The Murdered Sun - Christie Golden [90]
It did not pursue. It continued on its path, which, Paris now saw, was not toward them, but toward the planet itself. Even as he watched, a bay door opened in the side of the mammoth ship.
Four small vessels emerged and headed straight for the surface.
"If they're trying to get the Verunans, they're going to find them gone," Paris murmured to himself. "If not..." He had no idea why the Destroyer would suddenly appear and send shuttlecraft down to the planet.
Relief overwhelmed him when, hard on the heels of the Destroyer, the Voyager appeared.
"Was your mission successful, Lieutenant?" Paris thought he'd never heard a sweeter sound than his captain's crisp, cool voice.
"Aye, Captain. We lost a few and there are several injured.
Better alert the doctor that he's got some"--he was about to say dragons but stopped himself just in time--"patients waiting for him," he amended.
"Understood. I'd like to get out here myself as soon as--" Her voice stopped in midsentence, and Paris understood why. From the mouth of Sun-Eater, escorted by dancing chunks of dead, burning star matter, loomed the repaired Victory.
***
"Traitor!" screamed Linneas, his deep voice seeming to penetrate to the bone. Garai was glad that he could not see Linneas's face at this moment. It might have shaken his resolve. Even as it was, Garai felt his conviction start to trickle away.
"Captain Janeway plans to destroy the concavity with a torpedo," Garai announced coolly, fighting to keep his hands still on the arms of his command chair. "She advised us to evacuate our scientists. The slaves have already been removed by the Verunan ships. We can renew the attack on her vessel once we are outside, but I deemed it a sensible precaution to--" "You would be dead by my own hands, vile betrayer, were not the vastness of space between us!" Linneas continued to rage.
"How did you even come to know this when your orders were no communication whatsoever?"
"First Warrior, I am your equal now, at least in command," Garai replied, keeping his voice steady with effort. "I was the only ship in the area. It was my right to decide what to do."
Filth spewed from Linneas's mouth. Oddly, it did not intimidate Garai anymore. It merely confirmed his worst fear that Linneas was cracking under the strain. That only made him sorrowful, not angry. Once, Linneas had been a great commander. Garai had admired and learned from him. Out of respect for the leader that Linneas once was, Garai silently grieved.
But he did not yield. He waited until Linneas ran out of curses, then calmly continued.
"I have begun the evacuation."
"You took an oath!"
"We took an oath, First Warrior!" Garai let the heat of his own anger infuse his retort. "We took an oath to protect our people!
That is the job of the military in this concavity. Those scientists on Blessing took no oath to die at the whim of a first warrior, but we swore to protect them. And sacrificing them on the altar of pride is something that is not in the honor code of a first warrior!"
Linneas did not reply. Garai found himself staring at the planet again instead of at his comrade. So be it, he thought grimly, more convinced than before that his course of action was the right one.
"Shall we stop the evacuation?" asked his first hand. Garai shook his horned helmet.
"We continue. Then... we leave Blessing behind. First Warrior Linneas is on his own."
***
Voyager lowered its shields, and quickly the six ships hastened to the safety the larger vessel provided. Once they were in place, Janeway ordered the shields back up.
"Let's get out of here," she said tiredly. She believed First Warrior Garai when he had said there was no wormhole. Their own research had come, reluctantly, to the same conclusion. The entire concavity might once have been a wormhole, or perhaps there were billions of microscopic wormholes littering the "wall" of Sun-Eater, thus providing the dead star matter an exit of sorts. Or both. Kim was working on a theory,