Star Trek_ Generations - J M. Dillard [39]
Time is the fire in which we burn.
Riker nodded. The stars going to collapse in a matter of minutes. He turned as a sensor on Worfs console beeped ominously.
The Klingon looked up at the two senior officers, his eyes wide with concern. Sir. The implosion has produced a level-twelve shock wave.
Picard said nothing, merely digested the news in stunned silence and shared an ominous look with Riker.
Level twelve? Troi asked, aghast. Thatll destroy everything in this system.
A voice filtered over the intercom. Transporter room to bridge. I cant locate Commander La Forge or Mr. Data, sir.
Riker set a hand on Worfs console and leaned next to the seated Klingon. Did they return to the ship?
Worf ran a quick scan of the decks, then shook his head. No, sir. They are not aboard.
Picard stepped beside them. How long until the shock wave hits the observatory?
Four minutes, forty seconds, Worf reported.
Picard raised his face and shot Riker a 1ooka look, nothing more, but the first officer knew his captain well enough to read the order there. He gave a quick nod, then rose and headed toward the turbolift, pausing to call over his shoulder, Mr. Worf …
Then the two of them were gone. Picard stepped forward to gaze at the horrendous sight on the viewscreen, thinking again of fire and death, and the pale-haired scientist with the desperate eyes.
The smoky haze and smell of fire were gone, courtesy of the observatorys air-filtration system, but the gloom and silence had increased or perhaps, Riker decided, it was simply the fact that he knew that, outside the observatory walls, the Amargosa star had collapsed into darkness. He turned to Worf and silently gestured for the Klingon to search the upper level of the main operations room, while he scoured the lower.
Within seconds, Worf returned, shaking his head: No sign. There was only one direction left to go ina corridor that led to several separate cells. Riker wasted no time making his way down it, then paused at the closed doorways in front of him. One was recessed behind a bulkhead panel that had been slid backa hidden entrance. Riker turned, nudged Worf, who followed close behind. This one.
In the instant after the door opened, Riker got a brief impression, a rather stark contrast of light and dark, a spike-straight tuft of silver hair, white skin against a black tunic. In front of a rack of probes, a man sat at a console; the man he had uncovered from the rubble, the one named Tolian Soran. Sorans expression was no longer dazed, but as intense as the solar flares he watched on his monitor.
Riker opened his mouth, but never got the chance to speak. Soran whirled. Some atavistic instinct propelled Riker backward into the corridor and behind the bulkhead in the split-second before Soran fired the disruptor in his hand; the blast gouged a smoking groove into the metal doorway.
He raised his head and looked over to see Worf crouched against the bulkhead on the other side of the doorway; the Klingon had a better view of the rooms interior. What the hells he doing? Riker called softly.
Worf cautiously rose to peer into the room; another disruptor blast, this one going clean out into the corridor and burning a hole in the bulkhead, made him sink swiftly down again. Lieutenant La Forge is unconscious, the Klingon whispered. I cannot see Commander Data.
Enterprise to Commander Riker. Picards voice filtered clearly over Rikers comm badge. You have two minutes left.
Soran, did you hear that? Riker shouted. Theres a level-twelve shock wave coming. Weve got to get out of here!
In reply, a disruptor blast angled through the open door, glancing off the doorway and searing the deck at Rikers feet. He pressed closer against the wall and grabbed his phaserbut it was no use; he could not get at the proper angle to get a clean shot at the scientist. Soran had the advantage. Riker glanced around in frustration, looking for a better hiding place … and suddenly noticed a figure huddled