• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Another blast of static preceded Vances scratchy reply. “The same. We were supposed to transfer our, ah, cargo to her at Psi Octantis, which is a whole lot closer to the Coalition side of this sector. She never turned up there, so were making the delivery she was supposed

The tide of static rose abruptly, drowning out whatever Vance might have had to say next.

“Hoshi, can you clean that up? Archer said, frowning.

Scowling down at her console, the youthful communications expert shook her head. “Sorry, Captain. Theres just too much external interference. Its almost as though

“Almost as though somebody a little closer to her than we are is jamming her signals, Archer said, interrupting. “That damned Romulan ship.

“What could have happened to the Horizon ? Mayweather said, looking up from his helm seat; he was obviously rattled emotionally, though he seemed to be working hard to conceal that fact. “The booby trap that the Kobayashi Maru hit cant have been the only one the Romulans or the Klingons left lying around in this sector. Maybe

“Lets not get ahead of ourselves, Travis, Archer said. He stepped toward the pilot and laid a hand gently on his shoulder. “I promise you well get to the bottom of this, just as quickly as we can.

Mayweather nodded, his dark eyes gleaming with both appreciation and worry. “Thank you, sir.

Turning back toward Hoshis station, Archer said, “Why the hell would even the Romulans try to jam distress calls from a human freighter way out here in the boondocks?

“Its actually a modified Klingon freighter, Captain, Malcolm said. “The Romulans might be taking over her systems with their new weapon, as part of another one of their territorial skirmishes against the Klingons.

Or maybe they know full well that the Kobayashi Maru is filled with defenseless humans and theyre doing this just for the sheer sadistic hell of it, Archer thought. He knew hed never forget how theyd tried to annihilate the civilization on Coridan Prime, even if he never succeeded in proving their involvement definitively. Maybe theyre trying to force us to fire some of the first shots in the new war we all know is coming.

“Were receiving another incoming signal, Captain, Hoshi said as she examined the frequency and modulation graphs on her displays.

“From the Kobayashi Maru ? Archer said.

“No, sir. The point-source vector doesnt match at all, and the signal seems to have bypassed the worst of the jamming effect.

Archers eyebrows rose involuntarily as he approached her console to get a better look at the incoming message scrolling on her displays. “Starfleet Command?

“No, sir. Its in the wrong frequency range. And its in the lowest portions of the subspace bands, so low its hard to sort out from the cosmic subspace background noise.

“Enhance that signal and pinpoint its source, Archer said.

Hoshi swiftly tapped new instructions into her board, and her brow crumpled in puzzlement as she studied the new data that resulted. “Looks like its coming from the Romulan ship, Captain.

“Audio? Archer asked.

She shook her head. “No, only modulation pulses. Its almost as though somebody on that ship is tapping against the ships own signal-jamming protocols, using some other on-board system to create the taps.

“The way you might bang out a Morse code message by rapping a monkey wrench against a pipe, said Archer.

“Exactly.

“Any idea who the sender is? Archer said, although he already had a pretty good idea of the identity of whoever was wielding the “subspace monkey wrench on the Romulan ship.

“Just the name Lazarus, Captainjust like the message we received back in February. The name keeps repeating throughout the message. He saw her eyes widen in evident recognition of the name, which he knew she had encountered once before not so very long ago.

“Pipe it to my ready room, Hoshi, Archer said, then turned so that he faced both the main science console and the tactical station.

“Malcolm, you have the bridge. TPol, youre with me.

Then