Part 8 (1/2)

As soon as she was certain her strength had returned, she swung out of the bed and padded silently across the carpet to the door. It was large and solid-looking. She tested the latch. Not surprisingly, it didn't give. She hardly expected that the owner of this place would trust her to stay here of her own accord.

Well, first things first-clothing. She hoped that there would be some in the chest, but it was empty. Terrific.

There was a sound at the door. Ro tensed, ready to leap on whoever came in, but then forced herself to relax. She wasn't recovered sufficiently from the drug to win a fight. For now she had to hope that she could keep the owner happy without getting too close to him.

The door opened slightly, and a young woman entered. She was carrying something wrapped into a bundle. The door slammed shut behind her and was locked. That meant someone on guard outside the door.

Eyes narrowed, Ro studied the girl. She looked terrified, and she was simply dressed. A servant, obviously, not an owner. She was dark-haired and quite pretty, in a frightened sort of way. But her skin showed evidence of disease having plucked at it in places. It probably rendered her safe from the sort of fate Ro knew was in store for her.

The girl held out the bundle. ”This is for you to put on,” she stammered.

Ro was being allowed to wear something, anyway. It would at least stop her teeth from chattering. ”Thank you.”

She took the clothing and unrolled it onto the bed. It was a simple dress but obviously too short for respectable wear in this town. There was no sign of underwear. She sighed. ”Beggars can't be choosers.” She was aware of the girl watching her as she slipped the dress on. Whoever had picked it out had at least gotten the size almost correct. It was a little tight across the chest and loose about the hips. Then she realized that this was exactly the way it was meant to be, of course. The skirt came partway down her thighs. She wished it were longer, because her legs were freezing.

”Now what?” she asked the girl.

”You must wait here. The duke will come when he is ready.” Abruptly the girl grabbed Ro's hands and squeezed them. ”Be brave.”

Ro realized that the girl was terrified. Well, probably because she knew what the duke was like, and Ro could only guess. Those guesses weren't too inspiring. ”Uh, thanks. I think. Is there any way out of this place?”

The girl shook her head. ”It is too well guarded. You have been sold to the duke for ...” She gestured at the tapestries.

”Yes, I guessed that part.” Ro shook her head. ”Listen, there were two men with me. Do you know what happened to them?”

”No.” The girl turned sad eyes on Ro. ”Were they relatives?”

”No. My ...” Ro bit back the next word. ”Companions.”

”Then they were probably sent to the mines. That is where most male slaves go.”

This was getting worse by the minute. It looked as if the captain and Lieutenant Miles were up to their necks in trouble as well. ”Listen, do you know what happened to my clothes?” She had to get her communicator back and contact the s.h.i.+p.

”You did not have any when you were brought in here. The other maids must have taken them from you when you were purchased.”

”Great.” Ro sighed. ”What's your name?”

”Martina. I am the d.u.c.h.ess's handmaiden.”

”There's a d.u.c.h.ess?” Ro gestured at herself and the room. ”Does she know about all this?” Maybe she could start a little trouble... .

”Of course.”

”And she allows it?”

Martina bowed her head slightly. ”She is glad that she does not have to occupy this room. As am I. I am very afraid.”

”If I had any sense, I probably would be, too,” Ro admitted. ”What happened to the last person who was here?” Martina blanched. ”Okay, forget I asked.”

Someone hammered on the door. Martina looked around, pale. ”I must go!” she said in an urgent whisper. ”The d.u.c.h.ess wants me. Try to stay brave.” Then she ran to the door and rapped on it twice. It opened and the poor girl fled.

Ro sat down on the edge of the bed. This was not looking too encouraging. Graebel was obviously some sort of slave trader who'd sold her to the local duke for a s.e.x toy. And the duke clearly used up toys rather quickly... .

Dr. Hagan normally enjoyed striding imperiously through the streets of Diesen, watching the ignorant peasants shying from contact with him and cringing in fear of his supposed powers. This time, however, he wasn't striding-he was almost running. And he wasn't enjoying himself at all. He was furious and more than a little scared. And he felt humiliated for once.

d.a.m.n that fool Nayfack! The whole carefully constructed scheme they had worked out was teetering now, threatening to crash down around their ears. The Enterprise might not have reported back to Starfleet yet, but they had trailed that imbecile straight to Hagan. Hagan wished that Nayfack were alive again so he could have the pleasure of murdering the man again.

