To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)

USS Enterprise
Guest Cabin Sixteen

Simon_Jester said:

Nash raises her glass in the air as the Warmaster takes his own glass, "To our ships."

"To our ships." says the Warmaster, clinking his glass against ka'Sharren's.

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The Licori spoke, musingly. "By the way, I may not have seen much of this vessel, but I've a certain sense for such things. And I sense a lack of holes in your flagship, admiral. Tell me, did you order this ship to take the lead position during the battle?"

"Yes." She could tell the pride was gleaming in her eye.

"Then let me apologize, Admiral ka'Sharren. I have done you a grave disservice. Knowing little of the exact disposition of your forces, I had simply assumed you would fly your flag from the trailing ship, in the position of greater safety."

She frowned. "Then those last two torpedoes that hit the Liberty..."

"Were meant for you." The Licori confirmed, tilting his head, as though waiting for a reaction.

Nash quietly revised her estimate of just how much trouble the Licori 'warmaster' could be, without his ultra-tech torpedoes to play with. "Now that we're done trying to kill each other, I suppose that's in the past."

Halkh laughed. "Words after my own heart. I changed sides a time or two, in my youth, and it doesn't do to obsess over old and honorable enemies." He paused, contemplating a sip of the Amarki wine and gazing at the bottle. "I like this. Full-bodied, with depth, and finesse. I don't think I've ever encountered anything with quite this flavor- smoky, almost." Halkh looked up from the bottle to Nash's face. "You say this is made by the Amarki? I haven't been so lucky as to make the acquaintance of their kind for any length of time."

"Yes; it's from one of the equatorial provinces on Selindra. A gift from the knight commander of the Order of the Bronze Bracelet, two years ago. They gave it to me after my time with the Amarki squadron fighting the Syndicate."

Halkh looked interested- almost avid. "How does your Federation's war against the Orion Syndicate go, by the way?"

Nash shrugged. "The government is reorganizing Orion space to cut the power of the corporations. That was all they really needed. There were too many big, powerful gangs of executives vying for control. They all use the Syndicate, and the Syndicate uses them."

The Licori nodded slowly. "That kind of vermin breeds fastest on a cluttered world, one that carelessly feeds them crumbs of opportunity, and does not clean away its own filth." He stared into his goblet, looking thoughtful, then turned back to the Starfleet commodore.

He frowned. "You think that way about us, don't you?"

She paused. "I won't lie. Some of us do. The Kortennon and the Ixara have unleashed some very dangerous things. And the Empire's defended them, even after we asked you to stop endangering our peoples."

"The Emperor might have had a shorter life, shorter even than he enjoyed in this world that is, if he had said 'yes' to you that day. No House of any note would lightly accept such restrictions from the hand of another sovereign, be they of greater rank or not."

"That... that leads into a question I'd wanted to ask you, actually. What is it that makes such actions seem like something that needs to be protected? I've met a lot of species with a lot of ideas about who has the right to do what, and to who. But I hadn't imagined I would see anyone willing to go to war to protect something like a Kortennon experiment that blows up stars."

Halkh twisted his hand. "It's the nature of the exercise of sovereign power. By definition, power shapes the universe, and the head of a House is a sovereign. Thus, they have a right to shape that which falls under their hands to control."

The warmaster didn't seem like an oversensitive type- and while Nash hadn't met that many Licori yet, Halkh struck her as more of a 'citizen of the cosmos' than most of the species. If she was ever going to get an answer to the question itching in her brain, it would be here.

"Yes, but why? Why not... restrain them? Why let them do something that's put your entire species in danger?"

---

Halkh was silent for a long time. Then he cleared his throat.

"In the mirrors of the many judgments, I see the blood on my hands, shed on many planets over generations of time. I am mindful of my sins, both against others and against my own spirit. To be sure, being the man that I am, I despise Kortennon for their foulness. I loathe them for their wrongs against my own person. But if time and fortune have given them dominion, then who am I, with the deaths on my conscience and the flaws in my own heart, to decree that this dominion be broken? The actions of sovereignty are commanded by Fate, for the outcomes of Fate's own design. If the wise sacrifice everything to create something great and terrible, who am I to say it should never have existed? If the powerful act in ways I despise within their own homes, who am I to say that this is anything other than the grand design? When the foulness of Kortennon brings devastation on our empire, I mourn... but that, too, could be the hand of Fate."

