Chapter 49: Destruction

"Estimating Genesis 2.9 hours, present speed," Sulu said.

"Can we hold speed, Scotty?" Kirk asked.

"Aye, sir, the Enterprise has its second wind now."

"Scan for vessels in pursuit," Kirk said.

"Scanning . . ." The voice was an eerie facsimile of Spock's. "Indications negative at this time."

They all turned toward the science station. McCoy, at Spock's old place, looked up and blinked. "Did I . . . get it right ...?" he asked.

"You did great, Bones," Kirk said. "Just great."

"Jim, Starfleet is calling Grissom again," Dawn said. "Warning about us."

"Response?"

Dawn glanced worriedly at her console. "Nothing. As before."

"What's Grissom up to?" Kirk said. "Will they join us, or fire on us? Dawn, break radio silence. Send my compliments to Captain Esteban."

"Done," said Dawn.

Kirk rose and went to McCoy's side. "How we doing?" he said.

McCoy gave him a thoughtful and slightly sardonic glance, the look of a doctor who recognizes a bedside manner when it is being inflicted upon him.

"How are we doing?" he said. "Funny you should put it quite that way, Jim." He paused, as if listening to a second conversation. "We are doing fine. But I'd feel safer giving him one of my kidneys than getting what's scrambled up in my brain."

"Jim," Dawn said, "there is no response from Grissom on any channel."

"Keep trying, Dawn. At regular intervals."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The viewscreen wavered with the Enterprise's change of state from warp speed to impulse. The new star and its single planet spun where only a few days before the Mutara Nebula filled space with dense dust-clouds.

"We are secured from warp speed," Sulu said. "Now entering the Mutara Sector. Genesis approaching."

"What about Grissom, Dawn?" Kirk asked.

"Still no response."

Sulu increased the magnification of the viewscreen and put a bit of the ship's limited extra power to the sensors, but he could find no trace of Grissom, either.

"Bones," Kirk said tentatively, "can you give me a quadrant bi-scan?" He glanced back at McCoy.

The doctor hunched unmoving over Spock's station. After a moment he spread his hands in frustration and defeat. "I think you just exceeded my capability . . ."

"Never mind, Bones." Kirk gestured to Dawn. "Dawn."

Dawn nodded as she got up from the communications console and moved over beside McCoy.

"Sorry," McCoy said shakily.

"It's all right, Doc," said Dawn as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. He got up so she could sit down to run the scan.

"Mr. Sulu, proceed at full impulse power," Kirk ordered.

"Full impulse power," Sulu said.

"There is no sign of ship, Jim," Dawn said. "Not Grissom, not . . . anything."

"Very well, Dawn. Continue scanning." Kirk rose and joined McCoy. "You all right?"

"I don't know, Jim," McCoy said. "He's . . . gone, again. I can feel him, it's almost as if I can talk to him. But then he slips away. For longer and longer, and when he . . . comes back . . . my sense of him is weaker."

"Keep hold of him, Bones," Kirk said. "Keep hold of yourself. We're almost there."

The Enterprise's search for Grissom was fruitless. The Grissom had either left as it could have finished its work and it was heading back to Earth. Or it had been attacked and completely atomized as no debris could be found.

Buffy frowned as her Slayer senses were tripping. "Jim."

"Buffy?"

"There is something out there," said Buffy. "My Slayer senses are going wild."

"Dawn?"

"Nothing on scanner," Dawn said.

"Short range scan, Dawn. Give it all the focus you've got. On screen, Mr. Sulu."

Dawn focused the beam, and Sulu switched the viewscreen, which showed nothing but empty space.

Buffy studied the enhanced image on the viewscreen of the Enterprise. "There," she said. "That distortion. The shimmering area."

"Dawn?"

"I believe what we are seeing is an energy distortion, the size of the distortion would be large enough to cloak either Klingon or Romulan ships," Dawn answered.

"Red alert, Chekov!" Kirk said.

"Aye, Admiral."

The lights dimmed. The Klaxon alarms sounded.

"Mr. Scott, all power to the weapons system," said Kirk.

"Aye, sir."

McCoy stood up uneasily. "No shields?"

"If my guess is right, they'll have to de-cloak before they can fire," Kirk explained.

"May all your guesses be right," McCoy said.

"Chekov two photon torpedoes at the ready. Sight on the center of the mass," Kirk ordered.

"Aye, Admiral."

The Enterprise sailed closer and closer to an indefinable spot in space, more perceptible as different if one looked at it from the corner of the eye. The ship was very nearly upon it when Sulu saw it first. "Klingon Bird of Prey, decloaking. Arming torpedoes!"

The Klingon craft appeared before them as a spidery sketch, transparent against the stars, quickly solidifying.

