Synthesis - James Swallow [66]
“Acknowledged, sir.”
“And while you’re at it, any extra information you can gather on our hosts would be a bonus.”
“I assumed that directive was inherent in the order, Captain.”
He nodded and glanced around at the rest of his officers. “Then we’re done here, for the moment. I don’t have to tell you to keep discreet about what we’ve discussed. Dismissed.”
“Walls have ears,” said Vale. “Never a truer word was said.”
As the others filed out of the skiff, Riker put a hand on the first officer’s arm. “Chris, a moment?”
The last to exit, Deanna threw him a look. He didn’t return it, and she understood. The hatch closed again, and they were alone, captain and first officer.
“Is this the part where you remind me of the whole ‘We come in peace’ thing?” said Vale.
“You think I’m soft-pedaling this?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “No. Because I’ve sat in the big chair a couple of times now, and I’ve seen how hard it is to be the captain. I won’t second-guess you.”
“I thought that was your job.”
“And you would know, having done my job for long enough. You know that the XO is the voice of the worstcase scenario. I prepare for the worst while you hope for the best. Isn’t that how it works, sir?”
“And that’s why you set Tuvok and Ranul running on an aggressive agenda.”
She met the open challenge in his words without drawing back. “Yes. Something Keru said earlier… it’s better to have a weapon and not need it than to need a weapon and not have it.”
He folded his arms and gave her a level look. “You’ve been in Starfleet long enough to know that’s not how we do things. We’re not gunboat diplomats.”
“And you’ve been in Starfleet longer than me, long enough to know that the way we do things changes as time goes on. It was different for Archer and Hernandez, as it was different for Kirk and Jameson, Picard and Sisko… as it’s different for you. Things have changed for us, for Starfleet. It took me a while to get that. I thought we were far away from it out here, but we’re not. We’re really not.”
“Chris,” he said carefully. “Everything that happened to the Federation, our showdown with the Borg, everything and everyone we lost… all of that does not change our ideals. It does not change who we are and why we’re out here.”
“I don’t disagree,” she told him. “The new civilizations we’ve encountered, the Pa’haquel, the Lumbu, the squales on Droplet, and all the others, were worth it. But we can’t look away from the truth that the Borg forced us to see. They reminded us that the universe is as cold and unforgiving as it is beautiful and fantastic.” Vale’s expression turned sadder. “So when the threat comes to our door, yes, I’m a little quicker to reach for my sword now. To trust a little less. But that doesn’t mean I don’t hope to hell I’m going to be proven wrong.”
Riker searched for something to say, something that would put the lie to Vale’s words, and he found nothing. The admission of that troubled him. He paused, running his fingers through his hair before he spoke again. “Tuvok’s going to have his hands full prepping the tanker escort mission. I want you quietly to extend to Keru whatever help he needs to get this dekyon option up and running. Keep it off the grid, compartmentalized.”
“Aye, sir,” she said, a quirk of surprise on her lips.
“And for the record,” he added, “I hope to hell you’re wrong, too.” Riker walked toward the hatch. “Go take the conn. I’ll be up in a while.”
Vale followed him. “May I ask where you’re going, Captain?”
“It’s time I had a talk with my newest crewmember.”
A haze of tractor-field energy lifted the Shuttlecraft Holiday off the deck and began to rotate it slowly, bringing the blunt prow of the small vessel around to face toward the hatch. Tuvok nodded approval to the crewman operating the tractor turntable and crossed to where his away team had assembled in a loose group. Three of them were engineers dispatched by Doctor Ra-Havreii to work