Crossover - Michael Jan Friedman [56]
Eragian muttered a curse. “Can’t the leak be repaired?” he asked.
“It can,” Orath replied. “However, it may take some time to do so, and I do not wish to see you placed in any peril.”
It was the correct answer. Orath had become a master of correct answers, it seemed to the proconsul.
On the other hand, an engine leak was an engine leak. Even Eragian knew how unpredictable such things could be.
He frowned. “Very well,” he said reluctantly. “Make arrangements for my immediate return to the Vengeance. “
Unexpectedly, Trace piped up. He was standing behind Orath, peering at the information on the older man’s padd. “Your Eminence, may I see Orath’s data, please?”
The older aide was not pleased by the younger one’s impertinence. However, Eragian was curious as to what Trace might have seen. So was Lennex, by the look of him.
“By all means,” the proconsul responded. “Orath, if you please.”
With obvious distaste for the situation, Orath handed Trace his data padd. The younger man took a moment or two to study the thing, then murmured something beneath his breath.
“Speak up,” Eragian instructed. “What is it?”
T’racc looked up at him. “Proconsul, this is not an accidental leak. At least, as far as I can tell.”
Eragian returned the man’s gaze. “Not accidental?” he repeated. “Are you saying the human sabotaged this ship before he was taken from it?”
Lennex’s interest seemed to be increasing.
T’racc shook his head from side to side. “No, Proconsul. Not sabotaged it—simply created an energy leak which would direct a pulse out into space.”
Eragian felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise. “And why would he wish to do that?” he asked.
But even before Trace provided the answer, the proconsul came up with it himself. Nor did it please him immensely.
“I believe,” said the younger aide, “it is an attempt to communicate with someone in the Federation.”
Finally the Tai Shiar spoke up. “What makes you say that?”
T’racc paled. Lennex seemed to make him nervous.
“Certainly,” he replied, “that theory would be supported by the direction in which the energy is leaking— though it would require a more thorough examination to determine if there is a code involved.”
The Tal Shiar turned to Eragian. “Perhaps an investigation is in order.”
But the proconsul shook his head. He didn’t need to conduct an investigation. He could feel the truth of the matter in his bones.
“More than likely,” he said, “T’racc is right. The energy leak is a means of sending a message to the Federation. A call for help, perhaps.”
It made Eragian angry that no one had detected it before. He glared at Orath. “Return to the Vengeance, “he snapped. “And send someone else in your place— someone who shows some intellectual curiosity.”
Orath swallowed. “Yes, Your Eminence.” He bowed his head and backed out of the proconsul’s presence. The turbolift doors whispered open behind him, offering him a refuge which he no doubt gladly accepted.
Eragian turned back to T’racc. “You’ve done well,” he told the younger man. “Now do something more.”
“Anything, Your Eminence.”
“See to it that the human’s activities are curtailed until I transport to the surface—which will be in a matter of minutes.”
“Of course,” said the younger man. He removed his personal communications device from his belt and made contact with the ground installation.
In the meantime, the proconsul seethed. Finally he had obtained the clue he’d been searching for—the key that would allow him to understand this entire affair, in due time.
“The human, the one called Scott, is not at all what he seems,” Lennex noted. “It was one thing to commandeer an ancient starship and try to take it behind Romulan lines. But to devise such a clever way of calling for assistance …”
Eragian nodded. “A demented being could not have accomplished that. Hence, the human was only pretending to be mad. What’s more, he will regret that pretense as soon as I have a chance to interrogate him.”
“Proconsul!” called T’racc.
Eragian turned, surprised at the lack of deference in his aide’s voice. But when he actually