Captain's Table_ Dujonian's Hoard Part 19

Abby shrugged. "My brother didn't say."

As it turned out, our stay in the cylinder lasted only another thirty seconds or so. Then we saw a bright light at its end, similar to the one we had seen at its beginning, and we began to experience turbulence again.

Considerable turbulence.

"Brace yourselves!" I shouted.

It didn't help.

As badly as we'd been tossed about on the way in, we were treated even worse on the way out. Clutching my console for dear life, I was wrenched this way and that, feeling like little more than a rag doll.

Finally, the deck bucked and dipped and spun me loose, sending me cras.h.i.+ng into the base of someone else's console. Nor can I say what took place immediately after that, as I wasn't conscious to witness it.

Madigoor "BUT YOU GOT through," said Flenarrh, "didn't you?"

"Of course he did," Bo'tex laughed derisively. "What kind of story would it be if he hadn't?"

"A rather pointless one," Dravvin agreed. "And I don't think our guest would tell a pointless story." He regarded Picard with a glint of irony in his eyes. "Would you, Captain?"

Picard smiled. "Not if I could help it, no."

The gecko tilted its head.

So did Robinson. "Then you did make it to the other side."

Picard nodded. "I did indeed."

"And what did you find there?" asked Flenarrh.

Picard recalled the moment of his awakening on the far side of the Gate. "I found another part of s.p.a.ce," he replied. "Or perhaps another universe altogether. I can't tell you for certain. All I can say is that the constellations I saw were unfamiliar."

"And the h.o.a.rd?" Flenarrh prodded.

Dravvin rolled his protuberant eyes. "For the sake of Canarra, he'll get to it. Be patient, will you?"

Picard couldn't help but chuckle at Flenarrh's eagerness. "Indeed, at the moment when I woke from my battering, I wasn't thinking of the h.o.a.rd. I was thinking of Dacrophus and his pirates, who were rather conspicuous by their absence. We and our warbird were coasting through the void all alone."

"They hadn't followed you in?" Bo'tex asked.

"Or had they followed and been torn apart?" Robinson inquired.

Picard shook his head. "To this day, I don't know."

"But they were gone," the Captain of the Kalliope established.

"They were," Picard agreed.

"And good riddance," Bo'tex chimed in. "Lazy lungwarts. Why don't they go out and get themselves real jobs?"

"Mind you," said Picard, "I was not pleased at the prospect of the pirates having lost their lives. To my knowledge, they hadn't committed any serious crimes and even if they had, I'm not certain anyone deserves to perish that way. In any case, they were no longer a problem for us."

"Again," Bo'tex exclaimed, "I say good riddance."

Picard smiled tolerantly.

The Tale AS I SUSPECTED, Thadoc's wrist had been broken. Dunwoody, who had had some medical training, confirmed that conclusion.

However, Thadoc insisted that he remain on the bridge if not as helmsman, then at least as navigator. Abby agreed, and I was the first to applaud her decision. Though it fell to me to become full-time helmsman, Thadoc's expertise with a warbird was still far superior to my own.

There were other injuries as well, but none too severe. In effect, we were bloodied but unbowed.

Remarkably, when I ran a diagnostic check of our propulsion system, I found the engines hadn't been damaged in the least. I was pleased to report this almost as pleased as Abby was to hear it.

"Tactical systems are also functional," Worf announced. "s.h.i.+elds at seventy-five percent and improving. They should be back to full strength in a matter of minutes."

"What about weapons?" Abby asked.

The Klingon paused. "One of our aft control centers is off-line. However, I can route commands through a backup center."

"Do so," Abby told him.

Worf arched an eyebrow.

"Please," she added.

The internal sensor network had suffered the greatest disruption, but that was of no immediate concern to us. All in all, we had been lucky.

"You see?" Abby asked me, looking satisfied with herself. "I told you I had everything under control."

I grunted sarcastically. "If you can call nearly costing us our lives being under control."

"Nearly doesn't count," she declared.

There was no winning that argument. I could see that with the utmost clarity. "If you say so," I replied.

Our viewscreen showed us a great many stars, but one was burning a lot more brightly than the others. Abby pointed to it.

"That's our destination," she said.

Thadoc worked his controls with his one good hand. "Long-range sensors indicate seventeen planets. Two of them are inhabitable."

Clearly, I thought, if we were to find the h.o.a.rd, it would be on one of those two worlds. Apparently, Abby saw it that way as well.

"Chart a course," she told Thadoc.

