Текст книги "The Sundered"
Автор книги: Andy Mangels
Соавторы: Michael Martin
Жанр:
Научная фантастика
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Bathed in the faint light given off by the transporter’s targeting scanners, Jerdahn turned the weapon over and over in his large hands, studying it cautiously, as though it were a poisonous snake. She’d remembered then that he’d been on the wrong end of just such a weapon fairly recently.
“I will be prepared,” he said simply, lowering the weapon to his side.
A short time later, and with some assistance from Jerdahn, Burgess locked onto the Neyel vessel’s commander. A few seconds later, Drech’tor Joh’jym’s tall, powerful form began shimmering into existence on one of the two transporter pads located in the shuttle’s aft section.
Joh’jym touched his chest to make sure he was still in [332] one piece, then cast his startled eyes about the shuttlecraft’s interior. Finally, his keen gaze lit upon Jerdahn and Burgess, whom he recognized immediately despite the darkness.
“Why have you brought me here?”
Burgess rose, smiling. “I wish to invite you to a ... diplomatic meeting. I regret that I’ve been forced to use such extraordinary means.”
The drech’tor’s voice was a low growl. “You’re trying to force me to parley with the Devils. Haven’t you listened to anything I have said about them?” Then she saw a flash of movement in the near-total darkness as he lunged toward her.
Before Burgess could react, Jerdahn fired the phaser. He ended up having to repeat the procedure three times before his superior finally slumped insensate to the deck. Then, with surprising gentleness, Jerdahn carried the unconscious Joh’jym to a starboard-side seat and fastened him there with restraints he jury-rigged by taking apart one of the safety harnesses.
While Jerdahn secured Joh’jym, Burgess activated the next set of preentered commands. The Gengiresponded by passing the Neyel vessel and tracing a long ellipse back toward the Jeb’v Tholis.According to the readouts, the shuttle was approaching the Tholian flagship at high impulse speed, while running a gauntlet that consisted of at least three dozen other armed Tholian vessels.
How much longer will our small size and lack of running lights protect us?she wondered uneasily, now that the Genjihad flown clear, of the planet’s shadow.
Burgess was momentarily startled by the crackle of a forcefield behind her. Aware that she couldn’t see it in the darkness, she didn’t bother turning to look at it. Instead, she glanced at a glowing console before her and quickly confirmed that the entire aft portion of the cabin—the section that lay beyond the forcefield—was now hermetically sealed off from the forward section, as per her plan.
“Pressure and temperature are rising in the aft section,” [333] she told Jerdahn. “My board shows an N-class atmosphere forming behind the barrier.”
Jerdahn grunted. “I will not raise an objection if our next ‘guests’ are made comfortable.”
So Jerdahn had a sense of humor after all. Perhaps a human heart truly didbeat beneath that gray, sequoialike exterior. She grinned in the darkness, which was gradually being suffused by a gentle, oven-like light coming from the superheated atmosphere trapped behind the forcefield.
Perhaps two minutes later, the wedge-shaped Tholian flagship loomed before them, looking as large as a mountain. Just as it seemed that a crash was inevitable, either Jerdahn or the navigational computer—Burgess wasn’t sure which—veered off from a direct collision. A bright pyrotechnic shower became visible through the forward windows as the shuttle’s shields intersected with those of the Jeb’v Tholis.
An amber light flashing on her console told her that it was time to activate the transporter scanners. They’vegot to know we’re herenow, Burgess thought as she searched the Tholian vessel for her two Tholian targets. Ambassador Mosrene’s profile was already stored in the transporter computer’s active memory, so the system established a stable lock on him almost immediately. The display indicated that Mosrene and his diplomatic retinue were still aboard Yilskene’s flagship, apparently ensconced in VIP quarters well away from the warrior-caste Tholians who comprised the bulk of the crew of the Jeb’v Tholis.
