First Strike (part of the Invasion series) [030 4.9]
By Diane Carey
Synopsis
Klingons and the Federation at each other's throats; space-faring outcasts
from across the Galaxy returning to reclaim their rightful territory --
(or is it)? alien beings ... or are they? Kirk, Spock and the crew of the
Enterprise and a Klingon general struggle to save the Galaxy in this first
part of what proves to be an exciting series, which spans the Star Trek
generations!
INVASION!
"THE TALES ARE ALL TRUE.
THE DEMONS HAVE RETURNED."
General Kellen of the Klingon Empire spoke to his
crew, his normally calm voice brimming with terror
and anger. "They have come back and they are on
that ship out there.
"It will take all of us to defeat them," the general
continued. "Call the Empire for reinforcements.
Track that ship, but do not go near it. I will go for
help."
"For help?" his first officer asked. "From where?
From whom?"
"We need a demon to fight demons," the general
said at last. "I will get one. I will get Captain
James T. Kirk."
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How Much for Just the Planet?
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Bloodthirst
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Time for Yesterday
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Timetrap
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Memory Prime
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Vulcan's Glory
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51 Enemy Unseen
52 Home Is the Hunter
53 Ghost Walker
54 A Flag Full of Stars
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56 Legacy
57 The Rift
58 Face of Fire
59 The Disinherited
60 Ice Trap
61 Sanctuary
62 Death Count
63 Shell Game
64 The Starship Trap
65 Windows on a Lost World
66 From the Depths
7 The Great Starship Race
68 Firestorm
69 The Patrian Transgression
70 Traitor Winds
71 Crossroad
72 The Better Man
75 Recovery
74 The Fearful Summons
75 First Frontier
76 The Captain's Daughter
77 Twilight's End
78 The Rings of Tautee
78 Invasion 1 First Strike Star Trek The Next Generation Kahless Star Trek Generations AI! Good Things Q-Squared Dark Mirror Descent The Devil's Heart lmzadi
Relics Reunion Unification Metamorphosis Vendetta Encounter at Farpoint
1 Ghost Ship
2 The Peacekeepers
3 The Children of Hamlin
4 Survivors
5 Strike Zone
6 Power Hungry
7 Masks
8 The Captains' Honor
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27 Guises of the Mind
28 Here There Be Dragons
29 Sins of Commission
30 Debtors' Planet
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32 Requiem
33 Balance of Power
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35 Romulan Stratagem
36 Into the Nebula
37 The Last Stand
38 Dragon's Honor
9 Rogue Saucer
40 Possession
41 Invasion 2 The Soldiers of Fear Star Trek Deep Space Nine Warped
7 Warchild The Search
8 Antimatter
9 Proud Helios
1 Emissary
10 Valhalla
2 The Siege
11 Devil in the Sky
3 Bloodletter
12 The Laertian Gamble The Big Game
13 Station Rage
5 Fallen Heroes
14 The Long Night
6 Betrayal
15 Objective Bajor Star Trek Voyager
1 Caretaker
2 The Escape
3 Ragnarok
4 Violations
5 Incident at ,4rbuk
6 The Murdered Sun
7 Ghost of a Chance
8 Cybersong
FIRST STRIKE
DIANE CAREY
INVASION! concept by John J. Ordover and Diane Carey For orders other than by individual consumers, Pocket Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
products Of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely
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An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS
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SPACEQUAKE
Danger is never the barometer of an officer's
conduct.
-Joseph Conrad
Lord Jim
Chapter One
"THE SUN IS GROWING!"
"Impossible. Is it an illusion?"
"No! No! Also reading a reduction in mass! Seventy-one
percent and dropping!"
A relatively small star system--only five planets. Two
livable, one worth conquering.
Now, through some unimagined power, the sun was engaging in a practice heretofore reserved for balloons.
It was expanding. Dilating. It was growing.
"General, the planets! Same effect!"
"I'm standing next to you. Calm down when you
speak. Is the speed of orbit increasing with reduction in
mass?"
"Yes! And they're spinning faster and faster!"
"Stop shouting. No one else shout anymore. We will
look at this and decide."
