“Admiral,” Chakotay said, “the Galen has your rendezvous coordinates and will be able to utilize them. But Demeter has not returned from Vitrum. If Voyager and the Vesta are lost, when Demeter does return . . .”
“In that instance, Commander O’Donnell already has standing orders.”
Chakotay nodded, then said, “One more thing: I’m short a CMO right now.”
“What happened to the Doctor?” Janeway asked.
“I don’t know. Reg is working on it as we speak.”
Janeway turned to Farkas. “Can you spare . . .” she began.
“Farkas to sickbay. El’nor?”
“Yes, Captain?” Doctor Sal replied.
“Grab a couple of medics and get yourselves to the nearest transporter room. Voyager’s sickbay is shorthanded and we’re about to join the battle.”
“Damn it, Regina,” Sal said.
“I’ll note your protest in my logs, El’nor. Now, go.”
Farkas closed the channel before Sal could protest more colorfully.
VOYAGER
As soon as Chakotay had confirmed the arrival of his temporary medical staff and the restoration of Voyager’s shields, he asked, “Ensign Gwyn, has helm control been restored?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Set course, full impulse for the Voth ship. Aubrey, let’s see if we can draw a little fire and take some of the heat off of the CIF.”
“Understood, sir,” Aubrey said.
“Harry?” Chakotay prompted.
“Waters, reroute additional power to the shield emitters, sufficient to support multiphasic alignment. Aubrey, as soon as you can, shift to multiphasic shields. The last time we met the Voth, their phasers and torpedoes weren’t that much stronger than ours, but they were able to transport us directly inside their vessel.”
“The modulated shield frequencies should disperse any transporter beam,” Aubrey said.
“That’s the theory,” Kim said.
“Any other suggestions, sir?” Aubrey asked.
“Keep the torpedoes tightly focused,” Kim said. “It will probably take several shots just to weaken their shields.”
The Vesta came within range before Voyager and opened fire on the Voth ship’s port flank. Six cannons immediately realigned to return fire but only grazed Vesta’s shields as she skimmed closer to the vessel on an unlikely course to avoid them.
Pull up, Chakotay thought. Vesta’s helmsman did so, just in the nick of time to avoid impact.
Gwyn followed the same attack course and brought them in range to follow Aubrey’s initial phaser fire with the release of two torpedoes. Only one breached the shields, but its impact was followed by a burst of greenish fire from the Voth ship’s hull. Not to be outdone, Gwyn took Voyager up in a roll, avoiding the responding cannon fire by a hair.
“Well done,” Chakotay said. “More of the same, please.”
VESTA
While maneuvering to reengage the Voth ship, Lieutenant Kar managed to fire a sustained phaser burst at one of the remaining Vaadwaur vessels that sheared off a sizable chunk of its aft propulsion array, sending it into a spiral. A CIF vessel moved in to finish the job as Kar selected her next target on the Voth ship.
A direct hit, aft, jostled everyone on the bridge, but Jepel quickly reported only slight damage to their shields.
“Who was that?” Farkas asked.
“The Manticle,” Jepel replied.
“Figures,” Farkas said. “Kar, I’d like to see a few less cannons firing at us after this next pass.”
“As would I, Captain,” Kar agreed.
Four quick bursts of phaser fire succeeded in taking out only one of the Voth’s cannons, but it was a start.
“Jepel, how are the other CIF ships faring?”
“They’ve destroyed one more Karlon ship, and the Skeen vessel has taken significant damage, but it’s still engaged.”
“And the Gateway?” Farkas asked.
“The CIF is not making any visible progress against that blockade.”
A loud detonation from the Vesta’s belly jolted the captain upward. “Report,” Farkas ordered.
“Direct hit,” Kar said through gritted teeth.
“Shields holding at eighty-nine percent,” Jepel added.
Farkas turned to the admiral. “Do you want to try to end this with one shot?” she asked.
“With what?” Janeway asked.
“A transphasic torpedo.”
