Myriad Universes_ Echoes And Refractions Part 25

As Hahn watched, the battle unfolded. A tactical view replaced the images of ben Zoma and Gold on the forward viewer. The da Vinci and Lexington took up positions that allowed them to intercept two of the Galors, leaving the starbase to defend itself against the third.

One of the engineers-a newly a.s.signed Tellarite ensign whose name Hahn could not recall-said, "s.h.i.+elds are down to eighty-five percent."

Hahn was pleased with that. The last time, s.h.i.+elds lost twenty percent of power when hit with the new Carda.s.sian polaron beams. Losing only fifteen bode well for the future.

"Fire torpedoes," Benteen said, "pattern sigma."

A spread of torpedoes. .h.i.t the Galor at various points, doing no physical damage, but wiping out their s.h.i.+elds.

"Phasers," Benteen said quickly. "Take them down before they can reconst.i.tute."

The starbase now had four phaser banks-one of the upgrades provided by the S.C.E.-and three of the four fired on the Galor, destroying it in a plume of flame.

Looking at the forward viewer, Hahn saw that the Lexington had done likewise to the second s.h.i.+p, and that the third had been disabled by the da Vinci.

Stepping forward to stand next to Benteen, Hahn said, "End battle simulation."

The illumination in ops returned to normal. Once again, ben Zoma's and Gold's faces appeared on the screen. "Not bad," the former said.

Dax looked up and smiled. "What happened to the fourth phaser bank?"

"Salek and Duffy are scrambling around trying to figure that one out right now," Gold said with a smile, referring to the two men in charge of the S.C.E. contingent on his s.h.i.+p. "We won't leave until it's working right."

"Still," Hahn said, "the upgrades you performed worked beautifully. That was one of the most realistic battle simulations I've ever seen."

"We aim to please," Gold said.

Turning to the watch officer, Hahn said, "As do you, Commander. You handled that well."

Benteen nodded. "Thank you, sir." If she felt any pride at his compliment, she did not show it.

Grinning, Hahn said, "At ease, Commander. The simulation's done."

"Yes, sir," Benteen said, though she didn't noticeably relax.

Giving up, Hahn turned toward his office. "I'm going to go contact my wife. Commander Benteen, you-"

"Sir!" That was Ledrah. "We're picking something up! Three vessels approaching from the Carda.s.sian border at high warp!" The Tiburonian looked up sharply. "Approaching at warp nine."

Now as serious as Benteen, Hahn turned back toward ops. I can always call Crystal later. "Identify."

Dax shook her head, the ponytail that held in her brown hair waving from side to side. "Unknown. It doesn't match anything in the database."

Hahn stared at Dax. "Nothing? Not even a vague comp?"

"No." Dax looked up, concern etched on her spotted brow. "Sir, we've literally got thousands of s.h.i.+ps in the computer. This isn't close to any of them-but it's coming from Carda.s.sian s.p.a.ce."

"Oy vey," Gold said.

"What is it?" Hahn asked.

"My tactical officer just informed me that the s.h.i.+ps are arming what appear to be weapons-of the exact same design as the new Carda.s.sian weapons."

Frowning, ben Zoma said, "That can't be good."

Hahn looked at Ledrah. "Open a channel, Lieutenant, maybe they're only here to talk."

"That seems d.a.m.ned unlikely," ben Zoma said.

"Maybe, but I want to give it a chance."

Ledrah said, "Channel open."

"This is Admiral Eric Hahn of Federation Starbase 375. Please identify yourselves."

"I am First Omet'iklan, and I am dead. I go into battle to reclaim my life. This I do gladly, for I am Jem'Hadar. Victory is life."

Ledrah stared up at Hahn. "They closed the channel."

"Pity," Hahn said, "as I'd like to know what the h.e.l.l that meant."

"Whoever they are," ben Zoma said, "they don't appear to have our best wishes at heart, since they're talking about going into battle."

"Agreed," Hahn said, and gave Benteen a look.

"Red alert," she said, "all hands to battle stations. This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill."

"Lieutenant," Hahn said to Ledrah, "keep trying to hail them. Maybe-"

Dax interrupted: "They're coming out of warp."

Looking up at the screen, Hahn saw the three s.h.i.+ps appear, in a formation that put them in a prime position to attack the starbase, a level of precision piloting that both impressed and frightened the admiral.

One second later, some very familiar weapons fire spit forth from all three s.h.i.+ps-one straight at the starbase, the other two at the two stars.h.i.+ps nearby.

The beam splashed against the s.h.i.+elds, but a glance at the look of concern on Dax's face didn't make Hahn feel any better. "Lieutenant?"

