Star Trek Voyager: Here I Stand

Here I Stand, Part 18

Part 18

                The shot caught Evek high on the shoulder, blasting away a chunk of his body armor but leaving flesh intact. With a roar of anger, the Cardassian fired back at Kathryn, who ducked to the side and squeezed off a second shot. It hit Evek square in the chest and burned right through his body armor.

                There was an unearthly scream of disbelief and pain, and then all hell broke loose.

                Two of the three Cardassian engineers turned and fired on Kathryn. Chakotay raised his phaser rifle and picked off one of them with a single shot. Mike Ayala brought down the other with two quick shots. Out of the corner of his eye, Chakotay saw Kathryn duck back behind the console, unharmed.

                The Vorta shouted an order at his Jem’Hadar warriors and bent to take cover behind the warp core. Chakotay ignored him; he was unarmed and virtually no threat beyond his manipulation of the Jem’Hadar. Two of the warriors moved on Chakotay and Ayala’s position and fired. Chakotay dived to the side and rolled behind a console. The red beams from the plasma weapons blew jagged holes in the wall behind him. Ayala stood his ground and fired again and again, Jenny and Dalby flanking him on either side.

                Chakotay peeked under the console to where Gul Evek lay prone on the deck, a smoking hole in the middle of his chest. As much as it galled him, they had to keep Evek alive to expose the True Way’s treachery, but if Kathryn’s weapon was armed with the neurotoxin, they had to move fast.

                Where had she gotten that weapon, anyway?

                With the sound of phaser fire ringing in his ears, Chakotay twisted around far enough to spot the position where Kayma and Kathryn had taken cover. Suder was there, too, but unarmed now, and transfixed by the violence unfolding in front of him. Chakotay gritted his teeth and willed himself to ignore the Betazed. He had a score to settle with the man, but it would have to wait.  Then, while Chakotay watched in disbelief, Kayma popped up from behind the console, grabbed the front of Suder’s jacket and yanked him out of sight.

                What the hell?

                Then Kathryn jumped up again, her weapon raised – a weapon identical to the Cardassians’. “What are you doing?” Chakotay shouted.

                “Evek’s still conscious,” she ground out.

                Choking and gasping but still conscious, the Gul had rolled to his side and was reaching for his weapon.

                Chakotay surged to his feet, too. “Kathryn, stand down!” he thundered.

                She blinked, startled, but kept her eyes and her weapon focused on Evek.

                “That weapon is loaded with a neurotoxin,” Chakotay continued, moving toward her. “Evek is no good to us dead. Lower your weapon!”

=/\=

                Two shots. It only took two shots to secure the Bridge.

                Panting, Tom stood over the prone body of an unconscious Cardassian.

                “This is not logical.”

                “Not even remotely,” Tom agreed, and lowered his phaser rifle, staring at both the Cardassian he’d taken down and the one Tuvok had dispatched across the Bridge. “It borders on ‘completely stupid,’ if you ask me.”