STAR TREK - TOS - The Eugenics Wars,Volume 2

“Every bit as exciting, entertaining and humorous as the first volume—Cox has produced a story so

dramatic that the reader truly feels as if they are immersed in a Star Trek myth-inspired overview of the

political upheavals of the mid-1990s. ... This is a novel not to be missed by even the most casual Star

Trek fan.”

—Jacqueline Bundy,The Trekker Newsletter

“Worth the wait ...The Eugenics Wars, Volume Two is an audacious, fast-moving conclusion to the

EugenicsWar duology, one-upping the considerable dramatic intensity and inventive accomplishment of

the first volume, and bringing the story to a remarkably smooth, coherent conclusion, complete with an

unequivocal (if surely controversial) moral. ... Cox’s electric, fun-loving style of storytelling is the perfect

medium to take the reader into the twenty-first century and beyond ...”

—Kilian Melloy, Wigglefish.com

“Fans of the firstEugenics Wars will love this sequel. ...”

—Michelle Erica Green,Trek Nation

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s

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Originally published in hardcover in 2002 by Pocket Books

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Dedicated to the people and city of New York,

who have survived worse than the Eugenics Wars

Contents

Acknowledgments.5

PROLOGUE.9

CHAPTER ONE.16

CHAPTER TWO..23

CHAPTER THREE.28

CHAPTER FOUR..33

CHAPTER FIVE.36

CHAPTER SIX..40

CHAPTER SEVEN..44

CHAPTER EIGHT.49

CHAPTER NINE.52

CHAPTER TEN..54

CHAPTER ELEVEN..60

CHAPTER TWELVE.62

CHAPTER THIRTEEN..69

CHAPTER FOURTEEN..71

CHAPTER FIFTEEN..77

CHAPTER SIXTEEN..81

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN..84

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN..89

CHAPTER NINETEEN..93

CHAPTER TWENTY..98

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.105

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO..108

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE.115

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR..116

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.121

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX..127

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN..131

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT.134

EPILOGUE.136

AFTERWORD..140

About the e-Book.143

Acknowledgments

Thanks, most of all, to my editor, John Ordover, for waiting patiently for the manuscript while I moved

my entire life from New York to Pennsylvania. And to the rest of the gang at Pocket Books—Scott,

Marco, Jessica, John, and Elisa—for invaluable assistance during the Eugenics Wars.

Thanks to David Weddle and Jeffrey Lang for describing Khan’s flag in their recent Deep Space Nine

novel,Abyss, and for alerting me to the reference. And to Dayton Ward, whose story inStrange New

Worlds III, tying together a few relevant threads of Trek history, appeared in time for me to reference it

here. (Let’s hear it for inter-author cooperation and consistency!)

And special thanks (since I forgot to mention them last book) to Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilbur, who

wrote the original Star Trek episode, “Space Seed,” for creating Khan in the first place, and to Art

Wallace and Gene Roddenberry, who created Gary Seven and associates in the episode, “Assignment:

Earth.”

Finally, as always, thanks to Karen, Alex, Church, and Henry for moral support on the home front.

“A prince should therefore have no other aim or thought, nor take up any other thing for his study, but

war and its organization and discipline, for that is the only art that is necessary to one who commands.”

—MACHIAVELLI,The Prince

PROLOGUE

Captain’s log, stardate 7004.1.

Our diplomatic mission to the Paragon Colony on the planet Sycorax has erupted into a full-scale

crisis—and a potential disaster.

Dr. McCoy and I were visiting Sycorax, home to a unique society of genetically-enhanced men and

women, to assess the full implications of the colony’s recent application to join the Federation. Human

genetic engineering is, of course, strictly forbidden throughout the Federation, but recently this

centuries-old policy has come under review. With humanity being confronted throughout the galaxy by

alien races such as the Klingons and Romulans, many of whom are more physically powerful than the

average human, Starfleet has quietly begun taking a second look at the potential risks and benefits of

modifying human DNA. With this in mind, my own top-secret mission is to develop a firsthand

impression of what such practices have yielded on Sycorax.

