"Have you checked the warbird's computer for any safeguard programs?" he asked Data, concerned about the possible loss of information due to the detection of unauthorized access. The Enterprise computer was equipped with such safeguards, designed to prevent access if the proper coded commands were not entered.

"As far as I have been able to determine, sir, there seem to be no programs to guard against unauthorized entry," Data replied, as he sat behind the console at the science officer's station. "I have deciphered the language of their software, and while their files do contain coded entries, their codes seem to be based on a simple mathematical progression. It should be a relatively simple matter to download them to our own data banks and translate them at our leisure. Curiously, I find a singular lack of sophistication in their computer technology."

"Perhaps it isn't so curious, Mr. Data," said Picard. "Romulan captains are trained as warriors, not as engineers. It follows that their systems would have been designed to be easily accessible to any of the bridge crew. The possibility of a Romulan warbird falling into enemy hands was probably unthinkable to them. They would destroy their ships before surrendering them."

"That would seem wasteful and illogical," said Data.

"Not to a Romulan, Mr. Data," replied Picard. "To a Romulan warrior, surrender means dishonor and disgrace. On Earth there is an old military saying, 'Death before dishonor.' The Romulans have their own version: 'Death before defeat.'"

He turned and glanced around at the bridge of the warbird again. In this case, he thought, it was the Romulans' own ship that had defeated them. He heard a faint, unintelligible sound, rather like a moan, and turned back to Data with a frown.

"What was that, Mr. Data?"

The android looked up at him. "I said nothing, Captain."

"I thought I heard-"

And then he heard it once again, this time accompanied by a rustling sound of movement. This time Data heard it too, and he glanced up from the screen, looking for the source of it. Picard's first thought was that it might be someone from the away team, but as he looked up toward the warbird's communications station, he distinctly saw the arm of the communications officer move.

At once he reached for his phaser, but even as his fingers closed around it, a voice behind him said, "If you draw that phaser, Captain, it will be the last thing you ever do."

Picard spun around, eyes wide, to see the Romulan captain standing behind him with his disruptor drawn and aimed squarely at his chest. Data reached quickly for his phaser, but the "corpse" of the Romulan science officer suddenly rose from the deck beside him and pressed the emitting cone of his disruptor against the android's head.

"Lieutenant Commander Data, is it not?" said Valak. "I would advise against resistance. It would be a shame to destroy Starfleet's only android officer."

Picard stared with utter disbelief as the bodies of the Romulan bridge crew suddenly came to life around him. "But ... this is impossible!" he said, his senses reeling in the face of the unacceptable reality. "You were dead!"

"In the words of your human philosopher, Mark Twain," said Valak with a smile, "'The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.' Korak, relieve Captain Picard of his phaser before he succ.u.mbs to temptation and does something foolish."

As the Romulan first officer stepped up to Picard and took his weapon, Picard twisted away from him and slapped his communicator. "Picard to Enterprise: red alert! Battle stations-"

Korak clubbed him down with the b.u.t.t of his disruptor, and Picard fell to the deck, stunned.

"That was admirable, Captain," Valak said, "but pointless and not entirely unexpected. Even as we speak, my warriors are transporting to your ship. Korak, open a channel to the Enterprise."

The Romulan first officer quickly moved to the communications console. "Hailing frequency is open, Commander," he said.

"This is Commander Valak of the Romulan warbird, Syrinx. Your ship has been boarded, and your captain is my prisoner. I wish to speak with First Officer William Riker."

As Picard slowly got to his feet, his head still aching from the blow, he heard Riker reply to the Romulan commander. "This is Commander William Riker of the starship Enterprise."

Valak glanced at Picard and smiled. "Put him on the viewer, Korak."

As Picard stared at the viewscreen on the warbird's bridge, he saw an image that made his heart sink. Riker stood on the bridge of the Enterprise flanked by two Romulan warriors, their disruptors drawn. Other warriors were covering the remainder of the Enterprise bridge crew, and Riker's face bore a taut and grim expression.

"Captain," he said tensely, "are you all right?"

"For the moment, Number One," Picard replied, rubbing his head. He glanced at Valak. "May I ask my first officer for a report?"

"As you wish," Valak replied.

"Status report, Number One."

Riker took a deep breath. "The ship has been boarded, sir. The bridge and the engineering section have been seized." He moistened his lips. "Our scanners detected power surges aboard the warbird, but I a.s.sumed it was La Forge getting the ship powered up. Instead, it must have been their transporter activating and beaming their boarding parties to our ship. I'm sorry, sir."

Riker looked shaken. He's blaming himself for this, Picard thought. "You couldn't possibly have known, Number One," he said. "Considering the circ.u.mstances, I would undoubtedly have made the same mistake. What about the crew? Damage report? Casualties?"

