The Murdered Sun Ch. 17: Janeway vs Sun-Eater, Garai's Choice, and Linneas's Suicide
Star Trek: Voyager #6 - The Murdered Sun
By Christie Golden
Copyright 1996
Previous: Destroyer Pursuit
Next: Peace and Holodeck Revelation
Chapter 17 splits three ways and all of them are high stakes. Janeway fights with science while gambling on diplomacy. Paris discovers the Destroyer is not coming to kill him. Linneas chooses mass suicide over surrender. And Sun-Eater dies.
Janeway’s lover’s quarrel with science
Janeway joined Starfleet because she fell in love with science. Twenty years later, the passion still burns. Right now, science is being difficult.
Sun-Eater hides answers. Facts contradict each other. Kim cannot narrow verteron particles. They hug the “wall” of a balloon-shaped pocket. Gravity draws dying star matter to the sides.
Kim asks the big question: could Sun-Eater itself be a wormhole?
Janeway already considered it. They saw an entrance too large for a black hole. No exit yet.
Tuvok cites a Vulcan science vessel destroyed by warp core breach near Garus Prime. Explosion collapsed a wormhole. One end first. The other moments later.
Janeway’s breath catches. Explosion here? What exploded? Why is the planet trapped?
Tuvok says it is the only theory that fits. Kim gets assigned to research the incident.
Then Kim yelps: Destroyer is hailing.
Talking to Garai
Tuvok readies defenses that will not blow them up inside the pocket. Garai appears on screen. Armor like Linneas’s but fewer horn notches.
“I am Garai, first warrior of the Empirical Exploratory Unit, commander of the Destroyer. In the name of the great and glorious empress Riva, I demand to know your business here.”
Janeway introduces herself. Exploration. No hostility.
Garai asks about the six surface vessels. Calm voice. No Linneas tremor.
Janeway takes a risk. Only one ship is theirs. The rest are Verunan. Rescue mission.
Garai goes silent. Then: Verunans lack the technology. She is lying.
Janeway pushes back. They are not as primitive as the Akerians think.
“Then we shall destroy them,” Garai says coolly. Puny ships. Needed Voyager to penetrate the concavity. Will she fight for them or is she cowardly?
Janeway does not take the bait. She suggests evacuating scientists instead of chasing six ships. Cool tones matching his.
Garai calls it a threat. Janeway reframes it as friendship. She would not want innocent researchers dead.
Garai sits up straighter. Janeway thinks: got you.
She explains Voyager is lost, searching for a wormhole home. Their search found nothing. If no wormhole exists, she will fire a photon torpedo at the concavity mouth. It should have collapsed long ago. They are feeding this abomination with Veruna’s sun. And she hopes Garai knows that is wrong.
“So what’s it going to be, First Warrior? Is there a wormhole we’ve somehow missed?”
Long silence. Fingers clench and unclench in gloves.
“I am no liar. There is no wormhole within the confines of the spatial concavity. But I ask you, Captain Janeway, as one commander of a proud people to another, please reconsider your decision to destroy everything we have wrought here.”
Slight tremor in his voice. Janeway feels sympathy. Not enough to stop.
“Evacuate your people, First Warrior.”
Garai grunts and cuts the channel. Destroyer reverses at surprising speed and heads for the planet.
Janeway orders follow at full impulse. “I hope I got through to him.”
Paris and the Destroyer that was not hunting him
Paris’s left arm throbs. Destroyer approaches. “Everybody, follow me!” Only option. Cannot fire energy weapons without risking concavity collapse. Cannot hail. Right arm does double duty.
Shuttle veers starboard. Five ships hold formation. Rear view on screen.
Destroyer does not pursue them. It continues toward the planet. Bay door opens. Four small vessels head for the surface.
“If they’re trying to get the Verunans, they’re going to find them gone,” Paris murmurs.
Relief when Voyager appears hard on Destroyer’s heels.
“Was your mission successful, Lieutenant?”
