Star Trek Titan - 02 - The Red King by Star Trek

Author:Star Trek
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780743496285
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 2005-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

IMPERIAL WARBIRD VALDORE, STARDATE 57031.4

S oon it will be time, Donatra told herself yet again.

Seated at the forward operations console, Centurion Liravek studied a set of readouts, then rose and faced Donatra with a perfect salute, the inside of his right fist touching his sternum directly between the lungs. “Sensors and warp-field governance rokhelhu are coordinated fleetwide, Commander Donatra. All units report they are presently in readiness to move out.”

“Outstanding,” Donatra said, her voice steady though she was beside herself with unease. She watched impassively as Liravek returned to his seat and resumed working his console.

Standing beside the bridge’s centrally located command chair, Donatra turned toward Suran, who stood a short distance away, eyeing the starfield on the viewscreen with evident impatience. Intermittent flashes of deep, bloody green and furious orange flared across portions of the interstellar blackness, each small conflagration revealing nearby loci of intense spatial disruption caused by the protouniverse whose influence the boarding parties had just chased from the fleet’s computer network. Our own handiwork, she thought grimly, considering once again how she and Riker had unwittingly accelerated the process that threatened the lives of so many, across such an enormous volume of space.

And we prepare to flee it, along with the craven Klingons. There was no honor to be found in this. None at all.

A small green light on the arm of Donatra’s command chair began flashing silently. She stepped toward the chair and toggled it off. Thank you, Dr. Venora, she thought, satisfied that no one else had noticed.

“Then let’s get these ships underway,” Suran told the centurion. “The Empire needs the fleet’s protection, especially now that the Klingons have a beachhead on the Two Worlds. We can’t afford to wait around here any longer than we have to.”

“You’re right, Suran. We must act,” Donatra said, her eyes lingering on the bandages that still swathed Suran’s head.

Suran noticed her stare and scowled. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Are you sure you’re feeling well, Suran?”

Suran’s scowled deepened. “I’m fine.”

Donatra assayed her most serious I’m-terribly-concerned-about-you expression. “You’ve gone as pale as a Reman, Commander.”

“Nonsense.”

“Dr. Venora wasn’t very happy when you checked yourself out of the infirmary.”

“Venora’s never very happy,” Suran said with a grim laugh.

Donatra nodded toward the centurion. “Take over up here, Liravek. Get the fleet under way.”

Liravek rose again from his seat and again saluted smartly, though his countenance betrayed a look of growing confusion. Was he becoming suspicious? “At once, Commander Donatra.”

She turned and strode toward the lift doors. “I need to speak with you, Suran. Alone.”

Stepping into the lift, Donatra saw the thunderclouds gathering behind her colleague’s bandaged brow. He stepped into the lift with her.

“Infirmary,” she said once the doors had closed.

“I haven’t the time for this,” he said. Turning his face toward the ceiling, he said, “Computer, halt lift.”

But the lift continued. “I have overridden the lift’s voice-command protocols, Suran.”

“Why?” Suran asked, the suspicion in his voice now plainly evident. “Do you believe me somehow unfit for duty, Donatra?”

“That depends upon what you decide to do next.

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