No Surrender - Jeff Mariotte [12]
Soloman took a moment longer to reply, but the Bynar had been engaged in a verbal dialogue with the computer that controlled the stabilizers. “There has been intentional sabotage,” he said. “Of a crude, but effective, nature.”
“Sabotage?” Sonnie echoed. “How crude?”
“A hammer, apparently,” Soloman answered. “Thrust through some primary processing units and wiggled around. Simple, but very efficient.”
“Surely the broken units can be bypassed,” Sonya offered.
“That is what I’m attempting to do.”
“Sorry,” Sonnie said. “Go back to it.”
Kieran was getting his hands dirty himself—figuratively speaking, since he hadn’t been able to remove his gloves yet. He was on his back underneath yet another bank of computers that controlled the defensive systems. Unlike the others, he was trying to circumvent the computers, not repair them. These had somehow missed the original sabotage and avoided getting crushed by falling debris. But the control panels had been destroyed, so he needed to work them from the inside. He wanted to do the job without resorting to the old stick-a-hammer-through-and-wiggle-it-around technique. Though, if he didn’t make progress soon, he would get around to that. Pattie was right; the stuff was so old it didn’t seem to operate on any principles familiar to him. He had once had a friend who had collected personal computing devices—the very earliest ones of the late twentieth century. The technology he found himself faced with here reminded him of the guts of some of those very primitive devices he’d seen in his friend’s collection. He wished he had dug around more in those early boxes.
Suddenly, though, he felt the station—which was beginning to tilt to his left—stop and turn back the other way. A moment later, it flattened out and remained in one position.
“I believe I have rerouted the signal successfully,” Soloman announced. “Gyrostabilizers are functioning properly.”
“Thank you, Soloman,” Kieran breathed. “I am never going on another amusement park ride.”
Pattie Blue made a tinkly noise that corresponded to a chuckle. “This from the man who was flying all over Maeglin in his gravity boots. In any case, atmospheric conditions have been normalized. Breathable air and climate controls are on the way. Environmental suits should remain in service for two point seven minutes.”
Oh, the hell with it, Kieran thought. He, like every S.C.E. engineer, knew about Montgomery Scott’s oft-repeated mantra—usually delivered in a full-throated scream. “Use the right tool for the job!” Kieran didn’t have a hammer handy, but he had a manual door-opener in a pocket of his environmental suit. He pulled it out, jammed it into the works, and wiggled it around.
* * *
“Shields are down, Captain,” Ina Mar said.
Captain Gold whirled to face the flame-haired Bajoran Operations Officer. “Scan the station, tell me what you see. Da Vinci to Gomez.”
“Go ahead, Captain.”
“Everything okay over there, Commander?”
“So far, sir,” her voice came back. “We’ve restored equilibrium, ceased orbital degradation, restored the atmosphere, and shut down the defensive systems. So we’ll be able to beam the injured over to the da Vinci. Assuming, of course, that we find any,” she added, sounding annoyed. “So far the station seems to be deserted.”
“Lieutenant, are there lifesigns aboard that station?” he asked. Ina nodded and pointed to a display screen.
“Yes, Captain. See?”
Gold swallowed. “Commander Gomez, has the away team divided into two units?”
“Yes, sir,” Sonya replied. “Corsi, Lense, Frnats, Drew, and Stevens went off to see if they could locate the crew. They’ve been unsuccessful, and are returning to our position now.”
“Yes, I see that,” Gold said. “I don’t know about crew, but they’re about to meet somebody. Several hundred somebodies, in fact.”
“The prisoners, sir?” Sonya asked.
“That would be my guess. They’re on an intercept course. Do you copy that, Lieutenant Commander Corsi? You are about to encounter several hundred convicted criminals. They are to be considered armed and extremely