Dedicated to Shamenka. Thank you for letting me 'steal' the
plot from your story : )
Also thank you to Helm Boy and AlannaRose for helping with
the department heads.
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Part 20
Tom stood by the view port in the Captain's Briefing Room. He
was staring out at the stars without seeing them, while he waited
for the department heads to arrive. They were about to hold their
weekly staff meeting.
Tom sighed and put a hand on his belly. He was nineteen weeks
pregnant, and it was starting to show. Not that anyone commented
on it. Everyone, including himself, was too busy trying
to run the ship in their present condition to really notice Tom's
pregnancy.
The past seven weeks had been hell in more ways than one, and
it didn't look like it was going to be better in the near future.
About half the crew, including the Captain, Chakotay and Tuvok,
was in stasis, leaving Tom in command of Voyager.
Tom's thoughts were interrupted as the door to the Briefing
Room swished open. He turned around and saw Harry and
B'Elanna enter. He sighed again. B'Elanna looked as tired as he
felt. She was a little over eight months along in her pregnancy
now, which was why she was his First Officer.
Tom knew that if he had let B'Elanna stay in Engineering, she
would've worked around the clock, and the doctor had told them
both, in no uncertain terms, that they were to take it easy and not
work too hard. It was a difficult task, with more than half the
crew in stasis. However, with the help of the department heads,
especially Harry, they somehow managed.
The door swished open again, admitting the rest of the acting
department heads. Tom studied them as they entered. Joe Carey,
Greg Ayala, Pablo Baytart, Neelix and The EMH. They all nodded
in greeting as they moved to sit around the table.
Once everyone was seated, Tom started the meeting, beginning
with the EMH. "Doctor, have you been able to find a cure?"
The doctor resisted the urge to sigh. He hated having to disappoint
the blond. "No, Captain. Not quite yet. I do, however, have
hopes that one will be found soon. The tests on the latest serum
indicate that it might be useful."
"How soon will you know?" Tom asked, not allowing his hopes
to get up just yet.
"I should know tomorrow morning," the doctor answered. He
studied Voyager's Acting Captain, and vowed to work on the
serum all night, if he had to. Tom looked exhausted.
Tom nodded, silently praying that the serum would work, and
turned to B'Elanna for her report. She didn't have much, just...
"Do you know how *boring* all those reports are?" she asked
annoyed.
"*Yes*," Tom agreed empathically, making everyone present
chuckle. He let the laughter die down before addressing Joe
Carey. "How about Engineering?"
Carey sighed. "Repairs have been coming along nicely so far."
He hesitated a moment before telling the Captain the bad news.
"However, we need a few things in order to finish everything."
Tom nodded again. He wasn't really surprised. He'd talked to
B'Elanna, and she'd told him to expect this. "All right, Carey.
Make a list of what you need and give it to B'Elanna. We'll look
for a nice planet where we can get everything we need."
"Captain, we also need fresh supplies," Neelix interjected. "If
we don't get some soon, I'll have to put everyone on rations."
"How long before we have to ration the food?" Tom asked.
Neelix shrugged. "About a week."
Tom sighed. "All right. Harry, start scanning for a nice peaceful,
and preferably uninhabited planet where we can get what we
need. I had an idea last night. As undermanned as we are at the
moment, the crew is tired, so I thought that if we could find an
uninhabited planet, we could...." The ship's shuddering and the
red alert klaxons interrupted him.
"Battle stations. Battle stations. All hands, battle stations. Captain
to the Bridge."
The eight people, including the holographic doctor, jumped up
and went to their respective stations, most of them on the bridge.
Tom strode onto the bridge and sat down in the Captain's Chair,
relieving the ensign in charge. "Report," he ordered.
"Sir, we are under attack by the Kazon," Ensign Parker informed
the Acting Captain. "Our shields are raised, and Ensign
T'Arin has executed evasive maneuvers."
Tom cursed under his breath, and dismissed Parker before letting
his gaze sweep across the bridge, taking in the controlled
chaos as everyone went to their stations. B'Elanna sat in the
First Officer's chair beside him. Pablo Baytart had taken the
Helm, and continued the evasive maneuvers. Harry had gone to
his place at Ops, and Greg Ayala had moved to Tactical. Despite
the absence of most of the Command staff, everyone worked
smoothly.
