Miracle Workers (SCE Books 5-8) - Keith R. A. DeCandido_. [et al.] [1]
That belief had held true until two weeks ago, when a Tholian vessel had discovered the Defiant, still trapped in the interdimensional rift but now visible again for the first time in more than a century. The circumstances leading to the ship’s reappearance after so long remained a mystery and the Tholians, in their typical fashion, had not been forthcoming with any potentially helpful information.
And we could sure use that info now, Gomez mused.
She had led an away team to the Defiant with the task of restoring minimal power to the derelict vessel. Working with Kieran Duffy, the da Vinci’s propulsion specialist, she had decided that the Defiant’s maneuvering thrusters could be used to help extract the ship from the rift, with the help of the da Vinci’s tractor beam. Duffy and his team had also modified the da Vinci’s navigational deflector to stabilize the Defiant’s hull and make it easier for the tractor beam to lock onto the trapped ship.
Of course, it wouldn’t have been an S.C.E. mission if the Defiant hadn’t yielded a few surprises of its own.
First had been the condition of the ship itself. Drained of power, the Defiant was a lifeless hulk, dark and foreboding as the away team materialized in the depths of its engineering section. Then there were the remains of the ship’s crew, drifting free throughout the vessel’s interior in the absence of gravity. The nightmarish scene had caught Gomez off guard and caused her no small amount of anxiety. Her reaction to the situation troubled her, but she had managed to keep her unease at bay to this point by concentrating on the tasks at hand.
But then the Tholians had inexplicably fired on the Defiant, disrupting the da Vinci’s attempt to pull the century-old ship from the interspatial void and instead throwing the Defiant back into the rift. The action had the further effect of collapsing the pocket around the ship, trapping it and the da Vinci away team within the confines of interspace.
“The weapons fire could have disturbed the fabric of space near the rift,” Gomez said as she studied the viewscreen. “The area is already so unstable, any kind of disruption would probably be enough to affect it.”
Turning away from the viewscreen, Gold said, “Something similar was reported in the old Enterprise logs when they discovered the Defiant. It had the effect of throwing off the interphase timetable. The Defiant still continued to appear and reappear, but they had to recalculate the intervals.”
“That means the da Vinci can probably still get us out,” Gomez said.
“Maybe,” Gold replied as he stepped toward the starboard side of the command well. “But first we need to make sure the ship won’t fall apart around us.” He turned his attention to the science station. “Soloman, do we have internal sensors? Can you give us a damage report?”
The Bynar keyed commands to the science console as his face was bathed in the soft blue light of the station’s viewfinder. Several moments passed as he reviewed the information supplied by the Defiant’s limited sensors.
“There are . . . hull breaches on decks eight, thirteen and . . . fifteen,” he reported. “There is also some buckling . . . in the port warp nacelle.” As he turned away from the viewfinder, the Bynar added, “The damage is minor, given the . . . intensity of the attack, Captain. We were . . . most fortunate.”
Gomez sighed in relief. “I’ll say. If that’s the extent of the damage, then we should be okay even under the pull of the da Vinci’s tractor beam.”
“If she’s still there,” Gold said, drawing shocked expressions from Gomez and Soloman. The da Vinci’s commanding officer didn’t acknowledge the looks, however, instead adding, “She may have been disabled or destroyed by the Tholians, or Mr. Duffy has