“Last I heard those were still on the drawing board,” Janeway said.
“They were put on the fast track shortly after you died. Their use was restricted during the Borg Invasion to the Enterprise, much to the frustration of the rest of us,” she added. “But I was able to convince Montgomery to give us a few in the unlikely event the Caeliar didn’t do as thorough a job as we’d hoped.”
“What are the risks?” Janeway asked.
“They were specifically designed to penetrate the Borg’s shields. They’re untried against the Voth. And it’s not something I’d ever like to see used against us.”
Janeway turned back to the main viewscreen. The remaining CIF forces had clearly been rejuvenated by the entrance of the Federation ships onto the battlefield. But many had sustained heavy damage. Voyager and the Vesta were distracting the Voth ship for the moment but not exactly making significant headway.
Suddenly, a volley of torpedoes flew from a forward bay aboard the Voth ship, headed directly for Voyager. The flight controller immediately compensated, but the torpedoes adjusted course with her and, seconds later, directly impacted the deflector array.
“Damage report,” Janeway ordered.
“Voyager’s shields are down, Admiral,” Jepel said. “She’s lost her main deflector.”
“Another direct hit will finish her, and she can’t go to warp now, much less slipstream,” Janeway said.
“Captain,” Jepel called from ops. “The Shudka is sending out a message to all ships to cease hostilities. They wish to discuss terms.”
Janeway looked back at Farkas. “Just say the word, Admiral,” the captain said.
Janeway paused.
“Stand down,” she finally ordered. “Order Voyager to do the same.”
“Admiral,” Cambridge piped up from behind her, “the Kinara only made one nonnegotiable demand for peace.”
“I know, Counselor,” Janeway said.
“We just came to the Confederacy’s aid,” the counselor continued, “and they’re about to betray you.”
“It looks that way,” Janeway agreed.
“Chakotay would not hesitate to purchase your safety with his own,” Cambridge said.
“I know that too,” Janeway said. “Open a channel to the Shudka,” she ordered.
As she had expected, the face of First Consul Dreeg appeared before her. Presider Cin was nowhere to be seen. Dreeg said, “Admiral Janeway, while it grieves me to ask, I must request that you agree to Inspector Kashyk’s demands. You know, I presume, that I could force you to do so.”
“Let him try,” Farkas suggested under her breath.
“That won’t be necessary, First Consul,” Janeway said. “Where is Presider Cin?” she asked.
“She was fatigued, Admiral,” Dreeg said. “I thought it best she retire to her quarters for some much-needed rest.”
Although Janeway could not confirm whether or not Cin had approved Dreeg’s choice, the result would be the same. “I will surrender myself to the Manticle, First Consul, but only under my own nonnegotiable terms.”
“May I bring the inspector into our conversation?”
“Please do,” Janeway said.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
VOYAGER
“I’m sorry, she what?” Chakotay asked in disbelief.
The bridge was not in what Chakotay had come to accept as its customary state of disarray following battle, although the destruction of Voyager’s deflector had caused systemwide overloads. Only the engineering and sensor panels had caught fire, and
a few overhead plates had fallen, exposing conduits belching sparks and fumes. Emergency teams led by Torres had already begun repairs. Weapons were still operational, but Lieutenant Conlon had warned him that shields would not be restored for several hours.
It was disquieting to hold station virtually defenseless, surrounded by so many enemy ships, but ever since the Shudka had called for a cease-fire, both sides seemed to be honoring it.
Controlled chaos ran rampant all around him, but as soon as Kim had presented the first report from the Vesta, Chakotay’s focus had narrowed to the face of his acting first officer.
“Admiral Janeway is preparing to turn herself over to the alien fleet,” Kim repeated.
This made absolutely no sense.
And it must not, under any circumstances, happen.
“The bridge is yours, Lieutenant Kim,” Chakotay said, stepping briskly over the debris that littered the path between his chair and his ready room.
