"Captain to the bridge! Captain to the bridge! Captain to the bridge!"
Kirk came out a deep sleep to find he was already on his feet and reaching for his shirt.
"Red Alert! Red Alert! Red Alert!" came the voice of Commander Iyen, officer with the conn on delta shift.
"What is it?" he snapped at the comm. unit.
"Five unidentified ships emerged out of warp, and refused to answer hails,"
Mahase said. "Their shields are up and their weapons systems active."
"On my way." Pants on, shoes in hand, Kirk ran for the turbolift. As he balanced on one foot in the lift, pulling his shoes on, the ship rocked under the impact of fire and then gravity fluctuated as the inertial dampeners took their silicon attention away from maintaining constant gravity when confronted with the urgent need to neutralise the effect of helm's manoeuvres.
When he reached the bridge, Spock was already at the science station. Vulcans,
Kirk thought (and not for the first time) have some special sense that allows them to be on time without having to hurry. He raked his hand through his hair after a glance at Spock's impeccably groomed head, and said:
"Captain on the bridge."
Iyen was starting his briefing as he slipped out of the centre chair. "Sir,
still no response to our hails. One ship opened fire as it came in range, but we evaded successfully. No action since then."
The turbolift door hissed again, and Sulu and Chekov hurried out, dislodging their delta shift replacements from helm and tactical with quick mutters of relieving protocol.
"Captain," Uhura said, and Kirk realised he hadn't even noticed her come in,
"The Vocheron Ambassador and the Sythene Ambassador want to speak to you."
"Now?" he said on an amazed breath, and then on second thoughts "Together?"
"Yes, together, sir." Uhura said, ignoring the rhetorical part of the question.
"Put them on." Kirk said. Anything which brought the Vocheron Ambassador and the Sythene Ambassador to a common cause must be important.
The viewscreen flickered, and resolved to the image of the little Sythene ambassador, phaserless now and with his biohazard suit turned off, at the side of Ambassador Tyssin.
"It is clearrrrrr," Tyssin said without preamble, "that Starfffffleet has ssssought to sssabotague peace betwween ourrrrrr peoples, with one of my aidesss foully ssslain and only Starlfeet crew to blllame for it. Thereforre,
the Voche and the Sythene make common causse against ourrr commmmon enemies. We declare warrr upon you."
Kirk stared, the faint nausea the Vocheron still caused him driven out by a new and terrible chill. "You *what*?" he said. "Trygian, do you agree to this?"
Trygian bowed his head, but did not speak.
"The sshipss you see are oursss." Tyssin said. "Wwe are wwilling to ssacrificce our lives to brrring an end to your treachery."
"Close the channel." Kirk said abruptly, and as the ambassador vanished obedient to Uhura's commands, Kirk tapped his comm.. "This is the captain. Security Alert. Security Alert. Apprehend and restrain Vocheron and Sythene parties. They have declared themselves enemies to the Federation. All hands,
you are authorised in this matter. Exercise caution. Report to Security Chief Tomlinson. Kirk out." He closed the channel and turned back to the tactical display.
"Positions?"
"Remaining stable."
"Mr Spock, analysis?"
"The ships are considerably smaller than the Enterprise. They are more manoeuvrable, but scan shows their warp cores are not as powerful. They are,
however, well armed and well shielded."
"Mr Chekov, lay in a course towards the nearest Starbase."
"Laid in, sir."
"Mr Sulu, take us that way, maximum warp. Let's see if we can outrun them."
"Red Alert," came the voice over comm, and all over the ship the sirens whooped and the lighting changed to a strobing red. Larssen, on her way to her quarters from the cryo store, opened the nearest door and grabbed a takehold,
instead. She hoped Ridley would have the sense to get everything secure that needed to be dogged down during manoeuvres. Flying specimens could make a real mess in a biolab, and it was a safe bet Ridley wouldn't be the one cleaning up.