"Fire, Chekov!"

The torpedoes streaked toward the Klingon ship.

It was as if their impact solidified the ship while simultaneously blasting a section of it away. The Bird of Prey tilted up and back with the momentum of the attack. It began to tumble.

"Good shooting, Chekov," Kirk said. "Shields up."

"Aye, sir," said Chekov as he tried to call up the shields.

Nothing happened.

"Sir," he said in concern, "shields are unresponsive."

Scott immediately turned to his controls, and Kirk turned to Scott.

"Scotty?"

With a subvocal curse, Scott bent closer over his console. "The automation system's overloaded. I dinna expect ye to take us into combat, ye know!"

"Jim," said Buffy drawing Kirk's attention back to the viewscreen as they watched the Klingon craft come round to bear on the Enterprise.

"The shields, Scotty!"

"I canna do it!"

"Ready torpedoes!" Kirk ordered.

The order came too late. The enemy ship fired at nearly point-blank range. The Enterprise had neither time nor room to maneuver.

"Torpedoes coming in!" Kirk cried, bracing himself.

The flare of the explosion sizzled through the sensors. The viewscreen flashed, then darkened. The ship bucked violently. Kirk lost his hold and fell. The illumination failed.

"Emergency power!" Buffy said.

The Enterprise responded valiantly, but the bridge lights returned at less than half intensity. McCoy helped Kirk struggle up.

"I'm all right, Bones." Kirk lunged back to his place. "Prepare to return fire! Mr. Scott transfer power to the phaser banks!"

"Oh, god, sir, I dinna think I can," Scott said.

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked as she moved over next to Scott.

"They've knocked out the damned automation center!" Scott smashed his fist against the console. "I ha' no control over anythin'!"

"Mr. Sulu!"

Sulu's gesture of complete helplessness, and Chekov's agitated shake of the head, sent Kirk sagging back into his chair.

"So . . ." he said softly. "We're a sitting duck."

They watched the enemy Bird of Prey probe slowly closer.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Commander Kruge of the Klingon Bird of Prey watched the silent, powerful Federation ship drift before him.

"Emergency power recharge," Torg said, "forty percent. . . fifty percent. My lord, we are able to fire."

Kruge raised his hand, halting Torg's preparations for another salvo. "Why haven't they finished us? They outgun us ten to one, they have four hundred in crew, to my handful. Yet they sit there!"

"Perhaps they wish to take you prisoner."

Kruge scowled at Torg. "They know I would die first."

"My lord," Maltz said, from the communications board, "the enemy commander wishes a truce to confer."

"A truce!" Kruge's training and better judgment restrained his wish to fire, provoke a response, and end the battle quickly and cleanly.

"Put him on screen," he said more calmly, then, to Torg, "Study him well."

The transmission from the Enterprise, enhanced and interpreted, formed Kirk's three-dimensional image in the area in front of and slightly below Kruge's command post.

"This is Admiral James T. Kirk, of the U.S.S. Enterprise."

"Yes," Kruge said, "the Genesis commander himself."

"By violation of the treaty between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, your presence here is an act of war. You have two minutes to surrender your crew and your vessel, or we will destroy you."

Kruge delayed any reply to the arrogant demand. Kirk was neither ignorant nor a fool. He must know that officers of the Klingon Empire did not surrender. And no one with a reputation like his could be a fool. Was he trying to provoke another attack, so he could justify destroying his enemy or increase his valor in the defeat? Or was there something more?

"He's hiding something," Kruge said. "We may have dealt him a more serious blow than I thought."

Torg looked at him intently, trying to trace his superior's thoughts. "How can you tell that, my lord?"

"I trust my instincts," Kruge said easily. He toggled on the transmitter. "Admiral Kirk, this is your opponent speaking. Do not lecture me about treaty violations, Admiral. The Federation, in creating an ultimate weapon, has turned itself into a gang of interstellar criminals. It is not I who will surrender. It is you." He paused to let that sink in, then gambled all or nothing. "On the planet below, I have taken prisoners, three members of the team that developed your doomsday weapon. If you do not surrender immediately, I will execute them. One at a time. They are enemies of galactic peace."

On the Enterprise Buffy glanced back at Kirk.

Kirk pushed himself angrily from his chair. "Who is this? How dare you…"

"Who I am is not important, Admiral. That I have them, is. I will let you speak to them."

On the surface of Genesis, far below, the landing party listened via communicator to the battle and to the interchange between Kirk and Kruge. Saavik listened, too, buoyed by the appearance of the Enterprise, disturbed by its failure to instantly disable and capture the Klingon ship. A Klingon Bird of Pre was no match for a vessel of the Constitution Class. Saavik could only conclude that Kirk had come back to Genesis before his ship was fully repaired. She glanced at Spock, who sat wrapped in his black cloak and in exhaustion that was nearly as palpable. The reports Grissom had sent back must have brought James Kirk here. She then glanced at James Kirk's son, and saw the hope in David's bruised face. She hoped, in her turn and for all three of them, that he would not be disappointed.

