***    TWENTY-ONE    ***                    230


            Captain Kirk awoke in a Starfleet security cell within the

       Supreme Assembly complex.  There was a cot, which he was lying on,

       a food and water dispenser, and small water closet without a door.

       Outside the room were two armed guards and a major commotion that

       could be heard but not seen.  By the sound of it, there were many

       reporters being restrained from taking a peek at 'Benedict Arnold'.

            Jim sat up, steadying himself with both hands.  He glanced

       about the room for a brief moment and was un-impressed.  From the

       looks of it, it could have been any detention cell on the

       Enterprise.  He saw nothing that would disclose his whereabouts.

            Swinging his legs over the side of the cot, he got up and

       walked over to the doorway.  An invisible energy barrier separated

       himself from the two security guards.

            "Where am I?" he asked one guard.

            "Shut up," responded the first guard.

            "We're not supposed to talk to you, Sir," said the second

       guard, more politely.

            "Then quit talking to him," said the first guard to the

       second.

            "That's Captain Kirk, of the Enterprise," said the second.

       "He's famous."

            "Now he's a famous assassin," said the first.

            "Can you at least tell me how long I've been in here?" Jim

       asked.

            "I said shut up!" the first guard again.

            "About three hours, Sir," said the second.

            "Thanks," Kirk said to the second.  'Three hours,' Jim










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       thought, 'Kang must know I've failed.  I wonder what he's doing

       about it?'

            Jim walked the five paces back to his cot and sat.  If they

       followed standard procedures, they would have someone read him his

       rights soon.  Then take him to Starfleet Intelligence HQ for

       interrogation, and allow him to contact an attorney.  He would be

       arraigned and held without bail until the court-martial.  By then

       he would be either exonerated, assassinated, or become a political

       prisoner in Garth's new  galactic order.

            Jim sat silently for nearly five hours before dinner, and

       perhaps as long afterwards.  His thoughts shifted from worrying

       about his ship, to worrying about Kang and the general fate of the

       universe as he knew it.  But the one thing that he could not stop

       thinking about was the second that he had Garth in his sights.  He

       had Garth dead to rights.  One second.  Just one second and he

       would have had ripped the mask off that...

            These thoughts of unease  pursued him until he could avoid

       sleep no longer.  His slumber was fitful, fraught with visions of

       horror amidst a raging conflagration.  He saw the death of his

       friends at the hand of Garth, and somewhere in the shadows was

       Flint and a girl whom he did not know.  The latter, somehow eased

       his torment for reasons he could not identify.

            Upon awaking, his visions slipped away, replaced only by his

       dark brooding over far away friends and opportunities missed.

            "Captain Kirk," the second guard announced.  "Your attorney is

       here to see you."

            Jim's head snapped up, surprised by the voice while deep in

       his thoughts.  He had expected no one, but when his attorney was










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       announced, he almost expected to see the tough, diminutive, Samuel

       T. Cogley, who represented him once before.  But it was the Vulcan

       Ambassador who showed himself, as he stepped up to the energy

       barrier of Jim's imprisonment.

            The barrier was shut down for the time it took the Ambassador

       to enter the small room.  Then it came back on, sealing the two in

       the cell.

            "Ambassador Sarek," Jim greeted him with a relief that

       surprised even himself. "I assume you are here because you received

       a package from a small boy?"

            "Captain Kirk," Sarek began, ignoring Jim's statement of the

       obvious.  "If this information that you have obtained is accurate,

       then we are all in grave danger.  Your actions yesterday did little

       to improve the situation."

            "I did what I had to," Jim said without apology.  "I'd do it

       again, if it would last just one second longer."

            "If you had come to me first with this information," Sarek

       began again, "I could have swayed the council enough to halt or at

       least delay the Klingon admission until more evidence could be

       obtained.  Now this alleged imposter has the Federation's sympathy.

       We as a council had to formally apologize for the assassination

       attempt by a Starfleet Officer.  With two delegates slain, there

       may not be enough evidence in the galaxy to dissuade anyone of your

       guilt."

            "My guilt is a secondary concern, Sarek.  What can you do to

       stop Garth before he starts this war?"

