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“Yes, there is. It is possible that we can—that I can remove it, but I would need access to Ganitriul’s central core. Even then, I am not sure that I am capable of performing the programming necessary to fix Ganitriul. If 111 were here . . .” His voice trailed off.

Corsi rolled her eyes. “The core is at least a kilometer’s walk from here, and it’s sealed in a large bunker with a computer lock. With the security system on the fritz—”

“Actually, Lieutenant Commander Corsi, the systems that lock and seal the computer core are independent of my systems. It was a precaution against precisely this kind of malfunction. That lock will open and close as normal with the proper codes, which I will provide.”

Gomez smiled. “That’s good planning.”

Unimpressed, Corsi said, “That still doesn’t change the fact that it’s a kilometer from here to there. And I’m willing to bet there are all kinds of entertaining little security measures that you don’t have control over, right, Ganitriul?”

“That is true. I can do my best to guide you, but my control is limited.”

“Commander, there are only five of us, and one of us is injured. We don’t have any weapons aside from three more photonic grenades, and those are only good for a fancy light show. We’re not likely to get reinforcements any time soon, if ever. There are twelve people out there with big swords who are trying to kill us. We’re better off staying here.”

“Maybe we are,” Gomez said, “but Eerlik isn’t. Remember what Carol told us? The longer we take to fix Ganitriul, the worse off Eerlik is.”

“The people hunting us are Eerlikka, Commander. Their leader was on the ship that fired on the da Vinci . Maybe they don’t want our help.”

“Maybe not,” Gomez said calmly and confidently, “but until I know that for sure, we have a mission to perform, and we can only perform it at the core.”

Gomez was half a meter shorter than Corsi, and significantly smaller in build. And yet, anyone walking into the cul-de-sac at that moment would know exactly who was in charge, and it wasn’t Domenica Corsi. The security chief had raised her objections, and they had been responded to—not the way she would have liked, but that was the way things worked. “Whatever you say, sir,” she said. “But I can guarantee you that things will go wrong.”

At that, Gomez actually smiled. “If things didn’t go wrong, Commander, the galaxy wouldn’t need engineers.” She then looked up. “Ganitriul, are you using a scattering field to jam the weapons?”

“Yes. It is an automatic feature whenever unauthorized weapons fire is registered. Normally, it can only be deactivated by one of the clergy or someone else with sufficient clearance. However, I cannot guarantee that it will last.”

Gomez consulted her tricorder. “Here it is; Security Measure 7.”

“Correct.”

She studied the tricorder for a minute. Unable to stand the silence that followed, Corsi finally said, “What are you doing, Commander?”

“Looking over the schematics of the scattering field. If I’m right, I can adjust the phaser rifles so that they can function anyway. When I was on the Sentinel , during the war, we pulled this trick on a Breen platoon that tried to jam our hand weapons. Ganitriul’s scattering field has a similar design. We’ll only be able to get as high as light stun, but we can do it.” She closed the tricorder. “Here’s the plan. Drew will continue to keep watch. 110, you keep an eye on Hawkins, make sure he doesn’t get any worse. Corsi, go over the map, find us the best route from here to the core. Ganitriul, if there’s anything you can do to distract our pursuers, it would be greatly appreciated.”

“I can make no promises, but I will do my best.”

“Thanks. I’m going to modify the phasers. Shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes. You have your orders, people—get to work.”

Sighing, Corsi handed Gomez her rifle, then opened her tricorder. She had a bad feeling about this, but she couldn’t fault Gomez, either—she was finishing the mission she was given, which was, ultimately, the right thing to do.

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