“Well, that’s what I always say,” the guard replied slowly.
“Excellent.”
“Though come to think of it, I just say that because it’s what my wife thinks. And that’s appeal to authority, right? Which is a fallacy. Besides, she’s not here, is she?” The guard raised his gun again. “Me, I’ve always been a believer in the appeal to force.”
Luckily, Tuvok had distracted the guard long enough for Hriss to come up behind him and inject another dose of tranquilizer. “I thought you had him on the ropes for a moment there, sir,” the Caitian told him.
“Thank you, Ensign. Unfortunately, membership in a philosophically driven society does not guarantee an inquisitive spirit.” He sighed. “I believe I now understand the human saying that one should avoid entering into a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. Especially one who is armed in a more literal sense.”
Tuvok made his way to the maternity ward doors, which were sealed off from within. His team came in behind him, phasers at the ready. “Doctor Ree!” he called. “This is Commander Tuvok. Please respond.”
“Tuvok!” The voice was Troi’s. But before she could say anything more, the doctor’s raspy, sibilant voice emerged.
“Welcome to Hvov Memorial, Commander,” Ree said. “I’m afraid I can’t invite you in. Counselor Troi’s contractions are arriving closer together. I believe first-stage labor is imminent, and I must keep my patients safe. I assume you and your companions have weapons, and that cannot be tolerated. If you’ll please wait outside? Outside the hospital, that is. I imagine the local constabulary would gladly extend their hospitality. They’ve been trying to get me to accept their invitation all day.”
“Doctor. I understand why you are doing this. You feel compelled to protect the baby. I can assure you we all share that priority. I give you my word as a Vulcan that I will allow no harm to come to the child.”
“Forgive me, Commander, but that offer would be more credible if your identity as a Vulcan were more stable.”
Tuvok suppressed a wince. “Then I give you my word as a father.”
“A father who cannot keep his own children safe?”
That was an even lower blow. Ree’s outward courtesy masked a vicious streak in more ways than one. And if he was trying to anger Tuvok, he was coming close to success. “Can you guarantee that you can keep the child safe?” Tuvok replied with some heat.
Something heavy slammed against the door. Tuvok could see the shape of Ree’s elongated head through the frosted glass, his rapid breaths fogging it further. “You doubt me too? That is my purpose!I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks—I will not let anything happen to this child! Not again!”
Tuvok’s eyes widened. Processing this new informa tion, he began to arrive at a deeper understanding of the situation. “Doctor Ree. I would like to speak to Counselor Troi.”
“You may not enter.”
“I believe she can hear me from here. I wish only to speak. You may listen.”
Ree gave an uncertain growl. “Very well. But briefly.”
“Tuvok? I’m here,” came Troi’s voice. “Alyssa and I are all right.”
“I am pleased to hear it,” he called. “Counselor, do you have an understanding of what has precipitated the current situation?”
After a moment, Troi said, “Yes. Ree’s in guardian mode. My fear for the baby triggered it.”
“Exacerbated, no doubt, by my own enduring grief. I apologize for my role in this.”
“It’s not your fault, Tuvok. I’m the catalyst here.”
“But does it not seem to you that the effect should have worn off by now?”
There was a pause. Tuvok could sense her uncertainty, her fear of saying the wrong thing with Ree listening. This close to term, her hormones were intensifying her empathic projections. “After all,” he went on, prompting her, “with the imminent threat to your child gone, should not the impetus for his…protectiveness have subsided as well?”
She responded slowly. “I…assumed it was my anxiety at being held hostage that was feeding back onto him.”
“Except that the one thing he has surely made quite clear to you is that he will not harm your child. Have you not, Doctor?”
“It is my highest priority. The counselor is aware of that.”
Troi gave a heavy sigh. “He’s talked about nothing else for days.”
“As though,” suggested Tuvok, “he has something to prove to you?”
Silence filled the ward for a time. Troi’s emotions were ambiguous. “Tuvok, what are you saying?” she finally asked.
“The fact is, Doctor Ree did not save your first child, did he?”
“It was a spontaneous miscarriage!” Ree cried. “There was nothing I could do. I had no warning.”
“But you did have warning, early in this child’s term. You determined that she would die and might kill the counselor in the process.”
“Yes.”
“Counselor Troi. I would like you to answer my next question. What did Doctor Ree suggest as the solution?”
He felt her anger at him for dredging this up. “He wanted to terminate the fetus.”
“Which you refused.”
“Yes!”
“You could not bear to lose another child.”
“Yes!”
“And you hated him for wanting to kill the child.”
“I—no. No, Ree, I understood.”
“Did you?” Tuvok demanded, letting his own emotions color his voice. “Could any parent truly accept such a suggestion with total equanimity?”