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Title: A Higher Duty
Author: Istannor
Contact: Istannor@aol.com
Series: TOS
Rating: PG13 for violence 
Part: 7/28 
Codes:TOS
Summary: This is set during the second 5 year voyage of the Starship 




Chapter 7

Jim Kirk lay on his bunk, with hands clasped behind his head
and reviewed the evening's events. Remarkable women, both in
different ways. He could feel the beginnings of a deep
attraction for Therenna. He had not been interested in
anyone for a long time, but it was definitely there. Crap,
he would never act on it. He could sense depths and strength
pulling him in, and making him want to see more. Spock and
he had discussed forming a triad once, but they had never
found anyone who they thought could accept them both.
Therenna was one who could, he thought. Of all the bad luck,
she had to be a Romulan. The universe was probably laughing
at him. His response was a raised middle finger over a
sardonic smile. He turned over and tried to go to sleep.
After a while, unable to rest, he remembered Spock was not
out of range for conversation or a chess game, so he called
him up with a smile of anticipation. That night, Kirk won
the game.

The next day, Spock relaxed, as the last of the supplies for
the emergency repairs for the space dock were beamed off the
Enterprise. They had made a small detour to get the
supplies, but it would had added a full day to their
journey. The major part of this leg of their rounds was
completed. Now, all that was left was to finish beaming up
the reporters who were scheduled to cover the last few days
of the conference. Those were the only days open to the
media. If they maintained warp five, they would be back to
the planet in 6.2 days. That would mean they would make
planetfall in time for him to join Jim for the last  2 days
of his camping trip. He was looking forward to personally
investigating the caves and fauna of Cygni Beta 1, as well
as enjoying the company of his Captain and even Dr. McCoy. A
smile hinted at the corner of his eyes.

He sat in the command chair as the bridge hummed around him
with quiet efficiency. Jim and he had the crew so well
trained, his presence was not really required, but it gave
him satisfaction to be there. He called the ship home, more
so than he did Vulcan. Nowhere, had he found greater ease,
intellectual satisfaction, and acceptance. So, for the
moment, he sat and mused about a recent article he had read
on temporal anomalies, some of which he found fascinating,
some of which he was contemplating writing a dissenting view
on.

The lift doors opened behind him and the familiar tread
tickled him back to full awareness. McCoy came to stand
beside his chair. "Well, Spock, are we ready to turn around
and go get Jim?"

"We are only awaiting the transport up of rest of the
reporters, Doctor. Once that is complete, we will be
departing for Cygni Beta 1. I anticipate our arrival in 6.2
days."

"McCoy looked at Spock with a knowing glance, "and not a
minute too soon, eh, Spock? I bet that command chair is
beginning to itch you where you sit."

"No, Doctor, I am not having any discomfort at this time,
but I will be sure to note your concern for my posterior
section in my log." Spock's look was one of pure innocence
as he looked at McCoy.

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it. Call me when we get
there, Spock, I can't wait to collect on our bet." The last
statement was made as he exited the bridge.

"I would not consider doing otherwise, Doctor". Chuckles
escaped from Uhura and Sulu, as McCoy left. Spock turned to
finish the last details, so they could depart.

"Mr. Sulu, plot the most direct course for Cygni Beta I, you
have the con, take us out of orbit when the last reporters
are aboard." He left the bridge to contemplate the
chessboard; they would be back in range for a real-time
game, by gamma shift of the same evening.


Title: A Higher Duty
Author: Istannor
Contact: Istannor@aol.com
Series: TOS
Rating: PG13 for violence 
Part: 8/28 
Codes:TOS
Summary: This is set during the second 5 year voyage of the Starship 




Chapter 8

Two days later, Kirk awoke and dressed. As he groomed
himself in the mirror, he whispered repeatedly: "Last day of
this crap, get it over, don't screw up, then ... camping."
He whistled to himself as his internal clock got him moving
at 0600 shiptime. He repacked his things in one bag to leave
at the consulate and packed his backpack for camping. It
contained few things. He rarely needed more than the basics,
to be happy in the wild. His provisions, a change of socks,
raingear, lamp, communicator, bedroll, and medikit were
easily stored in the pack. Almost as an afterthought, he
tucked the phaser he had brought down with him into the
pack. The Security staff had stored it in a time-release 
safe so he could not access it until his day of departure.
He was not allowed to wear it into the conference, but
the Cygnian authorities had okayed having it in his room 
for the last few hours of the conference. He was Starfleet,
after all, and he really didn't want to be on a planet with Orions, 
Klingons, Gorns, and Romulans, without a phaser. But, they 
didn't have to know that his real reasons.

