Have Tech, Will Travel (SCE Books 1-4) - Keith R. A. DeCandido_. [et al.] [105]
“How did you manage the fifth one?” she asked Duffy. She could almost hear the smile coming over the comm circuit as he replied.
“Hey, an engineer isn’t supposed to reveal all of his secrets. At least, that’s what Captain Scott always says.”
When Duffy had asked about her equipment needs for the away team, Gomez had decided that four of the generators would probably be sufficient for their plans, but five would be better. It had been necessary to outfit each of the devices with special shielding to protect them from the detrimental effects of the rift, a time-consuming procedure. That Duffy had expended the extra effort to prepare a fifth generator, especially with the limited amount of time he’d had to complete his original tasks, pleased Gomez to no end. She was thankful to have the added cushion, just in case.
“Well, thanks just the same. Dinner’s on me when we get back. Gomez out.”
As she severed the connection, Gomez noticed P8 Blue studying her tricorder, a frown creasing her face.
“Pattie, is something wrong?”
Looking up, the Nasat replied, “I have detected an anomalous reading. It appears to be a shielded power source. The indication is very faint, but it is there.”
“Where is it?” Gomez asked.
“Deck 20, portside cargo hold.”
Frowning, Gold said, “Odd place for a power reading on an otherwise dead ship. Why didn’t we detect it from the da Vinci ?”
Gomez turned so that her helmet lamps cast illumination past the heavy mesh grating separating the main engineering deck from the ship’s massive impulse engines. She found it an odd sensation to stand in the heart of a starship and not hear the comforting hum and feel the pulse of the vessel’s engines. The silence only seemed to strengthen the aura of death surrounding her.
“The rift might be acting as a kind of dampening field,” she said. “The Enterprise logs detail how they were unable to get worthwhile sensor readings, also.” She turned to Pattie. “You didn’t find other power sources anywhere on the ship?”
The Nasat shook her head. “I am sorry, no. The warp core is completely inert and will require a cold restart to bring it back on line.”
“No, thank you,” Gomez countered. “After a hundred years, I’m not doing anything with those engines until they’ve been thoroughly checked out, preferably by a starbase dry-dock crew. Our first order of business is restoring partial power, enough to maneuver us out of the rift. We’ll also try to get enough power to the main computer and access the databanks containing log entries.”
“The best place to accomplish that is the science officer’s library computer station on the main bridge,” Gold said. “I can have Mr. Duffy transmit the Defiant ’s prefix code from the Starfleet tactical database and give me direct access to the whole shmeer.”
Gomez wasn’t sure who had come up with the idea behind the prefix code, which allowed a ship commander to assume remote control of another starship by establishing a link between the vessels’ computers. It had proven to be a tactical advantage on certain isolated occasions, she knew, but she was convinced it provided a much greater use for engineers, especially those sent into an abandoned or derelict ship such as the Defiant had unfortunately become. Once the code gave Captain Gold access to the ship’s main computer, he would be able to retrieve anything contained within its vast memory banks, including secured sections containing Captain Blair’s personal log.
“But you’ll have to get there the hard way, sir,” Gomez told Gold. “I won’t be able to spare enough power to access the turbolift control network.” She looked around the immense engineering chamber. “They built these old Constitution s tough enough, but their original duotronic systems were never intended for exclusive automation.”
“Dr. Richard Daystrom did attempt to . . .