Have Tech, Will Travel (SCE Books 1-4) - Keith R. A. DeCandido_. [et al.] [3]
“Forward shields failing!” Lieutenant Vale shouted.
“Data, put the aft shields between us and that ship!” Picard ordered. “Take us out of firing range.”
The Enterprise turned and started to move away as one more blast rocked them, sending Riker tumbling from his chair. Picard managed to hold on, but just barely. That was one of the worst hits they had taken so far.
“Damage on all decks,” Deanna said as she held on with both hands, her knuckles white.
“Aft shields holding!” Vale shouted, clearly excited.
If this didn’t work, Picard had no idea what they would do next. They had been lucky to get away from this attempt. He just hoped the information they were getting was going to be worth it.
He watched the alien ship, expecting the hole in the alien shields to close back up. Instead, for the first time in hours, something on that massive ship changed. The hole in the shields remained.
“Photon torpedoes! Target that opening!”
Suddenly the shields around the rest of the alien sphere flickered, flashed through blue and green colors, and then drained backward into a dozen holes in the ship, like water flowing down a massive drain.
The alien ship was completely exposed.
Picard could see that a series of explosions was occurring just under the surface of the alien ship, where the last phaser blast had gotten through. They had hit something, and for the moment the ship was vulnerable. But the question was, how long?
“Full scan of that ship!” he ordered. “Give me targets. I don’t want those shields coming back up.”
“They are not going to, Captain,” Data said.
Picard pulled his attention away from the area of the alien ship that was exploding and stared at Data. “Explain?”
“We have destroyed the ship’s control room,” Data said, studying the data coming in. Then he glanced back at Picard, his yellow eyes intense and level. “All twelve of the alien ship’s crew are dead.”
“Dead?”
“Yes, sir,” Data said. “From the readings I am getting, there are no life signs on that ship.”
Picard stared at the now-helpless black sphere floating in space. The longest fight he’d ever been in. And now it was over, that quickly.
It almost seemed wrong.
Almost.
CHAPTER
2
Picard sat back in his chair, a cup of Earl Grey tea in his hand, and waited, trying to get himself to relax just a little more. The last ten hours since the fight with the alien ship had ended had been long and very hectic. There had been a thousand things to do, both on the Enterprise and in the colony. He could feel the exhaustion crawling over his body, making his arms and legs ache. The tea helped, but not enough. A decent night’s rest was exactly what he needed. And he was going to get it very soon. Only a few more things to do first.
He finished keying in the code on his communications screen, then leaned back and closed his eyes, letting the warmth of the tea and the quiet room calm and clear his mind. This fight had been strange from moment one, and the cleanup of both the Enterprise and the colony had been hard. And were far from over. It would take another week before everything onboard was back to complete normal. For the colony, it would take years; a rough count put over a thousand colonists dead and thousands more injured.
No one had any idea why the aliens had attacked. Picard had a hunch it was going to be a question that would trouble a lot of people for a long time to come. Maybe the answer would be found on the alien ship, but he doubted that, with the alien crew dead.
The communications screen in front of him beeped softly, and he opened his eyes as the Starfleet insignia was replaced by the broad, smiling face of Captain Montgomery Scott.
“Capt’n,” Scott said, his smile getting even broader. “ ’Tis good ta see ya again.”
“Likewise, Captain,” Picard said, putting his tea down and leaning forward. “It has been far too long since we’ve had the pleasure of your company aboard the Enterprise .”
“An it’s gonna be even longer,” Scott said,