ENT - 012 - Kobayashi Maru

FORTY-ONE

Tuesday, July 22, 2155 Gamma Hydra sector

J ACQUELINE S EARLES DIDNT KNOW PRECISELYwhat she expected the end of the world to sound like; but the continuous shuddering groan the Kobayashi Marus warp core sent through the fuel carriers entire structure sounded enough like a doomsday knell to convince her that the end had grown uncomfortably near.

“Vance! The rising din of the overstrained engines forced Searles to shout to be heard across the narrow expanse of the fuel carriers bridge. “The dilithium chambers getting too hot! I have to shut the whole propulsion system down!

“We have a scheduleto keep, Jackie, said Kojiro Vance, who seemed far too calm and collected to have a firm grasp of the current situation.

Executive Officer Arturo Stiles, who stood beside the Kobayashi Marus eccentric master and commander, displayed a far better understanding of realityas well as a good deal less equanimity. “Whats the point of keeping to the schedule if we dont get where were going in one piece? he said.

The captain merely sat contemplatively in his worn leather-upholstered chair, stroking his chin as he weighed the dire warnings of his two most senior officers. For all Searles could tell, Vance might have been gazing into his closet and ruminating over which one of those damned pirate shirts he was going to wear next. She hated to think she might have no choice but to take command just to keep everyone aboard the Marualive; there would be repercussions afterward, and the last thing she needed right now was to lose this job.

Correction,she thought. The last thing I need is to get vaporized because my boss is obsessed with delivering the mail on time.

Fortunately, Vance himself took that fateful decision out of her hands a moment later. “All right, the captain said, his shoulders sagging despite the broadening effect of the epaulet-like decorations that adorned his blousy tunic. He fixed her with an almost pleading gaze. “Take us out of warp, Jackie. At least until you can sort out whats going wrong back there.

Vances order had scarcely left his lips before the exec hopped over the railing that separated him from one of the boxy forward duty stations, where he assisted a junior male crewman in entering the appropriate commands into the console. The young crewman, an engineers mate named Simonson, looked as relieved as Searles felt; she wondered if hed been about to stage a mutiny of his own.

This wasnt the first time Searles had justifiably feared that the alien contraptions she had reluctantly allowed into her engine room might do them all in. Secret Vulcan gadgetry doesnt seem to come with a straightforward users manual,she thought, wishing Vance had never approached her with the stuff.

“Well let her cool down for an hour or so before we try to bring the warp-power mains back online, Vance said, addressing nobody in particular as he made the first verbal footprints in the bridges new-fallen blanket of silence.

Searles noticed then that Stiles was staring at her, an urgent question burning in his dark eyes. The only answer she could offer him was a helpless shrug.

“Id like a chance to pick up the pieces back in the engine room first, Searles said, casting her gaze back upon Vance. “ Thenwe ought to decide how much downtime the main propulsion system is going to need.

Vance looked intensely uncomfortable with that, though he uttered nothing other than a muttered, half-intelligible curse. Why do ship captains seem to think we engineers can get them special waivers for the laws of physics?she thought.

“Captain, I think you and I need to have a word in private, said Stiles, his eyes hurling thunderbolts in Vances direction.

“Youd better set the table for three, Captain, Searles said. Looks like the jig is finally up,she thought, feeling a sense of relief at the prospect of no longer having to protect an awkward secret on Vances behalf. Vance should have let his first mate in on this thing at the beginning.

Vance sighed and chewed his lip as he stared off into the middle distance. Then he looked up, first at Stiles, then at Searles.

“All right. I owe the both of you at least that much. He rose from his chair and made a grand “after you gesture toward one of the two doors located in the bridges aft section. “In my cabin, if you please.

Arturo Stiles couldnt quite bring himself to accept the chair Vance had offered; until hed had a chance to process the startling admission the captain had just made, he preferred to stand.

“So weve really come all this way to help the Vulcans set up a military listening post? Stiles asked, gesticulating as though his hands were semaphore flags as he stood between the two places where the captain and the chief engineer were sitting. “Just when were you two planning on letting mein on this? Im only the goddamn first mate,after all.

Vance met Stiless roar with remarkable composure. “To be absolutely candid with you, Arturo, I wasntplanning on letting you in on this. I would have been content to quietly drop off a few of the personnel weve been carrying as passengers, along with a number of sealed crates, once we finished the voyage to the outskirts of Tezel-Oroko. Then we would have quietly returned to our original itinerary, with nobody the wiser.

Stiles still couldnt quite get his head around any of this. “But why keep it from me?

Vance flashed that damned insouciant smile of his, the one that said, Honey-this-isnt-what-it-looks-like-even-though-youve-caught-me-red-handed-canoodling-with-an-Orion-animal-woman.“For your own protection, of course, the captain said.

“I dont get it, Vance. Youre acting like a common smuggler. Have you gotten us involved in something illegal? Stiles knew it wouldnt be the first time his skipper had played fast and loose either with interstellar law or the UESPA regs.

“ Illegaland clandestinearent necessarily synonymous things, Arturo, Vance said.

“You just told me that the Maruis secretly transporting both people and matériel on behalf of the Vulcans, Stiles said as he finally allowed his weight to land on the proffered chair. “Why would a race that cant even tell lies need to use an old Klingon rattletrap like the Maruas a secret courier?

