CHAPTER 14
Hoshi barely had time to register Malcolm being slammed to the deck, the phase pistol flying from his grasp by the force of the impact, when she saw the faint shimmering of a Suliban in motion. In her arms, Torpedo tensed and uttered a chesty growl. Batty, on T'Pol's shoulder, issued her eardrum-piercing shriek. Porthos, now in the corridor after chasing the intruder out of the captain's cabin, was barking at the top of his lungs.
Scrambling to his feet, Malcolm yelled at Welsh over the animal uproar. "Shoot!"
The security officer hesitated. The shimmering had stopped, so Welsh had no way of knowing exactly where to aim. And there were too many people in close proximity to each other; he was bound to hit at least one of them, along with one or more of the animals, if he began firing indiscriminately.
The animals took matters out of Welsh's hands. Batty launched herself from T'Pol's shoulder. Torpedo broke free from Hoshi, landed on the deck, and rebounded in a powerful leap straight up. Even though both cats' leashes were being held by their handlers, the leashes were long enough that the cats' trajectories met about a meter and a half above the deck, equidistant between Hoshi and T'Pol. A sharp scream came out of nowhere as the cats suddenly seemed to hang suspended in the air. A second later, Porthos bit down hard on something below the cats, and the scream went up an octave.
A Suliban -- with the typical bumpy, mottled-looking skin of his species and wearing a form-fitting jumpsuit -- solidified as he fell flat on his back under the combined feline-canine assault. Batty was on his face, hissing and spitting as her claws dug in. Torpedo was biting and scratching him on the neck. Porthos, growling and tugging, had his jaws clamped like a vise on one of the Suliban's ankles.
"Stop!" screamed the Suliban, trying to pry Batty from his face. "Make them stop!"
Malcolm retrieved his pistol and aimed it at the intruder. "Why should we?"
"Please!" begged the thrashing Suliban. "Get them off me! I'll do anything you say. Just get them--" He broke off to scream again as Batty bit his nose.
T'Pol moved closer to carefully remove Batty. She detached the cat, claw by claw, from the Suliban's head. "Enough," she told Batty as she straightened and took a couple of steps back. "He cannot answer our questions if you continue to attack him in such a manner."
Batty growled softly she stared down from T'Pol's arms at the Suliban, who was looking back at her with wide, fear-filled eyes.
"Hoshi," Malcolm said, motioning toward Torpedo.
Hoshi moved warily toward the Suliban. The big gray cat had released his hold on the intruder's neck, but was still crouched on his chest as if holding him down, his nose a scant two centimeters from the man's chin. Hoshi was prepared for the Suliban to make a break for it as soon as she removed Torpedo, but the man seemed too scared to move.
Hoshi clasped Torpedo around his middle and hoisted him up so that his front paws were on her shoulder. Torpedo turned his head to keep the Suliban in sight.
The Suliban's eyes were fixed on the cat until she took a step away, then they shifted to the canine still worrying his ankle. He didn't look nearly as upset as he had been when the cats had been latched onto him. He looked inquiringly at Malcolm.
"Not yet," Malcolm said in response to the Suliban's unspoken request to remove the dog. "We want some answers first. How many more of you are on board Enterprise?"
A measure of Suliban haughtiness returned. "I'm not telling you anything," he said disdainfully.
Malcolm glanced at T'Pol. The Vulcan immediately placed Batty on the deck. The small black cat arched her back and began prancing sideways toward the Suliban.
"All right!" the Suliban said, holding up his hands to fend off the approach of the cat. "Two. There's just the two of us. The one you already caught. And me."
Malcolm's expression indicated he didn't believe the man. He looked at Hoshi, who correctly read the sardonic glint in the tactical officer's eyes. She placed Torpedo on the deck. Torpedo didn't approach the Suliban. He merely sat on his haunches, stared at the Suliban, and licked his lips. The Suliban whimpered.
