Текст книги "The Red King "

Автор книги: Michael Martin

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“I don’t know,” Olivia said. “Maybe they did. But I think they were trying to save as many of the sentient beings as possible.”

Noah screwed up his nose in a thoughtful scowl. “Animals aresentient beings, too. They just think differently than we do. Why aren’t theyjust as important?”

From out of the mouth of babes,Bolaji thought, unable for the moment to formulate an answer the young boy could accept.

“I mean, back in the olden days, when Noah built the ark, he took two of each animal, plus all of his family, so they’d have people and animals once the floods were over,” Noah said. “He’s where I got my name from.”

“Really?”

“Well, kind of. Actually, my great-grandfather was named Noah, too, but I think he was named after the guy with the boat.”

Bolaji nodded, and looked over at her own child, who was sleeping in his incubator. “Totyarguil was named after a star.”

“Totyarguil is kind of hard to spell,” Noah said guilelessly. He looked back at the screen. “My mom said that there never was a real Noah, that it’s all just stories. I hope that’s true. I don’t think a god should destroy a world just because he’s angry.”

Bolaji smiled. “Neither do I,” she told Noah. “But there’s more than one way to think about gods, if you believe in such things.”

“I know,” Noah said. “Like the Prophets of Bajor. But I heard they’re just wormhole aliens.” He thought for a moment, then wiggled his finger in the air. “Do you think that wormhole aliens look like worms?”

Suppressing a laugh, Bolaji said, “I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve never seen one.”

Noah pointed to the viewscreen. The image had switched, now showing the Ellingtonbeing tractored toward Titan’s main shuttlebay. The blue glow of an atmosphere-retention forcefield covered the bay’s broad opening. “They’re getting them back aboard Titan.Good. Uncle Ranul is on that ship. I was sort of worried about him. He wasn’t even completely better yet from his coma.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Me, too.” Noah continued to watch the screen intently for a few moments, then looked back at Olivia. “So, do you think this thing that’s trying to destroy their planet is theirgod getting mad at them?”

Bolaji wasn’t quite sure how to answer that question either. She’d read some of the preliminary reports; Starfleet characterized the destructive force as an emerging protouniverse, while the local people and even some Neyel called it the Sleeper.

Some of the latter people certainly didconsider it a vengeful god.

She was about to open her mouth to speak when the orange-tinged world on the screen seemed to collapse on itself, molten magma and rocky crust and mantle material jumbling, falling, flying, like a gigantic egg being beaten in some celestial mixing bowl.

She was about to deactivate the viewer for Noah’s sake when the screen flared brightly, then abruptly went dark.

Oghen just died right in front of us.One of the interspatial energy discharges she’d read about, no doubt an enormous one, must have just ripped out the entire planet’s guts. The thought was jarring, incredible, but also undeniable.

Bolaji heard the muted blare of the red alert klaxons and instinctively looked toward her sleeping baby. The tiny infant slept on, blissfully unaware of the sometimes violent universe into which he’d been born.

“Come sit up here with me,” Olivia said to Noah, and scooted over to one side of her chair. The boy clambered up beside her quickly.

Her eyes fixed on Totyarguil, she held Noah tightly to her, saying a silent prayer to all the gods of her people, even though she, herself, had lost faith in all such things years ago.

VANGUARD

Ever since she had first come aboard Vanguard, Deanna Troi hadn’t felt quite right. It was as though the great asteroid’s hollow interior were somehow amplifying the emotional distress of the hundreds of thousands of people who had been hastily brought aboard the ancient Terran space habitat.

“You are dead on your feet, Commander Troi,” Dr. Ree said, his sharp foreclaws clutching a handheld medical scanner that he ran quickly past her temples. The whirring sound it made was already giving her a headache. It was all she could do to keep from growling in irritation at the infuriatingly intrusive reptilian physician. Couldn’t he see how busy she was?

“I’ll be fine, Doctor. There’s far too much to do here for mycondition to become anybody’s priority. We still have industrial replicators to assemble, shelters to build, hordes of refugees to feed, medicine to distribute, childr—”

“None of which you can accomplish if you end up dead from psionic trauma,” Ree said, shutting off the scanner. “I’d advise you to get back to Titanfor some rest, Deanna. Now, preferably.”

