Before Destruction! Read online

  "Capt'n, we got a problem with the main energizers. How long

  are ya gonna keep ma engines goin at full tilt?" said the

  definitively Scottish voice of the Chief Engineer.

  "We will be going sublight in a matter of minutes, Mr. Scott.

  Keep us on line until then, please."

  "I'll try Sir, but the intermix reactor to me port nacelle

  just went into the yellow. I wouldn'a like you to have to jettison

  the whole unit."

  The doctor slipped off the bridge into the turbolift. No

  matter how little damage there was, you could count on 5 or 6

  patients appearing in Sickbay with bloody noses and minor

  abrasions. With blood dripping from his left nostril, the doctor

  wanted to get in line before the "Coagul-aid" was used up.

  "Coming up on the Petroski solar system and Elba II, Captain,"

  reported Sulu.

  "Slow to one quarter impulse power, with Mr. Scott's

  permission," Jim Kirk said, looking up at the bridge speaker.

  "Aye Sir, Scott out."

  "Slowing, Sir."

  "Keptin, we are peeking up debris on collision sensors.

  They appear to be asteroids directly in front of us vair there

  should be none," said Checkov.

  "Increase forward viewer magnification to 40. How are

  the shields holding Mr. Checkov?"

  "Shields at 78 percent, Sir."

  The stars were shining brightly in the distance, but in

  front of them, increasingly blotting out the pinpoints of light,

  were dark spinning rocks growing in size as the Enterprise neared

  them.

  "How much longer before we have short range sensors back?" the

  Captain directed toward Uhura.

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  "Tech crew says we may have short range back in 10 minutes.

  They haven't given me an estimate on the long range sensors as of

  yet, Sir."

  The Captain nodded in acknowledgement, "Mr. Sulu, all

  stop."

  With steady hands on the instruments, "Slowing," Sulu stated.

  "All stop, Sir," he reported. "Thrusters at station-keeping."

  Spock observed the forward view screen with arms folded across

  his chest. "Captain, the asteroids still appear to be advancing in

  our direction rapidly." Kirk examined the distant rocks on the

  screen as Spock continued. "By their angle of trajectory and

  dispersal, I would estimate they originated from some central point

  ahead of our present course. Possibly from the event point of the

  energy dispersal that has been disturbing our communications."

  "They are getting closer, aren't they." He took a deep breath

  and slowly exhaled noisily, as if he was about to do something

  that he wished he didn't have to. "Mr. Sulu, do you recall what

  regulations state about a Starship entering a field of asteroids?"

  The Oriental officer looked at his comrade sitting next to

  him, and answered in an uncertain voice. "Uh, I believe section

  139, paragraph 62 or 63 states 'Stay the heck away from them

  unless it's an emergency'. Paraphrased, Sir."

  "Are you willing to make the attempt?" Kirk asked him.

  A wry smile appeared on the adventurous Lieutenant's face,

  still looking at Checkov, who gave him an uncomfortable nod. "I

  think so, Captain"

  "In that case, shields double front Mr. Checkov. Arm Photon

  torpedoes, we may need to blast our way through a few of them. Do

  not wait for my command to fire. That may take too long." He

  pressed the intra-ship communication switch. "This is the Captain;

  prepare for rough maneuvers. We will be piloting through a

  hazardous area so take all precautions accordingly. Captain out."

  Then to the lieutenant with whom he now entrusted his ship, "Take

  us through, Mr. Sulu, and try to save the paint job."

  "Aye, Sir, accelerating to point zero-four sub-light."

  The sleek giant of a Starship moved closer toward the oncoming

  space debris. The first tiny particles hit the shields, making

  sparks visible on the main viewer. Although the vacuum of space

  made it impossible, the bridge crew could almost hear the micro

  asteroids hiss, as they came in contact with the ship's protective

  energy barrier.

  The larger asteroids were now approaching. The collision

  alarm blasted through the silence on the bridge, then ceased as the

  Captain signaled its termination. The Enterprise suddenly pitched

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  starboard then to port as Sulu deftly navigated her through the

  deadly floating rocks. The crew was being pulled side to side,

  as the artificial gravity strained to adjust to the inertial force

  changes. Then their motion changed to up and down as the ship

  narrowly missed a large one cutting across her bow. It was as

  if they were on some mad man's ride in an amusement park, but

  amusement was not what the crew was experiencing. Without warning,

  spiraling in from the side, came a jagged asteroid that Sulu

  couldn't move around in time. Almost immediately upon seeing it,

  it exploded. It was destroyed by a torpedo that shot away from

  the ship like a fiery dart to obliterate the cold rock. And still

  the asteroids came.

