Chapter Ten

WHENROSTEPPEDthrough the archway, she felt a very brief tingling sensation, then found herself in another part of the

ark. Troi, Data, and Crusher stood in front of her with Llewellyn, and seconds later Vishinski, Jamal, Nordqvist and

Nakamura followed, materializing as they came through the archway behind her.

 

“You see?” said Vishinski with a smile. “There was nothing to worry about.”

 

Ro noticed that only the elders, the members of theIndependence bridge crew, had come through. The others, the

younger ones, had apparently remained behind. She glanced at her surroundings. They stood in a wide, brightly

illuminated corridor, similar to the one they had just left, only a short distance away from them there was an arched

opening to the outside.

 

“Please come this way,” Llewellyn said, walking toward the opening.

 

They followed him, and as they approached the opening, they could see that they were on one of the upper levels of

the building. It was not a balcony. They were simply looking out through an opening in the building wall. Visibility

was limited by the darkness outside, but in the distance, they could see the glow of lights on the far side of the

ark.

 

“We are now on the opposite side of the ark,” Llewellyn explained. He pointed toward the lights in the distance. They

seemed to be moving. “Those are your Romulan friends,” Llewellyn said.

 

Data cocked his head to one side. “I beg your pardon, Commander, but the Romulans arenot our friends.”

 

Llewellyn smiled. “I was speaking ironically, Mr. Data.”

 

“Ah,” the android said. “I see. The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning for humorous or

rhetorical effect.”

 

“Quite so,” Llewellyn said.

 

“What are those lights over there?” asked Troi, pointing to where trails of lights below them seemed to be moving

slowly to either side of where they stood, spreading out and heading away from them. Due to the illusion created by

the curved inner surface of the ark, they seemed to be moving across the sky, like fireflies.

 

“Merely a sort of diversion, nothing more,” Llewellyn replied, enigmatically. “It will be dawn soonat least we like

to think of it as dawn, even though one does not literally see the sunrise. This way …”

 

He turned and led the way back down the corridor. Ro glanced over her shoulder as they went back the way they had

come. “Look,” she said, quickly nudging Troi. Behind them the wall seemed to ripple and flow, and a moment later the

arched opening disappeared and was replaced by a solid wall. “That’s how we got sealed in,” she said.

 

“We have prepared quarters for you,” Llewellyn said, stopping before a completely blank section of the wall. “I hope

you will find them adequate.” An instant later, the wall flowed and rippled and formed an arched opening wide enough

to admit one person at a time. He gestured them inside, and when they hesitated, he smiled again and said, “Very

well. I shall precede you.” He went in first and they followed him. The other elders came in after them.

 

It was a large room, easily four or five times the size of their private quarters aboard theEnterprise and as

luxurious as that of a five-star hotel. The floor was sleek and smooth, and the room contained a large horseshoe-shaped sofa upholstered in black leather, with a heavy carved-mahogany coffee table set inside the curve, matching

recliner chairs and end tables with ceramic-based lamps on them, an elegant dining set, and even a small bar. The

large arched window in the far wall was similar to the one they had just seen in the corridor. Troi and Crusher

stepped close to it and looked out.

 

“The window has no glass,” Vishinski said from behind them, “but you will find there is no need for it. The

temperature in the ark is kept uniform at around seventy degrees; there is no wind or precipitation, nor are there

any annoying insects.”

 

“You will find a food replicator in the wall behind the bar,” Llewellyn added. “It functions like the ones aboard

Federation starshipsat least, the ones found on the ships of thirty years ago. I believe you will find the cuisine

uniformly excellent. There are separate bedrooms down that small corridor, with doors that function in the normal

fashion, as I am sure you will be relieved to know.”

 

“Speaking of the doors, Commander,” Data said, “I have noticed that the walls in all the buildings we have seen are

uniformly smooth and blank. There are no outward indications of where any doors should be. Given the assumption that

with nanotechnology, you are capable of creating a doorway or an opening in any of the walls, how do you locate the

precise area?”

