Twelve
Voyager rocked as she took another hit from the Mazen ship.
"Shields down to 75 per cent," Harry yelled from his station. "And they're firing again!"
"Evasive manoeuvre Beta-1," Chakotay announced, keying the order into helm. The ship swung, dipping her nose and lifting her port nacelle as she came about, but the enemy fire still impacted against their invisible protective barrier.
"Shields at 50 per cent," Harry reported. "We're losing them fast!"
"Bridge to Engineering," Chakotay shouted, over the hiss of an EPS conduit venting into the atmosphere. "B'Elanna! Where's that warp engine?"
"I'm still working on it!" She was yelling too, and in the background he could hear the sound of the emergency fire system kicking into play. "I don't know what they did, but I can't generate a stable warp bubble longer than a few seconds. Every time I think I've got it, it collapses."
"What about the cloak?"
"Seven's getting there."
"We're sitting ducks out here, Torres!"
"I know, I know!"
Chakotay keyed in more commands to the helm, bringing Voyager about at full impulse. The Mazen ship was now clear of its dry dock moorings and was gaining on them fast. Voyager was nimbler on her nacelles than their war cruisers, but that was her only advantage. He ran through his dwindling options. Photon torpedoes held the biggest warhead yield of all the armaments they carried, but the ship only had a complement of 11. There were reserves, but no crew to load them, and the three they'd used already hadn't even made a dent. But what other choice did he have?
He swung around in his chair. "Tuvok, with what you've observed of their defences, where is their weakest point?"
The Vulcan frowned slightly, gripping his console as another Mazen blast overloaded the power couplings behind him. Smoke billowed around him; a shower of sparks adding sudden illumination to the dim status of red alert. "Without time for further analysis, I would have to conclude it is their aft nacelle," said Tuvok. "It is not a clear target, but its disruption will, if nothing else, slow them down. Concentrated fire may be enough to penetrate their shields if localised."
"All right. Harry, prepare to launch four photon torpedoes directly at their aft nacelle. Make it count, Harry, we'll only get one shot."
"Aye, sir," said the Ensign.
"On my mark-"
His countdown was interrupted by the biggest hit yet. It impacted from behind, hard enough to throw Chakotay out of his chair and over the helm console. He landed hard, his back cracking against the deck. He fought to drag air back into his lungs as he struggled to his knees, lights sparking in his eyes. "Report!"
"Direct hit!" Harry yelled, "Shields are down - hull breaches decks seven through nine! Emergency force fields are holding, but-"
"Reroute all available power to the deflector," Chakotay ordered, as he re-took helm. "Cut off life-support to all areas apart from Engineering, Sickbay and Deck one. Take power from the holodecks. Shut down airponics if you have to. Get those shields back up!" Ahead, they could see the Mazen ship charging at them. He pulled Voyager up, dropping to half impulse.
"Shields back up, commander," Harry reported, a moment later. "Holding at 87 per cent. That's the best I can do."
Chakotay rubbed a hand over his face. "Ready those torpedoes, Harry. On my mark…"
The Mazen ship grew larger and larger in the viewscreen. Chakotay felt as if he were playing chicken with a juggernaut. The enemy ship was gathering speed, apparently oblivious to the fact that Voyager had, conversely, slowed.
"Three," he shouted, dropping the ship to full stop briefly before pushing her nose down at half impulse. "Two!" The Mazen ship filled the view screen, sailing over their heads as Chakotay threw Voyager into full impulse and shot beneath their hull. "One!"
He felt the torpedoes launch, leaving their tubes in a smooth stream one after the other under Harry's command. In the view screen they were silver streaks in the black of space, travelling almost too fast to see. The first two impacted with the Mazen shields and exploded. The enemy ship shook but even without Harry's report Chakotay could see they'd failed to make it past the force field. The third and fourth fared a little better, the first two clearly having weakened the Mazen shields. They made it through but, deflected by the shield's residual energy, didn't make their target. Chakotay's heart sank as he saw hull breaches open up on the enemy ship, but nothing that would cripple her. Instead she swung around, searching for Voyager, already prepared to attack again.
Chakotay cursed inwardly. "Mr Kim, fire at will. Use everything we've got left."
Harry answered by firing phasers, aiming for the section of enemy shields that had been weakened by their torpedoes. Chakotay took them in on another run, but his hope was failing. Every minute they fought this single ship gave others time to join the fray. And if they had this much trouble against a single Mazen warship that wasn't even fully operational…
"Commander!" Harry's cry echoed across the Bridge. "Their warp core – it's destabilising!"
Chakotay swung around. "What?"
"It's in total failure – it's going to go into full breach in less than two minutes."
"Did we do that?"
"No, sir!"
"Are they ejecting?"
"It doesn't look like it!"
"How many Mazen on board?"
"Twenty."
"Can you get a lock on them?" Chakotay's brain was racing. Take a leaf out of Kathryn's book, he told himself. Fight when you have to. Use diplomacy when you can.
"Their shields are still up."
"Hail them."
"No response."
"Try again!"
"Still nothing! Commander, this close, Voyager won't withstand the shockwave with our shields at less than 100 per cent!"
Chakotay backed Voyager off at full impulse. Through the view screen, he could see the Mazen ship beginning to shake with the force of the collapsing warp core. Fires were breaking out on its long pylons as the ship began to disintegrate, lighting up the darkness of space as it burned.
"Reroute any and all additional power to the shields," he yelled to Harry, and then, "All hands – brace for impact!"
"An escape pod just launched from the Mazen ship," shouted Harry.
"Lifesigns?"
"Only one. Very weak. It's -" there was a fraction of a pause. "Commander – it's human. It's human!"
"What?" Chakotay stood, feeling the blood drain from his face. Kathryn? "Get a lock on her! Beam her out of there!"
"I can't drop our shields!"
Chakotay stared out of the viewscreen, mind racing even as the rest of him grew numb. The Mazen ship was coming apart at the seams, chunks of debris already flying toward them.
"Tractor beam!"
"We're too far away! Commander, that pod won't withstand the shockwave. It has no shields, only inertial dampeners!"
"B'Elanna," Chakotay bellowed, as a blue-white light of unbelievable magnitude bloomed at the very centre of the Mazen ship. "For God's sake, get that warp engine online!"
As if just waiting for his words, Chakotay felt the power surge as the nacelles came online. "It's up," came B'Elanna's voice, echoing over the comm. system. "But I don't know for how long!"
Chakotay didn't answer. On his sensors he could see the tiny pinprick that represented the escape pod, hurtling through space like a pebble turned helplessly by a turbulent ocean. Too small, too fragile. Too far away.
"Warp core breach in progress," carried Tuvok's calm voice, across the Bridge. "Shockwave impact in 8 seconds."
Not for the first time, Chakotay wished Tom were there. His fingers flew over the helm controls, setting a course.
"Harry, be ready with that tractor beam. We're going to pull that escape pod along with us, got it?"
"Commander, I don't know if it'll survive the stresses of-"
"Just do it," he ordered, as he engaged warp two. "It won't survive the shockwave, but it might survive the ride."
Come on, Kathryn, he begged, silently. Hold on. Please hold on.
[TBC]