[2]Unfortunately, upon arriving at the colony, we discovered that Starfleet was not the only organization

interested in what Paragon had to offer. A Klingon delegation, led by my old adversary, Captain Koloth,

has also appeared on the scene, eager to claim (via veiled threats and innuendoes) the colonists’

considerable expertise at genetic engineering.

Not surprisingly, Koloth and his men soon wore out their welcome, but not before sabotaging the vital

force field projectors that helped to protect the domed colony from the toxic and corrosive atmosphere

of the planet. Now, with the protective, dome facing imminent collapse, it looks as though no amount of

genetic enhancement will be enough to save the superhuman inhabitants of the Paragon Colony from total

catastrophe. ...

CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRKurgently addressed Masako Clarke, the Regent of the Paragon Colony.

“How long,” he asked softly, “can your dome hold up against the pressure, without the additional

protection of the force field?”

The regent, a silver-haired Asian woman whose trim and fit physique was a testimonial to the distinct

advantages of designer DNA, shook her head ominously. She had the somber dignity of a ship’s captain

fully prepared to go down with her vessel. “Hours,” she said. “At most.”

Kirk frowned. Sycorax was a Class-K planet, not unlike Venus, with an atmosphere composed

primarily of carbon dioxide laced with gaseous sulfuric acid. As if this noxious combination wasn’t lethal

[3]enough, the atmospheric pressure outside the dome was nearly one hundred times that, of Earth’s,

more than enough to reduce even genetically strengthened bones to pulp. Without the dome, Kirk

realized, these people are as good as dead.

“Oh my God, Jim,” Leonard McCoy whispered. TheEnterprise’s chief medical officer stood a few feet

away, his medical tricorder still draped over the shoulder of his blue dress uniform. He and Kirk had

been enjoying a state dinner with the regent and her advisors when the disaster struck, in the form of an

explosion that had destroyed much of the colony’s primary deflector array. Now the elegant outdoor

plaza where they had been dining had become the launch site for a frantic exodus, as assembled

dignitaries and food servers rushed out of the plaza, hurrying to either their emergency posts or to the

questionable safety of their homes. “We have to do something!” McCoy exclaimed.

Easier said than done,Kirk thought grimly. He craned his head back to stare at the vast green dome

arching high overhead. Like so much of Paragon, the dome was a product of advanced genetic wizardry.

It was, he had learned, a living organism whose roots extended deep into the planet’s surface.

Chlorophyll-based, the immense translucent hemisphere absorbed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

outside, converting it into the very oxygen that Kirk and the others were now breathing. As impressive as

it was, however, the dome still required the reinforcement of a powerful force field to withstand the

awesome heat and pressure forever threatening to break through the gigantic green blister.

And now that force field had been seriously[4]impaired. Already, bright blue flashes of Cerenkov

radiation crackled along a sizable segment of the dome, providing dramatic proof that the structural

integrity of the force field was weakening in spots. Large portions of the dome grew black and

discolored, as its living substance succumbed to the pernicious effects of the planet’s hellish atmosphere.

Kirk sniffed the air. Was it just his imagination, or could he already detect the acrid scent of sulfuric acid?

He feared that toxic gases had already begun leaking into the suddenly fragile biosphere.

Kirk had no doubt that Koloth was behind the explosion that had damaged an entire bank of deflectors.

Is he just trying to scare the colony into submission, Kirk speculated,or would he rather see the

colony completely destroyed before letting it join forces with the Federation?

Either way, Kirk wasn’t about to let that happen. Hundreds of lives were at stake. His communicator

beeped, and he flipped it open with a practiced gesture. “Kirk here.”

The steady voice of Mr. Spock, who was currently holding down the fort aboard theEnterprise,

emerged from the compact handheld device.“Captain, our sensors are detecting an emergency

situation upon the planet. Are you in danger?”

“Most definitely, Mr. Spock,” Kirk answered, “along with everyone else in the colony.” He quickly filled

his first officer in on the situation, while simultaneously trying to come up with a workable solution. “Is

Koloth’s battle cruiser still in orbit around the planet?”

