Текст книги "Open Secrets "

Автор книги: Dayton Ward

Соавторы: Kevin Dilmore
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Текущая страница: 2 (всего у книги 32 страниц)

One Year Earlier

1

All was silence in the Void.

Despite tireless searching, the Shedai Wanderer heard nothing, just as she had since arriving on the lifeless moon she now called home. How long had she been here, listening for the songs that logic told her might never come?

The Conduit that was part of this moon remained dormant. It, along with all of the others throughout the realm once ruled by the Shedai, was dead, as they had been from the moment the First World departed this dimensional plane, taking with it the Serrataal.Without energy and guidance channeled outward from the First World, the Conduit could offer her nothing. The vast technology and resources it commanded and which were embedded within the moon’s very core were inaccessible, protected by fail-safes that had activated the moment contact with the First Conduit was breached.

She was fortunate in that she had managed to traverse the immense distance separating this moon from the heart of the Shedai realm before all power was lost. Had that happened while she was still in transit, she likely would have been destroyed, crushed by the forces of space-time rushing in to fill the narrow gap forced open for only fleeting moments by the First Conduit. Despite escaping annihilation—at the hands of the Shedai Apostate and the collapsing Conduits—it had taken every bit of energy the Wanderer possessed simply to make her desperate, headlong journey to this desolate place. Now she was trapped here, powerless to do anything except search for any sign of her people while waiting for her strength to return.

And where was here?

Looking toward the stars, she saw the equally dead planet around which this moon orbited. It had taken her some time to sift through her memories and recall that this star system was among those most distant from the First World, near the outer periphery of what had been the vast realm once ruled by the Shedai. The Wanderer remembered with little interest that the barren world had once been home to a thriving civilization. For reasons she could not remember, the inhabitants had seen fit to exterminate themselves by means of a protracted conflict. Generations of unremitting warfare had destroyed both the people and the planet from which they had sprung. Whatever value the world might once have possessed had been lost long ago, first to violence and finally to time.

Wait…

Something touched the Wanderer’s consciousness, startling her from her ruminations, and it was an additional moment before she realized that the Conduit had called to her. No, she decided, that was not accurate. Turning her attention to the ancient construct, she confirmed that it remained inert. None of its power systems was active, though a closer inspection revealed that the Conduit had indeed received some kind of faint, erratic energy pulse. Had the Serrataalreturned already? She found that unlikely.

When another chime made its presence felt, this one just as faint as its predecessor, the Wanderer focused her mind on it, reaching out with her thoughts to grasp it. Fading into nothingness, it evaded her. Whatever she was sensing, it was far too weak and disjointed to have come from any Serrataal.This was something different.

Feeling new purpose resonating through her, she redirected her concentration, once again attempting to reach outward, toward the distant stars, seeking the source of this fleeting, mysterious contact. Even as her consciousness protested this new demand on her still-depleted strength and she registered yet another momentary hint of song emanating from the Conduit, instinct told her who was responsible for these startling new sensations.

Telinaruul.

Without the Conduit to guide her, the Wanderer was unable to determine from where the feeble signal had originated. Still, she was certain it came from one of the worlds that now seemed to be infested with Telinaruulwho bore little resemblance to those beings who once had been subordinate to the Shedai. While she and her people had spent that unmeasured period locked in slumber, their realm had been invaded by these inferior beings. At first, the Wanderer was convinced that the Telinaruulcould easily be punished for their impudence, either defeated in battle and run off or obliterated altogether.

That underestimation had nearly been her undoing during one encounter with them. On the barren, ice-covered world they had defiled with their very presence and upon which they had seen fit to plunder the Conduit erected there, the Telinaruulhad very nearly destroyed her. They possessed knowledge and technology far superior to what she remembered from before the long sleep that for so long had claimed the Shedai. While their abilities alone were insufficient to overcome the power she wielded, the Wanderer had come to realize that their intellect was not to be misjudged. She would not do so again. When next she encountered them, she would do so with all of the force she could bring to bear, leaving nothing to chance. She vowed that the Telinaruulwould be crushed.

