Collective Hindsight (Book 1) - Aaron Rosenberg [16]
“Wait a second, what are you going to do?” Duffy demanded, and Salek repressed the urge to reprimand him for speaking back to a superior. This was not the time or the place for that.
“I will do my job, Lieutenant Commander, as you will do yours. If my plan is successful, we will be able to deal with the approaching ship and protect the outpost from discovery. But only if we all do our part.” With that he turned away, and waited until Duffy had beamed back to the da Vinci before glancing around again.
The humans are so—emotional, his sister had told him once. Salek occasionally wondered if his long association with them had in some way infected him with such irrational behavior. His sister’s concern was, he believed, over that very thing, though Salek had dismissed it at the time. Certainly his current plan might seem irrational to some. But it was not. He had weighed the various factors, and selected the course most likely to succeed with the least risk to the smallest number of people. It was eminently logical.
He just hoped Captain Gold and the others would someday recognize that.
“What the hell is going on here?” Gold demanded as Duffy stepped onto the bridge. “What does he think he’s doing?”
“Wish I could say, sir,” Duffy replied, taking his place at one of the aft science posts. “I know Salek has something in mind, but he didn’t bother to tell me what it was beyond my own part. He even encoded his instructions for the transporter room so that I couldn’t read them. I do trust him, though.”
“That’s not the issue,” Gold clenched the sides of his chair, trying to force himself to calm down. Duffy was too young to understand, even with the recent war. But Gold had seen a lot of battles, and he’d seen a lot of people throw themselves away, sometimes needlessly. Something in Salek’s voice when he’d announced that he had a plan had reminded Gold of those others, and the chill it caused was still sliding down his spine.
But now was not the time.
“Cardassian vessel approaching, warp one and slowing,” Ina Mar reported from ops. “Should be within visual range any second.”
“Onscreen when it is,” Gold ordered, and an instant later the warship appeared on the viewscreen. It was a Galor-class, as expected—far too big for the da Vinci to handle on its own.
“Salek, you picking this up?”
“Affirmative, sir.” The Dancing Star angled slightly, facing the approaching Cardassian. “This ship is operational, and I am prepared.”
Out of the corner of his eye Gold saw Duffy grimace. What was that all about? Well, he’d find out later—if there was a later.
“Fine, Salek. How do you want to play this? You’ve obviously got something in mind.”
“Yes, sir. First we wait for the Cardassians to—”
“Sir, incoming from the warship,” McAllan reported from tactical, and Gold nodded. An instant later the message was heard across the bridge.
“Unidentified vessels, this is the warship Grach’noyl. You will power down weapons and shields, and remain in position until we can come alongside and board. Any attempt to do otherwise will result in our opening fire. You have one minute to comply.”
“Wong, prepare for evasive maneuvers,” Gold ordered quietly. “McAllan, prepare torpedoes.”
Exactly one minute later, the Cardassians opened fire. But their primary target was the larger Dancing Star, which was a good thing—judging from what he’d heard in the briefings, Gold figured it had stronger shielding than they did. Let them pound on the vessel he wanted destroyed anyway. In the meantime, the da Vinci was free to act.
“Wong, bring us around on its flank. McAllan, open fire.”
The first salvo of torpedoes was launched, and at the same time Dancing Star released an attack of its own. Gold watched, awed, as a stream of fire lanced from the alien ship to flare along one entire side of the attacking Cardassian. It looked