Kirk, Mitchell, and the rest of the landing party attempt to escape the collapsed caverns on Dreknor—and a squad of Voitaan soldiers bent on killing them—before the two planets collide. Aboard the Enterprise, Spock facilitates the evacuation of both worlds while determining how to rescue his captain and fellow crew members.
Need to catch up? Click here to read Part One. Click here to read Part Two.
“Star Trek: Worlds of Doubt” – Part III
Phil Giunta
Part Three: The Final Bow
In the darkness, the distant sounds of shouting voices echoed in his head. Each piercing whine of a phaser, and every subsequent explosion, brought him ever closer to consciousness. When he finally awoke, he felt trickles of moisture stream down over his face. He did not need to see to realize he was bleeding. The dull, throbbing ache tearing through his skull was evidence enough.
He took several deep, quick breaths and immediately regretted it as he choked on the dust that permeated the air. After clearing his throat, he finally pushed himself to his knees. He kept his balance only momentarily as he pitched forward, stopping himself with his hands. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he strained to look around and saw that he was completely alone. It was then that he remembered running towards the corridor as the roof of the cave began to collapse. He recalled reaching the corridor, but in his panic, tripped over an unseen rise in the floor.
Now, he held his hand out and touched the cave wall, using it for support as he tentatively hauled himself to his feet. He slowly turned and began making his way back toward the infirmary. He wondered if anyone was still alive.
He walked only a few meters before hearing a rush of footsteps approaching from behind. He ducked into a small niche and pressed himself against the damp rock. As the silhouettes drew closer, he risked a peek into the corridor—and breathed a sigh of relief upon recognizing the Voitaan uniforms on the soldiers. He stepped out from the shadows and waved his arms. Immediately, the three helmeted soldiers aimed their blasters.
“Wait!” the waving man shouted. “It’s Councilor Garelen! Don’t fire!”
The lead soldier hesitated before slowly raising his free hand to halt his comrades. In response, the other two lowered their weapons. Their leader, however, did not.
“I am sorry, Councilor,” he said in a monotone voice.
“Understandable of course,” Garelen replied, speaking very quickly. He pointed to the room behind him. “We must get to that room, the roof collapsed when—”
“I am very sorry, Councilor,” the soldier interrupted.
Garelen paused in momentary confusion. “What? Yes, I know. As I said, it’s understan—”
The soldier raised his blaster and fired, sending a screaming Garelen backwards towards the cave wall. The Councilor disappeared in a brilliant red glow before colliding with it, his smoldering ashes scattering unnoticed on the cold, damp stone.
***
“I gave no such orders!”
Spock leaned back slowly in his chair as he stared across the conference room table at an enraged Nakor. Several moments of silence passed between them while Nakor held the Vulcan’s apathetic gaze, unwavering.
Spock took a deep breath before speaking again. “The ship’s communication logs clearly indicate that a transmission was made from your quarters to a military facility on Voitaan at nineteen hundred and three hours. Within twenty-seven minutes and twelve seconds after that transmission terminated, a fleet of six shuttles departed Voitaan on a direct course for Dreknor during which time, they did not respond to our hails. One hour and forty-six minutes later, the shuttles landed on Dreknor and discharged several teams of Voitaan soldiers who began a siege of the mountain near the rendezvous site, the location of which no one outside the Enterprise could have known.
“It was then that I examined the communication logs and discovered the transmission in question. If that communiqué was unrelated to the Voitaan assault force, then perhaps you could explain its true purpose.”
Nakor angrily thrust himself forward. “I made no transmissions this entire evening! I invited Councilor Sental to my quarters for dinner. We were together from seventeen hundred hours until you requested my presence here and began your false accusations!”
“I accuse no one. I merely state facts,” Spock retorted calmly. “Did you, at any time during Councilor Sental’s visit, leave her alone in your quarters?”
