Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [7]
“Yes, sir, Darryl Adin and his associates.” He checked his sensors. “It appears one of their ships is caught in Elysia’s gravitational flux.” It had been. several months since Data first met Darryl Adin and his band of mercenaries, who at that time had been operating outside the Federation. Only Adin, however, had ever been a fugitive from justice: a former Starfleet security officer falsely convicted of treason and murder. Darryl Adin was also the man who had rescued the Enterprise’s late security chief, Tasha Yar, from the hellhole of a planet where she had been born, abandoned, and victimized.
Dare and Tasha had fallen in love-only to have their plans destroyed when Dare was accused and convicted of treason and murder.
The evidence was false, but Tasha didn’t know that when, years later, she and Data met up with Dare on a mission to the planet Treva. Tasha was forced to arrest her former love. But when Data uncovered computer tampering used to frame Adin, Starfleet had cleared him of all charges. Tasha and her former mentor made plans for the time when Tasha’s tour aboard the Enterprise would be completed … plans that died with Tasha on Vagra II.
“What in God’s name are they doing out here? Mr.
Worf, open hailing frequencies,” Picard directed, but even as Worf reached for the controls they heard calamity unfolding.
“Don’t try to grab us, Dare-you’ll only go down with us, was Poet’s voice, oddly calm, came again. “771 try bouncing off the atmosphere and into orbit. We who are about to- “You are not about to die!” Adin’s-Dare’s-voice ordered. “You just make that orbit. Aurora and I will merge our tractor beams to pull you-The second voice was drowned in a burst of static. Another gravitational flux vibrated through the Enterprise just as Geordi La Forge burst out of the turbolift. “What’s going on up here?”
“That’s what we called you to find out,” Riker told him. “We have discovered massive electromagnetic and gravitational fluxes emanating from the planet Elysia,” Data offered.
“Elysia?” Geordi asked, transferring control of Engineering to his bridge station. “Where the hell is that?”
“Where we’re headed, Mr. La Forge-where you’ll have ample opportunity to find a reason for those surges,” Picard replied. “Hailing frequencies open, sir,” Worf announced.
Picard toggled open a communications frequency.
“U.s.s. Enterprise to Darryl Adin.
Maintain your position. We are within-was “Seven minutes,” Data supplied softly.
“comseven minutes of your location. We have the power to pull your companion’s ship to safety. Do not risk your vessels.”
Darryl Adin and his people had fine warp-capacity vessels, the epitome of private spacecraft technology, but their engines could not produce enough power to break free of the gravitational surges that barely affected a Galaxy-class starship.
“We hear you, Enterprise,” Adin replied.
“Thank God-we thought we were alone out here.
Poet, did you get that?”
“We heard. Dare, my instruments are out. Ill have to make orbit by eye. was “Be careful, Poet, was a third voice-a woman’sinterrupted.
“Dare, we can track him on our screens, maybe help- “And if there’s another surge?”
Adin asked in frus tration. “Damn-we’ve got to risk it. Aurora, swing out 120 degrees in front of Poet, and I’ll take a position 120 degrees behind him. With the cross-reckoning, we won’t lose track of him. his By this time Data had Elysia on the main screen. Three ships, too small to be visible, were indicated by blinking lights. The orbit of one was decaying rapidly. It changed course, diving toward the atmosphere in a maneuver not particularly dangerous for an experienced pilot under ordinary circumstances. But these were not ordinary circumstances.
If the planet emitted another gravitational surge while Poet attempted the maneuver, not only his ship would be affected; the other two could be pulled out of orbit as well.
“Data,” Picard said, “I want you on the transporter. The instant we’re close enough, get a