by Martyr(Lit)
Boyajian suddenly looked up from tactical. "Lieutenant, she's coming out of warp."
"All departments report confirmation of yellow alert status," Lefler confirmed.
"Ship coming in at nine-hundred-thousand kilometers, bearing two-eleven mark three."
"Bring us about, Mister McHenry. Let's keep some distance between us," Soleta said.
"Aye, sir."
"Bridge to Ambassador Si Cwan," she added after a moment's consideration.
"Si Cwan here," came the brisk reply.
"Ambassador, your presence on the bridge would be most appreciated. We seem to have visitors."
"On my way."
The Excalibur angled out of orbit and came around to face the newcomer. The vessel's warp drive bubble evaporated as the ship entered normal space and came to a halt approximately 850,000 kilometers from the starship. The ship was pyramidal, powerful-looking, and half again as large as the Excalibur.
"Hail on all frequencies, Mister Boyajian," Soleta said, drumming her fingers gently on the armrest. "Let them know we're not out to start a fight."
"I am hailing them, sir, but they're not responding."
"That could be unfortunate." She leaned forward, studying the ship's configuration. Soleta was not entirely unfamiliar with Sector 221-G; she had spent some time exploring the once-Thallonian Empire at a time when outsiders were not only unwelcome, but more often than not, put to death. She had acquired some knowledge in her travels, and she had the suspicion that she recognized the ship's configuration. If she was correct, then the situation with which they were faced was a fairly incendiary one.
The turbolift doors hissed open and Si Cwan strode onto the bridge. Immediately his gaze went to the front screen, and he slowed to a halt. Then he spat out a word that Soleta immediately recognized as a rather extreme Thallonian profanity. "I take your reaction," she said slowly, "to be an indicator that our new arrivals are, in fact, who I think they are."
"The Redeemers," Si Cwan nodded. "Just what we needed."
"I take it that's not good," Lefler surmised.
"Not in the least. Boyajian, sensor scan?"
"They are heavily armed, Lieutenant. They have not as of yet activated their weapons array. Their shields are likewise in place."
"In other words, we're both suspicious, but neither of us wants to provoke the other."
"An accurate assessment, Lieutenant."
"Lieutenant, these are Redeemers we're talking about," Si Cwan told her. "They are missionary zealots, and if you do not accept their particular deity-Xant-then they will have no use for you."
"Meaning they'll leave us alone?" McHenry suggested optimistically.
"Meaning they will endeavor to blow us out of space," replied Soleta.
"Oh. Well, that's not quite as good."
"Let me try to talk to them. We've dealt with them before. The royal family has always managed to avoid Holy Wars with the Redeemers; perhaps I can continue our run of good luck."
"Be my guest, Ambassador," said Soleta.
"Put me on a hailing frequency," Si Cwan said to Boyajian, and when the latter nodded confirmation that he was on, Si Cwan said, "Attention, Redeemer vessel.
This is the Starship Excalibur. This is Ambassador Si Cwan speaking. Perhaps you remember me; you've had dealings with both myself, and my ances-
tors, for many years. We have always managed to have mutual respect for each other's concerns, and I see no reason that that has to change now. Please inform us of your concerns, and we will endeavor to answer them." He stopped and turned back to Boyajian. "Did they get that? Did they hear me?"
"I broadcast it, Ambassador," said Boyajian. "Whether they actually listened, I couldn't tell y-" Then he paused, checking the readings on his board.
"Lieutenant, we're getting an incoming hail."
"It would seem they indeed heard you, Ambassador," Soleta said. "Well done."
"Let us save the congratulations until we see whether they are saying anything we wish to hear."
"A valid point. Put them on, Mister Boyajian."
The screen rippled and, a moment later, the ebony face of a Redeemer appeared on the screen. He gazed at them with eyes that seemed to glow a deep and frightening red.
Lefler immediately felt a chill at the base of her spine. Her impulse was to look away, but she didn't want to appear weak or faint of heart. She glanced over at McHenry and took a small measure of comfort in seeing that he appeared to have the same reaction. It appeared as if McHenry would rather be looking anywhere else than directly at the viewscreen. But he couldn't take his eyes away from it: Not just out of a sense of duty, as was the case with Lefler, but also out of a deep fascination. He found the Redeemer just too compelling, in a negative away, to look away from him.
Soleta, for her part, remained impassive. As for Si Cwan, he had seen enough
Redeemers in his life not to be put off or intimidated by their frankly frightening air.
"I am Prime One," said the Redeemer. His voice was an odd combination of deep but brittle. "I am
second only to the Overlord in the Redeemer hierarchy."
"Greetings, Prime One," said Si Cwan. He made a small hand gesture that Soleta surmised to be some sort of ritual greeting. "We have not met, but I know of you. I am Si Cwan."
"I know of you, Thallonian. I have heard many positive things about you.
