CHAPTER SIX
“Rock on, Gold Dust
Woman…
take your silver spoon,
and dig your grave.
“Heartless challenge…
pick your path, and I'll
pray.”
- Stevie Nicks
USS Griffin raced
forward.
Cloaked through the offhand genius of Sera MacLeod, she passed
unheeded like a memory of swiftness through the emptiness of interstellar
space.
Her faster-than-light engines were working at optimal efficiency,
but even warp nine-point-nine-nine-seven was too slow to suit Vaerth Parihn,
who worked tirelessly to push the sleek little vessel even harder.
For her, the speed of thought itself wouldn’t have been fast
enough.
Oh, Aedra.
I warned you. Why
couldn't you listen to me?
A part of her, though, answered, You mean the way you listen
to everyone else?
She thought back to her protégé’s graduation from the Academy. As
her sponsor, it had been her right and privilege to attend, schedule
permitting… and Luciano Mantovanni, secretly sentimental as always, had made
certain that her schedule would
permit.
Parihn still couldn't believe how proud she'd been.
That had all changed, though, when, an hour after commencement,
she'd sought Aedra out in her dorm room. They'd greeted each other like
ecstatic schoolgirls—which, technically, was a description that had applied to
the younger woman only moments ago—and chatted about the comfortable and
inconsequential things women do.
Then Parihn had asked the wrong question…
…or, rather, the right
one.
“So, what's your first assignment, Ensign Anari? What frontier are
you going to help push back?”
Aedra's grin had vanished.
Uncomfortably, she'd half-mumbled, “With all due respect,
Lieutenant, that's… classified.”
And Parihn had just known.
“Aedra…” she'd practically snarled. “…tell me you're not going into Starfleet Intelligence…
“…and please tell me
you're not working with the Orion Bureau.”
The girl hadn't, at first, replied.
“I'm waiting for an
answer.”
Aedra had then whirled to face her.
“Well, I am. It's the right thing for me. Starfleet
Intelligence is doing important work to put the Syndicate down for good… and I
want to be a part of it.”
Parihn, incredulous, had snapped, “Listen to yourself, Ensign.
What are you, a recruiting poster?”
The younger woman had shaken her head in emphatic denial, and
countered, “Don't insult my intelligence, ma'am.
I can make my own decisions.” She'd opened her suitcase, and rummaged through
it again. Parihn had known it was a nervous gesture; Aedra's hands had never
stopped moving, shuffling the clothes and knick-knacks with an almost frenetic
disinterest.
Perhaps she'd needed the distraction to avoid Parihn's eyes for
what she'd said next.
“But it's interesting that you should mention recruiting posters,
Lieutenant. Admiral Nalonge told me the Bureau wanted you, too… and that you
refused to join. Why is that? You
know the damage people like us can do to the Syndicate. Starfleet needs us.”
Parihn had lost her temper… and, unwisely, she'd indulged it a
bit, stepping forward and twisting Aedra around to face her.
“Starfleet needs us
alive and whole, to protect and serve the Federation.
“Starfleet Intelligence needs
us so they can use us. They're not
committed to advising military action against the Congeries, because it's
politically incorrect, and because they’ve become enamored of the dance itself.
Instead, they vainly try and beat our people at their own game—despite
how stupid and counterproductive that
is. Why do you think the Syndicate is
still around, stronger than ever, even though SI's been after it
for over a century?”
Once she'd been forced to it, though, Aedra hadn't flinched away.
“Because people like you
are afraid to fight them,” she sneered, attempting to wrench her arm away, and
failing. “I used to admire you, and I wouldn’t have believed it…
“…but you're a coward.”
Abruptly, Parihn had released her… taken a single step back,
wide-eyed and aghast at what she'd just heard… and then made for the door.
She'd paused at its threshold, and looked back.
“Maybe so, Ensign. Maybe so.
“But fearlessness in the face of the unknown is nothing but
ignorance. I can speak from experience about the Syndicate's power. That power
is a terrible reality…
“…and I pray it's a
reality you'll never have to know.”
But, as had happened far too often in Parihn's life, her prayers
had gone unheard... or at least unanswered.
And, now, with nothing more to do on the journey towards Way Station 242, she found herself
remembering—remembering the life that had been hers, and that, if she failed,
would be Aedra's…
…forevermore.