Seekers
Page 29
“You wanted to see me, Captain?”
Waving him in, Khatami gestured to the two chairs situated before her desk. “Have a seat, Lieutenant.” As Klisiewicz lowered himself into one of the chairs, she said, “As I was just telling Doctor Leone, I wanted you to know how impressed I am with the work you did, both here and on the planet. That you were able to accomplish what you did under such pressure is incredible, and that’s exactly what I’ll be saying in my report to Starfleet Command when I submit you both for commendations.”
Klisiewicz blinked a few times as he processed her remarks, then nodded. “Thank you, Captain. I appreciate that.”
Moving to her own chair behind the desk, Khatami sat and crossed her arms. “That you were able to make the connections between the Tomol’s condition and the changes made to them by the Shedai was remarkable all by itself, but that you also were able to assist Doctor Leone in creating his cure was something else entirely.” She had been considering how best to broach this subject, coming to the conclusion that there was only one way to confront her suspicions.
“As I recall, your studies and research regarding the Shedai during Operation Vanguard focused on their technology and the various artifacts and structures we found. Your role in those missions had no real need to focus on Shedai biology or any medical applications of the metagenome, and assisting Leone as you did would require such knowledge, or at the very least access to research data and other materials from the Vanguard project.” Khatami leaned forward in her chair, resting her forearms on her desk. “But since all of that information was purged from the ship’s memory banks and anything pertaining to the project has been classified and archived under Starfleet’s tightest security protocols, I’m curious how you were able to reach some of the conclusions you made.”
Though he was making an admirable effort to control his facial features and body language, Khatami saw through the façade, her hunch strengthened when he shifted in his seat and attempted to swallow.
“I’ve never lied to you, Captain,” he said after a moment, “and I’m not about to start. Ming Xiong gave me a complete copy of all the Project Vanguard data he collected.” As he spoke, Klisiewicz’s gaze dropped to his hands, which were clasped in his lap. “It happened the last time I saw him, before the Tholians’ final assault on Starbase 47. We’d just conducted our experiment with the Shedai array on that planetoid, Ursanis Two.” He shook his head. “We destroyed it, Captain, as easily as I might delete a file from the computer’s memory banks. The power we were holding in the palm of our hand was staggering, and all Ming and I could think about was what could happen if that power fell into the wrong hands. Can you imagine that thing under Klingon or Romulan control? I break out into a cold sweat just thinking about it.”
Khatami recalled the experiment, which had involved Lieutenant Ming Xiong constructing an array consisting of thousands of crystalline artifacts created millennia ago by a long-extinct race, the Tkon, who at one point in the distant past had been rivals of the Shedai. The crystals had been built for the purpose of containing the Shedai in noncorporeal form, and once trapped, each crystal was capable of producing immense energy that could be directed at the whim of its wielder. The Tkon had used Shedai in this manner to create weapons of unimaginable destructive power as well as to power data and transportation networks spanning the Taurus Reach. Ming Xiong, more than anyone else involved with Operation Vanguard, had learned enough about both ancient races and their technology to cobble together the array of crystals and interface it with the interdimensional conduits used by the Shedai to move through space. This had resulted in the capture of every surviving Shedai life-form. With the Shedai now harnessed in the array’s individual crystals, Xiong was able to experiment with channeling the power they produced, and the target of his test was the remote, uninhabited planetoid Ursanis II. Nearly one hundred light-years from Starbase 47, the small, insignificant world had been crushed from existence without the slightest lingering trace, leaving Xiong and everyone else who knew about the experiment to wonder what would happen if such a weapon were used against a populated planet.
“Ming knew that the higher-ups in Starfleet were watching us,” Klisiewicz continued. “He knew that the potential for abuse of the array was a legitimate concern.”
Khatami shook her head. “Admiral Nogura would never have allowed that.”
“Admiral Nogura doesn’t outrank everyone, Captain. Someone somewhere had plans for that thing, and that’s before we get back to the idea of the Klingons or Romulans or someone else ever getting their hands on it. Ming knew that, too, and he wanted someone to safeguard everything we’d learned in the event something happened to him.”
Reaching behind his back and under his blue uniform tunic, Klisiewicz produced what Khatami recognized as an old-style Starfleet scanning device, the twenty-second-century ancestor to modern tricorders. Opening the unit, the lieutenant held it up for her to see, and Khatami noted that the scanner’s innards were in fact a compact, self-contained data storage and access device.
“It’s all in here,” Klisiewicz said. “Everything Ming recorded during his time on the project.”
Unable to take her eyes from the scanner, Khatami felt her throat tighten. “You understand that just having that, let alone accessing its contents, is a violation of more Starfleet regulations than either of us can count? Tell me none of the data’s in the main computer.”
Klisiewicz shook his head. “I can review it without linking to the memory banks, so there’s no record of it anywhere.”
“You’ve put me in a bind here, Lieutenant,” Khatami snapped, rising from her chair. “I should throw you in the brig and destroy that thing, then contact Admiral Nogura and beg him not to bury us both in whatever hole he stashed what’s left of Vanguard.” She knew that the admiral, following the loss of Starbase 47 and as one of his first official duties after being posted to Starfleet Headquarters on Earth, had assembled all remaining records and artifacts related to Operation Vanguard and secreted them at one of Starfleet’s classified archive installations. While she hoped the data collected by Ming Xiong and others might eventually serve to benefit the Federation, its allies, and perhaps even adversaries that might one day be friends, that time was not now. Wounds inflicted while acquiring that knowledge had not yet healed. Buried under uncounted layers of security and bureaucracy, the chances of that information resurfacing in Khatami’s lifetime were slim at best.
