The Enterprise listed suddenly to one side just as Kirk was getting back to his seat, and the captain grabbed at the back of the command chair for balance. A tremor rippled through the metal of the ship's hull, signifying another near miss. Without shields, even one hit would do massive damage. Kirk managed to get into the chair and planted his feet firmly on the deck as the ship jerked in the opposite direction, Sulu's evasive maneuvers too swift for the inertial dampeners to keep up.
Kirk stabbed at his control panel. "Where are my shields?"
"Captain," Scott said a moment later, sounding out of breath and frantic. "I'll have shields for ye in just a second, but the entire port side of the ship took a big hit from that explosion – there's no way they're goin' ta be repaired in anythin' less than an hour. I can either give you full shields on starboard, or extend them to cover the gap with only half power overall."
"Acknowledged," Kirk said shortly, flipping the toggle with a frustrated flick of his wrist. "Spread out the shields, Mister Chekov, as soon as we have them," he ordered, gripping the arms of his chair as his ship veered sharply again to avoid another volley. Half strength shields would not protect them very well, and they would deteriorate much quicker under fire. Talking was their best option. "Hail the warbird."
"Hailing frequencies open, Captain," Uhura said a moment later.
"This is Captain James T. Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise," Kirk said angrily. "Firing upon this ship constitutes an act of war – not to mention being this far into Federation space!"
A moment passed in which Sulu jerked the ship hard to starboard, and then Uhura said, "No response, Captain."
Kirk clenched his jaw in anger. "Arm phasers and photon torpedos – fire when ready."
"Firing," Chekov said almost instantly, having already had his hand hovering over the weapons controls, followed shortly by the electronic thrum of energy building up and being released.
"Direct hit," Sulu reported, "Their shields are down to ninety four percent."
"Our shields are back up!" Chekov declared with an excited shout. Startled yelps rang out across the bridge as the Enterprise dropped straight downwards at inconceivable speed. The dampeners caught up a moment later, but the ship was already veering to port. "Firing," Chekov said again.
One part of Kirk's mind kept track of the updates while he looked over his shoulder at the science station. "What have you got on that thing, Spock?"
His first officer had the device in one hand, while working his console with the other. How he remained in his seat was a mystery to Kirk. "It is resisting all attempts to scan it, Captain," Spock said. Kirk gave a frustrated growl, but Spock added, "However, I believe it is the same device – or one identical to it – that we saw the intruder wearing." Spock looked at him from across the bridge and raised one eyebrow. "Additionally, sensors detect a heavy concentration of chroniton particles on deck six."
"You mean that really was you and McCoy… from the future," Kirk said in disbelief. Spock hesitated, reluctant to corroborate the statement with so little real evidence to support it, but Kirk chose to take his silence as agreement. "Open frequencies again," Kirk ordered, turning back to the viewscreen with a determined gleam in his eye.
"Hailing frequencies open," Uhura confirmed.
"We have what you're after, and we know it's a time travel device," Kirk said. He kept the look of utter confidence on his face and in his voice, but inwardly prayed his gamble was the right one.
"Incoming transmission," Uhura said with a touch of smugness, and Kirk let a feral grin spread across his face.
A glowering Romulan filled the viewscreen, the bridge behind him lit in shadowy greens and golds. "Kirk," the Romulan sneered. "I should have known those traitorous vermin would come to you! Prepare to die, as they died!"
"If you destroy us," Kirk said calmly, trying to sound reasonable, "you will also destroy the device."
The Romulan laughed, a grating sound of mockery. "It cannot be destroyed!" Kirk kept the confident smile on his face even as his insides turned to ice at losing his only bargaining chip. The Romulan raised a hand, clenching it into a tight fist. "I will crush your ship and sift through the rubble!"
Still… impatient types prone to bragging did have their weaknesses. "Not if we figure out how to make it work," Kirk said, and watched with satisfaction as the gloating expression on the Romulan's face froze. Kirk made a quick chopping gesture, and Uhura cut the channel. Kirk pressed a control on his panel. "Scotty, I need you to send up a portable containment field generator, quickly," he ordered. Someone other than his chief engineer acknowledged the order, but that was good enough for him. He contacted security next, and ordered a full detail sent to the bridge. Kirk got out of his seat and crossed to the science station, stumbling a couple steps as the Enterprise rocked to another hit and braced himself against the rail behind Spock.
