James T Kirk: The Next Generation
First Strike
Aboard the USS Diamond…
Spock tried to stand, but it was obvious to Kirk that his old friend was in some kind of pain. Kirk reached out to steady the Vulcan, who was on his knees. Ben Maxwell looked at the struggling Spock and smiled.
"You can't stop us," Maxwell said softly. "Just let Toran guide you Ambassador Spock."
Kirk ignored the apparent ramblings of Maxwell, and helped Spock stand up.
"What's wrong Spock?" Kirk asked.
Spock shook his head, trying to fight of the pain.
"Captain, someone is trying to gain control of my mind," Spock said through gritted teeth. "And who ever this person is, they are a powerful telepath."
"Then why am I not affected?" Kirk asked.
"I think we now know why you are so dangerous to our unnamed enemy," Spock concluded. "It may also be easier for this telepath to gain control of minds that are telepathic as well; sort of like a back door entrance."
Kirk opened his communicator.
"Kirk to Defiant," Kirk said into his communicator.
"Captain, Nog here, we have a situation on the Defiant," Nog reported.
"Let me guess; S'vath?" Kirk said.
"Yes sir, it's Commander S'vath, he has barricaded himself in engineering," Nog told Kirk. "Chief O'Brien is trying to get inside, but it appears S'vath has the ship's computer under his control as well."
"Stand by," Kirk said, as he closed his communicator, "Spock, is this telepath nearby, maybe aboard this ship?"
"That is very likely." Spock said.
Suddenly there was a bright flash, and it came from the main viewing screen. The Romulans ships had violently exploded.
"The Romulans," Spock said to Kirk, "they descend from common ancestors of Vulcan. It's possible that who ever is trying to control my mind had an easier time with theirs," Spock told Kirk.
Spock then keeled over in pain again.
"I can't hold out much longer," Spock said, as he closed his eyes and fell limp to the ground.
"You've lost Kirk," Maxwell said, from the ground.
Kirk kneeled over and grabbed Maxwell by the collar.
"Who is doing this," Kirk demanded. "Is there someone else aboard this ship?"
"You know I won't tell you," Maxwell said, with a smug look on his face.
Kirk decided to act on his own, drew out his phaser, and ran toward the Turbo-lift, and entered it.
The Defiant…
S'vath had been successful to a degree, in the battle that was happening inside of his mind. Although most of his actions had been taken over by a very powerful telepath, the mental exercises his father had taught him were paying off. S'vath knew he was in the engineering section of the Defiant, and had barricaded the door behind him. But after the door had closed, he had gained enough control of his own mind to press himself against the door, and forced himself not to proceed any further.
The impulses of command were surging through his mind.
Induce an override of the warp engines; destroy the Defiant. Induce an override of the warp engines; destroy the Defiant. Induce an override of the warp engines; destroy the Defiant.
S'vath could sense his legs trying to walk toward the control panels that controlled the inter-mix of the warp engines, but S'vath reached down with his hands and held them back. The telepath seemed to have control, but not total control, of S'vath's body. But, as each second wore on, the more powerful the alien impulses in his mind became. And, as if a string had snapped in his mind, his hands let go of his legs. The telepath had won the contest. S'vath could only watch from inside his own mind as his body moved toward the inter-mix panels.
Outside engineering, Master-Chief O'Brien had accessed the main door's operation panel.
"Can you get this door open?" Nog asked as he stood behind O'Brien, watching him desperately work. "
"Nog, I'm trying," O'Brien replied. "The command codes have been rerouted, and if I go to fast and cause an overload, these doors will never open."
Suddenly Bakooth came around the corner holding a large weapon. It looked like a large rifle, and Nog guessed that had he, Nog, tried to hold it, he would have collapsed over due to the weight of the weapon.
"What is that?" Nog asked Bakooth, the large Chalnoth warrior.
"Door…opener…"Bakooth replied with his low gruff voice.
"Wait, let's give the Chief more time," Nog urged.
Bakooth didn't listen. He aimed the rifle at the door.
"Don't do this, Bakooth," O'Brien urged, as he continued to work, but saw Bakooth aiming the gun at the door. "If you fire that thing and the blast hits something in engineering, you could kill us all."
"We…die…anyway…" Bakooth replied.
Suddenly Amanda came running around the bend, and tried to stop Bakooth by grabbing his massive arms. He waved his arm, throwing her off of him and against the wall, crashing to the ground.
