Damn.The subspace interference must have hidden their approach. But what are they doing here?“Hail them. Lavena, move us away from the Entities.”
A moment later, Qui’hibra’s face appeared on the screen. “Elder Qui’hibra,” Riker said. “You were supposed to be meeting Commander Troi at the Proplydian.”
“We saw you taking on the branchers, Riker. It is an unwise thing to do alone.”
“We’re managing just fine, thanks.”
“So it would seem. I am curious to know how you got them to stop. Once we arrive, you can demonstrate your method.”
Riker was reluctant to show them something that could so easily be used to kill the Crystalline—oh, hell, the branchers. “I think it’s more important to resume negotiations with the star-jellies. Commander Troi will be—”
Will!She was there, in his mind. She was nearby. They have me. It’s a trap!
Riker cursed himself for letting it throw him off. Qui’hibra’s raptor eyes missed nothing; he knew Riker had been alerted. “Commander Troi is my prisoner.”He gestured to someone offscreen, and a Fethet guard appeared, pulling Deanna roughly into frame. “This can be easy, Riker, if you give me the sensor and shield data you gave the skymounts.”He paused, and proceeded with a grimace. “Refuse, and Troi will suffer. Continue to refuse, and she will die, and we will take your ship. You cannot beat all of us, Riker. This will end with us having the information we want. Your choice is only of whether you, your crew and your wife are still intact afterward.”
“I can’t believe you’d hide behind a hostage, Qui’hibra!” Riker barked. “You’re a hunter, a warrior. This kind of cowardly tactic is beneath you.”
That might have worked on a Klingon, but not here. “I am a hound of the Spirit. I do whatever I must to survive and to stand against the chaos. And I will kill your wife today if it will save worlds in the future.”
Imzadi!Riker wanted to do anything to save her. But he saw the look in her eyes. If he traded the star-jellies’ lives for hers, she would never forgive herself. Her thoughts came to him. It’s all right, Imzadi. Even a day together would have been enough.
Steeling himself, he spoke. “Starfleet officers are trained to accept death before putting innocent lives in danger. I will destroy this ship myself before I let you have that information.”
“Your nobility is foolish, Riker! Survival trumps all else. That is why I do this. That is why you should give me what I want, rather than letting your wife endure what I must otherwise inflict on her. It may interest you to know that the Fethetrit consider it an art form and a sport to dismember and consume their prey while prolonging its life and consciousness as long as they are able. Riathrek here has won trophies.”
Riker traded another aching look with Deanna. “Please give me a moment,” he asked Qui’hibra.
“Do not take long. Riathrek is impatient.”
“Mute audio,” Riker said, then turned to Kuu’iut. “Can we beam her out?”
The Betelgeusian shook his hairless blue head, gnashing his teeth. “They’re generating a lambda hyperon field. Transporters won’t work.”
Their Vomnin scientists must have devised a countermeasure to the jellies’ teleport beams. What if they could figure out the rest on their own, Riker wondered? What if he sacrificed Deanna and his crew for nothing?
But then another beeping interrupted his deliberations. “More contacts approaching,” Kuu’iut said. “It’s the star-jellies!”
“Elder!” called Qui’shoqai. “A school of armored skymounts has just emerged from warp! They are closing on us!”
Deanna didn’t need to hear the words. She had sensed their arrival. Sister/Self! We have come for you!
No! Don’t endanger yourselves!But they were determined—and very confident.
Qui’hibra was confident too. “They can do nothing. The hyperon field will block their teleport beams, and they will not fire on their dead.”
“Still, they approach,” Qui’shoqai said. “Should we fire?”
“Let them try their attack first. Let them see how futile it is. Hail Titan.”A moment later, the channel opened again. “Riker—do not use this distraction as an excuse to strike. Remember what fate awaits your wife.”
It frustrated Deanna to be so helpless. There was a time to yield, and this wasn’t it. “Qui’hibra, you know this course is wrong. Let me go, and we can still work out a peace with the jellies.”
“Silence her!” At the elder’s command, Riathrek clapped his huge hand over her face, with nearly enough force to break her nose. She struggled to breathe.
“What are they doing?” That was Se’hraqua.
“They are bracketing us, above and below,” Qui’shoqai reported. “It is like…”
“Like their funeral rites,” Qui’hibra roared. “Fire on them! Break free, now!”
But it was too late. Even as the elder spoke, Deanna felt the jellies’ somber satisfaction as they linked with the distortion generators aboard this one and began drawing out their energy. Almost immediately, the shipboard gravity field began to fluctuate and diminish, causing many of the hunters to lose their balance and fall. Luckily for them, the fall was growing gentler by the moment. Those who retained their balance grabbed at their controls, but the skymount’s power was fading, the controls giving little response.
“Remain calm!” Qui’hibra commanded. “Sting team, dig in your talons and open fire! Power teams, divert whatever you can to stings!”
But Riathrek was not remaining calm. The Fethet was alarmed and unsure of himself, and his grip upon her loosened. Though her arms were bound behind her, she was not helpless. As the gravity continued to fall, she used a mok’baramove to break his hold, then swiftly kicked off the deck, propelling herself above the compass of his meaty arms before he could fold them shut around her. Flipping herself over, she pulled in her knees and kicked out hard at his bear-wolf muzzle.
The force of it was not enough to do any real damage, but with less gravity to give him traction, it knocked him back off his feet. Meanwhile, since her mass was considerably less than his, her acceleration was greater, so she soared across the room, well away from her captor. Her aim had been good enough that she collided with Qui’shoqai and knocked him away from his controls. The collision bounced her back away from him and she settled gently to the floor, her weight reduced almost to nothing. She pushed herself up into midair to be ready for an attack.
But then she felt a presence in her mind. Tuvok!The meld had reestablished itself. His mind had actively sought hers out—and there were more minds too, the jellies, merged with his. We have you now, Commander/sister/self. You are safe.
She felt what was going to happen, felt the connection throughout her body. Of course—the jellies’ transporter beams were part telekinetic. A strong enough psionic link gave them a lock that could overcome the hyperonic interference. (Was that reasoning coming from her own mind, or from Tuvok’s?) Their awareness pervaded her, knew her every atom. In essence, they locked onto her from inside, and no outside interference could block that. Their love filled her, dissolved her, and then she was with them once again.
“Commander!” Keru was there, reaching down to help her to her feet. For an instant she almost recoiled from the huge, hirsute Trill, having a flashback to Riathrek. But she gathered herself, and realizing that the jellies had not beamed her shackles along with her, she grabbed his hand and pulled herself up.
“Can they send us back?” she demanded of Tuvok. “Me and the security team?”