3 Veridian
Jonah Cochrane stood at the window of the Observation Lounge, watching the rain beat steadily against it. It had been raining constantly for three days. He had hoped to go out with Anthas, take a shuttle and find a clearing in the forests, maybe have a picnic, but he would have to wait until the better weather. At least it had meant the crew had been concentrating on finishing the work. They were ahead of schedule, at this rate they would be off Veridian III within a few weeks.
It was stardate 48695, over two weeks since the Enterprise-D had crashed on the planet. Most of the crew had left, leaving only a handful of crewmen behind to clear out the rooms, keep track of the possessions recovered, remove the remaining equipment and stow it all in the cargo containers that squatted next to the ruined saucer. The saucer would soon be gutted, then the engineers would be brought in, cutting the empty husk into pieces of metal for transfer off the planet. Soon nothing would be left except for an ugly scar gouged across the surface of the planet, which would heal. Cochrane had been left in charge of the operation, with a temporary promotion to Petty Officer. The new Enterprise, the Enterprise-E, would not be commissioned until the following year, which meant extended furlough for the majority of the crew. Having a productive role like this was just what he needed.
Jonah looked round the room. He had hoped to take over the Captain's Ready Room – after all Captain Picard wouldn't be needing it now – but the damage caused by the crash was too great. The outer hull to deck one, which was now the roof, had been holed. Other areas were also in a bad way and most of the bow section of the saucer was off-limits. The clean-up operation had started with this section and it had then been closed off. It had been an unsettling task. The senior crew, who had occupied the forward quarters, had left behind most of their belongings – their duties necessitated them leaving the wreckage and returning to Starfleet Command for debriefing, and the degree of damage prevented them from retrieving most of their belongings. Cochrane and his team had gradually cleared away the debris, revealing the possessions of the Enterprise crew, possessions that had once been part of their home aboard the Enterprise, but seemed out of place in their new role as part of the wreckage. In the Captain's Ready Room he had found a Kurlan naiskos – still intact. Cochrane had toyed with the idea of leaving it on his desk during the clean-up, after all he was unlikely to ever see one again and he'd long been fascinated by them. However, having it around would have made him feel sick with worry. Knowing his luck it would have survived 12 000 years, only to be knocked from his desk in a clumsy moment and broken, so it had been packed very carefully away with the rest of Picard's belongings, for forwarding to the new Enterprise.
There was someone at the door. It was Anthas.
The Andorian ensign always had a wry grin when she visited Jonah in the Observation Lounge. She'd once explained that it was because she always got the impression when she saw him there of him playing at being a grown-up. Since the crash of the Enterprise-D they had become very close friends. Both enjoyed the chance to explore the planet around them, and both got similar pleasure from taking advantage of the abandoned spacecraft, taking over the VIP quarters, reducing still further what little of the stock in Ten-Forward had survived the crash. Before the rains had started they had taken turns in the Captain's chair, intoning "Make it so" portentously and then giggling. Now, though, the bridge was awash with water and had also been sealed off. This morning Anthas had an even more mischievous grin than usual.
"What is it, An?" Jonah asked, feigning weariness.
"A message just came through. We have a visitor. He's requesting permission to come aboard."
"Who?"
"An old friend of yours."
"Who?"
"Ambassador Spock."
"Oh, hell." Jonah groaned. The last time he had seen the Ambassador, Spock was still recovering from a broken nose that Jonah had given him. No-one had reprimanded him for it, and the incident had been quietly ignored, but Jonah still did not relish meeting the man again. Even if he was a Vulcan and so therefore did not harbour grudges, Jonah would still have preferred their paths to never have crossed again. In a galaxy of any reasonable size it should have been possible for them to have comfortably avoided each other for a considerable time. In Jonah's experience, however, things rarely worked out like that.
Spock sat in the chair opposite from Jonah in the Observation Lounge. Jonah and Anthas had met the Ambassador in the main shuttle bay. Even during the brief time the shuttle bay doors had been open, rain had flooded in, together with windblown debris such as leaves and twigs. The novelty of the surreal juxtaposition of spaceship and the elements was beginning to wear thin. Jonah looked out of the large windows at the storm clouds overhead while trying to think of a way to begin the conversation. They had barely spoken during the entire time and Jonah was beginning to find the tension unbearable.
"Ambassador," he began, then faltered. How could he say this? "Ambassador, about the incident when I, er, when we had that disagreement. I deeply regret it, and hope that you accept that I was very upset at the time. I know that's no excuse, but …"
Spock waved the apology aside.
"Think nothing of it. Even for Vulcans in such situations t'san s'at is difficult to accomplish without a soo-lak being present. I hope that you have managed to regain an unemotional stance with regard to the subject."
"Almost, Ambassador. Almost. And … your intention to begin the reunification of Romulans and Vulcans. It seemed apparent that the Romulan delegates left because they became disillusioned regarding the chances of the success of the mission. I assume that this was because they believed you would join the Isolationists, which would be a reasonable conclusion considering that you'd just been whacked in the face by a non-Vulcan. I hope I haven't put back Romulan-Vulcan diplomacy by too many years."
"I think interplanetary diplomacy can survive the occasional broken nose," Spock replied. "Besides, Starfleet Intelligence now reports that Katrin and Rohan were both members of the Tal Shiar. It seems that once again the Romulan secret police were exploiting my hopes of Reunification to gain some military or intelligence advantage over Vulcan. By contributing to the failure of the mission you have probably helped Romulan-Vulcan relations."
Jonah nodded. Glad to be of service, he thought. Any time it's helpful to break your nose, just ask. So there would probably be no comeback for the incident from Vulcan or from Starfleet. Seeing the Ambassador still brought back feelings of jealousy, however. He didn't think he could move on quite as quickly as the Ambassador had.
"May I ask what brings you to Veridian III?" Jonah asked.
"It is a personal matter. I shall only be staying for a few days, and will not presume too much on your hospitality. I plan to leave as soon as the weather improves. If you will show me to my quarters."
Jonah nodded and glanced at the clouds. Could that be a patch of blue sky on the horizon?