            "If I could prove to the council that your information was

       factual, we could recall the Supreme Assembly and vote on the










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       expulsion of the Klingons from the Federation.  That could take as

       long as three weeks.  We would have to recall all of the delegates

       and wait for the replacements of the slain members.  As it stands,

       that alone may not be enough to stop him.  They will question the

       source of the information.  When I inform them that you are my

       source, they may very well expel me from the Assembly."

            "But you are willing to take the chance?" Jim asked.

            "Logically, I would be a fool to attempt such an avenue

       without a secondary plan of action.  That is why I must liberate

       you from this detention facility."

            "Shhhh!" Jim cupped his hand over Sarek's mouth and pulled the

       Ambassador away from the entry-way.  "You, the Ambassador of

       Vulcan, help a traitor to the Federation to escape?" Jim was

       astonished.  "How do you intend to accomplish this... breakout?"

            "Quite logically, Captain," the Ambassador assured him.

            "I mean, what are the details?" said Jim to Sarek, then to

       himself, 'Now I know where Spock gets it from.'

            "I made some inquiries about you and questioned how you

       managed to arrive on Earth, when you are supposed to be aboard the

       Enterprise in the Neutral Zone.  I determined that you must have

       had to arrange other transportation to this world.  I also deduced

       that In the event you were unsuccessful in exposing this 'Garth',

       you would rely on this transportation to take you back to your

       Enterprise, and further pursue this villain."

            "Logical," acknowledged Jim.

            "I was able to gather more detailed information, by

       volunteering myself as your legal council.  This gave me access to

       review your personal effects, that had been removed from your










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       person upon capture.  I found your 'Klingonese' communication

       device. I noted the frequency it was set to and with my personal

       communicator, I contacted a person by the name of 'Kang'.  After

       a brief discussion I arranged your extraction from this building

       when he is next contacted.  I have also arranged for the

       transporter deflectors above this facility to be temporarily placed

       off line," Sarek concluded.

            "That's amazing, Ambassador," Jim was truly astonished at the

       ambassador.  "You do realize that if I disappear from this cell,

       you will be the prime suspect for engineering my escape."

            "That is correct, Captain," Sarek admitted, "However, I retain

       Diplomatic Immunity on this world.  And many in the council will

       seriously consider the fact that, it would take something

       tremendously important to cause Sarek of Vulcan to go beyond the

       law," he stated with logical confidence.  "On the other hand, there

       are many that would like to see me locked away for good," he said,

       equally certain of the fact.

            "I guess the next question to ask is, when?"

            "Time is up, Ambassador Sarek," came the voice of the first

       guard.  "You will have to leave the prisoner now."

            "It would appear that, if time is of the essence, then now

       would do," the Ambassador said to the Captain. He pulled a Vulcan

       designed communicator from his ceremonial cloak, and handed it to

       the Captain.  "You may also have this back." He returned the tri-

       corder that had been given him by a small child.  "I have

       transferred copies of all pertinent information contained in it, to

       my personal data files."

            "Do you have a message that you would like me to relay to

       







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       Spock?  He has an important part in this too," Jim asked out of

       respect to the man.

            "Yes, you may tell him that things like this would never

       happen at the Vulcan Academy of Sciences," Sarek said without

       humor.

            "I'll tell him," Jim said as he opened the Ambassador's

       communicator.

            "It is time," the first guard stated a little louder.

            "Do you hear that, Kang?  The Guard says it's time," Jim spoke

       to the Klingon vessel high above.

            "Acknowledged, Kirk," came the familiar male Klingon voice.

            "Good-bye, Sarek... and thanks," said Jim earnestly.

            "Live long and prosper, friend of my son," Spoke the most

       respected man on Vulcan.

            Jim began to sparkle, and spark. Then the floor under the

       captain began to smoke and burn.  Sarek raised an eyebrow as he

       heard the Captain speak and then disappear.

            "Oh no, I forgot how much this hur..." and then the Captain

       was gone.

            "Where is the prisoner!?!" the first guard yelled, panicking

       and fearing for his job.

            "Going to war," the Ambassador simply offered.