Part 2 (1/2)
Tasha stepped down off the horseshoe to stand next to Worf. ”I agree, sir. We fight or try to escape.”
Picard held up a hand to them and turned to Troi. ”Did you sense anything, Commander?”
She shook her head. ”Its mind is much too powerful, sir.” She paused and then added, ”Recommend we avoid contact.”
”Interesting,” Picard said. ”Very interesting.”
He considered their remarks, turning the situation over in his mind. There was something they could try. It might not work, but it was a fair chance they could take Q by surprise. He looked up at his people. ”All right. From this moment, no station aboard, repeat no station, for any reason will make use of signals, transmission or intercom. Confine all communications to hardcopy only. My personal comm line will be reserved as the only active signals line in use. Let's see if we can take them by surprise. Lieutenant Worf, inform engineering to make ready for maximum acceleration and we'll find out what a Galaxy-cla.s.s stars.h.i.+p can do.”
”Aye, sir.”
Worf was already on his way to the forward turbolift as Picard turned to Data. ”Records search, Data.
Results of attempting battle configuration at high warp speeds.”
”I beg your pardon, sir?” Data seemed honestly confused.
”You heard me. It's theoretically possible. I want to know if anyone has succeeded-or will we have to be the first?”
The android looked unhappy with the question, but he considered it, seeming to draw in on himself as he searched his internal memory banks. Then he looked at Picard impa.s.sively. ”It is inadvisable at any warp speed, sir.”
”Search theoretical. What are the odds?”
Data did another quick scan and lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug. ”It is possible, sir. But there is no error margin. Therefore I cannot compute the odds.”
”I see. Thank you, Data.” Picard considered his idea again. It was dangerous-much more dangerous than he liked. Certainly it was much too much of a risk to ask the crew's families to accept. But... they were already at risk from Q-A rock and a hard place. That was the dilemma.
Picard sighed as he examined the plan's faults and virtues one more time. It was an argument he knew he couldn't win, because he was arguing against himself. Logically, he knew what he had to do.
Emotionally... that was another question.
Picard made a choice. He nodded to himself and stood. He raised his voice and said, ”Now hear this!”
The crew turned toward him, expectantly. He waited until there was silence on the bridge and all eyes were on him. ”Using printout only, notify all decks to prepare for maximum acceleration. Maximum, you're ent.i.tled to know, means we'll be pus.h.i.+ng our engines well past their safety limits. Our hope is to surprise whatever that thing is out there and try to outrun it. Our only other option would be to put our tail between our legs and return to Earth as they demand.”
Lt. Worf could hurry without running. He had a stride that was near-legendary among those who had tried to keep up with him. He strode into the huge Engineering section of the Enterprise and paused, looking around for the officer in charge.
The great injector core dominated the center of the two-story area, driving through it from floor to ceiling. This was the heart of the Enterprise, as the bridge was her brain. Streams of matter were injected from the top of the core, antimatter from the bottom, to converge on the dilithium crystal, nature's wondrous gift which made warp speed possible.
Despite Klingon advances in interstellar drive technology, Worf still stood in awe of Starfleet's warp drive. It had more sustaining power and thrust than any other drive system in the combined Federation/ Klingon Empire s.p.a.ce and had been one of the key bargaining chips in the negotiations that had made them allies twenty-five years before. Klingon strategists often speculated on what would have happened had the two great powers not united. Indeed, it was a common theme of tactical games at home. Generally, the a.s.sessment was that the alliance of Federation and Empire had proven beneficial for both-and in some very surprising ways. But still, Worf liked to imagine what the Klingon Empire could have been had they had access to engines like these twenty-five years ago. It was a pleasant, if slightly illicit, thought.
Chief Engineer Argyle stepped in beside him quietly. ”Help you, Lieutenant?”
”Captain's orders. Make ready for 'max.'”
Argyle's eyes flickered and he frowned. ”Maximum?”
”All the way. On the signal 'engage.'”
The chief engineer looked unhappy. He resented anyone abusing his engines. ”He'd better have a d.a.m.n good reason.”
