Kunimitsu Okano, a structural engineering specialist, lowered his upraised hand. “How recent are these files?”
“The update is eighteen months old,” Shey answered.
“The schematics in our library computer were four years old,” Okano said over the murmurs rising among the other engineers. “If the complex expanded this much in thirty months, the actual number of levels and the area they cover must be even greater by now.”
“Correct,” said Gannon. “But as we’ve still had no success in contacting the colony directly since the initial distress call, this is the best we have to work with.”
Shey said, “We do know that in addition to mining topaline, copper, and zinc, the Arkenites have begun tapping deposits of uridium. These sections are marked in orange on your maps. If it becomes necessary to enter these areas, you’ll be required to rely on hand tools. Medical team, this means absolutely no use of laser scalpels or defibrillators.”
“Why not?” asked Doctor Valdez.
“Raw uridium is unstable,” Okano offered. “It reacts explosively if exposed to an electrical charge or a particle beam.”
“That’s right,” said Shey. “Injured personnel requiring treatment with powered equipment will have to be moved out of those areas before the procedures may be carried out. No exceptions.”
“The mission hasn’t changed,” Gannon said. “We still don’t know what precipitated the distress call, the exact nature of the emergency, which areas of the settlement may be affected by it, or even what the Arkenites’ needs may be. Supplemental crisis response teams are standing by in Emergency Transporter Rooms 2, 3, and 4, and will await deployment as needed. If it becomes necessary to transfer colonists to Dauntless,we’ll be following Evacuation Protocol Alpha, unless otherwise dictated by conditions within the mining complex. Hopefully we’ll get a clearer picture once Dauntlessis able to scan the asteroid.”
Gannon didn’t bother stating the obvious. The distress call from Azha-R7a had reached Dauntlessthirty-two hours ago. Because it had broken up in mid-transmission and all attempts to reestablish contact with the colony had failed, there was a very real possibility they would arrive too late to do any—
The alarm Klaxon wailed, derailing Fisher’s train of thought. “Red alert,”came the announcement over the comm system. “All hands to battle stations. This is not a drill.”
As if a switch had been thrown, the assembled CR team started streaming toward the exits. Fisher hesitated, watching as Gannon moved behind the transporter console and toggled its gooseneck intercom. “Gannon to bridge. What’s going on?”
“Ensign Kendrick here, Commander. We’ve come out of warp two thousand klicks from the asteroid, and there’s a Klingon battle cruiser keeping station directly above the settlement. It’s theChech’Iw.”
Fisher winced. Gorkon’s ship. Of all the Klingons, why him?
“Do we know the status of the Arkenites?”
“Is that Gannon?”came another voice over the comm. “What the hell is she waiting for, an engraved invitation? Tell her to get her ass up here, pronto.”
“Commander, the captain—”
“I heard him, Lloyd. I’m on my way. Gannon out.”
Fisher followed Gannon out the door. “Mind if I tag along?”
She spared him a glance without slowing her brisk march to the turbolift. “Don’t you need to prep sickbay?”
“My people know the drill,” Fisher said as they entered the lift. He held up his hand to block Doctor Valdez, who ran to catch up before the doors closed. “Nonstop to the bridge, Soledad. Take the next one.” As the doors hissed shut, Gannon called out their destination to the lift’s voice interface. Fisher felt the elevator car rotate on its vertical axis and then glide forward. “Besides,” the doctor continued, “sickbay was already on high alert for the rescue mission. There’s little else to do unless we start getting wounded.”
Gannon let out a long breath. “Let’s hope your department has a slow day.”
“Amen to that, Commander,” Fisher said. The lift’s forward motion slowed to a stop, then it started to ascend.
“This’ll be the first time the captain’s faced Gorkon since Xarant,” Gannon said.
Fisher kept his eyes facing the doors. “That’s true,” he said neutrally, uncomfortably certain he knew where Gannon was headed with this. The engagement at Xarant five months ago had torn up Dauntlesspretty badly, and cost the lives of eighteen members of the crew, including Gannon’s predecessor, Commander Rajiv Mehta. For all the survivors, memories of Xarant were still raw, but especially so for Dauntless’s captain.
“Is he past it, do you think?” Gannon asked.
Fisher didn’t offer an answer, and to his relief, the commander didn’t wait for one when the lift stopped again and opened onto the bridge. Gannon stepped out ahead of him and headed straight for the command well. Fisher hung back, stopping at the portside aft railing. At starboard aft stood Lieutenant Terence Sadler, ship’s chief of security, whose intense blue-gray eyes regarded the doctor’s presence on the bridge with only slight disapproval before he turned his attention back to the situation at hand.
Privileges of seniority, Terry,Fisher thought. That, and being the captain’s close personal friend for close to fifteen years.
In the center of the bridge, Captain Diego Reyes leaned forward in the command chair, his gaze fixed on the viewscreen where the dark, vaguely liver-shaped rock of Azha-R7a was partially eclipsed by the distinctive droop-winged silhouette of a Klingon warship. “Any change in their energy readings?” Reyes asked.
At sciences, Anya Brzezinski stared into the hooded viewer that fed her sensor telemetry. “No spikes. Weapons remain cold. Shields are still down.” She turned to face the captain. “Sir, they may not know we’re here.”
“They know,” Reyes said with certainty. “We came in too hard and fast for them to miss our entrance.” He looked up at Gannon, who stood just to the right of the center seat. “Nice of you to join us, Commander.”
“Sorry for the delay, sir,” Gannon said. “It won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t,” Reyes advised her. “When I call for battle stations, I expect my XO’s first response to be to head for the bridge, not second-guess the alert. Are we clear?”
Ouch. That bad already, Diego?
“Aye, sir,” Gannon answered, her pale cheeks flushing against the public rebuke. “Readings from the colony?” she called out to Brzezinski.
“Evidence of a recent explosion in one of the subsurface sectors,” the science officer said. “A number of the aboveground structures have been compromised.”
“Life signs?”
“I’m reading approximately seven hundred humanoids, mostly Arkenites. Eighty-five of them are Klingons.”
“An occupation force,” Sadler said.
“They damn well aren’t there for the coffee,” Reyes agreed. “Talk to me, Mister Kendrick.”
Seated to Fisher’s right, Lloyd Kendrick swiveled away from his console while making an adjustment to his earpiece. “No response from the colony to our hails, Captain. I’m unable to pick up any internal comm traffic. The Chech’Iwis dark to us as well.”
Reyes pushed out of his chair and crossed his arms as he stood watching the Klingon ship. “Tactical assessment, Lieutenant Sadler?” he said over his shoulder.
“We collected considerable intel on the D7-class battle cruiser during our last encounter with the Chech’Iw,sir,” Sadler said confidently, his Oxford enunciation always making an interesting contrast to the unique lilt of Reyes’s own voice, which was at times tinged with both Castellano and a subtle Texas twang. “Commander Shey and I put that knowledge to good use during the repairs and in subsequent combat drills. There’s no doubt in my mind that we have the advantage.”