Death of a Neutron Star

by Eric Kotani

  “I am,” Tyla said.

  “One minute, fifteen seconds. Phasers armed and ready?”

  “Ready, sir,” she said.

  “Stand by.”

  “Lieutenant Tyla,” Dr. Maalot said. “Before this starts, I just want to say thank you.”

  She glanced around at her companion of the last few days. “Why thank me?”

  He laughed, although it was clearly a strained laugh. “I got a chance to study a neutron star binary up close, with instruments I could have only dreamed about using before these last few days.”

  “I’m glad,” she said.

  “No, you don’t understand,” he said. “Just in case we don’t make it through the next few minutes, I want to thank you for getting me to this point, for rescuing me from the Qavok and for giving me the chance to do what most scientists in the galaxy would give their life to do. It has been worth it.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, smiling at him. “But I have no plans on us dying anytime shortly. Don’t you want to stick around for the final explosion?”

  “Of course I do,” he said, smiling.

  “Then hang on and help where you can,” she said. “This may get rough. But we’ll make it.”

  She turned back and nodded to Tuvok, who only nodded in return. She just wished she felt as positive about their near future as she had tried to sound to Dr. Maalot.

  “Fifteen seconds,” Tuvok said.

  “Voyager coming from the right,” she said.

  She almost wanted to cheer. She had been afraid they would have to face the ships on their own and die trying to stop them.

  “Tuvok,” the captain’s voice came in strong. “Break off hard left the moment you are within firing range. Try to destroy the two leading ships on that side, then get out of range quickly.”

  “Yes, Captain,” he said.

  “Copy that,” Tyla said. “Targeting the two ships on the left leading edge. Phasers locked and ready.”

  “Hold,” Tuvok said. “Five more seconds.”

  To Tyla the time seemed to stop at that moment.

  Her finger was poised over the firing control, waiting.

  “Two.”

  Waiting.

  “One.”

  Waiting.

  “Now,” Tuvok said.

  She fired the phaser, making the shuttle jump slightly, as if a surge had just flowed through it. The two beams of the shuttle’s phasers cut at the shields of the two leading Qavok warships, sending them almost at once into reds and then to black.

  The warships’ shields flashed one final time and then were down.

  “Yes!” she said.

  The phaser shots cut into the unprotected hulls of the warships, burning inward.

  After a second, the first warship exploded into flying debris, the large pieces tumbling at them.

  Then her world exploded.

  Tuvok sheared the shuttle hard left, but Tyla knew he was too late. Three warships opened fire simultaneously on the shuttle, smashing it backward like a child’s toy shoved across a slick floor.

  “Screens failing!” Dr. Maalot yelled as sparks and smoke filled the shuttle cabin.

  Tyla was almost knocked from her seat, but somehow she managed to hang on and keep firing.

  A second warship exploded and she moved the phaser to attack one of the firing ships, targeting and locking.

  “Thrusters off-line,” Tuvok said. “I will try to jump to warp.”

  “Shields down to twenty percent,” Maalot said, his voice barely containing his panic.

  One of the firing ships exploded under Tyla’s fire, but two more warships added their phaser fire to the remaining two, rocking the shuttle even harder.

  Sparks flew everywhere as two panels exploded near Dr. Maalot and he was thrown to the floor.

  Smoke choked her, but she didn’t let up on the phaser. She was going to pound those Qavok with her last dying breath.

  “Going to warp,” Tuvok said. “Now.”

  Instantly the warships vanished behind them as the shuttle jumped to warp to get out from under the fire.

  Then almost instantly the shuttle dropped back into real space.

  “Warp drive off-line,” Tuvok said. “We’re without the ability to maneuver.”

  “We destroyed three warships,” Tyla said as she quickly checked the battle scene behind them. “Damaged a fourth.”

  “It seems,” Tuvok said, “that we did what we could.”

  “We can’t get back in the fight?” Tyla almost shouted. “Why not?”

  “As I said,” Tuvok calmly replied, “our drives are all damaged beyond immediate repair.”

