Captain Sopek,Trip thought, mentally correcting Terix. Well, at least we wont have to waste any more precious time searching for you, will we?
“ Jolantru,Centurion Terix, the dissident leader said as he strode calmly forward from underneath the very same open doorway arch through which Trip and Terix had entered the room. The man was obviously emboldened by the half-dozen or so armed, paramilitary-garbed young Romulans who had already deployed themselves very swiftly and efficiently around the ten-meter-wide wardroom. Ugly gray pistols were raised and ready, and Trip recalled having seen nearly identical weapons on two earlier occasions. The first was his brief captivity in the Ejhoi Ormiincompound on Rator II; the second encounter had occurred in the lab where just such a weapon had been used to assassinate Doctor Ehrehin.
The weapons Trip faced now were no doubt every bit as dangerous as those he remembered, and looked as hostile as the expressions on the pale faces of the men and women who wielded them. Trip harbored little doubt that a single word from Chuihv/Sopek, or one false move by either himself or Terix, would suffice to envelop the room immediately in a lethal cats cradle of crisscrossing disruptor beams.
Despite the death wish that Terix had seemed to exhibit behind the pilots console, the centurion proved himself eminently more sensible here by allowing the weapon in his hand to clatter to the floor tiles. He had even taken a moment to click a small switch on the disruptors handle, engaging what Trip assumed was a safety catch, a moment before releasing the weapon and kicking it toward their captors.
A single harsh monosyllable from one of the armed dissidents, punctuated by an aggressive gesture with the disruptor pistol in his hand, persuaded Trip to follow Terixs lead; though he found no safety catch on his own weapon after he slowly unholstered ithe frankly doubted that Terix had allowed him to take a charged and functional weapon in the first placehe obediently dropped the heavy pistol to the floor, then gently tossed his scanning device after it.
Two of Chuihvs other troopers knelt briefly to retrieve the discarded gear, which they stowed on the Romulan equivalent of Sam Browne belts.
Chuihv came to a stop directly between Trip and Terix. Turning toward Trip, he said, “And Jolantruto you as well, Mister Cunaehr. Or should I address you more properly as Commander Charles Tucker, late of the United Earth Starship Enterprise?
Ah, shit,Trip thought. I really,really hate when this happens.He found himself reflecting, absurdly, that the only moderately enjoyable aspect of this situation was the thoroughly stunned expression on Terixs vulpine face, which had flushed almost to the color of split-pea soup. After all, the centurion had suspected him of being a spy from Vulcan,not from Earth.
“Commander Tucker, Chuihv said, evidently quite enamored with the sound of his own voice. “Risen from the ranks of the hallowed dead. And now, tragically, fated to return there all too soon. The dissident leaders smirk looked distinctly unpleasant on a face that appeared so outwardly Vulcan otherwise.
Trip felt shock at the sudden revelation of his real identity before Terix, but not all that much surprise. After all, a man like Chuihv had to have a talent for connecting the dots, or else he would have fallen into the hands of someone like Terix long ago, on one side of the Romulan border or the other. Besides, if Trip knew about the Romulan dissident leaders other life as a Vulcan, why shouldnt Chuihv be able to find whatever skeletons lurked in his closet?
“Chuihv of Saith, Trip said, feeling a great deal calmer than hed expected to feel on the occasions when he had tried to imagine something like his present circumstances. “Or maybe I ought to call you Sopek of Vulcan instead.
Chuihv/Sopek raised an eyebrow, a gesture that instantly transformed his appearance from that of a treacherous, scheming Romulan outlaw to that of the logical, dignified Vulcan starship captain who had commanded the Vulcan vessel NiVarsome four years earlier. Trip wondered which of the two identities was genuine, if either one was.
“Well done, Commander, the dissident said. After a brief pause, he added, “I never got the opportunity to thank you for covering my escape when Valdores forces raided our facility on Rator II.
“Well, I might be willing to call it even, Trip said, his jaw clenching involuntarily as he remembered the bloody chaos that had accompanied his efforts to protect Ehrehin and evade both the Ejhoi Ormiinand Admiral Valdores forces. “But only if youll agree to let mereward youproperly for what you did to Tinh Hoc Phuong.
Chuihv made a brief but infuriating show of pretending not to remember the man he had callously transformed into a pile of smoldering ash on Rator II. At length, he said, “Ah, the man who called himself Terha of Talvath. Your fellow Terran spy who claimed to be a part of the Ejhoi Ormiins Devoras cell.
Trip noticed the goggle-eyed stares of the three academics; Sopeks revelation had left them all looking as stupefied by this as third-graders poring over a textbook on eleven-dimensional tensor calculus.
Though he knew it was worse than useless, Trip couldnt keep the timbre of accusation and righteous anger out of his voice. “You had him captured,Sopek. He was in no position to hurt you. But you murdered him in cold blood.
Chuihv scowled, shaking his head in an exaggerated display of mock disappointment. “Mister Tucker, I know that engineering has long been your primary area of expertise. Nevertheless, I thought youd been in the espionage business long enough to understand the occasional need for thoroughgoing security purges in anyclandestine organization. Im certain your friend would have agreed that such things are an unavoidable hazard of our trade.
Although Chuihvs lips continued to move, Trip suddenly found that all he could hear was an intense whistling sound. An instant later, the dissident leader interrupted his own monologue, grimacing in apparent agony as he placed his fists over his sharply pointed ears. The armed troopers looked to be suffering every bit as badly; at least one of them dropped his weapon onto the floor.
Moving almost faster than Trips eyes could follow, Terix leaped on the nearest of the distracted guards, taking her down in a bone-crushing tackle that sent her weapon flying.
Trip wasted no time diving toward the floor. “Get down! he yelled toward the owl-eyed academics, none of whom had yet taken the simple expedient of ducking beneath their table for cover.
Chuihv/Sopek had already collapsed to his knees, as had fully half his armed people. Of the remaining three, one was unconscious thanks to Terixs quick action. Trip landed a hard right cross on anothers jaw before the disoriented man could get his weapon pointed in the right direction.
Terix blew a large, charred hole right through the chest of the last of them even as Trip grabbed up one of the fallen guards weapons.
“Stay right where you are! Terix shouted, holding one of the troopers pistols before him in a double-handed combat grip.
It took Trip a startled moment to understand that the centurion was addressing him,rather than Chuihv or any of his people. A heartbeat or two later, Trip realized that he and Terix were the only people in the room who were still conscious.
“What the hell happened? Trip asked. It had all started with that peculiar, transient whistling sound.