A Kestrel for a Star (Star Trek fanfiction)

chapter 16

Sorry it's taken so long, but here's a new update :) thanks for reading! XD

“Mister Sulu, hail Captain Alexander aboard the Newton.” Pike said, nodding to the helmsman who complied immediately.

Kirk shuffled slightly towards Kez which earned him a stern look from Spock.

He resisted the urge to sneer back but instead nudged Kez’s shoulder.

“Oh no, don’t you dare do that!” She hissed back, “All our necks are still on the line.”

He shrugged, “But we might save some lives.”

“You are kidding me, right?”

“You know what happened to the U.S.S Kelvin.” Kirk mumbled back.

Sulu interrupted but spinning around in his seat to face Captain Pike, “Sir, our hail’s not getting through. We’re being blocked by some kind of subspace interference.”

“How is that possible?” Kez spoke up, “Have you tried to analyse the-,”

“There’s no time for that!” Kirk said suddenly from behind Kez, “Subspace interference my ass,”

“It sounds like our signals are being blocked by something.” Uhura said holding an ear piece closely to her ear as she spoke.

Kez looked over at Pike who was sat straight in his chair, drumming his fingers impatiently against the metal chair arms.

“Refine the communications power so that we are able to warn all other ships of what we’ve discovered.”

Sulu shook his head in disappointment, “For that, Sir, we have to drop out of warp.”

“The signals would be too far distorted by lightspeed motion, Sir.” Kez pitched in over her shoulder after she’d moved to watch what Uhura was doing.

Pike looked at Sulu who was still navigating the warp sequence. He wasn’t sure whether to believe Kirk or put down his behaviour as a side effect of the drug Doctor McCoy had given him.

“Can we maybe do a scan of the Vulcan system? Maybe then we can see if the ships have arrived and dropped out of warp.” Kez offered a solution but could feel Pike’s unease. They would be in the Vulcan system in under a minute.

“The fleet has dropped out of warp.” Spock said from his station then moved his screen onto the front monitor for the bridge to see.

One by one blue dots appeared in the Vulcan system. The tension that had gripped the bridge began to loosen.

“They look okay.” Kez said looking sideways at Kirk whose face was a twisted mask of annoyance and confusion.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have given you such a strong drug,” Bone mumbled, “A general anaesthetic maybe -,”

“Wait!” Kirk suddenly blurted, pointing to the screen.

Kez watched as one of the blue dots flickered then disappeared completely.

“What the hell-?” Pike mumbled.

“Captain, we’re receiving a distress transmission. It’s not brilliant – wait I’ve got something. But it’s fragmented.”

“Let me hear what you’ve got.” Pike commanded sounding grim.

Uhura tapped her console so that it connected to the bridge’s speakers. Then she played the transmission.

Kez wanted to wilt away as she became surrounded by screams, cries of despair, random shouts of commanding orders followed by more screams and bursts of loud noises. Then it drifted into static and crackling, the screams fading more. Then silence.

Another blue dot dropped from the view screen.

“Only four ships remaining.” Spock said with a lack of emotion in his voice. Kez wished she could remain that calm – if Spock could even feel that.

“Now three . . .” He continued.

“Red Alert!” Pike declared, his voice shattering the silent thoughts of the crew. Thy jumped to attention.

“All weapons ready. Mister Sulu I want to be at Vulcan now! Maximum warp.”

Suddenly the whole ship hummed peacefully as Sulu began counting down, “Arrival at Vulcan in five, four, three, two . . .”

“Evasive!” Pike shouted.

They dropped out of warp just as a piece of flaming metal swept in front of the Enterprise.

Kez recognised it as the name plate of the Defiant.

Sulu masterly steered the ship to avoid more debris that tumbled at force through space, missing impending collisions.

Kez inhaled deeply, gripping the back of Uhura’s chair as she studied the chaos that was orbiting Vulcan. Spock looked sideways at her but Kez wasn’t paying attention.

Then they saw the gargantuan craft that was engaged in a winning battle against the only remaining feeble starship.

It reminded Kez of a kind of sea animal with tentacles and sharp features. It wasn’t a pretty, sleek ship like the Enterptise – it was bulky, deadly, and it left the starship it battled with in ruin, pieces tearing away and entering orbit until there was no ship left.

“There’s no recognisable registry on the ship.” Spock said almost like he was in awe.

“It’s massive.” Bone breathed with wide eyes.

“There’s nothing recognisable,” Kez stated, “Energy signatures, weapons systems, even the design. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

“I want Starfleet Command online now! They need to know what is happening.”

Uhura tapped at her console, shaking her head every-so-often before turning to Pike worriedly, “All out system transmissions are subjected to severe interruption, Sir. It seems to be on entry of Vulcan space but I think I’ve located the source of the general interference. It seems to the signature of a very advanced plasma drill operating in the atmosphere.