Miracle Workers, S.C.E. Book Two [Mass Market Paperback]

Keith R.A. DeCandido (Author), Kevin Dilmore (Author), David Mack (Author), Dayton Ward (Author)

Book Description

Series: Star Trek: S.C.E | Publication Date: January 29, 2002

Further adventures of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers - the topflight assemblage of engineers and technical specialists made up of extraordinary humans and exotic aliens that can build, program and figure out everything from alien replicators to doomsday machines. SCE 5:Interphase, Part Two of Two: a vital rescue mission depends on one young untested officer! SCE 6:Cold Fusion: Following the catastropic conclusion of Avatar, Lieutenant Nog - the chief operations officer of Deep Space 9 - joins forces with the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci; SCE 7:Invincible, Book One: The first in a gripping, all-new two-part adventure! SCE 8:Invincible, Book Two: The exciting conclusion to the gripping all-new two-part adventure. Bestselling eBook series, Star Trek:SCE, for the first time comes to print!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Keith R.A. DeCandido was born and raised in New York City to a family of librarians. He has written over two dozen novels, as well as short stories, nonfiction, eBooks, and comic books, most of them in various media universes, among them Star Trek, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Marvel Comics, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity, Resident Evil, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, Farscape, Xena, and Doctor Who. His original novel Dragon Precinct was published in 2004, and he's also edited several anthologies, among them the award-nominated Imaginings and two Star Trek anthologies. Keith is also a musician, having played percussion for the bands the Don't Quit Your Day Job Players, the Boogie Knights, and the Randy Bandits, as well as several solo acts. In what he laughingly calls his spare time, Keith follows the New York Yankees and practices kenshikai karate. He still lives in New York City with his girlfriend and two insane cats.

Still reeling from the knowledge that Star Trek was a live-action series before it was a Saturday-morning cartoon, KEVIN DILMORE is continually grateful for his professional involvement on the fiction and the non-fiction sides of the Star Trek universe for nearly a decade. Since 1997, he has been a contributing writer to Star Trek Communicator, penning news stories and personality profiles for the bimonthly publication of the Official Star Trek Fan Club. He has written for magazines including Amazing Stories, Star Wars Kids and FLIcK. Kevin’s interviews with some of Star Trek’s most popular authors appear in volumes of the Star Trek Signature Editions, published by Pocket Books. On the fictional side of things, his short stories include "The Road to Edos" in the Star Trek: New Frontier anthology No Limits and "Home on the Strange," the first installment of Reality Cops: The Continuing Adventures of Vale and Mist for Phobos Books. With Dayton Ward, he has written the Star Trek: The Next Generation novels A Time to Sow and A Time to Harvest, a story for the anthology Star Trek: Tales of the Dominion War, eight installments of the continuing e-book series Star Trek: S.C.E. and the short story "Enemy Unknown!" for Rocket League—The Thrilling Roleplaying Game by Playus Maximus. Kevin lives in Kansas City, MO.

David Mack is the national bestselling author of more than twenty novels and novellas, including Wildfire, Harbinger, Reap the Whirlwind, Precipice, Road of Bones, Promises Broken, Rise Like Lions, and the Star Trek Destiny trilogy: Gods of Night, Mere Mortals, and Lost Souls. He developed the Star Trek Vanguard series concept with editor Marco Palmieri. His first work of original fiction is the critically acclaimed supernatural thriller The Calling. In addition to novels, Mack’s writing credits span several media, including television (for episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), film, short fiction, magazines, newspapers, comic books, computer games, radio, and the Internet. His upcoming works include the new Star Trek Vanguard novel Storming Heaven, an epic 24th-century Star Trek: The Next Generation trilogy, and a new original supernatural thriller. Mack resides in New York City with his wife, Kara.

Dayton Ward served for eleven years in the U.S. Marine Corps before discovering the private sector and the piles of cash to be made there as a software engineer. He got his start in professional writing by placing stories in each of Pocket Books’ first three Star Trek: Strange New Worlds anthologies. He is the author of dozens of Star Trek novels, many written in collaboration with coauthor Kevin Dilmore. He recently penned a tie-in to the cult classic television series The 4400, and is currently at work on a new Star Trek novel to be released in Fall 2010.

 

Though he currently lives in Kansas City with his wife, Michi, he is a Florida native and still maintains a torrid long-distance romance with his beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

 

Readers interested in contacting Dayton or learning more about his writing, or who simply need proof that their website is cooler and better looking, are encouraged to venture to his Internet cobweb collection at www.daytonward.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Star Trek S.C.E., Interphase: Book Two

Chapter One

On more than one occasion, mostly during the early years of her career, Commander Sonya Gomez had experienced feelings of helplessness in the midst of a crisis. As she stood on the bridge of the U.S.S. Defiant and studied the surreal image displayed on its main viewer, such feelings once again taunted her and dared her to submit to their stifling embrace.

