Part 18 (1/2)

Aneel looked at her appreciatively. Up, and then down. Then he laughed roughly.

”You remind me of a Klingon woman I raped once.”

Oh s.h.i.+t, thought Riker.

Tron lunged forward, even as Riker threw himself against the Klingon to hold him back. ”You lie!”

”Tron, stay back!” snapped Kobry.

”You're right, I'm lying!” Aneel shouted. ”Actually, it was more than once! And by the end, she was begging for more! She loved it! She-”

That did it.

Tron hurled Riker aside as if he were a poker chip, slamming the first officer against the wall, and lunged at Aneel. Picard summoned security. Kobry shouted, trying to make himself heard. And the Kreel and Klingons slammed in to each other, forming one giant ma.s.s of flying fists.

From nowhere, it seemed, the other Klingons in the honor guard showed up and set to against the Kreel. The only thing that prevented the struggle from becoming a bloodbath was that they were all crammed together in the corridor, with no room to maneuver. Whatever weapons the Klingons might have been packing remained unpulled because there wasn't s.p.a.ce to do so much as pull a knife from a boot ”Stop it! That's an order!” shouted Picard, and then he was shoved aside and almost trampled by frantic civilians who didn't really see him but were intent only on getting out of there. Gava fell back, and Deanna Troi helped pull her away.

One of the Kreel broke from the crowd, and saw the Betazoid counselor still holding the disruptors Riker had given her. He lunged for her, snarling. Gava stepped between them, and without hesitation brought her foot up in to the Kreel's crotch. He went down, gagging.

Then Gava shrieked, ”Kobry!”- the diminutive Klingon had just gone down in the middle of the crowd.

Riker pulled himself up and hauled Picard away from the scene. Then he said tersely, ”Captain, permission to-”

”Yes,” agreed Picard.

Riker pulled out his phaser and fired blind, waist high, into the middle of the crowd.

Klingons and Kreel went down in a heap, collapsing on one another. Within moments, the entire struggling mob had lapsed into unconsciousness.

There was silence, and then a low moan from the midst of the pile.

”Kobry,” said Picard, and immediately he and Riker went over to the pile, shoving insensate bodies aside to get to the Klingon amba.s.sador.

Slowly, Kobry emerged, hauled out by the captain and first officer. Having been below the level of the beam, Kobry hadn't been hit. But all the bodies had fallen on top of him.

At that moment a security squad, Worf in the lead, came running up. He put up a hand, and the squad skidded to a halt.

Gava, from nearby, said, ”You missed it.”

Kobry was shaking his head. ”I suppose it's possible that things could have gotten off to a worse start, but I'm not really sure how.”

Gava knelt down next to her father. ”This isn't going to work.”

And Picard said, ”It is our duty to make it work, as much as we may dislike the position into which we've been put.”

”The captain is absolutely right, Gava,” said Kobry. ”Our respective governments are counting on us to stave off a full-scale war. There is a cease fire in effect for as long as this mission seems to have a possibility of succeeding. But if the twenty of us cannot live with each other for the time it takes to get to DQN 1196, how can we possibly hope that our two peoples can coexist?”

”Good question,” said Worf.

Kobry stood and brushed himself off. ”Captain, I need to sit and talk with the Kreel amba.s.sador alone.”

Picard nodded. ”Lieutenant Worf,” he said briskly, ”have the Klingons brought to holding facilities on Deck 2, block A. Have the Kreel brought to Deck 18, block Z detention facilities.”

”That's on opposite sides of the saucer section,” said Worf.

”Precisely. They're going to be as far away from each other as is possible until we get things worked out.”

”When will that be?” Gava murmured to Worf.

”When h.e.l.l freezes over,” he replied, much too quietly for Picard to hear.

Or so he a.s.sumed. But Picard turned and said, ”Hopefully, Lieutenant, it will be a bit sooner than that.”

Chapter Fourteen.

JAAN WAS WALKING down the hallway, on his way to Dr. Pulaski for further treatment, and he slowed down as he noticed the change that seemed to have occurred in the corridors.

Usually, people had always been quick to greet him with a wave or a smile-the women, in particular-and he hadn't even needed to use the Knack for that. People were just attracted to him. He liked that, thrived on it.

But now it appeared to him that everyone was giving him a wide berth. Or those that were near him gave him sympathetic looks, or asked solicitously, ”How are you?” And all of them had sorrowful faces pasted on them like cheap jewelry.

They felt sorry for him. Him! It was humiliating. He didn't want pity or sorrow. He wanted to continue his work. He wanted to continue to live. (That wasn't so blasted much, was it?) And slowly he started to resent the other people on the Enterprise-resent them for their att.i.tude, for their d.a.m.nable pity, and for their lives. The lives they would continue to have, and he would not.

At that moment Bobbi Chase approached him, looking concerned.

It irritated him. He knew what she was going to say. She was going to utter meaningless words about how she hoped he was feeling okay, and if there was anything she could do he should let her know, and so on.

If he hadn't been ill before, certainly this type of treatment would have put him over the edge.

Although Bobbi was hardly the major offender, he decided to let her have it. She would start in with all the sympathy nonsense, and he'd rip into her sanctimonious prattling. And then, when he'd reduced her to tears, well ... maybe he might suggest other things to her.

Yes. Yes, that would certainly be amusing ...

After all, an elf should never pa.s.s up an opportunity.

She walked up to him and said, ”Jaan, I need to talk to you about something.”

He leaned against a wall and forced a smile. ”What's the problem?”

”It's Wesley.”

He stared at her blankly for a moment. ”Wesley?”

”Yeah. You know, I really thought he liked me, and I know I liked him, but he's become so obsessive lately. It's a little scary, you know?”

”Wesley is who you're concerned about?” He was stung. ”What about me?”