The Art of the Deal

by Glenn Greenberg

  Corsi was left with much to think about. Her skepticism about Portlyn remained—she’d learned long ago to always trust her first impressions about people and situations. But clearly there was another side to the tycoon. He personally saved the inhabitants of Vemlar and provided them with a future. In that sense, he was exactly the kind of person with whom the Federation should be doing business. Having come to that realization, Corsi felt a bit more enthusiastic about the Vemlar project and her role in it.

  As night fell on Vemlar, Sonya Gomez and some other members of the S.C.E.—including Stevens, Soloman, Abramowitz, and Blue—chose to remain on the planet overnight. For Gomez, it was out of a desire to feel more connected to Vemlar and the construction project, and to get used to the environment, since she was going to be spending a lot of time there for an extended period.

  In the aftermath of Galvan VI, Gomez was grateful for assignments like this and the responsibilities that came with them. She’d found that keeping as busy as possible was instrumental in getting her to move past the tragedy and the loss of Kieran Duffy, who gave his life to save the da Vinci on that fateful mission…and who had asked Gomez to marry him shortly before. Having a goal, focusing on it, working toward achieving it, helped to ease the pain and get her moving forward with her life.

  Guest quarters had not yet been set up, so Gomez and her companions had to camp out in Federation-issue tents and sleeping bags. They didn’t mind—they thought it could be a lot of fun “roughing it,” and even had marshmallows beamed down from the da Vinci for toasting later in the evening. But Gomez quickly discovered that not everyone shared that enthusiasm—starting with the da Vinci’s security chief.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to stay tonight, Domenica?” Gomez asked as she stood outside of her tent with Fabian Stevens and watched Corsi gather up her gear and prepare to beam back to the da Vinci.

  “I have some paperwork to catch up on, reports to fill out…” Corsi replied. That sounded like a lame excuse to Gomez. It was more likely that the notoriously no-nonsense Corsi just didn’t feel comfortable socializing with her crewmates in such a fashion.

  “C’mon, Dom, it’ll be fun,” Stevens chimed in cheerfully. “There’ll probably be a singalong and everything.”

  Corsi grimaced. “Was that supposed to be an enticement?”

  Suddenly, they were joined by Dr. Lense, who was carrying her own gear and looking eager to get back to the ship.

  “Not you too, Elizabeth?” Gomez asked with disappointment.

  “No offense, but given the choice, I’ll pick the relative comfort of my bunk over a sleeping bag any day. Besides, I spent enough time ‘roughing it’ during those weeks I was on that Shmoam-ag ship.”

  “But, Doc, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard my rendition of ‘Moonlight Bay,’” said Stevens.

  “Guess I’ll have to stay among the nonliving, but thanks,” Lense replied wryly.

  Corsi tapped her combadge. “Corsi to da Vinci, two to beam up.” A moment later, she and Lense were gone.

  “Their loss, right, Commander?” Stevens asked with a lopsided grin. “I’m going to go set up my tent. See you at the campfire!”

  As it got later into the night, with the campfire dying down and everyone’s voices hoarse from all the songs they sang together, the Starfleet engineers finally went to sleep. Gomez had fallen into such a deep slumber that she barely heard the beep of her combadge well past local midnight. But once it registered in her mind that the device was summoning her, she suddenly bolted up in her sleeping bag, wide awake, and reached over to tap it.

  “Gomez here,” she said, her voice dry and rough.

  “Gomez, it’s Captain Gold. Sorry to wake you.” His voice sounded serious.

  “No problem, sir. What’s going on?”

  “We picked up distress calls from two of Portlyn’s other properties in this system—a planetoid named Kalibiss and an asteroid called P-12. It seems that maintenance workers at both locations discovered activated time bombs.”

  “When are they set to go off?” Gomez asked, surprised by this news.

  “We’re not sure. The maintenance workers saw the bombs and fled to safety before contacting Portlyn. I spoke to him and offered our assistance, which he’s accepted.”

