Myriad Universes_ Echoes And Refractions Part 21

From behind her, Kim said, "Uh, Captain?"

"What is it, Harry?"

"I'm reading a ma.s.sive power surge in both Carda.s.sian vessels."

Cavit asked, "A weapon?"

Kim shook his head. "I honestly couldn't tell you, sir. It's an energy pattern unlike anything I've-"

Tuvok interrupted. "Energy bolt bearing directly on us."

Moments later, Janeway felt the bone-jarring impact of her jaw hitting the deck. The bridge was in utter choas. Consoles sparked and exploded, the smell of plasma fires burned the air, and several alarms began going off at once, competing with the red alert.

As she scrambled to her feet, she said, "Turn off that d.a.m.ned noise!"

The alarms quieted, leaving only the cries of pain of several crew members.

One person not crying was Ensign Harry Kim, who lay on top of his console, his head at an impossible angle.

Janeway had already lost many of her crew. Half her medical staff was killed during a rescue operation that turned out to be a Romulan trap, and her chief engineer was killed staving off a warp core breach last month, plus numerous members of Tuvok's security detail.

But seeing Harry dead especially hurt. He had shone as operations manager, and Janeway had just received word yesterday approving his promotion to junior-grade lieutenant.

Cavit was gripping his left shoulder-it looked like he'd broken a bone or two. Through gritted teeth, he said, "Medical team to the bridge."

Putting Harry's death in the back of her mind, Janeway cried out, "Damage report."

Green blood oozing out of a cut over his right eye, Tuvok said, "Shields are down. Hull damage on decks eight, nine, and ten. Structural integrity field at seventy-five percent."

The voice of Joe Carey, recently promoted to chief engineer, sounded over the speakers. "Engineering to bridge."

"Go ahead, Joe."

"You'll have shields back in seven minutes. I've had to take the warp engines and phasers offline. Torpedoes are still okay, but I'm gonna need a few minutes to get phaser power back."

"What about warp drive?" Cavit asked.

Before Carey could reply, Janeway said, "We'll worry about that later. Tuvok, what the h.e.l.l did they hit us with?"

"A phased polaron beam of considerable power. I believe that once Mister Carey has reconst.i.tuted the shields, there is a forty-nine-point-two percent chance that we can tune the shields to repel the beam."

"Can you target the Vetar with torpedoes?"

"Yes."

"Do it." Janeway turned toward the viewer. The Bellerophon was engaging the Trager, while the Intrepid was heading for the Bok'Nor. The Vetar was changing course to try to cut off the Intrepid.

Even as Tuvok fired torpedoes at the Vetar, the Carda.s.sians. .h.i.t the Intrepid with the same polaron beam.

Seconds later, the Intrepid exploded in a plume of fire.

Voyager's torpedoes struck the Vetar's shields, not doing nearly enough damage to suit Janeway. Walter Emick was a good man, from a family with a long history of Starfleet service. To go like that...

Again, shaking it off, Janeway said, "Keep firing, Tuvok. I want to wipe that smile off Evek's face."

"Shields are back up," Tuvok said, even as he continued firing. "Continuous sensor scans of the polaron beam have provided more data. I believe there is now a sixty-three-point-four percent chance of tuning the shields to defend."

Janeway took very small comfort from the fact that the Intrepid's sacrifice gave Tuvok that data, but she supposed she would take what she could.

Still clutching his left shoulder with his right hand, Cavit, now once again seated in his chair, asked, "Where the h.e.l.l did the Carda.s.sians get this kind of weaponry?"

Tuvok, for once recognizing a rhetorical question, did not reply directly. "Vetar shields are down to forty-six percent. They're coming about."

"Shields?" Cavit asked.

"Not yet."

Janeway gripped the arms of her chair. "Stadi, evasive maneuvers. Keep our distance from the Vetar."

Again, Stadi's fingers moved, but this time nothing happened.

"Bridge," said Carey, "we've got a problem with helm control. Give me a minute."

"We don't have a minute, Mister Carey!" Cavit shouted.

The Vetar came closer.

"Polaron beam powering up," Tuvok said.

Then Voyager moved, hard to port. An instant later, the Carda.s.sian weapon fired harmlessly into what was now empty s.p.a.ce.

"Sorry about that, bridge."

"No more surprises if you can avoid it, Joe," Janeway said through gritted teeth. "Tuvok, fire."

