Disclaimer: MINE! All MINE! Sigh…no, it's not. Roux is. No, he's not in this chapter, or even this universe, or even Star Trek, and basically he's completely irrelevant. But he's MINE, regardless of what certain producers might say, where as Star Trek is not.
Random note: Michael Cambias is the town psycho on "All My Children," who was recently murdered and, since the entire town hated him, pretty much every character is a suspect. It's my mom's soap opera, although lately I've become hooked. Congrats to MySchemingMind and Mzsnaz!
Relevant note: A new chapter! And cliffhanger resolution! Everyone be happy. I am. Oh yes…POTC manages to slip itself in a bit…you'll see.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
It's up to you.
The words hung there, in the air above the bridge, waiting, demanding, to be answered.
It was Uhura who spoke next. "We have six photon torpedoes. Shields went up when we first sighted the Klingon ship; they're still up."
Kirk gave her a grateful look. "Thank you."
"Evasive maneuvers, full sublight," Sulu said quietly, repeating Kirk's earlier request and putting action to words.
"The Klingon ship is heavily shielded; consequently sensors are unable to determine anything of useful detail regarding the make up of the ship," Spock said calmly, successfully conveying the air that there was nothing going on that was at all unusual.
After Spock's words there was a long, waiting silence. Finally Chekov scowled, and grudgingly announced, "Phasers are charged. Do you vant me to target any particular system of the enemy vessel?"
Kirk grinned, his appreciation evident in his eyes. "Now that's more like it." He rubbed his hands together. "All right, let's go. Don't target just yet, but keep those phasers charged. I need a view of that ship out there."
Someone, he couldn't quite remember who controlled that, Sulu maybe, adjusted the screen and brought up a shot of the Queen Mary.
"They are charging their weapons," Spock announced, reading sensor reports as they scrolled by at an impossibly rapid pace on his screen.
"Jump her to warp two," Kirk ordered. "Looks like Michael finally got Paul to move."
Sulu complied with the order, the ship shuddering as she passed into warp. The view on the screen readjusted to show the Queen Mary giving pursuit.
"The Queen Mary is traveling at warp three. Approximate time to disruptor range is 1.203962 minutes," Spock reported.
"Approximate," Kirk repeated, and shook his head. No time to pursue that though. "Take her up to warp five."
Sulu adjusted his controls, and the Queen Mary fell behind. Only for a moment though. Then the Klingon ship gathered itself and leaped after its prey."
"The Queen Mary is now at warp 6.2. new estimated time to disruptor range is 31.232 seconds."
"All right…" Kirk said, speaking slowly and thinking fast.
Kirk was jolted out of his thoughts approximately ten seconds later as the ship rocked under a barrage of disruptor fire.
"Evasive!" Kirk ordered, stubbornly hanging onto the chair. "Spock, what happened to those 30 seconds?"
"Obviously they have made modifications to adjust the range of the Klingon disruptors," Spock mused. "Interesting."
"Well, now we know. Damage?"
"Minimal damage, shields absorbed most of the impact," Uhura reported. "Aft shields at 84 percent."
"The Queen Mary is closing again," Spock announced.
"Drop her out of warp, full stop," Kirk ordered.
"Full st…oh! Right. That." Sulu nodded, mindful of their own battle with Kirk, and stopped the ship.
Unfortunately, the Cambiases didn't fall for it. They kept going, shot past and curved around, staying out of phaser range the whole time.
"It didn't vork," Chekov said, disappointed.
Kirk nodded, unsurprised. "Thought they might have heard of it. Guess I'll have to try something new." He grinned. "Take her to warp seven."
And thus began a new phase in the battle. The Enterprise phaser banks fired from the saucer section. The photon torpedoes fired from the aft. The Starfleet officers knew this, obviously. Kirk knew this as well. Unfortunately, the Cambiases had picked his information up somewhere also. So while Kirk wanted very much to get the Klingon ship in front of them long enough for one good phaser blast, the Cambiases weren't going to let it happen. For a straight ten minutes there were no shots fired, as the two ships sketched a sort of synchronized pattern through space. As fast as the Enterprise maneuvered, the Queen Mary maneuvered just as quickly to stay firmly planted on the Enterprise's side, at right angles to the Starfleet ship's phasers.
