“Of course.”
“That’s why we can’t risk letting you contact the Totality again.”
Kirk made fists at his sides. “You think I’ll reveal Starfleet’s strategy to the Totality in exchange for my son.”
“That’s one possibility.”
“The other one being that I’ve been feeding information to the Totality all along.”
Picard didn’t answer and Kirk knew his conclusion was correct.
“Do you honestly think that little of me? That I could be a traitor?”
“Honestly? You’re not known for playing by the rules.”
“The only rules I’ve broken are the ones that deserve to be.”
“Who makes those decisions?”
Kirk threw out his hands in exasperation. “We do. The people on the edge of the frontier. The people who do things that no one’s ever done before. Explorers, starship captains, you and me, Jean-Luc.”
Picard’s expression became almost wistful. “Once, perhaps, but… We’re from two different ages, my friend. It’s not the rules that’ve changed. It’s the playing field.”
“Give me a chance and I’ll change your mind,” Kirk said.
But Picard shook his head sadly. “Starfleet’s preparing a task force to retake Vulcan. We’ll find your son and get him back to you.”
Kirk knew then that if Starfleet attacked the Totality and succeeded in making it withdraw, Joseph would be taken from him. Norinda would see to it personally.
Not for spite or revenge, but because Starfleet was right.
There was some special connection between Kirk and Norinda.
Kirk didn’t know what it was, but he was certain Norinda did.
And to ensure that Kirk would seek her out and find her again, she had equipped herself with the perfect bait.
Joseph.
“I’m sorry, Jim.”
“So am I,” Kirk said.
“Will you come with me now? They’d like you on Mercury till this is over.”
Kirk shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
Picard sighed, not looking for a confrontation. He tapped his combadge. “Picard to Enterprise.”
The two captains held each other’s gaze.
After a few seconds, Picard tapped his combadge again. “Picard to Enterprise.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t read the specifications for this ship,” Kirk said. “Specifically, the equipment it has for blocking unauthorized communications.”
Picard frowned, tapped his combadge. “Picard to Starfleet Command.” No response. “Picard to any station.”
Nothing.
“Sorry, Jean-Luc,” Kirk said, and meant it. “But I like to be prepared. Now, are you going to come with me?”
Picard’s eyes widened. “Where?”
“You already know that answer,” Kirk said. “If I can’t change the rules anymore, then it’s time to change the game.”
28
STARFLEET COMMAND PROVISIONAL HEADQUARTERS
MERCURY, STARDATE 58569.9
Riker stared at Janeway in disbelief. “Are you certain Picard wasn’t taken by the Totality?” he asked.
Janeway sat on the edge of her desk, gingerly. It was old, battered, something from a miner’s office. Despite the fact that warp travel was possible again, Command had no plans to move off Mercury until the threat of the Totality had been eliminated. For the duration of that campaign, the abandoned mining complex attached to the oldest section of the Vostok Academy would continue to be Starfleet’s provisional headquarters.
“With the gravity safeguards we have in place at every point of entry and exit, it’s not possible,” Janeway said. “I sent Jean-Luc to the Belle Reve to return with Kirk– “
“Arrest him?” Riker interrupted.
Janeway’s eyes narrowed at his choice of words. “Technically, no. We’re concerned about Kirk, not convinced. We just wanted to keep him out of harm’s way.”
“And out of contact with the Totality.”
“A precaution,” Janeway confirmed. She looked at Riker more closely. “You seem troubled, Captain.”
“James T. Kirk, a traitor? The idea that someone in Command could think that’s possible… I do find it troubling.”
“Not a traitor,” Janeway said. “A loose cannon.”
“As far as I know, that’s exactly why you signed him on to command a Q-ship. You didn’t have any trouble trusting him enough to be a covert agent for Starfleet Intelligence.”
Janeway’s voice did not lose its conversational tone, but her next words were cutting. “I imagine you had a special command relationship with Jean-Luc. As his first officer, it would be your duty to question his orders and discuss alternatives. But right now, you’re a captain addressing an admiral. You and I do not have a special command relationship.”
Riker clenched his jaw. “Yes, Admiral.”
“To get back on topic. Two hours ago, the Belle Reve broke orbit. Jean-Luc is not here. Neither is Jim Kirk.”
Riker kept all inflection from his voice. “Maybe Kirk convinced Picard to join him.”
“To do what?” Janeway said sharply. As uneasy as Riker was with the current situation, the admiral was clearly even more provoked. Riker was well aware that Kirk had that effect on some people. He revised that thought: most people.
“I don’t know Kirk as well as Jean-Luc does,” Riker said. “Or as well as you probably do after this past year. But it seems obvious that the only reason Kirk returned to this system and tried to run the embargo was to get help for rescuing his son. I do know Jean-Luc, and that would be a compelling mission.”
Janeway shook her head and spoke firmly. “Captain Picard’s a Starfleet officer and this is a time of crisis- billions of lives are threatened. It’s inconceivable that he’d abandon his ship and his duty to save one child.”
Not for the first time, Riker felt a huge divide between Janeway and himself. Perhaps it was because she had risen through the science ranks, while he had come up on the command track. Perhaps she still carried scars from her perilous voyage through the Delta Quadrant and the losses she’d endured. But whatever had forged such an unyielding attitude in her, she definitely saw the universe in terms more extreme, more black and white, than he did.
He wondered how many crew a captain had to lose to gain those scars, to embrace that all-or-nothing approach to command.
Riker hoped he was fortunate enough never to find out.
“Since you ask, Admiral,” he said, “I have no difficulty accepting that Captain Picard would attach great importance to the life of a single child, no matter whose child he was. And since it appears that Kirk’s son is being held by the Totality, I’m not sure that I see how a decision by Jean-Luc to face the Totality can be considered abandoning his duty.”
Janeway’s eyes flashed, as if he had overstepped himself again, but this time she stayed silent, listening. So Riker seized the opportunity, kept talking.
“As for abandoning his ship, if Jean-Luc considers Kirk’s mission to be dangerous, it wouldn’t be the first
