Star Trek: 24th Century Crossover - 005 - Typhon Pact - 01 - Zero Sum Game by David Mack

Author:David Mack
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Transgenic Organisms, High Tech, Star Trek Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction, Science Fiction, Espionage, General, Space Weapons, Media Tie-In, Adventure
ISBN: 9781439160794
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 2010-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

23

After a night alone with Sarina, Bashir felt more than a bit overwhelmed by the madding crush of the crowded streets of Rasiuk. They had made their way there from the warren without incident, and Bashir had noticed a few shopkeepers adopting postures more subservient than usual when they saw the kinds of advertisements that his and Sarina’s presence triggered.

Nar wasn’t kidding when she said she’d turned us into VIPs, he thought. Resolving not to abuse the protection and privilege with which he and Sarina had been blessed, Bashir pressed on at her side toward the third crossroads, which was a short distance ahead but obscured by the sheer mass of people filling it. When they were still twenty meters or so from the intersection, it became possible to see the public-information kiosk in its center.

Sarina poked Bashir. “There she is, at the far terminal, facing us.”

“I see her.” Though Nar resembled every other Breen in sight, Sarina had reprogrammed the HUDs of their helmets to recognize Nar and Min by the signals from their identichips, highlighting them in the duo’s visors. Bashir forged ahead, leading with his shoulder so he could blade through the knots of people congesting the streets in every direction.

Sidestepping toward Nar, he was surprised when she turned away from him and started wending her way through the gray sea of pedestrians. Bashir and Sarina walked faster and risked elbowing and bustling a few people to catch up to Nar.

As soon as they were within arm’s reach of her, Nar said without looking back, “Walk behind me and say nothing.” She led them onto a sidewalk where the foot traffic was moving more briskly, and they walked quickly to keep up with her. “The two of you should be free and clear to move, but I have been compromised.” They followed her around a turn onto another equally jam-packed boulevard. “I had your credentials delivered by confidential courier to deposit boxes under your new names, at the Bank of Ferenginar branch on Level Thirty-seven, Padlon Sector, Commerce Row. Good luck.” Nar changed direction without warning and cut across the street. The last thing she said that Bashir heard over the white noise of the crowd was, “Do not try to follow me.”

Bashir and Sarina continued walking in the same direction they had been, and neither risked looking back. They were a block away when they heard sirens and a commotion that quelled the hubbub of the street, but the interlude passed in less than a minute, and then urban clamor rushed like water to fill the sonic void.

A dark mood turned Bashir silent and melancholy. Nar had trusted him and Sarina, and it grieved him to think Nar would come to harm because of them, but there was nothing he could do now to help her. Nothing except go forward.

It wasn’t until he and Sarina reached the Bank of Ferenginar that he realized neither of them had really been leading the other; he and Sarina both

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.