Sonya found herself blushing. Altering the Sentinel’s warp field to make it seem like a Cardassian ship while they were stuck behind enemy lines was a trick and a half, especially coming after a prolonged fight with some Jem’Hadar ships, but it had gotten her a commendation. Captain Amalfitano had said it was at the top of the very long list of reasons why she got the promotion to commander.

  “Anyway,” he said as he led her down the corridor toward the turbolift, “you’re gonna love it here. We’ve got a tac systems specialist who served on DS9 with O’Brien, so we can trade chief stories. Oh, and we have two Bynar civilians to do the computer work.”

  That surprised Sonya, as she hadn’t remembered seeing that on the crew roster. But if they were civilians, they wouldn’t necessarily have been on that roster.

  Kieran continued to babble on the way to the bridge. When the doors parted, Sonya found herself in a space that was smaller than the quarters she and Lian T’su shared on the Enterprise eleven years ago. A thin strip of deck ringed the bridge, lined with consoles, with a command well a step down that included conn, ops, and the command chair.

  A white-haired, blue-eyed, pleasant-faced elderly human stepped up from the latter as Kieran spoke. “Captain David Gold, this is your new first officer, and the new head of the S.C.E. team, Commander Sonya Gomez.”

  Sonya smiled and said, “Permission to come aboard, sir.”

  “Granted.” Gold returned the smile. “Welcome aboard. I understand you and Duffy served together under Jean-Luc Picard on the Enterprise.”

  “Uh, yes, sir,” Sonya said. Of course he knows. Kieran probably told him.

  “Good. I’ve known Picard since his Academy days, and he doesn’t turn out bad officers. It’ll be a pleasure to have you two working together.”

  “I’m sure it will, sir.”

  And Sonya found that she meant it. She wasn’t sure where her relationship with Kieran would go from here, or even if it would, given their positions in this ship’s hierarchy. Not to mention on a ship of this size. The population of the da Vinci was four percent of that of the Enterprise—that would mean their lives were in a fishbowl. A relationship might not be the wisest move.

  But that was for tomorrow. Today, she was on a new ship, looking forward to a wonderful new assignment, and she already knew that she could count on at least one member of her team.

  I can’t wait to see what happens next.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  As should be obvious, Many Splendors weaves in and out of several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation during its second, third, fourth, and early fifth seasons. I would therefore like to first of all acknowledge the works of the following writers, whose dialogue was ruthlessly poached: Robin Bernheim (“The Hunted”), Maurice Hurley (“Q Who”), David Kemper (“Peak Performance”), David Mack (S.C.E. #24: Wildfire Book 2), Ronald D. Moore (“Disaster”), and Michael Piller (“The Best of Both Worlds Parts 1–2”).

  In addition to the above-listed, the works of several screenwriters and eBook authors informed my writing: Hilary J. Bader (“The Loss”), Dennis Putman Bailey & David Bischoff (“Tin Man”), Peter S. Beagle (“Sarek”), Rick Berman (“Brothers”), Sally Caves (“Hollow Pursuits”), Lawrence V. Conley & Jeri Taylor (“Silicon Avatar”), Drew Deighan (“Sins of the Father”), Steve Gerber & Beth Woods (“Contagion”), Shari Goodhartz (“The Most Toys”), Maurice Hurley (“The Arsenal of Freedom”), Brian Alan Lane (“Elementary, Dear Data”), Philip LaZebnik (“Darmok”), William Leisner (S.C.E. #57: Out of the Cocoon), Robert Lewin (“The Arsenal of Freedom”), David Mack (S.C.E. #24: Wildfire Book 1), Richard Manning & Hans Beimler (“The Emissary”), Joe Menosky (“In Theory,” “Darmok”), Steve Mollman & Michael Schuster (S.C.E. #62: The Future Begins), Ronald D. Moore (“The Bonding,” “Sins of the Father,” “Family,” “In Theory”), W. Reed Moran (“Sins of the Father”), Aaron Rosenberg (S.C.E. #33: Collective Hindsight Book 1), Hannah Louise Shearer (“Pen Pals”), Dean Wesley Smith (S.C.E. #1: The Belly of the Beast), Melinda M. Snodgrass (“The Measure of a Man,” “Pen Pals,” “The High Ground”), and Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore (S.C.E. #4–5: Interphase Books 1–2). I also made use of my own past S.C.E. work (#2: Fatal Error, #10: Here There Be Monsters, #21: War Stories Book 1, and #28: Breakdowns in particular).

  Finally major thanks to CGAG and The Mom, who made it all better.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  KEITH R.A. DECANDIDO is the codeveloper of S.C.E., and has been the editor responsible for the series since 2001. He has also written or cowritten ten eBooks in the series, more than any other author (though Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore come close with nine). Besides Fatal Error, Cold Fusion, Here There Be Monsters, Breakdowns, Security, Many Splendors, and the two-parters Invincible and War Stories, Keith has also written almost a dozen novels, several short stories, two novellas, and one comic book miniseries in the world of Star Trek, spanning all five TV shows, as well as the novel-only series I.K.S. Gorkon, New Frontier, The Lost Era, and, of course, S.C.E. He’s also written novels, short fiction, essays, nonfiction books, and more in the universes of World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Spider-Man, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity, Farscape, Andromeda, Doctor Who, and much, much more. His next Trek work will arrive in 2007: The Mirror-Scaled Serpent, the Voyager portion of the Star Trek: Mirror Universe event; and Q&A, one of the post-Nemesis novels that will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He continues to be the editor in charge of the Star Trek eBook line, including the about-to-be-relaunched Corps of Engineers series, as well as the fortieth anniversary original Star Trek miniseries Mere Anarchy.

  Keith lives in New York City with his girlfriend and two insane cats, where in what he jokingly calls his spare time, he plays percussion professionally, avidly follows his beloved New York Yankees, and practices kenshikai karate. Find out too little about Keith at his Web site at www.DeCandido.net.

 

 

  Keith R.A. DeCandido, Many Splendors

 

 

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