Nakor glanced down at the table for a moment, brow furrowed in thought as he recalled the events of the evening. “Yes,” he said finally. “She asked me to retrieve a book from her quarters. Earlier today, I asked to borrow it but she forgot to bring it with her to dinner.”
“Indeed, quite convenient,” Spock commented.
“You are implying what, Mister Spock? I was only gone for about ten minutes.”
“The transmission lasted for only six minutes and three seconds. At what time did you leave your quarters?”
Again, Nakor paused while considering his answer. Slowly, his expression changed as if a revelation occurred to him. “It was shortly before nineteen hundred hours, I’m fairly certain.”
Silence filled the room once more. Nakor, becoming clearly troubled, slumped back in his chair and looked tensely over at Spock. The science officer merely raised an eyebrow in response and pressed the intercom to call security.
***
Kirk awoke suddenly to the sound of a fading scream somewhere nearby. He groaned in reaction to the sharp pains in his lower back as he pulled himself to his feet. With a wince, he drew himself to his full height and looked around at what remained of the infirmary. The roof had completely collapsed over the back of the room where the injured and sick once resided. There was no discernible movement beneath the rubble; no signs of survival. To his right, he noticed Alden and Piper assisting a haggard Seskan to a nearby rock large enough to seat him while he caught his breath.
A soft scraping followed by an angry grunting caught Kirk’s attention. He spun around to find Noren struggling to release his right leg from beneath a massive chunk of rock. He was trying feverishly to shove it away using his free leg. Kirk could see that the effort was proving futile and made his way over to assist as quickly as his own legs would move him.
When he noticed Kirk approaching, Noren raised his hand to stop him. “No, Kirk!” His voice was barely more than a strained whisper as he spoke. “Get Raven… my daughter… please.”
Kirk paused for a moment looking down at the suffering leader. Finally, he nodded his head sharply. “We’ll get you out when I get back.”
Noren moved his arm to wave Kirk off, but the captain was already on his way to the makeshift operating room. He hoped the pile of rock and debris covering the doorway was not an omen of what he would find inside.
Feeling the complaint of each muscle, he moved enough of the rubble from the top of the pile to climb over and into the room. Were it not for the light shining in from the infirmary, the room would have been pitch dark. Apparently, all lighting here was destroyed by the cave-in.
“Raven,” Kirk shouted. For several seconds, there was no reply until Kirk heard a faint coughing from somewhere in the center of the room. He hurried to the source of the sound and was amazed at the sight. Raven was lying on the floor beside a toppled cot. The remarkable part of this was that the cot was supporting a massive slab of ceiling rock that would have landed directly atop the little girl and most likely crushed her.
Kirk lifted the child carefully and walked back towards the door. “Where is my father?” Raven asked.
“Just on the other side of these rocks,” Kirk replied. Now in the light of the doorway, he was able to get a better look at the girl. Were she human, Kirk would have guessed her age to be about five or six years old. As expected, she appeared somewhat dazed but otherwise uninjured.
“Be careful with our little patient, Captain.”
Kirk looked up to see Seskan’s somewhat bruised visage peering over the pile of rubble. “I’ll hand her through to you, Doctor.” As he did so, he caught a glimpse of Alden and Piper lifting Noren to his feet. They leaned the Dreknor leader against the wall as Seskan brought Raven to him. Father and daughter embraced each other tightly and even Seskan grinned at the sight.
“So much for the rest I prescribed,” he muttered.
As if on cue, blaster fire interrupted the scene as a beam connected with the wall beside Noren’s head. The Dreknor staggered backwards, but kept his balance. Still inside the operating room, Kirk watched as Alden pulled his phaser and fired at an unseen target in the corridor. More blaster fire was returned almost instantly and Alden dived behind the rock that was recently removed from Noren’s leg. Before making it to cover, however, Alden was hit in the side and fell with a thud. Instinctively, Kirk reached for his phaser and was relieved to find it still attached to his belt. His communicator, however, was lost for the moment. He set the phaser to heavy stun and waited.
