The Romulan Prize Part 21

"That's right," said Troi. "You told us it was your captain and three of your fellow crew members."

Llewellyn nodded. "Yes, well, I must confess that I was less than honest with you about that, Counselor. You had a great deal to absorb, and I wanted to see how you would react to the rest of the story before I told you this part. You see, Captain Wiley, Lieutenant Commander Glener, Ensign Morris, and Chief Connors were among the first to succ.u.mb to the virus. The four so-called survivors found aboard the shuttlecraft were neither dead nor human. They were ambimorphs, posing as Captain Wiley, Commander Glener, Ensign Morris, and Chief Connors, men selected primarily because they had no families."

Picard frowned. "Selected for what purpose?"

"I think you already know the answer to that question, Captain," Llewellyn replied. "The ambimorphs' intention was to get to Earth and infiltrate Starfleet."

"Wait a minute. I thought you said the ambimorphs were nonaggressive," Riker said tensely.

Llewellyn raised his hand. "Hear me out," he said. "Their intentions are nonaggressive. But even after spending all those years with us, there is still much about us, our societies and cultures, that they do not know. They are not ready to make formal contact with the Federation, and they do not feel the Federation is ready for contact with them. At least not yet. Compared to them, we are primitive. They learned from us that planets could be quarantined and that the files relating to those planets could be cla.s.sified. They wanted to make certain no other Federation ships came to the ark."

"Then the ambimorphs who escaped in the shuttle were responsible for the ark receiving the Hermeticus designation," said Picard. "But that was decades ago. What has happened to the four infiltrators since?"

"I can only surmise that they remained in their original cover ident.i.ties," said Llewellyn. "As I said, their life span is much greater than ours. By now they could be anywhere. And they could be literally anyone."

"And you cooperated in this?" said Riker, aghast at the implications.

"Yes, but they could easily have done it without our cooperation," said Llewellyn. "They only wish to learn. And to keep tabs on us. We may not be as barbarous a species as we once were, but we do still have a propensity for violence." He glanced at Riker, who shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "My telling you this now will make no difference whatsoever. Feel free to make a complete report. You'll never find them, not in a million years. Not until they're ready to be found."

"You seem to be forgetting one thing," said Picard. "There is a cla.s.sified file at Starfleet Command, containing the location coordinates for the ark. If we submit a complete report, other Federation ships may follow us. That decision will be out of our hands."

"It will make no difference, Captain Picard," said a voice they all heard in their minds. "The ark will no longer be here."

They looked up as two of the ambimorphs entered the briefing room. The shapeshifters had taken a roughly humanoid form, but their substance was protoplasmic. It was rather like looking at giant amoebas that had a.s.sumed a roughly human shape. The crew could see through them, and their internal structure appeared to be constantly shifting, flowing as they moved.

"This stage of our mission here is complete. We shall go home soon. We shall not live to see the completion of the voyage, but we have our work to occupy us, and our offspring will carry it on and deliver it to our homeworld. "

"And what of the Romulans?" Picard asked.

"We will take them with us," the first ambimorph replied, telepathically. "We want to study them and learn as much as possible about their species, as we have done with Commander Llewellyn and his people. What we have learned about your race, through them, has given us much cause for hope. Meaning no offense, we feel that the human race is not yet sufficiently evolved. However, we believe that in time, perhaps before a great many more of your years have pa.s.sed, the situation will be more favorable for our races to establish formal contact. Those of us who are now among you have gone to prepare the way for that eventuality. Their mission is a peaceful one. They intend not to interfere, but to increase our knowledge of you and make discreet, informal contact with key individuals among your people, so that formal contact between our two races can eventually occur in a manner that will not disrupt your culture or your internal stability. But so long as the conflict continues between your people and the Romulans, we shall not become involved. We find violence barbaric and distasteful. There are more intelligent ways to resolve a conflict. When your people and the Romulans discover those methods, perhaps we can speak again."

The other ambimorph moved toward the door and, as it opened, Valak entered, flanked by two Enterprise crewmen. He saw the ambimorphs in their natural state and recoiled from them. Then his gaze swept the crew of the Enterprise until it settled on Picard.

"What are these creatures?" he said.

"You will have plenty of opportunity to find that out," Picard replied. "It seems that you will remain with them."

Valak's eyes grew wide. "No! This is your ship, Picard! You cannot allow that!"

"The decision is not mine to make, Valak," Picard replied. "I warned you. You should have listened to me."

"What are they going to do with us?" Valak asked apprehensively.

"The crew of your vessel is being transferred to the ark as we speak," said the first ambimorph, still speaking to them all telepathically. "Once the Syrinx has been vacated, it will be towed to a sector near the Romulan border of what you call the Neutral Zone, where it will be destroyed, along with the Independence. The debris will speak of a battle between two ships. A small group of Romulan survivors will be found drifting in a shuttlecraft. They will report an engagement in which a Federation vessel and their own ship were destroyed. They will also report that certain design flaws in the Syrinx rendered it vulnerable. Lord Kazanak, the designer of the vessel, will be among the survivors. He will p.r.o.nounce his work a failure, and in time he will abandon the field of s.p.a.cecraft engineering and a.s.sume a position of leadership in Romulan society."

"You must be mad," said Valak. "You will never get away with this!"

The ambimorph turned toward him, and Valak gaped as he suddenly found himself looking at his own double, right down to the finest detail of his uniform, the insignia of the D'Kazanak cla.s.s warbird.

