Part 6 (1/2)

2381.

9.

Dr. Shenti Yisec Eres Ree paced back and forth on the terrace outside the away team's shared residential suite. It wasn't easy for him to negotiate such narrow turns with his therapodian build-semirigid tail extended behind him for balance, head thrust forward, torso almost level to the ground.

All around him, the Caeliar city of Axion was lit from within and reflecting itself in its polished, vertical surfaces. Overhead, the sky was perfectly black, unblemished by stars; only a few low-running clouds bounced back the bluish-white glow of the metropolis. Natural scents from the planet below traveled on the breeze, but Ree couldn't dispel the sensation of being caught up in a half-formed illusion of a real world.

Footsteps drew closer. Ceasing his perambulations, Ree turned to find Commander Tuvok stepping through the open portal to the terrace. ”Good evening, Doctor,” said the Vulcan.

”Commander,” Ree said, watching Tuvok with a wary eye.

Tuvok continued past him to the low barrier, stopped, and rested his hands on the wall's shallow ledge. To Ree's surprise, the tactical officer said nothing else; he seemed content to stare out at the cityscape in stoic silence.

Ree didn't buy it. ”You're here to berate me, aren't you?”

”Quite the contrary,” Tuvok said. ”I feel that I owe you an apology. However, I was not certain whether this would be an appropriate time to express it.”

With exaggerated swoops of his long head and sinewy neck, Ree scoped the entirety of their immediate vicinity. ”No one here but us and the invisible Caeliar who spy on us,” he said. ”So speak freely, Mister Tuvok.”

Turning about to face Ree, Tuvok said, ”Very well. I should have arrived sooner to help you explain yourself to the others. I had been meditating and monitoring Commander Troi's mental state. Though I sensed her distress, I understood that you were trying to help her. Unfortunately, I did not realize that you were in danger because of the security team's misreading of your actions. By the time I extricated myself from my telepathic link with Counselor Troi, I was too late to corroborate your account of events before the matter got out of hand. So I ask your forgiveness.”

Ree bowed his head. ”Thank you, Tuvok. I don't think you owe me any such apology, but if you think it was called for, I accept it in the spirit in which it was given.”

Tuvok nodded once, and then he pivoted again to face the needle-thin towers and the gossamer-like metal filaments that linked them. With the conversation apparently ended for the time being, Ree resumed pacing. He took care not to swat the Vulcan man with his tail while making his turn at the end of each lap. In the silence of the night, Ree's claws clicked with a sound like a low spark on the rough stone of the terrace.

He paused again when he heard more footsteps approaching. Commander Vale emerged from the main corridor, trailed by the loping figure of Inyx. Lieutenant Commander Keru followed them.

When the three were meters shy of the terrace, Ree flicked his tongue twice in quick succession to taste the pheromones in the air. Vale's biochemical emissions matched her demeanor: aggressive. Keru's scent suggested he was calmer than she was. As usual, the Caeliar scientist made no mark in the air, though Ree thought an odor of sulfur might have been appropriate.

Behind Ree, Tuvok faced the oncoming trio.

”Doctor,” Vale said, ”Inyx needs a sample of your venom.”

Openly suspicious, Ree asked, ”Why?”

Inyx stepped around Vale and walked a few steps forward. ”I've had centuries to study human anatomy and biology in detail, but Deanna's heritage is of mixed ancestry. That made it more difficult for me to make a diagnosis and select a course of treatment. However, I am also unfamiliar with your species and its unusually complex venom. If I am to save your friend's life, I cannot afford to spend time separating your biotoxin from Deanna's bloodstream. A pure sample will enable me to sequence its properties more quickly and develop an antivenom.”

”If you're treating her medically, I demand to monitor the process,” Ree said.

Inyx straightened and took on an imperious mien. ”Given the crudity of your methods, that is quite out of the question.”

”She's my patient,” Ree said.

Vale replied, ”I'm pretty sure she fired you when she told you to keep your hands off her.”

”That was hardly an enforceable dictate, Commander,” Ree retorted. ”The good counselor was clearly non compos mentis.”

”Doctor, just give Inyx the venom,” Vale said. Beside her, Inyx proffered a small sample jar with a cover of taut fabric.

Stalking forward, Ree said, ”If you want a sample from me, you can draw it in whatever facility you're holding my patient.”

”Deanna is not being held,” Inyx said. ”We are trying to help her, but her condition has become critical. Though your venom may have preserved her fragile status for a few minutes, it has complicated her treatment. Your patient's best interest is now best served by your cooperation, Doctor.”

Ree paused and reflected that Inyx's position was actually reasonable. His reluctance to comply with the Caeliar's request was rooted in the simple fact that he didn't trust them.

His ruminations were interrupted by the firm squeeze of a hand near the nerve cl.u.s.ter above his shoulder. He swung his head back along his flank to see Commander Tuvok. The Vulcan was clamping his hand and scrunching a fistful of the Pahkwa-thanh's leathery hide in his grip. Ree flashed a toothy grin at the swarthy humanoid. ”If you're trying to render me unconscious with a nerve pinch, Commander, don't bother.” Tuvok released his grip on Ree and backed off, his expression neutral. Ree added, ”I presume all that business about making an apology was a ruse to put you in position in case I refused Commander Vale's request?”

”No,” Tuvok said. ”My apology was sincere.”

”And I'm not making a request, Doctor,” Vale said. ”I'm giving you an order: the venom sample, now.”

Taking a more conciliatory tack, Inyx said, ”Had it not been for your comrades' recent attempt at escape, I might have been persuaded to permit you to observe Deanna's treatment. Under the circ.u.mstances, however, I am under orders from the Quorum to restrict your access to all information about our technology and methods. So I will ask you again, as one healer to another, help me save Deanna's life. I beg of you.”

”Give me the cup,” Ree said, holding out one clawed hand.

Vale transferred the container from Inyx to Ree, who impaled its fabric cover with one incisor fang and released roughly fifty milliliters of colorless, odorless venom into the cup. Inyx stepped forward, and Ree handed him the sample. ”Keep me apprised of Counselor Troi's progress, please.”

”Of course,” Inyx said. ”And thank you.”

As the Caeliar turned to depart, Ree asked, ”Why didn't you send your errand girl Hernandez to collect the sample?”

”Because she is the one who enabled your s.h.i.+p to escape,” Inyx said. He walked out onto the terrace and levitated away into the night.

Keru shambled away, back toward his quarters, followed closely by Tuvok. Vale lingered a moment and glared at Ree.

”Do you realize that every second you stood there arguing, Troi could be dying?” she asked once the others had gone. ”Is that really a chance you wanted to take?”

”Not at all, Commander,” said Ree. ”But you know the details of her condition almost as well as I do, and you know what has to be done. But what will the Caeliar do after they a.s.sess the situation? What if their imponderable brand of moral calculus compels them to sacrifice Deanna to save her fetus?”

Vale rubbed her eyes, signaling that she was not only tired but also tired of their conversation. ”Do you really think that if you were there, you'd be able to sway their judgment in the slightest?”

”Of course not,” Ree admitted. ”But at least I'd be in a position to bite one of them.”

Rolling her eyes, Vale replied, ”Now you tell me. If I'd known that was your plan, I would've taken your side.”

10.

Erika Hernandez felt queasy as she stumbled in a panic through her quarters on t.i.tan. Screams echoed from the corridor, and she heard the sounds of energy weapons being discharged in the corridor outside her locked door.

Thunderclaps of impact shook t.i.tan, knocking her to the deck. She scrambled to her feet and staggered across the heaving floor. Something had set upon the s.h.i.+p with such speed that there had seemed to be no time to react.