Caretaker - L. A. Graf [83]
Almost immediately, the ship rocked beneath a new torpedo strike.
Janeway clung grimly to her chair as Kim announced needlessly, "They're increasing fire, Captain. Shields are holding."
At least something was working in their favor. "Move us four hundred kilometers from the Array, Mr. Paris."
"Yes, ma'am."
"What are you doing?" Torres lunged across the railing, almost into Janeway's lap. "That Array is the only way we have to get back home!"
Not enough time, the Caretaker had told them. That warning became more and more true with every passing second. "I'm aware everyone has families and loved ones at home they want to get back to," Janeway explained as calmly and simply as possible.
"So do I. but I'm not willing to trade the lives of the Ocampa for our... convenience." Dammit, they deserved better than this--they all deserved better than this. "We'll have to find another way home."
Torres barked angry laughter. "What other way home is there?"
Chakotay grabbed her when she would have surged forward and blocked the view of the main screen. Janeway silently thanked him for his interference even as Torres whirled on him to snarl, "Who is she to be making these decisions for all of us?"
"She's the captain." He pulled her with him back onto the upper level, leaving the bridge open for the crew to do their duties.
He must have been a fine commander when Starfleet had him, Janeway thought. That was the Federation's loss.
Tuvok looked up from the tactical station. "The tricobalt device is ready."
"In position," Paris sang out from the conn.
Which left only one thing to be done, one thing to be said before there was no more turning back from what they had set into motion. Taking a deep breath, Janeway nodded stiffly. "Fire."
Voyager shuddered only faintly when the tricobalt device was released, a barely noticeable tremor compared to the battering she was already suffering from the Kazon fighters. A spinning glimmer of energy, flashing like a brilliant diamond, arced out from under the nose of the starship, speeding through the glowing sea of battle debris on its way toward the Array. One of the Kazon ships broke off its attack. Hoping to pursue the device, Janeway guessed, thinking it could stop the inevitable. What the Kazon thought didn't matter. As the deadly packet disappeared into the tangled strutwork of the Array, Janeway felt a whole universe of tension inside her uncoil and release with a throb of almost painful regret. Over, she greeted the blossom of destruction that boiled outward from the point of initial detonation.
Its all over now, nothing to be done. All over.
For the Caretaker, for the Ocampa, for all of them. The relief that came with no longer facing a decision surprised her, although perhaps it shouldn't have.
No one spoke for a very long time. At the rear of the bridge, Janeway could hear someone crying softly. She granted the person the privacy of not turning to see who it was.
"The lead Kazon ship is hailing us," Kim said after a long moment of listening to the incoming signal chirp at him.
It was too much to hope Jabin would simply leave them alone.
"Onscreen."
As it was, the hatred blazing in the Kazon leader's eyes nearly drilled a hole through the starship's heart. "You have made an enemy today."
Then he cut the channel without giving her a chance to reply.
Not that she had anything to say.
Tuvok glanced up from his console, the only composed figure on the bridge. "They are withdrawing, Captain." For everyone else's benefit, Janeway assumed, as much as for hers.
On the viewscreen, an ever-expanding plasma cloud that used to be the Array swelled silently outward until it finally filled the night--obscuring, at least for the moment, all thought of life beyond itself, all hope of anything but the salvation it no longer offered.
Chapter 22
Stepping into the Captain's ready room,