  Dodging the larger ones was becoming easier, but the smaller

  ones could neither be avoided, nor targeted in time. They hit the

  ship in a unmerciful barrage, jolting and shaking the vessel until

  she felt as if she was going to come apart. Flashes of powerful

  energy lit up the viewer as torpedo after torpedo shot from the

  ship's underside and either intercepted, or missed their targets.

  The strain on the ship could be heard over the whine of her

  impulse engines, accelerating and decelerating. And then came...

  silence, as Enterprise sliced through the ebony sky on the other

  side of the asteroids.

  Sulu was the first to breathe a sigh of relief, before the

  rest of the bridge crew realized the danger had passed. He looked

  over to Checkov, who was shaking a little, then noticed that he,

  himself, could not remove his hands from the controls.

  The Captain, being just that, would not let his crew know the

  extent of his relief, but he stepped down behind Sulu and Checkov

  and rested his hands on their shoulders. "Next time we get to

  Aldebaron, I'm buying."

  Spock, apparently unruffled by their ordeal, noticed the green

  light on his science station's short range scanner and gave it his

  attention. "Captain, Short range sensors are now operational," he

  announced. "We are nearing Jirus, the fifth planet in the Petroski

  solar system... Fascinating," he stated, looking into the apparatus.

  "Captain, Jirus does not appear to be in its natural orbit."

  "This is... not good." He rubbed his chin slowly. "Uhura,

  have you been able to contact Elba II at all, or receive any of

  their transmissions?"

  "No contact yet, Sir."

  "Spock?" He turned to his first officer, who was still

  looking down into his station's scanning equipment.

  "One moment, Sir." Spock pressed two buttons without looking

  up from the equipment, pressed another, then straightened himself

  and turned toward Kirk. "Captain, " he said, "Elba II
is not

  there." He waited for the full meaning of what he said to sink in.

  "I believe we may have just passed through the remains of the

  planet."

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  "My God, Spock, are you certain?" Kirk said in astonishment.

  "It would explain the orbital shift of its neighboring planet

  Jirus," said the Vulcan. "The mass loss of one planet would effect

  the gravitational pulls of the entire system."

  "Uhura," said the captain, "Contact Starfleet Command. Tight

  beam, and scrambled. I want it to penetrate that energy wave.

  Fill them in and inform them we will scan the area for debris.

  Then prepare a warning buoy directing all ships away from this

  area." Jim Kirk paused, thinking of Governor Cory, administrator

  of the Elba II colony. A good man, gone. "Launch buoy when

  ready," he said.

  "Aye, Sir," Uhura said while already beginning to carry

  out the order.

  "Klingon devils!" Checkov murmured bitterly to himself,

  though just loud enough to be heard.

  "Do you really think the Klingons would violate the

  Organian Peace Treaty, Sir?" Sulu asked his Captain.

  "Without a moment's remorse, if they had any reason to and

  thought they could get away with it. However the Organians, not

  us, are the enforcers of the treaty."

  "What if they have found a way to cloak themselves from

  Organia like the Romulans cloak their ships from us?" questioned

  Sulu.

  "Anything is possible, but I seriously doubt it," Kirk said as

  he glanced over to his First Officer who appeared completely

  engrossed with his scanner. "Opinion, Mr. Spock?"

  Spock, of course, had taken the conversation in. And while

  quite busy with his other duties, he had plenty of time to analyze

  the situation and formulate hypotheses. "It seems unlikely that

  the Klingons would have such technology to do so, Captain. I

  believe we may also rule out privateers, unless their ship was

  completely filled with anti-matter warheads, which I estimate as

  equally unlikely," said the First Officer, not looking up from his

  scanner. "There is one more possibility, which I find more

  probable than the previously stated hypothesis."

  Sudden remembrance flooded Kirk's mind. It had only been a

  few months ago, though their many adventures had made it seem like

  decades, that a once-great Starship Captain, driven mad, had

  battled Kirk and nearly killed him. His last memory of the great

  man was one of hope and respect born anew, for a cure to the man's

  insanity had been administered. Jim became angry with himself for

  letting recent events cloud his mind, keeping him from seeing what

  Spock clearly observed.

  "Captain Garth," Kirk said, almost allowing the sorrow of

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  losing a personal hero to become apparent in his voice. 'and

  something painful' the thought seemed to haunt him.

  Finally looking up from his station, Spock faced his Captain.

  "It is a logical conclusion, considering the potency of the

  explosive he created. However one could only guess as to the

  events that caused its detonation."

