Myriad Universes_ Echoes And Refractions Part 11

"Sir," the tactical officer interjected. "I've just cross-referenced the readings with our database. The observed effect is consistent with a cloaked B'rel-cla.s.s Klingon bird-of-prey."

Thelin's antennae bowed inward in consternation. "This doesn't make sense," he said. "If they wanted to spy on us, they'd only need one cloaked ship. Why send three?"

Croy shrugged. "Maybe they wanted to intimidate us?"

"I don't think so," Thelin replied. "They're much more cunning than that."

"Well, the cavalry is about to arrive," Croy said. "The s.p.a.cedock doors are opening!"

"Full range on viewer," Thelin ordered.

In the distance, the huge doors on the topmost dome of the s.p.a.cedock began to slowly slide apart, revealing the gleaming hull of the Excelsior as it waited patiently to emerge. Around the bridge of the Copernicus, the anxious crew grew restless, knowing that they were at best an even match against one bird-of-prey, let alone three.

The moment the forward hull of Excelsior began to poke through the aperture, one of the areas of distortion on the screen shifted, and began to move swiftly across the field of vision toward the s.p.a.cedock.

"I've seen enough," the Andorian captain said. "Go to red alert. Ensign Lee, report to Excelsior that the bogey appears to be moving to intercept."

"Shields are up, weapons systems are charging," the tactical officer said.

"Excelsior acknowledges," Lee said. "Going to red alert status."

"Captain!" Croy shouted. "All three ships are decloaking!"

Sure enough, the three vessels simultaneously emerged from their shrouds. One bird-of-prey sat perched directly in front of the s.p.a.cedock doors, engaging the Excelsior in a tactical staredown. But the much larger Starfleet ship appeared to blink first; as soon as it cleared the dock, it veered off before turning and settling into a central position amid the three Klingon ships.

The two Klingon ships that had sat unmoving throughout the previous maneuvers now split apart, aggressively taking flanking positions on either side of the Excelsior.

"Captain," Lee said. "Word from s.p.a.cedock is that they have now mobilized the Yorktown. They'll be coming out to join us shortly."

"Acknowledge that," Thelin replied with some relief. The three small Klingon fighters would be no match for two ma.s.sive Starfleet cruisers, and Thelin, while certainly not one to back away from a fight, knew that the tiny science vessel he commanded would be of little use were this standoff to destabilize into any sort of battle. "Helm," he said, hating the words he was about to say but fully appreciating the facts of the situation, "as soon as the Yorktown is free and clear of the dock, prepare to withdraw."

"Aye, sir," the helmsman said.

Inside the dock, the Const.i.tution-cla.s.s Yorktown could now be seen preparing to maneuver its way through the doors while a Klingon bird-of-prey still guarded the exit like a sentry. But before any part of the ship could emerge, as Thelin's crew looked on in horror, the Klingon ship's disruptor cannons unleashed a barrage of firepower directly upon the Starfleet vessel.

Immediately the scene around them dissolved into utter chaos. In response, the Excelsior fired upon the attacking Klingon ship, only to be hit with disruptor fire on both sides from the two flanking vessels.

Thelin leaped from his seat. "Helm! Run evasive maneuvers around the starboard-side hostile; tactical, lay down strafing fire as we pa.s.s. Force that vessel to disengage from the Excelsior."

Wasting no time, the Copernicus swept past the Klingon ship while repeatedly firing phasers upon it before quickly withdrawing to prepare for another pa.s.s. But their efforts seemed to have little effect. The shields on the bird-of-prey held, and it continued to pummel the Excelsior mercilessly.

"Sir," Ensign Lee shouted, holding his hand to his ear as he attempted to make sense of the subs.p.a.ce chatter the engagement had produced. "The Excelsior's a sitting duck. She has to disengage."

Thelin rea.s.sessed the situation. While the bird-of-prey remained staked out before the dock doors, the Yorktown would be unable to get clear. "All right," he said. "Then it's up to us to eliminate that bird in front of the s.p.a.cedock."

"Negative, sir," Lee responded. "Yorktown is a no-go. They're closing the dock doors."

"What?" Thelin shouted back. "Would you mind asking Starfleet Command just what exactly we're supposed to do out here?"

"Sir, Starfleet Command reports three available starships in the system at the Utopia Planitia shipyards. They've just warped out from Mars. They'll be here in five minutes."

"We could be dead in five minutes," the captain fired back. Such an amount of time, Thelin knew, was practically an eternity during this type of engagement, and his crew of science specialists had certainly not been prepared to go into battle. Had Federation Intelligence been caught totally unaware that the Klingons were planning to disrupt their mission? The devastation wreaked upon Earth had apparently crippled the government more seriously than anyone was willing to admit.

But, curiously, the Klingon ships now seemed content to sit and wait. The Excelsior had circled around and come to a more defensive position, but the birds showed no signs of taking further aggressive action. Despite the lull, Thelin knew better than to relax for even a moment.

