CHAPTER 24

Hoshi was able to hold off a bad case of the shakes until after Malcolm left. When she had left the bridge, she'd had the vague intention of extracting a promise from him not to interfere with her plan to kill Shidak, but the enormity of what was happening hit her about halfway to the cabin.

They'd made contact -- there was no turning back. She was actually going to kill someone.

It was all she could do to sit calmly behind her desk, feeling his eyes on her, and not beg to be taken into his arms, hoping to be soothed like a child. The revulsion he must feel about her planning to become a murderess, no matter what the reason, stopped her. How could he possibly care about her, knowing what she intended to do?

When he'd said he was going to the scout ship, she was relieved. She didn't know if she would be able to bear up under his intense scrutiny for very long.

But she also realized he was going to secrete the tracker somewhere on the scout ship, if he hadn't done so already, and she couldn't help letting him know that she knew. She also figured he'd probably try to send a message to Starfleet, but that was of no consequence. At this point, there was little they could do to stop her.

With a supreme effort, she tried to concentrate on what would happen when they arrived at Shidak's stronghold. She wouldn't let the pirate leader near the scout ship, at least not until she had met him face to face. The hardest part would be acting nice to him. The bastard was responsible for Matthew's death, and the mere thought of being polite to him made her stomach churn.

She'd have to keep herself under control until the opportunity to kill him presented itself. She hoped she did a better job practicing self-control than she had been doing the last few days. It wasn't her Klingon-inspired temper which worried her -- that trait would be in keeping with a leader of rogue Klingon pirates. No, it was the times she had broken down in front of Malcolm, showing her weakness, that could be her undoing.

She didn't know why her moods had been swinging so wildly that the last few days. Until recently, she'd been dead set on following her course of action, not questioning what she was doing, not wondering if it might be wrong.

Of course Malcolm had something to do with it. She'd let herself be distracted by him, and much as she wanted him to be nothing more than a pleasant interlude, she knew in her heart it was growing into something else. It had started out as desire but, at least on her part, it was something more.

Resting her head on her steepled hands, she tried to draw on her inner strength, tried to fight her attraction to Malcolm, tried to fight her...love. When the image of Matthew failed to appear in her mind, she knew she had lost the battle. She was too shocked to cry for either her lost love or the one she was about to lose any chance of having.

Tucker made a circuit of engineering, looking over the crew's shoulders, checking the monitors himself. They had gotten the engine into as good of shape as they could in the limited time they had.

He wondered briefly about armaments, even though that wasn't his area of expertise. Surely the Klingons would have said something if the weapons needed work. They were Klingons, for pity's sake. They wouldn't let something like weapons fall into disrepair.

He paused by Malin at the primary warp controls. Clapping the young Klingon on the shoulder, he gave him a grin, and received one in return.

"If anything happens," Tucker reminded him, "you'll have to sing out loud and clear for the rest of the crew to hear ya."

Malin stared at him, and Tucker wondered if he'd said something wrong. Klingons could be touchy sometimes.

"You should issue the orders," Malin said suddenly.

"What?" he said in amazement. "I'm not part of the crew."

Malin very deliberately looked him up and down, and Tucker was acutely aware of the battle armor he was wearing.

"I think you are. The captain herself has said so," the young Klingon told him. "You know more than we do. You will know what is best to do."

"Will the rest of the engineering staff take orders from me?" asked Tucker, rolling the idea of being in charge of an engine room full of Klingons around in his head and not sure if he liked it.

"They will do as you say," Malin said. "I will make sure."

Kleth was sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge, keeping an eye on everything. He could feel the fire in his blood begin to burn, so close were they to their quarry.

"Picking up something on long-range scanners," Garef said from the helm.

Kleth stood up and went to stand behind the helmsman, looking at the readout on the console with great interest. They were now close enough to scan the coordinates given to them. It was a planet, the third of four planets in a system around a red giant.

Even more interesting was the structure maintaining a geostationary orbit around the planet. It was a spacedock, and there were three ships cradled in its arms. Two more ships were orbiting the planet.

A hard smile formed on Kleth's face as he considered the possibilities of a glorious fight.

Reed left the scout ship and almost went back to Hoshi's cabin, but decided against it. There wasn't anything he could say to make her change her mind about killing Shidak, and it was probably best not to distract her with his doubts.

Instead, he went to the bridge to find Kleth standing next to Garef at the helm. He took up a position on the other side of the helmsman, looking at the readout.

"Five ships,"Reed said.

Kleth looked at him over Garef's head and said, "They might stand a chance against us, but I doubt it."

He was glad Kleth saw it that way, because he didn't. He hoped Enterprise was enroute because he knew they were going to need all the help they could get if they had to fight their way back out.

With a little luck, they mightbe able to get into Shidak's stronghold, grab him, and get out before anyone was the wiser. He wasn't counting on it, though.

When Kleth went to sit in the captain's chair, Reed followed and stood beside him. He may as well remain on the bridge so he could be there when the next transmission came in.

He saw Kleth give him a sideways glance.

"You cannot fool me, little warrior," the Klingon rumbled quietly. "I know you are still following your duty to Starfleet, but remember my charge to you. Her safety supercedes all else. If necessary, you must give your life for hers."

Staring into Kleth's dark eyes, Reed knew he would do exactly as the Klingon said, but not because he was being threatened to do so. He would do it because he wanted to. His mind had no choice in the matter, because his heart had already decided.

His resolve must have shown on his face, because Kleth nodded in satisfaction and sat back in the chair.

Hoshi couldn't stand the waiting. She sat at her desk for a time, then got up and paced. Her mind kept running around in circles, always coming back to Matthew and Malcolm. She'd lost one, and she was about to lose the other.

With a muttered curse, she left her cabin and headed for the bridge. At least there she could be distracted by what she was supposed to be worried about -- meeting Shidak.

She wasn't surprised to find Malcolm there. He'd be in the thick of things once they reached Shidak's stronghold, and he was probably just as anxious as she was to get things started.

Kleth got out of her chair as she approached. "Report!" she ordered as she sat down.

"We are still an hour away from the coordinates," the Klingon said. "There are five ships at the third planet in the system. Two heavy cruisers are in orbit. Two freighters are in spacedock, as is another smaller cruiser."

"Patrol ships and a repair facility," she said, marveling at the infrastructure Shidak had put together.

"We won't have to worry about the freighters. They aren't equipped to fight," Malcolm said. "The two heavy cruisers in orbit, however..."

As his voice trailed off, she looked at him coldly. "The Falcon can take care of them, if necessary."

A beep from the communications console sounded, and the Klingon manning that station turned to her. "Incoming transmission. Visual this time."

Composing her face into a hard mask, Hoshi fixed her eyes on the screen. "Put it on."