 

“That was a bit confusing for us as well, at least in the beginning,” said Llewellyn. “To put it in simple terms, how

does a blind man find his way around his own home? At first, it would be a matter of rote memorization, learning to

take so many steps in one direction, turn to the left or right, take so many steps in that direction, and so forth.

After a while, it becomes automatic and he does it without thinking.”

 

“That would suggest that the builders of this ark possessed an absolutely unerring sense of direction,” Data said.

 

“I suppose one could use the analogy of a homing pigeon,” said Nordqvist. “No matter where it is released, the bird

always finds its way back to its own roost. Needless to say, we did not possess that advantage in the beginning, but

we discovered that once we learned how to interact with the thought sensors that control the walls, we could mark the

doorways by them. We also played with creating individual patterns on the walls where the doors should be.”

 

“We amused ourselves with making different patterns,” said Nakamura with a smile. “We were unable to make the walls

change color, but we could create patterns in relief, spelling out our names and creating pleasing visual designs,

and to that extent we were limited only by our imaginations. Our own quarters in this building still have those

identifying designs, though we no longer really need them. My quarters on the level below this one, for example, are

marked by a dragon in relief.”

 

“If you wish to rest,” said Llewellyn, “we can leave and come back later, after you have had some sleep.”

 

“Sleep?”said Crusher. “I don’t think I could sleep a wink! I have about a thousand questions to ask you, and I hardly

know where to begin!”

 

Llewellyn smiled. “Perfectly understandable,” he said. “Please, sit down. “Ski, why don’t you get some refreshments

for our guests?”

 

“Be happy to,” said Vishinski, heading for the replicator behind the bar. “What would you folks like?”

 

“I’m too keyed up to eat right now,” said Dr. Crusher, “but I’d love a cup of coffee.”

 

“Plain? With cream? Or would you prefer cappuccino? We also have espresso, Irish, Viennese …”

 

“Just plain black coffee, thanks.”

 

“Coming right up… . Counselor?”

 

“I would love a cup of tea,” said Troi.

 

“Ceylon, Chinese, jasmine, orange pekoe, herbal … sky’s the limit.”

 

“Some jasmine tea would be very nice, thank you.”

 

“Mr. Data?”

 

“I do not require solid or liquid nourishment, thank you,” said the android.

 

“Of course. What about you, Ensign?”

 

“I could use a stiff drink,” said Ro, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

 

“How about Bajoran brandy?”

 

She glanced at him with surprise. “That would be wonderful.”

 

“Coming right up.”

 

They all took their seats on the sofa. Llewellyn and Nordqvist sat in two of the large chairs. Vishinski brought

their drinks, and they were all excellent. Ro took a tentative sip of her brandy and found it to be of a vintage

superior to any she had ever had before.

 

“Why don’t we begin at the beginning?” Llewellyn said. “About thirty years ago, we were on routine patrol when our

long-range scanners picked up some unusual power signals emanating from this sector. We discovered that they were

coming from the Neutral Zone. We decided to investigate. It was a calculated risk, but we thought the Romulans might

be up to something. In any case, there wasn’t supposed to be anything out here. We entered the zone on yellow alert

and discovered what we first thought was a small planet that didn’t appear on any of our charts. Long-range scanners

showed no ships in the vicinity, so we came in closer and established orbit. At that point we began to experience

some interference with our scanners. We were unable to get consistent accurate readings, so we dispatched several

probes to the surface and discovered, much to our surprise, that the planet was hollow.

 

“The power readings we picked up clearly suggested that this was an artifical worldnot a planet at all, but an

interstellar ark created for multigenerational voyages. Needless to say, this was a tremendously exciting discovery.

We attempted to make hailing contact with anyone who might be aboard, but after repeated attempts, we received no

answer. Our probes indicated that there was a breathable atmosphere aboard the ark, but we were unable to pick up any

life-form readings, and so the next step was to send down an away team.”

 

“Excuse me, Commander,” Ro said, “I do not mean to be rude, but much of this we have already surmised. You seem to

have very little concern about the current Romulan threat. If there are already Romulan landing parties aboard this

ark, then”

 

“There is no need for concern, Ensign, I assure you,” said Llewellyn. “The situation is well in hand.”

