STAR TREK: The Lost Era - 2298 - The Sundered

by Michael A. Martin

  “Your story strains my credulity, Captain. Nothing living survives in a vacuum—even hardy beings such as ourselves quickly explode under such conditions. I believe that our diplomatic and political castes may have seriously misjudged the trustworthiness of your species. And that your apparent clash with the invaders is a mere ruse intended to conceal your true intentions.”

  Frustrating as it was, Sulu had to admit to himself that Yilskene was at least partly right. Excelsior’s imbroglio with the Neyel had been entirely incidental to Starfleet’s clandestine order that he reconnoiter the Tholian Assembly’s recent military buildup. In spite of that, Sulu somehow had to convince the admiral of the simple truth of the Federation’s overall benevolent intent.

  “Please speak plainly, Admiral,” Sulu said. “What do you believe our ‘true intentions’ are?”

  “I believe that you and the invaders are secret allies, Captain Sulu. And that your vessel’s unauthorized incursion on Tholian Assembly territory may be part of a joint invader-Terran plan to conquer my people and annex our worlds.”

  Still staying as close as he dared to the real truth, Sulu replied, “Prior to today, no Federation species—including humans—has had contact of any sort with the ‘invaders.’ I assure you, Admiral, their genetic similarities to humans are a complete mystery to us.”

  “Again, I find that assertion difficult to believe.”

  He’s hesitating, Sulu thought, continuing to keep his expression blank. If he truly believes everything he’s saying, he [188] ought to open fire. Or snap his energy web shut. There has to be a good reason why he’s holding back.

  Aloud, he said, “If what you’re saying were true, Admiral, then you would be justified in simply destroying us here and now.”

  The Tholian regarded him silently, and Sulu felt the level of tension on the bridge steadily escalating. To his crew’s credit, no one so much as murmured.

  “Indeed, I would be more than justified,” Yilskene said at length, evidently still contemplating his next move.

  Recalling Burgess’s earlier briefings on the Tholian social structure, Sulu pressed what he hoped would prove to be an advantage. “But that would require unilateral action on the part of the warrior caste, wouldn’t it? I think your counterparts in the political and diplomatic castes would have something to say about not being consulted before you did anything ... precipitous. Tell me, Admiral, is Ambassador Mosrene still aboard your vessel?”

  “Regrettably, we were unable to return him to Tholia prior to the advent of the current crisis.”

  “Then perhaps you should include the ambassador in this conversation. I am convinced that he knows far more about the Neyel—the ‘invaders’—than either of us do.” Sulu considered mentioning his belief that it was Neyel-related information that had motivated Mosrene to assassinate Kasrene, but decided against it.

  After another brief pause, Yilskene said, “I will confer with the diplomat presently, Captain. But if you attempt either to escape or attack us in the meantime, we will not hesitate to destroy you.”

  The screen abruptly went dark as Yilskene interrupted the transmission. His image was replaced by that of his aggressive-looking warship and the energy web that radiated from it.

  Sulu considered the deadly grid of energy that surrounded both his ship and the Neyel vessel. If necessary, [189] Excelsior’s shields might withstand a direct attempt to run the energy gauntlet. Then again, they might not, considering the beating they’d just taken; he sincerely hoped he wouldn’t have to find out the hard way.

  “What now?” Chekov asked.

  Sulu returned to the command chair and sat. “Now that the warriors have gotten the preliminaries out of the way, maybe it’s time to bring our diplomatic caste back into the proceedings.”

  Chekov shrugged. “Ambassador Burgess? I suppose crazier ideas have worked before.”

  “You don’t think she can make Yilskene see reason?”

  “I might be biased, but I don’t think she’s exactly the easiest person to get along with.”

  Sulu smiled grimly. “Maybe that’s why she was picked for this mission in the first place—she already has something in common with the Tholians.”

