Part 9 (1/2)
He was not prepared for casual activity, nor for the clean, slightly fragrant smell in the air. Picard's study of the outpost had centered on its death; he had not been prepared to confront the fact of its life.
”Sir?” Harold asked gently.
The captain snapped out of his reverie. ”I'm sorry, I was staring. It's just that I have not been on a planet in some time,” he replied. At least partially true, he thought.
They made the short walk to the residence area in silence.
”You're in residence eleven-H,” Harold said. ”I'll be in eleven-J. If you'll follow me-”
”That will be all, Lieutenant,” Santos interrupted.
”Excuse me, Doctor?” Harold asked.
She smiled, but with a certain underlying forcefulness. ”I will take charge of Mr. Hill from here.”
The lieutenant stiffened. ”I'm sorry, Doctor, but Commodore Travers ordered me to escort the ... to escort Mr. Hill to his quarters and to see that-”
”He was made comfortable,” Santos interjected again. ”You've certainly seen that he arrived. And if you don't mind, I will take care of the rest. Mr. Hill has been cooped up in the infirmary for two days. If he's agreeable, I would like to offer him a tour of our humble outpost. I'm sure the commodore would approve, and I'm prepared to take full responsibility for Mr. Hill.”
Harold listened carefully as the doctor spoke. When she finished, he simply sighed. Clearly, he knew when he was beaten-and when he was outranked. ”All right, Doctor. You can reach me by communicator if you need anything.”
As Harold smiled graciously in defeat, the recognition that had been nagging at Picard rushed to the surface. Staring at the lieutenant, he added some radiation burns to the likeness, hardened the expression, and then gave the face a frightened cast. When he was finished building the picture in his mind, Picard knew whom he was looking at: Lieutenant Matthew Harold, the sole survivor of the Gorn ma.s.sacre on Cestus III.
Except that instead of the haunted visage he remembered from pictures of the survivor, the captain was looking at an animated young face. The remainder of Picard's memory re-formed itself instantly. He remembered the logs from the Enterprise, the nearly hysterical face of Lieutenant Harold as he insisted that ”there had to be a reason” for the horror he had witnessed.
Lost in thought, Picard jumped slightly when Santos spoke to him. ”Your crew ... you must have been close to them,” she said gently. The captain turned to her, confused for a moment. Of course, she was referring to the loss of his merchant crew. ”You must miss them,” she added.
”Yes,” Picard said. It was true enough.
”Would you like to have the tour another time?” she asked.
”Not at all,” the captain said. ”I'm looking forward to it.”
”Approaching Aexix system, sir,” Worf announced.
”How many cla.s.s-M worlds?” Riker asked.
”Sensors indicate that the second planet and one of the moons of the fifth planet are cla.s.s-M.”
”Acknowledged, Mr. Worf.” The first officer turned to Ro, who was sitting in the seat he customarily occupied. Riker gave a slight nod and the ensign was immediately on her feet.
”Mr. Halloran,” she called to man at conn. ”Come out of warp as close to the second planet as possible-and execute a low orbit at one-eighth impulse power. When Lieutenant Worf reports that scans are complete, use one orbit to accelerate to one-quarter impulse and head for the moon of the fifth planet.”
Next, Ro turned to the woman at ops. ”Mr. Chang, collect data from Lieutenant Worf's and Ensign Halloran's stations and calculate time necessary to execute scans and maneuvers.”
Chang went to work immediately. Less than a minute later, she turned around with a look of tired satisfaction on her face. ”One hour and thirty-seven minutes, sir.”
Under any other circ.u.mstances, Riker knew, less than two hours for the scans they needed would have been extraordinary. But in the last two days, that kind of performance had become routine-allowing them to cover eight systems directly and eliminate two dozen others with long-range scans. It was a fine effort, but it had used up nearly half of the time they had left, and had allowed them to cover perhaps one-fifth of the search area.
The cost was fairly high as well. The constant jumps in and out of warp, in addition to the difficult impulse maneuvers, were taking their toll on the engineering section at a time when both Geordi and Data were off the s.h.i.+p.
