Chapter Six

“ASHIP !” said Valak with disbelief.

 

“Undoubtedly, Commander,” the Romulan science officer replied. “The surface of the planet is but a shielded outer

crust constituting the hull of the ship. What passes for the atmosphere is merely an agglomeration of gases held by a

gravity field generated from beneath the planet surface. Our analysis indicates that these gases serve two purposes:

they help to disguise the ship as a planet, and they absorb waste matter expelled from the interior along with

ionized particles that interfere with accurate sensor readings.”

 

“An interstellar ark,” Data said.

 

“What?” said Valak.

 

“The idea was first proposed by Earth scientists in the late twentieth century,” Data replied. “It was originally

called an island or an O’Neill colony, after the physicist, Gerard O’Neill, who first proposed it. It was an

artificial world constructed in space, with the habitat itself built on the interior, on the curving inner surface.”

 

“The idea that led to your starbases,” said Valak.

 

“Precisely,” said Data. “But O’Neill’s model was cylindrical. Later Dandridge Cole proposed carving out an asteroid

for the purposes of interstellar travel. Cole proposed utilizing giant solar mirrors constructed in space out of

lightweight silvered plastics. These mirrors would then bore holes down to the center of an asteroid with a high iron

content, and these cavities would then be filled with tanks of water. Spin would be imparted to the asteroid by means

of hydrogen-fueled propulsion devices, and as it spun in the light bath of the solar mirrors, the asteroid would heat

up and start to soften. Gravitational and cohesive forces would gradually pull it into a spherical shape, and if the

whole operation was timed correctly, the water tanks at the core would explode just as the central axis of the

asteroid reached its melting point. The result would be a balloonlike expansion of the asteroid, with an outer crust,

or hull, and a hollow interior, ready for construction once the interior was properly sealed. The idea was further

refined”

 

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Data,” said Picard, knowing that, given half a chance, the android would discourse upon the

entire history of the concept, from O’Neill’s initial formulation to the present. “I am familiar with the concept.

However, Cole’s idea was for a relatively small asteroid, no more than ten miles in diameter, and it was eventually

discarded as more practical methods of construction in space were developed. This … this is on aplanetary scale!”

 

“Then that is where the crew of this ship went,” said Valak.

 

“That would seem to be the logical explanation,”Picard replied. “But with your knowledge of Starfleet and human

technology, surely you must realize that this is not a Federation construct.”

 

Valak frowned. “Thus far, we have no evidence to prove that it is not. However, there is only one way that we shall

ever know for certain, and that is to assemble an away team to beam down to the interior of Hermeticus Two.”

 

“Valak, this discovery puts an entirely different slant on the situation,” said Picard. “We know that this ark has

been here for at least three decades. That in itself suggests two possibilities: either it is vacant, its crew long

dead or departed, and it was merely captured by the gravitational fields in this system, or else the race that built

and crewed it has reached its destination and is still present.”

 

“There is a third possibility,” said Valak. “The crew of theIndependence discovered this ark and found it vacant, and

the Federation took advantage of the opportunity to establish a ready-made base here.”

 

“A moment’s thought will tell you that is not possible,” Picard said. “The establishment of a base would have

required a steady stream of supplies, and traffic in this sector would have increased the odds of the base being

discovered.”

 

“Your argument, as you humans say, does not hold water,” said Valak, “An interstellar ark, equipped for long-duration

multigenerational voyages, would have been designed to be entirely self-sufficient and would require no periodic

resupply.”

 

“Perhaps,” Picard was forced to admit, “but why advertise the presence of a secret base by leaving theIndependence in

orbit above it? That would defeat the whole purpose, would it not?”

 

Valak nodded. “Your point is well taken. However, there are many unanswered questions here, and I intend to have them

answered. All members of the away team report back to the bridge immediately. Talar, prepare to beam back the away

team. We are going to find out what lies beneath the surface of Hermeticus Two.”

 

“Enter,” said Lord Kazanak.

 

The doors slid open and Valak came in. “You asked to see me, my lord?”

 

“Yes. I was monitoring your transmissions from the Federation ship. Do you really believe there may be Federation

presence onor perhaps I should sayin Hermeticus Two?”

 

“At this point, I am not certain what to believe,” Valak replied. “However, I am inclined to think that Picard is

telling me the truth.”

 

“You trust ahuman?” Lord Kazanak said with surprise.

