Immortal Coil - Jeffrey Lang [5]
Maddox tried to see, but the gloom seemed absolute. His ears rang, and he could taste blood in his mouth. He called out to Vaslovik, but couldn’t even hear his own voice.
After a time, his eyes adjusted to the dark, and then, finally, he heard something: a dull creaking that rose quickly to a roar, the sound of a building collapse in the offing. Maddox tried to move, but knew he was losing it. Everything was going black again, though it was an odd kind of black this time, a black shot through with silver.
Chapter Two
Captain’s Log, Stardate 51405.9: The Enterprise has completed its diplomatic assignment to Tzenketh, in which I believe I have convinced the Autarch to join the Allied effort against the Dominion. Before we proceed to our next assignment, we are awaiting the return of Lieutenant Commander Data, who left the ship twelve days ago to undertake a painful personal duty.
CAPTAIN JEAN-LUC PICARD looked up from his log, checked the chronometer and decided that he had spent enough time in his ready room for one day. Time to get up and walk about a bit, get the feel of the ship under his feet. A crew had moods and the only way to find out what they are is to go out and tread the deck. Of course, he could just call in either Riker or Troi and put the question to them—How is the crew feeling? —and from their different perspectives form a clear and reliable picture. Over the years, Picard had learned that this method omitted an essential component. If he stayed in his ready room and waited for subordinates to bring him answers, the crew wouldn’t know how Picard was feeling, or, at least, how Picard wanted them to think he was feeling.
As soon as Picard walked onto the bridge, Commander Heyes, the current beta shift commander, hopped to her feet and started to call out, “Captain on the bridge,” but Picard waved her back into the center seat. Beta shift had just come on duty, some of alpha shift still lingering, passing on notes about unresolved problems or procedures, so there were quite a few people there. Picard enjoyed being on the bridge at shift change, especially when things were going well, because it showed that the Enterprise-E was not just a workplace, but a community. After the essential business of communicating the ship’s condition was addressed, he knew that crewmembers would stop to chat, exchange information about families or make arrangements for social gatherings and recreation later in the day.
Picard nodded to various officers and crewmen, checked the conn officer’s heading, then took a few moments to study the astrometric display currently on the viewscreen, making it clear to Heyes that he only intended to stay long enough to take the chill off the cushion and make his presence felt. He moved briefly to vacant XO’s console and pulled up the shift logs, reviewed the entries for high-priority items and, finding none, transferred the rest to his workstation for more careful scrutiny later. Looking up, he said, “I’ll be heading down to the shuttlebay if you need me, Commander.”
Heyes nodded and said, “Aye, Captain. Commander Data’s shuttle is due in seventeen minutes.” She smiled. “Have a pleasant stroll, sir.”
“Thank you, Commander.” The turbolift doors closed and Picard had to smile to himself. Obviously, even in her short time aboard the Enterprise, Heyes had learned about her captain’s habit of wandering the decks between shifts. She was a good officer, one of the best shift commanders to come aboard during their last crew rotation. He knew Heyes was more interested in being on the command track for a science or exploration vessel, but Picard had asked Riker to try to retain her services for another rotation, dangling the carrot of some first contact work before her. He would have to have a conversation with her and remind her that, sometimes, commanders on a larger vessel