"But if they have a right to do things like that, just because they can, what would you do if you...?"

That cunning smile lit Halkh's face. "Oh, now if I had the power to say 'no' to Baron Kortennon or his like? Directly?" He rubbed his hands. "Why, that would be a very interesting day indeed. It comes to me, thinking about it, that perhaps the worlds and people of the Arcadian- no, the Licori- suffer from an excess of sovereigns. Perhaps we might pool power into a single government, as it seems the Orions have learned to do. Not a man or a house, but something larger. Hm."

Halkh rubbed his chin, looking very thoughtful. "Admiral ka'Sharren, I would like to offer you a bargain. Obviously my own actions are restricted by my oaths, but some things, I think, I can exchange with you freely, even if you are an enemy of the empire. Perhaps some of your officers could use some entertainment, perhaps? Diversion and merriment? You have had so little exposure to the more gracious and elegant side of our civilization, I fear. Among the nobility of Calamar, I am considered a musician of some repute."

"Oh? What instrument do you play?"

"The bithraset, a many-stringed piece, popular across much of Morshadd. Unfortunately your last shot vaporized my quarters- and took my bithraset with it. But perhaps you'd happen to have a selection of stringed instruments lying about, somewhere aboard this fighting palace of a starship?"

"I think so." Nash nodded. She knew there'd been a few things like that kicking around the ship, on top of the crew's personal instruments.

"Excellent! Perhaps I may yet entertain your officers, at your next dinner party. This, and my parole, I would offer- for the loan of an instrument, and a run at your ship's library."

She saw the grin on his face, and revised her estimate upward another notch, noticing how casually he'd slipped in what it sounded like he really wanted. She suspected why he wanted it, too. He might be an old warhorse, but that smile was the kind someone used right before they tried to steal your front teeth without you even noticing. And sometimes they pulled it off, too.

But something about the man suggested that he was on the brink of being turned around, to go steal someone else's teeth instead.

Nash nodded. "It's a bargain. I'll talk to Captain Mrr'shan and make arrangements; security will still want to keep track of you."

"Naturally. Speaking of which- another form of entertainment comes to my mind. Call it my other specialty, besides music." The warmaster tilted his head and smiled in a somewhat different way, and Nash raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Why, I believe you Starfleeters should have the chance to learn about traditional Licori fighting styles- especially those which have arisen since the advent of the personal kinetic damper."

"That- sounds interesting." Nash looked intent. She sensed that Halkh wasn't just making small talk.

"Indeed. Do you have a sergeant-at-arms experienced in close combat with bladed weapons? Perhaps they and I can give a demonstration. I'm sure you captured a few working samples of our dampers; I know my security troops would have had them on their persons. Not that they'd be very helpful to us- or you."

"What, personal force fields? That sounds like a very useful technology."

"Yes, you'd think so, wouldn't you? But they have a worrying tendency to spontaneously explode when struck with energy weapons, you see. We saw the problem with that early on against the Ked Paddah, when they detonated their way through an entire legion of Kortennon troops. Such a terrible, terrible humiliation for their house. It was magnificent! Still, though, they do make sword fights interestingly difficult."

"Why do you even bother with them, though, if a hand phaser makes them explode?"

"We usually don't, but once in a while solid projectiles are the best way to put an end to something that's otherwise shielded or surrounded in a negating field. Having a tool that counters a bullet can be just as helpful as having a tool that counters a beam. Or one may be fighting in close quarters, against some giant monstrosity- an occasional Bene trick, and a Kortennon specialty." Halkh scowled. "And I'm told Baron Kortennon is convinced his mentats are on the brink of devising a personal shield that stops both beams and shot- he goes through mentats quickly, and they tend to promise him the moon and the stars as a result. I doubt he's right to trust them, but he may believe he's right."

Nash nodded slowly, wondering if she could still get that information to T'Lorel in time for the attack on Gammon. That would be something very helpful. She'd better go.

She said a polite goodbye, observing the sly smile on Halkh's face, and stepped out of the Licori's 'guest room.' Then she hurried off to the nearest signals compartment...