Broken Bow - Diane Carey [61]
It did. The Suliban writhed and went momentarily limp. Archer shoved off him and bolted to the door.
The Suliban had the weapon.
Archer ran for his life. He hadn’t intended for ass-n-elbows to be his plan, or the great final moments he ever had in mind for himself, but there was method in his madness—if he could keep the stubborn Suliban chasing him, then the Enterprise would have a chance to get away. A few minutes here, a few there ... if Trip Tucker or Reed were in command, this would never work. He had left T’Pol in charge.
A Vulcan—the bane of his life—was going to make sure his plan was fulfilled. T’Pol would stick to her line of demarcation and do the logical thing. She would know there was no way for him to be found in this maze, no way for them to infiltrate, to risk a half dozen lives on a rescue mission into the guts of this aggregate, which was breaking up. She would make all the right arguments, shout Trip down, over-British Reed, deal with Hoshi’s shrieks of protest, and she would finally seize the command Archer himself had confirmed. She would take the ship out of this mess, and Klaang, and she would succeed.
Not a bad legacy, Dad, for you or for me.
So he ran harder, taking the ache in his leg as validation of his personal honor. Behind him, the Suliban was coming out of the time-lock, aiming, firing—
CHAPTER 16
“OUR MISSION is to return the Klingon to his homeworld. Another rescue attempt could jeopardize that mission—”
“The captain specifically told us to come back for him!”
“As commanding officer, it’s my job to interpret the captain’s orders.”
Trip Tucker’s anger flushed right up into his face and out the top of his head. “I just told you his orders! What’s there to ‘interpret’!”
Everyone on the bridge watched tensely as Tucker confronted T’Pol with his report and watched it pulled apart, brick by brick, and the captain with it.
T’Pol contained herself with damnable reserve. “Captain Archer may very well have told you to return for him later because he knew how stubborn you can be.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You might’ve risked Klaang’s life in a foolish attempt to swing back and rescue the captain.”
Tucker grimaced. “I can’t believe this!”
A jolt from outside rocked the ship and punctuated his fury as the tension rose for them all. Reed was standing behind him, but said nothing. Hoshi looked positively destroyed at T’Pol’s refusal. Mayweather’s hands on the helm were stiff and flushed.
“The situation must be analyzed logically,” T’Pol said, but this time it sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as them.
“I don’t remember the captain analyzing anything when he went back for you on that roof!” Tucker roared.
“That’s a specious analogy.”
“Is it?”
“We have work to do. We must stabilize our flight condition before we can move out of the atmosphere. Take your posts, please. That was not a request.”
Well, she might not be Starfleet, but she had the style down. Everyone responded, though with a bitter silence. Tucker ground his teeth and went to the engineering master control station. What could he do? Was there a way to neutralize her command status?
“Hull plating’s been repolarized,” Reed reported. His voice was hardly more than a rasp. Behind it was the question in everyone’s mind. Leave the captain? Would he leave us?
“Stand by the impulse engines. Mr. Tucker, status?”
Tucker felt a vicious tone rise from his throat. He thought about lying, stalling. But, ultimately, he couldn’t do it. “The autosequencer’s on-line, but annular confinement’s still off by two microns.”
“That should suffice,” T’Pol said.
“Easy for you to say.”
“If the Suliban have reestablished their defense, we’ll have no other option.”
The ship roared through the