Equinox - Diane Carey [76]
"Bridge to Ransom. Rudy?"
Max's voice, calling to the captain, his leader.
Ransom sat, shaking.
"Bridge to Ransom."
He knocked his combadge, almost scraping it off his chest. "Go ahead..."
"You 'd better get up here."
His chest heaved, even hurt. "On my way."
When he got to the bridge, his uniform was now cloying with sweat, cold sweat. Burke, Gilmore, and Thompson manned the bridge by themselves. Ransom noticed instantly that Burke was worried.
"Voyager's approaching at high warp," Burke said while he worked his station, hunched in his chair over a lower monitor. "There's a class-two nebula less than a light-year from here. Janeway's sensors won't be able to track us once we're inside. I think we should-"
"No." Ransom moved stiffly to his command center. "Full stop. Open a channel."
Burke straightened. "Change of tactics?"
As first officer, he had a right to know.
Unfortunately, there would be nothing invigorating in this set of orders.
"You could say that," Ransom told him. "It's time we find another way home."
Burke came out of his chair. "Another way!"
"We're going to cooperate with Janeway. If she's willing."
Gilmore and Thompson now turned also to stare at him. He understood-he was the only one among them who had never flinched, never broken, not for a moment.
"Rudy," Burke began, "with all due respect, have you lost your mind?"
"Just the opposite."
As Burke stared in unshielded amazement, an alarm rang on Gilmore's board.
"They're within range," she reported, her voice shaking. "They're charging weapons!"
Ransom ignored Burke's glare. "Hail them."
"Belay that order!" Burke snapped. "Raise shields!"
"You're relieved of duty, Commander," Ransom said. He'd actually been ready for that. Burke probably really did think his captain was losing his grip. He was trying to help him hold on to it.
Suddenly glazed with sweat, Burke drew his phaser and pointed it at Ransom. On stun? Or something else? "I'm taking command. Anyone who isn't with me, speak up now!"
No one said anything. Obviously anguised to a breaking point, Burke grabbed Ransom's phaser. 'Take him to the brig!"
Apparently Gilmore also thought the captain was cracking. For what she probably thought was for his own good, she drew her own phaser and moved toward him.
"I'm sorry," she said. But come with me. Ransom went.
"What's the status of our weapons?" Burke was asking.
"Full complement of torpedoes," Thompson said. "Minimal phasers."
"Open a secured channel to their sickbay. Stand by weapons."
"I'm here." That was The Doctor.
"We're going to need your help, Doctor. See if you can find Voyager's current shield frequency."
"What's their range?" Burke asked.
"Eight hundred kilometers."
"Arm torpedoes. Fire!"
"Direct hit, her port shields. They're holding. They're firing on us!" "Brace for incom ing!"
The lift doors breathed open. Without even looking, Ransom stepped out, following the backs of Gilmore's legs. The ship shook under them, causing his arms to flare, and he looked up.
"This isn't the brig," he pointed out. Instead, they were in the engine room.
"I know," she said. "I'm with you, sir. Let's find a way to end this."
She lowered her phaser.
Slightly reinvigorated by that, Ransom felt his heart divide between his crew, some loyal to him, others loyal to the other him. How could he fault any of them?
It'll be all right, Max. We 'II all clear our heads.
He moved to a station. "We'll need to access transporter control."
"I'll do it."
Ransom touched his combadge. "Doctor, this is the captain."
"Yes?"
"How's Seven?"
"I'm about to detach her cerebral cortex implants-"
"Don't do it. I want you to put her back the way she was. We don't need the information anymore."
"You have the data you need from her? After all my work?"
"Yes, I don't need it anymore," Ransom fibbed. "I want you to reestablish her integrity.