Read Online Star Trek: Pantheon by Michael Jan Friedman - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Michael Jan Friedman
Ads: Link
wait awhile.
Now, let’s see, he told himself, scanning the list of names on the brief menu. The one he wanted to see first was at the bottom—of course. He called up the relevant subfile.
Name: Morgen. Affiliation: Starfleet. Rank: Captain. Homeworld: Daa’V.
The full details of Morgen’s career in Starfleet since his graduation from the Academy twenty-one years before came up on-screen.
The record bore out what Riker had heard over the years about Captain Morgen of the Excalibur. That he was an even-handed leader. That he brought out the best in his people. That he was militarily brilliant, diplomatically adept, and personally charming.
Not unlike his mentor, Jean-Luc Picard.
Now Morgen was leaving the service that had benefited so much from his presence to discharge another set of responsibilities—as hereditary leader of the Daa’Vit. He was returning to the planet of his birth to assume the throne in the wake of his father’s death.
And bringing with him an honor guard—seven Starfleet officers with whom he’d served on the deep-space exploration vessel Stargazer. It was a Daa’Vit custom for a returning prince to be surrounded by his closest companions. And despite the friendships Morgen had made on the Excalibur, he had selected his fellow officers on the Stargazer to stand by him at the coronation ceremony.
It was quite a tribute to those individuals. And to the esprit de corps that had characterized Picard’s old ship.
Chief among the honor guardsmen was Picard himself, Morgen’s first captain. The others comprised the remainder of the visitors’ roster.
He returned to the menu. Some of the names were as familiar to Riker as Morgen’s—Ben Zoma, for instance, the captain of the Lexington, and First Officer Asmund of the Charleston.
The others were somewhat less well known to him, but their names still seemed almost magical. Professor Phigus Simenon. Dr. Carter Greyhorse. Peter “Pug” Joseph. All of them had been part of the Stargazer’ s historical mission—and, just as important, all had lived to tell the tale.
Riker leaned back in his chair and, not for the first time, wondered what it had been like to serve under the captain in those days—on a vessel like the Stargazer, whose mission carried her into uncharted space for years at a time. And beyond that, what it had meant to lose that ship, in the Federation’s first fateful brush with the Ferengi.
With all of Picard’s surviving officers scheduled to board the Enterprise over the next couple of days, the first officer would never have a better chance to find out.
Going to the top of the list this time, he called up another subfile.
Asmund, Idun…
Captain Mansfield of the U.S.S. Charleston sat on the edge of the s’naiah -wood desk. It was as uncomfortable as it looked, what with all the savage iconography carved into it. He frowned.
“Idun,” he said, “if you’d like to talk about it…”
His first officer, who had been staring out the viewport, turned to face him. She was a handsome woman—he couldn’t help but notice that. Tall and slim and blond, with eyes the elusive color of glacial ice. Deep, dark…
Enough of that, he told himself. She’s your exec, for godsakes. And even if she wasn’t, what would she see in an old warhorse like you?
For the four hundredth time, he put his libido aside. After all, there was something troubling her. If Asmund needed anyone, it wasn’t a lover. It was a friend.
“I am all right,” she told him evenly. But her eyes said that she was lying.
He sighed.
For six of the eleven years he’d been captain of this ship, Idun Asmund had been his second-in-command, and a damned good one at that. She’d never given him any reason to regret his having taken her aboard.
But he knew of the doubts people had had about her. After that terrible incident on the Stargazer …what was it? Two decades ago now? For a time, it had haunted her. Kept her from advancing through the
Now, let’s see, he told himself, scanning the list of names on the brief menu. The one he wanted to see first was at the bottom—of course. He called up the relevant subfile.
Name: Morgen. Affiliation: Starfleet. Rank: Captain. Homeworld: Daa’V.
The full details of Morgen’s career in Starfleet since his graduation from the Academy twenty-one years before came up on-screen.
The record bore out what Riker had heard over the years about Captain Morgen of the Excalibur. That he was an even-handed leader. That he brought out the best in his people. That he was militarily brilliant, diplomatically adept, and personally charming.
Not unlike his mentor, Jean-Luc Picard.
Now Morgen was leaving the service that had benefited so much from his presence to discharge another set of responsibilities—as hereditary leader of the Daa’Vit. He was returning to the planet of his birth to assume the throne in the wake of his father’s death.
And bringing with him an honor guard—seven Starfleet officers with whom he’d served on the deep-space exploration vessel Stargazer. It was a Daa’Vit custom for a returning prince to be surrounded by his closest companions. And despite the friendships Morgen had made on the Excalibur, he had selected his fellow officers on the Stargazer to stand by him at the coronation ceremony.
It was quite a tribute to those individuals. And to the esprit de corps that had characterized Picard’s old ship.
Chief among the honor guardsmen was Picard himself, Morgen’s first captain. The others comprised the remainder of the visitors’ roster.
He returned to the menu. Some of the names were as familiar to Riker as Morgen’s—Ben Zoma, for instance, the captain of the Lexington, and First Officer Asmund of the Charleston.
The others were somewhat less well known to him, but their names still seemed almost magical. Professor Phigus Simenon. Dr. Carter Greyhorse. Peter “Pug” Joseph. All of them had been part of the Stargazer’ s historical mission—and, just as important, all had lived to tell the tale.
Riker leaned back in his chair and, not for the first time, wondered what it had been like to serve under the captain in those days—on a vessel like the Stargazer, whose mission carried her into uncharted space for years at a time. And beyond that, what it had meant to lose that ship, in the Federation’s first fateful brush with the Ferengi.
With all of Picard’s surviving officers scheduled to board the Enterprise over the next couple of days, the first officer would never have a better chance to find out.
Going to the top of the list this time, he called up another subfile.
Asmund, Idun…
Captain Mansfield of the U.S.S. Charleston sat on the edge of the s’naiah -wood desk. It was as uncomfortable as it looked, what with all the savage iconography carved into it. He frowned.
“Idun,” he said, “if you’d like to talk about it…”
His first officer, who had been staring out the viewport, turned to face him. She was a handsome woman—he couldn’t help but notice that. Tall and slim and blond, with eyes the elusive color of glacial ice. Deep, dark…
Enough of that, he told himself. She’s your exec, for godsakes. And even if she wasn’t, what would she see in an old warhorse like you?
For the four hundredth time, he put his libido aside. After all, there was something troubling her. If Asmund needed anyone, it wasn’t a lover. It was a friend.
“I am all right,” she told him evenly. But her eyes said that she was lying.
He sighed.
For six of the eleven years he’d been captain of this ship, Idun Asmund had been his second-in-command, and a damned good one at that. She’d never given him any reason to regret his having taken her aboard.
But he knew of the doubts people had had about her. After that terrible incident on the Stargazer …what was it? Two decades ago now? For a time, it had haunted her. Kept her from advancing through the
Similar Books
