“The enemy ship is still in pursuit, Captain!” exclaimed Lieutenant Spencer from the Explorer’s ops station.
Captain Janeway grimaced. “Ensign Alfred, prepare to engage transwarp.”
“Transwarp drive is offline, Captain,” Alfred replied from the conn. “That last hit damaged the coils.”
Janeway glanced at Tuvok. “Looks like it’s not our lucky day. So much for a routine test flight.”
Tuvok acknowledged her comment with a raised eyebrow and then reported, “Our shields are down to sixty percent. Phasers continue to have little impact on the enemy vessel.”
“Arm photon torpedoes. Fire at will.” Before Tuvok had a chance to obey the order, the modified runabout was rocked with a tremendous blast. Janeway was thrown from her chair, her head slamming up against a railing. A sharp pain lanced through her skull, and when she raised her hand to her forehead, it came away bloody. She blinked, trying to clear her fuzzy vision, and hauled herself back into her chair. “Report.”
Spencer was leaning over Commander Ito, the fifth member of her team. “She’s dead, Captain.”
“Lieutenant Alfred requires medical attention,” said Tuvok, kneeling over the pilot who had been thrown to the floor in the blast.
“Computer, activate the Emergency Medical Hologram!” Janeway commanded.
“Emergency Medical Hologram is offline,” the computer responded.
“Damn it!” Stepping over debris and Lieutenant Alfred’s still form, Janeway made her way to the helm. The alien ship had come out of nowhere and begun firing on them, refusing to respond to their hails. Despite their best efforts, they had been unable to outmaneuver it. Now that the transwarp coils were damaged, there was little chance of escape. “Tuvok, fire those photon torpedos!”
“Weapons systems are down.”
“Could this day get any worse?” Janeway murmured as she attempted to pilot her small craft away from the unidentified enemy.
“Shields down to twenty-eight percent,” said Spencer. “Captain, I don’t think we can take another hit.”
“Mr. Spencer, are there any M class planets in range?”
“Um, I’m detecting one, Captain. Less than a light year away. Heading one oh two mark four.”
“What can you tell me about it, Tuvok?” she asked as her fingers flew over the Explorer’s controls.
“The planet is inhabited. Scans show evidence that they do have space travel, but are not warp capable.”
“Enemy ship is on a pursuit course, Captain!” Spencer warned.
“Landing on the planet would not be advised,” said Tuvok. “Contact with these people would violate the Prime Directive.”
“We may not have a choice.” Another blast rocked the bridge.
“Shields are down,” Tuvok reported.
Janeway clenched her jaw. There was no way they could land on the planet with the ship intact. “Tuvok, give me one more burst on the thrusters and then divert all remaining power to the transporters.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Come on,” she whispered to her ship, a craft she had only known for a couple short weeks, “stay with me just a few more minutes. We just need to get within transporter range of that planet.”
“We’re in transporter range, Captain!” announced Spencer.
“Tuvok!” Janeway ordered. “Now!”
Another explosion rocked the small ship, and the tactical station went up in flames. Janeway heard Tuvok’s anguished cry as the explosion engulfed him. Without allowing herself to think about her friend’s condition, she transferred the transporter controls to her own station. Smoke was quickly filling the small bridge, and breathing was becoming difficult. She fought for consciousness as she locked onto the five comm badges belonging to her team. As the controls began to swim in front of her, she ordered the computer to transport them to the planet’s surface. She felt the transporter beam catch her. She tried to breathe a sigh of relief, but found she could not breathe at all. She caught a glimpse of the brightness of sunshine, and then felt herself falling into darkness.