STAR TREK: TOS - Errand of Vengeance, Book Three - River of Blood Read online

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  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  Copyright © 2002 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

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  ISBN: 0-7434-4600-3

  First Pocket Books printing August 2002

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  Printed in the U.S.A.

  For my Mom, who always had books in the house,

  and for my Dad, who took us to all the right movies.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  About the e-Book

  There are many roads to Sto-Vor-Kor but only one path.

  —KAHLESS THE UNFORGETTABLE

  Prologue

  KELL ENTERED the recreation room late. It allowed him to find a place in the back of the room, away from the others in his squad—or, rather, the survivors of his squad. He could not face their sympathy or their concern for him, which they gave freely because they could not see what he had hidden from them.

  They gave it because they did not know his true face and the shame it carried.

  He could not face them, not Parrish, not the others who had been on the planet, and not Chief Sam Fuller, whose own honor and courage were the match of those of any human or Klingon Kell had ever known.

  Kell found his place in the back, noting that Fuller and the rest of his squadmates were right in front of the podium and the photographs of Ensign Sobel and Ensign Benitez.

  [2] For the third time in less than one month Kell stood at a memorial service. The first one had been for Ensigns Rayburn and Matthews. The captain and crew had honored them. Kell alone had known that Matthews was betleH ’etlh, or The Blade of the Bat’leth. An Infiltrator, like Kell himself, Matthews hid his true face to overcome his enemy not in open and honorable battle, but through murder and deceit.

  And yet Matthews had died more honorably than Kell himself now lived.

  Matthews, whose Klingon name Kell had never learned, had died believing the lies the Klingon High Command had told about the Earthers—about their cowardice, their treachery, their imperialistic desires to overrun the galaxy.

  Matthews had died fighting what he had believed to be a great wrong and a great threat to the Klingon Empire.

  When the Klingon surgeons first gave Kell his human face and he began this mission to live among the humans and help the Empire defeat them, Kell had held many of the same illusions, had believed many of the same lies told to him by Klingon command.

  But for Kell, those illusions and lies had been burned away on the surface of the second planet of a system the Federation knew only as 1324. There, Kell and twenty other Starfleet officers had fought Orions for the lives of a small group of anti-Federation settlers who in any sane universe Starfleet would have treated like enemies. Yet, the Enterprise crew had held to their principles and had defeated the Orions. Those principles had cost thirteen of the security people their lives.

  [3] Those lives had been lost in honorable battle and Kell had mourned the passing of the brave warriors with the rest of the crew in two memorial services.

  Now he was at another memorial service for another two officers. Ensign Sobel had died fighting the cowardly Orions who sought to destroy an entire planet of ancient Klingons who should not have existed at all but somehow did.

  Luiz Benitez also fought for Gorath and his people, but he did not die in battle. He was murdered, and Kell was responsible. He died so that Kell could protect his own terrible secret, his own cowardly deception, the deception of other Infiltrators like himself and the truth about the mine on the third planet of System 7348.

  That truth was perhaps the greatest shame that the Klingon people had ever known: the Klingon High Command were the masters of the Orions and their mine. Kell had spoken to a High Commander himself. That Klingon knew about the beings of Klingon blood that lived on that world. And the High Commander wanted to destroy the world anyway—all to get a few more precious crystals to fight a war with the Federation. A dishonorable war, one that should never be fought.

  And yet those primitive Klingons lived because of the efforts of Captain Kirk, Ensign Benitez, and the others—humans who cared more for the lives of the Klingons on that world than the Klingon leaders did.

  That Klingon High Command had brought shame to the entire Empire.

  And yet the greatest shame belonged to Kell, who had made himself party to that deception.

  [4] Kahless the Unforgettable had said, “A terrible secret cannot be kept.” And that great Klingon father had once fought his own brother for twelve days because his brother had lied and brought shame to his family.

  Kell had murdered his human brother to keep perhaps the most terrible secret in Klingon history. The brother was not of his kind, but Benitez was of his blood. Perhaps no Klingon in the Empire would believe that was possible for a human, for an Earther, but it was a truth and Kell would not deny it.

  Kell and Benitez had been brothers in battle, in death and in life.

  And Kell had murdered him.

  He could not bear to think of his brother Karel, who served honorably on a Klingon ship, or their father, who had died honorably in battle against the Federation.

