Death of a Neutron Star - Eric Kotani [59]
The yacht was being pulled toward one warship with a tractor beam. Two warships were escorting the bomb ship past the yacht toward its appointed time of reckoning with the neutron star binary.
Janeway held her breath. If that yacht didn't blow up, the only thing standing between the destruction of the Lekk homeworld and safety was a Xorm science ship.
"Five," Ensign Kim said.
"Four."
"Three."
"I hate this," Tom said.
"Two."
"Everyone brace yourselves," Janeway ordered, her voice going out over the entire ship.
"One."
"Now."
The main screen flashed white.
Blinding white.
Pure white.
A flash so bright that even the instant filters didn't catch enough of the light to stop it from hurting Janeway's eyes.
Then the shock wave hit.
Hard.
It seemed as if a giant hand had grabbed the bridge and simply tipped it up on end.
Janeway tumbled over the back of her chair and rolled hard into the step, knocking the wind out of her lungs and sending stars spinning through her head.
The lights flickered and then for a moment went out. Then they came back on just as fast.
The noise was like the worst earthquake, rumbling and deep, filling every space, moving through the floor around her.
And then, as quickly as it hit, it passed.
The light was normal, the noise gone.
Her shoulder and head hurt, but not enough to keep her on the floor.
She pulled herself to her feet and stared at the main screen. The binary was still there, of course. But the entire Qavok fleet was gone. Shattered and vaporized.
"Everyone all right?" she said, turning to look at the bridge crew.
Kim was back at his post and Chakotay was climbing slowly to his feet. Everyone was alive.
"Captain," Tuvok's voice came over the com line clearly. "We're going to need medical assistance here. Dr. Maalot has been injured."
Janeway glanced around at Kim. "Are the transporters still working?"
"One hundred percent, Captain," Kim said.
"Beam Dr. Maalot to sickbay at once. Warn the Doctor."
"I'm sure after that hit," Chakotay said, "he's got a lot to do."
Janeway only nodded. She was staring at where the fleet of Qavok warships had been. Now only empty space.
She dropped down into her chair. She could really use a cup of coffee. But first things first.
"Ensign, open a channel to the Xorm. Let's see if they survived."
"On screen," Kim said.
"Brilliant, Captain," Fedr said, his smiling face filling the screen.
"Did you ride the explosion all right?"
"Actually," he said, since we were below and our orbit was off to one side slightly, we felt very little. The intense energy coming off the binary seemed to block most of the force." ' --
"Good," she said. "Anything we can do for you?"
"Not at the moment, Captain," Fedr said. "I think we'll just hold this position for a time and continue our study."
Janeway nodded, staring at the other captain for a moment. Something felt wrong, but at the moment her headache didn't let her doubts through. And for the life of her, she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Very good," she said. "We'll also stay and do repairs, then watch the explosion from a safe distance."
"Again, Captain," Fedr said. "My compliments on dealing with the Qavok. They are really evil and your solution was truly brilliant."
His smile flickered and then he cut the connection.
"Weird," Tom said.
Janeway glanced at her pilot. "How is that?"
"Why would they stay in that orbit when they can get almost the exact same information at a higher and safer orbit?"
She sat back, forcing the throbbing from the bump on her head into the background. Staying at that low, very dangerous orbit didn't make any sense. There was no reason to go that low into the binary unless-
She stood. Of course. Why hadn't she seen what was going on before now?
"Okay," she said. "Listen up, people. We have work to do and we're going to have to do it fast if we're