Star Trek: The Original Series - 150 - The Shocks of Adversity by William Leisner

Author:William Leisner [Leisner, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Action & Adventure, Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Media Tie-In
ISBN: 9781476722429
Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek
Published: 2013-05-27T23:00:00+00:00

Seven

Laspas led Kirk out of the command center into a small ready room situated just on the other side of the forward bulkhead. Like the rest of the vessel, the commander’s private retreat was small and efficiently laid out, with a narrow bunk, a workstation, and a head. It did boast a few personal touches, like the framed photograph on his desk that showed him as a younger man posing with an older couple Kirk assumed were his parents. On the small stand beside the bunk sat one of his Kawhye books, an illustration of a Geog gaat and rider embossed on its cover.

Once they were both inside, and the door shut behind them, Laspas moved close in the cramped space and pushed his muzzle toward Kirk’s face. “James, we are going after them,” he said in a tone that brooked no disagreement.

Kirk held perfectly steady, and met the other man’s eyes with equal resolve. “I am still the captain of my own ship! The Enterprise is severely damaged; she’s not fit for a hostile engagement. You do not have the authority . . .”

“I have all the authority I need!” Laspas roared. “They murdered over a hundred civilians! I have the duty to go after them, and make them answer for this atrocity!”

Kirk countered Laspas’s rising frustration by keeping the tone of his own response calm and level. “You cannot unilaterally commandeer my ship and take it into an armed confrontation!”

“Then I’ll have all the connectors cut, and set you and your damned ship adrift!”

Laspas’s threat hit Kirk like a fist to the gut. “You wouldn’t do that,” he said, feeling none of the calm confidence he conveyed.

To his immense relief, he was right to call Laspas’s bluff. “Damn it, James,” the commander said, deflating. “These are the same pyurbs who attacked your ship back at Nystrom. Why in Erhokor’s name are you opposing me on this?”

“We’re both in this together, Laspas. I can’t let you simply push me to one side and take this kind of action unilaterally, without any regard for my ship or my people,” Kirk said.

“I have no less regard for your ship and crew than I do for my own,” Laspas insisted, sounding slightly wounded.

And perhaps that’s the problem, Kirk thought to himself, recalling the conversation he’d had with Spock earlier. He quickly dismissed that ungenerous estimation. He knew Laspas better than that.

Or he thought he did.

“I’m not a diplomat, James,” Laspas continued, and tried to pace the tiny space. “It is not my intention to deny you what is yours. But I’m not one for negotiating. I’m a commander of the Defense Corps. When action needs to be taken, I act.”

“Diplomacy is not exactly my strongest suit, either,” Kirk told him. “We’re very much alike, you and I, Laspas. So I know you can understand why it’s so difficult for me to be in the position I’m in, and to have no control over my own command.”

“I do understand,” Laspas agreed, and Kirk could see in his eyes that he did in fact empathize with him.

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