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comparing your respective decision-making abilities, there's one thing that occurs to me."
"And that would be ... ?"
"Well..." Geordi shifted in his chair. "We were discussing earlier the measures we took to try and save the Enterprise from crashing and burning. Me, I'm satisfied that I did everything I could. I'll face any Starfleet board of inquiry with confidence, because that's what I truly believe. I'm fairly certain that you don't believe that you did everything you could, and knowing you-no offense-but you'll probably get up there and willingly take responsibility for the entire thing. I have no doubt, though, that eventually you'll be cleared, even over your own protests. Would you call that a fair assessment of the situation?"
"A tad cynical, but fair," Riker admitted.
"Okay. But let's say there was another board of inquiry. A board that investigated 'affairs of the heart,' for lack of a better phrase. If they put you in the hot seat and said, 'Riker, have you done everything you could about your relationship with Deanna Troi-truly explored every option, even completely admitted to yourself the depths of your feelings for her'-what would you say to them? Would your conscience be clear? And if it wasn't, do you think that they'd clear you in this instance, or would it be a much closer call?"
Riker began to tap a finger, just one, on the tabletop. He was doing it rapidly and then it began to slow as his thoughts appeared to coalesce.
"I see your point," he said after what seemed an eternity.
"Good."
"But the question becomes, am I just going to see it? Or am I actually going to do something about it?"
"That, Commander, I couldn't begin to tell you," La Forge replied. "I'm not running around inside your head, and frankly, I can see a whole lot of things ... but even my VISOR doesn't let me see the future."
Riker took his glass of synthehol and tossed back half of it, as
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if steeling himself. "I am very likely," he said slowly, "about to make a bigger idiot of myself than I have in my entire career."
"You're going to talk to her."
"I'm going to talk to her, yes. And if this doesn't work out, or if I look like a complete fool, then at least I know who to blame it on."
"Me?"
"Precisely." But Riker was grinning widely, and it seemed to La Forge as if, suddenly, Riker had had a weight lifted from him. He was about to take action after ages of vacillation. He would no longer be Hamlet when it came to his personal life. Instead he would be a man of action, seizing the moment. "Because you know what, Geordi? Maybe the Enterprise did wind up going down in flames. But, dammit, she fought the good fight and she's got nothing to be ashamed of. If I never get to command her, the least I can do is live up to her example."
"That's the attitude to have, sir," Geordi said encouragingly.
"I'm going to go over there . .. I'm going to ask Mr. Worf to excuse us ... and then Deanna and I are going to have a little talk. Actually, probably a big talk."
"Be kind to Worf, Commander. He's the innocent bystander in all this."
"Yes, he is," Riker said regretfully. "He had the courage to speak his mind and make his move while I just stood on the sidelines and let it happen. Still.. . he'll understand. At least I hope he will. Wish me luck, Geordi."
"Luck, Commander."
Riker began to rise from his seat, and that was when he heard a bang on the table from the direction of Deanna and Worf.
"Yes!" Worf crowed. "She said yes! We are engaged!"
Riker froze in midelevation. It was as if his entire universe had suddenly telescoped down to those few seconds. He had his drink still firmly in his hand. He felt Geordi's level gaze upon him, glanced from the corner of his eye, and saw the stricken expression on Geordi's face.
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But his attention was truly on Worf and Troi, and then Worf caught his eye. Judging by the surprised look on Worf s face, the Klingon hadn't known he was there all this time.
Worf was perpetually one of the most confident of beings, but at that moment, Worf s eternal self-certainty suddenly appeared in jeopardy. Had he seen something in Riker's demeanor that betrayed his feelings? Had he known why it was that Riker was getting up from the table?
