by Dayton Ward
La Forge smirked. “If you were looking for something interesting to alleviate the boredom, this should do it.”
“And then some,” Picard said. He turned from the station, his gaze returning to the image of the gigantic derelict centered on the main viewscreen. “If it did travel through time, did it come from the past or the future? Are we dealing with a potential disruption of our timeline?” It would not be the first time the Enterprise had faced such a possibility, and it was not something Picard was eager to do again. The risks inherent in such activities and the hazards they posed to the accidental or even purposeful altering of history—theirs or anyone else’s—were too grave to dismiss.
Of course, just the simple act of encountering the alien ship might well be sufficient to cause such damage. For all he knew, everything that was to occur from this point forward would only serve to worsen that divergence.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
“Maintain yellow alert for the time being,” Picard said after a moment, “and hold our position at the limit of our weapons range.” Almost as an afterthought, he added, “Keep attempting to hail the ship until further notice.”
“So we’re going to take a closer look?” La Forge asked, and there was no mistaking the anticipation in the engineer’s voice.
Picard nodded. “It’s definitely an intriguing puzzle, and I’ll admit it’s gotten my attention. Mister Worf, you and the commander assemble an away team and make your preparations. If we get no further reaction from the ship, then we’ll take it from there.”
The mystery deepens.
5
“Time travel? You’re sure?”
Inspecting the contents of the engineer’s tool kit he was packing to take with him, Geordi La Forge looked up from where he had placed the kit on the desk to see Doctor Tamala Harstad lounging on the bed they shared in what had become their joint quarters. She was smiling at him, watching as he completed his packing.
“That’s the current theory,” La Forge said, eyeing one of the hydrospanners he had brought with him from engineering and deciding he preferred the comparable tool from his personal kit. “The sensor readings are inconclusive, so the only way to be sure is to go over there and have a look around.”
“Even after the thing shot at us?” Harstad asked.
La Forge shrugged. “Only the one time, and now sensors say the thing’s gone back to sleep, or whatever it is that it’s doing. We’ll be careful.”
“You’re not worried that the transporters won’t work?” Harstad asked.
“It’s not the first time we’ve had to use a shuttle to get somewhere.” La Forge had just read the updated information from Lieutenant Elfiki, which indicated that the mammoth vessel’s heavy ablative hull plating was sufficient to block transporter beams. While the need to utilize shuttlecraft to make the transit from the Enterprise to the alien ship added a layer of complexity to the away team operation, La Forge was not concerned. Sensors had revealed the presence of a landing bay, and scans of the mechanisms controlling the access hatch were enough to tell him that gaining entry to the ship should not pose much difficulty. What did continue to trouble him was the possibility of the derelict awakening again from its slumber. Facing off against one of the vessel’s particle cannons with a shuttlecraft was not something he was eager to attempt.
“I’m more interested in what we’ll find once we’re inside,” he said, pushing aside the worrisome thoughts. Closing the tool kit, he placed it inside the satchel he planned to carry. “Even this close, that thing’s hull is still playing hell with our sensors.” From the Enterprise’s current distance, its sensors should be more than able to scan through the vessel’s heavy armor plating, but instead they continued to have only limited success. Despite this difficulty, the science officer had managed to provide at least one new revelation. “But now that we know there are people over there, this just got a whole lot more interesting.”
Elfiki had reported indistinct life signs emanating from within the vessel, and the science officer had only been able to do that after reconfiguring and tuning the sensors to such a degree that the scans now being conducted were limited, very focused attempts. As such, her work had become more time-consuming and even tedious, and new information would be coming at a far slower rate.
Shifting her position on the bed so that she now rested on her right hip as she continued to watch him pack, Harstad asked, “How many people?”
“The readings are too muddled to be sure,” La Forge replied. “A handful, at most.”
“That’s all? Seems like an awfully small crew for a ship that size.”
La Forge shrugged. “Assuming it’s even the crew. From what Elfiki’s been able to tell, most of the onboard systems are automated, overseen from several key points throughout the ship. If that’s true, and the computer’s sophisticated enough, you wouldn’t need a large crew.” He paused, frowning. “What’s weird is that Elfiki said she hadn’t been able to detect any sort of atmosphere or active environmental control systems.”
“Some kind of hibernation?” Harstad’s eyes widened. “Maybe it’s a sleeper ship?”
“With a giant cannon?” La Forge shook his head. “Makes you wonder about the priorities of whoever built the thing. Anyway, no atmosphere means we have to suit up.” He smiled. “Worf’s really not happy about that.”
“I thought you hated working in those EV suits, too?”
“Maybe hate’s too strong a word,” La Forge replied. “I just don’t like the constriction when you’re trying to work. Now, Worf? He hates them.”
Pushing herself to a sitting position, Harstad moved so that her legs now hung off the side of the bed. “But what about the people over there? Are you taking someone from the medical staff to check them out?”
“Are you volunteering?” Closing his satchel, La Forge laid it on its side and reached for the tricorder sitting near the computer terminal on his desk.
