Death of a Neutron Star - Eric Kotani [30]
What made her think she could alter such a thing? How had she been so arrogant?
"I ran a warp-core-breach scenario," Seven said, her fingers flying over the keyboard. She motioned for Janeway to read the calculations on the screen. "Breaching Voyager's core against the puffy secondary might provide the energy barely sufficient to change the timing of explosion."
It took a moment for Janeway to fully understand what Seven had suggested and then discarded as not feasible. She had run, as if it were a matter of course, a suicide option for the entire ship. And was now reporting it as if it were just another daily log entry.
"Therefore," Seven went on, "we are not capable of changing the binary's disruption, so I completed the energy containment as you requested. It is now collecting and functioning within acceptable parameters."
Janeway glanced up at the monitor, at the rapidly revolving neutron stars, but not yet touching. "There has to be a way," Janeway said. "We can't just let those worlds die."
"There is no choice," Seven said, turning to go back to work.
Janeway shook her head slowly from side to side, as if shaking Seven's words from her ears. "There has to be a choice," she said. "I won't accept anything else."
With that she spun and headed toward the door, her stride firm, her resolve set. She would find a way, if it meant breaking every rule of nature and physics.
Tyla stood beside the Vulcan Tuvok on the bridge as the captain returned. Janeway had asked her if she was going to try to escape again. When Tyla had said no, where would she go with a fleet of Qavok warships standing guard nearby, Janeway had dismissed the two guards and had told her to help Tuvok where he needed it.
So far, the security officer had not needed her help, or even spoken to her. Yet Tyla was determined to follow the captain's orders and help where she could.
Dr. Maalot had been given a station beside Mr. Kim and was humming softly to himself as he worked gathering data from the neutron-star binary that filled the main screen. He didn't seem to be worried at all about the outcome of the events around him, but instead was focused completely on the death of the binary. Tyla envied his focus. Her focus was on saving her people and there was nothing she could do toward that goal at the moment.
It was a hopeless feeling. A feeling she was not used to.
"Lieutenant Tyla," Janeway said, smiling at her. "Join me for a moment. You too, Dr. Maalot."
"Gladly, Captain," Maalot said.
Tyla said nothing as she stepped away from Tuvok to follow.
Janeway also nodded for Commander Chakotay to follow her and then led the way through a door off the bridge.
After a moment Tyla found herself in what was clearly the captain's personal office. It had a warm feel, yet was very neat and completely functional. Tyla decided it fit Janeway's personality perfectly.
Janeway was already sitting behind the full-sized desk, when the door slid closed behind Chakotay and Dr. Maalot.
She looked up, first at Tyla, then at her second-in-command. "We're running into a problem here," Janeway said. "Our calculations show that it would take a massive explosion, timed perfectly, to send the binary into its last stage and control the flight of the runaway star."
Tyla understood what Janeway had said. It was the Qavok plan to destroy her homeworld. Dr. Maalot was also nodding.
"Our problem," Janeway said, going on quickly, "is that we don't have enough power on this ship to cause a large enough explosion. Not even close."
"What?" Tyla asked, unable to remain silent. "This ship is far more powerful than a Qavok warship. "You've proven that. How can you not have enough power when they do?"
"That is exactly my question," Janeway said.
"Either we're missing something in our calculations, or the Qavok have miscalculated and will fail in their attempt."
"Captain," Dr. Maalot