Also"-and his eyes seemed to glow more brightly-"some rather negative things."
"That is the way of all things, is it not, Prime One? Even in the light of Xant, there must be darkness."
Prime One inclined his head slightly to indicate that Si Cwan had a point. He glanced around the bridge from his vantage point. "We desire to speak to the captain."
"The captain is not available," Soleta said, rising from her chair. "I am
Lieutenant Soleta. You may address me in any matters pertaining to this vessel."
"Where is your captain? Where is the one called Calhoun? Is he on your vessel?"
"The captain," Soleta repeated guardedly, "is not available. If you have business, it can be discussed with me."
"Our business is not with you," Prime One said. "It is with Calhoun. The one whom those on the world below call 'Savior.' The one whose name and reputation spreads from one world to the next, like a plague."
"I'm not quite following," admitted Soleta.
Prime One let out an irritated sigh, as if he felt he was speaking to someone who wasn't worth the effort. "We have been preparing the worlds under our sphere of influence, plus other worlds that may be worth our while, to prepare for the return of Xant. Xant, the one true god. Xant, the one true Savior of all worlds."
"I see," said Soleta. "And why would this be pertinent to us?"
"Do not be coy with me, Vulcan. It ill befits you or your eminently logical kind. We both know that various planets-including, most conspicuously, the one directly below us-are espousing the opinion that Calhoun's arrival is tantamount to, and even more important than, the return of Xant. Calhoun is work-ing to supplant Xant's rightful place in the galaxy." "Captain Calhoun is doing no such thing," replied Soleta.
"We have information to the contrary," began Prime One.
But Si Cwan stepped in quickly before Prime One could continue. "Your information, I must tell you, is faulty," he assured Prime One. "I will grant you, the people of Zondar seem to have elevated Captain Calhoun to some sort of god-like status. But that was the decision of their world, and one that was not supported by Captain Calhoun himself."
"From our understanding, he presented himself as the Savior of Zondar."
"He was endeavoring to save a race from destroying itself," Si Cwan pointed out.
"Further, he presented himself as nothing. They believed him to be their Savior.
What matters what a race believes when one is trying to save it? You know of the civil war that grips the Zondarians."
"Yes, we were aware," said Prime One. "It was, and is, a tragic situatio
n that brother should slay brother." "You see, we are in agreement then." "About the situation, yes. But we had every inten-tion of attending to Zondar in our own way." That comment, and the implied threat, were unmis-takable. "Are you saying that you intended to... re-deem Zondar?"
"It was a planet ripe for redemption. And with the demise of the Thallonian
Empire, all agreements between ourselves and your family are, obviously, in abeyance."
"Even so," Si Cwan said, "you cannot feel that Mackenzie Calhoun has undercut the divine Xant simply because he was doing his job. He is here to help. To aid a belligerent people in setting aside their differences. What matter the method?"
"It matters to us," Prime One told him flatly. "What Calhoun has done is nothing less than pose a threat to the entire structure of the Redeemers. At least you
Thallonians did not trespass into the realm of the theological. Yours was a straightforward envi-ronment of warfare and business. You conquered and controlled, not out of a sense of divine right, but out of a belief in your own intrinsic strength. We believed" it to be shortsighted and limited, but it was a mind-set with which we could co-exist. Calhoun, on the other hand, is being perceived as some sort of Savior."
"Mackenzie Calhoun cannot control how he is perceived by others."
"Granted," said Prime One. "We, however, can."
McHenry turned to Lefler and in a very low voice, said, "I do not like the sound of that."
Nor did Si Cwan. "May I ask," he said slowly, "how you would propose to exercise that control?"
"By destroying both Calhoun and his vessel," said Prime One matter-of-factly.
And now Lefler murmured to McHenry, in an equally low voice, "Yup. That would do it."
Soleta now took a step forward before Si Cwan could reply. "I must warn you, sir, if you fire upon this vessel, we will take retaliatory action.
Further-more, bear in mind that this is a Federation starship. To fire unprovoked upon us is to risk direct confronta-tion with the Federation itself."
"Unprovoked?" Prime One retorted. "We have endeavored to save the souls of the races in this sector before your Federation had even assembled its meager membership. You come in here, on your supposed mission of mercy, when in fact the Redeemers consider it nothing less than trespass. And then to foist one of your own off as a major religious figure..."
"We have been over that, Prime One," Si Cwan said. "The primary mandate of this vessel is to save lives, and Captain Calhoun-"
"And our primary mandate is to save souls!" shot back Prime One. "And how is that to be accomplished if Xant is to return, only to discover that he has been forsaken in the name of some upstart Starfleet captain?! A world already lies in ruins because of him." "What do you mean?" "Alpha Carinae, Lord Cwan. The people there
came to believe in the influence of Mackenzie Calhoun. In so doing, they attacked and killed the High Priest of that world. You know the consequences of
such an act."
