Part 14 (2/2)
”Half,” said Blaze. ”Or you can remain on D'rahl and take your chances. A similar argument to the one you used on me when we made our arrangement.”
”A third,” T'grayn ventured, tenuously.
”Half,” said Blaze, emphatically. ”And be grateful I am considering it at all. I could simply leave, you know. However, for a fifty-percent fee, I will undertake to transfer all your a.s.sets to the Ferengi system and convey your miserable, fat carca.s.s anywhere you wish to go. Do we have a deal?”
T'grayn swallowed hard. ”Yes, d.a.m.n you!”
”Splendid. Call me when you're ready.”
He gave the cutoff sign and the viewscreen went blank. He turned around and saw Riker at the console.
”Ah, Stryker,” he said. ”I was told you went to sickbay. Feeling better?”
”I've got to check back with Thorn later,” Riker said. ”She couldn't find the proper medication for my back pain. She says it's a disorganized mess down there.”
”Well, I trust she will soon organize it,” Blaze replied. ”How are you coming with the weapons systems?”
”It's coming back to me,” said Riker. ”But you never told me there was a Romulan Warbird in the area, in addition to a Federation stars.h.i.+p. Nothing like a little pressure, is there?”
Blaze smiled. ”You strike me as someone who works well under pressure. Besides, both the Warbird and the Enterprise have departed for N'trahn. With any luck, they'll blow each other to pieces. If not, we should be long gone before the victor can return.”
”What if we're not? What happens then?”
”I suppose that would depend on who prevails,” said Blaze. ”But I suspect we have outlived our usefulness to Tribune Kronak. Henceforth, he will consider us a liability rather than an a.s.set. I suggest you practice, Stryker. You have six hours before I run a test simulation for you.”
”What happens if I fail the test?”
”The best gunner in his cla.s.s at the Starfleet Academy fail a simple simulation run? I would be very much surprised and disappointed. But not as disappointed as you would be, I promise you.”
”In that case, I'd better get down to Engineering and make sure the phaser bank relays and modulators are properly calibrated,” Riker said. ”And I'll want to check on the photon torpedo launchers, as well.”
”You can do that from here,” said Blaze, with a frown.
”But I won't know if I'm getting an accurate reading unless I check at the source,” said Riker. ”And LaBeau has his hands full directing the repairs.”
”True,” said Blaze, nodding. ”Very well, go ahead then. And while you're at it, tell LaBeau to prepare for a drive systems shutdown in one hour. I will want all systems installed and fully operational six hours from now.”
”Six hours?” Riker said. ”But I thought you told T'grayn-”
”Six hours, Stryker. In six hours, I want to be ready for a shakedown cruise. And twelve hours from now, I intend to be out of this sector entirely. Let's hope LaBeau is up to the task, for his sake.”
”Aye-aye, sir,” Riker said, wryly. He left the bridge and took the turbolift down to Engineering. Six hours? Blaze was dreaming. To shut down, install new drive system components, restart, and recalibrate in that length of time would be one h.e.l.l of a stretch even for a crack engineering crew such as the one Geordi had back aboard the Enterprise. For a crew of misfits such as this, it was impossible. Geordi was one h.e.l.l of a chief engineer, the best Riker had ever seen, but he wouldn't be able to do it all alone. And that wasn't their biggest problem, Riker thought. Not by a long shot.
The plan had been to get off the s.h.i.+p. But now the Enterprise was gone, and even if they could get their hands on a communicator, the signal from a personal communicator could not reach to N'trahn. Somehow, Riker thought, I've got to warn them about that Warbird. But how? If they could reach the Merchant s.p.a.cefleet Union, he could send a message from there to Starbase 37, and have them warn the Enterprise. But in the time it would take for them to effect their escape from the Glory, it might already be too late. He would have to try and risk sending a message from the s.h.i.+p. And there was no way to do that without alerting the bridge crew. To warn the Enterprise in time, he thought, we're going to have to blow our cover.
Main Engineering was a madhouse. Most of Blaze's small crew was hard at work installing the replacement components and patching up damage. ”Patching up” was the operative term, thought Riker, as he glanced around at all the activity. Any damage repair that wasn't absolutely essential to the operation of the s.h.i.+p was simply being ignored. He looked around for Geordi.
Riker was accustomed to the calm, steady efficiency of the Enterprise's engineering crew. This was another story. Everywhere he looked, Blaze's ragtag crew members were hard at work, some bare-chested with their colorful tattoos covered with a sheen of sweat, others wearing only vests, or cutoff uniform s.h.i.+rts and trousers. The noise was almost deafening. Laser welders, power drivers and riveters, and plain old hammers and wrenches added to the din of the crew members' cursing and shouting at one another. The giant Ragnar was in the center of it, herding them along, every now and then adding a kick or a swat to the back to punctuate his booming orders. Finally, Riker spotted La Forge and waved to him. Geordi made his way over to him. He looked harried and tired.
