Last Full Measure - Michael A. Martin [22]
As the slug followed several meters behind, Chandra, Reed, and Hayes flanked Archer.
Archer caught Chandra’s gaze and whispered, “Malcolm, were you able to scan those images of Trahve?”
Reed’s face was beet red, and apparently not from the heat. “I’m afraid not, sir. The…gentleman caught me in the act of trying.”
“Damn,” Archer muttered.
Still nervous about being found out by the slug, Chandra spoke up, though quietly. “Sir, I believe I captured Trahve’s picture on my padd.”
Archer grinned momentarily before composing himself for the slug’s benefit. “Well done, Mister Chandra.”
“That was almost too easy,” Reed said very quietly.
“I’m aware of that,” Archer replied, equally sotto voce. “But we’ve finally got our first solid lead. We know Trahve is working either with or for the Xindi. For once we have more than just rumors.”
Chandra felt a question gnawing at him. “How do we know that the proprietor won’t just turn us over to the Xindi?” he said.
“I have a feeling that he was telling the truth about having no love for them.” Archer said. “And before we leave this planet, not only will he have his payment in full, but Major Hayes will make certain that the Xindi will never find any evidence that we were ever here.”
Hayes nodded. “A focused EMP burst should disable our friend’s recording devices and erase his drives.” He paused, then added, “Or are you saying we should make certain that he won’t even be able to tell anyone we were here?”
Archer stopped and glared at Hayes. “I’m not authorizing anything of the sort, Major. He’s played ball with us so far. I think he’s greedy, but not stupid.”
They resumed walking and neared the shuttlepod, beside which O’Neill, Kemper, Money, and Peruzzi were standing at attention.
“Measure out two liters of mercury for Mister…” Archer turned back toward the slug, who was slowly bringing up the rear. “I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch your name earlier.”
“Grakka,” the creature said. “My full name is too complex to repeat, and not important to our business anyhow.”
Archer turned back toward the MACOs. “Measure out two liters of mercury for Mister Grakka.” Then he raised his voice a little louder. “And make certain to set the explosive shields on the shuttle for when we leave. I’m certain our host has excellent security measures, but to be safe, we’d best ensure that anyone who tries to enter our ship without authorization will be dead within moments.”
Chandra suppressed a grin at the captain’s hyperbole, and sneaked a quick glance at Grakka. The creature’s eyes bulged slightly and its tongue disappeared between its meaty lips. Had the creature intended to add to his mismatched hoard of alien technology by burglarizing the shuttlepod?
Let’s hope our host won’t want to risk mounting any surprise shuttlepod inspections while we’re out testing the reliability of his information, Chandra thought.
But he had little doubt that Grakka had told the truth about La’an Trahve and the Xindi. The chilling visual images of the Xindi reptiles—living, breathing representatives of the very same species that had already slaughtered millions of humans, and even now worked toward the goal of exterminating all the rest—were all the confirmation Chandra really needed that they were following the right trail.
Five
“IF YOU ASK ME, CAPTAIN, it sounds a little too good to be true,” Reed said, turning sideways to let a group of dark-cloaked natives pass him on the narrow, dusty street.
Walking alongside Reed, O’Neill, and Chandra on the ancient, teeming roadway, the captain squinted under the sun’s merciless glare. “Maybe it is, Malcolm. But it’s a lead. And we’ve had damned few of those these past couple of months.”
Reed certainly couldn’t argue with that. He shared the captain’s eagerness to ferret out the Xindi. But he also knew all too well that erring on the side of caution was a big part of a tactical officer’s job. “We might be walking right into a trap, Captain,” he said.
“Then our MACO complement just might come in handy on this mission,” O’Neill said.
Reed