The Last Stand - Brad Ferguson [96]
“Sir, you intend to beam into the middle of a war zone, and I cannot—”
“You’ve done your sworn duty in warning me about it, Lieutenant. Now desist.”
Worf looked resigned. “Aye, sir.”
“Excuse me, Captain,” Geordi asked. “But didn’t Kerajem just withdraw his people’s permission for us to be here?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Well, then, aren’t we violating the Prime Directive in pursuing further efforts at mediation?”
“Not at all,” Picard said. “The Krann have not yet withdrawn their permission for us to intercede in this war, and that is exactly what I intend to do when I go to visit Kerajem.”
Chapter Eighteen
PICARD MATERIALIZED right in front of Kerajem’s desk. The First Among Equals looked up.
“I knew you’d show up anyway, Picard,” the First said, utterly weary. “I figured a little thing like a sacred oath wouldn’t stop you.”
“I haven’t violated my oath, Kerajem,” Picard said. “I’m simply taking advantage of a loophole. Please tell me what’s happening.”
“We’re losing the war for our survival, that’s what’s happening. The other ministers went home or wherever it is they find the most comfort. The vote was taken and the agreement was made, and now there’s nothing left for anyone to do—except me, of course.” Kerajem rose from his desk and, walking over to the window, looked out over the ruins of the capital city. There was dense smoke on the horizon. “The mountains are on fire,” Kerajem said almost absently. “I’m from there, you know.”
“You’d mentioned it to me.”
“Oh. Yes. Yes, I had. I suppose my hometown is gone now. It would be right in the middle of that main column of smoke, right there past the peak. See it?”
“Yes.”
Kerajem gazed up into the clear green sky. “They tell me there’s quite a battle going on up there, about two hundred kilometers above our heads.”
“We’ve been keeping tabs on it.”
“So have we, as I think you’ll understand. I heard one of your people was badly wounded after the initial attack. Will she make it?”
“Our doctor says that she will.”
“I’m glad. Captain Picard, do you know why we’ve called this world The Last Stand?”
“No. Please tell me.”
“Because it is exactly that.” Kerajem turned away from the window. “It is our world, our refuge, the last hope for our survival. It is the place where we determined in our prehistory that if the Krann ever came our way, the millennia of madness would finally end. Even when we forgot our origins and descended into barbarism, our purpose remained intact. When we rediscovered the truth decades ago, we also rediscovered our resolve to see this whole mad business end. We have made a stand here, our last stand. The madness will end today—and that is why you and your people must leave our system immediately.”
“What are you talking about, Kerajem? Please tell me.”
“Listen to me! If you stay here, you’ll die with the rest of us!”
“Tell me what you’re talking about!” demanded Picard. “There is always hope, Kerajem. If I believe in anything, I believe in that.”
Kerajem turned away. “We developed a project. It was a defense project. We called it Plan Blue Ultimate. It’s a weapons system. We performed the final tests on it shortly before you showed up.”
“Shortly before—?”
“The tests were-successful and we put Blue Ultimate into effect, hoping we would never have to activate it.” Kerajem walked over to his desk. “We hoped against hope that it wouldn’t come to this, but we have just about run out of time. The madness must stop now, and it falls to me to make sure that it does.” He opened a drawer. There was a black box inside. Kerajem opened it and pressed a button and threw a switch.
“What did you do, Kerajem?” Picard asked.
“I’ve just made sure.”
“Wait a minute,” Picard said. “We came here because we detected three brief warp-field signatures—oh, no.” The captain went utterly pale. “You can’t possibly mean what I think you mean.”
“I see you finally understand,” Kerajem said, shaking his head. “Forgive me, my friend, but it wasn’t until this morning that I realized our Blue Ultimate technology and what you call warp drive must