Another spread of torpedoes struck the Vetar. Tuvok said, "Vetar shields down to twenty percent. Phasers are back online. Also, the Bellerophon's shields are down and they're venting plasma."

Cavit looked at Janeway. "With your permission?" At Janeway's nod, he struggled to his feet and went to the conn. "Lieutenant, that weapon needs a second to power up. I want you to do an old-fashioned strafing run-get in close, skim the hull. Can you do that?"

Stadi smiled. "Watch me."

Turning to the tactical console-and wincing in pain as he did so-Cavit said, "Mister Tuvok, ready phasers."

"Captain, the Trager is coming about!"

At Stadi's cry, Janeway looked at the screen and saw that the Trager was heading right to the spot where Voyager's projected course would take them after Cavit's strafing run.

Tuvok said, "Firing phasers."

Janeway was coming to realize that this was not going to end well. She'd seen far too much combat these past few months to not recognize a losing battle. "Tuvok, send an emergency transmission to Starbase 310-make sure all our sensor data on that polaron weapon is part of it!"

"Preparing transmission now."

"Trager is firing!" Stadi cried.

As the bridge exploded around Janeway, she hoped that they were able to send the data to the starbase in time.

11.

U.S.S. Enterprise-E Approaching the Federation-Carda.s.sian Border United Federation of Planets Jean-Luc Picard sat in his quarters, in the midst of fulfilling a months-old promise to himself, when the doorchime rang.

He let out a long sigh before saying anything. After they set out from Starbase 24, Picard had left strict instructions with Worf that he was not to be disturbed for any reason short of a warp-core breach until they reached the Carda.s.sian border, where they'd rendezvous with the Excalibur and the Sentinel.

The war had dragged on for months, and now it seemed a new front had opened up. Nine ships had been sent to halt Carda.s.sian aggression in three Federation systems. Of those ships only two-the Bellerophon and the Musashi-were still intact, the former just barely. Seven Federation starships had been destroyed by Carda.s.sian weapons that n.o.body had ever seen before. Luckily, one of the ships, Voyager, had managed to send along full sensor data on the new weapons (the Bellerophon's computer core was damaged, so its sensor readings were lost), and shields fleetwide had been adjusted to accommodate. Mister O'Brien had stated with confidence that the Enterprise would be able to withstand "whatever the Cardies can throw at us, sir."

Picard hadn't been pleased with the chief engineer's use of that particular slur, but he'd let it pa.s.s. O'Brien had fought on the Carda.s.sian front for years while serving on the Rutledge. Besides, Picard didn't feel he could justify defending a people who had invaded Federation s.p.a.ce and wantonly destroyed seven Starfleet vessels.

It was then that Picard realized he needed a break. When they'd gotten their new a.s.signment, and their VIP guest had arrived, Picard ordered Ensign Kell Perim, the new conn officer, to set course for the border, and then gave Worf the bridge, with instructions not to disturb him.

For the three days it would take to reach the border, Picard intended to read.

Archaeology had always been a pa.s.sion of his. It had almost been a career; but he had chosen Starfleet instead. For the longest time, he didn't regret that decision, not even four years ago, when his mentor, Professor Richard Galen, tried to convince Picard to join him, shortly before he died.

But lately, since the war began, Picard found himself wishing he could summon Q to appear before him and once again give him the chance to relive his life. Only this time, he would make sure to pursue his studies with Galen.

Anything to avoid this war.

Still, at least this a.s.signment was one he could live with.

When the doorchime sounded a second time, he set aside the padd containing the latest issue of The Journal of Archaeological Studies and said, "Come."

The doors slid aside to reveal the balding head and round face of Amba.s.sador Theodore Krajensky. "Captain. I'm sorry for interrupting. Your first officer asked me to make it clear that he told me not to disturb you."

"Quite all right, Mister Amba.s.sador." Picard rose to his feet; Krajensky was the one person on board besides Worf for whom Picard was willing to break his self-imposed exile. "Please come in."

"Thank you." Krajensky came into Picard's quarters, the doors sliding shut behind him. "I wanted to talk to you about our mission."

"Of course." Picard indicated the chair that was perpendicular to his while asking, "May I get you anything?"

"Actually, some ginger ale would be nice."

Picard walked over to the replicator and instructed it to provide a gla.s.s of ginger ale and another cup of hot Earl Grey tea.

After the drinks materialized with the telltale hum, Picard brought both over to the couch, setting them down on the table that sat between them. "What about the mission do you wish to discuss, Mister Amba.s.sador?"

