Captain's Table_ Dujonian's Hoard Part 11

His conclusion couldn't have been further from the truth. However, I wasn't about to mention that. The less he knew, I thought, the better.

"Now, then," the gul declared, turning to Red Abby, "I would very much like to know the coordinates of the h.o.a.rd of Dujonian."

The woman remained silent. She didn't deny that she had what Ecor wanted. She just wasn't going to give it to him.

After all, Richard Brant's life hung in the balance. Whatever Red Abby's relationship to him might have been, she obviously didn't want to place the fellow in jeopardy.

Though the Carda.s.sian continued to smile, his eyes took on a decidedly harder cast. "Come now, Captain Brant. I can save you a lot of pain if you divulge the information on your own. That is, without my having to ... extract it from you."

Red Abby had to be scared out of her wits, but somehow she managed not to show it. "I have nothing to say," she replied, her voice remarkably unwavering under the circ.u.mstances.

The muscles rippled in Ecor's jaw. Clearly, he wasn't pleased with her response. As a result, he turned to me again.

"What about you, Captain Picard? Will you prove a bit wiser than your colleague and share the coordinates with me?"

"I don't know them," I answered truthfully. "Though if I did," I went on just as truthfully, "I don't know that I'd be inclined to share them."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Red Abby glance at me. She seemed surprised. And perhaps, I think, a bit more impressed with me though it hadn't been my intention to impress her.

Having found a couple of strong links in the chain, Gul Ecor eyed the rest of the crew. He had to have known that Worf, a Klingon, wouldn't crack under his threats. But to his mind, no doubt, there were a great many others who might have.

The Carda.s.sian scanned them, making the same kind of threats he had made to Red Abby and myself. Thadoc seemed unmoved. Astellanax muttered a curse and received a rifle b.u.t.t in the ribs for it. But in the end, Gul Ecor found his weak link.

It was Sturgis, the navigator. "All right," he said, his complexion pale and waxy with fear. "I'll tell."

Red Abby glared at him and shook her head. "Don't do it," she said.

Sturgis looked at her apologetically. "I can't help it, Captain." He tried to smile and failed badly. "The prospect of torture has never held much appeal for me."

"And what is your destination?" Ecor asked him.

Sturgis hesitated for a moment, knowing there would be no turning back once he revealed the information no returning to Red Abby's fold. He took the plunge anyway.

"Strange as it may seem," he told the gul, "the Daring was on its way to Hel's Gate."

At first, I thought I had misheard the man. Then I saw the astonished expressions on everyone's faces except those of Red Abby and her officers, of course and I realized I'd heard correctly after all.

No one was more astonished than Gul Ecor. "Hel's Gate?" he echoed. "But how can that be?"

It was a good question one to which we all wanted to know the answer. Hel's Gate, after all, was a celestial anomaly of great turbulence, which was rumored to emit deadly radiation in powerful waves. No one in his right mind would have made such a place his destination.

And yet, Red Abby had done just that. Or so it appeared.

"To tell you the truth," Sturgis replied, "I don't know what the captain had in mind. She never told me that much. But it was the Gate we were heading for, as plain as the nose on my face."

The gul leaned into the man's face. "You're certain of this?"

Sturgis nodded. "Certain."

"No other possibility?"

"None," the navigator confirmed.

Ecor studied him a second longer. Then he gestured to one of his men. "Put him in a cell. And equip it for torture."

Sturgis's eyes opened wide. "What are you saying?" he piped, stricken with fear. "I told you what you wanted to know!"

The gul watched as two of his men grabbed the navigator by his arms. "Quite possibly," he told Sturgis, "you have been honest with me. If that's so, I'll know it."

"But by then" the navigator protested.

"By then," Ecor interrupted, "it won't do you any good, I grant you. But it will benefit me immensely."

"No!" Sturgis shrieked, struggling against his captors to no avail. "No, dammit, no!"

But his cries fell on deaf ears. The gul pretended not to notice as his men dragged the human away. I exchanged glances with Worf, but we were hardly in a position to help the poor wretch.

"I told you the truth!" Sturgis wailed. "The truth!"

And then he was gone, though the echoes of his screams still remained. Finally, even those were gone.

The irony of Sturgis's plight had not been lost on me. The fellow had betrayed his captain and his crewmates to escape the torture chamber yet he was to be tortured nonetheless.

A grisly prospect, I reflected. I did not envy him.

Ecor turned to Red Abby then. And to me.

"For the moment," he said, "you've been spared. After all, I can torture you only once and our discussions will prove more fruitful after I've spent some time with your friend."

The gul's mouth twisted with antic.i.p.ation. It was the first clear-cut sign of his sadism.

"You see, my friends, getting answers is largely a result of knowing which questions to ask. And before long, I expect, I will have a great many questions for you."

I didn't doubt it for a second. Ecor didn't appear to be the sort who gave up easily.

As I watched, he left the cargo bay, his guards trailing in his wake. Then they were gone and we were left alone to contemplate our fate.

