Star Trek: The Empty Chair by Diane Duane Page A

her—”
    Comms was suddenly full of a clamor of voices from all over the system.
This is a mess,
Jim thought, with entirely unnatural calm, as if watching all this in a classroom.
We need much better C&C for these mixed-force engagements. Must sit down with Uhura and design something a little less jury-rigged for the next one. If there
is
a next one. “Bloodwing!”
Jim said.
    “Truly I dislike having my problems solved for me in such a manner,”
Ael said, sounding, for one of the few times since Jim had met her, distinctly rattled.
    Four of the Klingon vessels came arrowing toward Artaleirh. One of them peeled off to the side to make a run at the planet.
Well, they’re going to have to take care of themselves. We have other problems.
The other three ships continued past, plainly targeting
Bloodwing
and
Enterprise.
“Wouldn’t you say their timing’s awfully good?” Jim said. “It’s almost as if they expected to find a battle in its late stages.”
    “It is a matter of common knowledge that there are Klingon agents in Grand Fleet,”
Ael said, sounding unusually grim.
“We have always killed any we found, but in these latter years, treachery roots too deep to dig it all out. I will take the foremost one.”
    “We’ll take the two behind. Sulu, go!”
    Sulu didn’t even nod, but tactical display and the wild veering of stars in the viewscreen showed
Enterprise
breaking hard to starboard and “under” the approaching vessels as
Bloodwing
broke to port and “over.” The Klingon vessels broke right and left to follow them as if it were all a maneuver choreographed well in advance.
    “Two to one,” Kirk muttered, his smile grim. “Their kind of odds.” He watched the twisting, spiraling course that Sulu was tracing down between the two closest Klingon vessels,heading for system nadir and spinning
Enterprise
on her longitudinal axis as she went, firing the phasers from both under and over the primary-hull conduits and spraying phaser fire in a deadly pinwheel at the Klingons, now trying to close from either side. The phaser fire hit their screens without effect. One of the two ships,
Zajikh,
fell slightly behind.
    “Sulu!” Kirk said.
    Again Sulu didn’t respond, but the
Enterprise
came out of the spin and curved up, and up, and back the way she had come in a huge arc that left both
Zajikh
and its brother vessel
Pefak
behind her and briefly going the wrong way. Another half spin and a lurching tightening of that arc, and now
Enterprise
was behind the two Klingon vessels. They started curving up in arcs of their own to get back the advantage.
    Sulu grinned and broke hard aport, but let
Zajikh
drift into range in front of him. As he did, Chekov fired everything he had, phasers and photon torpedoes both.
Zajikh’
s shields bloomed with fire on the port side, then flickered in one spot. Once again Chekov hit that spot with phasers.
    The beams stabbed through to the port nacelle.
Zajikh
blew. Sulu threw
Enterprise
just enough to one side to miss the worst of the expanding debris cloud, but now
Pefak
was hard on their tail.
    Sulu swung back around, threw
Enterprise
into another of those bone-groaning turns, and headed in the nadir direction again—but this time the plane of the asteroid belt was under them. Sulu fled toward it.
Pefak
came after him, fast.
    Chekov pounced on his board again; a spread of torpedoes sprayed out of the aft launchers. “We’re empty until recharge,” he said. “Cycle in five minutes.”
    Jim shook his head. It wasn’t going to be enough. Sulu poured on the speed as
Pefak
took some hits on his forward screens, slowed a little.
    Bloodwing
came swinging in to plant a spread of her own torpedoes all over the same shields Chekov had just hit.Those shields flared, went down.
Bloodwing
fired disruptors.
    Pefak
coasted on by with engines failed, but before she could fire again and finish it,
Bloodwing
had to veer off once more as
Kartadza
came in firing, and pursued her away from the