Now another monster is walking the decks aboard Gryphon.
Montenegro’s words came back to her: “She’s become… distant of late…. I’m talking about a change in personality.”
And about Shakaar’s visit to the Gryphon: “He spent most of his time with Captain Mello.”
Mello.
Captain Elaine Mello, who had herself suggested pursuing the alleged energy reading to Trill after reporting its discovery to Akaar. Mello, who had made such a passionate effort to lower Kira’s guard when she came aboard. But those suspicions, Kira knew, weren’t enough to go on. She needed more proof, and she suspected she knew where to find it. But she was going to need help.
Kira dumped Akaar’s message and the file onto an isolinear chip and quickly dressed. Then she spoke. “Computer, locate Commander Montenegro.”
16
When the door chimed, Prynn was ready for it. “Come,” she said, knowing who it would be.
The door opened and Vaughn walked in, his expression grim. “You okay?”
She glared at him from her bunk. “You care?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do,” he said, his voice shaking.
Woah, Prynn thought. His voice never shakes.
Prynn sat up. “Dad, why are you doing this?” she asked. “Was that really Mom? It was her, wasn’t it?”
Vaughn just stood there, watching her.
“Dad…?”
“You can stop now, Prynn.”
“Stop what? Why won’t you—”
“Enough!” Vaughn snapped, then continued in a softer tone, “Enough. I just want to know one thing: How long have you been searching for her?”
“Searching?” Prynn said, her brow knotting. “Dad, I don’t understand.”
“How long, Prynn?”
She stared back at him blankly. “You can’t think that I planned this? My God, I don’t even believe we’re having this conversation. Mom’s alive and you’re chasing conspiracies? From me? Why are you doing this? Why won’t you let me see her?”
Vaughn’s eyes narrowed. He shook his head, smiling as if at some private joke being replayed in his mind. “Oh, you’re good,” he said quietly. “You’re very good. If it wasn’t for the present situation, I could almost believe you’re as innocent as you pretend.”
Prynn felt her jaw trembling. “If you don’t think I’m innocent, that must mean you’re convinced I’m guilty of something.”
“Not of anything that’ll land you in the brig,” Vaughn said. “But I thought—I hoped—we were beyond lying to each other.”
That’s when Prynn’s anger rose up, overcoming her measured expression of hurt before she could get it back under control. It all happened in less than a second, but the smug, satisfied look of victory in her father’s eyes confirmed that it didn’t escape his notice. The pretense was over. She let the anger through, let her eyes become hard as she met his gaze. “Who the hell do you think you are?” she whispered.
“I have a better question, Prynn,” Vaughn said. “Who are you?”
Prynn laughed. “Oh, you don’t want the answer to that.”
“Try me,” Vaughn suggested.
She spread her hands. “I’m the daughter of Elias Vaughn,” she said, as if it explained everything. “You want the truth? All right, fine. Yes, I’ve been searching for Mom since the day you came to the Academy and told me she was lost on a mission. You don’t grow up as the only child of two Starfleet spooks without learning a thing or two. And for four years, ever since I graduated, I’ve found ways at every posting I accepted to search for Mom. That was my ‘secret mission.’What did I have to lose? Every ship I was on, every sensor array I came in contact with, I modified it to search for her unique transponder signal. You aren’t the only one who memorized it, Dad. I know yours, too. I admit it, I never really expected it to work. The odds were too remote. But I had to do something. She was my mother. Finding her in the Gamma Quadrant was beyond my wildest hopes, but I won’t apologize for never giving up on her, even though you did.”
Vaughn let the accusation slide. “You didn’t do it alone, you know.”
“What?”
“Finding your mother,” Vaughn said. “You’re right to think that the odds were remote. They were beyond remote. There was no way anyone could know what really happened to her, whether or not she survived, or where she’d end up if she did.”
Prynn shrugged. “So I got lucky. I don’t need to question it.”
