by David Mack
Riker said to Ssura, “Relay my orders to the Ajax, the Canterbury, and the Wasp. Make sure their commanders know that once our fleet assembles, Captain Vale will have operational command of the battle group.”
“Aye, sir.” Ssura made his own exit from the ready room.
Riker and Vale faced each other across her desk. She shook her head. “Why do I get the feeling we’re about to wind up in the middle of a really ugly crossfire?”
He shrugged. “Beats cataloguing gaseous anomalies.”
Vale offered a resigned smile. “I sure as hell hope so.”
The kidnappers were as brusque as they were inarticulate. Apparently unwilling to trust their hostages to walk with dignity into a holding cell, the helmeted thugs insisted on pushing their captives inside their vessel’s cramped and filthy brig. Kilaris was the first one over its force field threshold. She stumbled as she recovered her balance, then she sidestepped out of the path of the Bynar pair, who were shoved in behind her.
The last prisoner, Doctor Pek, struggled in his abductors’ grasp. “Unhand me, you troglodytes! You vermin! I—” A gut-punch from one of the brutes silenced the Tellarite’s rant. They hurled him into the cell. He landed on his belly and lay doubled over and gasping.
A low hum filled the compartment as the cell’s force field activated. Kilaris approached the invisible barrier. She sensed its presence from the way the fine hairs on her forearms bent toward it. Pek grumbled curses from the deck and the Bynars huddled in a corner, cowed and silent. Kilaris eyed their captors from behind a mask of cold calm. Inside, her repressed primitive Vulcan nature raged, eager to exact vengeance on these murderers of her colleagues and her lover, Doctor Theron. It would be unseemly, she knew, to express such raw emotions; to give them voice would go against a lifetime of Vulcan philosophical instruction and discipline.
It would be illogical to deny that the feelings existed. But she refused to be ruled by them. She would let logic guide her actions. And if the time came that she needed her primitive side to bolster her strength, she would harness her dark passenger and make it serve her.
All in good time. Right now, I need more information.
The tall one who wore the decorated helmet entered and conferred with a pair of his men. The others’ body language made it clear to Kilaris that they were subordinate to the painted one. If there was anything to be learned, it would come from confronting the leader.
“Kidnapping us will not profit you,” she said to him, interrupting his conversation.
He looked at her. “Wrong, Vulcan. You four make us rich.”
Easily distracted. Good to know. “Neither Starfleet nor the Federation will negotiate with terrorists. How do you expect to collect our ransom?”
The leader approached the force field. “Not ransom. Put to work.”
“What makes you think any of us will work for you?”
“Work or die. Choose, Vulcan.”
She affected a dubious mien. “If you kill us, we cannot do whatever work it is you expect of us. Perhaps you should consider a different incentive.”
He leaned closer, until the edge of his helmet crackled against the force field. “Not quick death, Vulcan. Slow. Painful. One piece at a time.”
“Are you sure you possess the resolve to make good on such a threat?”
The leader bellowed, “You call me coward?” He pointed at the Bynars. “Bynars cowards! No guramba!”
“I understand now. You’re a Nausicaan. That explains much.”
He pulled off his helmet to reveal his ridged pate, sunken eyes, and protruding fanglike tusks, all framed by a matted tangle of coarse black hair. “You know nothing, Vulcan.”
“I know your kind have long been notorious as troublemakers and criminals for hire—and that was before the Borg sterilized your homeworld.”
The Nausicaan seemed to get taller, as if he were swelling with anger. “You call us names. Not change who we are.” He barked an order at his men in their native tongue, and the others removed their helmets, revealing they were also Nausicaans. Then the leader aimed his fury at Kilaris. “I am Slokar, leader. We are Patriots of the Wind. Stand for all Nausicaans.”
Pek struggled back to his feet and stood beside Kilaris, facing Slokar. “How does killing our friends and kidnapping us help you ‘stand for all Nausicaans’?”
Slokar ground his teeth and his tusks. “Watch you long time. Know what you find. We find thing, too. Need what you know.”
