Assignment_ Eternity by Greg Cox

Author:Greg Cox [Cox, Greg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780671001179
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 1998-08-15T08:07:16+00:00

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ASSIGNMENT ETERNITY

toward Chekov and Sulu, disrupters blazing.

"Yes!" Kirk whispered to himself. He beckoned

Seven and Osiris closer. "Get ready," he

warned them. Osiris growled in anticipation.

Chekov scored a lucky shot, dropping another

Romulan onto the floor of the clearing The other

two kept on coming, though. Chips of wood and bark

flew where their beams struck the mighty tree.

Sulu and Chekov fired back wildly, too

busy dodging the din ruptor blasts to bother aiming

their phasers. Kirk knew they would have to retreat

soon. The Romulans were getting too close.

"Paushol y'chorte," Chekov

hollered in Russian, getting one last dig in before

abandoning his position and heading deeper into the brush,

Sulu right behind him. The Romulans got the

message all right, shouting angrily as they took

off in pursuit of the two humans, crashing through the

matted twigs and vines like rhinos on a rampage.

Kirk waited until they were entirely out of view,

then counted to five, just in case one of them turned

back.

Nobody did.

"Now!" he barked, jumping to his feet and racing

greater-than

out into the clearing. Seven and Osiris leaped forward

as well, the big cat's powerful legs propelling

him above and ahead of Kirk. As they approached the

entrance to the bunker, Osiris veered toward the prone

body of the stunned Romulan guard, still splayed out

amidst the grass. Ivory fangs dashed before

Kirk's eyes.

"Not now," Seven called out to his feline

ally. "Maybe later."

Despite Seven's admonition, Osiris

couldn't resist taking a single swat at the fallen

guard with one of his massive paws before rejoining

Kirk and Seven in front of the bunker.

On closer inspection, Kirk observed that the

humanoid-sized recess he had spotted before formed

a narrow arch in front of a gleaming metal door.

He rapped his knuckles experimentally on the 45

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Greg Cox

door; it felt like solid duranium. There was

no way his phaser could disintegrate the barrier before the

guards returned. He glanced at Seven. "Your

move."

Seven nodded. His hand resting atop Osiris's

furry skull, he addressed the door. "This is

Supervisor 194. Emergency access code

delta-sine-delta."

With a hiss of released air, the steel door

slid upwards, revealing a well-lit vestibule

beyond. Open sesame, Kirk thought, impressed by the

ease with which Seven had eliminated the obstacle.

"Maybe you belong on this mission after all, Mr.

Seven," he said as he entered the bunker with his

phaser drawn.

The entrance chamber was large enough to hold all three

of them, with marble tiled floors and stone walls that

sloped upward at an angle. A decorative

sculpture composed of parallel silver

rods hung on one wall. A porcelain vase

holding a few withered pink blooms sat atop a

marble column. Looks hospitable enough, Kirk

thought; clearly it hadn't been designed by the

Romulan military. Dried flower petals

littered the floor around the vase. Kirk guessed

that no one had watered or replaced the flowers since

the soldiers captured the base.

Seven tapped a control panel on the wall

nearby the open entrance and the metal door slid

back down into place, sealing them in. Kirk

looked around quickly. He didn't see any more

guards, but he knew they couldn't expect their

intrusion to go undetected for long.

The vestibule opened onto three corridors,

to the right, to the left, and directly ahead. "Which

way?" Kirk asked.

Osiris answered by taking off down the left-hand

i

corridor, his ivory horn pointing the way.

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