Krajensky took a sip of his ginger ale before answering. "I wanted to take your temperature, Captain. I received a great deal of resistance from many quarters in Starfleet Command regarding my mission-despite the fact that it came directly from the president himself."

Before Krajensky could continue, Picard held up a hand. "You may rest a.s.sured, Mister Amba.s.sador, that I am not in any of those quarters. It is, honestly, a relief to be going on a diplomatic mission for the first time in more than six months."

"I'm so very glad to hear that, Captain." Krajensky shook his head. "This war has taken such a terrible toll-to open up a second front would be disastrous. I can't believe that the Carda.s.sians won't be reasonable." Then he smiled. "Well, of course, they won't be reasonable, but I have faith in our ability to work out some kind of compromise."

"I wish I could share your faith, Mister Amba.s.sador," Picard said darkly, "but I'm afraid that all I can muster is hope." He took a sip of his tea, which then burned his tongue. Quickly setting down the cup again, he went on: "All attempts to communicate with Romulus have failed. The Carda.s.sians have met the ships that greeted them with fire. It feels as if the galaxy is tumbling inexorably into total war."

"My job is to prevent that, Captain. I don't know why the Romulans aren't talking-with the losses they've taken, you'd think they'd want to parley before they lose the empire entirely-but we have a treaty with the Carda.s.sians. Of course, we do with the Romulans, too, but that's decades old. The Carda.s.sian treaty's recent enough that most of the people who agreed to it are still in positions of authority. That's a starting point."

Picard, who had negotiated his fair share of treaties, if not quite on this scale, nodded in agreement. "Perhaps. I suppose I simply find it difficult to engage in optimistic behavior in these times."

"I understand, Captain, believe me." Krajensky smirked. "To be honest, I wish I was half as confident as I sound. The Carda.s.sians' behavior is incomprehensible to me." He shook his head. "But so is Starfleet's. Apparently the admiralty is eager to send out that new fleet they've a.s.sembled."

Picard let out a sigh. "Yes, the Ninth Fleet." Consisting of a dozen refit Akira-cla.s.s ships, the Ninth Fleet was meant to be a pure battle fleet, with most systems given over to tactical use. The original plan had been to use the Defiant prototype as the basis, but that cla.s.s was still in the yard with power-consumption issues.

"Worf to Picard."

"Go ahead, Number One."

"We are approaching the Carda.s.sian border. A Galor-cla.s.s ship is waiting for us on the Carda.s.sian side and the Excalibur and Sentinel are on the Federation side."

"Have you identified the vessel?"

"It reads as the Central Command vessel Reklar."

Getting to his feet, and leaving his tea unfinished, Picard said, "Amba.s.sador Krajensky and I will be right up."

By the time the captain and the amba.s.sador reached the bridge, the Enterprise had come out of warp. Worf-who had ordered the ship to yellow alert-was standing between the command chair and the forward stations. Perim was at conn, with the new operations manager, Lieutenant Miranda Kadohata, next to her at ops.

To Picard's surprise, Ro Laren was at the tactical station. His second officer and security chief looked a bit pale. He said to her, "Lieutenant?"

"Ready for duty, Captain. Doctor Crusher discharged me this morning."

Putting a hand on her shoulder, Picard said, "It's good to have you back on the bridge." Moving around to the command chair, he asked, "Any word from our Carda.s.sian friends?"

"No, sir," Ro said, "but they are at alert status-weapons armed, shields up."

"Do not arm weapons," Picard said, "but keep shields up." Moving to sit in his chair, he said, "Hail the Excalibur and Sentinel, and tie us all together." Worf moved to do likewise in his seat right in front of Ro's console.

Moments later, two human female faces, one quite familiar to Picard, appeared on the forward viewer. "Captain Shelby-it's good to see you again."

"Thank you, Captain Picard," Elizabeth Shelby said. "I wish it was under better circ.u.mstances."

"I was sorry to hear about Morgan," Picard added, "but I can't think of a better replacement as captain of the Excalibur." Morgan Korsmo had been one of Picard's cla.s.smates at the academy; he was killed during the Borg incursion. With the Romulan War happening almost immediately, Korsmo's first officer, Shelby, was promoted to captain and sent to the front lines.

Shelby had temporarily served on the EnterpriseD during a previous Borg incursion, and had also acted as Riker's first officer after Picard had been taken by the Borg.