Star Trek - TOS - 79 - Invasion 1 - First Strike Read online

  First Strike (part of the Invasion series) [030 4.9]

  By Diane Carey

  Synopsis

  Klingons and the Federation at each other's throats; space-faring outcasts

  from across the Galaxy returning to reclaim their rightful territory --

  (or is it)? alien beings ... or are they? Kirk, Spock and the crew of the

  Enterprise and a Klingon general struggle to save the Galaxy in this first

  part of what proves to be an exciting series, which spans the Star Trek

  generations!

  INVASION!

  "THE TALES ARE ALL TRUE.

  THE DEMONS HAVE RETURNED."

  General Kellen of the Klingon Empire spoke to his

  crew, his normally calm voice brimming with terror

  and anger. "They have come back and they are on

  that ship out there.

  "It will take all of us to defeat them," the general

  continued. "Call the Empire for reinforcements.

  Track that ship, but do not go near it. I will go for

  help."

  "For help?" his first officer asked. "From where?

  From whom?"

  "We need a demon to fight demons," the general

  said at last. "I will get one. I will get Captain

  James T. Kirk."

  Look for STAR TREK Fiction from Pocket Books Star Trek The Original Series The Ashes of Eden Federation Sarek Best Destiny Shadows on the Sun Probe Prime Directire The Lost Years Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country Star Trek V The Final Frontier Star Trek IV The Voyage Home Spock's World Enterprise Strangers from the Sky Final Frontier

  1 Star Trek The Motion Picture

  2 The Entropy Effect

  3 The Klingon Gambit g4 The Covenant of the Crown

  5 The Prometheus Design

  6 The Abode of Life

  7 Star Trek 11 The Wrath of Khan

  8 Black Fire

  9 Triangle

  10 Web of the Romulans

  11 Yesterday's Son

  12 Mutiny on the Enterprise

  13 The Wounded Sky

  14 The Trellisane Confrontation

  15 Corona

  16 The Final Reflection

  17 Star Trek Ilk The Search for Spock '

  18 My Enemy. My Ally

  19 The Tears of the Singers

  20 The Vulcan Academy Murders

  21 Uhura Song

  22 Shadow Lord

  23 Ishmael

  24 Killing Time

  25 Dwellers in the Crucible

  26 Pawns and Symbols

  27 Mindshadow

  28 Crisis on Centaurus

  29 Dreadnought/

  30 Demons

  31 Battlestations!

  32

  Chain of Attack

  33

  Deep Domain

  34

  Dreams of the Raven

  35

  The Romulan Way

  36

  How Much for Just the Planet?

  37

  Bloodthirst

  38

  The IDIC Epidemic

  39

  Time for Yesterday

  40

  Timetrap

  41

  The Three-Minute Universe

  42

  Memory Prime

  43

  The Final Nexus

  44

  Vulcan's Glory

  45

  Double, Double g46 The Cry of the Onlies

  47 The Kobayashi Maru

  48 Rules of Engagement g49 The Pandora Principle

  50 Doctor's Orders

  51 Enemy Unseen

  52 Home Is the Hunter

  53 Ghost Walker

  54 A Flag Full of Stars

  55 Renegade

  56 Legacy

  57 The Rift

  58 Face of Fire

  59 The Disinherited

  60 Ice Trap

  61 Sanctuary

  62 Death Count

  63 Shell Game

  64 The Starship Trap

  65 Windows on a Lost World

  66 From the Depths

  7 The Great Starship Race

  68 Firestorm

  69 The Patrian Transgression

  70 Traitor Winds

  71 Crossroad

  72 The Better Man

  75 Recovery

  74 The Fearful Summons

  75 First Frontier

  76 The Captain's Daughter

  77 Twilight's End

  78 The Rings of Tautee

  78 Invasion 1 First Strike Star Trek The Next Generation Kahless Star Trek Generations AI! Good Things Q-Squared Dark Mirror Descent The Devil's Heart lmzadi