He could see Riker's jaw muscles clench as he replied. "I have been prevented from communicating with the away teams aboard the warbird or with other sections of our ship, sir, but it seems there have been casualties. I have also been informed that hostages have been taken on Decks Five, Seven, Twelve, Fourteen, and Thirty-six." He swallowed hard and continued. "They moved very fast, sir, and they knew exactly what they were doing."

They did indeed, Picard thought grimly. The Romulans must have simultaneously beamed boarding parties to the bridge, the engineering section, and the family housing decks. The whole thing had been an elaborate trap, flawlessly planned and executed. His eyes were hard as he gazed at Valak. "You seem quite well informed about the layout of my ship, Commander."

"I have studied the construction of Federation starships in great detail, Captain," Valak replied smoothly. "To quote one of your Earth sayings, I know your ship 'like the back of my hand.' I have also made a study of key Starfleet personnel, and I might add that it is both a pleasure and a privilege to meet face-to-face with the famous Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise."

"I am sorry to say I cannot share your sentiment," Picard replied, a hard edge to his voice. "My compliments, Commander Valak. You have executed your plan brilliantly. However, if you expect to use your hostages to force my unconditional surrender-"

Valak held up his hand. "I would never expect you to surrender, Captain. Quite the contrary. I fully expect you to resist to the utmost of your ability. However, you will see that I have taken steps to ensure that your ability to resist has effectively been neutralized." He signaled his first officer to close the channel to the Enterprise, then activated his communicator. "This is Commander Valak. All units, report."

Picard listened with a sinking feeling to the litany of Romulan boarding parties reporting in. The Romulans were in control of the battle bridge, the shuttle bays, and key environmental systems in addition to the family housing decks, the bridge, and the engineering sections. He would not have thought it possible to execute so complex an operation with such incredible speed and efficiency.

There was, he realized, only one way it could have been done. The entire warbird, in a sense, had been a loaded gun, a b.o.o.by trap set to go off and trigger the ambush the moment the ship was powered back up. The Romulan commander must have had his boarding parties distributed throughout the warbird, with their coordinates fixed and locked in to the transporter. He also must have had his transporter programmed with the coordinates of the a.s.sault points aboard the Enterprise-but Picard could not see how on earth Valak could have done that. It seemed utterly impossible.

His train of thought was interrupted when Data spoke to Valak. "Commander," Data said, gazing curiously at the Romulan commander, "a question, if I may be permitted?"

Valak turned to face him. "Ask."

"In order to beam your boarding parties so quickly to key positions on the Enterprise, your transporter would have to have been preprogrammed with the appropriate coordinates. I am puzzled as to how you antic.i.p.ated the position of the Enterprise in relation to that of your own ship at the time of your a.s.sault."

Valak smiled. "An excellent question, Mr. Data, and an astute observation. Let us see if your reasoning capabilities are equally as excellent. You already possess all the information you need to allow you to deduce the answer, if you consider that there is only one way we could have accomplished that goal."

Data frowned slightly. "You have already demonstrated your familiarity with the layout of Federation ships," he replied. "And since your entire a.s.sault plan depended on programmed coordinates and settings on your transporter, sequenced for automatic engagement the moment the ship was powered up, the only unknown variable would have been the position of the Enterprise in relation to that of your ship." He c.o.c.ked his head in a curiously birdlike movement.

Valak was watching him intently, confident that Picard was covered by his other officers. He actually seems to be enjoying this, Picard thought. This was a very different sort of Romulan from those he had encountered in the past.

"There is no way you could have determined the position of the Enterprise when we arrived," Data continued, "for you were, to all appearances, quite dead. The logical a.s.sumption is that you employed some sort of drug to induce a state of suspended animation so deep that tricorder readings would detect no life functions. In that state you could not possibly have ascertained the position of the Enterprise in relation to that of your own ship. Therefore you must have devised some method for your scanners to automatically compute our ship's position and communicate it to your ship's computer, which would initiate the preprogrammed transporter functions." Data frowned again. "However, that still does not explain how so many varied coordinates could have been antic.i.p.ated and plotted so quickly and so accurately. There would not have been adequate time for you to-" Data stopped suddenly and c.o.c.ked his head in the opposite direction, raising his chin slightly.

Valak watched him almost as if he were a teacher listening to the recitation of a gifted student, or a scientist observing the object of his research.

"Of course," said Data. "You programmed your scanners ahead of time to fix on the emissions of our dilithium crystals. Once your scanners had ascertained the precise position of our matter-antimatter reaction chamber, your ship's computer initiated a preprogrammed sequence that allowed it to rapidly compute the necessary transport coordinates aboard our ship, based on your knowledge of the layout of Federation vessels. It was all planned and carefully programmed in advance, for automatic initiation once your ship was powered back up." Data nodded. "Most impressive, Commander. A brilliant and audacious scheme."

