SYMBOLS

CHAPTER 26

"All hands to battle stations!" Lieutenant Carlson gave his first command to the entire ship, as he sat in the captain's chair.

The viewscreen showed a tiny dot on the horizon, which slowly took shape and became the black spider-like form of the Anawin space station.

"We're being scanned," Seven said.

"Just take a deep breath and let it pass," Carlson said. He followed his own directive. He'd been told not to block the signal.

"The concentration of plasma particles has increased. The weapon is charging," Seven reported.

Carlson had got the effect he wanted.

The trace of plasma particles continued to increase the closer they moved toward the station. The readings reminded the crew they were steadily approaching the invisible boundary line that delineated the expanse of the previous plasma pulse they had encountered.

"Ensign Hamilton, coordinates please?" Carlson requested. He reminded the officer at the helm to take them no further than the specific coordinates Commander Chakotay had mapped out earlier.

Today they were a motley bridge crew. A former Maquis was in command, aided by a metamorphosed Borg drone and four Starfleet officers.

"Maintain course." Carlson's voice echoed across the bridge.

Suddenly the docking port on the station opened and rapidly twenty-four ships exited. A multitude of flashing signal lights flared along the length of each bronze hull. The fleet banked sharply to the right. Then the ships collectively ignited their forward thrusters. 

The array of bronze ships approached almost as if they were a single unit. Carlson instructed the crew to prepare for attack. He pulled up the target scanner to get a better view of the ships, while the bridge crew waited to commence firing under his direction. Suddenly the bronze triangular ships broke formation and scattered, raining weapon fire down on Voyager.

"Return fire!" Carlson ordered.

Individually, the Anawin ships hadn't been much of a threat. But in using their collective power to send shots reverberating along a larger portion of the hull, the bronze ships posed a more serious problem.

"Shields down to ninety per cent," Seven said.

"Evasive Pattern Delta Six," Carlson directed. The ship banked and continued firing on the Anawin fleet. Then the bridge lit up and the crew swayed forward. They had taken a direct hit. As if to add insult to injury, three bronze ships immediately turned kamikaze, and like striking bullets, they flew into Voyager and bounced off the hull.

"I'm reading major hull breaches on Decks Six, Seven and Eight," Seven said. She instantly made efforts to relocate personnel and seal off the damaged sections.

"Target phasers. Full spread," Carlson said. Voyager unleashed a stream of phaser bursts that disabled a small section of the sea of bronze ships.

"We'll be within range of the plasma emitter in approximately 90 seconds," Hamilton spoke from the helm.

Carlson fielded the information about their battle status through to the Delta Flyer. He knew the plan was for Voyager to act as a lure, to entice the High Councilor to release a plasma pulse and to cover the Delta Flyer as it raced toward the planet. But no one could have predicted the ferocity of this attack. 

They were quickly entering range of the plasma emitter. Retreat was the obvious solution. They could continue to fire on the ships surrounding them, until they cleared a path of escape. At least that way, they might retain some shield power and try again later, but that would mean deferring the rescue mission. Commander Tuvok would have to stay on the Anawin planet for a few more days and that would be unacceptable to the captain.