Kirk frowned, brow furrowed in thought. "We can't turn a right angle, can we?"
"I can curve her pretty tight," Sulu offered.
"No, she can match us at curving." Kirk came to an abrupt decision. "The warp nacelles work independently, don't they? I mean, you can stop on and keep going with the other one, right?"
Sulu stared at him. "Theoretically."
"Good," Kirk said without explanation. "Reduce speed to warp two."
Sulu looked at him doubtfully for a moment, then turned back to his board and slowed the ship. A beat later the Klingon ship slowed as well, continuing to match the Enterprise's maneuvers.
Kirk leaned forward in the chair. "Now. Mr. Chekov, be ready to fire those phasers. Mr. Sulu, on my word I want you to stop the right nacelle. Two seconds later, halt the left nacelle. Everyone…hang on. Ready?"
The bridge crew stared at him. "Has this ever been done before?" Sulu asked.
Kirk grinned, a rakish, roguish grin. "There's a first time for everything. Ready?"
Sulu gulped, and nodded, grasping his controls.
"All right…go," Kirk said simply.
It was a good think they hung on. The right nacelle stopped cold and the left going, sending the hapless ship hung between them careening through space. All occupants and everything not bolted down were flung towards the right, Sulu frantically punching keys to stop the left nacelle in the desperate hope that that would somehow restore order to the universe. Which it did. Power was cut to the left nacelle and the ship came to a shuddering halt, straining at every seam to keep structural integrity intact. The Klingon ship filled the viewscreen.
"Fire," Kirk ordered crisply, apparently unperturbed by the wild ride they'd just come through.
Chekov swallowed hard and fired phasers. The scarlet beams lanced out and struck the Queen Mary, where the Cambias brothers were still busy trying to figure out what Kirk had just done to the Enterprise. They soon had other things on their minds.
"That went well," Kirk commented cheerfully.
All around him the bridge crew, with the probable exception of Spock, were still trying to get their stomachs and/or breathing in order.
"That vas supposed to happen like that?" Chekov croaked.
"What was that anyway?" Sulu asked faintly.
Kirk leaned back in the chair. "That, my friend, was clubhauling." He considered. "Or as close as you can get to it in a Constitution-class starship, anyway."
"Well, it was new," Sulu acknowledged.
"Actually it was old," Kirk corrected. "Very old. They use to do that maneuver on ships many years back."
"Daedalus-class ships?" Sulu guessed.
Kirk shook his head. "Try sailing ships. On the sea. They'd drop the anchor on one side. It would catch, and the ship would turn suddenly to present a new side to their adversary. In our case the stopped right nacelle served as the anchor, while the left nacelle propelled forward and sent us into a sharp turn, enabling us to bring our phasers to bear on the Queen Mary. Speaking of which, how are they?"
"Shields at 5.32 percent, disruptors are entirely inoperational, warp engines are severely damaged, exact extent impossible to say," Spock reported.
Kirk nodded. "Obviously I need to remember that maneuver."
"Mr. Scott is calling the bridge," Uhura announced.
"Tell him I'll talk to him in a minute. Right now, I need to talk to the Cambiases, please."
Soon the bridge of the Klingon ship was back on the screen. Things were slightly different from before. Now there was billowing black smoke in the background, alarms were clanging wildly, and only Michael was in view.
"Like I said: you can't have the Enterprise," Kirk said calmly, just as though that statement had been made only a moment before with no intervening activity between.
Michael glared at Kirk, as though he could reach out across the empty black void of space and murder him with a single venomous Look. "How did you do that?" he hissed.
Kirk crossed his arms, considering. "Well…" he drawled. "One, I'm brilliant. And two, I'm working with one hell of a bridge crew."
"Why don't you go to hell?" Michael snarled.
