Part 14 (2/2)
Once in the corridor, Kalor noticed Picard shaking his head.
”Satisfied?” the stars.h.i.+p captain asked.
Kalor smiled inwardly, but had not a chance to answer. The sound of distant explosions, then alert klaxons, filled the s.h.i.+p.
d.a.m.n you, Parl! Kalor cursed to himself. You are too early!
”La Forge to Captain Picard.”
Picard slapped at his comm badge, a light film of perspiration glinting off his head. ”Report, La Forge!”
”Kalor's s.h.i.+p fired on us, Captain! Warp power is offline. s.h.i.+elds are up now, but compromised dorsal, aft and starboard. And we have six Klingon birds-of prey on an intercept vector.”
As his subordinate spoke, Picard only glared at Kalor. A stare not unlike the one he had just visited upon T'sart.
”Signal battle stations. Then get to Engineering, Mr. La Forge. Leave the bridge to Spock. I'll be right there.
”Aye, sir.”
”And get security down here. Governor Kalor is under arrest.”
Chapter Eighteen.
U.5.S. Enterprise. NCC 1701E Klingon s.p.a.ce Malinga Sector picard had been foolish, something he most often wasn't. Being so, and the captain of a stars.h.i.+p, put many people in peril. Being so today, with all that was happening, put the galaxy in peril. He wasn't in the best of moods about that.
In his anger, Picard almost had Kalor taken to the makes.h.i.+ft brig. Then he thought better, and ordered that the Klingon governor merely be flanked by two security guards. Sad but true-he might need Kalor still.
”Captain on the bridge.” Spock's voice was clear as he stepped down from the command chair. He was wearing a standard issue uniform now, with the appropriate rank. A Starfleet captain before Picard was even born, he wondered if the Vulcan had the urge to stay in the center seat. Picard would have, even if it weren't his command.
”Status.” He stepped down to the command deck as Spock handed the captain a padd and moved toward the monitor station next to the captain's chair. Kalor was held on the upper deck by the guards.
”s.h.i.+elds are operable. We are on impulse power. Warp power is still offline.”
”Hail Kalor's s.h.i.+p ” Picard ordered.
Shapiro nodded, already having the connection ready. ”On screen.”
Picard looked at the Klingon on the main viewer and decided greetings were unnecessary. ”You are?” he demanded.
The Klingon didn't flinch. ”Part. Second in command.”
The captain nodded and waved the Klingon off. ”We have Governor Kalor in custody. Warn the approaching s.h.i.+ps off.”
Parl shook his head slowly. ”I can't do that, Captain.” He wasn't angry. In fact, for a Klingon he was rather mellow.
Not feeling mellow himself, Picard nodded for Kalor's guards to bring him forward a step. Roughly. ”Tell him.”
”No.” Kalor looked to Parl and shook his head.
”Fine. Mr. Chamberlain, lock our phasers on the Klingon vessel.”
Lieutenant Chamberlain's hands dabbed at the tactical board. ”Phasers locked.”
”Disrupters locked?” Part asked someone off screen.
”Locked,” was the gruff reply.
A game of chicken. Picard could win it, easily, despite being warp-disabled.
”There are six more, Picard,” Kalor said. He knew his s.h.i.+p could be taken. And he knew it was worth the sacrifice. The Enterprise against six other s.h.i.+ps, however, that was another matter.
The captain nodded and thumbed a panel on the arm of his command chair. ”Picard to Engineering.”
”La Forge here.”
”Mr. Spock gave me a report, Mr. La Forge. If I read this right, it's similar to the damage from that overload a few weeks ago, correct?”
There was the very slightest of delays before Geordi's response. ”Aye, sir. About two days to repair those circuits, sir.”
”Understood. Picard out.”
Calculated risk, Picard thought. But he'd been taking too much of a backseat to the events of the last few days. He'd let T'sart chart Enterprise's course, and had almost let Kalor. No more.
”I'm not asking you to surrender your s.h.i.+p,” Kalor said. ”I would not dishonor you that way”
Picard scoffed. ”You have dishonored me. And yourself.”
”As you have, by bringing that petaQ here!” Kalor broke forward from his guards and leaned over the rail toward Picard. ”By having him at all!”
”The dead zones-”
Kalor spat. ”I care not about them, Picard! I am not a scientist. I am a soldier, and a creature of duty.”
The captain rose slowly, turning, but not ordering the main viewer off. Let Parl watch, and listen. ”You have no duty to the lives of other Klingons?”
”I have a duty to avenge the deaths of those Klingons who were killed without honor. At that monster's hand.” The word ”that” was punctuated with a growl and a fist pounding on the guardrail.
There were not many ways to dishonor a Klingon in death, but T'sart had perfected at least one: disease. Genetic warfare, outlawed by most Alpha Quadrant governments, was still researched by most, usually defensively. T'sart was a master pract.i.tioner of the offensive.
In more ways than one.
Picard turned back to the main viewer. ”Parl, is it?”
Parl nodded.
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