Disclaimer: I'm finally running out of interesting ways to say I don't own Star Trek. Pity. I don't though. Also a pity.
Beedrill: 27: No, I haven't seen Invader Zim, sorry, McCoy knows more than he lets on, and yes, I am in a chemistry class, and no, I don't like it! Congratulations, Inspector Beedrill. 26: The Raven is fun, we read that in my American Lit class. 24: School has a way of doing that. Annoying isn't it?
Admiral Ael: Heehee, orange juice is fun.
Silverfang: I figured I'd bring back Stella, sort of.
Nevfennasiel: I don't know how I can break this to you…this chapter's serious too. And it'll take one more to resolve the Klingons. But after that, I promise to be funny again! Absolutely promise!
What'shername: Actually, I'm waiting for chapter 26…
Emp: Mutilation…ugh, that sounds awful. I'm not mutilating anyone, just pointing a disrupt—ahem, never mind, just read the story.
Blynneda: oops! A thousand apologies, I rely heavily on spell check. Which has just learned that Blynneda is a word, Blynedda is not, so we'll see if this helps. Yeah, I know I have humor. No matter how hard I try, my stuff ends up funny. Well, not always ("That one. Kill him." Love that line. ^_^) but an awful lot of the time. And no bugging me about "Bonesy" look what you're doing to him! Actually, bug if you like, it's interesting to be on this end.
On that note, to everyone who basically said "Aaaah! Don't kill Bones!" (hmm, no one said don't kill McCoy. Interesting.) Relax.. Calm yourselves. In honor of DeForest Kelley's birthday Monday (the twentieth) we're resolving that little issue. Read on.
Chapter Thirty-Two:
Return of the Doctor
Approximately three seconds following the close of our last chapter:
McCoy's eyes widened. "Just like that? You're going to just up and kill me?"
"You catch on quickly," Kagon said, toying idly with the disruptor at his belt.
"Well, that's what I call honor," McCoy said sarcastically. "Killing an unarmed doctor in cold blood!"
"Physician or otherwise, you are Starfleet. The enemy of the Klingon Empire. Your death is for the greater glory of the empire."
"If that's how your empire picks up glory, that's not saying much."
Kagon grinned that same wolfish smile. "If you want me to spare your life, you are not helping your case."
McCoy promptly shut up. There wasn't much he could say or not say to help matters though. Not much at all.
"Kill him out in the corridor," Kang ordered the lieutenant, a large fellow named Metark. "That thin red human blood is disgusting."
"Well we don't think too highly of your blood either," McCoy muttered, as Metark hustled him out the door.
McCoy reviewed his options, and concluded he had none. He was completely unarmed; didn't even have a hypospray up his sleeve. He supposed he could take on Metark in hand to hand combat, except that, practically speaking, it would just be a bloodier and probably more painful way to get himself killed. Besides, tackling a Klingon twice his height, three times his weight, and half his age was more Jim's style. (The dimensions probably weren't quite like that but they sure felt that way.) Not to mention the fact that Metark had a disruptor pointed at him. Which he—uncomfortably for McCoy—gestured with.
"Have to do this right. Back against the wall," Metark ordered.
McCoy edged back. "Can we talk about this?"
"No."
McCoy bumped against the wall, and stopped. If he was disturbed by the prospect of his immediate demise, he certainly wasn't going to mention it to the Klingon. So for his—maybe—last words, he just said, "If you happen to see a Vulcan around here, will you at least tell him for me that he owes me dinner?"
No answer. Just a raised disruptor. Looked like this was it. McCoy closed his eyes. A bare second passed, and then he distinctly heard a weapon fire. But it was just a sound, nothing else. McCoy wondered if this was being dead, because it felt an awful lot like being alive. He opened one eye.
Metark was stretched out on the floor, apparently shot in the back. McCoy gaped. Not for long though.
"Bones!"
McCoy looked up. And all of a sudden that which had been inexplicable became perfectly clear and only to be expected as the normal course of things. Standing in an open turbolift directly across from McCoy—and therefore the fallen Metark—was Kirk, phaser drawn. Mystery solved. There was, however, a new item to wonder over. Ensign Jones, standing behind Kirk, looking mildly petrified. Not that he was standing there, or that he was petrified, but that he appeared to be orange. McCoy decided to seek explanation at a later time. It looked a long story.
"You all right?" Kirk asked, clipping his phaser back to his belt.
"More or less."
Kirk smiled. "Good. Now let's pull the Klingon into the turbolift and get out of here."
They did, and successfully got the turbolift under way without trouble from Kagon or his men.
"Well. That wasn't so hard after all," Kirk commented.
"Nothing like split-second timing though," McCoy pointed out.
"Did wind up that way, didn't it?" Jones said uncomfortably.