“I’m afraid so, Captain,”Spock reported.

[5]Damn,Kirk thought. Evacuation, it seemed, was not an option; not only was there no time to

transport the colony’s entire population to theEnterprise, but the continuing presence of the Klingon

vessel made any sort of rescue attempt too risky to attempt.

“Maintain Yellow Alert status,” Kirk advised Spock. In his mind, he could readily visualize the heavily

armed D-7 battle cruiser hanging in space above Sycorax, like a vulture circling wounded prey. “Don’t

even think about lowering the shields long enough to beam me or Dr. McCoy back to the ship.”

Spock accepted Kirk’s instructions without debate.“Understood,” he replied, no doubt recognizing the

logic behind the captain’s decision.“What do you intend to do?”

“I’m not sure,” Kirk admitted, exchanging a glance with McCoy, who was listening to the exchange with

a worried expression upon his weathered features. Lieutenant Seth Lerner, the sole security officer

among the Starfleet landing party, also stood nearby, phaser in hand. “If I think of anything, you’ll be the

first to know,” he promised Spock. “Kirk out.”

Returning his communicator to his belt, he racked his brain for some way to save the colonyThere has

to be an answer! he thought emphatically; he didn’t believe in no-win scenarios. But what?

“Captain,” Lerner suggested, “perhaps you and the regent and a few others should attempt to escape in

the shuttle?” The red-shirted crewman maintained a stoic expression. “One of the regent’s people can

have my seat.”

Kirk admired Lerner’s willingness to sacrifice himself, even as he rejected the idea. The maximum[6] ca

pacity of a Starfleet shuttlecraft was no more than a dozen humanoids; Kirk refused to save merely a

handful of lives when an entire population was in jeopardy. “I appreciate the thought, Lieutenant, but we

haven’t quite reached that point yet.”

“Well, if we do,” McCoy said dryly, raising a bemused eyebrow, “let me know if I’m deemed

expendable or not.”

Lerner blushed, no doubt realizing that he had neglected to include the doctor among his proposed list of

escapees. A relatively new addition to theEnterprise’s crew, he was also unfamiliar with McCoy’s

customarily mordant sense of humor.

Kirk ignored the security officer’s discomfort. Something Lerner had said caused a light to blink on at

the back of his brain.The shuttle, he thought.Of course. Because of the colony’s protective force field,

the landing party had not been able to beam directly to Paragon, but had been forced to ride a

shuttlecraft down to the planet’s surface instead. It had been a bumpy ride, he recalled, with the shuttle’s

own shields being severely tested by Sycorax’s turbulent atmosphere.

A plan rapidly formulated in his mind.The shuttle’s deflectors! he thought excitedly. His heart beat

faster at the prospect of taking positive action against the oncoming disaster.That just might work! ...

“I have an idea,” he announced, hastily explaining his impromptu scheme to McCoy, Lerner, and the

regent. “Lerner, you’re with me. Doctor, you stay behind and look after the regent and her people.

Contact Spock, too, and let him know what we’re up to.” He turned toward Masako Clarke, whose

ashen countenance now displayed a faint spark of hope.[7]“Quickly,” Kirk pressed her. “What’s the

fastest route to the landing bay?”

A short ride through the colony’s underground subway system brought Kirk to the cavernous hangar

where he had left the shuttlecraft several hours ago. “This way,” directed one of the regent’s aides, whom

Clarke had instructed to guide Kirk and Lerner back to their shuttle.

Emerging from the deserted subway tunnel, now closed to all but emergency traffic, Kirk spotted the

Columbus-2 resting upon the floor of the hangar, surrounded by a wide variety of Paragon scout ships

and cargo haulers, all the vehicles heavily armored so as to withstand the fearsome conditions outside the

dome. He sprinted across the pavement, the planet’s weak gravity, less than ninety percent

Earth-standard, providing a little extra spring to his stride. A burning sensation at the back of his throat

added urgency to his headlong dash for the shuttlecraft; the colony’s atmosphere was obviously growing

more contaminated by the second.

