The Murdered Sun - Christie Golden [45]
"Greetings, Most Honored Emperor Iphus, and to the people of Akeras. I am Telarac, first warrior of the Empirical Exploratory Unit and first warrior commander of the proud vessel Dominion.
As many of you know, much of the peace and harmony we have striven to bring to our beloved home world stems from the rich knowledge we have gained from the planet we call Blessing. Our entryway threatened to close, but our brilliant Akerian scientists have learned a way to keep Blessing and all its gifts available to us. What you are about to see is a visual record of one of the proudest moments in Akerian history."
Proudest moment, my foot, Janeway thought but kept her silence.
Telarac kept narrating, but for the most part Janeway tuned out the Akerian propagandist. She didn't need to know the names of the ships involved in this "historical triumph" or the captains who piloted them.
She'd learn what she needed to just by watching.
It was so simple, so logical, that Janeway knew they ought to have guessed what had transpired the minute they had been attacked by the Victory's pod ships. Four Akerian ships flew in perfect formation toward the Verunan sun. As Janeway watched the centuries-old footage, the four ships began to execute an uncannily familiar maneuver. Each one powered up its individual generators, and she saw the four generators on each ship light up and link as the ships moved toward their fellows.
"Graviton beams," she breathed. "They're making a graviton beam link!"
One by one, the ships joined their gravity waves just as the six little pods had done when they had attacked Voyager. Then together, as graceful as dancers in a painstakingly choreographed ballet, the ships moved closer to the sun. In the background, the concavity yawned, a spatter of nothingness against a starcrowded sky.
Then it happened.
The massive wave created by the four ships was far in excess of what any one ship could produce. The ships fired it at the Verunan sun--not at its center, but across its photosphere.
Janeway was reminded incongruously of skipping stones across a brook.
The gravity wave skimmed across the top, forcing the energy in front of it like a sheepdog herding its charges. It was an awesome spectacle, and Janeway forgot to breathe as she watched the stream of burning hydrogen hurtle toward the mouth of the concavity.
"It's siphoning the energy," she managed. "Like sucking liquid through a hose."
"And it's been doing that extremely effectively for the last three hundred years," finished Kim.
"It is utterly brilliant," announced Tuvok, approval creeping into his voice. Janeway knew the Vulcan better than to think that he endorsed the action; he was merely giving credit where credit was due. Kim, however, turned a shocked gaze upon the security officer.
"Lieutenant Tuvok, with respect, I'd like to remind you that billions of people are going to die because of that brilliance!"
Tuvok regarded him mildly and opened his mouth to reply when Janeway interrupted him. "Mr. Kim, you've done a marvelous job.
I'll be sure to mention your extraordinary efforts in the ship's log.
I suggest you download all the information on the Akerian weapons system--including this little demonstration of their power--and make sure everyone in Tactical sees it. Is there anything else that you need to tell me about at the moment?"
"Well," said Kim, "I don't know about you, but I got very curious about what they looked like. Apparently, the warriors never remove their helmets except in private, and there was little or no information about nonwarrior individuals. But I did catch one captain in an unguarded moment before he switched off his personal log. I think you'll find this very interesting."
He quickly pulled up the log in question. It was Nelek, summing up a rather uneventful day. The commander sat for a moment, sighing, then reached for a small, handheld instrument. He placed it to his throat, and