Lost Time (10 page)

Kira winced at a sudden flash; the
Li
’s bridge exploded in white-hot light; there was the flicker of a sensation more than the image of a fireball and then there was a swirl as the bridge dissolved, disintegrated before Kira’s eyes….

And went black.

McAllan cried, “She’s going to
hit!
”

“Salek,” Gold said, feeling the cords of his forearms knot and bulge as his hands fisted, “do it
now.
”

And then time slowed and stretched like a broad elastic ribbon, and Gold saw it all, felt everything: the bite of his nails into his palms; the stutter of his heart as the
Keldon
spewed a salvo of glittering green death; and then there was the
Li
dodging, evading, weaving—and then the
Gettysburg
’s pods erupting one right after the other in rapid-fire sequence as the explosives packed inside detonated. The detonations pillowed, balled, grew, fed on themselves and the hot plasma streamers swirling around the
Keldon
and
Hideki.
Hit from behind, the
Hideki
lost control, tumbling end over end, and then Gold saw that the
Keldon
had one final choice: kill the
Li,
or blow the much-larger
Hideki
out of space. The warship chose the
Hideki
…

And then time snapped back; the world sped up; and to Gold’s horror, as the
Keldon
touched off its disruptors, the
Li
hit.

“Status.” The skin of Zotat’s face was a deep jade with rage. “Are they—?”

“Destroyed.” Zotat’s tactical officer was ashen. “The
Keldon
and its escort, and the Bajoran. The enemy saucer is moving off to flank its mother ship, but they must be damaged, sir. Their shields went down.”

“Do they have shields now?”

“Yes, sir. But we have superior weapons and are more maneuverable. Shall we finish them?”

“No,” said Zotat. His hands twitched with the urge to break something, and then, remembering his orders, he sucked in a deep breath. “They won’t go far. Have you extrapolated a course for the
Gettysburg?
”

“Yes, sir—into the densest part of the Belt, a concentration of superheated plasma and tachyon eddies.”

“How long?”

“Estimate they will arrive in one minute, twenty-two seconds.”

“Do they have weapons?”

“Reading full weapons capabilities.”

“And yet they haven’t used them.” Zotat’s eyes slitted. “And I think I know why. Helm, close on the
Gettysburg.
Tactical, you will fire at my command.”

“Yes, sir,” said the tactical officer. “Disruptors at half power as per Gul Garak’s instructions. You wish for me to disable the engines?”

Zotat spun on his heel. “Did I
order
disruptors at half?”

“Well, no.” The tactical officer looked perplexed. “No, sir, but Gul Garak—”

“Gul Garak is not here. Gul Garak has not witnessed two of his ships being blown to bits.
I
am captain here and I will tell you
what
to do and
when
to do it. Understood?”

The bridge was very still. The tactical officer’s eyes rolled left and right and then settled on a spot just above Zotat’s head. “Of course, sir. Perfectly.”

“I am so glad. Now,” said Zotat. Turning, he pointed a finger that trembled with rage. “Run…him…
down.
”

“Can you raise Salek?”

“Sorry, Captain.” Haznedl shook her head. “With all that debris and radiation, I can’t pierce the interference.”

“What about the
Templar?
”

Haznedl said, “If she got away, sir, I can’t tell. Commander Salek’s off to port, standing by and—”

“Cardassian warship accelerating, Captain,” McAllan broke in. “Disruptor cannon at full power. They’re opening fire.”

“Shields at maximum,” Gold said with a snarl. “Target their engines, return fire. Wong, see if you—”

The battery of disruptor cannon bammed against the hull plating of the drive section. Gold staggered as the ship lurched, and the air filled with a loud, metallic squall. “Wong!”

“Sorry, sir.” Wong had been thrown from his chair. He clawed his way back. His forehead was crimson, and he raised a shaking hand to swipe blood from his eyes. “I’ve lost port maneuvering thrusters. Trying to compensate now.”

“Stay on course. McAllan, damage report.”

“Shields down to seventy percent. Phasers still online and—oh my God.”

“What?”

