DRAGON'S TEETH
Episode 127
Part E

 

Voyager's bridge. Kim: "We've lost impulse engines and navigation." Paris: "Thrusters are failing. We're losing altitude." Janeway: "Tuvok, status. Tuvok!" Kim: "I've lost the signal." Janeway makes a shipwide broadcast: "All hands, this is the Captain. Initiate emergency landing procedures and arm yourselves. If the Vaadwaur board this ship, we'll fight them hand to hand if we have to."

Vaadwaur central chamber. Morin to an officer: "Once we've secured Voyager, execute the crew." Gaul joins them: "Wait. We have hundreds of bio-pods still intact. Put them into stasis." The officer leaves. To Morin: "In a few hundred years, maybe someone will be kind enough to revive them."

Suddenly the chamber trembles. "What is that?" Morin checks the instrument panel. "It's a plasma charge. It came from orbit. It's the Turei! They've isolated our location." Gaul: "How?" Morin: "One of the surveillances satellite has been activated."

Gaul: "Shut it down!" Morin does so.

Vaadwaur control chamber. Gedrin: "They're blocking my commands. I'm rotating the carrier frequencies." Part of the ceiling collapses. Tuvok: "The chamber is destabilising. We must evacuate." Gedrin: "No, not yet. If we're going to succeed, I need to transmit the signatures of our fighters to the Turei. You go." Tuvok nods and leaves. Gedrin does not see him go. He is trying to transmit the information to the Turei.

Voyager is still being pursued by Vaadwaur ships.

Suddenly the Turei receive the data from Gedrin and open fire on the Vaadwaur.

Voyager's bridge. Chakotay: "Six Vaadwaur ships were just destroyed by the Turei. The others are breaking off their attack." Janeway: "Impulse engines." Paris: "Still offline." Janeway: "How about emergency power?" Kim: "Barely enough for life support, Captain."

Janeway: "Harry, the radiogenic particles in the atmosphere, could we use them as a power source?" Kim: "Well, we'd have to modify the warp core's conversion matrix. It could take hours." Janeway: "What if we drew the particles directly into our plasma manifold?" Paris: "That would give us one hell of a boost." Kim: "It could also blow out every power relay on the ship."

Janeway: "Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Open the forward nacelle ports and reverse the pressure gradient. Take in six hundred kilograms."

The Turei start bombarding the city, determined to destroy the remaining Vaadwaur.

Vaadwaur central chamber. Morin: "The chamber's collapsing, sir." Gaul: "We'll take as many ships as we can. Try to reach the subspace corridor." They scramble through the debris as the chamber collapses around them.

In the control chamber, Gedrin is about to leave when the ceiling collapses on him.

Voyager's bridge. Kim: "Particle concentration at 3,000 parts per million." Janeway: "Release the manifold." Paris: "Rerouting plasma to the power conduits. We have impulse!" Janeway: "Take us up." Kim: "Thirteen power relays just blew out on deck 6." Janeway: "Steady."

Paris: "We're crossing the thermosphere." Janeway: "Any sign of pursuit?" Chakotay: "None - looks like the Vaadwaur have their hands full." Janeway: "Altitude?"

Voyager ascends.

td>

During the ride several systems overload but Paris keeps Voyager on course. Paris: "260 kilometres.....270....."

Paris: "We've cleared the thermosphere."

Janeway: "Go to warp, Mr Paris." Paris: "Yes, ma'am." Voyager jumps to warp.

Behind them the Vaadwaur-Turei conflict escalates.

Janeway: "Captain's log, stardate 53167.9. After two days, there's been no sign of the Vaadwaur or the Turei. However, Seven of Nine has made an unsettling discovery."

In the Captain's Ready Room, Janeway stares at the data called up on her personal computer. The display shows a schematic of part of the subspace corridor network. Janeway: "How many ships?"

Seven: "Astrometric scans detected 53 ion signatures entering the corridors, all Vaadwaur." Janeway: "The underground chambers?" Seven: "They were destroyed by the Turei bombardment." This means they have to assume Gedrin is dead.

Seven: "Captain, I believe I made an error in judgment." Janeway: "Oh?" Seven: "By awakening Gedrin, I initiated a chain of events that nearly led to our destruction. I wanted to help revive a civilisation, not start a war."

Janeway: "You thought you were acting out of compassion. I might've done the same thing. But that doesn't make it right, Seven. The repercussions of this could be catastrophic." Seven: "Their technology is nine centuries out of date. Their plans for conquest are irrelevant." Janeway: "They're a resourceful species, determined. They'll adapt. I doubt we've seen the last of them."