Chapter Four
Ready Room
A Short Time Later
Captain Kathryn Janeway studied the systems status reports on her desk without much enthusiasm. She was too worried about Tom to really see the reports. She knew all to well how much seeing that hybrid survivor had shocked him and the memories that it had brought to the surface. She couldn't imagine what Tom had gone through those few weeks when he'd been a prisoner of the Cardassians - but she knew that it was the stuff of nightmares. It had taken along time for Tom to recover from it - two years of therapy had been necessary. The last thing that Tom ever wanted was to really remember what had happened to him. But it had been inevitable from the moment that the hybrid had been brought aboard that he would end up remembering.
"Bridge to Janeway," Chakotay's voice abruptly said over the intercom. Janeway tapped her combadge.
"What is it Chakotay?"
"We've got company. Two warships identical to the one that attacked the alien shuttle."
"Yellow alert shields up," Janeway ordered standing up. "I'll be right out."
A moment later she was stepping through the ready room doors onto the bridge just as additional personnel arrived in response to the sounding of yellow alert. Somehow she wasn't surprised to see that Tom was amongst them. He didn't sacrifice his duty for personal reasons - in a yellow or red alert his place was on the bridge no matter what. She watched him take his station at the helm without saying anything.
"Status report," she ordered as she moved to her chair and sat down.
"Both warships have come to a halt seven hundred kilometres off our port and starboard bow," Tuvok reported calmly. "Their shields are up but weapons are currently not powered."
"Hum maybe they're in a mood to talk this time," Janeway said. "Hail them Mr Kim."
"They're responding."
"On screen." The view screen changed from a view of the two mean-looking shark-like warships hanging silent in space to a view of the alien commander. The alien was unlike anything she had ever seen before.
Four slender legs supported a barrel shaped body from which sprouted four narrow arms ending in four fingered hands. Its head was vaguely reminiscent of a hammerhead shark. It appeared to have twelve eyes arranged in two lines - four below, two above on either side of the centre line of the face. The central part of its face was given over to what looked almost like gills in the way that they flapped slowly. Its mouth was round and sunk someway back from the rest of the face. The alien wore no clothes.
Janeway cleared her throat.
"I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the…"
"I know who you are," the alien commander interrupted her in a voice the computer interpreted as male.
"Then you have me at a disadvantage sir."
"I am First Commander Shaltar of the Delkari Imperial Guard Deep Space Patrol unit. Commanding the patrol cruiser Valkareth."
"Well then First Commander what can we do for you."
"A number of hours ago now you interfered with a matter that was not of your concern. You interfered in the lawful pursuit and punishment of a criminal."
"You mean the man we transported over earlier. What is his crime?" Shaltar gave her a look that although coming from a completely alien being said that it should have been obvious.
"Why existing of course," Shaltar responded. "Imperial law forbids the existence of Taelon hybrids of any race in our space. Any detected are taken for 'relocation.' Since you are in Delkari territory you are under out law. And you have committed three very serious violations in addition to violating our space. That last part can be forgiven since we only claimed this sector a month ago. But the three other violations cannot be ignored."
"What are these violations."
"Kindly do not insult my intelligence further captain by pretending that you do not know. One you rescued a Taelon hybrid. Two our earlier ships scan shows that you have a former hybrid aboard your vessel." He means me, Tom thought with a shiver hating being called even a former hybrid. He hadn't been a full Human/Taelon hybrid - just a partial one until the Taelons rescued him from Gul Yurad and made him fully Human again. He focused his attention for Shaltar was speaking again. "The third and final violation is firing upon one of our patrol vessels as it attempted to perform its duty. It is the will of the High Council of the Delkari Empire that you be escorted to our homeworld to face questioning in regards to your offences."
"And if I refuse to comply," Janeway asked already knowing the answer.
"You don't have a choice," Shaltar replied. "You will come with my ships to Delkara or you will be fired upon and ceased."
"I don't respond well to threats."
"Captain Janeway I urge you not to be a fool. Lower your shields and prepare to follow us back to our homeworld for processing."
"That is not possible." Shaltar shook his head.
"Then I regret your stubbornness. Very well then Captain Janeway we will do this the hard way. Prepare to be boarded." Shaltar broke the signal from his end.
"They are powering up their weapons," Tuvok reported.
"Red alert. All hands to battle stations," Chakotay ordered automatically just before Janeway could give the same orders. The main lights dimmed right down and crimson coloured alert lights began to pulse as klaxon's sounded throughout the ship.