Sensing Worf s discomfiture, Deanna turned in her seat to see where he was looking, and her gaze locked with Riker's. It was as if they were looking at each other over a vast expanse of years. All of it... all of the potential emotion and con* frontation ... hung there for no more than a second or two. And then, as if it were all intended as one smooth motion, Riker fully rose to standing and raised his glass. His face split into a grin even as his heart split in half. "Let me be the first," he called out in a rock-steady voice, "to raise a toast to the happy couple and wish you congratulations!"
"Congratulations!" echoed the rest of the populace of the Farragut lounge. Shouts of "Hear, hear" and "To the happy couple" rebounded throughout the lounge.
Geordi felt that Riker's mental discipline was amazing. At that moment his mind might have been in a complete turmoil, and had that been the case, Deanna Troi would have known immediately. Geordi was positive of that, which meant that Riker was covering everything that was going through his mind, forcing instead only positive emotions to rise to the surface like cream. He smiled again, raised his glass once more, and then slowly lowered himself back down to his seat while Worf and Troi accepted the congratulations of everyone else sitting nearby.
Riker saw Geordi's stricken expression but simply shrugged as if it was all meaningless in the final analysis. "My fault," he said lightly. "I told you to wish me luck. I forgot to specify what kind."
"Commander . .." Geordi didn't know what to say. He felt awful, even culpable, as if he'd helped to set Riker up for a fall.
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As if sensing what Geordi was thinking, Riker waved it off dismissively. "Don't you worry about it, Geordi. When you play Hamlet long enough, sooner or later someone who is willing to make the decision is going to get the girL"
"Didn't the girl die in Hamlet?"
"It was Shakespearean tragedy. Naturally everyone died. People only lived if it was a comedy. He wasn't much for blending comedy with drama. He was more of an all-or-nothing kind of guy. I can sympathize, I suppose. Be willing to give your all... or wind up with nothing."
Suddenly he looked as if the sounds of congratulations in the background were a bit much for him. He rose from the table once more, keeping his back carefully to Worf and Troi. "If you'll excuse me, Geordi..."
Still feeling guilty, Geordi asked, "You want company, Commander?"
"No, thank you, Geordi. I think I'll be turning in for the night."
"For the night? Commander, it's not even twenty hundred hours. Look ... maybe we can swing by the holodeck ..."
"Geordi," he said as he smiled sadly and shook his head. "It'll be all right. /'// be all right. Granted, I lost a ship and a woman all in one day, but if we're going to be philosophical about it, then she and I were just. . . two ships, passing in the night. I just need to hit the sack right now, that's all. To sleep ..." He looked over his shoulder one final time, to see Deanna laughing and smiling and shaking the hands of those around her. "... perchance to dream."
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CHAPTER
4
I om Riker was dreaming of freedom when everything went insane.
It had been a very pleasant dream. A dream of a woman, with dark eyes and hair that cascaded around her shoulders. A woman who had taught him of feelings and then slipped away as fate had sent them spiraling in different directions. And for just a brief moment, ever so brief, he had had her once more ... and then lost her... but now she was back in the recesses of his dreaming mind . .. and he would never lose her again ... he was holding her, covering her mouth with kisses, and they were free ... free to plan a life together... free to...
The blast startled him awake, as it did the other prisoners. The others were still looking around in befuddlement, but Rike
r had already come to full wakefulness. He was on the floor in a crouch, looking around, squinting, trying to adjust to the light or lack thereof.
There was another explosion from nearby, and the ground of Lazon II rumbled. It was some sort of heavy-duty weapons pounding from overhead. Riker didn't immediately recognize
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it, but Saket-on the floor nearby-immediately did. "That's Romulan weaponry."
"Are you sure?" Tom Riker asked.
"Positive. I'd know that blast echo in my sleep."
Riker didn't bother to point out that he had, in fact, practically done so. Once more the ground trembled. "Friends of yours?" Riker asked.
"I would say so, yes. Can't say that it's unexpected, either."
