Read Online The Rings of Tautee by Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Free Book Online
Authors: Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Media Tie-In, Space Opera, American Fiction, Interplanetary voyages, Kirk; James T. (Fictitious Character)
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Directly across from her a man in a red uniform stood behind a console. He grinned at her, an infectious twinkle in his eyes. His skin was pale, and his hair was a shade of black she had never seen before.
Two other red-uniformed people stood beside an open door. Beyond it was a yellow corridor.
She swallowed and glanced at her arm[*thorn] surreptitiously, she hoped. It was normal, as dustcovered as it had been in the main control room. Then she saw movement beside her. On the platform, three other members of her staff stood.
She could have sworn they weren't there when she first arrived.
"And that's the last of them," the man said. He spoke loudly, as if he were addressing someone else. But the people at the door were staring straight ahead, like guards, and no one else appeared to be in the room.
THE RINGS OF TAUTEE Except Folle, standing in the shadows to her left.
"Folle," she said, breathing his name like a lifeline.
Scatty grinned, stepped forward, and held out his hand to help her down from the platform. "Welcome to the Starship Enterprise, was he said.
Chapter Eleven THE ENTERPRISE SWUNG out of the debris field left from the breakup of the fifth planet and its moon. Kirk let his grip on his chair relax slightly. Taking a starship twisting and weaving in through a thousand floating mountains, all moving in different directions at different speeds, was not his idea of excitement.
However, he couldn't contain his elation.
They had rescued the survivors. Scotty had pulled them from their asteroid tomb, and they would be able to go on with their lives.
Very different lives from the ones they had before, but lives just the same.
Still, he couldn't let the elation overtake him. The Enterprise wasn't out of this mess yet.
The slowly forming rings surrounding the Tautee
THE RINGS OF TAUTEE sun stretched out on the viewscreen. Kirk felt like he was staring out over the top of a desert wasteland. Such devastation, and it had happened so quickly.
"Take us back to the Farragut's position, Mister Sulu. As quickly as you safely can."
"Aye, sir." The strain of manually maneuvering around the huge asteroids had formed tiny exhaustion lines around Sulu's eyes. Still, his concentration never seemed to waver. At moments like this Kirk was very proud of his crew.
"Both Klingon vessels are still following us," Chekov said, almost sneering in disgust.
"Let them," Kirk said. The Klingon shadows annoyed him, too. "As long as they stay out of the way."
"Captain?" Spock said. He had an odd note in his voice.
Kirk glanced at him. Spock never showed elation[*thorngg'he rarely showed any emotion at all[*thorngg'b Kirk had learned to read the subtle nuances in Spock's inflections.
Kirk didn't like the sound of this one.
He swiveled his ch air to make sure he could see his science officer clearly. For a moment he almost thought he saw a troubled expression on Spock's face, then dismissed the idea. Spock looked as impassive as always.
"I have been scanning a few of the larger asteroids in the rings created after the breakup of the four inhabited planets."
"Looking for survivors," Kirk said, feeling an odd fluttering sensation in his stomach. He wanted 77 Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch to find more survivors, wanted the destruction to be less serious than it seemed.
But he also knew that the Enterprise and the Farragut had serious limitations in the rescue effort, and if more survivors were out there, they would need to be pulled off those asteroids immediately.
"I have found six other possible pockets of survivors," Spock said. "The survivors would seem to be in underground bunkers on larger asteroids. Based on these observations, I believe there may be as many as a dozen more bunkers and cavities filled with survivors among the asteroids."
A dozen more. They had rescued almost one hundred people off this one. The Enterprise barely had room for them.
Kirk pushed himself
Directly across from her a man in a red uniform stood behind a console. He grinned at her, an infectious twinkle in his eyes. His skin was pale, and his hair was a shade of black she had never seen before.
Two other red-uniformed people stood beside an open door. Beyond it was a yellow corridor.
She swallowed and glanced at her arm[*thorn] surreptitiously, she hoped. It was normal, as dustcovered as it had been in the main control room. Then she saw movement beside her. On the platform, three other members of her staff stood.
She could have sworn they weren't there when she first arrived.
"And that's the last of them," the man said. He spoke loudly, as if he were addressing someone else. But the people at the door were staring straight ahead, like guards, and no one else appeared to be in the room.
THE RINGS OF TAUTEE Except Folle, standing in the shadows to her left.
"Folle," she said, breathing his name like a lifeline.
Scatty grinned, stepped forward, and held out his hand to help her down from the platform. "Welcome to the Starship Enterprise, was he said.
Chapter Eleven THE ENTERPRISE SWUNG out of the debris field left from the breakup of the fifth planet and its moon. Kirk let his grip on his chair relax slightly. Taking a starship twisting and weaving in through a thousand floating mountains, all moving in different directions at different speeds, was not his idea of excitement.
However, he couldn't contain his elation.
They had rescued the survivors. Scotty had pulled them from their asteroid tomb, and they would be able to go on with their lives.
Very different lives from the ones they had before, but lives just the same.
Still, he couldn't let the elation overtake him. The Enterprise wasn't out of this mess yet.
The slowly forming rings surrounding the Tautee
THE RINGS OF TAUTEE sun stretched out on the viewscreen. Kirk felt like he was staring out over the top of a desert wasteland. Such devastation, and it had happened so quickly.
"Take us back to the Farragut's position, Mister Sulu. As quickly as you safely can."
"Aye, sir." The strain of manually maneuvering around the huge asteroids had formed tiny exhaustion lines around Sulu's eyes. Still, his concentration never seemed to waver. At moments like this Kirk was very proud of his crew.
"Both Klingon vessels are still following us," Chekov said, almost sneering in disgust.
"Let them," Kirk said. The Klingon shadows annoyed him, too. "As long as they stay out of the way."
"Captain?" Spock said. He had an odd note in his voice.
Kirk glanced at him. Spock never showed elation[*thorngg'he rarely showed any emotion at all[*thorngg'b Kirk had learned to read the subtle nuances in Spock's inflections.
Kirk didn't like the sound of this one.
He swiveled his ch air to make sure he could see his science officer clearly. For a moment he almost thought he saw a troubled expression on Spock's face, then dismissed the idea. Spock looked as impassive as always.
"I have been scanning a few of the larger asteroids in the rings created after the breakup of the four inhabited planets."
"Looking for survivors," Kirk said, feeling an odd fluttering sensation in his stomach. He wanted 77 Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch to find more survivors, wanted the destruction to be less serious than it seemed.
But he also knew that the Enterprise and the Farragut had serious limitations in the rescue effort, and if more survivors were out there, they would need to be pulled off those asteroids immediately.
"I have found six other possible pockets of survivors," Spock said. "The survivors would seem to be in underground bunkers on larger asteroids. Based on these observations, I believe there may be as many as a dozen more bunkers and cavities filled with survivors among the asteroids."
A dozen more. They had rescued almost one hundred people off this one. The Enterprise barely had room for them.
Kirk pushed himself
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