The Red King - Michael A. Martin [135]
“You have unique talents, Mekrikuk,” Tuvok said. “Those talents saved countless lives on Vanguard, and will be sorely missed.”
Mekrikuk nodded at the man the Romulans had once so brutally imprisoned with him. “Let us all hope then that your need for such talents remains infrequent, Commander Tuvok. Perhaps our paths will cross again one day. After my…immigration issues have been fully resolved, of course.”
“Has Admiral de la Fuega scheduled a hearing yet on your request for political asylum?” Troi asked.
Mekrikuk shook his head. “I suspect that Starfleet Intelligence will wish to debrief me first.”
“I’m sure they will,” said the captain. “But only under Admiral de la Fuega’s direct supervision.”
Troi sensed some trepidation coming from Mekrikuk, whose Romulan interrogators and jailers had doubtless more than justified such fears.
“Don’t worry,” Troi said. “Starfleet Intelligence is not the Tal Shiar.” At least, not most of the time.
Will nodded. “And Alita de la Fuega is an honorable woman. I wouldn’t want to trade places with any SI interrogator who tries to step out of bounds on her starbase.”
He nodded, and Troi sensed that Mekrikuk was greatly reassured. Then he turned again and stepped up onto the transporter stage.
“Good-bye, Mekrikuk,” Troi said.
“I am sure we will all see one another again,” the Reman said. “Someday.”
“Peace,” Tuvok said. “And long life.”
“Farewell, my friend,” Will said.
“Farewell. Thank you all, and may Tenakruvek watch over you.”
Will nodded toward Radowski, who slid his right hand forward across the top of the transporter control console. Mekrikuk and his escorts were instantly engulfed in a curtain of shimmering light, and then vanished entirely.
STARDATE 57080.6
Seated in her chair near the center of Titan’s bridge, Troi set down the padd she was reading and trained her eyes on the main viewscreen. She was rewarded with a vision of the beautiful blue world Titan was orbiting. But as lovely as the sight was, she felt more than ready to move on, as did everyone else on board. The buzz of eager anticipation that energized the entire crew buoyed her, almost burying her traumatic memories of the death of the planet Oghen.
Almost.
Titan was quickly approaching the daylight terminator of Iota Leonis II, the aquamarine M-Class world upon which the sprawling Starbase 185 compound lay. The starbase’s position in the Federation’s Beta Quadrant frontier made it not only the closest starbase to Titan after her return to Romulan space, but also made it an ideal jumping-off point from which to access the rimward reaches of the Milky Way’s vast, mostly uncharted Orion Arm.
The time had come to resume Titan’s original—and interrupted—mission of exploration; that mission had been the new starship’s raison d’être prior to the emergence of almost simultaneous crises in the Romulan Empire and the Neyel Hegemony.
Now Titan was ready to get back to her real work. The last of her repairs, which had primarily involved the replacement of a number of compromised hull plates, EPS relays, and a few related circuits, had been completed hours ago. Every crew member who had taken shore leave at the starbase was now back on board. The repair technicians that Admiral de la Fuega had loaned to Dr. Ra-Havreii had all been returned to the planet’s surface. Titan was ready, at long last, to cast off into the unexplored, as was her crew. Ahead lay the Gum Nebula, and the seductive beckoning of the Unknown.
But Troi knew that this ship wasn’t going anywhere until Will tended to one final piece of unfinished business.
Glancing to her right, Troi noticed that Christine Vale seemed to be having similar thoughts.
“You’re still staring at it,” Troi said to Vale’s back, obviously not referring to the planet that was turning majestically on the viewscreen, hundreds of kilometers below.
Vale chuckled as she turned the captain’s chair back toward the front of the bridge. “Sorry to be so fidgety, Deanna. But when Will took down my suggestion box, he left a huge, conspicuous bare spot