Star Trek: The Original Series - 082 - Federation (27 page)

“And, Montcalm?” “Yes, sir?” “Thank you. For everything.” Montcalm studied Cochrane carefully. “You’re not thinking of doing something stupid, are you, sir?” Now Cochrane smiled. “You know me better than that.” Montcalm tried to smile back but his effort lacked sincerity.

Then he was gone.

Cochrane remained at his desk for some time, staring into the years, remembering all the times Monica had come in here to tell him he had been working too long, too late. And all that time,

Thorsen had been somewhere else in the galaxy, doing… what?

Plotting what’?

Why had it taken so long for his return? Cochrane wasn’t hiding out on Alpha Centauri. Everyone knew it was his home. But where had Thorsen’s home been since Battersea, since the world war? And whv had he come here now, wanting a technology that, even if it did exist, could no longer give him the power he had craved? In the end, Cochrane decided, the madman’s motives were merely an abstraction—a mystery Cochrane would never comprehend in his lifetime, just another question to be placed nside. abandoned, with so many other unanswerable questions of youth.

Cochrane pressed the control that made his computer rise up from his desktop. He asked it to display his will. It would be rcmiss of him not to at least give some thought to the future, the future Monica had seen, and he had been blind to.

Then. with the changes made, leaving all that he had to the Foundation Micah Brack had established, Cochrane’s thoughts of the future came to an end.

Instead he remembered back to a time when he had wanted to take on the universe. He thought of that first night back in his home system, under the dome at Titan. So many possibilities, so much to do.

But now he was only tired. And alone.

He wanted to see the stars once more, then die.

He wondered if this feeling was something built into the human species. the sense that when death was inevitable, it must be accepted, embraced.

Or was it just his way of making certain someone like Adrik Thorsen could never win?

Cochrane had no answer. As much as it sickened him to admit it, the war that had begun on Earth so long ago still continued, and he was to blame.

}te had given humanity the stars, and then he had defiled them.

But now finally, that intrusion would end. For no matter how his friend Micah’ Brack might argue if he were here to do so, Zefram Cochrane believed there was still hope for humanity.

That things could change.

For only a moment, he felt a brief twinge of regret that he would not live to see those changes. But his time was over. Alpha Centauri was no longer his home.

The stars would have to beckon to someone else.

He remembered another old, old poem his mother had read to him. It seemed to fit the moment.

Deep space was his dwelling place, and death his destination.

There was never any escape from that. Not for anyone.

?l

#. S.S. E/VTEflPRISE N C C - 1701 LEAVING THE GAMMA CANARIS REGION Stardate 3854.7 Earth Standard:
Nevember 2267

The Enterprise blazed through space so that the stars were rainbow smears of light around her. Kirk watched them pass on the main bridge viewscreen, knowing they had been a sight at first unknown to Zefram Cochrane in his early voyages.

The key to being able to perceive anything of normal space-time while in warp was directly related to the characteristics of the warp field itself. Cochrane had quickly learned that for warp propulsion to be eflScient, a minimum of two fields must be generated. so that one overlapped the other, offset at oscillations on the order of the Planck interval—the smallest possible unit of measurable time. Unfortunately, when the two warp fields were of suthcientlv different sizes, any photons from normal space-time that impinged on the outermost field generally were absorbed by what was. to them, a perfect radiation sink—the gap between the fields.

In the beginning, Cochrane had accepted this state of affairs because it neatlv explained why Einsteinian notions of time dilation did not apply inside the warp field—with no possibility for the exchange of meaningful information, there was no conflict xith established physics. The existence of information-free, faster-than-light phenomena such as this was well known, dating back to experimental confirmation of the Einstein-Podolsky.

Rosen Paradox in the mid-1900s.

Thus, Cochrane’s first faster-than-light voyages had left him literally in the dark. Once he entered warp space, he lost all communication with the normal universe. Eventually, as his system became more efficient and the warp fields became more tightly focused and layered, photons were able to penetrate into the warp bubble, bringing with them the breathtaking image so dear to Kirk of stars passing by so quickly that they became little more than streaks of light. And, once scientists were able to exploit subspace as a medium in which they could propagate electromagnetic signals at speeds in excess of 190,000 times the speed of light, standard computer enhancement techniques created hyperreal images from subspace sensor scans, much the way old-fashioned radar systems on old Earth had created echoes of distant objects in centuries past.

