Ryan and Pike had both recieved calls
from Dr. Hancock. It seemed that somehow the Kelvans had taken over Lieutenant
Wang's mind and were able to comunicate through him. Both were full of concern,
for Ming's well being, but it also gave them a chance to come face to face with
their enemy and maybe come to some kind of peaceful solution.
They entered sickbay and found Karissa by Ming's bedside along with Lieutenant
Tierro, Ming was lying there, with his eyes closed, not responding to them in
any way. Ryan and Pike walked over and joined them.
"This one is different to Benton" said Karissa, i can't read his mind.
"Why don't the two of you take a break for a while. Let the Admiral and
I talk to him."
Karissa nodded and her and Tierro got up and left sickbay.
Pike walked up to stand beside Wang's biobed. On his approach, Wang turned his
head and opened his eyes. Those eyes took Pike by surprise. They glowed! Wang
smiled evilly.
"YOUR FUTILE ATTEMPTS TO COMMUNICATE WITH US ARE OF NO AVAIL. OUR MINDS
CANNOT BE CHANGED," the Kelvan entity within Ming said.
"Why have you taken control of my officer?" demanded Ryan.
"YOUR OFFICER NO LONGER EXISTS. HIS BODY IS A CRUDE VESSEL, BUT USEFUL
TO US NONE THE LESS."
Pike rankled a bit at the Kelvans' insistence on calling everything human 'crude
and inferior'. He'd had enough of that sort of talk while fighting them on the
Knight, and wasn't about to put up with it again.
He took a threatening step towards Wang, but was aware there was very little
he could do. It was still Wang's body, after all.
"None of your double-talk, Kelvan!" he growled. "You're in no
position here to be playing games. In case you haven't noticed, you're aboard
*our* ship, and behind a force field."
The lights and instruments in Sickbay flickered. "SEARCH FOR YOUR FORCEFIELD
NOW, HUMANS!" the entity within Ming said.
Just then a comm came from the bridge. [Bridge to Captain Evans--our shields
are offline!]
"Security to sick bay!" called Ryan instinctively. Taking a step forward
toward the Kelvan, trying not to show his fear he came face to face with Wang.
"Why are you on my ship?" he demanded again
Pike suddenly wished he had a phaser.
"WE WISH TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE PATHETIC CORPOREAL ENTITIES WHO SEEK
TO RESIST OUR WILL," the Kelvan said. "ONLY ONE OTHER RACE
IN THIS GALAXY ARE EVEN ATTEMPTING TO RESIST OUR WILL, BUT THEY TOO WILL BE
CRUSHED INTO NOTHINGNESS."
Suddenly the entity started speaking in another language--an earth language.
"Computer, identify that language," Pike ordered.
<The language is Mandarin Chinese.>
Pike and Evans looked at one another. Ming was trying to reassert himself!
"Ming's still in there somewhere!" said Pike.
"Ming, are you there?" asked Ryan, he took Ming by the shoulders.
As Ryan touched him, the Kelvan seemed to regain control and thrust his arm
into Ryan's chest. Ryan was sent flying across the room. He landed with a thud.
Dr. Hancock ran to him with a tricorder. Pike was careful to keep his distance.
"The neural engrams in Ming's brain are starting to destabilize. The Kelvan
is starting to lose control."
"DO NOT MISTAKE THIS MOMENTARY LAPSE FOR WEAKNESS. WE WILL DESTROY YOU,
AS WE WILL DESTROY THE BORG WHO ALSO OPPOSE US. THIS GALAXY BELONGS TO THE KELVAN
EMPIRE--" the Kelvan said, then Ming started to speak Chinese again.
Ryan struggled back to his feet. "I'm Ok" he said waving Hancock off.
"We've defeated Kelvan's before!" he shouted. "You are no different!"
Hancock suddenly got an idea. "Computer, translate the Chinese we've just
heard."
<Translation as follows: "This is Ming Wang. I am struggling to regain
control. The Kelvan is not as strong as he appears. This effort is drawing more
of his resources than he anticipated--> the computer stopped translating.
[Bridge to Captain Evans--the ship's computer is offline. We've got crews working
to restore backup functions.]
Pike suddenly got the beginnings of an idea. He turned to Evans and said, "Captain,
can I see you outside for a moment?" Evans nodded, and the two men stepped
outside Wang's room. Wang's glowing eyes watched them go.
In a low tone so the Kelvan couldn't overhear them, Pike said, "Lieutenant
Wang has just given us the clue we needed to control this Kelvan."
"How so?" asked Evans.
"I'm sure you're familiar with the history of the previous attempt by the
Kelvans to conquer our Galaxy," began Pike.
When Evans nodded, Pike continued, "Captain Kirk and his crew were able
to subdue the Kelvans by subjecting them to emotional and sensory stimuli that
they were not evolved to process."
"Ming said the Kelvan wasn't in total control of him in the first place,
so the added stress of trying to cope with the crazy human things we can throw
at him might just be enough to let Ming break free."
Meanwhile, deep in the recesses of Ming's mind, Ming and the Kelvan were doing
battle for control. Working beneath the Kelvan's notice, Ming attempted to locate
useful information in the Kelvan's mind.
Suddenly, he found something but--thanks to the practice living and playing
poker around several telepaths had given him--carefully avoided focusing on
it so as to not draw the Kelvan's attention.
"Besides, it looks like we won't be able to hold him for very long. We
need to do something quick."
"Agreed" Ryan and Pike returned to sickbay. Lieutenant's O'neal and
Makori had shown up as well as a result of Ryan's earlier call. Ryan and Pike
approached Ming again while the two security officers stayed near the entrance.
"YOUR ADDED REINFORCEMENTS WILL DO YOU NO GOOD. WE ARE IN CONTROL,"
the Kelvan said. "ALREADY OUR BATTLE PLANETS ADVANCE UPON QO'NOS, ROMULUS,
EARTH AND VULCAN. YOUR CIVILIZATION WILL CEASE TO EXIST WITHIN THE HOUR!"
Pike looked at Evans in alarm! How could the Kelvans have advanced so quickly?
"He's bluffing" Ryan replied to Pike's distraught look *At least I
hope he is...*
Pike certainly hoped so, yet bluffing was not in the Kelvan's nature. They were
so arrogantly assured of their own superiority they had no need to resort to
such tactics.
For the first time since their encounter with the Kelvans began, Pike was genuinely
worried. Even it they *could* defeat the million Planets they'd seen so far,
how could they reach earth in time to save it?
Ming started to yell in Chinese again. "I'm not able to pick up anything
coherent from him," Makori said, attempting to scan Ming telepathically.
"Until we get the computer back, we need to find someone else who can speak
Chinese.
Ming was now screaming the same phrase over and over again at the top of his
lungs. "We'd better do it soon," Hancock said. "His neural synapses
are starting to degrade--whatever it is, he's putting all of his effort into
it!"
[Bridge to Captain Evans--the computer is back online!]
The computer immediately resumed translating. "The Kelvan is bluffing--all
of the battle planets are in this sector. The Borg are fighting them, but they're
too far away to do us any good.
There is a Kelvan memory core within five light-years of here--has all of their
tactical and engineering data--" Ming began to convulse after that. The
effort had finally taken too much from him.