Star Trek: The Next Generation - 119 - Armageddon's Arrow (12 page)

Picard knew that he had to step with care. Even setting aside the Prime Directive considerations forbidding Starfleet officers from interfering in a sovereign nation’s internal politics or other societal or technological development, the obvious challenge now facing him was how to remain diplomatic—and detached—from what obviously was a sensitive situation between the Golvonek and Raqilan people.

“I have no intention of opposing or circumventing your laws, Fleet Legate,” Picard said, stepping closer to the screen. “However, as I informed you, the ship’s crew remains in hibernation, and my medical officer informs me that reviving them would be a time-consuming and perhaps even dangerous task. With that in mind, I offer our assistance in bringing them out of stasis.” He could almost hear the proverbial wheels turning in Mynlara’s mind as she considered his overture, no doubt attempting to see the proposal from all possible angles and determine what advantages she might gain from agreement. Would she appeal to him—and by extension, the Federation—to ally with her people? Perhaps she sought a tactical advantage by somehow capturing the
Enterprise
.

That was highly unlikely, Picard decided.

“Your offer is most generous, Captain,”
Mynlara said after a moment.
“On behalf of my people, I accept, but I ask that you refrain from any further action aboard that ship until our arrival.”

“Very well,” Picard said. To Lynley and for Mynlara’s benefit, he said, “Notify Commander Worf that the away team is to return to the
Enterprise
immediately.”

“Thank you, Captain.”
Perhaps emboldened that her request had been granted without resistance, she added in a slightly more forceful tone,
“I must also warn you that any attempt to prevent me from carrying out my duty would not . . . further whatever peaceful mission you hope to accomplish here
.
”

Picard replied, “There is no need to posture. We are visitors here, and we will do our best to abide by your wishes. I look forward to meeting you in person, Fleet Legate. Picard out.”

The connection was severed, and the image on the viewscreen returned to that of the drifting alien vessels. Turning to Lynley, Picard asked, “Mister Lynley, is the away team en route back to the
Enterpris
e
?”

“Most of them are preparing to beam back, sir,” replied the commander. After the initial away team investigation and as a means of overcoming the interference with transporter beams caused by the alien ship’s hull, Commander La Forge had deployed a portable transporter pad in the vessel’s landing bay and linked it to the
Enterprise
using site-to-site interlocking. Now personnel and equipment could be moved back and forth without the need to rely on shuttles, though Picard had ordered at least one craft to remain on site so long as members of the crew were working over there.

“Captain,” Lynley said a moment later, and Picard saw that he was uncomfortable having to relay that report. “Commander Worf and Doctor Crusher are standing by to speak with you.”

Gesturing for him to open the channel, the captain announced, “Picard here. What’s your status, Number One?” Expecting to hear his first officer, he was surprised when his wife’s voice burst from the intercom.

“Crusher here, Captain. We can’t leave. My team and I have discovered how to initiate the process for bringing the crew out of hibernation. It takes time and the computer oversees most of it, but one of Geordi’s engineers had to help us reroute part of the systems that were damaged
.
”

Already knowing where her explanation was going, Picard said, “You’re saying part of the automated oversight process was included in that damage?”

“That’s right,”
Crusher replied.
“It can still watch over most of the procedure, but this whole thing works in stages. If the computer misses the administration of required medications and other treatments at the proper intervals throughout the process, it could kill the crew. I can’t stand by and let that happen, Jean-Luc
.
”

Of course you can’t
, Picard mused, at once proud of his wife’s devotion to her patients and her duty while also irritated by her impeccable if unfortunate timing. “How long will the process take?”

“
Right now, we’re estimating about two hours. It could be longer, depending on whatever we have to deal with as the process continues
.
”

Behind him, Lynley said, “Captain, the Golvonek ships won’t arrive until after the doctor is finished.”

There was no other choice, Picard knew. For better or worse, they were committed. “Very well, Doctor. Remain on station, with only the essential members of your medical team. Mister Worf?”

“Worf here, Captain
.
”

“You, Lieutenant Konya, and the security details from both teams are to remain with Doctor Crusher and whoever she needs to carry out the procedure. Commander La Forge and everyone else are to return to the ship immediately.”

“Acknowledged. Worf out.”

The channel was closed, leaving Picard to stare in silence at the colossal Raqilan vessel. Now, at least, some of the questions had been answered.

Other questions, like the ship itself, beckoned.

12

“The Raqilan call it ‘
Poklori gil dara
,’ which more or less translates to ‘
Armageddon’s Arrow
.’ Basically, this ship is meant to end their war with one hell of a knockout punch.”

At the head of the curved table that ran the length of the
Enterprise
’s observation lounge, Picard sat in his high-backed chair with his hands resting in his lap studying—along with Lieutenants Šmrhová and Elfiki—the computer-generated technical readout of the Raqilan ship displayed on the room’s central viewscreen. The diagram rotated in place, offering views of the vessel from multiple angles. Standing next to the screen, Lieutenant T’Ryssa Chen paused after delivering her report, awaiting further instructions.

“Armageddon’s Arrow,”
Picard repeated, almost to himself. “Rather dramatic, wouldn’t you say?”

