Kobayashi Maru - Michael A. Martin [28]
“I serve the Empire, Dagarth said, bowing her head. The image rippled slightly again, then disappeared.
On the other side of the desk, Doctor Nijil, Valdores chief technologist, approached, a triumphant smile playing upon his lips even as his hands were clasped behind him in a show of submission.
“ You have done well, also, Valdore said, pointing toward the scientist with one hand as he reached into a recessed area under his desk with the other. He noted that Nijil flinched just a little in response to the maneuver, as though Valdore might have been retrieving a concealed disruptor pistol rather than a celebratory bottle of carallun wine.
“Relax, Nijil, Valdore said in a deep voice intended to inspire calm, uncorking the wine as he spoke. “Youre in no danger from me. He stood and hoisted the bottle above the level of his head, allowing the light from the tall windows to glint through the green ehrieurhillh glass of the bottle.
“I know that you dont normally drink, but you will share a toast to our success. Valdore took a swig of the tart liquor, not bothering to stop to look for drinking vessels. Then he passed the bottle to Nijil, who wasted no time following Valdores lead. The scientist seemed to try not to make a face at the bitter taste, but with little success.
Valdore stoppered the bottle again and returned it to its dusty spot beneath his desktop. A few khaidoa ago, he had made a point of leaving that dusty spot undisturbed by not celebrating the Romulan Star Empires devastation of Coridan. Even though he had played a part in the execution of the attack, it had not been a proud moment for him. Not only had it seemed a dishonorable action, it had also failed to disrupt the peace pact that now united the worlds of the fledgling Coalition of Planets. The sneak attack had, however, greatly curtailed the Coalitions supply of dilithium, a material that had long been crucial to the operation of Coalition starships. Many in the Romulan military thus saw the action as a success, and Valdore was happy to accept the resulting laurels and accolades, finding such unearned praise infinitely preferable to once again facing the prospect of political disfavor, imprisonment, or even execution. He reflected that his longtime friend and former senator, Vrax, who languished in Praetor Dderidexs dungeons during the long khaidoa that had followed the Romulan militarys most recent significant tactical defeat, might not be so fortunate.
Looking beyond Coridan, Valdore was glad to focus on his other plans for furthering the military goals of the Romulan Star Empires ambitious Praetor. The half-crazy Doctor Ehrehin was still working on a singularity-powered stardrive prototype, and Nijil and his team had been engaged with multiple projects, including a stable cloaking device capable of rendering large manned vessels effectively invisible to both scans and visual observation. Unfortunately, the invisibility cloaks that had been tested so far worked only to conceal small objects, or ended up quickly overtaxing the power-production capabilities of large vesselsinvariably with explosive results. It appeared that significantly more timeor an unexpected breakthroughwould be necessary to find a truly workable solution to the cloaking problem.
Recently, however, Nijil and his team had succeeded in developing a new technology, one based in part on the principles that governed the operation of the telepathically controlled drone ships, whose recent failure had resulted in Valdores brief imprisonment alongside Vrax. This new tactical system was able to intuitively bypass ships control mechanisms, allowing the Romulans to seize control of enemy vessels.
Thanks to Valdores association with the former Vulcan Administrator VLas, Nijil had already succeeded in confirming that the tactical system would work well enough if deployed against Vulcan software, and the just-concluded field experiments against the Klingons showed that their vessels were vulnerable as well.
“We must bring our new arrenhehwiua telecapture system to