Death in Winter - Michael Jan Friedman [10]
“Really,” said the captain.
“And that’s just one example.”
Paisner pressed a button on his handheld device and the expanse of stars whirled about them. It made the captain feel as if he were standing in a spinning top.
“Here’s another,” said the cartographer, as the galaxy mercifully stopping revolving. “Archandra, second star from the bottom on the left side.”
Picard searched the cluster in front of him. “Yes, I see it. Too red again?”
“Not red enough,” said Paisner. “And it’s got no planets. The real Archandra’s got three of them.”
The captain frowned. “Unfortunate.”
“You can say that again.”
Paisner’s previous posting had been on Voyager, the Intrepid-class vessel that had been lost for seven years in the Delta Quadrant. In addition to charting any number of previously uncharted systems, he had assisted in the assimilation of alien technologies into the ship’s long-range sensor functions.
Once back on Earth, he had drawn up plans for a pet idea-a three-dimensional approach to the study of stars. Starfleet had liked it well enough to give it support. And it had chosen to implement Paisner’s idea on the Enterprise-E, which was undergoing an overhaul after her near-destruction in Romulan space.
Which explained the lieutenant’s determination to get everything right as quickly as possible. Like any new parent, he wanted his baby to be perfect.
Picard, on the other hand, was willing to accept a few gaffes in the beginning. Especially when so many more critical systems were also in the midst of overhaul.
“What can I do to help?” he asked.
Paisner smiled a conspiratorial smile. “I could use another set of hands, if you can spare them. Preferably someone who has experience with holoemitters.”
The captain gave it some thought. “Larson has repaired a few holodecks in his day, and they can spare him for a while in engineering. I’ll send him down as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, sir.” Paisner included the entire depicted galaxy with a sweep of his arm. “And imagine how much better this will look when we work all the kinks out.”
Picard nodded. “Indeed.”
Moments later, he was on his way to the botany lab. From there he went on to visit the cargo transporter and the main shuttlebay. And everywhere he went, he received the same report: The ship was coming together. One lieutenant told him the Enterprise would be so beautiful he would hardly know her.
Perhaps, he allowed. As it was, he hardly knew her crew, including the woman who had made the remark.
Picard had barely returned to his ready room when his door mechanism chimed. “Come,” he said, wondering who wished to speak with him.
It turned out to be Commander Rager.
She smiled at him. “Good morning, sir.”
Knowing why she was there, Picard did his best to smile back. “Good morning, Sariel.”
Rager had served under the captain for more than a decade, having joined him on the EnterpriseD as a raw ensign only a few years after the ship was commissioned. In that time, she had distinguished herself as a top-notch conn officer, plying the helm as few others could.
Now she was leaving to serve as second officer on the Hedderjin, a Galaxy-class vessel like the EnterpriseD. And she would be doing so under one of Picard’s former officers, the ever-impressive Gilaad Ben Zoma, who had taken over command of the Hedderjin a couple of years earlier.
It had long been Rager’s ambition to move up the chain of command. The only reason she had remained with Picard as long as she had was out of loyalty to him.
Like so many others, he thought.
“Is it that time?” he asked.
“It is,” Rager confirmed. And with a lift of her chin, she added, “Permission to disembark, sir.”
“Granted,” said Picard. “Of course. Where is the Hedderjin off to?”
Rager looked very much at ease with the lieutenant commander’s pips on her collar, as if she had been wearing them all her life. But then, she had already visited with her new ship and