"How many of you?" Malcolm asked again.
"I'm telling the truth!" the Suliban said. "There are only two of us!"
"What is your purpose here?" T'Pol asked.
"We...we were supposed to interfere with your visit to Rigel IV."
"Why?" asked Malcolm.
The Suliban began inching along the deck, dragging Porthos with him, as he tried to put distance between himself and the cats. "I don't know why. We were just told to do it."
"By whom?" T'Pol asked.
"I don't know!" the Suliban cried. "They contact us. We don't know who they are."
Hoshi saw Malcolm and T'Pol share a look. Malcolm indicated the Vulcan should pick up Batty again. To Hoshi, he said mildly, "Restrain your attack cat, would you?"
As Hoshi followed his order by taking up the slack in the leash so that Torpedo couldn't move away from her, Malcolm told Welsh to keep the man covered and then leaned down to grab Porthos by the collar. He led the dog back to the captain's cabin, the door of which was still open. He put Porthos inside, closed the door, and returned.
"Did you really think the captain's cabin would be a good place to hide?" Malcolm asked curiously.
The Suliban looked at both cats, as if weighing his decision to talk. Hoshi saw him shudder before he averted his gaze from Batty. "When the plan to interfere with your propulsion system failed, I was going to kill your captain. That would have hampered your visit to Rigel IV."
"To say the least," T'Pol murmured, one of her eyebrows rising.
Trip's search party, alerted by all the commotion, came around the corner at the far end of the corridor at that moment. Warp Core was once again leading the group, trotting purposefully ahead of Trip and Foster. When he saw the Suliban, the orange cat broke into a full run, a peculiar chirruping sound coming from him as he recognized his prey -- and that it was helpless.
The Suliban saw him coming. His eyes widened in terror and a scream erupted from his throat as Warp Core launched himself into the air. The cat landed on the Suliban's chest with enough force to drive the air out of the man's lungs.
The Suliban promptly passed out.
The two Suliban, both conscious, were cowering on biobeds in sickbay. One had recovered from his fainting spell and the other had been roused from his sedative-induced sleep by a hypospray administered by Doctor Phlox. There was no danger of them suddenly disappearing or shape-changing as had been feared. They were kept from using their chameleon-like talent, or any other unusual abilities they might have, not by the presence of several armed guards, but by one large gray cat, one larger orange cat, and one pint-size black cat.
Apparently ailurophobia -- the fear of cats -- was a common trait among Suliban; that much Phlox had been able to determine. The Suliban who had been captured first broke out in a sweat if one of the cats came close to him; the other, as they'd seen in the corridor outside the captain's cabin, would break down in hysterics.
The captain himself came down from the bridge to question the Suliban, but he didn't get any more information than the Suliban had already offered. They'd been ordered by beings from the future to interfere with Enterprise's visit Rigel IV, but they didn't know for what purpose. If successful, they'd been promised more genetic enhancements.
T'Pol handed Batty over to Doctor Phlox when Jon indicated he wanted to speak to her. Despite the black cat's well-known anti-social attitude, she readily accepted being transferred; the treat Phlox offered Batty provided sufficient incentive for good behavior.
The small cat gobbling the treat got the attention of the other two cats. Warp Core, in Trip's arms, meowed inquiringly, and Torpedo, sitting on the deck, walked as close to Phlox as his leash would allow.
"Here," said Hoshi, who, holding Torpedo's leash, had been standing off to one side of the biobeds. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her packet of treats. She gave Torpedo a couple of the pellets, then passed the packet to Trip, who similarly rewarded a now squirming Warp Core.
The captain motioned Malcolm to join him and T'Pol near the main doors to sickbay, out of earshot of the Suliban.
"I'm not sure what to do with them," Jon said with a frown at his two officers. "I've contacted Starfleet, but Admiral Forrest thinks it would be best if we deal with this ourselves. He's of the opinion that taking the Suliban all the way back to Earth and making public what has happened would open a can of worms he's not sure would be worth the trouble."
