Star Trek: The Next Generation: Starfleet Academy #14: Deceptions by Bobbi JG Weiss & David Cody Weiss

Author:Bobbi JG Weiss & David Cody Weiss [Weiss, Bobbi JG & Weiss, David Cody]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0-671-01723-3
Publisher: Minstrel Paperback
Published: 1998-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

The cadets nodded. Lukas fished around in Bravo’s trunk and found two heavy-duty palm beacons. Fantico took one and told Lukas to keep the other. “You’ll bring up the rear, Mr. Whitlock.”

Zhu and T’Pira had no problem fitting through the cave’s narrow opening, but Fantico, Lukas, and Data had to squeeze through inch by inch. Lukas scraped his head and shoulders when he got stuck and had to jerk himself through, and the back of Data’s uniform tore when it caught on a sharp rock, but the cadets eventually made it inside.

The passageway widened once they moved past the opening. Lukas and Fantico lit their palm beacons to reveal its steep downward slope. Automatically lowering her voice to a whisper in the gloom, Fantico said, “Let’s see where this goes. Data, take point.” She handed him her palm beacon.

Taking the light, Data moved forward. For several minutes they walked in silence. The thin air grew cold as they descended, and the silence became so complete that Data thought he could actually hear the tiny internal hummings of his own systems.

It wasn’t his systems, it was voices, far ahead. He switched off his palm beacon and stopped.

“Data, what—?”

Data waved his hand, cutting Fantico short. He peered into the darkness, then tipped his head slightly, turning his aural receptors up as far as they could go. “I hear voices,” he whispered, “and there is a light ahead.”

Lukas turned his beacon down to a soft glow. Data kept his turned off. Cautiously the group crept forward until the others could see dim flickerings on the walls ahead. A few more steps and the passageway made a sharp turn to open onto a large cavern. Data pulled back, motioning the other cadets to stay hidden.

Only Data had seen the three Dyrondites in the cavern, their tall white forms eerily lit by yellowish lantern light. The android didn’t dare speak or the Dyrondites might hear him. Instead he slowly, silently turned his upper torso so that his companions could see his face. Dy-ron-dites, he mouthed as clearly as he could.

Everybody’s eyes bugged.

“The carriers will load the cargo by hand,” one of the Dyrondites said. At the sound of the voice so close and clear, the cadets automatically flattened themselves against the cave wall. “We cannot risk beaming. The dematerialization process might release the batteries’ energy. The Khemtk will therefore land in the northern mountains, undetected by the camp without the satellite sensors, and send a surface transport here. Sziid, you will bring two batteries here early tomorrow, while the others consume first foods.”

“Only two?” said another voice, Pon Dbeq, Data guessed. “We have so many.”

“More than that will be missed,” said the first voice. It must have been that of Pon Shaab. “The Ruling House is content to have two batteries and the smaller tsidi to study and make initial strike plans. We will provide them with more in the next shipment.”

“How will the ship make it here a second time undetected?” Pen Sziid asked. “We cannot disable the satellite again without causing suspicion.

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