Miracle Workers (SCE Books 5-8) - Keith R. A. DeCandido_. [et al.] [21]
“Thanks, Pattie,” she replied, turning to smile at her Nasat companion. Despite having what must surely be a splitting headache, thanks to her concussion, Pattie had plunged into preparing the generators for the unorthodox task they would shortly undertake. It hadn’t been a simple proposition, either. Tying the modern-day components to the century-old power distribution systems had required even more finessing than Gomez had used to install the generators to begin with.
And assuming they succeeded in pushing the Defiant out of the rift, what was waiting for them on the other side? Was the da Vinci . . . was Kieran standing by to help them? To help her? What had happened after the Defiant had been forced back into interspace? Had Kieran made a stand and tried to protect the away team, or had he been forced to retreat? Had he managed to disable or destroy the Tholian ship, or . . . ?
Gomez couldn’t bring herself to complete the thought. It was probably just as well, she decided. The coming minutes would require her complete attention. She couldn’t afford distractions, especially now.
The telltale sounds of a tricorder made her turn around to see Dr. Lense waving the device over Pattie’s head.
“Problem, Doctor?” Gomez asked.
Lense shook her head. “Just checking for signs that Pattie might be starting to feel the effects of interphase. So far, she’s fine.” She smiled at the diminutive engineer. “Must be that sturdy Nasat constitution.”
“Too bad she can’t share any of that,” Gomez said with a grim smile of her own. Her mood turned serious again, however, when she asked, “Elizabeth, how much longer do you think your supply of theragen will hold out?”
“I really don’t know,” the doctor replied. “The inoculations are continuing to lose their potency and the effective period for each successive dose is decreasing rapidly. I’d give us another couple of hours before it loses its effectiveness altogether.”
Gomez had no intention of being around when that happened. She had no desire to revisit the panic and sheer terror she’d experienced earlier in the Jefferies tube. So long as there remained options that would let her fight to avoid it, she refused to consign herself to such a fate.
“Well, I’m ready to see about getting us out of here,” she said as she activated her communicator.
“Gomez to Captain Gold. We’re all set down here, sir.”
On the Defiant’s bridge, David Gold smiled in satisfaction to himself. As good as her word, Sonya Gomez and her team had completed their modifications well within the time remaining to them before their power supplies succumbed to the effects of interphase. They would indeed get their one chance to push the Defiant from the rift.
“Excellent work, Commander,” he said. “Stand by.” Stepping down into the bridge’s command well, the da Vinci captain moved to stand next to Soloman, who was seated at the ship’s helm. Putting a hand on the Bynar’s shoulder, Gold asked, “Are we ready?”
Soloman nodded. “Thrusters are continuing to . . . function normally, Captain. They should provide sufficient power to . . . maneuver us out of the rift once . . . Commander Gomez triggers the warp pulse.”
“Fine,” Gold replied. Of course, he couldn’t stop from asking himself what they might expect to find on the other side of the rift. If they were successful, would they be greeted by the welcome sight of the da Vinci, or the ominous presence of a Tholian battle fleet?
As if hearing the unspoken thought, Gomez said, “We might not be able to see what’s waiting for us, Captain, but I might be able to give us a bit of insurance. I can divert power from our remaining generators to the shields and maybe one phaser bank. We’d have to sacrifice access to the main computer and life support to the bridge, though.”
Gold needed no time to consider his options. “Take whatever