Part 6 (1/2)
”Yes.”
Kerajem seemed a little dazed. ”Then please do so.”
”Number One,” Picard said, ”lock on to and destroy those unknowns.”
”Aye, sir. Phasers armed and locked. Firing phasers.”
The red squares disappeared from the map as a blinding greenish white light burst through the windows.
”Kerajem?” came Hattajek's voice. ”What just happened? We've lost the unknowns. We suddenly had a very high energy reading, and now we're not even reading debris. They're just-gone. Uh, final range from Government House, five point eight kilometers.”
The First Among Equals was still blinking. ”The problem has been taken care of,” he told the defense minister.
”Eh?”
”We have some friends upstairs,” Kerajem said. ”Take us down to defense condition two, Hattajek.”
”Yes, First. War Room out.”
Kerajem turned to address Picard. ”Captain, it seems you've saved our lives. On behalf of the Council, I thank you.”
There was a murmur of agreement.
”I wonder,” Picard asked, ”why the unknown craft were not detected before they entered your atmosphere, however.”
”I would like an answer to that myself,” Klerran said. ”I believe I will get on the communication links straight away and ask the people who are paid to know such things.”
”It seems likely that these unknown s.p.a.cecraft were probes launched by the Krann to test your defenses, Kerajem,” Data said.
The First Among Equals nodded. ”They proved that our defenses are not as good as we thought they were,” he said. ”We were lucky, thanks to you.”
”Captain,” Worf said, ”obviously the Krann are using a cloaking device that operates in ways unfamiliar to us. It appears that not even the Lethanta know everything there is to know about the camouflage system developed by the Krann. I suggest we become familiar with the camouflage system as quickly as possible.”
Security Minister Jemmagar had a practiced look of disinterest. ”I think,” he said, ”that we have been gulled by these people long enough. Now they want us to give them the greatest secret of our counterintelligence operation.” Jemmagar laughed without humor. ”I admire the sheer gall of it, Captain. I'm curious. Just which of the Krann s.h.i.+ps did you command before the fleet constructed that sham currently in orbit above us?”
”What?” Picard was taken aback.
”You were in charge of the flags.h.i.+p, I'll bet,” Jemmagar said. ”You have a certain style about you, I'll admit that.”
”Jemmagar, mind yourself!” Kerajem barked.
”I'm doing my job!” Jemmagar shot back. ”We first detect this Enterprise inside the orbit of Ma'ak Unselbe a mere hundred million kilometers ahead of the leading edge of the Krann fleet. It was traveling at a quarter of the speed of light. That's fast, but not impossibly fast, and not hard to achieve if you've got the energy budget. Call it two gravities of acceleration applied for a period of, oh, about six weeks-”
”Ridiculous,” Picard said. ”You are mistaken.”
”-from a distance of about a hundred and thirty billion kilometers. Quite a ways out, Captain, and a fast, uncomfortable ride sunward to boot.” He was sneering now. ”You and your people must be pretty tired. You look a bit tired to me, you know.”
”Minister Jemmagar,” Kerajem said sharply, ”control yourself. These are our guests.”
The security minister paid no attention to him. ”You people must have been working on this little fraud for quite some time, constructing that so-called stars.h.i.+p of yours,” he continued. ”It took the Krann fleet quite a while to get from that point to where it is now. Why, you almost didn't make it to our world in time, did you? The vanguard of your fleet almost beat you here.”
”I don't know what you're talking about,” Picard said icily.
”Certainly you do,” the security minister responded. ”We've been able to read incredible energy reserves aboard your vessel-more than enough to provide constant boost for an indefinite period. You might even have been able to get here much faster than I think, since you decelerated so quickly once you reached orbit. I'd even venture to guess that you've come up with some way to negate the effects of acceleration and inertia. We'd be very interested in obtaining something like that for ourselves, you know.”
”This has gone far enough,” Picard said, rising, and the other Enterprise officers stood with him. ”Perhaps we should recess, let things calm down a bit. My colleagues and I will be leaving immediately.”
”Please, Captain-” Kerajem said. ”Jemmagar, this is outrageous! These people are not Krann, you idiot!”
”I believe they are,” Jemmagar said, ”and none of them is leaving just yet. I have the building under a security alert.” The doors to the room opened, and a squad of armed guards entered. ”Guards, make these four comfortable. They will be staying with us for a while.”
”On the contrary,” Worf said, tapping his communicator. ”Transporter. Emergency beam up.”
”We'll pick up the shuttlecraft later,” came Picard's voice as he and his officers faded away.
The ministers and guards gaped at the empty s.p.a.ce where Picard and the others had been standing.
”You surely can clear a room, Jemmagar,” Rikkadar said.
”But-but-” the security minister stammered.
”Jemmagar, you screaming idiot,” Kerajem said, suddenly very weary. He rubbed his eyes with thumb and forefinger. ”Those people are our only hope. You may have doomed us. I'd fire you, you complete jacka.s.s, if there were enough time left to make firing you worthwhile.”
Presider Hek was sitting at the small desk in his working quarters, waiting for the results of the initial probe by the high-speed attack drones. He had finished his lunch, a pretty good one, and shoved the plates and utensils into the reclaimer. Now he was just sitting there, waiting. For once, he was leaving his military people to themselves.
Fleet tacticians were fairly sure that at least one of the probes would get through, and Hek would be content with that. While the object of the exercise was to see what ground defenses the Lethanta might be able to bring to bear to destroy a determined attacking s.p.a.cecraft, the destruction of their political headquarters would be a strategic bonus.
And he had thousands of drones. Thousands of them.
Hek had waited his entire life for the coming struggle. Every one of his ancestors had lived their lives and died their deaths to bring Hek and the Krann to this point. His people had missed a chance thousands of years before to eradicate the Lethanta from the universe, but Hek would not permit that to happen again.
His ancestors cried out in their deaths for the completion of vengeance. Hek would not fail them.
The door signal rang. ”Enter,” Hek called.
It was Graff Starboard Water Line Tester, his military attache. The look on Graff's face fairly shouted that the news he had to tell Hek was not good.
”You look troubled, Graff,” Hek said, carefully keeping the disappointment out of his voice. ”I take it that things went poorly.”
”Presider, I regret to report that both of our drones were destroyed just short of their target.”
”Both? What happened?”
”The drones became detectable by the enemy upon their entry into the atmosphere of Nem Ma'ak Bratuna, and the Lethanta went to full military alert immediately upon seeing them.”
”We'll have to have a little talk with the research and development people about that,” Hek said. ”We knew that the secret of our present concealment apparatus was probably compromised. I was told the new version of the apparatus would render a concealed craft completely undetectable.”