After the Fall

by Peter David

  U.S.S. Excalibur

  i.

  “War?”

  In his ready room, Calhoun was staring at the image of Robin Lefler gazing out at him from the computer screen. She was nodding, looking miserable, as if she had just lost her best friend.

  If Calhoun was amazed at what he’d been hearing, no less so was Xyon. He had come up to the captain’s ready room to discuss the strange nocturnal altercation he’d had with Moke, but the interruption by Lelfer’s transmission had completely reoriented their priorities.

  As she’d informed them of the recent developments, Xyon had at first looked utterly shocked. But as the litany of disaster had continued, his amazement had given way to what seemed, to Calhoun, like suspicion. He said nothing to Xyon, however, preferring to let Lefler finishing telling him all that had transpired.

  “Yes, war,” she said grimly. “After Fhermus stormed out of the manor, it was this…this mad race between the two of them. Si Cwan and Fhermus, both trying to shore up support from those they felt to be their closest allies.”

  “Let me guess,” said Calhoun. “Those who were already close to Si Cwan believe that Tiraud assaulted Kalinda and she was acting in self-defense.”

  Robin nodded. “Exactly. And those who are longtime allies of Fhermus naturally believe that she brutally stabbed him to death for no other reason than that…I don’t know. That she’s Thallonian nobility. For all that the daily business of the Protectorate manages to suppress it, there’s a good deal of ancient hostility bubbling just below the surface.”

  “And how is it shaking out?”

  “Too soon to say…except that it’s ugly and getting uglier.”

  “How’s Si Cwan holding up?”

  “He looks like a walking ghost.”

  Calhoun took a deep breath. “Robin…try and keep it together there. We’re going to fix this.”

  Lefler blinked in surprise. “Fix this…? Captain, I wasn’t looking for a solution. I was simply keeping you apprised. This…this horror show isn’t your fault….”

  “Yes. Yes, of course. You’re right. Foolish of me to think so. Thank you for keeping me up to date, Robin. We should do this more often. Excalibur out.” Her confused face disappeared from the screen before she could reply.

  Mackenzie Calhoun stood up, turned away from Xyon and, with an uncharacteristic roar of pure fury, slammed his fist into the wall. “Grozit!” he shouted in frustration as he did so. “How could I have been so damned blind!” He faced Xyon. “How could I have ignored you? I should have trusted you. Yes, you deceived me for years about the fact that you were alive, but still—!”

  “Father…?”

  Calhoun spoke right over him. “All the times I’ve relied on my instincts and been right…I should have known that your instincts wouldn’t have led you astray.”

  “Are you saying—?”

  “Don’t be coy, Xyon,” Calhoun admonished. “I can see it in your face. You’re thinking the same thing I am.”

  “That it’s not Kalinda.”

  “Exactly.”

  Xyon let out a sigh of relief and sagged back in his chair. “You’d almost convinced me…hell, I’d almost convinced myself. You know, that I was simply jealous. Or that I didn’t want to let her go.”

  “I think you sensed something. Something that even Si Cwan didn’t see….”

  “Why should he have?” asked Xyon. “After all, he was anxious to believe that she’d come back. I was anxious not to let her go. So naturally…”

  “You each saw what you wanted, except you happened to see more accurately.” He was staring at his reflection in the sword hanging on the wall…the sword that he’d taken off the man who had, years earlier, given him the vicious scar that still adorned the side of Calhoun’s face. “When Mueller described to me her mission at Priatia, she told me she couldn’t believe how easily it had gone. Her instincts were right on the money as well. The only one who missed the mark completely was me.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I must be losing my edge.”

  “So what do we do?”

  Calhoun shot him a glance. “You know, if you’d said I wasn’t losing my edge, I wouldn’t have resented it.” Then, before Xyon could respond, he walked out of the ready room. Xyon immediately followed him as Calhoun stepped onto the bridge.

  “Morgan!” he called out. “Set course for Priatia. Best possible speed.”

  “Priatia, aye, sir.”

  Burgoyne, from hir chair, looked up in surprise. “Priatia, Captain? Is there a problem?”

  “Yes,” Calhoun said briskly. “The problem is Priatia. And once we get there, I intend to see it no longer poses a problem…for anyone.”

  ii.

  “Target all major cities and fire!”

  Every head on the bridge of the Excalibur turned and stared at the Xenexian who had just issued the startling order.

  “Xyon,” Calhoun said slowly, “you don’t get to blow up cities.”

  Xyon regarded his father with disappointment. Below them, the planet Priatia continued steadily and unmolested in its orbit. “I was just trying to save you time and energy, Father. I knew you’d give the order sooner or later and I figured…”

  “Why not sooner?” Calhoun smiled thinly and with no air of amusement. “Xyon, try to give another order on this bridge, and I will fire upon the planet’s surface…”

  “Excellent!”

  “…with you as ammo.”

  Xyon winced. “That would hurt.”

  “I daresay,” Morgan piped up.

