Chapter
1

U.S.S. Hyperion, main engineering

"Warning. Warp core failure imminent."

The four engineers in the room glanced up from their routine tasks, startled. For an instant, no one moved as they stared at the flashing lights atop each console. Then they leapt into action.

"Taking the warp core offline," one of them shouted, fingers dancing across the keyboard.

"Venting antimatter," a second announced, activating a manual release lever and tugging it down.

"Running diagnostics on warp core," the third called out, not even glancing up from his screen.

"Pulling the plug," the fourth declared, tapping in a quick series of commands. When one of the others glanced at him, he grinned. "I mean, switching to backup power." The lights flickered for an instant, then stabilized. "And killing the alarm." The sirens and lights suddenly ended, restoring the previous quiet bustle.

"Not bad," a fifth voice announced. It seemed to emanate from the warp core itself, as if that item had somehow developed sentience. "Good response time, reasonable reactions, though the diagnostics shouldn't have been run until after the backup power took over. That way you can make sure a power spike won't skew your results."

"So we passed?" the third engineer asked, looking up at last.

The disembodied voice chuckled. "Passed? Hey kids, we're just getting started—consider this a warm-up. Computer, continue program."

The voice fell silent, and the four engineers glanced at one another.

"This could be tough," one of them said, leaning back in her chair.

"Sure," one of her colleagues said, "but isn't that the point?"

The others nodded, and they all returned to their work, chatting occasionally without pausing in their tasks.

"So, what do you think?"

Fabian Stevens glanced up from his padd, just in time to see one of the four engineers heading right toward him. He flinched involuntarily even as she unconsciously detoured around him. Grimacing at his own foolishness, he looked up at the man standing beside him. He hadn't met Alex Sparks before yesterday, but the man certainly seemed competent, friendly—and almost as humorless as a Vulcan. He also seemed committed to his students, something Fabian wished his own teachers had felt toward him, all those years ago.

"Too early to tell much, really," he replied finally. "The girl, what's her name?"

"That's Tanya, Tanya Sturtze."

"Right, Tanya. She was the first to react, and taking the core offline was definitely the right move."

"Tanya's very focused," Alex agreed.

"The other three did fine, though," Fabian went on, continuing to type notes as he spoke. "The Vulcan—?"

"Santar."

"Santar, he saw that the core was already being handled and went for the next item, the antimatter. The other two, the tiny blond girl and the tall young man—"

"Zoe and Malcolm."

"—they took a second longer to react, but they still got the job done. Malcolm's a little flippant, but as long as he does the work and his superiors don't mind, it's no big deal." Fabian grinned. "I've been known to flip ants myself, from time to time." His companion didn't even crack a smile. Tough room, Fabian thought. He looked around again, watching the four students as they roamed engineering, or more accurately, the part of the holosuite that had been set aside as the engine room. They were oblivious to his and Alex's presence, of course, and would be for the duration of the exam; the holodeck had been told to keep them invisible unless they specifically wanted to appear, and would reroute people and objects around them to maintain that illusion.

What are the others up to right now? Fabe found himself wondering. He thought about the rest of the crew, Gomez and Pattie and Soloman up on the da Vinci, and envied them a little. This was a lot of fun, but the three of them were just kicking back and relaxing while the ship was in port.

Copyright © 2004 by Paramount Pictures