Star Trek Phase II: Conspiracy Part 1 “Friends and Foes” Glenn E. Smith Story: Copyright © 2014, Glenn E. Smith. All rights reserved. Publisher: Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II, International www.stnv.de/novels (Part 2 will be released on December 31, 2016) This work is a work of fan fiction and is made freely available to everyone at no cost. The author has not and will not receive any pay or other form of compensation for this work. It is not permitted to sell this work in any form or release it on any other platforms without our written permission. This eBook is authorized for release on condition that reference is given to our website where people can learn more about New Voyages: Phase II www.stnv.de.and any links to specific pages use the given permalinks, only. The permalinks are designed to send viewers automatically to the correct language for them out of the selection English, French, German or Spanish. STAR TREK and all related marks, logos and characters are owned by CBS Studios Inc. This work, the promotion thereof, and/or any exhibition of material created by RFS, New Voyages: Phase II and/or the author of this work are not endorsed or sponsored by or affiliated with CBS/Paramount Pictures or the STAR TREK franchise. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Chapter 1 Chapter 2 - Three Days Later Chapter 3 Chapter 4 - Several Days Later Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 About Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II New Voyages Fan-Club New Voyages: Phase II Episodes Episodes in Chronological Order About Us: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to James Cawley for creating “Star Trek New Voyages / Phase II” and then opening up his sandbox and allowing us all to play there. Thanks to David Gerrold for writing and directing our episode “Blood and Fire,” without a few details from which this story might never have coalesced in this exact form in my brain. Thanks to Bill Lutz for his consultation relating to a couple of the Klingon characters whom he previously created, and for designing and creating the cover for this work. Thanks to Andrew “Sarge” Grieb for once more providing me with his proofreading services. And a very special Thank You to John “Kargh” Carrigan for giving of his time so that I could consult with him regarding the language and mannerisms of Kirk’s newest and most ruthless yet honorable Klingon nemesis! The following events take place several weeks after the live-action episode www.stnv.de/baf and shortly before the live-action episode “Enemy: Starfleet” www.stnv.de/esf CHAPTER 1 Personal Log, Captain James T. Kirk, stardate 6471.2: After all these weeks in space dock, things are finally looking up where the Enterprise is concerned. Mister Scott did warn me the repairs wouldn‘t last for very long, but I had no idea at the time just how extensive the damage was. I’ll have to thank Kargh personally for that if I ever get the opportunity. Our run for Starbase Six cost us our starboard nacelle again...for good...and as a result we were forced to travel much of the way on impulse power only. Long-range communications were offline and decks four and five starboard vented most of their atmosphere along the way, despite Mister Sentell’s attempts to maintain force fields around the damage, and we had to seal them off. Despite all of that, however, the old girl came through for us again. Battered, bruised, and crippled...but never beaten...the Enterprise brought us safely home once more. And now, thanks to Commander Scott’s whip-cracking, repairs continue at near warp speeds. As expected, the entire starboard warp nacelle had to be replaced, necessitating a complete overhaul of the port nacelle in order to ensure proper field balance, which added another week to our layover...on top of the three weeks it took to install the new warp drive. But, Scotty tells me that as a result the warp drive will perform better than ever now. I guess we‘ll find out soon enough. A new warp core, a new matter/anti-matter intermix chamber, a new plasma transfer conduit. Essentially, an all-new warp drive system, ready for the next generation of nacelles to be installed, whenever Starfleet Command got around to deciding the time was right. In the meantime, thanks to that Klingon bastard Kargh and his new K’Tinga-class battlecruiser, they’d had to replace one nacelle and overhaul the other, adding more than a week to the job. Nevertheless, Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott had spent the last several weeks grinning from ear to ear in engineer Heaven—on the inside, where no one could