Chapter 10
"We are not going to the hanger bay," said Dr. McCoy soberly. It was a statement, not a question. McCoy had served too long on the Enterprise to not know what Captain Kirk had in mind. That was the reason Kirk had asked Spock to join them; three executive officers were required for what Dr. McCoy knew Captain Kirk was planning.
Dr. McCoy looked over at Will and Lyra. They were still holding hands.
"Don't worry, Lyra, "said Will. "I won't let anything happen to you."
"I en't gonna let anything happen to you, either, Will," said Lyra firmly as Pantalaimon changed from a ferret into a mongoose. "I swear, if any of those Klingon kids so much as lays a hand on you; it will be me and Pan they'll answer to!" Then, Lyra hugged Will hard and kissed him on his cheek. "You are very brave, Will Parry. Thank you for protecting me all this time; but now, it looks like it's my turn to protect you."
Even though Dr. McCoy had joined Starfleet in the aftermath of a messy, bitter divorce, he had joined with eyes wide open. He knew the risks that came with space travel. During the past five years he had served as CMO of the USS Enterprise, he had seen his share of death, in addition to escaping death himself on more than one occasion.
But Will Parry and Lyra Belacqua were just children! And now, their young lives were about to be snuffed out in a seething matter/anti-matter fireball. If they were lucky. Thrown, unprotected, into the hard vacuum of space if they were not.
The turbolift stopped and the door opened directly to Auxiliary Control. Captain Kirk immediately went over to a control station off to the side; activating what Dr. McCoy recognized as a training simulation display.
"Will, Lyra," said Kirk. "Please come over here." Still holding hands, the children came over to the console. When they sat in the chairs in front of the console, Kirk pointed to the display screens. "We're not going down without a fight, kids, and I'll need your help at this station."
"Go on, then," said Lyra, fiercely. Pan, still in mongoose form, bared his teeth. "We're gonna fight me mum's ships, en't we?"
"I have a . . . surprise . . . planned for Dame Marisa," said Kirk, distantly. "Let's just say, they won't know what hit them."
"It's just like Captain Peter Quincy Taggart says all the time on 'Galaxy Quest,'" said Will. "'Never give up! Never surrender!' Right; what do you want Lyra and me to do?"
"Just watch these readouts" said Kirk soberly. "Don't take your eyes off of them for even a second! Let us know the moment any of these readouts start to redline!"
With the children focused on the readouts, Kirk went over to join Spock and McCoy at the main console. But first, Kirk went to the weapons locker and removed a Type-3 phaser rifle. He held it low, behind the console, and set the weapon for heavy stun.
When Kirk looked at the console, he saw that Spock had already accessed the destruct sequence screen. The three Starfleet officers would need to enter their individual destruct authorizations verbally. But first, there was one unenviable task that Kirk needed to do.
Kirk would not ask Dr. McCoy to sedate Will and Lyra; and as for Spock, Kirk could not be certain that a Vulcan nerve-pinch would even work on Lyra and Pantalaimon. And anyway, as captain of the Enterprise, this was his task, and his alone.
Captain Kirk looked at Will and Lyra, who were diligently monitoring the screens in front of them. Kirk wanted to stun the children when their backs were turned, but that could prove difficult in practice. Although Will and Lyra were giving the screens their full attention, Pantalaimon, the proverbial eyes in the back of Lyra's head, kept glancing back at Kirk and the others.
"Tactical," said Kirk, as much to stall for time as to see their situation. "On main viewer."
When the image appeared, Spock said. "Interesting, captain. The Stelmaria and the other Magisterial ships are all between one and five hundred meters from the Enterprise."
"Good for us," said Kirk dryly. "Bad for them. Very bad for them . . . ."
"We're gonna use the ship's big phasers, then?" said Will. "If they're that close, exact targeting won't matter, right?"
"Mr. Parry," said Kirk. "I thought I told you and Lyra to pay attention to the readouts! Let me and my officers worry about planning our counter attack!"
Then Lyra gasped. Did she know what Kirk had planned?
"What is it, Lyra?" said Will. "Have your readouts changed?"