Dax looked up. "s.h.i.+elds are down to twenty percent. That beam is the same phased polaron type as what the Carda.s.sians have been using, but two hundred and fifty times more powerful."

Benteen walked over to Ledrah's console. "Get an emergency squib to Starfleet Command."

Nodding, Ledrah said, "Already on it."

Looking up, Hahn saw the da Vinci taking evasive action while the alien s.h.i.+p kept pounding away at it. The Sabre cla.s.s had a compact design, with the nacelles attached to the lower hull, and one of those nacelles was venting plasma. As for the Lexington, it was holding its own, but sensor readouts at the bottom of the screen indicated that their s.h.i.+elds were almost gone as well.

"All torpedoes and phaser banks fire!" Hahn cried, even as consoles started exploding around him.

"s.h.i.+elds down!" Ledrah said, as if that weren't blindingly obvious. "Hull integrity on habitat level down to twelve percent!"

Benteen said, "Evacuate the habitat level, now!"

Somehow, Hahn didn't think that these Jem'Hadar people were going to give the various off-duty and civilian personnel in those areas time to evac.

Three of the starbase's four phaser banks fired on the enemy vessel, along with a spread of torpedoes. The former blew a ma.s.sive hole in the vessel's underbelly, and Hahn saw debris and bodies blown out into s.p.a.ce.

Dammit, Hahn thought, this shouldn't be happening. I'm supposed to be a teacher, not a killer. Yet he gave the order to Ledrah: "Continuous fire!"

The Lexington continued to fire away at their own foe, but they were taking a pounding as well. The strut holding on the port nacelle was quickly severed, and then the Nebula-cla.s.s vessel started spinning out of control.

"Lexington has lost att.i.tude control," Dax said. "They're-"

The Jem'Hadar fired on the out-of-control stars.h.i.+p, and it was destroyed.

Then, just as suddenly, the s.h.i.+p attacking the da Vinci exploded. "What happened?"

Dax's eyes had grown wide. "I-I don't know. The da Vinci's powerless, and they're venting plasma, but somehow they managed to destroy that s.h.i.+p."

"Da Vinci to starbase," came Gold's voice. "Requesting immediate evac, we've got a warp-core breach in progress, we-"

A moment later, the da Vinci was consumed by the mutual annihilation of matter and antimatter.

"Sir," Benteen said, "the enemy s.h.i.+p!"

Looking up, Hahn saw that the Jem'Hadar vessel that had been firing on them was still approaching.

Ledrah said, "They're heading right for us, sir-full impulse."

Hahn felt his body go numb. The starbase had thrusters that enabled it to maintain its position, but nothing that would get it out of the enemy s.h.i.+p's way.

"Keep firing," Benteen said. "We've got to destroy them before they ram us!"

But Hahn knew it wouldn't happen. They'd been firing continuously on the enemy s.h.i.+p, and there was just no way it was going to be enough to destroy it before they rammed into- "They're heading right for the fusion core," Dax said, sounding remarkably calm.

I love you, Crystal.

First Omet'iklan watched on the forward viewer as the Federation starbase and First Taran'atar's s.h.i.+p annihilated each other. Omet'iklan was surprised at the outcome of the battle. The Vorta's intelligence had indicated that the Federation Starfleet was weakened by their lengthy conflict with the Romulans. Omet'iklan suspected that that intelligence came from the Carda.s.sians, who were remarkably arrogant and wrongheaded.

However, Omet'iklan was a soldier, born and bred. He was ordered to lead the fleet, along with First Taran'atar's and First Talak'talan's s.h.i.+ps, and destroy the Federation starbase nearest to the Dominion border. He followed those orders without question. The Vorta had insisted that they would, at best, suffer only minor casualties, not lose two-thirds of the fleet, but that was of no consequence. Omet'iklan and his men had made a note of the battle tactics used, and of how much better the Starfleet s.h.i.+elds held up against Dominion weaponry than they had before. The Vorta had not warned them about that in their intelligence, either.

The only thing they had not been able to determine was how Talak'talan's s.h.i.+p had been destroyed by the smallest of the Federation vessels. That small vessel's own destruction meant that the answer was forever denied to the Dominion, and Omet'iklan regretted the loss of information that might prove useful in future campaigns.

Still, the battle had been won. That was all that mattered.

Victory is life.

He ordered his crew onward to their next a.s.signment.

15.

Palais de la Concorde Paris, Earth United Federation of Planets When Jean-Luc Picard was eight years old, he went on a cla.s.s trip to the Palais de la Concorde. Although the cla.s.s did not get to meet President Laikan-which was a great disappointment to the children-they did meet several members of the president's staff as well as the Federation Council. It was a very fondly remembered experience of Picard's childhood.

He never imagined that sixty years later he would be standing in the president's office in an official capacity.