Later that day Anthas appeared again. Jonah had been reading through Picard's deposition to the Court Martial regarding the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the Enterprise-D. Both Picard and Riker were undergoing court martial for the loss of the spacecraft, Picard because he was its captain, Riker because he was in command at the time. The procedure was simply a formality, however. Jonah didn't think there would be any charges, Picard had saved the Veridian System, after all, and the lives of the entire crew. There were certain obvious irregularities in his testimony, however, that Cochrane knew Temporal Investigations would pick up on. Jonah was sure Picard would not have an easy time from the Department, both for the temporal infringements he was admitting to, and for the infringements he appeared to be covering up.
Jonah looked up at Anthas. He hoped it wasn't Spock again. He'd shown the Ambassador to his quarters, finding him rooms with a view of the mountains to the port side of the saucer. Whatever had brought him to the planet, Jonah hoped he would be gone soon.
"Guess who this time?" she asked.
Jonah shrugged.
"Dahar Master Kor, of the Klingon Empire. He's asking for permission to land."
"Well, Number One. Make it so. I'll meet him in the main shuttle bay."
This was becoming bizarre. First Spock, now Kor. Why would both come to this out-of-the-way planet, at the same time? And who would be next?
Jonah had answers to both of these questions that evening. Kor had asked to be taken up to the bar, and had stayed there for the rest of the day. Jonah had asked Anthas to join them and the Klingon had regaled them both with stories of battles and other exploits, which had bored Cochrane but appeared to charm Anthas. Anthas appeared to have the same effect on Kor, almost matching him drink for drink and fitting in a few far-fetched stories about exploits of her own.
"My boy," he effused, talking to Jonah, "you have a fine First Officer here." He patted Anthas on the shoulder. She returned the gesture. "Tell me, is she as passionate about sex as she is about flying?"
Cochrane coloured. "I … er .. that is , we're just … I mean we haven't .. we haven't yet …"
"Yet?" Anthas commented.
Cochrane blushed more and gave up before he dug himself deeper.
Kor was not impressed. "Ah, you humans, so delicate in your manners. If we Klingons see something we like, we take it." He leered at the young Andorian. "If only I were a hundred years younger."
Cochrane mumbled that that didn't seem to stop some people, which Kor missed, as he had just launched into another story.
"In fact it was just over a hundred years ago that I met my first human. That was Kirk, you know."
"Kirk? You mean James T. Kirk?" Cochrane asked. "You knew him?"
"Of course. That's why I'm here. To visit his grave and show my respects. That is, I assume, why Ambassador Spock is here, too. I met the two of them at the same time, you know. I was Governor of Organia then and …" Cochrane's combadge signalled.
"I'm sorry, sir," he lied. "Duty calls."
"Of course, my boy," Kor patted Anthas's knee. "If you could spare your First Officer here to keep me company, though, I would be grateful."
Cochrane smiled wanly and left.
His combadge informed him that the Enterprise had yet another visitor. This one refused to state who he or she was. Cochrane instructed a group of crewmen to meet him down at the shuttle bay with phasers. The security detail left aboard the wrecked spacecraft was a minimal one. It had been felt that there would be little need for any guards.
The shuttle bay doors closed, cutting off the rainfall. The new spaceship had landed between Spock's Vulcan shuttle and the small Klingon scout craft. As Jonah watched a ramp descended from the open airlock door. Several armed guards appeared. The Enterprise crewmen raised their phasers.
One of the guards left the spacecraft and approached the group. Jonah wasn't sure of his species, either Antican or Chalnoth, he thought Chalnoth. All that really concerned him was the guard's size and the number of sharp teeth.
"Who's in charge?" the guard demanded.
"I am," Cochrane answered, trying not to look unnerved. He'd been left in charge of a minor clean-up operation, he hadn't expected to have to deal with this kind of confrontation.
"Come with me," the Chalnoth ordered.
Cochrane didn't see many alternatives. He turned to the man standing next to him.
"Rav, if I'm not out in ten minutes, seal off the shuttle bay. Ensign Anthas will have to take over if you don't hear from me. OK?
Rav nodded. Cochrane followed the guard as he returned to the spacecraft. As they passed the other guards one of them, a Nausicaan, took his phaser from him.
The inside of the spacecraft was a revelation. The interior walls were decorated with what looked like Ancient Greek mosaics. The Chalnoth guard led Cochrane into an anterior room. Seated on a pile of cushions in the centre of the room was a middle-aged dark-haired human, approximately one metre tall. The man stood up and held out his hand for shaking in a Terran style of greeting.
Cochrane shook the proffered hand. "Petty Officer Jonah Cochrane. In command of the salvage operation of the U.S.S. Enterprise." He paused, anticipating the other's reply.
The other man smiled then announced "I am Alexander."
Jonah was puzzled for a while, then it sank in. "Alexander? What, the Alexander? Hephaestus Holdings? That Alexander" The man was one of the richest people in the Alpha Quadrant, but was a complete recluse. Everyone speculated about what he looked like. Some rumours were that he was only a virtual person created by a syndicate, which would explain his longevity, running his commercial empire for over a hundred years. Alexander was obviously gratified by the reaction, and was amused by the confusion and surprise.
"Well, I own Hephaestus Holdings. If that makes me the Alexander, then I suppose I am." Alexander reseated himself on the cushions and motioned for Cochrane to sit on a similar pile in front of him. The Chalnoth guard stood attentively in the corner.
"I suppose you're wondering why I'm visiting this planet?"
"Let me guess, to visit the grave of Captain Kirk? Am I right?"
"Yes, that's correct," it was Alexander's turn to be surprised. "How did you know?"
"Both Ambassador Spock and Dahar Master Kor are here for the same reason. I just assumed that was your reason too."
"Spock? He's here? Could you please take me to him? I have much to talk to him about."
"Of course. I'll let him know you're here and show you to his quarters."
"Thank you. One favour, however, Jonah." Jonah tensed. It could be awkward if he had to refuse a favour. He had the impression that Alexander expected his favours to be granted. "Could you arrange for the decks to be cleared en route? I would prefer to retain my anonymity as much as possible."