The pounding continued from overhead as the unseen, but not unknown, attacker continued to assail the force shield. But then Riker realized that the rumbling beneath them was not coordinated with the assault from overhead. It was nearly impossible to hear over the ruckus of the other prisoners shouting and the weapons fire from overhead. Riker drew his face near Saket's and shouted, and fortunately the Romulan's ears were designed to hear under even the most grueling of circumstances.
"Something's wrong!" Riker bellowed over the din. "The shooting from overhead ... it's separate from the ground shaking!"
"What?!" Saket listened a moment to the assault, felt the trembling of the ground, and his eyes widened as he realized the truth of what Riker was saying.
The door to the hut flew open, and Mudak was standing in it. He had a blaster in one hand and he was leaning against the doorframe with the other as he shouted, "Everyone stay in here! No one is to move! Don't consider for one moment trying to escape! Anyone who does make such an attempt will be severely punished for his troubles, I promise you that!" If there was any trace of panic in Mudak, it was not on display. He acted with the certainty of someone who was confident that his forces would prevail. For all the concern he showed, the attack might just as well have been a routine drill.
For whatever reason, Mudak looked directly at Riker and Saket. It was as if he was particularly concerned about them.
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Perhaps he was endeavoring to freeze them in place with an ominous stare. Then he turned and bolted.
The prisoners were all on the floor, looking worriedly overhead at the source of the assault. And then one of the prisoners, a Tellarite named Redonyem, snorted out in a gravelly voice, "I say we take our chances outside! This place isn't a blast shelter! If they get through and this hut collapses, we're all dead!"
"You think we're any better off out there?" shot back Z'yk, an Orion.
"Yes!" The Tellarite had pulled himself up from his crouched position and stalked the interior of the hut, looking more and more like a wild animal, his hair skewed, his arms gesticulating widely. "This could be our chance to get off this rock! I have five mates, nineteen children, and a career as an arms dealer I want to get back to! And if you think I'm going to spend my last moments quaking in here, waiting for death from above, when there's a landing field with an opportunity for freedom not far from here, then you are sadly mistaken!"
"He's right," Saket said abruptly. "Redonyem is right. I say we get out of here, now!"
There was something about the firmness and certainty in Saket's voice that seemed to make up the minds of the half-dozen prisoners who were huddling for safety. They took a collective deep breath and then bolted for the door, Redonyem leading the way.
The instant they emerged from the door, a Cardassian blaster whined and struck Redonyem. It hit him with such force that it literally somersaulted him, sending him smashing back into Saket, who was directly behind him.
A Cardassian guard was standing not far away. He had clearly been on his way to someplace else-a battle station, perhaps-when he had noticed the prisoners making a break for it. He waved his hand weapon threateningly and shouted, "Back inside! Back inside!" From high overhead, they could glimpse the blasts from the Romulan intruder-numbers
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unknown-coruscating against the shield. For the moment it seemed to be holding, and the pulse-blaster cannons were ready to pick up the slack in the unlikely event that the force shield fell.
Redonyem sagged against Saket, and a bestial snarl erupted from deep in his throat. There was a large blackened area in his upper chest from the effects of the blaster, but he didn't seem willing to acknowledge it. Instead Redonyem steeled himself for a moment and then charged. The guard brought his weapon up to fire again, and at that moment Saket grabbed up a small piece of debris that had tumbled loose from the roof of the hut. Riker watched as Saket hurled it with remarkable accuracy, and it struck the guard full in the face. The Cardassian staggered, his shot going wide, and then Redonyem crashed into him and disarmed the guard through the simple expedient of yanking off his entire arm. The Cardassian went down with a howl, more in shock than anything since the immensity of the pain wouldn't kick in for some minutes yet, and Redonyem howled in triumph, holding the arm over his head and shaking it defiantly like a bloody trophy. Another Cardassian guard, coming around the corner at high speed, came upon the grisly scene and froze. It was only a momentary hesitation, but it was more than enough time for Redonyem to step forward, swing the arm around, and cave in the side of the unfortunate guard's head. Then he grabbed up the weapons from the two fallen guards. The maimed one was screaming so loudly that it got on Redonyem's nerves, and he kicked the guard fiercely in the head, silencing him.