  Makes sense, Gomez thought. If there are time bombs needing to be deactivated, why turn down help from a ship carrying some of Starfleet’s best engineers?

  “What do you need from me, sir? Should I beam back up?”

  “No—I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone, and you’re needed on Vemlar to keep the project moving along. That’s why we’re here in the first place. But I’m going to need Stevens, Soloman, and Blue back aboard. The da Vinci is heading to Kalibiss and since we can’t be in two places at once, a second team will travel by shuttlecraft to P-12. Hopefully we can stop both of these things in time. I’ll be in touch when there’s something to report.”

  “Take whoever you need. And good luck, Captain.”

  “I hope we won’t need luck, but I’ll take it. Gold out.”

  Gomez sat in silence in her tent for half an hour before concluding there was no way she was getting back to sleep. She had too much on her mind. The da Vinci had already left orbit and was well under way by now. Who would plant time bombs? Why? Would the S.C.E. be able to stop them from detonating? Would her crewmates be all right? Her tent began to feel very small and cramped. It was still several hours before sunrise, but she decided to go for a short walk and get some air. Maybe that would help clear her head.

  Gomez wandered aimlessly until she walked up a hill and found herself overlooking the construction site for the main laboratory complex. This would be the center of everything on Vemlar, the point around which everything else revolved, once Portlyn’s operations were up and running. The lab would, for all intents and purposes, be the “heart” of Portlyn’s Vemlar. Gomez remembered what Stevens had said earlier, about all the amazing things that could potentially be created at this place in the future. She silently acknowledged that this facility could one day be one of the most important places in the galaxy.

  She walked down the hill to get a closer look at the building. Maybe she would see areas in which she could make suggestions for revisions and improvements once work resumed later in the morning.

  As she approached the building, she tried to keep her mind off the da Vinci’s dangerous mission and to stay focused on her own responsibilities. She did not expect the blinding flash of light that burst forth suddenly from the site. Or the searing heat. Or the deafening, thunderous boom.

  Then everything went black.

  Chapter

  4

  Captain’s Log, Stardate 54154.9:

  The da Vinci has arrived at Kalibiss, the location of Rod Portlyn’s warp engine manufacturing company. Lieutenant Commander Corsi, P8 Blue, and Soloman have beamed down to the operations center to examine and hopefully deactivate the bomb. I have been informed by the crew of the shuttlecraft Kwolek that they have arrived at asteroid P-12, which houses Portlyn’s robotics factory. Lieutenant Commander Tev, Fabian Stevens, and Deputy Security Chief Vance Hawkins are on site and conducting their own investigation.

  Captain Gold, seated in the captain’s chair on the bridge of the da Vinci, did not have long to wait before he heard back from the away team on Kalibiss. Corsi contacted him seven minutes after beaming down .

  “It looks like the bomb is set to explode in two hours, twenty-three minutes, sir,” she reported. “It seems we had plenty of time to get here.”

  “Fortunately.” Gold then thought for a moment. “Almost two and a half hours from now…that would be the middle of the night here. Who would be in the building at that time?”

  “No one, sir.”

  “So no one would be hurt or killed when the bomb detonated,” he pondered aloud.

  “Thoughtful terrorists—go figure.”

  “Corsi, how was the bomb discovered in the first place?”

&n
bsp; “A maintenance worker was cleaning the ground floor of the operations center for the evening. He heard a loud beeping that lasted about ten seconds. He was able to follow the beeping to its source—it was the bomb, planted inside a supply closet.”

  “So the bomb might never have been discovered if not for the noise. Any idea what the beeping was about?”

  “So far, Soloman and Pattie don’t believe it served any particular purpose. They think it might have been a minor design flaw in the bomb.”

  “A flaw that’s certainly seemed to work in our favor. Are we going to be able to defuse this thing?”

  Gold was answered by the voice of Soloman. “We are already finishing up, Captain. Pattie is just about to disconnect the final wire from the explosives.”

  Gold’s curiosity grew. “What kind of bomb are we dealing with here? Could it take out the whole site?”

