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  #18: Foundations Book 2 by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

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  #20: Enigma Ship by J. Steven York & Christina F. York

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  Chapter

  1

  Stardate 53675.5

  Isn't this the point where something usually goes wrong?

  Sitting at his station on the bridge of the U.S.S. da Vinci, Kieran Duffy could not shake the thought, the same one that tended to plague him whenever he undertook a demanding and risky assignment. He had performed many such tasks during his career as an engineer, but it had been fortunate happenstance that only a small number of those had entailed risk to the lives of either himself or people around him.

  This, however, was most definitely one of those small number of times.

  "Commander Gomez," Carol Abramowitz called out from the communications station. "They've responded to our message and signal that they're ready for us to begin."

  From where she stood near the helm console, Commander Sonya Gomez nodded in approval to the ship's cultural liaison, who often handled the responsibilities of the communications officer when conversing with newly encountered alien species. "Thanks, Carol." Turning her attention to the helm, she asked, "Ensign Rusconi, what's our range?"

  "Twenty thousand kilometers and closing, Commander."

  On the main viewscreen, the image of the runaway ship they were pursuing stood out in sharp relief against the starfield surrounding it. The da Vinci had encountered the alien vessel only a few hours earlier, its abrupt appearance on the ship's sensors having disrupted the otherwise quiet calm of gamma shift. They had established contact with the vessel and its crew, members of a previously unknown race called the Senuta, and learned that their ship had suffered massive damage inflicted by an ion storm.

  The storm had disrupted the Senuta vessel's ion-based engines, fusing the propulsion system. With the crew unable to slow the ship down, it had been traveling undeterred at high warp speed for weeks until the da Vinci had detected its distress call.

  Captain David Gold had assigned Duffy the arduous task of figuring out a way to slow the alien craft. With that directive, Duffy had spent more than two hours searching through the ship's library computer, coming away with a wealth of information on the effects of ion storms on mechanical equipment. However, a casual conversation with his friend and shipmate Fabian Stevens had given him a last bit of needed inspiration to devise a solution.

  Deciding to use the Senuta's own engine design to his advantage, Duffy planned to slow the vessel by using the da Vinci's deflector dish, projecting ions charged to varying levels directly into the alien ship's intake manifolds. With any luck, the cascading reaction of the ion stream's differing intensities would act as a gradual braking mechanism, reducing the craft's velocity in a controlled and, hopefully, safe manner.

  It looks good on the computer screen, anyway.

  His finger was hovering over the controls on the panel before him. After all of his preparations, the only thing he could do was wait for Gomez to give him the order to proceed. Only then would they find out if this outlandish scheme of his would work or not.

  "Mr. Duffy, engage the deflector beam."

  Here we go, Duffy told himself as his finger pressed the control.

  Though his computer simulations had told him that the effects of the varying streams of ions would be fast acting, he was still unprepared for what happened next.

  "Reading a fluctuation in their ion drive, Duff," Fabian Stevens reported from the science station. "And a disruption in their warp field." Smiling, he added, "Looks like this crazy idea of yours is working."

  From his command chair, Captain Gold said, "Stevens, isn't it a bit early to be inflating the lieutenant commander's ego?"

  The witty response that had already formed on Duffy's tongue vanished as an alarm sounded at his station. Turning his attention back to his console, it took only seconds for him to determine the cause of the problem.

  "It's the ion stream," he reported, his fingers stabbing at controls as he spoke. "Their warp field is collapsing faster than I wanted it to." He shook his head in mounting frustration. "The damage to their ion drive must be more extensive than we thought. Damn it! We're tearing them out of subspace. I'm disengaging the deflector."

  On the main viewer, the effects of the ion stream were plainly visible even as it dissipated in response to Duffy's commands. The Senuta ship was shuddering and bucking wildly as its engines struggled against the unexpected assault.

  What the hell did I do wrong?

  There would be plenty of time later to figure out where he had so obviously screwed up, however. Right now there were more important things that needed his attention, such as how to keep the Senuta vessel from tearing itself apart.

  "Their speed is dropping radically," he reported, his eyes glued to the console before him.

  Still seated in his command chair and possessing an outward calm that Duffy envied, especially now, Gold called out, "Rusconi, match their speed. Stay with them."

  "Fabian," Gomez said as she jumped from the command well and made her way to the science station, "get me a damage report."

  "Already on it," Stevens replied, all business once more as he worked. "There's some hull plate buckling, and I'm detecting internal space frame damage." Shaking his head, he added, "They're not built for that kind of punishment."

