Ghost of a Chance - Mark Garland [86]
What happened next would likely be anything but.
He had glanced at the report on the remarkable Federation weapon that made Jonal and the others disappear. Gantel had no doubt intended to seize Voyager more or less in one piece, had been playing for time, looking for an angle. Then he'd gone to the edge of sanity and attacked, alone. Unfortunately, his plan had backfired.
Daket also noted that Gantel had been keeping his distance from his target during the entire engagement, no doubt concerned about the range of Voyager's exotic secret weapon, something that also concerned Daket.
Perhaps the device had been used against Gantel after all? Daket could only hope he would not directly find that out.
"We are closing," Tatel said. "Shields at maximum."
"Maintain a distance of two hundred thousand kilometers from the target."
"Yes, Daket, but at that range our weapons' energy levels will drop approximately three-tenths of a percent per--" "I am aware of that, but the distance will be a problem for them as well, I presume. I plan to use this mutual disadvantage to my advantage." Daket paused, smiling to himself. He wondered if even Gantel could have maintained such presence of mind under so much duress. He didn't think so. "That should put them within range of all our weapons," he went on, "while leaving a comfortable margin for safety."
Or error, Daket thought. He didn't have to destroy Federation ship, after all; he just had to make a valiant effort and keep the crew more or less occupied until the fleet arrived. The result would be adequate for his purposes, and to do more would be foolish, as Gantel had so brilliantly demonstrated.
Daket took a breath. "Target weapons. Transfer all shield power to the forward shields and then keep the bow straight on. If they fire their photon weapons we will attempt to maneuver away from the torpedoes, or target it with our dispersion beams and destroy it. But if we take a direct strike, I want to face it with enough shields to withstand the blast. If nothing else, we can learn from Gantel's mistakes."
Several seconds passed while the cruiser's position was corrected and the shields were restructured. Directly Tatel turned to Daket and grinned slightly, nodding.
Daket grinned back. "Commence firing when ready."
"Commence firing," Tatel said to the fourth associate manning the weapons station, a young man who had a natural flair for accuracy--something Daket was counting on in no small measure.
The pulse cannon and forward phasers lit up the darkness of space between the vessels. In the distance a sphere of sparkling energy suddenly glowed to life, surrounding the Federation ship, evidence that her shields were attempting to absorb and deflect the assault. Now, Daket thought--wishing he were close enough to use his finely honed senses to determine better what the commander of that ship might do next--now it begins. He leaned forward, resting both elbows on the small console before him. He placed his hands just under his chin and began watching his opponent, waiting for... anything.
"Second cruiser is moving to a high matching orbit," Rollins stated, again at Ops, while Tuvok took command. "They will be within targeting range in less than a minute."
"Which means we're moving into their weapons' range as well," Lieutenant Tom Paris said. That meant Voyager might have to move away from her current position and well out of transporter range, something no one wanted right now. He couldn't imagine what was taking the captain and Chakotay so long. They should have signaled by now.
Tuvok moved away from the ops bay where he had been reviewing the power allocation with Ensign Stephens. He made his way quickly to the captain's chair and neatly seated himself. Neelix and Kes remained silent. The two of them stood just beside Tuvok, hovering at the back of the bridge's lower level, hand in hand.
Neelix had urged Kes to go to Voyager's sickbay, where the details of what was happening would not