Chapter 26

Will Riker was in agony, and even more frightening was that he could not breathe.

Over the painful wheezing of his throat, the only thing he could hear was Doctor Crusher's voice. "We need to stabilize his breathing," she said to a nurse nearby. Riker felt his throat contract involuntarily.

"Put an oxygen mix in that analgesic hypo before you inject it," she ordered one of her subordinates sharply. He felt her hand on his shoulder firmly, and then she moved it away again quickly. Her complete control under pressure would have been comforting had he not been in excruciating pain. Gradually he felt his body warming and relaxing involuntarily reacting to the sensation of the painkillers.

"Give him more," Crusher said, twisting a nearby tube with her fingertips. His vision blurred and the air in the room seemed colder as the blood rushed in his ears.

Crusher leaned over him. "Will…" His eyes rolled to look up in her general direction. "Will, your upper windpipe has been crushed and we need to do surgery immediately. But you are going to be fine. You are going to go to sleep in 3, 2, 1…."

LaForge watched Sub-Commander Saris carefully studying a triangular communications node above their heads. She used an instrument resembling a sleeker version of the tricorder to capture the details of the node. Captain Picard had permitted the visiting officers to record anything they liked inside the holodeck simulation.

"You never told me what happened to Bochra," said Geordi, leaning on a railing, as a simulated Borg drone walked stiffly past them.

Saris turned to look at him stoically. "And I never will," she said. "It is none of your concern."

Geordi looked down. "Look…maybe Bochra and I weren't exactly the best of friends, but like I told you down on Kronos—"

"You had a bond," Saris said flatly. "Yes, I heard you. You are a very sentimental human being," she observed.

Geordi bristled and straightened. "Is that supposed to be an insult? So… I'm less perfect than you because I have feelings?"

Saris shrugged. "No. You are less perfect than me because I am Romulan and you are Human."

Geordi looked down again, now clearly angry. "That's a completely bigoted way of thinking, Saris."

"Perhaps," she acknowledged. "But it is the way that we Romulans are raised to view other species."

"That's like saying you have no responsibility for how you turn out as an adult Romulan, Saris. It's blaming your narrow-mindedness on everyone but yourself."

She stared at him blankly and then returned to viewing her instrument. Geordi swore under his breath and turned away looking over the railing into simulated darkness. Then he murmured to himself in a low voice.

"You cannot believe you were ever attracted to me," she said with a slightly self-satisfied tone of voice. "How interesting."

Geordi turned to stare at her in astonishment.

"I have exceptional hearing," said Saris.

Geordi shook his head. "Whatever," he said, both embarrassed and annoyed.

She turned to him then and closed her recording instrument. To his surprise she began to laugh. It sounded natural, but coming from her it sounded a bit sinister, so he didn't know what to think. But there was something about the way her heat index changed from ice cold to warmer that made him wonder what she was up to.

Saris suddenly stopped laughing. "Mr. LaForge…."

"What?" he looked at her expectantly. Was she almost done? As soon as they finished this, he could be on his way and forget about her smug, condescending and beautiful face.

"Have you ever had sex with a Romulan?"

Geordi's jaw dropped slightly. "Um…wow. No," he admitted. "Look, Saris, if you were trying to throw me off, it worked."

She smiled. "It was simply a question," she said. It had never been far from her mind that her commanding officer had ordered her to gain LaForge's attentions. She had not expected her task to be so easy, however. She walked toward him slowly, and he stepped back against the railing.

Alarm bells rang inside his head. Was she going to try and push him over the railing? Holodeck safety protocols wouldn't allow him to be killed, but still he shouldn't trust her, should he?

"Kind of an odd question don't you think?" he shot back. "I mean a few minutes ago you were telling me how I was less of a person than you. You don't even like me!"

She stood close to him now. "If I did like you, Mr. LaForge, do you think you would even be able to recognize it?"

"Well, my instincts for judging the feelings of Human women haven't exactly been honed to perfection," Geordi admitted. "So I couldn't do much worse with a Romulan woman…er…lady, I mean, such as you." He shook off his nerves in irritation. "So yes-yes I think I would be able to tell."

She held out her hand with her palm facing up. Geordi hesitated before putting his hand in hers. She grasped his hand and brought it up to her face, and slowly traced his fingers across her cheekbone and down over her lips. His breath caught in his throat, and he felt her react by smiling under his fingertips. She let go of his hand and he dropped it to his side, feeling his face flush with warmth. "So," she said. "Tell me, do I like you?"

LaForge swallowed awkwardly. "I'm going to take a chance and say yes," he said.

"How brave of you," she replied leaning in to kiss him. With the railing behind him there was nowhere to go but down, and if he was honest with himself at that moment, he felt anything but safe. So when he heard the explosion come from several levels below them, it was almost to be expected.

