The Last Stand - Brad Ferguson [93]
“You have been wounded,” Worf said. He had a medical kit in hand. “Allow me to assist you.”
“I guess I could use a pain pill,” Ro allowed. “It’s been a long night.”
“Ensign Ro was shot by the police on our way here,” Data reported. “We were violating a local regulation by being on the street during an attack. I did not feel comfortable moving the ensign in her condition, so we did not continue to Government House. I remained with her here, discouraging passersby from inflicting more harm on her.”
“You’ll find some used-up Lethanta here and there,” Ro said. “Thanks, Commander.”
“Why did you leave safety?” Worf asked.
“The building we were in was on fire and about to collapse,” Data said. “We took a chance. I was shot at while I retrieved the ensign from where she had fallen.”
“I can see that,” Worf said. “Are you damaged, Commander?”
“Not significantly, thank you. How is Ensign Ro?”
“Not too bad.” Worf looked through the medical kit. “I will stabilize her condition before we bring her to the shuttle.”
“That is a relief,” Data said. “I was concerned.”
“I’m touched,” Ro said, grimacing again. “What happened to the communicators, Worf? We never heard from the ship after the bombings began.”
“The captain believes they were jammed by the Krann, except for communications between us and Government House. We believe the Krann cut off communications between us in order to create more uncertainty. No doubt the Krann thought that allowing us to talk to Government House, but not to you two, might lead us to think that communications were clear and that you were dead. It certainly did make us uncertain.” Worf frowned darkly. “Much has happened in the last few hours, and none of it is good. I will brief you on the way back.”
The turbolift doors opened onto the bridge, and Picard walked briskly to his chair. Harkey was at Ops. “Have you reached Presider Hek, Ensign?” he asked her.
“No, sir,” she replied. “Not yet.”
“Keep at it.”
Worf’s prime backup, Lieutenant Gomez, was handling the Security station in the Klingon’s absence. Picard addressed him. “Mr. Gomez, tell me about the war.”
“Captain, the Lethanta are under substantial attack by heavily armed units of the Krann fleet,” Gomez said. “Virtually all orbital facilities surrounding Nem Ma’ak Bratuna have been destroyed, with large loss of life. So far, Lethantan defense forces have prevented any significant additional damage to ground-based facilities, but there have been several new medium-yield nuclear missile strikes within the larger cities, and Lethantan ground defenses are beginning to collapse. A large Lethantan space force is heading for the midst of the main Krann fleet, apparently to conduct reprisal attacks against the Krann civilian population.”
“Very well. Ensign Harkey, send the following message to Presider Hek and the First Among Equals. ‘As the representative of the United Federation of Planets, I am proposing that both sides establish and observe a ceasefire in place before this war grows any wider.’” Picard chose his next words carefully. “‘There is no point in fighting. There is no issue here worth fighting about. We must put the past behind us and build a future, but we are fast losing any hope of doing it. I look forward to your affirmative response to this message.’ End it there.”
“Captain?” Gomez reported. “The Lethanta are now engaging elements of the main Krann fleet. Three large Krann ships have been destroyed. They were city ships, sir.” He paused. “Estimated combined population, one point four million.”
Picard sighed. Any chance of peace seemed gone.
“The First Among Equals is calling, Captain,” Harkey reported.
“On screen.” Picard began to speak and then stopped, shocked. He had never seen a man seem to grow so old overnight.
“Kerajem,” Picard began almost gently, “please stop this madness. This war can only lead to the destruction of both races. You must realize that.”
“I know that better than anyone, Captain Picard—but we lost three cities full of people in the first six minutes