Along with Captain David Gold and Soloman, she watched as the interdimensional rift continued to mend itself, sealing the Defiant inside this pocket of chaos ambiguously known as "interphase" and separating them from the U.S.S. da Vinci and their entire universe. At the moment, helplessness seemed almost appropriate.

The mission, like so many others Gomez had undertaken since joining the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, had started out easily enough. Daunting and compelling from both technical and historical perspectives, the task of retrieving the Defiant had energized the entire da Vinci crew, from Captain Gold on down. The recovery of the fabled ship, lost for more than a century after becoming trapped in an interspatial pocket connecting this universe with another, presented a unique engineering challenge. When the ship disappeared in 2268, most scientific minds throughout the Federation believed that it had been lost in the other universe with no hope of being recovered.

That belief had held true until two weeks ago, when a Tholian vessel had discovered the Defiant, still trapped in the interdimensional rift but now visible again for the first time in more than a century. The circumstances leading to the ship's reappearance after so long remained a mystery and the Tholians, in their typical fashion, had not been forthcoming with any potentially helpful information.

And we could sure use that info now, Gomez mused.

She had led an away team to the Defiant with the task of restoring minimal power to the derelict vessel. Working with Kieran Duffy, the da Vinci's propulsion specialist, she had decided that the Defiant's maneuvering thrusters could be used to help extract the ship from the rift, with the help of the da Vinci's tractor beam. Duffy and his team had also modified the da Vinci's navigational deflector to stabilize the Defiant's hull and make it easier for the tractor beam to lock onto the trapped ship.

Of course, it wouldn't have been an S.C.E. mission if the Defiant hadn't yielded a few surprises of its own.

First had been the condition of the ship itself. Drained of power, the Defiant was a lifeless hulk, dark and foreboding as the away team materialized in the depths of its engineering section. Then there were the remains of the ship's crew, drifting free throughout the vessel's interior in the absence of gravity. The nightmarish scene had caught Gomez off guard and caused her no small amount of anxiety. Her reaction to the situation troubled her, but she had managed to keep her unease at bay to this point by concentrating on the tasks at hand.

But then the Tholians had inexplicably fired on the Defiant, disrupting the da Vinci's attempt to pull the century-old ship from the interspatial void and instead throwing the Defiant back into the rift. The action had the further effect of collapsing the pocket around the ship, trapping it and the da Vinci away team within the confines of interspace.

"The weapons fire could have disturbed the fabric of space near the rift," Gomez said as she studied the viewscreen. "The area is already so unstable, any kind of disruption would probably be enough to affect it."

Turning away from the viewscreen, Gold said, "Something similar was reported in the old Enterprise logs when they discovered the Defiant. It had the effect of throwing off the interphase timetable. The Defiant still continued to appear and reappear, but they had to recalculate the intervals."

"That means the da Vinci can probably still get us out," Gomez said.

"Maybe," Gold replied as he stepped toward the starboard side of the command well. "But first we need to make sure the ship won't fall apart around us." He turned his attention to the science station. "Soloman, do we have internal sensors? Can you give us a damage report?"

The Bynar keyed commands to the science console as his face was bathed in the soft blue light of the station's viewfinder. Several moments passed as he reviewed the information supplied by the Defiant's limited sensors.

"There are... hull breaches on decks eight, thirteen and... fifteen," he reported. "There is also some buckling... in the port warp nacelle." As he turned away from the viewfinder, the Bynar added, "The damage is minor, given the... intensity of the attack, Captain. We were... most fortunate."

Gomez sighed in relief. "I'll say. If that's the extent of the damage, then we should be okay even under the pull of the da Vinc'is tractor beam."

"If she's still there," Gold said, drawing shocked expressions from Gomez and Soloman. The da Vinci's commanding officer didn't acknowledge the looks, however, instead adding, "She may have been disabled or destroyed by the Tholians, or Mr. Duffy has obeyed my orders and taken her out of the area. Either way, we may not be able to rely on the da Vinci to get us out of here."

"Even if the rift was open," Gomez said, "the Defiant's maneuvering thrusters aren't enough to push us out on their own." The generators they had brought with them from the da Vinci would never be enough to power the ship's massive impulse engines, to say nothing about the warp drive.

Gold shrugged. "Then we'll just have to find another way, won't we?"

"Captain," Gomez said, "what if we do get out? The Tholians could be waiting on the other side of the rift for us. We'd be sitting ducks."

"Given a choice between waiting here for who knows what to happen or taking our chances in normal space," Gold replied, "I choose the latter option."

The chirp of his suit communicator interrupted their conversation; it was followed by the voice of Dr. Elizabeth Lense, the da Vinci's chief medical officer.

"Lense to Captain Gold. I have an emergency situation and require assistance."

"Doctor?" Gold called out, his voice rising a notch. "Are you all right? What about Pattie?"

