‘Commander!’

Rhade stopped at the call, turning to see the wiry Romulan monk Narien jogging down the corridor towards him. ‘Mister Narien. I’m always happy to talk, but I am on my way to a meeting.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Still, the monk didn’t move away, falling into step beside him. ‘I wasn’t sure you’ve received my calls.’

‘I saw your messages – I did reply,’ Rhade said with a faint frown. ‘You must understand that while I was very happy to help you at Scarix, I was merely doing my duty. There was nothing exceptional for a Starfleet officer to intercede on your behalf.’

‘If you’ll forgive me, Commander, based on my experiences these past fifteen years, that’s simply not true,’ Narien pointed out. ‘There are reasons my people keep to themselves. I alone can’t convince them to accept Starfleet. They would need to see more of you, know that you understand them. But I can personally show you some gratitude.’

‘It would be unethical for me to accept material recompense.’

‘Then how about immaterial?’ Narien reached for his arm. ‘Everyone is haunted by something, Commander. Let me help you with that.’

Rhade stopped, looking down at the arm, then at the intense eyes of the other man. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘What do you think the artifacts I’m transporting do, Commander? I didn’t select objects that push us to the brink of our psychic capabilities. I brought the ones people… like.’ A hint of a self-deprecating sneer entered his voice. ‘The ones the Republic will be eager to receive, because they reinforce a sense of our people’s culture and aren’t uncomfortable. You’re a Betazoid, surely you understand.’

It took a slow, controlled breath to shove back the memories of blood dilithium. Of his hand settling around the heavy lamp before he brought it down on the face of the Devore prisoner. ‘None of this is something to play with.’

‘I do not play. It was my life’s work before I was exiled,’ Narien said, straightening. ‘Are you sure of yourself, Commander? Your path? Your future?’

‘Who is?’

‘I thought not,’ said Narien flatly, plainly not buying the evasion. ‘I offer you something, Commander, because you saved my life. Something special. Let me sit you down with the Arev. This artifact can examine your thoughts, your memories, and reflect back to you a vision of the path you believe you are on.’

Rhade pulled his arm back carefully. ‘I am the Dockmaster of Gateway Station. It would be irresponsible for me to let my thoughts and memories be studied by a psionic artifact.’

‘It doesn’t retain a thing, you misunderstand. It’s far more like an aid to your own thoughts. All it can do is extrapolate based on your memories, your expectations and beliefs, and lay out a… constructed imagining of your future.’

Rhade worked his jaw. ‘I appreciate your thoughtfulness, Mister Narien. But you seem quite committed to this idea.’

‘It… my people do not like being in debt, Commander.’

Rhade wasn’t sure that was true. His eyes narrowed. ‘Have you used this artifact before?’

‘I am familiar with -’

‘I believe you’re grateful, Mister Narien. But I also believe you want to use me, a Betazoid you know can interface with this object, to… practice with the Skein of Years before you have to sell it? Be sure of how it works?’

Narien’s eyelashes flickered. ‘We can help each other, Commander Rhade. Do you know the path you’re on? For sure? You stand at the edge of the world and call the void to order.’

Rhade forced a polite smile. ‘It is a challenge, for certain. But I know the answers lie in that void – not within myself. Good day, Mister Narien.’ He left, the Romulan monk unable to summon another protest, and was glad he had several decks to climb before reaching the meeting room. It let him steel himself.

‘…can’t confirm the influence of the Orion Syndicate,’ Kharth finished with a sigh. ‘But it seems to fit. If they’ve tried to move in, then they’re probably either calling the shots and want to maximise profit, or they’re demanding payments from the Three Lost Crows. So the Crows, in turn, have to expand their operations and pay the Syndicate to keep out.’

Rhade’s eyes swept across the staff in the meeting room: the away team from the Vigilance, the command staff of Gateway, Captain Valance, and himself and Beckett for their work with Narien. At this point, he kept silent.

‘If the Syndicate are out here,’ Commodore Rourke said, tapping his finger on his chin, ‘then if we can uproot them, that might make the Three Lost Crows pull back. But we have to confirm that. And we have to find them.’

‘Finding anything in the Synnef Nebula is incredibly difficult,’ reported Thawn, stood next to Kharth before the wall display. ‘Our sensors struggle to pierce the interference. We’ve simply not gathered enough data on the nebula itself to establish effective protocols in navigating and searching it.’

‘It has to be possible,’ said Valance. ‘Because the Three Lost Crows operate in there.’