  Relics Reunion Unification Metamorphosis Vendetta Encounter at Farpoint

  1 Ghost Ship

  2 The Peacekeepers

  3 The Children of Hamlin

  4 Survivors

  5 Strike Zone

  6 Power Hungry

  7 Masks

  8 The Captains' Honor

  9 ,4 Call to Darkness

  10 ,4 Rock and a Hard Place

  11 Gulliver's Fugitives

  12 Doomsday World

  13 The Eyes of the Beholders

  14 Exiles

  15 Fortune's Light

  16 Contamination

  17 Boogeymen

  18 Q-in. Law

  19 Perchance to Dream

  20 Spartacus

  21 Chains of Command

  22 Imbalance

  23 War Drums

  24 Nightshade

  25 Grounded

  26 The Romulan Prize

  27 Guises of the Mind

  28 Here There Be Dragons

  29 Sins of Commission

  30 Debtors' Planet

  31 Foreign Foes

  32 Requiem

  33 Balance of Power

  34 Blaze of Glory

  35 Romulan Stratagem

  36 Into the Nebula

  37 The Last Stand

  38 Dragon's Honor

  9 Rogue Saucer

  40 Possession

  41 Invasion 2 The Soldiers of Fear Star Trek Deep Space Nine Warped

  7 Warchild The Search

  8 Antimatter

  9 Proud Helios

  1 Emissary

  10 Valhalla

  2 The Siege

  11 Devil in the Sky

  3 Bloodletter

  12 The Laertian Gamble The Big Game

  13 Station Rage

  5 Fallen Heroes

  14 The Long Night

  6 Betrayal

  15 Objective Bajor Star Trek Voyager

  1 Caretaker

  2 The Escape

  3 Ragnarok

  4 Violations

  5 Incident at ,4rbuk

  6 The Murdered Sun

  7 Ghost of a Chance

  8 Cybersong

  FIRST STRIKE

  DIANE CAREY

  INVASION! concept by John J. Ordover and Diane Carey For orders other than by individual consumers, Pocket Books

  grants a discount on the purchase of I0 or more copies of

  single tiffes for special markets or premium use. For further

  details, please write to the Vice-President of Special Markets,

  Pocket Books, 1633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019-6785,

  8th Floor.

  For information on how individual consumers can place orders, please write to Mail Order Department, Simon &

  Schuster Inc., 200 Old Tappan Road, Old Tappan, NJ 07675.

  POCKET BOOKS

  New York London Toronto Sydney Tokyo Singapore

  The sale of thi
s book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased

  this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to

  the publisher as "unsold and destroyed." Neither the author nor the

  publisher has received payment for the sale of this "stripped book."

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are

  products Of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance

  to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely

  coincidental.

  An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS

  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Copyright 1996 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

  STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of

  Paramount Pictures.

  This book is published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc., under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reprcluce

  this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue

  of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 ISBN 0-671-54002-5 First Pocket Books printing July 1996

  109876 POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of

  Simon & Schuster Inc.

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  SPACEQUAKE

  Danger is never the barometer of an officer's

  conduct.

  -Joseph Conrad

  Lord Jim

  Chapter One

  "THE SUN IS GROWING!"

  "Impossible. Is it an illusion?"

  "No! No! Also reading a reduction in mass! Seventy-one

  percent and dropping!"

  A relatively small star system--only five planets. Two

  livable, one worth conquering.

  Now, through some unimagined power, the sun was engaging in a practice heretofore reserved for balloons.

  It was expanding. Dilating. It was growing.

  "General, the planets! Same effect!"

  "I'm standing next to you. Calm down when you

  speak. Is the speed of orbit increasing with reduction in

  mass?"

  "Yes! And they're spinning faster and faster!"

  "Stop shouting. No one else shout anymore. We will

  look at this and decide."

  The crew of the Klingon patrol cruiser Jada swung to

  look at the rows of auxiliary monitors showing views of

  the five planets. Two of the planets, the two nearest the

  sun, were dilating too--blowing outward from their

  cores as if puffed up by breath. A second later, the other

  Diane Carey

  three puffed also. And all solar-system bodies and debris

  were racing faster around the sun with every passing

  second.

  But the first two planets were not only blowing

  apart--they were charging out of their orbits like balls

  swung on strings that had been suddenly released. No

  longer held in a curve around the sun, they were

  launched on elongated orbits. The arc was widening--distorting.