  By the time the two semi-anthropoid security guards finally agreed to conduct Aidan Burgess to the bridge to see the captain—an armed escort being necessary because the escaped Neyel still had yet to be recaptured—the Federation ambassador was in a stomping, crimson fury. Ever since the incident in the pathology lab, she had been under virtual house arrest in her quarters, ostensibly for the sake of her safety. When the ship went on red alert again, the security guard posted outside her quarters had evidently received orders not only to protect her from the unexpectedly resurrected Neyel, but also to keep her safely out of Captain Sulu’s hair for the duration of whatever new crisis had arisen.

  “What the hell is going on?” she demanded of Sulu before the bridge turbolift doors had even finished opening.

  “And a good afternoon to you, Ambassador,” Captain Sulu said, smiling as he turned his chair toward her and rose to his feet.

  [190] She fumed at his lighthearted manner. You’re only going to make it harder on yourself, Captain.

  “I need your help, Ambassador,” Sulu said.

  Burgess stopped in her tracks. She couldn’t have been more surprised if he had suddenly dropped to one knee and made an earnest proposal of marriage. Things must really be getting desperate up here.

  “What’s happened?” Burgess wanted to know.

  Chekov stepped away from the console at which Commander Rand was seated and approached Burgess. “Here’s the short version, Ambassador: Admiral Yilskene thinks we’re in league with the Neyel.”

  “And he’s seriously considering destroying us,” Sulu added with no discernible emotion. “We’re currently snared in a Tholian energy web, along with the Neyel ship.”

  She swallowed. “Oh. I thought for a minute something really serious might have come up.”

  The glowering young Vulcan rose from an upper-level console to address Sulu. “Captain, I have conferred with Commander Azleya. She and her senior engineers concur with my opinion that we can disable the Tholian energy web by channeling warp power through the deflector grid. If, as our sensor scans indicate, Yilskene’s ships cannot match our maximum speed, we can effect an escape before they can bring any of their weapons to bear.”

  “Are you insane?” Burgess roared. “We don’t want to provoke them any further.”

  “The Tholians have already initiated hostilities by deploying their energy web,” the Vulcan replied evenly. “Provocation is hardly an issue now.”

  “Since we’re the ones who are guilty of espionage and trespassing, Lieutenant, it seems to me that we’ve already given them more than enough reason to distrust us.” Burgess whirled on Sulu, her hands balled into fists. “Surely you can’t actually be considering running away like a band of pirates.”

  [191] The captain held up both hands, as if to placate both Burgess and his aggressive young officer simultaneously. “Stand down, Mr. Tuvok. We’re going to have to play our hand the ambassador’s way.”

  Tuvok focused his steely gaze on the captain. “Breaking the Tholian web and running may be our best and only hope of survival.”

  “Maybe,” Sulu said, apparently not angered in the least at Tuvok’s near insubordination. “But it would be pretty shoddy diplomacy, Tuvok. We’re not here to start a war. Besides, I have no intention of leaving the crew of that Neyel ship to Yilskene’s tender mercies. I won’t simply abandon these human offshoots before we’ve even found out how they got out here and what they want. So we’re staying put.”

  Burgess stared at Sulu, her eyes wide with surprise. All this time, she had pegged him as an old-guard officer of the shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later school. The universe certainly contains no end of wonders.

  Then she reminded herself that this was the same man who had tried to conceal his military espionage mission fr
om her while she had been trying to negotiate in good faith with the Tholians.

  Sulu lowered his hands and approached her. “Ambassador Mosrene is still aboard the Jeb’v Tholis. We were hoping that the two of you might be able to buy us some time to find a peaceful way out of this crisis.”

  Burgess nodded. “All right. Let’s do it.” No pressure.

  Sulu smiled. “Hail them, Commander Rand.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  As Rand set about her work, Burgess turned to face the viewer. Sulu and Chekov stood on either side of her. A moment later, a pair of larger-than-life Tholians were regarding them with their unfathomable crystalline expressions.

  “Ambassador Mosrene,” Burgess said, addressing the figure on the left. “I must speak with you. It is imperative that [192] you understand that our mission here is a peaceful one—and that we are not allied with your colony’s ... antagonists.”