He took his hunting knife out and spent some time sharpening
the blade. That simple act helped him meditate. The knife
was a gift from Bones, a Bowie knife he called it. It was a
wicked looking thing, but over the years, Kirk had become
very skilled with it. When his pack was finished, he got
dressed and headed for the morning reception. He left the
pack in a holding room near the back exit. That way, he
could sneak out for the woods, later that day. Then, he went
and checked out a flitter and parked it away from the
compound, in the woods, after he had finished checking it
over himself. His past experiences with shuttlecrafts had
made him relatively suspicious of any small craft. He found
he got comfort from giving them the once over, before he
took them for a spin.

The sessions opened that morning with little fanfare. The
rest of the conference was going to break off into smaller
sessions for more intense and pointed diplomatic and trade
negotiations at the end of the morning agenda. Kirk could
sense the air of anticipation as the participants prepared
to really get down to the business at hand. He surveyed the
room in hopes of getting a glimpse of his company from the
previous few evenings. They had been more fun than he had
expected, but the conference was coming to an end, and he
doubted he would ever see any of the Romulan party again.
Feeling more than a little disappointed, he sat down at the
table with Ambassador Davis' entourage and waited for an
opportune time to exit.

Kirk wasn't sure when he first noticed the unusual activity.
The subliminal cues drew his attention away from the
speaker, to see security personnel attempting to quietly get
the attention of the Cygni ambassador. Kirk excused himself,
and moved quietly in their direction. His sixth sense began
to hum loudly telling him something was happening, something
not good. Life had taught him from a very early age to never
ignore that inner sense, so he walked unobtrusively over to
the Speaker's table. From the side and the back, he was only
able to catch a reference to "unusual subspace activity".
That made him immediately want to go and call the Araidne,
and request more information.

He exited the conference room and walked purposefully for a
vidphone he had seen earlier. He reached the booth and
placed a priority 2 call to the Araidne. There was no
response. He then sent the same request through the Cygnian
channels, only to get a recorded message stating that the
lines were all busy, please feel free to try again later. He
tried a priority one query through diplomatic channels
without any better luck.

Kirk sat and leaned back into the booth. His sense of
foreboding screamed. He could think of several scenarios
that would result in communications being cut off but none
of them were good. He sat up on full alert, all senses at
battle readiness. He attempted one more call to the orbiting
starship. No luck. Then, he stood and left quickly to get
his pack. He wanted his weapon in the worst way.

An explosion rocked the building, just as he arrived at the
storage room. Then, more sounds of battle reached his ears.
Screams and the unmistakable whine of phasers and the thrum
of disrupters, clearly echoed through the corridors. He
grabbed his phaser from the pack and set it to kill. His
guess was whoever was attacking the compound would have on
some type of body armor. He did not want to die because of a
phaser on stun. He slowly tilted his head around the
doorway, plans already being sifted and discarded. Just as
he cleared the doorsill, he heard running in his direction.
He waited and a Cygnian security man ran full tilt around
the corner. A disrupter beam cut him down, forty paces away
from Kirk's hideaway. He now was in his zone. The disrupter
was Klingon, he could tell by the sound alone.

He waited patiently for whoever would have to round the
corner to take up their station at the back exit nearest
him. Within seconds, two Klingons came into view. They
looked briefly about, but they did not look like they
expected any opposition. They were fatally surprised when
the phaser blasts hit them in rapid succession, almost
faster than thought. They would go to the afterlife with a
look of total shock on their faces. Kirk went to the bodies
and scavenged the weapons and the communicators. More was
always good, when it came to weapons. He stuffed them into
the pack and made for the unprotected rear entrance.

