The Red King - Michael A. Martin [56]
Riker took this as an encouraging sign. Still, the Neyel seemed to have all his shields up, and at maximum intensity. “So what’s the problem? Why do I still get the feeling that you don’t trust us much more than you do the Romulans?”
Frane mirrored Riker’s move, then turned his head, apparently to look at the variegated group of perhaps a dozen or so Titan crew members that was present. To his right, Riker glimpsed Lieutenant Kekil, the large, pale green Chelon biologist, chatting with the golden brown-scaled, quadrupedal exobiology trainee Orilly Malar. Dr. Onnta, the gold-skinned Balosneean physician, crossed the room toward one of the replicators.
“Imprisoned by the Romulans, imprisoned by you,” Frane said. “What’s the difference?”
Riker leaned forward and got his other knight into play, setting it down on f3. “You’re not saying you want to go back aboard the Valdore, are you?”
Once again, Frane mirrored Riker’s move. “No,” he said, a vague smile playing against his hard, gray lips. The thin—and, according to Dr. Ree, very recent—scar that ran along his shorn temple flushed a dark, angry red. Human blood, and human emotion.
“Frane, if you and your friends really were prisoners here—”
“I would not describe all of them as my ‘friends,’ Captain Riker,” Frane said, interrupting. “Other than my Nozomi, all the other Neyel you recovered are soldiers who once answered to my late father. I believe I recognized Subaltern Harn among them.”
This piqued Riker’s interest; in a few seconds, he’d just learned more about Titan’s other Neyel guests than he had since they first came aboard.
“This Harn is in charge now?” Riker asked.
“He’s probably the ranking officer, now that my father has gone to his reward.”
Riker nodded, understanding at once that he’d struck a filial nerve. It was a sensitivity that he could easily relate to. “Friends or not, if the lot of you really were our prisoners, then don’t you think we’d have made a serious effort to…break you before now?”
Frane and Riker exchanged their next several moves in silence, each player getting his pawns into motion just enough to enable the bishops to join the fray with the knights.
“Aren’t your counselors really nothing more than alternative, more-devious-than-usual interrogators, Captain?”
“Our counselors are an important means of maintaining the emotional health of Starfleet crews on long voyages. They’ve been indispensable aboard our vessels for nearly half a century now.” Riker couldn’t help but wonder whether the sainted Aidan Burgess would have succeeded in stranding herself in Magellanic space in her crusade to reform Neyel culture had a competent counselor been present aboard Excelsior, just to keep an eye on her.
“So says Commander Troi. Maybe she’s even right about that. But…” the Neyel trailed off.
“But?” Riker captured one of Frane’s pawns, and the Neyel responded in kind during his turn.
“But your chief counselor belongs to a telepathic species,” Frane said.
Frane’s misgivings didn’t surprise Riker in the least. “You really have been studying up on us, haven’t you?” he asked, impressed by the younger man’s initiative. Although none of the Neyel appeared to be able to read Federation Standard, the universal translator was able to translate any of the texts stored in Titan’s computers into Neyel-intelligible audio.
“You did give us unlimited access to your Federation historical records, Captain. Did I misunderstand something?”
“Only partly. It’s true, Betazoids are telepathic. But Commander Troi is only half-Betazoid. Her telepathy isn’t as well-developed as other members of her kind. She’s primarily an empath.”
“Meaning she reads emotions rather than thoughts?”
“Mostly.”
“Somehow I find that even more disquieting.”
“If you’d be more comfortable dealing with one of Titan’s other counselors, there’s Huilan—”
Frane shook his head. “Bizarre creature. I can remember playing with something that resembled him when I was small.”
“All right. Maybe you should schedule a session with Counselor Haaj. He’s a Tellarite, and one thing nobody’s ever accused