Myriad Universes 02_ Echoes and Refractions - Keith R. A. DeCandido [148]
To Daniels, Worf said, “Send a coded message to the Negh’Var. Tell Chancellor Gowron that he is about to receive aid from the House of Mogh.”
“Sir?” Daniels asked with a furrowed brow.
“Obey my orders, Mister Daniels.” Now was not the time to get into a protracted discussion with the security officer about Worf’s history with the chancellor, from his killing Gowron’s sole rival for the chancellor’s seat in a duel to Worf’s support of Gowron in the civil war that erupted shortly thereafter. Worf 's brother Kurn sat on the High Council, and the House of Mogh was a respected one in the empire. As much as Gowron supported and counted on the alliance with the Federation, the support of a noble House would be more meaningful to him than the arrival of a Federation starship-no matter how powerful.
However, just as Daniels prepared to send the message, Worf watched on the viewscreen as weapons fire from a Jem’Hadar ship sliced through one of the Negh’Var’s wings. The vessel started to spin out of control, hurtling past another of the Vor’cha-class ships.
Both ships were destroyed a moment later, in what Worf recognized as a matter-antimatter explosion. The warp cores of both vessels had obviously failed.
“Entering system now,” Rager said calmly from the conn.
Forcing a similar calm to his own voice, Worf said, “Come out of warp. As soon as we are in range of the nearest Jem’Hadar ship, decloak and fire phasers.”
“Yes, sir,” Daniels said.
The lights on the bridge brightened, and Worf saw the Defiant’s pulse phasers-which were several orders of magnitude more powerful than the more common phaser beams-plow through a Jem’Hadar ship and wipe it from existence.
Worf 's only regret was that it wasn’t the same ship that destroyed the Negh’Var.
To Rager, he said, “Set course 482 mark 7, then continue at your discretion. Mister Daniels, continuous fire on the Jem’Hadar.”
“Yes, sir,” both officers said.
The Defiant was a flat ship, which increased its maneuverability, allowing Rager to weave it in and out of the field of fire, while Daniels pounded the Jem’Hadar with phasers. Within minutes, three more of their ships were destroyed. The Defiant itself took considerable fire, but its shields held-and when they fell, the ship also had ablative armor, which would enable them to last even longer in a fight.
“Sir?” Daniels’s voice was strained.
“Report,” Worf said.
“Long-range sensors are picking up another twenty-two Jem’Hadar ships approaching the system. They’ll be here within ten minutes.”
“Any Defense Force vessels?”
Daniels shook his head.
“Captain,” Rager said, “five of the Jem’Hadar vessels are changing attitude.”
Looking at the viewer, Worf saw that the conn officer was correct. Rather than maintain their battle posture, five of the enemy vessels were altering their position as if they were preparing for atmospheric entry.
Or atmospheric bombardment. The ships were spread out around the planet, so they could not be taken all at once, but he had to try. “Lieutenant, set an orbital course for the nearest Jem’Hadar vessel.” If he had to, he would circle his homeworld and take out each ship before they could—
But it was too late. Even as the Defiant changed course, each of the five Jem’Hadar ships fired purple beams of devastation onto Qo’noS’s surface. Even from this distance, Worf could see the mountains, the oceans, the plains, the forests, the cities-all burning.
Rager brought the Defiant close to one ship, and Daniels destroyed it with four quantum torpedoes, but by then, the damage was done.
From one of the port consoles, an officer whose name Worf could not recall said, “Radiation levels on the planet are increasing. Only picking up a few thousand life signs.”
The population of Qo’noS numbered in the billions. One of those was Worf’s brother, Councillor Kurn. “The First City?”
“Not reading it at all, sir.”
So my brother is dead-as