For that to happen, she would have to escape this lifeless rock, which had become her prison.

Taking stock of her condition, the Wanderer knew that her strength was far from restored. Her escape from the First World had weakened her to a degree she had never before experienced. Even the encounters with the Telinaruulon other Shedai worlds that had left her depleted for reasons she still did not understand had not approached this level. In the time that had passed since her arrival here, she had recovered only a fraction of the energy necessary to escape this moon. Without the Conduits to aid and guide her, simply channeling her mind to listen for the songs was difficult. Any attempt to journey from the moon, even to the closest destination, would be an undertaking of such magnitude that the physical toll on her would be second only to the immense mental strain she would endure. Indeed, she knew the risks were so great that the passage might drive her to insanity, if she even survived at all.

None of this mattered, of course. Her loyalty to the Serrataaldemanded that she take whatever action was available to her. The Telinaruulmust be purged from all that once was Shedai. Once that was complete, the Enumerated Ones could return to their former glory.

The very thoughts, burning as they did in her mind, fueled the Wanderer’s emergent powers. Soon, she knew, she would be ready.

2

Briana Pham leaned back in her seat, feeling the vibrations of the Bacchus Plateau’s massive engines as the ship made the transition from warp speed to impulse power. The reverberations played across every surface of the compact bridge, rattling loose deck plates and even causing her coffee mug to tremble in the makeshift holder she had fashioned for it on her chair’s right armrest. Pham likened the shift to the vessel releasing a heavy sigh at the end of a protracted exertion. As always, she was unable to resist reaching out to give her helm console a reassuring pat.

“There, there, you big baby,” she said, her tone mocking. On the viewscreen before her, she watched streaks of multihued light recede to distant points against the impenetrable black curtain of space.

To her left, her copilot and second-in-command, Joshua McTravis, smiled and shook his head. “One of these days, you’re going to do that, and she’s going to buck you right out of that seat.”

“Maybe,” Pham replied as she reached up to brush a lock of her long black hair back from where it had draped across her eyes, “but not today.” She had no worries about the ability of the vessel to get her crew and her cargo wherever they needed to be, on time and in one piece. The ship had more than proven its mettle as part of her family’s deep-space transport business for four generations, benefiting from the loving care lavished upon it by engineers such as the two she currently employed as part of her crew. Compared with some of the longer hauls the Plateauhad endured during its many years of service, the three-month journey at warp five from Rigel X had been a walk in the proverbial park.

“Warp drive is shut down,” McTravis reported, sitting up in his chair and running his fingers across his own console. “We’re at point seven, passing through the fourth planet’s orbital plane.” He pointed to the trio of display screens dominating the section of console that sat between them. “Sensors show no other ship activity in the system, save for what look to be two transports in orbit above the colony.”

Pham nodded, satisfied. “That’s good to hear. Make our course for standard orbit.” Reclining in her seat, she allowed herself to relax, if only a bit. After the uneventful voyage from Rigel, Pham wanted nothing more than for the Plateauto complete its latest contract assignment with an equal lack of excitement. From what she knew of their current destination, the colony on Lerais II was less than a month old, but it already was expanding at a pace far greater than similar settlements spread throughout the Taurus Reach. Still in its infancy, the colony also had managed to escape the turmoil that had engulfed other planets in this region of space.

Thanks to subspace news feeds received while the Plateauwas in transit, Pham and her crew had read of Gamma Tauri IV's utter destruction at the hands of a joint bombardment carried out by Starfleet and Klingon vessels. According to the incredible story published by the Federation News Service, the order to annihilate the planet had come from the commander of the massive starbase constructed in the Taurus Reach in a bid to contain what had been described as a threat from an unknown species. By all accounts and according to the latest FNS reports, the potential threat to Federation security was on a scale unlike anything encountered in the history of human space exploration, dwarfing even the Earth-Romulan conflict of more than a century ago.

And yet here we are,Pham mused, flying head-on right into the thick of it.

