Chapter 42: The Weight of Scotty
Khan stood before Zinaida Chitirih-Ra-Payjh. She met his gaze without flinching; he seemed offended that she did not fear him.
"My lord!" Joachim said. "Khan, they're all too weak to stand against your force-"
"So, it seems..." Khan said softly.
"There's no need for you to... to..." Joachim stopped. He thrust the box into Khan's hands. "She cannot keep Genesis from you now, my lord." He held his breath, for he could not know how Khan would react.
Khan opened the box, looked inside, and smiled. He set it down and put his arms around Joachim. "You know my needs better than I myself," he said. "I'm grateful to you, Joachim; I could not love you more if you were my son."
Khan broke the embrace gently and turned toward Zinaida Chitirih-Ra-Payjh. His hand darted into the box Joachim had brought him. He drew it out again. He was holding, pinched between thumb and forefinger, a long, slender, snakelike creature. It probed the air blindly with its sharp snout.
"Dawn would tell you," Khan said, "that the pain is brief."
No, it's not you sick bastard, thought Dawn inside her own mind.
Zinaida drew back in terror, realizing what they had done to Dawn and Terrell.
This, she could not withstand.
Khan's people pushed her forward and turned her head to the side. The eel slithered across her smooth scalp and over her ear, still probing, searching.
"Jedda-" she whispered.
The eel punctured her eardrum. Zinaida screamed in pure horror and despair.
She gave herself to the shadows.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy, Spock and McCoy dined with Kirk in his quarters. Their argument about Genesis continued on and off.
The intercom broke into the conversation.
"Admiral," Saavik said, "sensors indicate a vessel approaching us, closing fast."
"What do you make of it, Lieutenant?"
"It's one of ours, Admiral. Reliant."
"Dawn!" said Buffy as she got up and shot out of Kirk's quarters. Kirk, Spock and McCoy were right behind her.
They entered the turbolift. And moments later stepped out onto the bridge and turned immediately to Uhura.
"Reliant still isn't responding, sir," she said.
"Even the emergency channels...?" Buffy asked.
"No, Buffy," Uhura said, and tried again. "Enterprise to Reliant, come in, Reliant."
"Visual, Lieutenant Saavik," said Kirk.
"It's just within range, Admiral."
Saavik turned the forward magnification up full. Reliant showed as a bare speck on the screen, but it was growing larger quickly.
"Maybe their comm systems have failed..." Buffy said doubtfully.
"It would explain a great many things," said Spock.
On the viewscreen of the Enterprise, Reliant's image grew slowly. "Reliant's delta-vee just decreased to one-half impulse power, Admiral," Sulu said.
"Any evidence of damage?" Buffy asked.
"None, Buffy."
"Sir," Saavik said, "if I may quote general order twelve: 'On the approach of any vessel, when communications have not been established-' "
"The admiral is aware of the regulations," said Spock.
Saavik forced herself not to react. "Yes, sir," she said stiffly.
"This is damned peculiar," Kirk said as he glanced at Buffy. He knew that Fate had been right it seemed, that Dawn was in trouble. "Yellow alert."
"Energize defense fields," Saavik said.
The Klaxon sounded; the lights dimmed. It took only a moment for the backup crew to arrive and staff their battle stations.
"Transmission from Reliant, sir... A moment... on the short-range band. They say their Chambers coil is shorting out their main communications."
"Spock?" Buffy said not buying that answer one bit.
Spock bent down to scan Reliant. He studied the scan results. They were precisely the same as the first set: no evidence of damage. "Their coil emissions are normal, Admiral." And then he saw the signal of a new change that was not normal. "Their shields are going up-"
"Reliant's phasers are locking!" Chekov said from his new position at the tactical station.
"Raise shields!" Kirk said. "Energize phasers, stand by to-"
Reliant fired.
"Mr. Chekov-the shields!" said Kirk.
"Trying, sir!" answered Chekov.
The intercom broke through the disorder.
"Medical alert, engine room!"
McCoy was already halfway to the turbolift. He plunged into it and disappeared.
"I can't get any power, sir," Chekov said.
