He gave her a mildly annoyed look and walked out of the armory. She fell into step behind him.
“So my ship is undamaged?” she said.
“As near as we can tell. We found it abandoned on the planet’s surface. The recovery crew looked it over and it appears to be in working order. We can’t get it started up, though.”
“I wouldn’t think so. It’s computer locked to respond to me. Well, to a Vulcan.”
“If you have any problems with it after we beam you down to it, contact us and let us know.”
“Will do.”
There was something in her expression, though, that concerned Calhoun. “What’s on your mind, Soleta?”
“What’s on my mind, Captain, is that the D’myurj had plenty of time to go over every aspect of my vessel and determine how she works. The cloaking device, the ion glide. If they’re resourceful—and I think we have to assume they are—they might now have the ability to make a fleet of undetectable vessels.”
“Thank you, Soleta,” said Calhoun. “Now I have one more thing to worry about.”
“Glad I could help, Captain.” She stood at the door to the transporter room. “This has been fun. We should do this more often.”
He smiled. “For what it’s worth, Soleta, I miss you.”
“It’s worth a lot, Captain. Believe me.”
“Oh. Our team…” He paused, not quite sure how to say it. “Our team found the remains of Lucius on the ship. They cleaned up the mess and put the body into a photon torpedo shell. You can do with it what you wish.”
“I know just the place for it,” she said. “Alpha Koneri IV.”
“Isn’t that the planet that Alpha Koneri III uses to dump its pollutants and toxins?”
“That’s right, Captain. I think it fitting to dump him with the other garbage.”
There was a hardness in her eyes that she seemed determined to maintain, although it might well have been for his benefit as much as hers. “Were I able to,” Calhoun said softly, “would you want me to take the pain away, as Selar did with Burgoyne?”
“No need,” she said. “I’m doing fine with that on my own.” And she turned and strode into the transporter room.
Starfleet Headquarters
Admiral Alyanna Nechayev had become accustomed to giving Mackenzie Calhoun incredulous stares, and yet somehow it always seemed a new experience. “And you simply allowed Soleta to depart. In her spy vessel.”
“It is her vessel, Admiral,” said Calhoun over the viewscreen in her office. “I had no grounds upon which to confiscate it.”
“How about on the grounds that it is, in fact, a spy vessel?”
He shrugged.
“That’s it?” she said. “Nothing else to say?”
“I’ve been working long hours since we uncovered the existence of the D’myurj, Admiral. I regret that my repartee is not up to its usual standards.”
She leaned back and shook her head. “Fine, Calhoun. Fine. How is the recovery process at AF1963 coming?”
“The Trident is doing an excellent job of handling it. Most of the victims who were found in tubes are recovering from the experience. From what I understand, though, none of them is able to offer much in the way of explanations as to how they got there. They all have holes in their memories.”
“What about the other things? The bodies that were being grown?”
“Most of them were destroyed in the explosion.”
“Do you have any idea what intentions these D’myurj might have had for them?”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” said Calhoun, “and consulting with my people. We have a theory…”
“I’m all ears.”
“Well,” said Calhoun, leaning in slightly toward the screen, “our initial question, of course, was why they would have all these bodies being grown with what were essentially blank slates for minds. But if you walked into a large warehouse and saw uniforms hanging there with no one in them, you wouldn’t wonder what the purpose of them would be, correct? Wouldn’t wonder what they were designed for?”
“Not especially,” said Nechayev. “I would assume that they were designed to be…” Her voice trailed off. “Truly? You think they were designed—”
“To be worn. Yes. Something in the genetic makeup of half-breeds enables either the D’myurj, or their associates the Brethren, to transfer themselves into these bodies, once grown.”
“But, good Lord, why?”
“Any number of reasons. Infiltration. Manipulation. Passing themselves off as members of the Federation in disguise. They might be creating wars in the hopes of ‘testing’ us to see if we rise to the occasion. According to anyone who has had contact with them, they keep claiming that they want to advance us. Soleta told me about something that happened some months ago, during the Paradox incident. She encountered an alien vessel that appeared to be upgrading the Paradox. Advancing it. Outfitting it with improvements.”
“Are you saying that it might have been the D’myurj?”
“It fits the pattern. A race dedicated to evolution of what they see as lower species, no matter what the cost. Individuals purporting to be beneficent when they’re really destructive. Who knows how far back it goes? There was an incident I studied involving a probe—I think it was called Nomad—that became upgraded and advanced when it encountered another, more advanced entity.”
“I know of that incident, yes. We had theorized it was the Borg.”
“But why would the Borg upgrade something else? They just take. They don’t give. That might well have been connected to the D’myurj as well. That means we’re talking at least a century of their getting involved in Federation affairs.”
“It sounds to me, Captain, as if you’re treading on very thin ice here. Pulling together disparate strands and trying to weave together a whole that doesn’t quite work. Still.” She drummed her fingers on her desk. “This merits further investigation, at the very least. It would probably be wiser to keep this quiet, at least for the time being.”
“I’m sure you’re right, Admiral.”
“All right. And Mac…my condolences on the loss of Doctor Selar. A tragedy all around.”
“Thank you, Admiral. Calhoun out.”
The screen went blank.
Nechayev leaned back in her chair, her thoughts racing.
Calhoun knows. Something is going to have to be done…
* * *
Copyright
Pocket Books
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Cover art by Jerry Vanderstelt; cover design by Alan Dingman
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-2339-3
ISBN-10: 1-4391-2339-X
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About the Author
PETER DAVID is the New York Times bestselling author of more than sixty books, including numerous Star Trek novels, such as Imzadi, A Rock and a Hard Place, Before Dishonor, and the incredibly popular New Frontier series. He is also the author of the bestselling movie novelizations for Spider-Man, Spid
er-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, The Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man, and has written dozens of other books, including his acclaimed original fantasy novels Tigerheart, Sir Apropos of Nothing, The Woad to Wuin, Tong Lashing, and Darkness of the Light.
David is also well known for his comic-book work, particularly his award-winning run on The Hulk, and has written for just about every famous comic-book superhero.
He lives in New York with his wife and daughters.
Table of Contents
TREASON
Starship Excalibur
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
New Thallon
i.
ii.
iii.
Starship Excalibur
i.
ii.
iii.
New Thallon
The Lyla
i.
ii.
Starship Excalibur
Starfleet Headquarters
Starship Excalibur
The Spectre
The Lyla
i.
ii.
Bravo Station
The Lyla
Bravo Station
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
x.
xi.
Starship Excalibur
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
The Spectre
i.
ii.
Starship Excalibur
The Spectre
i.
ii.
Starship Excalibur
The Spectre
Starship Trident
i.
ii.
iii.
Starship Excalibur
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
?
Starship Trident
?
Starship Trident
i.
ii.
iii.
AF1963
Starship Excalibur
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
AF1963
Starship Excalibur
AF1963
i.
ii.
iii.
Starship Excalibur
i.
ii.
iii.
Starfleet Headquarters
Copyright
About the Author
Peter David, Star Trek: New Frontier - 017 - Treason
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