Day of Honor - Michael Jan Friedman [59]
There was only one place they could go, B'Elanna realized. Tom seemed to have come to the same conclusion.
Together, they looked to the rear of the cabin, where the environmental suits were stored. Then they looked at each other again.
"Hull breach in fifty seconds," the computer reminded them.
"Come on," Tom said. "We don't have much time."
Before B'Elanna knew it, he was opening the suit locker and pulling out a suit. Then another. Tom handed her one of them.
The engineer took it with no great enthusiasm. As she began to pull it on over her uniform, she caught a glimpse of her console.
The monitors showed the Caatati ship making off with Voyager's warp core. And there was nothing she or Tom could do to stop it. In fact, they would be lucky to escape with their lives.
"Computer," said Tom, as he pulled on his own suit, "send a distress call to Voyager, giving Captain Janeway our coordinates."
Suddenly, a bulkhead panel blew out, releasing a cloud of gas. Then another panel blew, and another. Sparks flew in every direction, blinding B'Elanna with their brilliance.
And the computer wasn't answering Tom's command.
"Computer," he demanded, "respond!"
B'Elanna shook her head as she fastened the last clasp on her suit. "The comm system must be down."
Tom made his way to a console. "Fortunately," he reported, "transporters are still on line."
The shuttle began to shudder, then jerk like a dying beast. The two of them were thrown against a bulkhead.
"Stand by to energize!" Tom yelled over the clamor. Then he reached out and tapped out a command on his control panel.
A moment later, B'Elanna found herself floating in the void of space, her suit protecting her from the harsh realities of the vacuum. She turned and confirmed that Tom was with her.
Then, before she could say or do anything else, a flash of white light caught her eye.
It was the shuttle, she realized. It had been vaporized in the explosion of its destablizing warp core. If she and Tom had waited another second, they would have been vaporized as well.
Of course, their prospects weren't exactly cheery as it was. They were hanging in space, two tiny specks against the infinite-together, of course, but still very much alone.
ONE MOMENT, LUMAS's VIEWSCREEN SHOWED HIM VOYAGER's shuttlecraft amid the customary flickers and lines of static. The next moment, there was a blinding white flash.
Then the screen showed him nothing at all-except stars and static.
He turned to his technicians. "Where did it go?" he demanded. "Where are the people from Voyager?"
Grommir was the first to speak. "They're gone."
Lumas stared at him disbelievingly. "Gone?"
"Their ship exploded," the technician explained. "I think it was a result of the antimatter pulse we sent out."
Lumas turned back to the screen. He was so used to aberrations in the thing's performance, he had assumed the shuttle's disappearance was just another technical problem.
But Grommir had indicated otherwise. "Gone," Lumas repeated. He liked the sound of it. He liked it a lot.
That meant the energy core was his-completely and indisputably. If he could beat away one shuttle, he could beat away another one. And without its core, Voyager herself didn't scare him much either.
"Wait," said Grommir.
Lumas looked back over his shoulder. "What is it?"
The technician's brow puckered. "For a moment…"
"Yes?" Lumas pressed.
Grommir shook his head. "Nothing. I thought something had registered on the sensor grid. It was probably just bits of debris."
Lumas smiled, enjoying his victory. Then he turned to Sedrek. "How is the tractor beam holding up?"
His second-in-command looked up from his console, the glare of his instruments turning his face a lurid red. "It seems to be stable for the moment, Lumas, but we shouldn't use it any longer than we have to. It's a considerable drain on our thorium stores."
His superior made a sound of disgust. "You think too small, Sedrek. With Voyager's energy core in our possession, we'll soon have no need for thorium. We'll have something