Enigma - Michael Jan Friedman [64]
It might take a little time to digest it all, and figure out what to do with it, and then send it out to all the captains who would need it. Maybe it wouldn’t arrive in time to help everyone, but it would eventually even the playing field.
If Ben Zoma were back on the Stargazer, staring at the enemy’s weapons ports, all he would have wanted was a fighting chance. Knowing the men and women who served on starships, he believed that would be enough.
There was really no reason to keep firing. But Ben Zoma fired anyway. He just didn’t have it in him to surrender.
And in time, it cost him. The first shot he took was just a glancing blow, barely hard enough to make him drop his phaser. But the second one came from a better angle, and it was the last thing Ben Zoma felt.
Chapter Sixteen
BEN ZOMA CAME TO not knowing where he was or how he had gotten there, but he felt as if he had been run over by a starship moving at warp nine.
Then he remembered—the firefight with the aliens, and how they had blasted him as he covered Garner and Horombo. But he wasn’t dead. And as he looked around, he saw that he wasn’t the only one fortunate enough to say that.
He was surrounded by all six of his companions, in a rectangular room with walls made of the same oily-looking metal he had seen in the supply ship. To that point, only Chen and Ramirez had found the where-withal to sit up, but the others all appeared to be moving in that direction.
Unfortunately, they had been relieved of their equipment. But then, it would have been unrealistic to expect otherwise.
“Is everyone all right?” asked Ben Zoma.
The others blinked at him dully. However, every one of them eventually answered in the affirmative—with the notable exception of McAteer. Instead, he got up and began walking around the room, running his hands over the walls.
Ben Zoma wasn’t sure what the admiral hoped to accomplish. However, he refrained from commenting as McAteer examined each wall in turn.
Finally, a sound of exasperation escaped from him and he said, “Nothing.”
Though Ben Zoma had decided not to comment, Paris didn’t seem to feel the same way. “What were you looking for, sir?”
McAteer looked as if he hadn’t expected anyone to ask for details. “Whatever I could find,” he said, keeping it vague.
At that point, Paris too seemed to realize it would be less embarrassing for everyone if he let the matter drop. McAteer hadn’t served on a starship in a long time. He had probably forgotten what to do when he found himself unexpectedly incarcerated.
And yet, thought Ben Zoma, the admiral couldn’t afford to let the rest of them know that. If he did, he might lose his aura of experience and authority, which seemed very precious to him.
Also, it might undercut his argument about Picard. After all, if McAteer demonstrated an inability to make the right decisions in a tough spot, who was he to judge one of his captains?
“Any guesses as to where we are?” asked Ben Zoma.
“Looks like a storage room,” said Chen.
“Yes,” said Ramirez. “Probably on the same vessel where we were caught.”
Horombo glanced at the door. “And more than likely, there are guards out there. I’d certainly post them if somebody was clever enough to sneak onto my ship.”
“So,” said Ben Zoma, summing it up, “even if we manage to get the door open, we’re not likely to get very far.”
“Not a very good position,” Garner observed.
“But we’re alive,” said Paris. That was a good thing.
“And together,” said Horombo. That was another.
But that could all change, and quickly. As Ben Zoma thought that, he heard the door unlock and saw it slide open. A moment later, one of the invaders stuck his head in.
Like all the others they had seen, his features were hidden by a helmet. He studied the team for a moment. Then he extended his fingers in McAteer’s direction and said, “Come with me.”
Ben Zoma got to his feet. “Why him?”
“He’s your leader,