  “Therefore,” continued Calhoun, “I will remind you that you are a guest on this bridge…surrounded by people who still aren’t especially happy that you had them mourning your passing not all that long ago.”

  “The captain was most eloquent in his eulogy for you,” Zak Kebron said.

  “Not now, Kebron. Xy,” he called to his science officer. “Begin scanning the planet’s surface. If it was good enough for the Trident, it’s good enough for us.”

  “Scanning, Captain.”

  Burgoyne leaned over in hir chair and said softly, “Do you really think we’re going to find Kalinda down there? That the Kalinda the Trident brought back to New Thallon was some sort of impostor? Is that possible?”

  “Yes, it’s possible. A clone, perhaps….”

  “Grown to the same age that quickly? It seems unlikely. And, by all reports, she had all Kalinda’s memories, and personality….”

  “I don’t have all the answers, Burgy,” admitted Calhoun. “That’s why it’s called a ‘mystery.’ We…”

  “Captain! Receiving a transmission from the planet’s surface,” Kebron announced.

  “I’m not entirely surprised. Put them on screen, Mr. Kebron.”

  Moments later, the image of a Priatian appeared on their viewscreen. He did not appear to be especially concerned over the fact that a Federation starship was circling at spitting distance from his world. “I am Keesala,” he said without preamble. “And I would very much suggest that you depart this area immediately. It will turn out badly for you if you do not.”

  “This is Mackenzie Calhoun, captain of the Federation starship Excalibur. Your concern for our welfare would be far more touching to me if it weren’t inextricably linked with your self-interest. You know why we’re here.”

  “Yes. You want the Thallonian girl, Kalinda.”

  Calhoun was beginning to get the same sense of “It can’t be this easy” that Mueller had expressed. “That is correct.”

  “You are aware that the one who left here with your other vessel was not the original.”

  “It came to our attention when she stabbed her husband to death, yes.”

  Xyon was standing directly behind Calhoun, and he could no longer contain himself. “Give her back to us, you bastard!” he practically shouted.

  “That, I’m afraid, is not going to be happening,” Keesala said apologetically as Calhoun glared at his son.

  In a harsh whisper, Calhoun sai
d “Shut! Up!” to Xyon before turning his attention back to Keesala. “That, sir, is exactly what is going to be happening. If you think for one moment that we’re going to be leaving without her…”

  “That is, to be honest, exactly what is about to happen.”

  It was at that moment that Tania Tobias, seated at ops, suddenly pitched back in her chair and started to scream.

  “Tania!” Kebron called out, and started toward her.

  “Stay at your post!” Calhoun ordered. As Kebron froze where he was, Calhoun was at Tania’s side. She’s having a fit, now of all times. I should have known. I never should have given her this opportunity. “Tobias!” he called to her. “Snap out of it!”

  “It’s coming! It’s coming!” she gasped. She seemed as if she was looking somewhere else, her eyes wide and wild.

  And that was when the hairs on the back of Calhoun’s neck began to rise. She was right. Hysterical, but right. Something was coming. Something extraordinarily dangerous.

  “Captain!” Kebron shouted. “Sensor readings indicate massive tachyon surge directly to starboard!”

  “On screen!”

  The apologetic face of Keesala vanished, to be replaced by a clear view of something gargantuan swirling in space, like a massive whirlpool of energy. Energy crackled as if the very ether itself had come to life, and then it spat out a huge vessel the likes of which Calhoun had never seen.

  “That’s it!” Xyon shouted, pointing at the screen. “That’s the ship that came after me! The one that took Kalinda!”

  “Doesn’t look like any mirage to me,” said Calhoun. “Red alert! Morgan, shields up! Kebron, full phaser batteries online!”

  The new arrival swatted them.

  That was what it felt like, at least. Something, some sort of energy barrage, slammed into them just as their shields came up. The shields withstood the impact, preventing the Excalibur from being shredded, but they weren’t sufficient to stop the ship from spiraling out of control, as if the far vaster ship had simply reached through space and knocked them aside.

  Throughout the ship, crew members were hurled this way and that, slammed into walls, ceilings. No one knew which way was up or down.

  The whirlpool of energy coruscated on the screen directly in front of them, and Tania Tobias was shrieking, and Morgan was calling out “We’re out of control!” as if that needed to be said, and Xyon was shouting Kalinda’s name, and that was when a tumbling Calhoun struck his head on a railing. The world began to spiral into blackness from the impact, and the last thing he heard before blackness claimed him was the apologetic voice of Keesala saying over the still active com link, “Please understand that we have nothing but the highest regard for you. Unfortunately, it appears you’ve gotten in the way.” And then came another voice, at the last possible moment, also filtered, shouting his name, and it sounded like Soleta of all people, but she was gone, long gone, another failure of which this new incident was only Calhoun’s latest and possibly his last….

  And then the world went dark and he was gone.

  Seconds later, so was the Excalibur….

  TO BE CONTINUED…