STAR TREK: AGEE 1-17

Chapter 24

Hey Everyone,

So I did a bad thing: I switched POV mid-chapter. I couldn't help it. Technically a no-no but it kept the story moving. AND...we get inside Gray's head! (Bring the hand sanitizer; it isn't a vacation destination.)

~Cooper

CHAPTER 24

Gray sucked at his teeth then rubbed them with his tongue. He felt full and satisfied after eating the RMM: Ready-Made Meal. The prepackaged food stuffs were Star Fleet's answer to missions where food synthesizers weren't accessible. Despite all of Star Fleet's technological advancements, including the top secret ship he was sitting in, they still couldn't make an RMM taste better. Not that it mattered much to Gray. Food had tasted like ash in his mouth for so long that he hardly noticed the bland taste or rubbery texture.

Now though, he thought everything tasted sweet. Was it the flavor of success now that he was so close to having his revenge? Perhaps . . .

Gray's thin lips tightened into a mockery of a smile as he leaned forward and tapped the black control panel. Several blue holographic projections appeared across the surface. He rotated one projection with a flick of his hand and saw 360 degrees of the Enterprise's shuttle bay. He laughed at the small group of crewmembers ogling the sleek lines of his ship, The Starslayer. Imbeciles, he thought, and touched another projection that allowed him to tap into the larger ship's intercoms to check the surveillance software for any alerts. There were none.

No, he didn't think there would be; Kirk was too smart for that. Intercom tapping was a widely accepted rumor ever since another agent failed to hide his return signal feed. Whatever truly happened to Agent 272, not even Gray knew.

He leaned forward and tapped in a sequence of symbols and the center projection promptly displayed the bridge of the Enterprise. The security feed wasn't all encompassing—private quarters, for instance, were unavailable—but it did allow him to view any public area within the ship. He watched the communications officer—Uhura, his memory quickly supplied the name—tapping in apparent frustration at her panel. She twisted a knob, shook her head, and then bent over to a figure lying on the floor next to her booted feet. Chief Montgomery Scott pulled his upper torso out of the open panel, made a clockwise gesture with his hand, and then crawled back inside.

Gray chuckled—this was better than watching any comedy on the vidplayer. He didn't even bother with the sound; he already knew they were trying to boost the relay signal to reach Star Fleet. But unless they got the message through the magnetic storm soon—he glanced at the chronometer on the display, 9:00 PM—they would not receive Star Fleet's reply until after his ship was fully charged, and he and the freak were gone.

His eyes drifted over the empty captain's chair to look at the Vulcan at the science station. His hands were moving quickly across the panel as he undoubtedly searched for alternate ways to boost the signal.

Gray could just make out the side of the Vulcan's grim face.

"You realize it, don't you?" he said to the image. "The deadline is much closer than anyone realizes. And there's nothing you can do to stop me." Gray felt an almost-warm feeling where his heart used to be, before it had been ripped from his chest and crushed between genetically altered fingers.

"Soon, soon, soon," Gray crooned as he flicked through the surveillance feeds from various decks, searching for any sign of Kirk. It had been so obvious that he cared for the augment. If he'd cared half-so much for—

Gray cut the thought off. He couldn't afford to be distracted now; he needed to stay focused if he wanted the guilty to suffer. If he somehow failed to remove the augment, he still had enough explosives on board The StarSlayer to blow the Enterprise to smithereens. But that would bring only death, not suffering. He wanted—no, needed—them to understand what true loss felt like. And they will, he thought serenely. Hadn't the universe been working in his favor so far? He'd been chosen among all of Section 31's agents to test The StarSlayer's advanced warp capabilities, and out of all the possible coordinates, he had chosen a quadrant where he'd picked up the Enterprise's last communiqué.