String Theory_ Cohesion (Book 1) - Jeffrey Lang [58]
“But B’Elanna and Seven have altered the shields extensively over the past year,” Captain Janeway said. “With some of the Borg modifications.”
“Right,” Carey said. “The only problem with that is we don’t have a baseline. We don’t know how long the system will continue to function because we’ve never pushed it to failure.”
“Give me an estimate,” the captain said as she shrugged back into her uniform jacket. A loose strand of hair fell over her eyes and she blew it away with a puff of air from the corner of her mouth.
Carey hated this kind of moment. In the end, he knew, this was why B’Elanna Torres had been made chief engineer instead of him. Working with Torres for four years, he had learned more about line engineering than he had in the previous fifteen, and one of the most important things he had learned is that a chief has to occasionally pull answers out of thin air. He shook his head and felt his eyes go out of focus. “If we were dealing with standard Starfleet systems, I’d say eight hours. Maybe ten. This is a Torres/Seven special, though. I’d give it fourteen hours.”
“And then?”
“Then either the primaries or the secondaries blow out and the core system cascades down into failure.”
The captain smiled grimly. “Come on, Joe. Give it to me straight….”
Carey grinned in response. “That’s the only way I know how, Captain.”
Janeway nodded. “All right. Stay here. Babysit it. Read it stories if you have to, but keep the shields up. I’ll go figure out some way to get us out of here…wherever here is.”
As she strode from engineering, Carey heard Commander Chakotay summon the captain on her combadge. “Janeway here. I’m on my way, Chakotay, but we have to keep this short….” To Carey’s eyes, she looked as fresh and focused as she had when she’d strode into his inner sanctum two hours earlier. He checked his chronometer and calculated that the captain had been on duty for over twenty-four hours. And here I am feeling like I’m ready to collapse onto the deck. Pulling himself up straight in his boots, Carey went in search of techs to watch over the core system. And a cup of coffee. It was going to be a long night.
Last to arrive in the conference room, Janeway was surprised to find most of the seats occupied by Monorhans. Not only were Captain Ziv and his entire hara there, but also the two newcomers, Sem and Morsa. The rih-hara-tan rose and introduced herself briefly, but she seemed to sense the tension in the captain’s demeanor and kept her comments short and simple. “Wishing to understand as much as we can, Captain, we asked Mr. Neelix if we could listen to your discussion. We will remain silent unless one of us has to offer a comment that has a direct bearing on our situation.” When Sem said, “We will remain silent,” Janeway knew, she meant, “I will remain silent.” None of the others would speak unless their leader spoke first.
Harry Kim, Tuvok, the Doctor, and Chakotay were in the usual spots, the latter looking battered and weak from his misadventure on the shuttle deck. Janeway nodded to her first officer as she slipped into her customary spot, though she did not seat herself. If she sat, she knew, she would begin to feel precisely how tired she was. “All right,” she said. “Let’s get started. We’re working against the clock, so keep your statements brief. Harry, you first. What can you tell us about where we are?”
“We’re in a subspace fold, Captain.”
Janeway held up her finger for Harry to halt, then looked at Sem. “Do you understand what he means?”
Sem nodded. “Before you arrived, Ensign Kim delivered a brief lecture on the nature of subspace. I cannot say I understood it all, but the concept is clear: We are trapped in a layer that exists under what we consider