The unsettling revelations that had come in the wake of the tragedy that befell the colony on Gamma Tauri IV, along with the other news of increased traffic by Klingon vessels throughout the region, had done little to assuage her unease about traveling through what might well be evolving into the epicenter for interstellar conflict. While the situation had been anything but tranquil from the outset—something Pham and her people knew firsthand from previous contracts with other Taurus Reach colonies—these latest developments were something else altogether. News disseminated via the FNS and messages received from other transport vessels traversing the region were saying the same thing: the Klingons were on the move, spreading out and tightening their grip.

With this in mind, she had discussed with the Plateau’s crew the possibility of abandoning their contract and reversing course. It was a notion with which she naturally disagreed, of course. Though born on Earth, she had spent less than a third of her life in her home country of Vietnam before following her father to space and eventually succeeding him as the Plateau’s master. Hard-won experience had taught her that uncertainty and even danger were occasional realities of the job, which was not to be abandoned in the face of adversity. Despite her own unwillingness to abandon the obligations to which she had committed herself and her ship, she knew she could not simply continue the voyage without giving her people opportunity to voice their concerns.

To a person, every member of the vessel’s company had rejected the notion of turning back. Like Pham herself, several of her shipmates had spent their entire lives in this business, following in the footsteps of several generations who had aided in the Federation’s expansion into even the minuscule portion of the galaxy that had been explored. For them, it was a simple issue: a contract was a contract.

Doesn’t mean we have to be stupid about it,Pham reminded herself. Let’s get this over with and get the hell out of here.

As if the Plateauitself might be agreeing with her, a green indicator light at the center of the navigation station began flashing in time to a steady, repeating beep. Reaching across his own console, McTravis touched a control, and the tone halted. He took a moment to study the array of gauges and readouts before clearing his throat.

“Entering standard orbit.” He tapped another series of buttons. In response, the image on the viewscreen shifted to that of a lush, green world. “There it is: Lerais II. Not a bad-looking planet, at least compared with some of the other dirtballs we’ve seen out here.”

Pham shrugged. “According to what I’ve read, this is one of the more promising candidates for large-scale farming.” Looking to the screen, she noted the layers of clouds obscuring portions of the planet’s four major landmasses and snowcaps highlighting both poles. “If the experts are right, in a couple of years, this planet might well find itself at the center of a whole new agricultural boom.”

“You sound almost envious,” McTravis countered, his tone teasing. “Thinking about staking a claim?”

Rolling her eyes, Pham could not resist a smile. This conversation, or some variant, echoed around the Plateau’s bridge whenever she voiced knowledge of or—heavens forbid—even interest in any of the numerous planets they visited, to the point where either she or McTravis could recite both sides of the discussion with the passion and verve of seasoned performers.

“I just might surprise you one of these days,” she said, in keeping with how the verbal volley usually ended. After all, both she and McTravis knew that making a home on some far-flung planet was an unlikely possibility for either of them, or most of the Plateau’s crew, for that matter. While Pham took every opportunity to enjoy the fresh air and unrestricted freedom offered by any port of call after a long voyage, like her longtime friend and partner, she was most at home in space.

Not that a decent nonreconstituted meal or a long, hot bath along with a bottle of wine won’t go unnoticed or unappreciated,she reminded herself. Those things and more awaited the crew on the planet below, but only after they handled the more pressing business. Get back to work.Leaning forward in her seat, Pham keyed the ship’s communications system and opened a standard hailing frequency.

“New Anchorage Control, this is the transport vessel Bacchus Plateau.We are entering standard orbit and are ready to receive landing instructions at your convenience.” With her initial greeting complete, Pham touched a control on the panel above her head to transmit the Plateau’s identification codes and shipping manifest to the colony’s orbital traffic administrator.

After a brief pause, a deep masculine voice blared from the bridge’s intercom, “Bacchus Plateau, this is New Anchorage. Welcome to Lerais II. According to our logs, you’re almost a week early. Hope your trip was uneventful.”

