The Good That Men Do - Andy Mangels [83]
The pursuit of the unidentified vessel into the asteroid field near the Galorndon sector had provided just that excuse, though S’Eliahn might well have been spared had he not bungled so badly in carrying out his orders to either cripple or destroy the fleeing vessel.
How did they get this far into Romulan territory without being caught? They were clearly vaehkh, aliens from beyond the Empire’s farthest-flung Avrrhinul, or Out-marches; Nveih could tell that from the configuration of their ship alone. He wondered if the small vessel had received help penetrating this far into imperial territory, possibly from dissidents. Or perhaps they’re just smugglers who’ve ventured too far from the customary lanes of galactic commerce for their own good. He didn’t really care. Either way, it was his duty to see to it that they neither escaped nor got any closer to Romulus than they already had.
“Commander, I’m showing that their ship is losing power,” Subcommander Vosleht reported from his post on the bridge’s port side. “Unfortunately, they’ve entered the densest part of—”
The bridge viewscreen of the Lha Aehallh suddenly flared brightly, and Vosleht paused in making his report to look. The explosion could really only mean one thing.
“They collided with an asteroid,” Decurion Tanekh said from her new station. “Initial scans show that they’ve been destroyed.” She had apparently gotten her nerves under control, and now sat above the pooled blood of her predecessor, whose body she appeared to have rolled just out of her way.
“Make sure of it,” Nveih snarled. “Find their wreckage and learn who or what they were.” He stalked toward the exit, then turned back to his crew and pointed toward the barely twitching S’Eliahn. “And have that piece of hnaev cleaned up.”
He wasn’t looking forward to telling Commander T’Ihlaah about losing the vessel. The only positive thing about it was that T’Ihlaah’s ship, the Qiuu Nnuihs, had bungled the capture first.
Perhaps he would be able to persuade T’Ihlaah that it was in their better interests to keep the incident out of both of their reports.
Twenty-Three
Thursday, February 20, 2155
Enterprise Nx-01
“I BELIEVE THE ADJUSTMENTS are now complete,” T’Pol said, setting the dynospanner down on the console beside her. She turned the chair- and the jury-rigged titanium helmet that sat atop the chair’s backrest- toward the three men who stood near her in the small alcove in sickbay.
“It doesn’t look much different than it did the last time we used it,” Shran said as he stepped in front of Doctor Phlox and Theras, then gingerly touched the device’s headpiece, obviously taking care to avoid touching the heavy cables that led from the helmet’s crown to the new power coupling the engineers had hurriedly installed in the bulkhead. “This appears to be the very same telepresence unit Commander Tucker built.”
T’Pol wasn’t eager to waste time giving Shran a detailed technical report- reassembling the device with Lieutenant Burch was difficult. A competent engineer, who kept repeating, “Call me Mike.” His very presence was a painful reminder of Trip’s death.
“It is the same device,” she said. “At least in essence. With some assistance from Lieutenant Burch, however, I have given it a considerable boost in both power and sensitivity, particularly at the most relevant brainwave frequencies.”
Theras stepped forward, his gray, blind eyes focused at some invisible point straight ahead of him. Although T’Pol knew that Theras couldn’t see in a conventional manner- his Aenar telepathy made a highly effective substitute for the normal visual sense- she thought he was being quite careful not to come into direct contact with any part of the nearby telepresence equipment, as though he feared it might shock him.
“Are you saying you can locate Jhamel with your device?” Theras asked, sounding even more anxious than usual.
“Yes, in a manner of speaking,” T’Pol said. “I believe that this equipment might succeed in enhancing the mind-link that Shran evidently still shares with Jhamel,