The crew of the Klingon patrol cruiser Jada swung to
look at the rows of auxiliary monitors showing views of
the five planets. Two of the planets, the two nearest the
sun, were dilating too--blowing outward from their
cores as if puffed up by breath. A second later, the other
Diane Carey
three puffed also. And all solar-system bodies and debris
were racing faster around the sun with every passing
second.
But the first two planets were not only blowing
apart--they were charging out of their orbits like balls
swung on strings that had been suddenly released. No
longer held in a curve around the sun, they were
launched on elongated orbits. The arc was widening--distorting.
In horror and shock, the crew and their general
measured the impossible occurring around them. The
sun, minutes ago as normal as any other, now had
swollen to fill their main viewscreen. The screen mechanisms
whirred to compensate for the blinding light that
had flared too fast and set the crew to shielding their
eyes.
It could not happen, but it was happening. Their
general swung his squat, broad-chested body to the main
screen when the light finally dimmed. The light still hurt
his eyes but this was something he had to see for himself.
His voice was very quiet. "Are we falling toward it?"
"No!" the tactical officer punctuated, then remembered
what the general had said about shouting. "Position stationary. But the shipreit--we... we..."
"Speak, man."
"Reading a reduction in registered mass for us as well!
All other ships reporting the same!"
Suddenly the helmsman said, "Ship's speed is increasing,
sir! But I have not done it!"
To their left, the tactical officer turned to the center of
the bridge, stared at Captain Ruhl, and confirmed, "All
five other ships reporting the same thing happening to
them."
"Compensate." Ruhl was the newly assigned captain
of this ship, a narrow-bodied individual with a missing
tooth in front. When the general did not stop him, he
gained confidence and snapped his fingers at hit officers.
"Keep the speed down."
"Trying," the helmsman uttered, but he was involved
FIRST STRIKE
in a struggle. "Point four five of sublight... point five
zero... still increasing..."
"Everything is speeding up," the tactical officer
abridged, gasping as an animal does on the run.
Lack of inhibition about his own ignorance was Ruhl's
only good trait, and in fact was the qualification that had
gotten him this command. He had no ego at all. No
problem turning to their elder and asking, "General
Kellen, what should we do?"
Sensing the panic about to erupt around him, the
general held out one hand for silence. Five ships to
protect, a vaporizing solar system... they wanted answers
from him. Solutions. He had none.
He would do as he always did in wild situations--he
would become calmer than anything or anyone around
him. He would lower his voice, contain his stance, raise
his chin, and deliver a glacial demeanor. He had long ago
discovered the best key to winning When the situation
becomes tense, become correspondingly calm. He could
win over anyone that way. Being a Vulcan among Klingons,
controlled and contemplative, would supersede any
Klingon. Most Klingons despised Vulcans. That made
his advantage even greater.
Now he was a general of the highest mark. Unexcit-ability
had served him so well that it had become the
mantle of his reputation. He rather enjoyed that.
Except in situations like this, when there was a panic
but no thinking enemy to outthink. He could not out-calm
a natural disaster. He found himself irritated by
that, and by the blustering fear demonstrated around
him.
Critical seconds ticked off as Kellen maneuvered his
wide body toward the science officer.
"What is your name?" he asked.
"MymI"
"His name is Karn," the helmsman blurted, anxious
enough to interfere.
"Karn," Kellen repeated, "explain what you think is
happening."
Diane Carey
Pressing both hands to his head as if to hold in the
flurry of details, Karn looked at his instruments, then
back at the general. His mouth opened and closed
several times before he found his voice.
"Mass," he began, "is failing to register on my instruments.
Not the matter... just the mass!"
"The sky is falling and we seem also to be falling,"
Kellen said evenly. "Keep talking."
Frantic, Karn battled to control himself. He put his
hands out between himself and his commanding officers
and made shapes as if sculpting his words.
&n
bsp; "Every moving thing possesses a certain amount of
energy. How quickly it moves depends upon how much
energy and how much mass. Velocity is mass versus
energy. If the mass drops away but energy doesn't,
velocity must increase. If one or the other is taken away
or added, the nature makes it balance. Mass is slipping
away, but the energy is still there. So everything is
speeding up!"
His eyes were wild with confusion. The anchors of his
life, the precepts of concrete science, were slipping their
hold.
"How can mass be taken away?" Kellen asked him.
"I do not know that! But you see it happening?