Unfortunately, Admiral Yilskene was proving somewhat more difficult to track down. Since he had never beamed aboard Excelsior,Burgess hadn’t been able to upload a copy of his sensor profile to the Genji’scomputer. But she knew that all she had to do was scan for Captain Sulu. By now, the captain should be in the midst of his ill-advised duel against the Tholian admiral. And unless Sulu was already dead, [334] whichever Tholian life-sign registered as closest in proximity to him had to be Yilskene’s.
There!Recognizing Sulu’s distinctive human signature—he was the only human aboard the Jeb’v Tholis,after all—Burgess quickly established a lock on the Tholian signature nearest to him and entered the “energize” command for both Yilskene and Mosrene.
Then Burgess turned toward the figures that were taking shape within the forcefield barrier. She felt ready to face the greatest challenge of her diplomatic career.
Then, seeing by the dull glow of the confined Tholian atmosphere, she counted the figures who now stood disoriented behind the energy barrier.
There were three.
“Oh, crap,” she whispered.
Chapter 30
Sulu’s lungs felt as though they were on fire from the noxious gases, and the heat leaking into his suit was burning his skin as well. As Yilskene charged, Sulu parried the blow, ducked, and sidestepped. The momentum of his charge carried the scorpionlike Tholian warrior past Sulu and to the other side of the room, but not before Sulu’s blade tagged the Tholian’s shield again.
Setting his blade down so as not to slice himself with it, Sulu quickly pulled an adhesive emergency patch from the forearm pocket of his environmental suit. Applying it to the tear across his chest, he could feel immediately that the leak had been plugged.
But before he could purge the suit, Yilskene was back on the attack, lunging with his monoblade raised high. Sulu scrambled to recover his own blade, and just barely saved himself with a parry-sixte-and-disengage that would have done the StarfleetAcademy fencing team proud.
Sulu feinted, lunged, and smacked Yilskene’s shield, almost disarming him a second time. While Yilskene recovered, Sulu hit the purge button on the suit’s belt, and was immediately rewarded with an invigorating blast of cool air. He still felt sick to his stomach, but at least he was no longer in immediate danger of toxic poisoning.
[336] Sulu repeatedly advanced, feinted, advanced, retreated. Yilskene matched most of his movements with surprising grace, though the admiral’s heavy crystalline body couldn’t quite keep up with Sulu’s speed.
Yilskene lunged again, and Sulu parried, then leapt to the side and riposted. Yilskene barely caught the blow with his shield. Our energy shields have each taken about the same amount of punishment,Sulu thought, wondering whose shield would fail first.
He hoped he could persuade the Tholian to at least call it a draw before both shields were exhausted, leaving “kill-or-be-killed” combat as the only other option.
Tuvok noticed an alarming change in the readings. “Commander, Captain Sulu’s suit has been breached.”
Chekov visibly blanched, and his finger hovered over the communicator on the chair arm. It was an unnecessary action, Tuvok knew, because the comm channel to the transporter room was already locked open.
“Is hehurt or is it just the suit?” Chekov asked.
“Biomonitors still show strong life signs, sir,” Tuvok replied. “But he could easily have sustained a life-threatening injury already.”
Chekov’s leg bounced quickly. Tuvok had seen the commander exhibit this particular nervous tic before during times of high stress. Clearly, this was such a time.
The voice of Ensign Prager came over the comm. “Should I beam him back now, sir?”
The readings on Tuvok’s monitors suddenly changed again. “Sir, the suit has been stabilized.”
The commander let out an audible sigh. “Good. That means he really is alive and kicking.” To the comm, he added, “Stand by, Ensign.”
All at once, it seemed to Tuvok that again, the captain was about to triumph in spite of having gone about his [337] mission in a highly unorthodox, utterly illogical manner. While he was gratified that the captain was evidently doing as well as he was in an extraordinarily unfavorable situation, Tuvok simultaneously found himself experiencing an uncomfortable sensation akin to frustration. He wondered why the captain bothered to consult him when he routinely refused to avail himself of his advice.
