Star Trek: New Frontier - 016 - Missing in Action by Peter David

Author:Peter David [David, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure, Star Trek Fiction, Life on Other Planets, Space Ships, Interstellar Travel, Ship Captains, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fiction - Science Fiction, Science Fiction - Star Trek, Science Fiction - Space Opera, Science Fiction - General, American Science Fiction And Fantasy
ISBN: 9780743429597
Google: DUr100rBZjwC
Amazon: 0743429591
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2006-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

The Spectre

In her private quarters, Soleta stared at the bottle of schnapps that Kat Mueller had given her as a parting gift. It had caught Soleta completely off guard, because she had been quite certain that Mueller had despised her and the decisions that she had made.

“I did and do,” Mueller had informed her. “However, having given a lot of thought to your predicament, I’ve decided that you can use this,” and she had held up the bottle, “far more than I can.”

Now Soleta placed it carefully upon the top of her desk and then sat down, resting her chin upon her fingers and staring fixedly at the bottle. She admired the contours of the bottle, the general curves of its shape. It was strange. For all the time that she served aboard the Excalibur during the same period as Mueller, she’d never really had all that much involvement with her. She’d spent some time with her during the entire incident with the godlike beings who had seduced Soleta into their way of life. But ultimately, she had no sense of attachment to Mueller, and furthermore, Mueller had grilled her pretty thoroughly during her recent time as a “guest” on the Trident.

Yet, curiously, the bottle symbolized a bizarre attachment to Mueller that Soleta felt would be surrendered if she cracked it open.

She had no idea why she would feel any need for an attachment to Mueller, or anyone else for that matter…

Yes, you do. You know perfectly well. It’s because you haven’t the faintest idea what the hell to do or who to trust.

There was a chime at the door. Soleta looked at the closed portal for a moment, and her fingers strayed toward the disruptor she wore on her hip. Basic logic told her that if her people were about to stage a coup of some kind, they wouldn’t ring the bell. They’d charge in, try to catch her by surprise.

Then again, what better way to catch her by surprise than to pretend that business was proceeding as usual?

You’re going to make yourself insane if you keep this up. Just proceed as normal, and remain cautious.

She gripped the butt of her disruptor, the careful gesture obscured by her desk, and said cautiously, “Come.”

The doors slid open and Lucius entered, his shoulders square and his bearing formal. But there was far more concern in his eyes than Soleta had ever seen before. He actually looked…dare she say it…nervous. The question, of course, was: What precisely was he nervous about?

Perhaps he was still trying to process everything that she had told them. Upon returning to the Spectre and setting out from the Trident, she had informed the crew of all that Mueller had told her. At first there were gasps of disbelief, and several of her crew insisted that Mueller was deliberately misleading them. There was no way, they told her, that the Remans could possibly mount such a coup. Soleta quickly realized that their opinions were shaped by decades, if not centuries, of prejudice.

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