  When Kell shamed himself, he had brought shame to his family. His only solace was that he would likely die before he sired a son or daughter—for his shame would carry through three generations.

  Captain Kirk approached the podium, and Kell had a moment to consider the human he had been sent on this mission to kill.

  That was before the captain had
saved Kell’s own life and the lives of over one hundred thousand Klingons.

  Kirk took the podium and looked solemnly at the gathered crowd. “Thank you all for coming, and greetings to those of you who are listening to this memorial service through the ship’s com system,” he said.

  As the captain spoke about the lives of Benitez and Sobel and about the principles they lived and died to [5] keep, Kell realized that he would never kill the captain. In fact, he would die to protect this human.

  Kell knew he could not regain his honor, or erase his shame, but he would not add to it.

  The transporter beam deposited Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in the center of the village. Much had changed since Kirk had stood in nearly the same spot just a few hours before. Then, most of the damage to the buildings had been from the last earthquake. Though there had been some additional damage from stray fire, the village had been mostly spared the effects of the battle that the landing party had helped the villagers fight, since the Orions had been stopped just outside the village itself.

  This time, it looked as though the final battle—no, the war—had been fought right here. Not a single building was left standing, and the ruins that were there were pitted and burned by energy fire.

  When Kirk had seen this place the first time, he had marveled at the utility of the village’s design and the craftsmanship that went into its construction. His time with Tyree’s pretechnological people had given Kirk an appreciation of the hand labor required to build and maintain a pretechnological society.

  “The Orions didn’t leave much,” McCoy said.

  “No, they didn’t, Doctor,” Kirk said. “Mr. Spock, are you getting any Orion life signs?”

  “No, Captain,” Spock said, “which confirms my findings on the ship. There are no Orions on the surface any longer.”

  [6] Kirk surveyed the carnage around him and saw that that was not exactly true. There were many Orions in the area.

  But all of them were dead.

  They lay on the ground, their armor showing signs of energy fire. There were others who had obviously fallen to the Klingons’ swords. Many of those bodies were not ... intact.

  There were also Klingon bodies in the area, but not as many—not nearly as many.

  The Orions had misjudged the Klingons, badly. And by the looks of the battlefield, they had not had long to ponder their miscalculation.

  The living Klingons were poring through the wreckage of their homes ... and their lives. That was something he had seen on the second planet of System 1324, now on this planet in System 7348.

  When the war with the Klingon Empire came, the same scene would be played out on world after world. And those worlds would have names. They would not be sparsely populated planets on systems that carried only numbers in Federation records.

  However, in all likelihood, there would be no wreckage to go through on many of those worlds.

  And no people to go through it.

  The people on this world had survived, however. And a small group of them was approaching Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

  The captain recognized their leader, Gorath, who was accompanied by two Klingons he recognized and three others he did not.

  Gorath motioned for the others with him to stay [7] behind. When the Klingon reached them, Kirk held out the Universal Translator and said, “Greetings, Gorath.”

  “Greetings, Captain Kirk,” the Klingon said. Then he took a moment to study the Universal Translator. “That tool speaks for you?” he said.

  “It does. It is how we communicate with other people whose language we do not understand,” Kirk replied.

  “Where is the one who spoke our tongue?” Gorath said. “He lives?”

  “Yes, he is back on our ship,” Kirk said. “Two of our people, however, did not survive.”

  Gorath looked at Kirk for a moment and said, “Their deaths pain you.” It was a statement, not a question. Then Gorath looked to the village and battlefield around them. “Klingons died as well, brave warriors,” Gorath said. “But more green skins died today.”

  “Our equipment tells us that there are no more on this planet,” Kirk said.

  “Good. Will other green skins come, for revenge?” Gorath asked the question evenly, showing no fear, only interest.

  “No, we do not think so. They are not usually motivated by revenge, only profit,” Kirk said, hoping the translator could cope with the word profit, which might not have had an analogue in this ancient Klingon culture. “They seek out material goods, tools and things of value,” he added.

  “Like the rocks under our ground?” Gorath said.

  “Yes,” Kirk replied.

  “What about their masters, the ones of our blood?” Gorath said.

  [8] “We will try to find out if they were the Orions’ masters before we leave,” Kirk replied.

  “And their mine, the one that could have destroyed the world entire?” Gorath asked.

