Death of a Neutron Star

by Eric Kotani

  “Just keep us right here,” Janeway said. “And we’ll soon find out just how stable they are.”

  “Shuttle in position,” B’Elanna said.

  “Xorm powering weapons,” Ensign Kim said.

  “Extra power to forward shields,” Janeway said.

  “Shields at sixty-five percent,” Chakotay said.

  A greenish beam shot out of the Xorm ship and lit up Voyager’s front shield. Janeway was snapped back hard, but managed to stay in her chair. For a moment the lights dimmed, them came back up.

  “Shields at fifty percent,” Chakotay said. “Almost no damage.”

  “More punch than the Qavok,” Janeway said. “But that sure answers any question as to their intent, doesn’t it.”

  “That it does,” Chakotay said.

  “Tom, bring us around so the shuttle is in firing position.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  Right now the shuttle, held by a tractor beam, was like an outrigger off the side of Voyager. Or, more accurately, a giant weapon held away from the body of the ship.

  “Coming around now,” Tom said.

  “Fire when you are clear, Mr. Tuvok,” Janeway said.

  “Firing now.”

  Two phaser beams shot out, sending the Xorm ship’s shields into the dark reds.

  “Their shields are holding,” Kim said.

  Janeway was afraid of that. For some reason she knew the Xorm were really more powerful technologically than the Qavok. More than likely, the Qavok simply overpowered them by sheer numbers centuries before, as they had tried to do today.

  “Fire again, Mr. Tuvok.”

  Before he could fire, the Xorm ship fired first, smashing a green-tinted beam into Voyager like a massive fist.

  This time Janeway was knocked sideways, up and out of her chair to her right. She hit hard, but rolled quickly and came up on one knee. She would have a bruise on the shoulder tomorrow.

  “Status of the shuttle?”

  “One tractor beam is down,” B’Elanna said. “Still got the shuttle by another.”

  “Don’t lose them,” Janeway said.

  Losing the shuttle without power this close to the binary would be like losing a child’s float in a fast-moving river headed for a waterfall. There was very little chance they’d recover it if they didn’t get it quickly.

  “Firing,” Tuvok said, his voice filling the bridge.

  Two more phaser shots cut at the Xorm screens.

  “They’re damaged,” Kim said. “They have some shield damage and fires throughout their ship.”

  “Can you get a lock on that warp core?” Chakotay asked.

  “Got it,” Kim said.

  “Beam it out of there into space and strip the containment away so it explodes away from the neutron star binary,” Janeway said.

  “Done,” Kim said.

  A white light lit up the screen like a small sun suddenly coming into being, then quickly faded.

  Again the Xorm fired.

  Voyager rocked hard.

  “Oh, we made them mad,” Paris said.

  “Screens at twenty percent,” Chakotay said. “And we’ve lost the shuttle. I’ve got a position lock on them. The shuttle’s orbit is being destabilized.”

  “Grab it, B’Elanna,” Janeway said.

  “That last shot knocked all tractor systems offline,” B’Elanna said. “I’m working on it.”

  “Ensign, get a transporter lock on them and make sure you keep it locked.”

  “Understood,” Kim said.

  “Tuvok,” Janeway said. “Hang on and we’ll retrieve you.”

  “We have little choice,” Tuvok said.

  Janeway nodded. She knew he was right. There was no choice as far as he was concerned.

  None at all.

  * * *

  Not many hours—yet a lifetime ago—Lieutenant Tyla had tried to steal this shuttle. Now she was being trusted to help fly it for the second time. Her pride and Captain Janeway’s faith in her made her want to do the best job possible.

  The shots she had fired had hit their mark on the Xorm ship. It was the first time in her entire career that she had ever fired on a Xorm ship. And it was to save the homeworld of the Qavok—her most hated enemy. Her view of life had certainly changed since she was rescued by Voyager.

  Changed completely.

  The Xorm shot against the Voyager shields had jarred the shuttle like a child shaking a rattle. She and Tuvok somehow had managed to stay in their seats, but not by much. She had banged her shoulder hard, but was ignoring the pain for the moment.

