by John S. Drew
Shira turned back to face the S.C.E. team. “I am being informed that the weather control grid is back online.” As she said this, the lights in the landing bay winked on. A hum filled the chamber. “As is this landing area. The portable generators you provided are working nicely.” Shira looked from Gomez to Corsi and muttered, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Gomez replied. “They should do the trick until we determine the source of the energy drain.”
The lights, as quickly as they winked on, flashed off. Gomez looked at Soloman. The Bynar pulled a tricorder out and began a scan. The device gave off the usual whine for several seconds before it too began to die out.
“Not the tricorder too,” Corsi said.
“It is worse than we feared,” Soloman replied. He pointed toward a large window looking out into the sky. “I managed to detect an approaching aircraft.” Moving rapidly toward the landing area was a small flyer.
“We’ve got to warn them off,” Gomez said.
Milan shook his head. “From the looks of it, it’s out of control.”
Gomez tapped her communicator, but wasn’t greeted with its familiar chirp of activation. “Gomez to da Vinci.” There was no response.
“Quick!” Gomez ran toward the landing bay control room. “We’ve got to open those bay doors. Domenica, Pattie, I want you two to clear everyone in the surrounding area. Let’s minimize the potential for casualties.”
“Right,” Corsi replied as she moved off with the Nasat.
Shira and Milan followed after Gomez and Soloman.
“You should leave the area too,” Gomez said as they climbed the circular stairs to the control room, a glass-enclosed structure that rested just above the landing bay.
“This is my responsibility,” Shira said coolly, “as much as it has been made yours.”
“Fine.” Gomez didn’t have time to argue.
They entered the control room and Gomez settled herself into a chair facing the main operations panel. Soloman settled to her right, activating the scanners and getting a lock on the craft.
“Thank goodness this is still working,” Gomez said, wincing as the lights began to dim. “Why did I have to jinx us?”
“Open the bay doors!” Shira shouted. “Quickly!”
Milan leaned over Gomez and tapped in the command. The four looked out as the huge metallic barriers began to part with a loud groan. They parted about five meters before coming to an abrupt halt.
“We’ve lost all power,” Gomez said.
“We’ve got to stop them from landing!” Shira’s voice was becoming hysterical.
Gomez watched as the flyer drew near, not exactly sure how they could accomplish that in time.
Chapter
8
Vance Hawkins stopped and grumbled quietly as he removed his shoe and dumped out what seemed to be the entire contents of the beach he was treading on. He looked up at his partner, Andrew Angelopoulos. The young man chuckled and ran his hand through his thick, dark mane of hair. Angelopoulos was one of seven new transfers to security after Galvan VI, and since reporting, he had turned many a female and a few male heads with his striking good looks.
“Chief, why didn’t you wear sandals?” Angelopoulos asked.
Hawkins looked up at him, shaking his head. “These shoes are comfortable.”
“Practical, was the term I think you used.” Andrew smiled. “There’s no such thing as a practical shoe on a beach.”
Hawkins gestured toward a series of nearby caves. “Don’t lose sight of our friends.”
“As if I could.” The young man looked up at the sky and placed a hand to his forehead to block out the glare. “They stick out like a sore thumb and look just about as miserable on the beach as you do.”
“I’m not a beach person,” Hawkins said. “Simple as that.”
Angelopoulos looked down at Hawkins and smiled. The two were quite the contrast in study. Where Hawkins was dark-skinned, with a head as smooth as a marble table surface, Angelopoulos was pale with a big thatch of black hair.
“So what do you think of life on the da Vinci so far?” Hawkins asked, standing up and giving each foot a final shake. “I’ll bet you’d never have thought you’d be following a group of Gorn on the beaches of Risa, dressed”—Hawkins flailed his arms about—“in this getup.” Both he and Angelopoulos were sporting a more colorful array of clothing than either was used to wearing. Their shirts were a combination of bright primary colors mixed together in what was to Hawkins, an appalling fashion.