“Why not?” She reached for his free hand and pulled him closer to her. “I mean, hibernation itself is nothing new. We’ve been using it for one reason or another for over three hundred years, and we cover the technology and its effects on various species in medical school, but this is different. Sleeper ships are the kind of thing you read about in history classes at the Academy. I mean, the idea of sealing yourself in a coffin while your ship gets thrown into the void and hopefully finds its way to where it’s supposed to go, and waking up after however many years to see a new world you’ll call home? There’s just something amazing about that kind of adventure.”
“I’m okay with the way we get around now,” La Forge countered, though he did so with a small grin. “How many sleeper ships did Earth send out in the early days? How many were lost? How many people were lost? The odds really weren’t in their favor back then.”
Harstad reached up to poke him in the stomach. “And yet they went anyway.” She gestured around her. “Sure, the way we travel has improved by orders of magnitude, but there’s still risk involved, and yet here we are, coming all the way out here to see what we can find.”
For the first time, La Forge chuckled. “You’re really into this, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Only that this is a side of you I haven’t seen before. I like it.” Of course, learning about her various interests and passions was an ongoing process and had been so throughout their on-again, off-again relationship over the past three years, but things had sped up in the wake of their decision to share quarters. Living together had been her idea, put forth while they had enjoyed shore leave prior to the Enterprise’s departure for the Odyssean Pass. La Forge had been surprised at the suggestion but, much to his own relief, was comfortable with the idea. The choice of who was to move in with whom was an easy one, as, prior to the ship’s current assignment, Harstad had shared quarters with another lieutenant from the sc
ience division, while he lived alone in the larger accommodations befitting his rank and position. Though Starfleet regulations varied with respect to billeting aboard starships, commanders of vessels on long-term missions were allowed a wide degree of latitude when it came to overseeing such matters, and Captain Picard had raised no objections.
“Why are you smiling?” Harstad asked.
La Forge laughed. “I was just thinking of the captain’s face when I asked him about us moving in together. You’d think after serving with the man for more than twenty years that I’d be able to anticipate his response to any question, but there are times he still manages to surprise me.”
How far we’ve come, La Forge thought, recalling a time when Jean-Luc Picard wanted little or nothing to do with children and considered romantic relationships something of an impediment to what he perceived as his true calling: commanding a starship. Marriage and fatherhood, it seemed, along with everything that had transpired across the Federation during the past several years, had done much to provide the captain with a vastly different perspective.
“I remember the first time I came aboard the Enterprise,” La Forge said after a moment. “The old Enterprise, I mean. I was a junior-grade lieutenant, and Admiral Riker—he was a commander then—and I were transferring from the Hood, and I had my first meeting with Captain Picard in his ready room.” He smiled at the memory of his younger self, nervous and trying not to fidget as he stood before Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the newly commissioned Galaxy-class U.S.S. Enterprise. Already a Starfleet legend, Picard was an imposing man who seemed to tower over him despite his modest height. “It wasn’t the first time we’d met, but this was different. Now I’d be serving under him.” Picard’s reputation as a stickler for efficiency and for rules and regulations no matter how minor or seemingly insignificant preceded him. It also was well known that the seasoned starship commander set a high bar for excellence, particularly for his junior officers. “Still, I knew from that first moment that my tour on the Enterprise was going to be something special.” He shrugged. “The name carries that level of expectation, you know.”
“Why do you think every cadet at the Academy still lists the Enterprise as their preferred first posting after they graduate?” Harstad asked. “And you’ve been a big part of that for a long time.” She paused, her eyes narrowing as she studied him. “You don’t have any regrets, do you?”
La Forge frowned. “Me? Regrets?” It was not the first time he had pondered such a question. “There was a while where I wondered if I’d made a career mistake, staying on the Enterprise as long as I have, but the truth is that I’m happy here, doing what I love to do, and working with people I consider family.” He squeezed her hand. “And I certainly don’t regret the time we’ve spent together.” Leaning forward, he kissed her, their lips pressing as she arched her back to meet him. Her other hand found his arm and he felt her pulling him toward her, and for a moment he forgot everything but the two of them, here and now.
Their moment was brief, however, and interrupted by the sound of the ship’s intercom.
“Worf to Commander La Forge,” said the voice of the Enterprise’s first officer. “Report to the main shuttlebay.”
Pulling her mouth from his, Harstad eyed him with no small hint of mischief. “His timing is horrible.”
“I’ll be sure to tell him you said that.”
“Before or after you ask about someone from the medical staff going on the away team?”
Right, La Forge reminded himself as he tapped his combadge. “La Forge here. I’m on my way, Worf.”
“Acknowledged.”
Once the communication link was severed, La Forge returned his attention to Harstad. “Let Worf and the security team have a look around over there first, okay? Just to make sure it’s safe for the rest of us? Besides, I’d like to see about making sure the ship doesn’t wake up and start shooting again.”
She maintained a grip on both of his hands. “Fair enough, but you be careful over there, all right?”
“I’m always careful.”
