Ghost of a Chance (23 page)

“Hail the surface. Get me Daket!”

“Yes, Director,” Triness replied.

Gantel could see his career dissolving before his eyes as his carefully laid plans fell to pieces. One way or another, though, the Federation ship and its captain were going to solve his problems. At the very least, they would cease to be one, shields or no shields.

“Tell Daket I need him up here at once. We are engaging the Federation ship.”

With this order too, Triness complied. After a moment she nodded.

Gantel stared unblinking at the ship on his screen. Then he stood up and pounded the little console in front of his chair with his fist. He would catch Voyager in a cross fire if he had to, but he didn’t want to wait for that. “Very well. Open fire.”

Daket eased himself back into the comfort of his chair on the bridge and received the message with a mixture of trepidation and relief. He was being ordered back into orbit, finally, and probably not a moment too soon, given the rapidly deteriorating condition of the planet—another round of aftershocks had rattled the cruiser only moments ago. But with the first director’s fleet still several light-years out, and with Daket’s mission here anything but complete, the order made only one kind of sense.

“Did they describe the tactical situation in detail?” he asked Tatel.

“Not specifically, but the message was unusually brief, and they did not wait for a reply. I’ve been monitoring communications between Gantel and the Federation vessel. They were discontinued just a time ago. Gantel’s cruiser is now moving into what must be an attack position, though he is keeping his distance.”

Daket didn’t like the sound of that. “Get everyone back here immediately. Prepare for departure. The field personnel are not to go back for anything. Equipment that cannot be carried in one trip is to be left behind.”

Daket waited nervously as his orders were conveyed to his crews both on and off the cruiser. No matter what efforts were made it would take at least half an hour to get packed and powered up.

It had actually taken longer than that during the drills they had conducted, but of course everyone had known they weren’t really getting out of here at that time. This was not a drill.

And there was at least one positive aspect to this dilemma: Tolif and the rest of his remarkably incompetent team at the Federation shuttle would never make it back in time.

“Daket,” Tatel said, turning away from her consoles, a flicker of poorly concealed distress in her eyes.

“What now?” Daket asked.

“I’m reading engines and weapons—” She stopped as she glanced back at her instruments.

“I am listening,” Daket reminded her.

“I’m receiving another message. Gantel is attacking Voyager.”

“Put it on my monitor.”

Daket looked at the screen that rose from the floor just to the right and front of his command chair.

“I am detecting weapons fire,” Tatel said.

“I see it.” Daket heaved himself up out of his chair. The way he saw it, one of two things was about to happen: either Gantel, bold and irrational as ever, would be destroyed by the Federation ship, leaving Daket in command of the entire mission—or Daket’s own timely arrival in orbit would be a deciding factor in the success of whatever unfortunate engagement Gantel had gotten himself into. Either possibility would, under the impending scrutiny of First Director Shaale, likely lead to Daket’s promotion to director, and all with an extremely limited amount of risk and effort on his part. A promotion that he felt was long overdue. He just had to be careful. Extremely careful.

In either case, he couldn’t wait to get off Drenar Four and back into space, even if it was only to get shot at.

“Initiate emergency departure procedures. We’ll have to leave a few people behind.”

Tatel looked up, and Daket had trouble reading her expression.

The stress was getting to her, he thought, like everyone else.

“What are you waiting for?”

“Nothing,” Tatel said. She went quickly to work.

***

“Televek weapons powering up. Targeting beams detected. They are firing,” Tuvok announced from the tactical bay. A single bright energy beam signaled the attack. Then a second, different volley erupted from the cruiser, quite unlike anything Janeway had ever experienced. A continuous string of blue-white cluster-style bursts streamed out of the attacking ship’s lower hull; they reached Voyager almost instantly, and their rapid impact was quickly felt.

“Report,” she ordered.

“They are using a photonic pulse weapon of some kind,” Tuvok said.

“The individual pulses are not very intense, but in great numbers their impact is formidable.”

“Shield integrity is holding, levels dropping slightly. Down fourteen percent,” B’Elanna Torres said from the bridge’s engineering bay.

