Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newsfeed.news2me.com!yellow.newsread.com!bad-news.newsread.com!news-toy.newsread.com!netaxs.com!newsread.com!POSTED.newshog.newsread.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated Approved: ascem@earthlink.net Organization: Better Living Thru TrekSmut Sender: ascem@earthlink.net Message-ID: <1a4.2c9b7ff9.2ee29506@aol.com> From: Istannor@Aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list ASCEML@yahoogroups.com; contact ASCEML-owner@yahoogroups.com Subject: New: TOS : A Higher Duty: PG: 20/28 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 389 Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 05:55:16 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.198.142.218 X-Complaints-To: Abuse Role , We Care X-Trace: newshog.newsread.com 1102139716 209.198.142.218 (Sat, 04 Dec 2004 00:55:16 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 00:55:16 EST Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated:85918 X-Received-Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 21:55:27 PST (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Title: A Higher Duty Author: Istannor Contact: Istannor@aol.com Series: TOS Rating: PG13 for violence Part: 20/28 Codes:TOS Summary: This is set during the second 5 year voyage of the Starship Chapter 20 Renna ran over to where Kirk hung silently against the tree. The knife still protruded from his body, quivering obscenely. C' Thuth lay moaning on the ground. His body armor had saved his life, but barely. The smell of smoking flesh, urine and blood rose to overwhelm Renna's senses. A sob escaped her lips as she came close enough to see what had been done to the Human. Renna was almost hysterical, as she grabbed the blood-slicked metallic ropes, to try to untie them. There was no sign of consciousness from the human. The chest barely moved. Her eyes rained tears, but still she could not loosen the ropes. She could hear Jus running up behind her. He tried to support the Captain's dead wait as she continued to work the ropes. The whine of a transporter beam cut into their awareness. They turned to see the Enterprise crew solidify in front of them, with their weapons drawn. In the front, stood the Vulcan. The look on his face was enough to make Renna gasp. "Please, help us," she pleaded to him beyond caring how this might look. Spock moved, no, he leaped, and with an explosion of breath, he snapped the ropes in two and caught Kirk in his arms when he fell forward. Renna reached down and grabbed the Bowie knife, which still impaled Kirk's thigh against the tree. Blood gushed from the now gaping wound. Renna was almost rendered unconscious by the intense blast of pain and fearful love that emanated from Spock, covered by his blank face, now at full Vulcan. He gathered Kirk slowly into his arms, careful of the bones he could feel grating and moving under the skin. In the background, Chekov shouted into the communicator. "Mr. Scott, emergency beam up, two to sickbay." Renna stood silently, tears running unabashedly down her face, as Spock shimmered and disappeared into the night, his burden carried close in his arms. In the silence of their departure, Chekov first checked C'Thuth for weapons and then the security detail circled the encampment oblivious to the moans of the Klingon writhing on the ground. Finally, Chekov approached him again and leaned over him. "Pray that the Captain lives" he whispered in his ear. "if he does not, we will unfortunately have to report there were no survivors found here, except the delegates. Your method of death will be most unpleasant." Chekov's face assumed a mask no one had seen before in this dimension. This was the Chekov of the alternate universe, aroused from his slumber. He could kill this Klingon and he would probably enjoy it. He then turned to speak with Jus and Renna. "The rest of your party has been beamed up to the Enterprise. If you will stand with me, I will take you up to join them. Cargill, post a guard here, we will be back down shortly." "Mr. Chekov, what about the Klingon?" Cargill moved to take up a guard position over him. "Leave him where he is, I'll send someone down to see to him... later." Chekov, Jus and Renna disappeared in the transporter beam. Spock was beamed directly to the sickbay. McCoy, M'Benga and Chapel rushed over to help him lower Kirk on to the Biobed. McCoy ran a quick scan over him as Chapel moved to his head and intubated him with one smooth motion. M'Benga shouted out his vital signs. "Pulse 160, blood pressure 40 systolic, hemoglobin 4.3". It was one third of the normal level and it was dropping fast, as his life's blood pulsed out through the arterial bleeder in his leg. "Full life support, initiate surgical field. Chapel you start on the head wound, I'll take this bleeder. M'Benga you can work on stabilizing him." They worked quietly, rapidly as a team, McCoy had been no less diligent in molding his medical team into a unit. M'Benga called for blood and stuck in three major access lines in rapid succession. The techs and nurses ran quietly to fulfill all the requests. Spock stood transfixed in the doorway. The blood was still wet on his tunic and trousers. He could not bear to leave. It was as if two lives, his and James T. Kirk's, hung in the balance. He waited to know if they both would live. McCoy turned to bark out an order to one of the nurses and saw Spock standing in the same position, motionless. "Spock, get out of here, now. We don't need you watching over our shoulders. You got him here, now leave the rest to us. Go." McCoy practically hollered to get through to the Vulcan. Spock looked up at him like a deer caught in the headlights of an approaching speeder. He nodded once and turned to walk out the door. He went to the wall and punched the com. "Mr. Chekov where are the Romulans?" Chekov responded and Spock made a straight line for the quarters they had been given. He did not even acknowledge the three security guards stationed