CHAPTER 16

Kicking and shrieking, Jamie was hauled to the bridge. Finnegan snatched her out of the guard's arms and gave her a shake. "Stop hollering and tell me what you did to my ship. Where are the other kids?"

Jamie glared at Finnegan. "Figure it out for yourself!"

Her bold reply earned her a sharp slap, and she tumbled backward. She clenched her jaw shut and blinked back tears.

Finnegan turned to Mindy. "Watch her before something worse happens. I've got a ship to hold togeth—"

A sudden lurch threw Finnegan across the bridge. Jamie slammed into Mindy.

The loudspeakers screamed, "Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Enemy soldiers have boarded. Intruder alert!"

"Where?" Finnegan shouted into the intercom.

"Lower level. Docking bay. But it won't be long before they're up there."

"Seal the bulkheads. Keep them out of this level." He glanced around at the damage to his bridge. The destructive waves from the fighters' explosions had torn it up. "Hail the Enterprise."

"On screen," Moira said.

A tall, calm Vulcan in a blue tunic regarded Finnegan carefully.

"Who are you?" Finnegan snapped.

"Commander Spock, in temporary command of the Enterprise."

"Get me Jimmy, and get him fast."

"He is indisposed," Spock replied. "I am in command."

"Your men are on my ship. Get them off. Now. Or I toss the girl out an airlock."

Spock raised an eyebrow and continued to hold Finnegan's gaze.

"I'm not bluffing." He yanked Jamie away from Mindy and stood her in front of the viewer. "Her little trick nearly cost me my ship and the lives of my crew."

"That is not true, sir. We disabled your shield generator, which is not a life-threatening act. Surrender now, and—"

"Shut up!" Finnegan shouted. Then his voice grew soft. "If you do not recall your boarding party immediately, I will put your captain's daughter into the emergency escape hatch—without the pod. Then you can explain to Jim when he gets back from whatever business is more important than his own kid."

He snorted. "He's probably playing nursemaid to those spoiled, snot-nosed, troublesome delegates' kids." He tightened his grip on Jamie's hair. "Now, recall your men. Stand down your weapons."

"As you wish." Spock turned to Uhura. "Open a hailing frequency to Commander Stoddard's boarding party."

"Aye, sir. Hailing frequency open."

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Stoddard's communicator beeped. He glanced at Kirk.

The captain frowned and scanned the docking bay. All appeared quiet. "Answer the hail, commander."

Stoddard flipped open the small, shiny box. "Stoddard here."

"Commander Stoddard, you are ordered to return to the Enterprise. The boarding action is canceled. I repeat. The boarding action is canceled. Prepare to beam back to the ship."

"Acknowledged, Mr. Spock. Beam us aboard on my next signal." He paused and signaled his men to gather around. "Captain? What's going on?"

"I'm not sure, and I'd rather not guess. But I trust Spock, and he wouldn't recall us without a good reason. Beam back to the ship and tell Spock to do whatever Finnegan asks."

"And you, sir?"

"I'm not leaving my daughter with that psychopath."

"Sir," Stoddard said carefully, "if you stay, the terrorists will have a valuable hostage to bargain with—a starship captain."

Kirk smiled. "I don't intend to give them that chance. Leave me two men. Tell Spock to stay just out of sensor range and await my signal. If all goes well, I'll hail him from the bridge of this ship."

Stoddard waved Ensigns Marshall and Walker toward Kirk. "Three against a ship full of terrorists," he said. "Not very good odds, sir."

"Sir! With respect!" Ensign Marshall brought himself stiffly to attention. "One Starfleet officer is as good as eight from any other fleet."

Kirk laughed. He hadn't laughed for nearly three days. It felt good. "Those are about the odds here, ensign. Glad to have you along." He and the guards backed away from the rest of the landing party. "Keep our part in this as quiet as you can. Good luck."

"And to you, captain. My men won't let you down." He pushed the recall button on his communicator and the away team dissolved in twinkling lights.

