“Affirm/aver this to be so,” said the creature.
Yes,Shar thought, glancing back at Bowers, whose eyes were beginning to narrow with suspicion. McCallum merely stood by, holding his phaser and looking bewildered.
“I would like to know why,” the tactical officer said to the D’Naali, “you seem so sure about that.”
Shar tapped his combadge. “Ensign ch’Thane to Commander Vaughn.”
“Vaughn here,”came the curt response. “We’re a bitbusy at the moment, Ensign.”The ship shook yet again, as though to underscore the commander’s words.
Shar winced inwardly, recalling his zhavey’s frequent tongue-lashings over far more trivial matters. “I don’t think this can wait, sir.”
“Then make it good, Mister.”
* * *
After listening to Shar’s bare-bones report, Vaughn ordered Tenmei to fall back another twenty million kilometers sunward. Undeterred, the Nyazen flotilla continued its dogged pursuit.
“They’re rapidly closing to weapons range again,” Merimark said from the tactical station, her tone losing a bit of its customary professional detachment. “Pulse phaser cannons are still off-line from the last salvos.”
“Propulsion?” Vaughn asked.
“Warp and impulse both available,” Merimark reported. “As long as we don’t take any more damage, that is. Ensign VanBuskirk reports that the last hits effectively wiped out the cloaking-device repairs that were in progress.”
Vaughn wasn’t surprised. A working cloaking device would have been far too much to ask for. “Look sharp, Ensign Merimark. Ensign Tenmei, I want you to be ready to warp us out of this system on my order.”
Tenmei cast a quizzical glance over her shoulder. “Sir?”
“That’s only as a last resort, Ensign. I’m notabandoning our away team while there’s an alternative.”
“Captain, we can’t survive another sustained, simultaneous assault from all nine ships,” Tenmei observed with a frown.
Vaughn smiled humorlessly, recalling the discovery Shar had just related to him. “Somehow I don’t think we’ll have to.”
“I’ve got several more incoming bogeys on the long-range scanners, sir,” Merimark reported.
Vaughn hoped that was good news. “How many?”
“Eleven. No, twelve. They’ve just dropped out of low warp speed. Quickly closing on our position.”
Stroking his beard, Vaughn grunted in acknowledgment. “Let me see them.” An instant later, several long, gracefully tapered vessels appeared on the viewer.
D’Naali,Vaughn thought, picking out a particular ship from the group. Its distinctive pattern of hull scorches positively identified it as the vessel from which Sacagawea had come.
He heard the turbolift doors whoosh open behind him, and turned his chair toward the sound. Shar and Bowers stepped onto the bridge, flanking Sacagawea. The tall, insectile alien adopted a slouched-over, splayed-legged stance to accommodate the bridge’s relatively low ceiling.
“Keep a close eye on him, Mr. Bowers,” Vaughn said.
“The D’Naali are powering up their weapons,” Merimark reported, her tone wary.
A split second later the bridge viewer showed bright bluish pulses of energy issuing from the prows of several of the newly arrived vessels. But the Defiantwasn’t their target. The bursts struck the bulbous hulls of the lead Nyazen ships, who promptly returned fire. Compression disruptors again,Vaughn observed silently. Relatively low-power stuff, on both sides.
The battle unfolded quickly, and was decidedly one-sided. Although the weaponry of both sides was essentially equivalent, the newly arrived D’Naali fleet was stronger in both numbers and, apparently, in energy reserves.
“The Nyazen are breaking off,” Tenmei reported. “Most of them are now on a direct heading for the alien cathedral. Several of the D’Naali are pursuing.”
“Sometimes the cavalry really doescome riding over the hill in the proverbial nick,” Bowers said, still standing vigilantly beside Sacagawea and Shar.
Vaughn turned his chair toward the tactical station. “Hail the D’Naali flagship, Ensign Merimark.”
Merimark was already listening intently to something on her earpiece. “Sir, the lead vessel is already hailing us.”
A moment later the buglike face of a D’Naali commander appeared on the viewer. Vaughn wasn’t absolutely certain this was the same being with whom he had spoken previously. They all looked remarkably similar, and Vaughn was willing to bet that they harbored precisely the same notion about humans.
“Thanking us not required/needful,”the alien began. “But your help/assistance we could accept/use in the now/futuretime.”
“How can we assist you?”
“Most impressed/astonished were we to discover/ learn of your mattermover, with which your crew/people came/went to/from our vessel—and later/subsequently gained cathedral/anathema ingress.”
Vaughn’s initial impulse was one of anger, but he reined it in, reminding himself that these beings weren’t human, or even humanoid. He had to make allowances for their culture, particularly in view of the difficulties that still existed in simply communicating with them. Nevertheless, Shar’s report that Sacagawea had somehow informed his people of the beam-in to the cathedral was obviously right on the money.
Vaughn made a slashing gesture toward Merimark, who responded by cutting the audio channel. The alien commander’s face remained on the screen as Vaughn turned toward Bowers and Shar. “How did Sacagawea report to his people, gentlemen? I presume he was searched and scanned for transmitters when he first came aboard.”
“He was, sir,” Bowers said, obviously at a loss. “We didn’t find anything.”
“We obviously missed something,”Vaughn said, wondering how the universal translator might mangle the D’Naali word for “spy.”
“I stumbled across this inadvertently only a few minutes ago, Captain,” Shar said, gesturing toward his antennae. “The D’Naali evidently possess an internal electromagnetic organ that enables them to communicate nonverbally on the lower-energy subspace bands. We never detected it because no one thought to monitor the long-wavelength channels.”
Vaughn couldn’t conceal his surprise. “You’re saying they’re…subspace telepaths?”
“Essentially,” Shar said, nodding toward the alien visage on the screen. “And as such, they probably aren’t being deterred by interrupting our audio feed.”
Damn! Of course. The D’Naali commander is hearing everything we’re saying—through Sacagawea.Vaughn gestured toward Merimark, who immediately restored the audio link with the D’Naali ship.
“Hear/perceive me enabled?”the alien captain was saying. “Relieved/gratified am I that hearing/audition/ reception is restored.”
“I can hear you quite well,” Vaughn said, coming to a decision. Whether the D’Naali had intended to commit espionage aboard the Defiantor not, there was no reason to allow it to continue. “We thank you for allowing Sacagawea to act as our guide.”
“Ryek’ekbalabiozan’voslu assures/attests that his time interval aboard/within your vessel has been enjoyable/profitable/instructive.”
Vaughn smiled at the alien commander, whose casual mention of communications with Sacagawea made it appear that the D’Naali had no treacherous intentions. “We are prepared to beam him back to you any time. Now, if you wish.”
The D’Naali commander made a gesture resembling a shrug. “Not urgency, Ryek’ekbalabiozan’voslu’s return/recovery. Far more interest/desire in matters other/ different. Now/presently, we need/require use of your mattermover device/machine. And your new scheme/ plan for enhancing/increasing its capability/power. Such machine/method we D’Naali could put to virtuous/appropriate use.”