Survivors - Jean Lorrah [74]
He grinned. “I’m good, but I’m not that good! Not even the Silver Paladin could take a Galaxy-class starship using only nine people and four ships, the best of which can manage warp 3.7 on a good day. Besides, the Enterprise is far too conspicuous a vessel for my purposes.”
Not if you took the battle bridge and abandoned the saucer, Yar couldn’t help her warrior’s instincts from reminding her-but after staying so carefully out of Starfleet’s way all these years she doubted Dare would risk setting the dogs on himself with such a rash move. Besides, if what he had just said was true-“Nine people? There are only nine of you?” She had assumed he had an army of several hundred from everything he had supposedly accomplished.
“If the local people aren’t willing to do their own fighting, I don’t take the job,” he replied. “What I provide is leadership, planning, technology, and technique.”
“Has anyone else in your gang had Starfleet training?”
“Barb-but she left the Academy after two years because she’s a fighter, not a student. She’s the one who got me started in this business. She happened to be in a bar on Nornius Beta when some thugs decided I looked an easy mark. When I left them draped over the chandeliers, she invited me to join her in rescuing a kidnap victim. I had nothing better to do … and the rest is history.”
“Dare … everything I’ve ever heard about the Silver Paladin’s work has been positive. If I’d known it was you, I’d have been following more closely-“
“To apprehend me?”
“I’m a Starfleet officer, not a bounty hunter. I have no call to go in search of wanted criminals.” She looked into his eyes. “Would you allow me to send a message to the Enterprise, if your man can figure out where to send it?”
“Yes-provided I monitor what you transmit.”
“You don’t trust me not to tell them you’re here.”
“It would be your duty to do so if you saw the opportunity.”
He knew her only too well … perhaps better now than before. “Then I will give you the flight plan. You were in Starfleet long enough to know that it’s a rare thing for a starship to stay on its filed plan for more than a few days. We may just beam a message into limbo.”
“But you have to try,” he said. “I understand. I will allow you to do it-on two conditions.”
“I won’t mention you,” she said. “What is the other?”
“I want your word that you will not try to escape again.”
“Dare-“
“Nalavia can’t stall your android much longer. Once it knows you’re gone, it’ll come looking for you. If it finds this place-“
“He will.”
“- we’ll let it … him in.”
“And have two hostages. But you won’t take Data as easily as you did me. He has some built-in electronic sensors; you can’t take it all away from him with his tricorder.”
“Useful information,” said Dare. “Thank you. Now, your word. Tasha, I promise, if what you see here does not persuade you that Rikan and not Nalavia represents what is best for Treva, we’ll let you go.”
“It is not Starfleet’s business to decide who is right and who is wrong on Treva. The Prime Directive-“
“- ceased to apply when Nalavia called for help. Starfleet can refuse to provide it, though.”
“Leaving the field clear for you to aid Rikan.”
“Yes,” he said, the cynicism gone from his voice. “Rikan represents what is best for Treva. You may say I have no right to judge, but that is what Nalavia is asking you to do. Please promise to stay long enough to compare Rikan’s people to Nalavia’s.”
He seemed so open and honest at that moment that she almost forgot the crimes he was convicted of. As his prisoner, she could hardly arrest him. If she had escaped, she would also have escaped that duty. The longer she remained with Dare, the greater the possibility that the time would come when she would be forced to apprehend him.
She didn’t want to. Each time she got a glimpse through his armor of the man she had once known and loved, her dread of that duty grew stronger.
If she gave him her word, she would have to keep it. If she didn’t, he would have no choice but to lock her up again. If she gave her word, she would be allowed