“Dammit, the flux capacitor won’t fit!”

Gomez wiped at her damp forehead with her sleeve and bit her lower lip as she tried to figure out how to cram all the needed technical equipment into the node. Had they managed to crack it open earlier, she’d have been able to check the level of miniaturization required. Right now, she was still guessing at what was needed to modulate the tremors. In her mind, an imaginary clock was continuing to tick down until the first estimated aftershock. If Pattie was right, it was going to be a rough ride, enough to possibly ruin her work.

Under other circumstances, she’d have asked for additional help—Pattie, Kieran, an entire team—but the node was so small that more than one person working on it was impractical.

She slowed her breathing and forced her racing mind to focus on the single task in front of her. The capacitor needed to handle input and output feeds, both of which might be trimmable. Reaching into her equipment case, she pulled out crimpers that neatly cut the input feed. Sonya again tried to fit the capacitor into the new node, but it still didn’t fit. This time, rather than curse, she trimmed the output feed and refitted the device.

“Much better,” she said to herself. It didn’t matter to her if she spoke out loud or not; what mattered was that she maintain her cool. Focus was required and that meant ignoring whatever else was happening. She had to trust Corsi and Hawkins to maintain order, allowing her to do the work required. Her life might have been on the line but after months on the da Vinci, she would not have it any other way. The S.C.E. afforded her more challenges than the work on any starship, even more than on the fabled Enterprise. And working on the da Vinci gave her a chance to also be in a command position. Her career had certainly taken some interesting twists but there was nothing to complain about. Personally, she had even managed to rekindle her relationship with Kieran. What did she have to complain about?

By way of answer, Evora chose that moment to move rather violently.

Gomez tumbled to her knees, and her arms went reflexively over her head. She cursed herself, realizing she needed to protect the node first. A moment later she felt Rugan tumble into her; the scientist had been leaning in close, watching the repair work and staying silent. Gomez held on to the old woman for a moment, making sure she was safe. As aftershocks went, this was pretty mild, lasting a handful of seconds and nowhere near as severe as expected.

“You okay down there?” It was Abramowitz, who seemed fine herself.

“Peachy,” she answered, looking over to the Evoran scientist, who nodded just once. Gomez turned her attention back to the node. With the capacitor now in place, she could concentrate on the phase modulator. But first, she was still a commander with a team. “How’s everything topside?”

“Peachy,” Carol replied with a grin. “Everything’s under control so just worry about the network.”

Another aftershock rolled across the land and this time Abramowitz fell forward, tumbling into the pit and landing hard beside the node. Rugan herself was thrown into the makeshift device, cracking a connection to the pipe network. Gomez had tucked herself into a ball, letting bits of rock and silt cover her back and shoulders.

This one lasted longer than the first one, and seemed more violent. Gomez gritted her teeth and stood over Abramowitz’s prone-but-conscious body. She’d be black and blue for days after all this.

“I’m fine,” she said as she spit out dirt.

Rugan indicated she too was fine and was extremely apologetic for breaking Gomez’s work. The engineer looked at the cracked connection, shook her head, and swiftly reached into her kit and grabbed a hydrospanner. There had better be a breather before the next shock if she expected to complete her work and even have time to test the unit.

Five minutes later, she had everything reassembled and it all fit together. It was ugly as sin, twice as bulky as the original node, but ready to work. There was just the one tiny matter of determining the right frequency.

“Bart,” she called. In moments, Faulwell’s cheerful face hung over the lip of the excavation.

“Did that translation from Soloman contain the original frequency?”

Faulwell blinked and then consulted his tricorder. He frowned and thumbed the readout up and down, and Gomez began to fret. She needed to set it at something and she’d much rather not guess.

“Nothing here,” he finally said. He frowned. “It might be built into the language itself. If it’s at least partly musical in nature, then it’s set at a certain pitch.”

Gomez shrugged; it made some sense. She looked at Soloman’s translation and then compared it with the vibrations Pattie had managed to record from orbit. Sure enough, they were close enough for her to make a very educated guess. She began inputting the instructions.

“What makes you so certain this will work?” Rugan asked.

“Well, I’ve had plenty of experience with repair work, and my instincts tell me we’re on the right course. Am I absolutely certain it will work? Of course not. It’s alien technology and that brings lots of unknowns with it. But right now, I’ve got to go with my instincts. Here goes nothing,” she said. With that, she pressed two studs protruding from the new node housing. Ruby lights blinked on and everyone could hear an audible whine build before surpassing human hearing.

Gomez tapped her combadge and called the da Vinci. “Pattie, what do the sensors read?”

“Just a moment, Commander,” the Nasat replied. The moment stretched to several and Gomez paced her small trench, eager to get up top and away from the dig entirely.

Abramowitz and Rugan were standing side by side, silent. Gomez looked up to see Faulwell and Corsi peering down from above.

“The frequencies match,” P8 Blue announced. “The patch is working and the network is no longer straining.”

“Is it enough to stop the aftershocks?”

“Probably mute them but stop them, no,” P8 said.

“We’ll stay here to see that the equipment holds during the next shock,” Gomez said. “Out.” With that, she reached up and was happily pulled to the surface by her colleagues.

“My ship informs me a replacement device has worked successfully,” Gold told Cuzar and Helanoman.

They had been sitting around the desk, with the Onlith leader blustering on about all of the Federation’s many mistakes. Gold had to suffer this in silence, letting the Evoran man have his say so that when Gold finally spoke, Helanoman might actually listen.

“Are you certain this will stop more earthquakes?”

“Regent, until something occurs, everything is merely speculation.”

“We did record one aftershock already,” Cuzar pointed out, clearly hoping she was wrong. Gold admired the woman and liked her quiet style.