I simply have a fundamentally different approach to problem-solving than do most of the humans in Starfleet,he realized with the clarity of an epiphany. Mother and Father were wrong after all. I do not belong in Starfleet.
The moment was manifest. He had not experienced such hyperlucidity since the tal’othritual he had undertaken at the age often.
I do not belong here.
It was not an emotional thought born of fear or nerves or pride. Nor was it some residual shadow of the memories the Tholian ambassador had passed to him. Somehow, he knew that he responding to the cold, clear voice of logic itself.
I do not belong here.
Sulu lunged again. Then, as Yilskene attempted to parry, Sulu brought his blade around in a semicircle, redoubling his attack. His blade grazed Yilskene’s body, chipping off a swatch of crystalline hide. A viscous, turquoise liquid seeped from the wound.
Sulu was winded now, but even as his body became more tired and his muscles fairly screamed for rest, he felt a state of calm enveloping him. The blade had become almost an extension of himself, its movements as natural as those of his arms and legs.
Yilskene had landed several more blows on Sulu’s shield, but Sulu had matched his opponent strike for strike. The Tholian’s shield had to run out of energy soon.
Still, Sulu remained wary. In fencing tournaments, he [338] had sometimes allowed pride to lull him into a false sense of security, and that had been his downfall. More than once he had been defeated by overcommitting to his attack, or by allowing his opponent’s retreat to force him into chase and overextension, leaving him off-balance and vulnerable.
Here he could afford to make no such mistakes. Luckily, even as he became cooler and more controlled in his attacks, Yilskene seemed to become steadily more frenetic, even vicious.
Another thrust from Yilskene. Sulu parried and riposted. The admiral counterparried, then lunged again. Sulu again ignored the fact that a giant crystalline scorpion was angrily charging him, and met the blade with his own. Sparks skittered across the whisker-thin blades as they struck each other. Sulu used Yilskene’s momentum to trap the Tholian’s blade, forcing Yilskene to disengage.
Sulu pressed forward, and Yilskene brought his shield to bear yet again. Sulu slashed at it, prompting Yilskene to retreat shouting a Tholian curse.
Sulu advanced and feinted, then feinted a second time. As Yilskene attempted to block the initial false thrust, Sulu swung his blade around, knocking the Tholian’s weapon from his grasp.
For a moment, neither of them moved. Yilskene’s blade skittered onto the floor near him, slicing a long trench in the hard black floor before it came to rest. The Tholian stooped in an effort to regain his weapon.
“Admiral Yilskene, it appears that I have disarmed you,” Sulu said, watching Yilskene stop in his tracks. “Though it is my right in this ritual to kill you, I choose notto exercise that right. It does not serve my needs to do so, nor does it serve the good of either the Tholian Assembly or the United Federation—”
As Sulu spoke, a familiar shimmering light began to envelop Yilskene.
[339] Dropping his weapon, Sulu leapt toward the admiral, even as his foe began to dematerialize.
“Where have they gone?” Taskene asked, running to the room’s empty center.
Crellene, Yilskene’s weaponskeeperlooked back at Taskene, her eyespots glowing a distressed purplish hue. “They’ve been taken!”
Taskene passed a claw over the crystal outcropping on a nearby bulkhead. She knew that sounding an alarm was likely unnecessary—the truthcombathad been broadcast, via the Lattice, to every ship in the fleet—but she knew that it was her duty to sound an alarm just the same.
A moment later her consciousness entered the SubLink of the Lattice. It was a cacophony of bright noise, with many minds conversing at once.
The consensus was rage at the perfidious Federation starship, whose transporter beam was the only possible culprit. In its reflexive, collective anger, the Lattice very nearly directed a devastating attack on Excelsior.
But Taskene and many others realized that such an attack would have killed Admiral Yilskene.
