Day of Honor 01_ Ancient Blood - Diane Carey [82]
“That could take days.”
“So what? You said he’s in the hands of a noncorrupt policeman, didn’t you? Do you believe it or not? After all, you said it, didn’t you? So you sure must believe it!”
“That’s enough, Commissioner,” Picard steamed.
“No, it’s not anywhere near enough. Mr. Worf, Captain Picard has command over you on this starship and on any mission sanctioned by Starfleet Command or the Federation Council, but as of this second, any further actions by you on or about Sindikash are not, and I mean not, sanctioned. Stay away from that planet. It’s out of your hands. Got it?”
Toledano didn’t have the bulk, the might, or the prowess to challenge a trained mountain like Worf, but he certainly did wield the biggest weapon of all—authority. Any other Klingon would have peeled the commissioner’s face and eaten the leavings, but Worf was indeed a Starfleet officer, which canceled all bets.
The commissioner pushed himself away from the table. “Just stay out of it,” he concluded. “All of you, just stay out of it.”
With that, the man who had at first been so affable and well-intended now left the briefing room with the lowest perceptions of persons he had once respected. Worf felt the loss keenly, and especially for the captain, who would bear the brunt of this.
First Grant, and now the captain would pay for Worf’s honor. He wasn’t used to that. Hadn’t expected it.
“Well…” Captain Picard gazed at the door panels as they softly closed behind the commissioner, leaving the command crew uneasy with each other. “That could’ve gone better.”
“You were right, Jean-Luc,” Beverly Crusher reassured him. “Missions do fail now and then.”
“I don’t have to like it, Doctor. Well, Mr. Worf, now that you’re back aboard, do you want me to stop being Alexander’s mentor?”
Sweating like a jungle rain, Worf struggled between his responsibility as a father and the request he had made of his captain. There was some honor involved here, too, and a respect for his captain which he would be troubled to compromise.
“No, sir,” he ultimately said, and nearly choked. “I gave you the right. I will not rescind it.”
Because of his honor, as he saw it, Worf had to go back to the planet, therefore he had to leave Alexander’s rite of passage into honor where he had put it in the first place. With Captain Picard.
The captain was watching him.
“I’ll try to find some way to make him understand,” Picard reassured him. “You’re sure about this, Mr. Worf?”
“Yes, sir, very sure.” Worf stood up. “I will not be here to take over with Alexander.”
“Why not?”
“Because I must ask you to allow me to return to Sindikash to rescue Grant.”
Picard looked at him and folded his hands in mockpassivity. “Allow you? I’m afraid not, Mister Worf. I can’t give you permission to go on a rescue mission for someone who is in legal custody and not a Starfleet crewman. There is no way I can authorize such an expedition …”
“I understand, sir,” Worf said tightly.
Was he reading the captain’s tone correctly, with its oddly emphasized words? He would soon know.
Tenatively, he added, “Then I will not ask you, of course, sir.”
“Good,” the captain said, his eyes twinkling. “And don’t ask Mr. Riker to go with you. I would not grant him permission either.”
At Worf’s side, Riker smiled.
Hope sprung high inside Worf’s chest.
“Yes, sir,” he said. “I would like to avoid asking Mr. Data as well.”
Slowly Picard stood up and gestured at their resident android. “Agreed. Too much trouble. In any event, his appearance would be too difficult to explain. You’d have to put some kind of makeup on him so he would appear human.”
Worf nodded somberly.
“And, of course, if you asked Dr. Crusher, that would be unacceptable as well.”
“Well, I don’t know about any of them,” Riker said. “But I have no intention of going on any rescue missions. I’m going to lie down in my cabin for the next twenty hours or so, and leave orders that nobody disturb me. Mr. Data’s going to do the same. He’s having his first headache.”
Data