at the door, as he walked into the room. He was still wearing his blood soaked uniform. The sight of him elicited an audible sharp intake of breath from the two women. The boy saw him and began to quietly sob. "Who is in charge?" "I am, Commander Spock," M'arenn stepped forward. "You will tell me why they have done this. Who are you that you have caused a conference to be over-run, and the Captain to be tortured? They have broken 75% of the major bones in his body to get to you." Spock's face was expressionless, but even a Romulan knew that this Vulcan was beyond political niceties. M'arenn told him, everything. She even told them exactly who they were. Then, Therenna told him what had happened at the encampment. "I wish I had killed all of those bastards. The last one, I would be honored to kill for you." "What last one?" "The one who was torturing Kirk still lives, or at least he did before we came aboard your ship." Spock turned and left without another word. He materialized in the encampment with Chekov beside him. The medtech had finished with the Klingon and he was sitting propped up against the side of the rover. When he saw Spock coming towards him, he started to inch back into the metal of the rover, hoping he could merge with its structure. Spock came to stand in front of him and pulled him to his feet with one hand, lifting him momentarily clear of the ground. Then he slowly lowered him back to his feet, as if he were a manikin. "Let me tell you what I shall do to you. First, I shall cut off the tip of your nose, then I will shave the brow ridge from your skull. Next I shall pull your warriors teeth. After that I will meld with you and rape your mind to drive you completely insane. Lastly, I will brand my name and Kirk's on your chest so all may know who did this to you. You will then be turned over to your government to be sent back to your clan as a toothless, crown-less, nose- less, insane cowering husk. Of course, the head of your clan will have to kill himself to erase the stain on your name. They will then ritually kill you, so you will wander for eternity, never reaching the warriors rest." The Klingons were a race of hunters. They believed that at life's end a successful warrior went to his rest where he hunted to his content, with only the gifts the maker had given him. Without those gifts, he was denied his eternal rest. Spock emphasized each word never changing his intonation. Each new statement sent greater shivers of terror through the Klingon's soul. To be tortured was one thing. He did not fear death. Spock meant to damn his eternal soul. "What do you want to know?" Hs gasped out. "I want you to die. I can find out what I want to know during your death." "If I tell you who hired us, will you allow me to die as a warrior?" C'Thuth was desperate. "Swear, damn you." "I will swear nothing to such as you. Tell me, and perhaps you will keep your sanity. I can get the information from you without your help." "Shthrass, a Romulan, he works for Wing Commander Arthra'n. He was in the Romulan diplomatic entourage and he blew the shields and set them up." "Why?" "To start a war, what else." He began urgently, frantically, spilling everything from his cup of knowledge to preserve his immortal soul. "A group of Romulan generals want to go to war with the Federation. They know the Praetor is leaning against it. He sent his sisters. The Praetors eyes and ears he calls them. We were suppose to gather all the hostages and when the Federation attacked to free them, we were suppose to make sure the women got killed in the battle. The generals were going to push the Praetor to war to avenge his sisters' deathS at the hands of the Federation." The Klingon was panting. He looked at the Vulcan willing him to believe him. Spock leaned forward with his hands in the meld position. The Klingon roared, "No, I am telling you the truth, you've got to believe me. I have told you everything I know." Spock leaned back and stared at his panic for a long moment. He then flipped open his communicator. "One to beam up, Mr. Scott. Mr. Chekov, secure the camp, leave as many as you deem necessary down here and return to the ship with this person." "Aye, sir." Spock beamed back up to the ship. Once again the shields did a momentary dance. Never long enough for a opening, yet the tease was enticing and the cloaked Romulan ship moved closer and closer, waiting for the fatal moment when the Enterprise would drop its shields long enough for the Romulan to be able to decloak and fire. Commander S'Tal waited patiently. The accursed Federation ship would be his along with the Praetors damnable intrusive and dangerous sisters. If he succeeded, war was certain and glory was guaranteed for the Empire. He planned on being well rewarded. Spock checked on the status of Kirk immediately upon stepping off the transporter pad. The tech told him only that he was still being operated on. He took a deep breath and attempted to put aside his worry, but it did not work. Instead, he went back to visit the Romulans in their quarters. When he arrived, J'usreyan approached him immediately. "You had a chance to question the Klingon, yes?" "Yes. He told me that they were hired by Shthrass who was acting as an agent for Wing Commander Arthra'n. They wanted to have you die at the hands of the Federation and precipitate a war. Do you know the people that I have mentioned?" Jus nodded thoughtfully. M'arenn walked over to where they stood. Renna still sat on the couch comforting Ramie. "Mr. Spock, " she said, "his employer or another agent is not far away. He would remain close to make sure the task is completed." "Agreed," replied Spock. "However, the ship is obviously cloaked and we have no way of finding it until it decloaks to fire. More importantly, it limits our abilities to rescue the remainder of the hostages, since we must remain unshielded to do any large scale beaming down of personnel. I anticipate the moment we launch the attack on the compound, will be the