Though science had not been Kirk’s first love in school, he could understand how scientists had arrived at these breakthrough innovations. Like Cochrane, they had not wasted their time running headlong into the solid walls of accepted theories.

Instead, they had chosen to broaden their arena, change the rules, and step outside accepted boundaries. Kirk knew the approach well.

His ship was proof that the approach worked in physics. The fact that he commanded her was proof it worked in the world of human affairs as well.

But the fact that it was Admiral Kabreigny who still occupied the Enterprise’s command chair told Kirk that he still had some lessons to learn in applying the approach.

For now, Kirk stood at the admiral’s side, eyes fixed on the screen. The Companion, wearing a standard blue technician’s jumpsuit, sat behind him on the upper level, in the chair at Spock’s science station, guiding the Enterprise’s course by her mysterious contact with Cochrane, which Sulu had managed to translate to navigational charts. Spock was with her and McCoy was nearby with a fully stocked medical kit. So far, more than a day out from her home planetold, the Companion’s stamina had noi yet fidled her. But McCoy wanted to be prepared for anything, alld was.

“Keptin,” Chekov announced. “I mean, Admiral, I am picking Lip a wessel in the indicated flight path.” “Onscreen,” Kabreigny ordered. “Full magnification.” Sulu adjusted a control and the stars rippled as the viewer’s image expanded to include a tiny spot of light, clearly not a star.

“She’s at the limit of our sensor range,” Sulu said.

Kirk glanced back at the Companion and Spock. The Companion held her hands to her face. She whispered something Kirk couldn’t hear. Spock nodded.

“That could be it,” Kirk said. He fought the urge to give the next orders as he reluctantly deferred to the admiral. Like most women in Starfieet’s upper echelons, Kabreigny had earned her rank in the science and support branches, meaning she had no frontline command experience. But that rank technically did allow her to take over the Enterprise, and after a day of seeing her in his chair. Kirk was getting better at remembering that state of affairs. Though he had no intention of getting used to it.

“Target vessel’s speed?” Kabreigny asked.

“Cruising at warp factor three,” Chekov said. “No indication that she’s seen us.” “If it is the Planitia, her sensors won’t be effective at this range.” Kirk said.

“Zefram!” the Companion suddenly gasped. “The man is closer… so alone…” Kabreigny leaned forward in the chair. “Navigator, I want you to slowly drop speed and match course with the target vessel.

Come up behind like a sensor echo. It’s just a civilian ship so it shouldn’t be difficult.” “Aye-aye. Admiral.” Sulu went to work on his board. The stars shit’ted as the Enterprise changed course.

Kirk watched the admiral closely, trying to fathom the reason for her order. “A luxury liner has no defenses or weapons that can stand up to the Enterprise, Admiral. Why the caution?” ‘
It’s not the liner I’m worried about,” Kabreigny said, not bothering to explain further. Without looking at Kirk, she added, “I presume you have a transporter team experienced in high-velocity transport.” ‘TI1 put my chief engineer on it.” But Kabreigny put her hand on Kirk’s arm before he could activate the chair’s intercom panel. “Leave Mr. Scott right where he is. We might need better than warp eight in a few minutes.

Who’s your next choice?” Kirk understood that for whatever reason, Kabreigny was preparing for a fast flyby and transporter retrieval of Cochrane.

She didn’t want to risk a showdown. “Mr. Spock,” Kirk said.

“Will you be able to handle the Companion?” “The Companion can handle herself quite well.” Kabreigny ignored Kirk’s insubordinate tone. “Have Mr.

Spock stand by in the transporter room and wait for my signal.” Kirk did not acknowledge the order, but he went to Spock, explained what the admiral was preparing for, and took the science officer’s place at the Companion’s side. Spock left the bridge.

“We have matched course,” Sulu announced.

“Come up on her slowly, Navigator,” the admiral said sharply.

“I want to see her onscreen as soon as we have her in range.” Long moments passed. Kirk was aware only of the Companion’s erratic breathing. McCoy had earlier suggested it was the result of the connection she felt with Zefram Cochrane. It was Zefram Cochrane who was in bad enough shape that he was having difficulty breathing, wherever he was. The Companion’s health, so far, was fine.

