So, I had this idea of a different climax, but I couldn’t get over the fact that in the canon, Enterprise needs to Warp Speed it out of there to avoid the genesis wave, and I felt like that precluded an alternate version where Reliant is destroyed over an inhabited planet. Oh well. Still got a few twists ahead before the disproportionately long epilogue.
Previously on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…
“Engineering, report!” Pike shouted.
“Admiral,” came a panting reply, “I’ve got to take the mains off-line. The radiation…”
Kirk and McCoy exchanged a look as the voice trailed off. Kirk looked to Pike for confirmation. The admiral gave a quick nod. “Go,” Kirk said. McCoy grabbed his medical bag and headed for the lift.
“Where the hell are they?” Pike asked. “Xon?”
“Sporadic energy readings portside, aft,” Xon said. “Could be an impulse turn?”
“What do you think, Jim?” Pike said. “He’ll be back, but from where?”
Jim studied the static on the screen. “Without sensors, he’ll be relying on his tactical expertise. From what I’ve heard, he’s an absolutely brilliant tactician, so what’s the smartest thing for him to do?”
La’an turned her seat to face them. “Expertise,” she said, realizing something. “But not experience. He’s studied the theory, but he’s still working from a twentieth-century mindset.” She turned back to her console and replaced the static-filled view of the nebula on the main viewscreen with a map, centered on the Enterprise. A blue line traced its path, while a red one connected the places where they’d seen Reliant. Touching a few more buttons, La’an had the computer guess more points along the path.
“A fractal search pattern based on multimodal reflection sorting,” Xon observed. He raised an eyebrow. “The ideal approach to maximize the probability of finding us before we find him. Calculating the optimal search pattern without sensor assistance would be impossible for a normal human.”
“But there’s a flaw in his logic,” La’an said. “He’s brilliant, but not experienced.” She touched her control panel and the image rotated, showing that Reliant’s path formed a flat disc.
“Two-dimensional thinking,” Kirk realized.
Pike nodded. “My flight school instructor always used to say you can only look in one direction at a time, but the rest of them are still there. He meant that you needed to rely on your instruments, but here… Sulu, full stop. Z-minus ten thousand meters. La’an, stand by photon torpedoes.”
The Enterprise dropped down into the clouds. “Xon, can you predict his search path?”
Xon raised an eyebrow. “Admiral,” he said, tentatively, “I regret to report that an accurate calculation based on the available data is beyond my capability.”
“Best guess. Switch main viewscreen to dorsail camera. Look sharp.”
On Reliant, Khan silently studied the viewscreen. There were plenty of places for Enterprise to hide, but as he ordered the ship to yaw to starboard, he imagined his field of vision on the viewscreen as a searchlight, sweeping out an arc on his mental map of the nebula. They would complete this pass, turn, and pass again, fencing Pike in. “So much nearer the danger; go and speed,” he reflected. “Havoc and spoil and ruin are my gain.”
It felt like an eternity before the underside of the Reliant flickered on the viewscreen. Pike gave a quick nod to Sulu. The Enterprise rose up through the nebula. The bridge fell into a tense silence as the Enterprise silently pulled up behind Reliant. “Fire,” Pike ordered.
A red ball issued from Enterprise’s remaining torpedo tube. Reliant wouldn’t have had time to react even if had seen Enterprise approach. The torpedo tore through Reliant’s own torpedo launcher, and the pylon supporting it away from the hull crumpled. Enterprise followed on with a burst of phaser-fire to the port nacelle, striking up internal explosions.
The bridge around Khan became an inferno. More supports collapsed, sparking wires dropped in piles as consoles burned. He pushed a body out of the helmsman’s seat and tried to fire phasers. Reliant was dying, but surely he could take Pike to Hell with him. Nothing happened. “Weapons!” he demanded, but as his gaze swept across the bridge, it became clear he was the only one left standing. “Una!” he barked into his communicator, “Weapons!”
“I’ve diverted all weapons power to life support,” crackled the response. “The game’s over, Khan; you’ve still got a handful of people here you can save.”
“No!” Khan shouted. “Rather than be less, I care not to be at- he was cut off when one final torpedo took the port nacelle clean off. The ship listed hard and Khan fell into the fire of an exploding panel.
“One more shot will finish them,” Kirk said.
“We still have our orders,” Pike said. He locked eyes with La’an, looking for… Permission?
“And Una, sir?” she asked.
Instead of answering directly, he turned. “Nyota, send to commander, Reliant. Prepare to be boarded.”
“I’ll go,” Kirk said. “I lost Genesis, I’ll get it back. For Sam.”
Pike stood, just a bit shaky. “No, Jim. This is my mess. I should have stopped Khan twenty years ago. If things go south, get my ship out of here.”
La’an stood. “I’m going with you, Admiral. Frankly, you’re no match for Khan on your own.”
Pike considered it for a second. “No heroics. We’re there to recover Genesis and any survivors willing to be taken into custody. He stepped aside, looked to Kirk and indicated the Captain’s seat. “You have the conn.”
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