Part 20 (2/2)
CHAPTER 23.
Deanna and Chandra stared at the painting. They had stared at this particular painting once a week, every week, for the last ten years. Every time they did, they saw something new... although whether it was something new in the painting or in themselves, neither of them could have said for sure.
Deanna crisscrossed her arms and ran her hands up and down as if to shake off a chill. Chandra noticed the gesture and said, ”Are you okay?”
”I'm fine. I just...”
Her voice trailed off, and gently Chandra said, ”It's that Riker, isn't it? The one from the wedding.”
Deanna nodded hesitantly.
Chandra turned away from the painting. ”What is it about him, anyway?”
”I don't know. He's not at all like any of the men I... I mean, he's so unintellectual.”
”You mean he's stupid?”
”No! No, not at all. He's very bright. Very quick. Very intelligent, really. He's just so...” She tried to think of the best way to put it. ”So primal. His actions seem governed as much by instinct as any sort of rational thought.”
”What's wrong with that? There are few things in the world more natural than instinct. When I met Teb,” Chandra continued, referring to her new husband, ”there was a sort of instinctive attraction.”
”But at least you two were compatible. Riker and I, we're...”
”You're what?”
Deanna s.h.i.+vered slightly again. ”Every single bit of rational thought tells me that Will Riker is completely wrong for me.”
”And your irrational thought?”
”My irrational thought,” she admitted, ”makes my skin tingle.”
”Well!” Chandra smirked. ”And what does your mother say to that?”
”Ohhhh, don't ask. You think I have trepidation about him? He's not at all the type of man my mother wants me with. No social standing. No ties to Betazed or Betazoid society. No...”
And suddenly her voice trailed off, and her dark eyes went wide. Her face took on the color of paste.
”Deanna,” said Chandra in alarm. ”What's the matter with...”
Then she sensed it, too. ”Oh, G.o.ds,” she muttered.
Deanna grabbed her arm and grated, ”Come on! Let's get out of here! Before we-”
Other Betazoids were reacting as well. They were already in motion in response to the strong and frightened thoughts that were affecting the crowd to various degrees.
But their actions weren't fast enough.
All over the gallery, doors burst inward. At one end, a powerful ray blast blew in a chunk of the wall. The hurtling fragments flattened a man, pinning him writhing on the ground.
Sindareen warriors entered, dressed in glittering armor, cradling pulse blasters under their arms. One of them fired in the air, and the deafening noise froze a number of people in their tracks.
Deanna and Chandra spun and dashed toward one exit that remained clear. They were several steps short of it when it slid open, and the open s.p.a.ce seemed to be completely filled with a ma.s.sive and extremely formidable-looking Sindareen.
His lips pulled back, and his entire face was cast in a death's-head glow. He leveled his weapon at the two women and said, in a deceptively pleasant voice, ”Step back.”
Chandra whimpered slightly as Deanna guided her back. In a low voice Deanna advised, ”Don't show them you're afraid.- She was no less frightened. but she found it easier to ignore her fear by focusing on calming her friend.
She sensed the terror running rampant through the mind of her friend. Newly married, her main concern was that she was never going to see her husband again. Deanna, for her part, hadn't taken it quite that far she hadn't really accepted the notion that she might die here, pointlessly and unexpectedly. Her main concern was survival.
As the Sindareen prodded and herded the thirty-plus Betazoids together into a small circle in the middle of the room, Deanna's mind was racing with thoughts of rescue. She was certain that the Sindareen's presence here could not possibly have gone undetected. She knew that, even now, steps were certainly being taken to rescue them.
And somehow, beyond any shadow of doubt, she knew that it would be Lt. William T. Riker who would be spearheading that rescue operation. For no rational reason, she derived great comfort from that, and a certainty that everything would work out.
She felt that way up to the point where the barrel of one of the Sindareen blasters was shoved into her mouth.
”What have we got?”
Riker was standing next to Tang, about a hundred yards away from the art building. Betazoids were trying to get near, sensing as one the terror emanating from the building and instinctively wanting to help and soothe those who were trapped within. But Tang had ordered his people to keep everyone back, and they were busy shooing the concerned citizens away from the immediate area. Tang was stroking his perpetually grizzled chin.
”There's the s.h.i.+p they came in.” Tang pointed. Sure enough, situated on top of the building was a small Sindareen vessel of the, style commonly called a Spider, so nicknamed for its odd sectional, style and eight leglike extensions.
”Can you pick it off from here? Disable it?”
Tang studied Riker for a moment and said, ”Yes. Do you want us to?”
Riker pondered that. ”No. It wouldn't be a good idea. Then they'll be trapped, and desperate. The first thing we have to do is secure the safety of whoever's inside.”
Tang nodded briskly and Riker realized that the veteran s.p.a.cer had already come to the same conclusion. For some reason, Riker felt a brief flash of pride. But his mind was already racing ahead. ”Who's your communications expert?”
”Hirsch,” said Tang, and before Riker could say anything further, Tang tapped his communicator and said, ”Hirsch-haul your b.u.t.t over here.”
Riker studied the building as they waited for Hirsch to show up. ”Do we know how many people are in there?”
”Not for certain, sir. Some people on the lower floors managed to get out. One of the more sensitive mind-types said she detected about thirty or so locals, and about nine Sindareen-which would be consistent with the known crew complement of ten for a Spider.”
Hirsch, a stocky brunette woman, ran up to them. She was cradling a small phaser rifle, but also had with her a portable comm unit. Of greater power and range than the standard portable communicators, it was also capable of more functions.
”Yes, Sergeant?”
Tang merely pointed to Riker, and she turned to face him, waiting.
”I want to talk to the Sindareen,” said Riker. ”The odds are that they left someone behind in the s.h.i.+p with whom they're in communication, to be their eyes and ears outside.”
”You want me to find the frequency they're talking on and break in so you can come on?”
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