The vagueness of his boast gave Kilaris pause. “What have you found?”
“Husnock ships. Weapons.”
A snort from Pek. “And who are you gonna kidnap with those?”
“Conquer new worlds. Restore Nausicaans’ pride. Take back our independence.” He pointed at Kilaris and Pek. “You help us.”
Kilaris refused to be bullied. “And if we refuse?”
“We cut you. An ear. A finger. Your soft bits. Keep cutting until we know how many pieces it takes to change your mind.”
Six
* * *
Riker arrived on the bridge of the Titan in time to watch the last few seconds of warp-stretched stars on the main viewscreen snap back into static points as the ship dropped out of warp speed.
Timing is everything, he mused.
Vale was in the center seat, reviewing information on the tactical monitor to her left. At the forward consoles were the flight control officer, Lieutenant Commander Aili Lavena, and the operations officer, Lieutenant Commander Sariel Rager. Commander Tuvok manned the tactical console, and Lieutenant Commander Keru stood watch at the security panel. Sarai was at the far side of the bridge, conferring with Lieutenant Commander Melora Pazlar at the sciences console.
The first person to notice Riker’s arrival on the bridge was its engineering liaison officer, Lieutenant Torvig. The Choblik inclined his deerlike head in a humble greeting, and Riker nodded in return as he moved toward Vale. The ship’s captain swiveled to face him. “Admiral.”
“Status, Captain?”
“Two minutes from orbit. Canterbury and Wasp are roughly five minutes behind us. Keru is confirming beam-down coordinates with the expedition’s chief of security.” She swiveled a few degrees farther to look aft. “Tuvok, any sign of the attackers’ ship?”
“Negative, Captain. Short- and long-range scans are both clear. However, we should be aware of a sensor blind spot above the planet’s northern magnetic pole. Interference from its larger moon’s magnetic field means we must rely on visual sensors for that region.”
“Noted,” Vale said. “Are visual scans showing anything above the pole?”
“Not at this time,” Tuvok said.
Now at Vale’s side, Riker said, “I’d prefer to lead the away mission, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, Admiral. Just as long as you take adequate protection.”
“I was planning on taking a phaser.”
Vale fixed him with a look of mild rebuke. “No fewer than three armed guards. Sir.”
That seemed excessive to Riker. “Two, including Keru.”
“We’re not haggling, Admiral. If you want to leave my ship to enter an unsecured area, we’ll do it by the book or not at all.” In the moment that followed her ultimatum, all Riker heard on the bridge was the soft music of feedback tones and the hush of bated breath.
He acquiesced with a dip of his chin. “Aye, Captain. Three armed escorts.”
“Thank you.” Vale stood and stepped toward the forward consoles. “Ops, hail the commanders of the Wasp and the Canterbury. Tell them to assume antipodal high-orbit positions and to keep an eye on long-range sensor contacts. Helm, take us into a low orbit optimized to provide tactical support for the away team in case they need it.”
Lavena and Rager overlapped each other’s responses of “Aye, Captain.”
Returning to her seat, Vale said, “Number One, assign an away team for the admiral.”
Sarai left her huddled conference with Pazlar and moved to an op
en console along the aft bulkhead. Calling up personnel rosters, she said, “Lieutenant Commander Keru, who do you recommend for the admiral’s protection detail?”
“Sortollo, Denken, and Krotine,” the security chief said.
“Have them meet you in transporter room one in five minutes.” Sarai looked upward as she addressed the computer. “Bridge to Doctor Ree and Lieutenant Eviku. Report to transporter room one with tricorders, on the double. Bridge out.” The first officer turned to face Riker. “Your team will meet you—”
“In transporter room one,” Riker cut in. “I caught that, thank you.”
“Do you have any questions about the away team assignments, sir?”
Riker shook his head. “No, it seems self-explanatory. Keru leads the criminal investigation. Doctor Ree gathers forensic evidence. Sortollo, Denken, and Krotine watch my back, and I supervise the mission and act as the point of contact with the expedition’s leader pro tem.” As an afterthought he asked, “Will you be joining us, Commander?”