Footsteps came pelting down the corridor and another person joined her at the take hold, panting. A tiny woman in Engineering red, she grinned up at Larssen, although she was pale beneath her tan.
"Hi," the engineer said. "Duval, Martinique, Yeoman. Won't offer to shake hands."
"Under the circumstances, very sensible," Larssen said mildly. "Larssen, Cory,
Lieutenant. Pleased to meet you." She leaned her forehead against the takehold, and thought with passionate longing about her bed.
"They're firing!" Chekov cried, as the Enterprise shuddered on the verge of the warp field and dropped back into normal space.
'Evasive" Kirk snapped and at the same moment Sulu dropped them into a ninety degree pitch with a boost from the starboard jets to take them out of the line of fire.
"Third ship attempting to lock on!" Chekov said.
"Scatter torpedos across their bows, Mr Chekov, slow them down."
'Aye, sair."
"Scotty, what the hell was that?"
"We hae a problem with the starboard nacelle conduit, sir, but it seems to be comin' back up. Gie me a minute."
"One minute." Kirk said, not quite an order, not quite a request. "Mr Sulu,
get us out on the wing I don't want them on each side of us."
"Aye," said Sulu at this statement of the obvious.
"Mr Chekov, fire main phaser battery as targets present themselves."
"Aye, sair!" said Checkov with a wolfish grin.
An impact somewhere in the ship, and Sulu frowned, limited in his manoeuvring by the Enterprise's bulk and by his necessary care for the fragile bodies within her. A touch to the jets and the great nose came up, giving Chekov a chance to rake one of their attackers with phasers and overload the shields on that side, but before the phasers could strike home through the opening Sulu was sending the Enterprise into a long portways role out of the line of fire coming from a ship to their rear. Another impact somewhere else, and Uhura said "Damage to engineering, sir."
"Scotty." said Kirk into the comm..
"Bohev moi." Chekov breathed. All five of the ships had suddenly come into formation, on the Enterprise's starboard side, phasars lancing out and the shields going all the way through the spectrum into coruscating white light.
It was a foolish tactic, and Chekov had photon torpedoes homing in on those ships on the instant. Two found their targets and two ships died suddenly, but at the same time -
There was a great sickening lurch, suddenly Kirk could feel that his ship wasn't moving right. From the look of Sulu's set shoulders, he was well aware of it, too.
"We have lost power from the starboard nacelle." Spock said, and over his voice the computer's automatic warning:
"Hull breach, section 24! Hull breach, section 24!"
"All hands, brace for impact," Kirk said, and Ridley wondered how that voice could sound so calm at such a time, could sound so little different from the way Kirk spoke to her when they were alone. She clutched the takehold and closed her eyes, waiting for it to be over.
That impact was the worst yet. An access panel blew out with the force of a power surge and Ridley flinched as sparks shot out. Gravity was off, then back, then lurched sickeningly before settling down - settling down WRONG, for suddenly it felt like one corner of the room was down, when the floor should be level. The inertial dampeners were failing to handle the stress, or had insufficient power to. That was bad, Ridley realised, very bad. They might be in real trouble. She could hear someone whimpering, and realised it was herself.
More jolting, she lost her footing this time and clung to the handhold. That had sounded close, closer than usual. Too close, too close, god...
The panic she had been suppressing broke over her like a tidal wave, and she staggered away from the take hold, heading for the door, listing sideways against the distorted gravity, with no idea of where she was going except to get out, get away...
"Captain, the port nacelle canna take the drain she's got!" Scotty sounded frantic. "She'll burn out in nae too much more time!"
"Understood, Mr Scott." Kirk said. "How long until we have the starboard nacelle back?"
"I canna get anyone in there with the bulkheads down, captain! My people report that -"
Static. Silence.
"Ms Uhura?" Kirk said quietly.
She was already underneath the console, providing a view of long, muscular legs that at another time Kirk might have paused to consider. "Checking now, sir. Trying to reroute through internal sensors."
