Pantheon - Michael Jan Friedman [61]
As Picard looked around the bridge, everything seemed so placid—so orderly. It was difficult to contemplate the possibility of violence in such a setting. Even the viewscreen, with its familiar image of stars stretched into taut lines of light, conspired to create an illusion of stability.
Of course, Picard knew that this was a pitfall he would have to avoid. As much as he wanted to believe otherwise, he knew that someone had attempted to kill Morgen—and perhaps Lieutenant Worf as well.
He could feel the Klingon’s presence at the tactical station—like an anchor in a sea of uncertainty. They hadn’t pursued the possibility that Worf might have been the primary target and not Morgen. But then, given the presence of the Stargazer survivors, and the fact that the Daa’Vit’s life had been threatened once before…
Playing devil’s advocate for a moment, Picard asked himself if any of his former officers might have a reason for wanting Worf dead. As far as he knew, none of them had ever met him before they’d boarded the Enterprise. And the only one who had a reason to hate Klingons was Morgen—the very individual who had shared the security chief’s peril in the holodeck.
It seemed far more likely that the Daa’Vit was the intended victim. But just to be sure, the captain resolved to discuss the alternative with Commander Riker. And with Worf himself, naturally, at a—
The captain’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he felt the ship surge violently beneath him. On the viewscreen there was an accompanying shift—as the dashes of starlight shortened up considerably.
“Mr. Data,” he said, “I gave no order to accelerate.”
The android had stationed himself at the conn station for the day to give Solis more practice at ops. His fingers were fluttering over the controls at a quicker than usual pace.
“Nor did I initiate any change in speed,” said Data. He swiveled in his seat to face Picard. “Nonetheless, sir, we have accelerated. We are proceeding at warp nine point nine five.”
The captain shook his head, incredulous. The Enterprise’s engines weren’t supposed to be capable of propelling it that fast—at least, not for more than a few seconds.
“Are you certain?” he asked Data.
The android turned back to his console and checked. “Diagnostics confirm it, sir. Unless the entire computer system has malfunctioned, we are traveling at a rate equal to five thousand ninety-four times the speed of light.”
Picard felt a slight queasiness in his stomach as he rose and approached the conn station. Normally, he didn’t check up on his bridge personnel—particularly Data. But there was nothing normal about this.
Sure enough, the monitor showed that they were clipping along at 9.95. The queasiness grew worse. Could this have anything to do with the attempt on Morgen’s life?
“How is this possible?” he asked the android.
“I do not know, sir.”
One thing was certain—the ship could not be allowed to continue at this speed. Who knew what it would do to the warp engines? The hull integrity? “Slow to warp six again,” he instructed Solis. “Immediately.”
The dark-haired lieutenant looked up at him. “Captain…I know this sounds crazy, but the engines are already working at warp six. Or at least, what should be warp six.”
Picard glanced at the viewscreen, as if it could tell him something his officers couldn’t. But it yielded nothing of value.
“Mr. La Forge,” he called.
“La Forge here,” came the response.
“This is the captain. I’m up on the bridge.” Picard licked his lips. “Commander, I want you to check on the warp drive—tell me how fast we should be going.”
“Should be?” asked Geordi.
“There seems to be some question as to our speed,” explained the captain.
“Sir, I just checked the warp drive. I felt a surge and I wanted to make sure everything was all right.”
“And?” Picard prodded.
“Everything seems to be in order. As for how fast we’re going…let’s see.” The captain could picture Geordi checking his instruments. “That would be warp six.”
Picard felt his teeth grinding. “Commander, what would you say if I told