CHAPTER 20

"Hoshi!" Malcolm whispered in shock, more scared than he had ever been in his entire life. His undercover assignments in Starfleet, his time spent among Klingon renegades, even Hoshi informing him he was going to be a father -- they were nothing compared to this.

Malcolm watched in dazed disbelief as F'linu, Hoshi slung over his shoulder, edged down the cliff below them. She had to be unconscious. That's the only reason Malcolm could think of for F'linu's easy handling of her during the dangerous descent. She was balanced on his shoulder, one of his hands holding her steady, the other pressed against the rocky cliff as he took one careful step after another.

Malcolm didn't know what was worse -- worrying why Hoshi was unconscious, or what would happen if F'linu lost his balance and dropped Hoshi. There was nothing to stop a fall but the rushing stream some ten meters below.

The horrendous thought that perhaps Hoshi wasn't struggling was because she was dead crossed his mind. No. He refused to believe that. There was no reason for F'linu to be taking her with him if she was dead.

F'linu had to know they were watching him. He had to have heard them up on the top of the cliff as they tried to figure out where he and Hoshi had gone.

Now they knew, and Malcolm was damned if he knew what they were going to do about it.

Next to him he heard Kleth snarl, and the big Klingon began to climb down the cliff face after F'linu.

"Find another way down!" he said. "I will follow this way."

Malcolm tore his gaze away from the unnerving scene to find P'kora already trotting away along the cliff edge. "This way!" the Lanari called. "I know a place."

Forcing his growing tiredness aside yet again, Malcolm followed P'kora, although his almost irresistible inclination was to follow Kleth, taking a direct route to Hoshi, not letting her out of his sight.

In desperation, he fumbled in his pocket for his communicator. Opening it as he ran along behind P'kora, he tried to contact the Morning Star but couldn't get through the static. The storm had passed but the interference it had generated hadn't cleared yet.

Changing the frequency, he was gratified when Slanea responded almost immediately, although the transmission was heavily laced with static pulses.

"Captain?" he heard her ask.

"Slanea. Get down to the stream," he told her. "F'linu's got Hoshi and he's going to try to cross to your side."

"Understood," came her answer and she cut the connection on her end.

As he put the communicator back in his pocket, Malcolm fleetingly wondered how Trip was doing. He felt a twinge of guilt that, even though his friend had been injured, he hadn't given much thought to him because of his single-minded focus on Hoshi. There wasn't much he could do about it now. As soon as Hoshi was safe and sound, he vowed, he'd make sure Trip was all right.

P'kora had set a quick pace along the top of the cliff, but now he was angling away into the forest.

"Where are you going?" Malcolm called to him. "That will will take us away from the stream."

"I know," P'kora shouted back. "But there is a gully that leads to the stream we can use."

Sure enough, within a few moments they came to a steep gully, its sides crumbly and collapsing. P'kora immediately started down into it, Malcolm close behind. At the bottom, they turned in the direction of the stream.

The going wasn't easy. The floor of the gully was muddy and slick, trickles of water running down into it from above. But it was sloping toward the stream, and Malcolm hoped it emptied out at stream level, not some height above it as a waterfall.

Still some distance from the stream, they rounded a bend to find a drop of about two meters. P'kora jumped and landed on his feet. Malcolm hitched the rifle up higher on his shoulder and followed suit, staggering as he hit the ground. Now he could hear the rushing water of the stream ahead, and his pulse quickened in time to it.

F'linu must have made it to the bottom of the cliff by now, Malcolm thought. Would he strike out across the stream or would he try to follow it along the base of the cliff? He hoped it was the latter -- he couldn't wait to get his hands on the bastard. P'kora might not have to worry about taking F'linu into custody once he got done with him, Malcolm thought grimly.

They came to where the gully opened onto the stream. Malcolm peered upstream. He couldn't see much of the cliff face from his position, and he waded out a few meters to take a better look, the water up to his thighs. What he saw made him immediately begin slogging upstream against the still-powerful current.

F'linu had reached the bottom of the cliff and had turned in his direction. The reason was plain to see -- Kleth was about half-way down the cliff, and Slanea was poised to intercept him if he struck out for the opposite bank.

Dividing his attention between the scenario in front of him and the treacherous footing in the streambed, Malcolm continued his struggle against the rushing torrent, P'kora right behind him.

Malcolm was aware that the water had receded from its previous high level, but it was still dangerous. If F'linu dropped Hoshi, she would be carried away and could drown. The moment the thought came to Malcolm, he saw F'linu look in his direction, and it was if the Lanari had read his mind. Even from this distance, Malcolm could see the vicious grin that split the man's face as he shifted Hoshi from over his shoulder and into his arms.

Taking a few quick, staggering steps, F'linu waded to mid-stream and flung Hoshi into the water.

"No!" Malcolm screamed.

Time distorted as Malcolm saw the splash made by Hoshi's body as it hit the water, saw her submerge and then bob back to the surface, her dark hair plastered to her head as she floated rapidly along on her back. He waded frantically toward the middle of the stream, hoping to intercept her before the current carried her past him.

He was dimly aware of shouting from upstream. He didn't dare take his eyes from the limp form of Hoshi's body, but his mind registered the shouts as Klingon.

He wasn't going to make it. The water was up to his waist now, and the current was carrying her along too fast just out of his reach. With a desperate lunge using the last reserves of his strength, he hurled himself at Hoshi, and snagged two of his fingers on the collar of her shirt.

He felt himself being pulled under as he tried to keep Hoshi from being ripped from his grasp. He swallowed a mouthful of water and rose back to the surface, coughing and spitting, but he maintained his hold on her, only to lose it when a floating tree branch slammed into his back.