“Not unless you or the captain orders it, sir.”
“Then we’re set. Good work, Commander.” Riker turned to follow Keru into the turbolift, but a subtle nod from Vale made it clear she wanted to speak with him in her ready room. He acknowledged her signal and changed course to fall in behind her.
They stepped inside her sanctum—which, not so long ago, had been his—and waited for the door to slide closed behind Riker. Safe from eavesdropping, they both visibly relaxed. “Admiral, can I ask why you want to lead the away mission?”
He appreciated that she hadn’t questioned him in front of her crew. “If I’m to be honest, this mission feels a bit . . . personal to me. I was there when we found the Uxbridges. I saw what the Husnock’s weapons could do.” His memory drifted back to that sad mission more than twenty years earlier. “Part of the reason Starfleet went looking for the remains of the Husnock civilization was because Captain Picard and I both knew what would happen if the wrong people found it. Jean-Luc even asked for permission to take the Enterprise toward the outer rim in search of whatever the Husnock left behind. But Starfleet decided we were needed elsewhere.”
Vale shook her head. “What was it like to confront a being that single-handedly exterminated an entire species?”
“Terrifying. Heartbreaking. The worst part was how much he hated himself for what he had done. He had so much power, but he held it in check. Then, in a moment of grief and rage he snapped. It could have happened to any of us. But when he snapped, billions died. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to carry that kind of guilt.”
The overhead comm beeped, and Sarai’s voice filtered down from the speaker. “Captain, the Canterbury and the Wasp have dropped out of warp and are assuming their positions in high orbit. Commander Lavena confirms we’ve entered orbit above the expedition site, and Commander Rager informs me that Admiral Riker’s away team is ready to deploy.”
“Thank you, Number One. The admiral’s on his way. Vale out.” The channel closed with a barely audible click. Vale mustered a wan smile. “Time to get this show on the road.”
“Be ready to break orbit fast.” Riker backed toward the door. “As soon as we have a lead on who took the scientists and where they’re headed, we’re going after them.”
Every member of the Titan’s away team except Keru was in motion the second they were free of the transporter beam. The Trill chief of security took a moment to survey the area and get his bearings. He had reviewed maps of the Husnock city and the layout of the expedition’s camp, but now he was matching up the ideas of landmarks and structures with their realities. He had often found it beneficial to take a moment such as this before plunging headlong into action.
He watched Doctor Ree move through the ranks of the grieving expedition members, many of whom now had eyes bloodshot from crying over their slain friends and peers. He showed special attention to anyone who appeared to have been injured. The Pahkwa-thanh physician seemed not to notice the unease his bipedal reptilian form provoked among many of those whom he sought to help. Those he would heal recoiled when he drew near, as if they feared he might devour them rather than dress their wounds.
Admiral Riker, meanwhile, cut around the throng and made his way toward the expedition’s command tents. Flanking him were Titan security officers Lieutenant Feren Denken, a Matalinian bruiser with a cybernetic right arm, and Lieutenant Gian Sortollo, one of the most cunning and suspicious humans Keru had ever met. Backing them up was enlisted security guard Ellec Krotine, a golden-skinned Boslic whose violet hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, emphasizing her prominent brow ridges and cheekbones.
Lingering not far from the beam-down point were Lieutenants Torvig and Eviku. The Choblik engineer gamboled in a circle as he took readings with his tricorder; the Arkenite xenobiologist pivoted in a tight circle while he did the same, his three-lobed head ringed by his slim-profile anlac’ven, a device that helped the aquatic-born xenobiologist maintain his balance and equilibrium on land and in zero gravity.
Keru knew from the original distress call that an attack had occurred in a nearby auditorium. Moving about the site, he located that building and assessed its tactical weaknesses and strengths. Then he formed a hypothesis for how its attackers had approached it without being intercepted by the expedition’s security forces—who looked to be every bit as ineffectual as Keru had feared they would be. Patterns of disruptor damage on building exteriors and patches of open ground enabled him to trace the kidnappers’ route of retreat. At the end of it, the trail went dead, just as he had suspected it would. They beamed out from here.
