As Quinn sprayed a protective layer of sealant over the fresh golden-orange paint, Bridy asked, “What does it mean?”

He stepped back beside his partner. “It’s from an ancient Earth novel called Don Quixote de la Mancha.” He looked at Bridy. “Dulcinea was a very beautiful woman for whom a slightly crazy old man did a lot of really stupid things.”

She smiled and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. “Sounds about right.” Then she climbed the steps and boarded the ship.

He followed her aboard. “So, I was thinkin’, the captain’s quarters on this boat has a double bed and—”

“Just fly the ship.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

53

November 19, 2267

Admiral Nogura stood like a rock before the river of bodies pouring from the gangway of Docking Bay Two, where the Endeavourhad only minutes earlier made its hard airlock seal.

Junior officers on leave flooded up the gangway and broke to either side of Nogura as soon as they saw the markings on his uniform and the stern expression on his face.

Then came a break in the sea of faces, and four figures crossed the suddenly empty gangway in a tight cluster. Three were Vanguard personnel. The fourth was in custody.

Leading the group were Commander ch’Nayla and Lieutenant Jackson.

At the rear of the group, Captain Desai escorted the prisoner, Lieutenant Commander T’Prynn. The Vulcan woman was taller than Nogura had expected, even though he’d read her file a dozen times over the past several weeks.

The group emerged onto the main concourse of Vanguard’s docking level and stopped in front of Nogura. He looked T’Prynn in the eye. “Have you been fully debriefed?”

“Yes, Admiral,” T’Prynn said.

“Good. Your court-martial has been expedited. It starts in two weeks. You have that long to prepare a defense.”

The Vulcan woman nodded. “Understood.”

Desai said, “Lieutenant Commander T’Prynn has entered a plea of no contest to all charges.” Shifting with what seemed like mild embarrassment, she added, “However, after reading her statements, I think there might be … mitigating factors.”

At once curious and suspicious, Nogura said, “No doubt.” He aimed his steely gaze at T’Prynn, who remained unfazed. “I’m sure we’ll hear all about it.” He nodded to Jackson. “Take her to the best cell in the brig, Lieutenant.”

“Aye, sir,” Jackson said. He motioned T’Prynn forward and led the manacled Vulcan woman away. A pair of armed security officers waited for them in an open turbolift.

As soon as the lift doors closed behind Jackson, T’Prynn, and their escorts, Nogura looked at Desai. “I’ll see you in the morning, Captain.” Then he stepped away and said to ch’Nayla as he passed by, “Walk with me.”

The middle-aged Andorian chanfell into step beside the diminutive admiral and dropped his voice to a whisper. “The artifact is back aboard the station,” he said. “It was transferred off disguised as routine cargo and routed back to the Vault, which is once again secure.”

“No,” corrected Nogura, “you mean it’s finallysecure.” Chastened, ch’Nayla replied, “If you prefer, yes. That distinction aside, Lieutenant Farber assures me the security flaws have been addressed and that the Vault is now the most impregnable compartment on the station.”

“Better late than never,” Nogura said. “Tell Doctor Marcus I want real-time updates. The moment anything happens with that thing, I want to know about it.”

“That makes two of us, sir.”

Anxious eyes greeted the artifact’s return to the Vault.

Dr. Carol Marcus stood beside Ming Xiong and watched as a robotic arm lowered the glowing dodecahedron onto a new pedestal that was linked into the lab’s various systems, several of which had been engineered to emulate some aspect of the Shedai’s technology. As before, a palpable aura of fear traveled with the radiant, skull-sized crystal.

“I’ve been thinking,” Xiong said in a confidential tone to Marcus. “Since I was right about using phased harmonics of the

Jinoteur Pattern to trigger the device, I thought maybe we could try feeding it the regenerative sequence discovered by the CMO on the Sagittarius. You know, to see if we could replicate the tissue-repair function Doctor Babitz documented.”

“One thing at a time, Ming,” Marcus cautioned.

On the other side of Marcus, Dr. Gek leaned in close. “I couldn’t help but overhear,” said the Tellarite. “If we’re planning new experiments, I think we ought to focus on the waveform’s potential for large-scale molecular rearrangement. Coupled with our existing transporter technology, we could be on the verge of a major breakthrough in patterned replication.”

“All in good time,” Marcus said.

She hoped that would be the end of the solicitations, but Gek had spoken loudly enough for several other scientists to overhear, and as a result the floodgates were open.

“I’d like to propose that we prioritize high-energy communication applications,” said Dr. Koothrappali.

Then the requests began to overlap, and Marcus no longer knew who was talking.

“Can we start with a test of the Meta-Genome’s ability to correct gaps in its sequence?”

“We need to know what that crystal’s made of!”

“No, we need to communicate with the entity inside it!”

Marcus held up her hands and shouted, “Enough!” When the hubbub subsided, she added, “Let’s all start by focusing on something simple.” She threw a worried glance at the artifact. “Like not blowing up any more planets by mistake.”

54

December 28, 2267

After nineteen days of witness testimony and forensic evidence examination and six days of deliberations, the court-martial board had reached its decision and summoned T’Prynn and her legal counsel back to the courtroom.

She gave no thought to the audience in the gallery of seats behind her, or to the prosecutor at the table parallel to hers. All her attention was on the raised bench at the front of the room, where three empty seats awaited their occupants. Red UFP flags adorned with white stars stood at either end of the bench, in front of which was a single chair whose armrest was equipped with a biometric sensor. Next to the judges’ bench was a computer interface that served as the court’s recorder and its link to the station’s library computer.

T’Prynn dress uniform was stiff and unyielding.

At her side was her defense counsel, Lieutenant Holly Moyer. The redhead whispered to T’Prynn, “I hate this part.”

There did not seem to be any need to respond to Moyer’s expression of personal anxiety, so T’Prynn remained silent.

A boatswain’s whistle announced the arrival of the judges. Admiral Nogura was the first to enter. The trim, gray-haired flag officer was followed by Captain Desai and Captain Atish Khatami of the Endeavour.

Khatami was a tall woman with olive skin, raven hair, and exquisite features. For T’Prynn, the opportunity to spend the weeks of the trial clandestinely admiring Khatami’s beauty had provided a welcome distraction from the proceedings, whose outcome she had assumed from the beginning was foregone.

The judges stood behind their chairs and waited while a female Rigellian ensign entered the courtroom, walked to the recording computer, and activated it. When the ensign nodded, Nogura pulled back his chair and sat down, and Khatami and Desai did the same. Once they had settled, Nogura picked up a wooden striker and rang an ancient ship’s bell atop the bench to call the proceedings to order.

“Lieutenant Commander T’Prynn,” Nogura said. “Despite your plea of no contest to the charges brought against you, the number and importance of the mitigating factors you and your counsel have introduced since your arrest on Golmira have made the adjudication of your case somewhat … complicated.