“How long before the shields collapse?”

“If the Televek can maintain this level of attack,” Torres said, “I estimate shield collapse will occur in four minutes, twenty-seven seconds.”

“Give or take,” Janeway heard Paris say under his breath. She nodded to herself. The pulses and energy beams continued to pound the shields, shaking Voyager with their impact and sending shock waves through the hull and deck, making the ship ring like a giant bell.

Janeway wasn’t sure the crew would last as long as the shields.

Gantel was leaving her no choice. “Ready photon torpedoes.”

“Forward photons armed and ready,” Tuvok answered.

“We have to make these torpedoes count,” Janeway said. “They’re all we’ve got right now, and we can’t get any replacements. We can’t afford to waste a single one.”

“I have every intention of making them count,” Tuvok said, looking up, somewhat perplexed.

“Range two hundred thousand, target locked,” Paris said.

“Shields down thirty-seven percent,” Tuvok dutifully reported.

Janeway held her breath, nodded. “Fire one.”

“Torpedo away,” Tuvok said as he touched his panel. The loud echo of the weapon as it fired sounded throughout the ship.

Janeway watched as the first salvo reached the cruiser and vanished in a fierce white flash.

“The Televek’s forward shields have collapsed,” Tuvok said, his voice a monotone now. “They are trying to rebuild them.”

“Open a channel,” Janeway said. “Tell them to stand down or be destroyed.” She turned to Chakotay. “Without our shields, they must have thought they could take us out quickly,” Janeway speculated.

“But they must have detected our shields when they went up.”

“And they must have assumed they could knock them out again without much trouble. Let’s see what they’ll do now.”

Chakotay nodded. “I wouldn’t care to guess.”

“No response to our hails, Captain,” Stephens said.

For the moment hostilities had ceased. No one on the bridge spoke a word as all eyes watched the main screen. Then both Televek weapons opened fire again, just as before. Voyager’s lights dimmed momentarily, then brightened somewhat as the shields absorbed the initial impact.

“Evasive maneuvers, Mr. Paris,” Janeway responded.

“Captain,” B’Elanna said, “we can’t keep this up forever. The shields are down nearly fifty percent and dropping. Unless we start rerouting power from vital systems, they’re not going to protect us much longer.”

“Televek forward shields are building up again, Captain,” Tuvok said.

“Twenty-three percent and climbing.”

“Captain, enough is enough,” Chakotay said.

Janeway eyed the main screen with cold resolve, then nodded in agreement. “Target two,” she said. “Fire two.”

Tuvok touched his panel once more. “Number two away.”

Almost instantly the second torpedo crossed the distance between the ships. It penetrated the Televek’s partial shields and detonated, spilling most of the blast inward, where it struck the cruiser directly. The impact caused a massive rupture in the cruiser’s hull.

Gases and debris poured from the opening, leaving a trail as the ship veered off. It exploded in a violent fireball a second later. A huge cloud of debris and vapor particles began to spread out through space, continuing the orbit the ship had been maintaining.

“Apparently the Televek underestimated the strength of our torpedoes,” Chakotay suggested.

“I guess so,” Paris said.

To his credit, Janeway noticed, Paris wore no smile at all. She looked around the bridge, saw similarly solemn faces looking back. If there had been another way, she would have taken it, and she was certain that the entire crew knew that.

“Captain!” Neelix said, his voice thin and excited, as he hurried off the turbolift, Kes trailing close behind him. “We saw the whole thing on the monitors. Splendid! Splendid job! I knew all along those Televek weren’t to be trusted.”

“I think we all agree you were right,” Janeway conceded.

“He often is,” Kes said with a smile.

“It’s good to see you up and around, Kes,” the captain said.

“Thank you, Captain,” Kes replied.

“She does look remarkably well, doesn’t she?” Neelix remarked.

“Captain,” Ensign Stephens said, intently examining one of the ops panels. “I have located the shuttle on the planet’s surface.

Clear as can be. It just… it just appeared.”

“That Televek cruiser may have been making the magnetic field interference seem much worse than it is,” Chakotay suggested.

