Star Trek The Next Generation - 02 - The Peacekeepers by Star Trek

Author:Star Trek
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780671736538
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 1990-12-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“CARPELLI! DID YOU get them?” Picard’s voice sliced through the chaos as the Enterprise continued to shudder in the aftermath of the massive antimatter explosion.

For a long moment, as the flare of the almost overloaded shields faded and the ship regained its stability, there was no answer, only the insistent alarms and the ship’s own responses, more rapid and more effective than any human’s could ever be.

And then, instead of Ensign Carpelli replying from the main transporter room, Counselor Troi, unclenching her fingers from where they had bitten into the arms of her chair, said: “They are gone.”

Picard spun toward her. “What’s that, Counselor?”

“They are gone,” she repeated. “I felt them go, an instant before the explosion.”

“Go? They were killed, you mean?”

She shook her head. “I do not know, but I do not think so. There was something else, a moment after the explosion. I cannot be certain—the emotions of the crew were almost blinding me—but I believe I sensed Commander Riker.”

“But surely you would recognize—”

“I would, and I did, but there was something different, something distorted.” She shook her head. “I cannot describe it any better, Captain.”

“But you feel they were alive after the explosion?”

“I do.”

“Ensign Carpelli!” Picard snapped, turning from the Counselor. “Respond!”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Carpelli’s subdued voice came back finally. “I couldn’t get them back after they were transported to those new coordinates. There simply wasn’t time. The interference—”

Picard cut him off. “Lieutenant Worf, you had them on the sensors. What happened? Were they relayed out of there before the explosion?”

“Reviewing the readings now, sir,” Worf said, leaning over the science stations. “It’s impossible to be certain, sir. Their life-form readings appear to have vanished almost a half second before the explosion, but if they were still in transit when the transporter was destroyed—”

“I know, Lieutenant. They may have been transmitted, but not received.” Picard was unable to totally suppress a shiver.

“Yes, sir,” Worf rumbled. “That is a possibility.”

“But it is also a possibility that they were successfully transported to the same place as Lieutenant LaForge and Commander Data. Is there anything within sensor range?”

“Nothing that wasn’t there before, sir, except for the energy and particles of the exploded derelict.”

“Very well.” Abruptly Picard turned toward the tactical station. “Lieutenant Brindle, try to raise them on their subspace transceivers.”

“Already trying, sir. No response as yet.”

“Keep trying. What range—”

“Impossible to predict precisely, sir. With the irregularities in subspace—”

“A guess, then, Mr. Brindle,” Picard snapped.

“A hundred parsecs at the very least, sir, possibly many times that, depending on the local subspace configuration.

“Thank you, Mr. Brindle,” Picard acknowledged, then turned abruptly to the conn. “Ensign Gawelski, lay in a course that will take us to every star system within five parsecs in as short a time as possible. We’re beginning another search. It will continue until either we find them or we contact them via subspace.”

“Aye, sir, plotting course now.”

“Counselor Troi, if you sense anything further, anything at all, no matter how vague or uncertain or distorted, that could possibly be connected with Commander Riker—or Lieutenant Yar—let me know instantly.

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