Seekers Read online

  Grunting more from irritation than any real pain, Kang stepped to the side, distracted only for a moment by the strike, but it was enough for the second trainer to come about, and its arm swung into his back and delivered another shock. Now truly angry, the Klingon captain howled as he kicked at the mannequin’s torso. He planted the heel of his boot squarely in the center of the trainer’s chest with enough force to snap the figure from its swivel base, and it crashed with a heavy thud onto the metal deck. A few telltale sparks from severed electrical connections spat from the base, and an alarm tone sounded in the room. Kang was sure the ship’s computer shortly would notify his chief engineer that yet another item had been added to his already long list of things requiring attention and ­repair.

  From behind him, a familiar voice asked in a gently mocking tone, “I trust you feel the rush of victory coursing through your veins as it sets your very blood aflame?”

  Kang released a deep, bellowing laugh as he turned to face his wife, who stood with crossed arms in the doorway leading from the Voh’tahk’s physical-training chamber, regarding him with a small, wry smile. She was dressed in the female equivalent of standard shipboard exercise attire, which consisted of a close-fitting dark gray bodysuit that conformed to her alluring figure. ­Engrossed as he had been in his own exercise regimen, Kang had not even heard the parting of the doors and Mara’s stealthy entrance into the room. “Were you of a mind to do so, you could have easily taken my life.”

  “The thought has occurred to me, on occasion,” Mara replied, her expression flat. Then, continuing their game, she added, “On more than one occasion, actually. Usually when you are sleeping. And you know I would not even need a blade.” Her comments elicited another laugh from Kang, and it was only then that the frustration he had been feeling began to lift. He noted that she wore no shoes, leading him to surmise that she either was coming from or on her way to her usual Mok’bara training interval. Already an accomplished student of the unarmed combat discipline when he had first met her, Mara had continued to hone her skills in the time they had been mated. With the possible but by no means certain exception of Kang himself, there was no one aboard the Voh’tahk able to best her in the crew’s regular shipboard competitions.

  “I understand there have been some delays with the repairs,” she said.

  Kang nodded, reaching out to push the remaining training mannequin’s left arm so that it began to swivel in a counterclockwise motion. As it turned around toward him, he made a halfhearted attempt to parry its swing, sending it spinning in the opposite direction. “Konvraq has informed me that he has found additional damage in our propulsion systems as well as our forward weapons array. The engineers who overlooked the faults during their initial inspections have been punished, of course, but I cannot afford to kill them at the moment.” The error, in Kang’s mind, at least, had been egregious, given the Voh’tahk’s current tactical situation and its vulnerability to the Starfleet vessel still lurking nearby. “We have an opportunity to gain an advantage over the Earther ship, but it is being squandered by sloppiness and inattention to vital detail.” The Voh’tahk’s sensors had observed the unexplained very powerful energy beam fired from somewhere on the Tomol planet as it struck the Starfleet cruiser, and the ship’s feeble attempts to combat the assault before its retreat from orbit. From what Kang had been told by his tactical officer, the Endeavour had sustained some damage but nothing debilitating, and he suspected that its repairs would be completed before Konvrag and his engineers finished their own work. This, of course, added to Kang’s mounting frustration.

  As always, Mara could sense what he might be thinking just from studying his face and body language. “You feel useless at the moment, do you not? With all the repairs that still need to be completed, you think your time is better spent helping with that work.”

  “You know me too well, my wife,” Kang said, crossing the exercise floor to a metal bench affixed to the wall. He had placed a rough-hewn towel there, and he began wiping at the perspiration on his chest and arms. “In situations like these, a captain is little more than an impediment, an obstacle his crew must negotiate while seeing to their tasks. Despite all the time I have spent commanding ships of the empire, I have never grown comfortable sitting idle as others work around me.” As captain of a battle cruiser that remained compromised and in need of repair, there was little for him to do while his crew worked to return the Voh’tahk to operational capability.

  Stepping farther into the room, Mara allowed the doors to shut behind her. “It is not proper for you to attend to such matters, my husband. Your place is one of leadership, above and apart from those you command.”

  Kang was aware of this, of course. While he certainly possessed the necessary technical expertise and experience to assist in any or all of the damage control efforts currently under way across the Voh’tahk, protocol demanded that he remain above such menial tasks. An opportunistic subordinate might see any move on Kang’s part to contribute to the physical labor as lowering himself from his position of leadership and disrespect for the title he held. As far as Kang was concerned, such thinking was nonsense, and he would gladly kill anyone who challenged him on such a ridiculous point. He also had to remain mindful of his crew’s morale, which might be disrupted in the face of any threats to his authority, perceived or real.

  “Protocol does not require me to be happy about such things,” Kang said, wiping his face with the towel as he stepped back toward the room’s center and the training mannequins. “But rather than allow the crew to see my discontent, I take refuge down here and purge my frustrations on inanimate objects.” He approached the model that still stood upright, waiting for him to begin another exercise interval, but instead of activating the unit, Kang kicked at it, toppling it as he had done to its companion and watching as it broke from its base and tumbled to the deck.

