Distant Shores - Marco Palmieri [13]
The ships appeared as large dots in the distance, and their formation did not appear threatening. Nevertheless, Tuvok entered targeting solutions into his console. He then performed the mildest of scans to look for hostile intent.
“No weapons activity that I can detect,” he reported.
“They’re slowing down to sublight,” Paris called. “Now within phaser range.”
“Take us out of warp, Mr. Paris. Keep two hundred thousand kilometers between us and them,” the first officer ordered.
“Two hundred thousand, aye,” Paris repeated. For everything Tuvok had read about Tom Paris, he seemed to be readjusting to his Starfleet career without problem. Still, his actions had caused loss of life and his directionless path did lead to an unsuccessful stint with the Maquis. His performance on the Ocampa homeworld was exemplary, going so far as to save Chakotay’s life. Tuvok judged that of the new crew, Paris was going to pose little trouble.
“I’m reading an energy signature,” Kim said, his voice rising and in panic, snapping Tuvok from his wandering thoughts. “I don’t recognize it!”
“Get a grip on yourself, Kim,” Chakotay snapped. Before he could continue, the viewscreen practically glowed as five bright emerald beams of light emerged, one from each alien ship. Looking up from the deck at his chair screen, it appeared the beams were all aimed on the exact same spot on Voyager’s hull, the foremost point of the saucer section.
“Status!” Chakotay called as he rose slowly from the deck, feeling the aches that would later turn black and blue.
“Minor damage to the hull from their coherent energy discharges,” Tuvok replied. “It appears to be weaker than our standard phasers but concentrated like that, it will pose a problem if our shields fail.”
“Do we fire back?” Paris asked.
“Not yet,” Chakotay answered. He managed to make it back to his chair before the light show began again. As the five beams once more struck Voyager, the crew was shaken just as violently.
“They’ve increased intensity,” Tuvok noted. “Shields holding, but another volley will begin to weaken them.” His fingers checked the sensor input and added, “If they double the power again, we may sustain damage.”
Chakotay heard coughing and turned to watch Neelix stumble from the turbolift, smoke trailing after him. His garishly colored clothes made him easy to spot regardless of lighting. Fire-suppression control had automatically kicked in, fans clearing the acrid air.
“Who are they, Neelix?”
The Talaxian stepped down to stand beside Chakotay, and he stared at the ships, which seemed to hover like dark predators in the night sky.
“Increase magnification, Mr. Kim,” Chakotay called.
“Magnification times five,” Harry replied, sounding more in control, doing routine things being helpful to the ensign. The screen blurred for a moment and one of the ships dominated the viewscreen. It was smaller than Voyager, designed for speed with its nacelles set low and well behind the circular main body. Red highlights stood out from the gray hull plating-possibly an alien language, but time did not allow for analysis.
“Are they Kazon?”
“No, Mr. Vulcan, they are not,” Neelix said. “I’m not sure who they are. I’ve never seen that silhouette before.”
“Who controls this sector of space?”
“I thought it was the Kazon Ogla,” Neelix answered. “Maybe they’re new to the region, as you are.”
“They’re powering up again,” Tuvok announced. Chakotay expected he would have to open fire, but he wasn’t ready to do that. Not yet. Not without learning more.
“Evasive maneuvers, Paris. Be creative and avoid the fire,” Chakotay said sharply, expecting that to keep weapons fire away from the hull.
“Aye, sir,” Paris answered. Chakotay saw a smile cross the pilot’s features. Clearly, Paris liked being given a free hand to fly the ship and why not, he appeared good at it.
As the starship banked down and to starboard, the five ships belched more green fire at Voyager. While Paris was creative with his evasive maneuvers, certainly not following the book, the