Survivors - Jean Lorrah [73]
“There was a time,” she said, “when you would have put me on report for such a foolish stunt as attempting to recapture an escaped prisoner alone, without backup.”
As if on cue there was a soft chime, and Dare tapped the paladin insignia on his jacket. Yar realized it was a combadge. Poet’s voice was clear but tinny through its tiny speaker. “Dare? You all right? D’ja find ‘er?”
“Right where I expected, Poet. Everything’s under control. You can call off the search.”
Yar gritted her teeth. “Now that you’ve made me feel like a total fool, what are you going to do with me?”
“Try to persuade you to wait, learn the truth, and report that to Starfleet. Which you cannot do with the shuttle’s subspace radio, by the way-Sdan has been trying to pierce the jamming all morning. If he can’t do it, it can’t be done.”
“All I have to do,” said Yar, “is take the shuttle into orbit, beyond Nalavia’s jamming.”
“And from there just keep going,” he replied, “forcing me to abandon my work here before a Starfleet Security squad arrive. No, Tasha, I cannot allow you to take the shuttle.”
“I can’t abandon Data,” she protested.
“An expensive piece of equipment, but replaceable.”
“As I told you before,” she said, exasperated, “a friend and colleague, no more expendable than any other member of an away team. And definitely not replaceable. If we ever do recover the technology to create androids like Data, each will have a unique personality, born of individual life experience. Just like a human being, Dare. Data is more human than a good many flesh-and-blood people I’ve met.”
She saw that controlled anger in his eyes as he said, “There are some things flesh and blood can do that no machine will ever learn.” He leaned forward, took her by the upper arms to pull her toward him, and kissed her.
It was not a pleasant kiss, more a demonstration of power than a gesture of affection. Yar did not fight, but she did not respond, either. When Dare let her go, she deliberately wiped her mouth and said fiercely, “Don’t bet on it!”
His lips parted in astonishment-an expression only Dare and Data, of all the men she knew, shared in common. Then his mouth curled into a sneer such as Data would never attempt, and he said scornfully, “I might have known. I don’t suppose any man will ever be good enough for you.”
“At least Data would never do what you just did. There was a time, Dare, when you protected me against unwanted attention.”
He went dead pale … and then said, “I’m sorry.” For one moment he was the man she had known, anguished to discover an unwelcome side of the man he had become. But Adrian Dareau could not expose any form of vulnerability. The mask closed down once more. “I still cannot let you take the shuttle.”
“You could come with me, to make certain I return.”
“No. Nalavia’s defenses will be primed for this vehicle, Tasha. It would be dangerous enough just to use it as a flyer-but if you try to orbit, she’ll shoot it down.”
“You may be right,” she conceded. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
“It might be possible to escape on a straight liftoff. In orbit you’re a sitting target.”
“Then … how can I send a message? If Data and I don’t report, in a few days Starfleet will start an investigation. They may send another shuttle, or possibly a ship. But if Captain Picard is satisfied that we can handle things here he won’t send in the cavalry.”
“We’re playing for time then,” said Dare. “One way or another, Starfleet will send more personnel to Treva. The best I can hope for is to do what I came for and be gone before they arrive. Very well, Tasha. If you can calculate the location of the Enterprise when the signal reaches it, we will send your message by non-Starfleet frequencies. Nalavia’s own communications channels are clear.”
“Data can calculate it,” Yar said. “I can’t.”
“You could ask Sdan.”
“Give him classified information about the route of a Starfleet