Just now, though, the comms system was not foremost in his thoughts. "It is a disaster," he snarled into the screen.
"Tell me," said Luga.
"The planet is gone. Replaced by a class three temporal rift. Something went badly wrong in the development of the anti-time weapon. And, worse, it has drawn attention."
"You have the ship. Deal with it."
"Temporal agents are there in force. They have one of ours - a Daemosh-class - and local help in the form of a Romulan adapted battlecruiser. I cannot hazard the Strange Attractor against both of those." He glared at Luga. "I do not like this. The Rom involvement... Romulans are serpents, they are subtle, they know how to strike unseen."
"If they have detected the temporal rift, they may well decide to make a temporal incursion of their own. I must be on my guard." Luga sighed. "The anti-time weapon could detonate at any point in the next century.... Finding the key event now, to prevent the explosion, will be complex and difficult. And K-22 is occupied in this time zone." She glanced over her shoulder. "I do not know how long I can continue to operate here unobserved."
"Your stealth technology is hundreds of years ahead of them!"
"Even so," Luga snapped, "I cannot remain silent and talk to you!"
"Consult your... ally. Find out what might happen. Set procedures in place to prevent the temporal rift from forming." Chrog shook his head. "Even so, their temporal shielding will permit them to know a rift might form. They know Priyanapari is significant, now."
"They must have known that anyway, from timeline analysis. Chrog, I must go."
"Very well." He snapped off the communicator, stood up, and took a deep breath. The air on the abandoned station was thin and stale. He paced moodily up and down, his footsteps echoing in the dimly lit mess hall.
"Something closer," he said aloud, though no one was there to listen. "We must establish a watching station, somewhere close to the planet... we must have stealth systems, enough to prevent detection even in this century...." He shook his head. "Roms. Roms are stealthy, they know cloaking systems... and they are treacherous...."
---
"A massive explosion," Luga said to Kirza. "Enough to destroy the planet completely."
Kirza struck at the air in exasperation. "So?" she demanded. "What are we to do?"
"Whatever we can." Luga's voice held dry amusement. She leaned against the hull of the shuttlecraft and looked out over the valley.
Sloping gently down from the hillside landing pad, a hastily paved track led to the Klingon's science camp, and... the other buildings. The buildings were hexagonal in plan, with small domed roofs, all apparently made of concrete. Black rectangles of doorways gaped in one side of each one.
"I need specifics," Kirza hissed.
Luga looked at her and shook her head. "I have explained this," she said. "We stand at the beginning of a historical process - any action we make, here and now, can have massive ramifications in the years to come. Clearly, something we have done, or not done, has resulted in a catastrophic failure... now that we know this, we can change our plans, and Chrog, from his vantage point in the future, can report on the effects."
"Oh, I understand this," said Kirza. "It is frustrating.We hold the levers of the world in our hands - but we do not know which ones to pull! " She kicked out at a clod of earth.
"Everyone does," said Luga, "The difference is, we know it.... In any case, let us review our plans and see what changes can be made." She straightened up, and began to walk down the pathway. Kirza followed, scowling at the hairless, leathery scalp of the Na'kuhl's head. Useful allies, she thought, but hardly attractive ones....
The sky above them was a clear blue with just a hint of green; the sparse vegetation on the hillside rustled and stirred in a light breeze. Priyanapari was a pleasant enough world... or would be, Kirza thought, if it were not for its secrets. She shot an uneasy look at the nearest of the hexagonal buildings. They still had no idea when those had been built, or by whom. And in two of them -
She lengthened her stride, caught up with the Na'kuhl female. "We decided to concentrate on one of the - artifacts," she said. "The one you said was the anti-time weapon."
Luga glanced sidewise at her. "We did."
"What if you are wrong?"
"I am not." Luga seemed almost amused. "The technology is alien, true, but its purpose is quite clear. To those of us with the right background."
"What if the other one is something we need? Some sort of balance or control mechanism -"
"It is not. I am not so sure what the purpose of the other artifact is, to be honest." Luga stopped. "You think this might be our failed decision point? Normally, when it comes to alien artifacts of indeterminate purpose, it is best to leave them alone."
"You said the planet will be totally destroyed," Kirza snapped. "How could this make things worse?"
Luga's shrivelled lips quirked in a smile. "A valid point," she said. "Very well, then. Perhaps your mercenary security expert might help."
Kirza scowled. "It is about time that the little grub earned his keep."
---
Kingrol hesitated at the entrance to the building. Kirza turned, irritation showing in her face. "What is it now?" she snarled.
