Slings and Arrows 01_ Sea of Troubles - J. Steven York [26]
Riker stroked his beard thoughtfully. “I was thinking of poker. A Changeling would be a perfect player. No tells. Nothing unconscious that could show what’s in its hand.”
“This isn’t poker as we usually play it here on the Enterprise, Will. The stakes are impossibly high, and it is anything but a friendly game.”
“If anything,” Riker said, “it’s like no-limit poker. There comes a time in a no-limit game when there’s nothing to do but go all in. Force your opponent to either abandon all illusion, concede defeat-or turn over a winning hand.”
Picard nodded. “One of the last things I discussed with Captain Adrian was our shared aversion to planning with the assumption of failure. But in this case, I think I must. If I cannot succeed in negotiating with the Changeling, you and I must come up with a workable plan to neutralize it.” His jaw tightened, and his mouth narrowed to a grim line. “By any means possible.”
“Mr. Hawk should be involved in this.”
“He will be, when the time is right. But for now, what is needed is my experience and your talent for creative strategy.”
Riker smiled. “Creative strategy? Is that what you call it? I believe the term they were using at Starfleet Tactical Command after my plan to rescue you from the Borg was, ‘What in blazes will Riker do next?’”
“Either will serve in this case, Number One.”
Picard’s combadge chirped. “Data to Picard. Captain, astrophysics reports increasing instability in the corona of the star. They believe it is building up to an intense flare cycle.”
“Take all necessary precautions, and keep me posted. Picard out.” He looked at Riker. “We’d best get to work. It’s about to get a good deal hotter around here.”
CHAPTER 9
Hawk stood at the corridor junction, phaser rifle at ready. It was disturbing, annoying, to know that the Changeling was probably somewhere nearby, and his orders were to give it free passage.
Ensign Shreff stood a few meters away, his ever-present shadow. It seemed they spent as much time watching each other as they did looking for the Changeling. It was a ritual repeated all over the ship, cutting their efficiency in half, or worse, and creating tension and paranoia. Doubtless the Changeling knew this, counted on it. It was an atmosphere that would eventually lead them to make mistakes, and one mistake at the wrong time would be all the Changeling needed to cause untold damage.
His combadge chirped with the voice of Berardi. “Bridge to Hawk. Sir, we have an incoming communication for you from Vulcan. The stellar activity is limiting us to audio only, and even that isn’t perfect.”
“Patch it through, Ensign.”
The badge cracked and popped, even before anyone began to speak. “Hawk, this is Dan Duvall.”
He and Lieutenant Duvall had crossed paths in the advanced flight training school at Jupiter Station. They’d never really been close friends in any conventional way. More like friendly rivals, and Hawk had narrowly edged him out to finish top in his flight class.
But like Addison, Duvall was one of those people Hawk had kept in infrequent contact with. Dan had liked to chide Hawk about being assigned for so long to a ship in Utopia Planitia that never flew, and Hawk reminded him that being the personal pilot for the Vulcan ambassador simply made him a glorified taxi driver.
When this was over, Hawk decided, he would have to look up old friends and renew old acquaintances. Life, he was discovering, was too short. “Go ahead, Dan. What did you find?”
“The news isn’t good, but I guess you expected that. Sorry I couldn’t get anything for you earlier, but