Cochrane nodded and moved to leave.
"Also would you have dinner with me this evening? And I would very much like to meet your other guest."
Jonah turned to leave, but Alexander had one more instruction.
"Oh, and bring a friend."
'When Alexander asks for a favour, it's always granted.' That was a common saying on the streets of the Rigel System, where Jonah spent his youth. It was used in the context of a wealthy or powerful person dropping a hint, which had the same effect as a regular person making an order. Jonah had never expected to actually be doing a favour for Alexander. Luckily, both Spock and Kor had had a similar desire to have dinner with Alexander, so the meal had been arranged. Jonah just hoped there wouldn't be any surprises. Having to attend diplomatic functions with high-ranking officials of the Federation and Klingon Empire and a leading businessman was not something he had much experience of.
His first surprise occurred before the meal even started. He called for Anthas at her quarters and found her dressed in an ornate traditional Andorian dress, a necklace of blue anthracite around her neck. She noticed his look of amazement.
"What?" she asked.
He shook his head.
"Come on, what is it?"
"I've never seen you dressed up before. It's … it's quite a change."
"You've never invited me to a high-class function before," she slipped her arm through his. "And you look very dashing in your dress uniform. You should wear a skirt more often." Jonah couldn't tell if she was being ironic or not.
The meal was in Alexander's quarters. Both Kor and Spock were already there. Alexander acted as host, and two people from his retinue, a tall male Hupyrian and a female human, served the meal.
Jonah had been worried about etiquette, but with Kor there he could relax with regard to table manners. The Klingon tore into his food, spilt his wine, and flirted outrageously with Anthas. Alexander had a fascination with ancient Terran cultures, which Jonah shared, and Jonah found himself forgetting that the man he was talking to was one of the most powerful men in the Galaxy.
Eventually, with the meal finished and the best that Ten-Forward could supply passed around, the conversation came round to the reason why the three men were there. Kor broached the subject.
"So, my boy, what does Starfleet have to say on the subject of Captain James T. Kirk? What do they tell you about him at the Academy these days? Is he in or out?"
"They leave it up to us to decide for ourselves," Jonah tried to reply diplomatically since he knew Spock and Kirk had been close friends.
"And what have you decided?"
Jonah paused. "I know there's the whole debate about his violations of the Prime Directive. But I think that's taking him out of the context of his time. A hundred years ago there wasn't the same caution about interference. People have said that it demonstrates the arrogance of the man that he felt he could decide the fate of entire races for them, but I don't see it that way. OK, he was applying his own subjective morality, mistaking subjective opinions for existential truths. But …" Jonah looked round the table to see how the others were reacting, "… reading about his actions I get the impression that he acted out of compassion for the peoples he met, and I can't criticise him for that."
Spock replied "But, they say, do they not, Mr. Cochrane, that the road to hell is paved with good intentions? Captain Kirk and I rarely returned to those races to see the effects of our interventions. And when we do …" he broke off. "The Mirror Universe, for example. Have you read of the disastrous results of his 'compassion' there? And the …"
"Come now," Kor interrupted. "This is disloyalty. We should be celebrating the man's life, not criticising."
"But, Master Kor …" Anthas objected. "He was your enemy. The Klingons and the Federation were at war a hundred years ago. How can you be loyal to your enemy?"
Kor took a drink of his wine. "A Klingon delights in war. A Klingon seeks out battle. Without an enemy we have nothing to test ourselves against, and no-one to fight. Klingons honour their enemies even more than their allies because of this. And a worthy adversary … a Klingon lives for such moments. I only regret I never met the man in battle. A curse on the Organians for denying me the chance."
"I for one am extremely grateful for his interference" Alexander commented. "I was a slave on Platonius for years, and would be still, if Kirk and the Ambassador here had not rescued me. Where would I be if Kirk had obeyed the rules? Still performing tricks for Parmen and the others." Alexander stopped then. He became very morose, brooding on some aspect of his past, the others suspected. The five continued drinking in silence for a few minutes.
"If you will excuse me" Alexander announced, "gentlemen, lady," with a nod to Anthas. He climbed down from his chair. His two servants were immediately by his side. "I plan to visit the grave of Captain Kirk tomorrow and will leave as early as possible. If you don't mind I'd like to retire now. Stay as long as you wish."
Spock rose too. "If I may make a suggestion. Since Dahar Master Kor and I also plan to visit the grave perhaps we could all go together. We could take my shuttle."
Kor thumped the table. "An excellent suggestion, Vulcan. Mr. Alexander, what do you say?"
Alexander smiled. "It would be an honour. Shall we make it 700 hours tomorrow morning?"
The others agreed, and also made their excuses and left. Outside Alexander's quarters, Jonah breathed a sigh of relief. He had survived.
Jonah thought he was about to die. It felt like there was a warp core breach in progress inside his head. He tried to remember the night before but it was a blur. He vaguely remembered breaking in to Ten-Forward with Kor, to raid the alcohol store. Anthas had been there too. Then they had worked their way through several bottles. Jonah tried to remember if he'd done anything stupid. Bits came back. He groaned with embarrassment as he remembered becoming entranced by the light from the emergency lighting reflecting from the cerulean blue of An's skin. She did a lot of weight training and her biceps had a sculpture-like quality which, as she moved, created an interplay of shadow and light on her upper arms, left exposed by the dress she was wearing. Jonah had felt it was extremely important that he had explained this to her and Kor, and had attempted to do so at great length until he had slumped into semi-consciousness onto the bar.
And there was something else. He had been swapping James Kirk stories with Kor and he had told them how his father had been named after Kirk and why. His grandfather Zefram Cochrane had been marooned on a planetoid in the Gamma Canaris region with no-one for company except a non-corporeal being called the Companion. The Companion abducted Kirk, Spock and another guy and a Federation Commissioner called Nancy Hedford, and then merged with Nancy to form a combined being. Nancy and Zefram stayed on the planetoid and had four children, one of whom was Jonah's father. Thus Jonah had one paternal grandfather and two paternal grandmothers and Kirk was the person who had brought most of it about – at least according to the story the way Jonah's father had told it. Jonah got the impression that neither Kor nor An believed a word of it. Jonah wasn't sure why he didn't like to tell people the story normally, probably because it was so incredible, and there were no records to back it up. He just hoped he hadn't looked like an idiot. Or, if he had, that neither of the other two remembered it.