"Mr Spock, assist." Kirk said, and turned back to tactical. Limping, crippled,
and now silent, the Enterprise lumbered around and sent another shot at her pursuers. Three down.
The corridors were full of smoke and the walls were scorched where power conduits had blown. Larssen kept an eye on her tricorder as she led Duval down the corridor. The hull breach was only a bulkhead away, and she had no way of knowing if the environmental seals had worked properly under this kind of battering. Worse, they were in Engineering down here and there were deadly things contained by fragile seals and tubing.
They came around a corner and nearly ran into three crew in Engineering red,
likewise groping their way through the smoke. Larssen saw that they were not a repair crew, but obviously had been trapped in this section as she and Duval had been. Yeoman, Yeoman, Ensign, she noted automatically, and took charge.
"Report." Larssen said.
"The bulkheads have gone down at sections 4, 14, 24 and 34." Martinique Duval said. "Tricorders show a containment integrity breach on the other side. Until they get hull integrity back up, no-one's coming or going. Intraship communications is haywire, as well."
"The conduit from the starboard nacelle is blown out." Mr Kevuthi said. "Computer indicates port nacelle overloaded, may blow. Also phaser banks on this side have shorted in two places, and first short triggered coolant leak to that section. Enviro seals have activated."
They were all looking at her with expectation. I'm not an engineer! Larssen wanted to snap. I'm not even a proper officer! I'm just a bloody great colonist who got herself into science section somehow!
She took a deep breath. "All right." she said calmly. "We have to assume that the port nacelle will overload if this continues much longer. Repair can't get in here until the bulkheads go up again, so it's down to us. How many people needed to repair the conduit?"
"Two at least." Duval said promptly. "It looks like there's a double breach,
which means both sections will need to be kept aligned until the connection restabilises."
"What level of skill is needed?"
"Not much." Kevuthi said. "Not a tricky job, just fiddly."
"Could you talk a non-engineer - me for example - through it?"
"I could, yes." Duval said confidently. "I've done similar things in sim training, from outside the hull structure of course, but I know exactly what's needed."
"Good. I need a volunteer to go with me up the conduit. The rest of you had better suit up for the coolant and get that first phaser problem fixed. If we can get the first two problems fixed, we'll worry about the third later."
"I'll come with you up the conduit." Duval said. "But, Lieutenant, you should know - as soon as they start drawing power from that nacelle, the whole inside of that thing will be live with energy pulses."
Larssen nodded. "I guessed that." she said. "We'll just have to get in and out as fast as we can. Mr Kevuthi, you're in charge down here. Just as soon as you get that first short fixed, move on to the second. They'll see the banks come live up there, even if we can't tell them. You're not to hesitate,
hear me?"
"Yes." he said, and through his tentacles rippled uneasily he did not argue.
"Duval and I will take two of the emergency local bank comm-units." Larssen said. "Kevuthi, you've got the third. Patching our system through to main comm. is not a high priority, but it's on the wish list. Duval, pick out what we'll need. And you -" she had to search her memory for the name - "Mr Alpse,
get on down to the lockers at 13 and E, bring the packs back up here."
"Yes, sir." he said, and ran.
Duval had pulled two tool kits out of a locker and was strapping one around her waist. As Larssen picked up the other, the diminutive engineer said:
"Lieutenant - you do realise - getting up and down that conduit is no piece of cake. The chance we'll be able to get out again before they need to draw power - it's not really much of a chance at all."
Her words made a little silence in the room. Then the ship rocked under impact from torpedoes, and Larssen said, loudly and steadily, "I do realise that.
Everybody here is to understand that Duval and I know exactly what we're doing.
When I said not to hesitate before making power available, I meant exactly what I said. It's an order. Is that clear?"
No-one spoke, but a few nodded. Larssen caught Duval's eye, and saw the smaller woman was looking at her with admiration and surprise. I've just ordered her death as well as my own, Larssen thought calmly. I wonder if she expected that?
