Star Trek: The Original Series - 136 - Excelsior Forged in Fire by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels

Author:Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels [Martin, Michael A. & Mangels, Andy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Human-Alien Encounters, Media Tie-In, Space Opera, Adventure, Interplanetary Voyages, Star Trek Fiction, Space Ships, Hikaru Sulu (Fictitious Charactor)
ISBN: 9781416547167
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 2008-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Once he felt satisfied that repairs to the freebooter Hegh’TlhoS were well under way-a process that would be greatly accelerated by some of the materiel his raiding party was still carrying out of the Mempa II lab complex and into the holds of the temporarily grounded freighter-Qagh entered his vessel’s cramped infirmary to take a gene alteration treatment that he and Nej had developed in haste from some of the Mempan lab’s biomaterials. As he lay supine on the narrow examination table after injecting himself, feeling weightless and afloat on a chemical and radiological cloud despite the table’s unyielding hardness, Qagh dozed-

- and dreamed he was on another raid, one not unlike the mission of plunder he had just completed on Mempa II. But unlike that world, which was dominated by deserts, grasslands, and glacial terrain, vast swaths of this planet consisted of wild, untrammeled jungle, and yielded a profusion of more shades of green than he had ever imagined possible. The Klingons called this untamed border-region planet Veqlargh, after one of the evil spirits from the myths of ancient Qo’noS. But the Earthers, who had effectively laid claim to this remote world along with its incalculably vast array of biological wealth, had their own name for the place:

Ganjitsu.

It was an uncontrolled and chaotic planet, overgrown and all but ungovernable, a cosmic analog to his own mutated, constantly drifting DNA. Perhaps that was why the verdant border world terrified him still, having served as the setting for more nightmares than he could count over the past four decades.

Just as on Mempa II, Qagh’s dream-self once again stood in a spotless, well-equipped bioscience laboratory. But unlike the Mempan facility, this place was illuminated only dimly, populated by shadows behind which hid malevolent ghosts, jatyIn intent on thwarting him, determined to force him and his men to withdraw in frightened haste to the relative safety of their landing craft.

Just as he had done four decades earlier, he returned to his shuttle, hurriedly piloting it back into orbit about the green world. His heart pounding nearly loudly enough to cause the hull to vibrate in sympathy, he rained death onto the lab from two hundred qelI’qams skyward in order to regain some small measure of calm.

He watched through the forward window as his disruptor fire reduced the entire compound to atoms-along with the bioscience secrets it had so stubbornly refused to disgorge.

He awakened still feeling the residue of the rage and satisfaction he’d originally experienced on that long-ago day, comforted at least a little by the knowledge that no one else could use whatever cure had eluded him then.

He sat up on the biobed, feeling stronger than he had in weeks, secure in the knowledge that he would continue to survive, just as he always had, no matter what cruel setbacks fate might deal him along the way.

Nej, who must have entered the room while he had been dozing, stepped toward him and raised an interrogative eyebrow along with the marked second hypo that Qagh had already prepared in advance.

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