“No. Nobility comes from here,” and he tapped his heart. “In my heart, in my pedigree and training, I am a noble still. And as such, I will do what needs to be done if I feel it needs doing.”

“Well, don’t,” she said flatly. “Don’t kill Lieutenant Commander Gleau. That’s not what I want.”

“You want me to avenge your death rather than preempt it.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No,” he replied, sounding quite reasonable about it. “I did. You said everything but that. I merely put it all together.”

She didn’t have a ready answer for that because she knew, on some level, that he was absolutely right.

II.

Captain Shelby looked up as executive officer Kat Mueller strode into the ready room. She knew Mueller’s body language all too well. Her shoulders were squared, her jaw set. She was either looking for, or anticipating, a fight.

“Captain,” she said briskly, “I believe we need to talk.”

“Do we.”

Shelby’s calm demeanor seemed to throw Mueller slightly off balance. Mueller cleared her throat after a moment, her hands tightly behind her back, and said, “We had a disagreement several days ago in the conference lounge ...”

“Did we?”

Mueller frowned, staring at Shelby with a distinctly suspicious air. “Captain, are you being coy with me for some reason?”

“I don’t believe so. I’m curious as to what you think we disagreed about?”

“Regarding your husband ...”

“He’s the captain of the Excalibur.I think we pretty much concur on that.”

“Captain!”said Mueller in obvious exasperation.

Shelby got up from behind her desk and strolled to the viewing window. She looked out toward the stars as if she could see the Excalibursomewhere out among them. “Look, XO, you implied that my concern over my husband was secondary to my concern over Starfleet orders. The hard fact is, there’s some small element of truth in that. As long as I’m captain of this vessel, my allegiance has to be to what Starfleet wants, and what’s best for the needs of this ship and her crew.”

Her eyes narrowed. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t care. It doesn’t ever mean that if something happened to Mac because of my inaction or inability to help, it wouldn’t crush my heart ... probably beyond its ability ever to recover. And as long as you never imply anything other than that, we’ll have no further problems. Is that clear?”

Mueller looked as if she was going to say something else entirely, but then her features softened and she simply said, “Yes, Captain.”

“Good. Say anything like that again, and I’ll fire you.”

“You’re joking,” said Mueller. “You would relieve me of duty?”

“No, I would fire you, as in, out a photon torpedo tube.”

“Ah.” There were the slightest hints of a smile at the edge of Mueller’s mouth. “Understood.”

“Is there anything else you wanted to discuss with me?” asked Shelby.

She thought for an instant that there was something on Mueller’s mind. But if there was, Mueller obviously chose to refrain from sharing it, because she simply shook her head and said, “No, Captain.”

At that moment, Takahashi informed Shelby that they were drawing within hailing range of Danter, and she and Mueller immediately headed out onto the bridge.

Shelby wasn’t remotely certain what to expect upon their first contact with Danter. Considering that they had sent Si Cwan and Kalinda speeding on their way with surface-to-space blasts, there was no reason to assume they might not be treated in a similar manner. So it was with distinct trepidation that she sent a preliminary hail down to Danter when the ship settled into orbit around the planet. She also made certain that Si Cwan was standing next to her when she got a response back, and that Ambassador Spock was there as well ... although he was off to one side, not endeavoring to pull attention to himself. He seemed most intrigued with the bridge, inspecting it carefully. Shelby had a feeling that, if asked, Spock could easily draw a perfect reproduction of the bridge from memory.

When the image appeared on the screen, she didn’t recognize him at first, nor did Si Cwan. What she saw was a Danteri with a young, robust look to him, round face, pleasant, modulated tone. In fact, he practically seemed to glow with good health. He spread wide his hands and said, “Greetings, my friends. Greetings from Danter. It is good to see you again, Captain Shelby. And before anything else is said, this must be said first: Lord Cwan, I see you there. Can you ever forgive me for our inhospitable treatment of you?”

Si Cwan stepped forward, bewilderment etched on his face, and then it cleared only to be replaced by even more confusion. “Lodec?”he managed to say.

At first she thought he had to be in error, but then she realized that, no, it was the senate speaker of Danter, all right. But this was not the aged Danteri whom she had met some time ago. Actually, it was,but he was barely recognizable as himself.

“I ... I don’t understand,” said Si Cwan, nor did Shelby. “Lodec; you ... you look so very different ... is it you?” He looked at Shelby. “Is it him?”

Takahashi was already running a quick double check through his ops board. “He’s our boy, all right,” drawled Hash. “His voiceprint matches with the record of his previous communiquйs. Match is ninety-nine percent, which is as close as we ever get with that method of ID. You want better, you’re gonna haveta go for genetic, but as they say, this is close enough for jazz.”

“They say that? Who says that?” asked a confused Si Cwan. “No one I know says that. And who is ‘Jazz’?”

“It is understandable you would be so astonished,” said Lodec easily. “These are astonishing times. That is what we tried to convey to you, Ambassador ... and failed utterly in doing so.”

“I’d call attempted murder a bit more than simply failing to get a point across,” Shelby said, sitting upright in her chair, her arms folded, her gaze leveled upon Lodec’s image. “Si Cwan and Kalinda nearly died in space. They would have, if not for a lucky happenstance.”

“There is no such thing as lucky,” Lodec informed her, his voice rising and falling in an odd sort of singsong. “There is only the will of the gods. They walk among us, you know. They love us, and we love them.”

“Sounds charming,” Si Cwan commented sarcastically.

“We admit, there were some difficulties as we became adjusted to the power of the ambrosia, and comprehending our new place in life’s great plan,” continued Lodec as if Si Cwan hadn’t spoken. For all Shelby knew, he hadn’t even heard Cwan say anything. “But we understand now. There is no longer any need for hostility. Come. See for yourselves. You will walk among us unmolested.”

“And what of the Beings?” asked Shelby. “Are they here?”

“Yes. Of course,” said Lodec. His smile was so wide it looked as if it could meet around the back of his head. “They walk among us and speak to us of so many things. And we have our prayer meetings, and we worship the greatness that is the Beings. They, in turn, give us ambrosia and guidance, and are helping us to build a great empire that will—in time—spread from one farthest star to the other.”

“How very special for you,” Mueller spoke up.

“Come. Meet them. Encounter them. See the vast improvements over how things are done now, as opposed to how they once were handled. Your safe passage is guaranteed.”

“As was ours, until you tried to kill us,” Si Cwan pointed out.

Lodec’s smile couldn’t be disrupted. “My dear Si Cwan,” he said, “perhaps I have not made myself clear. The Beings are here. The residents of the Tridenthave seen the results of the Beings’ wrath firsthand. Their might is no less now than it was then; greater, in fact. If the Beings had hostile intent ... do you think for a moment that your vessel would still be in orbit?”