She smiled a secretive little smile. “I never said I liked the idea.” Gomez glanced sidelong at him. “For that matter, you’re not typical security either, you know.”
“I know.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m glad. Leaves any haphazard shooting that needs to be done to those of us who don’t know better.”
That sounded like another apology. And a heartfelt one, he knew.
“Commander,” Ensign Rusconi called out. “Ready to go to warp.”
“Go ahead,” she said. “Get us the hell away from that thing.”
Stars stretched out for a brief moment, then snapped into fast-paced light that slipped away quickly toward the da Vinci’s stern. The Demon was gone. And Gomez breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “I appreciate it, Rennan,” she said, then turned for the door and an escape from the bridge. “Good night.”
Rennan watched her leave, hands still braced around the upper rail, until the lift doors slid shut. Then he shoved himself off the rail and toward his own station. So she had wanted company until she saw that the Demon had been vanquished back among the stars. Maybe borrow a bit of his companionship, but nothing more. Did that help her feel safe? Or simply not so alone? He glanced back at the retreating stars once more. Either way, he decided, that was fine by him.
That was security’s job.
Chapter
14
Tev stomped down the corridor and wondered if he was making a mistake. He’d thought long and hard about this decision. However, logic seemed to play a much lesser role in this situation than he found comfortable.
Instead, his feelings demanded the overture, regardless of what his rational mind tried to say. Hence he stomped down the corridor, disgusted with his inability to simply say no. The simple fact that he had begun arguing with himself appeared to be a good indicator that he needed some type of resolution. But could this be what he was looking for?
He had already tapped the chime for the cabin Bartholomew Faulwell shared with Stevens before he could back out of it. A moment later Bartholomew stood before him, surprise spreading his features into a ridiculous parody of human emotions.
“Tev? What brings you here?”
Tev stepped from one foot to the other. “Well, if you don’t want me here, I’ll be going.”
“No, Tev. Please. That’s not what I meant. You just—you surprised me. That’s all. Please, come in.” Bartholomew’s tone, from what little Tev had been able to determine about humans in his time among them, appeared to hold no hidden agenda, just pure sincerity. As Tev entered the room, the cryptographer happened to catch a glimpse of the small package the Tellarite carried.
“What’s that?”
“This?” Tev said, raising the small box up. Why had he wrapped it? It made no sense. It didn’t change the value of the gift in any way. Nevertheless, it had felt important to do so. Like so many subtle things he’d missed in his time so far aboard the da Vinci, he’d begun to realize that sometimes the little things were important too. Just as a point oh-oh-five fraction of variance in a warp field could have devastating results, so too could coworkers have difficulties if they were not calibrated appropriately.
And sometimes such calibrations required a brightly colored bow.
“Here,” he said, without more preamble.
Bartholomew responded with an easy smile as he tore into the box.
“It’s nothing. Really. But, you’ve been nice enough to share your candy with me. I felt it appropriate to share something with you. A present, if you will.”
The human laughed. Not the brash harshness of mockery, but the hearty, good-natured laughter shared by friends. “You really didn’t need to do this. We’re friends.”
Tev felt a small warmth spread within him and realized it came of this small step of acceptance. Eventually he’d understand how to take such steps with Sonya Gomez, and with others. In the meantime, little steps.
Bartholomew finished opening the box and pulled out the chip. “Um, I don’t mean to sound dense or anything, but what is this?”
“I know that you enjoy writing letters. I also happened to hear from Dr. Abramowitz that you’ve created a program that will allow you to generate a replication of your letter. Well, this program will allow you to dictate the letters like a log entry, and when they replicate they’ll do so in your own handwriting.” It had been such a little thing and yet he felt immense pride.
The cryptographer held it up and smiled that easy grin again, then chuckled. “Tev, I appreciate this. I really do. But, well, it kind of does away with the whole reason for writing a letter.”
Tev blinked in surprise. It had never occurred to him that the human might actually enjoy such a laborious process as writing on paper when there were so many other ways to communicate.
Bartholomew spoke again, as though the silence made him uncomfortable. “Tev, I really do appreciate this. I know what you meant and I accept it.”
Tev smiled back. “Thank you, Bartholomew.” He reached out in the human gesture of a handshake. As he departed the room, he felt optimistic. He’d not quite gotten it right, but he’d tried nonetheless, and his error ratio had only been off by a small margin.
If he kept trying, he’d nail it.
About the Authors
LOREN L. COLEMAN wrote fiction in high school, but it was during his enlistment in the U.S. Navy that he began working seriously at the craft. Discharged in 1993, he went to work as a freelance fiction writer and eventually became a full-time novelist. His first novel, Double-Blind, was published in 1998. As of the end of 2003, he has written and published fourteen novels, a great deal of shorter fiction work, and been involved with several computer games. His latest work is By Temptations and By War, set in the MechWarrior: Dark Age universe. The Demon is his second foray into Star Trek fiction following the publication of the short story “All that Glisters…” in the Star Trek: New Frontier anthology No Limits. When he isn’t writing, Loren plays X-box games, collects far too many DVDs, and trains as a black belt in traditional Tae Kwon Do. He has lived in many parts of the country. Currently he resides in Washington State with his wife, Heather Joy, two sons, Talon LaRon and Conner Rhys Monroe, and a young daughter, Alexia Joy. The family owns three of the obligatory writer’s cats, Chaos, Ranger, and Rumor, and one dog, Loki, who like any dog is just happy to be here. His personal website can be found at www.rasqal.com.
RANDALL N. BILLS began his writing career in the adventure gaming industry, where he has worked full-time for the last eight years. His hobbies include music, gaming (from electronic to RPGs to miniatures to all those wonderful German board games), reading (of course), and, when he can, traveling; he has visited numerous locations both for leisure and for his job, including moving from Phoenix to Chicago to Seattle, numerous trips to Europe, as well as an LDS mission to Guatemala. He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest where he continues to work full-time (and then some) in the adventure gaming industry, while pursuing his writing career. Randall has published two novels and is working on his third; this is his first published Star Trek work. He lives with his best friend and wife Tara Suzanne, precocious son Bryn Kevin, utterly adorable daughter Ryana Nikol, and an eight-foot, red-tailed boa called Jak o’ the Shadows.
Coming Next Month:
Star Trek™: S.C.E. #37
Ring Around the Sky
by Allyn Gibson
The Tellarite colony world of Kharzh’ulla is a planet of many wonders, but its greatest feature is the Ring, a massive orbital construction, serviced by a series of “space elevators.” During the Dominion War, the elevators were damaged by a Jem’Hadar attack. Now, a year and a half later, the elevators have weakened to the point that the entire Ring may collapse, endangering the planet’s population—unless the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci can save them.
But Kharzh’ulla also contains several deadly secrets from Lieutenant Commander Tev’s youth. In order for the S.C.E. to save the planet, Tev must face more than
one demon from his past…
COMING IN FEBRUARY FROM POCKET BOOKS!
The Demon Book 2 Page 8