Broken Bow - Diane Carey [31]
She sidled toward them on the farthest side of the deck. “Are you sure it’s safe to stand so close to that?” Her tone was half-joking, but only half.
“What’ve you got?” Archer asked sharply.
“I’ve managed to translate most of what Klaang said. But none of it makes any sense.” She handed him a padd.
The captain took it and read the screen. “Nothing about the Suliban?”
“Nope.”
Archer now turned to T’Pol and skewered her with a glare. “That name ring a bell to you?”
“They’re a somewhat primitive species from Sector 3641. But they’ve never posed a threat.”
“Well, they have now.”
Tucker snickered at her. Yet another “primitive” species for the Vulcans to chide? Did she think of the Suliban the way she thought about humans? If so, were they more capable of subterfuge than she gave them credit for?
“Did he say anything about Earth?” Archer asked Hoshi.
She shrugged. “The word’s not even in their database.”
Archer eyed the padd again. Tucker watched him, and wished he could help.
“It’s all there,” Hoshi said weakly. “There were only four words I couldn’t translate ... probably just proper nouns.” She wanted to help, too, but Archer’s problem wasn’t improving.
The captain strode away a few steps, contemplating what he saw on the screen. “Jelik ... Sarin ... Rigel ... Tholia ... Anything sound familiar?”
T’Pol hesitated, uneasy. Seemed her goals were at cross-purposes. Or worse, maybe they weren’t.
“T’Pol?” Archer sternly pressed.
She paused again, glanced at Tucker, who was careful to give her one of those get-cracking looks.
“Rigel,” she finally began, “is a planetary system approximately fifteen light-years from our present position.”
Tucker watched and held his breath. Of course, Earth had known about the blue giant Rigel for generations, and other stars like Altair and Arcturus, but this was the first he’d heard of settled planets there.
“Why the hesitation?” Archer challenged.
Tucker almost blurted ah-hah!—but he held back. Archer looked as if he might be ready to pull this gal’s eyebrows off if she didn’t give, and quick.
Realizing she was about to knock the stick off his shoulder again, she decided to shell out.
“According to the navigational logs salvaged from Klaang’s ship, Rigel Ten was the last place he stopped before crashing on your planet.”
Though Archer’s face flushed with new anger, he plainly wasn’t surprised. “Why do I get the feeling you weren’t going to share that little piece of information?”
“I wasn’t authorized to reveal the details of our findings.”
There it was—the problem in a nutshell. “Our” and “your”—“we” and “they.” She was here, but she wasn’t yet on the team.
Tension mounted. Archer shared a pointed glance at both Tucker and Hoshi. Tucker held his own expression in careful check, not knowing which side of this teeter-totter would be the best one to be on. Should he fan Archer’s anger and therefore his strength of will, or should he mollify the situation and hunker down for more efficiency?
Better not choose right now. The captain would signal soon enough which direction he wanted to go.
Controlling himself valiantly, Archer was scarier now than if he’d been yelling. He glowered at her like a cat.
“The next time I learn you’re withholding something,” he warned, “you’re going to spend the rest of this voyage confined to some very cramped quarters. Understood?”
T’Pol’s expression was hard to read, but she didn’t have any snotty remarks. In fact she said nothing at all.
Archer hit the wall com. “Archer to helm.”
“Aye, sir,” Mayweather responded from the bridge.
“Go into the Vulcan starcharts and find a system called Rigel. Then set a course for the tenth planet.”
“Aye, Captain, right away.”
Turning to T’Pol, Archer strictly said, “You’re going to be working with us from now on.”
She paled a little, but owned up to her reasons. “I’m sorry you feel slighted. But I agree with Ambassador