He heard footsteps and turned, his hand ready to reach for his phaser. Then he saw it was Eviku, and he relaxed. “Do you have any leads?”
“I might, sir.” The Arkenite turned his tricorder so Keru could see its display. “I spoke with some of the witnesses. A few of them had high-resolution scanners comparable to our tricorders. After downloading and analyzing scans they made of the attackers, I believe we have credible evidence that the kidnappers were all Nausicaans.”
It sounded plausible to Keru, but he had learned never to trust first impressions. “Good work, Lieutenant. But let’s look for corroborating evidence before we—”
“Sir,” exclaimed Torvig. The squat Choblik trotted to a clumsy halt between brawny Keru and wiry Eviku. With one of his bionic hands he passed a small metallic gadget to Keru, who examined it as Torvig explained, “It’s a Nausicaan-made surveillance device. It appears to be linked to several others of the same design, each positioned at regular intervals around the expedition site’s perimeter.”
Keru noted the smug look on Eviku’s face but refused to acknowledge it. The security chief handed the gadget back to Torvig. “Good find, Tor. But Nausicaan gear is pretty common on the black market, so before we—”
“I scanned it for genetic material,” Torvig interrupted. “I found only Nausicaan DNA. Its rate of cellular decay suggests the traces are less than six hours old.”
Now there was no avoiding Eviku’s proud I told you so stare. Keru regarded the slender man with a feigned frown. “It would appear that the kidnappers were Nausicaan.”
“Really? You don’t say, sir.”
Turning back toward Torvig, Keru asked, “If the Nausicaans have been watching this site long enough that they had to put in spy gear, what does that tell you, Tor?”
“That they were looking for something in particular.” Bouncing forward with excitement, Torvig pointed at his tricorder data. “Or someone. The surveillance devices’ parameters were calibrated to monitor and identify the unique signal of each expedition member’s implanted bio-transponder. With that information, they could have known when all of the abductees were gathered in one place and therefore easier to take with a single action.”
The more Keru learned, the greater he perceived the danger to be.
He tapped his combadge. “Keru to Titan.”
Captain Vale answered, “Go ahead, Comman
der.”
“Captain, we have evidence to suggest the perpetrators were Nausicaans. Well armed, by the look of this gear. I suggest we start scanning the planet’s surface, this system, and the surrounding sector for any traces known to be associated with Nausicaan starships.”
“Noted. Anything else to report?”
“Not yet, Captain. We’ll keep you posted.”
“See that you do,” Vale said. “Titan out.”
Keru faced Torvig and Eviku. “Follow me. We need to find the admiral.”
They returned to the center of the expedition site, then used Riker’s combadge signal to find their way to his side, inside the main tent of the expedition’s administrative headquarters. At the far end of the temporary shelter, Riker was huddled in a corner with the expedition’s chief of security, a Grazerite male named Sukorn-Eesha. Massive and hirsute, Sukorn-Eesha belonged to an ethnic minority of Grazerites whose males sported great curved horns above their ears, and his baritone carried even across wide-open distances.
“We just didn’t have enough time to react,” Sukorn-Eesha said to Riker. “By the time my guards in the auditorium triggered the alert, the kidnapping was already in progress. And the intruders were gone before the rest of my men reached the scene.”
Keru inserted himself into the circle of conversation without regard for decorum. “Mister Sukorn, do you know if there was any link between the four scientists who were taken?”
“They were all part of the same project: unraveling the Husnock language.”
Riker rolled with the new direction of inquiry. “Was that project the reason for their gathering in the auditorium?”
The Grazerite nodded. “Two of them were announcing a major breakthrough. Half the camp’s been buzzing about it, but until yesterday we’d had no idea that Kilaris had found a Husnock translation of a text written in a language known to Federation science. Rumor had it she was about to make the entire Husnock language parsable by the universal translator.”
