The Third Nature -Book One of the Triad
Voyager fantasies by Lt Taya 17 Janeway
a briefing in the mess hall
Voyager had finished her extensive repairs in the record time of under a week, leaving the crew a few days free to pick up rudimentary magic skills. For this purpose the ship was in orbit so that the men too could grasp the most basic of the basic without the Empress taking notice of this breach of protocol.
When Torres entered the Mess Hall Paris and Kim were engaged in psychic wrestling, the latest fad on board the ship. The two players floated a cup of water in the air between them, and tried psychically tipping it over onto the opponent. Kim looked like he had the upper hand, and the meniscus of the water trembled perilously close to the lip of the glass nearer Paris. Seated at the same table, Tuvok and Neelix watched on in interest.
But as Torres approached their table, the two men quickly dropped the cup back on the table, knowing that she didn't like others flaunting their talents in front of her. She was touched by their sensitivity, but it was a bittersweet sensation. She desperately wanted to join the ranks of those who could Cast- even Tal Celes, the fumbling Bajoran from Astrometrics, could do so much more than she could. It was infuriating, to say in the least.
However, she hid her feelings behind that wall she'd grown so accustomed to using as she placed the padd she was holding in her hand on the table. "These are the specific instructions for the battle tomorrow against the Maldorian fleet," she said, sitting down beside Paris. The other four listened attentively.
"It'll be a tight battle. House Ashkar has precious few ships, and most of them are guarding coveted outposts throughout this sector against Maldorian attacks. We'll have a small battle cruiser aiding us, but it's not of much help when we're up against twenty monsters.
"The plan is this. Voyager and the Ashkari ship will provide a distraction while the Delta Flyer, manned by Seven and Lt. Paris, slips into the heart of the Maldorian fleet and target its shield generator." She tapped a control, and the padd projected an image of the shield generator. "The rest of the fleet's vital stats are slaved to this one, so knocking out this generator will kill the shields of the rest of the fleet, leaving them vulnerable to attack." She shook her head. "It's a stupid design."
"Not necessarily so," Tuvok countered. "There are several advantages to centralized control: the fleet only has one crucial point to defend, for example."
"Their loss, then." Torres switched views to show the schematics of Voyager's bridge. "Duties for tomorrow will be as per normal, except that Tom and Seven will be replaced by Kes and the Doctor respectively."
"Kes is flying Voyager?" asked Neelix, beaming.
"She's going to do a terrific job," Paris assured them effusively. At Torres' pointed glare he shrugged. "Hey, I trained her all those years ago, didn't I?"
Kim waved their concerns aside with his hand. "How about on the ground? How's Myriam coordinating the attack?"
"The war on the ground is of no concern to us; we should focus on our performance in our battle instead," Tuvok told them crisply.
"Not true. If we have to crash the party down there, I want to know which side of the lawn I'm going to be landing on," protested Paris.
With an acquiescent sigh, Torres pulled up a map of Licknok Moor and it's neighboring territories. "This is our daer, beside the Hy river in the Kundzan forest, off the edge of Licknok Moor." she said. "The hub of the capital city is here, to the south, and this is the Eminent Palace, where the Empress stays." She traced a circle around the sprawling residence of the Eminence. "Haldon is about five miles south of our daer and seven miles north from the hub of Licknok Moor. If we manage to take this city it'll be House Ashkar's first outpost in Licknor Moor itself.
"Myriam has split the Ashkari forces into six groups, and each one is going to station itself at even intervals around Haldon. It's a very large daer, almost a district in itself, but it doesn't have much in the way of Maldorian troops. We should be able to subdue them very fast and push through to the center of the daer." She smiled at the group around her. "Piece of cake, isn't it?"