“That’s one word for it,” McTravis replied, unworried that his comment might be picked up by the comm system. Pointing to one readout situated on the console between them, he added, “We’re receiving landing information now.”

“Bacchus Plateau,” continued the voice from New Anchorage, “Orbital Tracking has cleared you for landing maneuvers. You are authorized to commence powered descent to the designated coordinates.”

“Acknowledged, New Anchorage,” Pham replied. “Preparing to initiate landing sequence.” Closing the comm circuit, she initiated a cross-check of the provided coordinates against a quick sensor scan and landing information she had been given upon accepting the job. New Anchorage was situated just less than one hundred kilometers inland from the northern coastline of the continent straddling the equator in Lerais II’s eastern hemisphere. Within seconds, Pham was able to confirm the Plateau’s intended target. The coordinates coincided with the area of land designated for what would evolve into the colony’s main industrial district—specifically, a vast open tract adjacent to what eventually would become a commercial transportation hub. At present, the facilities were rudimentary, consisting largely of whatever equipment the settlers had brought with them and the small, functional buildings they had erected since arriving. Still, Pham knew that in just a few short years, the planet would be capable of offering full landing support as well as maintenance and repair services to incoming vessels both on the surface and in orbit.

Until then, ships like the Bacchus Plateauwere on their own, trusted by the residents of Lerais II not to plow into their colony while attempting to land.

“Okay, Josh,” Pham said, reaching for her console and keying the instructions to transfer the coordinates to the helm and activate the automated landing protocols. “Here we go.”

A crimson alert indicator flashed on her station, accompanied by a shrill alarm whine that echoed across the confines of the bridge.

McTravis pointed to one of the sensor displays. “Proximity alert. There’s another ship, coming in fast.” Hunching over the console, he scowled. “It just dropped out of warp, and damned close. Whoever they are, they must be idiots or suicidal.”

What the hell?Her stomach churned in reaction to the abrupt turn of events. There were many reasons for ships not to travel at warp close to planets, including the possibility of flying into said planets or even another vessel in orbit. “Sensors,” she ordered.

“Already on it,” McTravis replied.

Keying the hailing frequency once more, Pham called out, “New Anchorage, this is the Bacchus Plateau.We’ve got other traffic up here. What’s the story?” Without her conscious control, Pham’s right hand tapped the controls to cancel the landing sequence. Her fingers already were beginning to enter the commands to give her full helm control.

“Plateau, this is—”

Static belched from the speakers, drowning out the voice of the New Anchorage orbital control tech. Wincing at the assault on her ears, Pham slammed her hand down on the switch to close the frequency, once more plunging the cramped bridge into merciful near-silence.

“We’re being jammed,” McTravis said, grunting through gritted teeth. “Whoever it is, they don’t want us talking to—”

Pham heard his sharp intake of breath and snapped her head in his direction in time to see the look of disbelief on her friend’s face. Prying his eyes from his console, McTravis turned to her, and Pham watched the color drain from his face, the expression of astonishment twisting into one of horror.

“It’s a Klingon ship,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

Sitting at his workstation within the tiny, dimly lit room that—for now, at least—served as New Anchorage’s orbital tracking control center, Colin Rella blinked in horrified disbelief as the animated symbol representing the Bacchus Plateauon his sensor display screen disappeared.

“Oh, my God.”

A second indicator, depicting the other, still-unidentified vessel that had appeared without warning, continued on its flight path, and Rella watched as the ship maneuvered into a standard orbital track. He had already requested a sensor scan from the communications center, and now he cursed the slower turnaround that was part and parcel of civilian sensor equipment. If he had been aboard the Starfleet science vessel he had called home for five years before resigning his commission to join the colonization effort on Lerais II, he already would have received confirmation of what his gut already was telling him.

“Colin,” said Gwen Casale, calling through the doorway separating the comm shack from the tracking center, “it’s a Klingon ship. D-7-class, according to the database.”

