by David
quite long enough."
"Thank you, my lord." Marcus turned and
knelt before his captain. Sejanus was dressed
in a purple robe and wore a toga of
Magna Roman design beneath. "I am, as
always, at your service."
When Deanna materialized on the
Centurion's transporter platform the
next morning, she was met, as she had
expected to be, by Julia Sicania, the
Centurion's counselor. What she had not
expected was that Captain Sejanus would be there
too.
It was Julia whom Deanna had contacted
to request a tour of the ship. The Magna
Roman counselor was a woman of about forty,
but with the signs of premature aging on her
face. She had responded to Deanna's
request bluntly "Why? What business do
you have here?"
Outwardly calm, though inwardly furious
at this treatment, Deanna had smiled and said,
"I wish to compare the social structures
aboard our two ships. The societies the
crews come from are very different, and I think it
would be educational for me, professionally speaking,
to see how you've resolved your problems."
Julia had grunted something and said she would have
to see if such a visit could be arranged.
However, only minutes later she had called
back and extended a very polite invitation to
Deanna to beam over at her convenience. There
had been something cowed in Julia's manner
during that second conversation.
Now, as soon as Deanna materialized,
she felt herself swimming in the powerful emotions
filling the room, and the explanation for the difference
between her two conversations with Julia
Sicania became clear.
The hatred and resentment the Centurion's
counselor felt toward her captain blazed from
her; Julia made no attempt to suppress
it. From Sejanus, Deanna caught first his
contempt forand then his annoyance with his counselor.
Deanna realized immediately that Julia had not
wanted to be bothered with her but had been
overruled by Sejanus. Then came a
secondary impression from the two Magna
Romans a powerful current of something in their
past, some close and passionate relationship that
was now over.
The Magna Romans were both unfamiliar
with Betazoids, or perhaps did not know that
Deanna was half Betazoid. She could
detect no wariness in either of them concerning her and
no suspicion that she could sense their feelings.
They put on appropriate social faces,
assuming that they could fool her as easily as they
would a human. Julia stepped forward and said
brightly, "My dear Commander Troi! We're
simply delighted to have you aboard."
Deanna, seeing the true feelings behind that
facade smiled ironically and said,
"Counselor. I've been looking forward
to meeting you too." She turned to Sejanus.
"Captain. How nice to see you again."
She was immediately embarrassed by the wash of
primitive emotions coming from him.
Sejanus thought it more than merely nice
to see Troi again. "Welcome aboard,
Counselor. The first time you were here, we had no
chance to talk. I hope we can remedy that."
Deanna raised her eyebrows. "Perhaps after
Counselor Sicania shows me the ship,
Captain."
Sejanus smiled charmingly. "As it
happens, I find myself with a bit of free time
on my hands, and thought that I would personally
conduct your tour. If you have no objections?"
"On the contrary," Deanna said. "That would
be lovely."
"Excellent. We'll begin right away."
He let Deanna precede him through the door.
In the hallway outside, Sejanus said,
"I thought we'd begin with our engineering deck."
Deanna laughed. "Captain Sejanus,
I've seen all I ever want to of
matter-antimatter chambers."
"Of course," he replied. "I forget that
you come from a Galaxy-class vessel beside which
even the splendors of this ship must pale."
"Perhaps your schools," Deanna suggested.
"I'm very interested in finding out more about what
makes your society such an energetic,
vital one."
"This way, then." Sejanus led her down a
long corridor and past one turbolift.
She stopped at one door behind which she heard
crying.
"What's this?" she asked.
"Sick bay," Sejanus replied.
"May I?" Deanna stepped through the door
before he could reply.
Sick bay on the Centurion consisted of a
single room with half a dozen narrow
diagnostic beds crammed into it. Against one
wall stood a small desk. One crew
member was on duty when they arrived, a short,
slender, dark-skinned, curly haired young
man, extremely nervous in the presence of his
captain, who leapt to his feet when
Sejanus appeared and snapped the
chest-slapping, extended-hand Roman salute.
Sejanus responded with a nod. "At
ease, Doctor. Counselor, this is Dr.
Marius Tertius Secondus,
second-in-command of our medical section.
Marius, this is Lieutenant Commander
Deanna Troi, from the Enterprise."
