Star Trek by Robert T. Jeschonek Page B

deactivate.
    If, of course, the device’s probability-altering field did not create a malfunction in its own timing mechanism. That was one of the factors that Tev still wasn’t a hundred percent sure about yet.
    He drew the sphere back and up with one hand. Then he took three steps, swinging the sphere forward, and released it to roll across the floor of the palace throne room.
    Tev hurried out of the huge chamber, from which everyone else had already been evacuated. Just as he turned to watch from the other side of the doorway, the Luck Pulse sphere flared with blinding white light.
    Within seconds, deadly-looking Jem’Hadar booby traps began falling from hiding places in the walls and ceiling, clattering to the floor without firing a single projectile or energy beam or explosive. The thrones themselves fell to pieces, both at the same time, revealing hidden gun emplacements that sparked and smoked and burst apart with loud pops.
    Tev felt a surge of satisfaction as he looked back and forth between the readouts on his tricorder and the visible effects in the throne room. “It’s working,” he said. “The booby traps are spontaneously self-destructing.”
    â€œNow that’s the way to do a job,” said Vinx. “You never gotta get your hands dirty.”
    Just then, with ten seconds remaining on the duration of the Luck Pulse, an unexpected movement in the throne room caught Tev’s eye. Peering into the dim far corners of the room, he glimpsed a dark figure ducking behind a fat pillar. He continued to watch closely.
    The next thing he knew, he was stumbling backward, heart racing, as a fierce-looking creature leaped out from behind the pillar. Tev saw black fur, a long snout, and a foaming muzzle packed with jagged, gleaming fangs.
    The creature was bipedal and stood at least twice as tall as Tev. As it scanned the chamber with bulging, bloodshot eyes, Tev recognized its similarity to certain canine species native to Earth. Its features were exaggerated and unnatural, but it resembled a Terran animal that Tev had seen images of in the past.
    Specifically, it looked like a wolf.
    When the creature caught sight of Tev, it charged straight for him. Terrified, Tev tripped over his own feet as he tried to run and fell to the floor. The creature continued to charge.
    That was when the entire royal palace collapsed. As debris blasted down from above, crushing the creature in mid-lunge, the Luck Pulse sphere stopped glowing, its thirty seconds of operation finally expiring.

Chapter
24
    â€œI ’m pleased to report that thanks to my admittedly unorthodox solution, all booby traps installed in the royal palace have been eliminated,” Tev said over Gomez’s combadge. “Also, a hole has spontaneously opened into the underground transmitter chamber, so we do not have to cut through the shielding.”
    Gomez frowned. Since contacting Tev a moment ago for a status report, she had been getting a suspicious vibe. Though his report was glowing, she wondered about the actual state of affairs on his end of the call. “What’s that I hear in the background? Some kind of crumbling sound?”
    â€œIt’s just dust settling,” said Tev. “Some…shifting…occurred during the deactivation process.”
    â€œShifting.” Gomez no longer had any doubt that Tev was glossing over the truth. She did not, however, have time to explore the subject further. “I’m glad your ‘unorthodox solution,’ whatever it was, proved to be so effective.”
    â€œThank you,” said Tev. “However, I cannot, at this time, recommend using the Luck Pulse on the changeling transmitter.”
    â€œThe what pulse?” said Gomez. Conveniently, Tev had left out the minor detail that he had used something called a Luck Pulse to deactivate the booby traps.
    â€œThe unpredictability factor associated with the Pulse’s effects is much higher than