by Dayton Ward
“They’re going on the offensive,” Picard said, turning from the screen. “We’ll have to continue this discussion later, Fleet Legate.” He gestured for the communication to be severed even as the Golvonek was preparing to protest. The Golvonek’s image disappeared from the viewscreen, replaced once more by the Arrow. “Conn, increase our distance, and maintain full power to the shields.”
Lieutenant Faur was in the midst of acknowledging the order when the captain saw the first barrage of weapons fire explode from ports along the Arrow’s port hull. Streaks of red-white energy lanced forth from multiple locations, crossing space and seeking targets with deadly precision. On the viewscreen, three Raqilan ships were struck in rapid succession, the impacts tearing into each vessel’s hull as they scrambled to maneuver out of the line of fire.
Why the Raqilan ships? Even as the question formed in his mind, Picard watched new salvos reach across space, tracking after the Golvonek tug ships and inflicting similar damage as they, too, attempted to flee.
“What are they doing?” Turning to Worf, Picard said, “Open a channel to the Arrow, Number One.”
The Klingon nodded. “Aye, sir.”
Waiting for acknowledgment that the frequency had been enabled, Picard once more approached the main viewscreen. “Jodis, this is Captain Picard aboard the Enterprise. Your attack on the Raqilan and Golvonek vessels is unprovoked and unnecessary. I urge you to reconsider this course of action, and I request to speak with my people who are still aboard your ship.”
“They are receiving us, Captain,” Worf reported.
“Sir!” Faur called out. The lieutenant was pointing at the screen, and Picard looked up to see the Arrow’s course shifting, pulses of energy visible along its flank as maneuvering thrusters flared to life. The vessel moved with a grace and speed that belied its size, continuing to unleash weapons fire from multiple points as it pivoted on its axis.
Worf said, “Sensors show its primary particle weapon is online, and I am reading indications of scanners locking on to multiple targets.” A second later, he added, “Including us.”
“Conn, keep us out of its path,” Picard said, returning to his command chair. “Number One, ready phasers and target any of those weapons ports you can.” He had not wanted to take direct action against the Arrow, but Jodis was leaving him with precious few options.
“Aye, sir,” replied Worf. “Still no response to our hails.”
The Arrow fired yet again, unleashing another volley of blasts from various particle cannons, each seeking a different target and scoring hits on both Raqilan and Golvonek vessels. The Raqilan fighters and their support craft now were turning tail, seeking escape, while the Golvonek tugs, far slower and less maneuverable, were no match for the weapon ship’s tracking systems. Those ships better able to defend themselves were turning toward the attack, breaking formation and firing on the Arrow in a series of rapid hit-and-run strikes.
“Their counterattacks are having an effect,” reported Glinn Dygan. “Sensors are showing widespread damage across the Arrow’s surface, along with some weapons ports and other components.”
Worf added, “There are definite power fluctuations, sir, as well as what appear to be attempts to reroute. It could be the onboard computer working to compensate.”
How much damage could an attack of this sort inflict? While it had been determined that the Arrow might be susceptible to injury after any prolonged battle, Picard reasoned that the odds still were in its favor to disable or destroy most if not all of the vessels around it.
“I am reading a new energy surge,” said Dygan. The Cardassian turned in his seat. “It’s the primary cannon, Captain.”
Picard directed his gaze to the viewscreen in time to see the array mounted at the Arrow’s forward edge flaring to life, its emitter glowing with the fury of a sun before a wide beam of focused energy erupted from the cannon, streaking across space and washing over the closest of the Golvonek vessels. He braced himself, expecting to see the tug obliterated by the beam’s force, but the ship’s destruction never came. The effects were still severe, with the ship lurching and spiraling away as it succumbed to the weapon’s force.
“According to these readings,” Worf said, “the cannon is not operating at full capacity.”
Was it a deliberate choice, or merely the result of damage to the weapons system? Picard had no way to know that, of course, but the onscreen evidence of the particle cannon’s power was obvious, even if it was operating in a compromised state.
“What’s the status of that ship?”
“Widespread overloads and system cutouts,” replied the first officer. “Propulsion is offline, and life-support appears to be operating from auxiliary power sources. The ship has begun transmitting what I believe to be a distress signal.”
“Captain,” Faur said, “they’re firing again.”
On the viewscreen, the Arrow had selected another target, this one a Raqilan carrier. As before, the particle cannon’s immense beam lashed out, its energy enveloping the retreating vessel and disrupting its flight path. Picard saw the ship’s engine ports flicker and darken along with other light sources along its hull or emanating from portholes.
“And you’re saying the weapon isn’t firing at full power?” Picard asked.
Worf nodded. “It appears that way, Captain.”
“Notify the transporter room that we’re moving into position. Make sure Lieutenant Šmrhová and her team are ready to beam over.” Picard decided that he no longer had the luxury of waiting for the right time to risk dispatching his rescue team. “Lieutenant Faur, maneuver us to within transporter range.” If all went according to the plan he was conjuring even as he spoke, the Enterprise would only be that close to the Arrow for a handful of seconds. “Guide us clear the moment the away team is on board. Mister Worf, you’ll handle the transport.”
