The Brave and the Bold Book Two - Keith R. A. DeCandido [92]
Klag’s deep voice penetrated the wall of sound that the bridge had become. “Remember, shoot to disable, not destroy. There is no glory in defeating mind-controlled warriors, nor any honor in dying in such a state.” A pause. “But don’t be fools, either. No matter what, we shall be victorious!”
Tereth said, “Captain Huss’s ships are entering range. I suggest waiting—train weapons at 185 mark 9. She’s likely to attempt a bIng manuever—it was a favorite of hers when I served with her.”
Kira realized that one of her disruptors fell into that range. She immediately trained her number-three disruptor on that area—currently bereft of any ships.
Toq said, “Nukmay, Khich, and Jor changing course!” A pause. “A perfect bIng maneuver.”
All three ships came right into Kira’s sights, just as predicted.
“Fire!” Klag bellowed.
Kira trained her array on the wing of the Nukmay, the lead ship. It, combined with the disruptors fired by Rodek, slammed through the bird-of-prey’s shields and tore a hole through the wing. That sent the ship into a spin that caused it to collide with the Khich. The latter ship’s shields were disrupted into oblivion, though there was no hull damage.
A cheer went up from around the bridge, and the gunner closest to Kira—a bekk named Klorga—said, “Well done for a first shot, Bajoran.”
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” Kira muttered. There was still the Jor, which fired its dirsuptors at the Gorkon. Looks like they’re aiming for the engines, Kira thought.
“Shields down to eighty percent,” Toq said.
Kira fired on the Jor, taking the ship’s shields out with three shots before it left the range of her disruptors.
“We’re being hailed by the Enterprise,” said the ensign at the communications console.
“On audio,” Klag said.
“Klag, we need you to draw off some of these ships,” Picard said. “We can’t use the deflector modification without lowering shields.”
Kira stole a glance at the tactical display on the main viewer. The Enterprise was more than holding its own against the other four ships—the Sovereign-class vessel had only suffered minor shield damage, whereas two of the Klingon ships were in pretty bad shape and the other two were on their way to more of the same. But that wouldn’t last forever, especially since the Enterprise and Gorkon were doing their best to minimize casualties and their foes were working under no such constraint.
“Vralk, change course toward the Enterprise,” Klag said.
Tereth added, “Rodek, give us covering fire on the birds-of-prey.”
That instruction, Kira knew, would be passed on to the two at the aft disruptor arrays.
A part of Kira liked the simplicity of it—all she was responsible for was three small three-hundred-and-sixty-degree fields of fire. No more, no less. Given the awesome responsibilities she had as the commanding officer of one of the more strategically important starbases in the quadrant, accountability for so little came as a relief.
But a part of her hated it for the same reason she hated what Malkus did to her. It was Klag who directed the battle, Tereth who commanded the troops, Rodek who carried out those commands, and only then did Kira get involved if those commands happened to relate to her tiny area of control.
And Kira Nerys never liked having limited control.
It had taken Aidulac two days to work her way across Narendra III.
With the aid of the component she’d found from the third Instrument, she had been able to trace the final Instrument to this planet, but frustratingly, not to where on this planet. She had to wait until someone unearthed the Instrument before she would be able to locate it more precisely.
So she settled on a remote island, converted the Sun to a shelter, and used its resources to survive. Her ability to influence men’s minds was sufficient to keep prying eyes away from her—especially given the location she’d chosen in the middle of Narendra III’s largest ocean—and she waited.
She’d waited ninety thousand years.