Have Tech, Will Travel (SCE Books 1-4) - Keith R. A. DeCandido_. [et al.] [109]
“So you’re saying she’ll hold together?” Gold asked, a childlike grin dominating his features.
Gomez nodded. “Most definitely, sir. The maneuvering thrusters are operating well within acceptable parameters, even though they’ve been out of commission for a century. It’ll be more than enough to help the da Vinci pull us out if necessary. They certainly knew how to build these old ships.”
In addition to restoring power to the thrusters, Gomez had also returned power and life support to the bridge, allowing the away team to remove their environment-suit helmets. Of course, Gold had let her activate the automatic air scrubbers first, while he and Soloman had taken the time to remove the remains of Captain Blair and the unknown crewman he had found on the bridge. Gomez for one had been thankful for that. During the time it had taken her and Soloman to install the generators, they had encountered more skeletons of the engineering crew. The ghastly sight had begun to unnerve her more than she wanted to admit.
“Captain,” Soloman said from where he sat at the science station, “I have obtained access . . . to the ship’s main computer. We now have access to the entire data storage network, including the . . . captain’s logs.”
“Excellent,” Gold replied. “Maybe now we can finally find out what happened to this ship. See if you can find anything in the logs about the rift.” He paused for a moment before adding, “Or Tholians, while you’re at it.” Noticing Gomez’s questioning look, the captain shrugged. “A hunch.”
She turned to watch Soloman set to his task. Bynars as a race interacted with computers as easily as humans conversed with one another. On their home planet, the central computer system was highly regarded throughout the Federation as one of the pinnacles of information processing capability. Like others of his species, Soloman was used to computers possessing far greater power and speed than those of a century-old starship.
Despite his best efforts, however, Soloman was still adjusting to working as a lone entity, rather than being able to divide responsibilities with his bondmate. In the weeks following 111’s tragic death, Soloman had at times found himself confused, hesitant, even resistant to the idea of working alone. Tasks once regarded as routine while working in tandem with 111 suddenly seemed insurmountable. Gomez knew that it had taken no small amount of courage to rise to the challenge of continuing on without 111’s support. That was one of the things she admired about the Bynar.
She also wondered idly if Soloman would experience any additional frustration at being forced to deal with the Defiant ’s antiquated equipment. The commander couldn’t suppress a smile at the image of the Bynar throwing up his hands in exasperation and loudly announcing his refusal to work under such intolerable conditions.
Soloman did no such thing, of course. Instead, he turned back to Gold after only a few moments of scanning the Defiant ’s computer records.
“Captain, I believe I have found . . . what we are looking for.” He keyed a series of controls and was rewarded with the main viewer’s activation. The image on the screen coalesced into the figure of a human male who Gold recognized as Captain Thomas Blair.
“ Captain’s log: stardate 5684.7. Sensors have detected a trio of Tholian vessels on an intercept course. We can outrun them, but long-range scans indicate other ships in the region. We are plotting an evasive course to get us back to Federation space. The area we’re traveling through is uncharted, but sensors have detected nothing that might present a threat to the ship .”
“Little did he know what he would find,” Gold said as the image froze.
Gomez nodded knowingly. “Our sensors have trouble detecting the rift, and we have