“Out of the question.” She rose from her chair and walked toward the door of the prefab shelter. Through the window, she could see one of the Vanguard colony’s broad, curving public spaces, which had already been dotted with many rows of other small, tent-like emergency shelters—as well as huge throngs of people numbering in the thousands, all of whom would soon need shelter desperately. Apparently, the interior of the asteroid was not only large enough to support more than a million people indefinitely, it also generated its own internal weather, making the tents a necessity until more permanent structures could be constructed.

But there are already more people crammed into this habitat than it ever supported before,Troi thought, growing increasingly worried. I don’t think more than a thousand or so people lived and worked here centuries ago when Vanguard was originally placed in Earth orbit. What happens when the sanitation gets out of hand in here? And what about clean water? And—

“Counselor?”

It was Ree again, sounding insistent. How many times had he been forced to call her name to get her attention?

“Counselor, I’m sure you realize that I have the authority to simply orderyou back to Titan.Please don’t force me to do that.”

She scrunched her eyes closed and rubbed her temples. Maybe he’s right. Maybe the emotional intensity of so many people seeing their world end is too much, even for me.Especially for me.

She opened her eyes and met Ree’s concerned gaze. “Let’s compromise. How about this: I’ll go back aboard Titanbefore the Vanguard towing convoy goes to warp. That way, I won’t be forced to stay here during the two days it will take to move Vanguard to the rift.”

He sighed, a great sibilant rush of air. He was clearly willing to accept the compromise, but was just as plainly unhappy with it. “All right, Commander. Unless I see you taking a sudden turn for the worse in the meantime. But please remember, Titanneeds you.”

She nodded. And Will needs me.

But so does an entire society that’s doing its damnedest right now not to die.

IMPERIAL WARBIRD VALDORE,STARDATE 57038.5

Even with the towing convoy now safely underway, albeit only at impulse speeds at the moment, the image still haunted her.

A planet on which billions lived had been cast, whole and screaming, into the afterworld of Erebus. The world the Neyel called Oghen was no more.

Scarcely a verakafter having refused Riker’s request, Donatra summoned him back to her ready room’s comm screen.

“I have reconsidered, Captain,” she said simply. “Can you guarantee that your plan will close the gate through which this…protouniverse is leaking into normal space?”

“I believe so,”Riker said, nodding. “As much as I can guarantee anything.”

Donatra decided she was satisfied with that. Ambiguity, after all, was one of life’s few constants, in her experience. “No more worlds should die this way, Riker. Least of all because Irefused to act.”

The human captain nodded solemnly. “You are a person of honor, Commander.”

She thought of Suran, who had had no part in her decision, and wondered about that. Then she silently berated herself for allowing doubt to plague her. I will do what I must,she thought. As I have always done.

“I do have one caveat, however, Captain.”

“All right.”

“I am assuming that the Klingons will wish to accompany the convoy through the rift back into Romulan space.”

Riker nodded. “I’ve just spoken with Captain Tchev. He and I both agree that that’s the safest way to proceed, given the condition of his ship. He’s still keeping theDugh at the station near the rift, awaiting our arrival.”

“It’s too bad Tchev can’t contribute substantively to the task of towing the asteroid colony to safety,” Donatra said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “Or even help keep our path free of spatial disturbances, as Titanis doing.”

“We can’t just leave the Klingons behind, Commander.”Riker’s eyes had narrowed ever so slightly.

“Oh, I agree. It should be a simple enough matter to enclose the Dughinside the warp-field bubble of one of the other ships. Should one of my vessels do it, Captain? Or would you rather reserve that dubious honor for Titan?”

“We’ll handle it here, thanks,”the human said with a slight scowl. “Now what’s your caveat?”

Donatra grinned in spite of herself. “How much does Tchev know about the plan to collapse the Great Bloom?”

“All of it, Commander. His crew are at risk as much as ours. He needs to be fully informed.”

“Again, I agree. But Governor Khegh has no such need.”

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t wish to let the Klingon government know that more than half my fleet has been effectively crippled, if only temporarily. I do not like to advertise my disadvantages.”

“I think that ship has already sailed, Commander. Khegh will know all about it when he reads Tchev’s reports.”

“I doubt it, Captain. Tchev will not wish it known that his vessel was rescued from the Great Bloom by Romulans. I believe I can trade my silence for his. My question to you is: can I rely upon yours?”

Riker paused, his deep blue eyes apparently trying to see into the depths of her motivations. At length, he said, “I don’t feel right about this, Commander.”