"Captain!" Lee suddenly shouted. "I'm receiving additional transmissions from Utopia Planitia. They're reporting three more Klingon B'rel-cla.s.s birds-of-prey now in orbit around Mars."

"Over the shipyards?!" Thelin exclaimed.

"Yes, sir!"

"Put it on speakers."

Lee flipped the necessary controls, and the confused, slightly panicked voices sounded out, overlapping one another with increasing intensity.

"-have decloaked directly above the Odyssey Depots, coordinates twenty-seven point five degrees lat.i.tude-"

"-negative communications. Klingon hostiles are not responding to hails. No heavy cruisers are in range to intercept; we are mobilizing all light cruisers and scoutships-repeat, all light cruisers-"

"Oh my G.o.d...Platform fifteen, do you have visual at coordinates one-two-seven mark fifty-five?"

"Stand by...Confirmed, we have visual evidence of multiple energy surges, bearing-"

"They're decloaking! Red alert! Priority Starfleet Command, we count approximately sixteen...correction, approximately twenty D7-and K'tinga-cla.s.s Klingon cruisers in attack formation! Incoming, bearing three-"

"Firing! Repeat, we are taking heavy fire! Starfleet Command, the shipyards are under attack! All vessels, engage at will, priority-"

"It's a G.o.dd.a.m.n armada..."

Thelin looked about the bridge at his crew-all of them motionless, stunned, gazing straight ahead with open mouths. Carol Marcus, about whom he had nearly forgotten in the midst of the crisis, looked as if she wanted to curl up into a ball and hide.

"Planetwide broadcast to Earth from Starfleet Command," Ensign Lee said, his voice quivering ever so slightly. "Orders are for all Federation government personnel to evacuate the system."

"What?" Croy exclaimed. "They're abandoning the planet?"

"Pull it together, Lieutenant," Thelin admonished him. "It's just a precaution."

A drastic precaution, Thelin thought to himself. An acknowledgment of the worst-case scenario.

The Andorian gazed at the Copernicus viewscreen as desperate transmissions from the carnage at the shipyards on Mars continued to play over the bridge speakers. The three Klingon ships, so aggressive just moments ago, had returned to their pa.s.sive, non-combatant postures. Why are they still here? Thelin silently wondered.

As if on cue, the bird-of-prey that had successfully neutralized the s.p.a.cedock suddenly powered its engines and shot past the Copernicus-not leaving orbit, but heading instead toward the horizon, seeking another target somewhere above the planet. The remaining two Klingon ships veered about to the front of the Excelsior, blocking any attempt to follow.

"Where does he think he's going?" Thelin asked aloud. "Helm, follow that vessel!"

The Copernicus turned hard about and set off in pursuit of the rogue Klingon ship, leaving Excelsior and the other birds-of-prey in their wake. The tactical officer spoke up. "Sir, I'm tracking another ship from Earth's surface," she said. "It's a Type-3 shuttlecraft, and it appears that the Klingons are on course to intercept. Its call sign is..." She gasped. "Captain, it's Starfleet One! It's the president's shuttle!"

Suddenly, the tremendous tension that had built up within the Andorian had a focus-a clear duty to perform-and he felt substantially better. "All right, people," he said with enthusiasm. "Our first priority is to make sure that shuttle gets clear. Power up weapons and fire on those karskat Klingons as soon as they're in range. Where's Excelsior?"

"Sir," Lee said, "Excelsior reports that the two other birds have reengaged them. They can't a.s.sist us in the pursuit."

"Klingon vessel in range," came the word from tactical. "Firing phasers."

The Copernicus phasers struck their target, but the Klingons' shields fully absorbed the energy of the blasts.

"Their shields are holding. No damage."

"Klingon vessel will intercept Starfleet One in thirty seconds," Croy called out.

"What's the word on the reinforcements?" Thelin shouted.

"The starships have been recalled to Mars, sir," Lee said with exasperation. "We're on our own."

d.a.m.n! Thelin thought. Our weapons aren't powerful enough to penetrate Klingon shielding. "Keep firing," he commanded anyway.

Unless we can penetrate their shields some other way...

"Carol!" he said, spinning around to face the scientist. "We still have a Genesis torpedo in the launching bay. Can you reprogram it from here?"

Carol shook herself out of her nearly trancelike state. "What? I mean, yes...I can make minor modifications to the matrix."

"My only concern is point of impact," Thelin explained. "I want the whole Genesis effect focused upon the deflector energy particles. Can you do that?"

"Yes, I think so," Carol replied, and swung around in her chair to face the console.

"Ten seconds," Croy announced.

Carol chewed on her lip as her fingers flew over the console, calling up screen after screen with lightning speed as she modified the parameters for the interaction of the Genesis effect. She was making progress, but it was taking time-too much time.

"The president's shuttle is now in range of the Klingon vessel," Croy said. "Starfleet One is taking enemy fire!"

"Concentrate all of our firepower on the Klingon weapons systems," Thelin commanded. "Try to poke a hole in those shields. Tactical, lock on target for the torpedo launch."

"Programming the Genesis device now," Carol said.