 

“It is not a matter of trust,” Valak replied. “Picard’s reasoning is sound. To our knowledge, the Federation has

never had a craft such as this ark. And if they had a hidden base here, they would have been foolish to give away

their presence by leaving theIndependence in orbit above it, as Picard pointed out.”

 

Lord Kazanak nodded. “Then there must be some other explanation for all this. The deep scanner probe has detected no

life-form readings within this ark?”

 

“The readings are inconclusive,” Valak said. “The power emanations from within Hermeticus Two and the charged

particles in its atmosphere are causing interference. There may also be some sort of shield down there preventing

accurate readings.”

 

“If Picard is to be believed,” Kazanak said, “then theIndependence has been here for a very long time. If its crew

went down to the interior of the ark, there still could be survivors?”

 

“Survivors or perhaps descendants,” Valak said. “Yes, I suppose it is possible.”

 

“What do you think of Picard’s claim about the Federation quarantine?”

 

“Whether or not that is true remains to be determined,” Valak said. “However, I have no doubt Picard believes it to

be true.”

 

“Indeed? You seem to have unusual faith in Captain Picard,” Lord Kazanak said.

 

“Faith?” said Valak, raising his eyebrows. “I have faith that he will seize the slightest opportunity to act against

me. That is why I do not intend to give him one.”

 

“And yet, you seem almost to … like him,” said Lord Kazanak, with a look of distaste.

 

“I understand him,” Valak said, “and I respect him.”

 

“Respect?”said Lord Kazanak. “For ahuman?”

 

“For an enemy,” said Valak. “A highly capable enemy.”

 

“If he is so capable, why was he defeated so easily?” Lord Kazanak said contemptuously. “Why did so capable an enemy

surrender?”

 

“Jean-Luc Picard would never surrender,” Valak replied.

 

Lord Kazanak frowned. “What do you mean?”

 

“I mean that I never asked him to surrender formally. It is, perhaps, a fine distinction, but had I demanded it, he

would have fought us, to the last man,” said Valak. “With all due respect, my lord, there is much about the humans

that you do not understand. Particularly humans like Picard. So long as he continues to believe that he may have a

chance to turn the situation to his favor, or negotiate his way clear of it without violence, he will refrain from

desperate action. Had I forced his hand, I would have had to kill him, and he is of more value to meand to the high

councilalive.”

 

“Perhaps,” Lord Kazanak replied. “Still, you seem to have a fascination for these humans that escapes me. I look

forward to the war that will subjugate them and put them in their proper place once and for all. It is to that end

that I have designed and built this ship. Once it has proved itself, it will be but the first in a mighty invasion

fleet. However, the expense of constructing this one ship was so great that the council has insisted upon its being

proved. There are those members of the council who doubt the worthiness of my design, and suspect its approval to be

solely the result of my father’s influence. I intend to prove them wrong, Valak, wrong beyond any shadow of a doubt.

This missionmust be a success! And if there is anything to be discovered in that ark that will give us any added

advantage, then so much the better. If we can bring back such a discovery, and report the destruction of

theEnterprise , then none shall doubt me.”

 

“Indeed, my lord,” said Valak. “If there is any such discovery to be made, I shall do my utmost to bring it to you.”

 

“Do that, Valak, and your future is assured,” Lord Kazanak said. “But if there is any truth to Picard’s claims about

the quarantine …”

 

“I have already thought of a way to test that,” Valak said.

 

“Absolutely not!” Picard said. “I will never agree to such a thing!”

 

“I did not ask you to agree or disagree,” said Valak. “You have no choice in the matter.”

 

“My people are your prisoners,” Picard said. “You cannot use prisoners as guinea pigs!”

 

“In point of fact, Captain, I can do anything I wish,” said Valak. “No formal treaties or articles of war exist

between our people. We have merely agreed upon a truce, with the Neutral Zone as a buffer between Romulan and

Federation space. I have found a Federation starship here, in clear violation of that truce, so if I wish, I can

declare the truce null and void.”

 

“The truce that created the Neutral Zone has been in effect for over a century!” Picard said. “I seriously doubt that

your superiors have given you the authority to declare it null and void at your discretion, especially when you have

not ascertained the facts of the situation.”

 

“The fact of the situation is that the Federation ship is here,” said Valak. “In any event, this debate is pointless.