"Thank you, Mr. Data," Valak replied. He turned to Picard. "Your android is every bit as sophisticated as I had expected, Captain. It must be quite an a.s.set to your command."

"We prefer to think of Lieutenant Commander Data as a 'he,' rather than an 'it,'" Picard replied dryly.

Valak gave him a slight bow. "I stand corrected. No offense intended, Mr. Data."

"None taken, Commander," Data replied.

Picard's mind was racing. The Romulan was toying with them, confident that he had the upper hand. Unfortunately, so far as Picard could see, he did have the upper hand. There had to be some way to get out of this desperate situation, but for the moment, Picard could only stall for time and await an opportunity-a.s.suming Valak would allow them one.

The doors to the turbolift slid open, and Picard heard a roar of rage as five Romulans dragged a struggling Worf onto the bridge. His arms were bound behind him, but it still took all five of them to hold him. They threw him down onto the deck and stood over him, breathing heavily.

"Commander, this Klingon filth killed five of our warriors before we could subdue him," one of the Romulans said through gritted teeth.

"He did no less than his duty," Valak replied evenly. "You were warned to expect severe physical resistance from the Klingon, were you not?"

"Yes, Commander, but-"

"Then the men who died paid the penalty for not having properly prepared themselves. Lieutenant Commander Worf is now our prisoner, and he will be treated with the respect due to a Federation officer of his rank."

"But, Commander, surely you do not intend to allow this Klingon filth to live!"

Valak turned a steely gaze on his subordinate. "Do you question my authority?"

The Romulan warrior quickly averted his gaze. "No, Commander, of course not."

Picard watched this interchange with interest. In battle, Romulans were always merciless and utterly ruthless. This Romulan, however, was different. This Romulan has studied us, he thought, and studied not only our behavior but also our social and military customs. This was a Romulan who believed in knowing his enemy, a Romulan who respected his enemy. Valak was a Romulan who believed in exhaustive preparation and who took nothing for granted. And that, Picard thought, made him exceedingly dangerous.

"Forgive me, Captain," Worf said heavily, as he got up from the deck. "I have failed you."

"You did not fail me, Mr. Worf," Picard replied. "The fault is mine. I fear I was simply out-generaled."

"That is high praise indeed, considering the source," said Valak, inclining his head toward Picard.

"It was said as a statement of fact, not praise," Picard said. "You have seized my ship, Commander, and that const.i.tutes an open act of war."

"Quite the contrary, Captain," countered Valak. "You had boarded my ship and were attempting to pirate cla.s.sified information from our data banks. I have acted entirely in self-defense."

"Nonsense," said Picard. "Your ship was in Federation s.p.a.ce, and you had gone to considerable trouble to disguise it as a derelict. We merely responded to your distress beacon."

"Which was operating on a Romulan frequency," said Valak.

"Let us dispense with this pointless charade, Commander Valak," said Picard. "We both know what has occurred here. You set a trap to capture a Federation starship, and for the present, you appear to have succeeded. Now precisely what do you intend?"

"Refreshingly direct, as I expected," Valak replied. "Very well, Captain, I shall tell you what I intend. I intend to hold your ship and your crew. Resistance will be dealt with harshly, but as I expect you to resist, I have made preparations for it. I control your engineering sections, your bridge, and all of your ship's vital functions. Any attempt at resistance will result in the execution of hostages. And I shall start with the children."

"And to think I was just beginning to respect you," Picard said with disgust.

"I do not require your respect, Captain Picard," Valak said flatly, "merely your compliance. Personally I find the prospect of executing children loathsome, even if they are merely human children. However, I can think of no better threat to compel your cooperation. And if you hope to engage your emergency autodestruct sequence, let me a.s.sure you that my engineers will have deactivated it by now, as that was their first priority once they had seized your main engineering section."

Picard compressed his lips into a tight grimace. It seemed the b.a.s.t.a.r.d had antic.i.p.ated everything. But no plan, no matter no carefully conceived or brilliantly executed, was without a flaw. Somewhere the Romulan had overlooked something. The trick was to find out what it was.

The doors to the turbolift slid open once again and three Romulans came onto the bridge, one of them an officer. "Commander, I regret to report that nine of our warriors did not awake from their cryptobiotic sleep; they are now dead."

"Only nine?" said Valak. He nodded. "Acceptable losses, considering the experimental nature of the drug. Note in your report that it functioned within acceptable parameters, though I would not care to repeat the experience." He turned to Picard. "You see, Captain, it was essential to the plan to convince you that we had all died, so we could not resort to cosmetic subterfuges, as I quite expected your medical personnel to conduct examinations of our 'corpses.' Therefore it was necessary to administer the cryptobiotic drug and then purge the ship's lifesupport system so that we would all literally suffocate as the drug was taking effect. It was altogether a rather unpleasant way to die."