Thankfully, he had planned for almost any eventuality. Those two Starfleet officers wouldn't discover anything from his burned-out store. It would be nice if they'd been burnt to death, but there really wasn't much chance of that. Still, if they beamed back up to their vessel, then they'd be finished off there once he managed to contact the boss. He'd settle that stars.h.i.+p!

Hagan arrived at the docks. He had a small boat moored here as a secondary base. His reputation alone kept the locals well away from it. He hurried to where it was berthed and slipped aboard. The cabin looked innocent enough, but he'd worked hard on this craft. Bending to the deck, he pressed his hand down on the secret palm lock. The computer verified his ident.i.ty, and the deck split silently apart to reveal a flight of steps. As soon as he descended them, the hatchway closed behind him.

The interior of the boat was state-of-the-art. He didn't see why he had to subject himself to the squalor that the locals considered civilization, especially since he was making more money from this operation than even he could spend. Settling into his chair, he ordered the replicator to make him a single malt scotch on the rocks. It materialized in seconds, and he swallowed a good mouthful. The burning of the liquid in his throat made him feel a little better. The alcohol hitting his stomach calmed his nerves.

Turning to the communicator, he tapped in the code for the boss. Then he waited for a response. There was no telling how long it would be before the boss would be able to drag himself away from the locals and find out what was happening, but Hagan had hit the emergency code.

Two minutes later the screen lit up. ”What's wrong?” a deep voice growled. The figure on the screen was clouded. They were as affected by the graviton fluxes down here as the Enterprise would be in orbit. There was no escaping the problem, and Hagan had learned to adjust. Voice contact wasn't quite as fuzzy.

”Big trouble. The stars.h.i.+p Enterprise is currently orbiting the planet.”

”What?” The boss leaned forward. ”Explain!”

Hagan swallowed. ”When the yacht left the tunnel, the stars.h.i.+p was mapping the cloud. The yacht was destroyed, but Nayfack escaped. Thinking he was being smart, he convinced the captain he was a Federation security man and brought the s.h.i.+p in through the tunnel.”

”The fool!” The man on the screen slammed his fist down on his desk. ”I'll kill the idiot!”

”You're too late,” Hagan replied. ”I beat you to it. He was trailed to my home, and I was forced to destroy it to escape. Two Starfleet officers were there, but I doubt they were killed. The one good aspect of this is that Nayfack convinced the captain not to send a message to Starfleet before he entered the cloud. If we act now and destroy the Enterprise, we'll be safe for a while.”

”Not for long.” The boss thought for a moment.

”All right-I'll get the stars.h.i.+p. It'll buy us time to evacuate the planet, I suppose. As soon as Starfleet realizes they've lost the vessel, they're bound to search the area. Sooner or later they'll spot the tunnel.”

”Shall I begin shutting down here?”

The other man shook his head. ”Not yet. It'll take me a little while to get the defenses working. I can't go into the operations center just now. The first thing you'll have to do is to locate and terminate those two Starfleet snoopers. Then close down operations and join me here. I'll set the destruction of the Enterprise into motion, and we can leave. I'll bring the Preservers' map with us. Maybe we can find another world that's as rich as this one.”

”Is that likely?” Hagan had never seen the map-only the person in charge had. Understandably, he kept it tightly under his control. Being the only one who could read it helped his monopoly. ”This has been a very sweet money-making machine for us.”

”I don't know. It's d.a.m.ned hard to understand the Preservers' script. But we'll have time to study it. Now-get those two interlopers.”

”Understood.” Hagan turned off the viewer. He then opened a small closet and took out a second cane, almost identical to the one he had been using. Only this one didn't hide a knife in the handle. Instead, there was a small but powerful phaser in the wolf's head. The Starfleet officers would be bound by their stupid Prime Directive not to bring their own weapons down to the surface. They'd be sitting ducks because he was not confined by such petty morality. All he had to do was to locate them and then cut them down.

Chapter Twelve.

”RIGHT,” BARCLAY SAID, giving Worf a nervous glance. ”That should have done it.” He stepped back from the computer panel outside Holodeck 4. ”I've-ah-managed to program in what the world below is kind of like. Of course, since we've not heard from either away team, I can't be certain that what I've programmed is correct. It's a sort of best-guess scenario, really. And I'm not very familiar with the Germanic knight period, so I sort of transposed it to the court of King Arthur... . ”

”I'm certain that it will be more than adequate,” Worf replied.