Before Kirk could say anything, Lyra swiveled her chair to face him, holding her Alethiometer. "I could ask the Alethiometer what we should do! Oh, please let me, Captain Kirk!"
"Brilliant!" said Will. "Please, captain! If there is a way out of this sticky mess, Lyra is the one to find it!"
Captain Kirk considered his options. He did not want to destroy the Enterprise, if he could avoid it, but he would not let his ship fall intact into the hands of Dame Marisa Coulter and the Magisterium. "Alright, Lyra. See if there is a way out for us."
Lyra took a deep breath, and then she adjusted the three knobs before slipping into her alethiometric trance. A few moments later, Lyra opened her eyes.
"We must escape to 1996," said Lyra.
"And, just how do you propose we do that, Lyra," said Kirk, pointing to the tactical display on the main viewer. "The Stelmaria, your mother's ship, is two hundred meters directly off our bow. The other ships have us surrounded."
"Move the Stelmaria out of the way," said Lyra, as though it were obvious.
Kirk was about to ask Lyra what she meant when Spock said, "Captain, I believe we can take control of the Stelmaria."
"What do you mean, Spock? How?"
"I have scanned the Magisterial flagship," said Spock. "Many of Stelmaria's components appear to have been taken, unmodified, directly from the Volynov. The phaser emitters, the transporters, the photon torpedo launchers, the deflector and sensor arrays . . . and the main computer core."
"Spock," said Kirk, smiling. "Do you remember the prefix-codes for the Volynov?"
"I do, indeed, captain."
Kirk smiled. "Everyone back in the turbolift!"
"Uh, Captain Kirk?" said Will. "What's the phaser assault-rifle for?"
Kirk suddenly realized he still had the Type-3 phaser. "Well, you never know . . . if you . . . might have to deal with, uh, a boarding party . . . in situations like this."
Kirk replaced the phaser rifle in the weapons locker and the three Starfleet officers and the two children stepped into the turbolift to return to the main bridge.
Dame Marisa Coulter was furious. "What is the meaning of this delay, Captain Kirk? My shuttle is ready! You are to meet me with my daughter in your hanger deck now! You are warned: any attempts to stall will be met with severe punishment!"
Captain Kirk was sitting in his command chair. Spock and Sulu were back at their stations and Lyra and Will stood with Dr. McCoy by the bridge turbolift.
"I'm going to make you a counter-proposal, Mrs. Coulter," said Kirk. "Move that piece of reversed-engineered junk out of our way, or we will do it for you. Mr. Chekov; raise our shields!"
"LYRA!" pleaded Dame Marisa. "You don't belong with these daemonless creatures! You'll die if you stay with them! Please come over to the Stelmaria with me! I'll allow Will and the others to go free, but you must come back to me!"
"I en't goin' anywhere with you, you evil, cruel bitch!" said Lyra. Pan, in mongoose form, sneered at the golden monkey. "And I en't listening to your filthy lies!"
"No, it's the truth!" said Dame Marisa. "And I can prove it to you, if you just let me! The people we brought over from Will's world to help with The Project . . . ."
"As slaves, mother?" said Lyra.
"Yes, some of them . . . as slaves. But many more came willingly . . . oh, Lyra, it does not matter how we know; only that we know. Oh, my dear Lyra, you must come back! Please Lyra! If not for yourself, do it for Will Parry! We will make Captain Kirk take Will back home to care for his mother, and he can be healthy! Will doesn't have to die!"
"NO!" said Lyra. I don't believe anything you say!"
"Captain Kirk," said Dame Marisa. "Lyra is my daughter! My own flesh and blood!" She spread her arms wide. "I did all this so Lyra and I could be reunited as mother and daughter!
"Do you know what it feels like, Captain James Kirk, to be forced to be apart from your child? Would you not do anything in your power to fight such an injustice?"
Captain Kirk stared hard at Dame Marisa, but did not respond. Did she know? Did she have an Alethiometrist working for her? David would be six about now . . . .
"It's over, Dame Marisa," said Lyra firmly, without any affection. "Let us pass!"