  Mara asked, “Do you feel better now?”

  The sound of metal impacting against metal should have placated him, if only a small bit, but Kang felt no satisfaction. He grunted this displeasure rather than giving it voice, and he heard his wife chuckle behind him. Saying nothing further, he watched as she moved to the door and engaged its lock before turning to face him. She reached for the closure at the neck of her bodysuit and pulled it down past her waist, revealing that she was wearing no other clothing. Pulling the suit down past her shoulders, Mara freed her arms and allowed the garment to drop into a pile around her feet.

  “Perhaps what is required is some other means of easing your stress and frustration,” she said, walking naked across the floor toward him.

  Kang smiled. “I am, of course, open to exploring all possibilities.” He embraced her, his fingers tracing her familiar curves, and she responded in kind, and within moments he felt the pressures of command slipping away, helpless against his wife’s raw, unbridled sensual energy. She pressed her body against his, lifting her head so that her eyes met his.

  A loud, electronic tone echoed in the exercise room, followed by the voice of his communications officer, Kyris, filtered through the ship’s intercom system. “Bridge to Captain Kang.”

  Growling in annoyance at the untimely interruption, Kang crossed to the intercom panel mounted to the bulkhead near the door and smacked the activation control with the heel of his hand. “This is Kang,” he snapped, making no effort to hide his displeasure. “What do you want?”

  “I apologize for disturbing you, Captain, but we are being hailed by the Federation cruiser. Its captain wishes to speak with you and says it is urgent.”

  Still naked, Mara moved to stand beside him, and Kang exchanged doubting glances with her before replying, “Very well. Transfer the communication to this station.”

  Kyris acknowledged the order and a moment later Kang heard the snap and buzz of frequencies being shifted before a new voice said, “Captain Kang, this is Captain Khatami of the Endeavour. Thank you for agreeing
to speak with me.”

  “What do you want, human?”

  “To put it bluntly, I need your help, but you’re no good to me with your ship all but dead in space. So I’m proposing an exchange: I’ll help you complete your ship’s repairs if you’ll agree to help me rescue my people from the planet’s surface.”

  Kang’s eyes widened in surprise. “Why would assisting a human to aid other humans be of interest to me?”

  “My landing party has your doctor, Tormog, in custody. His wounds have been treated and he is being handled with respect. Helping me to retrieve my people would allow us to return him to you.”

  Though Khatami could not see him do so, Kang shrugged. “You may keep him, or kill him. It is of no difference to me.”

  The human did not hesitate with her response. “Are you sure about that? He’s collected quite a bit of information pertaining to your mission here. Aren’t you supposed to be gathering data and specimens for your superiors? My suggestion is that you forget about the latter, but the former may still be of some value.”

  “My mission is of no concern to you,” Kang replied. “And I have no need for any advice you might care to offer.”

  “Listen to me, Kang. The beings who relocated the Tomol to this planet have put in all sorts of protective measures to make sure they don’t go through this transformation you want to exploit so badly. It’s already cost you one ship and the lives of its crew. As the Tomol who’ve changed keep growing more powerful, these countermeasures have been escalating, and that includes reacting to any perceived threats from orbiting ships. We have to assume that there’s some kind of protocol designed to keep the Tomol from leaving the planet.”

  Despite himself, Kang once again found himself admiring—if only a small bit—the human woman’s guile for talking to him in this manner. As for her claims, he suspected what she was saying was true, at least in some respects. The readings collected by the Voh’tahk’s sensors confirmed Khatami’s report about the energy weapon coming from some sort of apparatus buried in the ground on that cursed planet, utilizing a technology far too advanced for the primitive Tomol to have created.

  “If what you say is true, Captain, then your ship is in danger if you return to the planet. So what do you ­suggest?”

  “As I said, my people can assist you with finalizing the repairs to your ship. Tell us what you need, and my engineers will supply it. After that, I think that if we work together, your ship could provide a diversion while mine moves close enough to beam up my people, and your Doctor Tormog. If necessary, we combine our forces to destroy the weapons being used against our ships and our people on the surface. Once everyone’s clear, I’ll transfer Tormog—and whatever data he’s collected—to you.”

  “You seem rather trusting of me, Captain,” Kang said. “Most atypical of a human.”

  Khatami replied, “I can’t very well ask you to trust me if I’m not willing to reciprocate. I don’t think either of our ships working alone is enough to combat whatever weapons are being used, but together I believe we have a chance. Also, we both know I’m not asking you to do anything you haven’t already done before. I read Captain Kirk’s report of your previous meeting, and he wrote that you are a Klingon who values honor and kept to your word when circumstances required you two to work together.”

  “Kirk,” Kang said, exchanging another knowing look with Mara as he recalled the odd encounter he, along with his wife and a handful of survivors from his previous ship, had when they found themselves trapped aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise and at the mercy of a strange noncorporeal energy being who was manipulating the emotions of everyone aboard the starship for its own benefit. The Enterprise crew discovered what was happening, and Kirk in turn convinced Kang of their situation and how to free themselves. Though the Enterprise captain had used subterfuge in the beginning to gain an upper hand, in the end he had comported himself with integrity and decency, earning from Kang a measure of grudging respect.

