The Brave and the Bold Book Two - Keith R. A. DeCandido [89]
“Bekk Lojar was to be assigned, sir.”
“Is there some reason why he shouldn’t be?”
“He is a half-blind yIntagh with the gunnery skill of a grishnar cat. Otherwise he is perfectly adequate for the job. Sir.”
Kira smiled. This Rodek person spoke in a very simple tone, conveying none of the invective of his words.
“We have someone else for the position, Lieutenant. Out.” Klag cut the connection. “The Gorkon has four secondary gunnery positions for the twelve rotating disruptor arrays. One of the warriors assigned to the position died in a duel a week ago, and—as you heard—his replacement is inadequate.”
Breaking into a grin, Kira said, “Not anymore, she isn’t. I’ll report to the bridge right away.”
“Good,” Klag said, leading her out of the medical ward. “Our controls may be strange to you. I suggest taking the next hour to familiarize yourself.”
“Captain, I’ve flown Bajoran sub-impulse raiders, Starfleet starships, Klingon birds-of-prey, and Jem’Hadar strike ships. I think I can handle a rotating disruptor array.”
“Then report for duty, Colonel,” Klag said as they arrived at a turbolift. “I will see you on the bridge.”
Kira entered the lift and headed to her temporary new post.
Chapter Sixteen
MALKUS SEETHED—AS MUCH AS A disembodied mind could seethe, in any case.
It was impossible for one consciousness to maintain control over thousands of minds. But if the Instrument could allow control over only a few people at a time, it was functionally useless to Malkus. So Aidulac’s team had hit upon a way of sending out shards of the user’s telepathic essence to the person being controlled. That sliver of Malkus—independent, yet connected—provided the control. Malkus himself could monitor assorted shards and make adjustments as needed, but it was not required that he himself maintain constant oversight.
That ability had many good points. It meant that he was able to imprint shards of himself in the other three artifacts, and it enabled the number of people he could enslave to be in the thousands. The one bad point was that pawns could sometimes slip out of his control without his knowing it right away.
Most frustrating was his inability to hold on to Spock. The ambassador had been able to resist control practically from the beginning, and it had taken Malkus a great deal of effort forcing the shard of his consciousness to maintain its grip.
Then, when he checked on Kira Nerys, he found that his shard was nowhere to be found in her mind. Somehow, she had managed to expel it.
Unfortunately, until he was able to attach the fourth Instrument to the Great Rectangle, he did not have sufficient power to reestablish his control over her. As it was, he barely had enough to control the people on this planet and the ships in orbit. The former were busy constructing new buildings and structures and weapons for Malkus’s use, as well as an android body for him to transfer his consciousness into.
When Spock had yet to return from dealing with the people in the shuttle, he connected with the shard in the ambassador’s mind—only to find that it, too, was nowhere to be found.
No, wait—it was there, but it was cowering in an astral “corner” of Spock’s consciousness, helpless. Malkus tried to take direct control, but he could not. There was something—different. The mental impression from Spock should have enabled Malkus to have complete control.
Then he realized that the mental impression was divided—split into two beings. Spock had performed some kind of telepathic trickery with the other ambassador he had traveled with in order to gain an advantage.
At that moment, Spock and his fellow diplomat—Worf—became more trouble than they were worth. As useful as they might have been, they now needed todie—as did their fellow prisoners in the shuttle. In retrospect, Malkus never should have let them all live in the first place.
Malkus sent out ten Klingons.
He also maintained personal control on one of them—J’lang was his name.
Through J’lang’s eyes, Malkus observed the Klingons moving toward