To minimize the risks to my crew, the first away team will be composed of crew members of theEnterprise . My chief of

security, Kalad, will accompany them, dressed in a Starfleet uniform so that he may pass as Vulcan, in case the team

encounters Federation personnel on the ark.”

 

“And you expect me to choose which of my crew members you will place at risk?” Picard asked angrily.

 

“To free you of that burden, I have already chosen those who will beam down. They will be Counselor Troi, Ensign Ro,

Lieutenant Commander Data, and Dr. Crusher. If there is some risk of an infection, then your own ship’s doctor will

be in the best position to determine that. And if any dangerous life-forms are present, Kalad is my most capable

warrior, and his presence on the away team will also ensure that the Federation officers do not attempt to escape or

misrepresent whatever they may find.”

 

“If they are exposed to any sort of dangerous infection,” said Picard, “it may not show up right away. You run the

risk of bringing it back to your own ship.”

 

“Captain, you know as well as I that no mission is entirely without risk. Both your people and mine accept such

perils as a matter of course. I have my duty, and I intend to carry it out.”

 

“If that is your final word on the matter, then I insist on being allowed to beam down with them,” said Picard.

 

“You are in no position to insist on anything, Picard. I am growing weary of reminding you of that. You will remain

here, where I can keep my eye on you. And that is my final word on the matter.”

 

Despite Picard’s objections, the away team was assembled in the transporter room. Valak gave them all deactivated

Starfleet phasers, for the sake of appearance, but Kalad carried one that was fully charged.

 

Picard attempted to protest this. “You cannot send them down there without any means of protecting themselves!” he

insisted.

 

“Neither do I intend to arm them so that they can present a danger to my chief of security,” said Valak. “Your

constant protests are becoming tiresome, Picard. You have no one but yourself to blame for this. If you had not

erased the file on Hermeticus Two, we would have a much better idea of what is to be found down there. Since your

interference caused the erasure of the data, it is only fitting that your people take the initial risk to compensate

for its loss.”

 

“May I at least speak with them?”

 

Valak gestured toward them, and Picard approached them.

 

“I tried my utmost to prevent this,” he said, “but”

 

“Don’t worry about us, Captain,” Ro interrupted. “Worry about the Romulans.”

 

“Beverly,” Picard said, “if there is any risk of an infection down there”

 

“I’ve got my tricorder programmed to scan for all known infectious organisms,” she replied, “and I will constantly

monitor the condition of the away team while we’re down there.”

 

“That is still no guarantee”

 

“There are never any guarantees,” she said. “Don’t worry, Jean-Luc. We’ll find a way out of this somehow.” She smiled

bravely, but it was a strained smile just the same.

 

Picard nodded. “Mr. Data, your first priority will be the safety of the away team. Do not give Kalad any excuse to

use deadly force against you. He will not hesitate to employ it.”

 

“Understood, sir.”

 

There was nothing else to say except “Good luck.”

 

Picard stepped back, and Valak gave the command to energize. The away team faded out of view as they were transported

to the interior of Hermeticus 2.

 

The transporter coordinates had been carefully computed, but there was still considerable risk involved in the

process. Because of the uncertain scanner readings, they had no exact idea where they were being transported to. The

transporter circuitry had built-in compensators designed to reduce the risk of transporting an away team to

coordinates in space that were already occupied by something else, whether a living creature or an inanimate object,

but in this case, it was still a gamble.

 

They materialized in an open area, in a square surrounded by buildings. Kalad, the Romulan chief of security,

immediately drew his disruptor and glanced around alertly, on the watch for any signs of trouble. The others, except

Data, who was incapable of being amazed, all had their breath taken away.

 

In the artificial light flooding the interior of the ark, they could see that they were standing on the curving inner

surface of a hollow inside-out world, a world that was a multigenerational starship. It was an engineering marvel.

The “horizon” encircled them, and as they looked up, they saw not sky but buildings in the distance, roughly twenty

miles overhead. The vista spreading out before them was a wide upcurving panorama of structures interspersed with

large open parklike areas consisting of meadows, small hills, and dense forests. It was like looking at a huge city

through some sort of crazy fish-eye lens that offered a 360-degree view. An equatorial “sea” encircled the ship, with

a huge clifflike retaining wall designed to keep the water from flooding the city while the ark was under

acceleration or deceleration. The illusion was that of a huge horizontal bay spanned by several large bridges.

Perspective was completely skewed. Initially, except for Data, they experienced a breathless sense of wonder and at

the same time a profound and immediate attack of vertigo.

