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“Still no answer, Valerian said.

“Target their nacelles, Hernandez ordered.

Suddenly, the Klingon vessel slid off the viewscreen, as if vanishing.

“What happened?

“They braked! Fletcher shouted, staring goggle-eyed from a computer station she was using. “They just cranked their reverse-thrusters all the way up. We just overshot them!

“Shit! Hernandez ordered, “Polarize the aft plating! Get Archer back on the

A moment later, the ship shuddered violently, and Hernandez had to grab the arms of her chair to avoid being tossed to the deck. The rest of the bridge crew were similarly jostled, but they had all braced themselves solidly just prior to Akagis earlier evasive maneuvers.

“Status?

“Our starboard nacelle took a hit, Captain, el-Rashad said, a hint of panic in his voice. “Were venting quite a bit of plasma.

The viewscreen image switched perspective to the aft end of the ships saucer section; from that vantage point, Hernandez could see very clearly the extensive damage the starboard nacelle had sustained, and the energetic plasma that was rapidly escaping from it. Beyond the nacelle, she saw the sapphire glow of Draylax, the Klingon cruiser, and something else.

Enterprise firing.

A heartbeat later, the phase-cannon blasts from Enterprise ignited the impulse drive module at the aft end of the Klingon ships secondary hull. Within seconds, the second cruiser turned inside out as the resulting explosions tore it to pieces, its decompression as spectacularly violent as the conflagrations that had taken apart the first vessel.

“Is your ship okay, Captain? Archer asked, his worried face reappearing on the forward viewer.

“Its nothing a little time and baling wire cant fix, Hernandez said through a wry but grateful smile. “But we still have one more ship to deal with first. Lets see if we can get them to surrender in one piece.

“Theyre Klingons, Archer said. “Im not sure their language even has a word for surrender. His gaze shifted to his right for a moment as someone spoke to him.

Fletcher spoke up then as well. “Captain, its not just one ship.

“What?

“Three more Klingon battle cruisers have just dropped out of warp. Theyre flanking the surviving vessel.

“Damn, Archer said, his image frowning into his own central bridge viewer. “So much for trying to stack the odds in our favor. Are you seeing what were seeing, Captain?

“On-screen tactical, Hernandez said. “ Enterprise to audio-only.

There were now indeed four Klingon vessels orbiting Draylax, and not a one of them showed so much as a dented fenders worth of damage.

“Hail the newcomers, Sidra, Hernandez said.

“Theyre priming their weapons, Thayer shouted, her voice ragged.

“All available power to hull plating! Hernandez barked. She wondered if the systems remaining power would be enough to resist even the first shots of the new arrivals, or if this was to be Columbia s last stand.

A moment later, all four of the Klingon vessels fired, but only one seemed to be taking aim at either of the Starfleet ships.

The other three had directed their disruptor blasts at the fourth cruiser, the last of the original trio that had attacked Draylax.

Caught in a withering crossfire, the cruiser erupted instantly in a series of conflagrations that might have been brilliant enough to damage every optic nerve on Columbia s bridge had the main viewers luminal filters not intervened to prevent it.

“What the Hernandez couldnt even finish her thought.

A moment later, the newly arrived trio of Klingon cruisers abruptly turned about and sped away, accelerating to warp almost instantly on a direct heading toward Klingon space.

Hernandez looked around at her bridge crew. “What the hell just happened here?

“I was hoping you could tell me, Archer said from the audio speakers.

Focusing on the screen, Hernandez watched as the last molecular fires from the destroyed Klingon ships expanding debris field silently burned themselves out several hundred kilometers over Draylax.

Something extremely strange had just happened