As he neared theColumbtis-2, Kirk couldn’t help noticing that the shuttle’s white ceramic exterior

showed signs of wear and tear from their earlier descent through Sycorax’s stormy atmosphere. Lightning

strikes had left carbonized scorch marks on the starboard hull, partially obscuring theEnterprise’s name

and registry number. Acid rain, from the ferocious thunderstorms high above the planet’s surface, had

pitted the duranium plating over the engine modules.A bad sign, Kirk acknowledged ruefully, especially

considering what he had in mind. ...

[8]He and Lerner left the regent’s aide behind them as they scrambled into the shuttle’s front seats. Kirk

took the pilot’s seat while the security officer manned the control panels to Kirk’s right. “Preparing for

takeoff,” Kirk stated as he strapped himself into the contoured black seat. He rapidly pressurized the

cabin, engaged the impulse engines, then pulled back on the throttle.

TheColumbus-2 lifted off the pavement and began cruising toward the dock-size airlock at the southern

end of the hangar. Automated doors slid open to permit the shuttle’s passage and Kirk waited impatiently

for the airlock to release them from the insecure confines of the colony. The atmosphere within the cabin

was purer than the tainted air inside the landing bay, but the shuttle’s artificial gravity felt somewhat

oppressive compared to the lightweight pull he had been experiencing since his arrival at Paragon.

“Within minutes, the outer doors opened and Kirk steered the shuttle out into the intense heat and

pressure of Sycorax’s lower atmosphere. “Brace yourself,” he warned Lerner. “This could be rough

sailing.”

The scenery was just as desolate as he remembered. Night had fallen on this part of the world, but the

shuttle’s high-intensity searchlights exposed a lifeless landscape, completely devoid of moisture and

vegetation. Aside from the enormous green dome, which stretched entirely over a colossal, preexisting

crater, the surrounding terrain consisted of basaltic ebon plains broken up by gigantic craters and fissures.

Rocky, snowless mountains loomed in the distance. The heavy cloud cover, roughly sixty kilometers

overhead, blocked out any glint of starlight, so[9]that the still and silent night was as black as a quantum

singularity.

“Exterior conditions?” Kirk requested, as the shuttle ascended at less than a quarter-impulse power.

Lerner consulted the sensor gauges. “Outside temperature, approximately 470 degrees Centigrade.

Atmospheric pressure, approximately 8,500 kilopascals.”

Not exactly picnic weather,Kirk thought wryly. That was the sort of pressure you’d expect to find at the

bottom of Earth’s oceans, and more than enough to crush both him and Lerner to crimson specks.

“How’s our structural integrity?”

“Shields at maximum, but holding,” Lerner reported.

Kirk silently thanked Starfleet engineering for the quality of their work. He realized, however, that there

was worse to come. If his desperate plan was to succeed, and if he and Lerner had any hope of coming

out of this alive, then that same legendary engineering would be tested to the utmost. “Very well,

Lieutenant,” he said. “Let’s see if we can perform a little first aid on the Paragon Colony.”

Lit from within, the translucent green dome glowed in the dark of night. TheColumbus-2 rose until it was

nearly a kilometer above the colony, then turned its prow toward the beleaguered dome. Struggling to

maintain a stationary position above Paragon despite the powerful winds buffeting the shuttle, Kirk was

alarmed to see that the massive biosphere looked severely injured by its partial exposure to the Class-K

environment outside the dome. Although a faint blue aura still crackled intermittently over[10]maybe

three-fourths of the living dome, indicating that the colony’s crippled force field had not yet collapsed

completely, a large patch of the dome, at least two kilometers across, was blackened and blistered by

what looked suspiciously like a third-degree burn. As Kirk watched in horror, the ugly discoloration

spread outward, consuming more and more of the dome. Charred sheets of genengineered cellulose, the

size of a ship’s bulkhead, flaked away from the dome, raining down upon the barren lava plains below.