The Lattice’s consensus quickly shifted from rage colors to hues of patient, vigilant waiting.
But Taskene knew that the colors could easily shift again should the waiting last too long.
Yilskene’s memories will survive within the Lattice, should the admiral die aboardExcelsior, rang the rapidly darkening thoughts of Benrene [The Gray]. Taskene saw/heard other voices, members of various castes, flashing colors of agreement.
Suddenly, an alien gleam entered into the SubLink unbidden, and another bedlam of bright sounds and stentorian light assaulted the Lattice. When it receded, the SubLink’s contact with Mosrene’s mind had become strangely muted [340] and misdirected, just as had occurred with Admiral Yilskene moments earlier.
Reacting to this new violation, the Lattice’s colors shifted yet again toward passion and wrath.
Chekov saw Akaar looking up from his monitors. Alarm not only showed on the Capellan’s face, but was clearly audible in his voice as well. “Captain Sulu and Admiral Yilskene have just been beamed off of Yilskene’s flagship!”
Chekov swiveled in his chair. “By whom?” He directed his voice to the comm. “Transporter Room, have you beamed back the captain?”
“No, sir.”Ensign Prager sounded surprised.
His mind racing, Chekov turned back toward his science officer. “Where did that transporter beam originate, Mr. Tuvok?”
The Vulcan tapped his fingers nimbly over his console, his eyebrows knotted in deep concentration. “I am still attempting to determine that, sir. Scans show that the beam did not come from any of the Tholian vessels.”
“What about Oghen’s Flame?”Chekov asked.
“Negative,” Tuvok said. “The Neyel vessel possesses no such technology. And the pattern of the beam is consistent with those of Starfleet transporters.”
“Contact Yilskene’s ship,” Chekov said to Rand.
Rand turned, a hand on her earpiece. “They’re hailing us,sir.”
“On screen.”
The image on the main viewer shifted again, displaying a Tholian whom Chekov didn’t recognize. “Your actions have violated thetruthcombat,” the creature said. “You will be destroyed.”
Before Chekov could respond, the screen went blank.
“Shields to maximum! Red Alert!” Chekov said. “Hail the Neyel ship.”
The angry image of Oratok, Joh’jym’s visor, appeared on [341] the viewer. “Commander Chekov, where has Drech’tor Joh’jym been taken?”
Chekov barely had time to register surprise when Tuvok spoke up again. “Commander, I have located the source of the transporter signal. It is coming from one of our own shuttlecraft. And I am detecting the captain’s transponder there as well.”
Great,Chekov thought, putting aside his initial shock that somebody could take a shuttlecraft without, being noticed. And with the shields raised I can’t just beam everyone off the shuttle.
“The shuttlecraft is refusing my hails,” Rand said.
“Several of the nearest Tholian ships are powering up their weapons,” Akaar reported. “As is Oghen’s Flame.”
Chekov’s mind whirled. “Get me whoever’s in charge of Jeb’v Tholisand Oghen’s Flame,” he shouted to Rand, preparing to talk faster than he ever had before.
Chapter 31
Somewhat disoriented, Sulu rose from where he’d fallen when the transporter beam released him. Except for the faint glow coming from the superheated air around him, he was in darkness. Standing in his damaged, hurriedly patched environmental suit, he tried to get his bearings.
Then he noticed that the light levels all around him were quickly rising, and within moments had reached full illumination.
Beside him stood Admiral Yilskene and Ambassador Mosrene. Despite their expressionless faces, Sulu gathered that they were both at least as confused as he was.
Then he heard the voice of Ambassador Burgess. “It’s good to have the lights turned up again. There doesn’t seem to be much point in stealth anymore. Everyone knows what we’ve done by now. We’re committed.”