  "What about a tractor beam?" Gomez asked.
"We could use it to steady them."

  Duffy's fingers were already entering the necessary commands, moving as if free of his conscious control. "Yes! That just might do the trick!"

  From his own station, Stevens frowned. "Maybe, but with the damage they've already suffered, it might just make things worse, Duff."

  Nodding, Duffy replied, "I know. As small as that ship is, a half-strength tractor should still do the job while being gentle about it." He made no effort to hide the doubt in his voice, concentrating instead on entering commands to make the proper adjustments. That completed, he turned back to Gomez. "It's ready."

  "Activate tractor beam."

  All eyes on the bridge turned to the main viewer as the da Vinci's tractor beam reached out across the void and enveloped the Senuta vessel. The alien ship's violent gyrations continued for a moment before beginning to subside under the beam's influence.

  "It's working," Duffy said, remembering to breathe as the ship's tumbling was arrested. Only a few more seconds passed before the craft was once again traveling on a steady course.

  Congratulations, Duffy told himself with a sigh of relief. But you shouldn't have had to do it in the first place.

  Rising from the center seat, Gold nodded in approval. "Excellent work, people. Open a channel to the Senuta ship, and let's see how bad off our new friends really are over there."

  It didn't take long for Abramowitz to respond, however. "They're not answering, Captain."

  "There could be damage to their communications system," Stevens said.

  Gold said, "Well, since we were planning to beam over anyway, now seems as good a time as any." Looking to Gomez, he asked, "What do you say, Gomez?"

  Nodding, Gomez replied, "Duffy and his team will have their hands full with the engines, and I'd like Soloman to take a look at their computer. Maybe he can figure out why it won't let the Senuta engineers in. Bart will be helpful over there, too, since we'll need to communicate with their computer techs. I'd like Dr. Lense to beam over and check out the medical situation."

  "Good," Gold said. "Proceed at your own discretion." To the rest of the bridge crew he added, "It looks as though we've still got plenty of work ahead of us, people, so let's snap to it."

  Personnel set about their various tasks, and at his own station Duffy began composing the lists of equipment and people he would need to transport with him to the alien ship when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Gold, hands clasped behind his back, regarding him with the fatherly air that the captain affected so very well.

  "I'm sensing a bit of tension with you, Duffy," Gold said. "Anything you'd like to share?" Though the question was offered in a gentle manner, Duffy knew from experience that the captain would not settle for him declining the offer to say what was on his mind.

  "I screwed up, Captain," he said simply. "I missed something in my calculations and I could have destroyed that ship."

  Gold frowned. "But you didn't, and you managed to overcome the error and create a solution that salvaged the operation. I also suspect that once this is all over, you'll spend however long it takes to find what it was you overlooked. Am I correct?"

  A sheepish expression formed on Duffy's face. "Yes, sir."

  "I don't expect my people to be perfect, Duffy," Gold said calmly, "but I do expect them to give their best effort. I've seen nothing to indicate that you've done anything less than that, on this or any other occasion. I also expect my people to learn from their mistakes and use that knowledge to better themselves. I've seen everything to indicate that you will do so in this instance, as well. But right now there's a ship full of people over there who need you to focus on the problem at hand, so my advice to you is to concentrate on that."

  Somewhat relieved by the captain's words, Duffy nodded. "Understood, Captain. Thank you."

  Gold smiled and his eyes narrowed as he added, "Besides, look on the bright side. Once you get over there, you'll have a whole new audience for that Tellarite story of yours."

  "Aye, it sounds as though ye've got things under control, Captain."

  From the main viewer in the da Vinci's conference lounge, Captain Montgomery Scott regarded Gold, Gomez, Abramowitz, and the captain of the Senuta ship, Daltren.

  Basically humanoid in appearance, Daltren and Nirsrose, who had been introduced as the Senuta ship's second in command, possessed physiques and stature comparable to that of Soloman and other Bynars. Daltren stood no more than 1.5 meters tall, while Nirsrose was slightly shorter. Both Senuta were slight of build, with pale skin and hair that contrasted sharply with the dark, loose-fitting clothing they wore. Gomez had found herself drawn almost immediately to their eyes. They were colored an iridescent blue, conveying intelligence and intense curiosity that became evident the moment the Senuta began talking.