  “We have removed the danger,” Kirk said. “Before my ship has to leave, we will do everything we can to help you. Then, others of our people will come to remove the Orion equipment and close the mine permanently.”

  “No,” Gorath said firmly. “I cannot allow you to take all of the green skins’ tools.”

  Kirk felt both Spock and McCoy’s eyes on him as he replied. “It is our way to try not to interfere with other people’s ways of life. We try to limit contact with people who are not ready for space travel and terrible weapons like the ones the Orions brought here.”

  The Klingon shook his head. “The Orions did not care for our readiness. They came anyway and brought their weapons. Now we will keep their weapons and vehicles to defend ourselves.”

  “But your society—”

  “Would not exist if we did not have the means to defend it. Can you tell me without doubt that the green skins will not come back for their rocks? Or that their masters will not come? Or others?”

  “No, I cannot tell you that for certain,” Kirk admitted.

  “Would you try to take these weapons from us?” Gorath asked, again, without fear, only interest.

  “No,” Kirk said. “We will respect your wishes.”

  “We have been to the green skins’ mine,” Gorath said. [9] “There are other things there. Weapons and vehicles. Will you teach us how to use them?”

  “We will help you however we can until we leave. After that, others of our kind will help you.”

  The Klingon was clearly pleased. “It is settled.”

  “For now, I have brought Dr. McCoy,” Kirk said, pointing to the doctor. “To help your injured. We have tools that can help heal them.”

  “Starting with you,” McCoy said, leaning forward and pointing to Gorath’s shoulder, which was largely covered by a burn.

  The doctor had his tricorder out and waved his medical scanner over the Klingon.

  “Doctor,” Kirk said, “is he a—”

  “Klingon,” McCoy said, “I’m trying to figure that out.” He studied the tricorder for a moment. “I retrieved the information from the Starfleet database ... here it is. Heartbeat ... body temperature ... redundancy in the nervous system ... Jim, I didn’t believe it until just now. This man is a Klingon.”

  “Fascinating,” Spock said.

  “That should keep the xenoanthropologists busy for the next ten years,” Kirk said.

  “I can help heal your burn,” the doctor said, pointing to Gorath’s shoulder, “as well as your broken arm.”

  Kirk was surprised. He had seen the burn, but Gorath showed no sign of other injuries.

  “There are others more seriously hurt than me,” Gorath said.

  “I will take a look at everyone,” McCoy said. Then he [10] turned to Kirk, who nodded. “We can treat the most serious ones on our ship.”

  “Show the doctor your wounded. We will speak again later,” Kirk said.

  Before he turned to go, Gorath asked, “What were the names of your honored dead?”

  “Sobel and Benitez,”
Kirk replied.

  “We will remember them in our songs and stories,” Gorath said, nodding.

  “They would be pleased,” Kirk replied.

  Then Gorath and the doctor headed deeper into the village. McCoy had already opened his communicator and was giving instructions to Chapel.

  “Captain, the Prime Directive—” Spock began.

  “Does not allow us to remove these people’s only means of defending themselves against a technological attack—especially against their will. It’s a bad situation, Spock, but I would say the damage is done.”

  “True, but Starfleet will not be pleased,” Spock said.

  “The fact is that even if we could somehow convince Gorath and his people to give up the equipment they ... recovered from the Orions, we cannot guarantee them their security, particularly given the situation with the Klingons.”

  “Logical,” Spock allowed.

  Kirk’s communicator beeped.

  Flipping the device open, he said, “Kirk here.”

  “Giotto here, sir. I’m at the mine,” Giotto’s voice said.

  “Did you find anything yet?” Kirk asked.

  “Plenty, sir,” Giotto replied. “The Klingons left quite a bit of evidence, equipment, computer files, the works. [11] I also saw signs that they planned to destroy the complex from the beginning. They obviously didn’t want us to learn about their role here.”

  “Excellent work, Mr. Giotto. Mr. Spock and I are on our way,” Kirk said.

  Lieutenant West opened his eyes, saw a bright, white light, and closed them again. Determined, he tried opening them more slowly, letting his eyes adjust to the light.

  He was in a white room.

  No, not exactly white, he realized. Details started to resolve. There was a chair. A door. Turning his head to one side, he saw that he was in a bed.

  I’m in a hospital, he realized. The steady beeping behind him now made sense. He looked up and could see the medical monitor.