Ghost of a Chance - Mark Garland [39]
"You could lighten up a little," Paris told Torres, a concerned look on his face. "You know, the captain gave you her trust when you asked for it. And you, Neelix."
"That was because at the time she didn't know me very well," Neelix answered.
"My point exactly," Paris said.
Chakotay caught Kes using her hand to hide a grin.
"I think I'll agree with Neelix," B'Elanna said evenly.
"And I think we should get on with this," the commander said, scowling at the others. Then he tried a more affable expression as he turned to the Drosary. "Anything we can do that might expedite rescue efforts should be considered."
"Yes, please, that is the goal of this meeting," Tassay said, assisting Chakotay in that small way. She was a fine choice for an advocate, he thought, as were Jonal and Mila. Indeed, that choice spoke well of the Televek, even if Neelix and B'Elanna didn't.
"We are getting important data from the Televek, which I've been piecing together with our own," B'Elanna said. "At present there exists no safe means of approach to Drenar Four. The defensive system makes use of comparatively small, highly concentrated individual energy fields, which it directs toward any perceived threat."
"The cruiser the Televek lost reported multiple systems failures before contact was broken," Mila said.
"Unfortunately these fields your engineer describes are immune to phaser, photon, and other conventional weapon fire," Jonal said.
"The Televek have also tried scrambling their frequencies with dampening fields, but to no effect."
"So the defensive fields work like an artificial immune system," Paris offered.
"Well put," Mila told him, to nods from Tassay and Jonal. Paris took the compliment well.
"He is just remarkable, isn't he?" B'Elanna said in a mocking tone, smiling at Mila in the same manner.
"But what I hear everyone saying is that there's nothing much we can do," Neelix said.
"We've already detected some of those fields moving about down there," Chakotay confirmed, trying to keep the discussion open.
"They seem to be confined to the surface, at least for now."
"They are not always," Mila warned.
Jonal said, "If current trends in reductions at the main power source continue, the system should soon grow weak enough to eliminate the problem entirely. After that, rescue and salvage operations can be easily carried out."
"What do you mean by `soon'?" Chakotay asked.
"We estimate two weeks."
"But the rate of the seismic activity down there is increasing so fast that we might not have that much time. This planet might be nothing but rubble by then."
"The Televek estimate they have nearly twice that long," Tassay assured him.
Chakotay took little comfort from this. No race, no technology he knew of, could predict the exact outcome of the kind of inexplicable violence that was occurring within Drenar Four. He was fairly certain that the aliens' guess was no better than anyone else's. Tomorrow the planet could decide to settle down and behave itself and stay quiet for a century--or it could turn itself into an asteroid field and take the captain and the others out with it. He shook his head.
"Paris, B'Elanna, this situation is unacceptable. I want some other options. See what else you can find out about those energy signatures.
Put anyone you can spare on it. Work with the Televek wherever possible. We need access to the surface, and we need it now.
Meanwhile, let's take another look at our computer models. I understand that one major quake and several smaller ones have occurred in the last few hours. Maybe we've learned something from them."
"An excellent suggestion, Commander," Jonal said graciously.
Paris and Torres acknowledged Chakotay, then got to their feet and started out the door. Mila rose to go with Paris, but Chakotay decided he had to draw the line.
"You three will remain with us," he told the advocates. "These officers have work to do, and there are certain security concerns,