Kirk slammed his hand down on an intercom button. "Scotty!"
A cacophony spilled from the intercom as every channel on the ship tried to break through.
"Uhura, turn off that damned noise!"
She hit the main cutoff.
Silence.
"Mr. Scott on discrete," she said.
"Scotty, let's have it."
"We're just hanging on, sir. The main energizers are out."
"Auxiliary power," Kirk said. "Damage report."
The forward viewscreen switched over to a schematic display of the Enterprise, with a shockingly large red high-damage area spreading outward from the engine room. Kirk and Spock surveyed the report.
"Their attack indicates detailed knowledge of our vulnerabilities," Spock said.
"Buffy, who has command of Reliant? Is it Dawn?" asked Kirk.
"No," said Buffy. "Dawn was assigned as acting First Officer and Chief Medical Officer when she accepted promotion to Captain. She said that Clark Terrell was the commanding officer of Reliant. Spock said.
"He's a highly regarded commander, one likely neither to go berserk nor to become the victim of a mutiny," added Spock.
"Then who's attacking us? And why?" asked Kirk,
"One thing is certain," Spock said. "We cannot escape on auxiliary power."
"Visual!" Kirk snapped. The screen flashed into a forward view from the bridge. Reliant, very close, faced them head-on. "Mr. Chekov, divert everything to the phasers."
"Too late-" Spock said.
On the viewscreen, Reliant's photon torpedoes streaked toward them with an awful inevitability.
The blast of energy sizzled through the ship, searing and melting computer chips, blowing out screens, crashing whole systems. A fire broke out on the upper deck. The acrid odor of singed plastic and vaporized metals clouded the air.
"Scotty!" Kirk yelled. "What have we got left?"
"Only the batteries, sir. I can have auxiliary power in a few minutes-"
"We haven't got a few minutes. Can you give me phasers?"
"No' but a few shots, sir."
"Not enough," Spock said, "against their shields."
"Who the hell are they?" Kirk said again.
"Admiral," Uhura said, "Commander, Reliant, is signaling..." She hesitated. "He wishes to discuss... terms of our surrender."
Kirk looked at first Buffy and then Spock, who met his gaze. "On screen," he said.
"Admiral..." Uhura said.
"Do it- while we still have time."
The viewscreen changed slowly, pixel by pixel, filling in a new image that gradually took the form of a face.
"Khan!" Kirk exclaimed.
Even with the distance between the two ships. Buffy could feel Khan's emotions his hatred for them, especially Kirk.
"You remember, Admiral, after all these years. I cannot help but be touched. I feared you might have forgotten me. Of course, I remember you."
"What's the meaning of this?" Kirk said angrily. "Where's Reliant's crew?"
"Where's Dawn?" Buffy added.
"Have I not made my meaning plain?" Khan said dangerously. "I mean to avenge myself, Admiral. Upon you. I've deprived your ship of its power, and soon I intend to deprive you of your life."
"Reliant's maneuvering, sir," Sulu said very quietly. "Coming around for another shot."
"But I wanted you to know, as you die, who it was that had beaten you."
"Khan, listen to me!" Kirk said. "If it's me you want, I'll beam aboard your ship. All I ask is that you spare my crew. You can do what you want to me!"
Khan lounged back, smiling pleasantly. He stretched his hands toward Kirk, palms up, as if weighing Kirk, at his disposal, in one, against the Enterprise and Jim Kirk's certain but more remote death, in the other.
"That is a most intriguing offer. It is-" his voice became low and dangerous, "- typical of your sterling character. I shall consider it."
He paused for perhaps as much as a second.
"I accept your terms-"
Kirk stood up. Buffy took one step toward him but halted when Kirk made an abrupt chopping gesture, back and down, with his hand.
"- with only a single addition. You will also turn over to me all data and material regarding Project Genesis."
Kirk forced himself not to react. "Genesis?" he said. "What's that?"
"Don't play with me, Kirk. My hand is on the phaser control."
"I'll have to put a search on it, Khan- give me some time. The computer damage-"
"I give you sixty seconds, Admiral."
Kirk turned to Spock and Buffy.
