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

conveyed the urgency of the situation. “Once we are in suspension, the ship will nullify forward acceleration and execute the chronopulse jump.”
    “And what if the Golvonek lock on to us before the jump?” asked Bnira as she unfastened the closures on her flight suit and stepped out of the garment. Now nude, she held her arms away from her body as Neline’s assistant, Rilajor, began applying small sensors at key points along her bare skin.
    “Then our journey will be a short one,” said Neline before turning to Jodis, who also had disrobed, and affixing similar sensors to his body.
    Behind Neline, Ehondar turned from a workstation along the room’s far bulkhead, which Jodis could see was being used to maintain constant vigil on the ship’s status. “Another shield generator has gone offline, as have three more weapons ports. We are running out of time.”
    Jodis ordered everyone to finalize their preparations for entering the suspension cradles, then stood in silence as Neline completed the process of applying the sensors to his skin. He felt the throes of the ship around him as—guided by the onboard computer—it fought to keep its attackers at bay and give him and his crew sufficient time to complete these final tasks.
    Once she was finished, the medical specialist waved him to his own cylinder before she and Rilajor began readying themselves, but Jodis took the brief opportunity to scan the status monitors Ehondar had left active on the nearby workstation. The reports were worrisome, but there now was nothing he could do to affect the situation. Regardless of the outcome, he and his crew were committed to their current course of action.
    “Jodis, it is time,” said Bnira from behind him, and he turned to face her. There was nothing more they could do, except trust the ship and its computer to carry out the tasks for which they had been created. Chief among those responsibilities was the care and safety of the crew that soon would trust their lives to this collection of machines.
    Reaching for her hand, Jodis pulled Bnira close enough so that he could stroke the side of her face. She smiled, mimicking the gesture. Their relationship had evolved far beyond the tenets of commander and crew owing to the long periods spent ensconced in rigorous training. The strict need for secrecy had seen to it that the eight members of the Poklori gil dara ’s crew were forced to work and live only with one another, so it was natural that bonds would form. Though counselors had warned of the dangers of such affairs, Jodis and the others paid such cautions no heed. After all, they had no one else.
    “I hope yours is the first face I see upon waking,” Bnira said.
    Jodis smiled. “I look forward to that.”
    At another console, Neline, nude and with a set of sensors now affixed to her own body, touched several controls in rapid succession before moving from the station and to her own suspension cradle. A mechanical voice began reciting a numeric sequence in descending order.
    Lying prone in his own cradle, Jodis watched as the transparent cylinder closed and sealed around him before a slight hiss echoed within the closed compartment as the programmed sequence of cryogenic vapors was introduced. Beyond the clear barrier, the now muffled voice of the computer was continuing its countdown. He turned his head and saw the rest of his crew, each of them ensconced in their own cradles, their interiors clouding up with the gases and other compounds necessary to induce hibernation.
    A tremendous jolt rocked the entire ship, eliciting a host of new alarms and other warnings from the workstations positioned around the room, but by now Jodis could only lie motionless and wait. Outside his cradle, the computer counted down the few remaining linzatu , and as the inescapable tendrils of induced suspension embraced him, his final thoughts turned to the mission that still lay ahead of them.
    There will be no war.

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    “You want to