Two Voitaan soldiers, weapons drawn, marched into the infirmary. They waved Seskan and Piper to one side of the room, leaving Noren and his daughter by themselves. Without preamble, the soldiers aimed their blasters at the Dreknor.
Kirk dropped the lead soldier with his first shot. The second turned towards him and fired. Kirk leaped back as shards of stone and debris exploded from the doorway. He fired back though the now empty entrance as the soldier started towards him then dived to the ground and rolled out of Kirk’s firing range.
Meanwhile, Piper ran over to Alden’s limp form and checked the lieutenant’s pulse. Apparently satisfied, Piper retrieved Alden’s phaser and fired at the remaining soldier, drawing his attention away from the operating room. Kirk made his way to one side of the doorway and observed where the return fire originated. Immediately, he dove out of the room and fired, striking the soldier directly in the chest and sending him crashing into the wall. The soldier slipped to the floor, unmoving.
“Quick thinking, Doctor,” Kirk said. “What’s Alden’s condition?”
“His pulse is strong and his breathing is becoming more regular. He should be coming around soon, but we need to get him to Sickbay fast, I want to treat that blaster wound as soon as possible.”
“Which means we’ll need to find an alternate route out of here,” Kirk announced, turning to Noren.
“There are many ways out of this mountain that only my people would know,” Noren said. “The challenge will be finding one that is not obstructed.”
“Can you walk?” Piper asked.
Noren took a few tentative steps forward, his expression barely masking the pain he felt in his leg. Nonetheless, he seemed determined. “I will make it,” he replied finally, shifting Raven in his arms. He softly spoke words of comfort to the girl and she nodded her head in reply.
Kirk shot a sudden glance around the room as if reacting to a sound. He stepped forward slowly and scanned the floor with his eyes.
“What is it?” Seskan asked. “Did you hear something?”
“Garelen,” Kirk said as he moved around the room, looking at the bodies scattered on the floor. Most were covered by rock or stone slabs, save for an outstretched arm or leg. The councilor, however, was not to be found among the casualties.
“He was standing with us when the explosion occurred,” Kirk said.
“Yes,” Noren concurred. “But thinking about it now, I recall seeing someone running towards the corridor just as the roof collapsed, but I am not certain who it was exactly.”
Kirk turned to face the corridor and exhaled. If Garelen truly did try to escape that way, his chances of survival were probably no better than had he stayed. Pushing the thought out of his mind, Kirk made his way over to Alden and together with Piper, lifted him to his feet. The sudden movement seemed to awaken the lieutenant. Alden slowly opened his eyes and shook his head.
“Easy, Lieutenant,” Piper warned. “You hit the deck pretty hard.”
Alden rubbed his neck and groaned. “Did anyone get the registry of that starship?”
“Speaking of starships,” Kirk said as he held out a hand. “We should be checking in with ours. Anyone still have their communicator?”
Alden removed his from his belt and handed it to Kirk. The captain flipped it open and attempted to contact the Enterprise but static was the only reply. He tried all of the usual Starfleet frequencies to no avail.
All heads snapped up as a thunderous stampede resounded from the corridor. Kirk and Piper raised their phasers while Noren crouched down to pull a small hand blaster from his boot. Shadows appeared on the corridor walls. As they grew steadily larger, the trio inside the infirmary aimed their weapons.
“Captain Kirk!”
Kirk lifted his phaser skyward at the sound of a familiar voice. “In here, Gary!”
Gary Mitchell stepped into the room followed by a motley assortment of Starfleet security and Dreknor soldiers. Upon seeing the weapons pointed in his direction, Mitchell raised his arms in mock surrender. “We come in peace. Although we almost came in pieces. You’ll never believe what’s been happening around here.”
“Tell us on the way out,” Kirk replied.
