The Badlands Book One by SUSAN WRIGHT

Author:SUSAN WRIGHT
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: POCKET BOOKS
Published: 2001-02-26T05:00:00+00:00

Riker had to swallow several times to regain control. It had felt for a moment like he was being turned inside out.

“We have encountered a subspace field,” Data said, sounding like nothing had happened.

“What kind?”

“Currently unknown, sir,” Data replied.

Riker was having trouble controlling the Hawking. Intense subspace fields were known to disrupt the plasma flow. He sent the engine sequence into automatic shutdown. Other systems were shutting down, responding to the abrupt reduction in power. With only auxiliary generators, shields were at 30 percent.

“Was that a weapon of some kind?” Riker brought the Hawking to a stop, preferring to remain on the edge of the sensor shadow until they knew more. At least they were far enough away from the plasma storms to avoid being pulled in. “Where’s that other vessel?”

“Sensors are still off-line, Commander.”

“Okay, let’s get to work,” Riker said.

With both of them working, it didn’t take long to replace the damaged circuits. They gave priority to the sensors, rerouting the power from the EPS system to the banks from the auxiliary fusion generators.

When Data could finally run a full scan, he immediately announced, “The vessel is on an intercept course. It is a Cardassian Galor-class warship.”

Great, Riker thought to himself. They shouldn’t have gotten so close to the edge of the sensor shadow. “Send a coded message to the Enterprise. If you have to, relay it to the Gamma 7 outpost. Let them know what our status and location is.”

“Aye, sir.” Data added, “The Cardassian warship is dropping out of warp.”

Now Riker had to make a choice. They could dive back into the Badlands—where they would be at the mercy of the plasma storms with barely any shields and no impulse power. Or they could face down the Cardassians.

The thought of having to make an emergency landing on one of those planets inside the Badlands was enough to make up his mind.

“Open a channel to the warship,” Riker said.

Data nodded. “Frequency open.”

“This is William Riker in command of the shuttlecraft Hawking. Identify yourself.”

Riker figured he would start off strong, since they didn’t have a hope of winning a fair fight.

“I am receiving a visual response,” Data reported.

“On screen.”

The rapidly growing Cardassian warship was replaced by the image of a Cardassian—a female Cardassian. She was seated in a commander’s chair that looked like a throne. On her head was a readout unit on which she could monitor the ship’s systems.

“I am Gul Ocett, commander of the patrol in this region. Explain your presence here.”

The ridges around her eyes and down the bridge of her nose were less pronounced than those of the male Cardassian who was standing behind the commander’s chair. Riker also noticed that Gul Ocett had a blue tint in the depression in her forehead, and blue dots accented the outer ridges of her eyes.

“Explain your presence here,” Gul Ocett repeated slowly. Anger glinted in her eyes.

“The Enterprise is on a mission to survey this sector,” Riker explained. “As part of our survey, we took this shuttle into the interior of the plasma storms.

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