 

“Commander,” Ro insisted, “I am not sure you understand the gravity of the situation. The Romulans have an advanced

warbird in orbit above the ark, larger and much more powerful than any you may ever have encountered. They have also

seized theEnterprise , a Federation starship much advanced over theIndependence . That makes for enough firepower to

reduce this entire ark to slag.”

 

“I appreciate your concern, Ensign,” said Llewellyn, “but once again let me assure you that the Romulans do not pose

any real threat. In fact, a number of them have already been captured and are safely in detention at this moment.

Their warbird and your own starship will be seen to presently.”

 

“What do you mean?” Troi asked with a frown.

 

“In due time, Counselor, I will explain,” Llewellyn replied. “However, before we can get to that, there are some

things that you will have to understand first. Now, if you will allow me to continue …”

 

They nodded, though both Ro and Troi looked vaguely dissatisfied with his reply. Dr. Crusher merely sat there

listening to Llewellyn and watching him carefully.

 

Llewellyn went on with his story. “I led the first away team. With me were our science officer, Lieutenant Nakamura;

our chief weapons and security officer, Lieutenant Jamal; Dr. Vishinski; and two other crewmen who, regrettably, are

no longer alive. We beamed down not far from where we sit right now, and we were confronted by essentially the same

things you saw. We did not find any sign of life. The ark appeared to be deserted, but all the systems that

maintained it were apparently still functioning. Our instruments, like yours, would not work properly, and we could

not get any accurate readings, although at first wewere able to communicate with our ship. We began to explore the

ark.

 

“It was daytime aboard the ark when we arrived, so we spent most of that first day simply looking around, wandering

through the streets. We did not attempt to enter any of the buildings because we could not find an entrance. So far

as we could tell, the buildings were solid cubes, stacked in patterns resembling crystalline formations. We thought

they might be residential structures with concealed entrances, or perhaps sealed power plants that ran the ark. All

we could do at that point was theorize.”

 

“It was obvious that this ark was constructed by an advanced civilization,” added Nakamura, “at least as advanced as

we were, possibly more. As we soon discovered, they were advanced far beyond our own technological capabilities.”

 

“When we were satisfied that we seemed to be alone aboard the ark, we brought down more personnel,” continued

Llewellyn. “We had decided to make a complete survey of this huge vessel and learn as much about it as possible. The

captain, figuring it would be a long-term project, prepared a dispatch for Starfleet Command, reporting our

discovery. To the best of our knowledge, that message never reached its destination. It was only after a good number

of our people had beamed down that we began to encounter problems.”

 

“Some of our people began to disappear,” said Lieutenant Jamal. “They simply vanished without a trace. And at about

the same time we lost the ability to communicate with our ship.”

 

“The same thing happened to us,” said Dr. Crusher.

 

“I know,” said Llewellyn. “Initially we believed that power fluctuations aboard the ark were responsible for some

sort of interference, but we soon realized that our signals were being purposely jammed. We suspected it might be the

result of some sort of automated defense program, but we were unable to discover anything that looked like a central

control station for this ark. We figured it had to be inside one of the buildings, but they all looked more or less

alike, and we had no idea which one it might be, much less how to gain entry.”

 

“We’d had several reports of our people finding arched entryways to buildings and going inside to investigate,” said

Nakamura. “Then we simply lost contact with them. Nor could we find those entryways. It was not until we actually

witnessed one of the walls sealing itself that we understood what had happened to them.”

 

“We attempted to use our phasers to blast our way inside the buildings,” said Jamal, “but our weapons had absolutely

no effect. That seemed impossible, until we realized that the structural material was actually repairing itself as it

was being damaged by our phasers. It was happening so quickly we couldn’t even see it.”

 

“You stated that you believed the interference with your communications might have been the result of some sort of

automated defense system designed to jam your signals,” Data said, “and yet you had not experienced any initial

difficulty in communicating with your ship. Our experience was the same, at first. It is possible that an automated

system might have required time to detect your presence aboard this vessel and then lock on to your communications

frequency so that it could be jammed, but your tone of voice suggests that you do not believe that to have been the

case.”

