A Call to Darkness - Michael Jan Friedman [25]
STARFLEET OFFICERS weren’t supposed to take things personally. Will Riker did. It was evident in the way he leaned forward out of his seat, elbows dug into his knees, hands locked together like primordial creatures engaged in a death struggle. It could be seen in the way his eyes narrowed as he considered the splendid turmoil on the main viewer-the nearest thing he had to a real antagonist.
Deanna Troi didn’t have to open her mind to read the combative emotions seething in the first officer. As a trained psychologist, she could glean all she had to through visual observation alone.
Amazing, she mused briefly, how the primitive hunter-defender still survives in the human psyche-even after all those centuries of so-called civilization. Sometimes I think humans and Klingons have more in common than either race would like to admit.
On the other hand, as involved as Riker got, he didn’t let it affect his decisions. That’s one reason it was taking him so long to make this one-knowing how confrontational he could be when the ship or its crew was threatened, he wanted to be absolutely sure be had distanced himself from his feelings.
Finally, he decided that he’d weighed the options long enough. Leaning back in his seat, he noticed her scrutiny.
“Taking the measure of my emotional stability?” he asked, keeping his voice down.
“It’s my job,” she reminded him in the same tone.
“And?” he asked. “Do I seem confident?”
She thought about it for a second or so. “Yes,” she decided. “You do.”
His chuckle was a little drier than usual. “Shows what you know.”
She smiled. “But you have come to a decision.”
Riker nodded. “Have you ever heard that expression the captain uses? ‘If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed…’ “
She had heard it. ” ‘Then Mohammed must go to the mountain.’ “
“Exactly,” he said. “And that’s what we’re going to do.” He raised his voice to the necessary level: “Mister Data, I want you to drop us down into the closest orbit possible. How far can the ship descend before we get into trouble?”
The android turned away from his console and shot him a querulous look.
The first officer amended his question. “Before either gravity or atmospheric friction starts to present a danger to us?”
Data gave a quick little nod to show he understood. “It is difficult to say, Commander. The energy mantle makes my readings somewhat unreliable. But at sixty kilometers of altitude, we should still have sufficient margin for error.”
“All right,” said Riker. “Then take us down that far-at half impulse. Mister Fong, let me know how the shields hold up.”
“Aye, sir,” said Fong, busy at the tactical board.
“Engineering,” called the first officer.
Modiano, Geordi’s second-in-command, responded after a moment or two.
“We’re taking the ship down into the planet’s upper atmosphere,” advised Riker. “Be prepared for some stress on the engines.”
“Aye, sir,” said Modiano. “We’ll be ready.”
Under Data’s expert touch, the feeling of descent was imperceptible. But Troi felt it nonetheless, the way one feels a wall when approaching it in the dark. After all, in a very real sense, the energy mantle had made blind men out of all of them.
“Well,” she said, “this ought to get their attention.”
“That’s the idea,” said Riker. “Of course, it’s possible that the mantle will dissipate at a certain depth, and we’ll be able to finally see what we’re up against. But I’m not counting on that. All I really want to do is give them the idea that we’re going to land in their backyard. Then-maybe- they’ll be moved to open communications.”
She nodded. “I see. And if it comes to a battle first?”
The first officer frowned. “That’s something else again. I can’t fight a whole planet-not this one, anyway. But with any luck, it won’t come to that.”
“One hundred kilometers,” announced Data. “And closing.”
“Some strain on the deflector shields,” said Fong. “But hull temperatures well within normal limits.”
“Thank you,” said the first officer. “Steady as she goes.”
Troi recalled what Worf had said about bringing the Enterprise into the energy field: What