The emergency surgery successfully complete, Beverly Crusher checked again to make sure her patient was stable. Riker would be unconscious and resting for several hours, but he would be alright. Smiling faintly she nodded to one of the nurses who was cleaning up the surgical area. She took off her surgical smock and draped it over her shoulder as she walked slowly back into main sick bay.

To her surprise, Lt. Worf was there to meet her with his usual stern expression. "Lt. Commander Data sent me…what is Commander Riker's status, Doctor?"

She returned his gaze tiredly and leaned back against the door frame outside her office. She looked down at her hands. "His trachea was crushed and I had to reconstruct the upper section. He almost died. But eventually he will recover…fully." She sighed. "For now he needs rest."

She yawned, covering her mouth. "Now I would like to know, how did this happen? I thought Commander Riker was with Captain Picard down on Kronos, and then just like that he was beamed into my sick bay, fighting for his life. Who attacked him Lt.?"

Worf paused and seemed at a loss for words.

Beverly folded her arms over her chest, alerted by Worf's hesitation. "I expected to see Captain Picard here. Is he still down on Kronos?" she questioned.

Worf straightened suddenly looking highly uncomfortable. "Captain Picard is in the brig."

"What?" Beverly dropped her blue coat on the deck and walked swiftly toward Worf. "What are you talking about?" Immediately she was determined to go to him, but Worf moved into her path. She glared up at him. "Either get out of my way, or tell me what the hell is going on, Worf!"

Worf for his part remained calm. "Doctor, Captain Picard and Commander Riker unexpectedly transported back from the negotiations early today. Contrary to protocol I was not notified of their return and was at my post on the bridge."

Crusher tapped her foot in irritation. "And?"

"And there was an incident. Captain Picard attacked the Commander, causing the injury you just repaired."

She covered her mouth with her hands and closed her eyes. As soon as he said it, she knew it was true. Everything had been leading up to this kind of event. She shook her head. "Is he alright?" she asked quietly, looking up at him again.

Worf looked at her with sympathy. "I do not know."

Several minutes earlier on the holodeck…

Commander Korok fell back, and watched the human Engineer and the Romulan officer walk ahead of him engaged in an endlessly boring conversation about Borg propulsion systems. The holodeck was quite realistic, but the incessant talking of the engineer as he tried to impress the arrogant Romulan woman took away from the lifeless and gloomy interior of the Borg ship. His communicator beeped and shrinking back into the shadows even further, he brought his wrist up to his ear.

"Korok…."

Korok's eyes narrowed. Only one person should be contacting him on this channel. "'Lv ghaH 'oH?" {"Who is this?"}

He could only hear growling on the other end of the connection.

"NuqneH?" {"What do you want?"} Korok demanded, and considered hanging up.

"Daq legh Lij maghta' Qaw' SoH je quvHa' Lij puqpu'." {"To see your betrayal destroy you and dishonor your children,"} the voice growled.

"Huh?"

"Ghorgh Lij Hegh choltaH DichDaq SoH Haw' joq Suv?" {"When your death comes today, will you flee or fight?"}

Korok snarled into his communicator. "Suv! Heghlu' meH QaQ javjam!" {"Fight! Today is a good day to die!"}

Korok spun around as the connection cut, and part of him believed that the Chancellor's men would be standing there surrounding him, waiting to kill him. But no one was there, and he was still inside the holodeck program. Running and leaping down to several catwalks below him, he turned and searched for the doorway they had entered.

Where was the damned door? "LojmIt yIpoSmoH!" {"Open the door!"} Korok shouted. Nothing. He tried repeating it in Human English and the holodeck door appeared and opened revealing the corridor. A thought occurred to him then. Why leave? Let them try to find him in here! He had already dishonored himself by spying for the Romulans anyway, so why stop now?

His mind raced. He activated his communicator again. "Tomalak! Tomalak!" he whispered furiously into his wrist band. Curse that bastard Romulan for exposing him! He stepped back in and grabbed his disruptor, and after the door closed he fired at the control panel. A smoking hole had now replaced the panel, and the door flickered and then disappeared. "Open the door," he ordered again. But the computer was unresponsive this time, and the door remained invisible and closed.

Data sat very still in the captain's chair on the bridge. The last few hours had been quite unexpected, the most prominent events having been that Commander Riker was in emergency surgery, Captain Picard was in custody, and he was now in command of the Enterprise.

"Commander, we are reading a malfunction in Holodeck One," reported the science officer posted at the station behind tactical.

Holodeck One was where Geordi LaForge was running his Borg cube program. Romulan Sub-Commander Saris and Klingon Commander Korok should still be with him. "Deploy a technical team to commence repairs." He hit his communicator. "Data to Ensign Crusher."

"Crusher here," came the teen's eager voice.

"Wesley, please report to Holodeck One to assist with repairs. And keep me apprised of your progress."

