String Theory_ Cohesion (Book 1) - Jeffrey Lang [109]
“Remind me to never make Seven angry,” Kaytok said, staring at the monitor. B’Elanna said the shuttle’s systems automatically tapped into the EC’s communication network so they could watch Seven, this despite the fact that B’Elanna always seemed to know what the other one was doing. Their bond was much stronger than anything he had ever seen among his own people, but Kaytok was concerned about a sort of merging or blending he was observing. “I think the commander is unconscious. Some of the other soldiers are raising their rifles.”
“Emergency liftoff,” B’Elanna said. “We have to get clear of the building,” she added, and then, “We’ll be there in a second. Don’t get shot.”
He was not sure what she was going to do next. Undoubtedly, the shuttle possessed some kind of weaponry, but used at such close range, an attack would be as likely to injure Seven. Kaytok’s knees buckled under him as the shuttle surged into the air, clearing his lab’s roof in less than three seconds.
“Hold on!” B’Elanna shouted. Glancing at the monitor, Kaytok saw that the soldiers were arraying themselves in a half-circle around Seven. Some in the back rows were suddenly distracted, one pointing up into the sky. Seven stood very erect, seemingly untroubled by any of the rifles pointed her way.
“Transporter status?” B’Elanna called.
“What?” Kaytok asked.
A pleasant but assured voice replied, “Functioning.”
“Lock on to Seven of Nine.”
“Transporter lock established.”
The shuttle was not dipping down toward the ground, but continued to dash skyward. “Aren’t we going back for Seven?” Kaytok asked.
“Computer, energize!” B’Elanna shouted.
Energize? Kaytok wondered. She was firing a weapon? Was B’Elanna sacrificing Seven for the greater good? He heard a whining sound and wondered if a cannon or particle beam weapon was being charged. “We’re not going to get Seven?” he asked again.
“Seven is right here,” Seven said, touching Kaytok on the shoulder. The Monorhan leaped away, so startled that he released his grip on the console, which did not budge a centimeter. “Though just barely.” This last comment was directed at B’Elanna. “Could you have cut that a little closer?”
“It was necessary to get clear of the building,” B’Elanna called from the pilot’s chair. “The transporter lock was fluctuating. Something in the building’s structure, I suspect.” Kaytok saw that the sky through the shuttle’s front windows was rapidly shifting from blue to indigo. He was flying in a vessel far above the surface of the planet and would soon be well beyond the atmosphere. Strangely, the idea induced more curiosity than dread.
“Get on the comm,” B’Elanna said, sounding more like her old self. “We have to contact Voyager and see if they’re ready for us.” Through the window, Kaytok could see tiny pinpoints of light—stars, though they did not twinkle, but shone steadily. “Harry better have his new toy all ready to go.”
“And if he does not?” Seven asked.
“Then this is going to be a very short trip.”
Chapter 18
“What do we do first?” B’Elanna asked over the comm. No one else on the bridge spoke, afraid they would miss vital information.
“Fire the Monorhan’s energy wave,” Janeway said. “As soon as you do, we’ll lock on to the frequency, then fire the trilithium into the Blue Eye.”
“And what will be happening to you?” Chakotay asked the engineer.
“We’ll probably be in free fall trying to restart the engines just like last time. I didn’t have time to build in any kind of shielding, so I expect the same thing will happen.”
“Couldn’t you fire the shield generator from outside the gravity well?”
“We could,” B’Elanna replied, “but we want conditions to be as close to the original circumstances as possible. Besides, you can always beam us out, right?”
“Right, B’Elanna,” Janeway agreed, but something in her chief engineer’s tone