Tooth and Claw - Doranna Durgin [28]
“Isn’t it?” The ReynSa said, startling him; she had not made any effort to speak to him at the reception, but now she acted as though she’d been part of each of his discussions with Atann. She was, he thought, certainly privy to them. “It’s what you spoke of at the time your other conversation took you away.”
“Yes,” he said, with no idea where to go with this line of thought, other than that he wanted badly to avoid it-and from Troi’s face, she thought he should do just that. “In a way, that interruption is why I’ve asked to speak to you now.”
“How is that?”
“I received some disturbing news in that conversation about your men, and your son. And my first officer.”
“What has happened?” Tehra sat very straight in the human-sized chair, filling it with her dignity if not her body.
“It seems possible that the kaphoora party has had some trouble.”
“What manner of trouble?” Atann asked. “And how has it been discovered? If they’ve started the kaphoora, they’re behind the force field No one communicates through that field.”
“Not directly, no, but Commander Riker seems to have gotten some sort of signal through.” At Atann’s skepticism, Picard added, “His resourcefulness in difficult situations is one of the reasons I was confident to send him in my stead. He’s also a better pilot than I.”
“But you don’t really know what happened,” Tehra said, in more of a challenge than a question.
“Not yet,” Picard said carefully, having been prepared
to handle her concern, and not quite sure what he’d gotten instead. “I’m waiting for a report on the situation.”
Not that any report was likely to shed light on whatever might have happened beyond those shields.
Tehra didn’t seem to be affected by his words. “Akarr is on his prime kaphoora. He is a nobly raised Tsoran son. Whatever has happened, whatever he must do, he will acquit himself well.”
Picard said nothing. It seemed safest.
Atann didn’t reflect his ReynTa’s certainty. “If there has been trouble, what will you do about it?”
Another question with no answer. “Our options will come clear when we have a better understanding of what happened.”
“You don’t really know anything, then, do you? Except that you want us to give up our charts to this important area, when in return you’ve lost our son!”
An unavoidable development in the conversation. Pi card didn’t flinch from it. “These are really two different issues, ReynTa.”
“How can you say so?” The hair on Alarm’s arms rose slightly. “We can only judge you by what we know of you. And all we know of you is that you have lost our son!”
Picard hesitated. Whatever had happened within the preserve, he could confidently state it had nothing to do with Riker’s actions or the normal operating status of the shuttle—that some outside force had intervened to create the problem. Atann, at this point, did not seem likely to make that distinction. With another human, his instinct would have been to back off, to offer emotional space for the other in which to react. But a glance at Troi—at her intent expression, her rigid, almost edge of-the-seat posture—confirmed his inclination to hold his ground with Atann. “We don’t know that,” he said
firmly. “We take the safety of our passengers and associates very seriously, and do not allow anyone to impugn us in this regard.”
Atann hesitated, and behind him, Troi relaxed slightly. Good. Picard held his gaze evenly on Atann’s, not upping the stakes, just holding his own. No doubt the Tsoran had never run into that particular combination of diplomatic verbiage and aggression before.
Fortunately, before maintaining the locked gaze became too onerous, Data’s disembodied voice startled Atann into looking around the room. “Captain, there is an incoming transmission from Lieutenant Commander La Forge.”
“Just a moment,” Picard said, even as the ReynSa rose from her seat, her face pinched. “Please stay,” he said. “This is my chief engineer contacting us from Fandre, and it is he who will have our options for proceeding.” He leaned back in his seat. “Of course, if you don’t care to