McAllan sagged. “The photon torpedoes, the launch assist generators, they’re offline.”

Gold fisted open a channel to engineering. “Gomez, I need those torpedoes.”

“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t. Not without robbing power from the shields.”

Then that’s it. We’ve run out of options.
“Forget the torpedoes. Charge up the deflector.”

“Aye, sir.”

“But, Captain,” said McAllan, “what’s the good of the deflector if we can’t detonate our torpedoes?”

“You let me worry about that,” Gold snapped. “Now hold those bastards off with phasers; just hold them off a few more seconds.” The lights dimmed as phasers discharged, and Gold watched the blasts sting the
Keldon
warship at its nose. He didn’t need McAllan to tell him the phasers had done little damage. Gold crowded in behind Wong. “How much longer?”

“One minute.” Wong gulped and then Gold got a good look and saw that Wong had clapped a hand to his forehead to try and stanch the blood that leaked through his splayed fingers. “One min…one…” Wong’s eyes rolled up in his head, and then he went limp.

Gold snagged the unconscious helmsman as he slid left, and lowered him to the deck. “Haznedl,” said Gold, taking up Wong’s position at the helm, “see if you can raise Salek. Tell hi—” He lurched forward as the next disruptor battery scored a hit aft, and his forehead cracked Wong’s console. Gold blacked out for a second and then came to, his vision blurred with a shower of white lights scintillating at the margins. But he could see well enough—and all the feeling drained out of his body like water rushing through a sieve.

Because their impulse engines were gone.

“They’re dead in the water,” said Robin Rusconi. She staffed the helm where Wong usually sat and now she looked back at the command chair. “That last disruptor salvo took out the impulse engines. They haven’t got torpedoes either.”

“We have to do something,” said Kira, who stood to Salek’s left. She was still having trouble catching her breath and her eyebrows and eyelashes were singed off, but she’d bullied her way out of sickbay after Salek had beamed her crew aboard. “They’re still too far away. If they discharge the deflector now, the concentration of particles won’t be enough to open the wormhole without the torpedoes.”

“I am aware of the situation and the logistics involved,” said Salek, and his reply was so maddeningly calm, Kira wanted to scratch out his eyes. “Lieutenant Shabalala, can you raise the captain?”

“Negative, sir.”

“But we can’t just
stand
here.” This from Duffy, his voice full of anguish. He stood off Kira’s left shoulder. “Can’t we draw that
Keldon
’s fire?”

“We must maintain this distance, Commander. Else all this will have been for naught.” Salek’s black gaze dropped to Kira, and she felt the sting of tears prick her eyelids. “And you know that I will do what must be done, when the time is right.”

“Message coming in, sir,” Shabalala said, and then he gasped. “It’s the captain, it’s…” His voice trailed off.

“Lieutenant?”

“Automatic distress, sir.” Shabalala’s forehead wrinkled in a deep frown. “He’s activated the automatic distress beacon.”

“Very well.” Salek nodded. “Transporter room. Chief Feliciano, stand ready. Helm, plot a reverse course to take us out of the belt, full impulse.”

“Reverse course?” Rusconi gaped. “But that’s a distress signal, sir, the captain—”

“No, Ensign,” said Salek. “It is only a signal. Carry out my orders.”

A second passed, then another. Then Rusconi said, “Sir, the captain’s lowered his shields and…Sir, they’re activating
warp engines.
”

“Lower shields,” Salek said. “Mr. Feliciano, activate transporters. Helm, hard about, go to full impulse.”

“Sir!” McAllan’s eyes bulged. “The shields! Captain, what are you
doing?
”

Gomez, on speaker: “
No, Captain, you can’t!”

“But I can,” said Gold, and he was amazed at how calm he was, now that the moment was upon him. He heard the high-pitched whine, looked toward tactical, saw McAllan’s face break apart in the transporter beam. Knew without looking that the same thing was happening to Wong, to Gomez, to Haznedl, to the remainder of his skeleton crew left aboard.

“Because it’s
my
choice,” said Gold to an empty ship. “And I’ve chosen for
you.
”