His first officer looked at him, a calm pool in the midst of a raging sea. "That last communication is likely to encourage them to destroy us all the faster," Spock commented too quietly for the others to hear.
Kirk smiled. "Have a little faith in me, Spock," he said, and his smile widened when Spock's eyebrow twitched upwards another notch. Kirk flicked a quick glance at the image of the warbird hot on their tail. "Chekov, I want a point by point count on shield strength, until we get to twenty one percent. The instant we hit twenty percent, switch the shields to full strength on the starboard side – and Sulu, keep the port side away from the Romulans when he does."
"Aye, sir," both chorused.
Kirk nodded at the device in Spock's hand with his chin. "I don't suppose you can figure that thing out?"
Both eyebrows disappeared into Spock's jet black hairline. "This is an extremely complex piece of machinery, Captain," he said. "Given sufficient time, I could—"
"Time is one thing we don't have," Kirk interrupted, grabbing hold of the rail as the ship shuddered again.
"Shields at forty four percent," Chekov announced. "Firing phasers and photon torpedoes."
Kirk looked over as the turbolift hissed open, and six security guards burst out of it. Kirk waved them off to the side, but said, "Stay ready. If we're very lucky, we're going to get boarded any minute now." This statement was greeted with a range of confused expressions, but they did as instructed without question and scattered to cover the bridge. The lift opened again five seconds later and an ensign practically leaped onto the bridge. He had both arms wrapped around a large black box, which he rushed to bring to the captain.
"Thank you, Ensign Sanders," Kirk said as he took the box from the young man. "Return to your post." Some part of his mind noted the ensign's acknowledgement, but then dismissed him as the captain knelt to set the box on the deck at Spock's feet. "Spock," Kirk said, reaching up with one hand. The Vulcan leaned over the rail to hand him the bracelet, his head canted to one side in curiosity.
The Enterprise shuddered. "Thirty three percent. Firing."
Kirk looked back over at the helm. He watched with a rapt sort of attention for a moment, noting that Chekov and Sulu were working in perfect unison. Sulu would dodge, then Chekov would fire, or vice versa. Kirk could detect no pattern to their program so far, and had no idea how they were able to synchronize their actions so seamlessly. He made a mental note to commend them when this was over. "Shut down all weapons – completely cut power to them," Kirk called.
He popped the seals on the container, opening it to reveal a padded interior. He dropped the time bracelet into the compartment, closed and sealed it, and turned the settings to maximum containment. "Let's see them try to beam it out through that," Kirk said to himself as he stood. They wouldn't even be able to get a lock on the box itself, because the field it emitted spread for several centimeters all around it. It was designed to transport radioactive or otherwise dangerous materials — and right now, Kirk considered this thing right at the top of his list of the most dangerous things in existence.
"Romulan warbird's shields are down to eighty five percent," Sulu said, his voice terse with strain. "They aren't even trying to dodge us."
"Tventy five percent," Chekov said after they took another hit, a hint of resignation tingeing his voice. "I do not expect they think they need to," he added glumly.
"Their shields won't do them any good if they lower them," Kirk said with a great deal more confidence than he actually felt. Sulu and Chekov both perked up at his tone, and exchanged quick smiles. Kirk headed to the front of the bridge, bracing himself on the helmsman's chair. "Their next hit will drop us below twenty percent," he said, leaning into a turn. "Cut our speed to nothing, as suddenly as you can, and turn our starboard side to them now. Let them hit us."
Sulu obeyed with a grim expression, and the bridge crew were pitched forward as the Enterprise lost all forward momentum and spun sidewise to present her good side to the enemy. The warbird raked their flank with disruptor fire as it overshot them, then quickly veered off to circle back. Chekov shunted all their remaining shielding, and gave his captain a quick nod. "I want you to keep the port side out of their range," Kirk said, gripping the back of Sulu's chair with both hands and glaring at the Romulan ship on the viewscreen. He looked over his shoulder at Spock. "After a couple shots, Spock, I want you to flicker the shields, just long enough to slip a transporter signal through if some one programmed a computer right – but not a disruptor blast. Do it off and on, randomly, until they take the bait."
"Aye, sir," Spock said with a brief nod, and Kirk knew his first officer understood the plan.
