Flashback - Diane Carey [72]
CHAPTER 20
"WARP NINE, MR. LOJUR."
Captain Sulu was visibly subdued, even circumspect, but he seemed supremely satisfied.
At the navigation and weapons station, Ensign Tuvok plotted a course for the Federation-Klingon conference at Khitomer, in Klingon space near the Romulan border.
"Dangerous territory," Kathryn Janeway commented as she stood beside him, still wearing-or again wearing-the jacket she'd appropriated from Commander Rand.
She was pretty sure these people couldn't see her this time, but there was no point taking chances.
Apparently Tuvok saw things that way, for, of course, it was his mind putting the jacket on her.
His mind, slowly being put back in order by hours
of meditation and meld therapy. Janeway wanted to tell herself she was only doing this to help Tuvok wrap up his psychological residue, but in her own mind she was relishing the chance to be here, on this ship, right now. She'd never been much for history, but she needed to witness the end of this affair as much as Tuvok did.
Because all this was somehow necessary to put Tuvok's mind and memories in their correct order- as if she had the foggiest idea what that really meant-she was getting her chance. She would have hesitated, if the Doctor hadn't agreed with Tuvok that more melding was clinically called for, to put Tuvok's mental agitation to rest.
Now, she was getting a chance she'd thought she would never get, almost as if this were as much for herself as for Tuvok.
Around her, she felt the Excelsior surge to warp nine. Absolute insanity, Amelia Earhart might have thought. The finest twentieth-century aircraft would have long disintegrated with this kind of physics-defying action.
"Battle stations," Captain Sulu's deep, gravelly voice droned from the command center. "Shields up."
He pushed out of his chair then, and clasped his hands behind his back.
"Put me on the shipwide comm, Janice," he said to Commander Rand, who evidently had a spare jacket in her quarters.
"Go ahead, sir," she said.
"Attention, all hands. This is the captain. We're
heading at high warp to Khitomer on the Klingon-Romulan border. We're trying to meet the Enterprise, though they'll probably beat us to that area. Remember what we may be up against-a Klingon bird of prey that can fire while remaining cloaked. These are the same Klingons responsible for assassinating Chancellor Gorkon and framing Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy. Now, apparently, there's going to be another assassination attempt on Khitomer. These people want to disrupt the peace process between the Federation and the Empire now that the Klingons need help to survive."
Sulu moved forward, and paused on Tuvok's other side, so that he, Tuvok, and Janeway made an unexpected trio at the nav console. Janeway almost moved away, feeling oddly as if she were encroaching upon the other captain's moment of glory.
But she was enjoying herself too much to actually move.
"This bird of prey," Sulu went on, "will likely be running silent, with weapons hot. Once they fire, it'll take too much time to trace the shot back to the ship, even visually. They'll be changing position even before their own hits detonate. They'll probably be using photon torpedoes instead of phasers, to avoid letting us get any straight-line visual references. All stations prepare to relay directly to the bridge anything you pick up on your sensors that might help pinpoint the location of the Klingon ship. Stand by all priority comm channels."
He hesitated, as if trying to think of anything else that could possibly be done ahead of time.
"Captain," Commander Rand spoke up, breaking the peculiar silence that had dropped, "we're receiving telemetry from the Enterprise."
Sulu turned. "Read it out."
"Yes, sir... 'To Commander, Excelsior, be advised. Klingon ship is standard bird of prey, equipped with unique modifications allowing firing of weapons while maintaining cloak. Believe possible-'" She paused, frowned, plucked at her controls, then turned to Sulu.