  “You would allow us to return to the empire with knowledge of these people?” Kang asked, still harboring doubts. “And if I wish to take specimens with me as well?”

  “I think we both know I can’t allow that,” Khatami replied. “But I’ve already seen what happened when your other ship tried to beam up some of the Tomol. If you think you can do better, I’ll be happy to sit back and watch.”

  The bold statement evoked a hearty laugh from Kang, loud enough to echo off the exercise chamber’s metal bulkheads. “I begin to take a liking to you, human.”

  “What does that mean, exactly?”

  Kang laughed again. “That I’m not as eager to kill you as I was earlier today. You took even less time to change my mind than Kirk did.” Taking note of Mara’s skeptical expression, he said, “Very well, Captain. I accept your proposal. My engineer will prepare a list of components we require to complete our repairs, and I commit on my honor this vessel’s assistance in retrieving your officers.”

  “Thank you, Captain,” Khatami replied, and Kang heard the small air of relief in her voice. “For whatever it’s worth to you, I’m in your debt.”

  “I may well collect on that pledge one day.” Kang pressed the control to end the communication before turning to Mara, who still regarded him with obvious skepticism.

  “Allying yourself with her?” she asked, folding her arms across her bare chest. “What will your crew think?”

  “They will do as they are commanded,” Kang replied. “The truth is that if we stay out here, she will find some way to exploit the knowledge we seek for the Federation’s use. Taking advantage of whatever generosity she offers gives us an opportunity to keep her and her ship close until such time as we are ready to acquire the data and the specimens we need.”

  “What of her claims about this odd weapon that’s being used?” Mara asked. “Do you believe her?”

  Kang nodded. “I do, which is why I intend to use the Starfleet ship as a diversion of my own, even as I help its captain to rescue her subordinates.” His mission still foremost in his mind, Kang already was pondering scenarios whereby the Endeavour could be offered up as fodder for the mysterious weapon on the planet’s surface, even as the Voh’tahk secured the Tomol specimens he had been ordered to collect. As for the threat Khatami had theorized if Kang succeeded in capturing any of the Tomol, it would just have to be an acceptable risk.

  Until he could find a way to offer the Endeavour to the weapon, of course.

  19

  “All hands to your positions! Let’s move, people! Move move move!”

  Clark Terrell’s voice exploded from Katherine Stano’s open communicator, the volume of his shouted commands enough to make her flinch. She stepped up onto the small cargo crate and peered over the larger container that had been set into the ground before her, giving herself a better view of the area around the Sagittarius. Defensive positions similar to her own had been prepared at intervals in a circle around the crashed scout ship, consisting of cargo containers, the trunks of felled trees, and even duranium plates Master Chief Ilucci and his engineers had pulled from the ship’s hull. The components had been set into the ground, behind which were holes, excavated using phaser rifles from the vessel’s armory, which were shallow enough for a person to stand upright while using the crates and other items for cover.

  “Here we go again,” Stano said, looking to either side of her hole as stragglers moved toward their positions on the hastily constructed perimeter. Terrell had reported moments earlier that the Sagittarius sensors had picked up the approach of airborne Tomol life-forms, heading away from Suba and toward this island. Repair tasks on the ship had been suspended as the entire crew scrambled to complete final preparations for what everyone was sure was another attack. Based on the sensor scans, Nimur and her fellow Changed would be here in minutes.

  And here we are, stuck.

  The Endeavour had been out of communicatio
ns for an extended period, with the exception of a single burst transmission containing a brief summary of the starship’s present condition following an attack from a ground-based energy weapon. Repairs currently were under way or being finalized on systems across the ship, which meant it still was vulnerable to attack from not only the ground but also the Klingon warship that remained in the Nereus system. Even delivering this update had proved to be a challenge, as the ship had been forced to attempt a high-speed flyby of the planet and stay within communications range just long enough to transmit the message. The short version of the story was that Stano and everyone else here on the ground would be without support from the Endeavour until further notice.

  “Showtime, people!” shouted Vanessa Theriault, calling out to those Sagittarius and Endeavour personnel within earshot. Standing several meters to Stano’s right, the first officer had taken up position in the adjacent hole, her left hand resting on the stock of the phaser rifle she had laid across the edge of the hull plate barrier. Behind her, Lieutenant Lerax was talking into his communicator, no doubt working with Senior Chief Petty Officer Razka, the Sagittarius’s lead field scout and security head, to coordinate final placements of the scout ship’s crew as well as the Endeavour personnel, along with Kerlo and his fellow Tomol who had survived the fight with Nimur at the bird-of-prey crash site. Even Tormog had volunteered to take up a position on the line, the Klingon scientist currently occupying a hole with the Sagittarius’s medical officer, Doctor Babitz. Looking to her left, she nodded to Stano while indicating her hole with a wave of her free hand. “Be it ever so humble. Something tells me the locals won’t like what we’ve done with the place.”