Star Trek: Enterprise: Rise of the Federation: Tower of Babel by Christopher L. Bennett

Author:Christopher L. Bennett
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Star Trek, Fiction
ISBN: 9781476749648
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2014-03-25T07:00:00+00:00

U.S.S. Pioneer, orbiting Rigel Colony One

“Our people were never aboard that ship,” Valeria Williams told Captain Reed as they stood before the windows of Pioneer’s conference lounge. Outside, the view was dominated by the cratered globe of Rigel Colony One, lit on one side by the diminished but vivid light from Raij and on the other by the soft blue glow from Rigel VI. Both colors and qualities of light glinted off the domes that covered many of the moon’s craters, encasing lush, terraformed biomes centered on large, ornate cities. One of those cities held a detention center that in turn held the captive pilot along with Mr. Kuldip. “It was one of the decoys, ordered to wait in orbit, get a quantity of rock beamed up to them by the relay, and then follow a preset course. This one was sent to Ryneh because it already had a number of identical G-Sevens, and because Kuldip was on the take.”

“I see,” Reed said, studying the exotic moonscape beyond. As much as security work still felt natural to him, Reed regretted that he had to visit this intriguing locale as an inquisitor rather than an explorer. “Did either of them know anything useful?”

“Afraid not, sir,” Williams said. “We questioned them for hours. Veurk offered them some pretty generous incentives for cooperation—Rigelians have a knack for making deals. They would’ve been happy to play along, but they didn’t have anything much to offer in exchange. Kuldip was just a tourist who got deep in debt to a Family-run casino on Two and had to start doing jobs for them if he wanted to keep all his body parts. Strictly menial stuff—the shipyard’s the closest thing to authority he’s ever had.”

“And the pilot?”

“Turns out she’s a Suliban.”

Reed stared. “Not a leftover Cabal member?” he asked, though it seemed unlikely.

“Actually she wanted to be, but she was too young. Ran some errands for them back in the day, but the Cabal fell apart before she was old enough for the genetic augmentations. Still, she was a fellow traveler, which means the Tandarans came after her, so she ran away, went underground, and ended up on Rigel X, doing menial work for whatever syndicate had a use for her.” Williams shook her head. “Same as Kuldip, too low on the totem pole to know anything we can use.”

“That’s not unexpected,” Reed replied. “Whoever’s planned this operation is meticulous. We wouldn’t even have gotten this far if not for some ingenious improvisation by you and Doctor Dax.”

The armory officer smiled, lifting her chin. “Thank you, sir.”

Reed sighed. “Well, at least that’s one wild goose we’ve cooked. That improves our odds a bit.” He directed his gaze sunward, toward the inner system. “I just hope Travis and Rey are having better luck.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.