"I believe we shall," the ambimorph replied in Valak's own voice. "Your species is highly aggressive and extremely violent, much in need of guidance. In certain subtle ways, without interfering in your society, we may be able to provide such guidance. Perhaps not. In either case, we shall attempt to learn as much as possible about your race by moving among you, and as the rest of us depart on our long journey home, you and your crew will help us understand you better."

"No!" Valak tried to jerk away from the two crewmen who held him and suddenly found, to his astonishment, that he was being held by Talar and Korak. Shocked, he abruptly stopped struggling and turned back to Picard. "You cannot let them do this, Picard! You must do something!"

"Must I? You were going to take my ship back to Romulus as your prize of war," Picard replied. "You would have sold us in your slave markets or else killed us-even the children. Yet now you ask for my help?"

Valak swallowed hard and, struggling to control his emotions, drew himself up straight. "This is not over yet," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "We shall fight and either regain our freedom or die like warriors in the attempt."

"Resistance will be pointless, Commander," said Vishinski. "The ambimorphs are telepathic, and they will know your plans even as you conceive them. Moreover, they can render you completely powerless with just a thought."

"Despite all that you have done," Picard said, "if I thought you and your crew would come to any harm, I would try to help you if I could. However, I cannot, and I am convinced the ambimorphs do not intend to harm any of you. If they had, they could have done so easily by now. You are a warrior, Valak, but you are also a scholar, and if you have any saving grace, it is that. As a scholar, you will have an unprecedented opportunity to do research that may one day be of great benefit to your people. I would seize that opportunity if I were you. I suspect you will find it offers much greater rewards than conquest."

Valak stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. "So then, the game is finished," he said resignedly. "And you have won."

"I would call it a draw," Picard replied, "because the ambimorphs intervened."

Valak shook his head. "No, Picard, you would have won in any case. The hostages escaped from the Syrinx on their own, and Riker bested Korak. He discovered weapons aboard the Independence that we should have found and confiscated, and once La Forge and his engineering crew had freed the others, they undoubtedly would have sabotaged our ship's systerns. There would have been many casualties before it was all over, but to employ a metaphor from your game of chess, once your people took control of the board, the outcome was no longer in doubt. My compliments, Commander," he said, with a nod to Riker. "I warned Korak not to underestimate you. I had the superior vessel, I had the early advantage, and I believed I had the superior crew. On that last point I was wrong," he admitted wryly. "Perhaps it is just as well that I must stay on the ark. With my mission a failure, I would not have had much to look forward to when I returned to Romulus. At the very least, my career would have been finished."

"Your career as a warrior is over," his ambimorph double replied, "but your life as a scholar is only just beginning. I shall endeavor to pursue it for you on Romulus, and I hope you will pursue it with my people. You should find it ... stimulating."

Valak smiled wryly. "Well ... perhaps I shall. Good-bye, Picard. Meeting you has indeed been stimulating." He glanced at the ambimorphs. "I am ready."

They accompanied him out the door.

"He seems different from the others," Llewellyn said thoughtfully. "With more like him, who knows? Maybe there's hope for the Romulans, after all."

"There is always hope, Commander," said Picard. "Perhaps more now than before."

Epilogue.

PICARD RETURNED TO THE BRIDGE after seeing Llewellyn and Vishinski off in the transporter room. It felt good to be back aboard his ship again and in control. The nightmare was over. The ship and his crew were safe. It was the closest they had ever come to complete disaster, but his crew had withstood the test, and with the help of the ambimorphs, they had pulled through. However, Picard had no doubt they would have done it on their own, anyway. Valak had been right in that regard. Perhaps he did not underestimate me, Picard thought, but he underestimated my crew.

"Have Llewellyn and Vishinski gone?" asked Riker.

Picard nodded. "Yes, they are back aboard the ark, Number One. And they have given me a complete log of their time with the ambimorphs. It should make fascinating reading."

Riker shook his head. "For thirty years, they've been away from everything they knew, and they'll never be able to go back home again."

"On the contrary, Will," Picard said with a smile. "They have gone back home."

"Sir," said Data, "I am receiving a transmission from the ark. They are ready to get under way."

"Activate main viewer, Mr. Data."

The viewscreen came on, and they all watched as the huge ark began to move with a stately majesty, drifting away from them slowly at first, towing the Independence and the Syrinx, apparently holding them in some sort of forcefield as it gradually accelerated, then suddenly went to warp speed and disappeared.

"I can almost imagine how Valak must feel," Picard said. "He thought he had the Enterprise. Instead, he has lost his own ship, and now the ambimorphs have departed with their Romulan prize. Still, he may find it a valuable experience. Perhaps even a rewarding one."

"It's strange to think of ambimorphs posing as members of Starfleet," Riker said. "And a little frightening, too. You think we'll ever find out who they are?"

"They have had many years to establish themselves among us," Picard replied. "I suppose they could be anyone." He raised his eyebrows. "Even you, Number One."

"My ribs would argue that one," Riker said with a pained smile. "I can't will them to mend. And I think an ambimorph would have had more sense than to get into a brawl with a Romulan."

"I thought you would have had more sense, too," Picard said.

Riker nodded. "Well ... it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Right now I think it would be a good idea to get back to Federation s.p.a.ce," Picard said with a smile. "Set course for Starbase Thirty-nine, Mr. Data, and prepare to get under way."

"Course set, sir, zero eight nine, mark nine five."

"Warp factor three, Mr. Data."

"Warp factor three, sir."

Picard leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. He was tired, but it felt good to be back home. "Engage," he said.