Indistinguishable From Magic Part 34

Aloud he said, "I daresay we'll find a way."

"Right," La Forge said decisively. "What's the nearest of these high-gravity points to our current position, excluding the Bolus Reach?"

Leah touched a glowing orb in the hologram. "Pulsar Alpha Six-Four. It's quite near the edge of the Neutral Zone," she warned.

La Forge nodded somberly. "Qat'qa, set a course for there. Let's see if the area has the same subs.p.a.ce granulation as the Bolus Reach and G-231."

"Consider us on our way, sir."

28.

On Romulus, politics didn't stop simply because the Praetor, Gell Kamemor, was making a state visit to her homeworld of Glintara. She wasn't going alone either; along with her s.h.i.+p, the fleet was represented by one of her newest warbirds, Remus was represented by a s.h.i.+p, and the Tal s.h.i.+ar were represented by the Valdore Valdore-cla.s.s Stormcrow, Stormcrow, as if they needed to remind anyone of their eternal and watchful presence. as if they needed to remind anyone of their eternal and watchful presence.

The Praetor knew that no chairman of the Tal s.h.i.+ar liked to be seen in public, but it was unavoidable that some state occasions meant such important people had to be included in the diplomatic functions.

It had been over a year since the chairman of the Tal s.h.i.+ar had left Romulus, and she found that she relished the chance to do so. Her office had almost become a prison. True, it was s.p.a.cious and luxurious, and she had more power than any s.h.i.+p's master, but it was an unchanging place, with no opportunity to see the new.

"Madam Chairman?" A deep voice drew his attention. It was the captain of this s.h.i.+p, an iron-haired commander named Marist. The chairman had made sure to read the political files of all the s.h.i.+p's officers before coming on board-knowledge was, after all, power-and judged the man to be a loyal subject. Not that this meant he was automatically trustworthy. Trust had to be earned personally, as far as the chairman was concerned.

"Commander Marist," she said. "You have a fine s.h.i.+p."

"Thank you, Madam Chairman." He swelled with genuine pride.

"Walk with me, Commander." He fell into step beside his ultimate superior.

"These diplomatic functions are a nuisance," the chairman said, "but sometimes can be an opportunity as well. I've admired your work for some years."

Marist was delighted and surprised. "Thank you, Madam Chairman."

They arrived on the Stormcrow Stormcrow's bridge, where Marist, dismissed by a smiling chairman, went to confer with a woman who was a little taller than average, and slim with whip-like muscles. "Thank you, Subcommander Voktra," he said in response to her report. He turned back to the chairman. "We've reported ready to the Praetor, Madam Chairman. As soon as she gives the signal, the squadron will go to warp. It's three days to Glintara at normal cruising speed."

"I know, I've been there before." Everyone took their seats, and, after a few minutes Praetor Kamemor appeared on the main viewer, and gave the command to go to warp. The four s.h.i.+ps, and their escorts, responded immediately.

Three days later, three of the s.h.i.+ps on the state visit dropped out of warp in Glintara's solar system. The Stormcrow, Stormcrow, however, did not. In fact she had gained speed, and continued to do so. Marist was baffled, and harried his chief engineer, Voktra, to find out what was wrong. however, did not. In fact she had gained speed, and continued to do so. Marist was baffled, and harried his chief engineer, Voktra, to find out what was wrong.

Marist didn't say anything, but all aboard knew why he was so frantic. The chairman of the Tal s.h.i.+ar was aboard, and the Tal s.h.i.+ar was never forgiving of failure. After several s.h.i.+fts, Voktra brought Marist the news he didn't want to hear. "Sabotage, Commander," she snarled. "A worm was inserted into the warp core's software, and triggered when we tried to drop out of warp. It's scrambled the navigational controls, helm, and it's overloaded the warp core."

"Pull the plug," Marist ordered.

"It's b.o.o.by-trapped. If I do that, the forced quantum singularity will be loosed. Whoever did this was a technical genius."

"Contact the praetor and the rest of the fleet, and inform them of our situation." Marist ordered. The centurion at the communications console was already doing so, but stopped, startled, when a face that only two people aboard would recognize appeared on the main viewer.

"Director Vellil," the chairman hissed, a cold anger rising in her.

The head of the Tal s.h.i.+ar's Technical Directorate smiled. "Madam Chairman. I'd be a liar if I said I was sorry to hear of your current technical difficulties."

