Serpents Among the Ruins

After the incident, Harriman had gone to his father and convinced him not to empanel a court-martial for the actions of either starship’s captain. But relations between father and son had cooled after that, and a few silent months later, it had become clear that their relationship had foundered. They had spoken during the years since, but only in their official capacities within Starfleet, including some important meetings within the last year or so. Two days from now, though, their respective roles in the Universeproject would require more interaction between them than they’d had since…well, since all those years ago.

And maybe that’s affecting me more than I’ve been willing to admit,Harriman thought. Maybe—

No.He had long ago come to terms with his estrangement from his father. For despite all of the time they had spent together on the various starships to which his father had been assigned, they had never really shared a father-son bond. Even as a boy, Harriman had been treated more like a subordinate than like a child; Blackjack seemed to have been grooming him for service in Starfleet even then.

He pushed up from the sofa, but he didn’t move from there, his feet remaining planted and his thoughts remaining in the past. By the time Harriman had graduated the Academy, his father had attained the rank of rear admiral, a position that had allowed him some influence in forwarding his son’s fledgling career. Doors of opportunity had opened early and often for Harriman, more so than his performance—as good as it had been—had merited. More so than anybody’sperformance would have merited. He had initially felt divergent emotions about this: on the one hand, he had appreciated the chance to rise rapidly through the Starfleet ranks, but on the other, his pride and personal ethic had made him want to earn his promotions solely on the basis of his accomplishments and abilities. He had also resented that his father had not apparently believed him capable of such a career on his own.

Except that his father had thought him neither capable nor incapable, Harriman had eventually realized; the admiral’s actions had been motivated not by his opinions of his son, but by his opinions of himself.Blackjack had worn his son’s career as he would have a medal, as something that reflected upon him. It had taken Harriman a long time, but on that day seventeen years ago when the admiral had essentially taken command of Enterprisefrom him and had prepared to fire on the undefended Excelsior,he—Harriman—had finally faced the depth of his father’s self-involvement. He wished it were otherwise, wished that his father were different from the man he was, but in actuality, Harriman did not really like or respect him, and so also did not miss him.

But if this feeling of segregation from the crew was not about his father, as awkward as it might be to work with him in the next few days, and if it was not about Amina, much as he loved and missed her, then what was it about?

He paced across the room to his desk. He reached over it and turned the desktop computer interface around so that he could see it, then toggled it on. The image of Enterpriseappeared on the display. “Computer,” he said, “show me U.S.S. Universe,NX Twenty-nine Ninety-nine. External views, bow and starboard.”

“Please state identity and authorization code,”the computer responded in its mature, female voice.

“Identity: Harriman, Captain John J.,” he said. “Authorization: beta thirty-one meteor green.”

“Voiceprint and security code confirmed,”the computer said. “Displaying requested data.”

On the computer screen, the Enterprisevanished, replaced an instant later by split-screen images of Universe;a view from in front of the vessel sat on top, and a view from the side on the bottom. With a particularly wide beam and shallow depth, the starship looked as though it had been compacted top to bottom, and spread port and starboard. The primary hull, a narrow ellipse with its major axis ru

This is what’s troubling me,Harriman thought. He circled around his desk and sat down in the chair behind it, pulling the computer interface around as he did so. This is what’s dividing me from my crew.Not the work to be done with Blackjack, not the goodbye with Amina. This.

He stared at Universe,a ship he had taken a key role in pla

Harriman reached forward and jabbed at a control on the computer interface, blanking the screen. Not Blackjack, not Amina,he thought again. His own knowledge of the importance of the Universetrials was what separated him from his crew.

That, and the fact that he knew that they would only have one opportunity to get this right.

Ensign Borona Fe

The title Bo