”How's it going?” Riker asked.
”Do you have to ask?” La Forge replied, with exasperation. ”If it wasn't for Ragnar, I think these guys would've killed me by now. And we've only been at it for a few hours. To top it off, I'm working with unfamiliar drive system components. But these drives are something else. The Romulans must have been planning a conversion like this for years. My guess is they were hoping to capture a Federation s.h.i.+p and use it as an infiltrator. These babies were custom-built, and whoever engineered them really knew his stuff. I'm telling you, the way they-”
”Geordi,” Riker said, leaning close to make sure that no one else could hear them, not that there was much chance of that with all the noise, ”are you actually trying to fix this thing?”
La Forge sighed, wearily. ”I've got to at least go through the motions,” he replied. ”Ragnar's pretty sharp, but I'm still not sure how much he knows. I've got a few ideas, but I can't afford to do anything to sabotage this bird and have him catch me at it. Then we'd all be in for it.”
”We're already in for it,” Riker said. ”I figured out a way we might get off this s.h.i.+p, but I just found out the Enterprise has left for N'trahn. And there's a Warbird in pursuit, with a Romulan tribune in command, no less.”
”My G.o.d,” said Geordi. ”That means they've got a.s.sault troops. What are we going to do?” Riker quickly outlined his escape plan.
Geordi nodded. ”It should work, if we can time it right,” he said.
”The trouble is, we could get down to the planet surface, but we'd still need to reach the Enterprise,” said Riker. ”And by the time we can get to the Merchant s.p.a.cefleet Union, it might already be too late.”
”Mr. LaBeau!” Ragnar shouted. ”We need you back here!”
”I'll be right there!” Geordi shouted back. He turned to Riker. ”What other options do we have?”
”Just one. We try to signal the Enterprise from here,” said Riker, grimly.
”How can we do that without blowing our cover?”
”We can't.”
Geordi stared at him, then exhaled heavily. ”Right,” he said.
”Mr. LaBeau!”
”I'm coming!” Geordi turned back to Riker. ”The Enterprise has to come first. We both know that. Do what you have to do, Commander.”
”All right, Blaze is ordering a drive systems shutdown in one hour. If we can make our move just before he gives that order, we might have a shot at pulling this thing off. Try to get to the emergency transporter just before Blaze orders the shutdown. Tell Ragnar you've got to check something in the horizontal intermix chamber, make up whatever excuse you can, and then get down there so you've got enough time to preprogram the escape coordinates. You have to be ready to transport the moment Dorn gets down there.”
”Got it. But what about you?”
”Don't wait for me. If I can, I'll use the main transporters on Deck 7, otherwise I'll send the message and move like h.e.l.l to reach Deck 17. If you've already got the transporter preprogrammed, all I'll have to do is energize and jump up on the pad. But I might not make it, and there's no point in all of us getting caught.”
”I understand,” La Forge said. ”Good luck, Commander.”
”Yeah,” said Riker. ”You, too. We're gonna need it.”
Riker went back out into the corridor. He was thinking fast. He didn't see how Blaze could get his s.h.i.+p operational within six hours, and without Geordi, he might never get it done. If they could just succeed in getting off the s.h.i.+p, he thought, Blaze would be effectively stymied. The question was, how to send a message to the Enterprise and still have time to get to the emergency transporter?
The timing would have to be perfect. He would have to allow enough lead time for Dorn to get down to Deck 14 and reach the emergency transporter facility two decks below, just aft of his present position. It shouldn't take her longer than three or four minutes to get from Deck 14 down to Deck 17, a.s.suming she moved quickly and wasn't spotted, but how much time would she need to get down to Deck 14 from Deck 7 through the Jeffries tube? If she moved fast-and didn't get caught- then twenty minutes? A half hour, to allow her enough time to get away from sickbay? The best he could do was guess, and he couldn't afford to guess wrong. He would have to allow her as much time as possible and gamble that she wouldn't be missed too soon.
Dorn would represent the X factor. If he was absent from the bridge for an hour, it shouldn't arouse any suspicion. It could easily take much longer than that to check the relays and the calibration on the phaser banks and the torpedo launchers, especially if adjustments were necessary. Geordi could easily come up with an excuse to leave Main Engineering and check on something, then get to the emergency transporter one deck below within minutes. Dorn would have to traverse the entire dorsal length of the s.h.i.+p through the Jeffries tube. Riker checked the time. Best to give her the signal now, he thought.
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