“Captain Riker is hailing us, Commander,” Seketh said, interrupting Donatra’s brown study. She wondered whether the young decurion was addressing her or Suran.

“Put him on visual,” Donatra said quietly, then faced the bridge’s central viewer while Seketh complied.

A look of intense concern radiating from his blue eyes, Riker started in without preamble. “Commander, we have to discuss what’s begun happening to the space around our ships.”

In spite of herself, Donatra felt a surge of hope bloom within her. “Have you discovered why the breakdown of local space has begun accelerating?” Despite her hopes, she feared she already knew the answer.

Riker nodded, his expression remaining grave. “My people are of the opinion thatwe’re responsible. My crew and yours.”

“How?” she asked quietly, already all but certain that her question was unnecessary.

“When we forced the growing protouniverse’s emerging intelligence out of your fleet’s computer network, it had to go somewhere else. So once it was effectively locked out of your ships, it began ‘reordering’ local space at an even faster rate than before.”

“In other words, this ‘Sleeper’ deity the natives worship is awakening even faster than your briefing data had indicated.”

“That’s one way of looking at it. But that’s not all. The accelerated spatial breakdown will utterly wipe out the central homeworld of the Neyel people within ten Earth days.Titan and your fleet can get there within about two days, though, to assist with their planetary evacuation—”

“You can’t be serious!” Suran said, almost bellowing.

Riker’s eyes flashed like twin glaciers beneath a sunrise. “I’mdeadly serious, Commander. We’re directly responsible for what’s happening now. Your people, as well as ours.”

“Perhaps. But what can we hope to accomplish other than throwing all of ourlives away—along with this doomed planet?”

“I don’t intend to turn my back on people thatour actions placed in danger,”Riker said, beginning to reveal an anger that Donatra didn’t doubt could easily match that of Suran.

Still, she had to favor Suran’s hard pragmatism over Riker’s softer optimism. “How many live on the Neyel homeworld, Captain?” Donatra asked.

“About two billion.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Two billion?”

Riker soldiered on as though he hadn’t noticed her incredulous reaction. “And our Neyel guest tells us that their spacefaring capabilities have diminished quite a bit over the past several decades, as they’ve slowly learned to put aside the worst of their imperial ambitions.”

Donatra shook her head in disbelief. The Federation peacemaker, this Burgess she had read about, had evidently weakened these once-puissant Neyel to the point of utter helplessness. And Federation idealism seemed to have given Riker delusions of omnipotence.

“Suran is right, Captain,” she said. “We couldn’t hope to save more than a tiny fraction of the Neyel population anyway, even if we were to use every ship in my…” She paused to glance at Suran before amending her declaration. “…in our fleet for the purpose.”

“I know that Romulan military officers are fond of paying tribute to the idea of honor by displaying ceremonial swords,”Riker said. “I hope you’re not telling me those Honor Blades of yours are entirely for show.”

As Riker’s insult sank in, Donatra’s upper lip trembled in an involuntary display of rage. The scars that laced her side became livid, singing a silent aria of old pain and anger. “Take care with your words, Captain. I respect you. But there are limits even to that.”

But Riker wasn’t deterred in the least. “Is it honorable to simplyabandon an entire world that you’ve helped place in jeopardy?”

“Of course not, Riker. But do you seriously expect to save billions of people?”

“Truthfully, I don’t knowwhat I expect, Commander. But I don’t expect to sit back and do nothing. Not when I’m partially responsible for what’s happening.”

“This is absurd,” Suran said. “As soon as our own crews deem it safe, we’re taking our fleet back to the Great Bloom, which we will then use to return to Romulan space as quickly as possible—before this entire sector truly iserased from existence.”

“We’ll still have time enough to do that,”Riker said, his tone now almost pleading rather than accusing. “After we’ve rescued as many Neyel as we can.”

“Perhaps,” Donatra said, shaking her head yet again. “But perhaps not. The evacuation you propose could easily take more time than we have left to us. And if this entire region of space completely ‘reboots’ itself before we re-enter the Bloom, the entire endeavor will have been in vain. Titan,the Valdore,and the rest of the fleet will all be wiped from existence.”

“I know it’s risky. But I’m prepared to take the risk to correct our error. Alone, if necessary.”

Despite her lingering anger over his harangue, Donatra couldn’t help but admire this human’s dogged courage. For a fleeting moment, it shamed her.

“Of courseyou’re willing to risk everything on behalf of these people, Captain,” Suran said. “They’re members of your own species, after all. Despite outward appearances, you have much in common with them.”

Riker’s azure eyes blazed. “As doyou , Suran.”

“Start making sense, human,” Suran said, mirroring Donatra’s own confusion.

“Yes, the Neyelare an offshoot of my own species. Just as Romulans are descended from the Vulcan people.”

“So?” Suran said.

“So Vulcan and the rest of the Federation very recently averted what could have been a terrible bloodletting on your homeworld. I’m merely asking you to return the favor—by assisting people who are probably no less vulnerable than your ancestors who made that first crossing from Vulcan to Romulus.”

Donatra thought of the ancient blood relationship between Vulcan and Romulan, and between human and Neyel. And she considered the wide panoply of other, nonhuman species that also served aboard Titan.As well as Riker’s apparently perfect sense of assurance that all of those variegated nonhuman/non-Neyel personnel would do whatever was required to save even a relative handful of entirely unrelated strangers from certain death.

Shame returned then, seizing her heart in an unyielding grip. Riker, after all, as Captain Picard’s first officer during the Shinzon affair, had all but become one of her comrades-in-arms. She couldn’t deny that the crews of the Valdoreand the Enterpriseboth owed one another their lives. And Riker had just helped her regain control of an enormously important military asset—her fleet.

But she and Suran both had a responsibility to safeguard that fleet, and the thousands of Romulan military personnel it carried.

She saw that her duty was clear. And hated herself, and her ingrained priorities.

“I’m sorry, Captain,” she said. “I must decline.”

U.S.S. TITAN

Flanked by Deanna Troi and Christine Vale, Riker slumped backward into his command chair a split-second after the alien starfield of Neyel space replaced the images of Donatra and Suran.

Seated at his right, Vale issued a weary-sounding sigh. “That’s it, then. We’re on our own.”

“Looks that way,” Riker said.

“Titanis going to assist at Oghen, with or without the Romulans,” Deanna said. She wasn’t asking a question.

Riker nodded to her. “Seems to me we don’t have any other legitimate option. Even if the ship is placed at risk.”

“It would be nice to have the official sanction of the Neyel government, though,” Vale said.