His door signalled. It opened and Anthas entered.
"You're awake then."
"Yeah, although I wish I wasn't."
Anthas went to Jonah's replicator and ordered a painkiller and deintoxicant. She handed them to him. He nodded his thanks.
"There's someone to see you, a Captain Scott. I think he's another person come to see Kirk's grave."
"Another one? This place is getting to be a tourist attraction. Have Spock and the others left yet?"
"They left four hours ago. It's 1100 hours now. You were supposed to see them off." She sat by his bed and regarded him with mock gravity. "You shouldn't drink so much if you can't handle it, you know." Jonah nodded his agreement. "Some news came through from Starfleet," she added. Jonah relaxed slightly, it seemed as if An was going to pretend that he hadn't said any of those things the night before. Then it clicked what she'd said.
"What news?"
"Captain Picard and Commander Riker have been cleared by the Court Martial."
"Excellent."
"That's the good news. The bad news is that the Captain's being charged by the Department of Temporal Investigations for altering the past, and for attempting to cover up the temporal anomalies he created."
"I thought he might be. His testimony had some huge holes in it. They were bound to be suspicious." Jonah sat on the edge of his bed. His head swam. He swallowed the pills and headed towards his shower.
"An?" Jonah called from the shower.
"Yes, Joe?" she stuck her head round the door of his bathroom.
"How did I get back here last night?"
"Kor and I carried you." Oh God, it was worse than he'd thought. He'd passed out in front of the Dahar Master. "Then we undressed you and put you into bed." How was this going to look on his record, being nursemaided by one of the highest ranking Klingons? "Don't worry – he likes you. He enjoyed your story about Kirk and your grandfather. He said you lie like a Ferengi, but you drink like a glob fly."
Jonah put his head in his hands and groaned. "You go and talk to this Scott guy. I'm just going to hide in here until they've all gone."
Scott was sitting impatiently in the Observation Lounge when Jonah entered. Scott's impatience dissolved when he saw Jonah.
"D'ye have a rough night, laddie?"
"Yes, I did. Too much Caldosian whisky in the bar last night."
"Caldosian? Ye have good taste, lad." Scott said approvingly.
Anthas entered behind Jonah.
"Any luck raising the others?" Scott asked her.
"No, communications are still out."
Jonah looked at her in surprise. "How long have they been out of contact?"
"We only tried reaching them after Captain Scott arrived. About half-an-hour."
Jonah thought a few minutes. A command decision. He wasn't too confident about making an accurate one, but it seemed obvious what he needed to do.
"An, get a shuttle ready. We'll go out and take a look."
"I'd like to come along with ye, if it's all right." Scott asked.
"Of course, sir."
Jonah contacted Rav, one of the security detail assigned to the salvage operation, and informed him that Jonah and Anthas would be travelling to Kirk's burial site. Rav would be in command if contact were lost with the shuttle. They would be taking the Hawking, which apart from the Feynman, was the only Enterprise shuttlecraft still remaining on Veridian III. There was the Captain's yacht, of course, but since the hangar for that was at the base of the saucer, launching it would be problematic to say the least.
In the shuttle bay three visitors' spacecraft stood next to each other, the remaining two having been joined by Scott's spacecraft – a type 6 shuttlecraft named the Godard, which to Jonah's surprise had an Enterprise-D registration. Jonah, Anthas and Scott walked past them to where the Hawking was waiting. In front of the Hawking they were met by Alexander's bodyguards. The human female from Alexander's entourage was also with them. She seemed to be the spokesperson for the group.
"They're coming with you," she stated.
Jonah looked at the four bodyguards – the Chalnoth, the Nausicaan, and two others – both of species Jonah didn't recognise but tall, well-built and mean-looking – and didn't argue.
It was a mistake, Jonah realised afterwards, but he should have employed more air cover, just to be on the safe side. His excuse was that he didn't have any combat training, but in hindsight it should have been obvious that there was a strong possibility someone had brought down the shuttle that Kor, Spock and Alexander were travelling on.
Anthas was piloting the shuttle, of course. They were following the flight path of Spock's shuttle, trying to see where the others may have crashed. They couldn't scan for them, something seemed to be blocking their sensors.
The first intimation they had that the shuttle disappearance was due to someone attacking was when they had almost reached the mountain on which Kirk was buried. The forest cover was particularly dense in the area, but even so the wreckage of two crashed shuttles was apparent.
Anthas was just taking the Hawking round for another pass when there was a flash of light from the trees. A phaser cannon. The beam hit the Hawking in its port nacelle and Anthas immediately lost control.
Anthas steered the shuttle as best she could, skimming it across the tops of the trees to slow the speed as much as possible, but it still hit the ground harder than she would have liked. As the diagnostic warning lights lit up across the control console, indicating that the shuttle was too damaged to take off again, she thought ruefully that this was the third crash she'd been involved with in as many months. She knew that Jonah had built up a personal mythology that somehow he was a jinx, and that every spaceship he had ever been on had been destroyed in some way, and for a moment she considered it. First the Tycho Brahe, then the Enterprise, now the Hawking. One for every month she'd known him. But it was a ridiculous idea. From what she'd learnt on the journey, Anthas thought it was probably an idea that had been instilled in him since his childhood. The flight had taken close to two hours, and Scott and Jonah had been talking for most of that time. Jonah had been curious as to how Scott could have known Kirk, since the latter had been missing, presumed dead, for eighty years. Scott had described the crash into the Dyson sphere that he had survived by placing his transporter trace in a pattern buffer, and how it had taken 75 years to be rescued. That rescue had actually been by the Enterprise, soon after Anthas had been assigned to it, though before Jonah had arrived. He also explained how he had come to own an Enterprise shuttle: it had been loaned to him by Captain Picard.