Chen sighed. “Maybe if the ship didn’t live up to its name, but this one does, and then some.” She tapped the image and the screen froze, after which she touched the image of the ship itself and the schematic zoomed in. The vessel’s outer layers separated and pulled away, exposing the massive cylinder that was its core.

“This particle cannon can outclass just about anything we might throw against it. The antiproton beam it generates, as we’ve already seen from the ship’s computer records, is more than capable of taking out planet-sized targets.”

Nodding, Picard recalled the data file sent to him by Lieutenant Elfiki and demonstrating the weapon’s tremendous power. Only on rare occasions had he seen a weapon of such ability, and rarer still had he seen the effects. Even the Borg, with all the technology at their disposal thanks to their assimilation of races across the galaxy, thankfully had never acquired something of this magnitude.

And thankfully, they never will
.

“So these people, the Raqilan,” Šmrhová said, “they built this thing to . . . what? Destroy the Golvonek homeworld?”

“It looks that way, sir,” Elfiki said. “According to the historical records we found in the ship’s computer, they haven’t liked each other pretty much since their first meeting, which took place a little over a century ago. Both planets progressed independently of each other, and their level of technological advancement is within a few generations of each other. In some ways, they’re very similar to the Onarans and the Brekkians in the Delos system, or even Romulus and Remus.” She shrugged. “Anyway, both worlds developed rudimentary space travel capabilities within a generation or so of each other, and started sending out probes and small ships to their worlds’ respective moons and later the system’s other planets.”

Chen added, “By the looks of things, that first meeting didn’t go very well. The records on the
Arrow
do a pretty good job of downplaying things, Captain, and of course they paint the Raqilan in the best possible light, but it looks to me as though they were the aggressors. Once the war finally got going, most of the engagements looked to have been initiated by them, with Golvonek forces fighting largely defensive actions.” She shrugged. “Yes, there were occasions when the Golvonek went on the offensive, but based just on the data available, I’d argue they were counterattacks or preemptive strikes intended to upset a pending action by the Raqilan. On the other hand, the primary goal of the Raqilan was overwhelming, decisive victory at all costs.”

“This probably explains their comparable advances in space flight as well as developing warp capability,” said Šmrhová. “As we all know, war has a tendency to speed up the research and development of new technologies.”

Stepping away from the viewscreen, Chen returned to her seat at the conference table. “And that seems to have driven the tempo of their war. After going at it pretty hot and heavy for several years, things calmed down and both sides went back to their respective corners, if you’ll pardon the expression. Though there was no permanent peace treaty, both governments apparently were able to negotiate a ceasefire that lasted for a few decades. Then, things took another bad turn and hostilities started up again. Before they discovered warp drive, both sides had already been establishing satellites, space stations, and outposts on the system’s outlying planets and moons. They spent years establishing footholds on new territory, exploiting whatever resources they could find, and so on. Warp drive is a relatively new advancement for them, only within the last couple of decades, and it looks to be restricted for military use.”

“So, of course they’re using it to renew and extend their attacks,” Picard said.

Chen replied, “To a degree, yes sir. The planets are hundreds of millions of kilometers apart, so it could take months to get between them. Before warp drive, attacks against either homeworld were rare, but they tended to inflict a lot of damage.” She shrugged. “With warp drive, the same attacks could occur within minutes, and that’s the way it went for years afterward.”

“Is the conflict resource-motivated?” Šmrhová asked.

Elfiki replied, “It may not have started out that way, but that’s what it seems to be now.” She raised her hands, holding them apart. “The two planets orbit the Canborek sun almost opposite to each other. The Golvonek world, Uphrel, is about thirty million kilometers closer to the star than Henlona. The climate on Uphrel is closer to Earth, while Henlona is more like Mars. The current, terraformed Mars, that is. The atmospheric makeups aren’t identical, but they’re within ranges that make both worlds viable for either side.” Frowning, the science officer leaned forward in her chair. “Or, they will be, up until a century or so from now.”

Šmrhová asked, “Time travel?”

Instead of Elfiki, Chen replied, “Right. According to the computer records, the
Arrow
traveled through time from a point approximately ninety-four years in the future, back to approximately one hundred twenty-two years ago. We’re still refining the translations, so we don’t have exact departure and arrival points yet.”

“So the Raqilan military must have constructed this vessel with the intention of traveling back in time to a point before the war began,” Picard said.

“Exactly,” replied Chen. “In the decades to come, the war’s effects on both planets will be devastating. As the conflict drags on, resources for ships and weapons powerful enough to make the trip between the two planets will get harder to come by, and direct attacks will start to taper off in frequency. Eventually, the war is again reduced to little more than occasional skirmishes, with both sides turning their attentions more and more to claiming additional resources across the rest of the solar system.” She shook her head. “But the damage will have been done. Orbital bombardments will have long-term environmental consequences. The Golvonek will get the worst part of that deal; in the long run, there won’t be any real winners.” Pausing, Chen looked over her shoulder at the vessel schematic still displayed on the viewscreen. “I guess they figured they could launch the mother of all preemptive strikes, and possibly avoid the worst of the war’s effects.”