  “We still have twenty-percent shields,” Dr. Maalot said as he picked himself back up and climbed into his chair again. “Barely, I might add.”

  Tyla scanned the board in front of her. “We also have phasers still on-line. Just nothing to shoot at.”

  “True,” Tuvok said. “Now we must hope that Voyager is victorious. Or we may get a chance to defend ourselves one final time. Dr. Maalot, see if you can increase our shield strength. Lieutenant, please stand by in case we are approached.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I will attempt to fix basic thrusters,” he said.

  She nodded as Tuvok climbed from his chair.

  Suddenly, just as on the yacht, she felt very alone, sitting in the front seat, waiting to be killed like a bug. But this time, she had something to fight back with if any of those ships decided to try to kill her. She’d at least sting them before dying.

  On the screen, out of phaser range, Voyager was in the fight of its life. And there wasn’t a thing that Tyla could do to help.

  She could only sit and watch.

  And she hated that.

  Hated that more than anything.

  She was a fighter. Her job was to fight.

  Not watch.

  CHAPTER 20

  JANEWAY HELD ON TO HER COMMAND CHAIR AS THE ship rocked. For a moment the lights dimmed, then the power came back up. In front of them on the screen it was clear they had taken out two more of the Qavok ships, but somehow, some way, the Qavok had strengthened their shields. She didn’t know how that was possible, but it had happened.

  Janeway knew they were in trouble. Deep trouble.

  One of the warship’s combined blasts had knocked out their phasers and torpedoes. Now Voyager was simply a sitting duck. On the main screen the remaining six warships shifted position slightly, moving three up front and leaving three to flank their bomb ship.

  “B’Elanna,” Janeway said. “I need phasers.”

  She didn’t expect an answer. B’Elanna would be working as fast as she could to find and fix the problem.

  It had better be very fast, she thought.

  She tried to force herself to sit back and study the entire situation, look for another way to win this.

  Tuvok and the shuttle had done its share of damage, hitting the Qavok from the side and managing to destroy three before being knocked aside. Tuvok had managed to jump the shuttle to warp for a short burst, just long enough to get out of range and harm’s way.

  At least for the moment.

  It looked as if the shuttle was now dead in space. They had lost contact but sensors reported that all the passengers were alive. Janeway doubted that that shuttle was going to be flying down into any neutron star binary anytime soon, from the looks of it.

  So much for their carefully worked plans on how to change a force of nature. If they could stop the Qavok from changing it, that neutron star was headed exactly where nature had wanted it to go.

  Again the entire ship rocked around her.

  “Screens down to forty percent,” Ensign Kim said.

  “B’Elanna?”

  “Can’t do it, Captain.” B’Elanna did not even attempt to conceal her frustration. “Phaser controls have been fused all the way through. We won’t have any weapons of any sort for at least three hours. And there’s no way to go around t
he fused areas.”

  Janeway pounded her fist on the panel.

  “Tom,” she said, “drop us back into a lower orbit. Buy us a few minutes.”

  Tom did as he was told just as the ship rocked again.

  “Thirty percent,” Ensign Kim said. “Two or three more hits like that and we’ll lose shields.”

  “Understood,” she said. “Bring all power to the forward shields. Keep those up.”

  If she didn’t do something quickly, this was where their long trip home was going to end.

  She studied the schematic on the edge of the big screen. Six warships bearing down on them. Behind Voyager, in a lower orbit, was the Xorm ship, waiting for its turn in the box. She had hoped to spare them the fight. But it was starting to seem like she wouldn’t be around long enough to stop it from happening.

  Also showing on the screen was the warship Invincible, still holding orbit, but dead without shields, engines, or weapons. At the moment it was on the far side of the neutron star binary in its orbit.

  And then there was the shuttle, floating almost off the schematic, useless.

  Voyager rocked again as the lead four warships fired at once. Sparks flew from three panels and smoke filled the ceiling area of the bridge.