Jonah had then shared his own experience of something similar. He had been born on his family's trader ship, and its warp core had malfunctioned soon afterwards. His mother's step-father, his Grandpa Cy, had suggested the name Jonah for him, which had started the belief that somehow the two events were connected. It had taken them 12 years at 0.94c, the highest impulse power they could manage, to reach the nearest inhabited star system, which happened to be Rigel. Time dilation effects meant that 54 years had passed by during that time. Jonah could empathise with Scott's difficulty in adjusting to the new era he had found himself in, having observed at close quarters how disconcerted his own parents had been at the changes that had occurred in the time they'd been away.
Anthas had eavesdropped on their conversation with fascination. She was discovering so much about her friend that he'd previously been secretive about. For instance, although he was only 29, he had actually been born 71 years ago. She was also fascinated to hear two humans converse. Anthas had had a curiosity about humans and Terran culture since a young child, which had been instrumental in leading her to a career in Starfleet. They'd always seemed the strangest of the species in the Federation. Scott and Joe underlined this difference for her now, talking about the bizarre events in their lives, 75 years as a transporter trace, Dyson spheres, relativistic effects. Anthas had been inside the Dyson sphere, and it had awed her in a way nothing before or since had, yet these two humans talked about these occurrences as if they were commonplace.
Even now they appeared unconcerned.
"Sorry about that Captain," Joe was saying, "Ensign Anthas always lands like that. It saves on the retro thrusters."
Anthas turned round to explain, but saw from Joe's expression that he was joking. He was helping Scott to his feet on the sloping floor of the shuttle. Alexander's four bodyguards had already gone.
"We'd better get after them," Jonah said. "If that was phaser fire then the Ambassador and the others will need our help. An – go outside and see if you can tell which way they went. I'll get the phasers and the field packs."
Tracking the bodyguards was simple enough – they left a trail of broken branches and trodden undergrowth as they forced a way through the surrounding forest. Catching up with them would not be as easy. Scott, despite his shortcut through the 150 years since his birth, was still getting on in years, and Jonah was not as physically fit as the average Starfleet member. Anthas found herself becoming increasingly frustrated at having to wait for the two of them. Each metre they walked through the forest the pheromone spoor her antennae detected got fainter – which meant the four bodyguards were getting further and further ahead.
After an hour of walking Scott needed a rest. Joe passed round a canteen of water as the three sat in the bole of a tree.
"The Enterprise should be sending out a search party soon. We're overdue for our call-in." Jonah commented.
"Although that won't do us much good. How are they going to find us in here?" Anthas pointed out.
"True," Jonah conceded.
"Aye, and don't forget," Scott coughed – still trying to get back his breath, "don't forget that phaser cannon. If any other shuttles come after us, they'll be shot down too."
Jonah tried futilely tapping his combadge, but it was still dead. Not only were their sensors being blocked, but their communications were too. Anthas felt sorry for him. He might be a brilliant xeno-ethnologist, and a good friend, but he was out of his depth commanding anything more difficult than a salvage operation. She lifted the field pack – at least she could carry that for him – and at that moment heard the distant sound of phaser fire.
Andorian do not have ears, but their antennae are far more sensitive to pressure variations than ears could be. Although it was clear to Anthas, Scott and Jonah hadn't heard it.
"Phaser fire," she told them. "Up ahead."
She set off – outpacing Scott and Joe – until Joe yelled.
"Wait, An. I don't want you going into anything on your own."
"But the Ambassador and the others. They might need help," she set off again.
"An!" Joe called again. She turned impatiently. "Errm, that was an order, An," he shrugged apologetically. "OK?"
Anthas fumed inwardly while she waited for the two humans to reach her. She had a higher rank than Jonah, it was purely the fact that the salvage task was more suited to being run by a quartermaster than a pilot that had meant he was in command. Then she relented. He was right, they should stick together. What was a human thing to do to heal any conflict? Sarcasm, probably.
"I love it when you're masterful, Joe. "
Scott and Jonah looked at each other and laughed. Anthas resumed following the bodyguards' trail through the forest. Using insults to display affection was one of the stranger things about humans, Anthas noted. Even when they were predictable they weren't understandable.
Kor scowled with irritation as he and the others climbed up through the forests around the base of the mountain. He hated to be running away from his enemies, but Spock's logic was irrefutable. They had managed to damage Spock's shuttle, and would have destroyed them if Spock hadn't rammed their spacecraft and disabled it. Now their only chance of survival was to make it to the top of the mountain where the crew of the Enterprise would be able to locate them easily. Kor was not confident of the Federation people's ability to help. They weren't particularly incompetent, that Andorian girl had seemed to have her wits about her, but they were young and inexperienced, selected for their ability to salvage a wrecked spacecraft, not trained warriors. They should stand and fight, even though there was little chance of defeating a team of trained assassins, as the group who pursued them undoubtedly were.
He looked down at the little man who walked beside him. Alexander certainly had fortitude. And pride – he had refused to allow either Kor or Spock to carry him, even though it meant their pursuers were almost certain to catch up with them. Spock had managed to fly his shuttle for several kilometres after the collision, which had given them a considerable head start, but it would still not be enough.
The trees were beginning to thin. That gave them less protection from the sun, but at least meant that any rescuers were more likely to be able to spot them from the air. They might make it after all. Kor hoped so. His head ached from too much wine the night before, his stomach rumbled from lack of food, and the Vulcan and his damn logic had been annoying him all day. This was definitely not a good day to die.
Spock stopped and turned.
"What is it now, Vulcan?" Kor demanded.
Spock closed his eyes in concentration, and pointed behind them.
"Over there – phasers."
Kor heard them too. Good day for it or not, it seemed his time had come.
When Anthas was a child there had been tribal clashes in her province on Andor. Andorians were known for their passion and violence, both frequently combined in the same action. The riots had increased in violence – and homes in her town had been fire-bombed. Some families had been caught in the conflagration and Anthas had for the first time wished that she had not been born an Andorian. She had not heard the screams of the people as the flames closed in, but the enhanced olfactory sense that her antennae gave her meant that she could detect the smell as they burnt. It had lasted for days, and had made her physically sick the whole time. And she could detect that same smell now, in amongst the smell of soot from the burnt forest, the smell of burnt flesh.
