1 Gauntlet by Michael Jan Friedman

Author:Michael Jan Friedman [Friedman, Michael Jan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure, High Tech, Star Trek fiction, Mystery & Detective
ISBN: 9780743427920
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2002-04-29T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

PICARD HAD NEVER SEEN a Lazarus star in person. And he wasn't unusual in that respect, considering the scarcity of such stars within the bounds of Federation territory.

Nonetheless, he had studied the phenomenon long and hard since their departure from Starbase 32. He had memorized the sequence of events in the life of a Lazarus star-its unremarkable creation, its placid red-giant phase, the violent scattering of heavy elements and blinding luminosity that accompanied its seemingly suicidal supernova, and the almost miraculous birth of a new red giant in the midst of its predecessor's ample debris.

Every recorded image that Picard had seen of a Lazarus star showed it to be gauzy and colorless, the reborn sun at its heart all but occluded by the cast-off material floating around it. But as Picard watched Beta Barritus loom on his forward viewscreen, he saw that it wasn't gauzy and colorless at all.

It was a thing of sheer, unmitigated beauty-and a remarkably savage beauty at that.

The star itself was the fiery red eye of a cosmic god, glowering menacingly at the universe around it. It swam in a glittering sea of nested gases, a mammoth iridescence that boasted strands of emerald and lapis and amber.

And in the midst of that iridescence, hidden by that glittering sea, was the freebooter called the White Wolf.

Nor was there any question that he was in there. Gerda Asmund had identified his ion trail-the same sort of trail that Picard's predecessors had discovered and recorded in their sensor logs-and there was no corresponding trail to indicate the pirate's departure.

He was in there, all right. And at long last, Picard had his chance to fish the fellow out.

"Kind of takes your breath away," Ben Zoma remarked.

The captain forgot the White Wolf for the moment and again fixed his attention on the spectacle before him. "It certainly does, Number One."

Of course, Beta Barritus's beauty didn't make it any less dangerous to them. Those ionized gases surrounding it had the potential to wreak havoc with their mission.

He turned to Idun. "Reduce speed to half impulse."

"Aye, sir," said his helm officer.

"Shields at full," Picard directed.

"Shields at full," Vigo confirmed.

Slowly but surely, the system filled the viewscreen with its splendor, blotting out all evidence of more distant stars. Its outermost filaments of color blurred as the Stargazer came closer and finally pierced them, sending a chill up Picard's spine.

It's not the first time you've ever entered a solar system, he chastised himself. On the other hand, it was the first time he had entered this one.

"Lots of debris, sir," Gerda reported, "just as we were warned. The pieces are too small to see, but they're there."

Picard wasn't surprised any more than Gerda was. His predecessors' reports had all mentioned the system's debris shell-a by-product of the star's initial, explosive demise, which had destroyed whatever planets originally circled it.

"The friction is causing an increase in hull temperature," Idun noted. She glanced over her shoulder at Picard. "It's as if we're entering a Class-M atmosphere."

"See if you can find a less debris-ridden entry path," the captain told her.

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