Part 4 (1/2)

”Then allow me to spell it out for you, Commander,” Gruzinov replied. ”You have managed to save the Wyoming's cargo, the combined insured value of which, according to the manifest, was considerably greater than that of the vessel itself. And you also scored a direct hit on Blaze's s.h.i.+p, which should put him out of commission for a while. I very much doubt that he has access to repair facilities as complete as we have here. He may have considerable difficulties effecting his repairs, while with our maintenance crews a.s.sisting Mr. La Forge, the Enterprise should be back at a hundred percent in less than forty-eight hours. Frankly, I never expected things to go this well so soon.”

”I don't mean to put a damper on your optimism, sir,” said Riker, ”but for someone who's been put out of commission, Blaze seemed to take it pretty well.” He shook his head. ”I suspect we may not have hurt him as badly as you think.”

”In any case, at least we have managed to learn one thing for certain,” Picard said. ”The Glory is not a disguised Romulan vessel, but a genuine, Const.i.tution-cla.s.s stars.h.i.+p that has been refitted with much of its original equipment. We were fired upon by phasers, not Romulan disruptors.”

”I had wondered what you meant when you asked your chief engineer about an artificial hull,” Gruzinov said. ”I could have told you the Glory was not a disguised Romulan s.h.i.+p, Jean-Luc. In effect, I did, when I told you what she was.”

”It was not that I doubted your word, Ivan,” Picard said, ”but I had to consider the possibility of your being taken in by a clever deception.”

”I see,” Gruzinov said, flatly. ”Yes, well, I am an administrative officer, after all. It has been a long time since I have seen active duty.”

”Ivan,” Picard said, placatingly, ”I was by no means implying-”

”No, no, I quite understand, Jean-Luc,” Gruzinov said. ”Explanations are unnecessary.”

”Meaning no disrespect, sir,” Riker said, quickly, ”but it was I who made the suggestion that the Glory might be a disguised Romulan vessel. In fact, from what you'd told us, I was absolutely convinced of it.”

”And you must admit that it was a logical a.s.sumption,” said Picard, ”one I simply could not dismiss out of hand.”

Gruzinov nodded. ”Yes, of course. Forgive me, I did not mean to be overly sensitive. The truth is, when the Glory first appeared, I suspected the same thing. However, the reports from the merchant vessels Blaze had plundered, and the testimony of my own cruiser officers who had encountered him, convinced me otherwise.”

”There is also the fact of Blaze's mixed crew to consider,” Picard said. ”It is conceivable that the Romulans might have employed a few K'trall to aid them in their deception, but they would never employ humans, much less Orions or Capellans. I think there is no question but that Blaze is exactly what he appears to be. The question is, where did he get his s.h.i.+p, and how and where was it refitted?”

”He could have picked up most of his equipment on the black market,” said Gruzinov, with a shrug.

”Even phaser banks?” said Worf, frowning.

”You would be surprised at what's available out there, Mr. Worf,” Gruzinov said. ”Especially here on the frontier, where enforcement, thanks to J'drahn, is rather lax. If you've got enough money, you could probably get your hands on the components to outfit just about anything, short of a Galaxy-cla.s.s stars.h.i.+p. Unfortunately, even Starfleet is not immune to corruption. Supplies and ordnance do disappear from warehouses every now and then.”

”Which is precisely why we need to have those questions answered,” said Picard. ”If someone is peddling black-market Starfleet ordnance in this sector, we must find out who it is and shut the operation down. However, Blaze did not get his cloaking device on the black market.”

”Nor his engines,” Riker added. ”Unless he's somehow figured out a way to adapt a cloaking device to a Federation engine design, which I just don't buy. He's got to have Romulan drives powering his s.h.i.+p.”

”That does seem to be the only logical explanation,” said Picard, with a frown, ”but I shouldn't think they'd fit the existing design. And from what we saw, the Glory did not have any obvious structural modifications.”

”Then he must have figured out a way to make them fit,” insisted Riker. ”There's just no way I'm going to believe some frontier freebooter has solved a technical problem that's baffled Starfleet's finest engineers.”

”Well, according to Lieutenant Dorn's file, Blaze does not have an engineering background,” said Gruzinov. ”Of course, that does not preclude his having someone on his crew who does.”

”Someone capable of that level of engineering skill could write his own ticket,” Riker said. ”Why would somebody like that sign on with a small-time freebooter like Blaze?” He shook his head. ”It just doesn't make any sense, sir.”

”Perhaps it was some brilliant, former Starfleet engineer who got in trouble and was cas.h.i.+ered from the service,” suggested Gruzinov.

Riker shook his head. ”No, sir, that just doesn't wash. If he was that good, cas.h.i.+ered or not, he'd be snapped up by the private sector in a heartbeat. And for a lot more money than he could make with Blaze.”

”Which brings us right back to the Romulans,” Picard said.

”Exactly,” Riker concurred. ”No matter how you look at it, they've got to be involved. Who would be more qualified to adapt a Romulan engine design than Romulan engineers?”

Gruzinov sighed heavily. ”I'm afraid that's a question I cannot answer, Commander. Frankly, I was hoping that you might be able to come up with some other explanation.”

Riker nodded. ”I understand, sir,” he said. ”This one is politically very inconvenient. But unfortunately, it's the only one that fits the facts.”