moment of their attack. Our chances of surviving that attack are 34.3%. Any information you can give me at this time may result in the preservation of all of our lives, as well as the avoidance of open conflict between our governments." Jus and M'arenn looked silently at each other for a long time. Finally, M'arenn nodded briefly almost imperceptibly. "Mr. Spock," Jus began, "in the early days of the use of the cloaking device, it was found that we had a need to be able to decloak a ship from off of the ship. We had several instances where the crew of the cloaked vessel was either incapacitated or dead, and we were unable to find the ship even knowing that it still existed. There is a command code that will decloak any Romulan vessel. I know this code, but I will give it to you on one condition, or we all die today and the Empire take its chance." "What is that condition, Adjutant J'usreyan?" "I must input the code, and then initiate a wipe immediately afterward. We will change the code immediately anyway, once the Praetor is informed, but with this code, a significant amount of damage could be done to our ships prior to the change. Especially, if you were to kill me to keep me from contacting my government to inform them of my action. You see my dilemma, I'm sure. The only reason we consider doing this, is because we owe your Captain our lives several times over. It is unlikely that he would have a man lacking in integrity as his first officer, therefore I will trust your word on this matter." "You have my word." Spock responded without hesitation. There was too much at stake to bandy words. "Very well, if you will take me to the bridge I will input the code." Jus followed Spock out of the door. He gave M'arenn's hand a gentle squeeze before he left. When they entered the bridge, the crew absorbed the sight of a Romulan without missing a step. Spock stepped down to lead Jus to the counsel at the center of the Bridge. He showed him the panel where he could input the code, and he carefully instructed the computer to immediately delete the numbers after their entry and transmission. Once Jus was satisfied, Spock turned and instructed Mr. Chekov to prepare all weapons for immediate lock-on and firing at his command. Jus entered the codes and pushed the button to transmit. S'Tal stood at the tactical display gazing out on the Enterprise. The giant ship was closer to him now, than he had ever been to a Federation Starship. The weapons officer had already targeted the vital parts of the ship. It was going to be a glorious explosion. He turned when he heard the gasp from behind him, to hear his second shouting: "Sir, we are decloaking." "Override," S'Tal screamed. He felt a sense of doom overwhelm him. His second rushed to comply. S'Tal turned to the viewing screen just in time to see the full batteries of a Federation Constitution Class Starship coming towards him. His last thought was one of surprise. The explosion of his ship was silent in the vacuum of space. Spock turned towards Jus and acknowledged his action with a nod of his head. "You may stay if you like." "No, I think I would rather return to my quarters. Those were my people I helped destroy, even if they were misguided fools. We must meditate on what has transpired, and pray for their spirits." Jus bowed briefly at the waist and walked out, followed by a security guard. "Lt. Uhura, it is time for your device. Mr. Chekov, inform your security detail and the embassy marines: they must be ready to launch in five minutes exactly. Uhura launched the probe with its time delay set. The impact on the compound shield was followed by the warp generator transmitting a signal that punched through the shield and lit the surrounding area up with the seldom seen pyrotechnics of the atmospheric generation of warp fields. The troops were beamed down before K'Rath was able to react. Chekov's first and second squad headed straight for the last known location for the shield generator. It was lightly protected; K'Rath had more losses than anticipated and he needed most of his troops to guard the delegates. They were through and into the shield room within six minutes. When the shield fell, K'Rath assessed the situation and immediately came to the conclusion that it was time to go. With the cloaked Romulan ships orbiting, he had a good chance of still getting away, as long as he got to his ship fast. The screams of his dying men did nothing to slow his retreat. He saw Shthrass briefly in the melee, there was no need to try to assist him, and he was not going to pay him for this job, now. K'Rath would have to be satisfied with the partial payment he had already received. Since he did not have to divide it at all now, it looked better than ever. He finally got to his ship. He ran all out and was almost through the door. A phaser blast took him full in the back, throwing down to land in the beckoning doorway. The door closed partially on his dead body, pushing him back and forth. The computer attempted to complete its programmed closing sequence, over the corpse of the Klingon. Chekov came up to him and kicked him over cautiously with his foot. "Cossack." He spat at him. When he was sure he was dead, he ran back to join the battle. In the end, they killed twenty- three terrorists, injured an additional thirty-one more, and lost sixteen in the process. Two from the Enterprise, and the rest from the Marines who met the brunt of the resistance when they charged the front entrance. All the delegates, but one, survived the attack. The Tellarite Ambassador was killed protecting a member of his staff. The hit squad had killed fifteen in their initial overrun of the conference. The final count was large, but far short of the numbers of lives that would have been lost in a war between the Romulans and the Federation. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ASCEM messages are copied to a mailing list. Most recent messages can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCEML. NewMessage: