Star Trek: Corp of Engineers - 059 - Blackout by Phaedra M. Weldon

Author:Phaedra M. Weldon [Weldon, Phaedra M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure
ISBN: 9781416520436
Amazon: B003DRO5P8
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 2005-12-23T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter

7

“How is it possible that Bartholomew came up with a defense theory? Was it something they found in the ruins?” Tev stood just inside the front glass doors of the reactor plant. The sky overhead had muted from brilliant blue to shades of lavender and yellow as the sun set over the horizon. The temperature had cooled considerably since mid-afternoon.

Stevens had wanted to use one of the portable reactors to power at least one of the building’s cooling units, but Tev had been against such an action. It would have been a useless expenditure of power.

Gold’s voice filtered through the combadge on Tev’s uniform. “He said Jewlan had suspected it ever since the blackout. I can’t believe we never found it before this.”

Tev blanched. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of a planetwide dampening field that irked him. It was that with all his wasted brilliance they hadn’t seen the answer from the start. They had been looking at the situation from the standpoint of coincidence. Tev suspected the dampening field keeping things running at a minimum had to be because of a fault in the Asarion’s system and not that of an exterior caustic anomaly.

“The dampening field—if that is what it truly is, though I highly doubt the word of a linguist—isn’t operating on a normal modulation,” Tev said. “Most dampening fields work on a continual, low-emission power output. Single modulation. The ones running on the grounds at Starfleet Academy put out enough power to nullify phaser weapons.”

Stevens emerged from the reactor’s inner doors at that moment, wiping his brow across his forehead. Vinx stepped out just behind him, yawning. Sweat darkened the collars on both men’s uniforms. Stevens whistled at the setting sun. “Beautiful.”

“Is that Stevens?” Gold asked.

Stevens tapped his combadge. “Here, Captain. Did Tev tell you this dampening field, or whatever it is, runs in pulses, very much like small EMP bursts?”

“I was getting to that point,” the Tellarite said.

The captain said, “But it’s not a continual output?”

Stevens shook his head. “No, and the pulses aren’t evenly spaced. It’s more like the thing waits till something rebuilds power and then it zaps it again.”

“So it has a sophisticated sensor array somewhere.”

Tev spoke up. “Yes, sir. But I’ve been unable to pinpoint where these sensors are. If I—we—can’t find the source of the field, perhaps we can damage a sensor or rewrite its prime directive to shut down the dampening field instead of empower it.”

“Or maybe we’ll stumble on a booby-trap and blow the whole thing up.” Stevens sighed. “It’s annoying to get the reactor back online only to have it zapped again. What’s even more disturbing is what Soloman just discovered; the pulses are gaining in strength.”

“Gaining strength? The EMPs?”

“Yes. Another fifteen hours or so and these small fusion generators won’t even work.”

“Is there any threat to the da Vinci?”

“Not sure at this point. The range isn’t extending, only the strength of the pulses sent to keep the planet in a lingering blackout. What’s got me stumped is the purpose.

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