As soon as he’d reached his desk, he opened a channel to the Vesta. Captain Farkas’s tense face greeted him.
“I need to speak to Kath . . . to Admiral Janeway immediately,” Chakotay said.
“She’s a little busy at the moment, preparing for her departure,” Farkas said. “You’re on my main viewscreen, and all of our communications are being monitored, Captain.”
“Can you tell me why this is happening?” Chakotay asked.
“Counselor Cambridge will be returning to Voyager, as soon as the admiral is safely on her way, with a full report.”
Dozens of possibilities occurred simultaneously to Chakotay. They included transporting to the Vesta himself at once; immediately opening fire on every ship now in range, both CIF and otherwise affiliated; and begging Farkas to patch his comm channel through to wherever Kathryn currently was.
Farkas’s face told him that none of these measures would prove fruitful or helpful.
Finally, Chakotay settled for, “Thank you, Captain.”
A half-meter-sized chunk of overhead had fallen from its place and now rested on the floor near the door to his ready room. Chakotay picked it up and threw it with all his might behind his desk. It impacted a small sculpture that had belonged to Captain Eden of a cat, balancing on its forepaws atop a metal ball, toppling it from the credenza.
Momentarily relieved of a little adrenaline, but by no means calmed, Chakotay returned to his bridge.
VESTA
“My place is by your side, Admiral,” Lieutenant Decan said.
The admiral was rifling through the drawers of her desk, searching for something she obviously considered significant. She had agreed to transport, via shuttle, to the Manticle and needed to be under way in the next eight minutes for the cease-fire to continue to be honored.
“I understand why you feel that way,” she said as she continued her search. “But you can’t come with me, Decan. You’re a telepath, and the Devore cannot abide telepaths. Kashyk would take it as an insult, and while that wouldn’t trouble me on a personal level, it’s the wrong way to begin this process.”
“I don’t believe the inspector’s personal prejudices should be relevant here,” Decan argued.
“Lieutenants Psilakis and Cheng will see to my safety in the short run.”
Decan paused, unsure. It was an incredibly unusual sensation for the Vulcan. Finally he said, “Admiral, I did not wish to accompany you, only to assure myself personally of your well-being. I sensed something during Inspector Kashyk’s initial communications. I believe I can best confirm it in his physical presence.”
“Here it is,” Janeway said, finally withdrawing a padd from a lower drawer and immediately handing it to Decan. “This needs to go to Reg Barclay as soon as possible. He’ll know what it is. Tell him I have ordered him to review it.” This task done, she moved toward her bedroom, removing her uniform jacket in the process. Clearly she intended to don a new one prior to transporting to her new home for the foreseeable future.
“What did you sense?” she asked before disappearing from Decan’s sight.
Her absence made it easier for him to explain.
“The distance between our ships made it difficult to establish a solid telepathic connection, but I was able to receive a number of impressions while the inspector was speaking,” Decan began.
The admiral’s head popped around the side of the doorway separating the main area from her bedroom. “How was that possible?”
“I’m an extremely adept telepath, even by Vulcan standards,” Decan said.
Janeway stared past him, as if attempting to bring a far-distant object into focus.
“I know that,” Janeway said. “No one has ever been able to guess my needs as well as you have. It was downright eerie to have you at hand almost as soon as I’d called you, sometimes before, until I figured out how you were doing it. But the Devore’s fear of telepaths provoked them to institute special training regimens for all of their officers. They are supposed to be able to deflect any attempt at telepathic intrusion into their minds.”
“It is possible that the inspector has not applied himself with sufficient diligence to perfecting that skill,” Decan said, “but that would not explain what I sensed.”
Janeway stepped into the doorway, her new uniform jacket hanging from her fingertips.
“What?” she asked again.
“The inspector is an incredibly angry person. The rage within him goes beyond anything you might have done to him years ago. The source of it is deep and very old. It is almost as if he has many lifetimes of injustices to redress.”
“He’s not that old,” Janeway said.
“He is also at war with himself.”
