Star Trek V: The Final Frontier by J. M. Dillard Read Free Book Online Page A

prickled at the way he said the word “you.” As he spoke, his dark eyes seemed to grow huge, dominating her dismal surroundings until Caithlin could see nothing else. Suddenly she became dizzy, terrified for reasons she did not understand. She closed her eyes briefly and fought for control.
    When she opened them again, the fear and the strange effect had gone: the room was as it had been before.
    “As hostages,” she managed to say. “As you said, we’re your prisoners; that’s clear enough.” She paused, searching her imagination for a common cause that would link this oddly charismatic Vulcan to the group of poverty-stricken settlers . . . and could find none. “The question is
why?
What are your demands?”
    The Vulcan’s expression was enigmatic. “That will become clear with time.”
    “All right,” she said, “so you won’t tell us who you are or what you want, but I can tell you this: ourgovernments will stop at nothing to ensure our safety.”
    “That’s exactly what I’m counting on,” the Vulcan said. And, seeing her confused expression, he gave a smile that was wide and absolutely beatific.
    A smile, Caithlin thought, reserved exclusively for saints . . . and madmen.

Chapter Four
    U HURA TUCKED THE FOOD PACK inconspicuously under one arm and stepped from the lift onto the new
Enterprise’s
bridge. The scene was pure chaos: dismantled consoles and monitors were strewn everywhere in an ungodly hodgepodge while a skeleton repair crew examined each component for flaws and then lazily pieced them all back together.
    Uhura sighed as she cautiously navigated over exposed cables. The sight was more than a little depressing; except for Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott,
nothing
on the new ship worked. Well, almost nothing. Yesterday, with Scott’s help, she had finally gotten her communications board up and running. Maybe, Uhura considered, the gods were getting even with them for scoffing at
Excelsior’s
unspaceworthiness.
    She gingerly made her way over to Scott, who was reclining on the floor, his weight resting on one elbow, and scowling up at a panel of bared circuitry beneath the navigation console.
    “Scotty.” She did her best to sound cheerful.
    At first he seemed too absorbed in his task to register her presence. She was about to speak again when, without taking his gaze from the panel, Scott muttered darkly, “’Let’s see what she’s got,’ the captain said. Well, we found out, didn’t we?”
    “I’m sure you’ll whip her into shape, Scotty,” Uhura reassured him, or at least tried to. But the mess on the bridge made feigning confidence difficult. “You always do.”
    Scott turned his head just far enough to narrow his eyes at her. “The old
Enterprise
was easy to whip into shape. This new ship ...” He faced the circuit panel again and shook his head. “I don’t know. I just don’t know. If they wanted to replace the
Enterprise,
they should have taken their time and not given us such a piece of—”
    “Don’t say it, Scotty,” Uhura pleaded sadly.
    “Rubbish,” Scott finished bitterly. “Fell apart the minute she left spacedock. She’ll never replace the old
Enterprise.”
    It was what the entire bridge crew felt, and what none of them dared voice. Emotionally, Uhura agreed with Scott, but she also knew that no good could come of such an attitude, and so she had been consciously trying to develop a positive feeling about the new ship. Strange, the way each vessel took on a personality all its own. The original
Enterprise
had been nothing more than an inanimate object, a lifeless collection ofmetal and circuits, and yet here they all were, still acting as if a family member had died, and resenting this interloper who had tried to take her place.
    “No ship can ever replace the
Enterprise,”
Uhura told Scott softly. “But we’ve got to give this one a chance. She’s all we’ve got.”
    Scott grunted, clearly unconvinced. Uhura watched him work in silence for a