Kobayashi Maru - Michael A. Martin [52]
I should be able to fake my way through this easily enough, Trip thought, his confidence rising as his turn neared to mount the few narrow steps that led up to the highly decorated, tubular vessel. Despite his covert mission, he still had every reason to pay his heartfelt personal respects to Ehrehinthe man had saved his life and taken him under his wing even after discovering that Trip was actually a non-Romulan spyand he needed to do whatever he could to send his fondest, most positive thoughts toward whatever afterlife Ehrehin might have anticipated. As he approached the raised bier, prepared to make a quickbut not too quickrun-through of the gestures and murmurs hed seen the other mourners make, he redoubled his concentration on remaining as inconspicuous as possible.
As he moved forward, Trip caught a flash of movement to his left, and his newly acquired confidence sank like a stone dropped into a canyon.
“Please, feel free, Ehrehins young laboratory assistant said, making an “after you gesture.
Centurion Terix studied the young man again carefully, just as he had done earlier in todays animaurolhao, the Ceremony of Respect. Something seemed out of place with the man, and he couldnt quite put his finger on it. The dead scientists assistant seemed nervous; perhaps the loss of his colleague was the sole reason for his apparent discomfiture, or maybe it was something else, something less than seemly.
“No, you were closest to Technologist Ehrehin, Terix said. “You may perform the rite of pizanris .
The young man seemed to swallow hard before he nodded and walked up the small steps that led to the tibulec of his slain mentor. His back angled away from Terix, he began to speak, his voice low, and his hands moving in the time-honored manner. Finally he quit speaking and touched his index finger and pinkie to the base of the tibulec .
The gesture brought a rush of insight to Terix, as well as certainty about what he had to do next.
As the assistant turned away and descended from the bier, he pulled up the hood on his mourning cloak. Terix looked over to Sweba, the uhlan who stood guard at the rear of the mausoleum districts ceremonial arena; Terix jerked his chin up sharply, directing the uhlan s attention toward the departing young man.
After seeing Swebas curt nod of acknowledgment, Terix turned back to the tibulec and concluded the ceremony swiftly, using a fusing device and a military seal to specify that this vessel contained the physical essence of one who had given his life in service to the Romulan Star Empire and Praetor Dderidex. Although Technologist Ehrehin had a checkered pastlike so many of the greatest scientific and military leaders of Romulushis work and service had nevertheless furthered both the strategic and the tactical goals of the Empire, and the Praetor who personified her. And as hed learned yesterday, the murder of the scientist had been far larger than the simple act of burglary that appeared to have precipitated it. Terix felt certain that Doctor Ehrehin had been a martyr to a conspiracy whose existence was known, as yet, to perhaps no more than a handful of others.
Stalking away, Terix saw that Sweba had properly detained the assistanta man whom Terix believed was not who he pretended to be.
“And what makes you so certain that this Cunaehr is a Vulcan spy? Valdore asked, squinting up at Terix from behind his vast desk, atop which sat numerous reports and other paper documents. On the wall behind the admiral was mounted