Barely a second later a shimmering green energy pulse shot out from the Valkareth and struck Voyager's shields and immediately expanded into a shimmering corona that completely enveloped the shields - the energy waxing and waning as it struggled to adjust to Voyager's shield modulation. A second later it succeeded and broke through and immediately refocused itself into four main concentrations of energy that impacted the warp nacelles and impulse engines.
On Voyager's bridge sparks abruptly shot out of side panels at both the engineering and helm stations.
"Warp and impulse engines just went down," Tom Paris reported. "We're dead in the water."
"Bridge to engineering," Janeway said into the intercom.
"I'm already on it captain," B'Elanna Torres responded. "Somehow that energy pulse completely disrupted both the impulse driver coils and the warp field nacelles. I have teams on it now. I could use Seven's help though." Janeway nodded to Seven of Nine - who was standing at her regular bridge station behind the command chair. Seven nodded and hurried to the turbolift and disappeared inside.
"She's on her way," Janeway told Torres before signing off.
Even as she finished speaking a bolt of red disruptor light abruptly launched from one of the Valkareth's main cannons to dissipate in a harmless blue flash of Cherenkov radiation as it encountered and dissipated harmlessly against Voyager's forward shields shaking the ship but doing no damage. Another disruptor bolt launched from the cruiser. The second cruiser fired simultaneously. Voyager shuddered violently beneath the combined blasts.
Janeway held on to the armrests of her chair as Voyager shook.
"Return fire," Janeway ordered. Phaser beams lashed out from Voyager slamming into the forward shields of both cruisers. Delkari shields flashed brightly with Cherenkov radiation as the beams hit.
"Direct hit on both cruisers," Tuvok reported. "Minor damage to their forward shields." Two streams of disruptor fire abruptly ripped into Voyager shaking the ship violently. "Shields at eighty percent."
"Target the Valkareth hit Shaltar with everything we've got," Janeway ordered. Tuvok nodded.
Voyager ripped at the Valkareth with the full power of her formidable weapons array hammering its forward shields with multiple phaser beams and photon torpedoes at point blank range. The Delkari cruiser staggered under the battering and pulled back a little as Shaltar's tactical officer hurriedly re-routed power to shore up the shields which were starting to weaken under the punishing onslaught. The second cruiser fired every disruptor it could bring to bear at Voyager in an attempt to draw some of the fire that was hammering the flagship.
Voyager rocked under the assault.
"Shields at sixty percent," Tuvok reported. "Minor damage to the outer hull."
"Target photons at the second cruiser but maintain phaser fire on Shaltar," Janeway ordered as another barrage shook Voyager.
Photon torpedoes slammed into the second cruiser physically punting the ship hard to port with the force of the impact. The cruisers shields held just. Meanwhile Voyager's phasers continued to pound Shaltar's ship not allowing it even a second to recover. The Valkareth veered away at full impulse attempting to gain some distance to shore up its weakening shields. It covered its flight by firing a salvo of phased plasma torpedoes at Voyager.
The torpedoes slammed into Voyager violently rocking the ship. Sparks shot out of numerous panels around the bridge. Simultaneously the second cruiser fired more disruptor blasts that ripped into the shields.
"Shields down to thirty percent," Tuvok reported.
"EPS relays have blown out on decks four and five," Harry Kim added. "Astrometric sensor array off line. Minor damage to the secondary hull. We're venting plasma from our port nacelle. Subspace transceiver array off line." Voyager shuddered again as Shaltar's ship came back in on her port side hammering with its disruptors overloading the port shields and starting to slash into the hull.
"Port shields are down," Tuvok reported.
"Hull ruptured on decks seven and eight," Harry reported. "Emergency force fields in place and holding. Fires detected in all connecting sections. Automatic fire suppression is off line. Fire control crews responding." Another bolt shook Voyager and fire broke out at three places round the bridge. The crew scrambled for the manual extinguishers.
"That disruptor blast took out our shield generators," Tuvok reported. "We are now completely defenceless." Changes on his board caught his attention. "We are being boarded captain. Phaser fights reported on decks eight and nine."
Before Janeway could issue an order three transporter bands appeared in the centre of the bridge and resolved into Delkari soldiers. No one waited to be fired on. Tom darted away from the helm station and using it as a shield fired his phaser just as Harry and Tuvok did the same. The three Delkari caught in the centre of the triangle of fire went down without a sound.
