Day of Honor - Michael Jan Friedman [57]
"It's the energy core from Voyager's main propulsion system," Grommir announced. "Or if it's not, it's an exact duplicate of it."
"How do you know?" asked Lumas.
The technician turned to him. "I scanned Voyager and all her systems while the supplies were in transit to us. The signature of this object is a perfect match for Voyager's energy core."
Lumas turned to the viewscreen again. The cylinder was still twirling its way through the void, a treasure beyond description.
"But what is it doing out here?" he wondered.
"That," said Grommir, "I can't tell you."
"Then tell me this," said Lumas, keeping his eyes on the power source. "Can we adapt it to our own needs? Can we make it give us the power we need to survive?"
The technician thought about it. "I suppose so, yes."
Lumas grinned. "Then get a beam on it. I don't care who it belonged to before. It's ours now."
Voyager's crew had believed its captain generous, he recalled. It seemed she was more generous than she had intended.
AA B'EI ANNA FOLLOWED TOM INTO THE SHUTTLEBAY, SHE saw a crew member repairing a burned-out EPS link in one of the bulkheads. Still, the place was a study in decorum compared to engineering.
Tom headed right for the Cochrane-his favorite among the ship's several shuttles, though the engineer had forgotten why. He said a few words to Browning, the officer on duty. Then they boarded the craft.
Tom took the controls. After all, he was the hotshot pilot. Besides, B'Elanna was too disgusted with recent events to concentrate.
The bay doors opened and the shuttle slipped easily into space. But she wasn't leaving her troubles behind-far from it.
Crossing her arms over her chest, B'Elanna slouched in her seat. "What else can go wrong today?" she asked out loud.
She hadn't meant to do that. It had just slipped out. Still, it had a positive effect in that it got a smile out of Tom. Not a grin, not a smile that said he enjoyed her company, but a smile nonetheless.
"You know," he said, "you really know how to hurt a guy."
"Yes," B'Elanna answered. "I know." She glanced at him with mock seriousness. "You mean the Klingon in the holodeck, right?"
Her companion glanced back at her, just as mockserious. "Of course. Who did you think?"
"Just wanted to make sure we understood each other," she told him.
Suddenly, the shuttle vibrated. B'Elanna sat up and looked at her controls. "We're getting close to some random ion turbulence."
Tom nodded. "I'll change course to avoid it."
The crisis past, B'Elanna sank back- n her seat. "If we get this core back, I'm going right to bed and sleep straight through until tomorrow. I mean…" She heaved a sigh. "I just want to get this day over with."
"Look at it this way," Tom suggested. "How much worse could it get? Having to dump the warp core has to be the low point of any day."
She didn't answer-at least, not at first. She just watched the stars fly by at warp I. At that rate, it would only be a matter of minutes before they found what they were looking for.
"Maybe it's me," B'Elanna speculated. "Maybe I'm asking for all this trouble somehow."
"Or," he said, "maybe it's just a string of bad luck."
She shook her head ruefully. "I never should have
gone through that Day of Honor ceremony. It was ridiculous. No ... worse than ridiculous."
B'Elanna recalled the sensation of being flat on her back, looking up into the face of her Klingon adversary. She saw his fist, raised and ready to pound her into the cavern floor. I must have been crazy, she thought. Warrior rituals and B'Elanna Torres don't mix.
She attended to some rudimentary tasks on her control console. Still, it didn't take her mind off her misfortunes.
"I shouldn't have gotten near anything Klingon," she breathed. "By now, I should know better."
Tom gave her a sidelong glance-but he didn't challenge her, not this time. He looked at his controls instead.
Good, she thought. Because I'm too tired to withstand a challenge. Too tired and too beat up.
Abruptly, Tom's eyes lit up. "Sensors have picked up a polymetallic object.