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“For the moment,” Qui
Sensing an ulterior motive lurking behind the small talk, Pe
The grizzled pilot slapped a hand to his chest. “You wound me, Newsboy!” They both chuckled at that, and it felt to Pe
“Mate, if it’s about the money, forget it. I’m bloody rolling in it.”
A smile of genuine happiness lit up Qui
Pe
“Well, then I owe you an apology on top of everything else. All you ever did was help me, and all I did was act like an asshole. And for that I’m sorry, Tim. I really am.” He rubbed his hand across his stubbled chin and upper lip, apparently considering his next words with a heavy conscience. “I reckon if I owe you anything else, it’s a reason why.”
“No,” Pe
The silence that grew between them then was one not of unease but of understanding. For the first time in a very long while, Pe
Qui
Pe
“Forget I mentioned it,” Qui
Wondering if he’d said something wrong, Pe
“I got someplace I need to be.” There was an enigmatic quality to the light in Qui
Only many decades later would a nostalgic Tim Pe
T’Pry
A drone of comm chatter and muted responses from Vanguard’s traffic-control team blended into the steady background of computer feedback tones, the hum of the ventilation system, and the hiss of turbolift doors opening and closing at odd intervals. Several sections of the towering viewscreens that wrapped around more than two-thirds of the circular command level’s walls displayed civilian vessels of varying sizes and types arriving and departing.
Only one of them was of interest to T’Pry
She watched the Zaragoza maneuver clear of traffic, taking Qui
It is likely I will never balance the scales of my own guilt and virtue, she concluded. But that does not absolve me of my responsibility to try. As she turned and descended the steps from the supervisors’ deck, she permitted herself a moment of private sentimentality. Live long and prosper, Cervantes Qui
It was possible, she thought as she stepped inside a turbolift, that one day Qui
I will forgive when I can trust myself not to repeat the errors of my past, she vowed, and not until then. She didn’t know how long it would take her to recover that faith in her own ethical compass, but as she thought of Qui
For the moment, that would suffice.
28
Clutching the last feeble straws of his patience, Nogura strode into the Vault backed by JAG officer Lieutenant Commander Holly Moyer and a phalanx of twenty armed security officers. They found Xiong and his cadre of Starfleet science experts waiting for them, standing in a tight formation with folded arms and expressions of hard resolve. As Nogura had expected, this meeting was off to a wonderfully confrontational start. He met Xiong’s hard stare. “Lieutenant.”
The lean younger man replied simply, “Admiral.”
“Let’s just cut through it, shall we?” Nogura extended his hand to Moyer, who handed him a data slate. “It’s my understanding that you and your team are refusing to obey orders to run the test series requested by Starfleet Command. Is that correct?”
Xiong appeared unrepentant. “That’s right.”
“On what grounds?”
Nervous looks were volleyed between Xiong and the other members of the Vault contingent, and then Xiong said, “We believe these orders to be unlawful and immoral, sir.”
Nogura felt as if he wanted to simply explode. “Mister Xiong, while I understand and can even sympathize with your reaction to the . . . distasteful nature of these orders, I am compelled to remind you that they are, nonetheless, orders. Your compliance is not optional.”