Unworthy - Kirsten Beyer [105]
Paris counted every pounding beat of his heart between the moment he gave the order and the moment a confused Chakotay materialized by his side.
“Commander?” Chakotay immediately asked.
Tom didn’t say a word, but simply directed Chakotay’s eyes toward the main viewscreen. Tom was relieved to immediately see a wide grin break open on Chakotay’s concerned face.
“Hello, Valerie,” Chakotay said warmly.
Eden led the security team into the shuttlebay, her phaser at the ready. It had been a long time since she had engaged in a combat scenario that wasn’t a simulation, but her body remembered what her mind would have preferred to forget.
She directed the eight officers with her to fan out, surrounding the shuttle in which Batiste was waiting. Then, in a loud, steady voice, she commanded the shuttle’s occupant to open the aft hatch and surrender.
After a tense minute, during which she debated forcing Batiste’s hand, a hiss and a clank signaled the shuttle occupant’s intention to comply. The rear door of the small vessel swung gracefully up and Eden watched in horror as Admiral Batiste strode gracefully down the short ramp.
Batiste’s face retained its haughty, rugged charm. But his eyes did something Eden could never remember seeing before. They pleaded with her. Whether it was for mercy or understanding, was hard to tell.
“You’ve locked out my command codes,” Batiste said as he approached her position casually.
“Stop right there,” she ordered.
He paused.
“If I may ask, how long have you known?”
“Not long,” Eden confirmed.
“And what gave me away?”
“The Maquis encryption was laying it on a little thick, I thought,” Eden replied.
“Hm.”
“It might have been a little less obvious if you hadn’t spent the better part of our honeymoon locked in the hotel suite analyzing Cardassian and Maquis intercepts.” Cryptography had been a specialty in Willem’s early years, and a hobby in his latter ones.
“And I should have realized the moment you refused to leave the Indign system that something more than outrage was keeping you here.”
“I did worry you might,” he agreed.
“The last straw was your willingness to wait until you could interrogate Chakotay and Seven.”
“Really?”
“Part of me understood your concern that their old friends weren’t the best interrogators. But your willingness to give it four or five hours before they were even questioned? You should have ordered Voyager to intercept them. But you weren’t in any hurry because there was nothing to learn.
“Plus, your right eye twitches when you lie.”
Batiste spread his arms wide. “Well done.”
Damn you, Willem, Eden swore to herself as pain she thought she was long past feeling welled in her chest.
This time she was the one with the power. She was going to get answers.
“I can explain, Afsarah,” Willem offered.
“Do so, quickly,” she said in a voice near freezing.
Batiste cast a troubled glance at the other officers who were still leveling their weapons in his direction, despite the disbelief on their faces.
Eden knew what he wanted, and she was tempted to give it to him. He clearly read her hesitation and shook his head, almost sadly.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked.
“Now you care about what I want?” Eden replied, astonished. “I don’t think so.”
Batiste took a deep breath, then turned briefly back toward the interior of the shuttle. Eden’s arm automatically tensed but she was unprepared for the suddenness of his next move. In an instant he bounded from the ramp toward her, forcing her to the deck as a high-pitched whine filled the bay. She struggled beneath him as he wrestled her weapon from her hands and once it was secured, he helped her up from the floor, pinning her arms to her sides with a strength she had never before felt from him. Eden instantly looked to her security team and saw all of them lying motionless on the floor.
“They’re only stunned,” he assured her.
“Let go of me!” she shouted, still struggling against his iron grip.
He did so, only to pluck her combadge from her chest and toss it to the floor.
“Listen to me,” he demanded.