Tooth and Claw - Doranna Durgin [83]
“That won’t be necessary,” Atann said, his under-purr sharp and tight. He removed a small round device from his vest and issued a few curt instructions to his assistant, and then they sat, silently, waiting—Troi relaxed, Picard satisfied, and Atann impatient—until the transporter room reported the arrival of the Fandrean computer techs.
Picard assigned Data to handle the work—knowing the program would likely be completed by the time Data even reached the transporter room to escort their guest techs to a work area—and settled back to wait. “They should be finished shortly,” he said. “At that time, we’ll expect to receive the navigational charts.”
“Yes, yes,” Atann said. “Now what about my son?”
“ReynKa, are you under the impression that we’ve withheld information about your son’s status?” Troi glanced at Picard, who gave an infinitesimal shake of his head. “We honestly know no more than we’ve told you. We’ve relayed all the information we’ve received.”
“This is true?” Atann asked, deflating somewhat. “You know nothing? Not even whether he is dead or alive?”
“We hope to hear from Fandre soon,” Picard said, taking the edge out of his voice. “If you cannot trust that we will make every effort to see your son to safety, ReynKa, then at least trust that we care enough about our own crew members to do the same for them. And that we are still trying to understand exactly what went wrong.”
“I myself have close ties to the officers involved,” Troi said, a grim fierceness intruding on her professional calm. “I can assure you that if there were information to he had, I’d have it.”
Picard could only hope he’d never be in a position to be between her and any such information.
Atann looked away from them both. “I see.”
“I’m sorry,” Troi said. “I can tell you that the officers involved are our best. If anyone can get your son through this safely …”
Atann’s under-purr was especially garbling. “I understand.”
“While we’re waiting for Mr. Data and your own technicians to assemble acceptable code for the automatic delete, would you like some refreshments? The food replicator has recently been programmed to offer Tsoran delicacies.” And anything was better than sitting here staring at one another.
“That would be satisfactory,” Atann said, not sounding particularly enthused. But as Troi rose to assist him in the replicator’s use, his communicating device—still on the conference table—gave a strange warble.
The ReynSa. “Is it true?” she said. “You’ve arranged to give the Federation our star charts?”
Atann glanced at Picard, who offered no reaction; he and Troi withdrew to the far side of the room, as though it would truly offer Atann any privacy. But he didn’t ask for any more than that—and it wasn’t far enough away for them to mistake her next words.
“You must stop all progress toward this gift at once,” she said. “They have played you for a fool, Atann. They have only pretended to respect you.”
Atann gave his device a puzzled look, as though it were the ReynSa herself. “In what way? I am satisfied with the situation.”
“How can you say such a thing, with our son still missing?” She paused, and seemed to gather herself with an audible intake of air. “You’ll change your mind soon. Takarr and I will board their ship immediately; we must speak in person. Until I get there, Atann, mark this—they are not to be trusted.”
“Look at it this way,” La Forge said, leaning over the short console to get Yenan’s attention. “The problem
isn’t on the communications end. All things considered, communications aren’t that hard to handle within the Legacy. The energy change from one form to another is subtle compared to the energy transfer going on within a shuttle’s engines—that’s why the Universal Translator is reasonably reliable in there, too.” Of course, they’d all expected the shields to be reliable, as well, given the Tsoran and Fandrean assurances. “So the question is-why are we working so hard on the communications end of this problem?”
Yenan looked away from his padd to give Geordi pouch-mouthed uncertainty. “Because it is the