Chakotay Dives the Shuttle Toward a P'nir Cruiser

Star Trek: Voyager: Ragnarok
By Nathan Archer
ISBN: 067152044X

Chapter 15 opens with Rollins asking what everyone is thinking.

“What the hell are you doing, Commander?”

“Trying to save our lives. Mr. Kim, hail them.”

Dive toward the P’nir

Kim does not ask who to hail. Chakotay just sent the shuttle diving straight at a P’nir cruiser that is not in active combat at the moment. Running out of room to maneuver.

Bereyt stays calm. “We are going to hit their shields in about four seconds. Our shields will buckle on impact. Feedback will wreck the ship even if we survive. Which we will not.”

Four seconds. Chakotay veers off. Skims the P’nir shield surface close enough to trigger vivid blue interference flickers.

“Hailing frequencies open. They are not responding.”

Chakotay broadcasts loud. Federation envoy. Respectfully requesting permission to come aboard.

Rollins stares. “You want to board, sir?”

“That is what we came out here for, is it not? Go aboard and play ambassador? We have come this far. Might as well give it a try.”

Still no response. Chakotay repeats. Let us aboard.

The cruiser’s main batteries fire from the side where they used to be.

“Good.” Chakotay turns to Kim. “Energize.”

Kim flashes and vanishes. Transported aboard the P’nir ship.

Almost instantly a flat voice from the shuttle speakers. Leave your vessel immediately. Emerge unarmed.

Chakotay asks how many must emerge. Silence. He repeats the question.

“All three of you.”

“Well, I guess we will not be sending Harry any company just yet.”

“You have eight seconds. Comply.”

Chakotay sighs. “Come on.”

The three of them step into green-lit gloom in the P’nir hangar bay.

Voyager catches the blame

On Voyager, Paris stares at sensors. Disbelief in his voice.

“They have been taken aboard the P’nir cruiser.”

Janeway is relieved they are alive. She has been pacing Ops to Security and back. She orders a channel to the P’nir ship.

The bridge feels empty without Chakotay, Kim, and Rollins. She even misses Neelix and Kes for a moment.

Tuvok says “Look.”

A Hachai dreadnought swings out of the melee toward Voyager. Someone is finally paying attention.

Red alert. Lights dim. Grays turn dark.

Paris seems frozen. Janeway snaps his name.

“They are hailing us, Captain. The Hachai.”

Onscreen. Hachai commander in his transparent globe.

“We warned you. Still you send your devices to the P’nir. You attempt to speak to them. We cannot allow you to aid them further. Remain within six hundred thousand kilometers of any Hachai vessel or installation and we will destroy you.”

Janeway starts to say four of their people were taken prisoner.

“No P’nir tricks! No more thagn tricks!”

Image vanishes. Battle view returns. The dreadnought looms closer.

Janeway wonders what thagn means. Universal Translator failed. Probably a Hachai obscenity. Eyestalks and retractable legs suggest interesting possibilities.

The Hachai open fire. First shot dead on.

“Shields holding. Shall we return fire, Captain?”

“No. Misunderstanding. Evasive action, Mr. Paris. No hostile moves.”

“We are not leaving?”

“No. Our people are still in there. The globe is in there. We are not going anywhere. Just dodge.”

Paris asks if he should get closer to the P’nir cruiser that captured the shuttle.

Janeway weighs it. Hachai will see it as more proof of a P’nir conspiracy. But they already decided that. Moving away reduces chances of retrieving the crew.

“Do it, Mr. Paris. Get as close as you safely can.”

Tuvok starts to object. Hachai barrage interrupts. Bridge lights flicker. Screen fills with weapon glare.

Shields still holding. Tuvok advises against moving closer. Reminds her how the shuttle got caught.

“Yes, I remember. We will just have to risk it.”

Then she notices Tuvok stopped mid-sentence without her interrupting.

“I am afraid that risk is no longer the appropriate term.”

“Why not?”

“Tactical onscreen.”

The live battle vanishes. Replaced by a cool 3D schematic. White outline for Voyager. Red circles for Hachai. Blue triangles for P’nir. Red and blue form an irregular spheroid with clear boundaries.

The white outline is already well inside.

My take

Chakotay’s move is insane and logical at the same time. Skim the shields. Hail. Get ignored. Beam Kim aboard as a scout. Surrender before the shuttle explodes. That is diplomacy by desperation.

Sending Kim alone first is smart tactical thinking. If the P’nir only want three people out of the shuttle, Harry is already inside doing… something. We find out in chapter 16.

The Hachai reaction is the tragedy of this war in one scene. Voyager tries to negotiate. Hachai assume P’nir trick. Open fire. No room for neutrals.

Thagn tricks. Translator giving up is a funny little detail.

Janeway refusing to leave while under fire is pure her. Crew is hostage. Globe is right there. She will dodge but not run.

Tuvok’s final line reframes everything. Voyager is not risking entry to the battle zone anymore. They are already inside it. That is a nasty cliffhanger.

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