Dark Matters_ Cloak and Dagger (Book 1) - Christie Golden [47]
Although Seven was the only one who could see the Romulan, they all had seen the disruptor fire. Before Seven could fire her own phaser, Kirby had fired first, moving to interpose his own body between the invisible Romulan and Seven. The Romulan collapsed without a sound, his peculiar halo disappearing, but Kirby staggered backward, his phaser falling from limp fingers.
Seven of Nine suddenly felt cold and her knees gave way. Johnson groaned and fell to her knees, clawing at her chest Tuvok staggered, men he, too, collapsed. Only Telek R'Mor, who, at Tuvok's insistence, had stayed behind everyone else in the group, didn't seem immediately overcome.
'Telek R'Mor to sickbay! Emergency!"
Seven's vision swam. Surely that was what made the Romulan lying on the floor seem transparent in places. Most certainly that was what made the room fade away as she gave in to the weakness spreading through her body and tumbled forward.
Janeway's chest was tight with apprehension as she strode into sickbay, and the worried look on the Doctor's face did nothing to ease the knot.
"What the hell happened?" she demanded, looking at Seven, Tuvok, Kirby, Johnson, and a Romulan centurion all lying unconscious on the beds. Telek R'Mor was just sitting up as she came in.
"We found the stowaway, obviously," R'Mor told her. "He was indeed in Cargo Bay One. We confiscated his equipment, which I need to examine immediately. The centurion took us by surprise. He fired on one of your guards, killing him immediately. The young man," he nodded in Kirby's direction, "fired a phaser at him. The phaser blast dispersed the centurion's personal shield, and Seven, the guards, and, to a lesser extent, Commander Tuvok were all struck with heavy doses of dark matter."
"This matter is abominable," said the Doctor with the utmost solemnity, stepping through the forcefield that isolated his patients. "I doubt if we'll be able to save enough of the centurion for questioning. He's dying."
Janeway went to the edge of the forcefield and rubbed her eyes. Parts of the Romulan-his leg, his shoulder, a patch the size of her fist in the center of his chest-were... fading.
"My God," she breathed softly. "That's not a cloak, is it?"
"No," replied the Doctor. "Parts of his body are disappearing and reappearing. I've absolutely no idea where they are when they're gone. His entire
DNA sequence is rewriting itself even as we speak. He must have been in absolute torment for some time now. And what's even worse, I've detected the beginnings of similar activity in our people now as well."
"Doctor." Telek seemed to be barely restraining his rage. "Please let me examine the equipment we confiscated. The fact that mere are Romulans-"
Janeway whirled. "Romulans? Plural?"
"I do not know for certain, but scout groups usually do not travel alone. There is mostly likely at least one other centurion aboard, Captain, and somewhere nearby you will find a cloaked vessel. The Romulans, their shields, and the vessel are by this point little more than clusters of mutated dark matter. Every moment we delay could be a moment too long. I beg you, give me access to die equipment. Let me discover what they were attempting to do!"
Janeway hesitated. By granting Telek access to the Romulan technology, they could be turning their fates over to him. But hadn't they done so already? Weren't they all in the same boat-or rather, on the same ship?
"Do it," she said.
Telek leaped from the bed and hastened to the Doctor's office. On the table were several pieces of equipment with which Janeway was utterly unfamiliar. They were all sleek and utilitarian looking, as coolly efficient as the beings who operated them.
As he slid into the chair, Telek gasped and reached for a long, cylindrical unit. It was glowing
softly. At once he thumbed