“How so?” Janeway asked.
“I believe he is acting on someone else’s orders in suggesting this trial. He would just as soon kill you now. There is, however, a small part of him that is resisting. There is a small part of him that wants to see you safe.”
“I have a hard time believing that to be true,” Janeway said.
“I can’t explain it better,” Decan said. “I need to get closer to him to confirm what I sensed. I don’t believe he is simply fighting a battle within himself over tactics. There are almost two distinct minds at work, and there is no accord between them.”
Janeway’s gaze again shifted past Decan. She moved like a sleepwalker toward the sofa that ran beneath the port in her office and sat down as if in shock.
“We must get you to your shuttle, Admiral,” Decan said. “Allow me to accompany you during transit.”
A faint smile crossed Janeway’s lips. She shook her head slowly as if in disbelief.
When she rose to her feet, she squared her shoulders and said, “That won’t be necessary. Ask Lieutenant Lasren to report to the shuttlebay with us. He can pilot the shuttle and return it, and he will also be able to confirm your suspicions, now that I know exactly what to tell him to look for.”
As she threaded her arms through the sleeves of her jacket, she added, “I also need to speak to Counselor Cambridge before he returns to Voyager.”
VOYAGER
Every bridge officer and technician paused in their work when Waters reported that the admiral’s shuttle had departed the Vesta. Silence reigned as the small ship maneuvered its way through the wreckage, debris, and remaining ships that had been battling one another to the death half an hour earlier.
Chakotay watched its progress with equal amounts of fear and anger. Self-sacrifice was hard-wired into Kathryn Janeway. It was her greatest strength and most inconvenient weakness. It was also one they shared. But this choice went beyond anything he considered rational, and in the absence of fuller understanding, it infuriated him. He wanted to trust her instincts. He wanted to believe that whatever had led her to step into that shuttle was warranted.
But he couldn’t.
“Captain Chakotay, General Mattings is hailing us,” Waters reported.
Chakotay didn’t want to put it on the main viewscreen. He watched until the
shuttle had reached the Manticle before saying, “I’ll take it in my ready room.”
As sitting would have necessitated clearing the mess he’d created a few minutes earlier, Chakotay turned his screen toward the desk’s front and remained standing as he opened the channel to the Twelfth Lamont.
The bridge of the Lamont had seen better days. The lighting was malfunctioning, but, even in the faint flickers, Chakotay could see a wide gash running down the side of the general’s face, caked with a sticky white fluid.
“Captain.”
“General.”
“You came to our aid. You didn’t have to. You fought with us. Your choice to risk death saved the lives of those I command. I know you don’t want my friendship right now, but you have it nonetheless.”
“Voyager entered the battle because our commanding officer, Admiral Kathryn Janeway, ordered us to do so. It was a call made in the heat of battle and in ignorance of all I have learned about the Confederacy in the last few days.”
“She has our gratitude as well.”
“Turning her over to your enemies to secure your own safety is a funny way of expressing that gratitude, General.”
“As you can see, Captain, things are a mess over here right now. But I want you to know that I am aware of all that transpired here, and as soon as I am able, I intend to brief you fully. Your people on Voyager, Vesta, Galen, and Demeter have earned more than my respect. They have earned my trust and my protection. I intend to see that those protecting the Confederacy’s interests remember that. I have your back, Captain. No matter what the diplomats decide, I consider your people my ally, and for me, that is a sacred trust. You don’t have to believe me. But in the days to come, you will see just how much those words mean to me. Lamont out.”
The hiss of the door opening behind him broke the silence that followed the end of the general’s transmission.
“Captain?” Counselor Cambridge’s voice asked.
“Counselor,” Chakotay said, turning. “Please tell me the admiral had a very good reason for doing what she just did.”
“I argued against it until the last possible moment,” Cambridge said. “Even now I’m not convinced it was the best choice. But . . .”
Star Trek: Voyager - 043 - Acts of Contrition Page 39
