Picard knew they didn’t have time for McCoy and Worf to start a debate that was in reality an argument neither could win, so he intervened at once. “That still does nothing for the millions of Remans who will be killed when their communes are destroyed at the Hour of Opposition. And in the confusion that would certainly arise between a Starfleet vessel attacking Reman ships…” Picard locked eyes with the two verbal combatants. “… followed by explosions in Reman communities, there is a very good chance that interplanetary war could be triggered.”
“Then why don’t we find the bombs,” La Forge said, “or whatever it is that the Tal Shiar are going to use to destroy the communes? No bombs. No destruction. No reason for the crews of the warbirds to take revenge.”
“Unfortunately,” Picard said to clarify their situation, “Norinda did not specifically say that bombs would be used. Life-support systems might be poisoned. Ships might be deliberately crashed into the surface domes. Power plants could be sabotaged. The food and water supplies. We just wouldn’t know what we were searching for.”
“But surely there’s nothin’ wrong with at least makin’ the attempt?” Scott asked. “We don’t have all the answers, but we do have some. We know the three communities that have been targeted, the ones linked to the warbirds Atranar, Braul, and Vortral. With the Titan’s sensors, we’d have a very good chance o’ spottin’ the most likely means of mass destruction.” He listed them on his fingers. “Antimatter bomb. Fusion. Fission. And if we pick th’ proper orbit so we’re equidistant from all three communities at th’ Hour of Opposition, then we can certainly protect them from missiles, torpedoes, or crashing spacecraft.”
No one objected right away, and Picard took that as a good sign.
Then La Forge added his support. “Captain, I agree with Scotty. It’s a place to start.”
“Very well,” Picard said, looking around at his team. “Do we have any way of accessing the Romulan Central Information Net? Is there a Reman equivalent? Anything that would give us maps and specifications for the three communes so the Titan will be able to identify anything out of the ordinary?”
Riker seemed confident he could access the necessary information as part of a general request for trade data. He knew the people to contact on Romulus, which by now was only a few minutes distant by warp.
“Then let’s get started,” Picard said, and dismissed the group to begin their work.
Scott was right; the attempt had to be made.
Even if it was too little and too late.
27
JOLAN SEGMENT, STARDATE 57488.3
Kirk stared at a ghost.
He told himself that what he saw stepping down from the transporter pad in the center of the greenhouse chamber was just another of Norinda’s cruel illusions.
Spock was dead. Three thousand Romulans had witnessed his murder. Kirk had seen the visual sensor recordings. Felt the agony of loss.
“Captain,” Spock said.
He stood before Kirk in a version of a Romulan assessor’s uniform. He looked more gaunt than the last time Kirk had seen him, somehow frailer, as if he had succumbed to an illness or—
“Spock?” Kirk said. “Is it you?”
“Given that we are both acquainted with Norinda’s skill as a shapeshifter, your hesitation in accepting the evidence of your eyes is understandable. However, logic suggests that—”
“It is you!” Kirk just managed to refrain from embracing Spock, but Joseph felt no such constraints.
“Uncle Spock? Are you all right?”
“As well as can be expected,” Spock said as he gently extricated himself from a hearty hug around his legs.
Kirk shot a glance back at Norinda and the Romulans. They were huddled together, discussing something of greater importance than Spock’s return from the dead.
Kirk looked down at his son, who now stood between him and Spock. “Joseph, this is a time to be quiet and stay close, okay?”
“Okay.” Joseph looked up wide-eyed, but unafraid.
“I need to know,” Kirk said to Spock. “How is this possible?”
Spock raised an eyebrow, as if Kirk had asked a question to which he should already know the answer. “Captain, ‘when you have eliminated all which is impossible’—”
Kirk finished it. “—’then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ You didn’t die.”
“Not this time.”
“The assassination was staged?”
“I believed a dramatic event was necessary to appeal to the emotionalism of the Romulans, in order to call attention to reunification of our people.”
“You believed?” Kirk said. “You staged your own murder?”
“I was unwilling to risk anyone’s life but my own. And my time in the public eye is over.”
Kirk looked again at Norinda, this time saw her watching him, or, more probably, Joseph. “You can tell me more later.”
He dropped his voice. “Spock, how did you get here? Why are you with her?”
Spock shrugged. “I am her prisoner, for reasons which I do not entirely fathom.”
Kirk saw Norinda smile at the fourth Romulan whom he had never met.
“Spock, this is important. These people think that Joseph is the new Shinzon.”
Kirk could tell Spock was startled by that fact by the quiet way he said, “Indeed.”
“But right now there’s a civil war about to start, between Romulus and Remus.”
“Tensions have been high since the coup, but—”
“No,” Kirk urgently interrupted. “The situation’s being manipulated. Staged. Spock, I have to know. Was your staged death completely your idea? Or did you have help?”
“I had help, of course. It required considerable logistical support.”
“Then tell me if any of this sounds familiar,” Kirk said.
“In what way?”
“Just listen. Starfleet was convinced you were murdered by agents of the Tal Shiar.”
Spock blinked, another sign of intense reaction. “That is not logical.”
“I don’t care what’s logical. I’m telling you what Starfleet believes. They sent Bones and me here to investigate your death, to find your murderers, and then Picard came with us so he could make an offer to those same people.”
“What is the nature of the offer?”
Norinda began walking toward the transporter platform and the fourth Romulan was at her side. Kirk spoke quickly in the few private moments that he and Spock had left to them.
“In addition to being responsible for your death, the Tal Shiar are also supposed to be the ones who are going to stage a series of attacks that will lead to an outbreak of war between Romulus and Remus. But if the Tal Shiar didn’t murder you—”
This time, Spock completed the conclusion for Kirk. “—then logic suggests they are also not responsible for whatever staged events are intended to start the war.”
“But there is one person who’s tied to both events.”
“Then logically, that person is the one responsible.”
Kirk turned to face Norinda as she stepped up behind him.
“It’s you,” he said. “There is no Tal Shiar. It’s the Jolan Movement that’s going to start the war.”
For a moment, Kirk thought Norinda might deny his accusation. But she didn’t. “This war is how peace will come to you.”
“Insane,” Kirk said.
