Ship of the Line - Diane Carey [63]
“A mission, sir?” Riker asked. “On a shakedown cruise?”
“That’s right. War games, Mr. Riker. In preparation for that, I’ve ordered shields reduced to fifty percent and phasers powered down to ten percent.”
“Captain!” Riker crossed to the chair he had been invited to take, but did not sit. “Reducing phaser power while we maneuver just minutes away from the Klingon Empire?”
“That’s right.”
“Captain, we have to talk!”
“I thought we handled this. This isn’t command by committee. We don’t have to talk.”
“Well, we’re going to.”
“Is that so? … All right, Will. Go ahead. Talk.”
Chapter 15
“Captain Picard? I’m Chip Reynolds. Welcome aboard the Half Moon. Did you get squared away into a bunk?”
“Yes, thank you, Captain. Your watch leader showed me down to the—what was it? The Orlop Deck?”
“That’s what we call it. Down there you have a chance of sleeping with your legs unbent.”
“I hope the watch leader wasn’t too put out by the sudden change of events. She was muttering about having totally lost control.”
“Oh, no, she’s always like that. I’m a little mystified about this—I mean, I’m willing to go into Cardassian space, but you do understand the difference in speed and armaments between this ship and just about any Starfleet ship …”
“Yes, I understand. In fact, it’s preferable. I don’t want a fighting vessel for this mission. My message is entirely different. Rather stronger, I think. As long as you keep to your top speed, we’ll get to Cardassia Prime in adequate time.”
Hoping to dispense with amenities before any got started, Jean-Luc Picard tried to retreat to his excuse for quarters aboard this strange old rattletrap of a private ship, but the ship’s lanky captain stopped him again.
“By the way, for passing the time, I’ve got something for you,” Captain Reynolds said. He reached into a black captain’s case and pulled out several computer cartridges. “They were delivered to me just before we left Starbase 12.”
“What are they?”
“They’re holoprograms.”
“Oh, Riker …” Picard shook his head at his first officer’s persistence, then thought of something else and looked up from the cartridges. “This ship has a holodeck?”
“Well, we didn’t before, but Mr. Riker had holoequipment installed in our cargo hold about forty minutes before we left. I never saw a team work so fast. He had a guy he said was an android going like some kind of rocket on the installation. Riker told me not to tell you until we were under way.” Reynolds grinned sheepishly and seemed to enjoy the conspiracy, then added, “Hope that’s all right.”
“Mmm, it wouldn’t be the first time he did something behind my back,” Picard said. He turned the top cartridge to read the label. ” ‘Starship Logs, Enhanced, U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701, Captain James T. Kirk. Stardate 1709.2: Romulan Incursion at the Neutral Zone’.”
“Sounds like a great show,” Reynolds said. “Are they completely interactive?”
“I believe so … these are the ship’s actual logs and recordings, enhanced with the cooperation of Captain Kirk. Or was he an admiral when he made these? Of course, then he regained his captaincy—well, I’ve lost track. Thank you, Captain. I’ll try to stay out of your way.”
Reynolds shrugged. “If we can do anything for you, just say so. Not that there’s much more than you can actually see—”
“Are you completely provisioned?” Picard asked. “Your fuel and everything taken care of?”
“Starfleet took care of everything. I think my crew’s in shock. We never had it so good. Starfleet even stocked up our cleaning supplies and recharged our replicators. They even made repairs on our hull. We’ll get spoiled if we don’t end up dead.”
The statement was a casual one, and Captain Reynolds was a good sport—and pretty gutsy to take this ship out in space, never mind Cardassian space, for indeed a real danger existed from Cardassian border patrols. The Cardassians didn’t like surprises. Or demands, for that matter.
“As soon as you encounter one of the Cardassian navigational beacons,