He knew going back towards the conference would be a waste.
He immediately decided the best plan was to get to his
flitter for the trip to the woods and harass them from
behind the enemy lines. He could be a total pain in the ass,
but only if he was free. Once the Enterprise arrived,  he
knew he'd have the necessary firepower to end the
discussion.

The compound was surrounded on the east, north, and south by
the municipal center of the local town. The guest quarters
stretched out across the back of the stone complex, with
windows that looked out on the picturesque tree shrouded
lake. Gardens, filled with statues and manicured apiaries in
whimsical shapes, were arranged in a maze in the center of
the complex and stretched all the way to the guest quarters
at the rear. Kirk had enjoyed strolling back and forth
through the maze for the breaks during the conference. He
had made a game for himself of beating his previous times.
The last few days he had done it with his eyes closed to
practice using his other senses. Spock had been hard on him
lately, when they trained together. The Vulcan railed at his
dependence on sight and Kirk had been forced to agree with
him. He was grateful for his private game now.

He crouched low and looked out to check the rooftops and
corners before he exited. The assault team had either
decided not to place troops up high, or they had not managed
to get there yet. He ran to the maze opening and raced
through it without a single wrong turn. He reached the other
side in time to hear raised voices from inside the guest
wing. They were female voices, complaining loudly, in
indignant tones. He could hear male voices respond, but he
was unable to discern their content. It could only be the
Romulan women up against the intruders.

Again, he waited for the voices to come near him and pass
him in the windowed corridor. He hid from view, behind a
sculpted bush, in the form of a bird with its babies. Then,
he ran low and fast, to the door to the south wing. Slowly
and quietly , he pulled it open. He could see the retreating
backs of the guards bringing up the rear of the party. The
older Romulan male, both women and the child were being
herded down the corridor with the butts of blasters in their
backs and loud cursing in their ears.

There was no pause to sight. He fired and took both of the
trailing guards out. J'usreyan turned immediately and jumped
the other guard who had  turned to confront the attack from
behind. He broke the pirates's neck with an audible snap.
Neither the women, nor the child had made a noise.

Kirk put his finger to his mouth and signaled them to hit
the ground and come over to him.  It would not be good to
have anyone see them through the glass while they escaped.
When they reached him, he got close to M'arenn, "The
conference has been over-run. The fact that they didn't kill
you outright, means they want hostages. We can use that to
our advantage. If we get out through the back I can have
transportation out of here. Do you trust me to do this?"
M'arenn looked to her sister and J'usreyan. Her sister's nod
was instantaneous, J'usreyan paused and took the measure of
the human. He slowly nodded, and added, "For now."

"Good enough. Lets' go and keep low. I'm going to lead us
out of a rear window and down into the woods."  Kirk handed
his newly confiscated weapons to the adults and it was
quickly obvious that they knew how to use them. Quiet
amusement hit him as he thought about how well the Romulans
train their diplomats, as if he believed that anymore. They
moved swiftly and silently, pausing at hallway junctions
only long enough for Kirk to signal the all clear. Finally,
they reached an unlocked room and entered closing the door
behind them and locking it. Kirk quickly crossed to the
window and opened it and climbed out.

He was back in the window after a few seconds, and told them
to come down. First, M'arenn, then her sister. They passed
the boy out, and J'usreyan followed. No- one confronted
them, as they passed into the relative safety of the
surrounding woods. Kirk found the flitter just where he had
left it and hurried them inside. It was going to be cramped,
but they all could fit because the women and child were
relatively small.

"Don't get too comfortable. The most dangerous part is still
ahead. To get to the mountains, and safety, we are going to
be in clear space just long enough to be sighted. A lot is
going to depend on what type of weapons they have trained on
the sky and how fast they can bring them to bear on us.
Those are the unknowns. They tell me that's what I'm good at
dealing with, so let's get the hell out of here." He had as
much information as he was going to get, so, it was time to
go. "Hold on ladies and gents, this show is going on the
road."

