Gateways:Cold Wars by Peter David

Author:Peter David
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

13

MARKANIA

EBOZAYLAUGHED,his voice echoing off the walls of the now empty Council Room. He spread his arms wide, as if he could drink in the power that was now his. Power that he was going to use to benefit all his people, no matter what that foolish Starfleet captain thought.

“She doesn’t understand,” he said. “She doesn’t—”

Then he heard a soft footfall, and he turned . . . and gaped at the newcomer. “Smyt!” he gasped.

Smyt, yellow-skinned, chinless, leggy, and curvaceous, smiled from the doorway. “Everyone has to be somewhere,” she purred, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

The amusement, however, quickly faded, because Ebozay was across the room cat-quick, one hand at her throat, the other shoving her shoulder, driving her back until she slammed up against the wall with teeth-jarring impact.

“Have you lost your mi—?” she started to say.

“Traitoress!”

“Is that even a word—?”

He pulled her several inches from the wall and smashed her against it once more.“You deceived us! Used us! You gave aid to our enemy!”

Her air of detached amusement, which she’d managed to maintain for a brief time even as he was slamming her around, had quickly disintegrated. “What are youtalkingabout?! How did—?”

“Did you think we werestupid?Did you think we wouldn’t—?”

There was a sudden howl of energy being unleashed, a quick blast that lifted Ebozay off his feet and sent him hurtling halfway across the room. It was as if he had been yanked back by a large, invisible string attached to the back of his clothes. He hit the floor, and not gently. He was in superb condition, but even so he felt jolted and momentarily confused by the impact. But then he shook it off and staggered to his feet. Through eyes that were both bleary and yet coldly calculating, he peered angrily at Smyt, wiping away a trickle of blood from a gash his lower lip had taken upon landing. “How did you do that?” he demanded sullenly.

Her arms were folded, her hands tucked unseen into large, draping sleeves. Her billowing shirt hung loosely about her; it was voluminous enough that she might well have kept an entire armada up those sleeves, let alone some sort of handgun that could knock him around like a pebble. The copious blouse was a stark contrast to the tightness of the leggings that adorned her from the waist down. “You don’t seriously think I’m going to tell you all my little secrets, are you?”

“You betrayed us . . . how could—”

Impatience flashed across her face. “Why do you keep saying that? I’ve betrayed no one. No one.”

“The Gateway opened here, with Aerons pouring through like sewage through a tunnel.”

“Now there’s a pleasant image,” muttered Smyt. She looked pityingly at Ebozay for a moment, then walked over to him, crouched, and took his head in her hands, one hand on either cheek. “Listen carefully: I did not aid the Aerons in any way. I did not bring the Gateway to them. Why would I do such a thing?”

“Riches.”

She snorted derisively. “Riches? Is that all you think I care about?” She released him and stood, looking down at him imperiously.

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