Tooth and Claw - Doranna Durgin [29]
Direct hit. The ReynSa sat. The ReynTa leaned forward, attentively. Picard swiveled his desktop viewer so the Tsorans could also see it; Troi came around to stand at the side of his desk. “Put him through, Mr. Data.” As soon as La Forge’s image appeared on the screen—a different room, this time, a colorful place Uttered with freestanding ho los and unidentifiable tools—Picard said, “Mr. La Forge. We’ve been waiting to hear from you. The ReynKa and ReynSa are eager to hear what news you might have.” There, if Geordi didn’t know he was on stage after that… La Forge took it in stride. “I wish I had more definitive news for you,” he said. “We did confirm that no similar signal has ever been received at the museum.”
“And you still believe it was from Commander Riker.”
“More strongly than ever.”
“But you have no direct evidence,” Atann said, prodding.
“No.”
“There, you see?” Tehra said, gesturing dismissively. “Akarr is probably starting his kaphoora this very moment.”
“He may be at that, ma’am,” La Forge said. “But we think it’s too important to leave to chance.”
No, we’re not going to leave it to chance. Picard glanced at Troi. “Counselor, it’s my understanding that you often have an impression of Commander Riker’s feelings.”
“Yes,” she said, glancing at the instantly curious Tsorans, hesitating, and responding candidly anyway. “There’s a small number of people I can receive a sense of at any given time. Will is certainly one of them.”
An understatement if he’d ever heard one, Picard thought. He didn’t know exactly what had happened between those two, and he suspected he’d never know … but he did know the strength of the connection it had left behind. “I know we’re some distance, but—”
“All I can tell you is that he’s not experiencing any extreme crisis emotion at this time. Earlier, when we first heard from Geordi, we were at the reception. I was too… distracted to feel anything from outside the room. Now, I…” She hesitated, briefly dipping all her concentration within herself, and then shook her head. “I sense some annoyance, some anger; definite worry. But that could also be echoes of what I felt from him in the hours before he left the ship.”
“Is your commander of a foul temper, then?” Tehra asked.
Picard decided to concur with Nadann Jesson’s observations that the female Tsorans played the daleura games just as avidly as the males. “He is a man of strong passions, whatever might suit the moment. Do you think, then, Counselor, that you would have detected it had Commander Riker experienced any … say, life threatening moments?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, and hesitated, then shook her head as if she’d rethought the question and come to the same conclusion. “I really don’t know. The distance is a factor, and I have no idea what effect those shields might have. I believe what I feel is an accurate reflection of his current state. But I can’t be certain.”
It would have been too easy, anyway. Picard turned back to La Forge. “We’ll proceed on the assumption that your concerns are correct. What are our options?”
“Pretty limited, I’m afraid. The Legacy’s scooter pods are built to work within the shields. They’re small, and eighty percent of their function is geared toward then own shields—light ones, for the pilot, and heavy shielding around the engines.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
La Forge made a wry face. “Not enough of them. And they’re too slow to use in shifts. No, the scooter pods are tempting, but… what I’d like to do is spend some time modifying the Collins’s shields. I think the reason the Rahjah had trouble is related to the strange field interplay surges. But it hasn’t bothered the scooter pods so I want to see if I can modify our shields to more closely resemble theirs. Then Worf will take the Collins out and follow the Rahjah’?” course. If they went down, there’ll be a pretty clear indication of it in the trees. If they didn’t, they’ll be at the planned landing site.”
“Just Worf?”
“And a couple of the Legacy rangers.”
“We have people on the planet,