The Red King - Michael A. Martin [88]
Aren’t we? Pazlar thought.
Keru continued: “Therefore a big part of your job will be to contain and calm the crowds as they’re rescued, whether they trust you or not.”
As Keru spoke, Pazlar saw Tuvok exchange a look with Mekrikuk, the Reman who had, until minutes ago, still been confined to sickbay. For some reason that she found unfathomable—and which hadn’t yet been explained to anybody present—Tuvok had brought the Reman with him to the briefing.
Her gaze moved again, this time to Admiral Akaar, who stood to one side, apparently listening intently. Pazlar wasn’t at all certain why he was present, since he hadn’t opted to take direct control of any of the ground rescue missions. Perhaps he was the kind of man who could never be content to wait idly for the reports of subordinates, even when there was little he could actually contribute to the mission at hand.
The tall, gray-haired Capellan had been a paradox during the brief time she had known him so far; while she hadn’t appreciated his commandeering of the stellar cartography labs in Titan’s pre-launch phase and the early days of their first mission, he had been nothing but charming and deferential to her and most of the officers with whom she had seen him interacting. The only friction she had witnessed at all seemed to be directed at Captain Riker and Commander Troi, and even that seemed to have lessened greatly over the last week or so. Pazlar assumed that Akaar was present now in order to ascertain that Starfleet protocols were being followed to the letter, since the admiral wouldn’t be participating directly in the evac mission.
Keru finished speaking, and Tuvok began handing out specific shuttle assignments. All eight of the type-11 shuttles were being deployed. Pazlar was given the shuttlecraft Gillespie to pilot, along with a crew compliment of six: Lieutenant Pava Ek’Noor sh’Aqabaa, an elite member of the security force and an Andorian; Lieutenant Eviku, the Arkenite exobiologist; Ensign Vanda Kaplanczyk, a human conn officer who would act as Pazlar’s second; Dr. Ree, Titan’s Pahkwa-thanh chief medical officer; and Cadet Torvig Bu-kar-nguv, a Choblik engineering trainee.
As her team assembled around her, Pazlar wondered how many of the doomed Neyel and other races they would actually be able to save.
STARDATE 57037.3
“When are you going to tell her, Will?”
Standing beside his command chair, Riker regarded Deanna with a slight scowl. He wasn’t certain how best to break the news to Donatra that their plan to halt the advance of the protouniverse might involve the destruction of a good number of her fleet’s ships.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “When I think the time is right. For now, our immediate concern is making certain that the rescue operation goes well.”
He knew he wouldn’t be able to rely on his wife to help him identify that “right moment.” She was going to be on the Vanguard habitat, along with Christine Vale, a dozen engineers and other crew, and the Neyel soldiers he had deputized as officers of the peace. The hope was that they would be able to get the habitat out of mothballs and spaceworthy enough to be towed back to the spatial rift without killing the hordes of refugees that were about to be crammed aboard her. Fortunately, Jaza had determined that Vanguard still contained an acceptably breathable, if stale, atmosphere.
So all we have to do is get her ready to move out of here, and all inside of a day or so, Riker thought, glancing at the image of the ancient, pockmarked asteroid colony that was displayed on the main viewscreen. Before the interspatial energy flare-ups become too numerous and widespread to let us even try it.
He briefly considered having Christine engrave the motto, “How hard can it be?” on Titan’s dedication plaque, as a monument to his foolish optimism. Or maybe I ought to have somebody etch it onto my tombstone, he told himself. Assuming any of us ever sees home again.
Please try to think happier thoughts, Will, Deanna said without speaking aloud.