“Must I remind you that my participation in your plan to seal off the Bloom depends upon my willing cooperation?” Donatra allowed her right eyebrow to rise imperiously, a mannerism that she had often seen the false Praetor Tal’Aura use to great effect.

He seemed to sag backward into his chair. “All right. I won’t tell Khegh or the Klingon government about your warp-core maneuvers. At least, not until you get all of your ships repaired and operational again. Agreed?”

Humans,she thought. Haggling to the last, even when they have no leverage.

But good enough was good enough. “Accepted,” she said. “Donatra out.”

The screen went dark, and Donatra rose from behind her desk and crossed to the ready room’s door.

Stepping onto her bustling bridge, she decided that now would be a good time to head down to the infirmary to look in on Suran.

I wouldn’t want him to awaken at an inconvenient time.

U.S.S. TITAN

After the Romulan commander had signed off, Riker continued staring at the viewscreen on his ready room desk for several minutes while he considered the ramifications of the pact he had just made. He hoped he wouldn’t come to regret it, but he could see no alternative. The stakes were simply too high to risk calling Donatra’s bluff.

He got up and strode out onto the bridge. Glancing at the conn readouts, as well as the data scrolling up the port side of the main viewscreen, he quickly confirmed that the convoy was underway, but moving only at one quarter impulse so far. The fleet’s networked warp bubble would surround Vanguard within the hour, once Jaza and Ra-Havreii finished double-checking the navigational hazard detection system. This system was based upon Titan’s enhanced sensor net, and depended upon virtually every bit of communications bandwidth possessed by Titanand the entire towing convoy.

And it hadto function flawlessly at warp, or else the more than two million souls now aboard Vanguard—as well as the entire rescue fleet—would almost certainly end up the way the planet Oghen had.

Riker settled heavily into his command chair, suddenly hyperaware of the lateness of the hour. The responsibility that had landed on his shoulders had attained an almost crushing weight. He was glad that Deanna was due back aboard Titanbefore the convoy was to go to warp; though he expected he’d have precious little time to discuss his fears and misgivings with her immediately, they would certainly have time to thoroughly catch up with one another during the two-day voyage back to the rift, during which time he could finally unburden himself.

He wasn’t certain at the moment which aspect of Deanna Troi he needed more: counselor, wife, lover, or senior adviser. He only knew that he needed her at his side.

Chapter Eighteen

IMPERIAL WARBIRD VALDORE,STARDATE 57039.2

“Commander Suran?”

The voice seemed to be speaking from a great distance, as though Suran had fallen into a deep cavern while those left above searched for him in vain.

The darkness in the cavern lessened, even as Suran’s sense of confusion increased. He could see now that he wasn’t in a cavern after all; he was in a room, a place that looked familiar.

“You might not want to try to speak, Commander,” said the possessor of the voice. “The drugs are only now beginning to wear off.”

Suran focused on the voice’s source: the bruised and swollen face of a young man dressed in a light orange infirmary gown. His arm was in a sling, which bore rank pins that revealed him to be an enlisted uhlan, a noncommissioned officer.

Suran struggled to sit up. Where was he? All at once he recognized the serene blue walls of the Valdore’s infirmary. The place was as quiet as the lowest underworld reaches of Erebus. “How…how did I get here?”

“Perhaps you were attacked,” said the young enlisted man, who paused to cast a worried glance over his shoulder, even though the infirmary appeared to be empty. “I believe that Dr. Venora has been deliberately keeping you unconscious.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I’m trained as a corpsman, Commander. I’ve been recuperating here ever since the Valdoregot pulled into the Great Bloom. So I’ve had little to do but watch the medical staff minister to you. Before they got busy elsewhere with the rescue operations, that is.”

Rescue?Suran swallowed, and found his throat to be as dry as the mines of Remus. “How long have I been unconscious, Uhlan?”

“Nearly four eisae,Commander.”

It was a stunning blow. In essence, he’d been tossed almost four days into the future. And during that time, some sort of rescue had become necessary, an operation that had evidently greatly depleted the infirmary staff. Why can’t I remember anything?

Something occurred to him then: amnemonic drugs, of the sort used as anesthetics during major surgeries. During his long decades of military service he had witnessed enough medical procedures to know that, say, a heart patient might be conscious during a delicate open-thoracic procedure, and yet remember absolutely nothing afterward because of such compounds.

But why would Venora do that to him? And why during a time of evident emergency?