"Target locked," came the announcement from tactical. "Starfleet One aft shields down to fifty percent."

"Download complete," Carol finally shouted with relief. "Ready to deploy!"

"Fire!" said Thelin.

The torpedo shot out from the launcher and guided itself with precision toward the bird-of-prey, where it struck the deflector field in the aft section, briefly producing a shimmering fireball as the effect spread throughout the vessel's shields. The effect dissipated within seconds.

"Klingon shields are down!" Croy said excitedly.

"Fire phasers at will," the captain commanded.

The Copernicus's weapons pounded the aft section of the vessel with multiple phaser blasts until the ship erupted in a bright fireball.

Ensign Lee spun around from the communications station. "Starfleet One reports that they are free and clear!"

The crew erupted into applause, the tension of the officers being audibly released in the form of various shouts, whoops, and cries of relief. Thelin smiled and sank back into his chair. "Good work, everyone. Ensign Lee, any word from the conflict at Utopia Planetia?"

"There's a ton of traffic, sir, but I can't make much sense of it. But wait..." His face visibly brightened. "We're being hailed by the Excelsior!"

"On screen," Thelin said.

The image of Lawrence Styles filled the viewscreen-seated in the captain's chair, looking amazingly calm and collected, surrounded by the members of his crew, to whom it seemed composure had perhaps just now returned. "Captain th'Valra.s.s!" he said, using Thelin's formal name. "We were just on our way to a.s.sist you. I trust you were able to dispense with your uninvited guest?"

"Indeed, we were," Thelin said with a hint of bravado. "And you?"

"Oh, it took us a minute or two, but we were able to outmaneuver and outgun those Klingon buzzards," Styles proudly bragged. "I tell you, Thelin, for a ship this size, she handles like a well-bred Chilean steed. We're coming up on your position. Be there in a sec."

"Acknowledged," Thelin said. "End transmission. External view." He turned and glibly rolled his eyes at the officers seated behind him. A couple of the officers laughed heartily at his subtle derision. But at least one officer at the engineering station stared over Thelin's shoulder with a blank expression, focusing upon something behind him. Thelin observed him for a moment. "What?" he asked.

The officer pointed past the Andorian toward the viewscreen. Thelin turned around.

On the screen the Excelsior was seen as it approached over the vast bluish arc of Earth below, set amid the familiar starfield with a million shining points of light. And many of those points of light weren't just shining. They were shimmering. Lots of them. Enough, in fact, to fill half of the sky with an eerie distortion effect.

"Thori help us," Thelin whispered.

"Sir," Lee said. "Receiving a transmission...A convoy of Federation shuttles and diplomatic vessels is leaving Earth."

"They'd better hurry," Thelin remarked. "Send to Excelsior, fall into formation and escort these ships out before that second invading fleet starts firing."

The convoy seemed to extend forever, as one small craft after another ferried out the Federation's top officials and amba.s.sadors. As the last few ships cleared Earth's atmosphere, the Klingon cruisers began to drop their cloaks and descend en ma.s.se onto the planet. But none of them seemed interested in pursuing the escaping vessels. These ships seemed to have one mission and one alone: to subdue and control one of the greatest natural resources of the Federation-the planet Earth.

Lieutenant Croy put up the reverse angle on the viewscreen, and Thelin watched as the lonely circle of Earth began to fade into the distance. He could still see the tiny dots of the invading Klingon fleet as the sunlight glinted off the hulls-a swarm of tiny gnats descending upon a ripe fruit.

"We have to go back," Thelin said. "Coordinate with Excelsior, and raise Starfleet Command. Ask them how soon we can expect some d.a.m.n reinforcements."

"Er, Captain..." Lee meekly spoke. "We've already received priority orders from Starfleet Command. We're to rendezvous at Vulcan. There will be no reinforcements."

Incredulous, Thelin gaped at him, then looked about at the faces of his crew, most displaying some blend of shock and grief. That was it? After all they had done, the system was to be considered a total loss? There were still ten billion people on Earth! "So...we're supposed to just leave them to the Klingons?" he muttered.

No one answered his retort, but it didn't matter. As far as he was concerned, the answer was "no." He wasn't giving up that easily. "Hail Starfleet One. I want to talk to the president."

The response didn't take long. "On screen," Lee said.

A middle-aged woman with deep brown skin appeared on the viewscreen, her eyes clearly showing the pain of the stress she had endured. "This is Penda Ubuntu, chief of staff to the president. On behalf of all of us, I want to express our thanks for your a.s.sistance with our escape."

"Thank you, Ms. Ubuntu," Thelin acknowledged. "If you would, please, I really must speak to President Roth immediately."

"I'm sorry, Captain...but that isn't possible."

Thelin briefly closed his eyes and took a deep breath in an effort to relax his frayed nerves. "Ms. Ubuntu, we've risked a great deal here today. I merely ask this one small courtesy. Please."

The woman looked down and sobbed mournfully before responding. "Captain...President Roth experienced a ma.s.sive coronary attack during the escape. You can't speak to him. He's dead."