Tom took a look at the tactical display on the screen to his left,
made a few mental calculations, and then gave his orders.
"Helm, maintain evasive. Tactical, Ops, find us something vulnerable
to fire at."
"Aye, Captain." The acknowledgements from the three stations
were almost simultaneous.
For a long while, there was silence from everyone on the bridge
as Greg Ayala and Harry Kim searched for the Kazon's most
vulnerable spots, and Pablo Baytart evaded the enemy's fire.
Then Harry looked up from his console. "Captain, I think I've
found it," he said.
Tom looked at him briefly, then turned to Tactical for confirmation.
It only took a moment. "Confirmed," Ayala said and sent
the info to the Captain.
Tom studied the data for a moment, then turned to Baytart.
"Helm, attack pattern omega three-four, warp one," he ordered.
He didn't wait for the pilot's acknowledgement, but turned back
to Ayala, and issued the next order. "Lock phasers."
"Phasers locked," Ayala said.
Tom looked back at his tactical screen for a brief moment before
giving the order Ayala was waiting for. "Fire."
"Phasers firing," Ayala said as the red-orange beams shot out
from Voyager's phaser banks and hit the Kazon ship.
Tom looked up at the view screen, watching as the Kazons tried
to avoid Voyager's attack. They weren't successful. "Maintain
fire," he ordered.
"Aye, Sir," Ayala acknowledged. "Maintaining fire."
"Captain, the Kazon's shields are weakening," Harry reported
from Ops. "But not enough."
Tom nodded to show he had heard Harry, then threw a quick
glance at Tactical. "Fire photon torpedoes."
Ayala touched his control panel. "Firing photon torpedoes."
Just as the photon torpedoes were fired, Voyager shuddered as
she was hit. Tom's jaw clenched in response to the incoming
damage reports. He turned to B'Elanna. "Damage control," he
ordered.
"Aye, Captain," the Acting First Officer responded. "Damage
control en route."
Tom looked over at Harry. "How are the shields holding?" he
asked.
Harry checked his console, then lifted his eyes to the Captain.
"Shields down to ninety-four percent."
Before Tom could respond to that information, the photon torpedoes
hit their target, and he turned to the Helm. "Lt. Baytart,
get us a safe distance away."
"Yes, Sir." With that, the pilot engaged warp five for a few seconds
and backed off, stopping when Voyager was out of the
danger zone.
Everyone on the bridge watched the Kazon ship in silence. For a
moment, nothing happened. Then there was an explosion where
the photon torpedoes had hit, setting off a chain reaction that
blew up the other ship.
When the explosions stopped, Tom looked around at the relieved
faces of his crewmates. "Stand down from red alert," he
said quietly. He relaxed back in his chair and turned to study
B'Elanna. Seeing how tired she appeared, he asked, "B'Elanna,
would you join me for lunch in the Captain's Ready Room?"
B'Elanna turned toward him with a small smile. "I'd be delighted,"
she answered.
Tom returned her smile. "Good," he said and rose from his
chair. Holding out a hand, he then helped B'Elanna to her feet
and moved to the Ready Room, B'Elanna a few steps behind
him.
Stopping at Ops, Tom spoke quietly to his Third in Command.
"Harry, you have the bridge. B'Elanna and I are going to lunch
and then I'm going to send her to your cabin to get some rest."
Harry smiled gratefully. "Okay. Thanks, Tom." He hesitated for
a split-second, then added, "I'll take care of the First Officer's
duties." Seeing Tom about to protest, Harry held up a hand. "If I
don't, you will. And you need rest as much as B'Elanna."
Tom chuckled quietly. "You know me too well, Harry," he
complained, trying hard, and failing, to keep a straight face.
Harry smile grew wider. "Yeah, well. I'm your best friend. It's
in my job description to know you too well," he quipped, eliciting
another chuckle from Tom. Turning serious, he said, "You
just go eat something and convince B'Elanna to get some sleep.
I'll take care of the bridge and the crew. Oh, and you should get
some rest yourself," he added.
"Yes, dad," Tom said, then turned and gestured B'Elanna to
precede him into the Ready Room, while Harry left Ops and
went down to sit in the Captain's Chair.