The Good That Men Do - Andy Mangels [120]
“Why aren’t they?” Rhai asked.
Taith suddenly realized that the intruders had indeed ceased firing. He had been so intent upon reaching the centurion that he hadn’t noticed the abrupt silence of their adversaries’ weapons.
“They must be on the move,” Taith said, fumbling for the scanner at his belt. “They found the other exit from the holding pens.”
“Where are they?” Rhai wanted to know.
Taith’s eyes went wide when he saw the reading on the stealth-shielded, backlit screen. “I can’t detect them, Centurion.”
“Fvadt! They must have used their material transmission device to escape us.”
Taith adjusted his scan, attempting to confirm his superior’s idea. A moment later, he shook his head in confusion. “I don’t think so, Centurion. Their teleportation equipment left a telltale energy signature. But I’m not detecting it now.”
But Rhai seemed unconvinced. “Perhaps they’ve adjusted their equipment somehow.”
“Or else they’re still aboard, Centurion, and are cloaking themselves somehow,” Taith said.
“We must be prepared for either eventuality, Decurion. Scan our remaining prisoners. What is their status?”
Taith hastened to do as his superior had bid. When he saw the reading, his heart sank as though it were in freefall in a gas giant’s atmosphere. He quickly ran the scan a second time.
“Well?” the centurion asked impatiently.
Taith realized that he had to tell Rhai what he least wanted to hear. “I can’t even find any of them, sir. They’re gone!”
“All right, Theras,” Shran whispered into his suit’s com channel. “Your plan had better work. The more we prolong this standoff, the more vulnerable we’ll be.”
Theras smiled in the direction of Shran’s voice. He could feel the attentive presence nearby of Commander T’Pol, Lieutenant Reed, and the two Earth soldiers. “In order to have a standoff, the Romulans would have to know where we are.”
“What do you mean?” asked the Vulcan woman.
“I mean that I have used my telepathy defensively. They cannot see us now. Nor can they see their prisoners. I’ve made us all… disappear from their conscious minds.”
“Good work, Theras,” Lieutenant Reed said, both his voice and his aura brimful of admiration. “If we really are invisible to the Romulans now, maybe we can stay aboard long enough to use their own transporter to send the rest of the Aenar over to Enterprise.”
But Shran sounded and felt far less admiring. “Then we’d better get on with it- before the Romulans figure out that we’re using parlor tricks against them instead of real weapons.”
As the group slowly made its way forward, moving directly into what had been the active line of fire only moments earlier, Theras wondered just what he would have to do to gain the hard-bitten Shran’s acceptance.
Uzaveh take him, Theras thought, concentrating instead on recovering his beloved shelthreth bondmates.
He tried, without success, to shut out Shran’s intrusive, passionate thoughts about Jhamel; he was clearly prepared to do just about anything to rescue her.
Far more, apparently, Theras thought sadly, than I ever could.
“The intruders are still here,” Rhai said, his words still pitched at a whisper. “And unless I miss my guess, so are the remainder of our prisoners as well.”
Taith felt confused, even though he had been the first to raise the possibility. “The scanner cannot confirm that, Centurion.”
“Of course it can’t, Decurion. Not if our prisoners have reached into our minds to alter what we can see- or think we can see. Had they teleported away like the first prisoners that went missing, they would not have bothered covering it up. Therefore, they are still aboard this ship, and are hiding that fact from us. As are their would-be rescuers.”
Like all the soldiers serving aboard the transport vessel T’Lluadh, Taith had been well briefed on the danger posed by the Aenar prisoners. Although they seemed possessed of far too gentle a temperament for their own good, they were powerful telepaths who could indeed tamper with the minds of their jailers, were they so inclined-