Relics - Michael Jan Friedman [54]
Scott looked at him disbelievingly. “Come on,” he said. “Ye cannae mean that, lad. It’s a century out of date. How can ye use something that antiquated? It’s just…” He slammed the panel closed in disgust. “Obsolete,” he finished.
Geordi wanted to reach out to the man in some way. He considered the console he was working on and ran his hand over it.
“That’s interesting, Mr. Scott… because I was just thinking that a lot of these systems haven’t changed much in seventy-five years.”
Scott was barely paying attention. He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts. Geordi moved over to the transporter console.
“Aside from a few minor improvements,” he went on, “this transporter is virtually identical to the ones we use on the Enterprise.” He gestured to the other consoles. “The subspace radio and sensors operate on the same basic principles, and impulse engine design hasn’t changed much in almost two hundred years. If it weren’t for the structural damage, this ship could still be in service today.”
Scott considered what Geordi was saying. “Maybe so,” he replied. “But when ye can build a ship like her Enterprise, a twenty-fourth century marvel of technology … who’d want to pilot an old bucket like this one?”
“I don’t know;” said Geordi appraisingly. “The Enterprise has her strengths, but she’s also got her weaknesses. Fix that engine and I bet this ship would run circles around her at impulse speeds.” A beat. “Just because something’s old doesn’t mean you have to throw it away.”
They looked at each other for a moment. Geordi could feel something happening between them. A bond was forming. Maybe even a friendship. Scott was the one who finally dissolved the moment, moving back to the computer console.
“We used to have something called a dynamic mode converter,” he mused out loud. Ye would nae have something like that in yer fancy new Enterprise, would ye?”
Geordi thought about it for a second or two. “I haven’t seen one of those in a long time. But I might have something similar.”
Hitting his communicator emblem, he said “La Forge to Enterprise.”
No one answered. Geordi hit the emblem again.
“La Forge to Enterprise, come in please.”
Still nothing. How strange …
Scott darted him a look of concern. Geordi moved to the sensor console.
“Interference?” asked Scott.
Geordi worked the sensor controls. “No. Unfortunately.”
A moment later, the sensor monitors showed him the astounding truth. “Damn,” he whispered.
“What is it?” Scott pressed.
Geordi turned to him. “They’re gone.”
“We will enter the sun’s photosphere in three minutes,” said Data.
“Helm control still inoperative,” Rager reported.
Picard tried his best to stay calm, to keep a clear head. But it was easier said than done. The captive star filled the main viewscreen as the Enterprise rushed toward it-as if eager to feel its nuclear-fusion embrace.
There had to be a way out of this. He wouldn’t accept defeat-not while he had a brain and some time to use it.
Suddenly, it came to him. He turned to Riker, who had replaced Moreno at the aft engineering station-where Geordi would have been if he hadn’t beamed over to the Jenolen.
“Number One-are the maneuvering thrusters online?” he asked.
Though his expression said he failed to see what the captain was getting at, Riker worked furiously at the controls. After a second or two, he nodded.
“I’ve got thirty percent power on the starboard thrusters. Fifteen percent on the port thrusters. But it won’t be enough to brake our inertia.”
“No,” agreed Picard. “But it may just be enough to put us in orbit and hold our distance from the star.”
For a brief moment, Riker smiled. Then he turned to the monitor again, preparing himself for what was ahead.
Next, the captain addressed his android second officer. “Mr. Data-calculate the minimum change in our trajectory necessary to avoid the star.”
It seemed that Data’s answer began before Picard’s question was finished. “A twenty-degree turn will allow the ship to enter a safe orbit around the star.”
The captain whirled toward the