Vaughn hoped that was good news. “How many?”
“Eleven. No, twelve. They’ve just dropped out of low warp speed. Quickly closing on our position.”
Stroking his beard, Vaughn grunted in acknowledgment. “Let me see them.” An instant later, several long, gracefully tapered vessels appeared on the viewer.
D’Naali,Vaughn thought, picking out a particular ship from the group. Its distinctive pattern of hull scorches positively identified it as the vessel from which Sacagawea had come.
He heard the turbolift doors whoosh open behind him, and turned his chair toward the sound. Shar and Bowers stepped onto the bridge, flanking Sacagawea. The tall, insectile alien adopted a slouched-over, splayed-legged stance to accommodate the bridge’s relatively low ceiling.
“Keep a close eye on him, Mr. Bowers,” Vaughn said.
“The D’Naali are powering up their weapons,” Merimark reported, her tone wary.
A split second later the bridge viewer showed bright bluish pulses of energy issuing from the prows of several of the newly arrived vessels. But the Defiantwasn’t their target. The bursts struck the bulbous hulls of the lead Nyazen ships, who promptly returned fire. Compression disruptors again,Vaughn observed silently. Relatively low-power stuff, on both sides.
The battle unfolded quickly, and was decidedly one-sided. Although the weaponry of both sides was essentially equivalent, the newly arrived D’Naali fleet was stronger in both numbers and, apparently, in energy reserves.
“The Nyazen are breaking off,” Tenmei reported. “Most of them are now on a direct heading for the alien cathedral. Several of the D’Naali are pursuing.”
“Sometimes the cavalry really doescome riding over the hill in the proverbial nick,” Bowers said, still standing vigilantly beside Sacagawea and Shar.
Vaughn turned his chair toward the tactical station. “Hail the D’Naali flagship, Ensign Merimark.”
Merimark was already listening intently to something on her earpiece. “Sir, the lead vessel is already hailing us.”
A moment later the buglike face of a D’Naali commander appeared on the viewer. Vaughn wasn’t absolutely certain this was the same being with whom he had spoken previously. They all looked remarkably similar, and Vaughn was willing to bet that they harbored precisely the same notion about humans.
“Thanking us not required/needful,”the alien began. “But your help/assistance we could accept/use in the now/futuretime.”
“How can we assist you?”
“Most impressed/astonished were we to discover/ learn of your mattermover, with which your crew/people came/went to/from our vessel—and later/subsequently gained cathedral/anathema ingress.”
Vaughn’s initial impulse was one of anger, but he reined it in, reminding himself that these beings weren’t human, or even humanoid. He had to make allowances for their culture, particularly in view of the difficulties that still existed in simply communicating with them. Nevertheless, Shar’s report that Sacagawea had somehow informed his people of the beam-in to the cathedral was obviously right on the money.
Vaughn made a slashing gesture toward Merimark, who responded by cutting the audio channel. The alien commander’s face remained on the screen as Vaughn turned toward Bowers and Shar. “How did Sacagawea report to his people, gentlemen? I presume he was searched and scanned for transmitters when he first came aboard.”
“He was, sir,” Bowers said, obviously at a loss. “We didn’t find anything.”
“We obviously missed something,”Vaughn said, wondering how the universal translator might mangle the D’Naali word for “spy.”
“I stumbled across this inadvertently only a few minutes ago, Captain,” Shar said, gesturing toward his antennae. “The D’Naali evidently possess an internal electromagnetic organ that enables them to communicate nonverbally on the lower-energy subspace bands. We never detected it because no one thought to monitor the long-wavelength channels.”
Vaughn couldn’t conceal his surprise. “You’re saying they’re…subspace telepaths?”
“Essentially,” Shar said, nodding toward the alien visage on the screen. “And as such, they probably aren’t being deterred by interrupting our audio feed.”
Damn! Of course. The D’Naali commander is hearing everything we’re saying—through Sacagawea.Vaughn gestured toward Merimark, who immediately restored the audio link with the D’Naali ship.
“Hear/perceive me enabled?”the alien captain was saying. “Relieved/gratified am I that hearing/audition/ reception is restored.”
“I can hear you quite well,” Vaughn said, coming to a decision. Whether the D’Naali had intended to commit espionage aboard the Defiantor not, there was no reason to allow it to continue. “We thank you for allowing Sacagawea to act as our guide.”
“Ryek’ekbalabiozan’voslu assures/attests that his time interval aboard/within your vessel has been enjoyable/profitable/instructive.”
Vaughn smiled at the alien commander, whose casual mention of communications with Sacagawea made it appear that the D’Naali had no treacherous intentions. “We are prepared to beam him back to you any time. Now, if you wish.”
The D’Naali commander made a gesture resembling a shrug. “Not urgency, Ryek’ekbalabiozan’voslu’s return/recovery. Far more interest/desire in matters other/ different. Now/presently, we need/require use of your mattermover device/machine. And your new scheme/ plan for enhancing/increasing its capability/power. Such machine/method we D’Naali could put to virtuous/appropriate use.”
They want to use our transporter?Vaughn bit back a curse at the deficiencies of the universal translator. Aloud, he said, “Whatuse?”
The D’Naali blinked several times before replying, as though it had just heard an unutterably stupid question. “With it, we too/as well may ingress/enter cathedral/ anathema, just as Ryek’ekbalabiozan’voslu informs/reports that you have done/accomplished. With your mattermover, we can resolve/finish cathedral/anathema. For now, and for evermore/eternity.”
At last Vaughn felt he was beginning to understand the nature of the obscure conflict between the D’Naali and the Nyazen. His initial anger, sparked by Sacagawea’s covert conversations with his commander, began smoldering again.
“You want to beam weapons into the cathedral,” Vaughn said. “Those Nyazen ships aren’t trying to prevent you from worshipingthe thing—they’re trying to keep you from destroyingit.”
“The Nyazen worship/revere the power/puissance of the cathedral/anathema,”the D’Naali captain said. “Its reach spans realms/worlds/universes. It is a sacred/terrible thing to them. It is a sacred/terrible thing tous— the selfsame sacred/terrible thing which shattered/ destroyed our innersystem ancient/ancestral home-world, longlonglong ago. An ancient evil/desolator, which scattered both lineages to the outervoids uncounted timeoutofmind ages/aeons past.”
Beginning to believe that something more sinister than a language barrier was responsible for the apparent obfuscation on the part of the D’Naali, Vaughn suddenly had a chilling thought. If their sole purpose all along had been to destroy the cathedral, they might be inclined to say anything to achieve that objective—even if it jeopardized the Defiant.Turning away from the viewer, Vaughn crossed to Sacagawea. Had the alien not stood more than a head taller, they would have been standing nose to nose.
“We’ve sent members of our crew inside the cathedral because youtold us that their…afflictions could be cured only there,” Vaughn said evenly. “I sincerely hope you were telling us the whole truth about that.”
Sacagawea shrank away from Vaughn, clearly intimidated. The creature’s long, graceful fingers played idly with the small antigrav units harnessed to its appendages, as though suddenly aware of its extreme vulnerability aboard the Defiant.“No prevarications/lies I told,” it said. “All this D’Naali-being has stated about/ concerning afflicted ones is correct/true/sincere. The anathema’s power/puissance is/remains your afflicted ones’ sole/final hope.”