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By Root 622 0

had been ordered to leave a friend. But at the moment she had no choice. There was no way she was going to ask Paris to hold an orbit close to two neutron stars while she fought with six ships. Too many chances for mistakes. But they would be back in time to watch the once-in-a-lifetime event from the perfect seat. She was going to see to that

She stared at the screen for only a moment longer, then turned to Tuvok. "Are you monitoring Qados's ship?"

"I am," Tuvok said. "The Invincible has just gone to an alert status and powered weapons. They have not moved to follow us."

"And the Gravity?"

"The Xorm ship has raised its shields, but nothing more."

Janeway nodded. "The Invincible will follow the lead of the other Qavok ships. And we'll have seven against one. What are our chances?"

"Against all seven Qavok warships at once," Tuvok said, "we would have an approximate chance of survival of point one five, owing to the synergetic effect of their weapons."

"How about us against just two or three?"

Tuvok glanced at her. "Considerably better," he said.

She glanced at the screen. The neutron star binary was still centered there, the two stars circling each other only hundreds of kilometers apart but not quite touching. Of course, when one did touch the other, Voyager had better not be anywhere near here.

She punched the comm link for Engineering. "Dr. Maalot?"

A moment later the Lekk physicist said, "Yes, Captain."

"Do you have an estimated time remaining for the life of the binary?"

"About twelve hours," he said. "More than likely twelve. Why have we pulled away?"

"I'll explain shortly," she said. "Thank you."

She broke the connection and glanced at Chakotay. "Have Lieutenant Tyla brought to the bridge at once."

Chakotay looked puzzled.

"She might be able to help us against the Qavok. Her people have fought them before."

"Good thinking," Chakotay said, and turned to his comm panel.

Janeway stood and moved down beside Paris, staring at the binary on the main screen. She put her hand on his shoulder, feeling the strength under the fabric. "Tom, I want you to hold an orbit one million kilometers from the binary. When the Qavok fleet moves to come around at us, move away from them, keeping the same distance from the binary."

"Understood, Captain," he said. "But what if they split up?"

She patted his shoulder and moved back to her chair. "Now you're getting the idea. We want to make them split up."

"I see," Kim said. "They come from both the left and the right, we move down under. They send ships down after us, and we go up over the top. They have to keep a safe distance from the binary just as we do, so we use it to split them up."

"Exactly," Janeway said. "Improve the odds a little."

"Captain, that's an idea even Captain Proton would be proud of," Tom said.

"Well, thank you," Janeway said, then smiled. "I think. Ensign Kim, hail them."

"No response, Captain," Kim said after a very short pause.

"All ships have powered weapons," Tuvok said.

"It seems they want to fight," Janeway said. "Guess Captain Qavim didn't learn his lesson."

"Or he didn't tell them about it," Chakotay said.

"More than likely," Janeway said.

"Thirty seconds until the Qavok fleet will be within firing range," Tuvok said. "The Invincible has joined them."

"Tom," she said, "move us around the binary. Keep it between us and them."

The starfield beyond the binary shifted, moving on the main screen from left to right. She couldn't see the Qavok fleet of warships, since Tom was doing his job and keeping them on the other side of the binary.

"Three ships have split off and are moving to intercept," Kim said.

"Under them," Janeway said again, staring at the screen. "Make them split up again."

The silence on the bridge seemed to stretch and stretch.

Everyone did their job.

Janeway hated this part of any battle. It was when she could feel her nerves, when the coffee taste that had lingered