 

Troi grabbed Ro’s arm for support. They were in no danger of falling, but with buildings hanging upside down above

them, the Federation officersagain excepting Dataexperienced a sudden dizzying, spinning sensation. The Romulan,

curiously, seemed uneffected, though he was obviously puzzled by his surroundings.

 

“I think I am going to be ill,” said Troi.

 

“Hang on, Deanna,” Dr. Crusher said. “The effect is mainly psychological. You should get used to it in a little

while. Just don’t look up for now.”

 

Troi smiled, weakly. “Which wayis up?”

 

“How can anyone live like this?” said Ro. “Up is down, down is sideways … I feel as if I’m going to fall up’ any

second.”

 

“It’s a matter of orientation,” Dr. Crusher said. “It will take some getting used to, but you won’t fall. Try not to

think about it. Concentrate on your tricorder readings.”

 

“It will take enough concentration merely to stop hyperventilating,” said Deanna.

 

“The atmosphere is very close to Earth standard,” Ro said, checking her instrument. “We should be able to breathe and

move about comfortably without these suits.”

 

“Keep them on for now,” said Dr. Crusher, “at least until I can determine if there are any harmful bacteria present.”

 

“Most interesting,” said Data, who alone among them was not wearing a suit, as he did not require life support.

“There seems to be constant control of humidity, air pressure, and atmospheric mixture as well as the artificial day

and night cycles. I am not detecting any life-form readings in our vicinity, but this environment is functioning

consistently. All the mechanical functions of this ark would appear to be completely automated, and whatever their

power source may be, it has apparently been maintaining this closed-system environment without interruption all this

time.”

 

A communication came through from the ship: “Valak to away team. Are you receiving me?”

 

“Affirmative, Commander,” replied Kalad. “However, there is some interference in the form of static on the comm

circuit.”

 

“We are picking it up on this end as well,” Valak replied, as the others listened over their helmet comm circuits.

“Give me your report.”

 

As Kalad described their surroundings to the Romulan commander the others continued to take tricorder readings. When

Kalad had finished, Valak asked Dr. Crusher for a report.

 

“My readings do not indicate the presence of any harmful bacteria,” she replied. “The ark has a closed environmental

system. The air is breathable, and it appears to be filtered somehow, with all impurities drawn out. There is no

pollution of any sort, and the temperature is a constant seventy degrees. We have not detected the presence of any

life-forms, but the range of our tricorders is limited and our readings are still being thrown off somewhat. However,

there is nothing in the atmosphere down here that should cause any harm.”

 

Aboard theSyrinx , Valak turned to Picard and said, “Thus far there seems to be no reason for a quarantine.”

 

“It is still too early to draw such a conclusion,” Picard replied.

 

“We shall see,” said Valak. “But the more we learn, the more it seems as if the Federation has taken great care to

conceal something. Rest assured, Captain, that I shall find out what that is.”

 

Night watch. Riker sat alone in his quarters aboard theEnterprise , confined there by order of Korak, who seemed to

want him out of his sight unless Valak needed to speak with him. I got him where it hurts, thought Riker, in his

pride. Bad enough I managed to put him down in hand-to-hand combat, but I did it in sight of his subordinates. That’s

something he’s not going to forget … or forgive. But the important thing, he thought, is that it threw Korak off-balance. It shook him up, and badly.

 

Obviously, it was the first time the Romulan had ever fought a human who had been trained in martial arts. It was

probably the first time he had ever fought a human, period. Korak had been well trained himself, and his fighting

style prepared him to handle karate more or less, but he had been completely thrown off by aikido. It made sense,

thought Riker. The Romulans were a combative, conquering race, and their modes of fighting would be powerful and

aggressive ones. A fighting style designed to be primarily defensive would be a new concept for them. They respected

strength, but there was a difference between strength and force. The idea of using an opponent’s strength as a force

against him had taken Korak by surprise.

 

Riker was grateful now for the time he’d spent honing his skills in the ancient martial art. It had been a long time

since he’d trained formally, but while Tasha Yar was with them, he’d spent many hours working out with her. She had

been a master in the art, and she had taught him a great deal and helped him set up his own holodeck training

program. For a long time he had used it partly as recreation, partly to keep in shape, and partly to keep his

reflexes sharp. Now it had paid off. Without it he would have been no match for the Romulan. Korak could easily have

crippled him. There was a lesson to be learned here, and Korak was not the only one who had received an education.

