Foundations (Book 3) by Dayton Ward; Kevin Dilmore

Author:Dayton Ward; Kevin Dilmore
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction:Star Trek
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2002-01-30T07:00:00+00:00

Left foot down. Right foot up. Right foot down. Left foot up…

Talev kept pace silently as she made her way along the exterior of the Chandley’s port warp nacelle, peeling and lifting her magnetic-soled boots from the hull as she and Commander al-Khaled maneuvered toward the ship’s leaking nacelle. Between them they carried a section of plating that, once secured over the hull rupture, would be large enough to contain the plasma leak.

She listened to the echoes of her own breathing in the bulbous helmet of her environmental suit. That she and al-Khaled were wearing an older model of suit, which had been retired from active service several years ago and apparently after the Chandley’s decommissioning, only added to her dismay at coming outside in the first place. The suits did not possess maneuvering thrusters, forcing the two engineers to be dependent on magnetic boots to grip the hull and safety tethers feeding out from the open hatchway at the base of the nacelle’s support strut.

Though she did not suffer from claustrophobia or vertigo, as was the case with some people when they donned an environmental suit, Talev had never relished the idea of working outside a starship. She had dreaded the training classes at the Academy, always wishing for them to end as quickly as possible. Her assignments postgraduation had never called for her to work in such conditions, and she had gotten used to the idea that the chances of her being called to do so were minimal at best.

And yet, here I am. Wonderful.

They walked in silence for the most part, crossing the distance to the hull rupture where she could see the swirling cloud of gas leaking from the breach. It would be dangerous working near the released plasma, even with the low-level welding torch that al-Khaled had brought along for the task. She had disagreed with his and Scott’s decision not to stop the plasma flow while they worked on the damaged nacelle, but she understood the reasoning: Doing so would have resulted in the shutdown of the warp drive, which would then require a cold restart. That would take at least another thirty minutes to accomplish, time they could not be sure the Lutralians would grant them. With that in mind, she and al-Khaled were faced with working in close proximity to the dangerous plasma as it vented freely from the damaged hull.

“How are you doing, Lieutenant?” al-Khaled asked through their commlink.

She nodded in reply before remembering that the commander could not see that. “I have been better, if you must know.”

Al-Khaled laughed. “A sense of humor. I love it. This really isn’t that hard once you get a rhythm down, Lieutenant. Just shuffle along and don’t hurry. You’re doing fine.” Another few moments passed as they came upon the repair site, with al-Khaled directing where to step and how to angle the hull plate.

As they maneuvered the plate into the proper position, al-Khaled said, “You know, this reminds me of why I got into the S.

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.