The Christmas Morning Conspiracy – part 2
Kathryn Janeway shifted position slightly as she felt her legs tense up. A bullet zipped past her gouging a chunk out of the rock she was crouched behind.
‘Shit!’ That bullet had come from much nearer that time.
She glanced around her, slowly, checking the position of the rest of the away team. Harry was to her left, he had good cover, she was pretty sure their attackers didn’t even know he was there, which might come in useful.
Moving carefully around she looked over at Tuvok and B’Elanna. She was worried about Tuvok, he’d been hit in the leg, the wound hadn’t bled much but he wasn’t able to move very quickly. Which was why they’d opted to take cover – the best they could come up with at short notice. All they had to do was wait for Chakotay to find a way to get them the hell out of here.
She trusted her First Officer implicitly, she knew he’d be doing all he could to get them back to the ship – but she was also realistic enough to know that they might run out of time before he accomplished that.
It was one of the hazards of the Delta Quadrant, a routine mission gone seriously awry – because of details they could not possibly known about. These were the moments when she most missed having Starfleet's muscle behind her.
She sighed in frustration, she had not planned to spend Christmas morning sweaty, grimy, tired, in danger and without a cup of coffee or a mince pie in sight. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of food, they hadn’t eaten in over a day, they’d been too busy trying to stay one step ahead of their pursuers. It was better not to think about the Christmas breakfast she had missed, it was a shame really, she’d even made Chakotay promise to attend. She smiled briefly, it hadn’t been difficult to convince him, he was endearingly curious about the customs of other people. It was one of the things she appreciated most about him.
Not a day passed when she didn’t have some cause for being grateful she had made him her First Officer. Not only did his professional skills complement hers – but he was an intriguing and engaging person as well. She was glad he seemed to be forgetting about the whole mess with Seska, hopefully they would have no reason to see her again.
‘Chakotay to Janeway,’ almost exactly on cue.
‘Go ahead Commander,’ she scrunched down a little further behind the rock.
‘We can get a transporter lock – but only if we beam you out one at a time.’
‘Well, its gone ominously quiet down here, I think they’re waiting for reinforcements, we’d better get on with it. Tuvok’s injured, take him first, then B’Elanna, then Harry.’
There was an exasperated sound at the other end of the link and for a moment she thought he’d debate the point, but then she saw the first transporter beam and she sighed with relief. Hoping to draw their adversary’s attention away from what was happening, she swivelled around and fired her phaser towards where she thought they were. Two more chunks of rock were obliterated by the returned fire but out of the corner of her eye she saw the second transporter beam pull B’Elanna away. Another two quick shots and Harry was gone – which was fine except the response was coming thick and fast and her phaser was empty.
It was a long ten seconds before she felt the familiar tingle as the beam enveloped her – she wondered what whoever was firing at them was going to think when they found their victims had disappeared..
Safely back on Voyager she found Chakotay waiting for her in the transporter room.
‘Nice to have you back Captain. Tuvok’s in sickbay and I’ve sent B’Elanna and Harry off duty.’ They stepped into the corridor together and he leaned towards her and said quietly, ‘and a belated Merry Christmas.’
‘Thank you, I’m sorry I didn’t make Christmas breakfast.’
‘That’s all right. Apparently it was a very interesting experience – Neelix attempted to make mince pies, with leola root, the Doctor ahs treated at least three people for indigestion already. We’ll do it next year shall we?’
‘Only if the mince pies are replicated.’
End of part 2