The engines whined into full power and they blasted off into
a steep climb. Kirk roared from the cover of the small woods
to cross the lake towards the mountainous wilderness on the
other side. Just as they cleared the trees he began evasive
maneuvers. He banked at an impossible angle to port, at the
exact wrong  time and the exactly wrong angle because it put
so much strain on a small vessel. It was the last way anyone
would guess if they were attempting to site them with a
laser. He was rewarded with the flash of a laser cannon that
blasted a path straight in front of their previous path and
then veered to the starboard side as the gunner crew
attempted to anticipate his moves.

The ship then headed straight down towards the lake. Kirk
stopped its downward descent a few feet above the lake. He
angled towards the opposite shore and headed for it at full
speed. He knew that the hardest direction for a laser cannon
to go was down. It was built to combat aerial attacks and
special mounting changes had to be made to head it below its
own ground zero. A safety feature was built into it to keep
crews from shooting themselves or their own personnel. They
made to the other side but he knew pursuit was not far
behind.

He switched vectors quickly going off at a random 38 degree
angle from their previous course. They would really have to
work at following them. The Romulan male had quietly taken a
seat at the screen and monitored for approaching craft. He
nodded his head in approval of the human's tactics. Motion
caught his eye from a craft approaching from the northeast.
He fed the coordinates to Kirk who  made instant course
adjustments. They began a flat out race for the mountains.
The rock formations would throw off any small ship sensors,
and the towering trees would make visual sighting difficult.
Only an orbiting starship, would have enough sensor power
and sophistication to be able to find them. Kirk was hoping
that the Araidne was keeping any orbiting ships busy.

The ships behind them had more power and they slowly started
to narrow the gap. Kirk headed into the trees at a breakneck
pace, running more on feel and split second reflexes.
Instruments were useless at the speeds they were traveling
because the echoes from the rock formations threw up ghosts
on the screens of the racing ships. Kirk hoped that none of
them had spent long hours in simflight against someone as
skilled as Sulu. If they had, Jim Kirk and his new friends,
would die here on this planet. J'usreyan called out the
distances of the approaching ships as Kirk kept his full
attention on flying. His hands skimmed across the board
without visible hesitation.

After a few minutes, it became obvious the pursuers were
dropping behind. Kirk knew they would try to climb out of
the cover and head above, and over them, to try to catch
them when they came from under the foliage. Just as they
cleared the treetops, Kirk veered suddenly away on another
acute angle, and headed off from the pursuers. When they
realized their mistake, the pursuers started to lay down a
wide barrage of phaser fire, but they were unsure of his
exact course. Realizing their error again, they dived back
into the forest, only to be hampered by the falling trees
and fire started by their previous barrage.

Kirk skirted low over an outcropping of rock. His pursuers
were momentarily blinded by the flashes from their own
barrage. They crashed head on into the rock that reached up
to grab them from the skies. The force of the explosion
ripped the ships apart, and sent shards of vessel and rock
hurtling ahead. One metal fragment clipped the left wing of
Kirk's flitter, and sent them on a shuddering slide to the
right.

"Damn, put your heads in your laps and hold on to something,
we're going to crash. I hope this thing has safety fields"
Using the skills of a lifetime, Kirk banked with use of
power thrust. He tried to make up for the loss of lift from
the wing. They cleared a large group of rocks and trees and
saw a small opening in front. The clearing was their best
and only chance for a landing. He headed down, while pulling
up on the nose, and breaking at the same time. They had to
stop before they hit the trees, even if it meant they landed
upside down. The crash lasted forever. The tail and
underbelly hit first and then the nose barreled down onto
the ground. As the nose hit, Kirk hit the reverse thrusters
which slowed them even more, but dug them into the ground.
The force sent him forward into the control panel, and his
head hit before the harness caught him. His final thought
before oblivion was a silent cry: "Spock!"

