Orphans - Kevin Killiany [4]
“Faugh,” repeated Tev.
“Let’s not make them try to match orbits, Wong,” Gold said. He was aware of the turbolift opening and Commander Sonya Gomez, the ship’s first officer and leader of the S.C.E. team, taking up station behind him. “Jump five light-minutes ahead of the colony vessel and drop from warp.”
On the viewscreen the spinning star field executed a jarring pinwheel and righted itself. For a moment the streaks of starlight radiated in comfortingly straight lines from the center of the screen as the da Vinci leapt ninety million kilometers in a matter of seconds. Then, for the first time in what seemed like months to Gold, the stars became steady points of distant light. They were in normal space.
“Let’s see who the Klingon Empire has sent us, Shabalala,” Gold said.
The image on the viewscreen shifted, and for a moment the bridge was silent as the crew regarded the ungainly shape bearing down upon them.
“Haznedl,” Gold said at last, “is there anything in our database about pregnant D-7s?”
The operations officer tore her eyes from the bizarre ship and rapidly tapped her console.
“Nothing fits that specific configuration, sir,” she reported at last. “But that does seem to be a modified D-7 attack cruiser.”
“Shabalala?”
“Sensors indicate the ship is constructed from components of various ages, evidently from other vessels.” The tactical officer paused, considering his readings.
“The flattened oblate spheroid under the engineering section is a troop transport module. Those were never used on attack vessels.”
Gomez frowned. “That looks a lot stubbier than the D-7s I remember.”
“You remember D-7s?” Gold asked. “I would have thought they were at least a century before your time.”
“From the Academy,” she said. “History of ship design.”
“Ah.”
“Obviously, the mass of the troop transport module alters the dynamics of their warp field,” Tev said impatiently. “They shortened the central pylon by twenty percent to compensate.”
The moment Tev said it, Gold saw it was true. The central pylon, what he thought of as the “neck” of the ancient Klingon cruiser, was indeed shorter than it should have been. Combined with the “flattened oblate spheroid”—which looked to him like nothing so much as a huge loaf of pumpernickel—it created a silhouette unlike any ship he’d ever seen. No wonder the database had not been able to identify the vessel; he was impressed it had recognized it as Klingon at all.
“Any response to hails, Shabalala?”
“No, sir, they’re—”
“What the hell?” Wong’s exclamation cut him off.
On screen, the Klingon cruiser swung about in a leisurely arc and took up position off the huge cylinder’s beam. Wong brought up an inset tactical display that showed the Klingon’s warp field in place as the pair passed the da Vinci.
“Refresh my memory, Wong,” Gold said. “What is the minimum speed of a ship at warp?”
“Lightspeed, sir.”
“And they are at…?”
The tactical inset flickered as Wong reset the sensors. They flickered again.
“Point seven six light,” he said at last.
“Theories, Tev?”
“They are violating several physical laws,” the Tellarite growled. “And ignoring fundamental warp mechanics.”
“So noted,” Gold acknowledged. “Haznedl, pipe this information down to engineering. Tev, I want you and Conlon working on figuring out how they do this.”
“Why?”
“Because these are Klingons,” Gold said. “Unless we can prove we’re at least their equals, they’re going to ignore us.”
“Why not let them?” Tev demanded. “The object is heading into Klingon space, that’s why they’re here. Why not leave and let them handle the situation?”
Gold tapped his fingers lightly on the arm of his command chair as he watched the mismatched pair of ships on the screen. “Because I’m not altogether sure I’d like the Klingon solution to the problem of a giant colony vessel on a collision course with Qo’noS.”
CHAPTER
3
By now, Nancy Conlon had steeled herself against Tev’s appearance in her engine room. Within the first few weeks of his arrival