“It helps us to blend in, sir.”
“Risan fashion leaves a lot to be desired,” Hawkins grumbled. “And don’t call me sir.”
“Yes, sir,” Angelopoulos said with a cheeky grin. Then he gestured toward their quarry. “They’re moving out. Whatever it was that interested them didn’t hold their attention long.”
“They’re looking for something. Make a quick scan of the area they were standing in as we pass.”
“Right.”
As they trudged through the sand, Angelopoulos kept the conversation going. Hawkins quietly approved; better not to draw suspicion from the Gorn, make them think they’re tourists. “I’m enjoying it, sir. I like working with you.”
“And Commander Corsi?” Hawkins asked, looking forward to hearing the awkward reply.
“She takes some getting used to, sir,” Andrew said without hesitation, which surprised Hawkins. “She certainly knows what she’s doing, but I don’t know anyone who has such a brusque style.”
Hawkins’s face darkened slightly. “That’s your commanding officer you’re talking about, mister.”
“Yes, sir. You asked me my opinion and I gave it.” He stopped and then smiled. “You thought I was going to come up with some nervous reply or maybe lie to you. I’m sorry, sir. I can’t do that. I respect the commander, it’s part of the reason why I requested the transfer, but I feel she needn’t be such a hard character.”
Hawkins grinned. “No, I was making sure you didn’t come up with some nervous reply or lie to me. A unit like this depends on trust and honesty, especially one with as many new recruits as we’ve got now.” Hawkins stopped as the Gorn reached the entrance to a cave. “Wait a minute. They’re scanning the area.”
Andrew pulled out his tricorder and tapped a series of commands. “Hang on. I’m trying to lock into their scanning unit.”
“Be careful not to let them detect you.”
“Not a problem, sir. This was how I always knew where my fellow classmates were during field exercises when I was in training. I would develop a map of the entire area and then lock on to each person’s tricorder as they scanned the immediate area.”
“Very smart,” Hawkins noted with some admiration. “They would only be scanning the immediate area as they didn’t want to be detected.”
“Yeah, but I would just link up to their tricorder and read their findings. This takes a little more finesse, but I think I can—” The tricorder chirped an alarm. “Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh?” Hawkins repeated. “What the hell does that mean?” He watched as the Gorn looked in their direction. For such large creatures, they had quickly pulled out their weapons.
“It means we’ve been spotted.” Andrew gave Hawkins a rough shove that knocked him to the ground before diving himself. Twin streams of phased energy whizzed past them, striking a tree nearby. A shower of wood chips fell upon the two. Hawkins pulled out his own phaser and made a quick scan of the area, looking for weaknesses in the Gorn’s position to exploit.
“Humans!” The Gorn’s voice trailed off in a hiss. “Surrender now and we can save you the trouble of dying in defeat!”
“Listen to him,” Hawkins muttered. “You’d think they had this in the bag.”
“Don’t they?” Angelopoulos sounded nervous.
Hawkins snorted. “Kid, after what I went through on Teneb, a couple of pissed-off Gorn are a walk in the park.”
Angelopoulos did have a point, though:
The Gorn’s position was pretty solid. They had the cover of a number of large boulders that lined the cave’s entrance and the cave itself to retreat into if necessary. A thin smile broke Hawkins’s stern look.
“What are you thinking?” Angelopoulos asked worriedly as he saw the smile turn devious.
“I want you to lay down some rapid weapons fire, scattered, but centered around them.” Another volley of shots whizzed past them. “We’ll draw them toward the cave. When they’re in position, fire at the roof of the entrance. Got it?”
Angelopoulos nodded.
“We will not fire another warning shot, humans,” the Gorn announced. “Enter the clearing.”
“Go!” Hawkins said.
With his best attempt at a primal scream, Angelopoulos launched himself from his crouched position and began a rapid-fire stream at the Gorn. Hawkins took the more secure route, moving from tree to tree, getting off a series of bursts each time.
