Two shuttles headed away from the Clark/Dennison asteroid, which the Enterprise had arrived at the previous day. The civilian Geologist who was charged with the effort to eliminate the threat of the asteroid to Earth, a British man named Patrick Merriweather, stood beside Captain Kirk’s command chair on the bridge of the USS Enterprise.
Lt. Uhura, in contact with both shuttles, pivoted her chair to face Kirk.
“Captain,” Uhura said, “both teams are reporting success with planting the charges.”
“Great,” Kirk said, “tell them to get aboard as soon as they can.”
Lt. Nadya Chekov calibrated the time devices of the charges with the Enterprise’s own internal clock.
“We are in synch with the charges, Captain,” Chekov reported.
“Very good,” Kirk said to her.
Doctor McCoy, who stood on the opposite side of Kirk’s chair from Merriweather, looked over to the famed geologist.
“Doctor Merriweather,” McCoy said, “just how can you be sure that the nuclear charges will not just create a shower of car sized debris, each heading towards Earth, rather than one massive one?”
“Good question,” Merriweather said to McCoy. “The blasts, seven in all, should be enough to smash the asteroid into, as you say, car sized chucks of rock.” Merriweather said. “But we are far enough from Earth that the orbits of these smaller pieces of the asteroid will be slightly altered enough, that most of them will miss Earth.” (* thanks Ben)
“This time, at least,” Gary said from his post. “Won’t they pose a threat to Earth on subsequent orbits around the sun?” As Gary asked his question, he noticed that Chekov was looking at him, with a look of awe on her face. It was just what Gary wanted; to look smart in front of the Russian Navigator. Though, to be sure, Sulu had written the question on a small index card, which Gary then memorized over the three previous days.
“Again, that is a good question,” Dr.Merriweather said with a real smile, “Captain Kirk, I must say, you’re crew is surprisingly knowledgeable in this area.”
Kirk eyed Gary for a moment, “Yeah,” Kirk said as he noticed the index card sitting on Gary’s controls, “you and me both.”
“Well,” Merriweather said to them all, “Mr. Mitchell is quite correct. However, most of the rock debris will have their course, and time, adjusted enough that ninety percent of it will pass by Earth. The other ten percent will pose a threat, but Starfleet has been given permission by the UN to use the antiquated Star Wars missile defense system to target some of the more, bigger, pieces while far enough out into space to cause no harm. The other six percent of the asteroid is deemed not a true concern, and will provide quite a meteor shower for two nights.”
“What about the rest of the Asteroid debris,” Sulu asked. “Won’t it pose at threat some other time?”
“The next time that debris will be anywhere near Earth, fifty-thousand years would have passed. If our world hasn’t advanced enough by that time to stop it, then we’re out of luck.”
“Putting things off for future generations to pay for?” McCoy asked. “Isn’t that what they did with the economy? And look where that got us.”
“Sir,” Uhura cut in, “the shuttles are aboard.”
Kirk looked at the digital clock, which was above the main screen, as it counted down the time until the charges would be detonated. And if all went according as planned, in just ten hours, Charles/Dennison would be exploded, and the Enterprise would then head back to Earth.
--
Colonel Pike looked at the latest photographs taken of the Mars Colony compound. The Graviton Laser, high in Mars orbit, had managed to destroy most of the structures. There was no sign of life, but the pictures were limited in that they had been taken from one of the orbiting satellites. It was doubtful anyone had survived. But there was something just as important to Pike. Just who had countermanded the Space Agency’s control of the Graviton Laser, and then used it to kill Commander Khan and his fellow colonists.
With that question foremost on his mind, Pike ordered a complete diagnostic done on all the systems. If the Space Agency had been compromised, and obviously it had been, Pike wanted to know by whom, and why.
--
John Gill sat silently alone, and depressed, in his office, inside the massive lair built inside an island off the cost of Australia. He had given Section-31, usually an adversary, permission to destroy Khan, who was Gill’s number-one operative planted in the Space Agency. How had Section-31 known of Gill’s secret operation’; and what more did they know. Gill had to know how deep Section-31 had infiltrated his own operation.
Now that Khan, and seven other operatives were dead, Gill would have to go about selecting a new DNA enhanced clone to train and prepare to follow in Khan’s place. But then, as he started to consider a new course of action, the dedicated line, scrambled so that only Gill could receive, began to beep. Only one person had access to the dedicated line other than Gill, and it was none other than Khan Noonian Singh. He was; alive.
--
Gary Mitchell was on his bed in his quarters. Kirk had ordered him, and the other Primary Bridge officers, to take a two hour rest, at the behest of Doctor McCoy.
And so Gary had come to his quarters. As he sat on his bed, he thought about his life, and where he was, and how he loved his career. His friends were tolerable of his antics, even knowing that he could be an ass at times. But then there were times, alone, when he was scared of himself. And, as he sat in his bed, he was scared.
Gary Mitchell had a new habit, and it was one that worried him. He could take a deck of cards, as he had just done, shuffle them, and then one by one flip them over. That alone was no great task. But being able to know what the cards were before they were revealed?
“Ace of Hearts….ten of spaces….four of diamond…two of clubs…jack of hearts…” and on and on Gary went. And, as he had so many times before; he got them all right.
--continued
