Mosaic - Jeri Taylor [71]
He eyed them once more. "Now is the time for any questions. I will answer what I can. But after today, there will be no further mention of this matter. Are you clear on that?"
Several people nodded. Sally Rhodes raised a hand, as though she were back in school. Kathryn understood the feeling. "Sir," said Ensign Rhodes, "are we going to war with Cardassia?"
"I hope not. That's part of the purpose of missions like this-to prevent war. But I'm afraid that's more up to the Cardassians than to us." Kathryn felt Justin Tighe stir next to her. "Sir," he asked-and he didn't sound quite so confident now-"do these... Rangers... know each other? Or are they all in the dark as much as we are?"
"They know each other. It's important that they be able to function as a unit, and they've been training toward that end for over a year. But I assure you they are also so grounded in scientific technique that you will be unable to single them out."
Commander T'Por fixed the admiral with her dark eyes. "It would be logical to assume that we will be in situations of danger. Am I correct?"
"Again, there's no way to predict that. But I would have to share your assumption." He paused, as though turning over a thought in his mind. "We don't know as much about the Cardassians as we'd like. They've kept their borders closed for decades. But what we're beginning to hear, unfortunately, isn't encouraging. They're mean ones. We believe they intend to expand their territory and they have no qualms about how they do it."
He stopped and looked down at the table for a moment. "Reports we've gotten about their treatment of some of our colonists they've captured aren't-pretty. They have some particularly advanced technology for producing pain, for example. It's been a great many years since we've encountered a culture which not only employs torture as a means of intimidation, but has elevated it to a nearreligious status." Kathryn felt queasy. She didn't like to think of people inflicting pain on each other; it was the most primitive kind of violation she could imagine. She knew her people's history was rife with equal cruelty, but it hadn't been practiced for hundreds of years. Now she was hearing that people like herself were being subjected to this most inhumane treatment. "However," Admiral Paris continued, "there's no reason to believe we will encounter any Cardassians at all. Our surveillances will be technological in nature. The plan is to get the information we need without coming face-toface with any of them."
He faced them, waiting for more questions. There were none-not, Kathryn suspected, because they didn't exist, but because everyone had been caught so off guard that they were still in a state of shock. "Any further questions?" queried the admiral, looking from one to the other. "If not, we'll proceed. But let me try to reassure you: If all goes as we hope, this will be the last time you'll be aware of our other mission. If it's successful, it will be carried out without disrupting our scientific inquiries and without noticeable interference in our day-to-day activities. It would be my profound hope that this will be the case."
He looked around the room one more time, then put the matter behind him and began giving short-term assignments. Admiral Paris was a mature and experienced officer; he clearly had the capacity to shed one subject completely and move on to the other.
But Kathryn didn't have that ability, though she determined at that moment to develop it. She was still so stunned by the admiral's revelation that she had no reaction at all when he assigned her to work with Justin Tighe in developing sensor-array modifications.
Like a panther, she thought. Like a powerful, sinewy predator, sleek and assured.
She was watching Justin Tighe move around the science lab, tapping commands into a padd, running his hand through his hair, occasionally staring off into space, then