“Agreed,” Tuvok said, looking down at his own displays. “We are scanning clearly now.”

“Run a full sensor sweep of the area around the central power source,” Janeway said. “Look for anything we might have missed, anything that might help us. And get a fix on that second cruiser down there. If they lied about everything else, they would have lied about its condition as well, which is what I’ve suspected since we spotted it.”

She waited while Tuvok ran his scans. There was no sign of a liftoff as yet, but the Televek vessel’s power source was active and levels were rising, indicating possible preparation for one.

Considerable activity was taking place in and around the site; warm bodies and equipment were being moved toward the cruiser.

“Looks like we may be getting some more company up here,” Chakotay said. He examined the readings over Janeway’s shoulder as he joined her and Stephens at Ops.

“We don’t have much time, either way,” Janeway said, half talking to herself. She looked at Chakotay. “Gantel had no intention of helping the Drenarians on the planet. And neither do his friends in the second ship. If anyone is going to do anything for those people, it will have to be us.”

“And it’ll have to be now,” Neelix agreed, his lightly spotted brow forming a dark line over his small eyes. “We’ve still got an entire Televek war fleet breathing down our necks.”

“There just isn’t time to finish diverting the moons,” Chakotay said.

“I don’t want to abandon the effort any more than you do, but—” “I know.” Janeway placed her fist loosely against her lips and cast her gaze downward, trying to concentrate. There was a way.

Like pieces of a puzzle, one she should be able to assemble, the answer was in her head somewhere, just around a corner. This she knew. She just needed to gather all of the pieces…

“We’re missing something,” she said, turning to the others. “We must be.”

“What we’re missing is our best chance to get out of here,” Neelix suggested. “Captain, it never was your responsibility to protect or assist these Drenarians in the first place. I can appreciate your compassion—I feel the same way—but sometimes, when you’ve done all you can do and it just isn’t enough, the only alternative is to accept that fact.”

“I think he may be right about that, too, Captain,” Kes said gently.

“Your people are so willing to help wherever and whenever help is needed, to do whatever needs to be done. I’ve seen it again and again.

It’s one reason why I’m so glad to be here, learning from you. But I’ve also learned that even the best doctor loses a patient sometimes.

It’s the will of the gods, perhaps, or it’s just their time. You can’t hold yourself responsible.”

Janeway didn’t have a good argument at the moment. She felt numb.

“We’re talking about losing an entire world. And a most remarkable people. You haven’t met them, Kes. They are worth saving, a fact that seems lost on the Televek. I don’t want to give up.”

“If I may, Captain, numbers of individuals do not make the Prime Directive any less valid or logical,” Tuvok said.

“Captain, why don’t you just beam up as many Drenarians as you can, then leave before it’s too late?” Neelix suggested.

“Yes,” Kes agreed. “You could save dozens that way.”

“I’ve thought of that,” Janeway said, “and we may be left with no other choice, but I’m reluctant to let it come to that. And we have another consideration: if we tried to flee on the impulse engines we’d be sitting ducks. We would have to reconfigure the warp drive first. I’m not sure we have the time, and I am sure that would mean abandoning any hope of lunar realignment. And I don’t know of any other way to stop the planet’s destruction.”

“If we didn’t have a fleet of cruisers closing in on us, you could keep trying to move those moons,” Neelix said. “But we do, Captain. There isn’t anything you can do about that.”

“I have to agree,” Chakotay said thoughtfully. “We can’t fight them all off with just a few torpedoes.”

“Or with the shields already half depleted,” Torres added. “We’d be no match for so many ships even under ideal conditions.”

Janeway felt her uncertainty turn into something firm and determined in her gut. If she let Voyager be destroyed, she would be helping no one, but the idea of running away, of letting so many perish…

A flicker of an idea tickled the back of her mind. She looked up, trying to think clearly, trailing after her thoughts so as not to lose them. “Mr. Neelix, what was it you just said, about being responsible for protecting these people?” Janeway stepped down and walked slowly across the bridge to the captain’s chair.

Then she turned, still sorting things out, beginning to get somewhere.

Chakotay looked at her. “What is it, Captain?”