  Now, after another shot from the Xorm ship, they were loose from Voyager. The tractor beams had released them.

  And she knew there was very little hope of salvation. The shuttle was bobbing and shaking along due to the rapidly changing gravitational field of the binary orbital motion as if it were a raft in a whitewater-filled river.

  “Tuvok,” she said, staring at the screens. “Do we have any attitude thrusters still available? Enough to turn us slightly?”

  “Yes,” Tuvok said. “We do. But they will not have much effect in this turbulence.”

  “If you can get us turned, I think I might be able to get a computer lock on the Xorm ship from here. Our phasers are still at eighty percent.”

  “An interesting thought,” he said. “Captain, there is a possibility that we would be able to continue to fire at the Xorm vessel.”

  “Do it,” Janeway said.

  Tuvok’s fingers flew over the controls and the shuttle turned slowly. On the panel in front of her she saw the image of the Xorm ship come into view. Slowly, moving toward the targeting area of the screen.

  Her fingers worked the controls, trying to get the computer to lock on to the Xorm ship even with the rough, up-and-down ride the forces off the binary were handing them.

  Then the lock grabbed and held green. “Got them.”

  Then it was lost again.

  “Fire,” Tuvok said.

  “Lost lock,” she said.

  “Fire manually,” he said. “I will attempt to steady the ship as best I can.”

  She couldn’t tell the difference. She was going to have to fire soon.

  She led the drift, watching it. Up. Down.

  Sideways then back up.

  She watched the pattern, knew when the ship was coming back on target. Then, just as the Xorm ship was to pass through the target, she fired.

  The phaser lit up the Xorm’s remaining screens, then cut through the body of the ship, leaving a wide gash.

  “They won’t be firing at Voyager anymore,” Tyla said.

  “A direct hit under these conditions is admirable,” Tuvok said calmly.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  As they watched, the Xorm warship lost control of its orbit, got too close to the neutron stars at its periastron passage, and was torn apart in an explosion of white light.

  And Tyla knew that in a few seconds, after a very rough ride, that would be their fate.

  * * *

  “Xorm ship destroyed,” Kim said.

  Janeway permitted herself a sigh of relief. But only a small one. At least they wouldn’t be fired on anymore. Now all they had to deal with was a neutron star explosion in the binary.

  “Stay with the shuttle, Tom.”

  “Right with them,” Tom said. “Like a big brother.”

  “You still have a transporter lock on the crew, Mr. Kim?” Janeway asked.

  “Got them solidly,” Kim said. “No problems.”

  Voyager was bucking in the incredible variable gravitational forces coming off the neutron binary. It felt as if the entire ship was being torn apart around her. Janeway doubted they could take much more. She had no idea how Tuvok and Tyla were managing on the shuttle.

  “At periastron, we’re approaching the same distance the Xorm ship was.”

  “How much time do we have before the shuttle goes too low at its periastron?” Janeway asked.

  “Less t
han ten seconds,” Chakotay said.

  “Get ready to get them out of there, Mr. Kim,” she said.

  “Ready, Captain.”

  “B’Elanna?” Janeway said. “No time left.”

  “Tractor beams coming back on-line now, Captain.”

  “Got them,” Chakotay said.

  “Tom, pull us up out of here.”

  “Gladly,” he said.

  “Slowly,” she said. “We don’t want to lose the shuttle a second time.”

  Tom nodded and for the next few seconds Voyager continued to rattle and shake as Tom moved them up away from the intense, rapidly changing gravity well of the binary.

  “Tuvok? Lieutenant Tyla?” Janeway asked. “Are you all right?”

  “Bruised,” Tuvok said. “But otherwise our health is fine. I am pleased we could save the shuttle.”

  “So am I,” she said.

  Tom let out a deep sigh and leaned back, sweat dripping from his neck and staining the back of his shirt.

