“We will escort you—” Kang started to say, but Navok cut him off.

  “Your assistance is not needed, Captain. I gave you a direct order to return to your assignment. Or do you not consider the Romulan threat to be worthy of your attention?”

  “I merely wished to be sure this incident did not involve Romulans, General.”

  “It did not. The security of the empire—”

  But before Navok could finish his thought, they heard sounds of a clash within his ship- disruptor blasts, shouts, the crash of bodies against walls and deck, the brutal bedlam of large warriors fighting to the death in the corridor leading to the bridge. There could be no doubt that Klaa’s troops had somehow overpowered their captors and escaped from the makeshift brig. Navok’s surviving security officers were quite literally fighting for their lives in those close quarters, trying to keep the insurgents at bay.

  Navok’s bridge crew tensed, unsure if they should stay at their posts or join the battle. Seconds later, the fight came to them, as a brawling jumble of flailing fists and flashing blades burst through the bridge hatch. Two of Navok’s crew whirled and started to draw their sidearms- but both were killed by disruptor fire before their weapons cleared their holsters. Two others charged into the fray and had their throats slashed. Two of the intruders grabbed Spock and Morrow at knifepoint, and Klaa’s voice bellowed over all else: “Mev!”

  His single word froze combatants on both sides, leaving no doubt that Klaa’s crew had commandeered Navok’s bridge. Klaa stepped over the dead and swaggered up to Navok at the command throne, clenched his fist as if readying a sweeping backhand- and then simply grinned and gave the defeated general a hard poke in the chest. “Your ship is mine.” He gestured to two of his crew and they grabbed Navok, pinioned his arms behind his back, and dragged him down the steps. “The human and the Vulcan, with him.”

  Klaa’s men shoved Spock and Morrow over toward Navok, while their commander stood with hands on hips, looking quite pleased with his conquest. “Two spies and a traitor. The High Council will be happy with the catch of the day.”

  “They’re not spies,” Navok said, “they’re diplomats. And since we are not at war with the Federation, their safety is now your responsibility. If you kill them in the absence of any evidence of espionage, you will be committing an act of war against the Federation.”

  “War with the Federation… would be glorious,” Klaa said, “unless you are a bIHnuch as well as a traitor.”

  “General,” Kang’s voice boomed from the speaker, “what is going on over there?”

  Klaa looked toward the viewscreen image of Kang’s battle cruiser. “Put us on visual.”

  A moment later, Kang’s face appeared on the viewer. He frowned as he took in the scene on Navok’s bridge, then centered his gaze on Klaa. “And who are you, petaQ ?”

  Klaa squared his broad shoulders. “Before you call me petaQ, know that I have captured the traitor Navok and his two Federation spies. And I know of a weapon which will help the empire conquer all its enemies.”

  “Ahh, the invincible weapon wielded by the mysterious enemy.”

  “It is real,” Klaa insisted. “I know all about it. I can prove it.”

  “And how do you happen to know so much about an enemy weapon?”

  “I… I can’t tell you that now.”

  Kang’s temper began to simmer. “General,” he barked, “do you have an explanation for all this?”

  Not one that he may share, Spock thought.

  “What I do,” said Navok, “I have done for the good of the empire.”

  “Ghuy’cha’!” Kang thundered. “You both speak like guilty taHqeq with something to hide. Prepare to be boarded. If there is any resistance, I will destroy that ship and everyone on it. Both crews will be transported to my brig, and that is where you shall remain until I can discover who is the greater liar. Your fates are now bound up as one. If anyone from either crew attempts escape, all of you will be executed on the spot.” Kang turned to his wife at her exec station. “Mara, see to it.”

  “With pleasure.”

  Chapter Ten

  Just as Kang poured himself some bloodwine, the door to his cabin opened. Mara entered, accompanied by two burly guards and Klaa, his hands and feet securely bound by sturdy manacles. Kang, whose hair had started to turn gray, studied the younger officer for several moments. “You asked to see me.”

  Klaa nodded eagerly. “Yes, Kang. I was not lying about this alien weapon. I was engaged in negotiations to gain possession of it, for the glory of the empire.”

