Star Trek: The Next Generation: Starfleet Academy #6: Mystery of the Missing Crew Read Online Free

carried here by the ship’s intercom system.
    “Yellow alert!” he called out, in a calm but commanding voice. “All ship’s personnel—yellow alert!”

CHAPTER
2
    Data wondered what sort of conditions could have prompted a yellow alert. Judging by the expressions on the faces of Chief Griffiths and the Yann, they wondered as well.
    Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Captain Rumiel supplied them with additional information.
    “We have sighted an unidentified vessel off the starboard bow,” he announced. “Until we can convince it to answer our hails, all hands are to report to their posts.”
    All over the ship, the android mused, officers were rushing up and down corridors or swinging into turbolift cars. But not here. Griffiths didn’t move, and neither did Data or the Yann.
    After all, the transporter chief was at his post already. And being passengers on the Yosemite , the cadets had no posts to rush to. All they could do was remain where they were and speculate as to the identity of the newcomer.
    “The captain said the vessel was unidentified,” noted one of the Yann—the one named Lagon. “That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s hostile.”
    “No,” agreed the Yanna called Odril. “But it can’t be too friendly if it’s not answering our hails, now, can it?”
    “It could be anything at all,” Chief Griffiths chimed in. “Hostile, friendly, or anything in between. There’s no way to tell yet. Whatever it is, though, l’m sure we’ll be able to handle it, so why don’t we just carry on with our lesson?”
    “That would be preferable,” Data told him.
    “Please,” said Sinna, “go ahead. We’re listening.”
    Satisfied that he had regained his audience, the transporter chief cleared his throat again. “Now, where was I?” he wondered.
    “You were describing the way an object is temporarily stored in the pattern buffer,” the android supplied cheerfully. “You were saying it could linger there for up to …” He let his voice trail off.
    Griffiths eyed him warily. “So I was,” he said. “Anyway, it can stay there for as much as six or seven minutes, tops. Then it’s got to be sent out through the emitter array. But before it reaches the emitter, it’s got to pass through a—”
    Before the chief could finish his sentence, the deck in the transporter room seemed to heave up at one end, throwing not only Griffiths across the room, but the Yann as well. They crashed into the far wall. However, being an android, Data was able to catch himself before he could slide past the control console.
    In the next fraction of a second he analyzed the situation. The Yosemite had been shaken—that much was certain. More than likely, this condition had been caused by the unidentified vessel. And whatever that vessel had used against the Federation ship, it had carried with it sufficient force to overcome the Yosemite ’s inertial dampening systems.

    Just as suddenly as it had pitched, the deck righted itself. Muttering beneath his breath, clinging to a bulkhead for support, Chief Griffiths got to his feet. He looked dazed, confused.
    The Yann weren’t in very good shape themselves. That was one of the drawbacks of being made of flesh and blood, rather than a construct of artificial materials. It wasn’t all that difficult to be injured.
    Making his way over to his fellow cadets, Data helped Sinna—the nearest of them—to her feet. “Are you all right?” he asked her.
    She nodded. “I think so,” she replied. “Are you?”
    “I am unharmed, But then,” he explained, “I was designed to be a good deal more durable than any naturally occurring organism.”
    Suddenly the entire transporter room was bathed in a flash of blue-white light—a flash so bright and so all-encompassing that even the android’s eyes had trouble adjusting to it.
    When he could see again, he noticed that the room was lit only with red-orange emergency lights. But that wasn’t all that had changed. Transporter