Equinox - Diane Carey [77]
"Well... a matter of minutes. She was much harder to take apart than she will be to..."
"I want her as good as new, right away."
"You're an interesting man, Captain."
"Do the work. I'll explain later."
He didn't wait for a confirmation. He hoped The Doctor thought Ransom still had the bridge and didn't call to check with Burke or anyone else. As the seconds ticked off, he held his breath for Seven's recovery.
"We're dropping out of warp," Gilmore said, off her monitors. "The port nacelle's venting plasma. Voyager's still in hot pursuit."
Ransom checked the nearest monitor. 'Tap into the bridge comm. I want to eavesdrop."
She worked a panel. Almost instantly, the voices of all the familiar players began to boil through the engineering speakers.
"Doctor to Equinox! I've got their shield frequency! I'm transmitting it to you now!"
"They'll try to remodulate. Keep monitoring."
"Aye, sir!"
"Slow to one quarter impulse. Launch another torpedo."
At her station, Gilmore followed the drama. "We're launching another one ... Voyager's put full power to her forward shields. Direct hit... deck four. They've got a hull breach."
"Bet she's wondering how we broke through her
shields," Ransom commented. "She thinks that doctor is her doctor."
"They're moving out of range. I'm reading a remod-ulation of their shields. Rudy, Max is taking a pursuit course."
"Oh, Max, why..." Ransom's groan rattled in his throat.
"Voyager's lost impulse power. There goes their weapons array ... They're rotating their deflector frequency every few seconds, trying to get them to stay up."
"This can't go on," Ransom muttered. "Hail them from down here, Maria. Find Janeway for me."
"Go ahead. I think I've got them."
Ransom drew a cleansing breath, then leaned toward the comm. "Captain, I'm prepared to surrender the Equinox, but I'm no longer in command. Max decided to stage a little mutiny. I think I can stop him. I've isolated transporter control... I can beam all of us to Voyager. You might want to have some guards standing by. Not everyone here's going to be happy to see you."
Janeway was silent. Probably shocked. Why? That a man could change so suddenly?
Wasn't all that sudden.
"Proceed," Janeway spoke, keeping her tone even. "Bridge to security."
"Thank you for not gloating," Ransom said lightly.
"/ have no right to gloat, Captain. None at all."
"I know what you mean, believe it or not. Maria, wide-range transporter beam."
"Ready, sir."
"Begin with the bridge crew."
As she worked, Ransom continued to listen to the bridge activity.
"Someone's trying to beam us off! Forcefields!"
Gilmore worked furiously. "They're deflecting the targeting scanners."
So much for getting the bridge crew off. The rest of the crew wouldn't be able to pull such a trick, not from the other parts of the ship.
"Then beam the others to Voyager," Ransom decided. "Yourself included. I'll deal with Max."
As Gilmore did as she was told, Ransom moved to another station. "Computer, give me access to the shield grid."
It worked. The computer was still functioning under the assumption mat he was in command.
"Maria," he called at the last second, "here."
He tossed her a remote computer cartridge, especially encoded.
"That's Captain Janeway's doctor, with his ethical subroutines restored. When you get to Voyager, tell her the doctor over there is ours. Have her upload him back into their system. Her own EMH will be able to take back bis sickbay."
As the transporter beam began to hum, Maria's sad eyes embraced him. "Rudy..."
Typically, once his decision was made, he never gave it another thought. He waved a hand to her and offered a fatherly grin. "Go. It's all right. I'll be right over."
"The Doctor's not transmitting anymore!"
Thompson's call of panic sent a jolt of desperation through Max Burke. They had to get through this and get Rudy back here on his bridge where he belonged, without the guilt put on him by that calculating woman over there.