Relics - Michael Jan Friedman [57]
A moment later, the first officer responded. “We’ve still got some work ahead of us, sir. Some of the relays were blown and it’ll take time to replace them.”
“Understood, Number One. But that is not why I contacted you.” He paused. “I would like you to gather an away team.”
There was silence on the other end. Finally, Riker said “An away team, sir?”
“Yes.” Picard turned to Data’s monitor. “I need you to do some exploring, Will. And I need you to do it quickly.”
Darrin Kane was in Shuttlebay One, a place he was starting to hate as much as the cargo holds, when he heard his name being called over the intercom system -and by his favorite person, Will Riker.
What numbing torture had the first officer devised for him now? Was he to report to the Ten-Forward lounge and wait tables?
“Kane here,” he said, resisting a whispered curse. With his luck, the intercom would probably be sensitive enough to pick it up.
“Report to Shuttlebay Three,” said Riker. “I’m putting together an away team and you’re on it.”
The ensign could scarcely believe his ears. “An away team?” he repeated. Was this some kind of joke? Was he going to arrive at the shuttlebay only to find that the mission had been cancelled-or that Riker had left without him?
“Mr. Kane? Don’t tell me you’re sleeping up there now.”
“Uh … no, sir,” replied Kane.
“Five minutes,” the first officer told him. “Don’t be late.”
“No, Commander. I mean yes, Commander. I mean …” Abruptly, he realized he was talking to the shuttlecraft. Riker had broken the connection.
Kane shook his head and sought out Lieutenant Bridges, who was in charge of the shuttlebay for this shift. Bridges was running a routine check on the bay doors when he finally found her.
“Something wrong?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” Kane told her. “Commander Riker wants me to be on an away team.”
She looked at him askance. “An away team? Away where?”
The ensign was about to provide an answer… until he realized he didn’t have one. “I don’t know,” he told her. “But I’ve got to get going.”
And leaving her standing there, he took off for Shuttlebay Three.
Sousa stood in the Shuttlebay between Commander Riker and Counselor Troi. Bartel and Krause from engineering were there as well. Now the only one they were still missing was Darrin Kane.
A moment later, the doors to the corridor whooshed open and Kane came trotting in. He was all business, no doubt glad for such a juicy assignment after all the low-key jobs to which he’d been relegated.
As he joined the group, he took in the rest of the away team with a glance-and then did a double-take when he saw his fellow ensign standing in their midst. Sousa smiled by way of a greeting, trying to let Kane know there were no hard feelings.
But he got no response. Kane just took his spot and faced Riker. It was as if he and Sousa had never been friends at all.
“Ready, sir,” said Kane.
The first officer nodded, scanning each face in turn. “Here’s the way it’s going to work. Normally, we would just beam down. But the ship is in no condition to leave orbit-and since the surface is so far away, the only way for us to get there is by shuttle.” He paused. “Unfortunately, our scanners show us that there’s no place near our destination that’s big enough to accommodate a shuttle. So we’re going to hover a couple of hundred meters from the landing site and beam down two at a time using the emergency transporter. Any questions?”
Sousa had one. “How are we going to get back?”
“A remote control link will allow us to return via the transporter,” said Riker. “We’ll also have the option of bringing the shuttle down if we find something too big to beam up.”
Sousa nodded. “Understood, sir.”
“All right, then, said the first officer. “Let’s board.”
In the Ops center of the Jenolen, Geordi was lying on his back with only his legs sticking out from beneath a control console. Less than a meter away, Scott was in the same position under a neighboring console. Various tools and diagnostic devices were scattered around the deck, waiting