“And there’s nothing at all unusual about this region?”
Gho shook her head. “Nothing, Captain,” she answered. “At least nothing our sensors can detect.” She waved her hand toward the Science station, indicating that the Captain could check the readings for herself.
“What about [] displacement?” Hawkes asked.
The ensign tapped at the surface of the console and then glanced at Devereux before answering.
“There’s nothing, sir.” She tapped a control, replacing the image on the leftmost main bridge display. “If there’s been any FTL traffic through here, it happened a long time ago.”
The Captain’s posture relaxed slightly. Hawkes felt an undercurrent of relief as well. It seemed unlikely now that they were heading into some kind of ambush. There were no known ways known to obscure the spatial displacement caused by the passage of a vessel using a faster-than-light drive, regardless of the technology being used.
Devereux turned toward Hawkes with a bemused expression.
“I hate to tell you this, Lieutenant,” she said, “but it looks like we’re going to get that spot in the history books after all—for discovering a new cloud of space dust.”
Hawkes met the Captain’s eyes for only a moment before turning away. He did not share her amusement.
Perhaps, he decided, there might be time for one more battle alert drill.
#
“I don’t need to stay here,” Elizabeth protested, rising from the diagnostic bed. “I can . . .”
She gasped as pain stabbed across her shoulder and down along her left arm. The analgesic that Hope had given her had not taken full effect yet. With deliberate care, Elizabeth lowered herself back onto the bed. The pain subsided, but she still winced with the slightest movement of that arm.
“You will remain here.”
Elizabeth glared back at Hope, finding the Aerian physician’s dark alien eyes as unreadable as ever.
“Right,” Elizabeth conceded unhappily, and settled herself back to wait.
Hope said nothing, turning away after a moment to examine the readings from the diagnostic displays. The injury that the Lieutenant Commander had suffered was more painful than serious. Judging from the diagnostic data, and some immediate treatment, she should recover almost completely within the next few days.
Turning back to Elizabeth, she said, “You are restricted to light duty.”
Elizabeth sagged against the thin cushions. “Does the Captain know?”
“I will inform her.”
“Do you have to?”
Puzzled, Hope studied the Lieutenant Commander. “The Captain anticipates my report.”
Elizabeth gave an audible sigh. “Great,” she murmured aloud. “Just . . . great.”
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