Unworthy - Kirsten Beyer [81]
“Communications, sensors, weapons, navigation, and the list keeps growing,” Paris replied.
“Engineering, report,” Eden called out.
After a moment of silence, B’Kar said, “I’ll add internal communications to the list, Captain.”
Eden stepped quickly toward the turbolift, but pulled herself up just short of running into the doors when they failed to open automatically.
“Turbolifts.” She turned back to the command well.
“Aye,” B’Kar assured her.
Eden had to assume that Conlon was doing all she could from her end to remedy the situation. They’d spent so much time and energy focusing on the slipstream drives and coordinating fleet movement that something smaller but equally disabling could have been missed. Unfortunately, now wasn’t exactly the optimal time for it to make its presence known.
It was also possible that this might not be an accident.
“Computer,” B’Elanna called, “mute alarm.” She couldn’t believe Miral was sleeping through the ruckus, and was certain that if it didn’t end soon, she would awaken just as cranky and edgy as her mother was at the moment.
Her concern began to grow when the computer did not reply to her command.
Tom had been giving her a quick kiss before she had even realized something was wrong. The familiar Klaxons had quickly brought her to full consciousness. The nauseating fear that had been her constant companion for the last three years reawakened. She reminded herself that whatever was happening, the crew would certainly have it under control in no time. It was impossible to even consider that Voyager might already have come under attack because of her or Miral.
Finally the alarm system wound down, though it was clear from the slow drop in pitch that it hadn’t been shut off. The system was malfunctioning. As the dim cabin lights began to flicker, B’Elanna began to calculate how many systems had to be damaged to affect emergency alerts: the main computer, environmental controls …
Her gut tightened as the list grew.
B’Elanna began to pace the cabin, her anxiety mounting with each step.
It’s not your problem .
She believed it less every time she thought it.
Hurrying to Miral’s bedside, she was gratified to see that Kula was standing his permanent vigil. Holographic systems had always run independently on Voyager . Had Kula been offline, B’Elanna couldn’t even have entertained the notion she had settled upon.
It’s not your problem, Chakotay reminded himself.
Now he just needed to make himself believe it.
He had jumped from his bed and almost reached the door to his cabin before he realized that the alarm was not meant to summon him. His natural response to the sound of a shipwide alert was so deeply ingrained that pulling himself up short was painful. He told himself over and over again that those in command would certainly resolve the crisis quickly. He reminded himself that he was where he was at this moment because of a conscious choice on his part. He tried to calm his breathing and simply block the sound from his mind. He visualized himself standing at Kathryn’s memorial, and tried to recapture the certainty he had felt when he had finally made peace with his choice to abandon Starfleet.
Nothing worked.
Adrenaline poured through his body but without the release that came from focusing that energy on a specific task, he was left in an unbearably anxious state.
He paced his cabin in darkness. The computer wasn’t responding to vocal commands. Turning to the personal display station in his cabin, he attempted to pull up a status report. The display seemed to be malfunctioning. It fluctuated between a black screen and a static-filled Starfleet insignia.
He tried to contact Seven. He was debating simply heading for her cabin when his display screen went completely black for ten full seconds and a message finally appeared.
“Meet in astrometrics .”
The littlest bit relieved, Chakotay hurried to do so.
Nancy Conlon had enjoyed more than her fair share of bad days in engineering. Compared with her days on the da Vinci, Voyager’s engine room had started to seem