Death of a Neutron Star - Eric Kotani [65]
"Got it," Kim said.
"Beam it out of there into space and strip the containment away so it explodes away from the neutron star binary," Janeway said.
"Done," Kim said.
A white light lit up the screen like a small sun suddenly coming into being, then quickly faded.
Again the Xorm fired.
Voyager rocked hard.
"Oh, we made them mad," Paris said.
"Screens at twenty percent," Chakotay said. "And we've lost the shuttle. I've got a position lock on them. The shuttle's orbit is being destabilized."
"Grab it, B'Elanna," Janeway said.
"That last shot knocked all tractor systems offline," B'Elanna said. "I'm working on it."
"Ensign, get a transporter lock on them and make sure you keep it locked."
"Understood," Kim said.
"Tuvok," Janeway said. "Hang on and we'll retrieve you."
"We have little choice," Tuvok said,
Janeway nodded. She knew he was right. There was no choice as far as he was concerned.
None at all.
Not many hours-yet a lifetime ago-Lieutenant Tyla had tried to steal this shuttle. Now she was being trusted to help fly it for the second time. Her pride and Captain Janeway's faith in her made her want to do the best job possible.
The shots she had fired had hit their mark on the Xorm ship. It was the first time in her entire career that she had ever fired on a Xorm ship. And it was to save the homework! of the Qavok-her most hated enemy. Her view of life had certainly changed since she was rescued by Voyager.
Changed completely.
The Xorm shot against the Voyager shields had jarred the shuttle like a child shaking a rattle. She and Tuvok somehow had managed to stay in their seats, but not by much. She had banged her shoulder hard, but was ignoring the pain for the moment.
Now, after another shot from the Xorm ship, they were loose from Voyager. The tractor beams had released them.
And she knew there was very little hope of salvation. The shuttle was bobbing and shaking along due to the rapidly changing gravitational field of the binary orbital motion as if it were a raft in a whitewater-filled river.
"Tuvok," she said, staring at the screens. "Do we have any attitude thrusters still available? Enough to turn us slightly?"
"Yes," Tuvok said. "We do. But they will not have much effect in this turbulence."
"If you can get us turned, I think I might be able to get a computer lock on the Xorm ship from here. Our phasers are still at eighty percent."
"An interesting thought," he said. "Captain, there is a possibility that we would be able to continue to fire at the Xorm vessel."
"Do it," Janeway said.
Tuvok's fingers flew over the controls and the shuttle turned slowly. On the panel in front of her she saw the image of the Xorm ship come into view. Slowly, moving toward the targeting area of the screen.
Her fingers worked the controls, trying to get the computer to lock on to the Xorm ship even with the rough, up-and-down ride the forces off the binary were handing them.
Then the lock grabbed and held green. "Got them."
Then it was lost again.
"Fire," Tuvok said.
"Lost lock," she said.
"Fire manually," he said. "I will attempt to steady the ship as best I can."
She couldn't tell the difference. She was going to have to fire soon.
She led the drift, watching it. Up. Down.
Sideways then back up.
She watched the pattern, knew when the ship was coming back on target. Then, just as the Xorm ship was to pass through the target, she fired.
The phaser lit up the Xorm's remaining screens, then cut through the body of the ship, leaving a wide gash.
"They won't be firing at Voyager anymore," Tyla said.
"A direct hit under these conditions is admirable," Tuvok said calmly.
"Thank you," she said.
As they watched, the Xorm warship lost control of its orbit, got too close to the neutron stars at its precarious passage, and was torn apart in an explosion of white light.
And Tyla knew that