Return to Chapter 04
Star Trek Chapter 05
Justin and Contu were laying on either side of the deflector array in Revenge, each sandwiched in between the electro-magnifier tube and a bulkhead. The floor plates from the control deck had been pulled up. The space was especially cramped because the cloaking device emitter took the form of a plastic tube around the deflector conduit. They were passing tools back and forth as they worked to move the emitter a few microns forward to improve the focus.
"Ya know," Contu said, "this is never going to be perfect, this Romulan tech just doesn't fit that well with the Ceti stuff on this ship."
"You should have seen how they hooked it up to the Klingon I stole it from."
Contu lifted his head and smiled at his old buddy. "That sounds like a story."
"Not much," Cooper responded. "They'd crashed on some rock, I just salvaged it. The crew was dead."
"So, why are you allowed to keep this stuff? Kirk never would cut you a break before."
"I'm not supposed to talk about it."
"Yeah, neither am I-they threatened me with a brain wipe if I tell anyone what I'm doing over here...Hell---loo..."
"What?" Justin asked.
Contu sat up holding a small box with a cable connected to it. "Huh," he said. "You sure as hell don't want this."
"What is it?"
"Looks like a standard subspace harmonic oscillator and, in proximity to a cloak feed, it'll make this ship ring like a bell."
"What'cha mean?"
"Oh," Contu continued, "it'll make your cloak field resonate, anyone within a few hundred a.u. could pick it up, if they knew what frequency to look for."
"Explains how you guys tracked me." Justin said.
"I won't put it back," Contu said, "they didn't tell me about it and...this is what it looks like in case someone else does."
He put it on the deck, then lay back down.
"Where'd you get to be the expert on cloaks?" Justin asked.
Contu dropped a wrench-it clanged under the array.
"Shit!"
"I got it," Justin said, reaching down. He handed it back under the conduit.
"Few years ago we captured a Bird of Pray sneaking around our side of the Neutral Zone. The Klingons thought it'd been destroyed so we took it apart, even took the cloak out of it, then blew it up with the crew in it. Sent the pieces floating back toward Cronos. Because I was most familiar with it, I got to go back to the Earth yards and help adapt it to a Corvette-that's how we got cloaks."
"I've heard the Romulans have cloaks that'll work on big ships, on their cruisers even."
Contu lifted up and smiled at his old friend. "I can't talk about that."
"Ship like that could kick some ass..."
"Not if you see it coming," Contu said from under the array.
He reached down and took out one last bolt. "OK, that's got it."
Both of them climbed out of the holes they were in and Justin looked over Contu's shoulder as he played with the settings on a piece of test equipment.
"OK, bring up the grid," he said.
Justin threw a switch on the center console and an electronic whine cycled up above hearing and was replaced by a low hum.
"Cool," Contu said as he traced a line on the screen. "Let's get on the torque rods and move it forward....one...point....eight....two microns."
Two hours later, as they were reassembling the deflector array supports, the com panel chimed.
"Petty Officer Cooper?" a voice asked.
"Not really," Justin replied.
"This is the OOD. Admiral Kirk wants you in Flag Quarters."
Justin rolled his eyes and his friend smiled.
"I'll finish up here," Contu said.
Cooper walked into the Admiral's day room. Kirk and Spock were waiting.
"Petty Officer Cooper," Spock began, "the Admiral has convinced me to provide you with certain information regarding the person you're to rescue. I would prefer not to give you this information but, as the Admiral has pointed out, you will find out anyway."
"Justin," Kirk broke in, holding up his hand, "I really can't emphasize the sensitivity of this situation, you need to understand. The girl you're going after...well...Mr. Spock?"
"The young lady is my daughter," Spock said. He handed Cooper a tablet with a picture on it.
The girl looked human-oriental except for short red hair and eyebrows that were a little too high. She was wearing a silver shorts jumper and had a lighted tiara in her hair-a current fashion trend among human girls. She was smiling, one of her front teeth was missing. She appeared to be in a park with a swing set out of focus behind her.
"That picture was taken just over three years ago," Spock said, "when she was seven years old. She has grown at least 10 centimeters and her hair is approximately 7 centimeters longer."
There was a softness in his voice that Cooper had never heard before. He looked at Spock with surprise.
"You can understand what the Cardassian's will do if they discover who she is," Kirk said. "And, that if we don't meet the demands, they'll slowly torture her to death while broadcasting the play by play to every news outlet in the Federation."
Justin's parents had been killed in the first wave of attacks on the Federation frontier-he had initially joined Star Fleet because of that.
"Also," Spock continued, "should you rescue her...it is imperative that she not fall back in their hands, under any circumstances. They would undoubtedly want to know why a human would take such interest in a slave child. She must not..."
"Shit!" Cooper muttered under his breath. He looked again at the girl. "If she doesn't come back, I'm sure the Cardassian's will make sure I don't either."
"We've had our disagreements Justin," Kirk said, "but I always respected your...heart."
Justin looked at the Admiral and set his jaw. "Admiral, I want my ship outfitted with phasers."
Chapter 06Table of Contents