Duval turned and ducked into the access, still screwing the local comm. into her ear as she moved. Larssen finished fastening the tool kit, set her own comm. to her ID code, gave one stern look to Kev and followed. Here we go, she thought. Here's where I get to be a hero. How unpredictable life is.
However, when she tried to follow Duval into the conduit herself, it became apparent that today was not her day for heroics. The narrow, twisting tunnel was far too small for Larssen. Even Duval was barely able to fit herself in,
and when Larssen tried to follow her she nearly got stuck.
"Illegitimate short blonde children of promiscuous women", she said in Romulan,
and then: "Duval," hearing her own voice over the comm. "I can't get through."
"Shit." Duval said. "I thought that might happen. It gets even worse up ahead."
"Do you think you'll be able to make it through?"
"Yes, I've seen the specs for this."
"All right. Get moving. I'll get someone smaller than me up after you."
"Yes sir," said Duval, and started climbing as Larssen backed out again. She felt as if she'd betrayed Duval, and suddenly her order not to hesitate when the chance came to restore power seemed arbitrary and ruthless. It's easy to sacrifice yourself, she thought, remembering the captain's words. It's the other people that break your heart.
Had he said that, exactly? She couldn't remember, and there wasn't time, now,
there wasn't time for anything except the job at hand. We are time-critical,
Lieutenant, she thought, and shook her head hard to clear the images from her head.
"Kev," she said, "I'm too big for the conduit. Can you send someone up the size of Duval?"
A moment's pause, and then the Sulamid's voice, tinny in her ear. "Smallest person here is Mr Alpse."
Larssen understood the hesitation. Alpse was smaller than she was, but not by much. She closed her eyes, visualised him standing next to Duval - "No good. Keep on with the phasers. I'll sort something out."
"Will do."
"Duval, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear," Duval said, and Larssen could hear the echoing of the conduit over the comm.
"Any chance you can manage that by yourself?"
Duval was silent a long moment, and Larssen fancied she could imagine the thoughts racing through the tiny ensign's head. Bad enough to crawl five hundred yards to probable death, unbearable to do it without at least one companion. But when Duval spoke, her voice was steady.
"I don't think so, Lieutenant. Understand - I'd say yes if I could. But I reckon the breaks are too far apart for me to synchronise them myself, even if I could rely on my coordination to do it."
Larssen bit her lip. "Keep going." she ordered. "I'm going to see if there's anyone sealed in here we haven't found. There might be someone narrow enough to make it."
"Okey dokey." Duval said, and Larssen had a sudden bizarre impulse to ask her where her particular brand of slang came from. Ifni, she thought to herself,
wanting to laugh, I'm turning into Spock!
She could not give in to the impulse to laugh, however. Duval would probably misinterpret it. Instead, she grabbed a tricorder and started down the corridor, setting the instrument to scan for life signs.
The forth ship went in a blaze of light, and Kirk found himself leaning forward in his chair. There was only one ship left, and even crippled the Enterprise was more than a match for her.
"Mr Chekov-" he began, and was about to say *Fire at will* when the captain of that last ship obviously calculated the odds as Kirk had. The ship turned, and began to flee.
"Follow, sir?" Sulu said.
"No. We can't afford the strain on the engines."
"Sir," Spock said from beside the communications console, "the history of both Vocheron and Sythene warfare shows a preference for small preliminary attacks,
followed by the main force once adequate information has been provided."
"You mean they'll come back with help?"
"The probability is 97%." Spock said.
Kirk turned towards the communications console . "Uhura ..." he said gently.
"Working on it, sir." she said, and then there was a sudden eruption of sparks from her console and Kirk was on his feet with an extinguisher in hand. The foam extinguished the electrical fire.
"Thank you." Uhura said, still beneath the console. "You might want to stand handy with that."
"Will do," Kirk said, and Uhura's foot jerked slightly in surprise. It hadn't occurred to her that it would be the captain there with the fire equipment.
I always wanted to give the captain orders, she thought wryly. Be careful what you wish for, girl...