"Careful," Kirk warned, enjoying himself immensely. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to insult someone after they've beaten you in battle?"
Michael took on a bitter expression. "And what are you going to do with us?"
"That's up to you." Kirk's face hardened. "You knew we were out here, and you weren't at all surprised to see me. I want to know how you knew."
Michael's eyes shifted. "What's in it for me?"
"Your ship. I could go into warp without a backward glance. Or I could seize your ship." Kirk leaned forward. "So. How did you know?"
Michael shrugged. Fair deal. No skin off my nose." And then he said one word. "Charlie."
Kirk nodded. "Not surprised. By the news, or by your obviously deep loyalties."
"Why don't you go to—"
"I know, I know." Kirk shook his head. "I'll see you, Michael. Good luck."
"You mean that?"
Kirk shrugged. "Not really. I was being polite. Enterprise out."
Uhura obligingly ended the transmission, and the bridge was quiet for a long moment.
"You know," Kirk said, breaking the silence, "I meant that. You are one hell of a bridge crew." He glanced at the back corner. "That's a compliment by the way, Mr. Spock."
"Ah."
"Anyway, I may be brilliant but I couldn't've done it without you. So thanks."
Spock's expression did not change. Sulu and Uhura looked pleased in spite of themselves. Chekov appeared troubled.
After a moment Chekov scowled and, apparently all on one breath, said, "I still think you are a rat and a pirate and a cossack, and I am completely against you and you ought to be in the brig, but…Captain Lowell could not have done that," he finished.
A slow smile spread across Kirk's face. "Thanks," he said quietly.
"This does not mean I approve of you," Chekov said hastily.
"Of course not," Kirk agreed. "But for not trusting each other, we did pretty damn good."
"Well," Spock said.
Kirk blinked. "Well what?"
"The correct grammar is well. 'We did well.'"
Kirk nodded. "Of course. I'll remember that. Just like I'll remember to throw Charlie in the brig within the hour. But first, is Mr. Scott still on the line?"
"Yes. And he doesn't sound happy," Uhura warned.
"Put him through anyway," Kirk directed, then turned his attention to the comm. "Something I can do for you, Mr. Scott?"
An angry Scottish burr filled the air. "What is going on? Ye can't just do things like that! It's a bloody miracle the ship didn't pull into a thousand pieces with that maneuver! What the devil were ye trying to do to my ship?"
Kirk leaned back in the chair. "Why Mr. Scott, it seems simple enough. Obviously I was trying to save her from falling into the hands of dangerous pirates."
~~~***~~~
Wedge: Hehe, I liked that quote. I had to fiddle with it to get that phrase in. S'okay about not reviewing the last one, FF is no doubt to blame. It usually is.
RadarPLO: I suppose they trusted him. But not very far. Doing their usual jobs to defend the ship isn't too far out on a limb, regardless of who's giving the orders.
MySchemingMind: Exactly. They don't trust him, but they kind of like the lug. And congrats on guessing the soap opera reference.
Mimi6: That was review 4…I think. Anyway, hope you liked the space battle, more on Kirk's past in about [calculates] three…no, four chapters. I might post a couple of those together though, we'll see.
Emp: Well…know you learned what happened!
Know Thyself (one name indeed): Thank you for the very amusing review. And fair's fair, you distracted me from my history! Though I learned extra history for this, so maybe it evens out.
Unrealistic: Oh good, you're enjoying it. And funny you should mention Lowell. They start to remember he exists next chapter.
Mzsnaz: I'd have an award if I could think of anything that could be given via the internet. Aside from congratulations, I mean. And Kirk's still planning to sell the Enterprise…though he hasn't been called upon to do that just yet, so we shall see…
Bug: I think they reached pretty much the same conclusion as you. And I'll try to post again soon so you won't be waiting too much longer. : )
Hanakin222: Actually, I find it comforting to know that the code wasn't quite as obvious as everyone else seems to think. And you're not the last one to solve it. The crew's still in the dark, after all.
'Tis all. Must go, have much homework, but next chapter should be up in the relatively near future. [crosses fingers]