The Battle of Betazed - Charlotte Douglas [52]
Tevren stood in the middle of the room, his hands clasped in front of him, a half-smile playing on his thin lips. In a shapeless prison coverall whose yellow tint made his skin sallow, he looked shrunken and harmless, like a scholarly tutor or an overworked bookkeeper who rarely saw daylight. Deanna was struck anew at how someone so sadistic could appear so benign and unthreatening. His dark eyes, the dreadful void Deanna recalled so well, locked on her.
“Counselor Troi,” he said softly. “You’re as lovely as ever. To what do I owe this honor?” Except for his thinning hair and the deep lines around his eyes and lips, Tevren had changed little.
“We’re getting you out of here,” Deanna said.
“How delightful. It’s been some time since I’ve seen the sun. May I ask why?”
Deanna looked at Vaughn, who shook his head. Deanna turned back to Tevren. “I’ll explain later. For now, I need you to trust me.”
Tevren’s attention was on Vaughn and the others. “I’m guessing you’re with Starfleet,” he said with some amusement. “Now, why would Starfleet be interested in me?”
Vaughn’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Tevren chuckled, delighted. His eyes went back to Troi. “You look haggard, Deanna, and it’s more than just the years, I suspect. War going badly, is it? Things unpleasant back home? Coming here when the place is infested with Jem’Hadar is quite a feat. Some might even call it an act of desperation.”
“Tevren, we don’t have time—”
“Make time,” Tevren suggested. “This is all quite a fuss over someone no one ever wanted to see again. Unless, of course, I have something you want? That’s it, isn’t it?” And with that, his eyes gleamed. “They need me back home. They want to know what I know.”
“That’s right,” Vaughn said.
Tevren’s eyes refocused over Deanna’s shoulder. “And you, Director, you agreed to this?”
Lanolan said nothing.
Tevren turned back to Vaughn. “What if I say no?”
“Then stay here and rot.” Vaughn turned and started back up the corridor. The others followed on his heels.
“Wait!”
At Tevren’s sharp call, his visitors stopped and returned.
“We don’t have time for games, Tevren,” Vaughn stated simply. “Are you coming or not?”
“I’m coming,” Tevren said without hesitation.
“Director,” Deanna said, never taking her eyes off Tevren. “Please lower the force field.”
Lanolan did as bid and the field winked off. Tevren stepped forward to join them. At the same time, Deanna picked up a sense of terrible purpose emanating from Lanolan. When she glanced at the director, he had turned his phaser on Tevren.
“I’m sorry, Deanna,” her mentor said. “I can’t let you do this. I’ll kill him myself first.”
Before anyone could speak, Lanolan fired.
Chapter Eleven
“G OTCHA,” O’B RIEN MUTTERED.
Crouching low behind the main console in the security office on Sentok Nor, the chief realized his efforts had borne fruit. Sifting through the decryption algorithms given him by Garak, the Cardassian exile living aboard DS9, he’d succeeded in hacking into the station mainframe undetected and now had access to a number of key systems, including autodestruct.
La Forge and his group had left to go below, their task to help override all three main processing computers located between Levels 14 and 21, deep within the station’s mid-core assembly. Commander Riker had then left with the remaining members of the security detail when his tricorder showed a concentration of Betazoid biosignatures emanating from the docking ring, leaving O’Brien alone but relatively safe in the security office, with instructions to initiate the autodestruct as soon as he was able.
After years of studying the thinking that had gone into the design and construction of Deep Space 9, and working constantly to reconcile the rampant incompatabilities between Cardassian