”Is it possible that J'drahn is not directly involved in this?” Picard asked.

Gruzinov shook his head. ”I suppose anything is possible,” he replied, with a shrug. ”But I don't believe it for a moment.”

”Overlord J'drahn was hiding something, Captain,” Troi said. ”I am convinced of it. Despite what he said, he was not pleased to learn of our arrival. His att.i.tude was very guarded, and I sensed considerable apprehension on his part.”

”Unfortunately, none of this const.i.tutes proof of his involvement,” Picard said.

”No, Jean-Luc, that is not unfortunate,” Gruzinov replied. ”If we were to prove J'drahn's involvement, then there would be no way the Federation Council could dismiss it. The treaty would be irrevocably broken and the K'tralli Empire would have to be expelled from the Federation. In that event, J'drahn would turn to the Romulans. He'd simply have no other choice. Without Federation support and trade, the economy of the K'tralli Empire would collapse. J'drahn has been bleeding his own treasury dry. And to prevent another revolution that would depose him, he would require the support of the Romulans. We all know what the price of that support would be. J'drahn would become their puppet, and the Romulans would have legal holdings on our side of the Neutral Zone.”

”But the treaty of the Neutral Zone specifically marks the boundaries between the Romulan Empire and the Federation,” Worf said. ”How could the Romulans extend their influence beyond the Neutral Zone without violating the treaty?”

”Very simply, Mr. Worf,” Gruzinov replied. ”If the relations with the Federation became strained -and proof of J'drahn's involvement with the Romulans would do that-then J'drahn could argue that he was no longer bound by the treaty his father had agreed to and he would be free, according to his rights, to ally himself with anyone he chose. If he happened to choose the Romulans- and he would have no other choice-then the Federation would be forced to recognize that alliance. The effect of that would be a de facto extension of the Neutral Zone to encompa.s.s the K'tralli sector. By default, the Romulans would gain territory that is currently under Federation control, and there would be absolutely nothing we could do about it. It would all be perfectly legal.”

”In other words, Captain, you're saying we have to stop Blaze, without implicating J'drahn,” said Troi, ”even if he's guilty?”

”Even if he's guilty,” said Gruzinov.

”Well, that's just great,” said Riker, and grimaced. ”He breaks the treaty by allowing the Romulans to outfit freebooters so they can disrupt our s.h.i.+pping, gets a cut of the profits, thumbs his nose at us, and we're just supposed to look the other way?”

”Believe me, Commander, I don't like it any better than you do,” said Gruzinov. ”But the alternative is even worse.”

”And J'drahn must realize that, of course,” Picard said. He nodded. ”I think I'm beginning to understand his reasoning. He allows the Romulans to use Blaze to disrupt Federation s.h.i.+pping, and in return he profits from it, while at the same time counting on the Federation to keep the Romulans from making any open incursions into K'tralli territory. He's depending on the strategic value of this sector to keep the Federation from officially recognizing his complicity and expelling him.”

”So he's burning his candle at both ends,” said Riker.

”And very cleverly, too,” Picard said. ”The trouble is, stopping Blaze would only solve part of the problem. Even if we took the Glory out of action, J'drahn could find himself another freebooter and equip him the same way with covert a.s.sistance from the Romulans. So long as we are here, the Romulans may not risk attempting to enter this sector by stealth, but we cannot remain stationed here indefinitely. And J'drahn knows that perfectly well.”

”Then we're just going to have to do something about J'drahn,” said Riker.

”I don't see how we can,” said Troi. ”Any attempt to depose J'drahn would violate the Prime Directive.”

”Perhaps not,” Picard said. He turned to Gruzinov. ”You said the former overlord, General H'druhn, was friendly with the Federation, someone you could work with. If we could convince him that his son was acting against K'tralli interests, then perhaps he could be persuaded to remove J'drahn from power.”

”I have already thought of that, Jean-Luc,” Gruzinov said. ”But General H'druhn is an old man and J'drahn is his only son. I tried having a meeting with him once before, and it went very badly. He simply will not listen to any accusations against J'drahn. There was no way I could convince him. I only succeeded in alienating him and J'drahn warned me that if I made any further attempts to see his father, he would issue an official protest to Starfleet and the Federation Council, accusing me of interference.”

”Well, I guess that's that,” said Riker.

”Not necessarily, Number One,” Picard replied. ”There is nothing to prevent me, as captain of a Federation stars.h.i.+p visiting this sector, from paying a formal diplomatic call of courtesy on the hero of the K'tralli revolution and the Empire's leading citizen.”

”That's true enough,” Gruzinov said. ”And the general will certainly receive you under those circ.u.mstances. However, the moment you bring up the subject of J'drahn, the audience is liable to come to an abrupt end, just as it did with me. And then J'drahn will issue a formal protest.”

”No, I do not believe he will,” Picard replied. ”I think he was bluffing when he made that threat. Keep in mind that under the terms of such a formal protest, we would have the opportunity to state our case officially, and that is something J'drahn would undoubtedly wish to avoid. If I were to proceed slowly and carefully, seeking out some common ground with the general and gaining his confidence, then perhaps some progress could be made. In any case, I think it's worth a try.”

Gruzinov nodded. ”If you're right about J'drahn's threat of a protest being a bluff, then we've got nothing to lose.”

”Perhaps it would be best, considering your earlier attempt, if you were officially kept out of it,” Picard said.