Dark Mirror - Diane Duane [136]
“How much firing are you going to need?” Riker said.
“With their phasers, not much,” Geordi said. “That’s the beauty of it. A couple of minutes will be enough. But you’re going to have to let them get pretty close—that’s the only undesirable facet of this routine.”
“I assure you, Mr. La Forge, it is not the only undesirable aspect. How close?”
“Two thousand kilometers. Five hundred would be better.”
Picard made a face. “That’s almost whites-of-their-eyes range, Mr. La Forge. Are you sure this is wise?”
“Captain, none of this is exactly ideal, but at that range you can self-destruct and be relatively sure of taking them with us!”
Picard nodded grimly. “You’re right there.”
“The other Enterprise continues to gain,” Data said. “One hundred thousand kilometers now; 2044 Hydri is within a parsec and a half.”
“Prepare for high-speed deceleration,” Picard said. “Picard to all crew! We are about to undergo high-speed deceleration, and as usual in such circumstances the artificial gravity will be subject to fluctuations. Secure yourselves.”
He waited a moment, while the red-alert sirens whooped again in warning, then went silent. “Position of our adversary, Mr. Data.”
“Closing directly behind us at warp nine point seven, Captain.”
Picard smiled just slightly at hearing that. “They may overshoot a little, then.”
“It seems likely, Captain,” Data said, working over his console. “Synchronizing with engineering subsystems now. Commander La Forge.”
“We’re as ready as we’re gonna be, Data,” Geordi’s voice came back. “Go for it!”
“Captain?”
“As planned, Mr. Data. Execute!”
The warpfields shut down. Enterprise fell out into normal space, shedding the built-up energy not by gradual deceleration, but in the form of great blasts of radiation and visual light. Inside her, everything rocked and jumped. Picard hung on to the arms of his seat, knowing what the other Enterprise would be seeing, a ship suddenly turned into a core of disastrous-looking, searing light, slowing down, plunging toward a dead star.
It may buy us a moment’s confusion, he thought. They may think we’ve exploded already. Then they’ll check the mass readings and see that they’re wrong, come in for the kill. “Status, Mr. La Forge!”
“Deceleration completing, Captain. Entering wide orbit around 2044.”
“The other Enterprise has overshot by two point six three light-years,” Data said. “Coming around now and decelerating in the usual manner. Preparing to drop out of warp, if energy readings are correct.”
“On-screen,” Picard said. Now that the wild maneuvering was done, visuals were of some use again. Far under them turned the brown dwarf—not brown, but a sullen, glowing red with the heat remains of ancient gravitational collapse, not yet finished: an old, tired ember, soon to die out and go black.
“They have dropped out of warp, Captain. Center screen, magnified.”
The dark silver shape was there again, coming about on impulse to meet them, coasting in closer and closer.
“Their shields are up,” Worf said. “They are arming all phaser banks. The power—” He looked at his reading and looked up with an expression of unpleasant surprise. “The power is considerable.”
“Yes, indeed,” Picard said. “Raise our own shields, Mr. La Forge!”
“We’re getting ready for them, Captain. Thirty more seconds to make fast the “connection” between us and the dwarf.”
“Make it so, Mr. La Forge!”
Slowly they orbited, “standing their ground,” and the other ship came in closer and closer, holding its fire. Picard looked at the dark, cruel shape, lowering at him, and something in the back of his mind said, The boy stood on the burning deck.
He had to laugh, though just once, as that other ship came closer. Riker looked at him. “Captain?”
Picard shook his head. “Just that I had no idea my brain had retained so much dreadful doggerel as it has produced in the past day or so. No matter, one way or another, I won’t have to bother with it again.”
“They are firing,” Worf said. They saw the phaser beams lance out: the ship rocked as they hit the shields. The other Enterprise came in