Crisis of Consciousness Read Online Free Page A

standard warp nacelles, they were hidden within the bulk of the hull. It was either painted dark or naturally so, and its gray form almost disappeared against the black starscape. It looks, Kirk thought , like a crumbling brick. An imposing one.
    The captain nodded toward the alien ship. “Can we predict their weapons range?”
    Spock, still suspended over his sensors, replied cautiously. “Not with any accuracy, but if forced to estimate, I would suggest approximately the same as our own.”
    “How good are your planetary defenses?” Kirk turned slightly toward Pippenge and met his gaze.
    His hands tightly gripping the railing, the Maabas ambassador was clearly shaken by the question. His homeworld—or rather, his people’s chosen world—was off the usual interstellar routes and therefore rarely got unannounced visitors. “Well,” he said slowly, “we’d like to think quite good. But they’ve not been tested in actuality.”
    “Captain.” Uhura turned toward Kirk, and he twisted to listen to her. “I’m receiving an answer to our hail.” She had one hand still on her console and the other touching her earpiece. “Audio only, sir.”
    “Let’s hear it.”
    The speakers crackled to life, and as the voice was interpreted, presumably accurately, Kirk felt his throat tighten.
    “Attention to all who stand in our way of Kenis Prime. Surrender our planet back to us, or be destroyed . ”

TWO
    The aliens hadn’t waited for a reply. They’d sped toward Enterprise , and the nearer they came, the more the viewscreen crackled with static.
    Kirk spun toward Spock. “What’s causing that?”
    The Vulcan smoothly but quickly consulted his console. “They’re attempting to overload our scanners.”
    “Aye,” Scott said from the engineering station. “And it’s working. We’ve got to shut down the sensor grid.”
    “The whole grid? How is that possible?” Kirk asked. Their systems were well shielded, had built-in redundancies. He looked at his chief engineer and saw a grave expression on the man’s face.
    Scott quickly nodded once. “Right now, sir.”
    “Do it,” Kirk ordered, then twisted toward the helm. “Switch to passive sensors for maneuvering and targeting.”
    “Aye, sir,” Sulu and Chekov said almost simultaneously, their hands punching at their controls.
    From his console, Scott directed an ensign at the auxiliary engineering station to key in the shutdown. The chief engineer then nodded toward Spock, who took the next steps.
    The change that took place couldn’t be heard or felt. On a personnel level, it meant hundreds of crew rushing to positions to double and triple check their stations. Kirk sensed a difference, not physically, but emotionally. His ship was hampered—his sight blurred.
    The captain thumbed a button on the arm of his chair. “Red alert.”
    On the viewscreen, the image changed from a starscape view to a tactical display fed by extrapolated computer data. Instead of reaching out, Enterprise now waited for information to come to it, and the computer had to estimate what was beyond visual sight.
    Kirk’s eyes narrowed on the dot on the viewer that was labeled “HO1.” Hostile 1.
    “Who are they?” he asked Pippenge.
    “I—I don’t know, Captain. Truly I don’t.”
    Looking for some hint to a possible deception by the ambassador, Kirk saw none. The man’s expression edged toward shock, perhaps even embarrassment, but not mendacity. Still, there were lies people told others and those they told themselves. The latter were more difficult to divine.
    Uhura pulled the captain’s attention from Pippenge. “They’re hailing, sir. Audio only.”
    Turning his gaze back to the ambassador, Kirk said, “On speaker.”
    “ Attention, battle cruiser. We have surveyed your ship and assessed your capabilities. We order you to remove yourself from this star system. At once .” The voice, interpreted through the universal translator, sounded vaguely female but had an odd