Flashback - Diane Carey [26]
"Shields-" She gasped.
"My God!" Sulu reacted. "Shields! Shields!"
Had anyone heard him over the red alert klaxon? Janeway hoped so-she didn't know the end to this story. She knew Excelsior hadn't been destroyed, but what cost had there been to salvation? What would the damage be? How many crew lost?
The ship was struck then by the wave, and heeled up viciously as if gut-punched, lurching to starboard. Captain Sulu braced himself on his chair, but stayed upright. Beside Janeway, Tuvok grasped for the soft rim of the science console. Janeway felt the
lurch, but she managed to stay balanced, perhaps because she believed what she saw even more than all these people did.
Before she could pat herself on the back, another hand of force rocked the ship and dropped the deck out from under her. She and Tuvok both went tumbling in the same direction. The noise was hideous-a scratching, whining shriek that wouldn't quit.
The bridge crew looked as if a scarecrow had exploded. Hands, legs, tumbling everywhere-oh, yes, still attached to confused and banged-up bodies. Sulu reached down and helped Valtane back onto his feet, but the captain was apparently waiting for the ship and crew to recover before he started barking orders. Pretty restrained. Not bad.
"What the hell is going on?" was all he said, and not to anyone in particular.
The energy wave was still flushing past them, creating a constant, uneven buffeting, but the crew was crawling back to position and digging for answers. At the helm a Halkan crewman gasped, "Captain, helm is not answering!"
"Starboard thrusters!" Sulu ordered. "Turn her into the wave!"
"Under Article 184 of your Interstellar Law, I'm placing you under arrest. You are charged with assassinating the Chancellor of the High Council."
Klingon General Chang, charging Captain James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard H. McCoy with the murder of Chancellor Gorkon
CHAPTER
9
YES-THAT MIGHT WORK. THRUSTERS WERE INDEPEN-
dent of main steering power and would still be operational. Well, maybe.
"Aye!" The helmsman said, gulping.
The energy wave on the forward screen was changing color every few seconds as Janeway pushed herself up to look at it. Coolant leaks hissed and spat all around the bridge now, distorting a call from the lower decks.
"Captain Sulu, engine room! What's going on up-"
"Quarter impulse power!" Sulu called.
The Halkan struggled with his controls, but the cumbersome saucer section of the ship nosed around to starboard and took the energy flush head-on. That would put all the ship's aerodynamic design charac-
teristics into play to stabilize her despite the pum-meling, and provide a narrowed profile in the face of the destructive energy.
The wave pulsed onward for many seconds, long seconds. Janeway ached to do something, to participate, ask questions, give orders-
But before she could think of any, the wave flushed past, and finally the last rocky bits of debris pounded across the ship like pebbles skipping on water, and it was all over.
"Damage report," Sulu requested as he crawled back into his command chair and squared off.
"Checking all systems, Captain," somebody responded.
"Don't tell me that was any meteor shower," Sulu said, eyeing a shocked and numb Valtane.
"Negative," Valtane managed after a swallow. He licked his lips and drew a breath. "The subspace shock wave originated at bearing three-two-three mark seven-five . . . location . . ."
"Praxis," Janeway murmured, her hands cold.
"It's Praxis, sir," Valtane said. "It's a Klingon moon."
Sulu scowled. "Praxis is their key energy-producing facility!" He twisted around to his communications station, where Commander Rand was sitting. "Send to Klingon High Command-'This is U.S.S. Excelsior, a Federation starship traveling through the Beta Quadrant. We have monitored a large explosion in your sector. Do you require assistance?'"
As she responded, he ignored her and turned back to Valtane. "Mr. Valtane, any more data?"
"I've confirmed the location, sir, but..."