A Call to Darkness - Michael Jan Friedman [107]
And then the sky began to rain fire.
“That’s the last of it,” said Geordi, from his position at the engineering station. “Except for the pieces that are too small to do any good.”
“Excellent,” said Picard.
“Should I attempt to establish contact?” asked Worf.
“No,” said the captain. “This time, we will wait for them to make the first move.”
Nor did they have long to wait. Within minutes, the Klingon received a transmission.
“Put it up on the screen, please, Lieutenant.”
It was the first time Picard had seen the High Council of A’klah. But they were very much as Riker had described them.
Haughty. Self-confident, self-possessed.
Except that now there were subtle cracks in that confidence. Even signs of agitation.
“Councillors,” said Picard. “To what do we owe the honor of this communication?”
The one who seemed the eldest spoke for all of them. “You have disturbed the ages-old serenity of our world. For what reason?”
“We have learned that you are in possession of our comrades. We want them back.”
“We told you before-we know nothing of your comrades. And if we did, we would not be moved to release them by the mere inconvenience you have perpetrated upon us. To speak plainly, we thought you capable of greater force.”
“We are capable,” returned the captain. “But we opted not to destroy. As I said before, our only objective is to recover our people.”
“And as I said before, we do not have your…”
“Enough,” said Picard, rising to his feet. “The charade is over, Councillor. I know all about you-your Conflicts and your methods of propagating them. What is more, I know you have conscripted our people. And the reason I know is because-until recently-I was one of your conscripts.”
The Councillor did not register the shock he must have been feeling. On the other hand, he did not seem to have a rebuttal.
“Soon,” said the captain, “you will discover the true purpose of our maneuver-though I suspect you may have an inkling of it already. At that point, you will not only admit that there are conscripts-you will beg us to take them from you.”
“Have a care, Enterprise,” said the councillor. He had finally found his tongue, and was trying to give the appearance of a strong position. “We too are capable of bringing force…”
But Picard saw no need to hear the rest. “Terminate contact,” he told Worf.
A moment later, the image of the Council was replaced by that of the planet, swaddled in its golden veil.
Riker stood up beside him. “Good job, sir. I think they’ll come around, now that they know where we stand.”
Picard harumphed. “After their broadcasts are terminated, their marshals toppled, their cities threatened by an outpouring of angry off-worlders? Yes, Number One. I think they’ll come around.”
Chapter Twenty-one
PULASKI POINTED to the far side of the cargo deck.
“Over there,” she told the crewman. “Where that big, blond fellow is standing. His name’s Vanderventer-he’ll know what to do with it.”
The crewman grunted as he shifted the heavy storage module from one shoulder to the other. “Over there, Doctor?”
“That’s right,” said Pulaski. “Sorry to make you work so hard, but it’s important we get those dermaplasts to where they’re needed. Nobody’s going to sport an open wound on my ship.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said the crewman, though not with the utmost enthusiasm. As Pulaski watched, he wound his way among the knots of Rythrians and Merethua and Tant’lithi that stood between him and the makeshift medical station manned by Vanderventer.
It would have been nice if they had had the room to use transport vehicles to carry supplies, instead of crewmen borrowed from every section on the ship. But with nearly eighteen thousand refugees crowding all available living quarters and cargo space, they were lucky to be able to get anything anywhere.
It certainly hadn’t taken long for the Council to cave in and admit to the Conflicts. The captain had been right on target in that regard.
With their memories back, the participants posed a real-if primitive-threat to all manner of facilities and personnel in and around the