Part 4 (2/2)
The older man shrugged. ”I don't make the news, I just report it. Who knows why the people in charge do what they do? Five'll get you ten, even they don't know half the time.”
Spiker c.o.c.ked his head to one side, pursed his lips, then nodded. ”Yeah, that one I buy.”
Abruptly, Hedrick turned away toward a blinking monitor. ”Hey, you picking this up?” Suddenly his accent was less defined.
Turning toward his own panel, Spiker punched up the same screen. ”Yeah, got it. Priority report Switching to speakers.”
”This is Priority Channel from Starbase 10. We've lost all sensor and comm contact with the U.S.S. Dezago, eleven pars off Gamma Hydra Section two. Requesting search and support, Gamma Hydra, surrounding sectors. Starfleet, please respond.”
Spiker shook his head. ”d.a.m.n weak message. Lot of distortion.”
”Not meant for us,” Hedrick said. ”I'm routing it to San Fran and Olympus Mons.”
”Why Mars, too?”
”Buncha bra.s.s on Mars. You don't need to listen to barroom gossip, but you can at least read internal fleet memos. Bra.s.s meeting will wanna know.”
”Yeah. Maybe this is something big.”
Hedrick chuckled. ”You're finally getting' it, kid. And I reckon big won't even cast a shadow on this one.”
Chapter Six.
U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701E Sector 001 In orbit, Sol IV [Mars]
”This can't be right. Why would there be nuclear radiation?” Commander Will Riker handed the padd back to the yeoman with a shake of his head. ”Have Sciences check their findings. I seriously doubt Mars has a nuclear pile somewhere.”
Data turned from the ops station. ”Actually, sir, I believe it does.”
Pus.h.i.+ng himself from the command chair, Riker took a few steps forward as he motioned for the yeoman to wait ”Come again, Mr. Data?”
Dabbing a few commands at his station before he swiveled completely away from it, Data continued. ”Dilithium re-crystallization experiments.”
Looking back for a moment, Riker shared a glance with Deanna Troi, then turned his gaze back to Data. ”That's possible?”
”Recently decla.s.sified Starfleet files, as well as contemporary experiments, have confirmed it, but I believe they are working on a less complicated method,” Data said.
Riker let out a soft chuckle. ”Learn something new every day.”
”Indeed.” As he turned back toward his console, Data nodded and his brows drew up.
”Question is, should we be registering anything from it?”
Data seemed to consider the question thoughtfully as he silently turned. ”No. I do not believe that we should. Such radiation should be contained.”
There was a feeling Riker sometimes got. Not so drastic as a sinking feeling in the stomach or his neck hair standing on end. This was just a little gut-twitch. Something that made his eyes squint a little, as if there was something to listen for that he couldn't quite hear.
Whether he ignored such feelings depended on the situation. This time, he didn't want to disregard it.
”Data, look into this.”
”Aye, sir.”
Riker turned away, stroking his currently beardless chin. ”Captain wanted me to contact him if anything came up.”
”Is something 'up' with this?” Deanna asked.
”Not sure.” Riker lowered himself into the command chair. ”But when the captain is in all-day meetings like this, a bad transporter circuit is big enough to interrupt him.”
”Ah, of course.” Deanna nodded and smiled that knowing smile.
”Then again,” Riker added, returning her smile, ”last time there were meetings to attend, he sent me and wouldn't do the same. We'll sit on this for a little longer.”
Picard glanced at the timepiece to the left of the podium for the forty-third time. Admiral Dulroy, a.k.a. Admiral Dullard, had been talking for ninety-six minutes, the last fifty of which Picard had been praying the man would use some sort of punctuation. My command for a comma, he thought.
No such luck. Riker was to have called with something of false import at least thirty minutes ago. No luck there, either. Picard would see that his first officer suffered through a few Starfleet staff meetings himself.
Had the admirals that called the meeting been talking about the current HQ buzz, Picard would have been interested. The Enterprise had been the first to witness the dead zones in s.p.a.ce. Since then, there'd been more such incidences. And well outside of the Romulan Neutral Zone. In fact, each such happening had been closer and closer to the heart of Federation s.p.a.ce. It was possible Picard had been wrong about the Romulans not testing a weapon. And perhaps Picard had failed their test badly enough that the Romulans had decided to be increasingly bold. Of course, the nagging question was: why would they want to break a beneficial peace?
As Dulroy glanced his way through another volume of his speech, and Picard realized he'd not been listening for some time, finally the captain heard his communicator chirp.
He tapped it perhaps a bit too anxiously. ”Picard here. Stand by.” Rising, the captain bowed slightly, and whispered to those closest to him. ”Urgent from my s.h.i.+p. Apologize to the admiralty for me.”
One of the captains next to him nodded. Another chuckled lightly, probably wis.h.i.+ng his first officer would make an urgent comm call about a bad batch of replicated coffee.
Once out in the hallway, Picard started a stride toward one of the HQ transporter rooms. ”I'm hoping you have a good excuse for leaving me in there an extra hour, Number One.”
”/ do. We have a real alert situation, Captain.”
That brought Picard up short for a moment. Then he quickened his gait. ”Go.”
”There's a nuclear reactor near Vanes Marineris. It's heading for a... what did you call it, Data?”
”Meltdown, sir.”
”Meltdown, Captain,” Riker continued. ”No power to their coolant systems, no power of any kind. Only way we knew about it was they have a battery-powered backup comm system. It's on such a low frequency, the local authorities wouldn't even have heard it.”
”You've alerted Vanes Marineris?”
”Aye, sir, but if power isn't restored, if enough pressure builds in the reactor core-”
”I understand. Beam down a-”
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