She motioned the two men behind her to be careful and cautiously they entered the clearing ahead.
The forest had been burnt by a high-energy weapon, probably the phaser cannon that had hit their shuttle. Nothing remained of the trees and undergrowth except a wide sector of ash and a few blackened stumps. The three entered the clearing but kept to the edge, ready to take cover if anyone appeared. The swathe narrowed to a point, where the phaser cannon still stood. Strewn around the cannon were four bodies - all human.
"These must be the people who attacked us", Anthas said, noting the phaser burns. As she spoke one of the bodies towards the front of the cannon began moving weakly and whimpering. Anthas took off her field pack and began looking for the medi-kit. She handed it to Scott, who had gently moved the man onto his back to examine his burns.
"The phaser cannon was too close when it was fired," he said. Scott gave the man a painkiller and ran a dermal regenerator over his face and hands. "There's not much we can do for him."
Jonah had wandered away. He'd felt sickened by the scenes of death. Unlike Anthas and Scott he hadn't experienced death in anything outside a holodeck simulation. The reality was quite different.
He'd noticed two smaller burnt areas off to one side of the cannon and had walked over to check them out. The tricorder was still in the field pack, but he guessed that if he scanned the residue of ash on the floor of the forest he'd find remains of non-human DNA, perhaps Chalnoth or Nausicaan. It looked like Alexander's bodyguards had ambushed the assassins while they'd been carrying the phaser cannon. The assassins had then returned fire with the cannon, killing the bodyguards that had attacked them. That would account for the large burnt area. The two assassins on the phaser cannon must have then been cut down from behind by the two remaining bodyguards. And then themselves been killed. That meant there were probably several assassins who had survived the ambush.
Assassins. Jonah had been using the word to describe the men who had attacked firstly Spock, Kor and Alexander, and then him, Anthas and Scott. Is that what they actually were, he wondered? And if so, who were they intending to assassinate?
Jonah returned to Scott and Anthas. The injured man was quiet now that the painkillers had taken effect.
"An, can you work out which way the rest of them headed?" he asked. "We need to get going."
"What about him?" she indicated the man on the ground. "He needs attention. One of us should stay with him."
"No, he'll have to stay here on his own. We'll come back for him when Kor and the others are safe." He expected an argument, but Anthas lifted up the field pack and walked into the forest. She moved her head from side to side, trying to get a fix on the direction of the assassins' pheromone trail.
"This way" she pointed, and headed off into the forest.
Kor sat with Spock and Alexander in the shade of one of the boulders that were strewn down the side of the mountain. His hangover had abated, and Spock had found some field rations in his pack. Kor was beginning to find the climb, and the sharing of danger with two comrades, exhilarating. However, at this moment he needed to rest. The ascent was steeper now, and the surface was covered in scree, which was difficult to walk on. The top of the mountain was in clear sight now, an hour or more climbing would be all it would take. Kor looked down the mountainside, in the direction from which their pursuers would come.
"So Spock, do you have any idea who these people might be?" he asked.
"No, Master Kor. I doubt it is me they are pursuing. As a diplomat I tend not to make enemies, except of other diplomats, and they would not resort to violence." Spock looked along Kor's line of sight. "Perhaps it is you they seek."
"I do not think so, Spock. I believe I have outlived all of my enemies."
Spock nodded in agreement. "Klingons are very long-lived."
"Compared to humans, perhaps. But that is not what I meant. It is more that our enemies are short-lived."
Spock raised a single eyebrow in ironic appreciation of the comment. Kor saw it and thumped him on the back.
"Hah, Spock. Whatever happens I have enjoyed our day out together. What do you say, Mr. Alexander?"
Alexander sat further down the slope from the other two, but shared their direction of view.
"I think it is probably me they are after," he mused. "Since leaving Platonius I've accrued as much power and wealth as I could. I've learnt it's the only way to be strong enough to be secure. But in so doing I've made many enemies." He looked up at a vapour trail, white against the clear blue sky. "One of ours, do you think, or one of theirs?"
Kor shrugged. "Impossible to tell. Even if it is a Federation craft, how do we know if it is our human friend and his little blue par'machkai or more people after your blood?"
"Kor is correct," Spock added. "We had best stay under cover until we can be certain who is in the craft." He looked uphill. "That way," he pointed to a crevice that had an overhanging rockface. "That seems the best course." Wearily the other two followed him.
"Stop!" Jonah felt a hand on his shoulder pulling him back and down. They had neared the edge of an outcrop of rock. The path ahead meant descending this rockface before continuing the ascent up the mountain. A shuttle – the Feynman – had flown overhead a few moments before, but they had failed to attract its attention. Beside Jonah, Anthas lay on the ground, looking out over the valley below. Jonah lay next to her, and Scott soon joined them. Anthas pointed.
"Look there, can you see?"
Jonah couldn't make out where she was pointing. Beside him Scott drew in his breath.
"Aye lassie, I see them."
Jonah looked again. Three dark figures moving against the rocks on the other side of the valley.
"Is it them? Kor and the others?" he asked.
"No." Anthas replied. She didn't need to say more. Anthas and Scott drew their phasers.
"What?" Jonah was shocked. "We just shoot them?"
"What else do you suggest?" Anthas replied.
"I don't know, it just seems …"
"Laddie, if we don't kill them, then they will track down and kill Spock and the others. We have no choice," Scott reasoned.
Jonah nodded. He drew his own phaser and returned to looking over the edge of the rockface.
Only two of the figures were visible now, then the third appeared from behind a boulder.
"OK," Jonah whispered, despite the fact no sound would carry the distance to the other side of the valley if he spoke in a normal tone, "An you take the top one, Captain, you take the bottom, I'll take the one in the middle. On three, fire."
Jonah looked at the central figure, climbing up on the other side of the valley. All he had to do was squeeze the trigger and that person would cease to exist. Even though the figure was not much more than a dot, Jonah could identify with him. A cold impersonal fate waiting to descend on him, with no protection from it.
