Star Trek: Vanguard: Declassified by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2011-06-27T22:00:00+00:00

2

2259

Rechecking the settings on his medical tricorder, Zeke Fisher realized it was the third time in the last ten minutes he’d done so and abruptly snapped the device closed. The tension in the room, he decided, was contagious.

From his seat on the steps of the energizer stage, Fisher glanced around at the score of khaki-shirted engineers and blue-shirted medical personnel crowding the emergency transporter, and tried to take the room’s emotional temperature. Lots of fidgeting, very little talking, the frequent snaps and clicks of field equipment being adjusted—all spoke volumes about the group’s growing impatience. At any moment, Dauntless would drop out of warp and the “go” word would come down from the bridge, sending all twenty-two members of the crisis response team scrambling for the pads. The waiting had them all on edge.

Even the ship’s new XO wasn’t immune; she paced the deck in front of the transporter console, the other members of the landing party giving her a wide berth. Tall, blond, and athletic, Commander Hallie Gannon was an imposing physical presence, but still an unknown quantity to many of the crew, having joined Dauntless just nine weeks earlier when the ship’s extensive repairs had been completed at Starbase 7. Lean and long of limb, Gannon moved like a dancer.

“Something I can help you with, Doctor?”

The question made Fisher blink, and he sheepishly realized Gannon had caught him staring. She’d stopped pacing directly in front of him, her piercing green eyes daring him to say something unrelated to ship’s business. “Martial arts,” he ventured to say.

Gannon frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Your extracurricular fitness training. I’m guessing it was some form of martial arts. Am I right?”

Her eyes narrowed. “This is that thing the captain warned me about, isn’t it?”

“Oh, he warned you about me, did he?”

Gannon smirked. “Well, not you per se . . . just your odd little preoccupation.”

“Is that what he called it? My, my. I never realized the practice of guessing a crewperson’s Academy sport was something anyone would find particularly odd.”

“It is when you consider you could find out easily enough by checking my personnel file,” Gannon said. “Or, I dunno, just asking me.”

Fisher smiled. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Before Gannon could offer a rejoinder, the room’s starboard doors parted to admit the last member of the crisis response team. Everyone not already on their feet, including Fisher, rose as Chief Engineer Shey made a beeline for the XO. The Andorian held out a data slate.

“It’s about time,” Gannon said as she accepted the slate and started to scroll through it. “The ARA certainly cut it close.”

Shey’s antennae dipped toward Gannon in agreement. “At least they came through, though I’m not sure how much the new data will help.”

“We’ll take what we can get,” Gannon answered. She raised her voice to be heard by the rest of the team. “All right, people, listen up. We still don’t know what exactly we’re beaming into, but Commander Shey has our update from the Arkenite Resources Administration, so pay close attention.

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