Nightshade - Laurell K. Hamilton [42]
‘Worf, please!”
Worf glanced back to see Troi’s face wild, a mirror of fear. He had done nothing to the doctor, nothing. She had tampered with the evidence and her guilt was ruining her. That had to be the answer, nothing else made sense.
Worf decided to show Dr. Stasha what true intimidation could be.
He strode towards the frightened woman and never said a word. He simply walked toward her, like he would walk down a hallway. He kept his face utterly blank, except for his eyes. He let all the frustration and anger over the captain’s arrest spill into his eyes.
Worf stood in front of the woman. His hands were loose at his sides. He lied to her with his eyes, only his eyes. The lie was, I will hurt you, I will break you, if you do not help me.
Dr. Stasha was so small, Worf towered over her. He stepped even closer using his bulk to threaten. There were so many things you could do short of striking someone. Fear crawled over Stasha’s face. Her bulging eyes darted back and fourth, looking for some escape.
‘Worf, don’t!”
Worf ignored Troi’s plea. “What do you know of General Alick’s death?” he asked.
‘N-n-nothing. I swear it.” Her voice was high-pitched, nearly squeaky with fear. She sounded like a little girl.
‘She doesn’t know anything. She doesn’t know anything!” Troi ran forward and grabbed Worf’s arm, whirling him around. “You’re frightening her for nothing, do you hear me, for nothing!”
Troi was screaming at him, ranting. He had never seen her like this. “Counselor Troi, are you well?”
Troi stopped, a look of puzzlement crossing her features. She just stood there hesitant, a little pale. She touched her fingertips to her forehead. “I don’t know.”
He took her arm, gently but firmly. “You do not look well.”
Troi glanced up at the Orianian. Worf followed her gaze. Stasha was still cowering against the wall, but some expression moved over her face that wasn’t frightened at all. “She’s doing it,” Troi said, at last.
‘What are you saying, Counselor?”
‘Dr. Stasha is an empath who can project her emotions. She was filling me with fear for herself. It made me want to protect her from you.”
‘I have done nothing,” Stasha protested. Her face was all innocence and fright, but no one was buying it anymore.
‘I did not harm her,” Worf said.
‘But she thought you would.” Troi shook her head gently, clutching at Worf’s supporting arm. “I feel dizzy.”
He turned to glare at Stasha. “Is she harming you now?”
Troi thought about that for a minute, trying to sort out her own feelings from the lingering traces of the woman’s. “No, it’s just an aftereffect of such a powerful intrusion into my mind.”
‘Didn’t you know what she was doing?”
‘I have done nothing wrong,” Stasha said.
‘Silence!” Worf snarled. She shrank, if possible, even closer to the wall. Her eyes shifted from one to the other, frantic to find an ally between the two of them.
‘Stop it, Doctor,” Troi said.
‘Stop what?”
‘Your nervousness grates on my mind. Get out of my thoughts.”
‘I don’t know what you are talking about. I have done nothing to you.”
Troi stepped away from Worf. She stared at the doctor’s pinched face. “Are you an emotion reader?”
‘Emotion readers are only legends,” Stasha said. “They aren’t real.”
Troi walked very carefully toward the woman, as if approaching a nervous wild animal. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Doctor. Just answer our questions. We won’t hurt you.”
‘You lie.” She whispered it.
‘Ambassador Worf has not harmed you.”
‘Yet,” Worf said. He knew it only made Stasha’s fear worse, but he couldn’t let the woman off free if she knew something. Terrified or not, empath or not, that did not change things.
Troi glared back at him. “Worf, you aren’t helping.”
‘She would not be this afraid of us unless she knew something about the captain’s innocence.”
Troi spoke in a quiet voice, the voice reserved for children, and patients. “You are what my people call an empath, an emotion reader and a broadcaster,” Troi said.
‘No, there are no such things. Legends, old soldier stories.”
‘Stop it!” Troi nearly yelled it.
‘I