2292
“Red Alert!”
The deep-space standoff was escalating by the moment. With Captain B’Eleste demanding the return of the Klingon observers, Commander Plavius refusing to surrender his hostages in light of the unexplained tragedy that had claimed the lives of everyone aboard the doomed escape pod, and Kirk not about to let Plavius depart with Spock in custody, the Enterprise, the Lukara, and the Harrier had all come within firing range of each other. The only question, it seemed, was who would start shooting first—and at whom?
“Phaser batteries fully charged,” Chekov reported. “Photon torpedoes armed and ready.” He grimaced. “If only I knew where to aim them.”
“That makes two of us, Mister Chekov.”
Kirk stared grimly at the main viewer. A split screen monitored both the Klingon bird-of-prey and the Romulan warbird. The captain’s chair was flanked by Gledii on one side and McCoy on the other. Motox was cooling his heels in the brig, sans ceremonial dagger, while Varis had been confined to her guest quarters for the time being. Chronometers mercilessly ticked down each tense moment. B’Eleste’s deadline for the return of her officers was fast approaching.
“The Lukara is hailing both us and the Harrier,” Uhura announced.
“Oh boy,” McCoy said. “Want to bet her mood hasn’t improved any?”
Kirk figured that was a safe assumption. “On-screen, Uhura, and Plavius, too, if he’s responding.”
“Aye, sir.”
Both the Klingon and Romulan commanders appeared on the viewer. B’Eleste looked characteristically fierce; Plavius, world-weary but resolute.
“Well?” she challenged them. “Your time grows short. Will you return my men or must we do battle?”
“My position has not changed,” Plavius said. “I am willing to deliver our Osori guests to Nimbus III or back to their homeworld, depending on what they prefer, but Spock and Chorn must remain in my custody until the circumstances surrounding Subcommander Taleb’s death have been thoroughly investigated… and the guilty parties brought to justice.”
“What about Varis?” Kirk asked. “You don’t want to trade Spock for her?”
“That is for our respective governments to decide in due course. For now, duty requires that Romulan justice come first, even at the cost of Varis’s liberty. She knew the risks when she undertook this assignment.”
So much for a nice, peaceful prisoner exchange.
“And you need to appreciate the risks you and your ship are facing,” Kirk said. “Don’t even think about trying to warp away with Spock aboard.”
“Or my officer!” B’Eleste snarled. “And that goes for you as well, Kirk.” She smiled wolfishly. “Although perhaps you should both beam your Osori guests over to my ship before the fighting starts, for their own safety’s sake… since I cannot guarantee that either of your vessels will survive my wrath.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Plavius accused her. “Getting your hands on our Osori envoys after losing your own.”
“Captain Kirk!” Gledii looked not at all enthused about being relocated to the bird-of-prey where Cyloo had seemingly fallen victim to foul play. “You cannot allow Nawee or me to be taken anywhere but back to our homeworld. We are not bargaining chips in your juvenile conflicts with each other.”
Heated voices overlapped. Kirk stood and raised his own voice to be heard over the threats and accusations flying back and forth.
“Gentlemen, Captain B’Eleste! None of this rancor is benefiting anyone. Has it occurred to you that possibly we are all being played, perhaps by a fourth party who has a vested interest in preventing any of us from establishing fruitful relations with the Osori?”
Kirk pondered the possibilities. The Orions? The Gorn? Maybe even some unknown entity like that vampiric energy being on Beta XII-A? He was reluctant to point a finger at anyone in particular without more to go on. It was enough that someone might be trying to derail the diplomatic conclave on Nimbus III.
“What are you implying, Kirk?” B’Eleste bared sharply filed teeth. “That I unknowingly nursed a viper in my midst? If there was treachery afoot, look to the ‘observers’ who attacked my crew, one of whom has testified that Taleb and Saavik conspired together to ambush him, with the Romulan disarming him and your half-blood lieutenant administering a nerve pinch while Kulton’s back was turned.” She sneered in contempt. “A coward’s attack.”
“Coward?” McCoy responded indignantly. “If Saavik put the pinch on your man, she must have had good reason. Self-defense, I reckon.”
“She was my guest, under my protection! How dare you suggest that she would need to defend herself against any member of my crew!” B’Eleste shook her painstik at the screen. “Muzzle your doctor, Kirk, while you still have one. Unlike my ship, which, need I remind you, has lost its medical officer to perfidy most foul!”
“Muzzle me? Like hell you will where Saavik’s reputation is concerned. If you think—”
“Stand down, Bones.” Kirk tried to reason with B’Eleste. “We all want to find out what happened to your doctor and the others, Saavik included, but we need to consider every possibility before we jump to conclusions.”
Plavius removed his monocle and coolly wiped it with a cloth. “And do you have any evidence, Captain Kirk, to support your theory that we are being manipulated?”