For a moment, Si Cwan felt the strength draining from his legs. He reached back and gripped the upper
rail behind him. Soleta looked to him questioningly,
standing with her back to the screen so that they had a
fraction of privacy despite the height difference be-
tween them.
"High Priests are equipped with a sort of fail-safe device," Si Cwan said, after he'd taken a moment to steady himself. "A particularly virulent strain of virus.
It's contained within their bodies, in a device that is keyed to the heartbeat of the priest. If the priest
is critically injured or killed-in short, if they die of anything save natural causes-the virus is released. Within seventy-two hours, no one is left alive on the
world."
Soleta's eyes went wide.
Si Cwan then looked to the screen, his face hardening. "And you would blame this
... this tragedy on Calhoun?"
"On whom else, Lord Cwan?" demanded the Prime One.
"On whom else? And on whom did you place the blame when there was revolt on Oxon
Three, eh? And your little plague-retaliation lay waste to that race? Or what about the brutal beating of a High Priest on Lesikor, eh? That time, you intervened quickly enough so that merely half the population of the planet was destroyed. And where was Calhoun then, eh? No, no, Prime One. Look elsewhere for your precious blame. Look to yourselves. Your converts balk against your restrictions and your oppression. They rebel against you. You try to redeem them when the only thing they need saving from is you yourselves! So if the people of
Alpha Carinae latched onto the legend building around Calhoun, what of it?
Sooner or later they would have seized upon someone or something else. They were not turning toward another. They were turning away from you, and that's the truth of it! Rather than seek out Calhoun to punish him for your own shortcomings and oppression, look on this as an object lesson in the danger of domination!"
Very quietly, Prime One replied, "I hardly think that you, of all people, are qualified to spout lessons on the danger of domination, oh fallen Lord Cwan."
Si Cwan's face darkened slightly, and he said, "Actually, I beg to differ. I think I am eminently qualified. After all, who knows better of the hazards of dictatorship than a fallen dictator?"
Through the distance of space, the two of them stared at each other for a long moment.
"Calhoun is no threat to you," Si Cwan said at last.
"Perhaps you are right," Prime One said.
Several members of the bridge crew let out sighs of relief.
"But then again, perhaps you are wrong," continued Prime One. "We cannot take that chance."
Boyajian looked up from his sensors. "Lieutenant, they're going weapons hot!"
"Red alert, sound battle stations," Soleta said, icy calm descending upon her.
She was now faced with a worst-case scenario, and she had absolutely no choice but to try and see it through. In a way, it was almost a relief. Now she knew what she had to face. "Prime One," she said as she took one more try at the screen, "I must warn you once more: We will defend ourselves if fired upon."
"I would hope so," replied Prime One.
"Calhoun is not aboard this ship!" Si Cwan called above the klaxon of the red alert. "You're accomplishing nothing!"
"The ship is doomed anyway, for we would hardly want the vessel of a martyred captain cruising the spaceways, spreading word of his great deeds," reasoned
Prime One. "If you are lying and the captain is on the vessel, then we have accomplished our mission. If not, and he is on the planet surface, then we will either redeem the planet or-if it is irredeemable- obliterate the populace as well. The infection of Calhoun worship will end, here and now. May Xant light your way to the next life." And the screen blinked out.
"At least he gave us his blessing," McHenry commented.
"Incoming!" called Boyajian. "High energy concentration plasma torpedoes! Locked on and tracking us!"
"Evasive maneuvers!" called Soleta.
And McHenry promptly slammed the Excalibur
into reverse.
At high speed, increasing with every moment, the Excalibur hurtled backward on full reverse thrust, the torpedoes in hot pursuit.
"Thirty thousand kilometers and closing!" called
McHenry.
"Locking on counters!" Boyajian said. "Keep us steady, McHenry! Just need another few seconds!"
"Maintaining course and speed!" "Counter torpedoes locked on! Firing!" Photon torpedoes leaped out from underneath the ship, hitting the plasma torpedoes squarely. The explosion rippled outward, but the Excalibur gracefully
sailed around it. "Redeemer vessel in pursuit," called Boyajian.
"Orders, Lieutenant?"
Soleta hesitated, unsure of exactly how to proceed.
And at that moment, she heard the hissing of the turbolift door and a strong, if struggling voice, say, "I'll take this one, Lieutenant."
&n
bsp; Everyone on the bridge turned and reacted with similar astonishment, except for
Soleta, who was well-trained enough to mask not only her surprise, but a vague sense of relief.
Shelby was standing in the doorway. She was still clearly injured, and she was laboring to keep herself standing. Skin grafts had been attached to replace the areas where her face and body had been lacerated, but the healing process had only just begun. Nonetheless, Shelby forced her legs to carry her forward.