Sulu turned and saw that Ambassador Burgess and Jerdahn were both watching him from the cockpit of one of Excelsior’sshuttlecraft. A flashing light on a forward corn-panel, indicating an incoming hail, was being ignored. Jerdahn was holding a Starfleet-issue phaser. And a semiconscious Neyel military officer—Sulu recognized him immediately as Drech’tor Joh’jym—was strapped to a chair near the boundary of a forcefield, which Sulu surmised [343] must be maintaining a separate atmosphere suitable for the Tholians.
What the hell is going on here?
Sulu was relieved to learn that the Tholian military caste apparently wasn’t as keen on assassinating higher-up as were their diplomats. So far, the Tholian ships visible through the forward windows hadn’t opened fire on the shuttle. However, several of them displayed dully glowing weapons tubes, apparently making ready to vent some wrath. They must be taking aim atExcelsior, he thought, chilled.
Sulu’s gaze fell back upon Burgess, and his anger swiftly rose to a flash point. She’s finally crossed the line. Now I’m party to three kidnappings. And worse, she may have just touched off a three-way interstellar war.It would matter little to Starfleet Command and the Federation Council that she had acted both behind his back and without his knowledge. As commander of Excelsior,he was responsible for the actions of everyone aboard his ship.
With an extreme effort of will, he reined in his anger, keeping his deep voice as level as he could manage. “You’ve got some serious explaining to do here, Ambassador.”
“Isn’t my purpose obvious, Captain?” she said. “I’m trying to broker a peace between parties who’ve so far proved reluctant to talk.”
“By abductingthem? Listen to me, Aidan. You’re about to throw your whole career away.”
Her eyes narrowed. “This isn’t about my career. Or yours. It’s about a war between the Tholians and our own distant relatives. That war will inevitably drag Earth into it as well. Unless we act now to prevent it. We haveto get a dialog going between influential parties on both sides. By whatever means are at hand.”
“This certainly isn’t the way, Ambassador.”
“And a swordfightwas?”
“The truthcombatwould have settled everything without [344] bloodshed. You may have just tossed that out the airlock. Congratulations, Ambassador.”
Coming from behind him, Yilskene’s deep, multilayered voice interrupted Burgess’s reply. “This display is a farce.”
Sulu turned to face the admiral. Ambassador Mosrene, who stood beside him, seemed content simply to watch and listen.
Yilskene continued speaking before Sulu could respond. “Though you would pretend otherwise, Captain, your deceit is apparent. First, you ally yourselves with our most deadly enemies,”—he pointed a claw toward Jerdahn and Joh’jym—“all the while denying it. Then you conspire with those same enemies to obtain rescue from a lawful truthcombat.”
Sulu decided he had finally reached his threshold for sanctimony. “What exactly does combat have to do with truth?” He was acutely aware of how easily Yilskene could kill him simply by ripping the patch from the front of his damaged suit. Though he could have backed away another meter toward the atmospheric forcefield, he stood his ground.
“Whatever deceptions you have attempted, human,” the Tholian admiral said at length, “I grant that you have courage.”
Sulu met Yilskene’s gaze unflinchingly. “I’ll admit that I wasn’t completely candid with you in the beginning. I didorder Excelsiordeep into your territory without your government’s authorization. But it was only to discover whether or not your Neyel adversaries might pose a threat to us. And I neither ordered nor approved your abduction.”
Mosrene turned toward Yilskene, looking like a stone gargoyle that had suddenly come to life. “I believe the human is being truthful. Ambassador Burgess has exceeded her authority before.”
“The captain istelling you the truth,” Burgess interrupted. “And to demonstrate mygood faith, I will agree to return you both to your flagship—on two conditions.”
At that moment, some of the Tholian vessels that had [345] charged their tubes loosed their volleys of directed energy, split seconds apart.
“Excelsiorhas sustained a number of hits,” Jerdahn said calmly, looking down at a tactical display on the console before him. “But I perceive no serious damage.”
Her shields are holding,Sulu thought, his fists clenching involuntarily. For now.