Vaughn sat down next to her on the bunk and looked at her intently. “Maybe you should. Think about it, Prynn. Your search for your mother succeeded only because of Defiant’s mission to explore the Gamma Quadrant. That mission happened only because I proposed it when I decided to transfer to Deep Space 9. And I made that decision only because of my encounter with that Bajoran Orb.”
She stared at him. “You’re trying to tell me that this all happened because of the wormhole aliens?”
“I really don’t know,” Vaughn told her honestly. “But I think something beyond my understanding, or yours, put me on this path I’m following. It’s the path that made me change my life. The same path that led me back to you. The same path that led us, together, to this place, at this time. I know it sounds crazy. You know me, Prynn. I’ve never been a believer in much of anything. But look at everything that’s happened. Against all probability and all reason, I have a chance to save your mother, to make up for what I did to her.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Dad,” Prynn whispered. “When are you going to stop blaming yourself?”
He tilted his head. “You’ve been blaming me for seven years.”
“I was wrong. I realized that when we encountered the Inamuri,” Prynn said. “Dad, why are you doing this? What does it matter why this happened? You said it yourself, we can save Mom.”
“It matters because my decision to try to save your mother is based on my belief that I’m meant to. I’ve been letting that belief override my duty to this ship, its crew, and the Federation. It makes me a bad captain, and that should scare the hell out of you.”
“Well, it doesn’t,” Prynn said. “Look, I can’t pretend I understand what happened to you in the Badlands, or that I can take seriously this idea that we’re caught up in some ‘destiny’ you seem to think you’re fulfilling. But if the last three months have taught me anything, it’s that you’re not a bad captain. You’re not even a bad father, really.”
“How can you say that?” Vaughn asked. “I was never there.”
“But, Dad, that’s just it—you were always there,” Prynn said. She felt no anger now, no resentment. Just the need for her father to understand what he meant to her. “Whether we could be together or not, I never once doubted how much you loved us.”
Hesitantly Vaughn reached out and put his arms around his daughter, pulling her close. “Oh, God,” he whispered, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice. “You are so screwed up.”
Holding her father tightly, Prynn echoed the laugh. “Chip off the old block, that’s me.”
They held each other in silence for several minutes and then Vaughn said, “Would you like to see her?”
She pulled away and looked up at him. “You’ll let me?”
“If you really want to. But I have to warn you, she’s in bad shape. Bashir thinks she’s in a coma, and he still isn’t sure he can bring her out of it, or even if there’s anything left of her to revive.”
“I don’t care,” Prynn said, rising to her feet. “I want to be with her, Dad.” She took his hand. “I want us both to be with her.”
With some help from Bashir’s artifical stimulation of her brain activity, Ruriko’s human physiology had begun to reassert itself. Respiration, circulation, immune system, cell growth—all were beginning to respond favorably. Even her color had improved. She still hadn’t awakened, but for the first time since this whole thing started, Bashir looked optimistic, albeit guardedly so.
Prynn stood close to Ruriko and we
pt silently as she stared into her mother’s mutilated face. Still hairless and marred by scars and Borg implants, Ruriko continued to stand motionless in her alcove, one entirely cybernetic arm and shoulder already gone, along with several segments of body armor that had covered her earlier.
Then, very softly, Prynn started to hum. Gradually the humming became words, until she was singing a lullaby to her mother. Vaughn recognized the tune immediately: Calaiah vel D’nai by Rowatu, Ruriko’s favorite, a song she listened to whenever she was sad. And as Prynn sang, Vaughn realized he’d never heard his daughter sing before, never known how beautiful her voice was, never realized how much it sounded like Ruriko’s.
Suddenly the singing stopped, replaced by Prynn’s sharp intake of breath. Vaughn was jolted out of his stupor and looked at her mother, scarcely daring to believe what he saw.
Ruriko’s eyes had opened.
She was staring at Prynn. And more than that, her mouth was moving—fishlike motions that seemed meaningless. Vaughn called to Bashir, who came running. He looked stunned when he saw Ruriko, then turned to study medical monitors set up beside the alcove and nodded excitedly. “Keep it up, Prynn. Don’t stop.”