  Suddenly the answer was there, floating on the screen in the seemingly lifeless form of the shuttle. They were going to hook the yacht to the shuttle, but that plan was now worthless. So why not use the yacht now, to save their lives?

  “B’Elanna,” Janeway said. “You’ve got exactly one minute to launch the yacht into those ships.”

  “Got it, Captain,” B’Elanna said. “Good idea. I’m headed there now. But I’ll have to shove the thing out the door with a tractor beam.”

  “Do what you have to do,” Janeway said. “I don’t care. Just make sure it drifts right at those Qavok ships.”

  “Yes, Captain,” B’Elanna said.

  “Before you start,” Janeway said, “set a charge to rupture the warp core thirty seconds after leaving. Understand?”

  “Way ahead of you,” B’Elanna said, breathlessly. “And I plan to leave the energy containment canister on board, too.”

  “Of course,” Janeway said, smiling.

  “It will be done in fifty seconds,” B’Elanna said.

  “Won’t they just blow the yacht apart the minute it leaves our shields?” Kim asked.

  “Let’s hope not,” Janeway said. “I’m betting none of them want to be the one to destroy their prince’s yacht.”

  “So it will blow up right in the center of them?” Chakotay said. “Great idea.”

  “We can hope,” Janeway said. “Otherwise we might as well just toss shoes at them, for all the good this is going to do us.”

  “Thirty seconds,” B’Elanna’s voice echoed over the bridge.

  “Everyone’s doing countdowns,” Tom said, shaking his head in disgust.

  “Hail the Qavok warships,” Janeway said. “Audio only.”

  “Ready, Captain,” Kim said just as another volley of phaser shots rocked Voyager.

  “Qavok warriors,” Janeway said. “Our society honors its greatest warriors with prizes and awards. You have fought well this day. We honor you by returning your prince’s yacht to you as we promised. Before our final battle.”

  She cut the connection.

  “Think they bought it?” Chakotay asked.

  “I don’t know,” Janeway said. “But at least they can’t say I don’t keep my promises.”

  Tom laughed, shaking his head at her lame joke.

  “Shuttle launching,” B’Elanna said. “Explosive time set for thirty seconds. Mark. Now.”

  “Tom,” Janeway said. “Please tell me we still have impulse power.”

  He glanced around at her and smiled. “We still have impulse, Captain. And warp for that matter.”

  “Then take us and put us between the coming explosion and the shuttle. As close to the shuttle as you can get, just in case they don’t have enough screens.”

  “As if we do,” Ensign Kim said. “We’re holding at twenty-six percent.”

  “Now, Tom,” she said. “Get us out of here.”

  On the screen the yacht drifted toward the Qavok warships and the bomb ship in their center.

  Tom swung Voyager wide and accelerated to the shuttle, turning so that they faced the Qavok warships, which were now out of range.

  “Fifteen seconds,” Chakotay said.

  “Get us more screens,” Janeway ordered.

  “Doing my best, Captain,” Kim said.

  “They’re going for it,” Chakotay said.

  “Lucky for us they never read about the Trojan horse,” Tom said.

  “I’ve established a link with the shuttle,” Kim said.

  “Tuvok,” Janeway said.

  “Yes, Captain,” Tuvok’s voice came back clear.

  “Your shield situation?”

  “We have almost thirty percent,” he said.

  “Okay,” she said. “Hold on to something. This may get a little rough at this distance.”

  “Captain?” She could picture him raising a questioning eyebrow.

  “You’ll understand in a few seconds. Just hold on.

  The yacht was being pulled toward one warship with a tractor beam. Two warships were escorting the bomb ship past the yacht toward its appointed time of reckoning with the neutron star binary.

  Janeway held her breath. If that yacht didn’t blow up, the only thing standing between the destruction of the Lekk homeworld and safety was a Xorm science ship.

  “Five,” Ensign Kim said.

  “Four.”

  “Three.”

  “I hate this,” Tom said.

  “Two.”

  “Everyone brace yourselves,” Janeway ordered, her voice going out over the entire ship.

  “One.”

  “Now.”

