Mosaic (38 page)

But so was her away team. She turned to Trakis, who had

gone pale at the approach of the Tokath. "Is there a way to

repel them?" "I don't know of any.

They're relentless-it's impossible to destroy them all. You

might kill thousands, but they just keep coming."

Janeway watched as the umber cloud rose higher and higher,

gaining definition now, a roiling mass of organic matter in

which one could begin to distinguish discrete forms. They

vaguely reminded Janeway of beetles, one of the most

abundant life-forms on Earth, except that they were much

larger and, of course, had apparently adapted to survive in

space. The scientist in her had a curious fascination about

these beings, but her command instincts told her they posed

a greater threat to Voyager than the most technologically

advanced starship.

"Captain, you can outrun them-they can't travel at warp.

It's the only way to survive," said Trakis, who was still

pallid and shaken. Janeway turned on him.

"Dr. Trakis, you have some value on the bridge because you

know something about these creatures. But if you don't stop

trying to persuade me to leave, I'll have you escorted to

quarters. Because I'm not going anywhere. I intend to use

the distraction of the Tokath to get past the Kazon and

down to my crew on the planet." She was pleased to see

Trakis go an even paler shade at this. "Do we understand

each other?" He nodded, and she continued. "Is conventional

weaponry effective against them?"

"Yes. But there are simply too many of them.

When your weapons arrays are drained of energy, they'll

still be coming."

"I have no wish to slaughter creatures who are only acting

on instinct." Janeway turned and addressed Rollins. 286

"Voyager may have a few tricks that ships in the Delta

Quadrant lack. Rollins, prepare a polaron emission. Maybe

that will make us less attractive to them."

But sudden activity on the viewscreen caught their

attention, and Janeway heard an audible gasp from the Trabe

physician. Tom Paris turned to her. "Captain, the Kazon

ship is attacking them."

And so they were. Weapons fire burst from the ship and

plunged into the mass of writhing brown bodies.

Hundreds of them incinerated instantly, but within seconds

it was as though nothing had happened: the powerful surge

of creatures continued unabated. The Kazon ship unleashed a

ruinous fire, and Tokath by the thousands disintegrated

before their eyes. But more kept coming. The crew of

Voyager watched in stunned silence as the Kazon kept up its

unending volley, lacerating wave after wave of the beetle-like creatures with absolutely no appreciable effect. The

brown mass rose steadily through space, coming closer and

closer to the two ships.

"Maybe they'll focus their attention on the Kazon, since

they're the ones attacking,"

ventured Paris, and Janeway acknowledged that she was

thinking the same thing. Trakis emitted a short, derisive

laugh but apparently thought better of speaking his

thoughts aloud, and subsided into anxious silence.

The Tokath validated Paris and Janeway.

As soon as the Kazon began attacking them, the swarm

careened toward their ship, concentrating its advance on

the aggressor. That was all Janeway needed to act. "Mr.

Rollins, is that polaron emission ready?" "Yes, ma'am."

"Begin releasing it. Mr. Paris, prepare to descend to the

planet's surface and land. Let's take it nice and easy."

"Aye, Captain. Blue alert."

The alarm sounded for the rarely used blue alert, and an

azure wash permeated the bridge.

"I've plotted a descent course," said Paris. "I'll try to

bring us down within two kilometers of the away team's

landing site."

"All decks report Condition Blue,"

announced Chakotay. Paris's hands danced over controls.

"Atmospheric controls at standby. Landing mechanisms on-line. Inertial dampers at maximum."

Gently, the ship descended. The Tokath, streaming toward

the Kazon ship, seemed to ignore Voyager and focus on the

Kazon, who were still butchering them by the thousands.

"So far, so good," murmured Paris. "Thanks to the Kazon,

we might just pull this off."

Janeway glanced over at Trakis, and noted that he seemed

no more encouraged by this maneuver than he had been

earlier. He was watching the viewscreen intently,

perspiration moistening his brow, which was furrowed in

anticipation of dire consequences.

Slowly they sank, as though through a pit of dark tar,

eddies of mottled bodies swirling around them, streaming

past, sliding off their shields as if they were oiled. It

reminded Janeway of her diving days, descending through a

dense school of fish, silvered bodies gliding effortlessly

around her. It was always a pacifying feeling, and she

tried to re-create that sense of calm now.

"Altitude one thousand kilometers, Captain," said Paris.

"Nine hundred seventy kilometers and still dropping."

Chakotay spoke from her side. "I'm reading our shuttles on

the surface-and a Kazon shuttle. But no Kazon life signs."

"What about our people?"

"No signs, Captain."

"Acknowledged."

And still they descended, through the ionosphere and into

the mesosphere, and still the Tokath streamed upward. How

many could there be? wondered Janeway. And would they all

have left the surface by the time Voyager was ready to

land? That would be key to rescuing her people. It was

disconcerting to hear that Chakotay couldn't detect life

signs even as they drew nearer the surface, but she had to

count on Tuvok's having found shelter.

She was convinced that success was just minutes away. The

first contraindication to that assumption was a seemingly

insignificant one. Rollins's voice was calm as he noted,

"I'm reading a minor disruption to the shields, aft port

ventral."

"Nature of the disruption?"

"Unknown. If it's the Tokath, they aren't doing much

damage." "Increase the level of the polaron emission."

"Aye. Now at maximum."

They descended silently for a minute more, and then

Rollins spoke again, this time more urgently.

"Captain, I'm reading further disruption to the shields.

This time more widespread."

"The Tokath?"

"I think so-I'm reading life signs penetrating the

shields. Aft port ventral is beginning to degrade."

