Kutal nodded, remembering the fleeting sensor contact that had been visible above the surface of Traelus II for mere moments before disappearing. Could that have been the Starfleet ship? It had been nearly a day since the Klingon scout vessel assigned to survey this system had encountered the Starfleet ship. Despite its gnatlike size and the significant damage it had absorbed, the vessel had managed to hold its own during the brief skirmish that ensued. While Kutal credited that to the tenacity of the ship’s captain, whoever that might be, his admiration would grant the Earther or his crew no leniency. Kutal’s orders on this point were explicit, in that he was to prevent the Starfleet ship from escaping the system, capture it, and retrieve any and all useful information from its computer systems. As for the ship’s crew, they were expendable.
Can it be that the Council is finally ready to face our enemies in battle?The question burned in Kutal’s mind, even though he knew the answer. Though Chancellor Sturka and the Klingon High Council seemed ready and eager to engage the Federation, they also appeared concerned that the Klingon fleet was not yet ready for extended offensive action against its Starfleet adversaries. Intelligence reports indicated that Starfleet vessels, in particular the armada of heavy cruisers that were the Federation’s most advanced starships, were a near match in offensive capabilities for the Empire’s premier battle cruisers, the D7’s. That claim had been tested in battle to varying degrees, though Kutal had yet to enjoy such an occasion. He hoped that would change now that the Federation and the Empire seemed on a collision course as each power worked to increase its influence in the Gonmog Sector. Sooner or later, he predicted, a Starfleet ship would overstep its bounds and dare to challenge the Empire’s efforts in this region of space, and for that, Kutal could only hope the Federation would dearly pay.
For now, however, he would have to be content with hunting lesser prey. He did not know why the High Council held so much interest as to what the Starfleet vessel and its crew might have found here, but that was not his concern. Someone else could worry about such things. Kutal preferred the straightforward mission he had been given.
“According to the reports, they suffered damage to their warp drive,” he said, rising from his chair. “They would need to effect repairs before they could leave the system with any hope of evading pursuit. So, it stands to reason that they’re here, somewhere.” He recalled what he knew of the compact Starfleet vessel’s design. “Their ship is capable of making planetfall. Perhaps they went to the surface to make repairs.”
Tonar nodded. “I had considered that, sir, and have subjected the entire planet to an intensive sensor scan. I found no trace of a vessel. However, it must be reported that we detected large deposits of minerals possessing qualities that interfere with our scanners.”
“It would be like a cowardly Federation petaQto seek refuge in a place such as that,” BelHoQ said. The burly executive officer folded his muscled arms across his broad chest. “They run and hide like pathetic animals.”
Ignoring the comment, Kutal instead asked, “But that was at long range, was it not? Now that we’re closer to the planet, can you not manipulate our sensors to account for the interference? I don’t need a complete target lock, Lieutenant; just proof of where they are.”
“I am endeavoring to do just that, Captain,” Tonar replied.
“Then endeavor with greater zeal, or I shall find a new weapons officer.” Turning from his subordinate, Kutal was making his way back to his seat when his helm officer, Lieutenant Qlar, looked over his shoulder, his heavy brow creased with concern.
“Captain, our navigational sensors are detecting an odd reading.”
Moving to stand behind the helm officer, Kutal glowered at the array of status readings and gauges filling Qlar’s console, all of them highlighted in shades of crimson. “What kind of odd reading?”
Qlar shook his head. “I don’t know, sir. It’s not like anything I’ve seen before.” His massive hands drifted across the console, calling up new status reports to the workstation’s bank of display screens before he pointed to one monitor. “Do you see it? There?”
“I don’t understand,” Kutal said, at first perplexed by the strange sensor return. “What is this thing trying to tell us?”
“According to this,” Qlar replied, “there is a very small area that is immune to our sensors. No feedback whatsoever.” He shook his head. “It’s like a hole in space, Captain.”
“Is it a threat to the ship?” BelHoQ asked.
The helm officer said, “I am unable to determine that, Commander. I’m able to confirm that there is no gravitic pull, and I cannot detect anything that might hint at an artificial power source.”
“Could it be a mine?” Kutal wondered aloud. “Like the ones the Romulans used to employ in orbit around their planets, equipped with sensor-scattering field generators.”
Pausing to consider the question, Qlar finally answered, “It’s possible, sir.”
“Let me see it,” Kutal ordered, directing his attention to the viewscreen. He waited as Qlar entered the necessary commands, and the image on the screen soon shifted from empty space to a view of Traelus II. The planet was visible in the screen’s upper right corner, but that was not what drew Kutal’s attention. Instead, he studied what looked like a large chunk of rock drifting free in space.
“What is that?” he asked. “It looks like an asteroid.”
BelHoQ said, “Our scout vessel’s survey reports indicated no asteroids present in the system, Captain.”
Grunting in annoyance, Kutal waved toward the screen. “Do your eyes not work, Commander? What would you call that?” The screen showed an oblong body of jagged rock, tumbling slowly as it rolled past the edge of the viewer. Qlar adjusted the picture so that the asteroid remained centered. “What’s its range?”
“Seventy thousand qelI’qams,Captain,” Tonar replied. A moment later, he added, “We are close enough now that I’m detecting an energy reading from it. It’s faint, but it is unmistakable.” Then he turned from his console, his eyes wide with realization. “Captain!”
Kutal had already made the same deduction. “All power to weapons and shields!”
Despite the best efforts of the ship’s environmental control systems to provide a comfortable room temperature—even at their current rate of reduced power—Clark Terrell felt sweat forming beneath his tunic on his chest, between his shoulder blades, and at the small of his back. Around him, the bridge of the Sagittariuswas cloaked in almost total darkness, the only illumination being whatever was cast off by the few workstations that remained active. On the main viewscreen, which, like every other active system, was operating at less than half efficiency, lines of static crossed the image of the Klingon D5 battle cruiser that was closing to what Terrell considered a disturbingly small distance.
Anything less than a light-year is pretty damned disturbing right about now.
“Captain,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. He knew there was no logical reason to keep his voice low, as sounds would not travel across the vacuum of space separating the Sagittariusfrom the Klingon vessel, but he could not help himself. “I don’t think they’re buying it.”
From where he sat in his command chair, Captain Nassir also spoke in a low voice when he replied, “If they suspected anything, they’d have fired by now.”
That was not enough to convince Terrell, who also had been the last one to buy into the crazy scheme concocted by Vanessa Theriault to provide cover for the Sagittariusas it lifted away from Traelus II. Once it had become obvious that Master Chief Ilucci and his engineers would not complete repairs to the warp drive systems before the Klingon cruiser’s arrival at the planet, Theriault had devised a scheme to continue using the large deposit of thallium on top of which the ship had rested while on the surface. Employing the ship’s phasers, Bridget McLellan had excavated a large section of the ore from where it rested in the ground beneath the Sagittarius,carving away pieces and fragments until what remained was a somewhat oblong, lopsided sphere. When the time came for the ship to lift off, McLellan utilized the tractor beam to haul the oversized fragment to orbit with the Sagittarius,holding the hunk of ore before the ship like a makeshift shield. Dealing with the fragment’s mass had posed some challenges, which Theriault had overcome by reconfiguring the tractor beam emitters. The result was a haphazard thallium shell that—according to Theriault’s theory—would act to conceal the scout vessel from all but the most intensive sensor scans. Terrell had been skeptical throughout the preparation process, his doubts lingering even as the ship ascended from the surface and made its way into space.