Unification - Jeri Taylor [78]
At almost the same time, Picard burst through the wall, too, and took another guard down with a short, vicious punch.
By this time Sela had recovered from her shock and raised her disruptor to aim it at Picardmbut suddenly there was Speck, right on top of her, holding the disruptor he had confiscated from her guard.
“I’m afraid,” he said with mock apology, “that I don’t know too much about Romulan disruptor settings.”
They eyed each other for a long moment as Sela considered the options: But no matter what way she came at it, she realized Speck could fire on her. She would either vaporize, if the setting were high, or die an agonizing death as her organs exploded if the setting were low. She dropped the disruptor.
Speck glanced at Picard and said something very strange; it sounded like “Cowboy diplomacy.” Whatever it was, it meant something to the two, because Picard acknowledged the statement with a slight smile.
Then Picard called out, “Well done, Mr. Data— although I’m afraid you didn’t get Commander Riker’s hair quite right.”
And suddenly the wall of her office disappeared— revealing the true wall, and the android at her computer console, having created a holegram of the wall behind which they had been hiding all along.
“I will be more observant in the future, sir,” said Data.
How pleased with themselves they all were! How clever they believed themselves. Well, let them con-gratulate each other all they wanted; Sela’s plan was still running smoothly.
“It doesn’t matter what you do now,” she informed them. “Spock’s announcement will be made in minutes. Our forces will be on Vulcan before you can alert anyone.”
And she was delighted to see the looks of consternation on their faces.
By Riker’s calculation, they were within twenty minutes of intercepting the Vulcan trio of ships when they received the message from Dulisian Four. He had immediately contacted Doctor Beverly Crusher and she had come to the bridge. “Commander?” she queried.
“Doctor, we’ve just received a priority-one distress call from the colony on Dulisian Four—a massive failure of the environmental support system. They’re going to require evacuation and they already have injuries.”
Riker knew that the Dulisian colony was comprised of over four hundred people. Without their environmental support system, the sealed colony could not sustain life. The Enterprise was within range of the Dulisian system and could easily evacuate and transport the colonists.
But that would mean changing course and letting the Vulcan ships proceed on their way without challenge.
What to do? He had no right to interfere with the Vulcan convoy, but he was mighty suspicious of it. A friendly hail, a query about intentions—these were accepted protocol in space.
On the other hand, all he had regarding those ships was a hunch. An instinct. A gut feeling. And what was happening on Dulisian Four was real.
“Worf, are there other ships in the vicinity of the Dulisian system?”
The tactical lieutenant checked his readings, then announced, “One, sir. A Rutian archaeological ves-sel.”
That would be a surveyor ship, much smaller and less well equipped than the Enterprise. Beverly echoed his thoughts, saying, “I’m sure it’s not equipped to handle something of this scale, Will.” And of course it couldn’t.
Riker moved back to the aft station, where Geordi was monitoring the progress of the Vulcan ships. “La Forge, anything more on those ships?”
“I’ve checked every sensor display backward and forward,” he replied. “If the Romulans altered them, they didn’t leave any fingerprints. I can’t tie any of them to the surplus yard.”
“The Vulcan ships have entered Federation space, sir,” announced Worf. “Maintaining course and speed.”
There was no choice. He had absolutely no hard evidence linking the Vulcan ships to the one he’d been trailing. He had no reason to believe that trio of ships was anything other than what it said it was—a peace envoy proceeding to Vulcan to open talks of reunification. And on Dulisian, people were going to start dying.