Star Trek: The Empty Chair by Diane Duane

going to be good enough.
“Bloodwing,”
Jim said, “this one’s going to have to be yours.”
    “Which one?”
Ael’s voice came back, somewhat desperately, as the three ships suddenly became four.
    “There is the new reading we were expecting, Captain,” Spock said. “Same velocity and trajectory as
Sumpter
for the moment. Now accelerating away. Warp eight point two—eight point three—”
    Arest
and
Berouinn
broke to port and starboard, but both of them were still heading generally sunward.
Any one of them could seed the star,
Jim thought,
but that little splinter off
Sumpter,
that’s the best candidate for my money.
    Though could it be a decoy?
    He threw his doubts aside. “The new reading. We’ll take
Arest
for the moment and cover your back—then take
Berouinn
if there’s time, after you’ve handled what just jumped off
Sumpter.
Mr. Sulu?”
    “Aye, Captain,” Sulu said, and
Enterprise
veered after
Arest,
but still too slowly.
    “New reading,” Spock said. “Coming uncloaked.”
    Oh,
now
what?
Jim thought, and tried to swallow, but his mouth was just too dry. He watched
Bloodwing
arrowing after the reading that had separated itself from
Sumpter.
She was making a little headway, catching up to it, but too slowly. Artaleirh’s star was getting close.
    “Free Rihannsu ID,” Spock said. “One of their captured ships, a cruiser. Closing on the new reading.”
    A bloom of fire erupted abruptly in front of them. Chekov said something fierce and satisfied in Russian. Sulu looked up with a feral grin as he threw the ship after
Arest,
which had begun veering toward the sun again. “Oh no you don’t,” he said.
    Chekov fired a spread of photon torpedoes ahead.
Arest
veered again, away from the star, and Sulu followed her, closer now. “Warp seven,” he said. “Seven point five.”
    “Mr. Sulu!”
    “It’s all right, Mr. Scott,” Sulu said to the voice on the comm, almost absently. “We’re not redlining. She’s settled in now. Seven point nine.”
    “Enterprise,” Courhig’s voice said, “
this is
Sithesh.” He sounded shaken.
“Tactical detection imaging has been down for some minutes, secondary to jamming artifact, but we’ve just recovered it, and we have new traces inbound. Six—”
    “Six
what,
Courhig?” Jim said.
    “Indeterminate. The readings could be
K’tinga-
class, but whether Imperial or—”
    In streaks of blue fire fading to red, the uncertainty was resolved. Spock glanced up from his scanner. “Klingon, Captain,” he said, and even his controlled tone managed to communicate a sense of alarm. “IDs show six vessels. KL776
Kartadza,
KL6044
Tevekh,
KL908
Melikaphkaz—”
    Six,
Jim thought.
Oh my God. And here I was thinking that we’d gotten off lucky this time.
“I don’t care who they are, they can’t leave the system.
Bloodwing!”
    “I see them, Captain,”
Ael’s voice said.
“System jamming is holding, but we must engage them and not let them leave!”
    Jim shook his head.
Us.
Bloodwing.
Two, maybe three of the Free Rihannsu vessels capable of taking them. Against
six
of them?
The odds were uncomfortably long. “Sulu!” he said.
    “
Arest
is breaking off, Captain,” Sulu said. “
Berouinn
is following. Heading out of system fast, along the ecliptic.
Melikaphkaz
is following—”
    Enterprise
shook violently, and Jim clenched his hands on the arms of the center seat again as the
K’tinga-
class vessel fired at them en passant. “Number three shield down to fifty percent,” Spock said. “Other shields are holding. Compensating for three.”
    The ship shook again, and again. “Mr. Sulu, abandon pursuit of
Arest,
form up on
Bloodwing.”
    In the tactical display, a light winked out. “No point in chasing
Arest
anymore,” Sulu said. “
Melikaphkaz
got her. He’s pursuing
Berouinn
now.” And another light curved in ona last green-colored one in the display: two lights became one. “That was
Sumpter,”
Sulu said. “
Tevekh
got