Miracle Workers (SCE Books 5-8) - Keith R. A. DeCandido_. [et al.] [24]
At the master console, Pattie had already shaken off the effects of the explosions and had returned to work. “Power has been rerouted to auxiliary control, Commander.”
Gomez acknowledged the report, knowing that the two remaining generators were the only things preventing the Defiant from reverting to the lifeless hulk they had originally discovered. Already burdened with the requirements of supplying power to essential systems, the surviving units might also be needed to deal with whatever awaited them on the other side of the rift.
As if sensing her troubled thoughts, Lense said, “You’ve done all you can, Sonya. It’s up to the captain and Soloman now.”
The sentiment, well-intentioned as it was, did little to ease Gomez’s mounting frustration. What she really heard was: There is absolutely nothing more you can do about it.
CHAPTER
8
Okay, so it’s taking more than three minutes.
A bead of perspiration rolled into Duffy’s right eye as he lay on his back, his head once again shoved through a bulkhead opening and into the mesmerizing glow of the da Vinci’s warp-drive control system. He squinted and blinked the sweat from his eye, trying to refocus his sight on rerouting circuitry paths.
When he first stormed into main engineering and tore open an access panel seemingly at random, other engineers looked at Duffy as if the space madness had finally caught up with the young commanding officer. He now chuckled to himself as he thumbed the controls of his handheld nanopulse laser and sealed the last of the shorted connections. Even a seasoned engineer might have needed precious minutes simply to track down the problems keeping the da Vinci’s warp engines from functioning. But Duffy had suspected just where to start looking in the system for effects from the deflector dish feedback loop, and his instincts had been correct.
He squirmed his way out of the bulkhead and pushed himself to his feet. Pointing to one of the engineers standing nearby, he called out, “Conlon! Finish up here!” The ensign rushed to work as Duffy sped out of engineering, calling over his shoulder, “And let me know the instant it’s ready!”
Though his work in engineering wasn’t complete, Duffy knew he had to be elsewhere. Never in his life had he wanted to be on the bridge of a starship as badly as he wanted to be now, he realized as he sprinted down the corridor. His momentum nearly carried him into the nearby turbolift’s doors before they could whisk open with their signature pneumatic hiss.
“Bridge!”
Come on, come ON!
The car began to move and he stared at the ceiling, as though he could urge the turbolift to travel faster through sheer force of will. After a handful of seconds that seemed to last an eternity, the doors finally parted and he didn’t so much step onto the bridge as he hurled himself onto it. Panting, he looked at the main viewscreen, ready for anything.
Nothing was there but black, empty space. His breathing slowed somewhat as he whirled to face Corsi, who stood almost where he had left her just . . .
“Six minutes, thirty-seven seconds,” said the security officer after a glance at her console. “Welcome back, Commander.”
He gasped at her, trying to regain his composure. “We still don’t have warp, but we will.” He moved to the center seat and plopped himself into it. “Fabian, keep working. I’m playing a hunch that we’ll have time for one more shot at this.”
McAllan spoke up from his tactical station. “Commander, the Tholians are approaching. They’re in viewing and communications range.”
The final grains of sand were falling through the hourglass, and the crew of the da Vinci was out of options. Duffy wanted