"Can of worms?" T'Pol asked.
"A complicated situation," Jon said.
T'Pol accepted that explanation. She thought for a moment. "Vulcan has no jurisdiction in this matter. In any case, these Suliban claim their masters are from the future, and the Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is not possible."
Jon and Malcolm traded a wry glance at that comment.
"What about Rigel IV, sir?" Malcolm asked. "Ultimately, if the Sulibans' plan would have been successful, it might have had some sort of an impact on the Rigelians."
"We could turn them over to the planetary authorities on Rigel IV," Jon conceded, "but with the paperwork and regulations the Rigelians seem to favor, we could be here another three months. Besides, we don't know what the Suliban were trying to accomplish, other than keep us from attending the inauguration. The Rigelians might not want to become involved."
Jon looked at the two Suliban. They'd been hunched over, obviously afraid, when he'd first entered sickbay. Now that the cats' attention was on the treats instead of them, however, the prisoners' body posture was showing a renewed confidence. They were sitting straighter, and the one who seemed to be in charge had a sneer on his face.
Warp Core, his treat finished, jumped from Trip's arms to saunter toward the biobeds. The Suliban immediately shrank back, going so far as to draw their feet up onto the beds.
"We could just hold them until after the inauguration," Jon mused out loud. "Once that's out of the way, it's probably safe to assume that whatever they were trying to prevent or change will have happened, and we can let them go."
"We can't rely on the cats to keep them in line, not for any length of time," Malcolm pointed out. "The cats have to sleep some time, and I know it's past Torpedo's usual naptime as it is." He considered for a moment. "I could try to rig up some sort of confinement area for the Suliban."
"Do that," Jon ordered.
"Did the quantum beacon scans turn up anything?" T'Pol asked.
Jon shook his head. "If one of their ships is out there, they've done something that prevents us from detecting it with the beacons."
"There may not be a ship out there, sir," Malcolm said as he watched the two Suliban cower even more as Batty, now perched on Phlox's shoulder, hissed loudly. It didn't matter that she was hissing at Warp Core, who had come over to rub against Phlox's shins; the effect on the Suliban was the same. "I've been giving some thought to how they got on board. It's possible that they were on the Southern Cross, and came over when we were getting it ready to be towed."
Jon's eyes widened. "It's probably more likely they were on the space tug. Hoshi said the tug captain was afraid of cats. It might be possible that there are some Suliban who have received genetic enhancements that allow them to look like other species."
"It would be best to let Starfleet know that," T'Pol suggested. "At the very least, the captain's background should be investigated to see if he is really who he is supposed to be."
Jon nodded. "I'll do that as soon as I get back to the bridge. In the meantime, let's keep the cats here until Malcolm can fix up something to hold the Suliban."
"Yes, sir," Malcolm said. "I'll arrange with Doctor Phlox for the cats' accommodations here until a secure confinement area is set up."
As the tactical officer moved away, Jon sighed heavily. "Cats," he muttered. "How am I going to tell Starfleet about this and ever be taken seriously again? I can hardly believe it myself."
"The fact that the Suliban were apprehended before they carried out their plans may be sufficient. I would suggest that you do not offer details of their capture unless asked," T'Pol counseled. When Jon didn't respond, she gave him a sidelong glance. "If it is any consolation, Porthos was instrumental in apprehending the second Suliban."
Clearly pleased by this revelation, Jon perked up. "Really?"
T'Pol nodded serenely. "Batty and Torpedo attacked first, but the man did not become visible until Porthos assisted them."
Jon chuckled happily. "It looks like the cats aren't the only ones who will be getting extra treats today," he said with a smile.
From across sickbay, Phlox's voice rang out. "I heard that, Captain! Remember, no cheese, or you'll be back here with Porthos before the night is over."
A/N: One more chapter to go.