As the Dreknor soldiers led the way out through the maze of corridors, Mitchell filled Kirk in on the details of the attack. “The Voitaan strike team was ordered by Councilor Sental who tried to frame Nakor by using the comm unit in his quarters. Spock was able to get a copy of the transmission from the comm logs which also included orders to assassinate Councilor Garelen and, if necessary, any Federation representatives. If you heard alot of shooting earlier, that was us trying to get through that strike team.”
“Where is Sental now?”
“In the brig. It also looks like Nakor is taking the situation personally. I’ve never seen anyone let into someone like that after Spock had her arrested.”
“As well he should if that’s true,” Seskan chimed in. “Our own leaders plotting against one another, it’s a disgrace.”
“Is there a problem with communications?” Kirk asked. “We tried contacting the ship but couldn’t get through.”
“That was the next thing I was going to tell you,” Mitchell began. “These planets are about to smack right into each other. Atmospheric storms are kicking up, playing havoc with transporters and communications. We flew two shuttles down here to evacuate everyone. The first shuttle’s already on it’s way back to the ship with all the women and children we could stuff into it.”
The group finally made it out of the cavern to the planet’s surface. Lightning streaked through the sky as harsh winds made it difficult to keep one’s balance. Twenty meters ahead, the remaining shuttle waited for passengers. Mitchell jumped in first, followed by Piper and Alden. Kirk and the security team waited for the Dreknor to enter before climbing aboard.
When everyone was finally inside, Kirk closed the hatch. “All in, Gary. Take us out.”
“Aye, sir,” Mitchell complied as he began the shuttle’s ascent. Reaching the atmosphere, the tiny ship was rocked by extreme turbulence. Everyone held on to whatever sturdy object was available, including each other. Without warning, the shuttle jolted forward as it was slammed by an atmospheric storm. Passengers were pitched from their seats while the shuttle began spinning out of control. At the helm, Mitchell tried frantically to stabilize the vessel.
“Report, Lieutenant,” Kirk shouted over the mass of tangled bodies as he weaved his way to the cockpit.
He never heard Mitchell’s reply. The shuttle took another hit to starboard sending it completely off course. The helm panel exploded in a blinding flash of spark and flame sending Mitchell to the deck.
Kirk finally reached the front of the shuttle and pulled the helmsman away from the burning control panel. The skin around Mitchell’s eyes was seared as were both of his hands, but he was still conscious.
“I can’t see, Jim,” Mitchell said with brimming panic. He grabbed Kirk’s arm. “My eyes are burning. I can’t open them.”
“Gary, relax,” Kirk said as he propped Mitchell up against the bulkhead. “Doctor Piper, get up here!”
“On my way,” the doctor replied from somewhere in the back of the shuttle.
Moving to the communications panel, Kirk looked over the automated damage reports. Impulse engines were offline. Starboard thruster was destroyed. Helm controls were no longer responding. The navigational display, however, painted an even grimmer picture. Although the shuttle’s speed slowed to a drift, it was heading towards the gravity well between Voitaan and Dreknor. Kirk knew that if the shuttle’s course could not be altered within a few minutes, it would be ripped apart the minute it entered the gravity well.
“What’s it look like, Jim?” Mitchell asked. “You’re too quiet over there.”
“We’ll get home, Gary,” Kirk answered, hoping his tone was more believable than his words.
“I’ve known you too long, Jim. It’s bad, isn’t it?”
Kirk was about to answer when Piper reached the cockpit and began treating Mitchell. He took that as his queue and went to work. The only functioning propulsion at the moment was the port thruster. Despite the shuttle’s slow drift, thruster power alone would be insufficient to pull out of the gravity well.
Kirk diverted helm controls to navigation as an idea struck him. Impulse engines may have been offline, but impulse power was still at full capacity. Kirk proceeded to divert impulse power to the starboard thruster. Were Scotty present, he would have been able to tell Kirk just how much power the thrusters could handle before they overloaded. Kirk considered increasing power gradually to avoid that but the shuttle was almost within range of the gravity well. It would be only a few moments before they reached the point of no return. A blinking light on the panel indicated that impulse power had been diverted. He turned to address the passengers behind him. “We have one chance to pull out. If it works, it’s going to be bumpy ride.”
