The Last Stand - Brad Ferguson [52]
“We were on Salvation for six hundred years,” Grek continued. “We prospered there, and our numbers grew. We had the ability and, thanks to Salvation, the natural resources to build newer and better ships of different kinds. After all, some of our people were scientists working in space at the time of the Lethanta attack, and they and their trained successors had thought about little else other than how to improve the Fleet.”
Drappa picked up the story. “It was determined at some point that we would not stay on Salvation but continue on in pursuit of the Lethanta once we had rebuilt the First Fleet into a newer, bigger and better Second Fleet.”
“Didn’t any of your people remain behind on Salvation?” Troi asked.
Larkna shrugged. “We don’t know,” he said. “Perhaps. If so, they’re keeping their own records.”
“We would certainly view any such stragglers as a disgrace to our people,” Drappa said.
“Indeed we would,” Hek said.
“So you went from star to star, looking for the Lethanta,” Picard said. “You’ve been looking for them for about six thousand years.”
“And now you’ve found them,” Troi said.
Hek nodded. “The Fifth Fleet detected radio signals from this star system about seventy years ago, and we quickly determined that they were of Lethantan origin. You cannot imagine the celebration that erupted at the news, Commander Troi.”
“Oh, I think I can.”
“We were within several years of arriving in a star system about five light-years from here when we detected the signals,” Hek continued. “Rather than divert, we stopped in that system briefly and, in an allout effort, built our already vast Fifth Fleet into an even mightier Sixth Fleet. We would not be cheated of our vengeance again.”
“How long were you in that other system?” Picard asked.
“Only thirty-two years,” Hek replied. “We were in a hurry.”
“It was a thirty-five-year trip, this time,” Drappa said. “We boosted at a full one gee for as long as our newly designed engines could take it. I myself was only a boy when we heard the signals from this star system, Captain, the signals that told us the Lethanta were here. I’ll never forget that day.”
Hek nodded. “I was born in that system, Captain, and I was just a boy when we left it,” the Presider said. “I’ll never forget it—the anticipation, the sense of a long, long struggle coming to an end, of justice about to be done.”
“Is this truly justice?” Picard asked. “Presider Hek, surely you must realize that the people living on Nem Ma’ak Bratuna are generations removed from those who did such great harm to your people. All this has been so long ago for the Lethanta that, before they detected your oncoming fleet, they had dismissed the age-old tales of oppression and flight as fiction born of superstition.”
Hek’s expression turned sour. “Superstition, eh? Well, we’re bad luck for them—I’ll give them that much.”
Picard pressed his case. “We’ve met with the Lethanta,” he said. “We’ve talked with them, listened to them. We’ve seen the shock and horror in their eyes when they described to us what their ancestors had done to your people.”
Hek looked at Picard for a moment. “They told you about that?” he asked. “All of it?”
“Yes, they did,” replied Picard. “They were extremely frank with us about the matter.”
Hek waved a hand in dismissal. “They’re frightened,” he said. “They’ll say anything, do anything, to avoid retribution.”
“Not anything,” Picard pointed out. “They have not attacked you.”
Hek almost laughed. “What can they do against us, Captain?” he said. “We’ve scanned them inch by inch, and we did a thorough job. We’ve charted every armament, counted every soldier, located every mine and missile. If the Lethanta deploy everything they’ve got as effectively as possible, and if they use every bit of it, they might make a small dent—a very small dent—in our numbers and strength.” Hek shrugged. “We