"Ready a positron charge. Maybe we can shake them loose."

"Ready, Captain."

The viewscreen showed an amber flash, and a momentary

reaction from the swarm of bodies that surrounded them.

They recoiled briefly but then resumed their swarm.

Hundreds of mottled green underbellies coated the shields,

spewing black venom that would eventually eat its way

through to the hull. She could sense Trakis next to her,

breathing deeply, seeing his demise before him.

"It's over, Captain," he rasped. "Once they attach, they

don't let go. We're all dead."

Paris glanced up at her, as though waiting for orders. But

what orders could she give? If what Trakis said was true,

it didn't matter if they retreated or not.

On the other hand, if they no longer perceived Voyager as

a threat to the planet, there was the possibility they

would lose interest. "Captain, the shields are degrading

pretty rapidly," said Chakotay. "Down to sixty-three

percent and falling."

Janeway acted. "Mr. Paris, abort landing sequence. Set a

course away from the planet."

"Aye, Captain. Standing down blue alert."

Now they reversed course, and swam with the Tokath, rising

swiftly through the mesosphere and ionosphere, and soon

breaking orbital velocity. They had a brief glimpse of the

Kazon ship-or rather, the shape of the Kazon ship-covered

with the writhing hard-shelled bodies of the Tokath. It

reminded Janeway of a visit to Georgia she'd made as a

child, where she saw an entire forest covered in a vine

called kudzu. She could see only the shapes of trees

underneath the all-encompassing vine, which had blanketed

every surface in its path.

The Kazon ship was no longer firing weapons, and was

listing randomly, apparently powerless. Voyager streamed

past it, and finally broke free of the swarm of Tokath,

which was clustered between the planet and the Kazon ship.

They watched intently to see if any of the creatures

followed them. After a few moments, Paris ventured, "it

doesn't look like any more are coming after us, Captain."

"But the ones on our shields aren't letting go,"

added Chakotay. "Shields now down to forty-seven percent."

"Reroute power from the weapons and propulsions systems to

reinforce the shields."

"Yes, ma'am," responded Rollins crisply. But in a few

moments Chakotay reported that the move hadn't helped much.

"Shields still degrading. Now at forty-one percent . . .

thirty-eight . . ."

"Captain, at this rate they'll penetrate the hull in

another eight minutes."

Janeway's mind raced. What could she use to pry these

sticky creatures off her shields? They were stuck there

like wood ticks, and soon they'd be working on the hull.

Wood ticks . . . the image resonated in her mind. Getting

rid of wood ticks . . .

She put a hand on Paris's shoulder.

"Lieutenant, set a course for the primary star of this

system. We're going to burn those things off our shields."

Paris grinned and immediately went into action.

Trakis looked over at her, and she thought she detected a

faint smile from him, as well.

"You're remarkably courageous, Captain," he conceded. "I

admire that in you-even if it accomplishes nothing."

"We'll see," Janeway snapped, tired of this Trabe

physician and his negativity. But then the viewscreen began

to emanate a golden glow, and all eyes moved toward it.

The fiery disk of the yellow star loomed ahead of them,

somewhat obscured by the bodies of the Tokath, growing

larger as Voyager approached. "Distance fifty thousand

kilometers," announced Paris.

"Hull temperature rising, now at two thousand degrees

Celsius. Radiation levels at twenty rads per minute,"

chimed in Rollins.

Chakotay moved next to Janeway. "Shields are down to

twenty-six percent. We won't be able to get much closer."

"Maybe we won't have to. It's hotter for them than it is

for us."

The ship raced still closer to the star, and Janeway

realized they could feel a temperature difference already.

Their degraded shields just weren't protecting them from

the massive heat generated by the star-and yet the Tokath

showed no signs of distress, no indication that they were

going to let loose of their death hold on the ship.

"Hull temperature at twelve thousand degrees and climbing.

Radiation at forty rads per minute."

"Distance, ten thousand kilometers."

"Hold us here, Mr. Paris," said Janeway.

It was definitely getting hot on the bridge.

She could feel the closeness of the air, the perspiration

dampening her face, and she saw the others becoming

flushed. "What's the temperature in the cabin?"

she asked, and Rollins, voice a bit breathy, answered,

"Fifty-five degrees C."

"How can they survive the heat? Why aren't they dropping

oiJ7" Chakotay asked, frustrated.

"They've adapted to so many environments we have to assume

extreme heat must be one of them,"

suggested Trakis. "But there has to be a limit as to how

long they can withstand temperatures of this level."

"Shields now at nineteen percent and dropping."

Minutes passed as the bridge crew became more and more

debilitated, and the Tokath maintained their tenacious hold

on the ship. Officers were slumped in their chairs, mopping

dripping foreheads, gasping for air. Janeway realized they

couldn't go much longer like this, and she turned to

Chakotay.

"Can we implement the metaphasic shielding program?" she

asked. "I'm not sure. We've routed so much power to the

shields we don't have much to support the metaphasic

program."

"Get it from somewhere. We have to get closer to that

star." "Aye, Captain," he replied, and began working a

console. "Borrowing some from the impulse reactors . . .

environmental . . .

transporters . . . let's give it a try.

Establishing metaphasic program-now."

Almost immediately, there was relief from the heat. The

metaphasic shielding program, an innovation implemented

just before Voyager was commissioned, had been developed on

the former flagship of Starfleet, the US.S. EnterpriseD.

It had been added to the defensive systems of certain

classes of starship, and was supposed to provide enough

protection from heat and radiation that a ship could

actually enter a star's inner corona. Because it was a new

technology, there hadn't been the opportunity to accumulate

much data on its reliability. But it was the only hope