The Sky's the Limit - Marco Palmieri [59]
The airship dropped again, at least two meters, throwing them all to the floor. Before they could get to their feet, it tilted about thirty degrees, tumbling everyone into the wall. The bioluminescent glow in the room dimmed considerably.
“Geordi, I suggest we activate the tractor beam.”
“Go ahead, Data.”
“Activating tractor now.” Slowly, as the float was pulled to its previous altitude, the floor leveled off.
La Forge got up and then held his hands out to Ontra and Fushol. “It’s your decision.”
They exchanged looks and, while keeping an eye on each other, allowed La Forge to help them to their feet. With a tilt of his head, Fushol led Ontra aside to again talk between themselves. Troi and Worf joined La Forge to wait for the outcome. Over the next several minutes, the dim light pulsing through the walls of the float increased to its regular level. Fushol’s voice raised a couple times, but Ontra calmed him down. La Forge watched them as closely as he could without being too obvious. The riot of colors across their down eventually quieted, and they both became a soft shade of blue. After a couple more minutes of hushed talking, they returned to face La Forge.
Ontra said, “We’ll call a meeting of all the float leaders. Together we’ll recommend choosing representatives to talk with you and the grounders.”
“I’m happy to hear that.” La Forge turned to Worf. “Could you help Fushol contact the other leaders? Some atmospheric probes might speed the process.”
“Aye, sir. I’ll work with Data on those probes.” Worf gestured for Fushol to follow him. Fushol looked at Worf as if for the first time. The tall Askarian glowered down at the Klingon. Worf glared back until Fushol appeared almost to laugh, and then he followed Worf to a quiet side of the chamber.
“Ontra,” La Forge said, “would you consider letting Counselor Troi help the meeting stay on track?”
“On your word, Geordi, I’ll present her to the leaders.” She gave Troi an appraising look. “I’ll get you some background on our laws and customs. I’ll see what Fushol has here. If need be, I can send Ruro back to my float for more records.” The leader headed off.
Troi smiled at La Forge. “You’re quite pleased with yourself.”
La Forge nodded. “Yes, I am. Listen, about the tractor beam business…I’m sorry if I scared you.”
She shrugged. “I knew what you were up to, of course. Unlike some diplomats I’ve met, I knew you wouldn’t force the Askarians to agree with you before you activated the tractor beam. But the situation was a bit unpredictable.”
“Are you talking about their decision or the decaying orbit?”
“Yes.” They both laughed at that.
“Well, I’m an engineer, not a diplomat. I like to use technology, not people.”
Troi gave him another big smile and a pat on the shoulder, then followed after Ontra.
La Forge contacted Enterprise. “La Forge to Riker.”
“Riker here.”
“It’ll take a while, but we’re going to have several more delegates for your negotiations.”
“Congratulations, that’s great news.”
“And my delegates will be representing a lot more people than yours, so…” La Forge smiled. “I win.”
Thinking of You
Greg Cox
Historian’s note:
This tale unfolds concurrently with the episode
“New Ground,” during the fifth season of
Star Trek: The Next Generation.
GREG COX
Greg Cox is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous Star Trek novels and short stories, including The Q Continuum, The Eugenics Wars, To Reign in Hell, Assignment: Eternity, and The Black Shore. He recently contributed a novel to Star Trek Mirror Universe: Glass Empires. He has also written the official movie novelizations of Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Underworld, and Underworld: Evolution, as well as the novelizations of two recent DC Comics miniseries, Infinite Crisis and 52. Over the years, he has written books and stories based on such popular series as Alias, Batman, Buffy, Fantastic Four, Farscape, Iron Man, Roswell, Star Trek, Underworld, Xena, and X-Men.
He lives in Oxford, Pennsylvania.
Personal log, Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, Stardate 45376.3
As a favor to the