Offering a mock snort, Harstad pushed herself back on the bed. “I’ve read your record, Commander. Trouble has a knack for finding you.”
“It’s the Enterprise, remember?” La Forge said, moving to retrieve his satchel and tricorder. “Like I said, the name carries that extra level of expectation.” Smiling at her one last time, he headed for the door. “See you in a little while.”
“Hey, La Forge.”
“Yeah?” Pausing at the now open door, he turned to see her eyeing him with an expression that seemed to convey love, concern, and so much more.
“I mean it. Be careful. I don’t want to have to find another roommate.”
“Me neither.”
* * *
It had been at least a few years since T’Ryssa Chen was required to wear an environment suit, and her feeling about such exercises remained unchanged: she hated it, particularly now that her helmet was sealed and she had no way to scratch her nose.
“Are you okay?” asked Lieutenant Dina Elfiki, her voice muffled and filtered through her helmet’s communications receiver. Like Chen and everyone else aboard the Jefferies, the science officer was wearing an EV suit, or “standard extravehicular work garment,” as it was known in Starfleet nomenclature. Elfiki sat across from her in the shuttlecraft’s passenger area, studying her through their helmets’ faceplates.
“I’m fine, thanks,” Chen replied. “It’s just the usual aversion to being hermetically sealed inside one of these things. I’ll be okay once we start moving around.”
Elfiki nodded. “Same here. I never like wearing these suits either, but it’s this or we hold our breath the whole time.”
“I always feel like a fish in a bowl,” said Lieutenant Rennan Konya from where he sat next to Chen. The deputy chief of security, along with Lieutenant Kirsten Cruzen, had been selected to accompany the away team as its security detail.
Sitting next to Elfiki, Cruzen added, “I always feel like a vacuum-packed field ration.”
“Spend enough time in one of these,” Konya said, smiling through his faceplate, “and you’ll start to smell like one, too.”
Without missing a beat, Cruzen replied, “You manage that even without the suit.” Her remark elicited good-natured chuckles from Konya as well as Chen and Elfiki. For the first time since the team had boarded the shuttlecraft, Chen turned to Konya.
“I’m glad you’re coming with us.”
“Your first real first-contact mission in forever?” The Betazoid smiled, though Chen thought he might be forcing it, if only a bit. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
“Is everybody going to give me grief over that?” Chen asked. “It’s not my fault it’s taken this long.”
“You should’ve joined security,” Cruzen offered. “It’s never boring, that’s for sure.”
Chen nodded. “Maybe I’ll start training for that once this mission’s over.”
“I’ll dig out the holodeck training programs when we get back,” Konya said, and again, Chen wondered if he might be trying too hard to affect a relaxed air, with the two of them sitting next to each other inside the shuttle’s cramped passenger compartment. Despite the confining EV suit, she reached up and patted him on the arm.
“Deal.”
Though she had come to terms with the way her romantic relationship with him had ended in abrupt fashion a few years earlier, the truth was that awkwardness had clouded most of their interactions since then. She had been hurt by Konya’s sudden decision to stop seeing her but had come to realize that his actions were part of a larger process of healing and coming to terms with the guilt and other traumatic feelings haunting him in the aftermath of the final Borg Invasion. He had been plagued by the shame he believed he deserved for surviving that brief yet costly conflict and had withdrawn from nearly everyone and eve
rything around him. She knew that he still occasionally visited with Doctor Hegol Den, the Enterprise’s counselor, though those sessions had tapered off in recent years. As for their friendship, Konya had been the first to make overtures, though the spark that they had shared in the beginning was conspicuous in its absence. Though she still harbored feelings for him, Chen knew that he had to figure out for himself what was best for him, and if she could be a strong supportive friend as he sought those answers, that was enough.
From where he sat next to Commander La Forge in the shuttle’s cockpit, Commander Worf said, “Enterprise, we are approaching the landing bay.”
“Acknowledged,” replied the voice of Captain Picard. “There’s been no apparent reaction to your presence.”
After a brief pause, Lieutenant Aneta Šmrhová said over the connection, “Power readings remain at minimal levels, Commander, and there are no signs of weapons or defenses coming online. So far, everything’s quiet.”
“Good to know,” Chen said, the memory of the alien ship’s brief attack on the Enterprise still fresh in everyone’s minds. Leaning forward in her seat, the Vulcan was able to look through the open hatchway separating the shuttle’s passenger compartment and cockpit. Her vantage point afforded her a view through the forward port, which now was filled with the gray and purple plates of the alien vessel’s hull. The ship appeared to be rotating to starboard as Worf maneuvered the Jefferies and aligned the shuttlecraft with the larger vessel’s landing bay access hatch.
“That is one big damned ship,” Cruzen said.
“No kidding.” Chen had seen images of the entire craft on the bridge viewscreen as well as the computer terminal in her quarters as she prepared to join the away team, but those depictions had not conveyed the craft’s sheer size. From the shuttle’s current distance, the seams between hull plates were clearly visible, along with other features like maneuvering thrusters and weapons ports. The weapons, Chen decided, were particularly large.