Thick green sap boiled and bubbled away, reduced to vapor by the tremendous heat. The damaged

tissue swelled inwardly, forming a large, concave depression that threatened to tear apart catastrophically

at any moment.

Kirk knew he had to act quickly. “Divert deflectors to the dome,” he instructed Lerner. “Try to patch

the holes in the colony’s own force field.”

“Yes, sir,” Lerner said with a gulp. He carefully adjusted the shield controls and, seconds later, a

luminous blue beam shot forth from the shuttle’s deflector array. At the speed of light, the beam crossed

the distance between theColumbus-2 and the roof of the colony, focusing on the injured region of the

dome. At first, the radiant energy didn’t quite mesh with the tattered remains of the colony’s disabled

force field, but Lerner kept at the controls, a look of intense concentration on his face, until the outer

edges of the deflector beam intersected with the expanding frontier of the blighted area.That’s it, Kirk

thought, avidly watching to see if the extra shielding had any effect. Had the burning slowed its advance?

Kirk thought so, perhaps. “Keep it up,” he advised Lerner.

[11]Easier said than done, Kirk realized. Lerner’s brow furrowed and he bit down on his lower lip as

the security officer gave his full attention, and then some, to the challenge of implementing the captain’s

plan.

Let’s hope he’s up to the job,Kirk mused. Lerner was an able crewman, but the captain couldn’t help

wishing that Scotty were here in his place; if anyone could pull off the delicate task of supplementing the

dome’s defenses with the shuttle’s own limited deflectors, then theEnterprise’s cagey chief engineer was

the man Kirk would have preferred to tackle the job. Unfortunately, Scotty was still aboard the

Enterprise, which couldn’t safely lower her shields while Koloth’s battle cruiser remained in the vicinity.

Not that the captain would have enjoyed asking Scotty to beam onto the shuttlecraft under these

particular circumstances; the Achilles’ heel of Kirk’s plan was that, while the shuttle’s deflectors

remained directed at the dome, theColumbus-2 had to survive the surrounding heat and pressure without

any electromagnetic shields. Now, only the shuttle’s insulated bulkheads, duranium hull, and outer

ceramic plating stood between the two men and the unrelenting wrath of Sycorax’s deadly climate.

“Here’s where we find out exactly what this bird is made of,” Kirk warned his copilot. The searing heat

began penetrating the shuttle’s bulkheads almost immediately, rapidly raising the temperature within the

cabin. Keeping one hand on the throttle while fighting the cyclonic winds shaking the shuttle from side to

side, he tugged at the constricting collar of his dress uniform. The shuttle’s interior already felt like a

Vulcan sauna; perspiration glued the back of his tunic[12]to his spine, while sweat streamed down his

face. He licked dry lips, tasting salt.

Lerner looked just as hot and miserable. He wiped the sweat from his eyes with the back of his hand as

he continued to make constant adjustments to the deflector controls. Kirk feared that both of them were

on the verge of heatstroke.

The alarming sound of creaking metal filled the cabin, making Kirk wince in anticipation. Clearly, the

overwhelming pressure outside was making itself felt upon the unshielded structure of the shuttle. Kirk

knew they were in trouble; Starfleet shuttlecrafts were built to last, but theColumbus-2 couldn’t endure

these conditions indefinitely, and neither could he or Lerner. The best he could hope to accomplish was

to buy enough time for someone down in the colony to come to the rescue of the besieged dome.

But was there even a chance of repairing the dome in time? “C’mon,” Kirk muttered to the imperiled

colonists down below, his sweat-slick hands struggling to maintain a firm grip on the throttle. “Show me

just how genetically superior you all are!”

The command bunker was located a half kilometer beneath the colony proper, excavated deep into the

bottom of an original volcanic crater. McCoy wondered how long they all could survive here if and when

Paragon’s big green umbrella burst into flames?Not long enough, he thought morosely.

Regent Clarke and her top people had retreated to the bunker in order to coordinate their emergency

STAR TREK - TOS - The Eugenics Wars, Volume 2

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