Kirk returned to his command chair, seating himself with studied calm. "The instant their shields drop, Mister Chekov, power up phasers."
The two ships circled each other in a silent dance with the stars as a backdrop. The Enterprise looked very much like the desperate prey, weaponless and fending off the warbird with only the last remnants of her failing shields. But even at twenty percent, concentrating their shields on one side greatly prolonged their life expectancy. The Romulan ship tried several times to go around, up, or under them but they were evenly matched in speed, and Kirk knew that his helmsman was the best in the fleet. That warbird would not be able to get around the shield until it fell or Sulu let them. But if Kirk read his Romulans right, this one didn't have the patience to wait for the shield to get pummeled into submission, all the while risking Starfleet's legendary crew figuring out how to use the time device.
Kirk glowered at the viewscreen and watched as twice more the Romulans blasted them with fiery beams of energy. Now for the piece de resistance. "Hail them."
"Hailing frequencies open."
"We wish to discuss terms of surrender," Kirk said, forcing a note of defeat into his voice.
There was no reply, but the Romulan ship stopped firing.
"We are being scanned," Spock warned.
Kirk's mouth twisted in a grim smile. They weren't going to find the time bracelet, and they were going to have to come and get it if they didn't want to wait for the Enterprise to be destroyed. Impatience and overconfidence are a fatal combination, and Kirk knew in his gut that this Romulan commander suffered from both.
Six pillars of light began to form in seemingly random areas of the bridge.
"Fire, Chekov!" Kirk shouted, even as the navigator slapped at his console to bring phasers back online.
The Romulans unexpectedly solidified much faster than Kirk thought was possible, and they had weapons out and firing even before the transporter had completely released them. The closest to the captain turned to where Kirk had directed his command, and raised his weapon at Chekov. Kirk instantly launched himself at the Romulan, and the shot went wide, searing a black streak in the bulkhead. Both crashed into the deck at the foot of the joined helm and navigation console. Chekov hunched down instinctively, but valiantly ignored the threat as he frantically stabbed at his controls. Kirk could feel the pulse of the ship's phasers firing through the deck beneath his back. The Romulan managed to roll, superior strength slamming the captain into the helm, and Kirk's head struck the base of the console with an audible crack.
Sulu reached down and slashed the flat edge of his hand across the back of the intruder's neck while Chekov aimed a kick into his ribs, and the Romulan dropped the disruptor with a grunt of surprise. Sulu delivered another chop to the neck, and the Romulan collapsed. Kirk pushed at the dead weight until it rolled limply off of him. Sulu glanced quickly between the viewscreen and his console, and then held out a hand to help Kirk to his feet. Kirk braced himself on Chekov's console as he fought down a wave of nausea. His navigator said something, but he could not hear it over the rushing in his ears. He tasted blood in his mouth, and felt a warm trickle making its way down the side of his face. The word 'concussion' bounced around inside his skull, but he couldn't remember what that meant.
Kirk had underestimated the Romulan commander, and that miscalculation on his part looked to have already cost the life of at least one of his crewmen. Kirk stared dazedly at a splash of red spreading across the gold of a lieutenant's chest before making himself look away. Uhura was speaking urgently into her mic, and Kirk hoped she was calling for an emergency medical team or at least reinforcements. Several other Starfleet bodies lay sprawled on the deck, and two of the Romulans were down. Weapons fire in such a confined space was almost impossible without risking hitting your own allies, and by this point the remaining four intruders were locked into hand-to-hand combat.
And then it was as if time slowed down. Kirk's blood thrummed in his ears, each pulse like the tick of the clock. A Romulan next to the turbolift dropped one of his security officers with a vicious blow and then turned to stare in shock at the viewscreen behind the captain before casting a horrified look around at his fallen comrades. As if in the slow motion of a dream, Kirk saw the Romulan's eyes settle on the black box at Spock's feet and go wide with recognition. The Vulcan was pinned against his console, one hand wrapped around a Romulan wrist that held a disruptor away from his head and the other trying to pry a hand from around his neck.
Spock would not be able to defend the time bracelet.
"Captain!" Uhura shrieked as the whine of a disruptor cut through the din of combat and Kirk's blind charge across the bridge was abruptly cut short.