"You gambled that your drug would take effect within seconds of the time you would have actually died," said Data.

"Correct, Mr. Data."

"You risked losing your entire crew," said Data.

"Correct again," said Valak. "As you humans say, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.' We also risked reviving too early, before lifesupport functions aboard our ship had been fully restored by your engineering crew. I was confident in their ability to diagnose the problem, however, and I took care not to make it too difficult for them. Fortunately the risk paid off."

"You still have not told me what you want," Picard said.

"Ah, yes, forgive me," Valak replied. "To begin with, I want certain information from the cla.s.sified data banks of your ship's computer."

"Then you are doomed to disappointment," Picard said harshly. "Nothing you can do will compel me to surrender cla.s.sified information."

"Not even the execution of the hostages?" said Valak. But then he held up his hand before Picard could reply. "No, of course not. To safeguard the hostages, you would comply with my demands only to a certain point, where they would not conflict directly with your sworn oath as a Federation officer. Beyond that point, you would do your duty, even to the point of destroying your own ship and all aboard it. Such is the responsibility of a Federation starship captain, and you would carry it out unfailingly, whatever your personal feelings might be. Perhaps not every starship captain would, if faced with such a choice, but Jean-Luc Picard would never hesitate." Valak smiled. "You see, Picard, I know you. Even though we never before met face-to-face, I know you. I could recite your distinguished service record down to the last minute detail."

"Indeed? What have I done to inspire such scrutiny?" Picard asked, his voice laced with irony.

"In short, Captain Picard, you have excelled at what you do," Valak replied. "You see, I am considered something of an anomaly among Romulan commanders in that I also happen to be a scholar, and my chosen field of study is human culture and behavior, especially where it applies to Starfleet. I have focused my research on those officers whose records indicate that they are among the very best in Starfleet. The elite, if you will. And your name, Captain Picard, heads the list."

"I suppose I should feel flattered," Picard replied sarcastically.

"No, Captain, you should feel proud," said Valak. "Proud of your accomplishments and those of your crew. Your ship is considered the finest in all of Starfleet, and I regard it as a most fortuitous circ.u.mstance that it was the Enterprise that took the bait I offered. This situation affords me the rare opportunity to test my mettle against yours. The finest Starfleet has to offer, tested against the elite of the Romulan Command. I find the challenge stimulating."

"You seem already to have won the test," Picard replied wryly.

"If you seek to find a weakness by appealing to my ego, Captain, you are, as you humans say, barking up the wrong tree. My ego is strong and healthy, but it is tempered with a fine edge of pragmatism. This contest is only just beginning. To use a metaphor from your human game of chess, I have opened boldly and taken control of the board, but the match is only just begun. Even now, as we speak, you plan strategies and gambits, with a mind to dislodging me from my dominant position and gaining the advantage. I am most anxious to see how the play develops."

"You certainly seem to have done your homework, Commander," said Picard. "Romulan intelligence is clearly much better than we had supposed. However, if you know that nothing you can do will compel me to surrender cla.s.sified information from my ship's data banks, then you must also know that any attempt to bypa.s.s the safeguards of those data banks will result in the data being wiped."

"Indeed, the information I require would be erased," Valak agreed, "if I were to make any attempt at 'hacking,' as I believe you call it. However, thanks to our Romulan intelligence, and to one agent in particular, whom you were so kind as to return to us, that will not be necessary."

Picard frowned in puzzlement. "An agent whom I returned to you?"

"Sir," said Data, "I believe Commander Valak is referring to Subcommander Selok, the Romulan spy who posed as an amba.s.sador to Starfleet from the planet Vulcan. If you will recall, we did not discover the deception until a transporter accident was staged, designed to make us believe the so-called amba.s.sador had died. It turned out to be a clever ruse to cover up their agent being transported to a Romulan warbird in the vicinity."

"Yes," Picard said, "I remember now. It was quite a coup for Romulan intelligence."

"Perhaps more of a coup than you might think, Captain," Valak said. "Our agent was able to glean from Starfleet certain coded references to Hermeticus Two."

Picard was aware that Valak was watching him carefully for a reaction. "Hermeticus Two?" He frowned. "That means nothing to me."

"Indeed?" said Valak. "Well, we shall soon see. Korak, escort Captain Picard to the transporter room. We are going to pay a visit to the Enterprise."

Chapter Four.

CHIEF O'BRIEN STOOD AT the controls of the transporter, his expression tense. Two Romulan warriors stood on either side of him, keeping him covered with their weapons. Picard and O'Brien exchanged quick glances as the party beaming aboard stepped off the pads beneath the primary energizing coils.