Lost Era 06_ Catalyst of Sorrows - Margaret Wander Bonanno [59]
Tuvok un-nocked the last arrow and handed Sisko the bow. Not for the first time, Tuvok noticed the human admiring the craftsmanship.
“Not bad for a southpaw,” he said, handing it back. “How’d you learn to shoot like that?”
“In ancient times, many Vulcan tribes were skilled archers.” Tuvok stored the bow beneath his sleeping compartment. “The arid climate is conducive to accuracy over great distances, though the heavier gravity also presents some challenges. Nevertheless, if one can learn to shoot an arrow on Vulcan, the skill is commensurately easier on other worlds.”
“That’s the long answer,” Sisko said with a slight smile. “Is there a short one?”
“I have taught the principles of archery at the Vulcan Academy of Defensive Arts,” Tuvok replied. “And to assume that one who is naturally left-handed is any more or less skilled than someone who is right-handed…”
“I stand corrected,” Sisko said with a wink in McCoy’s direction. The aged doctor chuckled. “I’d better get back to work on that adapter,” Sisko continued. “How much longer will you and Selar need to finish your collecting?”
“That will depend on the outcome of Dr. Selar’s tests on today’s specimens,” Tuvok said thoughtfully. “Unless, of course, what disturbed the Sliwoni escalates into a situation which necessitates our abrupt departure.”
“Which I can’t guarantee until I can get that damn adapter to do what it was designed to do, or jury-rig something else that will,” Sisko said.
Tuvok glanced around the cabin, feeling a frown form on his face. “Where is Zetha?” the Vulcan asked quietly.
Now it was Sisko’s turn to frown. “I don’t know.”
“You want to what?” Crusher had demanded. “I don’t think that’s a good idea at all.”
“Is there a medical reason why she can’t be cleared to accompany the away team?” Uhura asked.
“You know there isn’t. There’s some evidence of childhood malnutrition, but she’s in excellent health now,” Crusher half-whispered, leaning into the screen and hoping Zetha couldn’t hear. Crusher was in her office, separated from the examining room by a clearsteel partition. Just past her left shoulder, Uhura could see Zetha sitting upright and quite still on the end of the diagnostic bed, studying her surroundings with her characteristic alertness, and no doubt aware that she was being discussed in the next room. “You still haven’t told me who she is or what’s going on.”
Medical had always had a special place within Starfleet hierarchy. Doctors regardless of their rank reserved the right to tell off their superiors at regular intervals and, technically, Crusher did not answer to Uhura or anyone in SI, but to her superiors at Medical. So if she chose to address the admiral as a peer and even, on occasion, chew her out, it was expected.
“She’s the courier who brought the locket across the Zone,” Uhura said.
“She came all this way through hostile space, carrying something that could have killed thousands if the inner seal was breached-” The very thought made Crusher breathless. “She’s barely out of her teens!”
“And a Romulan, not some spoiled human kid. From what Tuvok’s been able to gather, a Romulan with no family who grew up on the streets. Tuvok’s not entirely sure whether or not she’s a trained operative.”
“Oh, and so you want to send her back the way she came and hope she doesn’t signal her superiors and betray the rest of your team. Brilliant!”
“I thought it was,” Uhura said calmly, pretending she didn’t hear the sarcasm in Crusher’s voice. “Because if she does make the attempt-and I believe Tuvok’s capable of preventing her from completing such an attempt-then we’d know for sure that her story’s a fake, wouldn’t we?”
Crusher managed to look chagrined. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Which is why you’re a doctor, not an intelligence operative,” Uhura said before McCoy could. The old grouch had gotten the hang of Heisenberg’s holo program, and found he enjoyed virtually loitering in her office to eavesdrop whenever the fish weren’t biting. “I want her along for cover on worlds where there are Romulan speakers.