Star Trek Voyager: The Gift

Star Trek Voyager: The Gift 18. Command Under Pressure

For those first few stunned seconds of the attack Chakotay was blinded by the sudden darkness and paralysed by instinctive fear but, as he began to hear a nearby hiss of a broken power relay, taste the smoke scorching his throat and feel the shields around the Valjean’s Bridge quivering with every blow, his sense of perspective returned to him and with it his natural courage. “Everyone okay?” he shouted hoarsely.

Groans of “Yes” in reply and Seven’s remarkably controlled, “I am undamaged Chakotay” reassured him, but he couldn’t pick out Kenharan’s or Haytar’s voice amongst them.

His questions were answered when the emergency lighting reluctantly came on, flickering unreliably but providing enough light so that he could clearly make out Kenharan’s body sprawled limply over the floor. His steps rolling with the ship as it struggled under fire, he plunged forward towards the most heavily damaged section of the Bridge, crouching down by Kenharan’s body and feeling for a pulse which was, thankfully, still present. “He’s alive…” He gasped out to no one in particular as he grabbed the well built man under the armpits and began to drag him across the floor out of the direct firing zone. He smiled in breathless gratitude as Ayala joined him, lifting up their unconscious leader’s legs so they could carry him in tandem. A curse escaped his lips as the ship was rocked by a plasma torpedo, the biggest weapon the Cardassians had deployed yet, and he saw Pullman sitting at comm. with a dazed look on his face, doing nothing to avoid them. “Didn’t they teach you evasive manoeuvres at the Academy Pullman?” He yelled over to the pilot sharply as he and Ayala finally reached a relatively safe place to set Kenharan down.

“I’ll get right on that!” Pullman replied, a sheepish note to his voice as the ship swerved away from the Cardassian one under the skilled command of his fingers. “I can maybe keep them off our tails for five minutes, tops!”

Chakotay nodded in acknowledgement of the pilot’s bleak assessment of the situation, scanning the Bridge for a solution and settling his eyes on Seven. “Damage report!” he ordered sharply.

“ Several injuries are being reported throughout the ship.The shields are at 55% and falling, the warp engines are offline…” Seven began to explain. Her expression was grim as she focused on her scans.

“What about weapons?” Chakotay asked urgently, “We need to either fire back or retreat if we’re going to survive this!” he pressed as she paused, desperation seeping into his tone.

“Phasers are non-operational.” Seven answered bluntly, clutching her console to stay upright as the floor shook beneath her. “The only weapons at our disposal are the ten kiloton torpedoes we were going to use on the depot.”

Chakotay’s teeth clenched in thought as he turned to Chell and Harrow, “You two get down to Engineering and do all you can to get the warp engines going again, I think we’re going to need them.”

“Yes sir!” Both men replied instantly, immediately disappearing into the turbolift.

Chakotay sighed, but he didn’t have time to catch his breath before another shot hit off the bow. “We can’t take much more of this Chakotay, evasive manoeuvres or not!” Pullman reported tersely from the comm.

Chakotay glanced at Seven, “I think our only option would be to fire those torpedoes at the Cardassian ship and then retreat, leave the dept for another day.”

Seven nodded quickly in agreement, “That proposal is feasible, considering the options…”

“Retreat is not an option, drone!” Chakotay jumped in shock at Haytar’s sudden outburst, the older man had sat in his chair like a frozen statute while Chakotay had taken control, blood trickling from a wound to his head. Chakotay had assumed that, like Kenharan, he was incapacitated. Now however, the second in command had staggered up from his chair, his eyes gleaming fanatically as he focused on the huge Cardassian vessel shown on the viewscreen. “Logan, find a way past those thugs and get us to in orbit, we’re destroying that weapons depot!” He spat the order to Pullman.