Unworthy - Kirsten Beyer [29]
“And you’re about to tell me why that’s a problem?” Eden asked.
“Benamite is incredibly rare. I’m actually surprised we managed to find enough to equip the fleet for this mission in the first place. All our tests indicated that the life of an average crystal in use for slipstream propulsion should be a year or more, obviously depending upon a few critical variables, including duration of sustained slipstream flight. We’ve just executed our longest flight to date and though the crystals remained stable, I’m now detecting numerous unanticipated microfractures. At this rate, we will have to replace the existing crystals in forty-five days at the most.”
Eden did a little math in her head and quickly realized where Conlon was going with this.
“We’ll exhaust our supplies in three months? We’re supposed to be out here for at least three years,” Eden said.
“And unless we can find an alternate source of benamite or find a way to extend the life of our current reserves …”
“Have you double-checked these findings with the other fleet vessels? Is there any chance this is a problem unique to Voyager?”
“I’m still waiting for confirmation from Demeter, Curie, and Quirinal, but the other vessels are all reporting similar findings. I’m sorry, Captain.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Eden replied, “get busy and find me another solution.”
“Yes, Captain.” Conlon nodded. “I’ve already assigned a team to go over our last flight and look for any anomalies that might explain the fractures. There’s a slight chance this is a one-time problem, but I doubt it. I’ve also spoken with all of the other fleet chief engineers and we’re set to meet at the end of this shift and compare notes. I know they’re every bit as eager as I am to find a way to fix this.”
“Captain Farkas is about to take the Quirinal, Planck, and Demeter about forty thousand light-years from our present position, so almost twice the distance we just covered, to follow up on a discovery the Aventine made several months ago. Is that mission going to be delayed by this?” Eden asked.
“No,” Conlon replied.
“Voyager, Hawking, and Galen are scheduled to hit the Delta quadrant tomorrow. Any reason to delay that?”
“We’re not going to be able to fix this overnight,” Conlon replied. “We need to monitor it closely and look for alternatives, bearing in mind that if we can’t resolve it, or if the crystals start showing more serious fractures under stress, we’ll need to consider altering our long-range plans.”
“Understood. Thanks, Nancy,” Eden said, nodding. “Keep me posted.”
“Aye, Captain,” Conlon said.
Eden then hurried to join the meeting of the other fleet captains already in progress in the conference room. She assumed they had also probably just heard this news from their respective chief engineers. She didn’t think any of them would be pleased, least of all Admiral Batiste.
Lasren said Chakotay wasn’t in uniform. What do you think that means?
Harry directed the message to Tom’s station below him and waited. A few moments later Tom’s reply appeared.
I don’t know.
Harry hurriedly entered: Why are they still on the Galen ? It’s been more than a day since they arrived. Is Seven okay?
Tom kept neutral and he answered: I don’t know.
Frustrated, Kim resigned himself to watching the view of the Achilles on the viewscreen as it dropped the first of dozens of subspace relays that would be seeded throughout the area and along the route Voyager would be traveling shortly to ensure that long-range communications with the Alpha quadrant would be maintained while the fleet was in all but the most distant fringes of the Delta quadrant. The Esquiline and Curie would shadow them as they worked and regrouped with the rest of the fleet in three weeks.
At ops, Lasren provided intermittent confirmations that the relays were functioning properly while Harry ran continuous scans to ensure that the fleet would not be disturbed by any potentially hostile parties. The predictable regular curves he was reading didn’t suggest any