title: Aftermath (Star Trek) (Starfleet Corps of Engineers #29)
author:  Christopher L. Bennett 
description: <b>Keith R.A. DeCandido</b> 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 <i>Star Trek, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Marvel Comics, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity, Resident Evil, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, Farscape, Xena,</i> and <i>Doctor Who</i>. His original novel <i>Dragon Precinct</i> was published in 2004, and he's also edited several anthologies, among them the award-nominated <i>Imaginings</i> and two <i>Star Trek</i> 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 <i>kenshikai</i> karate. He still lives in New York City with his girlfriend and two insane cats.
zlib_text: # Creative Couplings — Book One
  
  
  ## Star Trek: S.C.E. — No. 47
  
  
  ### Glenn Hauman & Aaron Rosenberg
  
  
  # Chapter 1
  
  
  ### U.S.S. Hyperion — Main Engineering
  
  
  “Warning. Warp core failure imminent.”
  
  
  The four engineers in the room glanced up from their routine tasks, startled.
  For an instant, no one moved as they stared at the flashing lights atop each
  console. Then they leapt into action.
  
  
  “Taking the warp core offline,” one of them shouted, fingers dancing across
  the keyboard.
  
  
  “Venting antimatter,” a second announced, activating a manual release lever
  and tugging it down.
  
  
  “Running diagnostics on warp core,” the third called out, not even glancing up
  from his screen.
  
  
  “Pulling the plug,” the fourth declared, tapping in a quick series of
  commands. When one of the others glanced at him, he grinned. “I mean,
  switching to backup power.” The lights flickered for an instant, then
  stabilized. “And killing the alarm.” The sirens and lights suddenly ended,
  restoring the previous quiet bus