The Murdered Sun - Christie Golden [19]
"Let's hope you're right, Lieutenant. Ensign, any luck on clarifying those sensors?"
"Not yet, Captain."
Slowly, continuing their inexorable approach, the six pods moved to form a hexagon. The space between them began to distort.
They were linking themselves together by means of graviton beams, Janeway realized. To what end?
"Captain, the pods are sending out a sort of tractor beam.
Unable to assess strength." The voice was Tuvok's. "It is aimed at our shields, in the aft section of our saucer."
"Let's keep them in sight," ordered Janeway. The video angle shifted, providing her and the rest of the bridge with a clear picture of the area in question. There was a slight flash of blue, then nothing.
"Shake them, Lieutenant," she commanded. Obediently, the helmsman took the ship down. The pods followed as if their tractor beam were a tether. Paris saw what she saw and instituted a more vigorous attempt to break free. It did not work. Indeed, as Janeway watched, her concern growing, the hexagon formed by the linked pods moved rapidly closer to the shields. There was a second flash of blue as the hexagon fastened itself to Voyager's shields, apparently with no ill effects.
This is not good, thought Janeway with just a hint of apprehension.
"Ensign Kim, I want to know if there are any life signs aboard those things now."
The young man was keeping admirably cool, sounding only a little flustered as he replied. "Whoever's in Engineering working on this is doing a good job. It's starting to clear up. I don't think--Captain!"
All trace of coolness vanished.
"They're--they're eating our shields!"
Tuvok added his voice. "Ensign Kim's assessment, while unduly colorful, is essentially correct, Captain. They are managing to penetrate the shields and open up a small gap by forcing the graviton field away from the point of entry."
Janeway listened, staring at the image of the six little pods.
Their action was invisible, but she had no doubt that what Kim and Tuvok were reporting was the truth.
"How big a hole?"
"Twelve meters--eighteen meters--twenty-four," counted Kim, fighting to keep his traitorous voice under control.
"Get phasers on line," ordered the captain. "I don't know what--" At that moment, the Victory released a gravity wave. Janeway saw the space distort around the vessel, suddenly knew just why the pods had been sent to perform their odd little task, and cried out, "Brace for impa--" A blow of enormous force buffeted the Voyager. Janeway was hurtled sideways. She forced herself to relax, to absorb the inevitable shock of striking the floor of the bridge rather than fight it, just as she had been trained to do since her Academy days. Even so, her right shoulder hit the floor hard, and she felt something tear.
White-hot pain raced down her arm. The bridge lights flickered, then returned.
Getting to her feet, she glanced around. Tuvok's nostrils trickled green blood from where his head had slammed up against his console.
Others had bruises or cuts as well and were clearly shaken, but no one seemed seriously injured.
"Damage reports coming in," managed Kim, gulping. "Two dozen are reporting minor injuries, six serious injuries. Damage to decks four through six in sections ten through thirteen. Reading structural integrity field generator failure on deck eleven.
Switching to backup systems on deck thirty-two. The warp engines are off-line."
"The hole in the shields is widening, Captain." Tuvok's voice was slightly thick due to his injury, but he appeared as calm as ever. His steadiness was a rock, Janeway thought.
"The Conquest has resumed its attack on the planet," said Paris, "and the Victory is gearing up to fire again."
"Hard to port," commanded Janeway, clutching her injured shoulder for one brief, blessed second before she removed her left hand.
She gritted