Star Trek: That Which Divides (30 page)

“I am indeed,” Vathrael replied. “It seems you’ve found a way to improve our communications.”

The subcommander said, “
You can thank Mylas for that.
A wizard, that one. He found a way of channeling power from the impulse engines to the communications array in order to strengthen our signal output and ability to receive. I do not pretend to understand a fraction of what he explained to me
.”

Buoyed by the knowledge that her first officer and the rest of her crew aboard the
Nevathu
were continuing to work at supporting her even while she was off the ship, Vathrael said, “Pass on my compliments to Mylas and his engineers.”

“
Our sensors are only just able to detect your life readings, Commander
,” Sirad said. “
We also register the presence of the humans. What are your orders?
”

“I want you to lead another team to our location,” Vathrael replied. “If the humans are facing the same predicament that challenged us, they may be unable to contact their ship for assistance. For the moment, we may well have the advantage.”

There was a pause, and when Sirad spoke again, there was a noticeable air of uncertainty in his voice. “
The advantage to do what, Commander?
”

Contemplating the enormity of the task she was about to undertake and realizing that her orders and her duty provided her with no alternative, Vathrael said, “To take this facility, or to prevent the humans from doing the same, by whatever means necessary.”

Holding the pair of protective goggles to his face, John Kyle thought himself prepared for what was going to happen next, but he still flinched when the laser drill fired. The massive tool spat forth its beam of harsh, blue-white energy, carving with ease into the side of the
Huang Zhong
’s fractured hull. The accompanying whine of power emanating from the drill was enough to make Kyle wince in momentary discomfort and to scold himself for not remembering to don hearing protection before setting off the implement’s firing sequence.

And you just know Doctor McCoy will be on you about that
.

Standing behind the drill as it continued to fire, Kyle studied the unit’s interface panel, noting the progress of the sequence he had programmed into its fire control system. It would take only seconds to cut through the targeted section of the
Huang Zhong
’s outer hull, and once it was out of the way the salvage party would be one step closer to having access to the ship’s cargo space. He waited until the drill ceased operation, hearing the residual hum of the beam emitter before removing the goggles from his face. Looking up, Kyle saw Bill Hadley and Lieutenant Marshall Elliot moving into position with handheld antigrav supports, securing them to the section of hull plating he had just cut.
Working together, the two engineers were able to make short work of maneuvering the hull section out of the way, exposing the darkened interior of the wrecked ship.

“Wow,” said Christine Rideout as she walked up behind him. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of those.” The
Huang Zhong
’s chief engineer ran her hand along the laser’s control panel, pausing as she studied the rest of the unit. “This one’s not standard issue, though, is it? Looks to me like someone repurposed an old-style laser cannon.”

Kyle smiled as he reached up to pat the rearmost of the drill’s two spherical prefiring chambers. “Good eye, Master Chief.” The chambers, mounted in sequence atop a movable and extendable support arm, were connected by a series of coils tasked with focusing the drill’s beam and were linked to a short, wide barrel that was the tool’s emitter. The entire apparatus sat atop a squat gray base into which was embedded the fire control panel and the unit’s circular targeting scanner. The interface was but one of the many upgrades the drill had undergone since its conversion. “This thing was taking up space in one of the lower-level cargo holds. According to Scotty—sorry, Commander Scott—it hadn’t even been used since before he came aboard as chief engineer. As the story goes, the
Enterprise
was surveying an uninhabited planet that was loaded with dilithium, and the geology team wanted to take some core samples. The laser drills they had weren’t powerful enough to punch through the bedrock to get at the dilithium.”

“And so your Commander Scott converted this behemoth into a supersized mining drill,” Rideout said, nodding in appreciation as she reached up to wipe her forehead with the back of her hand. “Nice.” The smudge of dirt or soot or whatever that had found its way to her face was now a
streak, matching the one on her left cheek. Her dark green jumpsuit also was dirty, and there was a tear in the right leg just below her knee, which had occurred when the engineer was maneuvering through one of the
Huang Zhong
’s debris-littered corridors.