Sweetest sound. “Aye, Captain. We lost a few and there are several injured. Better alert the doctor he’s got patients waiting.”
Then Janeway’s voice stops. Through Sun-Eater’s mouth, escorted by burning star matter, comes the repaired Victory.
Garai vs Linneas
Linneas screams “Traitor!” Garai is glad he cannot see that face.
He reports Janeway plans to destroy the concavity with a torpedo. Advises evacuating scientists. Slaves already removed. They can renew attack outside. Sensible precaution.
Linneas wishes he could kill Garai across space. How did Garai even communicate when orders forbade it?
“I was the only ship in the area. It was my right.”
Filth pours from Linneas. It does not intimidate Garai anymore. It confirms Linneas is cracking. Garai grieves the leader Linneas used to be. He does not yield.
“I have begun the evacuation.”
“You took an oath!”
“We took an oath to protect our people! Scientists on Blessing took no oath to die for pride. Sacrificing them is not in the honor code of a first warrior!”
Linneas does not reply. Garai stares at the planet. More convinced than ever.
“We continue. Then we leave Blessing behind. First Warrior Linneas is on his own.”
Escape and the gravity wave
Voyager drops shields. Six ships slip under protection. Shields back up.
“Let’s get out of here,” Janeway says tiredly. No wormhole. Research points the same way. Maybe microscopic wormholes in the wall. Kim is building a theory. Later.
Broadcast on all frequencies: evacuate the concavity. It will be destroyed.
Torres gets them out the same way she got them in.
Paris confirms the fleet is ready to leave.
Linneas hears the broadcast and smiles beneath his helmet. “Prepare to fire the gravity wave.”
He will take Janeway and everyone with him. Opens channel to Garai one last time. If Janeway destroys everything, destroyed it must be. He will take her and everyone else. “Stop the ship! Fire upon Voyager, and we will all die together!”
Garai: “I pity you, Linneas, and all the innocents who will die with you. I shall inform your widows.”
Image disappears. Linneas roars. “Follow them!”
Garai hails Voyager. Not allies. Do not expect open throats later. But honor compels a warning. Linneas is insane. He plans to destroy the concavity before anyone escapes. Top speed?
“We’re at top speed now.”
“Then keep it up.”
Tuvok reports Victory and Destroyer behind them. Destroyer between Voyager and Victory. Buying time.
Voyager creeps toward the entrance. Torres shifts shields fore, mid, aft. They avoid the hydrogen river this time. Normal space draws closer. Free.
“Paris, warp one on my count. Three, two, one, engage!”
They streak away.
Destroyer emerges from Sun-Eater’s mouth. Janeway orders photon torpedo ready. Fire on command. Give Linneas a chance to talk.
He does not take it.
Light explodes from the mouth. Hydrogen and star matter burst orange, red, yellow. For an instant the dark depths show, then everything vanishes. Linneas’s suicidal gravity wave restored normal space.
Destroyer escapes but catches the shock wave. Tossed like driftwood. Asteroid chunks of Blessing spew out.
Voyager takes the hit mid-sentence. Lights flicker. Emergency backup. Kim has a bruised swollen eye but reports calmly. Shields down fifty-six percent. One Verunan ship heavily damaged. No casualties.
Destroyer is worse. Shields gone. Heavy damage. Janeway offers assistance. She has a hunch the fight may be knocked out of Garai.
Where Sun-Eater was: swirling asteroids and glowing chunks. A planetary nebula in the making. Veruna Four will see color instead of a sky bruise. The sun is safe for now.
The great Sun-Eater is no more.
The science payoff
Kim’s wormhole theory and Tuvok’s collapsed-wormhole model finally click together here. Janeway uses science as a bargaining chip in diplomacy. The decoy worked. Garai chose lives over Linneas’s pride.
And Linneas ends the concavity himself, accidentally giving Veruna a century of extra time.
Next: peace talks, a holodeck history lesson, and a ten-year-old empress nobody expected.
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