Nightshade - Laurell K. Hamilton [6]
‘Yes, Captain. We lost five officers in one bomb attack some three months back.”
‘And do the Venturies also have to watch how many officers they have in any one place?”
With a brilliant smile, she answered. “Yes, Captain, they do.”
‘Assassination is not an honorable way to take your enemy,” Worf said.
‘Lieutenant Worf,” Picard said, voice sharp.
‘No, that is all right, Captain. Even we have heard of Klingon honor.” She turned to speak directly to Worf. “We would do anything to bring this war to a close. Anything, even treachery, if the fighting would just end.”
‘Do you not wish victory over your enemies?” Worf asked.
‘Some still do, but most just want an end. Our planet is dying.
Our children are dying. Neither side seems able to win even by treachery, so we must talk peace before we all die.”
‘Seeing the necessity for peace is the first step to achieving it,” Picard said.
Talanne smiled. “I hope so, Captain Picard, I very much hope so.”
The door opened, and every weapon in the room whirled toward it.
A small, blond boy, perhaps three years old, raced into the room.
The features that were lovely on his parents were nearly unreal on the child. He looked carved from aged-goldened alabaster with eyes a startling shade of jewellike blue. He came to a skittering halt, eyes wide, staring at the guns.
‘Put up your weapons,” Talanne said. She moved toward the small boy.
Two guards moved with her. “Jeric, where is your sentinel?”
‘Don’t know, Merme,” he said. His eyes were still wide, his pulse hammering in his thin neck.
His fear had been pure and total when he had seen the weapons. Troi had felt his desperate sure knowledge that he was about to die. Only a little older than three, but he knew what dying meant. He knew what weapons could do. The memory of such things stained his mind, colored his emotions. Troi had never met anyone so young with such an old mind.
The boy stared openly at Worf.
Talanne knelt in front of the boy. “Jeric, listen to me.” She touched the boy’s cheek gently forcing him to look at her face. “When did your sentinel go missing?”
He frowned. “Missing?”
Troi felt the woman’s impatience. Talanne swallowed it back and kept her voice normal, calm. “Where were you just before you ran in here?”
‘Is something wrong, Colonel Talanne?” Picard asked.
‘I don’t know yet, Captain. Jeric’s sentinel should be with him at all times.”
‘What exactly is a sentinel?” Picard asked.
‘A personal bodyguard.” She stared at her son’s frightened eyes. “Where were you just before you came to here?”
‘In the playroom.”
‘Good. Was the sentinel with you then?”
The boy frowned again.
Talanne gripped his arms gently. “Jeric, were you alone in the playroom?”
He nodded solemnly. His mother’s seriousness finally sinking into him, or perhaps it had been the guns.
‘Where were you before you went inside the playroom?”
‘Outside.”
‘Outside,” she whispered it, as if it were some obscenity. Her hands must have tightened because the boy wriggled in her grip.
‘You are not allowed outside ever. Who took you?”
‘Bori took me. You’re squeezing my arms, Merme.”
She hugged him to her chest. “I’m sorry, Jeric. Merme didn’t mean to hurt you. Where did the sentinel take you?”
‘Outside.”
‘Where outside?”
‘Outside.” He struggled away from her arms. “Just outside, Merme.”
‘Did you see anyone else outside?”
The boy nodded. “A man, Merme.”
‘Did you know the man, Jeric?”
He shook his head.
‘Did your sentinel or the man come back inside with you?”
‘No, Merme.”
Talanne hugged her son to her. “Check the corridors. Spread the word that we may have a security breach.”
Two guards moved to the door. One hesitated. “What of the newcomers?” It was a man’s voice. Without some clue every figure was neuter, a soldier neither male nor female.
‘I trust them. Go, find out what has happened. See to my husband’s safety.”
The guard still hesitated.
‘Go, now!” She swung the rifle into play in one practiced motion, the boy shoved behind her back with the other hand. “Do not refuse a direct order.”
He bowed from the neck.