  Janeway sat back in her command chair for a moment and stared at the binary on the main screen. It was lucky there weren’t more of these things in the galaxy. They were too dangerous. Far too dangerous.

  Then she stood.

  There was still one more task to accomplish.

  A few more worlds to save.

  CHAPTER 24

  IN ALL HIS YEARS OF COMMAND, CAPTAIN QADOS OF the Qavok warship Invincible had never had such a bad day.

  Never.

  Around him his crew worked intently. And very silently, not daring to speak. The smoke still filled the air of his command, forcing his second eyelids down, making everything seem blurry. The smell of burning equipment choked him, but he did not allow himself to cough and show weakness. He would remain strong and in command until the very end. And if they escaped, he would become the hero of this fight. The only ship to survive against the dreaded humans.

  The human ship Voyager, with its insufferable Captain Janeway, had destroyed their shields, their weapons, and their drives. Only the skill of Command Pilot Qaad had kept them orbiting the neutron star on maneuvering thrusters. They were just barely holding an orbit, but unable to pull away at all.

  Unless they got their warp drive back on-line very soon, it would make no difference. They would be vaporized when the neutron star exploded.

  The ship hit a bump, as if it had just run over something on a smooth road. Normally he would have yelled at any pilot who made such a mistake, but Command Pilot Qaad was doing his best under these trying conditions and Qados knew it. No amount of yelling would help at this point anyway.

  The worst part of the day was the moment the Voyager captain had tricked his proud Qavok fleet into taking the prince’s yacht back. Of course it had been a trap. Why else would a monster like Janeway send out such a gift? Surely not out of goodwill. He would have tried to warn his comrades, but he was on the other side of the binary at that moment. There was nothing he could have done.

  They were stupid.

  They deserved to die.

  Now, over the last few minutes, he had sat, mouth slightly open, teeth partially exposed, as Voyager obliterated the Xorm ship.

  At first he had wondered if there was no satisfying this human captain’s desire to destroy. He could see no reason why the human ship should challenge the Xorm. But then his communications officer had intercepted a conversation between the Xorm captain and Janeway.

  It then became clear that Captain Janeway was now defending the Qavok homeworld from Xorm attempt to alter the neutron star’s path. It had not occurred to Qados that the Xorm would even try such a thing. Yet, in hindsight, he should have expected it. Such a monstrous thing was in the Xorm nature.

  “Captain,” his communications officer said, using the signal of complete subservience. “Voyager approaches. Hails us.”

  “On the main,” Qados said. He stood and stepped forward, so that Captain Janeway could not see the destruction behind him. No point in letting an enemy know any more than they needed to know. Even though this enemy had just defended his homeworld.

  “Captain Janeway,” Qados said as the pale, sickly human face of the captain appeared on the screen. “Your actions in defense of the Qavok homeworld have been noted.”

  “Good,” Janeway said. “Then you won’t mind my taking your ship, will you? We need to run a few errands.”

  “What?”

  “I have no time to debate,” she said, baring her teeth at him. “Stand by. You will be held in a safe place until we can transport you to the Lekk homeworld, where they will do with you as they please.”

  “We will fight to the death to defend our ship,” Qados said.

  Janeway just sighed and cut the connection.

  “Stand ready to be boarded,” he shouted.

  At that moment the bridge around him started to shimmer, as if he were looking at it through three eyelids instead of two.

  Then it faded to black.

  He opened all four eyelids, but it remained black for that instant.

  Then around him a new room shimmered into being. Metal walls, and a damaged shuttle sitting on one side of the room. Ten humans with weapons stood around the area where he had appeared.

  He, and the rest of his crew.

  All without weapons.

  He patted his chest, searching for his gun to cut the humans down. His guns were also gone.

  He roared and charged the closest guard.

  Only to smash hard into a forcefield and go down on his back.

  His third eyelid closed, then his fourth.

  And around him the nightmare faded to black.

  * * *

  “Got them all,” Kim said, looking up and smiling.

  “Mr. Tuvok, are the prisoners contained?”

