“Hello, Diego,” the ambassador said, bowing in greeting.
“What are you two doing loitering around here?” Reyes asked. He actually was glad to see his two friends.
“We’re here to offer moral support,” Fisher said. “And if that’s not enough, I have a bottle of twelve-year-old scotch I’ve been saving for a special occasion.”
Glancing over his shoulder at his security escorts, Reyes said, “I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to throw any wild parties while I’m confined to quarters.”
“Is there a better time?” Fisher asked. “Don’t worry. We’ve already received approval from Admiral Moratino for a one-hour visit later this evening. Assuming you want the company, that is.”
As they began walking up the corridor toward a bank of turbolifts, Reyes asked, “Is this really a good idea? It sounds like the kind of thing they let a condemned man do on his last night.”
“Perish your negative thoughts, Diego,” Jetanien said, his voice carrying more than a minor rebuke. “Captain Desai has comported herself with distinction to this point, and I have no doubts she will rise to the occasion when the trial turns to the defense.”
Looking over her shoulder at the Chel, Desai asked, “How do you know how I’m comporting anything? I haven’t seen you in the courtroom.”
“My dear, I know everything,” Jetanien replied. “Just as I know that there are very few people who possess the unique understanding of the situation here in the Taurus Reach that is required to run this station and oversee its mission. Diego is one such individual.” To Reyes, he said, “I firmly believe that you will play a significant role in any success we hope to have out here.”
Uncomfortable with dwelling on that line of thought, Reyes sought to change the subject. “I hear you’ve had your own hands full,” he said, eyeing the ambassador. Then, nodding toward his friend’s manus, he added, “Or whatever you call those things.”
Jetanien uttered a string of clicks that echoed in the passageway. “Indeed, it has not been easy for people in my line of work these past weeks. The Klingons are on the move everywhere, it seems, and the Tholians naturally are proving to be most uncooperative.”
Shaking his head, Reyes said, “I don’t know how you do it, Jetanien.”
“What do you mean?” the ambassador asked.
“I mean juggling so many balls and keeping them all in the air. It’s quite a sight to see, you know.” He had always been impressed with Jetanien’s ability to handle multiple issues, particularly when it came to the nonstop head-to-head game of interplanetary politics, but recent events had tasked even his formidable abilities. Diplomacy was easy when everyone got along, but it was an altogether different animal when things were not quite so picturesque. “You’re trying to do the impossible, and it’s fun watching you try.”
“I’m trying to do the impossible, too, you know,” Desai said, punching him playfully in the arm.
Reyes nodded. “It’s fun watching you, too.”
They came to the row of five turbolifts, and Jetanien and Fisher hung back as Reyes, Desai, and the security detail moved to enter one of the available cars. Pausing at the threshold, Reyes turned to regard his friends. “Listen, I think I’d enjoy that visit.” It was the first time since his incarceration had begun that he had requested to see anyone. Even his meetings with Desai during their preparations had been at her bidding. “A change of pace might do me some good.”
“Now you’re talking,” Fisher said, unable to suppress a grin. “And I’ll have my scotch in hand.”
Jetanien added, “I cannot promise any special vintage spirits, but I do have a vat of—”
Reyes held up a hand. “Don’t even say it, whatever it is.”
“Well,” the ambassador said, “there’s simply no accounting for taste.”
That elicited a small laugh from Reyes as he boarded the turbolift. “Nineteen hundred hours. You know the address.” As the doors slid shut and the lift began to move, he turned to look at Desai.
“You know, for a minute there, I was able to forget about all of this.”
Desai smiled. “Good. That’s what friends are supposed to help you do.”
As the turbolift continued its ascent through the core of the station, Reyes stood in silence, contemplating what Jetanien had said moments earlier. Could he still play a role here, despite all that had happened? Was Starfleet of a mind to forgive his transgressions in the interest of ensuring that the best possible people were employed here, working to unlock the mysteries upon which they had stumbled?
Possible,he decided, but not damned likely.
36
“I am Commander Restrene. You are trespassing in a territorial annex of the Tholian Assembly. You must leave this area immediately.”
Rising from his seat at the center of the Lovell’s bridge, Captain Daniel Okagawa regarded the visage of the Tholian commander now displayed on the main viewer. The Tholian appeared as a bright crimson silhouette standing out against a roiling amber background, the air around it shimmering as a result of the extreme temperature requirements necessary to sustain Tholian physiology.
“Shields activated, weapons armed and ready, Captain,” reported Lieutenant Jessica Diamond, the Lovell’s weapons officer, from one of the rear bridge stations. “Though I have to tell you, Captain, I think we may be a bit outclassed here.”
“Don’t remind me,” Okagawa said before gesturing toward Folanir Pzial, the Rigelian ensign seated at the communications console. “Open the channel.” Once Pzial nodded to indicate that the connection had been established, Okagawa turned his attention back to the viewer. “This is Captain Daniel Okagawa, commanding the Federation Starship Lovell.Commander, this planet has been claimed as Federation territory, and we are engaged in a peaceful scientific research mission on the surface.”
“Please do not insult our intelligence by maintaining this ridiculous charade, Captain,”Restrene replied. “We both are aware of the Federation’s true interest in this planet. Further, we know that you currently are harboring a known fugitive. You will surrender that fugitive and depart this system immediately, or we will be forced to take punitive action.”
He kept his expression neutral, but Okagawa cursed inwardly. How in the name of hell did they know that Nezrene was with them?
“They’re always so cheerful and friendly, aren’t they?” asked Commander Araev zh’Rhun, Okagawa’s first officer, from where she stood on the other side of the command chair, speaking in a voice low enough not to be picked up by the comm system.
Eyeing his Andorian exec, Okagawa replied, “You’re one to talk.” Turning back to the viewer, he said, “Commander, I will not lie to you. A Tholian citizen is with us, and she is aiding my people in the research we are conducting.”
“Then she is committing treason against the Tholian people,”Restrene countered. “ Another charge added to her list of crimes. You will transfer her to our custody, Captain.”
Okagawa glanced down at the astrogator before him at the center of the helm and navigation console, noting its depiction of the trio of Tholian ships and their relation to his ship’s current position. The ships dropped out of warp almost on top of the Lovell,exiting subspace within the orbital track of Erilon’s only moon. There barely had been time for sensors to register their approach and opportunity enough only to warn the landing parties down on the planet that trouble was brewing in orbit. Okagawa had ordered an evacuation, but less than half of the personnel on the surface had been transported aboard before the Tholian ships arrived on the scene and assumed an offensive combat formation around the Starfleet vessel.