Kobayashi Maru - Michael A. Martin [100]
“You ask us for proof, Captain, MRek. “We have already given you every answer you will get without cost. Anything further you will have to earn through vItHay combat against a warrior of my choosing. If you truly wish to avoid war with the Empire, you may prove itby fighting for the truth.
MRek gestured to the back of the chamber with a flourish, and Archer saw a figure standing in the shadows behind the chancellor. “If you are not a craven bIHnuch, then you will cross blades with the very person you most accuse of being a taHqeq .
The man stepped forward, and Archer saw the swarthy skin, the braided goatee, and the smooth forehead.
Unless he backed downa choice he doubted was in any way a realistic possibilitythe warrior he was to face in a battle to the death was none other than Admiral Krell.
TWENTY-FOUR
Romulan Scoutship Drolae
T HE ALREADY OVERSTRAINED ENGINES shrieked in protest at suddenly being thrown into full reverse. The half-illuminated, blue-green limb of a planet suddenly appeared in the formerly empty space directly in front of the slender sheet of transparent aluminum that protected the cramped crew compartment from the unforgiving vacuum of space.
“Damn! Trip shouted, momentarily forgetting to avoid using human idioms in the presence of Romulans. The planet that had suddenly appeared before him grew steadily and quickly until it filled the viewers field of vision almost completely. One moment he had been calmly studying the nav display on his copilots console; the next, an entire world threatened to fall directly on top of him like the mother of all rockslides.
“Terix, I know we need to sneak up on these people, Trip said, grateful for the flight harness that prevented his bucking seat from ejecting him like the Romulan equivalent of a cowboy taverns mechanical bull. “But did you really have to cut it this close?
Seated at the pilots console to Trips left, the centurion only laughed indulgently as he pulled back on his control yoke with one hand while entering attitude corrections with the other. If he was at all concerned about Trips outburst, he showed no outward sign.
“As you have already noted more than once, we must provide our quarry with as little advance warning as possible, the Romulan said. His words were punctuated by loud bounces and vibrations as the sturdy little ships belly slammed hard into the planets rarefied upper atmosphere.
Trip attempted to draw some comfort from the clear evidence hed just seen that human pilots had no monopoly on insanity. Before today, he had never brought a ship out of warp so close to the surface of a planet. Starfleet regulations strictly prohibited such stunts except in the direst of emergencies, presumably not only because they were hard on ships, but also because they could cause untold havoc planetside. The still-burning surface of Coridan Prime stood as a mute testament to the wisdom of those flight regs. He breathed a silent prayer of thanks that the Romulan recon vessel had not only survived the punishing high-warp voyage all the way from Cheron to Taugus more or less intact, but had also somehow resisted being torn to molecule-sized pieces by the stress of Terixs brutally abrupt deceleration.
Now he feared that the really dangerous part of this mission still lay ahead.
Terix quickly leveled out the Drolae s descent as he continued to bring her down. The propulsion system gradually quieted, though its din was replaced by the nearly deafening howl of the steadily thickening nimbus of ionized atmosphere that surrounded the friction-superheated hulls ventral surfaces. Still trading velocity for heat as it plunged ever deeper into the atmosphere, the scoutship roared across the terminator, passing very quickly from impenetrable night into a cloud-decked but brightly illuminated dayside.
The scout punched through the bottom of the cloud deck moments later; despite the deep band of haze beneath the clouds, the planets upper mesosphere evidently admitted more than enough light to allow Trip to see