Deanna greeted the doctor, then looked
around in surprise. "Is this all of your sick
bay, Doctor?"
"Why, yes, Commander. It's usually
adequate."
"Usually!" She didn't try to hide her
shock. "This ship has almost half the complement
of the Enterprise, and yet we have three or
four times as much room and equipment in our
sick bay!"
Marius was obviously floundering for a reply.
Sejanus took over. "We emphasize
other kinds of care instead. All of our
personnel are quite competent at first aid for
minor injuries, and our injured convalesce in
their own quarters."
Deanna managed to keep her voice even
this time. "What about an illness of some kind
affecting large numbers of people? Some
sort of plague, for example."
Sejanus smiled. "On my ship, crew
members are encouraged not to get ill." He
meant the remark to be flippant, but behind the
words she sensed his utter boredom with the
subject.
Deanna wondered what Starfleet
regulations were concerning the minimum size and
complement for a starship's sick bay, and if
Sejanus was violating those regulations.
"Now, let me show you that school,"
Sejanus said, taking her by the arm.
As they walked toward a turbolift
entrance, Sejanus said, "You'll find some
differences between our vessels here, as well.
Captain Picard has more specialists of
different types among his civilian complement
--linguists, agronomists, sociologists,
understand that most of them serve double duty as
part-time teachers. Since we have few such
experts on this ship, our curriculum is
narrower."
When he said the name Picard, Troi sensed
a flash of anger from him, though not a trace of
it showed in his voice or on his face.
Jean-Luc will be happy to know his affections
are returned, she thought wryly.
When they reached the area set aside for a
school, Deanna found out just how different the
curriculum was from that aboard the Enterprise.
She saw children of all ages being drilled in
Latin and English--and demonstrating, from an
early age, impressive proficiency in
both. She saw history classes, which
concentrated on the history of Magna Roma,
with special emphasis on the
prerepublican empire. She noted that they
covered Federation history quickly and in little
depth. Engineering--technology of all sorts
--was drilled into the students, but basic
science seemed to be given short shrift.
Then they moved on to observe
physical-education classes. The training here
was rigorous and unforgiving. Troi winced as she
saw even small children suffer painful falls or
blows from classmates--and then continue as if
nothing had happened, stoically enduring their pain.
On Sejanus' face she caught a look of
pride.
From puberty up, physical education became
indistinguishable from military training. And
Starfleet regulations would have nothing to say about
any of this, she realized presumably the
government of Magna Roma told Sejanus
how to run the civilian community aboard his
ship. How many of the details did that government
know, though?
As they left the school area, Sejanus
remarked, "Now you can see why we don't
really have human engineering problems on this ship.
Magna Roman tradition--discipline. Those
are the answers. To my mind, the school is the
most important place on the ship. Children are
the future of the Roman nation, of course. I
take great pride in their achievements--almost as
much as I do in the achievements of my crew."
Of course, Deanna thought. And do
all your crew have to undergo the kind of training these
children do?
Would Jenny de Luz have to?
She and Sejanus made small talk at
one another all the way back to the
transporter room.
"I've enjoyed your company tremendously,
Counselor," he said. "I hope to see more of
you soon." He took her hand and kissed it.
There was no doubt at all in Deanna's
mind about what Sejanus meant by that. She
nodded, and stepped up onto the transporter
platform. "And I hope to find out more about you,
Captain--soon."
Sejanus looked slightly disturbed as she
dematerialized.
Deanna went directly to the ready room,
where Captain Picard was waiting for her, hands
clasped behind his back as he paced in front
of the great window that dominated the room.
"Your impressions, Counselor."
"As we knew, Captain, the Centurion
is a very different ship, run quite differently from
this one. It is much more ... military, and there
is a great deal of emphasis on maintaining
Magna Roman values."
Picard chose his words carefully. "An
... unacceptable emphasis?"
Deanna sighed heavily. "No, sir.
Everything was in order ... and yet I must tell
you that I now feel your suspicions of
Sejanus are justified. He is not
what he seems, sir."
Picard leaned against the glass, resting his
head on a clenched fist. "Then what is he?"
Deanna shifted uncomfortably, sensing her
captain's frustration. "That, I cannot be sure
of, sir--not without another visit."
The door chime sounded.
Picard turned. "Come."