  “They are, Captain,” he said, his voice coming clear through the comm from the shuttle deck. “But it seems we have violated a cultural taboo by depriving them of weapons. They are cowering in corners.”

  “Wait until the Lekks get ahold of them,” Janeway said. “I have a sneaking hunch this will seem minor.”

  Near the door to the bridge Lieutenant Tyla nodded and smiled.

  “I agree,” Tuvok said.

  “How much time do we have, Mr. Kim?” Janeway asked, turning her attention away from the thought of over a hundred cowering lizards and back to the task at hand.

  “Using the Qavok warp core, five minutes and ten seconds.”

  “Tyla,” Janeway said, “think you can fly a Qavok warship on thrusters, at least well enough to send it down into that binary?”

  “I would gladly sacrifice my life to do so,” Tyla said, her face firm, her back straight.

  “I have no intention of sacrificing your life,” Janeway said, making sure she did not smile. “Or mine. I’m going along with you.”

  Lieutenant Tyla looked puzzled, but said nothing.

  “Transporter,” Harry whispered. “Remember?”

  Lieutenant Tyla’s face brightened and she nodded.

  Janeway tapped the comm. “Seven, are you ready?”

  “Standing by,”

  Seven said.

  “Mr. Kim,” Janeway said. “We have no time to go to the transporter room. Site-to-site transfer. Put us on the bridge of the Invincible and keep a computer lock on us at all times.”

  “Understood.”

  “You have the bridge, Commander,” Janeway said.

  She smiled at the worried look on her second-in-command’s face, then said, “Energize.”

  * * *

  B’Elanna crawled under the panel in Engineering and stared at the smoking mess that faced her. All warp-drive controls and backups had been fried. Normally this would take a day to fix. She had just an hour and not one second longer before the neutron star explosion itself.

  She climbed back to her feet and pounded her fist on the panel. “Damn.” She tapped her comm badge. “All engineering staff report on the double. Drop everything you are doing and get here.”

/>   She glanced around at the others staring at her. Then she turned and yanked off the cover of the panel, digging into the burnt and fused wires. No point in waiting for help. Every second was going to count if this was going to be fixed.

  And they didn’t have too many seconds left.

  * * *

  A moment after she had been standing on the bridge of Voyager, the transport beam reassembled Janeway’s molecules on the bridge of the Invincible, beside the captain’s stained chair.

  She glanced around through the smoke-filled room, crowded with equipment. The floor was covered in garbage and equipment, seemingly discarded at random over a period of time.

  She took a shallow breath and then coughed. “What a smell.”

  “Qavok are known for their unsanitary living conditions,” Tyla said.

  Janeway laughed, then coughed again. It was going to take ten showers to get this smell out of her hair and off her skin.

  “Controls.” She pointed at one set of panels.

  Tyla nodded and moved over and sat down in the large chair. She studied the panel for only a moment, then gently played her hand across the board, firing a port-side thruster just enough to right the course and keep the orbit stable.

  Seven finished studying the inside of the ship with a recorder. “The Qavok would be ignored by the Borg,” she said. “Nothing to offer the Collective.”

  Janeway laughed, somehow without breathing.

  Seven stood behind Tyla and studied the panel, then leaned forward and keyed some numbers into the controls beside Tyla. “The coordinates. We must arrive in precisely three minutes and seventeen seconds from this mark. Not one millisecond early or late.”

  “Understood,” Tyla said.

  Janeway watched as the young Lekk pilot slowly moved the Qavok warship around and nudged it in the right direction with only a few bumps.

  “Nice,” Janeway said. “Keep us on track.”

  “Janeway to Voyager. We’re set here and moving. Should have brought air tanks, but otherwise we’re fine. Follow us down at a safe distance.”

  Chakotay’s voice came back clear and strong. “Voyager here. Understood, except we have a slight problem. B’Elanna hasn’t gotten warp drive back on-line yet and Tom’s a little hesitant to go too low with only thrusters and impulse. Afraid we might not be able to pull safely out of the gravity well.”