  Now P8 Blue herself answered, though her voice sounded muffled. She was apparently working on the bomb as she talked. “It’s a fairly simple device, sir, although it seems well made, and I estimate it would cause a fair amount of damage if allowed to detonate.”

  “Okay. Just be careful, all of you. And good work.”

  The conversation was interrupted by a transmission from Tev on asteroid P-12. Gold anxiously opened the channel to hear the report from the da Vinci’s Tellarite second officer and S.C.E. second-in-command.

  “It turns out there was no need for urgency, Captain,” Tev told him. “The bomb is not set to detonate for another seven hours.”

  A theory immediately popped into Gold’s head. “At which point it would be the middle of the night cycle on the asteroid, and no one would be in the factory?”

  “Quite correct, sir. But most unusual was how the bomb was discovered. You see—”

  “Loud beeping?” Gold interrupted, his theory catching fire.

  Tev hesitated before answering. “Affirmative, Captain,” he said in a bemused voice. “As for the bomb itself, it is—”

  “A simple design and fairly easy to deactivate.”

  “Sir, would you like to give the report to us ?” Tev was clearly frustrated and confused .

  Gold chuckled. “Sorry, Tev. Needless to say, what-you’re telling me is not coming as a shock. Okay, you and Stevens finish deactivating the bomb. We’ll set up a rendezvous point to retrieve you.”

  “Aye, sir. We will contact you again once the bomb is neutralized. Tev out.”

  Gold’s mind was racing. Obviously the two incidents were linked. But what was all this about? Who was behind it? Why these targets?

  Before he could ponder these questions any further, the da Vinci received an emergency transmission, this time from Vemlar. It was Carol Abramowitz. Her image popped up on the main viewscreen, and Gold was struck by how shaken she looked. Her dark hair was a mess and her cheeks and uniform were covered with dust, dirt, and…was that blood?

  “Captain, we were attacked.” Abramowitz’s voice revealed her dismay, yet somehow remained controlled. “The main lab construction site was bombed! It’s completely demolished. Sir, Commander Gomez was in the vicinity when it happened.”

  “Dear God,” Gold muttered. Sonya Gomez just recently had a near-death experience, on the planet Teneb, and Gold’s first thought was that this time, her luck had run out. Maintaining his composure, he asked, “Is she all right? Is she…?”

  “Minor burns, slight concussion, some cuts and bruises. Luckily, she was far enough away that it wasn’t more serious. She’s resting right now, but she needs proper medical attention—I’ve just about used up my knowledge of first aid. The local Vemlarite physician is on his way to take over and get her to his hospital.”

  Gold was well aware that any Vemlarite hospital was downright primitive by Federation standards. “We’re on our way,” he assured Abramowitz. “Lense will take over as soon as we get there. Was anyone else hurt?”

  “None of us or Portlyn’s people, sir. No one else was at the site at the time of the explosion. But Portlyn’s security force chased down a suspect trying to leave the planet shortly afterward. Shots were exchanged, and the suspect’s craft was hit and crash-landed.”

  “What kind of shape is this suspect in?”

  Abramowitz frowned. “He sustained serious burns and extensive injuries, sir. He’s being taken to the hospital too, of course…but I’m not sure he’ll survive.”

  “Lense will be the judge of that,” Gold told her sharply. It then dawned upon him that this explosion on Vemlar happened in the middle of the night.

  “Abramowitz, this bomb wasn’t discovered ahead of time? There wasn’t any kind of loud beeping from it that could have led to its discovery?”

  “Not as far as I know, sir. If there was any loud beeping, I think it would have been heard by someone. The lab site was one of the busiest areas today until work ended for the night.”

  Gold nodded gravely. “Where’s Mr. Portlyn right now?”

  “At the construction site, assessing the damages. He’s extremely agitated, sir.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” Gold then turned in his chair to Lieutenant Anthony Shabalala, stationed at the tactical console.

  “Shabalala, contact the away team on Kalibiss. Tell them we need them back aboard. The second they’re done with that bomb, I want them beamed up.”

