Planet X - Michael Jan Friedman [51]
PICARD LOOKED AROUND the lounge, one of the smaller ones on Deck Seven. The X-Men were all present.
“Since you have offered to help with the situation on Xhaldia,” he said, “I thought you should know that it has changed. There is a vessel in orbit around the planet.”
“A vessel fulla who?” asked Wolverine. “Friends or enemies?”
“We don’t know who they are,” the captain replied. “Nor do we know why they are there. But the evidence suggests they are not on a humanitarian mission.”
“What’ll you do?” Shadowcat asked.
“Whatever we have to,” he told her. “If they are invaders, we will oppose them. If they are something else, we will deal with them as seems appropriate. However, the one thing we will not do is act precipitously.”
“In other words,” said Nightcrawler, “we’re taking it slow until we know what’s going on. Sounds right to me.”
“And what about us?” asked Colossus. “What can we do?”
Picard shrugged. “Nothing, really—other than remain prepared to face the situation around Verdeen. Of course, if I see a use for your talents before that time, I will not hesitate to let you know.”
Storm frowned. “I would like to come up to your bridge later on, to see this vessel with my own eyes.”
The captain couldn’t see any reason to forbid it. The silver-haired mutant wasn’t the type to get in the way.
“As you wish,” he responded.
“Thank you,” Storm replied.
Picard scanned the X-Men’s faces. They seemed to have taken the information he had given them in stride. Then again, these were seasoned warriors, unlikely to flinch at the prospect of adversity.
“If there are no other questions …” he said.
“I have one,” Colossus told him. “How are Dr. Crusher and Commander La Forge faring with their research?”
The captain sighed. “They have yet to come up with anything conclusive, I’m afraid. But if I were you, I would trust in their abilities. Neither of them has failed me yet.”
On that note, he rose and left the room, leaving the X-Men to ponder what he had told them. The difficult part for them, Picard knew, would be the waiting.
But then, that was the difficult part for him as well.
Ruugh Isadjo, High Implementor of the Draa’kon vessel Connharakt, leaned forward in his command pod and eyed the vessel imaged on the scanplate in front of him.
He didn’t know where the ship had come from. However, he was reasonably certain it was not native to Xhaldia. His people had been monitoring the planet on and off for nearly thirty cycles, and they had never seen such a vessel in its vicinity.
Isadjo turned his dark, massive head to gaze at Mynaagh, his second-in-command. “Who is this?” he demanded. “Why are they here?”
Mynaagh’s gill-flaps fluttered, knowing her wisdom was being tested. “Their arrival at this juncture reeks too much to be a coincidence. We must assume they have come to defend Xhaldia against us.”
The Implementor’s leathery-skinned hands balled into fists. “But we destroyed the planet’s means of contacting void-going entities. And according to our instruments, we did it before they could send for help.”
His second-in-command scowled, her slitted, yellow eyes sliding toward the scanplate. “So we did,” she agreed reluctantly, shamed by her inability to shed light on the situation.
“That is all you can say?” he rasped.
Mynaggh’s lips pulled back from her several rows of teeth. “It is all,” she spat, knowing the significance of such an admission.
Isadjo’s eyes slid toward the ship on the scanplate as well. It seemed small, but he knew from long experience that appearances could be deceiving. He made a sound of disgust in his cranial cavities.
This was supposed to have been a quick and easy mission, assuring his political faction on the Draa’kon homeworld the prominence it had long deserved. Now, the matter had become complicated.
Still, it wasn’t Mynaagh’s fault that this had happened. At least, it didn’t seem to be. Therefore, Isadjo had no reason to inflict unnecessary pain on her.
“Submit yourself to the recycling facility,” he told his second-in-command. “But first, sever your primary nerve linkages.”
Mynaagh