Myriad Universes_ Echoes And Refractions Part 20

"What?" Haden blinked, then slugged down some more whiskey. "The Romulans took H'atoria three months ago! Did he really think one fleet was gonna get it back?"

"Apparently. And it left us vulnerable at Khitomer. We were able to win the day thanks to my new first officer's creative weapons-firing skills."

Haden nodded. "How is Worf working out?"

"He's a fine first officer."

"But you're not happy that you had to promote him?"

Picard sighed, and sipped his wine to cover his annoyance. He was being selfish, he knew that, and yet..."Captain Riker and Captain Data deserved their promotions. The Sugihara and the Sutherland couldn't ask for better s.h.i.+pmasters. I-"

"You miss them. I get it. You know who my first officer was back in the day on the Carthage? Rachel Garrett. Hurt like h.e.l.l to lose her to the Enterprise-C, but I got over it. And she did okay in the big chair."

That was an understatement. Garrett's tenure as the last person before Picard to command a s.h.i.+p named Enterprise was historic. It ended tragically and heroically, as the s.h.i.+p was destroyed defending Narendra III, a Klingon world, from Romulan attack.

"We lose people, Jean-Luc. Be grateful that you're losing them to captaincies and not any other way. Right now, we need our best people in big chairs all over." He leaned back in his chair, still holding his drink up near his face. "The war's not going so well-and to make matters worse, the Carda.s.sians have been showing the flag at the border."

Picard frowned. He hadn't heard of this-but he'd been in Klingon s.p.a.ce for some months. They only came back here now because after Khitomer, there were several days' worth of repairs, which Lieutenant O'Brien was already undertaking. Picard had confidence that his new chief engineer-who'd received a field commission and was promoted after Riker took La Forge with him to the Sugihara-would shave at least a few hours off the repair estimate.

Haden went on. "They seem to be making moves in the Dorvan, Valo, and Salva systems. We're sending a few s.h.i.+ps to warn them off."

"Can we spare them?" Picard asked bluntly. "This sounds suspiciously like-"

Holding up a hand, Haden said, "This isn't sending Kirros's fleet on a wild-goose chase. We can't afford to turn our backs on the Carda.s.sians. There are reports of a huge military buildup the last couple of years, and it'd be just like them to strike when our guard's down."

"It's not down; it's busy fighting the Romulans!" Picard snapped. Realizing his faux pas, he closed his eyes and inhaled slowly. "My apologies, sir, I didn't mean to raise-"

"Don't worry about it. I read your reports even before this latest foolishness. You think Martok's trying to throw the war?"

Picard shook his head. "I wish I could say. He seems a reasonable man. But Gowron..."

"You don't trust him?"

"The chancellor is an opportunist. Martok is a very popular general among the troops, but he also takes his orders from Gowron. Several of the troop allocations that the Defense Force have made have been questionable at best. Inadequate resources to defend important planets, too many resources to protect targets that the Romulans have shown no interest in..." Picard trailed off, then sipped more wine. It tasted better on the third sip. "It's as if they're trying to prolong the war."

"Are you accusing Gowron of that?"

"Possibly." Picard hesitated, sipped some more. "Gowron's hold on the chancellor's chair is tenuous. He ascended only because Worf killed Duras. After he came to power, he rewrote Klingon history to de-emphasize the roles anyone else played. For that matter, he takes all the credit for the rise of Emperor Kahless, even though he was very slow to accept the clone's existence."

"You're thinking he's trying to make Martok look bad so he can swoop in and save the war."

"I dearly pray that I'm wrong," Picard whispered. "It would be unthinkable, to sacrifice so many lives..."

"But not out of character?"

Picard had spent more time with Gowron than any human during his time serving as the Arbiter of Succession for Gowron's predecessor, K'mpec. "I believe it is possible, yes."

"Do you also believe that it's possible that the Klingons are just stretched too thin? Seems like they're never at full fighting strength with all the little skirmishes the Defense Force gets into. They lose s.h.i.+ps by the truckload. We lost a few trucks' worth to the Borg just before this started, too. Maybe they're just out-cla.s.sed." Haden picked up a padd and made a note on it. "Still, you could be right. I'll pa.s.s on your thoughts to the Federation Council and to the Diplomatic Corps-and to Starfleet Intelligence. We'll see if we can get some evidence to support this, and see if we can talk some sense into Gowron."

"I wish you luck with that," Picard said dryly.

"Wish it on the amba.s.sadors. Me, I'm just an old admiral trying to keep his starbase in one piece. How long you docked for?"

"At most, three days."

"All right." Haden got to his feet, slugging down the rest of his whiskey. "Thank you, Captain."

"Thank you for the drink, Admiral," Picard said, also rising and finis.h.i.+ng his wine. "And for pa.s.sing on my concerns."

"You're welcome, Jean-Luc."

