T'Katha watched as Kalor reared back and delivered a devastating blow, punching Joshua in the right eye with all of his demonic strength. Blood splashed out from the Joshua's face as he instantly crumpled to the ground, falling face-first into the dirt.
"NO!" shrieked Julie Kramer.
Breathing deeply, T'Katha fought to retain control of herself as she waited to see what would happen next. If Joshua was dead, the Guardian would re-appear, and it was her overriding duty to make sure she got back through with Doctor Kramer and make it back to the ship. Joshua's sacrifice could not be in vain. All, however, depended on whether Joshua was dead or merely unconscious.
Her question was answered by Kalor himself. Kneeling down to examine his fallen opponent, Kalor could hear the ragged, uneven breaths still coming from the Starfleet captain's body. With her superior hearing, T'Katha could hear the same thing, and a momentary wave of relief washed over her: Joshua was still alive.
Snarling, Kalor got up and looked about, as if scanning the area for something. Then, finding what he was looking for, he strode over about halfway towards where T'Katha and Kramer were standing, and picked up a large stone that was roughly the size of a man's fist. Examining it briefly, Kalor grunted in satisfaction and began to walk back over to Josh's inert body. Crouching next to the captain, lifted the rock above his head and aimed with exaggerated care. Then, slowly, a wicked smile appeared across his face as he prepared to smash the rock down on Josh's skull, delivering the killing blow.
T'Katha could not allow that to happen.
Closing her eyes, she brought all of her formidable mental prowess to bear, concentrating on establishing a mind-link with General Kalor.
Once before, she had initiated a mind-link with Doctor Kramer. Then, she had required physical contact to establish the link.
But the purpose of that link was to establish intimate contact between two minds, necessary for any sort of telepathic communication. Here, T'Katha did not seek any such depth of contact with General Kalor, and for her purposes a much less sophisticated kind of link would suffice. The less that was required of the link, the easier it was to establish contact.
My mind to your mind…
All she needed was rudimentary control of Kalor's basic motor functions, and even then only for a few moments.
My thoughts to your thoughts…
Snapping her eyes open, her eyes focused like laser beams on General Kalor. She had established contact.
Do not lower your arm, she silently ordered the General.
Twitching, the Klingon's arm froze in mid-air, no longer under his control.
"What the flark?!?!" he roared.
T'Katha ignored the expletive, ignored everything but the link. Stand up, she commanded mentally.
Slowly, jerking from side to side, the Klingon rose to his feet.
Kalor raged in helpless fury. "What have you done?! What are you doing?! Release me now, you Vulcan bitch, or I will peel every piece of skin from your body and flay your back until I can see your spine!!"
T'Katha ignored his empty threats. Turn around.
Slowly, twitching madly, the Klingon involuntarily complied. Comprehension dawned upon him as he realized he was now facing the cliff.
Walk, T'Katha commanded.
Flailing randomly like a malfunctioning automaton, Kalor slowly lurched towards the edge of the precipice, screaming an unending stream of obscenities even as he marched towards his own doom.
"I'll rip your heart out in front of your very eyes! I'll slice your chest open from your neck to your gut and snap your ribs one by one! While you watch! I'll peel the top of your skull off and drive needles into your flarking Vulcan brain!! Do you hear me, you Federation whore! I'll make you wish you had never been born! You'll beg for death when I'm finished with you!"
Walk, T'Katha commanded the Klingon mentally. She did not even hear his pointless tirade.
Kalor was at the edge of the cliff now. Another two strides, and he would step out into thin air. Fighting desperately for life, the Klingon's survival instincts were in overdrive, producing a torrent of adrenaline, fueling his willpower to resist or even break the mind link.
Walk, T'Katha commanded again.
Kalor took another hesitating step forward, then froze at the edge of the cliff. Summoning every scrap of willpower he possessed, he fought T'Katha's mind-link with all the inner strength at his command. He stood on the very edge of the precipice. Another step, and he would be lost.
T'Katha could feel herself straining. Her concentration was wavering; the link was weakening. Kalor had overcome the initial shock and was regaining control. She did not possess the strength to push him any further.
And she knew he could sense it. Roaring with laughter, the Klingon fought to regain control of his body. His legs were frozen, but he could move his upper torso on his own. Cranking his chest around, he prepared to hurl another obscenity at the Vulcan woman, but the gloat died on his lips.
Glancing down, he found himself looking into the cold fury of the diminutive Starfleet doctor's dark eyes.
"See you in hell, General," Kramer said simply. Lunging forward, Julie shoved the Klingon roughly in the chest, pushing him towards the cliff.
Already off-balance, waved his arms wildly as he tried to restore his equilibrium. For a moment, he nearly seemed to succeed, but the force of the doctor's shove was too great. With a diabolical shriek, Kalor took one more unwilling step backward…
And disappeared over the edge of the cliff.
Julie did not look down, but merely closed her eyes and listened as the Klingon screamed for long seconds during his deadly plunge to the ground. Wincing, she could feel the waves of hatred coming from the doomed general as he plummeted to his death.
Then, abruptly, the hatred was gone.
Julie looked up at T'Katha. "He's dead," she announced.
"Then we have succeeded," T'Katha replied.