”We've encountered an alien force. We don't know what it is-what they are. Captain's going to see what they're made of.”
”Uh uh. Captain's going to see what we're made of.” Argyle turned toward his engineers working at their consoles. ”All right. Engineering alert. Stand by. We're powering up to go to maximum warp in one jump.”
Several of the engineering crew snapped around to stare at him in surprise and alarm, but he kept his face blank and noncommital. Going to maximum in one jump was hard on the s.h.i.+p, hard on the engines; but it could be done. They had done it in drill, they had done it in simulation. They had even once done it as part of the s.h.i.+p's shakedown.
Still... it wasn't considered a good idea. There was too much likelihood of phase blowout. But the crew knew their jobs, so Argyle wasn't worried about that. What was alarming was the situation that forced them to do it. ”Engagement will be on captain's signal from the bridge. Blake, I'll want a maximum charge on the reserve cells.”
Worf grinned wickedly and headed back to the main bridge. As the doors to Engineering hissed closed behind him, he heard the low-pitched whine of standard warp power ascending quickly to a high shriek.
Picard stood behind Data at the conn, studying the alien grid that glittered on the viewscreen.
Whichever way they turned their viewer cameras, the grid barred their way-except behind them. Picard was pinning his hopes on what his ancient sporting forebears would have called an ”end run.”
Worf burst back onto the bridge from the forward turbolift, half running toward his operations station. ”Engine Room standing by, sir.”
”Thank you, Worf. Data?”
”The board is green, Captain.”
The captain stepped back to his command chair and settled easily into it. ”Reverse heading, 180 mark 2. Stand by.” His eyes flicked over the bridge and the crew poised in readiness at their various stations. He tapped the communication tab on his left-hand panel. ”Engage!” The entire bridge shuddered under a scream of power as the warp engines leapt to their full strength.
Picard imagined for just the briefest of instants that he could feel the acceleration as the Enterprise leapt forward. Of course, he could not. He'd have been smeared across the back wall if the inertial gravitational adjusters had not been in sync with the warp drive. Nonetheless, Picard imagined that he could feel the acceleration. Every s.h.i.+p captain did.
The Enterprise shot forward, held in control like a tightly reined horse under Data's navigation, and then-peeled off in a stomach-churning sharp left turn! They pa.s.sed perilously close to the s.h.i.+mmering alien grid, but then they were beyond it and still pus.h.i.+ng their warp envelope upward.
Still under Data's tight control, the stars.h.i.+p angled her nose beyond the grid and raced free. Behind them, the grid wavered briefly, its glow dimming. It suddenly shrank in size, coalescing into a brightly colored spinning shape that swiftly settled into grim pursuit of the Enterprise.
Picard ignored the steadily rising thrum of the engines and listened to his officers as they reported. ”Warp nine point two,” Worf reported, grinning. He didn't approve of running from any fight-but he did understand the value of a ”strategic withdrawal.” Particularly a strategic withdrawal that demonstrated both strength and cleverness. After all, didn't the Earthers have a saying? ”He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day?” Or was it, ”-lives to run another day?” Never mind.
”Heading, three-five-one, mark eleven, sir,” Data reported from the conn.
”Steady on that.”
Tasha spoke up from the Weapons and Tactical console behind Picard. ”The hostile is giving chase, sir. Accelerating fast.”
Worf stirred at his console and studied his screens. ”We are now at warp nine point three, sir.”
”Thank you. Let me know when we pa.s.s the red line.”
”We are pa.s.sing it now at warp nine point three five, sir.”
”Thank you, Lieutenant. Inform engineering to maintain maximum power.”
”Aye, sir.”
”Continue accelerating,” Picard said evenly. He looked over at Troi and half-smiled. ”Counselor, at this point I'm open to guesses about what we've just met. What did you feel about it?”
She bowed her head a moment, her dark hair shadowing her face as she pondered, a.n.a.lyzing the sensations she had felt when Q was on the bridge. ”It... it felt like something beyond what we'd consider a 'life form.'”