Myriad Universes 02_ Echoes and Refractions - Keith R. A. DeCandido [40]
Kirk wondered at this odd news, but under the circumstances he had more pressing matters at hand. “Well, we’ll keep this channel open. Please keep me informed. I…” He paused. His fragile emotional state was strained to the point of breaking; he merely wanted to express his gratitude, but felt he could lose his composure at any moment. “I wanted to thank you again for your assistance. I wish there had been another way, but we couldn’t bring Starfleet into this. The danger was too great.”
“Admiral, your family is our family. I wouldn’t have it any other way. The consequences are the least of my concerns.”
Kirk averted his gaze. “Well…nonetheless, I’m grateful. And…very lucky to have such friends.”
“Godspeed, Jim. Uhura out.”
“We are approaching the designated coordinates,” Thelin announced from the science station. “Scans reveal no ships in the vicinity.”
Kirk fidgeted nervously in the captain’s chair, and the rest of the skeleton crew on the Enterprise bridge seemed unusually apprehensive as well. This was no ordinary mission. Each of them had made a decision to risk his career in Starfleet so that Kirk’s son might be saved-Thelin at the science station, Sulu and Chekov at the helm, and Scotty running a makeshift automation center from the operations consoles-and failure was not an option with so much at stake.
“No, they won’t show up on scans,” Kirk said. “Even the Klingons can’t detect their own cloaked ships. See if you can discover an ion plasma trail. If they’re in the vicinity, the impulse engines will leave a signature.”
“A needle in a haystack,” grumbled Doctor McCoy, the final member of the tiny crew, seated at one of the rear tactical stations with a characteristically dour expression. Normally he would be in the sickbay, preparing for the worst possible consequences, but given that the rest of the ship was deserted, it was only natural that he would choose to remain on the bridge. “Coming out here to meet a ship we can’t even see? We might as well have painted a bull’s-eye on the hull.”
“We know they can’t fire on us while cloaked,” Kirk assured him. “If we stay vigilant, we can still have a tactical advantage.”
Thelin silently agreed, but acknowledged to himself the caveat that a starship with just a fraction of its intended crew complement was in no condition to engage in battle. He reinitiated his scan with the new parameters. The data they had received on the new Klingon birds-of-prey had already proven useful. He only hoped it would be sufficient.
“We’ve reached the rendezvous point, Admiral,” Chekov declared from the navigation station.
“Full stop, Mister Sulu,” Kirk said.
“Aye, sir,” Sulu replied. The hum of the impulse engines died away to a barely audible whirr.
A flashing indicator on Thelin’s console grabbed his attention. “I’ve got something,” he announced. “It might just be some ionized gas, but it’s at bearing twenty-four mark two-oh-one.”
“On screen,” Kirk said.
The starfield adjusted its position on the viewscreen. At the center of the image, a rippling distortion effect was visible among the solid points of light. Kirk stood up and walked toward the helm, pointing at the display. “There!” he said. “That shimmering area. Do you see it?”
“Yes, sir,” Sulu responded. “I think it’s an energy form.”
“Enough energy to hide a ship, perhaps?” Kirk asked.
“The cloaking device!” Sulu answered.
“Shields up,” Kirk commanded. “If nothing else, they aren’t going to have the element of surprise.”
The distortion upon the viewscreen grew more pronounced until, within moments, it resolved into the image of a Klingon bird-of-prey. Thelin moved over to the communications console and read from the flashing indicators on the display. “We are being hailed,” he called out. “Audio only.”
“Put it on speakers,” Kirk said.
The ship’s intercom