“Is something wrong, Captain?” she said, an expectant look on her face.

His eyes narrowed as he tried to read her neutral expression. You know damned well that something’s wrong. Because you’re more than likely the cause of it.

Noting that Kasrene and Mosrene were also apparently looking toward him, Sulu said, “I’m afraid that a rather urgent matter has come up that requires my immediate attention. Please excuse me.”

He had taken another three steps toward Chekov and Rand before Ambassador Kasrene spoke up, stopping him in his tracks. “Captain, I believe I understand the nature of this [54] ‘urgent matter.’ It is the fact that Admiral Yilskene has intercepted and destroyed all four of your probes. Is this not so?”

Sulu stood near the door, glancing significantly at Chekov. Burgessdid tell them,he thought. At least, she must have told them of her suspicions. Looking around the room, he took in Akaar’s slightly bulging eyes, Tuvok’s raised eyebrow, and the blanched features of Chapel, Chekov, and Rand.

“We did indeed launch sensor drones deep into your territory,” Sulu said to Kasrene, staying as close to the truth as he deemed prudent. “We’ve observed some fascinating interspatial phenomena out here.”

“No doubt, Captain. And perhaps you’re also concerned about what this revelation may mean to our negotiations here,” Kasrene said. “Truthfully, after we were informed of the probes last cycle by Ambassador Burgess, we had many discussions as to the proper course of action to take.”

Sulu strained not to give Burgess a withering glance. She and I are going to go ’round and ’round over this later.

Kasrene tilted her ungainly head slightly to one side. “Doubtless you’ll justify these actions based upon your previous encounter with our species, even though that was twenty-four of our generations ago.”

“Starfleet has had almost no contact with Tholians since that time,” Sulu said. “We’re trying to keep our minds open.”

Finally, Kasrene spoke again. “Very good, Captain. Though you had no reason to expect that we would react well to your actions, you risked your well-being in the pursuit of pure knowledge. You’ve shown wonderful initiative. I admire that. We admire that. Doubtless your probes showed—”

Kasrene was interrupted by a tap on the forearm by Mosrene, and she ceased speaking. The group of Tholians all reached out and touched for a moment, and went silent.

Sulu realized that they were communicating using their limited telepathic abilities; therefore there was no way to determine what they were saying to one another. As he looked [55] around the room, he saw tension etched onto everyone’s faces. Even Tuvok’s normally placid expression showed some concern. They were all standing on the precipice of war, and their potential enemies sat in front of them, silent but for the gentle rustling of their enviro-suits. Kasrene was moving the most, apparently agitated.

Sulu shot a quick glance at Rand, who was still standing near the door, awaiting orders. Flicking his eyes to one side, he signaled for her to return to the bridge. He knew that she would put the ship on a silent yellow alert, calling all personnel to their stations. She wouldn’t raise shields or charge weapons yet, but she would be ready to do so at a moment’s notice if Yilskene’s flagship were to power up its weaponry.

Returning his gaze to those still in the room, Sulu caught Burgess looking at him for a moment. But she averted her gaze before he could sustain the eye contact. If we survive this, I will makecertain you’re cashiered out of the diplomatic service.

Finally, the Tholians broke their huddle, three of them settling back into their outsize chairs. Mosrene still seemed agitated as Kasrene swiveled her multifaceted head back to face both Sulu and Burgess.

“As I was saying, Captain—”

Mosrene touched Kasrene’s arm again, but she brushed him aside and ignored him. “Doubtless your probes showed that there has been conflict along the far boundaries of our territory. I suspect that while your past dealings with us give you little reason to trust my word, your actions at this time give us little reason to trust you.However, we feel it is—”

Mosrene interrupted her again with another touch. Kasrene swiveled her head toward him, her eyespots glowing slightly brighter. She uttered a multisyllable word that the universal translator didn’t quite parse. No need.Sulu could recognize an exclamation of “shut up!” in any language.

Kasrene spoke again, addressing the rest of the room. “The outer reaches of Tholian Assembly space have been [56] under relatively sustained attack for the last seven of your months. This is one of the reasons why we chose this time to approach the Federation, despite the dissension this matter has caused within the chambers of our Castemoot. However, we recently captured one of the aggressor’s ships. Members of our medical caste subsequently discovered that—”

Mosrene again moved forward, but this time he was more aggressive with his interruption. Rather than grabbing Kasrene’s arm, he reached around her, grabbing at the area which would have been equivalent to a humanoid’s upper chest.

Kasrene let out a slight squawk as Mosrene moved his gloved limb away from the ambassador’s chest. A hair-thin, crystalline-hafted blade was now visible protruding from the front of Kasrene’s enviro-suit. Instantly, the noxious fumes from within the compromised suit began to hiss outward into the surrounding air. Dark smoke began to roll outward from the incision.

It took Sulu about half a second to realize that Mosrene had just assaulted Kasrene, perhaps fatally.

PART 2

CASTAWAYS

Chapter 8

Thursday. 1 May 2053

Even with the computers enhancing every incoming signal, chaos and static ruled the entire radio spectrum, from the long wavelengths all the way up into the near microwave band.

There’s no way this can be good,Zafirah al-Arif thought, brushing a hank of jet black hair away from her eyes.

The sounds of radio static receded into the background, like the eternal presence of a distant ocean. Zafirah’s throat went dry as she watched the blue world on the small monitor she had tied into the Vanguard colony’s largest optical telescope.

“Please tell me this isn’t what it looks like,” she said, turning toward Kerwin McNolan.

The russet-haired Irishman crossed Zafirah’s cramped office to get a better look at the small monitor that sat on her jumbled desktop. He abruptly turned two shades whiter than usual, his unlined face a mask of disbelief.

Disbelief, Zafirah realized, but not surprise. She knew that a goodly plurality of Vanguard’s 844 permanent residents were fairly apolitical types, mostly engineers, EV construction jockeys, and science-oriented academics.

But she also knew that almost everyone living inside the [60] massive O’Neill colony—nestled beneath the skin of a near-Earth stone-and-nickel-iron asteroid—had seen today’s events coming for years. Nobody who had so much as glanced at the recent headlines beamed from Earth could be surprised by the drama now unfolding far below.

McNolan’s thoughts seemed to echo her own. “My God,” he said, his rough voice choked with uncharacteristic emotion. “They’ve finally done it. Those crazy bastards have finally done it.” Looking revolted, the diminutive engineer shoved the slender monitor up against the wall as though it harbored a deadly bacillus. He looked away when the image on the screen persisted.

Zafirah wanted to look away as well. But she found it difficult to tear her gaze from the almost stately procession of city-sized white blossoms that was lighting up the Earth’s night side. Absurdly, it reminded her of a garish electrical parade she had seen at an amusement park in the European Union during her childhood. Particularly arresting were the towering orange mushroom clouds and columns of gray ash that had begun to rise and spread themselves along the planet’s terminator.