U.S.S. Enterprise
Saucer Section
Shennau Corridor
This battlesuit makes my butt too big for this chair, Pike thought. I hope I don’t have to get up in a hurry.
Of course, he had no intention of being anywhere other than where he was—even with several members of the Boundless looming menacingly around him. Their immediate attention was on one another, anyway.
“If you Enterprise recruits are thinking about betraying us, think again,” one of the Boundless said. Pike’s interface had previously identified the speaker as someone named Kormagan. “His battlesuit’s governor may not work,” she said, “but yours do.” She made a gesture—and five of the warriors froze in place. Head protectors retracted into their battlesuits, revealing Connolly and four other crewmembers. “I do not doubt your loyalty, but I must sort this out.”
“I doubt their loyalty,” said another Boundless member. “This is some kind of trap!”
“Patience, Quadeo.” Kormagan walked in front of Pike. “What, did you think to lure us here and decapitate our command? The Boundless are eternal, Captain. One rises to replace another. Succession is what we’re best at!”
“You’ve got me wrong. That’s not what I had in mind at all.” Pike interlaced his fingers. “I wanted to meet the people who thought they could steal my crew.”
“Just grab him,” Quadeo said. “We’ll put him in a suit for real and throw him at his Rengru friends!”
“Maybe later,” Kormagan said. “Don’t forget why we’re here.” She looked to Connolly. “Are you going to help us, or must we do this the hard way?”
Pike drew a blank. “What’s she talking about, Lieutenant?”
Immobilized, Connolly quickly explained that the Boundless had come in search of transporter technology—and that they intended to scuttle the ship afterward. “I didn’t think you were still alive, Captain.”
“We all are—barely. We thought the same about you. I’m glad to see you all.” He nodded to Connolly. “Nice beard, by the way.”
Kormagan looked to the space battle raging outside. “I can’t believe the Rengru left you here alone—or will spare us much more time. Give us what we need, Captain Pike. The transporters!”
“Well, I can tell you they work. That’s how we got everyone off the ship so I could have this little conversation in private.” He smiled, adding, “But they haven’t gone far.”
“That’s enough,” Quadeo snarled, pushing past Kormagan and pointing a weapon in Pike’s unprotected face. “Stop with the games!”
“No games,” Pike said, gaze not on the barrel, but the main viewscreen beyond. “In fact, here comes the rest of our crew now.”
The Boundless turned toward the screen and saw the other half of Enterprise racing toward them. Rather than attack it, the Rengru mother ships opened a lane for it to pass through—an event that clearly alarmed Pike’s guests. For a moment, it looked as if the engineering hull was going to collide with the saucer section—until at the last second, it swooped overhead.
“Where’d it go?” Quadeo asked, pulling the weapon away.
“Just passed behind us. You’ll see it return in a second. Keep watching.”
The stardrive section soared back into view just ahead of the saucer, traveling more slowly and in the same direction. A blue light flashed beneath the hull—
—and the whole saucer section shook. “Is that a weapon?” Kormagan asked.
“Everything we do that moves things, the Boundless thinks is a weapon,” Connolly said. He’d been agog, marveling at the whole sequence. “They don’t know what a tractor beam is, Captain.”
“That’s a shame,” Pike said, “because it’s pretty useful. You see, we’re on impulse only, and our maneuverability is shot. But while our engine section may not be able to push us, it can definitely pull us.”
The acceleration, mild at first, was fully noticeable. To the alarm of the Boundless, the engineering hull surged forward, the saucer in tow.
“We’ve got to get out of this thing,” one of the other Boundless said. “Now!”
“No,” Pike said, “I don’t think so. You’ve had months to get to know my people, but we’ve just met. I don’t want you to leave just yet.”
“We are leaving,” an infuriated Quadeo said. “I don’t care about any stupid transporter.”
“I think you’ll stay.”
Quadeo’s disruptor was in his face again. “And how will you stop us?”
“Oh, I won’t. But someone else will.” Pike spoke into the air. “Mister Spock, are you with us?”
Everyone on the bridge heard the response over the intercom: “I am, Captain.”
“It turns out I’m not the only one aboard,” Pike said to the others. “I have a gaggle of engineers down in sickbay, huddled with an old acquaintance of yours. Lieutenant, if you’re feeling up to it, I’d like you to have the honors.”
“Thank you,” Spock said over the intercom. “Boundless units: Freeze.”
Pike continued looking at the barrel of the disruptor—and realized that its owner had no way to operate it. He stood carefully, dislodging himself from his seat and edging around Quadeo. All the Boundless on the bridge were statues now.
“Way to go, Captain Pike!” Ghalka said.
“Credit where it’s due,” Pike said, pacing about his new museum of metallic art and ignoring the howls of complaint from the Boundless. “Back when he was stranded, Spock told me all about you. He said that even your leaders—your wavemasters—had these governors on their battlesuits.” He rapped at the sphere over Kormagan’s shoulder.
“That got me thinking,” he continued. “You stole our scientists, but not our engineers. I didn’t have access to them myself for months. But once we were reunited, I brought them a little gift: Spock’s battlesuit.” He regarded his armored arm. “Your manufacturing is really something. Even though Spock took a laser torch to his governor, our people were still able to figure out how it worked. And what channel it operated on—and how to issue a signal of their own to your units on the bridge.”
Connolly looked at him. “Can we move, sir?”
“Spock, can the team down there figure out who’s who?”
There was a pause. “This is Galadjian. We are working on that now.”
Pike wasn’t surprised to hear the engineer’s voice. Spock wasn’t even back at ten percent—but in his lucid moments he’d insisted on helping. The captain hoped this was part of the way back for him.
“When our carrier sees we’ve been out of contact, they’ll fight your signal,” Kormagan said. “Whatever reprogramming you’ve done, they’ll reverse!”
“We’re not some tour group that wandered in,” Pike said. “I have some of the best computer operators in the cosmos. You characters just steal stuff.”
He turned to face the viewscreen, where the nebular clouds were flying by as the convoy picked up ever more speed. “You also seem to like to steal people. Well, now I’m stealing all of you!”