"What is the meaning of this?" Marist demanded.

"It's a message to the chairman, from the late Chairman Rehaek. He says, 'See you soon.' " With that, Vellil was gone, but the s.h.i.+p was still hurtling out of control.

"Commander," the helmsman shouted, "I've corrected for the corruption in the navigational computer, and we're well into the Neutral Zone."

"Turn us around," Marist snapped.

"Helm not responding. And, sir, we're locked on course for a collision with a pulsar, Alpha Six-Four."

"That's in Federation s.p.a.ce," the chairman said.

"There's something approaching us," Voktra saw on a sensor monitor. "Approaching at incredible speed, like nothing I've ever seen."

"Federation?"

"The signal is strengthening," Voktra saw and reported. "If these readings are accurate . . . They suggest a type of slipstream-" Her words were silenced by an enormous judder, which snapped the bridge around in a dizzying spin, hurling Voktra, Commander Marist, the chairman and everyone else pinwheeling across consoles and slamming painfully into walls and pillars. Everything went momentarily black.

On the main screen, a green slash of wing tumbled end over end away from the s.h.i.+p. Alarms blared, and the lighting on the command deck turned dark red. "What happened?" the chairman demanded.

"We're venting plasma!" a voice called. "Decks four through nine have lost pressure. All power lost!" But those weren't the worst things. Voktra hauled herself to her feet and staggered across to the master systems display. She almost tripped over Commander Marist, and saw that he was dead. His head was missing.

"Report," the chairman snapped again. "What hit us? What weapon?"

"No weapon, Chairman . . . A collision."

"Collision? With what? A Federation s.h.i.+p?"

"Impossible to tell, as sensors are down. Chairman . . . we've lost the port wing. Sheared clean off."

"Go on, Voktra."

"Main power is offline, s.h.i.+elds and weapons offline, cloak offline-"

"That's too many d.a.m.ned offlines. What do we still have online?"

"Life support, replicators, and main power. Oh, no." Voktra couldn't quite bring herself to believe what she saw there, but she could feel a pit open up in her stomach anyway with the approaching horror of it.

The chairman saw her expression. "What is it?"

"Main power is online but there's a feedback loop. The singularity is irreparably destabilized. Its spin is wobbling, and out of control."

"How serious?"

"The singularity will break free from any possible confinement in less than an hour."

"Eject the core!"

"Ejection systems offline."

"And then we explode in an hour . . ."

"We im implode in an hour." The chairman scowled at her. Voktra hated to make the suggestion, but as senior officer now that Marist was dead, it was her responsibility to do so. "Chairman . . . We ought to abandon s.h.i.+p."

"Send a distress signal," the chairman said at last.

29.

Challenger hurtled toward Pulsar Alpha Six-Four at warp five, when Nog broke the news. "Captain, I'm picking up a distress signal, on all frequencies. Audio only, but it's a strong signal, which means they're close." hurtled toward Pulsar Alpha Six-Four at warp five, when Nog broke the news. "Captain, I'm picking up a distress signal, on all frequencies. Audio only, but it's a strong signal, which means they're close."

"Let's hear it."

". . . the warbird Stormcrow. Stormcrow. We have suffered a collision with an unknown vessel, and are losing atmosphere. All power lost, and our warp core is unstable. Implosion is estimated in . . ." We have suffered a collision with an unknown vessel, and are losing atmosphere. All power lost, and our warp core is unstable. Implosion is estimated in . . ."

"Warbird? In the Neutral Zone?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, we can take that up with them afterwards. For now, set a course for the Stormcrow Stormcrow's position, maximum warp."

"Course laid in, maximum warp," Qat'qa echoed, her voice reeking with disappointment and revulsion.

La Forge knew exactly why she would be dismayed at the idea of going to rescue Romulans. He wasn't sure if he'd earned the right to use the diminutive of her name yet, but judged that it was an appropriate moment to try. "Kat . . . I served with Worf for a lot of years, and I know how you feel about Romulans, but . . . a distress signal is a distress signal. Even in the Neutral Zone."

"If it really is a distress signal, and if they see things that way, sir."

"Don't worry, that thought occurred to me too. Nog, let's keep the s.h.i.+elds up, and weapons ready, just in case." He thought for a moment. "Qat'qa, join me in my ready room." She handed over her console and followed the captain in.

