The Brave and the Bold Book Two - Keith R. A. DeCandido [8]
Voyskunsky snapped her fingers. “That’s where I know the name. We used to vacation on Aurigae when I was a girl. We visited the museum there.” She smiled. “I haven’t been back there in years, though. As I recall, the ruins and artifacts found there were quite impressive.”
“Indeed,” Tuvok said, betraying only the slightest irritation at the interruption. He touched the display on his padd, and an image appeared on the briefing-room screen. It was a human woman in an old-style Earth space-service uniform and a Vulcan woman in a uniform that DeSoto didn’t recognize. They were both wearing some kind of gloves and holding small objects that looked like old-fashioned optical chips. “Most telling was a chronicle that the officers of the Earth ship, aided by a Vulcan observer, were able to translate. It indicated that Malkus was able to enforce his rule with the aid of four devices.”
DeSoto nodded. “The so-called Malkus Artifacts.”
“Yes, Captain.” Tuvok changed the display to one that showed a Vulcan Starfleet officer in a blue uniform holding a black box. The picture had to be at least a century old, based on the uniform, and after a moment DeSoto realized with surprise that he was looking at Ambassador Spock from his days serving in Starfleet. “Though all the artifacts look alike, each serves a particular function. One can exert telepathic control; one can manipulate weather patterns; one emits a beam of force; and one imparts a deadly disease. After Malkus was overthrown, the artifacts were removed from the Zalkatian homeworld and placed on distant worlds throughout the quadrant.”
Janeway, who had been leaning forward in her chair, smirked. “But they didn’t say which worlds, right?”
“No. It was feared that if any record was made of the artifacts’ destination, someone of a less than scrupulous nature would seek them out and try to re-create Malkus’s tyranny.”
“Why not simply destroy them?” Janeway asked.
Tuvok’s eyebrow shot up in that manner common to many Vulcans. “That was attempted, but the artifacts have proven resistant to brute force. They also give off a distinctive energy signature, which was encoded in the chronicles.”
“I don’t understand,” Voyskunsky said. “If they wanted to hide them, why make them easy to find?”
“It’s not a question of being easy to find,” Cavit said with a level of annoyance out of proportion to Voyskunsky’s question, “it’s a question of knowing what you find if you stumble across it.”
“Precisely,” Tuvok said. “Thus far, two of the artifacts have been located. The first, as you can see from this picture, was found by the U.S.S. Enterprise and the U.S.S. Constellation during a mission to Alpha Proxima II to aid in curing a plague that had broken out on the surface.”
“Caused by the artifact?” DeSoto asked.
“Yes.” Tuvok changed the image again, this time to a starship shuttlebay. Once again a Starfleet officer held a black box, but this time the uniform was contemporary. And once again DeSoto recognized the figure: Benjamin Sisko, the commander of Station Deep Space 9. “The next was found four-point-five months ago on one of Bajor’s moons by a terrorist known as Orta. This was the artifact that emits a beam of force. Orta was captured on the Runabout Rio Grande and incarcerated on the U.S.S. Odyssey. Both artifacts are presently being studied at the Rector Institute on Earth.”
Cavit leaned back. “And it looks like the Maquis have found the third artifact. God help us if it’s the mind controller, but even the weather controller would be devastating in their hands.”
“There is one other concern.” Tuvok changed the display once again, this time showing several identical sensor readings. Two were obviously