Picard took his leave and headed back to the transporter platform so he could return to his s.h.i.+p. Nodding to the Bolian ensign, he tapped his combadge. "Picard to Enterprise. One to beam up."

Within moments, he was back on his s.h.i.+p, and he headed straight for sickbay. The scene was somewhat less chaotic than it had been the last time Picard was here, which was right after the battle at Khitomer had ended, and the few Romulan warbirds still intact had retreated into warp.

Now the patients were lying quietly in their beds instead of screaming in pain, and the doctors and nurses were moving calmly about.

Ro Laren lay in one of the central beds, a cortical monitor on her forehead just above her nose ridges. At least the burns on her arms and face had healed.

Doctor Beverly Crusher entered. "Captain!"

"Doctor. How is Lieutenant Ro?"

"Still in a coma, as you can see. We've done everything we can for her-it's up to her to wake up again. It could be in five minutes; it could be never."

Picard nodded sadly. A fire had broken out on the bridge, and Ro had saved the life of one of the bridge science officers, but was. .h.i.t with burning plasma from a ruptured conduit. By that time, the battle had been won, due in part to Ro's skills at tactical.

Then he looked around at the rest of sickbay. So many wounded...

"What-" he started, but it came out as a croak. He cleared his throat and started again. "What were the final casualty figures, Beverly?"

Beverly stared at him for a moment with troubled eyes. War was always worst for doctors.

"We lost seventy-two people. Another hundred and two were injured."

Picard felt a heavy weight on his chest, and suddenly wished he had another gla.s.s of Haden's wine.

The truly sad part was that those casualty figures were comparatively light. But then, there had been moments in the Khitomer engagement when Picard truly thought that the Enterprise would be destroyed.

Putting a gentle hand on Crusher's shoulder, Picard said, "Keep me advised of Lieutenant Ro's condition."

"Of course," she said with a nod.

With that, he departed sickbay. He had to send condolences to the next of kin of the seventy-two people who died. It was a duty that often took more time than the captain of a Sovereign-cla.s.s stars.h.i.+p had.

But it was not a duty he would ever s.h.i.+rk. The families of all those who died under his command would be informed by him personally. They deserved that much, at least. Before his promotion, and after the battle at Archanis that claimed more than two hundred members of his crew, Riker had gently suggested that Picard simply record a generic condolence, but Picard refused. He would not allow the war to make him expedient when it came to death notices.

And so he went to his ready room. At least this time he had three days.

10.

U.S.S. Voyager Dorvan System United Federation of Planets Captain Kathryn Janeway was in the midst of reading the latest missive from her husband when the doorchime to her ready room sounded. "Come in," she said with a smile on her face.

Lieutenant Commander Aaron Cavit entered, holding a padd. "Here are the updated duty rosters." He approached Janeway, who sat on a couch beneath the window in the s.p.a.cious ready room. Through that window, she could see that the stars were no longer distorted by the warp effect, but had settled again into points in the darkness of s.p.a.ce.

Reaching up to take the padd and setting aside the letter, she said, "Thanks, Aaron." She took only a cursory look at the roster; Cavit had proved himself over the past two years to be a magnificent first officer. She couldn't imagine running this s.h.i.+p without him. "I see we've arrived."

Cavit nodded as he sat down next to her on the couch. "The Intrepid and Bellerophon are right behind us. And Harry's picked up two Carda.s.sian s.h.i.+ps in orbit of Dorvan V. We're too far to get an ID on the s.h.i.+ps yet." He indicated the padd Janeway had put on the cus.h.i.+on next to her. "Letter from Mark?"

Smiling, Janeway said, "Yes."

"Did he get the promotion?"

"Mhm. He's now the head of the hybridization project. And they got that growth off Molly's nose. She's coming home from the vet tomorrow."

"That's great news, Captain," Cavit said with a small smile, which Janeway knew was about as emotional as Aaron Cavit would get while on duty, even when it was just the two of them in the ready room. Later on, in the mess hall, when they had their usual after-s.h.i.+ft drink, he'd likely be more effusive.

Holding up the padd, Janeway asked, "I take it this is the briefing I asked you to put together?"

"Yes," Cavit said. "It's fairly basic. Dorvan was settled about twenty years ago by a group of humans who were trying to return to the preindustrial life their ancestors lived."

"Back-to-nature types, huh?" Janeway smiled as she glanced over the padd. "Mark tried to get me to go on a hiking trip with him once where we wouldn't depend on modern conveniences. After my second day without coffee, I nearly strangled him."

Cavit snorted a chuckle. "I don't think I can imagine you without coffee, Captain."

"You don't want to, Aaron, trust me."

"Tuvok also turned up something interesting," Cavit said. "I don't know if you remember, but there were negotiations with the Carda.s.sians a few years back about redrawing the border. Dorvan V was one of the worlds that was going to be ceded to the Carda.s.sians in the original deal."

