to meet his uncle, Adon realized that he had struck the first blow against Gurn and his plans. There was a small measure of satisfaction in that. Well, he meant to take even greater satisfaction and take it soon.

Bethe was quickly by his side and Adon realized that she had been there since news of his father's death.

“You have Gurn's rocks?” Uncle said, a smile on his lips.

“Yes, apparently Gurn and his people were all sleeping,” Adon said.

“What now, Adon?” Uncle asked.

Adon was surprised to see that he had an answer to that question.

“Sublight speed, Captain. We have entered the system,” the pilot announced.

“Science Officer, any sign of the
Enterprise?
” Koloth asked.

“No, Captain.”

Karel was surprised. How could the Federation ignore an incursion into their space by a Klingon warship? What possible emergency could be more serious than that?

“Excellent,” Councillor Duras said. “The humans must fear to face us, even now.”

Few Klingons would disagree with that assessment of humans, but Karel knew it was false. From Koloth's
face, Karel could see that Captain Koloth felt the same way.

Duras stepped forward and said, “Full impulse to the second planet.”

To his credit, the pilot ignored the councillor and looked at Koloth, who smiled and gave the order. “
Three-quarter
impulse to the second planet.”

There were smiles and satisfied grunts among the bridge crew as the ship made its way. Challenging the councillor was dangerous, but Duras had already conspired to kill Koloth, so there was little point for him to try to curry Duras's favor—which was not the captain's style anyway.

The conflict between the two men would come out into the open before much longer. Soon enough, Duras would start down his treacherous course. It was a course that Duras had known Koloth would not follow, which was why the councillor had offered Karel the ship.

“Captain, have the transporter room on standby to transport me and twenty of my warriors to the surface,” Duras requested.

Koloth nodded. “I will send First Officer Karel and twenty additional warriors.”

“I need no assistance,” Duras said.

“Of course not, but my crew would benefit from observing you win a victory for the empire.”

There was complete silence on the bridge as Duras looked at Koloth. If looks could kill, Koloth would be on the other side of the River of Blood.

“As you know, I am content to leave you in command of this ship as long as you understand that I am in command of this mission,” Duras said.

“No one disputes your authority,” Koloth said, but Karel could hear a
yet
in his captain's tone. “But I need my people to assess any possible danger to this ship.”

Duras gave Koloth an unpleasant smile. “Send your team, but I will accept no interference on the surface.”

Koloth nodded and turned to Karel. “First Officer Karel, select your crew and prepare for transport.”

Karel headed for the door, mentally compiling a list of the Klingons he wanted by his side. He needed good warriors. However, he also had to make sure that enough of the best fighters remained on board. While Duras was on the surface, Koloth and the ship would still be in danger from the large number of Duras's soldiers.

For now, Karel and Koloth would be fighting a battle against shadows. In this arena, Duras would have the advantage. But sooner or later, the fight would have to come into the open and Karel vowed to be ready.

SHUTTLECRAFT
GALILEO

KLINGON SPACE

Fuller knew they had to move quickly or the Klingons would likely kill their captives before the team arrived, unless they could keep the Klingons too busy to do it. He quickly scanned the squad, who all had their helmets on now. “Everyone sealed in?” The squad confirmed, and Fuller hit the button to decompress the shuttle. In seconds, there would be a complete vacuum inside, creating an atmosphere no more hospitable than open space.

Fuller clicked on his built-in communicator. “This configuration has two levels in the command and propulsion section with four air locks total, two on each side of the ship with one on each level. There is also a small air lock in the rear at the end of the access shaft.”
The shaft was a tunnel that ran above the cargo containers, connecting them and giving the crew access to each.

“Parmet and Quatrocchi, you're with me on the port side. Jawer and McCalmon, you take the starboard air locks. Baxter and Jameson, you take the rear air lock,” Fuller said. The rear air lock was the least likely to be defended and would be the easiest to get into. However, once inside, they would be nearly sitting ducks with a long straight path in front of them and little or no cover.

A red light came on, telling them that the shuttle was clear of air, and Fuller opened the hatch. He stared out into the vacuum of space and had to push aside the twenty-five-year-old memories of his friends and crew-mates blasted out into that abyss by Klingons who had boarded their ship.

“Good luck,” Fuller said to Baxter and Jameson, who launched themselves, one at a time, into space. The hull of the Klingon ship was maybe eight meters away. The trip took seconds and they hit the ship fairly gently, grasping it with their magnetic boots.

“We're on,”
Baxter's voice was heard though the comm system in their helmets.

