The Children of Hamlin - Carmen Carter [57]
“No!” Picard brushed aside Deelor’s explanation with scorn. “I won’t believe Zagráth would sacrifice lives for that knowledge.”
“Don’t judge her too harshly,” said Deelor. He bit down on his lip, stifling the words that almost followed. Drumming his fingers on the table, the first nervous tic he had ever betrayed, he studied Picard, then Riker. The tapping stopped and Deelor’s narrative resumed. “The Romulans are after that drive, or will be soon. At least one of their battlecruisers, The Defender, was destroyed in an encounter with the Choraii. There may have been other clashes, rumors indicate, but we don’t know the outcomes.” He had their undivided attention now. “My original mission was to discover how the Choraii defeated The Defender.”
Riker caught the connection immediately. “By letting them destroy the Ferrel.”
“If necessary.”
“You’re a cold-blooded bastard,” observed the captain.
“Look beyond the nose on your face, Picard!” cried Deelor. “What do you think will happen if the Romulans unravel the workings of the Choraii drive? They could fly through the Neutral Zone to the very heart of the Federation and lay waste to entire worlds. I’ve walked through the carnage they leave behind. Imagine what would have happened at the border outpost if the Romulans had possessed a superior flight technology.”
“The Enterprise was sent there to maintain a balance of force,” reflected Picard, settling back into his chair. “And a very shaky balance it was.”
“Yes, I know. I was there, too. Only I was walking on the other side-that’s how I learned about the fate of The Defender. Fortunately, I made it back across the Neutral Zone before I bled to death.”
Once again, Picard found his opinion of Deelor shifting to accommodate a new facet of the man’s character. He clearly possessed physical courage. The captain listened with growing respect to Deelor’s impassioned speech.
“In the interests of Federation security. That’s not a phrase to be used lightly. It means a few dozen captives, or the crew of a starship, may be sacrificed to save millions of lives. Captain Manin forgot that part of the equation when he tried to detonate the Ferrel. He wanted a clean death for his crew and he wanted revenge on the Choraii. I had to stop him.”
Bit by bit the pieces of the puzzle were coming together in Picard’s mind. “That’s why you were shot.”
“As you’ve pointed out on several occasions, people feel quite strongly about the Hamlin massacre-too strongly, perhaps. Violent hatreds demand swift military reactions, but the interests of the Federation are best served by the slower progress of diplomacy. Since the exchange of human captives between the Choraii ships serves as a bonding gift, we’re hoping that our trade exchanges for the young children will lead to similar ties between the Choraii and the Federation and the eventual exchange of technological secrets.”
“My actions certainly haven’t improved those relations,” said Picard with a weary sigh.
“Conflicting Federation policy set us up for a no-win situation. Some officials want the adult captives back, while others want to maintain cordial relations.” Deelor shrugged philosophically. “The B Flat is just one ship in the local cluster, and not among the most important. I’ll start again with another.”
“You could have saved a lot of trouble by telling me all this in the first place.”
“I shouldn’t be telling you now,” said Deelor. He revealed another part of himself to the two officers, one more chilling than the others. “And if what I’ve told you leaves this room, you’ll both be dead men. I’ll see to it personally.”
When Deelor returned to his cabin suite he was surprised to find Ruthe comfortably curled on a low couch listening to a Vivaldi string concerto. She looked up when he entered, then returned to her contemplation