  In horror and shock, the crew and their general

  measured the impossible occurring around them. The

  sun, minutes ago as normal as any other, now had

  swollen to fill their main viewscreen. The screen mechanisms

  whirred to compensate for the blinding light that

  had flared too fast and set the crew to shielding their

  eyes.

  It could not happen, but it was happening. Their

  general swung his squat, broad-chested body to the main

  screen when the light finally dimmed. The light still hurt

  his eyes but this was something he had to see for himself.

  His voice was very quiet. "Are we falling toward it?"

  "No!" the tactical officer punctuated, then remembered

  what the general had said about shouting. "Position stationary. But the shipreit--we... we..."

  "Speak, man."

  "Reading a reduction in registered mass for us as well!

  All other ships reporting the same!"

  Suddenly the helmsman said, "Ship's speed is increasing,

  sir! But I have not done it!"

  To their left, the tactical officer turned to the center of

  the bridge, stared at Captain Ruhl, and confirmed, "All

  five other ships reporting the same thing happening to

  them."

  "Compensate." Ruhl was the newly assigned captain

  of this ship, a narrow-bodied individual with a missing

  tooth in front. When the general did not stop him, he

  gained confidence and snapped his fingers at hit officers.

  "Keep the speed down."

  "Trying," the helmsman uttered, but he was involved

  FIRST STRIKE

  in a struggle. "Point four five of sublight... point five

  zero... still increasing..."

  "Everything is speeding up," the tactical officer

  abridged, gasping as an animal does on the run.

  Lack of inhibition about his own ignorance was Ruhl's

  only good trait, and in fact was the qualification that had

  gotten him this command. He had no ego at all. No

  problem turning to their elder and asking, "General

  Kellen, what should we do?"

  Sensing the panic about to erupt around him, the

  general held out one hand for silence. Five ships to

  protect, a vaporizing solar system... they wanted answers

  from him. Solutions. He had none.

  He would do as he always did in wild situations--he

  would become calmer than anything or anyone around

  him. He would lower his voice, contain his stance, raise

  his chin, and deliver a glacial demeanor. He had long ago

  discovered the best key to winning When the situation

  becomes tense, become correspondingly calm. He could

  win over anyone that way. Being a Vulcan among Klingons,

  controlled and contemplative, would supersede any

  Klingon. Most Klingons despised Vulcans. That made

  his advantage even greater.

  Now he was a general of the highest mark. Unexcit-ability

  had served him so well that it had become the

  mantle of his reputation. He rather enjoyed that.

  Except in situations like this, when there was a panic

  but no thinking enemy to outthink. He could not out-calm

  a natural disaster. He found himself irritated by

  that, and by the blustering fear demonstrated around

  him.

  Critical seconds ticked off as Kellen maneuvered his

  wide body toward the science officer.

  "What is your name?" he asked.

  "MymI"

  "His name is Karn," the helmsman blurted, anxious

  enough to interfere.

  "Karn," Kellen repeated, "explain what you think is

  happening."

  Diane Carey

  Pressing both hands to his head as if to hold in the

  flurry of details, Karn looked at his instruments, then

  back at the general. His mouth opened and closed

  several times before he found his voice.

  "Mass," he began, "is failing to register on my instruments.

  Not the matter... just the mass!"

  "The sky is falling and we seem also to be falling,"

  Kellen said evenly. "Keep talking."

  Frantic, Karn battled to control himself. He put his

  hands out between himself and his commanding officers

  and made shapes as if sculpting his words.

&n
bsp; "Every moving thing possesses a certain amount of

  energy. How quickly it moves depends upon how much

  energy and how much mass. Velocity is mass versus

  energy. If the mass drops away but energy doesn't,

  velocity must increase. If one or the other is taken away

  or added, the nature makes it balance. Mass is slipping

  away, but the energy is still there. So everything is

  speeding up!"

  His eyes were wild with confusion. The anchors of his

  life, the precepts of concrete science, were slipping their

  hold.

  "How can mass be taken away?" Kellen asked him.

  "I do not know that! But you see it happening?