Enigma - Michael Jan Friedman [8]
Naturally, the Binderian didn’t mention any of that to Lieutenant Kastiigan. Considering the depth of the science officer’s anxiety, it seemed rude to Obal to mention his own.
So he just listened to Kastiigan, and nodded sympathetically, and kept his feelings about Nikolas to himself.
Just a few minutes longer, Picard assured himself, as he watched Admiral McAteer spoon the last bloodred dollop of cherries jubilee into his mouth.
It had been a most wearisome day.
The morning had been filled with section meetings, which McAteer had—of course—insisted on attending. First engineering, then sciences, then security, all the way down the line.
Each section head had been grilled up, down, and sideways until the admiral was satisfied with the answers he received, and then grilled some more. It had been neither pretty nor productive, in the captain’s estimate.
But all along, Picard had known that his section heads weren’t McAteer’s targets. The admiral’s only real target was the captain himself; whatever “problems” McAteer found on the Stargazer, they would be pinned on Picard and Picard alone.
The afternoon had been even worse. McAteer had taken Picard, Ben Zoma, and Wu down to the observation lounge, and conducted a review of virtually every decision the command staff had made in the last couple of weeks—in other words, since the last subspace data packet received by Starfleet Command.
Neither the captain nor his officers had uttered a word of protest. They had answered all the admiral’s questions as if they had some sort of merit, following McAteer through exacting analyses of what were patently procedural minutiae.
Finally, they had sat down to dinner with the admiral—just Picard, Ben Zoma, and Greyhorse, because the other senior officers had work to do—and listened to him describe the high points of his career. There were a great many, apparently.
And through it all, Picard had felt compelled to pretend he wasn’t offended by McAteer—by the admiral’s opinion of him, by the admiral’s very presence here. He had been forced to act as if McAteer were welcome.
A most wearisome day indeed. And the captain expected more of the same the following morning.
“Have you made a decision,” he inquired hopefully, while McAteer wiped a bit of cherry debris from his chin, “as to the next stop on your tour?”
The admiral had indicated that he would be visiting several vessels, not just the Stargazer. After all, Arlen McAteer was nothing if not “hands-on.”
“I’ll be going to the Antares,” the admiral said, picking up his cloth napkin and wiping his mouth. “Captain Vayishra’s ship.”
Picard knew quite well whose ship it was. So did anyone else who had spent any time with McAteer. As far as the admiral was concerned, there was no finer commanding officer in the fleet than the much-decorated Vayishra.
“Shall I have my com officer contact the Antares,” Picard suggested, “and arrange a rendezvous?”
McAteer dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. “That won’t be necessary. I don’t want to tie up an entire starship when a shuttle will do just fine.”
Picard frowned. If McAteer meant to take a shuttle, the captain would have to supply personnel to man it—not just a pilot, but a squad of security officers as well. This was, after all, a Starfleet admiral they would be transporting.
“You’re certain?” the captain asked, extending McAteer a chance to reconsider.
“Quite certain,” said the admiral, giving him little choice in the matter.
Picard looked up at the intercom grid hidden in the ceiling. “Mister Chang, this is the captain.”
“Chang here,” came the response.
“Prepare a personnel shuttle for Admiral McAteer and a security escort. The admiral will want to leave…” He turned to McAteer, leaving it to him to supply the rest of the information.
“Twelve hundred hours tomorrow,” said McAteer.
“Consider it done, sir,” said the shuttlebay officer. “Chang out.”
“Excellent,” said the admiral. “Oh, and Picard…?”
The captain turned to him. “Yes?”
“I’d like Paris to pilot the shuttle. That way I’ll know I’m in good hands.”
Cole Paris had