Spock jerked up from the command chair when the psychic call
hit him full force. A momentary look of fear fled across his
face as he waited for awareness of pain or death. When
nothing else came through the link, he turned toward Uhura.
"Lt. Uhura, patch me through to the conference on Cygni, at
once."

There was no urgency in his voice, but his abrupt change of
position had not escaped anyone's notice. The bridge
instantly became more alert. "Mr. Spock, there is no
response on any channel. I am now attempting to raise the
Ariadne." The crew waited. Uhura's hands flew while she
played the console like an instrument; "I am putting this on
speaker."

"Red Alert, red alert. This is the USS Araidne, I repeat
this is the USS Araidne. We are under attack. I repeat, we
are under attack, by three unmarked vessels of Orion design.
We request immediate aid. The diplomatic conference is also
under ground assault. Hostages have been taken. All vessels
in the vicinity please respond. I repeat we are under
attack." The message repeated itself.

Spock turned towards the helm. "What is the fastest speed we
can make to Cygni, Mr. Chekov." After a moments pause for
computation, Chekov replied. "At warp six we can be there in
3.14 days, Sir. At warp 8, and taxing the engines, it will
take 2.15 days"

"Warp eight, Mr. Sulu. Lt. Uhura, notify Dr. McCoy that we
will be arriving at Cygni in 2.15 days and inform him to
expect casualties... and notify Mr. Scott that his engines
will be taxed." Spock's voice never wavered but everyone on
the bridge heard the difference in his tone. Spock gazed
intently at the viewscreen, as if looking at it would get
them there faster, knowing it would not, and started to plan
for what they would find when they arrived.

"He is moving, Therenna." He heard a soft youthful male
voice over him. Someone began gently stroking his face. That
was a familiar sensation, he knew he would remember as soon
as his head stopped splitting open. Slowly, he opened his
eyes and his confusion worsened. The alien face was
familiar, yet he could not place it. Where were Spock and
Bones? His head hurt too much to think, but he knew he had
to. He tried to sit up and was held down by small, but
surprisingly strong arms. "Captain, you are safe and off of
the flitter. I am Therenna and you flew us to safety. You
hit your head in the crash, so we carried you into the
woods."

It was coming back in fitful spurts. "How long have I been
out?"

"Approximately 25 minutes."

"Too long. We have to put more distance between the crash
site and us. Help me up." As he struggled up to a seated
position over her protests, waves of nausea and dizziness
hit him. He took deep breaths and relaxed into the pain, a
skill he had learned to do over the years. Experience had
been a hell of teacher. When he could see clearly, he noted
that J'usreyan and M'arenn were nowhere to be seen. "Where
are the others?"

"Back at the flitter, getting as much out as they can." Just
as she finished, he could hear steps approaching from the
woods. Therenna turned, grabbed up a phaser, and held it

with a steady hand on the trees in front of her. Her sister
and the older man came from the trees carrying Kirk's pack,
and some other supplies from the downed ship.

He could see M'arenn smile as she noted he was awake. "We
are so glad you could join us, Captain. I did not want to
miss the opportunity to thank you for that thrilling ride."
He could see a wary look on the face of her companion behind
her.

"I live to serve, Madam," he tried to smile but only
succeeded in a pained grimace. "I highly recommend that we
get the hell out of here. We are too close to the crash
site. When they find the ships, they are sure to find us."

"Can you travel, Captain?" J'usreyan came over to him to
look at him closely.

"I have no choice." A low groan escaped as he made it to his
knees, a new benchmark. "If you will bring me my backpack,
I'll get my bearings. There is a map of the area, in the
side pocket." J'usreyan reached in and produced the desired
map. It took longer for him to clear his head than it did
for him to identify their location on the map. After
reviewing the sites he had marked for exploration, he
settled on one that was close enough to reach in a day's
travel. It also had the advantage of offering caves and a
fresh water source. The main advantage for the site was  it
was one of the least desirable places around to set up camp.
That bit of strategy might give them a few extra days
protection from being found.