At the moment, the president himself was not present, though they had been a.s.sured by his chief of staff-a somewhat hyperactive Trill woman named Emra Sil-that he was on his way. So Picard stood with Worf, off to the side of the office, which overlooked the Paris skyline.

Growing up in France as he had, he was used to that particular view: the Tour Eiffel, of course, as well as the River Seine, the Batiment Vingt-Troisieme Siecle, and of course, the Champs-Elysees, which ran under this cylindrical fifteen-story structure.

Instead, he gazed upon the tense faces of those in the room. Seated in the two chairs that faced the president's desk were the aforementioned Sil and Amba.s.sador Krajensky. Standing near Picard and Worf were Kira, Quark, and Odo, the last being the only one who didn't look tense, though Picard supposed that that was due more to his seemingly unfinished facial features. Certainly, he was as aware as anyone of the gravity of the current situation; after all, he had spent several months trapped in a containment unit in order to provide proof of Kira's information.

Quark also didn't look tense, exactly. His visage mainly showed fear.

On the other side of the room stood two admirals-William Ross, who had replaced Leyton as Commander, Starfleet; and Charles Whatley, the current liaison between the Palais and Starfleet Commandas well as Councillors T'Latrek of Vulcan and Matthew Mazibuko of Earth, two of the permanent members of the Federation Security Council. T'Latrek had been serving in the Federation government since Ra-ghoratreii's presidency in the latter part of the twenty-third century, and Picard knew hers to be one of the most respected voices on the Council.

For the fourth time in ten minutes, Sil said, "I'm sure the president will be along any minute."

"This is a matter of some urgency," Krajensky said tightly. His face carried the same sour expression it had for much of the journey to Earth from the Carda.s.sian border. Picard was unsure if he was annoyed because Picard and his people questioned Kira behind his back or because his mission of peace was short-circuited by Carda.s.sian intransigence-or both.

"Yes, but there is a war on," Sil said tartly. "In fact, there would appear to be two."

Picard felt a bitter taste in his mouth. They'd heard about the destruction of Starbase 375, as well as the Lexington and da Vinci, while en route to Earth. The news had hit Picard particularly hard. Eric Hahn and David Gold were both old friends of many years' standing, and Gilaad ben Zoma was even more than that: He'd been Picard's first officer on board the Stargazer for the two decades that Picard had been her captain. That, just on the heels of Elizabeth Shelby's death...

With a grimace, Picard forced the feelings of grief and regret and anger into the overstuffed box. He was in the Palais, about to report to the Federation president. He could not afford the luxury of grief right now.

The side door whooshed open, and three plainclothes security guards came into the office, quickly followed by three people: a Grazerite, an Andorian, and a Triexian. The first was, of course, President Jaresh-Inyo. Picard recognized the Andorian as Councillor Charivretha zh'Thane, another member of the Security Council.

Sil and Krajensky got to their feet at the president's entrance, but the large Grazerite said in a gentle voice, "Keep your seats, please."

Quickly, Sil made the necessary introductions, and Picard learned that the Triexian woman was Crut Na Eth, the secretary of defense.

Once the introductions were taken care of, and the president sat behind his desk, Krajensky spoke. "Mister President, it has come to my attention the Alpha Quadrant has been infiltrated by a hostile species known as the Founders. They are the rulers of an interstellar empire in the Gamma Quadrant called the Dominion."

"Really?" The president sounded unconvinced. But then, Picard had been at first, too. "And is there proof of this?"

The shapechanger stepped forward. "Mister President, my name is Odo. Until a year ago, I served as the chief of security on the Carda.s.sian station Terok Nor in orbit of Bajor. Several years ago, a Central Command vessel discovered a stable wormhole in the Denorios Belt that led to the Gamma Quadrant. Soon after that, contact was made with the Dominion."

"By the Ferengi," Quark muttered only loud enough for Picard, Kira, and Odo to hear.

The shapechanger ignored the aside, and proceeded to once again tell the story of how the Founders sent out one hundred infants, one of whom was Odo. "When I realized that the Dominion was ruled by my people, I initially embraced them-until I understood what they represented. I had always believed that my interest in justice was something common to my people, but I now know that I came by it entirely on my own-perhaps from years of seeing so much injustice on Bajor. In any event, I soon learned that the Founders planned to infiltrate the Carda.s.sian Union, the Federation, and the Klingon and Romulan Empires at the highest levels, replacing important people in the government and military with their own agents, and manipulating events to ease their takeover of this quadrant."

"Mr. Odo," Crut said, rubbing her chin with her middle arm, "I think you can understand why we are skeptical of your claims."

Krajensky said, "I was as well, Madam Secretary; however, I have come to believe this story."