  “Negotiations? With whom?”

  “A group of renegades from Mestiko called the Torye. They stole the weapon from their own people, and made it look like a terrorist attack. They were supposed to share it with us.”

  “And what happened?”

  “They are without honor. They used it on us, and then they fled.”

  Mara eyed Klaa suspiciously. “Fled where?”

  “I do not know. But I can help you track them down.”

  “You don’t seem smart enough to think of this plan on your own,” Mara said with a smirk.

  Klaa’s eyes flashed at the insult and he jerked his shackled hands toward Mara, trying to hit her. She deftly sidestepped the attempt, landed a crushing kick behind his knee, and clubbed him on the back of the head as he crumpled to the deck, grunting at the searing pain from his buckled leg.

  Kang used his foot to roll Klaa onto his back, then looked down at him. “If your foolish defiance was intended to impress us with your courage, it served only to reinforce my wife’s appraisal of your intelligence. And even without those shackles, Mara would have little trouble beating the baktag out of you.”

  “I did not work alone,” Klaa offered. “I am part of an alliance of brother officers, most of us young.”

  “And impatient,” Kang intoned.

  “Yes! We are impatient with the old women of the High Council who cower at the thought of crossing swords with the Federation. Their inaction forced us to create this conspiracy. The Torye weapon would give us all the advantage we need to crush the Federation and the Romulans. Our empire would once again be invincible.”

  Kang pressed his boot on Klaa’s ribs. “I have seen no weapon.”

  Now Mara leaned over him as well. “And if you are telling the truth,” she said softly, “the Torye seem to have changed their minds about sharing it with you. When you’re ready to tell us the whole truth, we’ll listen. Take him back.”

  The guards hauled Klaa up and out.

  Alone with Mara, Kang retrieved his wine and took a pensive sip. “So… what do we make of our prisoners?”

  “The general is guarding a secret he’s willing to take to his grave. No one of his stature would risk being caught with Federation spies unless he was playing for very high stakes. We need to know his secret before he is executed.”

  “Agreed. And Klaa?”

  Mara shook her head in contempt. “He is a pitiful liar. And he doesn’t have the brains to make up what he’s already told us.”

  “So you think this weapon exists?”

  “I do. And whatever it is, it apparently made short work of Klaa’s defenses. Whatever his mental deficiencies, he doesn’t seem the sort to go down without a fight. QI’yaH! How in the name of Kahless do idiots like him get to be commanders?”

  Kang frowned. “The decline of the empire. Perhaps it is the natural order.”

  Mara stepped close to him, took the heavy metal wine tankard from his hand, and set it down on the desk. Then she scraped her talonlike nails along his neck and nuzzled him so he could feel her hot breath in his ear as she whispered, “I have told you to banish these dark moods. Warriors like you will save the empire from itself. And if you keep the faith of your fathers long enough, worthy young warriors will stand by your side.”

  Kang bowed his head. “How do you know this?”

  “What have you always wanted?”

  A moment of doubt flickered across Kang’s eyes. Was this a trick question? “A kyamo-looking personal aerobatic flyer…?”

  Mara rolled her eyes. “How about someone you can teach to fly it with you?” Then she took her husband’s hand and moved it down to her stomach. “Say hello to your firstborn son.”

  After a stunned, blank-faced moment, Kang reacted with a blink of disbelief. Then his eyes met her unwavering gaze. “Our son? How long have you known?”

  “I suspected. The test confirmed it this morning.” She took a step back. With a smile of wonderment, Kang placed both his hands on her belly. “You know how swiftly time passes. Before you know it, he’ll be a great warrior like his father.”

  “And his mother.” Kang chuckled, recalling the way she’d leveled Klaa.

  She smiled back at him. “He will fight by our sides for many years. He will help us redeem the empire’s honor, and together we’ll drink the steaming blood of our enemies. We should start thinking of a name worthy of the son of Kang and Mara.”

  They were interrupted by the shrill blast of the ship’s alarm klaxon. A gravelly voice from the bridge shouted, “Battle alert!”

