Star Trek - Voyager - The Nanotech War by Steven Piziks

Author:Steven Piziks [Steven Piziks]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-08-06T16:18:53.262000+00:00

CHAPTER

9

THE TRANSPORTER BEAM FADED. It was followed by a flash of blue light from the fist-sized sphere on Chakotay's belt. Chakotay's phaser rifle was set against his shoulder and he found it was aimed at a house-sized boulder. Beside him, Harry Kim had already flipped his own weapon over his shoulder by the strap and was consulting a tricorder. Tuvok kept a watchful eye out, as did Crewman Bethany Marija and Ensign Paul Christopher.

They were standing at the bottom of a cliff. A dry canyon over two hundred meters wide spread out before them, littered with rocks and boulders. A hot, dry wind rushed over them. Sand stung the inside of Chakotay's nose, making him want to sneeze. Blue lights on the sphere at his belt winked quietly to themselves, indicating operation within normal parameters.

"No lifesigns in the immediate vicinity!" Kim

shouted over the wind. It whistled between the rocks and boulders. "But there's a force field in the cliff behind us. Sensors can't penetrate it."

As one, the group turned to face the cliff wall. Paul Christopher, a stocky security officer with dark hair and hazel eyes, raised his own tricorder. "The outer coating of rock is a hologram!" he yelled. "The force field is beneath it. I'm reading a fluctuation in the energy patterns about ten meters to the left. It looks like one of the field generators has a small malfunction, and it's made a weak point in the generators' overlap."

"Security sensors?" Chakotay bellowed.

"Plenty," Christopher replied. "But they're reading us as sand devils thanks to the sensor disruption unit."

Chakotay automatically touched the sphere on his belt. "It won't fool them for long. We need to get inside. Now!"

Heads bent against the wind, the quintet moved toward the place Christopher had indicated. The cliff face looked perfectly normal-chunky, red-brown rock rising almost straight up to a clean sky.

"Here!" Christopher pointed. The others huddled around him. Sand scoured Chakotay's face and hands, sifted grit down inside his uniform. Marija grimaced, looking as uncomfortable as Chakotay felt.

Harry Kim checked his own tricorder. "The only way in is to disrupt the field and make a run for it."

'They will know we are here!" Tuvok shouted.

"No choice!" Chakotay boomed. "If Seven's in there, we have to get her out."

"If we concentrate phaser fire right there"- Christopher pointed-"we should disrupt the force field enough to let us through."

As if on cue, all five readied their rifles.

"One ... two ..." Chakotay shouted, "three!"

Five red beams flashed through wind and blowing sand. A portion of the rock rippled, distorted, and melted away, revealing a field of pulsing gray energy. Chakotay held down his trigger. He smelled ozone and singed silicon. Beside him, Marija, Kim, and the others held their own beams steady on the disruption. The force field shimmered under the onslaught. Chakotay wondered how many alarms they had set off, how many Chiar were mustering themselves to meet the invaders.

A hole opened in the field, one just large enough for two humans to pass through side by side.

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