 

“Very good, Mr. Data,” said Llewellyn. “You are exactly right. That was not the case.”

 

“Then what was responsible for jamming your communications?” Data asked.

 

“Very simple, Mr. Data,” said Llewellyn. “We were not alone aboard the ark. The original crew, or at least the

descendants of the original crew, wereand arestill present.”

 

Dr. Crusher leaned forward. “You mean they are still here?”

 

“That’s correct,” Llewellyn replied.

 

“But … where?” asked Troi.

 

“Where?” said Llewellyn. “Why, all around us. I’m not sure exactly how many of them there are, but excluding

ourselves I would estimate the present population of the ark at roughly thirty thousand.”

 

“Thirty thousand?”Ro said.

 

“More or less,” Llewellyn replied, as Troi and Crusher stared at him with astonishment. “If it hadn’t been for them,

we never would have survived. They’ve been taking care of us all these years, and our colony, such as it is, has

thrived. That is very fortunate, for you see, we can never leave.”

 

Riker grunted as he painfully squeezed his way through the duct, following La Forge. Neither of them, fortunately,

possessed a husky build, but Geordi was smaller, and it had been a tight squeeze for him in places. For Riker,

inching his way through the ductwork like a worm was an ordeal.

 

“Just a little bit farther, Commander,” La Forge said, from just ahead of him.

 

“I’m … going … on a diet,” said Riker, wincing as he dragged himself about another foot. He had to inhale,

then exhale heavily, emptying his lungs and inching forward as he did so. He had been repeating the whole process

over and over, with painful slowness, wondering if he was ever going to reach the point where the duct vented into

one of the Jefferies tubes.

 

“Come on, Commander, you’re almost there,” said La Forge.

 

“I … don’t know … if I’m going … to make it,” Riker said, gasping for breath. He was starting to develop

claustrophobia. The narrow passageway had not been meant to accommodate a human body, and he could barely move. He

raised his head very slightly, just enough to see about a foot or two in front of him, then stretched his arms out

almost completely straight and pulled himself along by pressing down with his elbows and pushing a little with his

knees, making slow, tortuous progress. What worried him most of all was not discovery by the Romulans, but the

thought that he might become stuck.

 

“Just a few more feet,” said La Forge, urging him on.

 

Riker grunted and dragged himself forward once again, scraping his shoulders painfully and ripping his tunic.”Damn!”

he said, gritting his teeth as he felt his skin being scraped away along with the cloth. They were trying to move

along quietly, but inside the duct, it sounded to him as if they were making enough noise to wake up the whole ship.

It seemed like an eternity before Geordi finally helped him through the vent opening and out into one of the ship’s

maintenance tubes.

 

Riker took a deep breath, filling his lungs gratefully, and closed his eyes as he exhaled heavily.”Whew! After that,

the rest of this mission will be all downhill.”

 

“I’m not sure I’d go that far,” said La Forge. “You know how long it’s been since either of us walked in space?”

 

“Not as long as it took to crawl through that damned duct,” said Riker. He glanced around at the Jefferies tube they

stood in, part of a vast, interconnecting network of maintenance tubes that ran throughout the ship. It was close in

there, and there wasn’t enough room for him to straighten up completely, but he wasn’t anywhere near as uncomfortable

as he had been inside the ductwork. “I used to hate coming into these damn things,” said Riker. “Can’t stand up

straight, got to crawl through on your hands and knees in placesit made me feel closed in. Brother, not anymore.

After what I just went through, this feels as roomy as an open field.”

 

La Forge grinned. “Welcome to how the other half lives,” he said. “At least we won’t have to crawl through any more

ducts. We can follow the tubes down to Deck Thirteen and suit up, then exit through the emergency hatch in Shuttle

Bay Two.”

 

“How’s the rest of your team going to get to the shuttle bay?” Riker asked.

 

“Same way,” said La Forge. “Through the ducts to the nearest vent into the tubes, then on to the shuttle bay from

there.”