Tears streaming from her eyes, Prynn resumed her song. Ruriko continued staring at her, lips opening and closing, until, finally, she found her voice. It was barely a whisper, but it was unmistakable.
“Puh…puh…prrreeeeeeeeeeen…”
17
Ten hours away from Trill, Dr. Xiang looked up and said, “I can’t believe what you’re suggesting.”
The three of them—Kira, Montenegro, and Xiang—were gathered in the dining area of Montenegro’s quarters. The doctor and the first officer were seated at the table, arguing back and forth. Kira paced the floor restlessly.
“I can’t believe it, either,” Montenegro agreed. “But it’s true, Mei. It all fits. Admiral Akaar’s message to Colonel Kira, the file she obtained from Gryphon’ s own computers—what else do you need to convince you?”
“Proof!” Xiang said. “So far all I’ve heard is a lot of guesswork based on circumstantial evidence. What proof do you have that it’s the captain?”
This is taking too damn long. Kira turned and slammed an isolinear chip down on the table.
Startled, the doctor’s eyes darted to the chip, then back to Kira. “And what exactly is that?”
“The program that the parasite used to fake the cloaking-device reading. It was uploaded from the captain’s quarters. Commander Montenegro found it after I told him about my suspicions.”
The doctor looked at Montenengro.
“It’s true,” he said. “She created a fake datastream, uploaded it to the sensor arrays, and waited for the bridge crew to detect it. I took the report to her myself, and she contacted Admiral Akaar to suggest that Gryphon pursue it. She needed an excuse to head for Trill at high warp without revealing herself.”
“But why? What’s on Trill?”
“Revenge,” Kira said. “These parasites, whatever they are, have some connection to Trill. It was a Trill who killed First Minister Shakaar, and Shakaar was the host to one of these life-forms. Akaar thinks the thing inside Mello could be using Gryphon to launch a retaliatory strike.”
“This crew would never carry out an order to attack a Federation planet,” Xiang insisted.
“They won’t have to,” Montenegro said. “Using the right codes, Mello can voice-authorize the main computer to fire phasers, empty the torpedo tubes, even eject the warp core toward the planet. She could kill millions of people.”
The doctor looked trapped. “So what do you propose? A mutiny? How can you even think—”
“She’s not your captain!” Kira hissed. “Not anymore! Didn’t you listen to the admiral, or read Captain Picard’s report? These parasites subsume the identities of their hosts and use them to achieve their ends.”
“But I can’t—”
Kira came around the table, grabbed Xiang’s chair, and turned it roughly so that Kira was speaking directly into Xiang’s face. “Look, Doctor. No one is suggesting we kill her. If she submits to arrest quietly so Commander Montenegro can assume command of Gryphon and return us to Deep Space 9, all this could end without bloodshed. But we need to be prepared to fight for control of the ship if we have to. One way or the other, though, I promise you, I’m not going to allow this ship to reach Trill.”
Xiang stared into Kira’s eyes for a long moment, then seemed to sag within herself. “What do you need from me?”
Montenegro breathed a sigh of relief. “We’ll need you to try to save her, to separate the captain from the creature. It’s not clear how long a parasite needs to be joined before separation becomes fatal to the host, but if there’s a chance to cure Captain Mello, you’re the one to do it. There’s a physical symptom of the creature’s presence in the host: a pale blue gill like a barb protruding from the back of the neck, just below the base of the skull. Once we confirm the presence of the creature, you’ll need to keep her sedated. That file we gave you contains all the medical information Starfleet has on these creatures and their effect on humanoid bodies. While you’re attempting to separate them, we’ll inform the crew of what’s happened.”
Xiang took the chip out of the companel next to her and stared at it, shaking her head before she looked back at the ship’s first officer. “I hope to God you’re right about this, Alex.”
