Hiding In Plain Sight.
Chapter Eight.
Too late the shuttle had been swallowed by the Nebula, sensors were only haphazardly working thanks to magnetic interference. The commanding officer ordered the tractor beam to be activated in various locations on the off chance of snagging the shuttle, this was clutching at straws since detecting them accuretly was down to zero without the subspace transponder and sensors.
The Captain of the cruiser was also flustering him, by sending prolific insults regarding incompetence his way, which his men on the bridge could hear, much to his embarressment, there goes my promotion he thought, thanks to this supercilious overbearing pompus oaf. If he was so great, why did he not go in and catch the little craft himself.
"What now sir?" Asked the Engineering officer. "We can't use the tractor beam against ghosts indefinitely, it will just wear down the power supply.
"Very well stand down for now" The Commander barked angrily.
The Commander stepped towards one of the tactical consoles, input his data and waited impatiently. They can run but they can't hide, he thought to himself with smug satisfaction as the information he requested appeared on the display screen.
"Modify Nine torpedoes to carry explosive Magnetran clusters, with a fifteen seconed detonation timer upon non attachment once released. Set three to short, three to medium and three to long range. Send the first three torps out to release load at one hundred kilometeres, spread out at one hundred and twenty degrees apart when ready. Hold the others. Magnify the communications array to send out and pick up the accoustic pulse from any activated tranceivers.
"Hopefully their sensors are as blind as ours in this Nebula, but just in case, lets mask the ships energy signature, a shuttle is hardly rich pickings for a pirate and they will give up the chase. Maybe if we stay low long enough to lose them for a while, we can then back track out of here and continue our journey before they realise we have gone, manouverabilty and stealth being on our side, and of course with the best pilot in the Delata Quadrant, it might just work if we can get past the storm and be able to get to warp." Tom said.
"Worth a try Tom, beats sitting in this gas giant indefinitely, not knowing what is going on with the away team is driving me stir crazy. " Chakotay replied.
The muffled sound of explosions could be heard on the stern but not felt inside the shuttle, they were still too close for comfort though, and denoted that the hunt for them was by far from over.
Chakotay and Tom looked at each other with grim determination.
"What I'd give to be back on Voyager with this sector far behind us. " Tom thought out aloud.
"You and me both Tom." Chakotay replied. His thoughts trailed away from the on going beligerent situation, he hoped Kathryn fared much better.
"Let's make a left turn and see if we can put some distance between us and those detonations, with luck, our stalker will go off in the wrong direction." Tom said hopefully.
"Any feed-back yet?" The Commander asked."
"Nothing yet Sir."
"Deploy the seconed batch of torpedoes set to medium range, fire when ready." The Commander ordered.
"Yes Sir." The tactical officer replied.
Everyone on the bridge seemed to be holding their breath, afraid to make a sound and miss the tell tale ping of their ensnared prey. All it would take is just one of the cluster bombs to attach itself to the shuttle and they could close in for the kill, or in this case capture.
The detonation of the torpedo casing releasing the Magnatranceivers could be heard and the countdown began, fifteen seconds of what seemed like an eternity in the cold silence of infinate space. A seconed batch of explosions as the unattached clusters erupted.
"Picking up a pulse wave Sir." The navigational officer said with a satisfied smile on his face. Range Two Five Five KM. Relative bearing 024 mark 35.
"Notify the Captain of the Dreadnauticus. Tell him we are getting within range of dragging the little rabbit from it's bolt hole."
"Helmsman, lock onto target and don't let it sneak away."
"Tactical, power up the tractor beam and phaser banks. I want that shuttle's engines disabled and ready to be hauled out of the nebula unable to go anywhere under it's own steam as soon as we get within visual range."
This time the explosions caused the shuttle to shudder and the occupants to be tossed around in their seats.
"That was close, but it seems such a big boom yet we took no major damage just some dents and scratches. Are they hoping to scare us out? For such a big ship, they don't have much up their torpedo tubes." Tom said smuggly.
"They must be trying some kind of detection system and if they get a lock on us, we have lost our advantage. We need to know where that ship is." Chakotay answered calmly.
"Can we boost the thermal imaging on the long range sensor array to pick up our new found friends?" Chakotay asked.
"I can try but in this thick gaseous atmosphere it will only work within about a fifty kilometer range give or take."
"Fine that should give us the upper hand back again, our speed and manuverability will do the rest."
The Captain of the Drednauticus bellowed down the comm system with menacing unmasked impatience and irritation.
"Have you caught them yet commander?"
"No Sir, they seem to be evading us before we can get within range Sir."
"The storm has passed thanks to your slow witted incompetence, which leaves us with the planet to get the job done,... if you can deliver the goods, or shall we call it a day and report back to Vazúl that you failed the mission?" The Captain sneered with sarcasm.
"Seems if i want the job done, I will have to do it myself. You can stand down now commander, I will take care of this matter from here."