  Mosrene’s white eyespots were twin geodes set inside a face like that of a stone cobra. “You have always dealt honestly with us, Ambassador. I believe you. However, my belief is not the decisive factor in this situation. The preponderance of the evidence—your illegal presence in our space, Captain Sulu’s espionage activities, and your apparent genetic oneness with our foes—supports Admiral Yilskene’s contention that you harbor ulterior motives inimical to the security of the Tholian Assembly.”

  Burgess found that it took a supreme effort of will not to scowl at Sulu, whose Starfleet-issue subterfuge was largely responsible for this mess.

  Keeping her eyes on Mosrene, she said, “With your permission, we would like an opportunity to gather evidence of our innocence.”

  “I would welcome any such evidence,” said Mosrene.

  “We’ll need time,” Sulu interjected.

  Yilskene finally broke his silence. “Very well, Captain Sulu. In the interests of the nascent peace between our two civilizations, I will grant you twelve of your hours to persuade me that you are not allied with the invaders.

  “Should you fail to do so by that time, I will destroy both your vessel and that of your invader confederates.”

  The Tholians abruptly vanished from the screen.

  Chekov interrupted the long wordless interval that followed. “Twelve hours will give Yilskene plenty of time to call up reinforcements.”

  Looking pensive, Sulu nodded. “No doubt.”

  “And the commanders of those ships won’t necessarily be bound by Yilskene’s bargain with us.”

  “Maybe,” Sulu said. “But at least we’ve bought a little time for ourselves. And for the Neyel.”

  “Do we really want to concern ourselves about what [193] happens to the Neyel?” Chekov said. “We might not have the luxury of saving our hides and theirs both.”

  Burgess scowled. “We can’t just abandon them out here, Commander. They’re us.”

  Sulu nodded again, though with apparent reluctance. “Again, Ambassador Burgess is right, Pavel. Like it or not, the Neyel are human. Or at least they used to be, once upon a time. And that makes whatever they do—and whatever the Tholians may do to them—our responsibility.”

  In spite of herself, Burgess felt a smile slowly spreading across her face—even as she watched the frown forming on Chekov’s. “Captain Sulu, perhaps we actually are playing on the same team after all,” she said.

  Sulu chuckled, though the sound conveyed little mirth. “Welcome aboard, Ambassador. Now we just have to figure out how to prove our good intentions to the Tholians.”

  “We should begin by questioning the Neyel who rose from the dead today,” Burgess said.

  Sulu nodded. “I agree. But first we need to find him and contain him. My chief of security is seeing to that as we speak.”

  “If we didn’t have a working relationship with the Neyel before, Yilskene has certainly given us a good reason to forge one now,” Chekov said.

  As backward as that sounded, it made a certain amount of sense to Burgess. Why not try to make peace both with the Neyel and with the Tholians?

  Tuvok paced from his station on the upper bridge and entered the lower, central area. He came to a stop beside Sulu’s chair, pointedly ignoring Burgess.

  “Something on your mind, Mr. Tuvok?” said Sulu.

  “Any effort to exculpate us in the eyes of Admiral Yilskene and Ambassador Mosrene may be doomed to failure from the outset, Captain.”

  “Why?” Sulu asked. “True, we’ve violated their space, [194] and that doesn’t look good in their eyes. But our overall intent as well as our actions have been benevolent.”

  “But you are proposing to convince the Tholians that we have never been allies of the Neyel,” Tuvok said.

  “That’s about the size of it,” Sulu said, nodding. “And it’s the truth.”

  “Nevertheless, I am constrained to point out that this plan is built upon a fundamentally illogical premise.”

  Burgess, Sulu, and Chekov all looked questioningly at the science officer.

  “And that is?” Sulu asked.

  Tuvok lifted an eyebrow in evident surprise, as though his observation should have been intuitively obvious. “Whether one has twelve hours or twelve centuries in which to attempt it, Captain, it is logically impossible to prove a negative.”

  Then let’s hope that the impossible, Burgess thought, only takes a bit longer than the merely difficult.

