Sprinting up the stairs that led to Defiant’s docking bay, Vaughn saw the problem immediately. Just as Nog had reported, a squadron of armed, uniformed Yrythny soldiers blocked the ship’s airlock. Nog was huddled with several engineers some distance away. The chief engineer’s face relaxed visibly when he saw his CO; Vaughn hoped the situation hadn’t worsened since he left his quarters.
“Report, Lieutenant.”
Nog launched into his story at once. “I arrived at 0600 to resume command of the repair team, accompanied, as you can see by Ensign Senkowski, Ensign Leishman, and Ensign Gordimer.”
At mention of their names, auburn-haired Senkowski, smiley Leishman and stocky Gordimer in succession, straightened up and nodded a polite acknowledgment to their commander.
Nog continued, “We discovered the troops you see here blocking the airlock; they denied us access to the Defiant.Lieutenant McCallum, Ensign Merimark, Ensign Permenter, and Crewman M’Nok are still aboard. I’ve already contacted them and they haven’t been threatened, or had their work interfered with. They didn’t even know they were trapped inside until I told them.”
“What do these guards have to say?”
“Nothing, sir, except that they’re acting under orders to secure the ship.”
There must be a point to this. Even implied threats aren’t arbitrary.“Have you contacted the Yrythny authorities?” If Vaughn were to guess, he’d assume that one of their friendly dinner companions was responsible for their armed visitors.
“Sir, we’ve tried to raise our concerns with the Yrythny government, but our inquiries have been rerouted, ignored or gone unacknowledged,” Nog said.
I just bet they have,Vaughn thought. They want us to stew in our worry a little longer. Makes us more pliable, more readily agreeable to their demands when they finally get around to making them.
“And for that, I apologize, Lieutenant Nog,” Assembly Chair Rashoh’s rumbling voice came from behind them. “I had hoped to contact you myself, Commander, before your engineers arrived for duty this morning, but obviously my good intentions came to naught.”
So you’ve decided we’ve waited long enough, or you’ve grown impatient. Which one is it?“As you say Assembly Chair,” Vaughn said placidly, turning to face Rashoh and his party. None of their identities surprised him, just the failure to bring their token Lower Assembly member, Keren, along as a spectator. Accompanying the Assembly Chair were Vice Chair Jeshoh and another Yrythny official Vaughn didn’t recall meeting. He considered them cautiously, wondering what ill tidings they brought. “Imagine my concern at discovering my crew had been denied access to ourship.” Let the games begin…
“Yourship, certainly,” the Assembly Chair said with a toothy smile, his never-blinking eyes glinting like obsidian. “As your lieutenant has no doubt reported to you, we haven’t violated your sovereignty and boarded your vessel. Rather, we have some concerns that we wanted to discuss.”
“Concerns?” Vaughn raised an eyebrow. What trumped-up excuses have you spent the night dreaming up?He offered Rashoh a warm smile of his own.
“The radiation contamination inside is immense. We require assurance that our own people won’t be impacted,” the Assembly Chair said soberly.
Vaughn smiled tightly at Rashoh. “Mister Nog?”
Taking his cue, Nog opened his tricorder and panned it in the direction of the airlock. After a moment he turned back to Vaughn and held up the results of his scan.
To Rashoh, Vaughn said, “I encourage you to verify these findings with your own instruments, but according to this, you and your people have nothing to fear.”
A pointy-faced Yrythny wearing billowing muted green pants and a gaudy macramé headpiece stepped forward with outturned feet, bowed, and said in a hesitant voice, “I am Science Minister M’Yeoh. Let me come to the point, Commander.”
“By all means,” Vaughn said pleasantly.
Threading his lengthy, bony fingers together and flexing his fingers rhythmically—as one might tap one’s toes—Minister M’Yeoh waddled closer to Vaughn. “As I see it, you have three options,” he said. “Clearly, your ship can’t fly or sustain life for long. Should”—he gulped—“you decide that it’s irreparable you might wish to trade your ship for one of ours. Or you might decide that our world suits you as a place to rest temporarily. Perhaps contact your own people in the Alpha Quadrant and wait for them to come and bring you home.”
“Or they can repair the Defiantusing our resources—personnel, raw materials and so forth,” Jeshoh interjected. “As we promisedour guests yesterday.”
At least Jeshoh’s not pretending to go along with this charade.“Vice Chair Jeshoh offers the only option I’m willing to take,” Vaughn said, waiting for the word he felt certain would follow.
“But that’s our problem, Commander.”
There it is,Vaughn thought ruefully. The “but.”Would that someday sentient nature surprised him even a little, but it often seemed as if all species—all thinking beings—functioned on similar paradigms, even this far from home.
Assembly Chair Rashoh clucked, jiggling the pockets of skin hanging off his jaw. “We want to be generous with you, but the reports from your chief technologist indicate that your ship will require extensive—and expensive—resources. Much of what you need we obtain from foreign trade, and as we’ve already explained, our conflict with the Cheka has limited our supply runs. How can we possibly give you what you need without risking shortages to our own vessels?” Assembly Chair Rashoh’s sad expression lingered on Vaughn for a long moment, allowing his words to hang in the air.
“I understand completely,” Vaughn said. “Would you consider a trade?”
Smiling, the Assembly Chair took Vaughn by the elbows. “I believe we would be open to such a proposal.”
“Hmmm. I have some suggestions, but perhaps you have something in mind?”
M’Yeoh said, “We’ve reviewed this model for a defensive weapon that your Lieutenant Nog designed and found it has merit. But like you, we lack a raw material suitable for construction of the femtobots.”
Hearing mention of his work on the defense system, Nog sidled up close to M’Yeoh. Vaughn had momentary concerns about how the Yrythny government had been privy to Nog’s technological innovations, but then he recalled that a group of engineers from the Avarilhad asked if they could help out. In spite of their rough first contact, the Yrythny engineers had bonded with Nog and his staff.
“Among the trade avenues still open to us, we have a membership in a matter Consortium several sectors away that deals in unique and rare materials,” the Assembly Chair explained.
“Matter Consortium?” Vaughn asked.
“A nexus of free trade situated near a natural particle fountain in this sector. The Consortium harvests the outflows of the particle fountain. The matter emerging from the fountain has undergone intense gravitational pressure and temperature fluctuations. Its molecular and subatomic structure is fundamentally altered by these forces. We believe it will meet your requirements.”
Nog was rapt with attention. Technology that facilitated particle fountain mining, while found in the Federation, such as the one at Tyrus VIIA, was still primarily experimental. Vaughn could see the cogs in his mind spinning furiously as he processed Rashoh’s words. When Nog leaned forward, as if he were preparing to question the Assembly Chair, Vaughn touched his shoulder, wanting him to hold back until he had the complete picture.