Shortly after beaming to the Defiant, P8 Blue, the S.C.E. team's resident Nasat engineer, had detected an odd power source emanating from deep within the ship. Gold had sent her and Dr. Lense to investigate, and they had found a strange device of Tholian design stored in one of the ship's cargo holds. To the best of Gold's knowledge, Pattie and Lense had remained down there during the Tholian attack. He had sudden visions of the pair caught in a maelstrom of cargo containers and equipment tumbling about the cargo hold free from the restraints of gravity, and Pattie and Lense frantically seeking cover from the potentially lethal assault.

"I am uninjured," Lense replied to the captain, miraculously maintaining her composed tone of voice, "but we are not in the cargo bay. During the attack, a section of the hull destabilized and Pattie fell out into space. As she was already unconscious, I had no choice but to follow."

"What?" Gold said. "You mean you're drifting in space outside the ship?"

"No, sir. I managed to get us back, but by then the hull had solidified again. I am standing on the exterior of the ship, and I can find no sign of an airlock or other entry point. Pattie has sustained a concussion. She needs medical treatment."

Gold looked to Gomez. "Transporters? Can we beam her directly to the bridge?"

The engineer shook her head. "There's no power to th

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek (January 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743444124
• ISBN-13: 978-0743444125
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,072,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Continued Good Reading., February 20, 2002

By 

Diane Bellomo (Baltimore, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miracle Workers, S.C.E. Book Two (Mass Market Paperback)

I can't say much in this review of Book 2 of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers that I didn't already say in my review of Book 1. That is, it's great! Well-written, believable, and very entertaining, with nods to continuity throughout. If you're not reading these, or the DS9 re-launch, then you're missing out on some great stuff.

An added bonus in the back of this publication is the S.C.E. Minipedia, written by one of the good ones, Keith R.A. DeCandido. Set up like the Star Trek Encyclopedia, it contains all you'll need to know and more about the persons, places, and things in the S.C.E. universe, which includes, of course, plenty of the canon stuff we've come to know and love. And for those of you who favor nitpicking, there's an e-mail address where you are invited to send in errors, corrections, or comments if you wish.

Win-win, if you ask me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ST-SCE Book #2 Miracle Workers, February 6, 2002

By 

Joe Zika "Khemprof" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Miracle Workers, S.C.E. Book Two (Mass Market Paperback)

To all who read Star Trek, you will find that the second SCE book to be well written and an excellent read. Starfleet Corps of Engineers journey through adventures that include rescuing a ship trapped in interphase, help Deep Space Nine get a new power core, and put together a subspace accelerator.

We have a collecton of short compact stories that being the Corps together in time pressed situations and get results. Perils and alien interference along with mystery and uncertainty all are part of the mix when dealing with the galaxy's wonders.

Miracle Workers in their own right the Corps solves the problems in each of the short stories. First off there is the continuation of the story left off in book #1. Interphase by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore.

Interphase is about extracting the U.S.S. Defiant fron an interspatial rift. The unusual tenuous connection that the rift created betweeen the two universes causes problems, but the Tholians are a bigger problem. The adventure is well written and this conclusion was worth the wait. A good well written story and the characters are fleshed out here.

Cold Fusion by Keith R.A. DeCandido is the Corps next adventure.
Lt. Nog is in this one but Sonya Gomez is not, we will find out why in the third short story Invincible. DS-9 needs a new power core so, the Corps is sent to an abandoned Cardassian station in the Trivas system known as Empok Nor. When they arrive they run into an alien race of technology thieves. The adventure is well written and the character Lt. Commander Duffy leads the away team to the station. Duffy's character gets fleshed out in the story as the XO is not on this mission. Well written and the alien Androssi are introduced in this story.

Invincible is the third story, by David Mack and Keith D.A. DeCardido is a story wriiten in personal logs, first officer's logs, letters to home and family etc. This is an evolving story as the logs continue. Sonya Gomez is sent to a far remote region of space to help out in a engineering project on the planet Sarindar. Captain Scott had read a paper that Gomez wrote about subspace accelerators and recommended her for the job. Sarindar's completely scan and transporter proof due to the very high ore concentration of Chimerium.

Silicon based life forms exist on the planet of crystalline snowball appearance. Now the story is told and you will want to see how this story plays out.

There is a "Minipedia" in this book to help in explaining the characters and places etc.

In enjoyed these Trek adventures as I hope you will. Very well witten and each story in this series builds upon the last adventure told so you have a sense of continuation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As enjoyable and even more satisfying than the first, January 25, 2002

By 

Jacqueline Bundy (Calabasas, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miracle Workers, S.C.E. Book Two (Mass Market Paperback)

"Miracle Workers" was as enjoyable as "Have Tech, Will Travel". The conclusion to the Interphase story was worth the wait. The Cold Fusion story is set between DS9's Avatar and Abyss and filled in some plot points. Overall well worth reading.