"All right, gentlemen," Kirk said softly, "our first order of business is to remain undetected. I suggest we head for the shuttle and make some plans." He nodded at his men's red shirts. "First of all, we've got to find ourselves some different clothes. We stick out like a nova in the night sky."

"I'm sure the terrorists can supply whatever we need," Walker suggested, following his captain into the relative safety of the runabout shuttle.

When they were settled inside, Kirk laid out his plans. "There are only three of us against a crew of twenty-five. Remember, these are ruthless men and women. They kill to create terror and chaos, and they won't hesitate to shoot you on sight, if they figure out who you are. We must move fast on this. We can't give them a chance to put together a defensive plan."

"Understood, Captain," Marshall replied.

"All right, then. Here's what we'll do. I'll work my way to the phaser control section near engineering. I'll take out their ability to fire on the Enterprise. If we don't gain control of the ship, Mr. Spock can still lower his screens and beam us safely out of here."

He pointed at Marshall. "You, Mr. Marshall, clear the sections aft of here. Render any terrorists you find unconscious and secure them for our return to Babel. And I mean securely. Mr. Walker, you take the terrorists fore of here."

He looked at his chronometer. "On a ship this size, with roughly half the crew down here and half above us, that gives us four terrorists a piece to knock out. Think you're up to it?"

Marshall grinned. "Bring 'em on."

"We'll meet at the aft hatchway in five minutes. We must get to the bridge and take the ship ten minutes later, or Finnegan will begin to suspect something is wrong."

"Got it," Walker said.

"With our phasers we have a distinct advantage over these animals," Kirk said. "Let's use that advantage to end this terrorist threat once and for all."

"Aye, aye, sir!" the ensigns replied with eagerness.

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"Now that your men are off my ship, Mr. Spock, I want you, your captain, and your crew out of my sight," Finnegan said. "Tell Jim he lost his chance to say good-bye. If I'm feeling generous, I might send him a transmission from our headquarters. I may even let Jamie talk to him. But for now—"

Finnegan made a slicing motion across his neck. The screen returned to the stars and a dazzling white starship. An instant later, the Enterprise streaked into warp space and vanished.

"No!" Jamie choked back a sob. Daddy was gone. The Enterprise was gone. Her friends were gone, and she'd been left behind with a crazy stranger.

"It's all right." Finnegan sat down in his command chair and pulled Jamie onto his lap.

"Let me go!"

He didn't. "Take it easy. I won't hurt you."

Jamie stared at the view screen and let silent tears dribble down her cheeks.

Finnegan sighed. "Your father's actions don't surprise me a bit, Jamie. He stole your mother and charmed her into marrying him. He left her alone numerous times. His career always came first." His voice grew soft. "I don't know when your mother died, and I'm sorry about that. Jim was probably out in space when it happened, leaving you without a mother or a father."

Jamie clapped her hands over her ears. "Shut up."

Finnegan kept talking. "He was driven—driven to command a starship. He got his ship, and she comes first. Remember that, Jamie. He left your mother to fly among the stars. He left you when you were small, and now?"

He sighed again. "Your father has left you again. The ship comes first. You don't matter to him."

Jamie squeezed her eyes shut. "No, no, no!" It couldn't be true!

She had only a dim idea what Finnegan was talking about, but the part about being left behind struck a nerve. It was her worst fear. Whenever Starfleet contacted the Enterprise, she endured another waking nightmare, wondering if Daddy would be ordered to ship her off to school somewhere.

"Don't worry, Jamie," Finnegan was saying. "I won't leave you. You're Ruth's little girl, and I'll take care of you. You'll stay aboard the Rim Pride. In a few years, you won't even remember your old life."

"No!" Jamie whispered. "I want to go home."

Finnegan smiled. "Jamie, you are home."

"Only if you can call this garbage scow a home." The golden voice of James Kirk rolled across the bridge like a resounding trumpet.

Finnegan's eyebrows shot up in undisguised shock. He swiveled his chair around and froze at the sight of a Starfleet phaser pointed at his head.