Shrugging, Kyle said, “He had to downgrade the power emitters and other systems, to make it more like a tool and less like a weapon capable of boring a hole straight to the center of a planet. It works well enough for various odd jobs.”

“I guess so,” Rideout replied. “Other than pictures in old technical manuals, I’ve never even seen one of these things outside of the Academy museum.”

“They were always more trouble than they were worth,” Kyle said. “When they’re disassembled, you can’t move the larger components without antigravs. Once they were set up, that’s where they stayed, which isn’t always the most practical idea, depending on the situation. Besides, if whatever you need to shoot at is too big for a phaser rifle, then you call up to your ship and let them have a go at it.”

Rideout laughed at that. “And what if there’s no ship in orbit?”

“Then you’ve got a whole new set of problems,” Kyle replied. The thought made him look to where he had positioned
Enterprise
crew members on the perimeter of the crash site, each keeping vigil while the rest of the team continued the cleanup. The news from Mister Spock, that a Romulan scout ship might be somewhere in orbit or even on the planet, had caused a blanket of unease to settle over the entire team. Though he had posted the guards, along with people overseeing the sensors aboard both shuttlecraft, Kyle knew there was precious little he could do to prepare
for any kind of Romulan attack. He could only hope that the Romulans were too busy elsewhere to bother with a simple salvage effort.

Looking away from the
Huang Zhong
, he saw that Hadley and Elliot had finished moving the separated section of hull plating to one of several collection points set up around the wreck. Most of the material placed at these locations had been deemed scrap and would be destroyed before the salvage team departed the planet. As for the unsalvageable items and other detritus, these were being hauled to these locations by
Enterprise
crewmen as well as volunteers from the Havreltipa mining colony.

“I have to say,” he mused after a moment, “the Dolysians are no strangers to hard work, are they?” He had observed the volunteers as opportunity presented itself, and noted how they had labored tirelessly in support of Kyle and his team.

Rideout replied, “Just watching them makes me want to go and take a nap.” She even punctuated her statement with what to Kyle’s ears sounded very much like an authentic yawn. “I’ve been getting a lot of questions about some of the stuff we’re stacking up to scuttle. More than a few miners have expressed their regret that so much material’s being destroyed, rather than recycled in some form.” She shrugged. “I can’t say I blame them.”

“If we were on Dolysia,” Kyle said, “where our Federation liaison teams could work with them, that’d probably be okay, but once the rift’s closed, the people here are on their own. Even melting some of this stuff down, if it’s not done right, could produce toxic vapors or who knows what.” Shaking his head, he added, “No, the best option is to remove it or destroy it.” The sensitive equipment and other
components earmarked for transport to the
Enterprise
were being staged in or near the
Ballard
and
Heyer
, the pair of shuttlecraft assigned to him in support of the salvage effort. Other shuttles had been committed to the task, but none of them had been able to leave the ship before Commander Scott placed a temporary hold on additional runs to and from Gralafi. Kyle gave silent thanks that the laser drill had been loaded aboard the
Heyer
and not the
Copernicus
, which still sat in the
Enterprise
’s shuttlebay, stuffed with additional equipment for him and his team. The salvage crew would have to make do for the time being, but the drill at least was able to assist with the necessary task of extracting the sensitive computer equipment, weapons, and other matériel from the
Huang Zhong
.

“Speaking of potential problems,” Rideout said, “even with the pace we’re keeping, there’s no way we’re going to be finished before we have to leave.” Blowing out her breath, she added, “I guess we should be thankful we didn’t crash something bigger.”

Kyle nodded. “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.” Scarcely sixty hours remained before he and his team would be forced to change from salvaging equipment components to destroying them, after which they would flee the planet and the energy field surrounding it. “Still, you’re right; we’ll never get to it all before we have to shut down the operation, and I don’t particularly want to stay here for the next three years.”

