ENT - 012 - Kobayashi Maru

TWENTY-SEVEN

Monday, July 21, 2155 Taugus III

T RIP WAS SURPRISEDat how easy entering the dissident complex had turned out to be once he and Terix had located a small, concealed emergency entrance, an aperture that must have been intended to allow easy ingress during times of bad weather outside.

And he was further surprised by just how few of the suspected Ejhoi Ormiindissidents he and Terix had actually found within the indeterminate-sized complex once theyd managed to get inside it. The two middle-aged Romulan men theyd encountered in what looked to be an informal wardroom were thoroughly nonplussed at the sudden arrival of the two armed strangers who had just appeared in their midst, as did the somewhat younger-looking Romulan woman who had been sharing a meal with them.

“By the authority of the battle fleet of the Romulan Star Empire, you are all under arrest, Terix said. He brandished his disruptor pistol, keeping it leveled more or less at all three dissidents, all of whom appeared to be academics rather than soldiers. Raising their hands in barely contained shock and fear, none of these people looked eager to rise from the small round lunch table around which they sat, or to do anything else that might provoke their captors.

“This cant be everybody, Terix said curtly, leaning toward Trip.

Trip couldnt help but agree. Holstering his own weapon, he pulled out the bulky Romulan military scanning device hed kept strapped to the belt on his simple, black paramilitary outfit, which was a close match for Terixs mission garb.

After consulting the palm-sized display screen for a few moments, Trip said, “Theres still no sign of life in this building other than these people and the two of us. Maybe the interference we picked up in the planets ionosphere is affecting this thing. He shook the scanner as though something broken might have rattled inside it.

“All the way down here on the surface? Terix shook his head. “That would seem to be a rather convenient technical failure.

Already weary of the centurions thinly veiled accusations, Trip found it difficult to make his reply sound entirely civil. “Im not just making this stuff up, you know.

“Of course youre not, Terix said in an ironic tone.

Trip counted slowly to five, trying to calm himself as he turned his attention back to his scanners readout display. “We have to accept the possibility that Chuihv managed to get off the planet before we even got here. Maybe that flash of hull metal I detected on our way in was our man making his escape.

Terix nodded. “Perhaps. But it is equally likely that he has somehow hidden himself here. And that he is using his compatriots as a diversion.

Another mans voice spoke up from directly behind Trip at that moment, making him start reflexively. It was a voice he recognized instantly.

“My associates are no diversion. I prefer to think of them more as bait for a trap.

Trip turned toward the man who had just spoken, and found that Terix was already facing him. The centurion was crouching as though he had been about to launch a “spray-and-pray pattern of fire from his disruptor pistol, but had thought better of it at the last instantand for very solid reasons.

“Chuihv, the centurion said through clenched teeth as he raised the barrel of his weapon so that it pointed harmlessly toward the upper curve of the domed ceiling.

Captain Sopek,Trip thought, mentally correcting Terix. Well, at least we wont have to waste any more precious time searching for you, will we?

“ Jolantru,Centurion Terix, the dissident leader said as he strode calmly forward from underneath the very same open doorway arch through which Trip and Terix had entered the room. The man was obviously emboldened by the half-dozen or so armed, paramilitary-garbed young Romulans who had already deployed themselves very swiftly and efficiently around the ten-meter-wide wardroom. Ugly gray pistols were raised and ready, and Trip recalled having seen nearly identical weapons on two earlier occasions. The first was his brief captivity in the Ejhoi Ormiincompound on Rator II; the second encounter had occurred in the lab where just such a weapon had been used to assassinate Doctor Ehrehin.

The weapons Trip faced now were no doubt every bit as dangerous as those he remembered, and looked as hostile as the expressions on the pale faces of the men and women who wielded them. Trip harbored little doubt that a single word from Chuihv/Sopek, or one false move by either himself or Terix, would suffice to envelop the room immediately in a lethal cats cradle of crisscrossing disruptor beams.

Despite the death wish that Terix had seemed to exhibit behind the pilots console, the centurion proved himself eminently more sensible here by allowing the weapon in his hand to clatter to the floor tiles. He had even taken a moment to click a small switch on the disruptors handle, engaging what Trip assumed was a safety catch, a moment before releasing the weapon and kicking it toward their captors.

A single harsh monosyllable from one of the armed dissidents, punctuated by an aggressive gesture with the disruptor pistol in his hand, persuaded Trip to follow Terixs lead; though he found no safety catch on his own weapon after he slowly unholstered ithe frankly doubted that Terix had allowed him to take a charged and functional weapon in the first placehe obediently dropped the heavy pistol to the floor, then gently tossed his scanning device after it.

Two of Chuihvs other troopers knelt briefly to retrieve the discarded gear, which they stowed on the Romulan equivalent of Sam Browne belts.