"Joe?" An prompted.
"OK, one, two, three."
Three beams of light sprang from the phasers. The lower figure vapourised in a glow of light. The upper beam hit a rock behind which the upper figure had just stepped. The middle one hurled himself to the right just before the beam hit.
Jonah, Anthas and Scott drew back. Just then the two surviving assassins returned fire. The rock along the cliff edge began to glow red from the heat. They could smell the ionised air. The smoke crisped the back of their throats as they breathed in.
"Fan out," Scott ordered. "We'll try and work round them."
The two younger Starfleet members did as they were told, Scott's authority keeping them from panicking. There was little way they could sneak up on the two men opposite, any move down the cliff-face would leave them exposed. Another volley hit the cliff-face.
Kor, Spock and Alexander heard the phaser fire. This time it was very close. The flashes seemed to be coming from further down the mountain. Spock climbed the ridge to his left and looked down. On his left and further down on the same side of the valley formed by the ridge he was on and the next ridge he could make out two figures. They were sheltering and firing at the ridge top on the other side of the valley. Kor joined Spock.
"Well, Ambassador" Kor said, "what does your logic tell you now?"
"That while our pursuers are engaged we should take the opportunity to make our escape" Spock replied, and began to descend the ridge. Alexander had reached Kor and together they followed Spock.
"So why choose now to abandon logic, Vulcan?" Kor asked.
Spock turned and raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Chegh-chew jaj-vam jaj-kak," he replied.
Kor grinned and prepared to follow his comrade into battle.
Jonah and Anthas had crawled as far as they could. Any further to the side, or back the way they came, would leave them exposed. Jonah was thankful that Starfleet had changed its uniforms to ones that were predominantly black, but he felt the brightly coloured epaulettes were still a bad idea in situations like this. The rock outcropping they had begun this exchange of phaser fire from was too isolated from the surrounding terrain. The two men opposite had them pinned down. The confrontation had been poorly planned. Now one of the men could keep them trapped and the other could circle round. They would need a lot of luck to get out of this one.
Kor, Spock and Alexander were nearly on the first of the assassins. He was sheltered behind a rock, firing at the cliff opposite. The surface was covered in loose shale, however, and it was impossible to approach quietly. As they neared him he heard them and spun round, Kor leaped at him, grabbing his arm, and Spock stepped in behind the man, administering the totsu'k'hy. The man collapsed, Kor took his phaser and went on, looking for the final assassin.
The noise of the struggle had alerted the other assassin however. As Kor approached, the man stood confronting the Klingon, his phaser pointed. The elderly Dahar Master prepared to enter Sto-Vo-Kor, but before the human could squeeze the trigger, a small figure leapt on him from the rock behind. It was Alexander, holding onto the assassin's head, attempting to claw at his eyes. The man twisted, trying to shake off Alexander, and quickly threw him to the ground, but as soon as he did so, he disappeared in the glow of phaser fire.
On the ridge on the opposite side of the valley, Anthas, Scott and Jonah cautiously looked up. The phaser fire had stopped. It seemed someone had intervened.
Kor, Spock and Alexander resumed their climb up the mountain. Whoever had been firing on the assassins was probably not a threat, but the three preferred not to take any chances. Their hope was that any rescuers from the Enterprise would be waiting for them on the mountain-top.
"You fought well, Spock," Kor commented.
"Thank you, as did you." Spock replied. "My ancestors were a violent aggressive people, I fear the urge to fight is still hidden deep within the Vulcan genes."
"It is a pity we have so little contact with your race. I feel you have much to teach us. That nerve grip for example."
"And you have much to teach us, too, Kor. You are correct, the Klingons and Vulcans do not know enough about each other. Everything is mediated through the humans. It is eighty years since I met with Gorkon and as far as I am aware that was the last diplomatic mission from my planet to yours." Spock thought for a moment. "Master Kor, how would you like to be the Klingon Ambassador to Vulcan? Help forge a new understanding between our races?"
Kor thought about it for a few moments. "Is there alcohol on Vulcan?"
"We can make it."
"And is your food live?"
"We can import gagh for you, if you like."
"Then it's a deal" Kor decided. "'Klingon ambassador to Vulcan', I like the sound of that." He looked up towards the top of the mountain.
"Joe. "
Anthas's voice was very quiet. She stopped and waited for the other two to reach her.
The three had crossed over to the other ridge, and had found the site of the fight between Kor, Spock and Alexander and the two assassins. They had found the last surviving assassin, bound and left on the mountainside. Jonah had looked through the man's pack, discarded nearby, and had discovered the small scanning and communications dampening device. He had turned it off and then communicated with the Feynman that they were on their way and to wait at the mountain top. Rav had informed him that the three mourners were already there.
Jonah, Anthas and Scott had walked for another hour, and now the mountain top was less than a hundred metres above them. It was while he was looking for the route to the top that Anthas had noticed something off to one side, and had gone to investigate. She was now calling him over to look at what she had discovered. Jonah went to look at where Anthas was pointing. A pair of legs clad in Starfleet uniform lay protruding from underneath a pile of small stones. Jonah and Anthas cleared them and looked down at the face of the corpse they had uncovered. It was unmistakably that of Captain Picard.
"How …?" Anthas began, but couldn't get any further.
"How long has he been here?" Jonah answered. "About two weeks I'd guess."
"But …?"
"He's the Picard from our timeline."
"That's the fellow. I knew I recognised him." Scott said. "If he was missing did ye not think to look for him?"
"But he's not missing," Anthas answered. "He's at Starfleet Headquarters at the moment."
"Answering questions about this man here, I'd guess."
"But if this is Captain Picard, who's the Picard at HQ?" Anthas was still confused.
"He's from a different timeline," Jonah explained. Combat tactics weren't his strong point, but he'd shown a flair for inter-temporal causality at the Academy. "You've read Picard's deposition, right? He says that he met Soran on the bridge there," Jonah pointed to the wreckage of a bridge strewn around the cliff-face. "But in the original timeline Picard failed to beat Soran, Veridian was destroyed and we died and the Nexus hit Veridian III. So Picard and Soran entered the Nexus. Picard met Kirk and the two of them came back in time and met Soran on the bridge, thereby creating an alternative timeline, this one, where Soran was defeated, we're alive, and the Nexus never hit the planet."