When he turned to look at her, he saw that Rideout had cast her gaze toward the ground, and her expression was one of sadness. “I wouldn’t mind it,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper. “I’d be okay with it, if Captain Arens and the others were stuck here with me.”

As he had on the previous occasions during the past day they had spent working together and the engineer had allowed some of her grief to show through the façade she had erected around herself, Kyle remained silent, not wanting to say or do anything to upset her further. She had already demonstrated that she was more than capable of handling the understandable onslaught of emotions without assistance, though she did so by forcing back those feelings before they could overwhelm her. That carried its own cost, Kyle knew, and these brief moments were her way of releasing some of that pressure.

Aware that he was watching her, Rideout looked up at him and offered a small smile. “Sorry. I got distracted there for a second.”

“No apologies necessary,” Kyle offered. “You haven’t had a chance to catch your breath, much less take the time to rest or recover from what happened.” He made a mental note to ask Doctor McCoy to talk with her when the opportunity presented itself. Though he was not a licensed psychiatrist or mental health professional, being the chief medical officer of a starship crewed by more than four hundred people tended to hone one skills in those arenas. Further, Leonard McCoy’s natural affinity for helping people identify and seek solutions to their problems and difficulties made him the ideal shoulder on which to lean.

After another moment, Rideout smiled again, and this time Kyle saw that it did not seem to be a forced response. “Okay, that’s enough break time to hold me for a while. Time to get back at it.”

Kyle heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Liadenpor Ceeda hu Novi, the group leader for the Dolysian miners helping the
Enterprise
team, walking toward them.
Like everyone else involved in the salvage work, Ceeda’s clothing and exposed skin were disheveled, and though Dolysian facial expressions did not always correspond to human responses, Kyle was still able to tell that the miner was tired.

“Lieutenant,” Ceeda said, then bowed his head in greeting to Rideout. “I wanted to inform you that we have completed our sweep of the crash site and have collected all loose debris. Most of it appears to be unsalvageable, but we did find a few components which we think your team should examine before a final determination is made.”

Smiling in appreciation, Kyle replied, “Excellent, Ceeda. Thank you, and thank you for everything you and your people have done to assist us. We could not have made this much progress without you.”

Ceeda seemed pleased with the compliment, if not a bit self-conscious. “You are very kind, Lieutenant.” He paused as though considering his next words. “I must admit that when we on Gralafi heard our home planet had been visited by beings from another world, there was a variety of emotional reactions. Excitement, fear, curiosity, confusion, doubt; everywhere you turned, someone had a different opinion, and a different prediction. Not a few of us wondered if you had come to conquer us.” The corners of his mouth turned upward in the Dolysian equivalent of a smile. “I am happy to say that my initial belief was proven wrong.”

Laughing at that with an intensity that nearly brought her to a coughing fit, Rideout took a moment to regain her composure. “Nicely played.” After covering her mouth for one last cough, the engineer asked, “Are you one of the colonists who will be staying here after the rift closes?”

“No,” the Dolysian answered. “My assignment with the colony is at an end. I will be leaving on the last transport once we are finished here. My family has already departed and is back at our home on Dolysia.”

“You were able to bring your family with you,” Kyle said. “That must’ve made things a lot more bearable.”

Ceeda nodded. “I have spent more time with my children during this assignment than when I was sent to our lunar mining colony. That facility does not possess the same amenities as Havreltipa, owing to its easy accessibility. Rotations there are shorter, as well, but it can still be lonely without family.” Looking first to Kyle and then Rideout, he asked, “Do you have families?”

“Not me,” Rideout replied. “Maybe after I decide to leave Starfleet and settle somewhere, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.”

Kyle added, “Same for me. This life doesn’t really lend itself to raising a family, but maybe one day.”

“John!”