“I understand,” Klisiewicz said, again holding up the scanner. “But without it, we might never have figured out how to help the Tomol.” He paused, shrugging. “I mean, Doctor Leone and I might have eventually stumbled onto the cure, but I doubt we’d have done it in time to do any good.”
“I’m aware of that,” Khatami countered, “and it’s the only reason you’re not in the brig.” She held out her hand. “Give it to me.”
Without hesitation, Klisiewicz surrendered the scanner. “And before you ask, there are no copies. Everything Ming gave me is in there.”
Pausing, Khatami drew a deep breath as she contemplated the situation she now faced. “Your initiative was commendable, Lieutenant, as is your desire to be some sort of defender of truth and ethics in Ming Xiong’s stead. For what it’s worth, I agreed with him about how we should treat the Shedai technology.” She held up the scanner. “But rules such as those surrounding this material are there for a reason. If I find out you’ve circumvented them again, regardless of your intentions, you’re through. Do I make myself clear, mister?”
Klisiewicz straightened in his chair. “You do, Captain.”
“Good.” Khatami waved toward her door. “Dismissed.”
As the door slid open at his approach, the science officer turned to face her. “Captain, may I ask what you’re going to do with that?”
“I don’t have the first damned idea. Go away, Lieutenant.” She waited until Klisiewicz departed
and the door slid shut behind him to release an exasperated sigh. “I should’ve resigned and gone home when I had the chance.”
Khatami swiveled her chair to the section of bulkhead positioned to her left and below her desk. There, a small access door and a recessed keypad had been installed, and she entered a private security code into the pad. The panel slid aside, revealing several computer data cards and a small binder containing an old-fashioned journal—a book of bound paper—in which she recorded by hand whatever information or thoughts she did not want entered even into the personal log maintained for her by the ship’s computer. She placed Klisiewicz’s scanner at the rear of the compartment, then moved the stack of data cards in front of it before placing the journal atop the pile. After entering the code to close and lock the secure alcove, she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?
Her first instinct was to follow her initial gut decision to destroy the device and the data it held. On the other hand, Klisiewicz was correct: it was the knowledge she now held that had allowed him and Leone to save the Tomol from an eternity of imprisonment on Arethusa. How many other planets or races were out there, enduring some long-term effect or injury as a consequence of past subjugation or exploitation at the hands of the Shedai? It stood to reason that in the course of their mission to further explore the Taurus Reach, the Endeavour or some other starship might encounter such a civilization. Did Khatami hold a key toward helping them as well?
And is keeping it worth the risk?
She had to believe that Starfleet and the Federation, as a collective, would never allow worst-case scenarios such as those envisioned by Ming Xiong and Admiral Nogura. Still, she knew that there always would be someone who thought such heinous acts were acceptable in the name of security or some such damned thing. It was why Xiong had taken steps to safeguard what he had learned, and why Nogura had done his level best to sweep away any vestiges of Vanguard and most of those who knew the whole story. How long could a secret of such magnitude stay hidden?
However long that might be, Khatami decided it likely would not be long enough.
“To hell with this,” she said, pushing herself from her chair. She would have to give the matter serious thought, but it would wait for a short while, at least until after she found Doctor Leone.
Because that drink sounds damned good right about now.
Acknowledgments
We offer our sincere thanks to our editors at Pocket Books, for daring to take a chance on this new series. They’d already given us a lot of leeway with the Star Trek Vanguard novels, and no sooner were the last words of those books committed to the page than we were thinking, “Okay, now what?”
Thanks as well to David Mack, our co-conspirator. Working with him on the Vanguard novels was tremendous fun, made all the more so by our friendship and our joint passion for the work. Star Trek: Seekers was born out of a desire to find something new and shiny so that we might once again harness some of that aforementioned fun.
We tip our hats to Rob Caswell, whose fanciful imagery depicting a ship not at all unlike the U.S.S. Sagittarius provided us with our inspiration. It’s not unreasonable to think that Seekers would not have come about if we hadn’t stumbled upon his work. So blame him if you end up not liking any of this stuff.
Finally, we thank you, our readers who followed us during our first adventures into the Taurus Reach and who now have opted to journey with us once again. Or maybe you’ve never read the Vanguard novels and you’re checking us out for the first time. No matter your reasons for being here, we’re thrilled you’re along for the ride.
About the Authors
Dayton Ward has been modified to fit this medium, to write in the space allotted, and has been edited for content. Reader discretion is advised. Visit Dayton on the web at www.daytonward.com.
Kevin Dilmore is universally specific and easily sendable. If you have questions about postage rates, contact your local post office. Should you need him, he’s usually goofing off on Facebook.
Read more adventures of the starships
Endeavour and Sagittarius in the saga of
Harbinger
David Mack
Summon the Thunder
Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore
Reap the Whirlwind
David Mack
Open Secrets
Dayton Ward
Precipice
David Mack
Declassified
(anthology)
Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore,
Marco Palmieri, David Mack
What Judgments Come
Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore
Storming Heaven
David Mack
In Tempest’s Wake
Dayton Ward
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Cover art and design by Rob Caswell
ISBN 978-1-4767-5726-1
ISBN 978-1-4767-5727-8 (ebook)