  "It was a very unstable material." Jim Kirk choked back the

  strange and sudden surge of emotion that had grabbed him a moment

  ago. His emotions seemed strangely 'raw' today. "He told me that

  it could be set off just by dropping it to the floor."

  "And tremendously powerful," Spock added. "Remember the level

  of destruction that one grain caused. It is little wonder

  Starfleet delayed moving the substance. With Elba II as isolated

  as it was, there was far less risk in storing it in Governor Cory's

  vaults than transporting it to another location."

  Jim stepped from his chair, "I don't like it Spock. Something

  doesn't fit." The Captain caught himself just as he was about to

  start pacing. Instead he leaned against his command chair.

  "Precautions had been taken in storing the explosive. It was held

  in the center of a stasis sphere by anti-gravitons, with its own

  power supply, much like we use to contain antimatter."

  "It is possible that some hostile attempt was made against the

  planet causing the containment field to fail and detonation to

  occur. However that would again indicate the Klingons on several

  counts." Spock placed his hands on the rail before him and nodded

  toward Checkov. "First, Elba II maintained a constant planetary

  force field around itself, making it virtually impenetrable to

  anything smaller than a military cruiser. Second, Elba II's

  scanning equipment would have detected any unauthorized traffic

  long before it reached the planet unless it had a cloaking device."

  Keeping in mind that this line of reasoning still lacked any

  cohesive evidence, not to mention the problem the Organian's posed

  in the equation, he relented. "There are actually many scenarios

  that could explain much of what happened. However, until we have

  more facts for our analysis, we can only speculate."

  "Keep scanning, Mr. Spock. Mr. Sulu, assemble a recon team to

  collect any debris floating out there. Maybe we can piece this

  mystery together before Starfleet Intelligence gets here."

  PAGE 9

  *** TWO ***

  Light-years away, at the edge of Federation-occupied space,

  defense outposts guard a zone of space currently designated as

  'off-limits' to all vessels, Federation or otherwise. This Neutral

  Zone separates the United Federation of Planets from the ruthless

  and powerful Klingon Empire. Both galactic powers were initially

  allowed by treaty to peacefully enter the Zone. But tensions

  between the two opposing forces had escalated to such a point that

  no contact between the two powers could be called peaceful or

  productive, by either government. The Zone had become a central

  point for espionage and counter-intelligence, making neither side

  confident that its military secrets remained secret.

  Each outpost skirting the Zone is a fully armed battle

  station, carrying the equivalent firepower of a light destroyer.

  The border is patrolled regularly by a rotating shift of

  Starfleet's finest cruisers and destroyers. These precautions are

  designed as a check and balance system, assuring total compliance

  with the pre-established Klingon/Federation treaty. The standing

  orders at each outpost are as follows:

  1. Hail all vessels approaching Neutral Zone and warn

  them off.

  2. If compliance is negative; fire one warning volley and

  advise Starfleet via designated patrol vessel.

  3. If negative compliance continues; disable vessel if

  possible, destroy vessel if not.

  Outpost Delta Gamma 13 spotted the distant ship streaking

  towards the Neutral Zone. On the outpost's main battle bridge,

  night-watch was on duty.

  "Commander O'Hara, I have an outbound vessel at 038, warp

  7!" Lieutenant Tomy announced. She was a bit excited, it being her

  first tour of duty and first day at this post.

  The tall, fair-haired Irish Commander, O'Hara, had almost

  finished his
own tour of duty on DG-13. He had felt that this

  assignment was a form of punishment for the practical joke he

  played on his former Captain while aboard the USS Yorktown. It

  is an established fact, that few people enjoy transporting down

  to a planet, only to find that their underwear has materialized

  on the outside of their uniform. Though the Commander had not

  actually been caught in the act, everyone knew who had perpetrated

  it. Neither was he openly blamed for placing nitrous oxide

  cannisters in the emergency respirators just before the Yorktown

  went on "Environment Alert" drills.

  It was all true, what people said about him; O'Hara was a

  compulsive practical joker. Though he never meant any harm with

  his humorous escapades, he always seemed to over-do his pranks on

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  the very people who appreciated them the least. Usually they were

  the ones who also out-ranked him. And although he tried, O'Hara

  could not even force himself to stop. If there were humor in it,

  O'Hara would go out of his way to play or overplay the joke.

  "I'm right here, me darlin'. You don't have to shout," said

  Commander O'Hara to the young and nervous Lieutenant. He stood

  behind her and sipped a warm cup of coffee.

  "Sorry, Sir. I'm sending the standard transmission now." She

  touched her index finger lightly on the pressure sensitive switch

  and the high intensity warning signal was sent out, automatically

  placing the outpost on yellow alert.