Z'yk, the Orion, approached the fallen guards and looked up at Redonyem with a wolfish smile. "Find me a knife," he said. "I have an idea."
The compound was sprawled over ten square miles, and so it was that the group of escaping prisoners was nowhere near a Romulan attack vessel when it made its way into the camp. This was actually fortunate since, if they had been, they might
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very likely have been killed instantly due to the unorthodox nature of the vessel's entrance.
Mudak, unfortunately, happened to be much nearer and, as a result, nearly lost his life. As he raced across the compound, heading toward the defense tower, he suddenly became fully aware that the ground was not simply vibrating in response to the pounding from overhead. Instead it seemed to be responding to something coming from underneath. What had occurred to Riker and Saket some minutes before now finally registered on Mudak, who, to be fair, might have realized it sooner were he not distracted by the assault from above. Then again, that was the entire purpose of the aerial attack: to draw attention from the true means of assailing the compound.
The ground began to buckle only ten feet away from him. The vibrations knocked Mudak off his feet and he fell heavily onto his back. He kept a firm hand on his weapon, but even as he did so he scrambled backward, pulling himself along on his elbows as he watched with sheer incredulity an assault plan that was breathtaking in its simplicity.
Dirt and debris exploded upward, fountaining, geysering as if someone had set off a depth charge. Mudak, realizing that he couldn't get away in time, curled up defensively in a ball, tucking his head down and in, as dirt rained upon him. The dirt storm effectively buried him, obscuring him from casual view. He was, however, able to keep enough of the soil away from his face that he could clearly see what was happening.
From out of the hole emerged a vessel such as Mudak had never seen, but he was quickly able to discern its purpose. It was a core driver, a normally land-bound vessel that was used in-ironically, considering the circumstances-terraforming. On particularly hostile worlds, it enabled colonists to fashion subterranean storage and even, in a pinch, residential facilities. It was equipped with a series of rotating proto-dischargers, arranged in a large wheel on the front of the vehicle. As the wheel spun, the dischargers literally dissolved the dirt in a
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widening circle while at the same time hardening the resulting tunnel by reinforcing its molecular structure to nearly diamond-hard durability. Passages, even caves, could be
carved out in a matter of minutes.
But this was no ordinary core driver. Someone had taken it and, through resourcefulness that bordered on the diabolical, mounted the entire thing on a warp sled. The vehicle, now spaceworthy but too small to be detected by any early-warning device, had made its own approach to the planet, simply entered the planet's surface at a point that was unprotected by the force shield, and burrowed underneath the shielding. The shielding didn't extend below the compound on Lazon II; it ended at the surface level. It was an oversight of which the Romulans (according to Saket) had taken full advantage.
Lazon II was at that point officially a madhouse. The explosions from beneath had completely unnerved others of the prisoners, and now everyone was running amok. Guards had no idea where to concentrate their efforts: on the intruder, or on the would-be escapees.
"Form ranks!" shouted a senior guard. The guards who were within earshot heard him and lined up, forming an extremely makeshift firing squad. The only question was where to aim. The senior guard immediately settled the matter by shouting, "Squad One, quell the prisoner uprising. Squad Two, fire on the intruders!"
Squad One had considerably more success as they opened fire on the fleeing prisoners. Two were killed instantly, far more sustained terrible wounds.
The core driver, for its part, trembled under the assault. It was not a combat vehicle, and its hull was simply not designed to take that kind of abuse, even from handheld weaponry. The vehicle shuddered and veered, its warp-sled propulsion system hammered. The driver had, for a few moments, been in the air, but a renewed attack flipped the entire vehicle over. Beneath the dirt, Mudak saw it coming his way. His breath caught as it rolled across the ground, and he
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braced himself for the impact, anticipating it running right over him and flattening him.