He signaled them all over. Once they had gathered around, he
took the opportunity to look closely at each of them. They
felt the human's gaze penetrating their defenses while he
read them for signs of fear, or weakness. Not even the boy
was spared an appraising gaze. Kirk's face softened into a
gentle smile as he looked at the boy in approval. "What is
your name, young man?"

"Ramsthet"

"Very well, Ramsthet, we are here," he pointed to their
position on the map, "and we need to get here." Now, he was
pointing to an area of the mountains that spread out before
them towards the horizon. "There is a trail, of sorts, that
leads almost all the way to the caverns on the northwest
slope of this range ahead of us. I had picked some of the
more interesting caverns out on the map to take a look at
earlier, when I was going to be doing this for fun." He
smiled a little at the irony of his words. "Well folks, this
is no longer fun, and I suggest we take a little different
trail. It will lead us deeper into the mountains and much
further off the beaten track." J'usreyan held his hand
forward to question him.

"What is the advantage for us in taking a harder path? It is
not likely that we will have any more of those kesrats after
us, since the first group did not return. Why not head back
for the city; we can get help there?"

"Unfortunately, I don't agree. They will be looking for us
to try to get back to civilization and that way will be
covered. They went out of their way to make sure they
rounded up all of you from the guests quarters. My guess is
you are of substantial value to them, either as hostages, or
for old fashion ransom. They lost a Starship Captain, and
two-fifths of the Romulan delegation, when we ran out on
them. That is very bad business, and I bet some very angry
folks are going to be out here beating the bushes trying to
get us back. Our best defense is: we are not worth anything
dead. Our second best defense is the reason why they chose
Cygni in the first place for the conference.

"What's that," asked Therenna.

"The ore deposits," this came from M'arenn.

"That's right." Kirk went on, " the ore deposits all through
these ranges make it impossible for anything less than the
most sophisticated sensors to be able to pick up, or track
life forms. Even the Cygnians use a satellite tracking
system instead of ship board tracking. They turned it off
when the site was attacked. Without the Cygnian satellites,
the attackers are just as blind as we are. It should have
discouraged anyone from attacking the conference, but at
least it will help cover our getaway. We are just going to
just have to hope these guys do not have anything near that
capability."

"And, if they do, " J'usreyan queried?

"Then, I hope you have some very rich relatives.  So, unless
there are any more objections?" There were none. "I suggest
we get moving, right now. There is probably only three more
hours until sundown, and I would like to be as far away from
here as possible by that time."

"Wait," M'arenn held his arm lightly and searched his face
to look for her answer. "Captain, I have one question, why
did you help us?"

"It just seemed like a good idea at the time." Kirk half-
smiled and made to rise.

"No, do not make light of my question, Captain. I want to
know why you are risking your life for us. It is obvious
that you could have gotten away on your own, with less risk
to yourself. You will tell me why, before I go with you."

Kirk stopped and gathered his thoughts. He was not quite
sure why he had done it himself. "I think to be perfectly
honest, I helped you because these assholes pissed me off. I
wanted to make sure they didn't get what they wanted, and if
that was you, then so be it, they weren't going to get you.
Also... once, a long time ago, I remember being terrified
and hoping that someone would come to help me, before it was
too late. No one did. I swore then, I would leave anyone lie
to experience that, if I could help it." He looked at
M'arenn, willing her to understand. "That's the best
explanation I can give you."

"We are Romulans, Captain; we are not even part of the
Federation."

"Nobodies perfect, M'arenn. Are we going to sit here and get
caught, or can we go now?" His head was cocked to the side,
a smile playing across his face as he waited for her
response.

M'arenn looked to her sister, who gave a slight nod. "Very
well, Captain lead on."

"Actually, I had it in mind that J'usreyan would lead, so I
can bring up the rear, and cover our trail."

"Agreed. Jus, you take the lead, Therenna will follow, then
Ramsthet, Kirk and myself. Objections Captain?"

Kirk smiled and shook his head to say no, <diplomats my
butt,>  he thought, but the words stopped inside his head.
Though Therenna did give him a strange look. The temporary
camp was cleaned up and left behind within ten minutes. They
set off deeper into the mountains.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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