Star Trek Into Darkness Page 0,28
after him. Not formally. If we tell the Klingons there’s a human refugee wanted on Earth for mass murder, they’d delight in giving him sanctuary just to spite us. That’s if they haven’t done so already. We both know that a formal Federation request for extradition sent through normal diplomatic channels would be laughed at. But if the Enterprise can get in close enough to insert a small landing party—say, one hoping to quietly study the lingering effects of the plague that ravaged the Ketha Province . . .”
Marcus let out a derisive snort. “And if the Klingons discover you . . . ?”
Kirk smiled. “We’ll say that we just wanted to do a quick study and be gone. That much is true. We’ll add that we did it without telling them because we know that if we’d asked they never would have given their permission. They’ll appreciate that: It’s in line with typical Klingon humor. They might still start shooting, but they’ll appreciate it. Hopefully we won’t have to employ that excuse. If we move fast enough, we can get in and out before they can detect our presence. We’ll have surprise on our side. By the time they get over their shock at having their planetary defenses breached, we’ll be warping out of the system, and no harm done. My guess is they’ll be too embarrassed to raise a stink.”
The admiral considered carefully. “What if you don’t get out in time?”
Kirk shrugged. “Then we’ll have to shoot back. I didn’t say the plan was perfect.” His grin this time was lopsided. “We’ll tell ’em we experienced a severe navigational malfunction and got lost.” The grin vanished. “Harrison is there, sir. He might not stay there for long, so we have to act fast. Starfleet can’t formally go after him—but I can. Please, sir.”
Spock stepped forward. “While I am unable to engage in nonrational pleading, Admiral, I would like to second Captain Kirk’s suggestion.”
“‘Captain’ Kirk?” Marcus’s eyebrows rose. “You presume too much, gentlemen.” Having said that, he studied both men carefully for a moment before continuing. “Mr. Kirk, Mr. Spock: I am going to share something with you that is not to be repeated outside this room.” Both men stood expectantly, conscious of the seriousness in the admiral’s tone and manner.
“All-out war with the Klingons is inevitable, Mr. Kirk. If you ask me, it’s already begun.” At his gesture, the room was filled with surveillance imagery: different types of Klingon warships, armed Klingon soldiers, worlds, statistics, and more. Eyeing the display, Marcus sniffed derisively. “‘Diplomacy’ and ‘friendship’ don’t seem to have a place in the Klingon vocabulary. In fact, there’s a whole section that might be labeled ‘getting along with others’ that seems to be missing from their culture.
“Since we first learned of their existence, the Klingon Empire has conquered and occupied two inhabited worlds that we know of: worlds populated by sentient species with no burning racial desire other than to be left alone. The Klingons don’t like to leave other species alone. In their mind, pacificity is a sign of weakness, and weakness is something to be exploited. They’ve fired on our ships half a dozen times, always on the flimsiest of reasons. When we have the temerity to fire back, they withdraw, recalculate, and if necessary, offer up whatever excuses they think we’ll accept. Our diplomats hem and haw but, being diplomats, end up coming to agreements.” His tone hardened.
“Those ‘agreements’ will last only until the Klingons believe they’ve achieved an overwhelming superiority in firepower. Then there’ll be another ‘accident,’ only this time there’ll be no more agreements. They’ll come straight at us, and they won’t stop until they get to Earth itself. The galactic clock is ticking, gentlemen. They’re coming our way, and I’ll be damned if we’re not gonna be ready for them.” His gaze fixed on Spock. “We intend to see to it, Mr. Spock, that what happened to your world will never happen again, to Earth or anywhere else.” He paused to let his breath catch up with his thoughts.
“London—that was not an ‘archive.’ It was the staging area for a top-secret branch of Starfleet research and development called ‘Section 31’—as innocuous a designation as could be applied. The scientists, engineers, and military far-seers there were tasked with developing defensive technology as well as training operatives to gather intelligence on the Klingons and any other potential enemies who mean to do us harm.”
As he spoke, images from the destroyed Section 31 facility