“Then here,” Kira said, tossing Xiang one of three phasers on the table. The doctor fumbled to catch it. Kira handed another to Montenegro and kept one for herself. “Let’s get this over with.”
“What should we expect?” Xiang whispered as they marched down to the captain’s quarters. A quietly issued order from Montenegro had managed to clear the corridors nearest Mello’s cabin, at least temporarily.
“Like it said in Dr. Crusher’s report,” Kira said. “Enhanced physical strength, along with extreme resistance to pain and injury. Phasers on stun won’t work. If you have to fire, you need to set your weapon to kill.”
Xiang halted. “You said we wouldn’t need to—”
“I said we had to be prepared to fight for control of the ship,” Kira said hotly. “That’s what we’re going to do.”
“Colonel, please,” Montenegro said gently. “Doctor, the evidence we have is that a phaser at that high intensity will only incapacitate a parasite host, not kill her.”
“But you can’t be certain.”
“No,” Montenegro conceded. “But we do know that a lower setting won’t even slow it down.”
Xiang gritted her teeth and upped the setting on her weapon.
They reached Mello’s quarters. By consensus, Kira took point. She hit the door chime.
“Come,” came the reply.
The doors parted. Mello was seated on her couch, reading. “Colonel, this is unexp—”
Kira stepped inside and raised her phaser. “Get up,” she ordered. “Slowly.”
Mello’s mouth dropped fractionally. Then she frowned. “If this is a joke, it’s in the poorest possible taste.”
“I said get up!” Kira snapped. “We know what you are, and what you’re trying to do. But it’s over. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but I’m warning you, after what your kind did to Shakaar, I’m looking for an excuse to end your miserable existence.”
Mello set down her book and rose slowly. “You’re making a mistake.”
“Hands over your head,” said Kira. “Step to the middle of the room.”
Mello complied.
“Xiang,” Kira said. “Do it.”
The doctor cautiously approached the captain, phaser ready. She stepped around Mello and lifted the captain’s long brown curls, searching. Finally she said, “It’s not here.”
Kira went cold. “Look again.”
Xiang did, and shook her head. “I’m telling you, she’s clean. I…Alex, what are you—?”
Kira spun around, seeing Montenegro smiling at her from the corridor an instant befor
e the doors snapped closed.
Prophets, no!
She ran to the door. A force field knocked her back. It was him all along—!
There was the sound of someone hitting the deck behind her—
Kira spun around again, phaser up, and froze. Xiang was unconscious on the floor, and Mello was holding the doctor’s phaser. She and Kira stood there at arm’s length from each other, each one holding her weapon inches from the other’s eye.
Montenegro smiled as he ran down the corridor, tapping his combadge. “Computer: initiate program Montenegro One, thirty-second delay.”
There was a chime of acknowledgment. “Program will initiate in thirty seconds,” the computer said as Montenegro entered a turbolift.
“Bridge,” he said. He was still smiling as the lift ascended.
18
With a profound feeling of déjà vu, Nog followed Bowers through the forest to the mock campsite they had set up before. They had beamed down at the site of the Borg wreckage with Gordimer, Shar, and T’rb. It was the task of the latter three to enter the ship and retrieve one of the Borg corpses. Commander Tenmei’s neuroprocessor—the device every drone possessed that contained its specific instructions from the collective—had been destroyed when she was damaged. Shar and his team would need to beam up a dead drone and extract another neuroprocessor in order to find out the exact circumstances surrounding the Valkyrie’ s mission to the Gamma Quadrant.
Bowers and Nog, meanwhile, had a decidedly different job: convincing the changeling to return with them.
“So, what do you think our chance of success is?” Nog asked Bowers. “Two percent? One?”
“I’m not worried about not succeeding,” Bowers said, adjusting his tricorder. “I’m worried about what happens if we do. A Founder on the Defiant, that’s something to keep the security staff up at night. I heard about the one who almost took control of the old Defiant before the war.”
Lesser Evil Page 15
