No Surrender - Jeff Mariotte [1]
She was most impressed that Ben had managed to converse with Uree. The Deltan was part of a mission to consider the three sister planets for membership in the Federation. As a show of good faith, the Federation wanted prisoners from Federation-member planets to be released from the Plat and sent to Federation-approved facilities, or perhaps freed, if an examination of the facts proved them not guilty of the crimes for which they’d been imprisoned. Kursican had a reputation of being somewhat overzealous when it came to law enforcement, and the Plat had an even worse reputation as harsh and terrible punishment under any circumstances.
Deborah knew that seeing her father there would break her heart. But not seeing him would have been worse yet. Besides, she owed it to Augustus Bradford to introduce him to his first grandson, Benjamin.
After the shuttle docked in the Plat’s shuttlebay, Deborah gathered her things and Ben’s and prepared to disembark. Isitov stepped aside to let them pass, and managed to back into another passenger, dropping his own bag in the process. He scooped it up quickly with muttered apologies to the passenger behind him and to Deborah. She noticed a sheen of sweat glossing his upper lip as she stepped past him and toward the exit. Poor guy really is nervous, she thought. She held Ben’s hand and led him off the shuttle, still thinking about Isitov because it was easier than thinking about her father, incarcerated for life because of his political beliefs. She hoped the trip wouldn’t prove overly traumatic for any of them.
Captain David Gold sat down behind his desk and ran a hand through his hair, thinking, This is why it’s so white. He had nothing but respect for his crew, and he loved his ship. But the da Vinci bounced all over space like a pinball, it seemed. Anyplace there was a problem, he got the call. Didn’t every ship have an engineer or two on board? he wondered. Does S.C.E. have to handle every little thing?
He knew that being indispensable was preferable to the alternative. But no sooner had they picked up Soloman, Carol Abramowitz, and Bart Faulwell from their sojourn on Keorga than Captain Montgomery Scott was sending them out on yet another emergency call. Gold had stepped off the bridge and into his ready room, because Scotty had specifically asked to speak with Gold in private. And, though he didn’t yet know why, Gold knew that the only reason for that would be because there was something singularly unpleasant about this assignment.
“Screen on,” he said when he felt ready to hear the news.
His viewscreen blinked on. In a moment, Scotty’s face was before him. But the usually garrulous S.C.E. liaison wasn’t wearing his typical smile. “Good,” he said, “you’re sittin’ down.”
“Yes,” Gold replied. “Why does that matter?”
“‘Cause I’m sendin’ you on a mission, even though the da Vinci is the last ship in the fleet I’d send if I had any choice,” Scott said.
“Where?”
“The Kursican system. More specifically, the Kursican Orbital Incarceration Platform.”
Gold narrowed his eyes. “That’s a prison station, no?”
“That’s correct,” Scotty confirmed. “They’re havin’ a wee problem.”
“Why would you not want to send us? Not that I’m looking for a reason to go, but we’re relatively close right now—and I stress ‘relatively,’ considering they’re practically in the Delta Quadrant.”
“That’s why I am sendin’ you—time is definitely of the essence, and you’re the closest S.C.E. crew I’ve got. As for why I would rather not—there’s a personal reason.”
Gold didn’t like the sound of that. But he knew the decision had been made. He paused long enough to tell Ensign Wong over the intercom to have the da Vinci change course for Kursican, warp nine. Then he turned back to Scotty’s image on the viewscreen. “What’s the nature of the ‘wee problem’?” he asked.
“The prison—they call it the Plat—has gone completely haywire,” Scotty explained. “It’s slipped its moorings. There’s been no communicatin’ with it, so they don’t know what’s happened. Its stabilizers