Part 9 (2/2)
The security men nodded, and motioned T'sart toward the turbolift.
”Captain, you're making a mistake,” T'sart said. ”Destroy Folan now-while you have the chance.”
Picard remained silent, his orders unchanging.
”Tell him, Spock. Tell him you understand the stakes.”
”Get him out of here,” Picard told the guards.
Smiling a hateful, condescending smile, T'sart went with them. ”We'll talk soon, Captain. Very soon. And then you'll regret your actions here.” The lift door closed and the last words echoed away.
”Warbird weapons are disabled, Captain. They're following, but falling behind. Recommend breaking off attempt to disable their engines. They can't catch up at their present speed, and they know where we're going anyway.”
”Very good. Make it so, Number One.”
The turbolift doors parted and Dr. Beverly Crusher stepped out.
”Captain.” Beverly greeted him a bit distractedly as she stepped to the lower bridge. She nodded to Spock. ”Amba.s.sador. The captain didn't tell me we were expecting you for certain.”
”Nothing was certain,” Spock said, returning her greeting, then looking toward Heard. ”Captain, we must talk.”
Picard nodded. ”Indeed. Doctor, please join us. Number One, you have the bridge.”
The captain marched toward his ready room, Spock and Beverly in tow.
Spock wasn't indignant, of course. He didn't even ask about the procedure. He would have ordered the same in Picard's place.
Beverly ran her tricorder scanner over Spock a second time. ”DNA match is flawless. No sign of any known gene-masking elements. But his vitals are still showing up as Romulan, not Vulcan.”
”My apologies, Doctor,” Spock said and closed his eyes for a moment.
Picard looked from Spock to Beverly. The doctor's brows rose a moment, then she smiled slightly, thin red lips curling up. ”And now back to Vulcan. That's amazing. No sign of any metabolic drugs.”
”The Romulan transport centers have sensor screens that would alert operators to both vital sign anomalies and altering drugs. They do not, however, scan for differences between Romulan and Vulcan DNA.”
”The difference would be minute. I a.s.sume there are even some Romulans who could pa.s.s for Vulcan on most DNA scans.” Beverly stored her small hand sensor in her medical tricorder and put both in a holster at her side under her tunic jacket.
”Five point three-nine-one percent of the Romulan population, to be exact,” Spock offered.
”Thank you, Doctor,” Picard said. ”Now check our prisoner in the brig. Dismissed.”
Somberly, the doctor nodded, and left the room.
When they were alone, Picard said, ”Did T'sart find you, discover your presence, and you didn't feel you could kill him?” He maneuvered to sit at his desk, and motioned Spock to take a chair in front of him. They both sat.
”Not exactly,” Spock said.
Being in Spock's presence had an almost ceremonial feeling to it. Picard knew Spock well enough to have had a Vulcan mind-meld bond with him at one time, and yet... talking to him was as odd and humbling as speaking with a page out of history. Picard muted a chuckle. He'd done that, with Kirk, with Zefram Cochrane, with K'mpec, with Montgomery Scott, and a few others ... but he'd never get used to it.
After a few moments of these thoughts, Picard finally spoke. ”I can't imagine you'd allow yourself to be coerced into helping T'sart. But if you captured him'I did not. I suppose, if anything, you might call it a mutual capture.”
”Explain.” For the slightest of moments Picard wondered if his tone was too demanding. But he was a captain, and it was his natural tone. Spock had been a stars.h.i.+p captain himself. He understood.
Spock tipped his head to one side. ”I could not continue toward my goal on Romulus under the risk that T'sart would expose me. He could not attain his goal without my a.s.sistance. Who was controlling whom is a semantic question. We each needed the other.”
”How did he learn of your existence?” Picard asked. ”And how do you know he told no one else?”
”I cannot answer either question with comfortable certainty. T'sart has a network of operatives, some of whom work for him out of loyalty, some of whom work from fear, and some unknowingly or unwittingly. I believe few, if any, know what his goals are at any one time. I trust him when he tells me he is the only government official to know of my presence, but only because it was within his best interests for me to remain hidden from their attentions.”
”And that goal is?”
Spock's body took on the slightest of tensions. ”Seemingly benign. Which I do not believe in full. But there is no doubting his data and the proof he's offered me. Which is why I needed to make contact and return to the Federation for now. The galaxy is in extreme danger... and T'sart knows why.”
”The dead zones,” Picard said. He felt his own muscles tense.
Spock nodded. ”Indeed.”
”Not only in Federation s.p.a.ce, but...”
”If T'sart's data is correct, and I believe it to be, throughout the galaxy as well.”
U.S.S. Voyager, NCC-74G5E Unexplored sector Delta Quadrant ”Tactical.” Captain Kathryn Janeway absorbed the display in an instant and then pivoted toward her command chair. ”Warp, evasive! Tom, get us out of here. Or at least keep us out of their weapons range.”
”Trying, Captain.” Tom Paris pounded at the navigation console and Voyager's engines whined as she accelerated into warp. The Borg cube pursued.
”Mr. Kim, any particular explanation as to how the Borg managed to sneak up on us?” Janeway asked.
Ensign Harry Kim shook his dark head. ”No, ma'am. Scanners are still fluctuating. Diagnostics show no malfunctions. I just can't seem to scan certain areas of s.p.a.ce.”
Why? Janeway wondered, but would have to ask herself that later.
”Get Seven up here. Maybe she has some insights.”
Chakotay nodded and thumbed the intercom in the arm of his chair. ”Seven of Nine, report to the bridge.”
”Captain,” Harry called, ”they're hailing us, but the subs.p.a.ce frequency is breaking up.”
Janeway shook her head. How could that be? ”At this range?”
Double-checking his findings, Harry nodded once. ”Yes, ma'am.”
”Let's hear it.”
The young ensign tapped at his console.
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