Death of a Neutron Star - Eric Kotani [55]
The last time that would have cut through those screens and the ships like a hot knife through butter.
"They've managed to strengthen all their shields somehow," Kim said. "I don't know how but I'm reporting at least fifty percent stronger than our first encounter."
"Longer phaser blasts!" Janeway ordered. "Chakotay, go to a full two seconds."
Chakotay nodded, never looking up from his board, and instantly the phaser shots again rocked Voyager as they fired. This time the shields on the warships dropped, but the phaser shot didn't last long enough to do enough damage on their surfaces.
"Going to three seconds," Chakotay shouted.
"Tuvok," Janeway said. "Three-second phaser blasts at least."
"Understood," his voice came back.
Six of the Qavok warships had turned and formed a group facing Voyager. Seven remained with the bomb ship bearing down on Tuvok and the shuttle.
Four Qavok ships fired at once.
Voyager rocked backward.
"Shields holding," Kim said. "Ninety percent."
Janeway nodded. At least the strength of their weapons hadn't changed.
"Firing," Chakotay said.
Two of the Qavok ships' shields flared to red and then went down. A few moments later both ships exploded.
"Two down," Tom said, "eleven to go."
The other four facing Voyager fired again.
Direct hits on the forward screens. Janeway held on as Voyager tried to buck her out of her chair.
Again Chakotay fired.
Two more Qavok warships' shields flared and went down. And then a moment later two more ships exploded.
"Screens down to sixty percent," Kim said, "and we have reports of damage coming from all over the ship."
The remaining two warships broke off and rejoined the main group, now cut down to nine.
"How long until that fleet gets into the shuttle's firing range?" Janeway asked.
"Two minutes, thirty seconds," Kim said.
"Mr. Paris," Janeway said. "Can you get us back near the shuttle in time?"
"I can do my best," he said.
"Do it," Janeway said. "Engage when ready. Ensign, tell Mr. Tuvok we are on the way and to stand firm."
She sat back and stared at the schematic. This was not going well so far.
Not at all.
Their first attempt had failed. They had needed to cut that fleet in half for them to stand any chance at all. And now that the Qavok had managed to fortify their shields since the first battle, that was going to be even harder. This ship, let alone the shuttle, would never withstand a direct hit from six or seven of those warships at once.
Tom worked quickly at his station.
Around her the seconds seemed to tick past. The silence on the bridge was the loudest she had heard in a long time.
Suddenly the ship jumped into warp, heading back right at the neutron star binary, as if it were diving into the death that awaited there.
Maybe it was.
But they had to at least try to stop that bomb ship.
And then, if they were lucky, change the course of the star.
Lieutenant Tyla watched as the fleet of Qavok warships bore down on her and the small Voyager shuttle. Tuvok had her manning the phasers and she knew exactly what she needed to do. But still her hands shook slightly. This was the first time she ever remembered that happening in a battle.
But this was also the first time she was facing down nine Qavok warships in a small shuttle.
She had watched Voyager's failure to cut the fleet down significantly with a sinking, almost guilty feeling. She should have predicted that the Qavok would adapt their screens and warned the Xorm captain of that possibility. The way the Qavok warship systems worked, they must have taken energy from every other function on their ships to get that kind of shield power. She had no doubt that they had even cut down on life-support functions for this battle. The Qavok would do something like that
"Lieutenant?" Tuvok said. "Are you ready?"
"I am," Tyla said.
"One minute, fifteen seconds. Phasers armed and ready?"
"Ready,