All finished up here. How are things going with the power system?" I ask as I move out of the flight chair, having programmed the flightpath of the race into the computer. Voyager entered a area of space and during a testflight Tom and Harry(Why is it always those two that get into trouble?) ran into a small fast ship who challenged them on a race. Tom Paris being Tom Paris he accepted.
In the end they won and the alien ship malfunctioned so they beamed the pilot on board. Long story short, Voyager is now the neutral meeting point for racers and dignitaries attending a symbolic space race to celebrate the recent peace in the region that for a long time was at war beforehand.
And the Deltaflyer are entered into the race...and so is Serenity. Somehow Paris have into his head that the Flyer is superior to Serenity. So now there is a bet with a month of holodeck time on the line.
A bet I'm sure I'm going to win as B'Elanna had a romantic weekend on the holodeck planned during the time for her and Tom. When she find out, he is going to have to give up.
"The modifications to the gas injection system have been modified for enriched deutrium. Everything is working according to specifications." Seven report as she stand up and I nod
"Ready to meet the other racers?" and she nod
"I am. I am still not sure how you have me involved in this activity though."
I give her a grin and lead her out of Serenity "Because you like the technical challenge and spending time with me. Besides, knocking Paris down a peg or two is always a good time."
She seem to give it some thought before nodding.
The next day we are on the starting line. Seven is sitting at the engineering station behind me to the right as I get comfortable in the piloting seat. The race is a difficult one, through several corners and some stretches as well as through a spatial anomaly, a baby wormhole if you like.
"Ready Seven?" I ask as I shut down the optical sensors in my mechadendrites and close my eyes while leaning back in my seat, replacing the last data with information from Serenity's sensor array. Even filtered through the computer and 'dumbed down' it still give more information than my eyes and optical sensors combined. Which is why I need to limit the rest of my sensory input while doing it.
Even then it take me a minute to figure out what the hell I'm seeing, even having practiced this since I have the link.
Sadly Paris didn't drop out of the race, instead B'Elanna took Harrys place. Damn.
"All systems are running at optimal capacity. We are ready." she answer and I nod
"All systems confirmed." while focusing on controlling the ship, my hands resting on the armrests. Full mental control is far more responsive than pushing buttons.
I am the ship.
As Voyager launch the flare I get ready and when it explode I punch it. Bringing the gravity projectors up to 100% instantly instead of slowly ramping it up during a few seconds have a about 10% chance of frying the STL drive...but if it don't you have a advantage.
A chance I feel like taking and a trick I do not think Paris know about.
Serenity accelerate to the front of the pack as we get up on the first corner. As we take the turn I drift slightly and a alien ship of a particularly aggressive reptile alien we met on the 'meet the drivers' reception the evening before push past, giving Serenity's shields a kiss at the same time.
Swearing at him I try to compensate while the Flyer and another ship sneak past at the same time before I move to follow.
Soon I'm directly behind the alien ship in third place "Seven, I need more power to the projectors. I can't push past at this speed."
As I try to find a way past as we take another corner she answer "Projectors and the powerplant are both at 100%." and I nod as I try to get past again
"I know. Take down non essential systems and shunt the power into the projectors. She can take it."
The track turn and I try once again to sneak past on the inside but the alien ship block me again as she answer "Bringing down the targeting sensors, replicator, interior lighting and warp drive. Transferring available power."
I watch as the power pool available for the projectors grow and as we get up on another turn I fake to try the inside again and then power the projectors up to 120% and duck past on the outside.
Soon I reach the two in the front. The Flyer and the lead ship are in a tight duel as we approach the anomaly "Seven, can I have more power?" I ask while taking a position close behind the flyer, looking for a way to get past.
Technically our ships are close to identical in sublight capacity but I have superior sensors and control systems and my gravity projectors are running at 120% the power of his. And the fucker is still outflying and blocking all my attempts.
Holy crap.
"Reducing environmental systems to 50% and cutting artificial gravity. That's all available power without drawing from critical systems." she answer as I feel myself go weightless against the restraints as I nod.
"Got it. Let's see what we can do..." I answer before pushing the extra 2% into the gravity projectors and trying to get past again as we enter the spatial anomaly.
That's when we get the message to cut engines as there have been a accident. The copilot of the alien racer, Irina, Tom and Harry met had been seriously injured due to his console overloading from a collision with another racer.
Due to the injury the rest of the race was pushed up a couple of hours while they investigated and she had to drop out of the race.
Once it start up again a few hours later I let myself sink back into contact with my ship. Seven and I spent some of the time doing some much needed maintenance on the strained gravity projectors and the rest of the time was spent...well, anyway.
As the signal to start again I punch it, using the instant boost again to get up beside the Flyer and the alien ship. As I feed more energy into the projectors I start to slowly pull ahead. I didn't dare slam it instantly up to 122% power.
We exist the anomaly and jet towards the last bend before the straight towards the finish when the deltaflyer actually start to pull ahead! They are using their thrusters, a system Serenity don't have to get a tad extra speed...when they suddenly cut all engines, letting me and the alien ship fly past them and snag the win and second place.
The third ship that passed the finish line belonged to a alien I didnt know. I had seen him around under the meeting but other than that...
Well, I never will now. As he passed the finish line his reactor went critical and blew up. Due to Voyager pushing some security features, like all ships their shields at full if they are to be close to the race track at any point saved it from being a massacre. Five people died in total, two of them on the ship that blew up.
In the end Irina was connected to the event by the investigation and arrested. The unstable peace held...barely.
I talked to Paris about what happened with the Flyer. Turns out B'Elanna and he had a big argument...and are now engaged.
I'll never understand those two.
AN// For my next story after this one I'm going to need a couple of Betas to torture. I'll finish a shipload of fools before that though and ask for volunteer at the end of this thread.