Star Trek: ALL - Seven Deadly Sins by Dayton Ward Read Free Book Online Page B

attention.
    “What’s the story?” Blair asked, nodding toward the viewer. Letting the towel fall back around his neck, he made his way around the upper deck toward the science station.
    Rising from the command chair at the center of the bridge and turning to face him, Commander Kamau Mbugua eyed Blair and his exercise attire, which consisted of perspiration-dampened gray sweatpants and a matching shirt emblazoned with the
Defiant
insignia. “Apologies for disturbing you, sir, but I thought you needed to see this.” The first officer was a large, imposing man of African descent, broad-shouldered and muscled beneath his gold uniform tunic and presenting the very epitome of physical fitness if ever Blair had seensuch a specimen. Just looking at the younger, robust Mbugua caused Blair to recall the days when he too could take pride at being in top form.
    That was twenty years and thirty pounds ago. Happy fiftieth birthday to you.
    Indicating his state of dress with a dismissive wave, Blair reached to pat his midsection. “I already promised Doctor Hamilton that I’d make up the abdominal drills later.” With a wry grin, he added, “Not that it won’t stop her from denying me my slice of birthday cake and consigning me to dietary salads for the next month.” Putting aside the pleasantries, he nodded toward the viewscreen. “What’ve we got?”
    Nodding toward Lieutenant Commander Erin Sutherland, who stood waiting at the science station and holding a data slate at her side, Mbugua said, “You’re on.”
    Sutherland pointed toward the viewscreen. “It’s a communications buoy, sir. Older model, in common use until about ten years ago or so, mostly by civilian colony and freight-hauling ships. They turn up on secondary and black markets from time to time, as the internal components are useful in all sorts of other equipment. The crews on Orion ships in particular tend to like them.” Pausing, the science officer reached up to brush away a lock of red hair that had fallen across her eyes. “We detected it about five minutes ago, sir, when it began broadcasting a transponder signal on a wide band.”
    “How long has it been here?” Blair asked.
    Her eyes shifting to glance at Mbugua in an expression the captain realized was one of nervousness, Sutherland replied, “About five minutes, sir.”
    Blair frowned. “Come again?”
    “There are no other ships or artificial constructs anywhere in the system, sir,” Mbugua said, folding his arms across his chest. “No background radiation or electromagnetic fields interfering with sensors, either. The place is a graveyard, Skipper.”
    The captain nodded, already knowing this based on Sutherland’s initial report on the Alamedus star system as well as the scant data collected by unmanned sensor probes more than a decade ago and culled from the
Defiant
’s library computer banks. A notable lack of properties that might impede the effectiveness of sensor equipment was one ofthe prime reasons Alamedus asteroids were receiving further scrutiny. If all went according to plan, several of the larger bodies would be selected and ultimately relocated to predetermined coordinates along the border separating Federation and Klingon space. Once moved into position by teams of
Ptolemy
-class towing vessels equipped with heavy-duty tractor beam systems, the asteroids would become the foundations for new observation outposts, similar to those currently in use along the Federation-Romulan Neutral Zone.
    “Is the thing carrying some kind of shielding to hide it from sensors?” Blair asked, turning his attention back to the main viewer and the image of the communications buoy. “Or was it just powered down until now?” Even as he asked the questions, he knew what his science officer would say.
    Sutherland replied, “No odd shielding that I could find, and even if it had been drifting inert for however long, our sensors should still have picked it up.” She nodded toward the