And the crew was showing signs of strain. Both Halloran and Chang had worked much more than a full s.h.i.+ft. Riker would have to relieve them as soon as this system was scanned.
Having people at ops and conn who weren't fresh was inviting trouble. A slight miscalculation or a slow response could be disastrous during a high-speed impulse maneuver in a planet's gravity well.
And they weren't the only ones he needed fresh. Riker knew that he, Ensign Ro, and Lieutenant Worf had all been pus.h.i.+ng themselves too hard as well. For Riker, the evidence was in the sandpaper texture that his eyelids had taken on. And though they didn't show it, he knew that Ro and Worf were feeling the strain, too. Riker would have to order four-hour rest periods for each of them in turn. The Klingon first, since he had been on duty the longest.
”Scan is negative,” Worf reported sourly.
Riker could hear Ro's almost inaudible curse. It seemed to him that the ensign had taken on the search as a personal challenge and its failure so far as a personal affront-despite disagreeing with the search in principle. Riker was pleased but not surprised. It was, in fact, exactly what he had hoped would happen.
Ro walked over to Halloran at conn, standing over the ensign as he manipulated the controls, placing a hand briefly on his shoulder in a gesture of support. The acting captain was surprised to see the level of skill she used in handling the crew, pus.h.i.+ng people without badgering them. He had expected her dedication-but this surprised him.
”Execute acceleration maneuver and follow course to the fifth planet,” Ro said.
Several minutes later, Riker watched the planet fall away on the viewscreen. Then it was back to waiting, a state that more and more seemed to define this mission. Long periods of tense antic.i.p.ation followed by short bursts of activity.
This time, however, the waiting was shorter than Riker had expected.
”Priority message from Starfleet,” Worf bellowed.
d.a.m.n, the first officer thought. He had been dreading this. Whatever Command had to say, he was sure it wouldn't be good.
Already on his feet, he noted that Deanna and Ro were standing as well. He turned to them. ”Ensign, Counselor, let's see what they have to say.”
Moments later, Riker sat in the captain's ready room. He flipped on the monitor. Admiral Kowalski's face appeared instantly; the man's expression confirmed Riker's fears.
”Commander, we have what we consider a catastrophic situation on the Gorn homeworld,” the admiral said without preamble.
”What is it, sir?” Riker asked.
”There's been an overt challenge made to the Gorn ruling body by a fringe group hostile to the idea of stronger ties to the Federation. Now, I can't pretend to understand all of the ins and outs of Gorn politics. In fact, we don't have the slightest idea of how their political machine works.
”However, all of the reports we're getting from our Gorn contacts say the same thing: if the challenge is successful, this could mean the total dissolution of the peace process. And the outbreak of hostilities with the Federation.”
The admiral sighed, and for a moment seemed to age years in front of Riker. ”It is critical that the Enterprise be at the summit on time. You have three days and no more. And if the situation deteriorates further, I will order you to suspend your search and proceed immediately to the summit. Is that clear?”
”Yes, sir,” Riker said evenly. Abruptly, the admiral's face was replaced by the Federation symbol that signaled the end of the communication.
The first officer once again looked for that pit of certainty in his stomach that told him continuing the search was the right thing to do.
This time, he waited for some time before it came.
Picard and the doctor walked for a short time in silence. Then Santos led him nearly to the end of the residence side of the semicircle that defined the outpost compound.
”These are the kitchen and dining facilities, as you can see,” she said.
The dining hall was clearly marked on the outside wall of the low building, just as the residential area had been. It was, the captain noted, the most heavily trafficked area in the outpost.
He also noticed that just beyond the dining area, there was the slightly raised structure he recognized as a phaser bank. From his study, he knew that there was an identical unit on the other end of the compound's semicircle. He also knew that the phaser banks would be destroyed by the first salvo of the impending attack. Santos didn't explain, or even mention the unit, and Picard a.s.sumed that she was under orders not to discuss outpost defenses.