by David Mack
“Depth nearing fifty-three thousand kilometers,” Ina said without looking up from the ops display. She was still at her post, desperately wringing every bit of information she could from her failing console. “Hull pressure is thirty-five million GSC and rising.”
“Wong,” Gomez said, “Increase power, pull us up!”
“We’ve lost the warp core and impulse power’s offline,” Wong said. He was trying to pilot the ship with only one hand and half a helm interface. The left side of his console had exploded and shredded his left hand with hundreds of tiny pieces of shattered data crystals and tripolymer membrane.
“Thrusters,” Gomez said. “All thrusters to maximum.” She knew it was illogical to think navigational thrusters alone could enable a ship the size of the da Vinci to reach escape velocity from the gravity well of a gas giant, but she had to try.
Wong complied, but the banshee-like groan of the ship’s collapsing hull was punctuated by another deep, muffled explosion—the sound of another section of the ship being compromised and flooded.
“Ina, can we get more power to the structural integrity field?”
“Not from here,” Ina said. “It’s already at maximum.”
“How long will it hold?” Gomez asked, dreading the answer.
“On auxiliary power?” Ina tapped a few keys. “Seventeen hours, forty-one minutes.” Her console chirped a warning. “But we’re about to—” The bridge’s emergency lights flickered erratically, then dimmed rapidly. “—lose auxiliary power,” Ina said, finishing her thought as her console went dark.
Wong turned away from his console to face Gomez. “Helm’s gone, Commander,” he said flatly. “She won’t pull up.”
Activity on the bridge halted. There was nothing more to say, nothing more to be done. Gomez sagged to the floor next to Captain Gold, who lay unconscious, his left hand pinned under a ton of duranium. Soloman was kneeling next to the captain, providing whatever first aid he could.
Gomez considered recording a final log entry, then realized she couldn’t—there was no power for the log recorder. All around her, the bridge crew seemed dazed, paralyzed. She wiped the blood from her brow, and smeared it across the front of her uniform jacket. As she did, she felt the bump of something in her jacket’s inside pocket. She reached inside and took out the ring Duffy had given her nearly seven hours ago.
The diamond was flawless. It caught even the dimmest glimmer of light from the emergency illumination above Gomez’s head and seemed to shine in her hand. She didn’t know if Kieran and Pattie had made it back aboard the da Vinci before the Orion made impact. She caressed the gem’s cold facets with her fingertip, and tuned out the cries of distress from the da Vinci’s fracturing outer hull.
An ear-splitting, bone-jarring impact rocked the ship. As the last of the emergency lights went out, the last thing Gomez felt was the diamond ring clutched in her hand.
TO BE CONTINUED
About the Author
DAVID MACK is a writer whose work for Star Trek spans multiple media. With writing partner John J. Ordover, he cowrote the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Starship Down” and the story treatment for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” Mack and Ordover also penned the four-issue Deep Space Nine/Next Generation crossover comic-book miniseries Divided We Fall for WildStorm Comics. With Keith R.A. DeCandido, Mack cowrote the Star Trek: S.C.E. two-parter Invincible, currently available in paperback as part of the collection titled Star Trek: S.C.E. Book 2: Miracle Workers. Mack’s solo Trek writing includes the Star Trek: New Frontier Minipedia and the trade paperback The Starfleet Survival Guide. Mack also has worked behind the scenes on several Star Trek-related CD-ROM games and products produced by Simon & Schuster Interactive. Wildfire is Mack’s first solo work of long-form prose. He currently resides in New York City.
COMING NEXT MONTH:
Star Trek™: S.C.E. #24
WILDFIRE
Book 2
by David Mack
The U.S.S. da Vinci’s mission to salvage the U.S.S. Orion and the deadly Wildfire warhead has gone from bad to worse. Captain Gold and Security Chief Corsi are gravely injured, and the da Vinci is literally coming apart at the seams as it drifts farther and farther into the deadly atmosphere of a gas giant. Worse, the Wildfire device is armed and loose in the turbulent atmosphere, threatening destruction on a planetary scale.
Commander Sonya Gomez and what’s left of her S.C.E. team must use all their skills to survive, complete the mission, and learn the deadly secret of the strange alien lights that will either be their salvation—or destruction!
COMING IN JANUARY FROM POCKET BOOKS!
