Seven of Nine - Christie Golden [67]
Seven craned her neck to stare wildly at her captor.
He was an enormous Lhiaarian guard, and his eyesacs were flushed a deep violet hue. Fury.
"Do you dare rush the Central Octagon when Tribute is under way?"
Faintly, Seven could still hear her captain talking.
Janeway was still making pleasantries-readying the audience for the unpleasant truth to follow.
"Let me go," Seven demanded, reaching for calm.
"I need to-" "Very well." The guard released her so abruptly that she stumbled and barely caught herself. He turned like a robot and lumbered off in the opposite direction.
They're here! Keela's voice in her mind was loud and excited. Slowly, Seven of Nine turned.
Standing not a meter behind her was Tamaak Vrs and his companion. In Tamaak's slender arms, the unknown weapon, still glowing softly with its peculiar and inexplicable radiance, was cradled as tenderly as he might hold a pouchling.
"You diverted the guard," she said.
Tamaak nodded. "Yes. He would have hurt you.
Badly, considering the temper he was in."
Seven narrohed her eyes even as she lifted the phaser and aimed it directly at Shemaak. With long fingers, Seven adjusted the setting to kill. She saw the comprehension dawn in both pairs of soft brown Skedan eyes.
"Give me the weapon," said Seven of Nine, fully in command, "or I will kill Shemaak where she stands."
SLowLy, TAMAAK SHOOK HIS HEAD. "No," HE SAID, softly. "I will not surrender the weapon, and you will not kill Shemaak."
Puzzlement stayed Seven's hand. "I have killed before," she replied.
"I will kill again. Why not Shemaak?"
"Because my mate is inside you," said Tamaak, "and she understands.
You understand, too, Seven of Nine. All those inside you do."
"You are incorrect. I do not understand."
Tamaak Vrs half-closed his eyes in a Skedan smile.
"Oh, yes you do. You know what this weapon is, and you, more than anyone else on this planet-in the empire-understand why we are here, doing what are doing. Let us proceed."
"I have my orders."
"You have disobeyed them before, and you will again," Tamaak replied mildly, echoing her own words. "You can see through all the tricks I might attempt to play upon your mind. Therefore, I shall not attempt them. I only ask you to search your mind-your heart-and know that you know. Do then what you must. Neither of us will attempt to stop you.
Destiny has come upon us, and all the fates have coalesced into this moment."
The phaser targeted on Shemaak did not waver.
This was foolish. The weapon had been invented after the Borg had assimilated the Skedans, how could she possibly She shuddered. Rhly, Tamaak's murdered mate, knew. Keela knew. So did Aman, and Druana, and To-Do-Ka, and Zarmuk, and Shrri. One by one, the selves that at this moment shared flesh with her realized what the ultimate consequence would be if Tamaak were permitted to use his weapon on the Emperor.
Seven felt something akin to panic. What will it do?
Tell me!
But the selves in her mind were strangely silent.
All of a sudden, the twenty-three black birds flew past her. The wind from the beating of their wings would have stirred her hair had they been real. They hovered over the Skedans, cawing frantically. Seven lifted her eyes from her quarry to the birds, aching for their knowledge-for the knowledge that the Skedans insisted she possessed.
A murder of crows.
An unkindness of ravens.
The phaser fell from a suddenly nerveless hand to clatter on the cobblestones. Seven of Nine stared as comprehension burst upon her like an exploding star.
For a moment, she felt as though her heart had ceased to beat, as if she were poised in a place where time had stopped.
"I... know. .. " she whispered.
Sing a song of sixpence....
Tamaak and Shemaak stayed silent, letting her wrestle with the sudden revelation. She took a deep, gasping breath, and stared at them.
Finally,