Donatra.With a pain-wracked grunt, Suran completed the laborious process of sitting up. A momentary bout of light-headedness seized him, along with a wave of nausea. He closed his eyes for several moments, allowing both unpleasant sensations to break over him and then recede like the tides of the Apnex Sea. Slowly, he allowed his eyes to open again and began taking in the entire room.

He noticed then that he, like the uhlan, was clad only in a loose-fitting patient’s smock. He also confirmed that the infirmary was indeed empty except for himself and the junior crew member.

There was no way to know how long that situation might last.

“Uhlan, I want you to tell me everything that’s happened since I was brought here.”

“Yes, Commander. Though I’m sure I haven’t been told everything.”

“Just share whatever you know.” Suran swung his legs over the edge of the bed, cautiously tested his weight against the deck, and then rose. “And help me find my uniform.”

Alone in her ready room, Donatra leaned back in the chair, her booted feet up on her dark sherawood desk. Now that she had finally taken a few long-postponed moments to rest and gather her thoughts, she began to notice just how much pain her battle-scarred body had been suppressing over the past several eisae.Her side, festooned with old wounds that she charged to the account of the fraudulent praetor Tal’Aura, felt as though it had been plunged straight into a live volcano.

But at least the worst of this mission is finally over,she told herself, silently kneading her prominently ridged brow with the long fingers of both hands. Soon the fleet will be at warp. Two days from now, my ships will be safely back in Romulan space, along with their crews.

Of course, the passage home would not be without its costs, she reflected. But she was determined that no more of her vessels would share the fate of the Imperial warbird S’harien,which had already succumbed to the same forces that had erased the planet Oghen from existence.

“Commander Donatra!”The abrasive voice that issued from her desk’s comm unit was half an octave higher than Donatra had ever heard it before. Nevertheless, she recognized it immediately. Her reverie blown apart like a dust cloud in a solar wind, she swung her feet onto the deck, leaned forward, and slapped a button on the comm.

“Go ahead, Venora.”

“I’ve just beamed back aboard theValdore from the alien asteroid-habitat, Commander.”

Donatra knew that the transferal of hundreds of thousands of individuals from the planet’s surface to the asteroid’s vast interior space had strained the logistical and medical resources of the Valdore, Titan,and the entire fleet very nearly to the breaking point. She hadn’t wanted to spare her chief medical officer during the intensive, lengthy evacuation mission, but had finally relented at Venora’s vehement insistence.

“It’s good to have you back with us,” Donatra said. Whatever relaxation she had expected to experience abruptly fled. “What’s wrong, Doctor?”

“Suran isgone , Donatra,”Venora said, her voice colored a rare shade of panic.

“Did he regain consciousness somehow?” Donatra said, realizing at once just how stupid her question sounded; she had merely been thinking out loud.

“That may be a safe assumption, Commander, considering that he isn’t in my infirmary any longer.”

“All right, Doctor. I’ll see what I can find out. In the meantime, watch your back, Venora. Suran must have henchmen among the crew acting directly on his behalf. Donatra out.”

If only I could have placed guards around him,Donatra thought, closing the channel. Or simply confined him in a holding cell.

But she knew that such measures would have been overly provocative, as well as destructive to the already strained morale of the Valdore’s crew. She could not have afforded to undermine her personal authority—or risk enhancing Suran’s—by making it appear that she felt in any way threatened by him. Especially now that Suran had confirmed that she did indeed have excellent reasons to perceive him as dangerous. He had, after all, just demonstrated that someone aboard the Valdorewas willing and able to intercede on his behalf, most likely by working to interrupt or counteract the drugs Dr. Venora had relied upon to keep Suran out of action during the current crisis.

Donatra reached across her desktop again and activated another comm channel. “Computer, locate Commander Suran.”

The door chime to the ready room sounded, startling her. Acting on instinct, she reached with her right hand for the small disruptor she kept in her tunic.

The computer responded in a flat, passionless male voice. “Commander Suran is on the bridge.”

Of course,she thought as she used her left hand to enter a single command into the computer on her desk.

“Enter,” she said a moment later.

The door hissed open, revealing Suran. His face was drawn and ashen. He moved into the room, unsteadily but relentlessly. After the door closed behind him, he raised a disruptor pistol. Donatra noticed that his hand was shaking slightly, as though Suran were fighting off the lingering effects of the drugs.

“I don’t think you’ll want to fire that in here, Suran. Security alarms, remember?” Donatra noticed that his eyes were sunken, the whites filigreed with tiny green blood vessels. Was he so unhinged by the drug residue in his system that he thought he could succeed with such a crude attack?