"You cannot give him Genesis, Admiral," the Vulcan said.
"In this I agree," said Buffy.
Kirk spoke softly and out of range of the highly directional transmitter mike. "At least we know he hasn't got it. Just keep nodding as though I'm giving orders. Lieutenant Saavik, punch up the data charts on Reliant's command console. Hurry."
"Reliant's command-?"
"Hurry up!" Jim whispered angrily.
"The prefix code?" Spock asked.
"It's all we've got."
"Where is the Reliant's crew?" Buffy wondered.
"We'll find them, Buffy," said Kirk. "We'll prevent whatever is happening to Dawn."
"Admiral," Khan said, "you try my patience."
"We're finding it, Khan! You know how much damage you inflicted on my ship. You've got to give us time!"
" 'Time', James Kirk? You showed me that time is not a luxury, but a torture. You have forty-five seconds."
Sulu turned toward Kirk. "Reliant's completed its maneuver, sir- we're lined up in their sights, and they're coming back."
Saavik found the information Kirk sought, but could see no way it could be of use. "I don't understand-"
"You've got to learn why things work on a starship, not just how." Kirk turned back to Khan, trying to put real conviction in his dissembling. "It's coming through right now, Khan-"
"The prefix code is one-six-three-zero-nine," Spock said.
He set quickly to work. Saavik watched the prefix code thread its way through the schematics and dissolve Reliant's defenses. She understood suddenly what Kirk intended to do: transfer control of Reliant to the Enterprise and lower its shields.
"You have thirty seconds," Khan said, lingering over each word.
"His intelligence is extraordinary," Spock said. "If he has changed the code..."
"Spock, wait for my signal," Kirk said urgently. "Too soon, and he'll figure it out; he'll raise the shields again..."
Spock nodded, and Kirk turned back to the viewscreen.
"Khan, how do I know you'll keep your word?"
"Keep my word, Admiral? I gave you no word to keep. You have no alternative."
"I see your point..." Kirk said. "Mr. Spock, is the data ready?"
"Yes, Admiral."
"Khan, stand by to receive our transmission." He glanced over at Chekov. "Mr. Chekov-?"
"Phasers locked..." Chekov said quietly.
"Your time is up, Admiral," Khan said.
"Here it comes- we're transmitting right now. Mr. Spock?"
Spock stabbed the code through to Reliant and followed it instantly with the command to lower shields.
Saavik's monitor changed. "Shields down, Admiral!"
"Fire!" Kirk shouted as Khan, on the viewscreen, cried, "What-? Joachim, raise them- Where's the override?"
Chekov bled off all the power the crippled ship could bear and slammed it through to the phasers.
A thin bright line of light sprang into existence, connecting Enterprise and Reliant with a lethal filament. Reliant's hull glowed scarlet just at its bridge.
On the viewscreen, Khan cried out in rage and pain as his ship shuddered around him. His transmission faded and the Enterprise's viewscreen lost him.
"You did it, Admiral!" Sulu said.
"I didn't do a damned thing- I got caught with my britches down. " He glanced up at Saavik and shook his head. "Lieutenant Saavik, you just keep on quoting regulations. Buffy, come with me- we have to find out how bad the damage is."
He strode to the turbolift; Buffy followed. The doors closed-
"Are you all right?" Kirk asked.
"Between my new empathic ability and the worry about Dawn," said Buffy. "I'm far from okay."
"We'll find her I promise," said Kirk. "We won't leave her trapped wherever she is."
"I know," said Buffy. "Thanks, Jim."
The doors opened at the level of the engine room. Kirk took one step forward and stopped, aghast.
"Scotty! My god!"
The engineer stood trembling, spattered with blood, holding Peter Preston in his arms. The boy lay limp, his eyes closed, blood flowing steadily from his nose and mouth.
"I canna reach Dr. McCoy, I canna get through; I must get the boy to sick bay-" Tears tracked the soot on his face. He staggered into the lift. Kirk and Buffy caught him. Kirk steadied him while Buffy took the child gently from his arms.
"Sick bay!" Kirk yelled.
The turbolift accelerated.