"And that's the charge that Picard now faces, creating an alternative timeline? The fact that he saved the Veridian System, and our lives, that doesn't matter?"
"In part. But the main problem is this. Kirk and Picard come back in time, to a time where Picard met Soran on the bridge, OK? But in his testimony there's a huge hole, one that's really obvious. Kirk and Picard from the future go back to meet Picard and Soran in the present. So there should be one Kirk, one Soran and two Picards on the bridge. That's not temporal logic, it's basic arithmetic. But Picard only ever mentioned one in his testimony - himself. If you read it, it's a huge glaring error. Why didn't Picard mention his past self?"
"Because he's lying here, dead?"
"Maybe, but how did he die? Picard would already have been in trouble for altering an historical event. Having a doppelganger hanging around would have been one temporal anomaly too many. I think the main reason why the Department are after Picard now is that they think he tried to cover it up by killing the Picard from our timeline."
"That's nonsense."
"Of course it is, the Captain would never do anything like that. Maybe he doesn't even realise that there should have been a Picard already here. My guess is he probably never even saw him. But by coming back in time he must have inadvertently caused his past self to die: perhaps our Picard saw his future self, and was so surprised he slipped and fell from the cliff. The Department won't be able to prove anything, but the suspicion will stick. Perhaps we can prove it was an accident, though. If forensics get a look at this body they should be able to clear Picard."
They took one last look at the body before moving on. This was their Captain, even more so than the man who now commanded them. That man's crew had been wiped out in his own timeline, so he had created a new one. Yet the truth didn't sink in. This dead person lying at their feet seemed unreal, unnatural even.
They restarted their trudge up the mountain. Spock, Alexander and Kor were now only a few hundred metres ahead of them.
"One other thing," Jonah added.
Anthas was not keen on hearing any more, her head was spinning enough as it was.
"In our timeline the Nexus never hit Veridian III, and Picard never entered it, so he never met Kirk. The Kirk who died here was from that other timeline, the one where we died and Veridian was destroyed, not this one. So in our timeline, Kirk's still alive and well inside the Nexus. This pilgrimage is all a bit pointless really."
"Except the man who died should be mourned whatever timeline he's from," Scott corrected.
Jonah nodded. "Of course, you're right. My apologies, sir." The three trudged on in silence.
Jonah was the first of the three to reach the top. Behind him Anthas was helping Scott make the last few metres. Rav had told him that Spock, Kor and Alexander were fine, but he was impatient to see for himself. He was surprised to see two shuttlecraft on the mountain top – the Feynman had settled near the graveside, but closer to Jonah was another Federation shuttle, the Goddard. Like the shuttle in the Enterprise's shuttle bay, it was a type 6, and according to the registration it too was assigned to the Enterprise. He took a few more steps closer to the group that had collected around the grave. Rav and the other Enterprise crew were keeping a respectful distance, but four figures knelt directly by the grave.
Jonah could make out three of the figures. Spock faced him, and the shape of Kor and Alexander, although they had their backs to him, were unmistakable. Jonah neared the group, still deep in thought, and the group of mourners looked up at him. The man with his back to him turned. It was Scott.
Jonah was momentarily confused. This Scott must have flown in on the Goddard. But how could there be two Scotts? And why? Obviously one must be an impostor, here to assassinate the other mourners. Either this man attending Kirk's grave, or the man who had accompanied them in their climb up the mountain, but which?
Jonah thought desperately, unable to act in his confusion. Then he remembered the shuttlecraft names. There was the shuttlecraft here, the Goddard, and the one still in the shuttlebay of the Enterprise, the Godard. Which would Starfleet be more likely to name its shuttlecraft after, rocketry pioneers or directors of French counter-cinema? Even with his luck those were the kind of odds Jonah felt confident in playing. Jonah turned round to look at where the impostor would be appearing up the side of the mountain. There he was, being helped up the last step by Anthas. Jonah headed towards the fake Captain Scott, cursing himself for not having seen through the unconvincing Scottish dialect earlier, but the impostor was already drawing a directed-energy weapon. As Jonah watched he pointed it at the group by the graveside.
Jonah turned and ran towards the group of mourners instead, trying to attract their attention, but they were reacting too slowly. Alexander was nearest to him and he pushed the man to one side. The assassin's weapon fired and pain exploded in Jonah's arm. His whole body felt as if he were burning. The sky whirled across his vision, the clear blue changing to red, and he lost consciousness.
Anthas looked down on the figure lying on the biobed. This was the second time in two months she had visited Jonah here. Last time it had been a minor neck injury, this time he had had his right arm severed.
Anthas checked the medical readouts. Her friend would recover. Alexander had already promised to provide him with whatever treatment he needed. Prosthetic limbs were easy enough to replicate, although the surgery was complex. Still Alexander was one of the wealthiest men in the quadrant, and he did owe Jonah his life.
The assassin had stolen the real Scott's shuttle and had managed to escape. He could be anywhere now, with a redesigned face and another victim to track down. Alexander guessed that he had probably been hired by a business rival, probably the Orion Syndicate, and had seized on Alexander's visit to Kirk's grave as an opportunity to assassinate him. The other seven assassins, those that had tracked Alexander up the mountain, may well have been hired by the same people. All were now dead. The man they had left by the phaser cannon had died from his injuries before they could get to him. The one to whom Spock had administered the nerve pinch had also died. A forensic team had run a toxicological scan and determined that he had most probably died from a self-administered poison.
The forensic team had actually been sent by the Department of Temporal Investigations to examine the body of the Picard from this timeline, and the cliff from which he'd fallen. The tests weren't finished, but it appeared that the surviving Picard, the one from the original timeline, would be cleared of the charge of any cover-up of temporal anomalies.
Anthas straightened Jonah's bedcover and bent to kiss him on the cheek. Perhaps he did seem to attract bad luck, but then that did mean that life around him was interesting. She couldn't wait to see what was next.