“And if it doesn’t, I suppose it’ll be smooth?” Mitchell asked with typical sarcasm.
Ignoring him, Kirk flipped the switch to activate the port thruster. “Brace yourselves!” At first, nothing happened. Then suddenly, an explosion on the port side sent the shuttle into a wild roll.
Kirk struggled to stay in his chair at navigation as he tried to determine their heading. Sensors indicated that the port thruster had overloaded as expected. The resulting boost only slowed the shuttle’s descent into the gravity well. Within moments, the vessel’s speed grew perceptibly faster. Kirk braced himself against the control panel. As they re-entered the atmosphere of one of the two planets—or maybe both by now, the shuttle was slammed repeatedly by the severe turbulence.
Dead silence filled the vessel as it careened out of control to its inevitable fate.
***
“Sir, the second shuttle has dropped out of sensor range.”
From the command chair moments earlier, Spock watched, along with the rest of the bridge crew, as a short burst of orange light appeared on the mainscreen just above Dreknor. As quickly as it flared, it vanished.
Spock pressed the intercom. “Bridge to Transporter Room.”
“Transporter room, Kyle here.”
“Mister Kyle, can you obtain a transporter lock on the second shuttle?”
There was a brief pause as Kyle worked the transporter controls. “Negative, sir. The atmospheric storms are creating false images on the sensors. I can’t get a positive lock.”
“Understood, Mister Kyle. Bridge out.”
Knowing all eyes were upon him, Spock sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers as he considered his next order. Despite the imminent protests he will undoubtedly receive from the senior bridge crew, there was nothing more he could do for the shuttle. Tractor beams would also be futile if sensors could not pinpoint the shuttle’s location in the atmosphere. Spock had to follow the next logical and most productive course of action.
He pressed the intercom once more to address the crew. “This is the bridge. All hands prepare for evacuation of Voitaan, which will commence in ten point two minutes. Bridge out.”
He rose from the command chair as he closed the connection. “Helm, alter course to one-eight-four point three. Full impulse.”
Sulu exhaled in audible disappointment and slowly manipulated the helm controls to comply. “Course altered, engaging full impulse.”
Spock turned to communications. “Lieutenant Uhura, hail the Voitaan council. Inform them we are preparing to evacuate their planet within ten minutes.”
For a moment, Uhura did not move. Her eyes were still fixed on the mainscreen where the shuttle had briefly appeared.
“Lieutenant,” Spock repeated sharply.
Uhura swallowed hard and nodded her head. “Aye, sir.”
Spock stepped over to the science station across the bridge. He almost reached the console when Sulu announced that two other starships, the Thor and the Cassiopeia, had just dropped out of warp near Voitaan.
Spock turned back to Uhura. “Lieutenant, when you are finished with the Voitaan, contact both vessels and request that they begin evacuation immediately. Forward to Captains Larn and Perri the ship’s logs of the previous twenty four hours.”
As Uhura complied, Spock went to work at the science station. Peering into the raised monitor, he re-examined the earlier sensor readings and began calculating every possible trajectory of the lost shuttle.
***
“I can spare several of my best officers to form a search party on the surface. Using the projected course of the shuttle, we may have a chance of finding them before the planets collide.”
“While your offer is most generous, Captain Larn,” Spock replied to the Andorian on the mainscreen. “I must decline. Even with that information, the odds of one or more shuttles reaching the surface through the deteriorating atmospheric conditions are nine million two hundred thousand to one. Further, the chances of finding the shuttle intact with all hands alive and returning safely in the remaining two point four hours before the collision are much more slim.”