Of course it is!Just such a possibility had been on everyone’s mind from the moment the Federation News Service had reported increased Klingon ship movements throughout the Taurus Reach. The incident at Gamma Tauri IV was still fresh in everyone’s mind, and many of the Lerais II settlers were on edge. A good number of those had opted to return to Federation space, and all available passenger berths aboard the transport freighters were reportedly booked. Cot space in the cargo holds now was going fast, and even Rella was considering taking one of those slots for himself, though now it appeared that it might not make any sort of difference. Even a single Klingon vessel would be more than capable of destroying the unarmed merchant ships hovering like sitting ducks in orbit.

As for what might be in store for those still on the planet’s surface, Rella held no illusions. He had seen reports of what happened to the populations of worlds the Klingons chose to conquer. But would the empire be so bold as to take aggressive action against any world with a Federation presence?

We’re not Federation,Rella reminded himself. Well, not really.Though the colony's leader had not taken the extraordinary step of renouncing Federation citizenship, they still had deferred most of the aid offered both by colonization assistance agencies and by Starfleet. Still, a vessel dispatched from Starbase 47 and carrying a contingent from the Corps of Engineers had come to support the settlement’s initial setup and construction efforts. The ship’s captain had graciously acquiesced when asked by administrators to leave the bulk of the work to the colonists themselves, but not before transporting to the surface a cargo bay’s worth of tools and other equipment, along with an open-ended offer to return and render further help if and when asked.

I wish that ship was here now,Rella mused, along with a few dozen of its bigger brothers and sisters.

“Alert the administrator’s office,” he said, hearing the slight tremble in his own voice as the realization of what had just happened continued to sink in. “And get me the other transport ships.” Tapping a string of controls on his console, he adjusted the image on his sensor displays so that he could now see the other vessels’ orbital tracks. So far, the Klingon ship did not seem interested in pursuing them.

Someone behind him opened a door, flooding the darkened room with harsh sunlight that washed across his console and obscured his view. Squinting at the sudden change in illumination, Rella spun in his seat, holding up his hand to shield his eyes. “What in the name of…?”

Silhouetted in the doorway was the squat, portly figure of Pehlingul, one of the engineers who was currently working to upgrade the sensor transceiver arrays on the roof of the building. The Tellarite was engaged in a bout of frantic gesturing, apparently to anyone who might take notice.

“Something’s happened up in orbit!” he said. He pointed a pudgy thumb over his shoulder. “You need to come see this.”

Rella was the first to leave his station, following the agitated engineer through the door and out into the courtyard that served as New Anchorage’s town center. Flanked on all four sides by uneven rows of interim prefabricated single-story structures, the square would soon be supplanted by the permanent buildings being erected nearly a kilometer to the east. Outside, dozens of other colonists had emerged from the various buildings and were gazing upward. No sooner had Pehlingul emerged from the cover of the canopy mounted above the door than he was pointing toward the heavens.

“Up there. Look!”

Barely visible behind the thin haze of clouds obscuring what otherwise was a beautiful, springlike afternoon, Rella could make out at least a dozen faint streaks of light arching across the brilliant blue sky, all originating from a single point. At the heads of most of the contrails were dazzling balls of fire, remnants of the Bacchus Plateaubreaking up as they plummeted from orbit.

Around him, Rella heard reactions of horror and disbelief from some of the colonists, most of whom, of course, did not yet know the reality of the situation currently unfolding far overhead.

“What happened?” someone asked from behind him.

Another colonist answered, “One of the transport ships. It has to be. Maybe they suffered a warp-core breach?”

Rella said nothing, the truth churning his gut, as did anticipation over what might happen next.

He jerked at the touch of a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Gwen Casale staring at him, her face a mask of worry and mounting terror.

“Colin.”

Whatever else she might have said seemed to die in her throat, and Rella saw her expression change an instant before he caught sight of the column of harsh crimson energy that had appeared in the courtyard. Within seconds it coalesced into the form of a humanoid figure. As the new arrival’s body solidified and the effects of the transporter faded, a chorus of surprised and startled gasps and several cries of alarm echoed around the square.

“Dear Lord,” Rella heard Casale say in a croaked whisper.