He glared at Burgess. “You have no right to strike bargains that affect the safety of my ship, Ambassador. I want you to let them go now.Along with the Neyel commander. As a show of mygood faith.” Sulu reasoned that Yilskene didn’t really want to kill him, or his crew. After all, the admiral had just walked away from an easy opportunity to simply rip open his environmental suit.
“I don’t answer to you, Captain,” Burgess said, her green eyes blazing. “And I’m holding all the cards right now.”
Sulu glared silently at her, forced to admit that she was right, at least for the moment. There was nothing he could do except wait for an opportunity to gain control of the situation. And hope that she didn’t bury them all in the meantime.
“Name your terms,” Mosrene said.
“One,” Burgess said, holding a finger aloft. “You both must agree to allow me to mediate a provisional truce between your forces and those of the Neyel commander, Drech’tor Joh’jym. And two, Admiral Yilskene must allow Excelsiorand the Neyel vessel safe passage back to their respective territories.”
“You ask much, human,” Mosrene said.
“I ask you to consider a way to avoid an unnecessary war. You may destroy Excelsiorand the Neyel vessel today. And they will be but the first small stones that will start the rock-slide of war tomorrow. And that, I fear, will crush us all.”
Several long, tense seconds passed while the Tholians turned toward each other, evidently conferring via the wordless ether of the Lattice. Sulu wondered if Yilskene was also [346] simultaneously relaying orders to his crew in the same manner.
Finally, Yilskene turned to face Burgess, his rock-hard features unfathomable. But the universal translator picked up the anger in his voice. “Regarding your first demand: I presently have no alternative other than to listen to your words. My response to your second demand will be contingent upon their persuasiveness.”
And with that, the admiral sat on the deck, suddenly becoming as motionless as a garden gnome. The Tholian ambassador followed suit.
Well, Scheherazade,Sulu thought. We’ll get to continue breathing for about as long as the sultan likes the tale you’re about to tell.
Turning to face Burgess again, he said, “Looks like it’s your play, Ambassador. You’d better make it good.”
Sulu heard Joh’jym groan, and saw that Jerdahn was rousing him with repeated percussive slaps to the face. Still tied to his chair, the Neyel commander lolled his head and blinked in the bright cabin lights as consciousness returned more fully.
“Jerdahn? What is this?” he said, looking around the shuttle. His speech was slurred, no doubt a residual effect of the phaser Jerdahn still held in his hand.
“Drech’tor,” Jerdahn said to his superior. His tone was respectful, though Sulu noticed that he hadn’t lowered his phaser. “I have helped to arrange a parley with our adversaries. I regret that circumstances prevented speaking to you about it in advance.”
Joh’jym tugged at the tough crash harness that had been wound around his body to secure him to the chair. “So you say, Subaltern. But your abducting and confining me inspires little confidence.” The commander of Oghen’s Flamenodded toward the forcefield barrier, beyond which the two inert Tholians were clearly visible to him. “And how can [347] one converse with Devils who lack even the rudiments of language?”
Apparently, Yilskene was not nearly so inert as he appeared. “We have often asked the same question about yourspecies, biped. How is it possible for you to suddenly acquire the ability to produce intelligible speech?”
Burgess stretched her hands toward Neyel and Tholian alike. “We possess instantaneous translation technology. Neyel culture has nothing like it, and the Tholian equivalent evidently isn’t yet quite as developed as ours. It is my hope that our translator will provide the basis for creating a new understanding between your peoples and ours.”
Sulu began to feel an ember of hope burning within him. Perhaps there was indeed some method to Burgess’s madness after all. “Perhaps we should start by clearing up the most urgent of the misunderstandings that divide you.”
“Say on,” Yilskene said.
“I refer to the weapons which your adversaries claim you have deployed against them, from your colony world.”
