The Valiant - Michael Jan Friedman [29]
The woman seemed unprepared for such a quick decision. Just out of curiosity, she asked, why me?
Ruhalter smiled an easy smile. As my second officer will tell you, I like to go with my instincts.
Santana glanced at Picard. Again, it seemed to him that her scrutiny lasted a little longer than necessary. Then she looked at Daniels, and finally at the captain again. Im ready when you are, the woman told him.
Idun Asmund had been waiting at her helm console for what seemed like forever before she heard her captains voice flood the bridge Were aboard, Number One. Take us out of here.
Commander Leach, who had been sitting in Ruhalters center seat, responded to the order. Aye, sir. He turned to Asmund. You heard the captain, Lieutenant. Half impulse.
Half impulse, the helm officer confirmed.
She had laid in a course already, based on the coordinates transmitted to her minutes earlier by Commander Eliopoulos. Applying starboard thrusters, she gently brought the Stargazer about. Then she engaged the impulse engines and left Starbase 209 behind.
As usual, Gerda was bent over the navigation station. Idun glanced at her sisterand saw that she was typing something on her comm pad. The helm officer was able to guess the sense of the message before she saw it appear on one of her monitors.
Where now ? Gerda wanted to know.
Idun smiled to herself. Where indeed? Clearly, they were headed for the other side of the galactic barrierher sister knew that much already. But what did they expect to find there? What did they hope to accomplish? That was what Gerda was really asking.
Eventually, both Idun and her sister would be briefed by Commander Leach or Commander Picard and given the answer to Gerdas question. But for now, Idun was more than content to savor the question itself.
And judging by the expression on her sisters face, Gerda felt the same way.
Pug Joseph had taken a turbolift down to the brig just as soon as Lieutenant Ben Zoma contacted him.
After all, hed had to make certain that everything was in running order. The last thing he wanted was to have his superiors arrive with their prisoner and find that the force field was on the blink.
Of course, the security officer reflected, as he leaned on the wall beside the field controls, Ben Zoma hadnt actually called the woman a prisoner. But if she was anything else, she would have been given a suite of guest quarters instead of a small, spartan cell with a guard outside.
Abruptly, Joseph heard the clatter of boot heels from around a bend in the corridor. Straightening, he listened to the sounds grow closer, louder. Finally, Lieutenant Ben Zoma turned the comer.
He wasnt alone. Fox and Sekowsky were with him, carrying phasers. And a woman was walking between them a small, slender woman with a black ponytail and dark, exotic eyes.
Mr. Joseph, said Ben Zoma, acknowledging him. This is our guest, Serenity Santana. Please see that shes not any more inconvenienced than she needs to be.
I will, sir, Joseph answered.
Santana , he repeated inwardly. The name suggested energy and exhuberance, spice and spirit. In his mind, at least, it seemed to fit her.
The woman didnt wait to be escorted into her cell. She walked in of her own volition. Then she sat down on the bench seat within and watched as Fox manipulated the force field controls.
A moment later, a not-quite-transparent barrier sprang into existence across the cell mouth. It was powerful enough to cause any human who came into contact with it to lose consciousness.
But Joseph, along with every other security officer on the ship, had been warnedSantana wasnt just any human. It was possible, if only remotely, that the electromagnetic field wouldnt hold her. Hence, the need for live, armed guards, who would monitor her every minute of the day.
And if she was as adept a telepath as they suspected, even armed guards might not be enough to keep her from escaping. So Joseph and whoever else was watching Santana would have to check in with