McCoy suspected he shouldn't ask. He suspected he would only regret it. He decided to do it anyway. "So…was that planned to the second, or was it pretty much blind luck?"
Kirk thought about it for perhaps two seconds. "Blind luck. Completely blind luck."
McCoy nodded, and they lapsed into silence as the 'lift continued its journey. They were just stepping out when McCoy spoke again.
"You know, Jim…"
"Hmm?"
"You really could have lied to me!"
Kirk shrugged. "Next time," he promised.
McCoy paled. "Next time? Next time?"
He proceeded with a clear, complete, and not very concise explanation of why there just better not be a next time, while Jones watched and Kirk tried to jam a turbolift and contain amusement simultaneously. He was reasonably successful at both, and they walked down the corridor to Sickbay.
Inside Sickbay, the group was quite enthusiastic, congratulating Kirk and Jones and expressing general relief that McCoy was back among the living, so to speak. The enthusiasm definitely encompassed one individual with pointed ears and black hair. Also four feet. It didn't quite reach the two-legged one, who wasn't exactly gushing. But of course, he was a Vulcan.
"Captain. Doctor. It seems you were successful."
"Gee, Spock, don't sound too happy," McCoy said sarcastically.
"I am a Vulcan, Doctor. Therefore—"
"Yes, I know. Incapable of emotion, etc., etc. And besides which—" McCoy grinned "—if I had died you'd have been off the hook."
One upswept eyebrow rose. "I was not conscious of 'being on a hook.'"
McCoy didn't bother trying to explain that one. It wasn't as if he had a chance at success. He forged ahead instead. "The bet, Spock. You owe me dinner."
"Ah. Yes. It seems that I do."
McCoy blinked. "You're not going to argue? You're not going to explain to me, logically of course, why the bet is void, null, invalid?"
"The terms were simple. If there were Klingons, I would owe you dinner. There were Klingons. I owe you dinner."
McCoy sighed, despairingly. "How does he always do this to me?"
"Do what?" Kirk asked. "He's agreeing with you. For once."
"I know! And where's the fun in telling someone 'I told you so' when they agree that you told them so!"
Kirk decided not to try to understand that one. "Tell him so later. Right now, we've got to do something about Kagon before he figures out another Klingon and a hostage have gone missing."
They estimated they couldn't chance waiting more than three minutes, at the outside. And for the third time Kirk didn't have a plan. That was easily settled though, as there simply weren't a great many options.
A straightforward, to-the-point, direct attack on the auxiliary control room was the only course of action at hand. Granted, that was exactly what they'd decided not to do at the beginning, but things had changed. For one, eleven Klingons were down. For two, they had an extra person and a lot more weapons. And for three, they now knew precisely what had been happening in the control room as of five minutes ago.
"So how many Klingons are we looking at here?" Kirk asked.
"Six…no, five," McCoy corrected himself. "I forgot, you already knocked out Metark."
"Metark?"
"Big guy with the disruptor pointed at me?"
"Oh. That one. Guess I never heard his name."
"He wasn't exactly in a position to introduce himself," McCoy agreed.
"Anyway, we can handle five Klingons."
There were nods around the group. Even Jones, still in the triumph of attacking two Klingons and surviving a successful rescue attempt, looked fairly confident.
"All right. Let's go before Kagon loses his temper."
"Wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't take too long either," McCoy commented as they headed out the door.
"That reminds me. Got any ideas what the guy's motivations are?" Kirk asked. "I still can't figure out why he wanted to go to war…" He interrupted himself to tell Spock, "Try the other turbolift, there's a Klingon in that one."
It didn't take long to find an empty turbolift, and they continued.
"So, Kagon's motivations?"
"Well…are you sure you never met him before?" McCoy asked.
"Positive," Kirk confirmed.
McCoy shrugged. "I don't understand it then. He kept talking about avenging his family's honor. Not just bringing honor, but avenging. Sounded like they used to have honor and you somehow wrecked it and now he's determined to get it back. But if you've never even met him…"
"Never even heard of him. Guess I'll have to ask him later."
"You do that, Jim."
* * *
Kagon was not happy. No, not happy at all. He sat in front of a control panel, and glared. He had been sitting here when it all started, the ruination of his painstakingly constructed plans. First, ten Klingons disappearing. Then, to add insult to the injury—and Klingons always make more of insults than injuries—the hostage he had sent to be killed had vanished and taken Kagon's lieutenant with him.
Kagon had had enough. He was beginning to regret not destroying the Enterprise right from the beginning. He was beginning to forget all the complex, cunning plots he generally thought about. He was beginning to want nothing more than to kill something, preferably Kirk, and quickly.
Had he been able to look at himself from an outside perspective, he would have been very worried. However, he couldn't so he wasn't.
