Sabapathy nodded. “Yes, sir. It looks to be a civilian long-haul freighter, but their transponder codes don’t match anything in the data banks.”
That bit of information only served to heighten Blair’s doubts. Looking to Nyn, he asked, “Is it showing up on sensors?”
Bent over the hooded viewer at her station, the scanner’s viewfinder bathing her face in its warm, blue glow, the science officer replied, “No, sir, though I’m able to track the distress signal to its point of origin.” Looking up from her viewer, she tapped a series of commands across one of her console’s banks of colored buttons, and one of the large monitors above her workstation shifted from an image of a planet to a star chart. Nyn tapped another control and a red blinking circle appeared, superimposed over a cluster of smaller white dots. “It’s coming from this sector, near the Vintaak system.”
“Never heard of it,” Blair said.
“That’s not surprising.” Nyn pressed another control and the star chart began to rotate, offering a three-dimensional readout of the highlighted region. “It’s not within Tholian boundaries. At least, not today. Like a lot of systems in this area, it’s been charted by long-range reconnaissance probes, but we’ve never sent any ships there. Not yet, anyway.”
“But you can’t detect the ship itself?” Mbugua asked, frowning as he folded his arms across his broad chest.
Nyn shook her head. “No, sir. It could just be that it’s too small for our sensors to pick up at this range.” She shrugged, tapping another control, which had the effect of magnifying the portion of the star chart within the highlighted circle. “On the other hand, the sensor readings we’re getting are coming back … the best way I can describe it is that they’re scattering, as though running into some kind of energy field or other disruption.”
Studying the star chart, Blair asked, “Is it a natural phenomenon, or something artificial?”
“It’s hard to be conclusive, sir,” the science officer said, “but from the readings I’m able to get, I’m leaning toward it being naturally occurring.”
“What are you thinking, Skipper?” Mbugua asked, and Blair heard the tone of caution in his first officer’s voice.
Blair gestured toward the screen. “I’m thinking a naturally occurring sensor blind is a good place to hide.”
“It’s also a nice place for an ambush,” Mbugua countered.
Conceding the point, Blair sighed. “That, too, but we have to at least get close enough to determine whether the distress call is real.” His gut told him the signal was a ruse, but if it turned out to be legitimate and he did nothing, he could be held responsible for whatever fate befell whichever troubled vessel and crew were out there. That did not matter so much to him as how his own conscience would torture him with the knowledge that he might have been able to do something had he chosen to act. Even without rules and regulations pertaining to the handling of ships in distress, there was no other option so far as he was concerned.
“The Tholians will know we’re headed there, sir,” Nyn said, the inflection behind her own words matching Mbugua’s. Had she somehow sensed the debate he was having with himself?
Nodding, Blair replied, “Yeah, but that place is a dead spot for sensors, so that’ll even the odds a bit. We might be able to stall long enough for help to find us before the Tholians do.” Turning from the science station, he moved down the railing and said to Sabapathy, “Ensign, prepare an updated status report for transmission to Vanguard. Full encryption package—the works. Apprise them of our course change and immediate plan, and if they want to hurry the hell up with the cavalry, that’d be nice, too.”
“Aye, sir,” the ensign replied, then asked, “Should I attempt to hail the ship sending the distress call?”
Blair shook his head. “Not yet. Let’s see what this is about, first.” He reached up to rub the bridge of his nose. The area behind his eyeballs was beginning to protest his lack of rest. On the bright side, this new discomfort almost made him forget about the stiffness in his back and shoulders.
Well, not really.
“Make the course change, Kamau,” he said to Mbugua. “And ask engineering to push the throttle through the wall if they have to, but get me some more speed.”
Releasing a slight, humorless chuckle, the first officer replied, “You know what Stevok’s going to say.”
“Then tell him he can get out and push,” Blair countered. “In the meantime, let’s keep our ears open for anything new from that ship. Maintain sensor sweeps of that area, anyway. Maybe the readings will clear up, the closer we get. Besides, just because we don’t see them doesn’t mean they can’t see us coming.” Glancing to Mbugua, he offered a knowing look. “After all, it looks like a good place for an ambush, right?”
Returning to his command chair, Blair lowered himself into his seat, grunting at the pain in his tired back, wondering if he had not just directed his ship into the middle of a trap.
I guess we’ll see what we’ll see.
34
Something slammed into the wall behind Jetanien’s head, startling the ambassador from sleep and causing him to sit up straight on the stone slab that served as the bed in his private quarters. Rising to his feet, he moved to the window at the rear of his room and pushed aside one of the drapes just enough to peer outside. He was in time for something small and fast to strike the window directly in front of his face.
The projectile—whatever it was—hit just as Jetanien stumbled back and bumped into his slab, impacting against the window’s reinforced, shatterproof glass before falling to the street three stories below his room. His heart racing from the near miss—despite logic telling him he was never in any real danger—the Chelon reached for the large dressing gown lying atop a table next to his bed and donned it. No sooner had he secured it around his body than there was a knock on his door, followed by the worried voice of Sergio Moreno.
“Ambassador? Are you all right?”
Walking to the desk that occupied one corner of his private quarters, Jetanien reached for the control pad embedded into its surface and disengaged the door lock. As the door slid aside to admit Moreno, the ambassador said, “I’m fine, Sergio.” He moved back to the window and pulled open the drapes, no longer content to hide behind the symbolic cover they offered. “They’re back, I see.”
“Yes, they are,” his assistant replied, his voice betraying a hint of the anxiety he no doubt was feeling. “And they seem more agitated this time.”
Gazing out the window, Jetanien peered into the predawn near-darkness, which was broken only by the sporadic illumination offered by those few street lamps that were still working. The streets were littered with the evidence of the previous night’s riots. Chunks of artificial stone, singed and splintered wooden beams, and other debris lay scattered everywhere. Smoke emanated from open or broken windows, and the roofs and walls of at least three buildings Jetanien could see from his vantage point showed fire damage. He could only assume that the other streets and structures were in similar condition, all having fallen prey to the unruly mobs that seemed to be roaming the city at will.
“How many are there?” he asked, indicating the small assemblage on the street below them.
“Perhaps a dozen or so,” Moreno said. “I recognize a few of them, Ambassador. I think they’re all Federation colonists.”
Several members of the group seemed content to lurk in the weakening shadows as sunrise approached. Most of them looked to be human, though Jetanien also discerned a pair of Tellarites and a Gallamite as well. To a person, they appeared dirty and disheveled; some of them even looked to be nursing injuries of one sort or another, and a few seemed barely able to stay on their feet. One of the humans, a woman, stepped out from a doorway leading into a building across the street, wielding something Jetanien did not at first recognize. Then she pulled the object to her shoulder, and the Chelon realized she was aiming some kind of weapon. Before he could react, the woman’s body lurched as the rifle discharged and was followed by another impact against one of the room’s other windows.