• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Carol walked over to her son and clasped his hand. Their eyes remained riveted to the screen. “David,” she whispered. “Did any of our simulations ever produce anything like this?”

“We never even considered the effect of the matrix in a nebula,” David said.

Thelin felt a shudder vibrating through the deck, and for the first time he realized that he’d felt precisely the same sensation just a short time earlier-in fact, it seemed to be repeating at regular intervals.

“Admiral,” Croy suddenly said with alarm, breaking the spell over the others. “Ship speed is down to one hundred fifty kilometers per second and slowing.”

“Slowing?” Kirk said. “Sulu, go to full impulse.”

“Sir, we’re at full impulse power now,” he replied.

Sensing the danger, Thelin quickly performed a scan of the surrounding space. “Gravimetric waves, sir,” he said. “That would explain the sudden accretion of the nebula matter. The gravitational fields are too intense for the ship’s weakened impulse engines.”

“Sulu! If we get the mains back online, can we warp out?”

“No, sir,” he replied. “We couldn’t possibly engage warp fields in a gravity well this strong. It would tear the ship apart. I’m adjusting ship’s attitude to apply tangential thrust. It’s the most conservative way to counter the pull and break orbit.”

Another shudder rippled through the hull. Warning lights illuminated on the conn and navigation consoles, and the voice of Ensign Croy rang out in panic. “We’re still losing altitude!”

“Keep it together, Mister,” Kirk scolded him. “Just keep us in orbit for now.”

“But, sir!” Croy replied. “Every time another wave hits us, I need to recompute our parabolic trajectory.”

Back at the science consoles, David shook his head in frustration and, seeing no other option, rushed up to the helm at the front of the bridge. “Guys,” he said, “this is just simple physics. Keep applying the thrust at a tangent. I’ve computed the period of the gravimetric waves as well as the drag coefficient. All you have to do is program a delta-V using the…um…”

“The ventral thrusters?” Sulu offered.

“Right!” He paused, as if suddenly realizing where he was and what he was doing, and he turned around to face his father in the captain’s chair. “I’m sorry…uh, sir. I just…I knew that I could-”

“No, David, that’s…that’s just fine.” Kirk stood, and awkwardly placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “That’s excellent work!”

David looked down with a sheepish grin. “Thank you,” he said simply.

Kirk looked over David’s shoulder. “Ensign Croy? Can you work with Doctor Marcus here to plot us an escape orbit?”

The young ensign made a futile effort to conceal his continuing nervousness. “Yes…Of course, sir.”

“Have at it, then!” Kirk replied with encouragement.

Thelin smiled as the two young men quickly got to work. He would monitor the course calculations from his own station, but he had no doubt that his cadet and the admiral’s son would have the ship safely out of danger in no time. Granted, he was still coming to terms with the shock of discovering that Admiral Kirk even had a son, but Thelin was happy for him, and touched by the moment they had just shared on the bridge.

“Course laid in,” Croy said.

“Altering heading to new course,” Sulu said, offering a quick smile to the lieutenant seated next to him.

The minutes passed without incident as the Enterprise gradually ascended into higher orbit, while the viewscreen displayed the amazing spectacle below them as the planet gradually cooled, producing life-giving oceans, clouds, and even the telltale greenish bands of primitive plant life. The fires of creation, Thelin thought, given to mankind. Thus spoke the ancient Andorian legends of Uzaveh the Infinite, who had banished Thirizaz, the original thaan of the First Kin, but sent the Fire Daemon to feed his insatiable passions-fires of desire that could serve to bring the kin together and to make them whole…or that could be used to destroy, and to recreate in service to arrogance and vanity.

Thelin had never been a particularly religious man,