"Sure Data-I mean aye sir."

Data opened the control panel on the chair's armrest and frowned. The holodeck should not be malfunctioning at all, but a tiny schematic on his screen showed a growing red patch in the control area, indicating that an incendiary device had caused significant damage. He tapped his communicator once more. "Data to LaForge."

There was some static, but LaForge answered. "LaForge here. What's going on Data?" It occurred to Data that there were a number of things that were "going on" that LaForge, having been in the holodeck for several hours, was probably unaware of. Still he thought it prudent only to mention the events most pertinent to Geordi.

"There appears to be a malfunction in Holodeck One. Specifically it appears that there was an explosion of some kind in or near the control panel."

"Yeah we heard a blast a minute ago, and then went looking for Commander Korok. We lost track of him somehow."

"Are you carrying a sidearm?" Data asked.

"Yes…Captain Picard had ordered me to. At the time I thought it was kind of strange, but now I'm glad he did." There was a pause. "I see what you mean, Data, the computer in here is unresponsive—it's not even showing the exit."

"Geordi, proceed with extreme caution and take all steps to exit the holodeck," Data ordered. The connection fizzled out again and he looked up sharply at a beeping at the front of the bridge.

Geordi's voice was tense when he came back on. "Saris, what was that?" The connection filled with static. "Hey—"

"Connection has been lost, Commander," said the tactical officer.

"Lock on to Commander LaForge and Sub-Commander Saris and beam them into the main conference room," ordered Data.

The tactical officer slammed her hand onto the console. "Sir, I can't establish a lock on them. It's no good!"

Data stood up and turned to look at the agitated young woman. "Please calm your emotions, Lieutenant. Striking the console in anger is extremely counterproductive."

"Aye sir," she said reddening.

"Sir, Chancellor K'mpec's security chief is hailing us."

Data raised an eyebrow at the officer posted at ops. Another unexpected development. "On screen."

An angry Klingon with bushy eyebrows appeared on the view screen suddenly, and wasted no time getting to the point. "We demand to board your vessel," he growled.

Data calmly laced his fingers together over his abdomen. "Perhaps it would be more useful to disclose your motivation for boarding the Enterprise before demanding to do so."

"Where is Picard?" the Klingon demanded.

"Captain Picard is not available to speak with you. I am Commander Data, and I am currently in command of the Enterprise. And I assume that you are Commander Targ?"

"You assume correctly…android. We must come aboard," he repeated.

"Why?" asked Data.

"A Klingon visitor on board your ship has just been given a death sentence. He must be captured so that he may be executed."

"Commander Targ, Starfleet does not permit executions to take place on board its vessels."

"We do not wish to execute him on board your ship, but we do intend to take him into custody."

Data blinked quickly. "Article II, paragraph 5 of the Treaty of Alliance states that the Federation shall not interfere with the internal affairs of the Klingon Empire and vice versa, unless one or all of the diplomatic terms of Article III have been met," said Data.

Commander Targ slammed his fist down on his desk and looked as though he intended to come through the view screen. "You quote rules and regulations to me? My father helped negotiate that treaty!"

"With all due respect, Commander Targ, your family history has little relevance when it comes to an accurate interpretation of the Federation-Klingon Alliance."

"It is the Klingon-Federation Alliance," shouted Targ.

Data tilted his head. "Despite rearranging the order of the words Klingon and Federation, you have not convinced me that I am either required or authorized under the Treaty to comply with your demands."

"I will not engage in semantics with a machine," Targ snarled angrily.

"I prefer the term synthetic life form," said Data.

"Kahpf! You have two hours to deliver the criminal spy Korok to my custody, or your failure to cooperate with Chancellor K'mpec will be duly noted."

No sooner had the image of Targ faded, before the communications station beeped again. The woman at ops turned halfway to look at Data in the command center. Her expression was one of unconcealed surprise. "Commander, we are being hailed by the Romulan vessel."

Data nodded to her and instantly Tomalak's smug expression filled the forward view screen.

"Mr. Data," said Tomalak, fixing him with a piercing gaze. "I must speak with Captain Picard."

"Commander Tomalak, I am afraid that Captain Picard is currently unavailable," said Data. "Perhaps I may be of assistance," he added.

Tomalak steepled his hands in front of him as though contemplating Data's offer. "Mr. Data, perhaps you can be of assistance…please relay a message to Captain Picard for me. I certainly hope that he is well. He has seemed of late to be…ailing." He paused and smiled. "I would like him to know that the offer I made him is still open…but time is running short. I would also like Captain Picard to consider whether he wants to be known as the captain who let such a powerful opportunity slip through his fingertips."

Data tilted his head curiously. "You do not wish to elaborate further?"

Tomalak tilted his head, mirroring Data. "No. Good day, Mr. Data." The screen went black.