"Midnight Tide"
A SeaQuest DSV/ST: Voyager crossover
“Well,what do you know.”Ben Krieg commented as he squinted at the
launch’s sonar screen,”The kid was actually right about something.”
“Hey!”Lucas protested.
“You got something?”Ford asked ignoring the teen’s protest.
“Maybe.”Ben replied as he tapped a few keys.
“Maybe?”Ford repeated his eyes narrowing,”Katie might not have time for
a maybe,Ben. Ethier you have something or you don’t.”
Ben glared at his commanding officer,”I’m quite aware of how little time
she might have!”
“Commander,eyes on the road!”Lucas shouted in warning.
Ford jerked his gaze back to the front window just in time to avoid a
small submarine.
“Any closer and I could have told you what the Captain was wearing.”Ben
commented with relief as he studied the sonar screen,”Whereever that
sub’s going there’s a lot of activity going on ahead.”
“It must be a heck of a party I see at least five other sub’s.”Ford
replied as he slowed the launch down,not wanting them to be detected.
“Uh,oh.”Lucas muttered as he glanced down at his computer screen.
Ford cast a sideways glance at the teen,”What?”
“I found the occassion for the party.”Lucas replied,”They’ve got Katie’s
launch surrounded.”
*********************************************
“Take the wheel.”Katie commanded as she nearly dove for the back of the
launch where the access panel to the engines was located.
“Aye,Aye,Captain.”Tom muttered as he slid into the piolt seat. He had
always prided himself as being able to fly anything,but this control
system was completely foreign to him.
He didn’t want to admit it to his rescuer/captor but he had no idea what
he was doing. He didn’t know which key kept them level or which would
sink them. After ten minutes he thought he had found gauge that told him
how level they were with the horizon.
Not that it did them a lot of good in a stationary postion.
Finding the weapon controls might be helpful right about now......
“Identify yourselves and state your business or prepared to be fired
upon.”A nondescript voice commanded from the speakers,”You have invaded
Chinese waters.”
“Too bad we can’t answer them.”Tom said as he half turned to face
Katie,”Can’t we send up smoke signals or flares or something?”
“The unit’s damaged.”Katie replied in a muffled voice her body half
buried in the small access corridor,”We can receive signals but can’t
send out.”
The threat suddenly sunk in for Katie as she snapped her head up
narrowly missing smacking it against the metal panal,”Wait a minute did
they say we had entered Chinese waters?”
Paris nodded,”Yep,wonder how long they’ll wait before they blow us out
of the water?”
Katie scambled forward tossing the wrench on the floor,”We’re hell and
far away from any Chinese border. Unless you knocked my launch into next
week there’s no possible way we could have entered Chinese waters.”
“So what is on this SeaWind that is so valuable?”Tom asked his blue eyes
fixed on the three submarines that surrounded them.
Katie shook her head,”Nobody knows,she was research ship that
disappeared in a storm a hundred years ago.”
**********************************************
It was a frusterated and solem group of senior officers that gathered
around the conference table.
It had been eight hours since Tom’s shuttle had vanished and they were
making no progress.
B’Elanna was unable to sit still as she made her report. She paced the
small area to the right of the table as she spoke.
“I just don’t understand it,Captain.”Torres said as she paused in her
pacing to face Janeway,”Seven and I have tried everything we can think
of and there’s just no way to break through whatever it is that has a
stranglehold on that planet.
“Keep trying,B’Elanna.”Janeway replied,”Everything has a weakness we
just have to find it.”
********************************************************
Nathan Bridger stood just to the right of his command chair as he spoke
to his sensor chief,”Mr. Ortiz,show us what the launch is seeing.”
“Aye,Sir.”The young cuban replied as he hit a few keys.
O’Neil spun his chair around,”Sir,Commander Ford.”
Bridger glanced at Kristen Westphalen before nodding,”Put him
through,Mr. O’Neil.”
“Aye,Sir.”
After a moment of static Ford’s tense voice came back,”Captain, we found
Katie’s launch but she’s sorrounded by four unknown subs. There’s
something blocking our sensors so we can’t get accurate life sign
readings from the launch. So we don’t know if she’s able to return
fire.”
Nathan nodded,”We see the situation,Commander. Do what you have to.
We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Ford didn’t have a chance to reply as one of the subs opened fire on
Katie’s launch.
Jonathan glanced at Krieg,”Ready to crash this party?”
Ben grinned,”Thought you’d never ask.”
********************************************************
“Why don’t you get some sleep?”Chakotay suggested as he stepped into the
hushed atmosphere of the isometrics lab.
Kathryn Janeway shook her head,”You can catch a few hours if you want.
I’ll have Harry take the bridge.”
Chakotay came to stand at her left his eyes taking in the holographic
display of the planet’s atmosphere,”Any progress?”
Janeway shook her head in frusteration,”No,I’ve never seen anything like
it. Every time I think I have a lead a roadblock appears sending me back
to square one.”
*************************************************
Tom saw the torpedo coming and braced himself for the impact. By some
miracle it missed them.
Then Tom noticed where the weapon was headed and winced.
“Brace yourself!”Paris shouted as he gripped the armrest.
Katie glared at him as her fingers flew over the control panel
struggling to get the weapon array to respond,”Its not going to hit us.”
Tom shook his head,”They weren’t aiming at us,that was a warning shot.”
As if on cue the torpedo slammed into Voyager’s downed shuttle craft.
The small launch was rocked by the fierce explosion sending both Katie
and Tom tumbling to the floor.
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