"I - my regrets, Captain." Kingrol stepped through the entryway. "It is just -"
"Just what?"
The big Klingon seemed edgy, even nervous; he shifted his weight uneasily from foot to foot. "Several of the crew have reported - odd occurrences - in this building. Objects being moved, if left unattended - even a sensation of, well, of being watched -"
"Foolishness." Kirza strode deeper into the interior of the building, trying to project a confidence she did not altogether feel.
The buildings were empty, hollow - they were single vast empty spaces inside, like hangars. One of them contained the anti-time weapon, a glittering transparent sphere filled with bluish light, mounted on a heavy toroidal base, and wrapped in superconducting wiring whose intricate patterns looked, somehow, wrong to everyone who saw them. The other artifact was a complicated arrangement of metal rods and square plates... complicated indeed, because the angles, again, seemed out of true whenever Kirza looked, as if the whole massive thing was a section of some larger construction, seen at some unguessable angle from the wrong vantage point. It was unnerving.
She would not let it unnerve her. Neither the artifact, nor Kingrol's wild tales. She snapped her fingers. "You. Forwards."
If the artifact disturbed the security consultant, it did not show. The grublike insectoid shuffled into the room and stared up at the labyrinthine mechanism. Kirza repressed a shudder of disgust. The alien, whose name was J4 Red, had proved useful in the past... and now, she hoped, he would prove his worth again. "Get to work," she ordered.
"What do you wish me to do?" J4 Red replied. His huge sad eyes blinked, once.
"Open it up," said Kirza. "It is a device, a mechanism - it must have workings. Expose them, and we can trace them, find out what it does. So, we start by opening it."
J4 Red's antennae twitched. He shuffled forwards to inspect the artifact, then stood for a while, peering up at it. "Possible," he said in mournful tones. "There is something there that looks like it might be an access panel...." He raised one claw, tapped cautiously at a metallic projection. There was no response, only the dull click of the contact.
"Sir." Kingrol stepped back, shot a troubled look at Kirza. "Should we have security precautions in place? I do not question your orders, but -"
But he did not want to meddle with this thing, Kirza thought. It would be easy, very easy, to agree with him... but it would be weakness. This place - the artifact, the planet itself - posed questions, and she would have answers. She would take answers.
J4 Red had shuffled a little closer to the artifact, and all six of his manipulatory limbs were at work, now, probing at rods and panels. He seemed entranced in the task.
"If it bothers you," she said to Kingrol, "I will assign a security detachment to supervise." She composed her face in an arrogant sneer. "I will attend to this now. You, remain here and watch J4 Red while I deal with this." This place made him fearful? Let him face those fears.
She turned on her heel and strode towards the open exit -
She had gone perhaps three paces when actinic light flared all around her, and a blast of sound rang in her ears, and a hot breath of wind pushed her in the back and sent her sprawling to the floor.
She rolled, cursed, got to her feet and span around into a fighting crouch. The artifact -
The artifact was smoking, as if it had just been struck by lightning. J4 Red was smoking, too, was a charred and battered ruin lying lifeless on the floor. Kingrol was down, groaning and moving feebly, his clothing scorched and tattered, his face red with burns. And in the side of the artifact, a door was opening. A man-sized panel, that had not been there before.
The door swung open. Flickering light seemed to crawl around its edges, and a humanoid figure was suddenly framed in the entryway. The figure paused for a moment, then jumped down, to land lightly on the floor beside J4 Red's corpse.
Kirza snarled and reached for her disruptor.
The humanoid turned towards her and reached out - and, though it was easily six metres from her, it reached out and touched her, its arm suddenly elongating enormously, scaly fingers plucking the disruptor from her hand.
"We will get along better without these toys." The humanoid dropped Kirza's disruptor. Behind it, the door swung shut with a clang of heavy finality. "Hmm. Klingon?"
"Who are you?" Kirza snarled. "What are you?" Her eyes were streaming, from the smoke and the aftermath of the flash -
The figure stepped forwards, into the light from the doorway, and one of her questions was answered. Scaly, green skin, with a triple ridge on the brow - Suliban. This one was wearing a tight, form-fitting bodysuit that gave the impression of being military, though there were no visible insignia.
"Klingon," the Suliban repeated. "Well. There is no reason, I suppose, why I cannot work with Klingons. We may yet be useful to one another, you and I." He smiled. "Let us start with some effort at amity, at least. Who am I? My name is Thyvesh."
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