The Klingon commander snapped an order. The sergeant in charge of the landing party replied with a quick assent and motioned to his underlings. They dragged Saavik, David, and Spock to their feet. Spock staggered. His face showed hopeless pain. The planet's agony, which came to him without warning and frequently more and more frequently as the hours passed tortured him brutally.

The sergeant thrust his communicator into Sauvik's face. His meaning was clear she must speak. She tried to decide if it would be better to reassure Admiral Kirk that his son and his friend were alive, or if she should maintain her silence and by doing so withhold the Klingons" proof that they had prisoners.

The sergeant said a single word and Saavik felt her arms being wrenched upward behind her back. She called on all her training. Though the leverage forced her on tiptoe, she neither winced nor cried out.

She stared coldly at the sergeant.

He clenched the fingers of his free hand into a fist. Saavik did not flinch from him. He gazed at her steadily, then smiled very slightly and made a silent motion toward David. The crew member restraining him twisted his arms pitilessly.

David gasped. The sergeant prodded Saavik in the ribs. He did not need to be able to speak Standard to indicate that he would hurt either or both of her friends until she did his bidding. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could not bear to bring them any more pain.

"Admiral," she said, "this is Saavik."

"Saavik, Is . . . David with you?"

"Yes. He is. As is . . . someone else. A Vulcan scientist of your acquaintance."

"This Vulcan is he alive?"

"He is not himself," Saavik said. "But he lives. He is subject to rapid aging, like this unstable planet."

Before Kirk could answer, the sergeant turned to David and thrust the communicator at him.

"Hello, sir. It's David."

"David, sorry I'm late."

"It's okay. I should have known you'd come. But Saavik's right this planet is unstable. It's going to destroy itself in a matter of hours."

"David . . ." Kirk sounded shocked, and genuinely sorrowful for his son's disappointment. "What went wrong?"

"I went wrong," David said.

The silence stretched so long that Saavik wondered if the communication had been severed.

"David," Kirk said, "I don't understand."

"I'm sorry, sir, it's too complicated to explain right now. Just don't surrender. Genesis doesn't work! I can't believe they'll kill us for it."

The sergeant snatched the communicator from David.

"David," Kirk shouted. But when David tried to reply, his captor wrenched him back so hard he nearly fainted. Saavik took one instinctive step toward him, but she, too, was restrained, and for the moment she had no way to resist.

The sergeant permitted them to listen to the remainder of Kruge's conversation with Admiral Kirk.

"Your young friend is mistaken, Admiral," Kruge said. His voice tightened with the emotions of anger and desire for revenge. "I meant what I said. And now, to show my intentions are sincere . . . I am going to kill one of my prisoners."

"Wait!" Kirk cried. "Give me a chance."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Commander!" Kirk shouted.

"My name," Kruge said, "is Kruge. I think it is important, Admiral, that you know who will defeat you."

"At least one of those prisoners is an unarmed civilian! The others are members of a scientific expedition. Scientific, Kruge!"

"'Unarmed?'" Kruge chuckled. "Your unarmed civilian and your scientific expedition stand upon the surface of the most powerful weapon in the universe, which they have created!"

"Kruge, don't do something you'll regret!"

"You do not understand, Admiral Kirk. Since you doubt my sincerity, I must prove it to you. My order will not be rescinded." Kruge said.

"David or Savvik?" asked Buffy.

They could make out nothing but the sounds of struggle, anger, and confusion. The transmission jumped and buzzed and they recognized the interference of a phaser beam, reacting with the communicator. He was shaking with helplessness.

Finally, the voice transmission from Genesis cleared to silence.

"I believe I have a message for you, Admiral," Kruge said, and spoke a command to his landing party.

Again, there was a delay. A voice came from Genesis, but it was one of impatient command in a dialect of Kruge's people.

"Admiral . . ."

Even when Saavik was angry and they each had seen her angry, though she might have denied it her voice was level and cool. But now it trembled, and it was full of grief.

"Admiral, David," Savvik's voice caught. "David is dead."

Kirk plunged forward as if he could strangle Kruge over the distance and the vacuum that separated them by using the sheer force fury gave his will. "Kruge, you spineless coward! You've killed my son!"

"I have two more prisoners, Admiral," Kruge said. "Do you wish to be the cause of their deaths, too? I will arrange that their fate come to them . . . somewhat more slowly." He let that sink in. "Surrender your vessel!"