  “Aye, sir,” Shabalala replied. He began to send the call signal, but the captain was not finished.

  “Then, contact our team at P-12. Tell them that when they’re done there, they should head back to Vemlar on their own aboard the Kwolek.” Time was of the essence, and a rendezvous with the shuttlecraft would only slow the da Vinci down.

  Gold then turned in his chair again, this time to address his conn officer. “Wong, plot a course for Vemlar. Full impulse power, as soon as we’re under way.” At that speed, they would be back at Vemlar in less than an hour.

  “Course already plotted, Captain,” Wong replied.

  Gold smiled inwardly—he liked when his people showed that kind of initiative.

  “Captain,” Shabalala called from tactical. “The away team has just beamed aboard.”

  “Go, Wong,” Gold told the conn officer. He then turned his attention back to the main viewscreen, where Abramowitz’s face remained.

  “Abramowitz, we’ll be back as soon as possible. da Vinci out.”

  Gold felt the ship smoothly accelerate as it left Kalibiss behind. The situation had become very clear to him: the da Vinci had been lured away from Vemlar. The bombs on Kalibiss and P-12 were intended to be discovered, so that the da Vinci, the only Federation vessel in the region, would rush to deactivate them and therefore not be able to interfere when the true target was hit.

  So much for the reasonably easy mission.

  “He’ll probably live, but he may end up wishing otherwise,” said Dr. Lense, delivering to Captain Gold her report on the condition of the suspected terrorist. They stood side by side in the da Vinci’s sickbay, looking down at her patient, who was lying unconscious on a diagnostic bed within a sterile field. His burned and broken body was covered with a clear healing gel and wrapped in loose bandages.

  Lense looked exhausted. Six hours of nonstop emergency surgery and two and a half hours of intense post-op examination and research will do that to the hardiest of doctors, even one who was aided by her Emergency Medical Hologram.

  “Third-degree burns over eighty percent of his body,” she continued. “There are more bones broken than not. His vocal cords are destroyed—he’ll never speak again.”

  “Damn,” Gold muttered. “He’s our only link to the terrorists responsible for those time bombs and the explosion on Vemlar.”

  “Assuming he is a link,” Lense noted pointedly. “We don’t know that for sure. Innocent before proven guilty and all.”

  Gold nodded. “Is there any way we can determine his identity?”

  Lense frowned and shook her head. “Not at present. His fingerprints are completely burned away. And so far, th
ere are no DNA matches. Right now, I can’t even be sure what species he belongs to. His blood type doesn’t match anything in our database.”

  Gold let out a disappointed sigh. “All right, tell me about this chip you found.”

  Lense lifted up a small pair of tweezers that held a tiny metal square, no larger than a centimeter, in its prongs.

  “This was inside him, at the base of his skull. I’m not sure if it’s a computer chip, a transmitter, a receiver, a medical device, or a joy buzzer. Which is why I asked Soloman to join us. I figured with his ability to interface with computers, he could determine—”

  Suddenly, the doors to sickbay opened and the Bynar entered, looking very curious about why the doctor had summoned him.

  “Right on time,” she said, and handed the tweezers over to Soloman. “Here. Maybe you can make heads or tails out of this thing.”

  Soloman examined the chip closely, slowly cocking his head from left to right as if looking for an entry point. Finally, he placed his index finger against the chip and closed his eyes. He remained that way, completely motionless, for five minutes. Gold and Lense waited in silence until Lense yawned, plopped down in a nearby chair, folded her arms across her chest, and closed her eyes.

  “Wake me up when he opens his eyes,” she murmured.

  Three minutes later, Soloman did just that.

  “It took some time to familiarize myself with the device and determine how to tap into it,” he explained, the sound of his voice immediately waking the doctor. “However, I think I can safely say that this is a combination receiver and data storage unit.”

  “What kind of data is stored on it?” the captain asked.

  “I don’t know, sir,” the Bynar answered. “The data is in some sort of complex language or code with which I am totally unfamiliar.”