 

There was little contact between Romulans and humans. What Korak knew of humans was probably just what he’d been

told, and he’d been told that they were weak, decadent, and inferior. Valak apparently had considerably greater

knowledge, but even his knowledge was primarily theoretical. For a commander of a warbird, especially one as advanced

as theSyrinx , Valak was quite young. He couldn’t have had much, if any, direct experience of humans. But he was much

less overconfident than Korak, and he seemed much more even-tempered, if there could be such a thing as an even-tempered Romulan.

 

Riker knew that as he was studying Korak for weak points, the captain would be doing the same with Valak. The Romulan

commander was smart to keep them apart as much as possible, so that they could not compare notes and put their heads

together to come up with a plan of action, but at the same time, Valak had separated himself from his own first

officer. Korak was more impulsive, much brasher than Valak. The two of them together would have been formidable

antagonists indeed. But without Valak, Korak was the weaker link in the Romulan chain.

 

The trouble was, Korak was now more wary. He was keeping Riker separated not only from Picard, but from the rest of

his crew as well. He had been left alone in his quarters only after they had been carefully searched and the computer

terminal disconnected. And there were guards just outside the door. Somehow, thought Riker, I’ve got to figure out a

way to communicate with the others, so we can try to come up with a plan.

 

Suddenly, the lights in his room went out. Then just as suddenly they came back on again. He glanced up. They went

off, then on again, then off for a bit longer this time, then back on. It took a moment for the meaning of the

occurrence to sink in, and then he grinned. Geordi! It couldn’t be anyone else. He was using the lights in Riker’s

quarters to signal him in Morse code.

 

Riker quickly grabbed a pen and started writing down the dots and dashes on a notepad. God, he thought, my Morse code

is so damn rusty, I may have to look this up to make sure I get the message right. He scribbled furiously. Not so

fast, Geordi, dammit! After a few moments, the lights stopped flashing on and off and Riker softly read aloud the

message he had written down: “Vent shaft your quarters 0300 hours. Acknowledge. Disconnect light circuit service

panel.”

 

He smiled. Of course. All Geordi had to do was use a tester to see that the circuit for the lights in Riker’s

quarters had been interrupted and he would receive his acknowledgment that his message had gotten through. He quickly

complied with La Forge’s instructions and plunged his quarters into darkness. Now all he had to do was wait until

3:00A.M. But the ventilation shaft? Geordi wasn’t a big man, and he was very trim, but it would still be one hell of

a tight fit for him to squeeze through the air ducts. Riker would have to wait about three and a half hours. It would

probably take La Forge all that time just to crawl through the ductwork to his quarters, assuming he did not get

caught … or stuck. Riker settled down to wait.

 

It was the longest three and a half hours of his life. It grew even longer as the time stretched agonizingly to three

and three-quarters hours, and then to four hours, and thenfinallyhe heard the soft sounds of Geordi squirming his

way through the shaft. Riker got up to remove the screen and helped pull him through.

 

“Damn!” La Forge swore in a whisper. “Now I remember what it feels like to be born.”

 

“I was starting to get worried,” Riker said. They kept their voices very low, to avoid alerting the Romulan guards

outside.

 

“For a while there, I didn’t think I was going to make it,” La Forge said. “It’s a hell of a tight squeeze there in

some spots.”

 

“Here, have a drink,” said Riker, handing him a glass.

 

“Thanks, I could use it.” He downed it in one gulp. “Boy, some mess, huh?” He handed Riker a small communicator.

“Here, I managed to squirrel a couple of these away when nobody was looking. I altered the frequency, so that it

broadcasts on a different band and with a lower power level. It won’t go outside the ship, but if we’re real careful

we should be able to communicate with each other without them picking it up.”

 

“Well done. How are you holding up?” asked Riker.

 

“Okay, I guess, except that I’ve got a damned Romulan engineer crawling all over me and watching every single thing I

do. Atalan knows his stuff, but he’s not familiar with our systems and he doesn’t trust me as far as I can throw

him.”

 

Riker grinned. “At least you’ve still got your sense of humor.”

 

“That’s about all I’ve got,” said La Forge, still rubbing his cramped muscles. “I’ve about flat run out of patience

with these people. Commander, we’vegot to do something!”

