Possession - J.M. Dillard [100]
To meld, Skel realized, with a faint trickle of dismay, as he instinctively returned the salute; the emotion was soon blotted out by the entities’ exhilaration. A brief meld, and the healer would be infected—and then, with her unwilling assistance, all of Vulcan …
A minute earlier in Jeffries tube sixteen, Troi stood alongside the others and watched the exchange with concern and dread. She could sense the hunger that possessed Will Riker, Geordi La Forge, and all the other humans aboard the Enterprise’s bridge who watched the Vulcans with deceptively calm exteriors. As for Skel—Troi sensed an overlay of serenity, but beneath it the entrapped Vulcan consciousnesses—two of them—struggled to warn their people of danger.
“We must stop them!” Worf turned to Data, who still sat with four computer padds resting on his knees. “Commander, can you access communications?”
The android’s nimble fingers flew over the boards, much too quickly for Deanna to register what he was doing. “I am attempting to do just that, Lieutenant; however, communications are being tightly supervised. They have anticipated our attempt at involvement.”
“What about the shields?” Worf asked. “If you raise the shields, the Vulcans cannot beam aboard.”
Data manipulated the grid, then shook his head. “I cannot access the shields.”
“Can we interfere with the transporters?” Deanna asked.
Data’s hands moved faster. “Negative.” Suddenly, his fingers came to a halt, poised above the padds; he glanced up at the others, apparently out of options. A frustrated silence ensued, and then Worf spoke:
“I suppose it is foolish to ask if you can gain control of the weapons system.”
Data cocked his head at the Klingon. “Weapons system?”
“If we could fire but a glancing blow to their ship,” Worf explained none too patiently, “they would automatically raise their shields. They cannot beam over with shields up.”
“An interesting idea,” Data mused. “Firing on them would be so unexpected, it would cause the Possessed crew members on the Enterprise a great deal of stress.”
“And they’re on the breaking point now,” Deanna confirmed excitedly. “Pushed hard enough, some of them would start to fall apart. The Vulcans would see that unusual activity on their scanners.”
The android fingered the padd controls, his subtle expression changing. He looked up, obviously pleased. “We may be fortunate. The infected crew members are so involved in handling my automated crisis and the various other disruptive activities of the healthy crew—plus safeguarding communications, transportation, and so on—there is very little attention being paid to weaponry.”
“Well, after all,” Kyla reminded them, “the Vulcans are our allies!”
“Let us hope they will still be when this is over,” Data countered. “I will only be able to maintain control of the phasers for a moment, but it should be sufficient for what we are planning. It would help if we could distract both ships while I am doing this… .”
“We need a diversionary tactic,” Worf grumbled. “Something that would draw their attention.”
Alexander quickly rifled through his backpack, then held up a small cassette, grinning. “And I have just the thing!”
“Greetings, T’Son,” Skel murmured, his expression impassive. “I appreciate your concern. The experience aboard the Ferengi vessel was quite … tiring. I judge myself to be recovered, but you are the healer. As always, I yield to your judgment.”
He lowered his own gaze beneath her professionally concerned one. “I would prefer to examine you, Skel, before you continue on to the TechnoFair.”
“And I,” Riker said, with cordial diplomacy, “would like to invite Healer T’Son, and any other of your crew who wish it, to come and view the displays erected by our scientist passengers.”
Captain T’Lal’s response was instant and equally diplomatic, if substantially less warm. “We thank you for your invitation, Commander. I know our scientists would find the displays quite fascinating. However, it is to our best interests to curtail social