  Kang punched the intercom switch and the tense face of his tactical officer Darog appeared on the screen. “This is Kang. Report, Darog.”

  “Long-range sensors have detected a Federation starship. It has crossed the Neutral Zone into our space.”

  “Continue tracking. I’ll be right there.”

  By the time Kang and Mara rushed up to the bridge, Darog met them with an update: “The intruder has been identified, sir. It is the Enterprise, heading this way.”

  Kang exchanged a knowing look with his wife. “Kirk’s ship. Our son will witness his first victory today, and over a worthy opponent.” Then the captain took his seat and Mara returned to her science station. “Weapons, stand ready. Tactical, prepare for cloaking.”

  Kang’s ship banked into a majestic turn, leaving the two derelict birds-of-prey in its wake, then faded from view under cover of its cloaking device.

  On the Enterprise bridge, Saavik peered into the science viewer. “Confirmed, Captain,” she said. “Two Klingon birds-of-prey, one with severe damage and no power output… the other with no apparent damage. No life forms on either ship.”

  Trying to ignore McCoy pacing along the rail behind him, Kirk leaned forward in the command seat, focusing on the viewscreen image of the drifting ships in the distance.

  “Abandoned? Now, that’s damned strange.”

  “Maybe not so strange, sir,” Scott said from the engineering station. “Sensors have confirmed residual spatial distortion consistent with deployment of the subspace weapon. The ship with the conventional battle damage has a dead warp core, so it’s lookin’ like the weapon worked the way it was designed.”

  Raya spoke up from the auxiliary console near Uhura, where she’d parked herself in order to stay out of everyone’s way. “At least we know we’re on the right trail.”

  “Right,” McCoy muttered to no one in particular. “If we get our damned fool heads blown off by Klingons, it’ll be a great comfort knowing we weren’t on a wild-goose chase.”

  Kirk flashed him a look of annoyance. “So, we can guess what happened to one Klingon ship. But that doesn’t explain why there’s a second one out here, deserted but intact. And it doesn’t explain what happened to two Klingon crews.”

  “Captain, there are only two logical possibilities,” Saavik said. “Either the terrorists took the Klingons captive, or there was another ship involved.”

  “Do sensors detect evidence of a third ship?”

  “Nothing definitive, sir,” Saavik said. “But residual interference from the subspace weapon is making it difficult to differentiate warp signatures.”

  “Scotty, are we still picking up the trail from the terrorist ship?”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Kirk swiveled toward Saavik. “Lieutenant, do a full sensor sweep on both those ships, as well as the surrounding area. Make it fast. The less time we spend loitering in Klingon space, the better.”

  “Amen to that,” McCoy said.

  “As soon as that’s done,” Kirk said, “we get back on the hunt.”

  “Captain,” Saavik called out with uncharacteristic urgency, “there is a neutron radiation surge off our starboard side.”

  McCoy reflexively grabbed onto the railing. “This can’t be good.”

  “It is a Klingon vessel,” Saavik said. “It’s the K’tanco, Captain- it’s decloaking, with weapons charged.”

  At Kirk’s order, the Enterprise heaved hard to port in a desperate evasive maneuver, but it was too late. As the enemy cruiser swept past, its disruptors scored point-blank hits and sent the starship reeling. Knowing what was coming, McCoy had barely kept his footing, but Raya went flying. She came up with a bloody gash on her head, and McCoy ducked over to help her.

  Meanwhile, the Enterprise shook off the first salvo and righted herself. “Phasers,” Kirk barked. “Return fire.”

  The Klingon vessel was momentarily vulnerable as it came about, and four rapid-fire phaser blasts found their mark along its flank. With each ship twisting through its own evasive dance, both became harder to hit with energy-beam weaponry- and both captains ordered torpedoes away. A pair hit the Enterprise engineering hull in quick succession and the ship shook down to its beams. Smoke and sparks filled the bridge.

  Scott called through the smoke, “Captain, warp drive’s offline. Forward shields’re down to forty-three percent!”

  “Captain,” Uhura said, “we’re being hailed.”

  “On speakers.”