“Get in position and wait for my signal,” Fuller told them. Quatrocchi immediately piloted them to the command segment of the ship and brought the shuttle to a stop. Fuller could feel the seconds ticking by. He didn't want the Klingons to have time to get into suits and meet them in space. Their plan would work best if the squad faced the Klingons on board the ship.

Jawer and McCalmon were the first out. Then, Parmet and Quatrocchi. Fuller was last, using his arms to push off the shuttle door and aiming feetfirst at the
top of the hull. For a moment, he was flying in space, then his feet clicked onto the ship. Using only hand signals, he sent Jawer and McCalmon on their way. Then he and his team headed for the aft air locks.

“Get us ready on the upper air lock,” Fuller said to his people. “I'll take the lower lock.” Walking in magnetic boots was awkward, and Fuller hadn't done it in over five years, but his balance came back immediately and he was thankful for small favors—knowing that they might soon be in short supply.

He reached the air-lock door and took out the charge he wore around his waist. He put the charge over the door's locking mechanism. Then he took a quick look through the heavy door's small window. He could see the air-lock chamber itself and the inner door behind it, but no Klingons.

That wasn't a surprise. They were most likely standing to the side of each inner air-lock door waiting for the boarding party. Well, they would get it soon enough, and perhaps a surprise or two as well.

Fuller immediately went to join Parmet and Quatrocchi. He saw the device they had placed over the forward door's locking mechanism. A moment later, the two other teams reported in.

Fuller acknowledged and hit a button on the small keypad he wore on his wrist. Though he couldn't hear the explosions, he could feel them through his boots, and he could see the flash at about thirty meters to the rear of the ship.

He knew that alarms would be sounding all over the ship, and the Klingons would be rushing to the damaged air locks to face them. Without hesitating, Fuller hit another
button on the keypad and activated the second type of device they had brought.

The magnetic disk lit up and Fuller knew it had come to life. This one, of course, didn't explode. It simply flashed for a few moments, and then the outer air-lock door slid open. Fuller and his team slipped inside, gravity immediately taking them as they stepped over the threshold. As soon as they were inside, Fuller closed the door and hit the control to repressurize the air lock.

It took precious seconds, giving Fuller plenty of time to worry about whether the Klingons had been sufficiently distracted by the explosions or if any warriors would be waiting for them just outside the inner door. A light came on and Fuller knew they had atmosphere. Without waiting a moment, he hit the button to open the inner door, and it obediently slid open.

No one was there.

Still, they could be lying in wait on the wall on either side. Fuller prepared to lean slowly out of the air lock when there was a blur of motion next to him and Parmet stepped out into the ship, both phasers raised.

Fuller cursed under his breath and followed the young man. Looking around quickly, he was relieved to see that the hallway was empty. “Ensign Parmet?”

“Sorry, sir. I jumped the gun,”
Parmet said over the comlink.

“Stay close to me and do this one by the book.” Quickly, Fuller took off his helmet and tossed it aside as the others did the same. They needed their eyes and ears for this one. They were in a large room piled with equipment, one of two on this level. It opened to a corridor that ran down the center of the ship, and Fuller headed for it.

As he stepped into the corridor, he saw a Klingon appear in front of him. Before the danger had even fully registered in his mind, his hand fired the phaser on its own. The Klingon went down immediately, falling at the heavy stun setting. Immediately, another Klingon appeared and fired at them from farther down the hall.

Fuller returned fire as the other two men with him did the same. A Klingon head peeked out. Then another one emerged from the room across from the one they had entered. Quatrocchi hit him with one shot, but the fire intensified from down the corridor. Fuller and Parmet hugged one wall, while Quatrocchi lay against the other.

The continued fire was putting smoke in the air, and Fuller knew they couldn't keep this up for long. Eventually, the Klingons would get lucky, and they outnumbered the security squad by at least two to one. He didn't know how the other teams were faring, and there was no time to find out.

“Fall back,” he said. If the layout he had studied was correct, the corridor they were in now terminated in the ship's control room in the very front of the ship. If they were lucky, the control room had been abandoned by the crew, who were eager to fight off the boarders. His challenge to the Klingons would have made them angry enough to get sloppy.

A few seconds later, they were backed up against the control-room door. The Klingons were firing at them from the other end of the corridor and were getting braver, moving toward them. There was no time to waste, they needed the cover of the control room.

Fuller hit the control that opened the door and leapt
inside before he looked, depending on the element of surprise to help him if anyone was there.

He saw the Klingon in the pilot's chair a millisecond before the alien saw him. Fuller raised and aimed his phaser just as the Klingon did the same. It was going to be close, very close.