‘And the Khalagu,’ said Beckett, and winced as eyes fell on him. ‘Narien claims they have a whole society in there. A few thousand people in a semi-nomadic lifestyle. They’ve set up their own watering holes, so to speak, and move between them. They have to have ways of communicating, of navigating.’

‘Narien isn’t going to give us more on how the Khalagu live,’ Rhade said a little quickly. ‘I think we’re approaching the end of the intelligence he can offer us.’

Rourke sighed. ‘Let’s still help him make his deals with the Republic. We need some friends beyond the border. If he goes back to his people with good things to say about us, that’s a win.’

‘And it protects the artifacts themselves. We make sure they get in the right hands,’ said Beckett.

‘Alright.’ Rourke scrubbed his face with his hands. ‘We still need to see for ourselves what’s going on in Synnef.’

‘Most of our ships don’t have a chance of navigating the nebula beyond merely the fringes,’ Thawn said simply. ‘Runabouts don’t have a powerful enough sensor system, and the Tempest’s is too old.’

Valance leaned forward. ‘You’re going to be tired of me saying this, sir…’

‘But send in Endeavour, with perhaps the most sophisticated sensor system in the galaxy?’

Valance shrugged. ‘Even if we can’t pierce the interference, we can run a full survey on the nebula. It’s the logical next step for an investigation.’ At Rourke’s look, she straightened. ‘It’s been days since we last discussed this, sir. The crew have had more time. They’re ready.’

Rhade watched Rourke glance to Kharth, to Thawn, to Beckett. He didn’t hide his uncertainty, but at length, he nodded. ‘Alright. This is a scientific mission. Survey the nebula as deep as you can, avoid trouble, and bring us back data so we can begin to formulate a plan for overcoming the interference.’ He turned to Shepherd. ‘Commander, start drawing up plans for a sensor buoy network at the nebula’s periphery. Mark XVIIs, so we can upgrade them if we devise a means of bypassing the interference, and if not, so they can monitor people entering and leaving.’

Kharth said, ‘How have Midgard Colony and Dyke Logistics been?’

‘Mollified a bit by the Tempest being around to fly the flag. I think they’ll be pleased to see Endeavour head for the nebula, and angry when you don’t come back with pirate skulls,’ Rourke sighed. ‘Let me worry about handling the locals.’

Lindgren gave a tight smile. ‘Weren’t we supposed to be launching exploratory missions deeper into the sector?’

‘You are,’ said Rourke, pushing to his feet. ‘It’s just this one goes into the phenomenon right on our doorstep. Let’s get to work.’

In the hubbub afterwards, Rhade stayed seated. He watched Rourke exchange quick words with Valance, then leave with Shepherd and Harrian, deep in conversation. He watched Valance approach Kharth and the rest of her crew, giving quick orders and instructions. Only when all of the official business was dying out did he stand and approach his wife, who gathered her PADDs and looked to leave as quickly as possible.

‘The captain wants to depart tomorrow morning?’ he said, checking what he’d overheard. At her nod, he said, ‘We could have dinner tonight.’

Thawn looked up, apprehensive. ‘I was going to meet with Airex and T’Varel to discuss our sensor modifications before going in.’

They would have time to do that en route to the nebula, Rhade thought. He knew that without needing to sense the anxiety coming off her in waves, the sense of evasion. If they had been alone, he lied to himself, he would have pushed the matter. But they weren’t. So all he did was nod and say, ‘Very well. Once you’re back?’

‘Once I’m back,’ she said, and for the first time, the lying he could see in her eyes stuck in his throat.

He left at once, trying to keep his gait collected, trying to not storm like hell was behind him. People still got out of his way as he marched down the corridor, and that forced him further into himself, forced his shoulders to hunch in, forced him to make himself smaller. The last thing Adamant Rhade needed, on days when he could still feel on his fingertips the blood of the Devore officer he’d murdered, was the sense that anyone was afraid of him.

Including his own wife. Even though he knew his physicality was not what scared her.

Narien’s eyes were wide when he opened the door to his quarters in response to the door-chime. ‘Commander! I know I was a little forthright today…’

He, too, was afraid. Rhade must have looked furious. He took a deep, calming breath and raised his hands placatingly. ‘I understand everything you said,’ he said, keeping his voice low, level. ‘But I have one question.’

‘Name it.’

Their eyes met. ‘The visions from the Arev. Can they be for two people?’