Star Trek: New Frontier - 017 - Treason by Peter David

Author:Peter David [David, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure, Star Trek Fiction
ISBN: 0743429613
Google: OzDJMRSxFjcC
Amazon: B001NLKT6U
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 2009-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Starship Excalibur

i.

The moment Calhoun strode into the conference lounge where Xyon and Kalinda were waiting for him, he knew something was off. Kalinda typically sat in a very relaxed manner, looking with interest at the world around her as if she were seeing things that no one else was able to perceive. This was, as Calhoun knew, quite likely the case.

This time, though,Žhat when he saw her, Kalinda was sitting stiffly with her shoulders squared, gazing fixedly at the doorway so that she was looking straight at Calhoun when he entered. Upon the captain’s doing so, Kalinda got to her feet, her spine perfectly straight, her chin held high. She acted as if she were looking down on Calhoun from a much higher posture even though she was a head shorter. “Greetings, Captain,” she said. “I regret the unusual circumstances of this latest encounter.”

Xyon was seated with his feet up on the conference lounge table, as was his custom. As was his custom, Calhoun swatted Xyon’s feet off the table. “What the hell have you gotten me into?” said Xyon.

“I thought I had left matters in a satisfactory manner to all concerned. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“Well, to begin with, Kalinda has been possessed by the ghost of Si Cwan.”

Calhoun looked from Xyon to Kalinda and back again. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t know that I would have put it in that manner,” Kalinda said calmly. “It is a little more complicated than that. Unfortunately, it’s not anything I can readily explain.”

Calhoun stared at her, at a loss, for one of the few times in his life, as to how to proceed. “How inconvenient for both of us.”

“Inconvenient but nonetheless true. I am indeed Si Cwan. And I am here to save my son…except,” she added, “I perceive that I am too late. And it is your fault.”

“My fault?” Calhoun was more amused than annoyed at the charge. “How is it my fault?”

“Your vessel intercepted ours. Had I been allowed to pass unmolested, I might well have headed off the ship that took Cwansi. Instead your first officer insisted on escorting us here, when here is the last place I need to be.”

“And the first place is—?”

“With my son, of course,” she said matter-of-factly. Kalinda paused and then regarded Calhoun with what appeared to be sympathy. “Captain, I know this is a great deal to ask you to accept…”

“Oh, you think so?”

“But you of all people know that there are aspects of this universe that are beyond our comprehension.”

“Yes, I know. I know that there are new frontiers beyond those dreamed of even by Starfleet. On the other hand,” he said, circling the table, “I’m reminded of Occam’s razor, which states that the simplest explanation tends to be the correct one. So I ask you, which is more likely? That you are the spirit of a dead leader inhabiting the body of his sibling to warn us of danger? Or that you’re a troubled young girl who has simply gone over the edge?”

“It’s obviously the latter.

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