see—and now, finally, his beloved ship was almost ready to return to the stars. With a number of his men and women hard at work around him, integrating the new systems, bringing some of the secondary systems online, running diagnostics, and whatnot, Scotty stood in front of a control panel in the newly upgraded and temporarily less than tidy main engineering section and gazed at Lieutenant Edgar Ross’ image on the comm. screen. Ross could be a real klutz sometimes, but he’d proven himself to be an exceptional engineer, so Scotty had put him in charge of the work going on up in impulse engineering, and the two of them had necessarily kept in frequent contact throughout. “And dinnae forget, lad,” Scotty told the lieutenant for the umpteenth time. “The main injectors have to be linked in through the new duotronic-two circuits so we have control in both sections.” “Yes, sir, I’m on top of that,” Ross replied. “We’ve also realigned the impulse flow regulators in accordance with your new specs, and their overall efficiency has increased to almost eight percent above fleet standards as a result.” “Excellent, Mister Ross,” Scotty responded, grinning with pride. “Did yeh double- check the flow sensors’ alignment against the regulators as well afterwards? We dinnae want our increased efficiency to overload the impulse drive and blow the ship in half, do we?” “No, sir, we certainly don’t, and yes, sir, we did. And Ensign Kirk reports he finally got the mix ratio to settle and maintain at one-to-one. He worked on that for almost seventeen straight hours, just so you know.” “Seventeen hours?” Scotty exclaimed. “Ach...that lad is gonna work himself into a coma if he’s nae careful.” “Well, thanks to him we’ll be ready to test-energize the crystals as soon as the pylons are locked into place and the energy conduits are magnetized.” “Good. I wanna ensure the energy flow remains steady at capacity when we channel the warp plasma. How are the energizer units on the impulse decks coming along?” Ross sighed and seemed to deflate just a little. “Sorry, sir. Those are going to take a little longer. The damage...” “Aye, those Klingon bastards did a bloody number on ‘em all right,” Scotty replied with understanding. Ross’ answer had been exactly the one he had expected. “Not to worry though, Mister Scott,” Ross continued, suddenly seeming much more positive and upbeat. “By the time we finish all this, even the bowling alley will be running more efficiently.” Scotty grinned. “Promises, promises, Edgar,” he teased. “Just make sure the place still has all its pins.” “Hey, Scotty... It’s me, remember?” “Aye, I know. But this far into a job yeh’re usually half blown up and restin’ in Sickbay already, so I have to wonder.” “Oh, now that hurts, Commander,” Ross told him as a pained expression crossed his features. Scotty snickered. “Just bustin’ yer crystals, lad. I want to power up the injectors at fourteen-hundred tomorrow. Can yeh be ready for that?” “We’ll be ready, sir.” “Excellent. Scott out.” Scotty closed the channel and the monitor went dark. He turned and gazed at the new plasma conduit—dark for now, but not for too much longer. Soon. Soon they’d power up the warp drive and the conduit would come alive, lighting the whole area as plasma raced from the core to fuel the nacelles and send them warping through deep space at incredible velocities once more. He raised his eyes to the ceiling and spoke quietly to the love of his life—the Enterprise herself. “Dinnae worry yerself, lassie,” he told her. “The captain will get us away from the neutral zone borders and back to exploration where we belong, and no Klingon bastard will ever hurt yeh like that again. Yeh’ll see.” * * * * * In uniform, though he had no real reason to be, Captain James T. Kirk stood alone before the observation deck’s large bay window, looking out at the Enterprise moored in space dock. Her starboard warp nacelle had finally been replaced with a brand new one and the work on the port nacelle appeared to be nearing completion, while most of the much less extensive repairs on various other areas of the ship continued, having been put off until all of the warp core and propulsion engineering-related work was done. It’ll be good to finally get off this starbase and back to exploration again, he thought. “Morning, Jim,” he heard Doctor Leonard McCoy say from behind him as he walked into the room. “Good morning, Bones,” Kirk replied without turning away from the window, simply watching McCoy’s reflection grow closer as he approached. McCoy stepped up beside him and then joined him in gazing out through the window at the Enterprise for a moment.