Soleta shook her head. "Not precisely. From archaeological records and the myths put forward by Si Cwan's people, the first of the Thallonians arrived in what we would call space arks. They were given provisions enough to last them a few months, plus materials to seed the ground and try to make a life for themselves there."
"Seed unfertile ground," Calhoun mused. "The parent race was all heart."
"Yeah, but apparently they weren't all-knowing." McHenry picked up the story. "The exiles were sent to a planet that had been described to them as inhospitable. But that's not what they discovered when they arrived there. The climate was fairly temperate, the world almost paradisiacal."
"Could they have arrived at the wrong planet?" asked Shelby.
"A logical conclusion," Soleta replied. "However, the coordinates for the intended homeworld of the criminals had been preset and locked into the ark's guidance systems. After all, the race didn't want to have their exiles taking control of the ship and heading off to whatever destination they chose. There do remain several possibilities. One is that the planet underwent some sort of atmospheric change. A shift in its axis, for example, causing alterations in the climate."
"Wouldn't that have changed the orbit and made the locating coordinates incorrect, though?" Shelby said.
"Yes," admitted Soleta. "Another possibility is that the present coordinates were simply wrong and they did not arrive at the intended world. Or perhaps someone within their race simply took pity on them and secretly made the change. It is frustrating to admit, but we simply do not know to a scientific certainty."
"What we do know," McHenry stepped in, "is that Thallon itself was an almost limitless supply of pure energy."
"Pure energy? I don't follow," Kebron said.
"Think of it as an entire world made of dilithium crystals," explained Soleta. "Not that it was dilithium per se, but that's the closest comparison. The ground is an energy-rich mineral unique to the world, all-purpose and versatile beyond anything that has ever been discovered elsewhere. The nutrients in it are such that anything planted in it grows. Anything.Pieces of the planet, when refined, were used to harness great tools of peace and growth . . ."
"And then, eventually, great tools of war," Mc-Henry said.
The tenor of the meeting seemed to change slightly, and when the mention of war came up, eyes seemed to shift to Si Cwan. He shrugged, almost as if indifferent. "It was before my time," he reminded them.
"With Thallon as their power base, they were able to launch conquest of neighboring worlds," McHenry said. "And then, once they had those worlds consolidated under their rule, they spread their influence and power to other nearby systems. In essence, they imitated the race which had deposited them there in the first place."
"What about this race you mentioned," asked Calhoun. "Was there a conflict with them? Did they ever return to Thallon and discover what they had wrought? Or did the Thallonians ever go looking for them?"
"No to the first, yes to the second," McHenry replied. "But they never found them. It's one of the great mysteries of Thallonian history."
"And great frustrations," Si Cwan put in.
"Understandable," Kebron rumbled. "Your ancestors wished to pay them back for the initial indignity of being dumped like refuse on another world."
"You see, Lieutenant Kebron," Si Cwan said with mild amusement, "you understand the Thallonians all too well. Perhaps we shall be fast friends, you and I.
" Kebron simply stared at him from the depths of his dark, hardened skin.
"The Thallonian homeworld has always been the source of the Thallonian strength, both physical and spiritual," said Soleta. "The events of the last weeks, including the collapse of their empire, may have been presaged by the change in the planet's own makeup. In recent decades, the planet seemed to lose much of its energy richness."
"Why?" asked Calhoun.
"Since the Thallonians were never able to fully explain how their world acquired its properties in the first place, there's understandably confusion as to why it would be deserting them now," said Soleta. "Still, the Thallonians might have been able to withstand those difficulties, if there had not been problems with various worlds within the Thallonian Empire."
"It was the Danteri," Si Cwan said darkly.
Calhoun seemed to stiffen upon the mention of the name. "You claimed that at the Enterprisemeeting, I understand. Do you have any basis for that?"
"The Danteri have always hungered to make inroads into our empire. They've made no secret of that, nor of their boastfulness. I believe that they instigated rebellion through carefully selected agents. If not for them, we could have—"
"Could have retained your power?"
"Perhaps, Captain. Perhaps."
"By the same token, isn't it possible," Calhoun said, leaning forward, fingers interlaced, "that the Danteri simply serve as a convenient excuse for the deficiencies in your own rule. That it was as a result of ineptitude among the rulers of the Thallonian Empire that the entire thing fell apart. That, in short . . . it was your own damned fault?"
There was dead silence in the room for a moment, and then, imperturbably, Si Cwan said once again, "Perhaps, Captain. Perhaps. We all have our limitations . . . and we all have beliefs which get us through the day. In that, I assume we are no different."
"Perhaps, Si Cwan. Perhaps," said Calhoun with a small smile.
Then Calhoun's comm unit beeped at him. He tapped it. "Calhoun here."
"Captain, this is Lefler. We're picking up a distress signal from a transport called the Cambon."
"Pipe it down here, Lieutenant."
There was a momentary pause, and then it came through the speaker. "This is the Cambon,"came a rough, hard-edged and angry voice, "Hufmin, Captain. We've sustained major damage in passing through the Lemax system. Engines out, life-support damaged. We have nearly four dozen passengers aboard—civilians, women and children—we need help." His voice seemed to choke on the word, as if it were an obscenity to them. "Repeating, to anyone who can hear . . . this is . . ." And then the signal ceased.
"Lefler, can we get them back?"
"We never had them, sir. We picked it up on an all-band frequency. He threw a note in a bottle and hoped someone would pick it up."
"Have we got a fix on their location?"
"I can track it back and get an approximate. If their engines are out, I can't pinpoint it precisely. On the other hand, they wouldn't have gone too far with no engine power."
"Our orders are to head straight for Thallon," Shelby pointed out.
Calhoun glanced at her. "Are you going to suggest that we ignore a ship in distress, Commander?"
There was only the briefest of pauses, and then Shelby replied, "Not for an instant, Captain. We're here for humanitarian efforts. It would be nothing short of barbaric to then ignore the first opportunity to deploy those efforts."
"Well said. McHenry, get up to the bridge and work with Lefler to find that ship. Get us there at fastest possible speed. Shelby—"
But she was already nodding, one step ahead of him as she tapped her comm unit. "Shelby to engine room."
"Engine room. Burgoyne here."
"Burgy, we're going to be firing up to maximum warp. You have everything ready to go?"
"For you, Commander? Anything. We're fully up to spec. Even I'm satisfied with it."