Ghost of a Chance - Mark Garland [70]
She got the ensign sitting up, then poked her head up enough to find a target, and fired over the top of the trunk. She was forced to duck again as several Televek weapons fired back.
Great chunks of wood were torn away as the phaser blasts gouged them out. Bits and pieces of wood and bark showered down on Janeway and Kim. They huddled still lower. "How is it?" she asked, trying to examine the phaser burn.
"I don't think they've finished me yet, but it doesn't feel very good," he confessed. The young officer seemed lucid enough, if less than chipper. He was holding his leg still, taking deep breaths, and looking up at her as if this was somehow his own fault.
"I didn't ask you to play human shield for me," she told him.
"But I appreciate the gesture."
Kim smiled at this, nearly erasing the lines of pain from his face for just a moment. Janeway recognized the consequences of the sudden lull in incoming fire. She rose up slightly and fired back once more, trying to find real targets this time. The Televek were lying along the upper edge of the gully, but she couldn't tell exactly where. It didn't matter, she was certain they wouldn't stay put for long.
She saw two heads pop up, and then two energy weapons fired. She decided to duck rather than take a shot, instincts screaming, and found it had been the right decision as the part of the tree trunk vanished in a wet hail of steaming, exploding tree fibers exactly where her face had been.
"These trees will be vapor in a few minutes," she said. "Do you think you can still walk?"
Kim tried to move the injured leg. She watched as pain turned his features into twisted disarray. She checked her own phaser and noted that the charge was nearly depleted. Kim's weapon would have more charge, but not much more.
"Our situation doesn't look good, does it, Captain?" Kim wheezed, trying to get comfortable, though that was clearly impossible.
Janeway knew that he relied upon her for courage and guidance at least as much as any other member of her crew. She wanted to tell him she had a plan, that they would get out of this mess, that everything was going to be all right, but as she thought the situation over, she decided that Kim deserved to hear it straight.
Another round of phaser fire landed, burning so much of the tree trunk away that they were forced to move more than half a meter to one side.
She looked at him as they settled again. She had all the rhetoric memorized, especially the part about all of the cadets knowing when they joined the Academy that they might one day be called to put their lives on the line, but that speech wouldn't suffice either. She had given most of her life to Starfleet, but she couldn't go out quoting dogma.
"Kim, I want you to know--" "Captain!" Kim shouted, staring past her.
An unnatural ringing sounded in her ear, and a bright glowing cloud assaulted her eyes as she turned around. The sudden mixture of alarm and revelation that followed nearly caused her to cry out. Then she watched Tuvok materialize just inches from her. He wore one of the shuttle's transporter armbands on his left arm and carried two identical bands and a tricorder in his hands.
"Captain," the Vulcan said, standing up, looking down at her.
"Duck!" she yelled, yanking hard at his sleeve as a Televek beam seared the air a hand's breadth away from his head. He crouched beside her.
"Thank you, Captain."
"You're quite welcome. I take it you've been busy."
"I wish I had better news to report," he conceded. "I am afraid shuttle communications are completely disabled. But as you can see, I was able to get the transporter working."
"I knew you'd come through, Tuvok," Kim said, making a face that passed for cheerful.
"However," Tuvok continued, his