"All right, damn you!" Kirk cried. He sagged back. "All right." He became aware of McCoy, at his side. "Give me a minute, to inform my crew."

"I offer you two minutes, Admiral Kirk," Kruge said, enjoying the irony of turning Kirk's commands back upon him. "For you, and your gallant crew."

His communication faded.

"Self-destruct?" suggested Buffy. "It would catch them unaware."

"Agreed," said Kirk. "Mr. Sulu, what is the crew complement of Commander Kruge's ship?"

"A dozen, officers and crew," Sulu answered.

"And some are on the planet..." Kirk said. He faced his friends, who had risked so much to accompany him. "I swear to you," he said, "we're not finished yet."

"We never have been, Jim," McCoy said.

"Sulu, Chekov, Scott and Bones to the transporter room. Buffy, Dawn, with me. We have a job to do." Kirk slapped the comm control. "Enterprise to Klingon Commander. Stand by to board this ship on my signal."

"No tricks, Kirk," Kruge replied. "You have one minute."

"No tricks," Kirk said. "I'm...Iooking forward to meeting you. Kirk out."

Kirk gathered with Buffy and Dawn at the science officer's station and opened a voice and optical channel direct to the computer.

"Computer, this is Admiral James T. Kirk. Request security access."

"Identity confirmed," the computer said.

"Computer . . ." Kirk said. He took a deep breath, and continued without pause. "Destruct sequence one. Code one, one-A…"

Dawn stepped forward. "Computer," Dawn said slowly, "this is Captain Dawn Marie Summers, acting Chief Medical Officer."

The computer scanned Dawn's eyes and recognized her.

"Destruct sequence two, code one, one-A, one-B..."

"Buffy," Kirk said, his voice absolutely level.

Buffy faced the computer's optical scan, and identified herself. "Computer, this is Commander Buffy Anne Summers, Executive Officer."

"Identification verified."

"Destruct sequence three, code one-B, two-B, three . . ."

"Destruct sequence completed and engaged. Awaiting final code for one-minute countdown."

"Code zero," Kirk said. "Zero, zero destruct zero . . ."

"One minute," the computer said. "Fifty-nine seconds. Fifty-eight seconds. Fifty-seven seconds . . ."

"Let's get the hell out of here," Kirk said angrily.

"Think they will build another?" asked Buffy.

"You know the answer to that," Kirk said as he glanced at Buffy.

"True," agreed Buffy.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

On the bridge of the Klingon Bird of Prey, Torg felt his commander's gaze raking him and the heavily armed boarding party. "They do outnumber us, my lord," he said.

His crest flaring, Kruge turned on Torg. "We are Klingons! When you have taken the ship, when you control it, I will transfer my flag to it and we will take Genesis from their own memory banks!"

"Yes, my lord," Torg said.

"To the transport room," Kruge said. He saluted Torg. "Qa'pla!"

"Qa'pla!" Torg replied. As he ordered his team into formation and away, he heard Kruge contact the Federation admiral again. The conversation followed him via the ship's speakers.

"Kirk, your time runs out. Report!"

"Kirk to Commander Kruge. We are energizing transporter beam . . ."

Torg arranged his party in a wedge, with himself at the apex.

"Transporter, stand by," Kruge said.

"Ready, my lord." Torg grasped the stock of his disrupter.

"Now."

The beam spun Torg into a whirlwind that swept him away.

As his body reformed aboard the Enterprise, he held his weapon at the ready. But no rebels waited to resist him.

No one waited at all. Over the speakers, a soft and rhythmic voice kept the ship's time. An alien custom, no doubt, as inexplicable and distracting as most alien customs.

"Forty-one seconds. Forty seconds . . ."

Torg led his force from the transporter room and toward the bridge. By the time he reached it, the eerie silence beneath the computer voice had drawn his nerves as taut as his grip on his blaster.

The bridge, too, lay empty and quiet.

"Twenty-two seconds. Twenty-one seconds. . ."

Torg drew out his communicator.

"It's a trap," one of the team members said. The fear in his voice infected every one of them.

Torg silenced him with a poisonous glance that promised severe discipline when the time was right. He opened a channel to his commander. "My lord, the ship appears to be . . . deserted."

"How can this be?" Kruge said. "They are hiding!"

"Perhaps, sir. But the bridge appears to be run by computer. It is the only thing speaking."

"What? Transmit!"

Torg aimed the directional

microphone at the computer speaker, which continued its rhythmic chant. "Six seconds. Five

seconds . . ."

"Transport! Maltz, quickly, lock onto them!" The alarm in Kruge's voice terrified Torg, but he had no time to react.

"Two seconds. One second. Zero," the computer said, very softly.