Star Trek by Christie Golden Page B

“Jaldark, please respond!”
    La Forge reached over and wordlessly turned off the screen. For a long moment, despite the urgency of the situation, no one spoke.
    â€œRest in peace,” said Gold solemnly.
    â€œDo you see?” said 110 softly. “The ship—Friend—has lost its only companion. Jaldark told us that the ships are supposed to autodestruct if anything happens to the pilot, but Friend does not have that option. It was not designed to be alone. It does not know what to do. Like its pilot, it is a young vessel, with little experience, and it is terrified. We must not destroy it. We must help it. And I volunteer to be linked with it as Jaldark was.”
    Gold looked at him sharply. “110, forgive me if I stepon your toes here, but—you’ve been deliberately avoiding such an intimate link with anyone. That’s why you’re putting off going back to Bynaus. Assuming I will even let you, which is not an assumption you ought to be making, why do you want to do this? You barely survived your last encounter with that ship’s computer. We’ve got trained specialists on the way right now. They’ll figure something out.”
    110 looked solemn. “Because, Captain Gold, I am already partially linked to Friend. When I attempted to access the computer when we first boarded, I engaged some sort of circuit with it. It has downloaded a link to my brain, but a very inefficient one. Bynar brains are already constructed to link smoothly with computers, and contain a great deal of information. I am the only one capable of establishing communication that could convince it that we are no threat. It is up to me to stop the ship.”
    â€œWe’ve already stopped the ship.”
    Slowly, 110 shook his large head. “No, sir, we have not.”
    At that moment, Gold’s combadge chirped. “Mack to Captain Gold. The alien ship is powering up. It’s left the planet surface and is heading right for us.”

    Repairs are complete. All systems fully operational.Jaldark is not on board. Accessing search parameters. Searching planet surface … Jaldark is not present on the planet surface. Alien vessel in orbit about planet. Unable topenetrate shields for search.
    Conclusion: Jaldark has been taken by the alien vessel.
    Action required: Jaldark must be recovered immediately.
    Jaldark, I am coming. I am coming, my Friend. I will notlet them harm you.

    Gold was still in a solemn mood from the tragic recording he had just seen as the turbolift doors hissed open. But once he stepped on the bridge, and saw the expressions on the bridge crew, he put his pity aside.
    It was tragic that Jaldark had died alone, in pain. And he sympathized with the ship’s loss, if it was, as 110 kept insisting, sentient and capable of emotion. But that didn’t mean he was willing to make the ship feel better by letting it blast the
da Vinci
to bits.
    â€œShields up. Red alert,” he snapped. He took his seat and gazed at the image on the viewscreen.
    It seemed impossible, but there it was. That ship had been badly damaged when it crashed into the planet, and they’d believed that they had completely knocked out its weapons systems. And yet it looked like they hadn’t even scratched the thing. It was, as Mack had said, heading straight for them, and if Gold imagined that the ship was seething with deadly intent and aching for revenge, he knew he wasn’t guilty of anthropomorphizing.
    â€œStatus report,” he demanded.
    â€œOne minute, the vessel was dead; the next, it’s completely repaired and heading right for us,” said Wong. “Wecan’t tell for certain, of course, but I would guess its weapons systems are intact.”
    At that moment, a green bolt of energy narrowly missed them.
    â€œI’d say you’re right,” said Gold. “But that was obviously a warning shot. If that ship wanted to hit us, it would hit us. Open a