"You could kill him!" Amanda screamed, sprawled out on the floor. "S'vath's not in control of himself."
Bakooth didn't listen to her, and pulled the trigger. A beam of energy streamed out and blasted the door open.
The Diamond…
Kirk ran through the corridors of the Diamond's upper level, and finally came upon the door that was labeled Node-1. Kirk tried to enter the room beyond the door, but the door would not open. He then fired his weapon at the door's access point, blasting away the outer area, exposing the wires. The door opened quite easily. But Kirk was no fool; he knew that it had been too easy. Whoever was beyond that door wanted Kirk to enter, but why?
Kirk entered the compartment and, in the center of the room, he saw a man sitting in some sort of command chair. Kirk knew instinctively that whoever the person was, they were the telepath attacking the minds of Spock and S'vath, and had undoubtedly caused the crews of the Romulan crews to destroy their own ships.
"Who are you?" Kirk asked, walking further into the room, his phaser aimed at the stranger.
"My name is Toran," the stranger replied.
"Why are you doing this?" Kirk asked. "Are you responsible for the death of the Romulans?"
"Yes I am," Toran said. "They are the enemy, even in this time." Toran said, "and they must be defended against."
Kirk looked at the man, trying to get a read on him. He looked rather ordinary, and even friendly, on the outside. One would have never known he could have been responsible for so much destruction. Kirk looked around at the strange room, which seemed to radiate out from the center seat where Toran sat. There were all kinds of pulsating panels, and several banks of lights which seem to indicate power levels.
"What is this place?" Kirk asked, his voice echoing through out the circular shaped room that was nearly the size of the old Enterprise's bridge.
Suddenly, and without warning, Kirk's phaser shimmered away, leaving him defenseless.
"This place," Toran replied, "is the Monument."
"Are you human?" Kirk asked.
"No, Kirk, I am a Betazoid," Toran replied. "And yes, I can read your mind. Oh, I may not be able to control your mind as of yet, as I control Maxwell's, but that will come in due time, if you let me."
"Why would I let you control my mind?" Kirk asked.
"Because, despite everything else you may think; you want peace as much as I do." Toran explained.
"What does any of this have to do with peace?" Kirk asked, with a tinge of anger in his voice. "If you're responsible for hiring the assassin to kill me, then you must know the destruction he caused on DS9, and the loss of innocent life. Add the destruction of Romulan vessels, and you can see why I do not buy the kind of peace you are selling."
"Captain, just like any battle," Toran continued, "there will be losses, like the loss of pawns from that favorite of yours; chess."
"For what purpose," Kirk asked, trying to buy more time as he tried to think of a course of action.
"My world was conquered during the last great war; the Dominion War," Toran explained. "I watched, at a very young age, as my parents, and my little sister, were killed by Jem-Hadar soldiers just doing their duty in a time of war. It was then that I decided to end war."
Kirk thought about the entire set up of the Diamond.
"The four ships that supported this one, they were controlled by Maxwell's mind," Kirk said to Toran, as he stepped ever closer towards the command seat the Betazoid sat in. "But in order to do so, his mind had to be fractured into five separate entities."
"Yes, exactly," Toran replied. "Even though he had five distinct personalities, in reality, it was just one man who controlled all four ships with his mind. The Akira-class ship can hold a crew of up to six-hundred; there were none on those ships. So do the math Captain," Toran continued. "An entire fleet controlled by the mind of one man. If our enemies realized that their massive armadas, with all that life upon them, were up against our armadas with only a small fraction of life, if any, would they be so willing to attack us?"
"Do you really think that would work?" Kirk asked. "In fact," Kirk said, as he jabbed a finger in the air, "your fleets, which would risk very little life at all, could be used to start wars, not prevent them."
"No, that is where you are wrong." Toran said, "The fleets would only be used to defend the Federation, not expand it. Let the Romulans, Breen and the H'nai keep stay where they are; the so called fleets of one, as you called them, would be a deterrent from future aggressions against the Federation."
"And you would guarantee that?" Kirk asked.
"No one wants war, Captain; that is what I guarantee." Toran replied. "The reason you had to be eliminated is that for many years, all prospective Starfleet commanders have had to undergo intense mental evaluations. Luckily, for me, the responsibility of seeing to the fitness of their minds fell upon Betazoids; In time I made sure that the Betazoids who were responsible for approving those evaluations were hand picked by me. Even the experienced Starship personnel that undergo routine mental evaluation, which is a requirement they must follow every three years, were evaluated by my team of Betazoids. It took nearly six of your years to do, but eventually, every mind of every Starship commander had been evaluated by us."