“Wessel coming into range,” Chekov called out. “Onscreen.” The target vessel was a civilian liner—an elongated ovoid about half the length of the Enterprise, with three nacelles in the same configuration as the missing City’ of Utopia Planitia.

“Are you receiving any identification signals?” Kabreigny asked.

Chekov answered without taking his eyes from his side of the command console. “Negative, Admiral. The liner is powered-down. No communications. But sensors confirm her warp signature as the Planitia.”

“Shield status?” the admiral asked.

Sulu answered. ‘Tm reading navigational shields only.” Kabreigny spoke rapidly over her shoulder to Uhura. “Communications: Relay that to Mr. Spock. I want him able to hear everything on this bridge from now on.” Uhura contacted Spock in the transporter room. Kirk knew as long as the liner was using only her forward navigational deflectors, deployed solely for sweeping debris out of her flight path, the t:’ntcrprisc would be able to come up from behind and transport Cochrane without difficulty. But only as long as the crew of the liner—presumably Cochrane’s kidnappers—didn’t realize the l:’ntcrprL‘e was closing on them.

Uhura looked up from her board after talking with Spock.

“Open channel established, Admiral.” “Distance to target?” Kabreigny asked, intent on the screen.

Sulu read from his board. “One hundred thousand kilometers.” “Take us into transporter range, Navigator. Mr. Spock, stand bv for emergency transport. Lock on to human life signs on the target vessel.” Spock’s voice answered from the bridge speakers. “What if there are multiple human life-sign readings?”
Transport them all, Mr. Spock. We’ll sort them out later.” Kirk couldn’t stand it any longer. Kabreigny was going by the book, but it wasn’t enough. “With respect, Admiral, if you’re planning on transporting hostiles aboard the Enterprise—” Kabreigny cut him off. “Security detail to the transporter room.

Phasers set to stun.” Kirk relaxed, but only a bit. “May I make another suggestion, ‘Xdmiral?” “Coming up on transporter range,” Sulu announced. “Still no indication that they’ve spotted us.” Kabreigny looked at Kirk. “Say what you have to, Captain.” ‘qf the liner is in the hands of Orion pirates, where’s their original ship?” Kabreigny tightened her grip on the arms of the chair. “The craft that landed by Cochrane’s shelter on the planetoid was Small. Captain. I presume it’s docked on the liner’s hangar deck.” Kirk could feel nervous energy roiling up inside him. “The pad marks on the planetoid were from a landing craft, Admiral.

Something that small couldn’t have taken over a liner.” “Then they took it over from within,” Kabreigny said, but for the first time Kirk could hear uncertainty in her voice.

So did McCoy. “For God’s sake, Admiral—what liner is going to let Orions book passage without packing them in freeze tubes?” “Do you have a recommendation?” Kabreigny asked in annoyance.

“Full sensor sweep of the surrounding area,” Kirk said, stepping down from the operations section to the command-chair level.

“Why not fire a photon torpedo across their bow,” Kabreigny snapped, “and really let them know we’re here?” “Admiral—you’re taking my ship into danger.” Kabreigny pushed herself out of the chair, towering over Kirk because of the chair’s raised platform. “Captain, you are attempting to warn the enemy.” “What?!” McCoy said. “Since when are Orion pirates the enemy? They’re criminals, annoyances… but enemies?” “Dr. McCoy,” the admiral ordered, “you will leave the bridge.” But McCoy had no intention of following that order. “I will not leave my patient.” Kirk shot a glance at the Companion. Her face was still buried in her hands. Alarmingly, her breathing was coming in shorter and shorter gasps.

Kabreigny pointed at McCoy. “I have given you an order, Doctor.” McCoy bristled with indignation. “You are outside your authority, Admiral.” Kabreigny matched him, bristle for bristle. “Very well. You force me to relieve you of duty.” “You cannot relieve me of my medical obligations to my patient.” “We are in transporter range,” Sulu said, his voice carefully neutral.

Kirk watched the admiral intently, ready to step in the instant she made a mistake that would stand up to review. His fists opened and closed in frustration at his sides.

Spock’s cool voice came from the speakers again. “I have detected eighty-three humans aboard the liner, Admiral. Do you vish me to transport them all?” ,’Eighty-three?” Kabreigny said, momentarily distracted.