Star Trek: The Next Generation - 119 - Armageddon's Arrow Read Online Free PDF

she reached for the glass of water next to her plate.
    “Oh, nothing,” she said before sipping her water.
    “According to Commander La Forge,” Taurik said, changing the subject, “you are assigned to engineering today.”
    “Looks that way,” Chen replied. “I volunteered to run level one diagnostics on the shuttlecraft and install software upgrades to their onboard computers. According to Commander La Forge, it’s time for it to be done, and will probably take a few days to complete.” She shrugged. “Fine by me. At least it’s something constructive to do.” Waving toward the forward viewing ports and the kaleidoscopic maelstrom of stars streaking past as the Enterprise pushed through space at high warp speed, she added, “At least until we get where we’re going, anyway.”
    For Chen, the prospect of the Enterprise ’s chief engineer assigning her to several duty shifts’ worth of meaningful if not glamorous work was not an issue. She long ago had grown accustomed to such realities, given the obvious lack of need for a contact specialist during the bulk of her tenure aboard ship. Choosing to view the situation as a chance to expand her skills and experience in a variety of areas and disciplines, Chen had volunteered to assist any department that requested additional personnel, for whatever tasks that might entail. Since arriving on the Enterprise , she had acquired hands-on training in nearly every major system, from the main computer to the warp drive and everything in between.
    She had received plenty of opportunities, as only on rare occasions had her specific job role and accompanying training and skills been called into action. Such was the case, she knew, with contact specialists on any number of starships, as much of Starfleet’s resources in the wake of the final Borg Invasion of the Alpha Quadrant focused on rebuilding efforts on worlds across the Federation. To that end, Captain Picard and the Enterprise had been assigned a variety of missions during the ensuing three years that had called upon everything from the captain’s diplomatic expertise to the military capabilities of the starship itself, particularly with the rise of the Typhon Pact and the rapid spread of its influence. Though casting itself as an “alternative” for nonaligned worlds seeking the security to be found in a larger community, the unlikely alliance of six interstellar powers—the Romulans, Gorn, Tholians, Breen, Tzenkethi, and the Kinshaya—had since its forming caused no end of strife for the Federation.
    One of the Pact’s earliest victories had come from stealing top-secret schematics for slipstream drive technology from the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. Although the damage from that theft ultimately had been mitigated, it showed that the Pact was not a rival to be underestimated or trusted. Later, the Tholians’ cast Starfleet and the Federation as willing to stand by and allow the Andorians to suffer extinction rather than offer classified data that might save their endangered civilization. This had resulted in Andor’s unsettling—though temporary—secession from the Federation, which it had helped found more than two centuries earlier.
    In and around these and other events, Captain Picard and the Enterprise had undertaken a handful of missions that dealt in one manner or another with the Pact or other issues plaguing the Federation, including the assassination of President Nanietta Bacco and the hunt for her killers. Following the exposing and arrest of those responsible for the heinous act, including no less than Ishan Anjar, the Bajoran official selected to serve as president pro tempore until a special election could be held to choose Bacco’s successor, there remained numerous issues requiring attention. Searching for anyone else who may have played a role in Bacco’s murder, as well as the ongoing concerns raised by the Typhon Pact, along with continuing the process of healing the rift between the