  A moment later, a deep voice came through, all too loud and clear. “Kirk, I am holding two Federation spies of your acquaintance.”

  Kirk’s jaw clenched. He knew the voice. “Kang,” he whispered.

  “They will be tried and condemned to death.”

  McCoy grunted to Raya. “You’ve gotta love Klingon due process.”

  “Seeing is believing, Kang,” Kirk said.

  “Very well, then.”

  “Visual signal coming through, sir,” Uhura said. “On main viewscreen.”

  Reactions from everyone on the bridge crew were immediate and simultaneous- gut-punched shock at the sight of Captain Spock and retired Admiral Harry Morrow held under the gun on Kang’s bridge. While Kirk made a superhuman effort to maintain a poker face, his mind raced. How the hell did Morrow and Spock end up in Klingon hands? When he spoke, his tone was commanding but quiet. “Release them, immediately… and guarantee our safe passage back to the Neutral Zone.”

  Now it was Kang’s turn to be thunderstruck at Kirk’s audacity. Not knowing what else to do, Kang actually laughed. “Bold talk for an invader with no warp drive. You will pay for this act of war with your lives.”

  “Klingons or Klingon agents attacked a science colony orbiting Mestiko,” Kirk parried. “That was an act of war that justifies our presence in Klingon space.”

  “Kirk, I have it on good authority that the weapon you seek was stolen by terrorists from Mestiko.”

  Barely able to find her voice, Raya rose from the seat where McCoy was tending her head injury. “What?”

  On the viewscreen, Mara stepped forward, alongside her husband. “Yes, dissidents who call themselves the Torye formed an alliance with renegade Klingons, and they were to share the stolen weapon. But the Torye had a change of heart. They are still somewhere in Klingon territory. After we’re done with the Enterprise, we will hunt them down and destroy them.”

  Raya looked queasy, and Kirk couldn’t blame her. McCoy helped her back to the seat.

  “How do you know about the Torye weapon?” Kirk said.

  “Because,” Kang replied, “we have those Klingon renegades in custody- and they will face harsh justice. As for you, Kirk, stand and fight… or run for the Neutral Zone.”

  “We’re not leaving without Spock and Morrow.”

  “Then battle it is. I grant you an honorable death.”

  “Thanks just the same,” Kirk said, cutting the comm signal.

  Raya glanced at McCoy. “What’s he going to do?”

  McCoy shrugged. “Damned if I know.”

  “Captain,” Saavik said, “another ship has just entered sensor range.”

  “Klingon?”

  “No, sir. Unidentified.”

  “Scotty,” Kirk said, “will your modified shields block the subspace weapon at less than full power?”

  “I don’t know, sir. We’re sailin’ uncharted waters.”

  “Divert all power to deflectors.”

  “You mean other than weapons?”

  “All power.”

  “Then how do we fire back at the Klingons?”

  “I’m betting we won’t have to.”

  “Captain,” Saavik said, “you may win that bet. The unidentified vessel is closing, and its warp signature matches that of the terrorist vessel… and they just deployed the subspace weapon.”

  “Scotty…”

  “All power diverted to shields, Captain. But I don’t know if it’ll be enough.”

  “We’re about to find out.”

  On the main viewscreen, the terrorist ship appeared barely bigger than a speck out beyond Kang’s warship, but the weapon’s sparkling matrix rippled across the distance in a heartbeat, cascading over both the Klingon cruiser and the Enterprise. Bridge lights flickered out, replaced by the red glow of emergency illumination, and computer consoles went dark.

  Kirk took a deliberate breath. “Scotty, status report…”

  “We’re gettin’ some frequency fluctuation, so we’re only at eighty-eight percent efficiency. But, so far, warp power and shields’re holdin’ up.”

  But for how long? Kirk glanced anxiously around the bridge. Only the science and engineering stations remained functional, and he surmised from Saavik’s intent focus on her sensor viewer that they were receiving data from the special scanners installed by Dr. elZana. Battery reserves kept life support and communications minimally operational.

  “Captain,” Uhura said, “we’re being hailed.”

 

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