Cathedral
Page 35
Glancing elsewhere, Kira saw that Gul Macet and Cleric Ekosha were watching the proceedings attentively. As her gaze continued slowly traveling through the room, she locked eyes with Taran’atar for a moment, then Matthias, then Quark, then Ro. Ro grinned, gesturing with a nod of the head, directing Kira to focus her attention back to the head of the ceremonial table.
Shakaar had stopped speaking, and was now rubbing his thumbs with ink on a small ceremonial blotter on the podium in front of him.
Akaar laid the parchment down on the table, smoothing it with his large, callused hands.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kira saw an impeccably dressed Hiziki Gard snap his arm down, as if trying to awaken it.
And then something tumbled into his hand, sliding out from under his sleeve.
Gard raised his arm and prongs snapped out from the object in his hand. A projectile shot forward from between them.
Shakaar raised his inked thumbs.
Kira started to shout a warning.
Two side blades snapped open on the projectile as it sped toward its target.
People began to turn toward Kira as the sound of her cry reached them.
The projectile tore into Shakaar’s neck, its serrated blades cutting cleanly to the sides, its pointed center puncturing the first minister’s throat. Shakaar’s head toppled backward, impossibly far.
Scarcely conscious of her movements, Kira vaulted onto the table and was sliding toward the assassin, yelling for security. Time seemed to stand still as if suspended in amber. Kira noticed that Ro and several guards had drawn their phasers and were sprinting forward as well. Shakaar’s body slumped forward onto the table, his lifeblood spilling out onto the ceremonial Federation document.
Security guards reacted swiftly, pushing Minister Asarem to the floor. Admiral Akaar reached into his uniform jacket, but if he had secreted one of his Capellan throwing knives there, he lacked the clear shot he needed to use it on the assassin.
Kira’s eyes sought out the man who had attacked Shakaar. Hiziki Gard shot a grim smile in Ro’s direction and then shimmered out of existence. Picked up by someone’s transporter beam.
In the seconds it took Kira to reach the spot where he had stood, the assassin had made good his escape.
The room had erupted into a cacophony of screams and shouts. Ro yelled into her combadge to lock down the habitat and docking rings and to intercept all active transporter beams.
Kira moved quickly to the head of the table, dodging a screaming Asarem and the much more composed Councillor zh’Thane. Slapping her combadge as she sprinted, she yelled, “Emergency transport! Two to the Infirmary from this signal!”
Kira reached Shakaar as the transporter beam took hold of them both. But she already knew beyond doubt that the wounds were mortal.
Shakaar Edon was dead.
CONTINUED IN
MISSION: GAMMA, BOOK FOUR
LESSER EVIL
About the Authors
Michael A. Martin, whose short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, is co-author of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Section 31—Rogue and Roswell: Skeletons in the Closet (both with Andy Mangels). Martin was the regular co-writer (also with Andy Mangels) of Marvel Comics’ monthly Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comic-book series, and has generated heaps of copy for Atlas Editions’ Star Trek Universe subscription card series. He has written for Star Trek Monthly, Dreamwatch, Grolier Books, Wildstorm, Platinum Studios, and Gareth Stevens, Inc., for whom he has penned several Almanac of the States nonfiction books. Cathedral is the second Star Trek novel to bear his name. Martin and Mangels currently have several other collaborative projects in the works, including two Star Trek novels involving the crew of the U.S.S. Excelsior and a Starfleet Corps of Engineers e-book. When not hunkered over a keyboard in his windowless basement, Martin reads voraciously, plots the revolution, and plays with his two wee bairns, James and William; he lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, Jennifer J. Dottery, their aforementioned children, and a mortgage of galactic proportions.
* * *
Andy Mangels is the co-author of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Section 31—Rogue, the upcoming Roswell: Skeletons in the Closet, and several future Star Trek book projects. Flying solo, he is the author of the upcoming Animation on DVD: The Ultimate Guide, as well as the best-selling book Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Characters, plus Beyond Mulder & Scully: The Mysterious Characters of The X-Files and From Scream to Dawson’s Creek: The Phenomenal Career of Kevin Williamson.
Mangels has written for The Hollywood Reporter, The Advocate, Just Out, Cinescape, Gauntlet, Dreamwatch, Sci-Fi Universe, SFX, Anime Invasion, Outweek, Frontiers, Portland Mercury, Comics Buyer's Guide, and scores of other entertainment and lifestyle magazines. He has also written licensed material based on properties by Lucasfilm, Paramount, New Line Cinema, Universal Studios, Warner Bros., Microsoft, Abrams-Gentile, and Platinum Studios. His comic-book work has been seen from DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse, Wild-storm, Image, Innovation, WaRP Graphics, Topps, and others, and he was the editor of the award-winning Gay Comics anthology for eight years.
In what little spare time he has, he likes to country dance and collect uniforms and Wonder Woman memorabilia. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his longtime partner, Don Hood.
Visit his website at www.andymangels.com
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