 

“Well, I sure hope you picked a bunch of skinny guys,” said Riker, with a grimace.

 

“Not much chance for us to get fat down in the engineering section,” La Forge replied. “We spend most of our time

working, unlike you goldbricks up on the bridge.”

 

“Sure, we just sit around playing computer games on the main viewer,” Riker said, grinning back at him. “Okay, let’s

get this show on the road.”

 

“Right,” said La Forge, leading the way as they moved off down the tube. “You know, Commander, I was wondering… .

Assuming we get that far, what happens if wedon’t find any phasers aboard theIndependence?”

 

“You’d better hope we do,” said Riker, “otherwise we’ll have to cannibalize whatever we can find to rig up for

weapons, and you’ll get to show me what a hot engineer you are.”

 

“Yeah, I was afraid you’d say that.”

 

They wound their way through the maze of the maintenance tubes, then climbed through a narrow hatchway and down a

steel ladder that led to the lower decks. “You know, it’s been so long since I’ve been down in the guts of this ship

that I’m not sure I can find my way around in here,” said Riker.

 

“Well, if you see a large rabbit with a pocket watch, you’ll know we took a wrong turn somewhere,” said La Forge,

with a grin.

 

“Hold on,” Riker said, freezing on the ladder as they descended. “I hear something.”

 

La Forge stopped. They listened for a moment, then heard a muffled clanking sound.

 

“What’s making that noise?” Riker asked softly.

 

“Mice?”

 

“You don’t suppose the Romulans heard us moving through the ducts?”

 

“I don’t think so,” La Forge said. “But it’s possible.”

 

“Valak knows about the Jefferies tubes,” said Riker. “If he’s sent a search party in here after us, we’ve had it.”

 

The sounds were getting closer.

 

“It’s coming from just below us,” said La Forge.

 

“Not much room in here to maneuver,” Riker said. “And we don’t have any weapons.”

 

“Yeah, this could get interesting.”

 

A moment later a head poked into the tube from an accessway just below them. “Commander Riker?”

 

Both La Forge and Riker exhaled heavily. It was one of Geordi’s engineers. “Lewis!” La Forge said, shaking his head.

“You scared the hell out of us.”

 

“Sorry about that, sir,” said the bearded crewman. “I heard noise over this way and figured it had to be you.”

 

“You have any trouble getting here?” asked Riker.

 

“Bit of a tight squeeze through the duct, sir, but except for leaving some skin back there, it was no trouble at all.

I’m pretty sure none of the guards heard me. They won’t be checking on us till the next watch.”

 

“We’d better get moving, just the same,” said Riker.

 

They continued climbing down the ladder down to Deck 13. By the time they got there, several members of La Forge’s

engineering crew had joined them. They continued on until they reached the access hatch that !led out into the

shuttle bay. La Forge put his ear up against it and listened intently for a few moments, then slowly and carefully

opened the hatch. “It’s all right,” he said. “Come on.”

 

They climbed out into the shuttle bay and La Forge took a quick head count. Not counting himself and Riker, there

were six of them. “We’re missing two,” he said. “Rogers and Chan.”

 

“They’ll probably be along any minute,” Lewis said. “it’s not exactly easy making it through those ducts.”

 

“We can’t afford to wait,” said Riker. “Let’s get suited up. If Rogers and Chan don’t arrive in the next few minutes,

we’ll have to go without them.”

 

They crossed the darkened shuttle bay to the opposite side, where the suit lockers were. As they were getting into

the suits, the other two arrived, first Rogers, and then Chan, about two minutes later.

 

“Sorry I’m late,” Chan said, as she came running up to the group. “I had trouble getting the vent grill off in my

quarters. Somebody stripped one of the damn screws.”

 

La Forge handed her a suit. “Never mind,” he said. “You made it, that’s what counts. Let’s move it.”

 

She quickly slipped into the suit. Then they all helped one another strap on the EVA packs. La Forge, Rogers, and

Lewis also strapped on some tool kits.

 

“Okay,” said Riker, just before he put on his helmet. “Now listen up. I don’t want any chatter out there. We maintain

strict radio silence. The last thing we need is for the bridge to pick up our suit communicators. So it’s hand

signals only, got that?”