Angelopoulos’s disruptor was set for wide dispersal, which caused more area damage, but with less physical results. But the strategy appeared to be working as the Gorn began to back up toward the cave.
Hawkins lined up his shot of the entrance, allowing Angelopoulos to finish the herding. Hawkins never saw the shot that struck him in the shoulder, which lifted him off the ground slightly and deposited him on his rear end with a loud thud.
“Chief!” Angelopoulos shouted, stopping his barrage. He turned and ran toward Hawkins.
“No!” Hawkins shouted a warning as one of the Gorn stepped out and drew a bead on Angelopoulos.
Hawkins fumbled to lift his disruptor, but wasn’t fast enough. He could see the trigger finger of the Gorn twitch on the weapon.
Nothing happened.
Angelopoulos dropped to the ground and took aim with his weapon.
Hawkins tried to return fire but met with the same result as the Gorn. He looked at his disruptor and saw that the power cell was drained.
“Angelopoulos?” Hawkins looked over at the guard, who shook his head.
“I’m out, too.”
“And so are they,” Hawkins said. The three Gorn lumbered toward the two. “We’ve got to get out of here. Give me a hand up.” He tapped his combadge. “Hawkins to da Vinci.”
Angelopoulos tried his combadge as well and found it useless.
“Come on, move. We can outrun them.”
“But, sir,” Angelopoulos said, pointing toward their adversaries. The three Gorn had turned and were now moving in the opposite direction. One stopped at the mouth of the cave and stood guard there, while the other two continued along the path leading down and away. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. But we’ve got to get word to Commander Gomez. Look, I’ll slow you down right now. This shoulder stings like a son of a bitch.”
“You have to have it looked at,” Angelopoulos said.
Hawkins shook his head. “It’s all right. The shot grazed me, but it hurts to move. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on our friends. You get to Commander Gomez and report on the situation. I want a team here to investigate whatever has the Gorn’s attention.”
“Aye, sir,” Angelopoulos said with a reassuring smile. “I’ll get back here as quickly as possible.” He turned and jogged off without another word.
Hawkins settled onto a nearby rock and gently touched the throbbing wound. It was still warm to the touch. He shook his head in frustration and looked upward. “Why me?”
A low rumble filled the air and the skies above thickened with dark clouds.
“Now what?” Hawkins asked as a gust of wind began to pick up. “Great. Just great.”
Chapter
9
P8 Blue watched as the humans wiped away the sweat from their foreheads. She understood why humans had sweat glands, but right at the moment, she was grateful that Nasats didn’t have them. Then again, this sweltering heat and humidity felt just like home to her.
Pattie and the other members of the S.C.E. away team had been attempting to open the large landing bay doors by force, with no success. The lack of proper ventilation and air-conditioning made the task all the more difficult and frustrating.
“Not like I’m trying to be all doom and gloom,” Corsi said, “but why hasn’t that thing crashed yet?”
“The craft is light enough that it can glide on air currents for a short period of time,” Shira said. “Thankfully, the pilot has determined that the doors are not open and its communications systems are most likely rendered useless, so it’s entered a holding pattern.”
“And with the winds picking up the way they are,” Gomez added, “I can’t imagine it can stay in such a pattern for long.”
“So why not just land somewhere else?” Corsi asked.
“There isn’t anywhere safe to land,” Shira said. “This is a heavily populated area. Besides, it won’t be able to land, it will crash.”
“So it’ll crash in here?”
Shira nodded solemnly. “But at least we can minimize the damage.”
“We can do more than that,” Gomez said. Corsi smiled at Gomez’s confidence.
“Not possible,” Milan said. “The emergency landing systems won’t engage without power.”
“What kind of systems are there?” Gomez asked.
Shira gestured upward to a series of pipes that ran along the walls and ceilings. “The foam in these pipes serves two purposes. It acts as a flame retardant in case of fire and as a cushion if released into the chamber.”
“Are there any manual releases?” Gomez asked.
