Survivors - Jean Lorrah [22]
“We don’t have to take all their personnel to win,” Dare explained. “All we have to do is trap their king.”
“Mercaptans don’t have a king,” said Yar.
“But they do have something very similar, Tasha,” he said.
“Oh, all right,” she said grudgingly, admitting the analogy. “They follow the commands of the Troop Controller. But they also protect him at all costs.”
“So how do we get at him?”
“I have the feeling you know,” she replied. “But I don’t. He is surrounded on every side by warriors, and has a personal force field as well. There’s no way to get to him.”
“We don’t have to get to him,” Dare said. “We only have to trap him.”
“But how-?”
“Think, Tasha. Without the guidance of their Troop Controller-“
“Mercaptan warriors turn berserker-as if they weren’t bad enough in the first place!”
“That’s right. And what do they attack?”
“Anything that gets in their way, including one another. That’s an old trick, Dare-but we don’t have enough troops to decoy them into a circle or two lines facing each other, and even if we did, we don’t have the firepower to destroy their Troop Commander so they’ll attack each other.”
“You weren’t listening, Tasha. I said we’d trap him.”
She looked from the glowing screen to Dare’s face. “How? With what? I don’t see any mine shafts to topple him into.”
“At least you’re on the right track,” he said. “We want him cut off from his warriors-but first, we want them positioned so when the Troop Controller’s commands are cut off, their nearest targets will be one another.”
Yar looked back at the screen. What could Dare have in mind? Only three Starfleet security personnel to work with. How could they possibly-?
Suddenly her hand leaped to the board, and she punched up the descriptions of the security people. She grinned. “Thonis, an Andorian-but a graduate of the Vulcan Academy of Sciences. There it is: graduate-level classes in computer technology, taught by Sarek of Vulcan. Top student in every class. With those qualifications, Thonis can inveigle any computer ever built-including the Mercaptan Troop Controller’s. All he needs is a tricorder … yes, there it is, in his equipment inventory. So we have Thonis patch into the computer, order the troops into the position we want, and then short out the Troop Controller’s modem circuits before he can counteract the order!”
“You’ve got it,” Dare said smugly.
“You’ve had this assignment before!” Yar accused.
Dare shook his head. “No. I simply know how important it is to determine the special abilities of all away team personnel. Remember that, Tasha-security people aren’t Mercaptan warriors. They are not faceless disposable beings armed with phasers.”
“I know that,” she said. “I’m one of them, remember?”
“Yet how much do you know of your fellow students’ special abilities, beyond their performance in the classes specifically designed for security trainees? What musical instrument does Johnson play?”
“Uh, I don’t know,” Yar admitted.
“Piano,” Dare supplied. “And Pringle-why is she so proficient at word processing?”
“She is?”
Dare smiled. “She writes articles, Tasha-in fact, she has had half a dozen published in various horticultural journals while she’s been here at the Academy.”
“Horticulture? Well, no wonder I didn’t know,” said Yar. “I’ve never had any interest in gardening.”
“But if you were on an away team with Pringle, and had run out of food concentrate?”
Yar nodded. “Or if there were flesh-eating plants around-yes, Dare, I see your point. Do you know these things about the whole class?”
“T’Keris is an expert on architecture. Jessamin’s discipline and grace come from a lifetime of ballet. Wokonski sculpts. Por-prenicle is an archaeologist. Verne-“
“Stop!” Yar protested. “You’ve shamed me enough. I’ve known these people for three years, and never thought to find out what they do when they’re not working on Academy