Madigoor "SO YOUR COVER was blown," Flenarrh observed.

Picard nodded. "Thoroughly. I was revealed as a Starfleet captain in the midst of those who had reason to hate and fear Starfleet. It was not a positive development, as you can imagine."

"But ... were you truly headed for Hel's Gate?" Dravvin asked. He sounded more than a little skeptical.

"Yes," said Bo'tex. "Was that really what Red Abby had in mind? Or was it simply what she had told Sturgis?"

"A good question," Picard responded. "In fact, I found myself mulling the same one, as I sat there in the Carda.s.sians' cargo bay. Why on Earth would anyone purposely chart a course for something like Hel's Gate? It seemed foolish, to say the least perhaps even suicidal."

Robinson eyed him. "And yet?"

Picard shrugged. "I decided to put the question to the only person who would know for certain Red Abby herself."

"Wasn't she wary of you?" asked Hompaq.

"Naturally," Picard said. "However, I pointed out that we were in the same boat, so to speak. Whatever we had been in the past, we were at that moment fellow prisoners."

"And she accepted the argument?" asked Dravvin.

"Apparently," Picard answered.

The Tale "IS IT TRUE?" I asked.

Red Abby looked at me. "About Hel's Gate, you mean?" She nodded. "It's true all right."

I frowned. "But how could it be?"

She chuckled grimly. "I asked the same question. Hel's Gate is a maelstrom, I said. Why the devil would anyone want to go near the place?"

"And?" I prodded.

"And it's a maelstrom all right." Her eyes took on a faraway look. "But it's also a dimensional wormhole of some kind. And beyond it, on the other side, is Dujonian's h.o.a.rd."

"You've seen it?" I asked.

Red Abby shook her head. "No." She smiled bravely at me. "I mean not yet. But I will. Bet the farm on it."

I had to admire her courage if not her grasp of the trouble we were in. But she still hadn't satisfied my curiosity.

"If you've never been there yourself ..." I began.

Red Abby spoke softly, so no one else would hear her. "My brother's been there."

"Your brother," I echoed just as softly. "You mean Richard."

She nodded, a lock of red hair falling across her forehead. "The one in trouble. And the one you're supposed to rescue, I imagine. Or is it strictly the h.o.a.rd you're interested in?"

I considered how much I ought to tell her. The part about Richard Brant had become obvious. There didn't seem to be any harm in confirming it.

"Your brother is part of it," I replied. "At least, to me he is. He was Starfleet, after all."

Red Abby smiled a grim smile. "But the h.o.a.rd is the bigger part. You don't want it falling into the hands of the Carda.s.sians."

She had hit the nail on the head, of course. I shrugged noncommittally. "I suppose one could read that into it."

The woman laughed. It was a good laugh, an open laugh, not the kind I had heard from her before. "Always so circ.u.mspect, you Starfleet types."

"Are we?" I asked.

"Why not come out and say it? You're here to save my brother from a pack of mercenaries. But unlike me, you're not doing it out of any real concern for him. You've got your own agenda. There's no shame in that."

"It's not that simple," I told her.

She grunted. "No, it never is."

Certainly, the woman could be exasperating. "What I mean," I continued, "is that there is no lack of concern for your brother either on my part or on Starfleet's. But I would be lying if I said it's our only concern."

Red Abby leaned back against the bulkhead. "Honesty," she said. "I'm impressed. Especially in light of all the lies you told me."

"Regrettable," I told her. "But necessary."

She looked at her hands, as if she'd suddenly found something fascinating about them. "Not bad, actually. I really thought you were some kind of adventurer. When I learned you were a Starfleet officer ... a captain, no less ... as I say, not bad."

"People don't fool you very often," I observed.

Red Abby turned to me. "No," she agreed, "they don't, now that you mention it. You either, I'd guess."

"Not often," I conceded. "Though you did."

"Me?" she said. "How?"

"I thought you were motivated strictly by greed," I explained. "Now it seems you're out to save your brother from his abductors."

"I didn't make any claims one way or the other," she reminded me.

"That's true," I said. "But you fooled me nonetheless."

For a moment, we looked at each other not as captain and crewman or as adversaries, but as two people might look at each other. And I found a great deal to like in Abby Brant.

Then she looked away. "What are our chances of getting help from that Starfleet of yours?"

I frowned. "Almost nil. My a.s.sociate and I were out here very much on our own. Due to the delicate nature of our mission, you understand."

"I do," said Red Abby. "I guess his name's not Mitoc, then?"

I shook my head. "It's Worf."

She grunted softly. "You might as well have called him Worf. I wouldn't have known the difference."

"At the time," I said, "I had no way of knowing that."

Silence again. But this time, she didn't look at me. In fact, she seemed to be making a point of not looking at me.

"Have I said something to offend you?" I asked.

Finally, Red Abby looked up. "No," she told me. "You haven't offended me. But you have managed to"