"So be it, Lyra," spat Dame Marisa. "If you insist on staying with these daemonless creatures, you are signing your own death warrant. A person cannot live more than ten years away from the universe of their nativity! As you insist on suicide, Lyra; you shall taste death now! Commodore Stewart! Destroy the Enterprise!"
"With respect, Dame Marisa," said Commodore Stewart. "We should try to take Enterprise intact! There is much we could learn . . . ."
"YOU HAVE YOUR ORDERS, COMMODORE," said Dame Marisa. The golden monkey snarled at the peregrine falcon. "DESTROY THE ENTERPRISE NOW!!"
"Mr. Spock," said Captain Kirk. "Now would be a good time . . . ."
"Executed, captain," replied Spock.
On the Stelmaria, Commodore Stewart said, "Mr. Bagdasarian, lock all weapons on the Enterprise and fire!"
The young weapons officer on the Stelmaria stared firmly at his control panel. Next to him, his chipmunk daemon gripped the strap attached to the console with a look of hard concentration.
"Mr. Bagdasarian, I gave you an order!"
"W-weapons are not responding, Commodore! Intention controls are off line!"
"Go to manual!"
"Manual controls do not respond, either, Commodore!"
Now the Stelmaria's helmsman reported, "Commodore, helm does not respond to either intention or manual inputs. We are adrift."
Just as the helmsman delivered his report, his goose daemon squawked, dropping the input strap from her beak. She found herself floating away from the deck. Quickly, the helmsman grabbed her and held her tightly with one arm while grasping his now otherwise useless control console with his free hand to keep from drifting about the bridge. Looking about, he saw his fellow messmates and crew doing the same, or trying to, as they and their daemons began to float helplessly about the Stelmaria's bridge.
"DAMN YOU TO HELL, CAPTAIN KIRK!" screamed Dame Marisa Coulter as she and her golden monkey began to float from her command chair, tumbling in free fall.
"Mr. Spock," said Kirk. "Is there anything you would like to tell me?"
"Captain, your instructions were quite specific," said the Vulcan as he raised his eyebrows. "'Take all systems on the Stelmaria off line, except for life support and communications.' I believe that the word 'all' would include artificial gravity."
Suddenly Lyra shrieked with delight. Swiftly, she moved behind Will, covering his eyes with both of her hands.
"Hey!" said Will.
"Don't look, Will!" said Lyra as Pan changed from a mongoose into a scruffy-looking tomcat. "'Dame Marisa' en't wearin' any unmentionables!"
"Uhura!" said Captain Kirk. Immediately, the communication's officer changed the image on the main viewer from the Stelmaria's bridge to an external view. Now on the screen, the Stelmaria was drifting out of the Enterprise's way.
"Well," said Kirk smiling. "That was more than I wanted to see!"
Lyra removed her hands from Will's eyes. Both children were giggling now.
"Thanks, Lyra," said Will smiling from ear to ear. "I really owe you one! I could have been scarred for life!"
"Lyra," said Captain Kirk. "I didn't know that your mother was a Special Forces commander!"
Spock raised his eyebrow. "I believe the ancient phrase you are attempting to cite, captain, is: 'Going Commando.'"
Captain Kirk felt the Enterprise vibrate beneath his feet as Magisterial plasma pounded Federation deflector shields. "Status report; all stations."
"Sir," said Chekov. "The other Magisterial vessels are firing on Enterprise. Phase cannon only. They are too close to use their spatial torpedoes, sir."
"Captain," said Spock. "Shields are holding at 93 under Magisterial bombardment. At the current intensity, I estimate one hour, twenty-two minutes and sixteen-seconds before our shields are in any danger of depleting significantly, sir."
Kirk nodded and activated the intercom on his command chair. "Bridge to engineering. Status report, please."
"Scott here, sir. The engines are back to 98 efficiency. I presume we will be makin' yet another 'Slingshot Maneuver,' sir?"
"You presume correctly, Scotty!"
By the turbolift, Will and Lyra hugged each other as Pantalaimon, now in the form of a butterfly, circled happily around them.