“Of course, that was before activation. We just have to wait and see.”

“I hate waiting.”

“Part of being a good leader, Helanoman, is being able to wait without losing one’s mind,” Gold answered. The smaller man had nothing to say in response. He seemed to ignore the comments and just sat. Cuzar shrugged her shoulders in a universal signal of resignation.

“Gomez to Gold.”

“Go ahead, Commander. Is everything fine at the dig?”

“Waiting on the next shock wave, but I’m optimistic. I wanted to come make my report in person.”

“Good thought. If Helanoman does not mind…” The captain looked over to the Onlith leader, who just stared.

“I don’t think I want to wait that long.”

“Oh, that’s not a problem. Go ahead, Commander.”

Moments later, Gomez materialized in the regent’s office, which was beginning to feel crowded. She was covered with dust, dirt, and something that he suspected was a lubricant. Her hair was a mess but there was no denying the triumphant look in her eyes. Helanoman just stared at her, more with surprise than anger. No doubt this further proved his point that contamination was continuing.

“Report.”

“While we’ve translated some of the language, we have no idea who built the network,” Gomez said. “Abramowitz’s best explanation is that they were a benevolent race, similar to the Preservers, and they…”

“Preservers?” Cuzar asked.

Gold explained. “An ancient race, long gone; but they built protective devices on many worlds we have discovered. We know very little about them, actually.” Helanoman seemed pleased by the lack of knowledge.

“Sensor readings from the ship seem to indicate Evora is a very unstable planet,” Gomez continued, pausing then to check for reactions. The captain appreciated the gesture of respect. Neither Evoran seemed to know how to handle the information. He nodded for her to continue.

“The geological readings Rugan took at the dig help confirm the hypothesis. This planet has undergone major geologic upheaval since it was formed. That’s why entire species were wiped out in a seeming blink of the eye.”

“And this mystery race…they built the stabilizers?”

“Yes, Regent,” Gomez said softly. “Some millennia back, after the last quake wiped out the animal life, they undertook the task. Stabilizing the planet allowed life finally to flourish and endure. Until now, your people barely experienced a tremor, thanks to their ingenuity.”

“How does the system work?” Gold asked.

“That, I’m less sure about,” his engineer answered. “Clearly, we believe the planet’s core is providing the power source. How the device knows to emit the right harmonics is beyond me.” What went unsaid was her desire to find out how, but Gold knew that would be impossible without compromising the ancient system.

Cuzar sat, staring blankly at the screen in front of her. Helanoman also seemed to be staring into space, and for a moment Gold actually felt some sympathy for him. His entire belief system had been challenged and found wanting. He would now have to live with the notion that the Evoran people did owe their very existence to another race.

“Whatever race chose to do this did so without asking for a price. They did it because it was the right thing to do. It could be the biggest good deed I have ever witnessed,” Gold said. “This doesn’t change anything. All of your accomplishments, like developing warp drive, are entirely your own doing. The aliens’ work ended millennia ago, so there’s nothing to be ashamed about, Helanoman. Yes, it’ll take time to adjust, and the Federation can send teachers or historians to help with the adjustment—or not, if that’s what you prefer. Nothing will be easy, but life wouldn’t be interesting if it was.”

“I knew we were right to seek an alliance within the galactic community,” Cuzar said. “When we took that first warp flight two years ago, I hoped we would find friends, not enemies. What shall we do now, Helanoman?”

The man continued to sit, his eyes staring and his expression unreadable. The regent gave him time to gather his thoughts and wits. Gold and Gomez looked on sympathetically, but remained where they were. This was not their affair, the captain recognized, so it required patience.

“Helanoman?”

Finally, the more massive Evoran blinked and shrugged his shoulders, a statue coming to life. He turned his head to the regent and simply said, “You win.”

“This isn’t about winning or losing,” Cuzar said, showing her grace. “Our people made a collective decision to join the Federation family and your followers seek to undermine that. Now that we know the truth, what do you intend to do?”

“I will…I will ask my people to stand down and let the planet function as it has,” he said. “I will then submit myself to you for punishment.”

Cuzar let that hang in the air for a few moments, and Gold was curious to see how she would handle this. She didn’t seem to be milking the moment for pleasure. He was pleased by that.

“There needs be some punishment, yes. We can’t have people leading coups without any consequences. Still, you acted based on your beliefs, not because you sought power in and of itself. We shall let the judiciary review and make a decision. Please, give the word to the Onlith, tell them it’s over.”

“Yes,” he said sadly. “It’s over.” He turned away and began speaking into his communications device.

Cuzar finally rose from her chair and approached the captain. She moved gracefully and with purpose. “I cannot thank you enough, Captain. You and your crew saved my world.”

“We fix things,” Gold said, smiling. “Usually, it’s just equipment but it seems we may have helped repair this rift among you. If you’d like, I can stay and help with the restoration of your control.”

“No thank you, Captain,” Cuzar said proudly. “We have made do on our own long enough that this will not require any additional help. While I welcome our place in your family, I remain committed to the Evorans finding our own way. The Onlith and the rest of the government have other issues that need resolving before we can consider this finished. You did more than enough just getting these discussions started.”

“Good,” said Gold. “I’ll have my crew return to the ship and we’ll prepare to leave orbit.”

“Will Rugan be allowed to continue her work at the site?” Gomez asked.

“Oh yes,” Cuzar said. “There’s too much to learn about our world. In fact, Captain, we may invite experts from the Federation to observe or help…later. Maybe we can repay your kindness with a discovery about this race that helped us.”

Gold smiled at the notion and considered the matter well on its way to being resolved.

“Yew-cheen chef-faw,” Cuzar said.

“Yew-cheen chef-faw,” Gold replied, pleased he got the pronunciation right at last.