Yilskene’s multilayered voice grew sharply discordant. “Weapons? The settlement contains only peaceful members of various lesser castes, mainly builders and engineers. As well as equipment designed to seal the interspatial rupture through which the aggressors attack us. Because this task is large, and the colony has run this equipment continuously over a period of many years. We no longer send ships to the OtherVoid.”
Burgess seemed to mull these facts over for a long moment before addressing the two Neyel. “I ask that you both consider the possibility that the damage the Tholians’ equipment has caused to Neyel worlds on the other side of the rift may be entirely unintentional.”
Joh’jym did not yet appear convinced. “You wish us to believe that the technology that has ravaged our worlds was [348] intended only to close the rift? How could all of the war and suffering we Neyel have endured since our first encounters with these Devils have been a mere accident?”
Burgess now seemed to be in her element. Choosing her words carefully, she said, “Centuries ago, my home planet was plunged into a global war because of the assassination of a single man. A crime, a mistake, if you will, that was allowed to engulf an entire world. War can be the ultimate mistake, the last in a long, dreary series of errors.”
Sulu thought he saw a subtle change in Joh’jym’s gray eyes. “If mistake it is, it is a mistake to which two civilizations have already committed themselves.”
“And both of those civilizations may cease to exist soon unless they both commit themselves to something nobler,” Burgess said.
“How?” Mosrene said, his choir of voices sounding infinitely sad. Sulu surmised that, because he was a diplomat, issues such as the expanding Tholian-Neyel conflict must weigh heavily on his soul. “How can we do that, once hide has been sliced and ichor has been drawn?”
“We can start,” Burgess said, “by examining and trying to put right all the mutual errors that have led us to the edge of this precipice.”
Jerdahn laughed, but without mirth. “There seem to have been many. Where do we begin?”
Burgess looked pained. She didn’t seem to have a ready answer. Sulu wondered if she was finally realizing just how enormous a task she had chosen to tackle. After all, even the Organians might have had some trouble sorting this situation out.
Sulu decided to jump in. “Let’s start with the way both of your species simply assumed that the other wasn’t even sentient. It seems to me this entire conflict was built on the assumption that the other side is an implacable foe that can’t be reasoned with. Maybe once the word gets out on both [349] sides that this isn’t so, everyone involved will have to reevaluate the idea of war. And put a stop to it.”
Silence reigned aboard the shuttlecraft for several minutes while everyone considered what had been said.
Then Mosrene spoke up, his chorus of voices far more pleasing and harmonious than before. “The Tholian Lattice has already been advised of what you and Ambassador Burgess have revealed to us today. Much will doubtless be reevaluated now, among allthe castes.”
“Do you think the Tholian Assembly’s government will consider not reactivating the damaged equipment on the colony?” Sulu said. “If you were to cease your recent efforts to close the interspatial rift, the Neyel might regard it as a real sign of good faith.”
“I can make no promises today,” Mosrene said. “But I believe the Great Castemoot Assembly can be swayed. I will advocate a cessation of all activity in and around OtherVoid as long as invader hostilities cease. But there is much work ahead.”
“I will authorize the release of Excelsiorand the other vessel,” Yilskene said. “As a gesture of good faith, the other vessel has my leave to enter OtherVoid to return home. Excelsiormust get under way on a heading for Federation space in one of your hours.”
Smiling, Sulu turned back to Burgess. “Then I think now would be an excellent time for anothershow of good faith, Ambassador. Don’t you agree?”
Burgess nodded, evidently aware that if Yilskene and Mosrene had really just made contact with the Tholian Lattice, then continuing to detain them in the shuttle wasn’t necessarily going to buy anyone’s safety. She entered a series of commands into one of the cockpit consoles, then bid the two Tholians good-bye.
After Yilskene and Mosrene had vanished from sight, Burgess set about pumping out the noxious, [350] Tholian-friendly atmosphere contained behind the forcefield barrier. Sulu glanced at his suit’s telltales and saw that it had only minutes of breathable air left, thanks to all the damage it had sustained during the truthcombat.
