The Last Stand - Brad Ferguson [24]
There was a murmur of agreement.
“I wonder,” Picard asked, “why the unknown craft were not detected before they entered your atmosphere, however.”
“I would like an answer to that myself,” Klerran said. “I believe I will get on the communication links straight away and ask the people who are paid to know such things.”
“It seems likely that these unknown spacecraft were probes launched by the Krann to test your defenses, Kerajem,” Data said.
The First Among Equals nodded. “They proved that our defenses are not as good as we thought they were,” he said. “We were lucky, thanks to you.”
“Captain,” Worf said, “obviously the Krann are using a cloaking device that operates in ways unfamiliar to us. It appears that not even the Lethanta know everything there is to know about the camouflage system developed by the Krann. I suggest we become familiar with the camouflage system as quickly as possible.”
Security Minister Jemmagar had a practiced look of disinterest. “I think,” he said, “that we have been gulled by these people long enough. Now they want us to give them the greatest secret of our counterintelligence operation.” Jemmagar laughed without humor. “I admire the sheer gall of it, Captain. I’m curious. Just which of the Krann ships did you command before the fleet constructed that sham currently in orbit above us?”
“What?” Picard was taken aback.
“You were in charge of the flagship, I’ll bet,” Jemmagar said. “You have a certain style about you, I’ll admit that.”
“Jemmagar, mind yourself!” Kerajem barked.
“I’m doing my job!” Jemmagar shot back. “We first detect this Enterprise inside the orbit of Ma’ak Unselbe a mere hundred million kilometers ahead of the leading edge of the Krann fleet. It was traveling at a quarter of the speed of light. That’s fast, but not impossibly fast, and not hard to achieve if you’ve got the energy budget. Call it two gravities of acceleration applied for a period of, oh, about six weeks—”
“Ridiculous,” Picard said. “You are mistaken.”
“—from a distance of about a hundred and thirty billion kilometers. Quite a ways out, Captain, and a fast, uncomfortable ride sunward to boot.” He was sneering now. “You and your people must be pretty tired. You look a bit tired to me, you know.”
“Minister Jemmagar,” Kerajem said sharply, “control yourself. These are our guests.”
The security minister paid no attention to him. “You people must have been working on this little fraud for quite some time, constructing that so-called starship of yours,” he continued. “It took the Krann fleet quite a while to get from that point to where it is now. Why, you almost didn’t make it to our world in time, did you? The vanguard of your fleet almost beat you here.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Picard said icily.
“Certainly you do,” the security minister responded. “We’ve been able to read incredible energy reserves aboard your vessel—more than enough to provide constant boost for an indefinite period. You might even have been able to get here much faster than I think, since you decelerated so quickly once you reached orbit. I’d even venture to guess that you’ve come up with some way to negate the effects of acceleration and inertia. We’d be very interested in obtaining something like that for ourselves, you know.”
“This has gone far enough,” Picard said, rising, and the other Enterprise officers stood with him. “Perhaps we should recess, let things calm down a bit. My colleagues and I will be leaving immediately.”
“Please, Captain—” Kerajem said. “Jemmagar, this is outrageous! These people are not Krann, you idiot!”
“I believe they are,” Jemmagar said, “and none of them is leaving just yet. I have the building under a security alert.” The doors to the room opened, and a squad of armed guards entered. “Guards, make these four comfortable. They will be staying with us for a while.”
“On the contrary,” Worf said, tapping his communicator. “Transporter. Emergency beam up.”
“We’ll pick up the shuttlecraft later,” came Picard’s voice as he and his officers