  “Captain,” Chekov said suddenly. “May I have a word?”

  Burgess saw Sulu meet his first officer’s eyes, then nod. “In the situation room.” Excuse us, Ambassador. Commander Rand, you have the bridge.”

  “All right, Pavel,” Sulu said as soon as the door slid closed behind them, ensuring their privacy. He sat at the head of the conference table and gestured for Chekov to take his usual place at Sulu’s right hand. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

  Sulu knew that his old friend would never question his orders in front of the bridge crew. But he’d known Pavel Chekov long enough to be able to see at a glance that he had grave reservations about some aspect of the current situation.

  “It’s about the Neyel,” Chekov said after a moment of pensive silence. His dark eyes bored straight into Sulu’s from just above’ the tips of his steepled fingers. “We stayed here partly to protect them from the Tholians. I’m not sure that was such a good idea.”

  [195] “Because we’re trapped here with them now?” Sulu asked.

  Chekov shook his head. “No. I’m confident that Azleya and Tuvok can get us out of this if we have to leave in a hurry.”

  Sulu found that reassuring. “As am I.”

  “But you’re not eager to do that if it means leaving the Neyel ship behind.”

  That nettled Sulu. Hadn’t he put paid to this issue a few minutes ago on the bridge? “All right, Pavel. Let’s take off the gold braid for a while and just talk. What’s your point?”

  “Just this. You may have a very tough decision ahead of you soon. Of course, you can count on me to support it, whichever way it goes. Because I know you’re going to make the right decision.”

  Sulu sighed. “To what decision are you referring?”

  “The decision to admit that you can’t save both Excelsior and the Neyel ship.”

  “That’s not a decision I’m even close to having to make.”

  “Right. You might have up to twelve hours. But after that, you may have to stop trying to protect the Neyel.”

  Sulu had known Chekov long enough to understand that neither of them needed to fear having an argument. So he didn’t bother shrinking away from his rising pique. “God damn it, Pavel, we have to protect them. Burgess was right about the Neyel. They’re us.”

  “No, they’re not,” Chekov said, raising his voice as well. “But that’s exactly my point! They’re not us. It’s pretty clear that they’ve done some horrible things to the Tholians, and, for all we know, to other species as well.”

  “They split off from humanity during some pretty bloody times,” Sulu pointed out. “Since the
n, our species has come a long way ethically, politically, and along just about any other dimension you can measure.”

  Chekov nodded. “But the poor, benighted backwater of the human gene pool known as the Neyel missed out on all that.”

  “I never said that. But if everything humanity has achieved [196] since the launch of Sputnik means anything at all—if it represents a sort of human birthright—then it’s their birthright too. It’s up to us to share it, to guide them back home.”

  Chekov wouldn’t relent. “Are you sure that’s all you’re after, Hikaru?”

  “Of course. What else is there?”

  Chekov leaned forward as if to punctuate his next point. “How about absolution for humanity?”

  His anger now thoroughly ignited, Sulu had to remind himself that he had asked Pavel to speak freely. He couldn’t very well shut him down now. “That’s absurd,” was all he could think of to say.

  “Is it? I’ve known you for a lot of years, Hikaru. You’ve got a conscience that’s strong enough to jump-start a cold warp core. But this time it may be getting in the way of your judgment.”

  “Really?” Sulu said, fuming.

  Chekov remained relentless. “Really. You’re thinking that if the Neyel really have committed atrocities against the Tholians, then we bear major responsibility for their actions.”

  Sulu stood, fists clenched at his sides. “Well, don’t we?”

  Chekov rose as well, unintimidated. Sulu reminded himself that his exec wouldn’t be much use to him if he were easily cowed, even by the ship’s captain.

  “That’s the real question, isn’t it? That’s the root of it all. When the Romulans went to war with Earth, and later started blowing up Federation outposts along the Neutral Zone, was Vulcan responsible? When Khan almost succeeded in getting control of the Genesis Device, would all of humanity have been responsible for the consequences? After all, Khan was human, too. But we ended up having to take him out the hard way.”