Nightshade - Laurell K. Hamilton [45]
Two of Talanne’s bodyguards grabbed the doctor. Stasha made a small cry of protest. “I have not lied. I have not lied!”
Her small, pinched face crumbled into terror. Worf wanted to look away. Such fear should not be seen by a crowd. It was personal and not meant to be shared.
Troi staggered. If Breck hadn’t caught her, she would have fallen.
‘The healer is not well, Ambassador Worf. May I take her to your room?”
‘Troi, are you all right?” Worf cursed himself for not realizing that Stasha’s fear would be projected onto Troi again. If it had been strong before, it had to be worse now.
‘You can’t let them hurt her. You can’t let them . . Can’t breathe.”
The sharp crack of a slap behind him brought; Worf’s attention from the nearly fainting Troi to Stasha. She was crying, a heartbroken sobbing. Tears trailed down Troi’s cheeks. Worf had to stop this, now.
‘We do not want her harmed,” Worf said. He started forward, intending to wade through the Orianians if necessary to free the doctor.
The bodyguards drew weapons. Breck drew one as well, and suddenly the room was full of potential death. The faint line from pain to disaster was about to be crossed, unless someone did something. Troi raised her voice to be heard, and it cracked like a child’s. “Is there anything we can do to convince you not to hurt her?”
‘She will only lie to you, if I stop,” Talanne said.
‘Then stop,” Troi said.
‘We cannot stand by while you torture her,” Worf said.
‘Then you will do it yourself?” Talanne asked.
‘Damn you, woman, don’t you understand. She will not be tortured while we can stop it!” Worf growled.
Talanne glanced at the drawn guns. “You would risk your lives to save a stranger pain? A stranger that might clear your Picard?”
Worf glanced down, then up. He wanted to wade into the guards and start throwing people. But he just stared at Talanne, letting the anger and frustration show in his eyes. If she feared him, she hid it well. “There has to be an honorable way to clear Captain Picard,” he said.
Talanne gave the smallest of smiles. “You Federation people are a strange lot. Let her go.”
The bodyguards released the weeping doctor. She stood uncertainly in the midst of so many potential enemies. She was like a rabbit in the midst of a dog pack. There was no truly safe haven. She finally turned tear-stained eyes to Troi. “I swear to you by the fruit of the last tree that the evidence I showed you was exactly what I found. I have not lied to you, and if you come back to question me, I will not lie to you then either.”
‘Thank you, Dr. Stasha,” Worf said. “I believe we have all we came for, Colonel. I think we had all better leave the doctor to her work.”
Talanne laughed out loud. “You offer honor and truth, Ambassador. And you expect the same in return.” She shook her head. “I wish you luck with your honor and truth, because your Picard will need all the luck he can get.”
‘I am not honorable because of what it will gain me, Colonel Talanne. I am not honorable because it will impress my enemies. Honor is an end in itself. It exists even if everyone around me is dishonorable. The only honor I must worry over is my own.”
‘A pretty speech, Ambassador Worf. Let us hope that Captain Picard does not pay the ultimate price for your… high ideals.”
Chapter Eleven
Dr. Crusher stood in the engine room of the Zar, staring up at the swirling framework that Geordi assured her was the ship’s engine. The smooth metal seemed inert, no moving parts, nothing that Crusher recognized as mechanical. She turned back to Geordi and the alien engineer. “And you say that this… engine is alive?” Her voice held all the scepticism that she managed to keep off her face.
Geordi smiled almost apologetically. “I know it sounds strange, but if what my VISOR is showing is real, then the engine has more similarities to living tissue than metal.”
Crusher shook her head. “I believe you, but I…” she glanced at Veleck. “Could we have a few moments in private?”
The engineer glanced at Geordi but turned and