 

“Tell me about it,” Riker replied. “The trouble is, they’re holding the captain and half the crew hostage on the

warbird, and I’ve had no contact with them at all. They’ve beamed Dr. Crusher, Troi, Ro, and Data down to Hermeticus

Two to look around. Sort of a test case, I guess, before Valak sends down his own people.”

 

“What’s the deal with this place, anyway?” asked La Forge.

 

“That’s rightyou’ve been out of the loop, for the most part,” Riker said. He quickly brought him up to date.

 

“Damn,” said La Forge. “It looks like they’ve really got us by the short hairs. We need to come up with a planfast.”

 

“I’ve been working on that,” Riker said. “Valak hasn’t left us a whole lot of options. But if some of us could find a

way to get aboard theIndependence …”

 

“What good would that do?” La Forge said sourly. “Without new antimatter pods and generator coils, that ship can’t be

powered up. We couldn’t do a thing with it.”

 

“Maybe not with the ship itself,” said Riker, “but if we can get at the arms storage lockers, we could get our hands

on some phasers.”

 

“Maybe,” La Forge said, “if they’re still there … if the Romulans didn’t confiscate them.”

 

“I listened to the reports of the away team that beamed aboard theIndependence ,” Riker said, “and they said nothing

about finding any weapons. Even if they had, after all this time, the phasers would be outdated and the sarium

krellide cells would have long since expired. The Romulans would have figured they’d be useless.”

 

“But sarium krellide cells can be recharged by tapping the ship’s electroplasma system,” La Forge said. “If the

emitter crystals and the recharging coils are still in decent shape”

 

“If the weapons have been stored all this time, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be,” said Riker. “And we’d need

just enough phasers to seize back our own arms storage locker, and we could make up the deficit out of that.”

 

“Whoa, wait a minute,” La Forge said. “We’re putting the cart before the horse here. I might be able to figure out

some way to tap the EPS for a recharge of the power cells without getting caught, but we’d first have to seize the

transporter room to get aboard theIndependence . Even if we could overpower the guards there without alerting the

others, they’d still pick it up on the bridge the moment the transporter was activated. We might be able to get over

to theIndependence , but the Romulans would be on us before we could do anything.”

 

“Not if we don’t use the transporter,” Riker said.

 

“A shuttlecraft would be a sitting duck,” said La Forge. “Besides, I thought you said they used all the shuttles to

transfer the hostages to the warbird.”

 

“That’s right, they did,” said Riker, “but I wasn’t thinking of using a shuttle.”

 

La Forge whistled softly. “You meanEVA?”

 

Riker nodded.

 

“Jeez, that might work, but we’d be taking one hell of a chance. We wouldn’t be as easy to spot that way, but if

theydid spot us … and how would we get aboard theIndependence? There wouldn’t be any power to the emergency

hatches and …” His voice trailed off. “Wait a minute, you mean blow the emergency bolts fromoutside?”

 

“Exactly,” Riker said. “I know it would be risky, but it’s the only thing I can think of.”

 

La Forge shook his head. “It could work,” he said, “but to blow the bolts from the outside, we’d need to remove the

outer access panels and tap into the circuits with a portable power source, which means we’d be practicallynext to

the damn things when they blew.”

 

“I didn’t say it was going to be easy,” Riker said.

 

“No, you sure didn’t. How are we going to get at the EVA suits?”

 

“The same way you got in here,” said Riker.

 

“No way,” said La Forge. “It would never work. I was just barely able to squeeze through where the ducts narrow.

You’d never make it.”

 

“I wouldn’t have to go very far,” said Riker. “We’d only have to crawl far enough to reach an opening into the first

Jefferies tube, and then we could crawl through and take the tubes the rest of the way. It would have to be during

night watch, when the Romulans would think we were asleep. We’d need as much time as possible.”

 

La Forge took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. “All right,” he said. “Let’s say it all works and we manage to get

our hands on some antiquated phasers from theIndependence . And let’s assume we can get back safely and I can get

them charged up.Then what?”

 

“Then the next step will be up to you,” said Riker. “Korak’s been keeping a close watch on me, and when he’s not with

me, he’s keeping me confined to quarters. You’ll have to pass the word somehow to your crew down in engineering.

They’re the ideal people for what I have in mind anyway.”

 

“And what’s that?”

 

“We’re going to fight them the one way they won’t expect us to,” said Riker. “And our weapon is going to be

theEnterprise itself.”