Encounter at Farpoint Read Online Free PDF Page A

liked to imagine what the Klingon Empire could have been had they had access to engines like these twenty-five years ago. It was a pleasant, if slightly illicit, thought.

    Chief Engineer Argyle stepped in beside him quietly. “Help you, Lieutenant?”

    “Captain’s orders. Make ready for ‘max.’ ”

    Argyle’s eyes flickered and he frowned. “
Maximum?
”

    “All the way. On the signal
‘engage.’ ”

    The chief engineer looked unhappy. He resented anyone abusing his engines. “He’d better have a damn good reason.”

    “We’ve encountered an alien force. We don’t know what it is—what they are. Captain’s going to see what they’re made of.”

    “Uh uh. Captain’s going to see what
we’re
made of.” Argyle turned toward his engineers working at their consoles. “All right. Engineering alert. Stand by. We’re powering up to go to maximum warp in one jump.”

    Several of the engineering crew snapped around to stare at him in surprise and alarm, but he kept his face blank and noncommital. Going to maximum in one jump was hard on the ship, hard on the engines; but it could be done. They had done it in drill, they had done it in simulation. They had even
once
done it as part of the ship’s shakedown.

    Still . . . it wasn’t considered a good idea. There was too much likelihood of phase blowout. But the crew knew their jobs, so Argyle wasn’t worried about that. What was alarming was the situation that forced them to do it. “Engagement will be on captain’s signal from the bridge. Blake, I’ll want a maximum charge on the reserve cells.”

    Worf grinned wickedly and headed back to the main bridge. As the doors to Engineering hissed closed behind him, he heard the low-pitched whine of standard warp power ascending quickly to a high shriek.

     

    Picard stood behind Data at the conn, studying the alien grid that glittered on the viewscreen. Whichever way they turned their viewer cameras, the grid barred their way—except behind them. Picard was pinning his hopes on what his ancient sporting forebears would have called an “end run.”

    Worf burst back onto the bridge from the forward turbolift, half running toward his operations station. “Engine Room standing by, sir.”

    “Thank you, Worf. Data?”

    “The board is green, Captain.”

    The captain stepped back to his command chair and settled easily into it. “Reverse heading, 180 mark 2. Stand by.” His eyes flicked over the bridge and the crew poised in readiness at their various stations. He tapped the communication tab on his left-hand panel. “
Engage!”
The entire bridge shuddered under a scream of power as the warp engines leapt to their full strength.

    Picard imagined for just the briefest of instants that he could feel the acceleration as the
Enterprise
leapt forward. Of course, he could not. He’d have been smeared across the back wall if the inertial gravitational adjustors had not been in sync with the warp drive. Nonetheless, Picard
imagined
that he could feel the acceleration. Every ship captain did.

    The
Enterprise
shot forward, held in control like a tightly reined horse under Data’s navigation, and then—
peeled off in a stomach-churning sharp left turn!
They passed perilously close to the shimmering alien grid, but then they were beyond it and still pushing their warp envelope upward.

    Still under Data’s tight control, the starship angled her nose beyond the grid and raced free. Behind them, the grid wavered briefly, its glow dimming. It suddenly shrank in size, coalescing into a brightly colored spinning shape that swiftly settled into grim pursuit of the
Enterprise
.

    Picard ignored the steadily rising thrum of the engines and listened to his officers as they reported. “Warp nine point two,” Worf reported, grinning. He didn’t approve of running from any fight—but he did understand the value of a “strategic withdrawal.” Particularly a strategic withdrawal that demonstrated both