Chuihv came to a stop directly between Trip and Terix. Turning toward Trip, he said, “And Jolantruto you as well, Mister Cunaehr. Or should I address you more properly as Commander Charles Tucker, late of the United Earth Starship Enterprise?

Ah, shit,Trip thought. I really,really hate when this happens.He found himself reflecting, absurdly, that the only moderately enjoyable aspect of this situation was the thoroughly stunned expression on Terixs vulpine face, which had flushed almost to the color of split-pea soup. After all, the centurion had suspected him of being a spy from Vulcan,not from Earth.

“Commander Tucker, Chuihv said, evidently quite enamored with the sound of his own voice. “Risen from the ranks of the hallowed dead. And now, tragically, fated to return there all too soon. The dissident leaders smirk looked distinctly unpleasant on a face that appeared so outwardly Vulcan otherwise.

Trip felt shock at the sudden revelation of his real identity before Terix, but not all that much surprise. After all, a man like Chuihv had to have a talent for connecting the dots, or else he would have fallen into the hands of someone like Terix long ago, on one side of the Romulan border or the other. Besides, if Trip knew about the Romulan dissident leaders other life as a Vulcan, why shouldnt Chuihv be able to find whatever skeletons lurked in his closet?

“Chuihv of Saith, Trip said, feeling a great deal calmer than hed expected to feel on the occasions when he had tried to imagine something like his present circumstances. “Or maybe I ought to call you Sopek of Vulcan instead.

Chuihv/Sopek raised an eyebrow, a gesture that instantly transformed his appearance from that of a treacherous, scheming Romulan outlaw to that of the logical, dignified Vulcan starship captain who had commanded the Vulcan vessel NiVarsome four years earlier. Trip wondered which of the two identities was genuine, if either one was.

“Well done, Commander, the dissident said. After a brief pause, he added, “I never got the opportunity to thank you for covering my escape when Valdores forces raided our facility on Rator II.

“Well, I might be willing to call it even, Trip said, his jaw clenching involuntarily as he remembered the bloody chaos that had accompanied his efforts to protect Ehrehin and evade both the Ejhoi Ormiinand Admiral Valdores forces. “But only if youll agree to let mereward youproperly for what you did to Tinh Hoc Phuong.

Chuihv made a brief but infuriating show of pretending not to remember the man he had callously transformed into a pile of smoldering ash on Rator II. At length, he said, “Ah, the man who called himself Terha of Talvath. Your fellow Terran spy who claimed to be a part of the Ejhoi Ormiins Devoras cell.

Trip noticed the goggle-eyed stares of the three academics; Sopeks revelation had left them all looking as stupefied by this as third-graders poring over a textbook on eleven-dimensional tensor calculus.

Though he knew it was worse than useless, Trip couldnt keep the timbre of accusation and righteous anger out of his voice. “You had him captured,Sopek. He was in no position to hurt you. But you murdered him in cold blood.

Chuihv scowled, shaking his head in an exaggerated display of mock disappointment. “Mister Tucker, I know that engineering has long been your primary area of expertise. Nevertheless, I thought youd been in the espionage business long enough to understand the occasional need for thoroughgoing security purges in anyclandestine organization. Im certain your friend would have agreed that such things are an unavoidable hazard of our trade.

Although Chuihvs lips continued to move, Trip suddenly found that all he could hear was an intense whistling sound. An instant later, the dissident leader interrupted his own monologue, grimacing in apparent agony as he placed his fists over his sharply pointed ears. The armed troopers looked to be suffering every bit as badly; at least one of them dropped his weapon onto the floor.

Moving almost faster than Trips eyes could follow, Terix leaped on the nearest of the distracted guards, taking her down in a bone-crushing tackle that sent her weapon flying.

Trip wasted no time diving toward the floor. “Get down! he yelled toward the owl-eyed academics, none of whom had yet taken the simple expedient of ducking beneath their table for cover.

Chuihv/Sopek had already collapsed to his knees, as had fully half his armed people. Of the remaining three, one was unconscious thanks to Terixs quick action. Trip landed a hard right cross on anothers jaw before the disoriented man could get his weapon pointed in the right direction.

Terix blew a large, charred hole right through the chest of the last of them even as Trip grabbed up one of the fallen guards weapons.

“Stay right where you are! Terix shouted, holding one of the troopers pistols before him in a double-handed combat grip.

It took Trip a startled moment to understand that the centurion was addressing him,rather than Chuihv or any of his people. A heartbeat or two later, Trip realized that he and Terix were the only people in the room who were still conscious.

“What the hell happened? Trip asked. It had all started with that peculiar, transient whistling sound.

“Put the weapon down, Terix said. His weapons muzzle was pointed straight at Trips head in a gesture of unambiguous menace. Across a distance of maybe four meters, there was no way the centurion was going to miss if he were to open fire.

“Settle down, Terix, Trip said as he made a careful show of allowing a weapon to fall from his hand for the second time today.