  The main screen flashed white.

  Blinding white.

  Pure white.

  A flash so bright that even the instant filters didn’t catch enough of the light to stop it from hurting Janeway’s eyes.

  Then the shock wave hit.

  Hard.

  It seemed as if a giant hand had grabbed the bridge and simply tipped it up on end.

  Janeway tumbled over the back of her chair and rolled hard into the step, knocking the wind out of her lungs and sending stars spinning through her head.

  The lights flickered and then for a moment went out. Then they came back on just as fast.

  The noise was like the worst earthquake, rumbling and deep, filling every space, moving through the floor around her.

  And then, as quickly as it hit, it passed.

  The light was normal, the noise gone.

  Her shoulder and head hurt, but not enough to keep her on the floor.

  She pulled herself to her feet and stared at the main screen. The binary was still there, of course. But the entire Qavok fleet was gone. Shattered and vaporized.

  “Everyone all right?” she said, turning to look at the bridge crew.

  Kim was back at his post and Chakotay was climbing slowly to his feet. Everyone was alive.

  “Captain,” Tuvok’s voice came Over the com line clearly. “We’re going to need medical assistance here. Dr. Maalot has been injured.”

  Janeway glanced around at Kim. “Are the transporters still working?”

  “One hundred percent, Captain,” Kim said.

  “Beam Dr. Maalot to sickbay at once. Warn the Doctor.”

  “I’m sure after that hit,” Chakotay said, “he’s got a lot to do.”

  Janeway only nodded. She was staring at where the fleet of Qavok warships had been. Now only empty space.

  She dropped down into her chair. She could really use a cup of coffee. But first things first.

  “Ensign, open a channel to the Xorm. Let’s see if they survived.”

  “On screen,” Kim said.

  “Brilliant, Captain,” Fedr said, his smiling face fill
ing the screen.

  “Did you ride the explosion all right?”

  “Actually,” he said, since we were below and our orbit was off to one side slightly, we felt very little. The intense energy coming off the binary seemed to block most of the force.”

  “Good,” she said. “Anything we can do for you?”

  “Not at the moment, Captain,” Fedr said. “I think we’ll just hold this position for a time and continue our study.”

  Janeway nodded, staring at the other captain for a moment. Something felt wrong, but at the moment her headache didn’t let her doubts through. And for the life of her, she couldn’t put her finger on it.

  “Very good,” she said. “We’ll also stay and do repairs, then watch the explosion from a safe distance.”

  “Again, Captain,” Fedr said. “My compliments on dealing with the Qavok. They are really evil and your solution was truly brilliant.”

  His smile flickered and then he cut the connection.

  “Weird,” Tom said.

  Janeway glanced at her pilot. “How is that?”

  “Why would they stay in that orbit when they can get almost the exact same information at a higher and safer orbit?”

  She sat back, forcing the throbbing from the bump on her head into the background. Staying at that low, very dangerous orbit didn’t make any sense. There was no reason to go that low into the binary unless—

  She stood. Of course. Why hadn’t she seen what was going on before now?

  “Okay,” she said. “Listen up, people. We have work to do and we’re going to have to do it fast if we’re going to hit our deadline.”

  “What deadline?” Tom asked.

  “The deadline to stop that neutron star from plowing through inhabited systems.”

  “That deadline is only minutes away,” Chakotay said. “We can’t make that one, Captain.”

  “I know, but I’m betting we have a second window.”

  “Captain,” Kim said. “We blew up the yacht, remember?”

  “Oh, I remember,” she said, laughing and gently touching the bump on the back of her head. The pain was declining, but unless she got down to sickbay soon, she was going to have one heck of a headache. That didn’t matter. She didn’t have time for that now.

  She had a neutron star to send safely out of the galaxy.

  CHAPTER 21

  “SEVEN?” CAPTAIN JANEWAY’S HAIL FILLED THE ENGIneering section of Voyager. Seven of Nine was there, working on repairs to the phasers. She considered it simple work. Necessary to the safety of the entire ship, thus important.