"I see," Kirk said. "And since I come from a time when these types of mind evaluations were not yet used, you thought someone like me could pose a problem, because that seed was never planted."
"So we had to get rid of you," Toran explained. "And let's face it; you're not just a Starship captain from another time, you're the great Captain Kirk. Yes, I know, legends are usually more grandiose than reality, but still, once I learned of your existence, I had to take action, and so I did."
"But some of these starship captains you claim to control have helped me avoid your assassins, how do you explain that?"
"We don't outright control them," Toran said, "Most Starship commanders have strong wills, and there are far too many of them. We merely focused their minds from straying too far from their normal activities. Apparently I will have to revisit some of their minds. Can't you see Captain? Now that we have successfully mastered the Borg technologies, and one person can now do what it would have taken five, to five-hundred men to do, we will no longer need so many Starfleet commanders. A great man from your time, Dr. Richard Daystrom, he too shared this dream."
"I never met the man," Kirk said to Toran, "but I read about what he did, and loss of life his M-5 computer caused. He was out of his mind, just as much as you are."
"No, you are wrong," Toran said. "Now I see that there are others who might think like you, perhaps those who have aided you; like Jellico. I've already eliminated him, now I will have to revisit the minds of others as well it seems."
"And so you will just get rid of them?" Kirk asked.
"Precisely," Toran said.
"You do realize," Kirk countered, "that your fleets with unmanned vessels will only lead to more war, and more conquest."
"I have just told you, Captain Kirk, I do not want war. Neither I, nor the Betazoids who work beneath me, want war. We are a race of pacifists; we only want peace, and with fleets like this, under our control, we can ensure that peace."
"No," Kirk said, with even more anger in his voice, "Toran, listen to me, you have created the most dangerous method of conquest. Without the risk of losing life, because your fleets would practically be populated by unmanned vessels, you have created the perfect first-strike weapon."
"These fleets are controlled by us," Toran fired back. "We will only use these fleets to maintain peace."
"No," came from a voice behind Kirk. Kirk turned to see Maxwell, and he was holding a phaser. "Kirk is right," Maxwell said to Toran.
Maxwell fired his phaser, and the beam streaked past Kirk and struck Toran, killing him instantly.
Kirk felt relieved.
"A little close, for my taste, but good work," Kirk said to Maxwell.
"Actually," Maxwell said, as he aimed the phaser at Kirk. "I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation." Maxwell said, with smug arrogance. "You were right, about what you just said Kirk. As it turns out, I wasn't approached to join Project Diamond just because of my tactical superiority to those like Janeway, Jellico, Picard and Sisko; I was approached because, eventually, my superiors knew I would be able to overcome Toran's control and take over the Diamond from him. This Diamond fleet was just the first. Soon entire fleets of Diamonds will allow us to finally be rid of our enemies, and allow the Federation to exist without external threats."
"Or internal threats," Kirk said softly. "A ship like this would make that quite easy."
"Yes, that too," Maxwell said. "The Federation needs this kind of control in order to ensure its own survival. Borg technology, merged with telepathic control, will go along way into marshalling a new era in galactic peace."
"You're a raving lunatic," Kirk said. "And I will do anything in my power to stop you."
"Thankfully," Maxwell said with a sneer, "I'm the one holding the phaser."
And just as Maxwell was about to fire, a hand gripped his neck from behind. Maxwell dropped the phaser, and fell to the ground; out cold. Spock now stood where Maxwell had been standing before.
"I wish you would teach me that," Kirk said.
"I have tried," Spock said.
"How did you regain control of your mind?" Kirk asked.
"Apparently your conversation with Toran was affecting his rationality," Spock told Kirk. "I came to my senses on the bridge, and realized Maxwell had gone. Eventually I found my way here."
"We have to destroy this ship," Kirk said to Spock. "We're not ready for this kind of technology."
"Agreed," Spock said.
Kirk fipped open his communicator.
"Defiant," Kirk said, "what is your situation over there?" Kirk asked.
"Captain," Nog replied, "the Defiant is counting down to a warp-core breech," Nog said, in a worried tone.
"How long do we have?" Kirk asked.
"Ten minutes!" Nog replied.
…continued
Next time; the Defiant blows up and someone will die!