Kagon turned his glare on the Starfleet officers sitting along the opposite wall. He was pleased that at least a couple looked mildly frightened and didn't meet his stare. He was not pleased that the others met his gaze squarely, and still had that 'our captain is going to run you into the ground' expression.
Kagon snapped. "Kill them," he said abruptly. "All of them. Now."
The Klingons looked at each other. Wholesale slaughtering to no obvious end wasn't quite the norm for Kagon. But, who were they to argue?
That could have been a tragedy right there. Fortunately though, split-second timing and blind luck came in on Kirk's side again. The doors opened and the bridge crew entered, disruptors drawn and firing.
The fight was fast, furious, and one-sided. The Starfleet crew proved pretty good shots with disruptors. With the exception of Jones, who realized a little belatedly that he didn't know how to fire a disruptor. Throwing caution and the useless disruptor to the winds, he jumped the nearest Klingon. This was a very impressive gesture, but even so it might have been the end of Jones if the hostages hadn't taken the initiative to join the fight. It's doubtful any of them were considering their Hippocratic Oaths just then.
When the dust—to speak metaphorically, of course—settled, four Klingons were spread unconscious on the floor.
"Everyone all right?" Kirk asked.
Everyone was.
Kirk turned to regard the Klingons. And that's when he realized they had a problem. "Wait…we're missing a Klingon."
"You're not just missing a Klingon, Jim. You're missing the Klingon," McCoy said.
Sure enough, Kagon had somehow managed to slip out. He was still thinking clearly enough to know that he couldn't win this particular battle. He wasn't fond of retreats, and he was sorely tempted to jump Kirk on the spot, but he opted for stealing past the Starfleeters and out the door in the confusion.
"This isn't so bad, really," Kirk said, to himself or the others. "Sure, the Klingon captain's still on the loose, but we've got the upper hand now, right?"
The group more or less agreed.
McCoy wandered over to where his staff was standing. Spock helped Jones off of the Klingon he'd been attacking. Jones had lost his balance when the Klingon had lost his consciousness, and had yet to get up again.
Kirk glanced around the room, thinking. "Anyone happen to know which of these panels is communications?"
"That one, Captain," Uhura said, pointing.
"Thanks." Kirk sat down in front of the board, and flicked the switch for the intercom. Sat silent for just a moment, then began speaking. "Captain Kagon? I know you're out there somewhere." Kirk smiled. It wasn't an altogether pleasant smile. "And I do hope you can hear me. Do you know who this is, Kagon? This is Captain Kirk. My people have retaken our control room. And it is only a matter of time—and a very short time—before we round up the last of your men. We already have fifteen of them. You do the math. In addition, we're unsealing every section of the ship, meaning my crew is free to roam the ship again. Face it, Kagon. It's over." Kirk was enjoying himself hugely. "I advise you to surrender, and quickly. It will happen eventually, and the sooner you bow to the inevitable the simpler for everyone involved. Kirk out." He flicked off the comm, and only then became aware that McCoy was looking at him. He turned. "Yes?"
McCoy shrugged. "You've got an evil streak in you, Jim."
Kirk grinned. "I know."
* * *
Yes indeed, things were looking up. With the control room back, Kagon was crippled and all the cards were back with Kirk. It didn't take much to get in touch with security and send them out to round up the remaining Klingons. McCoy took the former hostages back to Sickbay, to wait for any injured crewmembers to report in. Kirk left Uhura in the control room to see about who else she could contact, left Sulu and Chekov to keep an eye out for any Klingon attempts to retake the controls, and took Spock to personally look for Kagon. It was somewhat pointless, as the security guards were sure to come across Kagon eventually, but Kirk had a bit of the Old West in his blood, and was hoping for a one-on-one showdown. Spock considered it illogical, but was willing to go along.
"Captain, how exactly do you expect to find Kagon?" Spock asked, as they walked down one of the corridors.
"Strategy, Spock. The trick is to figure out, considering the circumstances, where Kagon would go."
"And…where would Kagon go?"
Kirk shrugged. "No idea. I can, however, try to figure out where I'd go under identical conditions. Kagon seems likely to do about the same."
"And where would you go?"
"That's what I have to figure out."
Spock's eyebrow was on the move. "Then this is, essentially, a 'wild goose chase.'"
Kirk briefly tried to imagine McCoy's expression had he heard the preceding line. He gave it up as a hopeless endeavor. "Kind of. But if I could just take a minute to think, I might…"
Spock took this as an indication that he should be quiet. So he was. Kirk didn't notice particularly, deep immersed as he was in strategizing the circumstances from Kagon's end.
They were just coming up on a turn in the corridor when Kirk stopped. "The bridge."
"The bridge?"
