Chapter 25

U.S.S. Carthage

The next thing Vaughn knew, he awoke in the Carthage sickbay.

“About time you woke up. You’ve been out for the better part of a day.”

He looked around, blinking his eyes repeatedly. The red and blue spots were still there, but started to fade after a few moments. The last thing he remembered was trying to shift the beam. Now Commander Li was sitting next to his biobed. Vaughn could hear sounds around him-no doubt the usual business of sickbay.

An attempt to speak was a complete failure, even after he cleared his throat.

However, Li answered his unspoken question. “Commander Troi didn’t make it. He was DOA. Somebody made off with his tricorder, and both your phasers, transponders, and combadges. Your legs were crushed-doc says it’s going to take months before they’re back to normal, but they can be healed.”

Many thoughts went through Vaughn’s head. One was that the Romulan connection needed to be investigated. One was that somebody needed to find Curzon Dax and beat him until he admitted that his solution to the Raknal V problem was a total disaster, just as Vaughn had predicted. One was that “months” was a long time for him to be out of commission.

But the thought that remained at the forefront was how a seven-year-old girl was going to react to the news that her father was never coming home.