Both officers acknowledged the orders and Picard watched as Faur tapped a hurried sequence of commands to her console. The image on the viewscreen shifted as the Enterprise changed direction until the Arrow once more was in view. Pulsing with life, the immense vessel was executing yet another in an ongoing series of pivots and turns. Its primary particle cannon and its array of smaller armaments spit crimson fury in all directions as it continued firing at any Raqilan or Golvonek ship reckless enough to still be within weapons range. For the first time since the battle began, Picard felt the deck shudder in response to the starship weathering an assault on its own defenses.
“Shields are holding,” Worf reported. “We have entered transporter range. Dropping shields and energizing now.”
Picard counted to himself the seconds he knew were needed to complete the transport cycle, each one a seeming eternity with the ship’s shields down. Ticking off the last one, he ordered, “Shields up. Conn, get us out of here.” As he issued the command, he saw the Arrow rotating yet again, and this time the gargantuan ship’s nose was turning toward the screen.
“Away team is aboard the ship,” Worf noted. “Sensors are picking up an increase in the power levels to the Arrow’s primary weapon.”
Picard felt his grip tighten on the arms of his chair. “Evasive maneuvers, now!”
* * *
The deck disappeared from beneath Geordi La Forge’s feet.
It was only for a second, and the shift was perhaps only a handful of centimeters, but the effect was sufficient to send the engineer stumbling across the deck and flailing for any sort of handhold. His feet found purchase on the flooring and he stumbled and all but fell into the railing encircling the Enterprise’s warp core. Matters were not helped by the sudden dousing of nearly every illumination source within the engineering section, and La Forge heard members of his staff reacting to what could only be a brutal attack on the starship. The very hull of the ship seemed to howl as it absorbed the brunt of whatever had just hit it, and adding to the chaos was the
wail of a red alert siren that succeeded in drowning out every other sound in the room.
As quickly as it had been extinguished, the main lighting returned as did most of the active status monitors and control stations arrayed around the cavernous chamber.
“Everybody okay?” he called out, and received a chorus of assurances that beyond a few hard falls, which in time would produce nasty welts and bruises, no one had been injured.
Doctor Crusher’s going to be busy tomorrow, La Forge mused. Assuming we all make it to tomorrow. The errant thought made him think of Tamala Harstad, who at last report was one of the few remaining away team members still on board the Arrow. The team had been overdue to return to the Enterprise even before the current situation had erupted, and now the chief engineer knew he had to place aside his personal concerns and focus on the issues at hand. From the looks of one set of status monitors on a nearby workstation, those issues were many and increasing by the minute.
“Bridge to engineering,” rumbled the voice of Worf through the intercom system. “Damage report.”
Moving toward the master systems display table, the freestanding workstation positioned between the warp core and the engineering section’s main entrance, La Forge called out, “Whatever that last attack was, it smacked us around pretty good. We’re still assessing everything.”
“The Arrow fired its primary particle cannon,” replied the Klingon.
La Forge scowled. “Yeah, well, don’t let it do that again.” He glanced up to where Lieutenant Commander Taurik had taken up station on the other side of the table. Since returning to the Enterprise, it was the first time the chief engineer had seen his assistant following the bombshell revelation that the Vulcan had come across potentially hazardous information about the future that was the Arrow’s point of origin. A list of regulations longer than La Forge’s arm had required Taurik to sequester himself until such time as he completed a detailed report for the Department of Temporal Investigations. The contents of that report were not allowed to be shared with anyone else on board, including La Forge and even Captain Picard himself, and Taurik also had created a protected archive within the Enterprise’s main computer for storing the potentially volatile information retrieved from the Arrow. Given time, La Forge could defeat the encryption guarding that archive, but he knew doing so might cost him his career and perhaps even result in incarceration. Of course, all of that paled when compared to the potential for altering the course of future events.
So, don’t do that, and focus on your job.
As he studied the master display, which depicted a computer-generated dorsal schematic of the Enterprise, La Forge saw entirely too many areas of the ship highlighted in red for his comfort. “What’s the story, Taurik?”
The Vulcan engineer said, “There are power outages throughout the ship. Backup systems are activating in most cases, but several processes will require rerouting.” The long fingers on both of his hands were moving at a rapid pace across the table’s interface. “I am dispatching repair teams to those locations. Deflector shield generators overloaded and are resetting, though I predict they will only return to seventy-eight-percent capacity.”
“Weapons are offline,” Worf said over the speaker, “as is flight control. Those are the top priority.”
“We’re on it,” said La Forge, looking to where Taurik was directing his attention to one section of the table’s display. “We’ve still got warp drive, for whatever that’s worth.”
Worf replied, “The Arrow is breaking off its attacks and is setting course into the Canborek system.”
Why would it be doing that?
Before the engineer could ask the question aloud, realization struck him. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Mister La Forge,” said the voice of Captain Picard, “it’s looking as though Jodis might be setting the Arrow on course for Uphrel with the intention of carrying out its original mission. How extensive is the damage to flight control?”