“Spoken like a true Vulcan, Mister Spock,” Larn said. “Very well, then. I will be taking the evacuees to Starbase Nineteen per Starfleet orders. See you there. If it means anything to you, Commander, I am sorry for the loss of your captain and crewmembers. Thor out.”
The mainscreen abruptly changed to a view of the double worlds. The Thor could be seen entering warp, leaving the Enterprise and the Cassiopeia to complete their mission. Earlier, Captain Perri had made a similar offer to Spock. Then, he argued that no shuttle could be spared from the evacuation effort. The good of the many outweighed the good of the few. It was a logical decision at the time. Despite that fact, the Vulcan was experiencing difficulty resolving the decision within himself.
His thoughts were interrupted as Sulu turned to face him with a surprised expression. “Sir, a ship of unknown design has just left Dreknor atmosphere and is on a direct course for the Enterprise at full impulse.”
“On screen.”
Sulu switched the mainscreen to an aft view showing a small rounded craft, slightly larger than a Starfleet shuttle, growing larger as it approached.
“Magnify,” Spock ordered.
“Mister Spock,” Uhura called. “The ship is hailing us. Audio only. The message is rather weak.”
“Open a channel, Lieutenant.”
Pulling the silver receiver from her left ear, Uhura flipped a switch on her console. Static screamed from the ship’s speakers through which a faint message could be heard. “If you are hearing this message, Spock, open the shuttle bay doors now.”
The voice was unmistakable. As the bridge crew shot looks of surprise at each other, Spock, in a rare display of semi-emotion, slammed the intercom. “Bridge to Shuttle Bay.”
“Shuttle Bay, Kelso here.”
“Mister Kelso, do you have room to receive one more vessel?”
***
In the shuttle bay control room, Kelso stretched his neck to peer down at the hoards of Voitaan and Starfleet personnel scurrying around the deck. He guessed it would take at least thirty minutes to clear everyone out.
“Mister Kelso,” Spock beckoned over the intercom. “I require an answer.”
“How soon, Mister Spock?”
“Immediately.”
Kelso paused, staring in amazement at the intercom. “I’m sorry, sir, but there are a few hundred people in the—”
“Very well, Mister Kelso. Bridge out.”
Kelso let out a short laugh and shook his head in disbelief. “If it was Gary’s shuttle, I’d get everybody out of there in five minutes.”
***
“Aye, sir, I have a positive lock.”
“Energize, Mister Kyle.”
“Spock, open the damn shuttle bay—”
On the ship’s speakers, the message from the alien vessel abruptly ended. For several seconds there was only silence.
“—doors!” Kirk’s voice finished the sentence over the ship’s intercom.
“I have them, sir,” Kyle announced.
“Indeed, Mister Kyle. I am on my way.” Spock rose from the command chair and started towards the turbolift. “Mister Sulu, continue to hold the ZyXis in the tractor beam until the shuttlebay is available. At that point you will dock the vessel. In the meantime, you have the bridge.”
***
“It is only a matter of minutes now, Sental. I thought you would like to know.”
From her seat in the brig, Sental looked up at Nakor standing on the opposite side of the forcefield. “Has everyone been evacuated?”
“Why do you care?” Nakor asked. His voice was calm, almost monotone. “I thought you were fond of killing and destruction.” He leaned closer to the forcefield. “I know you were somehow involved with the weapons testing on Dreknor, Sental. Whether you admit it or not is irrelevant. I will have evidence soon enough.”
“And what good will it do you, Nakor?” Sental rose from her seat and stepped up to the door of her cell. “Are you going to put me on trial under the laws of an extinct planet?”
“A Federation trial will suffice.”
The two locked eyes for a moment that seemed to Nakor like an eternity. Neither spoke. Nakor remembered when there was once a time when such a moment held a different meaning for the two of them. “I loved you once. Maybe I still do. You led me to believe you felt the same and I believed you. Now I cannot be sure. I just thought you’d like to know.”
With that, Nakor turned his back and left the room. As the doors closed, he thought he heard Sental say something, but he did not turn back.
