The Returned, Part I by Peter David

Author:Peter David [David, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science-Fiction, Star Trek
Amazon: B00URY5CYI
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2015-07-06T04:00:00+00:00

Excalibur

i.

SOLETA STEPPED BACK from the shield generators, taking one more measured look at the connectors that had linked her cloaking device to the ship’s main deflector array. Burgoyne and Chief Engineer Craig Mitchell stood on either side of her, silently studying the work. “I’m reasonably sure we’ve got it,” said Mitchell.

Burgoyne turned and looked at him. “Reasonably?”

“Yes, reasonably,” Mitchell affirmed, sounding mildly irritated that Burgoyne had questioned it. “We’re talking about some major adaptations here, Burgy. The cloaking device was created to envelop the Spectre, a fine vessel, but considerably smaller than a starship. We need to make sure we’ve got the energy requirements synched up, because if we don’t, we could blow out the cloaking device and that’ll be that.”

“He’s right,” said Soleta. “I would estimate that the likelihood of successfully making the transfer to be at approximately seventy-three percent.”

“Wonderful,” muttered Burgoyne, who was clearly not thrilled with what s/he was hearing. “Well, there’s no time like the present to test it out.”

“How are we going to be able to be sure that it’s working?” asked Soleta. “There’s no ship’s instrumentation to confirm its efficacy.”

“The simplest and oldest-fashioned way.” Mitchell tapped his badge. “Beth? You in position?”

“I am, sir.”

“Is that Ensign Beth?” asked a slightly surprised Soleta. “Where is she?”

“She’s outside the ship in a shuttlecraft. This test is going to be very simple. If it works, she’ll see the ship vanish. If it doesn’t work, she won’t.”

“That actually makes a good deal of sense,” said Soleta.

“All right,” said Burgoyne, clapping hir hands together briskly. “Let’s get started.”

Mitchell stepped forward to the jury-rigged control panel. “Let’s make some magic,” he said, closed his eyes, and tapped a switch.

There was a brief humming of energy as the cloaking device flared to life. The circuitry around it appeared to be conducting energy from it to the shields, but it was impossible to tell whether it was having the desired effect.

“Holy—!” came a startled exclamation from Mitchell’s combadge.

“Beth, what do you see?” asked Mitchell.

“Nothing. It worked. One moment you were there, and the next you disappeared. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it. Or hadn’t not seen it, I suppose.”

“Run full sensor scans.”

“Already doing it. Not only have I lost visual contact with you, but I have no sensor track of you either. I’m receiving the same readings as if you were not there at all.”

“Stay on station and continue recording. Let’s let it run for a minute or two.”

They allowed it to run for five, just to make sure. They monitored every station in engineering and they were unable to find any sort of blowback or power surge anywhere in the ship. There was no trace of anything, and finally Burgoyne said, “Okay, I’m satisfied. Shut off the cloaking device.”

Soleta did so and a moment later Ensign Beth confirmed that the ship had reappeared. She sounded extremely impressed.

“Burgoyne to Captain Calhoun,” said Burgy, touching hir badge.

“Calhoun here. Go ahead, Burgy.”

“The cloaking shield is a success. We’re waiting for Ensign Beth to dock and then we’re prepared to head toward the wormhole.

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