“Dont be so nave, Arturo, said the chief engineer, crossing her legs on the low, lumpy couch near the desk behind which Vance reclined. “Vulcans lie like rugs, and you know it. They do it all the time; they just never got quite as good at it as we did.

Vance grinned. “And that fact may explain why humans and Vulcans seem to be so much stronger together than apart. Its a perfect partnership of brains and guile.

Stiles could barely suppress a volcanic surge of anger as he hiked a thumb toward Searles. “You didnt seem to have a problem letting our chief engineer in on the truth before now. And how did this Vulcan problem land in the Marus lap anyway?

Vance spread his hands helplessly. “The Vulcans probably didnt think their own military or merchant vessels could maintain as low a profile as an Earth Cargo Service vessel could, what with the Klingons and the Romulans both so touchy lately about Coalition naval movements. So after the Horizonfailed to make its cargo-pickup rendezvous with the Maru, it fell upon usto deliver what the Horizonwould have carried to its final destination.

“And that meant we needed to make up for a considerable amount of lost time very quickly, Searles said.

“Right, Vance said. “Unfortunately, this vessels maximum warp capability was simply not equal to the task.

That explains our sudden change to a hell-for-leather course all the way out to Tezel-Oroko,Stiles thought. He couldnt help but wonder whether any humans had ever before ventured out so far.

Or so fast.

“So the captain felt he had no one to turn to except me, Searles said. “If this, um, mission for the Vulcans was to stay on a completely need-to-know basis, that is.

Stiles thought he was beginning to understand the captains need for secrecy, though he still felt insulted and deceivedand perhaps even a bit betrayed.

The exec cast a hard glare at Searles. “So how did you get this much giddy-up into an old bucket of stem bolts like the Maru,Jackie? Did the Vulcans help with that, too?

She nodded. “Vances contacts on Vulcan supplied the parts. I just turned the wrenches, with a little help from a couple of the experts bound for Tezel-Oroko.

The captain paused to clear his throat before he continued with the explanation-cum-briefing. “I had to resort to using certainengine components that the Vulcan government had entrusted to me against an eventuality such as this one.

“What kindof components? Stiles asked, his curiosity thoroughly piqued. He knew that the Maruwould be able to make it the rest of the way to Tezel-Oroko in just a matter of a few hours, once her warp drive was back up and running; hed never seen a human-piloted ship make that kind of time before, including Starfleets fancy NX-class jobs.

Apparently responding to the blank look on the captains face, Searles glanced up at the ceiling as she began reciting her mental list of the ad hoc modifications her warp drive had undergone. “A new antimatter flow regulator. A dilithium matrix wave-guide like nothing Ive ever seen before. Something called a flux capacitor. And a couple of other things I wouldnt have recognized without a little help from one of our expert passengers.

Vance nodded. “One of the experts with pointed ears, that is. At any rate, I needed Jackies cooperation to get all the new drive pieces properly installed, along with the systems designed to monitor them.

Those propulsion widgets must have still been in their packing crates when those Starfleet engineers were crawling through theMaru s guts,Stiles thought. He wondered how long Vance could have maintained his present cool demeanor had Captain Archer been the one challenging him with ticklish questions about secrecy, legality, and lies, Vulcan or otherwise.

Then it occurred to him that Starfleet would probably pay handsomely for access to those secret Vulcan engine parts. Arrogant, condescending bastards that they were, the Vulcans had always done their damnedest to curtail such wholesale transfers of technology from their world to Earth. Stiles wondered if their nearly century-old de facto technical embargo against humanity was finally about to end.

“No wonder those rabbit-eared elitists swore you to secrecy, Vance, Stiles said. “I never met a Vulcan who didnt at least drop a few broad hints that we Earth folk are still a little too wet behind the ears to venture out of our own solar system.

Vance made a noise of agreement. “If it had been up to the Vulcans, thered be nothing in the Alpha Centauri system right now but ancient ruins and tumbleweeds. And the idea of humans flying a fuel carrier like the Maruunder the flag of a settlement on Altair VI would be just another one of Doctor Cochranes pipe dreams.

Searles put a hand to her chin as her forehead crumpled into an elaborate frown. “Kind of makes you wonder why the Vulcans would lend us this stuff, even with their own experts aboard the Maruto babysit us.

“Something out here must worry the Vulcans a little bit more than the prospect of warp-six-capable humans does, Vance said. “It would certainly explain why theyd want to set up a secret listening post to keep close tabs on it.

Stiless thoughts drifted toward his own half-formed nightmare images of the mysterious Romulans, shadowy mental pictures derived from countless stories and rumors of fearsome warships whose bellies were painted to resemble the blood-red plumage of predatory birds. The Romulans would be the nearest likely subject of any Coalition listening post placed in this sector. Regardless, the Vulcans decision to allow a human freighter crew to play with their supercharged high-warp goodies continued to puzzle him.

His spine shuddered with the cold of the grave as the simplest possible explanation of the Vulcans largesse occurred to him: Maybe they really dont expect us to survive any encounter with whatever might be lurking out here.

A moment later, the Kobayashi Marushook as though the Hephaestus of Earths ancient mythology had just slammed his hammer right into the ships vitals. Searles cried out as Vances office fell under a blanket of darkness. Stiles immediately experienced the stomach-churning freefall sensation that signaled the abrupt failure of the gravity plating. And he could hear Vance speaking in the darkness, his voice as understated as she had ever heard it.

“Uh-oh, the captain said.