The Klingon had to stand nearly two meters tall by Rella’s estimation. There was no mistaking the martial nature of his attire, which consisted of a dark tunic beneath a silver vest cut from what Rella knew was a lightweight, flexible variant of chain mail. Dark, patterned trousers were tucked into polished black leather boots, the tops of which reached to the Klingon’s thighs. He was broad-shouldered and muscled, with long black hair falling past his shoulders and a prominent array of brow ridges dominating the top of his head. A massive sidearm, a disruptor pistol, was strapped to his right hip, and the palm of his left hand rested atop the pommel of a long sheathed blade.

Without thinking, Rella reached out and pulled Casale to him. She did not resist, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Earthers and your assorted lapdogs,” the Klingon said, his deep baritone voice bouncing off the temporary buildings’ thermoconcrete walls, “my name is Komoraq, commander of the Imperial vessel M’ahtagh.This planet has been claimed by the Klingon Empire. We established our presence here some time ago. You are therefore trespassing.” Holding out his hands, he seemed to shrug. “It is unfortunate that your ship did not announce your presence in the system prior to making planetfall. As it happens, my vessel’s sensors malfunctioned and registered your freighter as an enemy ship arming its weapons against us. An unfortunate oversight, to be sure. However, in the interest of preserving whatever fragile peace our respective governments and their political puppets treasure, I will offer you a single opportunity: leave, or be destroyed.”

Cries of incredulity and denial erupted from the growing crowd. Rella found it unlikely that Komoraq was intimidated or even impressed by the protests, and there certainly was no outward appearance of the Klingon’s even registering the display. Still, it was obvious that he had anticipated such resistance, if not something more aggressive.

“You growl like mongrel dogs, Earthers, and I can smell the fear you hope to hide,” he continued. “Perhaps some of you are considering brandishing a weapon and striking me down from the shadows. Should that come to pass, know that my crew will not rest until every living thing is dead, and every trace of your colony is wiped from the face of this planet.”

“The Federation won’t stand for this!” someone yelled from the crowd.

“This is an act of war!”

Komoraq seemed to consider those along with other comments and epithets. He even nodded in apparent acknowledgment, allowing the tirades to continue for a moment before raising his right hand. Incredibly, the assembled colonists fell silent at the unspoken request.

“It would be wise for you to channel your anger and fear into the energy required to pack your belongings and depart this world.” He paused, unleashing a smile that revealed uneven rows of jagged yellow teeth before waving his hand with dramatic flair. “Once I return to my ship, you will have one standard day to be gone. Anyone still on the surface one heartbeat after that deadline will die. The choice is yours. Make it a wise one.”

From his belt, the Klingon retrieved a palm-sized device that Rella took to be a communicator. An audible chirp filled the air before Komoraq uttered something all but unintelligible into the unit.

“M’ahtagh. HIjol!”

An instant later, the stark, fiery-red transporter beam enveloped the Klingon, and he disappeared, the only trace of his having been among the colonists the distinct prints his boots left in the soft earth of the courtyard. In the wake of Komoraq’s departure, a subdued buzz of halting, uncertain murmuring filled the compound as colonists looked askance at one another, anxiety and dread weighing on them all like a stifling blanket.

Behind him, Rella heard Pehlingul say, “He can’t be serious.”

“Tell that to the crew of the transport he just shot down,” Casale snapped.

Rella was astounded at the Klingon captain’s unchecked audacity. Starfleet would learn of the Bacchus Plateau’s destruction, to say nothing of whatever might happen here during the days to come. Would they stand idly by and allow the empire to wrest control of the planet for their own ends? Of course, to Rella, the real question was whether the Federation considered Lerais II important enough to risk declaring interstellar war.

I wouldn’t bet on it.

“So, that’s it?” the Tellarite engineer pressed. “We just give up and run away like scared children?”

Lifting his head to stare transfixed once more at the dissipating cloud of debris that was all that remained of the ill-fated merchant vessel, Rella shook his head in resignation. “Better scared than dead.”