McCoy worked desperately over Preston. He had to keep intensifying the anesthetic field, for the boy struggled toward consciousness.
The life-sign sensors would not stabilize. No matter what McCoy did, the boy's physical condition deteriorated. Lacerations, a couple of broken bones, some internal injuries with considerable loss of blood, a hairline fracture of the skull: nothing very serious. But Preston had been directly beneath the coolant-gas leak. Everything depended on how much he had breathed and how long he had been within the cloud before the ventilators cleared it.
McCoy cursed. The damned technicians claimed nothing else but this wretched, corrosive, teratogenic, gamma-emitting-poison had a high enough specific heat to protect the engines against meltdown. Well, they also claimed its protection was fail-safe.
"Dr. Chapel!" he yelled. "Where's the damned analysis?"
Scott watched him from outside the operating room; the engineer slumped against the glass.
Chris Chapel came in, and McCoy knew the results from her expression.
She handed him the analysis of Preston's blood and tissue chemistry. "I'm sorry, Leonard," she said.
He shook his head grimly. Several of the life-sign indicators were already close to zero, and the boy had begun to bleed internally, massively, far worse than before: the sutures were not holding. And would not. The cell structure had already started to deteriorate.
"I knew it already, Chris. I only hoped..."
He withdrew from the operating field and changed the anesthetic mode from general to local. Preston began to come to, but he would not feel any pain.
When McCoy looked up again, Buffy and Kirk on either side of Scott, gripping his shoulder. He saw that Buffy's new found empathic abilities were feeling the weight of Scott's emotions as tears fell from her cheeks.
McCoy shook his head.
Scott burst into the operating theater. Kirk and Buffy followed. "Dr. McCoy, can ye no'-" His voice broke.
"It's coolant poisoning, Scotty," McCoy said. "I'm sorry. It would be possible to keep him alive for another half hour, at most- I can't do that to him."
Scott started to protest, then stopped. He knew as well as any doctor, perhaps better, the effects of the poison. He went to Preston's side and touched the boy's forehead gently.
Preston slowly opened his eyes.
"Peter," Scott said, "lad, I dinna mean-" He stopped. Tears spilled down his cheeks.
Kirk leaned over the boy. "Mr. Preston," he said.
"Is... is the word given?" Peter stared upward, intent on a scene that existed in his sight alone.
"The word is given," Kirk said. "Warp speed."
"Aye..." Peter whispered as he died.
Scott was unable to speak for some minutes. Finally, he looked up at Buffy and Kirk. "Why?"
Buffy looked sadly at Preston's body.
"Khan wants to kill me for passing sentence on him fifteen years ago... and he doesn't care who stands between him and vengeance," said Jim.
"Scotty," McCoy said, "I'm sorry."
"He stayed at his post," Scott said. "When my other trainees broke, he stayed."
"If he hadn't, we'd be space dust by now," Kirk said.
"Bridge to Admiral Kirk," Spock said over the intercom.
Kirk hurried to open the channel. "Kirk here."
"The engine room reports auxiliary power restored. We can proceed on impulse engines."
Kirk rubbed his temples, drawing himself away from Mr. Scott's despair, back to the ship and the whole crew's peril. "Best speed to Regulus I, Mr. Spock." He sat on his heels beside Scott as he watched Buffy walk out of the operating room through sickbay and out into the corridor. "Scotty, I'm sorry, I've got to know- can you get the main engines back on-line?"
"I... I dinna think so, sir..."
"Scotty-"
"... but ye'll have my best..." He stood up, moving apathetically, speaking by rote. "I know ye tried, Doctor..." He left sick bay like a sleepwalker.
Buffy stepped into a turbolift and as the doors closed behind her she silently cursed Fate for giving her this burden.
"Now you understand."
Buffy looked around for the voice but she was alone in the turbolift. "What do I understand," she yelled. "What Dawn has had to go through? I don't want this take it back."
"We cannot. There must be a Millennial. If Dawn's mind breaks there will be no other to take her place till the start of the next Millennium. You must fill that void."
She clenched her hands and punched the wall leaving a large dent.