Have Tech, Will Travel (SCE Books 1-4) - Keith R. A. DeCandido_. [et al.] [111]
“Captain Gold, we have found the source of the power readings,” the Nasat said. “I think you will find this to be most interesting.”
Gold couldn’t help a small smile as he replied. “What on this ship isn’t?”
CHAPTER
6
Despite the reports from the Enterprise and from his own colleagues—reports of lunacy and bloodshed that he supplemented with horrific images in his own mind—Duffy could not look upon the Defiant as a dead ship anymore.
His eyes surveyed the century-old starship’s glowing image on the da Vinci ’s main viewer. Hanging silently in space, the all but powerless craft shimmered in its eerie blue shroud, more of a specter than a starship. Duffy propped himself against the bridge railing, vaguely recalling stories of ancient sailors on Earth’s seas and their reports of phantom schooners sailing not on the waves but in the skies. Had more people the same opportunity to view this hapless ship as did he and the da Vinci ’s crew, he thought, the Defiant surely would become the stuff of legend.
But the surreal ship now housed very real members of his own crew, whose mission was to restore life to the Defiant . At least, they were to restore enough of it to allow his team to pluck the ship from more than a century of interspatial limbo.
If nothing else, we’ll bring home some answers to questions that have baffled Starfleet officers for decades, including Captain Gold .
As he thought of his captain, Duffy swung his glance to the empty command chair in the center of the da Vinci ’s bridge. Technically in command of the vessel for almost three hours, Duffy still had not brought himself to sit in that chair. When he wasn’t working, he lingered around it, appraising it as he used to size up the antique sofa in his grandmother’s home as a child. Every holiday, his family would take the shuttle to Denver for a big meal and overnight stay. During each visit Duffy would find a way to sneak into the sitting room and plop down on that rickety sofa when no one was looking, just to know that he did it. Duffy smiled to himself as he eyed the seat cushion of the captain’s chair. His little game dulled some of the tension in his mind.
Hey, Grandma, take a look at little Kieran now, he thought as he sauntered over to the chair, turned around, bent his knees and—
“Mr. Duffy,” called Fabian Stevens from one of the science stations at the rear of the bridge. “I’ve got the latest structural integrity readings from Commander Gomez if you want to see how they fit the models.”
Duffy’s rear hung over the seat for a moment before he straightened and wondered if Grandma had been watching after all.
Fabian Stevens was the one crewman on the da Vinci who Duffy had the most fun with, whether it was knocking back a synthebeer in the mess hall or puzzling out the answer to a technical problem. Stevens struck Duffy as, for lack of a better term, the most regular guy on board. He had also confided to Duffy his own personal interest in this mission as the da Vinci sped through Tholian space.
The tactical expert’s assignment previous to S.C.E. had been to Deep Space Nine and its attending starship, which bore the same class designation and name of the very ship they intended to salvage. Upon receiving that posting, Stevens had studied with keen interest the logs and history of the original Defiant and had been caught up in the mystery and tragedy surrounding the vessel’s loss. As an engineer, he relished the idea of applying his technical prowess and that of his fellow teammates to retrieve the fabled ship and finally bring her home.
Stevens likened their mission to the ongoing effort by Lieutenant Reginald Barclay and the Pathfinder project to contact the U.S.S. Voyager , stranded in the Delta Quadrant with her crew valiantly trying to get home. While the stakes for this mission certainly weren’t on the same level, Fabian Stevens felt as strongly about this mission as Barclay had about bringing the Voyager ’s crew home safely.
As he made his way toward the science station, Duffy decided to put Stevens’ question