  The questions were seemingly endless, with the Senuta inquiring about anything they happened to see as they moved through the ship. Their enthusiasm was infectious, prompting Domenica Corsi to express her customary concern about providing too much information to these all-but-unknown aliens. Gomez, however, had convinced her to relent in her desire to have a security team present in the conference lounge while the Senuta were there.

  "Commander Gomez and her people are handling all of the hard work," Gold said, smiling affably in the direction of the viewer from his seat at the head of the conference table. The viewer itself had been segmented into two sections. One half displayed the wizened visage of Captain Scott, while the other featured Duffy, who with several members of the S.C.E. team had transported to the Senuta ship more than an hour before. "I just get to sit back and take all the credit," the captain continued. "Judging by the initial reports we've received from the away team, they should have everything repaired in less than a day."

  "That's right," Duffy said. "The engines themselves are actually in pretty good shape. There's some structural damage along with those systems taken out by the storm. We've got Senuta engineers helping us to identify the functionality of certain components so we can fashion replacements for the parts they don't have. There's plenty of work to be done and it'll take some time, but nothing too complex, sir."

  Gomez noted a renewed confidence in Duffy's voice, a quality that had not been there when he had first beamed over to the Senuta ship. She knew that he still hadn't forgiven himself for whatever error he may have made while putting his plan to decelerate the alien vessel into motion. She had offered her own encouragement to him prior to his departure, but if there was one thing that she knew about Kieran Duffy, it was that he would continue to feel guilty until he alone had resolved the question over what had gone wrong. That sense of responsibility and obligation was one of the qualities she loved about Kieran, of that she was sure.

  It was also one of those things that could make her want to smack him silly.

  "Sounds good, Commander," she said. "Keep us informed of your progress." On the viewer, Duffy nodded and severed his connection, leaving only the image of Captain Scott.

  "What about our computer, Captain?" Daltren asked. "It controls nearly every system aboard our ship. Many of those same systems are beyond our ability to control without its assistance. The engineering area of our vessel is especially dependent on a number of integrated systems that are fully automated."

  "Soloman is making some progress," Gomez reported. "But we may have to come up with some sort of alternative in the short term, at least until my people can learn the ins and outs of your computer system." Faulwell and Soloman had reported that they could be busy for quite a while, as two of the three Senuta crewmembers who had been killed during the ion storm were the ones assigned to oversee the ship's computer. None of the other Senuta possessed the necessary knowledge to really dig in and understand the operating system at a purely technical level, so Gomez knew that her people had their work cut out for them.

  "I appreciate the effort your crew is expending on our behalf, Captain," Daltren said. "You must understand, ours is a society that places a
great deal of respect and trust in computers. On our world, they autonomously oversee countless routine and mundane tasks, completely removing the need for our people to handle or even to think about them."

  Leaning forward in her chair, Abramowitz added, "Mr. Daltren tells me that on his planet, all forms of public transportation, even most orbital and interplanetary travel, are run almost exclusively via automated computer control. It's been that way for generations, with nearly flawless performance and safety records. Their society isn't as reliant on computers as, say, the Bynars, but it is similar to Earth's dependence on them during their equivalent level of technology at the start of the twenty-third century. At the rate they're progressing, however, they could rival the Bynars in a century or so."

  "Quite impressive, if ye ask me," Scott said. "However, I'd be remiss if I dinna point out that in my experience, such dependence on automation isn't always a good thing."

  "You speak wisely, Captain," Daltren said. "For all the wonders our computers are capable of, the one aboard my ship could not have foreseen what happened to us, nor could it have predicted that the specialists charged with its care would be killed." Pausing a moment, he cast a downward glance to the conference table, and Gomez saw the pain at the loss of his companions in the Senuta's eyes. Shaking his head, he continued. "I sincerely hope that unfortunate instances such as this, rare though they may be, will serve to remind my people of the potential folly for entrusting ourselves so completely to the power of the machines."

  Gold nodded soberly. "We've seen our fair share of societies that got themselves into trouble by relying too much on computers. I can certainly sympathize with your sentiments, Daltren."

  Gomez agreed as well. "We've encountered two in the past few months alone." The chaos that had ensued when Ganitriul, the mammoth computer system that had overseen for millennia every facet of life on the planet Eerlik, began to malfunction remained a particularly powerful memory.

  "I appreciate your insight," the Senuta captain replied. "But you must understand that my people have relied on automation for so long that I fear we may forever be enraptured by its spell. Adopting any kind of philosophy that lessened that dependence would undoubtedly be met with stark resistance."