Kobayashi Maru - Michael A. Martin [109]
Despite the death wish that Terix had seemed to exhibit behind the pilots console, the centurion proved himself eminently more sensible here by allowing the weapon in his hand to clatter to the floor tiles. He had even taken a moment to click a small switch on the disruptors handle, engaging what Trip assumed was a safety catch, a moment before releasing the weapon and kicking it toward their captors.
A single harsh monosyllable from one of the armed dissidents, punctuated by an aggressive gesture with the disruptor pistol in his hand, persuaded Trip to follow Terixs lead; though he found no safety catch on his own weapon after he slowly unholstered ithe frankly doubted that Terix had allowed him to take a charged and functional weapon in the first placehe obediently dropped the heavy pistol to the floor, then gently tossed his scanning device after it.
Two of Chuihvs other troopers knelt briefly to retrieve the discarded gear, which they stowed on the Romulan equivalent of Sam Browne belts.
Chuihv came to a stop directly between Trip and Terix. Turning toward Trip, he said, “And Jolantru to you as well, Mister Cunaehr. Or should I address you more properly as Commander Charles Tucker, late of the United Earth Starship Enterprise ?
Ah, shit, Trip thought. I really, really hate when this happens. He found himself reflecting, absurdly, that the only moderately enjoyable aspect of this situation was the thoroughly stunned expression on Terixs vulpine face, which had flushed almost to the color of split-pea soup. After all, the centurion had suspected him of being a spy from Vulcan, not from Earth.
“Commander Tucker, Chuihv said, evidently quite enamored with the sound of his own voice. “Risen from the ranks of the hallowed dead. And now, tragically, fated to return there all too soon. The dissident leaders smirk looked distinctly unpleasant on a face that appeared so outwardly Vulcan otherwise.
Trip felt shock at the sudden revelation of his real identity before Terix, but not all that much surprise. After all, a man like Chuihv had to have a talent for connecting the dots, or else he would have fallen into the hands of someone like Terix long ago, on one side of the Romulan border or the other. Besides, if Trip knew about the Romulan dissident leaders other life as a Vulcan, why shouldnt Chuihv be able to find whatever skeletons lurked in his closet?
“Chuihv of Saith, Trip said, feeling a great deal calmer than hed expected to feel on the occasions when he had tried to imagine something like his present circumstances. “Or maybe I ought to call you Sopek of Vulcan instead.
Chuihv/Sopek raised an eyebrow, a gesture that instantly transformed his appearance from that of a treacherous, scheming Romulan outlaw to that of the logical, dignified Vulcan starship captain who had commanded the Vulcan vessel NiVar some four years earlier. Trip wondered which of the two identities was genuine, if either one was.
“Well done, Commander, the dissident said. After a brief pause, he added, “I never got the opportunity to thank you for covering my escape when Valdores forces raided our facility on Rator II.
“Well, I might be willing to call it even, Trip said, his jaw clenching involuntarily as he remembered the bloody chaos that had accompanied his efforts to protect Ehrehin and evade both the Ejhoi Ormiin and Admiral Valdores forces. “But only if youll agree to let me reward you properly for what you did to Tinh Hoc Phuong.
Chuihv made a brief but infuriating show of pretending not to remember the man he had callously transformed into a pile of smoldering ash on Rator II. At length, he said, “Ah, the man who called himself Terha of Talvath. Your fellow Terran spy who claimed to be a part of the Ejhoi Ormiin s Devoras cell.
Trip noticed the goggle-eyed stares of the three academics; Sopeks revelation had left them all looking as stupefied by this as third-graders poring over a textbook on eleven-dimensional tensor calculus.
Though he knew it was worse than useless, Trip