He did as he was asked. Moments later, I had the warbird clipping along at warp four, the solar system in question dead ahead.

But even at warp four, it would be several hours before we got there. Abby and Thadoc opted to get some rest in that time, leaving Worf and me on the bridge by ourselves.

"You are injured," the Klingon observed.

I glanced back over my shoulder at him. "You can tell that from all the way back there?"

Worf nodded. "You are bleeding. From a head wound."

My hand went to the back of my head. I found a sore spot. When I inspected my fingertips, there was blood on them, but not a lot. Idly, I wondered if it was a new wound or an old one that had reopened.

"A scratch," I concluded.

My lieutenant grunted with something like humor. "A Klingon would no doubt say so. Most humans would not."

I turned back to my console and smiled. "I hope you don't think I'm like most humans, Mr. Worf. After all the years we've served together, I should hope you know me better than that."

His response wasn't long in coming. "I do, sir."

A moment later, the lift doors opened and my old friend Corbis stepped out onto the bridge. He wasn't alone, either. The Tellarite known as Gob was at his side.

"Is something wrong?" I asked Corbis.

He eyed me with some of the hostility he had harbored toward me earlier. "That's between me and the captain, Starfleet."

It didn't seem he was speaking of any danger to the s.h.i.+p, so I refrained from forcing the issue. "Suit yourself," I told him.

"Where is she?" asked the Tellarite.

I glanced at him. "You mean the captain?"

"Yes," he said, "the captain."

"She's sleeping, as far as I know." I returned my attention to my instruments. "I'd advise you not to wake her. She'll need her wits when we get where we're going."

Gob snorted. "That's what we want to talk to her about where we're going." I imagined his tiny eyes narrowing as he scrutinized me. "Has she located the h.o.a.rd of Dujonian?"

Again, I glanced over my shoulder at him. "I thought you wanted to discuss that with the captain."

"We do," said Corbis.

"You do," the Tellarite told him. "I just want an answer. I don't particularly care who gives it to me."

"The captain thinks she knows where the h.o.a.rd is," I responded. "But as I'm sure she told you from the beginning, there are no guarantees."

"We've gone through h.e.l.l," Gob grumbled. "And we've lost a lot of men. I'd hate to think it was all for nothing."

I nodded. "So would I."

And that was the end of it. Corbis and his newfound companion left without another word.

But as soon as they were gone, Worf spoke up. "I will be watching Corbis even more closely than before, sir. And Gob as well. They will pose a problem for us before this is over."

Unfortunately, I found myself agreeing with him.

Madigoor "I TOLD YOU Pandrilites were nasty," Dravvin reminded them.

Robinson nodded. "So you did."

"Tellarites are no picnic, either," said Flenarrh. He looked around to make sure there was no one of that species in earshot. "No one's quicker to anger, not even the Klingons."

Hompaq cleared her throat. "Present company excepted, of course."

Flenarrh inclined his tufted head. "Of course. By no means did I mean to imply your fuse was anything but short."

The Klingon eyed him, suspecting that she was being toyed with. But she found no evidence of it in Flenarrh's face, so she flashed her long, sharp teeth and let the matter pa.s.s.

"What happened then?" asked the Captain of the Kalliope. He indicated the gecko with a tilt of his head. "My friend and I want to know."

"Nothing," said Picard. "At least, not right away. In fact, my whole s.h.i.+ft went by without anything remarkable happening."

The Tale AT THE END of it, I turned to see Abby and Thadoc walk out onto the bridge. They appeared refreshed by their respective naps, and the helmsman looked a bit more comfortable with his arm in a sling.

I glanced at Abby. "You're in a good mood."

"A little sleep can work wonders," she said.

But I knew it wasn't sleep alone that had caused her spirits to rise. It was the prospect of finding her brother.

Abby cast a look at the viewscreen. "How are we doing?"

"As you can see," I told her, "we're approximately halfway to our destination. In fact"

Worf interrupted me. "Three s.h.i.+ps off the port bow, sir."

I turned my attention to my monitors. As the Klingon had indicated, our sensors had detected three small vessels on an intercept course. Not surprisingly, I had never seen their fluted design before.

"Shall I hail them?" asked Worf.

I looked to Abby, who was standing by the captain's seat. "I think it's a good idea," I told her.

True, I was unfamiliar with this milieu and its politics, and we might well have been trespa.s.sing in someone's territory. But if we had ruffled any feathers, it was all the more important to establish communications so we could smooth them.

And in all honesty, the explorer in me yearned to see what kind of beings we had encountered.