Progenitor - Michael Jan Friedman [7]
The first officer looked skeptical. “Wasn’t that system surveyed less than a decade ago?”
Picard shrugged. “Slow day at the office, I suppose.”
“Must have been.” Ben Zoma frowned thoughtfully. “You think McAteer’s trying to take another shot at us somehow?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” the captain said. “Not after he unleashed us on the trail of the White Wolf, hoping to make us look bad when we failed to find him.”
“Unfortunately for our friend the admiral, we managed to disappoint him in that regard.”
Picard nodded. “Which no doubt made him feel that much more bitter toward us.”
Ben Zoma seemed to take pleasure in the notion. “No doubt,” he said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
The captain clucked in mock disapproval. “I don’t think you’re showing the proper respect, Number One.”
“You’re probably right,” the first officer told him. “And believe me, I feel terrible about it.”
“You don’t look like you feel terrible about it.”
“I hide it well,” said Ben Zoma. He got to his feet. “Well, I would love to stay and gloat some more, but I think it’s time we started out for Eggregedor.”
“I would appreciate it,” Picard responded.
He watched his friend leave the room to apprise Idun and Gerda of their destination. Then he turned back to his screen and sent a message to Admiral McAteer, confirming that the Stargazer had received her orders and would endeavor to carry them out.
No matter what the admiral had in mind for them.
Second Officer Elizabeth Wu of the Federation ship Stargazer sat down at the desk in her quiet, tastefully decorated quarters and opened the message that had come for her just that morning.
Wu had learned of it when she arrived on the bridge to go over supply reports with Captain Picard. As she passed Ulelo at his comm station, he had told her, “You’ve got mail, Commander. From Captain Rudolfini on the Crazy Horse.”
Picard was the only one close enough to hear Ulelo. At the mention of Rudolfini, it seemed to Wu, a shadow crossed the captain’s face. Of course, it might just have been her imagination.
In any case, her curiosity was piqued. In fact, it was increasingly difficult for her to keep her mind on her work until her shift was finally over.
Then she went straight to her quarters. And now here she was, opening the message—wondering what her former captain had to say as his image filled her monitor screen.
Enzo Rudolfini was tall, painfully thin and almost completely bald, with a prominent nose and a chin that seemed to want desperately to crawl into the flesh of his neck.
But if his looks were less than felicitous, his ability to command a starship more than made up for them. Rudolfini had a way of drawing people to him that Wu had never seen in any other human being. A week after she came aboard the Crazy Horse as a raw ensign, she would have given her life for the man.
And she wasn’t alone in that regard. People loved Rudolfini. They adored him—enough to stay on his ship for the duration of their Starfleet careers in some cases. And Wu had envisioned doing exactly that herself—at least, in the beginning.
But after her third year as head of security on the Crazy Horse, she had craved a change—a challenge. And with the second-officer and first-officer slots filled with individuals as enamored of the captain as she was, it wouldn’t be possible for her to find that challenge under Rudolfini’s command.
So she applied for a transfer to a ship willing to give her a chance to serve as second officer. And she had found that opportunity here on the Stargazer.
Rudolfini hadn’t been happy about it. He had loved Wu like a daughter. But what could he do? He couldn’t offer her what she wanted. So like the good man he was, he had wished her well as she embarked on a new phase of her career.
He smiled at her from the screen. “Hello, Elizabeth. I hope this message finds you well.”
It was good to hear Rudolfini’s voice. Wu had only been gone a few weeks, but it felt like forever.
“Before I go on,” he said, “I should