“Not as such,” Kirk admitted. Scans of the subatomic residue left behind by the pod’s self-destruction had yielded only confirmation that an antimatter charge had detonated, leaving no survivors. “More like a hunch.”
“Sadly,” Plavius replied, “Romulan law and policy do not recognize the validity of… hunches.”
McCoy rolled his eyes. “And they say Vulcans and Romulans have nothing in common anymore.”
“What about you, B’Eleste?” Kirk asked. “Has your internal investigation turned up anything about how the pod was released in the first place?”
“Only that the perpetrators tampered with our medbay’s computer and communications systems to fake a catastrophic warp-core emergency, no doubt in an attempt to trick Doctor Kesh into evacuating the Lukara via an escape pod. A ruse that positively reeks of both Romulan duplicity and Vulcan scientific prowess.”
Kirk shook his head. “You keep pushing that conspiracy theory, but I swear to you that Lieutenant Saavik would never collaborate with Subcommander Taleb to sabotage our mission, let alone abduct your doctor or Cyloo. I never met Taleb, but I know Saavik. She’s no schemer.”
“Your word is not enough for me, Kirk. In fact, my investigation has turned up one thing more. A closer look at Saavik’s history reveals that there is no love lost between her and the Empire. She nearly died at our hands once, and lost a friend to a Klingon blade, during the notorious Genesis affair. A blood debt seems motive enough to conspire against my people.”
You do not want to go there, Kirk thought, biting his tongue. “Saavik is a Starfleet officer and a Vulcan. She wouldn’t let any personal grudges compromise her integrity.”
“So you say,” B’Eleste said, unimpressed. A harsh clang rang out on the bridge of the bird-of-prey. “Time’s up, Captain, Commander. Who wishes to return my officer while they can?”
“Not without concessions on your part,” Kirk bargained. “Perhaps to refrain from attacking the Harrier until we can sort this mess out?”
And while Spock was still a captive aboard the warbird.
“Speak for yourself, Captain.” Plavius placed his monocle back over an eye. “We don’t need you to advocate on our behalf… although I am open to a temporary alliance against this bloodthirsty Klingon animal. If we combine forces, two ships against one, we should be able to make short work of the Lukara so that we can then deliver the surviving Osori wherever they wish to go.”
“While leaving Spock and Chorn your prisoners?” Kirk rejected that scenario in a heartbeat. “You’ll have to do better than that, Commander.”
“Here’s another idea, Kirk,” B’Eleste said. “We unite against the Romulans to get back our respective officers… and take that Osori off their hands.”
“And possibly get Spock, Nawee, and Chorn killed while we’re blasting away at the Harrier? There has to be another way.”
“None that includes entrusting another Osori to the Klingons!” Gledii insisted. “Not after what became of Cyloo!”
“Don’t reject my offer too quickly, Kirk.” B’Eleste leaned back in her chair, betraying no trace of apprehension about the brewing conflict. “Or perhaps Plavius and I will join forces against you.”
“Is that a feeble attempt at a joke?” Plavius asked. “As if we would ever ally ourselves with Klingons again.”
“Not even against the Enterprise?” B’Eleste asked. “If only just to wipe Kirk’s ship from the board before we engage each other in battle? Leaving us each one less enemy to contend with?”
“And then what?” Kirk asked. “What would you gain from it?”
“Victory, Kirk. What else?”
McCoy groaned. “Anybody else getting a headache from all this strategizing? Never did like war games. Give me a relaxing hand of gin rummy any day.”
Could be worse, Kirk thought. At the moment, this tactical one-upmanship was probably all that was delaying a full-on space battle, which wasn’t going to commence until someone decided whom to ally with and until when. But how long could this preliminary jockeying last? Odds were, this was going to turn into a general free-for-all anytime now.
And then heaven help them all.
“Last chance, Kirk, choose an ally or find yourself outnumbered.” B’Eleste shrugged. “Frankly, I’d rather fight beside a human than a Romulan, but the one is only slightly less preferable than the other. I will do what I must to avenge the wrongs done to me and mine.”
“Heed my words, Captain,” Plavius said. “A vengeful Klingon can’t be reasoned with. We can vanquish her, and perhaps find some justice for those who perished under her alleged protection.”
“Children!” Gledii exclaimed. “You’re all bickering children. It was folly to ever think we could find common cause with any of you!”
Then why do I feel like the only grown-up in the room, Kirk thought. “You both need to listen to me! We don’t need this fight. Attacking each other is not going to bring our lost comrades back, but we can try to make their deaths count for—”
“Captain!” Uhura interrupted. “We’re being hailed!”
The urgency—and excitement—in her voice compelled Kirk’s attention, even on the brink of all-out combat.
“From who? Starfleet? The Federation?”
“No, sir!” Her voice quavered with emotion. “It’s Lieutenant Saavik!”