Keeping her gaze locked with Suran’s, Donatra slowly moved her right hand away from the butt of her disruptor, allowing it to settle instead on the jorreh-handled haft of the short-bladed ihl-senthat she kept right next to it, tucked into a scabbard on her belt. The ready room’s large desk concealed her careful manipulations.

Suran didn’t lower his weapon. “The fleet should already be back in Romulan space by now, Donatra. Instead, you’ve opted to stay here and involve us in matters that are none of our concern. Why?”

She continued to meet his hard, bloodshot stare squarely. “Riker and his crew aided us in staving off a civil war, Suran.”

“Riker and his crew are trying to save a population of refugees. Humanrefugees. It’s not our problem. We have an empire to defend from the Klingons and the Remans.”

“And the Reman attack against Romulus wasn’t Riker’s problem, either. Yet he acted on our behalf without any reservations. You and I, not to mention the empire we both revere, accrued a large debt to him that day, Suran. And I alwayspay my debts.”

“Do you owe Riker more loyalty than you owe me?”

She chuckled. “Your notions of loyalty are peculiar, Suran. Right now, Riker isn’t the one who has a weapon pointed at me.” Perhaps I should have followed my instincts and eliminated you long ago,she thought. If not for our mutual loyalty to Braeg, I very well might have already.

Suran’s weapon-hand showed no sign of lowering. “Your plan calls for jettisoning the warp cores of more than half the ships in our fleet, Donatra.”

“Our ships won’t be harmed.”

“As the S’harienwasn’t harmed?”

She ignored the comment. “The fleet will make it back through the anomaly and into Romulan space before their warp-field bubbles collapse. That’s built into the plan, Suran.”

“So you hope. But even if that’s so, some two dozen of our d’Deridex– and Mogai-class warbirds will be hamstrung. We can’t afford to let the Klingons who’ve set up camp inside our borders discover this. Or those savages on Remus and Ehrie’fvil.”

Donatra shook her head. “We’ll have all our vessels repaired and the fleet back to full strength by the time Colonel Xiomek or that idiot Khegh find out anything. I have already seen to it.”

“Cut the human asteroid colony loose and take the fleet to warp now,Donatra,” Suran said, an almost pleading expression crossing his pale features. “The crew need never know how close we came to crossing Honor Blades over this.”

She regarded him in silence for at least a full siure.Though he looked no less depleted than he had when he’d first entered the room, he also appeared no less determined. But Venora’s drugs were obviously still roiling within his blood, along with whatever counteragents Suran’s unknown confederates had used to get him back on his feet only a few dierhuafter she had last checked in on him.

This was indeed a formidable and highly dangerous man.

“All right,” Donatra said, rising from behind her desk. Using her left hand, she made a show of preparing to open a comm channel.

With her right she threw the ihl-senthat she had placed inside her tunic cuff. Suran gasped and gurgled and immediately fell to his knees. Donatra rose and strode confidently around the desk, then approached him. She saw that Suran had dropped his weapon. Even if he had managed to hold onto it, she would have been in no real danger; she’d had the Valdore’s security system deactivate it while he’d still been standing on the bridge.

The matter was moot now, however; both of Suran’s hands were presently clawing without effect at the wide, verdant wound that her serrated throwing knife had created. The short blade was lodged quite snugly in the man’s windpipe.

Suran pitched forward onto his face and lay unmoving in front of the desk. His blood spread out in a swiftly expanding pool, dyeing the carpet a rich, beryl-emerald green.

Donatra regained her feet, approached Suran, and rolled him over onto his back. His flinty eyes stared back at her, as lifeless as polished atlairiverstones. Like Donatra, Suran had served under Admiral Braeg, and they had both pledged Braeg their loyalty. Donatra had become Braeg’s lover, and both she and Suran had mourned him deeply after Braeg had fallen to Tal’Aura’s treachery. Now, with Suran dead, her last living link with Braeg had passed from the world. For good or ill, her destiny was fully her own at long last.

There will be no more power struggles between us, Suran,she thought, feeling unexpectedly wistful, but only for a moment. She knelt, picked up his weapon, then pulled her own free from the ghastly wound in his neck. She wiped the gore-spattered blade clean on Suran’s sleeve, then returned it to concealment beneath her tunic as she rose to her feet.

All the while, she wondered why she felt so detached from the grisly reality of her longtime colleague’s death. And from the fact that she had been its cause.