Data was standing in the doorway.
"I have the information you requested on the Vol-
cinii gens, Captain," the android said.
Picard fell into his desk chair,
suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of fatigue.
"Go ahead, please, Mr. Data.
Counselor, stay," he told Deanna.
"You'll be interested in this too."
The android cleared his throat--purely a
theatrical gesture, a deliberate imitation
of human speech patterns, Picard was
convinced--and said, "You were quite correct,
Captain, about the word "gens." As in
ancient times, it still refers to a clan, a
group of families, the heads of each of which
claim descent from a common ancestor--in this
case, presumably someone named Volcinius,
who may or may not have been a real
historical figure. The parallels with the
clan structures in ancient times on other
Federation worlds are intriguing," he continued,
warming to his subject. Then he caught sight
of Picard's expression and said, "However, this
is not the proper time or place to pursue them.
"The Volcinii gens wa s a patrician
family during imperial times, and quite powerful.
Moreover, they were steadily building their wealth
and political influence. Had the old empire
continued, they might well have managed to put one
of their own members on the throne in time."
"They must have been unhappy to see the
empire fall, then," Deanna remarked.
"Actually, they had prepared themselves quite well
for that possibility. Although they could hardly have
foreseen the events which precipitated the fall
of the empire and the establishment of the present
republic, they had long maintained good
contacts with all parties, including the
democratic forces which took over when
Proconsul Claudius Marcus and his
puppet, the last emperor, were overthrown.
Early in the revolution, the
Volcinians threw in their lot with the
revolutionary army."
As Picard already knew, the fall of the
empire was the direct result of the visit
to Magna Roma--or planet 892-IV
--of an earlier USS Enterprise. The
proof that there were other worlds where sanity ruled rather
than brutality, emboldened the democratic
revolutionaries and, five years later, led
to the collapse of the imperial government.
Soon afterward, the newly established
Republic of Magna Roma joined the
Federation.
"How long has it been since the revolution
on Magna Roma, Data?" Picard
asked.
"About seventy years, sir."
"And during that time, surely the Volcinians
haven't been able to retain the power and influence
they had in the old times--even with their supposed
sympathy for democracy."
"I believe the new republican
government shared your skepticism about the
Volcinians' sincerity, sir. The gens was
steadily excluded from governmental positions,
and the electorate did not treat Volcinians
kindly when they ran for office. However, time
is a great healer of painful memories, and the people
of Magna Roma inevitably forgot the
important role the Volcinians had played
in the oppressive government of imperial
times."
Picard nodded. "How closely is
Captain Sejanus connected to the gens at
this point in time?"
"I do not know, sir."
"Speculate, then."
"Very well," Data said. "The presence of
Marcus Julius Volcinius aboard the
Centurion, even in an advisory role,
suggests that the gens is very much aware of every
move Sejanus makes."
"And possibly guiding his actions?"
"No, sir," Data said. "We are too
far away from Magna Roma for such communication
to be efficient."
Deanna nodded. "But certainly, as
Sejanus' reputation grows--"
"So does that of his family." Picard
stood and began pacing. "What if he
plans to put the Volcinii gens back in
power?"
"They will all have to be elected by the Magna
Romans, Captain," Deanna pointed out.
"Just being related to Sejanus won't get them
into office."
"Perhaps Sejanus' goal is not
political office for the gens, sir,"
Data said, "but for himself."
Picard stopped pacing. Even in
democratic nations, successful generals had
come home from war to public acclaim and
electoral success. Was that the path Captain
Lucius Aelius Sejanus intended
to follow?
He turned to the window again. Somewhere out there were
the two M'dok ships--and Captain
Sejanus and the Centurion.
What, indeed, were any of them planning?
"What do you want me to do, Jenny?"
Gaius asked, a slight annoyance creeping
into his voice. "I have neither the authority nor
the desire to countermand the captain's override
of the safety interlock."
"But, Gaius, it's not right for people to die!
It's only an exercise!"
Gaius shook his head. "It's not that
simple, Jenny. Soldiers don't take the
simulated exercises seriously enough if they know
they're not in any real danger. They're too
casual about the whole thing. Then, when they find
themselves in a real situation--"
"I know that argument," Jenny interrupted.
"I've heard it from you before. I don't buy
