STAR TREK® VOYAGER GHOST OF A CHANCE™ by MARK A. GARLAND

Author:MARK A. GARLAND
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: POCKET BOOKS
Published: 1996-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Gantel ran his hands through his hair in mild exasperation. “That is rather bad news,” he said, purposely understating the gravity of the situation as he received the communication. It would be too easy to get excited and upset, and that wouldn’t accomplish anything. “Do you think their ship received the transmission?”

“There is a strong possibility they did,” Triness said sadly. “But it couldn’t have been very readable, and we were able to correct for it within minutes. I doubt a substantive exchange was made. The only thing we got from the message was information about the three moons. I for one am surprised it has taken these Federation people this long to figure that out, if indeed they have. They are a pathetic bunch, I think.”

“Always the optimist,” Gantel told her, but then, that was one reason he liked having her around. Hers was a bothersome job, in its own way, but one she didn’t seem to mind.

“They know the shuttle crew is alive, in any case.”

“We gave them reason to hope that was true,” Triness pointed out.

“Is there a chance that Voyager’s sensors could have picked up anything we wouldn’t want them picking up?”

“No,” Triness said. “The breach was along a very narrow microwave band.”

“A definite consolation. Is Daket having any luck locating the landing party? Or has he as many excuses for failing at that as he has for his failure to obtain access to the power source?”

“One of his teams has located the shuttle. We think the occupants may have been taken into a Drenarian village.”

“Leave them there, then. For now. We can destroy the village later on and be done with all of them.”

“Precisely what Daket was thinking.” Triness grinned.

Gantel sat contemplating the situation. There was nothing he could do now but wait and see what the starship commander would do next, if anything. Over the years the third director had gotten very good at waiting for favorable developments, and his patience had been rewarded often enough. He could only hope for similar results this time—preferably before First Director Shaale arrived and was forced to intervene. Better to ask for the fleet’s assistance with regard to specific plans and obvious results than to go begging for help in apparent desperation. He wanted that lovely Federation starship to be a gift to Shaale, not a burdensome military consideration, at the very least.

He looked at the strange vessel that filled the main viewscreen. Soon, he thought. Soon enough...

“At least we know they’re alive!” Chakotay said, rushing onto the bridge, then huddling over the tactical station, crowding Rollins out of the way. “Computer, repeat the last message from the away team.”

The ship’s computer complied. Chakotay listened intently, straining to make out the words that came through, words twisted and muddied by a thick ocean of interference.

“Let me see if I can clean that up a bit, Commander,” Rollins offered. Chakotay lent a hand. They played the message back again and again, adjusting the filters each time, then using the computer to enhance the results.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.