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Picard allowed himself a small sigh of exasperation. Temporal mechanics, despite the intriguing possibilities and theories bandied about for centuries from learned scholars, wild conspiracy theorists, and representatives from organizations such as the Federation’s Department of Temporal Investigations, had never been one of his favored subjects. Fate and circumstance had seen to it that he and the
Enterprise
had encountered their share of various time-bending anomalies, agents, and other oddities, and they were not experiences he was keen to revisit. In particular, he had no desire to deal with any variation of the scenario that had befallen Earth on at least one occasion, thanks to the machinations of the Borg. The parasitic race had attempted to use time itself as a weapon, traveling back to a point before Earth had made its first contact with beings from another world. Left unchecked, humanity would have been assimilated into the Collective more than two centuries before his birth. It was only through happenstance and good fortune that Picard and the
Enterprise
were able to follow the Borg ship back through time and thwart that effort.

“Their plan was to come back and what?” Šmrhová asked. “Blow up the Golvonek homeworld? That seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it?”

Elfiki added, “And that’s before we get into the ethical considerations of preemptive attacks.”

“History is filled with first strikes carried out for the right reasons,” Šmrhová countered. “While I suppose one could make the argument for launching an attack to prevent an assault you know is coming, that’s not what this seems to entail.”

Chen said, “I suppose it depends on how you look at it.” She gestured to the screen and the ship depicted on it. “Even though that thing comes from the future, the Raqilan and the Golvonek
are
at war right now.”

Frowning, Šmrhová rested her hand on the conference table. “While I’m not one of them, there are people who’d argue that falls within the acceptable parameters of a justified action.”

“Actually, it isn’t,” Picard said. “Lieutenant Elfiki, there’s an element to this equation we haven’t yet discussed.”

The science officer replied, “That’s right, sir. The
Arrow
’s original destination was a point in time one hundred twenty-one years in the past. According to what I’ve been able to dig out of their computer, the crew was supposed to have been revived shortly after their arrival, but it looks like some key onboard systems were damaged during a skirmish the ship encountered just prior to their time jump.”

“They were being attacked by Golvonek ships right up to the last second,” Chen said. “The Golvonek learned about the
Arrow
soon after its launch, though I don’t think they knew—or will know—about its true mission when they sent ships out to meet it.”

“As a consequence of that attack,” Elfiki added, “whatever damage was sustained prevented the computer from initiating the revival procedures, so the crew has remained in hibernation all this time.”

Šmrhová said, “They jumped back to a point before the war even started.”

“It’s worse than that,” Chen replied. “Their target was a point in time before the two races even met.” When no one said anything in immediate response, the young lieutenant added, “Does that sound familiar to anyone besides me?”

Picard rested his head on the back of his chair. “Indeed it does. Except for the time travel element, it’s the Xindi all over again.”

“But time travel even played a part in that, sir,” Chen said. “Or, at least something like it. It’s not like we ever got a straight answer about any of that.”

Nodding as he recalled more details from memory, the captain said, “Correct, Lieutenant.” Even before enrolling in Starfleet Academy, he was familiar with the Xindi attacks on Earth during the mid-twenty-second century. An alliance of five distinct advanced species that all had evolved on the same planet, the Xindi had come to believe that the Federation would—in centuries to come—be responsible for the destruction of their homeworld. Convinced of this threat by parties from another alien race that possessed the ability to examine the course of future history across multiple timelines, the Xindi set about constructing a massive weapon with the intention of destroying Earth. Their intentions had only become known after they opted to deploy a prototype version of the weapon against the planet, and the results of even that limited attack had been considerable.

“Except it looks as though these guys were smart enough not to tip their hand too early,” said Šmrhová. “The Xindi screwed up by attacking Earth with a prototype version of their super weapon. If they’d run their test on some other planet, we’d never have known they were coming until it was too late.” She paused, frowning. “Perhaps
test
isn’t the appropriate word.”

As a teenager, Picard had read the historical narratives of the catastrophic incident in which more than seven million people had been killed in a matter of minutes, and he recalled having thoughts similar to those expressed by Šmrhová. Why had the Xindi squandered their advantage of total surprise in such heinous fashion? He did not remember a suitable explanation ever being given, beyond the simple belief that the Xindi believed humans incapable of determining the identity of their attackers. While Picard knew that some form of investigation had revealed the truth behind the perpetrators, he suspected there was more to that story than was contained in the official records. Any information pertaining to how the Xindi came to know about future events would be classified and closely guarded, restricted only to DTI personnel and a very small circle of senior Federation and Starfleet officials. Rumors persisted that some form of time travel on the part of Starfleet officers two centuries earlier may even have played a role in the eventual foiling of the Xindi plot, but none of that had ever been confirmed, denied, or even entertained as a possibility by anyone in a position to know what really happened.

“We know the Raqilan tested the weapon before their time jump,” Elfiki said. “They recorded the results of the particle cannon fired at a moon being used by Golvonek forces as a forward military base. Raqilan leaders warned their counterparts on Uphrel that the attack was coming and gave them time to evacuate, which when you think about it is pretty strange, considering the
Arrow
’s ultimate mission.”