"Sir, if you are thinking of giving me a lecture on interspecies relations, and my duty on this s.h.i.+p . . . I will not let my hatred interfere with my duty. That is not my way."

La Forge was glad to hear it. "That's not why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted you to understand that . . . I don't trust Romulans either."

"Sir?"

"I've been a prisoner of the Romulans."

Qat'qa looked shocked, and he was pretty sure it was on his behalf, as a kind of sympathetic shock. "They tortured you in . . ."

"No, actually they didn't. At least, I don't think think they did." they did."

"You don't think? I would have thought that being under the thumb of the Romulans would be a very memorable experience."

"No . . . actually it was an intentional part of what they did." He paused, recalling her personnel file. "You lost family in the Klingon civil war, didn't you? When the Duras family, backed by the Romulans, tried to take over the Empire."

"My elder sister and both brothers." She said the words as if they were a mantra, or something that motivated her. He was sure that was exactly what they were, as in his experience, that was the Klingon way.

"As a prelude to the war, the Romulans tried to drive a wedge between the Federation and the Empire. I guess they hoped both to weaken any resistance to their expansion, and to stave off Federation interference in their . . . king-making with the Duras."

"Interference which, thank Kahless, happened."

"Yeah. What the Romulans did was to abduct a Starfleet officer. They used psychosurgical techniques to program him to a.s.sa.s.sinate a Klingon governor, and spark hostilities between the Federation and the Empire. The EM bands that linked his brain and his prosthetic vision device were used to control him."

"You."

"Me."

"But you . . . you didn't kill any governor?"

"No. I didn't even know what I was doing, I didn't remember being a prisoner of the Romulans . . . All I remembered was taking a really fun vacation on Risa."

"We are siblings in pain," Qat'qa said slowly. "I understand. May I speak freely?"

"Granted."

"I did not give you permission to call me Kat." She shrugged. "An oversight, which I correct now. Please feel free to call me Kat."

"Thank you, Kat." La Forge meant it from the bottom of his heart. He knew how seriously Klingons took the matter of names. "Now, we have some Romulans to rescue."

The crew of the Stormcrow Stormcrow could hardly breathe between the leaking coolant and fire suppression gas contaminating the atmosphere. Static from the communications system provided an appropriately hissy accompaniment. The chairman wondered whether she would asphyxiate before the singularity at the heart of the warp core crushed the s.h.i.+p. could hardly breathe between the leaking coolant and fire suppression gas contaminating the atmosphere. Static from the communications system provided an appropriately hissy accompaniment. The chairman wondered whether she would asphyxiate before the singularity at the heart of the warp core crushed the s.h.i.+p.

"Ten minutes," Voktra said, too coolly. The chairman couldn't help wondering if there was some Vulcan blood in that one. Without warning, the static broke up into fragments of speech. For a moment the chairman thought she was hallucinating, but then she saw that Voktra was also hearing it.

". . . len . . . r spon . . . call. I repeat, Romulan vessel, this is the U.S.S. Challenger U.S.S. Challenger responding to your distress call." responding to your distress call."

A Federation s.h.i.+p, the chairman thought. the chairman thought. It would have to be, wouldn't it? It would have to be, wouldn't it? She sought out Voktra's eyes, and saw hope there. She nodded slowly to Voktra, accepting the inevitable. "Hail them and apprise them of our situation." She sought out Voktra's eyes, and saw hope there. She nodded slowly to Voktra, accepting the inevitable. "Hail them and apprise them of our situation."

Voktra collapsed to her knees, slamming them painfully into the hard transporter pads, as soon as the beam freed her. She was one of half a dozen Romulans who stumbled off the pad, gasping for breath.

She had waited to be one of the last ones off, to be sure that as many people were evacuated from the s.h.i.+p as possible. She knew it would take a while for the toxins to get out of her lungs. But now she could breathe again. A human with four pips on his collar-the captain-and strange eyes, which she quickly recognized were cybernetic implants, helped her up. "We've got sixty-eight survivors, including yourself. Is that all of you?"

Voktra shook her head, but it was a tiny motion. "Our pa.s.senger would not leave until all other survivors had been rescued."

"It looks to me as if that's what's happened. Your pa.s.senger doesn't need to go down with the s.h.i.+p."

"No." Voktra raised her communicator. "Chairman, this is Engineer Voktra. All survivors are now aboard the Federation s.h.i.+p. Are you ready to transport?"

"I'm ready," the resigned voice came back.