29 Avatar 2 by S.D. Perry

Author:S.D. Perry [Perry, S.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, High Tech
ISBN: 9780743423311
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2001-06-07T23:00:00+00:00

11

With Geordi and Data leading the maintenance teams and the captain in the station's wardroom, talking to Starfleet, Will Riker really had nothing to do on the bridge but stand around as CO of a communications noncom and an engineering tech. He was impatient to take his own leave, looking forward to winding down, still not recovered from the news about the Aldebaran. He stared at the blank main screen, waiting for the captain to return.

The Enterprise was officially inactive, the warp cores undergoing a definitive diagnostic, the subspace arrays still offline. The captain hadn't liked it any more than Will did, the nearly complete power down with the wormhole so nearby, but the I.K.S. Tcha'voth, Vor'cha -class, was still standing guard, and repairs had to be made.

Particularly if we're going to join up with this

task force to the Gamma Quadrant. Riker hadn't liked that much, either; an armed investigation into the Gamma Quadrant seemed like a monumentally foolish idea. No one knew how the Dominion was taking their defeat, and it seemed to him that moving aggressively into the Gamma Quadrant to confront them after three silent months wasn't going to make things less tense.

And there's the Jem'Hadar's story. Picard had told him about it upon his return to the Enterprise, and had gone to talk to Admiral Ross about the news. Deanna had just left to see who to talk to about offering assistance in an assessment. They were all keeping their fingers crossed that the Jem'Hadar was telling the truth.

The captain seemed to be in full agreement about the task force, after he heard Will's report on the update from Starfleet. Although he hadn't given a final opin ion, wanting to hear the Federation's decision directly from Ross, Picard had clearly stated that he was leaning toward Kira's view of things, much the same as Will's. A few rogue ships on a suicide run had gotten lucky, turning a postwar skirmish into an interstellar incident. Such things needed to be handled carefully.

He was still thinking about it when Mr. Truke spoke up, his voice high with urgency, the fur on the back of his neck ruffling.

"Sir, I'm receiving multiple reports from crew on the statio n, that DS9 has just gone to red alert," he said, and Riker was up and moving, going to stand behind communications, watching the flatscreen for details. The crew members on the station would already

be on their way back to the ship to sign in, standard procedure for an emergency while on leave.

Behind them, the door to the bridge opened and the captain walked in, finishing a call on his combadge. Although he wasn't speaking loudly, his voice resonated, his commanding tone at full force.

". . . than thos e we discussed, and inform her that we'll be standing by for anything else she needs," Picard said, striding toward his chair. "Thank you, Commander, Picard out."

The captain didn't sit down, turning to Riker instead. "That was Commander Vaughn. The Jem'Hadar soldier killed two guards and has escaped, the station is at red alert.

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