When Terix spoke again, his voice seemed to be unnaturally loud. “That man has my weapon. Pausing, he gestured toward one of the unconscious troopers who lay on the floor nearby. “Lift it out of his belt. Slowly. Then drop it on the floor and kick it over here.

Trip nodded silently, and did as the centurion instructed. From what hed observed of the weapon, he knew hed never get the safety setting disengaged before Terix burned him up like a Roman candle. Or a Romulan candle,he thought absurdly.

A few moments later, Terix had recovered his weapon. While covering Trip with the troopers pistol in his left hand, he manipulated a switch on the handle of his own weapon with his right. He then holstered the weapon in his left hand, apparently content to keep it as a backup for the one he kept pointed at Trips head.

With his free hand, Terix removed two small objects from inside his ears, first the right, then the left.

Understanding began to dawn on Trip. That was no safety catch on his weapon,he thought, appreciating the engineering ingenuity involved as much as the tactical genius. It was some sort of ultrasonic attack. Something that works on a frequency so high that only dogs and Romulans can hear it. Unless theyre wearing protective earplugs.

Or theyre not really Romulans in the first place.

“We are notleaving together, Terix said as he took a single menacing step in Trips direction. “Commander Tucker.

I didnt fall down the way everybody else did,he thought. So he doesnt have to justsuspect I might not be the real deal anymore. Now he knows for sure.

His hands raised and his palms out, Trip tried to put on the same lets-both-be-reasonable-and-talk-this-over-before-either-of-us-does-anything-rashgrin that had forestalled more than a few bar fights during his undergraduate years.

“I should have listened to my mother when I was in school back in Romii, he said aloud. “She always warned me about playing those Frenchotte recordings with the volume up so high.

Terix appeared unmoved by Trips improvised excuses. “Once I obtain whatever warp-drive data Chuihv has stored in this place, he said, “you will die with everyone else here when I vaporize this complex.

“Is killing me youridea, Terix? Or Valdores?

“I have made the admiral aware of my suspicions.

“But Im willing to bet he doesnt share them. At least he might not until after he hears your next report.“Otherwise he wouldnt have sent us out here together on this wild mogaihunt without another couple of men to watch your back.

Terixs scowl deepened, but Trip could see that doubt was warring with resolve behind the centurions dark, hooded eyes.

“You are not loyal to the Empire, he said. His weapon remained unwaveringly trained on Trips head. “And even the Ejhoi Ormiinaccuse you of being a Terran spy.

“And you believethat? Chuihv is a pathological liar, Terix. Its how he makes his living. He gestured toward the spot where the dissident leader lay unconscious. “For Erebuss sake, man, hes so crooked he has to screw his pants on every morning.

The weapon seemed to waver ever so slightly in Terixs hand, though Trip couldnt be sure that wasnt merely wishful thinking on his part.

“But you are not even Romulan,the centurion said. “You couldntbe. He punctuated his point by holding up the protective earplugs he still clutched in his free hand.

Think fast, Charles.“Why? Because my hearing is defective?

“I find it curious that you have never seen fit to mention this rather convenient defect before, Terix said.

From somewhere far beyond the confines of the building, Trip could hear the sound of distant thunder. He found it mildly ironic that the keen-eared centurion had shown no sign as yet of having noticed it.

Just as he found it hard not to fantasize that the sound represented the faint and fading hope of a last-minute cavalry rescue. More goddamn wishful thinking,he thought, trying but not quite succeeding in dismissing the distracting notion.

“My bad hearing isnt something Im particularly proud of, Trip said, hoping it wasnt as painfully obvious to Terix as it was to him that he was merely grasping at straws in order to stay alive. “After all, its kept me out of the military my whole life. And its kept me from having a career like the one youvehad. Can you imagine how that feels? When all else fails,he thought, theres always flattery. Not to mention spadefuls of good, old-fashioned Florida bullshit.

Another rumble of thunder sounded, much closer this time. Terix obviously noticed it now, and cast a quick glance at the still-empty doorway, to which his right side was now faced.

Jumping Terix remained out of the question. But Trip knew he still had to press forward with whatever advantage he might have just created for himself, however narrow.

“Listen, Terix, he said, trying to sound far more reasonable than worried. “Whatever you might believe about me, Im the best chance Admiral Valdore has of achieving the goal of creating a working avaihh lli vastamstardrive prototype now that Ehrehin is gone. The admiral might be a little upset with you if you do anything to compromise that. Kill me and you set the whole project back by fvheisn.

For an interminably long moment, Terix appeared to mull over the prospect of losing years of hard-fought progress in high-warp physics. Despite his apparent internal debate, hed lowered his gun only a few centimeters, if that.

More thunder, inside the building this time. A klaxon blared, its repetitive tattoo echoing throughout the complex.

Terix raised his weapon again, pointing it straight at Trips head. “I believe I can live with that, he said with a snarl.

Trip watched him begin squeezing the trigger with exaggerated, excruciating slowness.