Into the Nebula by Gene DeWeese

Author:Gene DeWeese
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science-Fiction:Star Trek
ISBN: 9780743421379
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2000-10-14T10:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

IT TOOK ONLY MINIMAL LOBBYING on Picard’s part to convince a nondescript Starfleet admiral that the captain should be the one to head the next day’s away team despite regulations that ordinarily gave that duty to the first officer. It was not just that President Khozak, a putative head of state, was entitled to a “delegation” headed by the ranking officer, though that was the low-key argument that Picard made. It was simply that there were times—more of them than he liked to admit, even to himself—when he felt like getting off the bridge and out of the ready room. And away from the crew fitness reports, he told himself uneasily, which still were barely started.

“As always, Jean-Luc, the decision is yours,” the admiral assured him in conclusion. “You’re the one on the scene. However, a suggestion: Whoever goes down, leave the phasers on the Enterprise.”

With that not-quite-order, the distant image vanished, replaced momentarily by the Starfleet insignia. When Picard turned away, he saw Riker shaking his head disapprovingly.

“No disrespect to Starfleet, Captain,” Riker said quietly, “but as the admiral said, you’re the one on the scene. And he wasn’t greeted at the airlock with drawn weapons the way we were.”

“I understand your concern, Number One,” Picard said dryly, “but carrying weapons is not conducive to trust. And we will need all the help we can get in that respect when we tell them that we have, in effect, been holding out on them about what we discovered at the bottom of the mines yesterday.”

Which, he realized even as he spoke, was the real reason he had decided to take Riker’s place. Another “obligation” of rank. If as captain he was responsible for withholding the information from Khozak, then he should now be responsible for so informing the president and taking whatever heat resulted.

“In any event,” he went on, mentally filing the uncomfortable insight that had just come to him, “keeping the Enterprise in low orbit and maintaining a constant lock on our comm units strikes me as a more practical precaution than arming ourselves and hoping to shoot our way out of the middle of a sealed city with only one known exit.”

Despite the field-effect suit he had activated as the shuttlecraft door opened, Picard felt like gasping for breath as he stepped out into Krantin’s hazy, poisonous atmosphere. Koralus, a comm unit attached to his tunic for the duration of their visit, stepped out after Picard, followed by Data and Troi.

The Jalkor airlock was already open. Two of the same security officers who had escorted Riker’s group the first day were waiting just inside. This time their weapons were at least not drawn, Picard noted, though there was little other evidence of trust. As before, the group from the Enterprise was hustled into a large van, apparently electrically driven, with the triangular Security Force insignia on both sides.

Picard had scanned the tricorder records and listened to Data’s descriptions of the two previous trips, and he realized almost immediately they must be taking a different route.

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