"Of course! The bridge! Where else? He's lost the control room, so what's the next best thing? The bridge! And since it wasn't strategically important before, it's a good bet we didn't leave anyone there. Which we didn't. Kagon's got to be on the bridge," Kirk said. Now that he'd hit on the idea he was sure of it.
Spock considered. "It does seem reasonable."
"And if he's on the bridge…we're in trouble, Spock, we're in big trouble. He can hit self-destruct, he can fiddle with the environment, who knows what else he'd think of? At the very least he can seal himself in. We've got to get down there."
"When one properly considers it, the situation does appear grave."
Kirk nodded, and started down the corridor. They came around the bend, and came to an abrupt halt. Three Klingons were gathered partway down the corridor. Kirk and Spock ducked back around, but shouts down the hall left no doubt that they'd been seen.
"We're in big trouble," Kirk said again, as he fired his phaser back around the corner.
Spock considered, and came to a lightning fast decision. "Captain, I suggest you go to the bridge while I deal with the Klingons."
"Spock, I can't do that!" Kirk insisted. He meant it too. But…if his hunch was correct—and the more he thought about it the more he was sure it was—Kagon had to be dealt with too, and as quickly as possible.
"I believe I can handle a few Klingons. We may not be able to handle whatever trouble Kagon can cause."
"Well…" Kirk wavered. He was fully aware of time passing as he continued standing there, firing at the Klingons who had taken partial shelter in a doorway. One was down already. Spock could handle the others. "Be careful."
"Caution is, of course, quite logical in certain instances."
For Spock, that was almost a joke. And strangely, that's what pushed Kirk over. He headed down the corridor at a fast pace in the opposite direction, and didn't look back. The first turbolift he came to, he jabbed the button. Nothing happened. Except for some pounding from the other side. Kirk swore, and went on to the next one. That one, fortunately, was still up and running, and it wasn't long before Kirk stepped out on the bridge.
His first impression was that someone—presumably Scotty—had gotten the lights back on. Which made sense when you considered virtually the entire rest of the ship seemed to have light. His second impression was that his hunch had been correct. And he didn't have time for a third impression, as the object of that hunch jumped him.
Kagon had been standing by Uhura's console when the turbolift doors opened. Kirk never had the time to draw his phaser. Kagon crashed against him and they rolled down the steps from the upper ramp to the lower section of the bridge. Kirk wound up on top, but didn't stay there. Klingons are quite strong. Kagon got his legs in position, got a kick in, and Kirk went flying. He rolled instinctively and came up on his knees, on the far side of the command chair. Kagon was on his feet by then, across the bridge from Kirk. Kirk reached for his phaser, and came up empty. Somewhere in the course of their tumble, it had slipped off. It only took a moment to spot it. On the floor by Kagon's feet.
Kagon wasn't completely oblivious. With a twisted smile, he kicked the phaser behind him, where it vanished under a console. Which left Kagon still armed with a disruptor at his belt, and Kirk empty-handed.
But all was not lost, assuming the Klingons didn't finish off Spock. It was definitely time to stall.
"You might as well give it up, Kagon," Kirk told him. "Even if you kill me, you've still lost. My ship is back in my crew's hands. And with all of them loose, you don't stand a chance."
Kagon appeared calm. Only a faintly maniacal gleam in his eye showed that the stress of the last few hours and the unraveling of his careful plan was affecting him. "You're always so confident, Kirk. It's damned annoying."
"Maybe I have reason to be confident."
Kagon shook his head. "I don't think so. Fine, so your paltry efforts have won you a battle within the corridors of your own ship. But you forget. There are still seven birds-of-prey outside that answer to me. I can still have avenge the honor of my House."
"This is about vengeance?" Kirk asked, genuinely puzzled. This confirmed what McCoy had said, but still wasn't very illuminating. "How can this be revenge when I've never even heard of you?"
"But you've heard of my cousin," Kagan hissed. "Commander Koloth."
Kirk nodded. He remembered Koloth. He still didn't quite follow what all of this was about though.
"Two years ago, you were delivering grain to Sherman's Planet. You foiled a mission being carried out by my cousin. It was a significant defeat for the Klingon Empire. But worse…you humiliated us. You…infested a Klingon ship with…with foul, vile, loathsome tribbles!"
Oh. It all went back to the tribbles, Kirk realized. Further trouble with tribbles.
"Do you know how many tribble jokes members of our House have heard since that Black day?" Kagon raged, mounting the steps back to the upper ramp. "We have not been able to hold our heads high since then! Our honor, our pride, has been in tatters! But no longer! I, Kagon, will avenge it, though I die in the doing!" Kagon took the last step over to Uhura's console, and slapped a control. "Kaldane! Destroy the Enterprise! Now!"
Heeheehee…be sure to review on your way out.