Taurik replied, “We will be unable to maneuver the ship at impulse speeds until the problem is corrected. Warp travel is possible, though of course not recommended.”
Stepping around the table, La Forge began tapping another set of controls. “We’re trying to work around the problem, Captain, but it’s going to take some time.” It was growing more difficult to maintain his concentration on the tasks before him. If Jodis had regained control of the weapon ship, what had become of Tamala and the rest of the away team? It took every scrap of self-discipline he possessed for La Forge to resist asking that question of the captain. Instead, he said, “Sir, I don’t know that we can put up much of a fight against that thing. You saw what one shot did to us.”
“Then we’ll just have to stay out of its way,” Picard replied, “but we have to do something. Several of the Raqilan and Golvonek vessels have been disabled, and the truth is that they simply don’t possess the firepower to defeat the Arrow.”
Across the table from La Forge, Taurik was listening to the captain’s report and raised one eyebrow. “Why would Jodis attack Raqilan ships?”
“He targeted anything within range, basically clearing a path for the Arrow. Geordi, I can’t sit here while he destroys an entire planet. Noble intentions notwithstanding, this situation is our fault, and the Enterprise is the only thing standing in Jodis’s way.”
“How much time do we have?” La Forge asked, dividing his attention between the workstation readout he was using to prioritize resources for the repair work and directing Taurik and damage control teams to where they could do the most good in the least amount of time. Glancing up from the table, he saw members of his staff climbing ladders and crawling into access conduits, swarming over the engineering room and adjacent sections as they set to various assignments. Other teams, tool kits and satchels in hand, were heading for the hatch and out to other areas of the ship currently demanding attention, and he knew his people here were being supplemented by repair teams from all over the ship.
“The Arrow is moving into the Canborek system at warp two point one,” Worf answered. “At their present speed, they could be orbiting Uphrel within thirty minutes.”
Looking at the swaths of red bathing the display table’s ship diagram, La Forge blew out his breath and shook his head. “Okay, Taurik. Let’s get to work.”
“Acknowledged,” replied the Vulcan, retrieving a padd from the display table and setting off to direct other members of the engineering staff.
All of the needed repairs could be made, given sufficient time, but under the present circumstances, it was going to take a miracle to get the Enterprise back into the fight.
I just hope we haven’t run out of those.
29
Aneta Šmrhová saw the Golvonek soldier before he saw her.
That’s just your bad luck, thought the security chief as she aimed and fired her phaser rifle in a single smooth, rapid motion up the dimly lit corridor. The Golvonek had no chance to react before the stun beam enveloped him, and he collapsed against a bulkhead before sliding unconscious to the floor.
“Nice shooting, Lieutenant,” remarked Ensign Eli Chapman, one of the recent additions to the Enterprise’s security detachment.
Behind Chapman, Lieutenant T’Sona said, “Lieutenant Šmrhová’s marksmanship scores are among the highest for the crew.”
“No kidding,” added Ensign Bryan Regnis, keeping his voice low. “Whatever you do, Chapman, don’t let her sucker you into a bet. She’ll have your lunch. And your dinner.” The detachment’s resident sharpshooter, even Regnis had been hard-pressed to match Šmrhová’s scores. “Are you sure you weren’t a sniper in a previous life, or something?”
“Okay, enough,” Šmrhová said. “I’ll whip you on the phaser range later. Let’s keep moving.” Despite the situation and its plethora of unknowns, she was confident in her abilities and those of her team to accomplish th
e mission given to her by Captain Picard. After having to stand by while sending subordinates into harm’s way, she now felt useful as she led the effort to rescue the away team. Though the captain would never say as much aloud, Šmrhová knew that in addition to being worried for the safety of anyone under his command, he also harbored an obvious personal concern for Doctor Crusher. Duty and professionalism saw to it that Picard almost never permitted his own feelings to take precedence over a mission, but that did not mean he was immune to such conflicting thoughts. How he managed to compartmentalize such turmoil, Šmrhová would never understand.
“Do you hear that?” asked Lieutenant Jarata Beyn, the last of the three security officers Šmrhová had elected to bring with her. The brawny Bajoran was cradling a phaser rifle in the crook of his right arm and holding a tricorder that looked like a toy in his oversized hand. “This thing’s main power plant is increasing its output.”
The omnipresent thrum of the Arrow’s massive engines had been a constant companion from the moment they had materialized on the portable transporter room in the weapon ship’s landing bay. Even now, as they moved deeper into the giant vessel’s inner compartments, the sound of its power plant resonated across every surface, with frequent spikes in tone and pitch as energy was routed to weapons, propulsion, and other critical systems. After being asleep for decades, the ship had been brought back to life, presumably to fulfill its lone, appalling purpose. The idea that such a vessel existed for no other reason than to destroy an entire civilization was something that she had considered largely in the abstract sense: a theory to be discussed and debated. From a tactical standpoint, she could understand the reasons for such a weapon, but the very notion of targeting millions if not billions of noncombatants to secure a military objective sickened her.
We can’t let that happen.