Janeway frowned. "What happened?"

Shrugging, Cavit said, "The Carda.s.sians changed their minds. They pulled back the border, signed the treaty, and that was that. But this was a system on their radar. And Captain? So were Valo and Salva."

"Really?" Janeway glanced down at the padd again. Just as the three Intrepid-cla.s.s s.h.i.+ps had been sent to Dorvan to warn the Carda.s.sians off, so too were s.h.i.+ps sent to the other two systems. "All right. Have Stadi set a course, and tell Captains Emick and Stuhlmacher to follow in a delta formation."

"Right." Cavit got to his feet.

"I'll be out in a minute."

"Aye, aye, Captain."

After Cavit departed, Janeway picked up the letter and read it again. Since the war started, time off had been difficult to come by. This a.s.signment was the first time Voyager had spent any significant time in Federation s.p.a.ce since the skirmish with the Romulans at Tyrellia. She was hoping that once this was done, she could finally take some leave and go back to Earth. In particular, she wanted to see Molly again. Poor Mark had been stuck alone with the Irish setter when the growth showed up on her nose. Janeway wished she could have been there for Molly in her time of need, even though Mark had grown to love the old girl as much as Janeway herself did.

When she finished rereading the letter for the second time, she set it down and went out to the bridge. Cavit was standing behind Stadi at the conn in front of the wide bridge, Tuvok and Harry Kim at the tactical and ops consoles on either side of the turbolift.

Kim said, "Two of the Carda.s.sian vessels are Galor-cla.s.s-the Vetar and the Trager. The other one's a freighter, the Bok'Nor."

"A freighter?" Janeway asked in surprise.

"Confirmed," Tuvok said. Then he raised an eyebrow. "The Bok'Nor is running with a sensor screen that prevents us from examining its contents."

"That can't be good," Cavit said.

"It isn't." Janeway took her seat.

"We are being hailed by Gul Evek on the Vetar," Tuvok said.

"On screen. Tie in the Intrepid and Bellerophon."

The boxy face of a Carda.s.sian gul appeared on the viewer, with images of two human males inset in the lower corners.

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the U.S.S. Voyager, on behalf of Captain Walter Emick of the U.S.S. Intrepid and Captain Brian Stuhlmacher of the U.S.S. Bellerophon. What are you doing in Federation s.p.a.ce, Gul?"

"I am Gul Evek of the Fourth Order, and it is you who are the invaders here, Captain Janeway. Dorvan V is now a Carda.s.sian world."

Janeway blinked. This was brazen even by Carda.s.sian standards. "Excuse me?"

"We claim Dorvan V as part of the Carda.s.sian Union. And if you do not depart Carda.s.sian territory in the next two minutes, we will blow you out of the sky."

Rising to her feet, Janeway said, "Gul Evek, we cannot let you simply take a Federation planet."

Evek smiled. Janeway rather wished he hadn't. "I don't expect you will, Captain." And with that, his face disappeared from the screen, which then switched to a double view of Captains Emick and Stuhlmacher. The former, a bald and bearded man who had been a year behind Janeway at the academy, looked thoughtful and calm as always. The younger Stuhlmacher, who'd only received command of the Bellerophon two months ago after his captain was killed in an engagement with the Romulans, looked somewhat more angry.

Before anyone could say anything, Cavit said, "Tuvok, send an emergency transmission to Starbase 310, inform them of the situation."

After giving her first officer a grateful nod, Janeway turned back to the screen. "Gentlemen, it seems we have an invasion on our hands."

"The freighter's probably got whatever equipment they plan to use to 'settle' Dorvan V," Emick said.

Stuhlmacher ran a hand through his wild brown hair. "We can't let this stand. It's just two Galors, we can take them."

"Whether or not we can," Emick said resignedly, "I don't see how we can let the people of Dorvan V be taken prisoner. Because that's what we're talking about here."

"Agreed." Janeway had no intention of doing anything other than engage Gul Evek in combat, but she wanted to make sure the other two captains were in agreement. She was in command of the convoy-she had seniority over the other two, though only by a couple of weeks in Emick's case-but she felt better about her decision knowing that the other two captains were with her. "Let's do it, gentlemen."

Next to her, Cavit said, "Red alert. All hands to battle stations. Mister Tuvok, arm phasers and load torpedo bays."

Janeway added, "Stadi, coordinate with the conn on Intrepid and Bellerophon-engage pattern zeta."

Nodding, the Betazoid conn officer said, "Aye, Captain, pattern zeta."

Stadi's elegant fingers played over the console as if it were a grand piano. Voyager moved on a parabolic course toward the Vetar. Stadi put a tactical image in one corner of the screen, showing the Bellerophon and Intrepid following the zeta pattern, which had proven successful against the Romulans at Galordon Core. Of course, Janeway thought, that was against one warbird, which was bigger than these two Galors combined, but it's still a good gambit.