Crossover - Michael Jan Friedman [70]
Using his finger, he went down the list until he came to the name of the vessel’s first officer. There.
Slowly, a smile spread across Eragian’s face as the pieces fell into place one by one.
“How interesting,” he muttered.
“Indeed,” Lennex agreed. “It seems Montgomery Scott served alongside the reputed leader of the unificationist movement on Romulus—the Vulcan named Spock.”
Eragian nodded. “And is it not a strange coincidence that Montgomery Scott should appear in this sector of the Empire just now—when a contingent of the rebels has been captured on Constanthus? A very strange coincidence
“
“Unless the Vulcan was one of those who were captured,” the Tal Shiar suggested. “Which would mean Spock has been in our hands all along.”
The proconsul’s smile broadened as he pondered the possibilities
And then instantly faded. After all, it wasn’t the forces of the homeworld who had discovered Spock. It was Tharrus.
Eragian’s teeth ground together. “I wonder if our friend the governor knows what a valuable prize is in his possession? Or is there still time to wrest the Vulcan from him, before he can use his prisoner as leverage?”
“To gain himself even more power than you anticipated,” Lennex remarked.
“Yes,” said the proconsul. Storing the computer information, he deactivated the monitor and rose from his chair. As he headed for the door, the Tal Shiar trailing in his wake, he realized he would need to obtain additional ships.
His overriding concern was to obtain Spock before Tharrus could make a hero of himself—and that might require some heavy firepower. Or at least the threat of it.
CHAPTER 17
Apparently the place where the unificationists would be judged was located in the command center.
On the way there, Spock watched as his students— D’tan included—formed an informal honor guard around him. The formation was a Romulan tradition that went back to the pre-reformation days on Vulcan.
Nonetheless, the Teacher sensed the gesture was important to his students, so he allowed it. Only a short time earlier, Spock would have been troubled by the use of such a symbol—one that had its roots in the aggressive, passionate behavior Vulcans had left behind thousands of years ago.
Now he was less concerned with making distinctions between what was Vulcan and what was Romulan.
As they entered an enclosed amphitheater, the Teacher winced at the brightness of the sun, its light filtering through a high, narrow window. The seats that rose all around them were filled with Constantharine citizens. Spock placed the number of spectators at a thousand, conservatively.
Directly in front of the unificationists, a triangular wooden structure formed a stage jutting out from the spectators’ seats and into the open area. On a raised position at the rear of the structure sat Governor Tharrus, surrounded by two dozen formally garbed Romulans.
The Vulcan recognized these as government and military officials. He noted with interest that the configuration created by Tharrus and his tribunal strongly resembled the honor guard that his students had made—and abandoned inside the arena, so as not to reveal Spock’s position as their teacher.
At the bottom of the tribunal, among the soldiers standing guard, the Vulcan could clearly see his former student, Skrasis—though the young Romulan did not meet his teacher’s eyes.
Excellent control, Spock thought. He regretted that he would not have a chance to commend him for it.
Once the unificationists were all present in the amphitheater’s central pit, Tharrus stood up behind his judicial desk, regarded the tribunal assembled below him, and then turned to the students of Surak.
“We are here to carry out the justice of the Romulan Empire,” he said, his voice echoing throughout the arena. And beyond, the Vulcan mused, since the cameras posted at intervals suggested the event was being broadcast over subspace channels.
“In these proceedings,” the governor went on, “we address a horrific threat to the