Star Trek: The Next Generation: Stargazer: Maker by Michael Jan Friedman

Author:Michael Jan Friedman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2004-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

OBAL SIGHED TO HIMSELF as he made his way to the Stargazer ’s security section.

Iulus might have been trying to spare his feelings when he stopped Kirby from speaking of Nikolas, but he hadn’t taken into account the acuity of Obal’s hearing, which was far superior to that of most other species on the ship. So while the crewmen at Iulus’s table believed Obal hadn’t overheard any of their remarks, he had in fact heard everything.

Of course, Nikolas had become the subject of a great many conversations since the captain’s discovery of his name on the Iktoj’ni ’s crew manifest. Everyone who had known him was concerned about him and hoped to be able to help him.

Obal hadn’t yet arrived on the Stargazer when she breached the barrier and clashed with the Nuyyad, but he had familiarized himself with the events of that time. So he knew how unlikely it was that the crew’s hopes would be realized.

The Nuyyad were, after all, brutal, remorseless combatants. If Brakmaktin’s powers were anywhere near as impressive as people said, he was the single most formidable individual in history—not just Federation history, but the history of the galaxy.

As Nikolas’s closest friend on the ship, Obal wanted to retrieve Nikolas more than anyone. And as an admirer of Captain Picard, he wanted to have confidence in the captain’s abilities.

However, he did not have confidence. He was frightened for his friend. And though he would do anything—sacrifice anything—to get Nikolas back, he was afraid it wouldn’t be enough.

* * *

Nikolas whistled softly at the reading on the Ubarrak control panel.

Standing beside him, Gerda Idun took on a look of concern. “What is it?”

“Nothing bad,” he assured her. “Just the opposite. We’re making amazing time.”

Her hand on his shoulder, she angled a look at the panel for herself. “That is amazing. If our ships could go this fast for more than minutes at a time, we would never have needed to kidnap Simenon. How does Brakmaktin do it?”

Nikolas shrugged. “How does he do anything?”

He didn’t want to say more in case the Nuyyad was listening in on them. Brakmaktin had remained in the armory ever since Gerda Idun’s appearance, making his presence felt only in the velocity the ship was maintaining.

As to how he was accomplishing it … it might have had something to do with their warp field geometry or the efficiency of their dilithium interface. Nikolas could probably have worked out the details if that were all he had to worry about. But he had to concentrate on the big picture, in case the Nuyyad emerged from his sanctum and threw Nikolas a curve.

“I wonder if there’s a barrier in my universe,” said Gerda Idun, her eyes losing focus for a moment.

The remark would have been cause for concern if she were truly from another frame of reference, and she could have challenged a Klingon-Cardassian alliance with a cadre of superbeings. But that wasn’t going to happen.

“I don’t know,” Nikolas told her. “I suppose it’s possible.

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