With any luck, Excelsiorand the Neyel ship would both be safely across the interspatial rift before Yilskene’s fleet could do anything to stop it—and well before the deadline the Tholian admiral had given Sulu to prove that the Federation and the Neyel Hegemony were not allied against the Tholian people. Dr. Chapel had already reported that she was ready with theragen-based inoculations against the madness that close exposure to interspace was known to cause. (The Neyel were apparently far more resistant to the mind-damaging aspects of the phenomenon.) Soon, both Excelsior and the Neyel ship would escape into territory that, according to Joh’jym, was patrolled by enough Neyel ships to make Yilskene think twice about mounting a pursuit.

But Sulu still found one thing troubling: After we escape, haw can I ever convince Yilskene and the rest of the Tholian power structure that the Federation can be trusted? He’ll be more convinced than ever that we’re in bed with his enemies.

Unless, of course, a way could be found in the meantime to turn those enemies into something else entirely.

Seated at her communications console, Commander Rand responded to a silent, flashing alarm. Touching the earpiece that dangled at the right side of her head, she turned toward Sulu, a look of apprehension on her face.

[260] He sighed. He knew that things couldn’t go smoothly forever. Not with the clock steadily ticking toward Yilskene’s deadline—and Excelsior’sdestruction.

“Let me guess,” he said as Chekov relinquished the command chair to him and he seated himself. “Yilskene needs another hug.”

“Something like that, sir,” Rand said, smiling a very small smile.

Yilskene’s image appeared on the main viewer, rippled and distorted by his ship’s intensely hot atmosphere. Sulu thought that the Tholian admiral’s vaguely triangular, crystalline head looked like a sculpting student’s abstract study of the concept of outrage.

“Good afternoon, Admiral Yilskene. What can I do for you?”

“We have detected material transmissions being directed from your ship to the invader vessel,”Yilskene said without preamble.

Recalling Tuvok’s earlier warning that their transporter activity might not go undetected, Sulu decided there was no point in denying it. “We have been supplying humanitarian assistance to the Neyel crew, Admiral.”

“Then you admit to consorting with our foes?”Yilskene’s multilayered vocal chorus grew discordant as his anger escalated.

“There were many injuries and casualties aboard the Neyel ship,” Sulu said, hoping to calm the admiral with dispassionate reason. “Because of our biological similarities, we were far better equipped to render such assistance than you were.”

The port side turbolift doors hissed open, and Sulu’s eyes flicked momentarily toward the noise. He silently noted the arrival of Aidan Burgess and Lieutenant Akaar. With a grace that belied his size, Akaar silently crossed to the tactical station and began studying the displays there. The ambassador approached the railing that curved around the bridge’s lower section, her eyes riveted to the main viewer.

[261] “We are not in the habit of offering succor to those who would kill us,”Yilskene thundered from the forward screen.

Sulu kept his manner polite, but not obsequious. “We would have done the same for you, Admiral.”

“Your continued fraternization with our enemies does not inspire my confidence, Captain. I believe you are attempting a deception.”

“We’re still trapped in your energy web,” Sulu said, “We can’t go anywhere. What good would it do to try to deceive you?”

In actual fact, Sulu hadn’t lied to Yilskene at all. Dr. Chapel and a medical team hadgone aboard Joh’jym’s vessel to treat the injured. Some of the most severely debilitated Neyel patients had been transported back to Excelsiorfor more intensive treatment than the medics could provide on-site.

He’d merely neglected to mention the Neyel engineers who had come aboard Excelsior,and vice versa, to work on their mutual escape plan.

Hoping to move on to a possibly more fruitful topic, Sulu said, “Other than the safety of my ship and my crew, all I want is to find a path to peace for each of the parties involved in this situation: the Federation, the Tholian Assembly, and the Neyel Hegemony.”

“And peace is the sole reason why I am aboard this ship,” Burgess said, descending to the lower section of the bridge, to stand beside the captain’s chair. Though Sulu found her intrusion irritating, he knew he couldn’t accuse her of meddling. He had just made a diplomatic gambit, and she was the ranking diplomat aboard; he had to remind himself that hewas poaching in herterritory.

“I have a proposal to make,” she continued, still addressing Yilskene.

The Tholian regarded her in silence for a moment. Sulu wondered if the admiral was assessing how far he could trust [262] the human diplomat who had already broken with her own people’s protocols to give him beneficial information.

“I am listening,”Yilskene said.

Burgess stood ramrod straight, looking every inch the confident statesman. “I wish to set up a three-way discussion, to include you, me, and Drech’tor Joh’jym of the Neyel Hegemony Fleet Cruiser Oghen’s Flame.”

“We have attempted to initiate communication with these beings ever since our first encounter with them. They appear incapable.”

“Members of your own science caste have concluded that we humans are closely related to the Neyel. Am I correct?”

“Yes.”

“Since you and I are now conversing, Admiral, I must assume that you do not think of us as mere brutes who lack the power of speech. So why would you make the same assumption about the Neyel? Why not suppose instead that their mode of communication is simply greatly different from your own?”

“That is as may be, Ambassador. But whether they be dumb or articulate, our adversaries clearly lack the translation devices with which you communicate with us.”

Burgess nodded. “Our universal translator has gone a long way toward bridging the gulf of mistrust that has for so long separated us. I believe it can do the same for you and the Neyel.”

Yilskene moved forward, and his face grew even larger on the main viewer. “Such devices may indeed prove useful. Principally in dictating the terms of their surrender after we annex their space, destroy their warfleets, and begin Tholia-forming their worlds for colonization. Yilskene out.”

The admiral’s image vanished.

“That went better than I expected,” said Chekov, who was leaning on a railing to Sulu’s right.

“Damn,” Burgess said. “I thought I had him.”

[263] “It was a good try, Ambassador,” Sulu said.

“Not nearly good enough. Yilskene’s just as bad as Joh’jym. I’m beginning to think that the only way to get them talking is to lock the two of them in a room equipped with a universal translator.”

“And a squad of armed guards,” said Chekov. Turning to Rand, he asked, “How much time do we have left to make our case to Yilskene?”

“A little over three and a half hours,” Rand said.

Yilskene made his ultimatum more than eight hours ago,Sulu realized, his fatigue catching up with him. No wonder I feel so wiped out.

Tuvok rose from the main science station and faced Burgess. “With respect, Ambassador, perhaps it was a tactical error to remind Yilskene that he will require our assistance if he wishes to speak with the Neyel.”

She bristled. “Really?”

Tuvok seemed unaware of, or at least unfazed by, her evident anger. “Indeed. As a member of the warrior caste, his pride may be exceedingly vulnerable. I have witnessed similar reactions in numerous non-Vulcan spec—”

“I wasn’t aware that you were a credentialed expert on exopsychology, Lieutenant,” Burgess snapped, interrupting him.