"Don't make any quick moves," Kirk ordered in an icy voice.

Moira and Rubin drew their weapons. The whine of two other phasers broke the stillness. Moira and Rubin slumped to the deck.

Evans jumped from his seat. Marshall stunned him before he could straighten up. The rest of the bridge crew sat helplessly while the two security men from the Enterprise disarmed them and kept them covered.

"Daddy!"

Jamie stared at her father in astonishment. He was dressed in a set of too-large, filthy, black-and-gray clothes. A military cap perched on his head. An ugly, oversized weapon hung from his shoulder. He looked mean. He looked like a terrorist. The two ensigns from the Enterprise were dressed similarly.

It looked as if none of them had washed in weeks.

"Pretty good, Jimmy," Finnegan said, recovering his poise. "I take it you have stunned or rendered useless my entire crew."

"You take it right." Kirk gave Jamie a quick grin and winked. "Hi, honey."

Jamie beamed.

Kirk returned his gaze to Finnegan. "Most of your men will recover enough to stand trial for kidnapping and for terrorist acts against the United Federation of Planets. It will be my pleasure to personally attest to this at your trial."

"I'm afraid I have the last word. I still have your daughter." He proved it by scooping Jamie up in his arms and stepping down from his chair. "The ship is yours. Call the Enterprise. Tow it back to Babel. But I won't be here." He took two steps toward Kirk. "Jamie and I will leave in the runabout."

Kirk raised his phaser. "Not in your wildest dreams."

"If you shoot me, Jamie will get hit too."

"A stun blast won't damage Jamie any more than it will hurt you, Sean."

"A stun beam hurts something awful." Finnegan shifted Jamie in his arms. "Consider her low body mass."

"I'll take the risk. But you will not take my daughter off this ship." He adjusted his phaser to wide beam and pointed it at Finnegan and Jamie. His thumb rested on the firing button. "Put her down."

Finnegan let out a long, slow breath. "All right, Jimmy. You win, like always."

With a sudden heave, he tossed Jamie aside and flew into Kirk, knocking the phaser from his hand and onto the deck. He grabbed the captain around the waist and shoved him against the control panel lining one side of the bridge.

Kirk grunted and fell onto the hard surface. He brought up a fist and slammed it into Finnegan's jaw.

With a cry of rage, Finnegan slugged Kirk over and over, but the captain managed to ward off the blows. He spun around and knocked Finnegan to the deck, falling on top of him with a loud grunt.

The bridge crew watched with wide eyes. They didn't move. The ensigns didn't step in. They continued covering the Rim Pride's crew.

Jamie lay on the deck a few yards away from the rolling, struggling men. She had to get out of the way before she got caught in the middle of it. She pulled herself to her hands and knees and crawled behind the command chair.

Then she spotted the phaser. It lay just within her reach. She scooped it up and crawled out from behind the chair. Using both hands to steady the weapon, she aimed it at Finnegan's back and pressed the firing button. He slumped over Kirk's body and lay still.

Kirk shoved Finnegan's unconscious form away and sat up. The expression on his face was one of amazement. "Come here, honey," he told Jamie. "Bring me the phaser."

Jamie jumped to her feet and threw herself into her father's arms. He uncurled her shaking fingers and took the phaser, securing it to his belt. Then he engulfed Jamie in warm hug and buried his face in her grimy hair. "It's all over now."

Jamie burst into tears of joy. "You didn't leave me. You didn't leave me."

"Never, Jamie. I would never willingly leave you."

"He said you left Mommy and me and"—she caught her breath in a sob—"he said you—"

"It's okay. I was aboard all the time. You just couldn't see me. Just like you can't see God, but He's always near you."

Jamie nodded and hugged her father tight.

Kirk lifted Jamie and stood up. "Marshall, contact the Enterprise. Tell them the ship is secure. Have Mr. Stoddard ready the brig for twenty-five prisoners. We will take this vessel in tow."

Ensign Marshall grinned. "Aye, aye, Captain!"