***
“You’re safe now, the worst is over. Try to get some rest.”
From across Sickbay, Piper smiled as he observed Seskan tucking Raven into one of the beds. He held the girl’s hand as he spoke. Reminded of the doctor’s earlier attitude at the clinic on Dreknor, Piper was tempted to say something to Seskan, to compliment him on his improved bedside manner, but thought the better of it.
“That’s a little tight, Doc.”
Piper turned back to his own patient who was adjusting the bandages over his eyes.
“You’ll get used to it, Mister Mitchell, and you’ll be off duty for six days. Your sight should be fully restored by then.”
“You know, I always said I could fly this ship blindfolded.”
“We prefer not to take you up on that, Gary.”
Mitchell turned his head in the direction of a different, but familiar voice. Alden smirked as he headed towards the doors to leave Sickbay.
“Hey, he gets hit by blaster fire but he can walk out of here and I can’t?” Mitchell complained.
Piper and Alden froze. They looked at each other and back at Mitchell. There was no way he could see through the bandages covering his eyes.
“How did you know I was leaving?” Alden asked.
Mitchell shrugged. “ESP, I guess.”
***
“Fellow Dreknor,” Noren began. “Glance upon our home world, shortly doomed to destruction. Take one final look if you must, but remember this. No matter where our journey takes us, we are still Dreknor and we will stay together as a people if you so wish it.”
Listening to Noren on the observation deck, the Dreknor expressed their amazement at seeing their world from such a distance. Their wonder quickly turned to mournful silence as the true meaning of the occasion gripped their thoughts. Directly behind Dreknor, Voitaan loomed ominously, dwarfing its neighbor as the two drew closer to mutual destruction.
Standing off to one side, Nakor watched as Voitaan and Dreknor alike conversed with each other in soft tones, anticipating the nightmare that was unavoidable through the observation deck windows. Some cried; others embraced. Still more were transfixed by the sight of the double worlds.
Nakor made his way over to Noren, standing alone at one of the windows. “Your people seem to be taking it fairly well, Noren.”
“As I said before, Councilor, we are nomadic, used to an unsettled life.” He glanced back at those behind them and exhaled. “Although I am not certain that we really want to continue that way.”
“You may not have to,” Nakor announced. “I cannot apologize enough for what my government did to your people, nor can I change what has happened. But if our peoples are willing, we can work together to forge a new civilization elsewhere.”
Noren was about to reply but his words were drowned out by the horrified screams of those behind them. In unison, Nakor and Noren stared out at the massive collision in space. It seemed that such an event should rightfully be accompanied by an incredible thunderous sound, but there was none—only the sight of massive chunks of rock and debris expanding in every direction. As the huddled witnesses looked on in awe, the silence of outer space became suddenly deafening.
***
On the bridge decks above, Kirk slid slowly into his command chair. It was the most comfortable feeling of the past several days.
“All relevant data has been sufficiently collected and cataloged, Captain,” Spock reported. “No further observation is necessary.
“Just another ordinary planetary collision, Mister Spock?” Kirk asked humorously.
“There are few variations from the typical pattern of previously studied collisions of similar class planets.”
“I see.” It’s good to know at least something on this mission was typical. Kirk had a feeling that he would have many more atypical missions before his five years was over. He nodded his head sharply and turned his chair to face the main screen. “Mister Stiles, plot a course for Starbase Nineteen.”
As the navigator complied, Kirk tapped the intercom button on the arm of his command chair. “Bridge to Engineering.”
“Engineering, Scott here.”
“Can we get a little breeze in our sails, Mister Scott? I’d like to avoid the upcoming shockwave if possible.”
“Aye, sir, I can give ye a gale force wind, if ye’d like,” replied the engineer.
“That should do, Mister Scott. Bridge out.”
Kirk looked over at Sulu as he cut off the intercom. “Helm, take us out, warp eight.”