 

They all nodded.

 

“Good. Keep each other in sight. Use the buddy system. Does anyone have any questions?”

 

“Sir?”

 

“What is it, Chan?”

 

“Is there any way we can get out of this lousy detail?”

 

The others chuckled and Riker grinned. He was glad to see they still had their sense of humor. It helped dissipate

the nervousness they were all feeling. Riker knew, because he was feeling it himself. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s move

it. Geordi, don’t forget to disable the warning light. We don’t want them to see it on the bridge.”

 

“Got it,” La Forge said.

 

They donned their helmets and checked one another’s seals, then quickly checked their life support backpacks, giving

thumbs-up signs as the systems checked out. Then they trooped over to the emergency hatch. La Forge disabled the

circuit that would indicate an open emergency hatch up on the bridge; then he and Lewis opened it and they all

crowded into the small chamber on the other side. La Forge closed the hatch behind them, then opened the outer hatch.

Riker took a deep breath. Well, he thought, here goes, and he stepped out into space.

 

As he started to drift away from the ship, he used the small jets on his EVA pack to direct his flight. La Forge

floated close beside him. He gave him a thumbs-up signal to indicate that everything was okay. The others followed

them in pairs, heading across the gulf of space that separated theEnterprise from theIndependence . They had achieved

orbit fairly close to it when they first went on board to investigate, but while the ships were near enough to each

other to be within easy transporter range, for EVA, thought Riker, it wasn’t exactly close.

 

He couldn’t even remember the last time he had taken a space walk. Damn, he thought, how long had it been? Probably

back when he was still a young ensign. There wasn’t any call for extravehicular activity in the normal routine of a

ship’s crew. Hardly anybody did it anymore except shipwrights at construction docks and refitting teams at starbases.

We really ought to do more drills on this, Riker thought to himself. In a way, it was like riding a bicycleonce you

learned how, you never forgotbut that didn’t mean you wouldn’t feel a bit shaky at first if enough time had gone by

since your last walk. Come to think of it, he hadn’t ridden a bicycle in years, either. There were a lot of things he

hadn’t done in a long time. Things that never seemed important until there was a very real chance of never being able

to do them again, ever.

 

Fortunately theEnterprise was between them and the warbird, so they probably would not be seen from theSyrinx . And

theEnterprise was positioned so that the bridge was facing away from them, as they floated in the opposite direction

toward theIndependence . However, there was still a possibility they could be spotted, and at this stage that was the

greatest risk. About all they could do was keep their fingers crossed and hope that none of the Romulans felt like

gazing out of any of the starboard viewports. However, most of the Romulans aboard theEnterprise would probably be

sleeping or standing watch in the areas of the ship where they had sequestered the crew.

 

With any luck, thought Riker, we might get through this. He could hope that the arms lockers of theIndependence had

not been stripped completely bare. Even so, he had never known an ordnance officer who didn’t squirrel away a few

spare cases of weapons somewhere among the supplies, just as he had never known a chief engineer who didn’t always

make certain he had at least twice as many spares as he would need. He glanced toward La Forge, then back over his

shoulder. The others were all strung out behind them, still keeping roughly abreast of their partners, so they could

stay in visual contact with each other. Riker wished he could talk to them, but he didn’t dare break radio silence.

That would have been a sure way to give themselves away to the Romulans.

 

They were about halfway to theIndependence by now. So far, so good, thought Riker. Now if only they could gain access

to the ship without trouble. Even if everything went smoothly at this stage, they could still run into a snag while

getting back to theEnterprise . A little more than half a dozen crewmen with phasers would not stand much chance

against a full ship’s complement of Romulans. Fortunately, some of the Romulans were aboard theSyrinx and others had

beamed down to the ark, so the odds had been reduced somewhat, but they were still pretty stiff. There were still

enough of them on board theEnterprise to quash the rebellion if the Starfleet team didn’t move very quickly and take

advantage of the element of surprise.

