ENT - 012 - Kobayashi Maru

FORTY-EIGHT

The Depths of Tezel-Orokos Kuiper Belt

P OWERLESS TO TAKEany direct action to stop the proceedings that were unfolding before him on the bird-of-preys bustling bridge, Trip sat with his back to the console where his captors had parked him. He watched in silence as Sopek finally gave the order that confirmed nearly all of Trips worst suspicions.

“The lead vessel has activated the arrenhehwiuatelecapture system, Sublieutenant, the turncoat captain said to the youthful male officer seated at the forward helm console. “ Enterprisewill come within the systems operational range when she closes with the freighter to commence rescue operations. The attack force will reveal itself then, while bringing the device fully to bear against the Earth vessel.

Trip watched. But he wasnt watching helplessly.

Despite the slight shaking of his hands, no doubt caused by the close presence of both Sopek and his crewnot to mention the disruptor-packing two-legged watchdog posted near the turbolift doorsTrip hadnt found it all that difficult to take surreptitious control of a couple of the ships more innocuous-looking systems.

The backup coolant valves that governed the dispersal of the life-support systems waste heat had taken only a few short minutes to figure out. Using those bursts to create a corresponding pulsation within the adjacent tertiary subspace communications backup systema little-noticed system that engaged automatically during signal-jamming operationshad taken even less time.

The trickiest part of the gambit had been trying to look casual while digging a finger deeply into his right ear in order to gently extract the small universal translation unit that the Adigeon plastic surgeons had concealed there.

Hate to lose either one of these things,Trip thought, remembering how difficult it had been to fix this one after it had temporarily failed a few weeks back. But I can get by with just the left one if I really need to.

Right now, what he reallyneeded was to tap out a message on his improvised equivalent of a subspace telegraph. But any telegraph operator required the use of a telegraph key, of course, and Trip suspected that his ear-implant device would fit the bill nicely, given the right combination of skill and luck.

Pretending to stretch, he palmed the tiny, raisin-sized control mechanism, then allowed it to roll to a stop between his right thumb and forefinger. Relying both on his sense of touch and his memory of the repairs hed already once been forced to make on the unit, he found the tiny actuator switch that controlled the receipt of inputs from the jaw-implanted bone conduction microphone that allowed him to “converse with the device on a silent, subvocal level.

Too bad I cant just use the subvocal interface directly over a voice-channel link,he thought as the little unit began automatically running up and down the local wireless interface frequencies, seeking a match with the console-accessible systems Trip had just seized. But I suppose you cant have everything.

He could only hope that what he now had would prove to be enoughand that someone aboard Enterprisewould notice that somebody herewas sending them a signal, albeit an unorthodox one. Reasoning that his best chance to get Captain Archers attention quickly was to start with a familiar, easily recognizable message, Trip started by repeatedly sending the equivalent of the name “Lazarus, the code name he had used months ago, while trying to send Enterpriseadvance word of the attack on Coridan. Memories of the Coridan disaster, which had claimed more than a billion lives despite his last-minute warnings, filled Trip with foreboding.

As did the realization that whether or not Captain Archer received and understood his transmissions in time to act on them, at least one ship and crew was all but certain to come to a terrible end today.

Unobtrusively squeezing the ear implant in his hand in a rhythmic but silent tattoo of dots and dashes, Trip began tapping out a message.

ARCHER, YOU ARE HEADED INTO A TRAP. ROMULAN SNEAK ATTACK COMING, BY REMOTE CONTROL. FREIGHTER NOT SAVABLE. TURNENTERPRISE ABOUT IMMEDIATELY, MAX WARP.

As he finished the third iteration of his message, Trip made direct eye contact with Sopek. He wondered for an instant whether the turncoat captain suspected anything, or if he was merely trying to extract some perverse enjoyment out of Trips reactions to the coming disaster.

“Commander, whats that in your hand? Sopek said, confirming the former while not ruling out the latter. Turning his head, the captain nodded toward the hulking armed uhlan, who reacted by displaying the self-satisfied expression of a man who had finally been issued a license to do something very nastysomething hed been forced very reluctantly to refrain from doing for far too long.

Oh, crap.

Before the uhlanmanaged to close half the distance that separated them, Trip jumped over the chest-high railing that stood between him and the sublieutenant whose hand guided the rudder. Taking advantage of the split second of surprise the maneuver had bought him, he shoved the helmsman out of his chair, sending the young man sprawling across the decks hard duranium gridwork. Then he grabbed the momentarily untended throttle and opened it up all the way.

As he slammed the portside lateral thrusters open, sending the bird-of-prey into a hard starboard turn, he grabbed the helm console with his free hand to prevent the heaving, cockeyed deck from throwing him off his feet. Trip turned his head to the left just in time to observe that Sopek had been neither fortunate nor skilled enough to do the same.

Focusing his attention on the central viewer at the front of the bridge, Trip watched as one of the dirty-gray ice bodies of Tezel-Orokos Kuiper belt drew inexorably closer, its shape visible mainly as a dim, distorted crescent of reflected stellar light.

Too bad Sopeks damned telecapture doohickey isnt on this ship,he thought. Id mind dying a whole lot less if I knew I was taking that thing with me.

Then something blunt and heavy struck Trip very hard across the back of the head, casting him abruptly into darkness.