An unmistakable cry of pain suddenly lent strength to Spock's arm, and the grip around his neck tightened with bone-crushing force as Spock abruptly released it and instead smashed the heel of his palm into the Romulan's face. The Romulan staggered backwards a step, green blood gushing from his nose, but had no time to make any kind of counter move. Spock surged forward, pinching the join between shoulder and neck and looking away even as the Romulan fell.
Spock's eyes passed over the main viewscreen, where the warbird was breaking up in a series of explosions bursting from one side in a chain reaction of death. Chekov's aim and timing must have been impeccable. The image was sliding off to the side as Sulu turned the ship around to flee from the imminent explosion, but Spock was already looking elsewhere. He found the crumpled form of his captain lying unmoving on the deck not a meter away, blood already beginning to pool beneath him. He caught motion out of the corner of his eye, and turned just in time to see a centurion making a grab for the stasis container.
The first officer was not quite fast enough and the Romulan snatched up the box, clutching it to his chest as momentum carried him forward. Spock reached out a long arm and managed to snag the centurion's uniform as he barreled past, and both went tumbling to the deck. The Romulan kept Spock at bay with one hand while smashing the box into the rail several times with the other. The containment generator was not designed to withstand that much physical force, and split open with an electronic wail.
The Romulan's head jerked instinctively to the side as the turbolift doors hissed open, spilling out a sea of blue. McCoy and a medical team paused for only a moment, taking in the scene, until dividing up to attend to the injured. Spock seized the moment of distraction and lunged for the shattered remains of the container, but the Romulan flung the box and its single item within across the bridge with the strength of desperation. He screamed out a one word command as the battered container struck another Romulan in the back before falling. It completely fell apart when it hit the deck, and the silver bracelet rolled out. The effort, however, cost the Romulan in Spock's grip his consciousness. Spock got to his feet and went after the other Romulan just as he bent to retrieve the bracelet.
"Stop him," Kirk wheezed, clutching at McCoy's tunic and smearing blood all over the fabric. The doctor paused in his work, bent over the captain with a medical kit open on the deck at his side, and looked over to where Kirk was pointing. A Romulan was holding something small and silver, fumbling at the controls. A downed security officer lay at his feet, and everyone except Spock was too busy to notice. Even as he watched, though, the Vulcan was running towards him. Kirk wouldn't be able to see that, though, so McCoy chose to ignore the command in favor of trying to save the captain's life.
Disruptors were nasty weapons, and this one had torn a sizable chunk out of Kirk's shoulder. It was a glancing blow, and half cauterized already, but what made McCoy despise disruptors more than any other energy weapon was what they did to living flesh. He pressed a hypo to Kirk's neck in an effort to stem the inevitable shock, but Kirk struggled to roll onto his belly as if he intended to crawl away. McCoy gave a frustrated growl at his escaping patient and held him down. Something about the urgency of Kirk's determination made him look over at Spock, though.
McCoy was so used to Spock being several times stronger than anyone on the ship that it took him a moment to remember that he and the Romulan were basically the same species. But the Romulan was bigger, as well as a trained warrior, and it looked like the only thing keeping him from getting the upper hand was his efforts to do something to the device he held while avoiding Spock. A well placed kick sent the Vulcan sprawling backwards, and Kirk convulsed under his hands.
The ship rocked suddenly and Chekov let out a whoop of exultation behind him. He supposed something had just blown up, but he had no time to wonder what. He had no time to wonder where all these Romulans had come from, or why Jim was so desperate to keep this particular Romulan from doing whatever it was he wanted to do. The Romulan grinned suddenly, and that could only be a bad thing. Spock tackled him, and the Romulan shouted in anger as the device was knocked from his grasp and sent rolling in McCoy's general direction.
"Stop him!" Kirk gasped again, and shoved blindly at his hip.
McCoy was no fighter, but the panic in Kirk's voice jolted his feet into motion without his brain's permission. The Romulan made a dive for it, bodily hauling Spock with him, but McCoy got to it first. Several hundred pounds of vulcanian muscle landed on top of him, and McCoy tried to curl into a ball. The Romulan elbowed Spock hard in the ribs and shoved McCoy's arm away with bone-breaking force. McCoy tried to twist away, but the device made a small chiming sound as the Romulan got a grip on it.
All three vanished in a bright flare of light.