Ghost of a Chance - Mark Garland [67]
"Have they raised their shields yet?"
"No," Triness reported. "Their shields must still be down. I have raised ours."
"Very well, let's get a little closer."
***
"I didn't know the transporters were functioning again," Chakotay said, as he watched the Televek approach. The cruiser came to an abrupt halt, maintaining a little more distance than earlier.
B'Elanna shrugged. "They weren't, until... well until just a couple of minutes ago. I was trying to tell you we were close when I came up here the last time."
"Why didn't you?"
"Everyone seemed a little... preoccupied."
"I guess we did at that," Chakotay said, an intended note of apology in his voice.
"Anyway," Torres went on, "when the ship lurched both ways and came to full stop I had a pretty good idea what was going on, and who was behind it. When the bridge was suddenly isolated, I knew."
"You were completely right about them," Chakotay said. "You knew all along, didn't you?"
"My Klingon blood, I guess." She looked at him and smiled. "And my human heart."
Chakotay couldn't help but smile back. Torres often came to him for guidance, yet this time he had been the one in need. He looked at her with subtle admiration. He wanted to say something, but a simple thank-you would not have sufficed.
"B'Elanna," he said, "who we are is sometimes our greatest weakness, but it also can be our greatest strength."
The lieutenant said nothing for a moment, but Chakotay knew even before she nodded that she understood.
"Commander," Stephens said, indicating the main viewscreen. "The Televek are trying to hail us again."
"I'll bet they're not too happy," Paris said.
"I'll bet their friends in that fleet of cruisers heading our way won't be very happy when they get here, either," Rollins added.
Chakotay frowned. "Any change in the planet's status?"
"It's churning in the continental region again, Commander," Ensign Stephens reported crisply. "Major eruptions from numerous active volcanoes, and quakes everywhere, offshore as well."
"How bad?"
"I can't get a clear enough reading, but I think this is the worst we've seen since our arrival."
Chakotay stood utterly silent as he considered his next move. He took a deep breath. "Go to red alert. Target weapons.
Transporter room, can you get a fix on the away team?"
"I've been trying, sir," Hoffman said over the comm. "I've located three signals that I think may be them, but I've been unable to make a positive ID, and I can't get a good lock. We're still fighting an ocean of interference down there. Those could be Drenarians, or even Televek for all I know. I'm sorry, Commander."
"Understood. Mr. Rollins, you have the bridge. Keep those photon torpedoes trained on that cruiser. I'll be in the transporter room.
B'Elanna," he added wryly, already headed off the bridge, "get back to work."
The turbolift door closed just in time.
***
Drenar Four was coming apart. Tuvok felt the quake approaching, but he was ill prepared for the violence it contained when it fully arrived.
Even after bracing himself, feet apart, hands pressed against the console and bulkhead, he was quickly knocked away from all supportive surfaces, then thrown down to the hard deck. He crept along the moving floor, eyes unable to focus as the vibrations increased further still.
The ground beneath the shuttle heaved, tossing him upward. He tried to stay as limp as possible, aware that nothing quite facilitated the breaking of bones like rigid muscles, but the first impact point proved to be the side of his head. Which, fortunately, did not give very much. He watched the deck charge up to greet him yet again. Then the shaking returned.
A brief quieting of the shock waves allowed him to distinguish between up and down. He ached in numerous places, but nothing hurt enough to suggest a critical injury. Getting his wind back, he scrambled straight under the main console just in front of the pilot's chair,