Miracle Workers (SCE Books 5-8) - Keith R. A. DeCandido_. [et al.] [36]
“Mr. Stevens,” she said formally, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t speak of this to anyone, and I hope you won’t think that it was the beginning of anything.”
Stevens let out a bark of laughter. “To be honest, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I just—”
“I appreciate what you did,” she said, still talking like an officer, which Stevens supposed was inevitable, “and I am grateful, but I’m not in the habit—”
Holding up a hand, Stevens said, “Say no more, Commander. This stays between us.”
“Good. I’m going ahead to the meeting. I’ll see you there.”
She turned on her heel and left. Stevens watched the door for several seconds before putting on his shirt.
When he arrived at the observation lounge, most of the usual suspects were seated. Captain Gold was at the head, of course, with Duffy at his left. Duff was holding a mostly full cup of quinine water, so he’d already had his morning coffee. Soloman, Corsi, and Dr. Lense sat next to him—Corsi seemed to be pointedly not making eye contact with Stevens as he entered.
Pattie Blue was in her special chair opposite the captain. Abramowitz was, Stevens noticed, sitting next to Gold on his right, which put her as far from Pattie as possible. Guess the drad music battles haven’t concluded yet, he thought with a smile. Of course, Abramowitz could only sit there because Gomez—the one missing S.C.E. member—was still off-ship.
Faulwell was seated next to Abramowitz, which left two chairs free—one opposite Lense, one opposite Corsi. Deciding that discretion was the best he could do, Stevens sat opposite Lense. Corsi didn’t seem to notice.
“Now that Stevens has deigned to join us,” Gold said dryly, “here’s the story. We’re not going to Deep Space 9 to help them with repairs, though we are going to their aid. We’ve been diverted to rendezvous with one of their runabouts and then proceed to an abandoned Cardassian station in the Trivas system known as Empok Nor.”
Stevens muttered, “Quoth the Empok, ‘Never Nor.’ ”
“Excuse me?” Gold said, one of his bushy eyebrows raised.
Shifting in his seat, Stevens said, “Sorry, sir. That’s something one of the engineers at DS9 came up with after the first time we—Well, see, when I was assigned to DS9, our chief of operations, Miles O’Brien, went over there to get some spare parts. Unfortunately, half the team didn’t make it back—there was some kind of Cardassian booby trap left behind. We never really wanted to go back after that, and one of the engineers was a fan of old poetry, so she made that joke. It kinda stuck.”
“Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven,’” Abramowitz said helpfully. “The line is really ‘Quoth the raven, “Nevermore”.’”
Nodding, Gold said, “Well, these ravens are flying back. DS9 had to eject their fusion core, and their new chief of operations—a lieutenant named Nog—is meeting us in the Trivas system in order to obtain a replacement.”
Stevens looked up in surprise at that. “Nog’s chief now?”
“You know him?” Gold asked.
“Yeah, he was a cadet when I was there. In fact, come to think of it, he was part of the team that went to Empok Nor.”
With a small smile, Duffy said, “Obviously he was one of the ones who survived.”
“Good guess,” Stevens said, also smiling. “He’s a lieutenant now?”
“That’s what the mission profile says,” Duffy said, punching up a display. It showed the familiar features of the nervous young Ferengi Stevens remembered, but now wearing a junior-grade lieutenant’s uniform.
First Corsi and I wind up in bed together, then I find out that Nog’s got a commission and is doing the chief’s job. This is a very weird day.
“The plan,” Duffy continued, “is to detach the fusion core and bring it back to DS9.”
“The whole core?” Stevens asked.
“Yup. Apparently they had to eject it during that little brouhaha with the Jem’Hadar.”
Stevens started scratching his chin. “Geez, the emergency power wouldn’t last five