Momentarily stunned by the impact, he watched in stupified disbelief as Hoshi was swept farther away from him. Then his view of Hoshi was blocked by P'kora, who had waded out after him. The Lanari policeman managed to remain upright, standing in the stream, and plucked Hoshi out of the water as one might a toy boat in a calm pond.

Malcolm struggled to regain his footing, no easy feat against the rushing water. P'kora was carrying Hoshi to the opposite bank where there was a sandbar, and Malcolm staggered in that direction. He collapsed on the gravelly surface moments after P'kora laid down his burden.

"Hoshi," he gasped between coughs, crawling toward Hoshi's unmoving form.

"She's alive," P'kora said, rolling her onto her side and sticking his fingers down her throat. Immediately Hoshi gagged and spewed up stream water, and Malcolm had the innane thought that she wasn't going to be pleased about throwing up again.

He was close enough that he heard her strained whisper. "Malcolm?"

"I'm here, Hoshi," he reassured her, reaching out to caress her head.

"Malcolm," she said again, a note of panic in her faint voice. "I don't feel right. Something's wrong with the baby."

New fear sliced through him at her statement, and when she lost consciousness again, he glanced in anguish at P'kora.

"We must get her to medical help," the Lanari policeman stated. "But first we must get her out of the forest."

Malcolm nodded curtly, already getting to his feet despite his exhaustion. P'kora took one look at him and bent over to hoist Hoshi into his arms. Although he desperately wanted to hold her, Malcolm knew he didn't have the strength to carry her.

Malcolm had lost his communicator as well as the rifle. He turned to see how the Klingons were faring, and was startled to see F'linu's body floating downstream. Quickly shifting his gaze upstream, he saw Kleth wading out of the water on the bank where Slanea was waiting for him.

"Come on," he told P'kora as he began making his way unsteadily toward the Klingons.

It was an indication of Malcolm's state of mind that he allowed Kleth to support him as they made their way to the Klingons' improvised shelter. He was so focused on Hoshi, worried beyond belief about her, that he was only vaguely aware of everything else around him.

Slanea ran ahead to check on Trip as the rest of the group trudged along. P'kora, carrying Hoshi in his arms as if she were a child, led the way after her.

They arrived to find Slanea crouched next to Trip, staring at him worriedly. She raised her gaze to them as P'kora deposited Hoshi gently next to the unconscious engineer.

"What's wrong with Trip?" Malcolm croaked out as he crawled into the now very cramped lean-to.

"He has a fever," Slanea said, earning a grunt of surprise from Kleth. Addressing him, she added, "I noticed it just after you left."

Trying to find a comfortable position in which to sit and failing, Malcolm settled for kneeling next to Hoshi. Brushing her wet hair away from her face, he said, "We've got to get them back up to the Morning Star. We don't have a doctor, but we can get back to Estab in less than six hours if we push the engine."

Kleth immediately took out his communicator and tried raising the ship but to no avail.

Trip began to murmur and thrash around, trying to move his injured arm. Slanea moved to his side to hold him down so that he couldn't hurt himself any further. "He is delirious," she said.

"If you cannot contact your ship, we must begin the journey back as soon as possible," P'kora said. "Carrying the injured, even if we make stretchers, will take us some time to reach my vehicle, if it is still there."

Malcolm distractedly ran a hand through his wet hair. In the time it took them to get out of the forest, Hoshi and Trip's conditions could worsen, perhaps to the point of death.

"Try contacting the Morning Star again," he said to Kleth.

Kleth did as Malcolm requested, but the result was the same. There was too much static for a transmission to get through.

"The signal is not strong enough," Kleth said to the others. "The communicator doesn't have enough power."

Slanea had removed a communicator from her pocket at the same time as Kleth was trying to get through on his, but she wasn't activating it. Instead, she was prying off the back cover. She studied the components inside, then reached for the disruptor at her hip.

"What are you doing?" Malcolm asked.

"There may be a way to boost the signal," she said absently as she concentrated on the devices in her hands.

Taking off the casing from the disruptor's power housing, she poked a long fingernail into its circuitry. "This will take a few minutes," she said. "I have to make sure the transfer of power from the disruptor will not burn out the communicator's circuits."

Malcolm shot a glance at Kleth, who was watching Slanea in bemused interest. Despite his own weariness, Malcolm detected a hint of pride in Kleth's expression. P'kora, he noticed, was also looking on with interest.

Malcolm forced himself to his feet. He took a long look at Hoshi lying motionless on the ground, and motioned Kleth to accompany him outside. They walked a few paces away from the shelter, leaving Slanea to her work.

"I saw F'linu's body," Malcolm said quietly as he looked up at the Klingon's face.

There was no change in Kleth's expression, but a deep rumble emanated from his chest. "He fought me," Kleth said simply.

"I should have been the one to fight him," Malcolm said angrily.

"Yes," the Klingon replied easily. "But you had to save your mate first. The son of a targ would have gotten away had we waited for you to act against him. My honor, and yours, would not allow his escape."

"You're sure he's dead?" he asked Kleth.

"Positive."

Malcolm gritted his teeth. He wondered how things would go for P'kora if F'linu's body wasn't found. He wouldn't have any evidence to back up his report that the rebel leader was dead, except for his word and the word of several off-worlders. Somehow Malcolm didn't think that would go over very convincingly with the Lanari government.

Malcolm was startled out of his musings by Kleth clamping a big hand on his shoulder. "I acted in your stead, Ma'Com," he said. "You have had your vengeance."

Malcolm looked away. "It won't mean a thing if Hoshi or Trip dies," he said.