• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

He wasn’t alone, either. Four of his security people had beamed over with him and were pointing their weapons at Thul’s surviving officers.

A howl of pain and fury erupted from the Thallonian’s throat. “My son!” he grated at Picard, his fingers opening and closing as if of their own volition. “You murdered my son!”

“He attacked my ship,” the human told him, his tone flat and expressionless, his eyes colder than Thul had ever seen them. “My people had no choice but to fire back at him.”

“You lie!” the governor shrieked, and flung himself at Picard.

But the human was too quick for him. He sidestepped Thul’s lunge and let him crash to the deck. Once again, the Thallonian found a console to latch onto and dragged himself to his feet.

“You think you’ve won,” he told Picard. “You think you’ve heard the last of me. But you haven’t.”

The human didn’t try to silence Thul. He just frowned and let the governor go on.

“Remember this day,” Thul raged at him, wiping bloody spittle from his mouth as he eyed each Starfleet officer in turn. “Remember my promise, damn you. One day, I will have my revenge on you, Picard-you and your entire Federation!”

He was still shrieking, still cursing the captain and everything he stood for, as the human officers wrestled him away.

Chapter Nineteen

PICARD AND BEN ZOMA were sitting in their customary seats on the podium when Cabrid Culunnh took his place at the lectern.

For days, the captain had been trying to convince the intrasector congress to maintain order, to observe decorum. Yet now, when every delegate and observer in the place made a clamor that shivered the Council Chamber to its foundation, Picard was far from displeased.

In fact, he was quite happy about it. After all, the delegates weren’t bickering or threatening or accusing each other, as they had in the past. They were unanimously cheering the Benniari First Minister, who had cajoled and prodded and warned them into postponing a war.

By making them wait, by keeping the sparks of hatred from becoming a conflagration, he had bought time for his Federation allies. As it turned out, it was all the time they had needed.

The captain would not have wagered on this outcome when he last left the Council Chamber. And yet, here it was-a phoenix peace, risen from the ashes of acrimony and discord and suspicion.

“My fellow Kellasians,” Culunnh said in a soft, breathy voice, barely audible over the roar of accolades, “please … if I may… I would like to say a few words to you.”

Little by little, the applause died down. Finally, it was quiet enough for the First Minister to be heard. He chirped lightheartedly, his medallion gleaming in the filtered sunlight.

“You are much too kind,” he told the assembly, “but I am an old man and I will take my recognition where I can get it.”

Again, the congress broke out into a tumult of praise for Culunnh. And again, he had to wait until it faded before he could speak.

“We were duped,” he said, “all of us in equal measure. We were set upon each other like ravening animals, pawns of a stone-hearted power seeker… a Thallonian who will find it a lot more difficult to seek power in the imperial prison he now calls his home.”

Though the First Minister hadn’t mentioned Thul by name, everyone knew whom he meant. The reference was met with a wave of hoots and catcalls and other assorted sounds of derision.

“What’s more, he came close to accomplishing his objective,” Culunnh went on. “Perilously close. He almost had the war of devastation that he sought.” He turned to Picard. “Fortunately for us, he underestimated our friends on the Federation Starship Stargazer.”

By then, every being in the congress had heard the story. At once, they rose to their feet or whatever analogous appendages they stood on and raised a thunder that exceeded what had come before. It was a staggering spectacle, a stunning tribute.

Picard turned red in the face. Despite his embarrassment, the First Minister beckoned for the captain to take the lectern.

“Gilaad,” the captain told his first officer, “I don’t know if it is