“Yes, but they’re all on the main piping. We can’t reach them because we have no antigravity units working.”
“Leave that to me,” Pattie said as she glanced up and studied the latticework of pipes. “I think I can climb up there.” She walked over to the wall and began to feel around the surface.
“Be careful,” Gomez said.
Pattie turned and began her ascent of the wall, using a number of nooks and crags on the surface to aid her climb. She looked down at the others watching her from below. The ceiling of the landing bay was a good thirty feet high. Pattie felt a wave of dizziness as she took a moment to catch her breath.
On her homeworld, making such climbs through the densely populated towering trees would be second nature to her. But then there was the netting that covered the lower regions to catch her should she fall.
There was no net here.
From the ground, Corsi rubbed the base of her neck and tilted her head to either side, producing a soft cracking sound. Gomez looked at her with a grin. Corsi returned it. “What can I tell you? I get a stiff neck very easily.”
“Some might say you’re always stiff-necked,” Gomez deadpanned.
Corsi closed her eyes and tilted her head back and forth even farther, producing a louder crack this time. Gomez shuddered slightly but continued to smile. She was glad to see herself and Corsi falling back into old patterns. The wounds from Galvan VI still left scars, but they were healing and not hurting as much anymore. Like any scar, they still itched now and then, but life was going on.
Shira interrupted Gomez’s thoughts. “Commander, we’re going to need to leave the area when the foam is released. It will retard the atmosphere.”
“Yes, of course—the foam you use removes the air so the fire can die out.”
“Exactly.”
“But what about the door? We’ve got to get it open,” Corsi said.
As if in answer to her question or unspoken prayer, two Gorn entered the landing bay. Corsi’s first response was to reach for her phaser, but she hesitated, no doubt realizing that whatever killed the power in the bay must surely have drained the weapon. She took a defensive step forward in front of the two, creating a human barrier.
The Gorn stopped their advance some ten feet away from the others. One of them looked upward and watched as Pattie made her way to the roof.
“I am Kazar,” the lead Gorn said simply. “Why is that insect climbing the
walls?”
Gomez stepped in front of Corsi. She could feel the security officer stiffen at the move, but Gomez knew she had to make it clear to the Gorn she was the leader. “I am Commander Gomez of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. Why are you here?”
“You did not answer my question, Commander Gomez,” Kazar hissed. “We do not have time to waste with trivial inquiries on your part. This landing area has suffered a power loss. According to our sources, the energy drain stretches from the lagoon and stops here. How long ago did this occur?”
Gomez sized up the large reptilian alien. He stood at least a foot and a half over her. Despite the distance between the two, she could feel his heated breath as he spoke. Along with his energy weapon, he carried a jeweled dagger, which remained sheathed.
“I’m afraid we’re not in a position to discuss this situation with you at the moment,” Gomez replied evenly. With effort, she met the stare of the Gorn.
“More Starfleet secrecy.” Kazar let out a growl, which surprised even Corsi. “We do not care for your secrets, Starfleet! We want answers and we want them now!”
Gomez placed a hand on Corsi’s wrist as she felt the security chief step forward. When Corsi settled, Gomez continued. “I didn’t say we wouldn’t tell you. I said we’re not in a position to tell you. You see, I think we can help each other out here.”
Kazar’s eyes squinted in suspicion. “How?”
She pointed toward the landing bay doors. “Those doors need to be opened. We can’t open them. I know of the strength of the Gorn people. With the two of you, it should be easy to pull them open.”
“And you will share your information with us?” Kazar asked slowly.
“Yes. But you have to hurry.”
The Gorn turned to his comrade. They didn’t speak a word, but rather offered each other silent nods. Kazar turned back to Gomez. “We accept your proposal.”
Gomez clapped her hands. “Great. Now, when you’ve managed to open the door, you’ll need to find cover. We’ve got a flyer making an emergency landing. This entire chamber is going to be filled with flame retardant foam. It’s going to make breathing very difficult.”