The comm unit on her desk chimed, startling her.

“Centurion Liravek to Commander Donatra.Titan is hailing us.”

Donatra realized that she had been holding her breath. Recovering her composure with no small amount of effort, she touched the reply key.

“Acknowledged, Centurion. I’ll take it here.”

U.S.S. TITAN

From the moment the Romulan commander’s face appeared on the bridge viewscreen, Deanna Troi was certain that Donatra was concealing something. Something terrible.

Will glanced toward Troi, who knew immediately that he had seen the look of alarm that had crossed her face. He had managed to keep his own “emotional tells” under control, however, like the master poker player he was.

“Commander Donatra, Titanand her crew are ready to go to warp. Our sensor networks are now fully tested and prepared to continue relaying real-time navigational hazard data to your fleet’s computer network, at our highest warp speeds.”

Donatra nodded, her face a mask of impassivity. But just below the surface, her emotions were in violent convection. Why?Troi wondered.

“Excellent, Captain. My crews stand ready to move at your signal. However, there is something I must tell you before we begin. Is this channel secure on your end?”

Troi watched as Will nodded toward Cadet Dakal, who entered a few swift commands, then nodded back at the captain.

“It is now, Commander,” Will said.

Donatra bowed her head briefly, and Troi sensed a wave of gratitude rising from her. “Captain Riker, what I’m about to tell you must be kept in the strictest confidence, at least until I am ready to announce it to my own people.”

“Of course.”

“Commander Suran is dead.”

Will’s feelings of surprise briefly overwhelmed anything Troi was able to sense from Donatra, whose gaze was moving back and forth between Will and Troi. She’s considering how hard it will be for her to dissemble in front of me,Troi thought as Will worked to tamp down his emotions.

“What happened?” Will said, breaking the lengthy, stunned silence that had followed Donatra’s revelation.

“He attempted to abort our fleet’s participation in this rescue operation. And because he did this by brandishing a weapon at me, I had no choice other than to respond in kind.”

Troi looked toward Will, who was casting a gently interrogative glance in her direction. She nodded, wordlessly informing him that Donatra was essentially telling the truth. Essentially,she thought. But not necessarily completely.

Rising and facing Donatra again, Will said, “You say your crew hasn’t been informed yet?”

“Correct. And there’s no reason to trouble them with the news just yet. At least not untilafter we conclude the current operation. The distraction and morale difficulties the revelation of Suran’s death would cause now are in no one’s interest.”Donatra’s dark eyes lit squarely upon Troi’s. “However, I didn’t want to giveyou any reason to suspect that anything might be amiss aboard theValdore .”

No doubt because you’re justifiably wary around empaths and telepaths,Troi thought. As are most people who like to keep deep, dark secrets.

“I appreciate your candor, Commander,” Riker said evenly.

“Thank you, Captain. We shall await your ‘go’ signal. Donatra out.”

The Romulan commander’s face vanished, to be replaced by an image of the Valdore,which dominated the viewscreen. In the background lay the lumpen, rocky cylinder of the Vanguard colony and a swarm of sleek, single– and double-hulled Romulan warbirds. The vessels were arrayed around the asteroid habitat in precise formation, arranged into a pair of pyramids whose bases touched while bisecting Vanguard. The invisible tethers of tractor beams held the entire assemblage together.

Will touched his combadge, and it chirped gently in response. “Riker to Dr. Ra-Havreii.”

“Ra-Havreii here, Captain,”the chief engineer replied, his words frosted noticeably with a broad-voweled Efrosian accent.

“Be ready to give us lots and lots of power, Commander. And then probably lots more on top of that.”

“Acknowledged, Captain. I will make you as close to omnipotent as the laws of physics will allow. We’re as ready as it’s possible to be down here.”

Beneath Ra-Havreii’s lightweight banter, Troi sensed a wave of sadness and regret that pushed against equally powerful crosscurrents of hope, trepidation, and confidence. She knew of the engine-room explosion aboard the Lunathat had occurred under Ra-Havreii’s watch, during the prototype vessel’s maiden flight. She suspected he might be reliving that fateful incident right now.

“That’s all I ever ask of a chief engineer, Doctor,” Will said, grinning. “Riker out.” He turned, facing Troi again and fixing her with an inquisitive gaze; she knew his mind was still on their exchange with Donatra.

“Donatra’s not lying, Will. She didkill Suran. And under the circumstances she reported to us, at least in essence.”