 

No matter what, thought Riker, they had to get back to theEnterprise before the watch changed. If the Romulans

discovered any of them missing, there would be a full alert and that would be the end of it. They stood a chance of

freeing and arming their fellow crew members only if they could get back and overpower the guards before the Romulans

realized what had happened. The whole project was a monstrous long shot. And then there would still be the problem of

theSyrinx and the hostages aboard it, and the people who were still down inside the arkthe captain, Deanna, Ro,

Beverly, and Data.

 

He pushed the thought from his mind. He could not afford to think about them right now. He had to fix his

concentration on one thing at a time. There were so many ways this could go wrong, they could not afford the

slightest slipup. They did, however, have one thing in their favor. With Valak down inside the ark, Korak was in

command, apparently under the authority of this Romulan lord, Kazanak or whatever his name was. He seemed to be a

government bureaucrat of some sort; Riker was reasonably certain he wasn’t in the Romulan military. Romulan lords did

not command starships; they became colonial governors or served on the Romulan High Council. That meant Korak was the

senior military officer in charge. And Korak wasn’t half the officer that Valak was. Riker had found that out the

hard way.

 

His body was still sore from the pummeling Korak had given it, and the scrapes and bruises he’d received worming his

way through the ductwork hadn’t improved things any. That Romulan bastard could hit like a jackhammer. Riker still

had a score to settle with Korak, and the Romulan felt exactly the same way. There would be a rematch, no doubt about

it. The question was, would it occur on Riker’s terms or Korak’s?

 

Riker gave the jets another squirt and brought himself up alongside theIndependence . La Forge joined him a moment

later, and then the others came floating up. They were directly underneath the engine nacelles and were now

effectively hidden from view. If the Romulans had seen them on the way over, they would probably find out very

soonone or two well-placed photon torpedoes would solve all their problems permanently.

 

Slowly they worked their way along the outer hull toward the shuttle bay doors. The emergency hatchways could be

opened from the outside during extravehicular work on the hull, while a routine refitting was in progress, but not if

they were locked from the inside. Standard operating procedure called for the hatches to remain locked at all other

times, so they had come prepared to blow them open.

 

Using hand signals, he directed La Forge to begin the operation. Lewis and Rogers moved in to help him begin the

work. They used small portable power drivers to open up the access panel, then La Forge rigged a small power pack and

switch to the wiring that would blow the explosive bolts. He turned toward Riker and nodded, giving him a thumbs up

to indicate that he was ready. Riker took a deep breath, then nodded back and signaled the others to get clear. La

Forge had to remain where he was to throw the switch. It would have been far better to use a timer switch for the

job, but La Forge had been limited to what he could scrounge together unobtrusively without alerting the Romulans.

Under the circumstances, it was the best he could do, but it also meant that he would be at risk when the bolts

blewassuming theywould blow. Riker backed off with the others, then waved to La Forge. He couldn’t see the chief

engineer tense up in his suit, but he could easily imagine how he felt. A moment later Geordi threw the switch.

 

There was, of course, no sound when the bolts blew, but Riker saw them come flying out at great speed. In the blink

of an eye it was over, and the outer hatch drifted loose. As the others moved in, Riker reached La Forge first and

saw him raise his right hand, holding his thumb and forefinger about two inches apart to show how close one of the

bolts had come to hitting him. Riker exhaled heavily. If the bolt had struck Geordi, it would have penetrated the

suit, and even if it hadn’t hit a vital organ, he would have died when the integrity of his suit was violated.

 

Moments later, they went through the inner hatchway and safely entered the ship. They still had to wear their suits

and maintain radio silence, for the lifesupport systems on theIndependence were not functioning and there had been

no opportunity for La Forge to alter the frequencies of their helmet communicators. Time was of the essence.

 

Now all they had to do was search through the ship’s ordnance and hope there were some spare phasers stashed away

somewhere, then return to theEnterprise with the weapons, get back aboard without being spotted, and free some of

their fellow crew members so they could take back control of their own ship without giving the Romulans time to alert

their friends aboard theSyrinx .

 

Right, thought Riker grimly. Piece of cake.