More transporter bands appeared around the bridge and resolved into more Delkari soldiers who were immediately met with phaser fire from the bridge crew. Then abruptly transporter beams activated again and beamed all of the Delkari away even those who'd been stunned unconscious.
"Their beaming off the ship," Chakotay reported looking at his console.
"I believe I have an explanation commander," Tuvok replied. "An unidentified alien ship has just appeared. It's firing upon both Delkari vessels."
Indeed it was. The new alien ship was big around half again as large as a Galaxy-class starship and constructed of organic materials. It closed on the two Delkari cruisers firing volleys bright blue-green energy pulses. The Valkareth already seriously wounded by Voyager's weapons fire blew apart as the pulses ripped through her shields to smash her hull open. The second cruiser veered off and escaped in the same manner as the ship Voyager had encountered a few hours before.
Janeway watched silently as the ship that had come to their rescue moved towards them then stopped a polite one thousand kilometres off their bow. Janeway recognised the style and construction of the vessel - she had seen one only once before, though this one was a different design and was much bigger than the one she'd previously seen. A glance at Tom showed that he recognised it as well.
It was a Taelon warship.
For a moment there was silence on the bridge save for the fitful sparking of fallen wires and shorting systems, then the incoming signal chirp filled the air.
"We're being hailed captain," Harry Kim said.
"On screen," Janeway ordered.
For a second the view screen spluttered as if forcing its damage circuits to change the image that was being display. However after a second the image changed from a view of the Taelon warship sitting quietly in space to a view of its bridge. And the Human male sitting in the command chair. Janeway took a deep breath to compose herself fully before speaking.
"My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager," she said to the male hybrid who was waiting patiently for her to speak. "Thanks for the help."
"General Liam Kincaid Taelon Defence Force commanding the battleship Wasarin. You are quiet welcome. In fact we owe you our thanks. My sensors show that you have one of our people onboard."
"Yes we saved him from the Delkari," Janeway replied.
"I suspected as much," Liam responded. "Captain Janeway my sensors show that your ship has sustained very serious damage. The Delkari will return soon and they'll probably bring their allies and informal masters the Jaridians with them."
"Your point being?"
"We can tow your vessel to one of our outpost worlds located not to far from here. You will be safe their and can make repairs and take on supplies."
Janeway considered for a moment. Having a safe port to go to would be useful for the repairs they needed to make and their supply situation was becoming somewhat tight. And here was this General Kincaid offering them the opportunity to go to a safe outpost world where they could do both. She knew that Tom probably wouldn't like being surrounded by Taelons and hybrids - because they'd be reminders of what the Cardassians had done to him - but they needed to do this. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Tom looking at her. The look in his cool blue eyes said, 'go there. It might make me uncomfortable but Voyager and the rest of the crew need this. I'll manage. Don't throw away this chance for me.'
Finally she turned to the hybrid general who'd been waiting patiently for her answer.
"Very well General Kincaid."
"A wise decision captain. We will take you in tow shortly. Kincaid out." The transmission ended.
On the screen the Wasarin altered her position coming around and positioning herself so that Voyager was directly underneath her. A moment later a tractor beam gripped Voyager and pulled the wounded Federation starship in close enough to the hull that she would be inside the field produced by the interdimensional drives. After a few moments of building up the necessary power and warming up her drive coils the Wasarin's pilot engaged the interdimensional drive.
On board Voyager Kathryn Janeway and her crew were shocked when with a faint jolt and a flash of blue light space around both ships transformed into a glowing tunnel of multicoloured light and shimmering energy down which they were travelling at what had to be incredible speed. Tom Paris glanced down at his console.
"Captain our speed its… incredible," he exclaimed in shock. "According to these readings were travelling at speeds well in excess of transwarp speed." Janeway looked at her senior helmsman in shock and surprise before exchanging an equally amazed look with Chakotay. To travel so fast defied belief. She'd known that the Taelons were a very powerful and advanced race from the Al-Batani's meeting with them but that hadn't prepared her for this form of interstellar propulsion. She'd always assumed that the Taelons used transwarp technology to get about, now it was obvious that they used something completely different. If they could persuade the Taelons to share this technology with them they could get home quickly and easily. She would have to discuss it with General Kincaid or whoever he told her to speak to about it when they got wherever it was they were going.