String Theory_ Cohesion (Book 1) - Jeffrey Lang [102]
“That’s nice,” B’Elanna said. “But I bet mine’s faster. And don’t forget I have to pick up my friend. You can all come with me.” She didn’t really want a half-dozen Monorhans on the shuttle, but if they did decide to join her, she would figure out her next move when they were up in the air. If nothing else, B’Elanna was fairly certain she could contain any hostile acts in the passenger area if necessary. She took another step towards the hatch.
“Stop,” the guard said, and B’Elanna sensed the other two snap to alert attention. “I’m sorry, but you’re not supposed to go in there.”
“Why?” B’Elanna asked. “It’s mine, after all. There’s no reason this has to be difficult.” She paused, then looked meaningfully over the guard’s shoulder at the shuttle. “Unless you want to make it difficult.” She knew the vessel wouldn’t do anything without her being inside, but there was no way the guards could know this. Indeed, if they had been standing around outside the ship all night, they had probably heard all sorts of interesting, eerie noises as the self-repair modules had labored away.
“I should call my rih-hara-tan,” the guard said. “If you’ll just stay here until I can…”
“Call him from my ship.” Speaking more loudly than she needed to so the other guards could hear her, B’Elanna said, “Ship—open main hatch.” A few seconds passed during which B’Elanna prayed fervently that the voice recognition systems were still working, but then the hatch slid open. “Come on,” she said to the guard and swept past him. “It’s fine.” Looking back at Kaytok, she said, “You stay out here. I’ll bring you something for your services.”
Kaytok nodded, apparently happy to be be out in the open. More room to run if necessary, B’Elanna decided. Not a bad idea, really.
When she entered the shuttle, all the lights were on and the air was fresh. Environmental systems working, B’Elanna thought. Good start. She didn’t pause in her march to the pilot’s seat because she didn’t want to give the guard an opportunity to grab her. “What’s your name?” she asked, to give him something new to think over.
“Arul,” the guard said, but neither loudly nor assertively. The shuttle was having the anticipated and much-hoped-for effect of impressing and awing the locals. Amazing what air conditioning can accomplish.
“Have a seat, Arul. I’m going to just make sure we’re patched into the local comm network and then you can make your call.” Quickly scanning the main status board, B’Elanna noted a couple yellow lights. Most of the self-repair routines had run perfectly, but shields, she saw, were not completely reliable. Also, the warp engines were still offline, but that was to be expected after the rattling the energy wave had given them. Besides, B’Elanna would never have trusted any repair program to recalibrate a warp core. She would do the work herself when they were home.
“I should call from my vehicle,” Arul said, though he said this as he surrendered to the padded chair in the passenger compartment. B’Elanna heard the door open again as another guard entered, saw his harat sitting, and decided it might be time to take a break, too. B’Elanna checked the weapons repression system and saw that they were functioning, though she knew these would only work against energy weapons. If the Monorhans were using chemical weapons or—who knew?—projectile slingers, she would be in trouble. Best not to rely on such things.
“Just a minute,” B’Elanna called. “Here we go. Audio-only. That’s all right, isn’t it?”
“No,” Arul said, struggling up out of the chair’s seductive embrace. “I should really go to my…we should go…”
“This is EC Headquarters,” said a soothing voice.
“Hello?” B’Elanna said when Arul did not respond immediately. “This is B’Elanna Torres of the Starship Voyager. I’m here with Sergeant Arul…” She had no idea what rank he was, but sergeant seemed appropriate. “And we’re looking for his commanding officer.”
“NO!” Arul called