The Good That Men Do - Andy Mangels [106]
“Cocky bastards,” Archer said. “They think that because they’re in their own space, they won’t have to worry about being brought to book for their crimes.”
“They may well be correct,” T’Pol said. “While we appear to be the only other vessel in the vicinity, we should remain alert for other countermeasures the Romulans may have deployed nearby.”
“We’re already scanning for cloaked mines,” Reed said. Archer saw him shudder, and knew he must have been recalling the time he’d been impaled by a Romulan mine attached to Enterprise’s hull, just months into the lieutenant’s tenure aboard the ship. Reed very likely would have lost his life in that incident, had Archer not rescued him.
“There could be other Romulan weapons of which we are unaware,” T’Pol said.
“Are we sure that the Aenar are aboard that ship?” Archer asked.
T’Pol studied her scanner’s readings, the bluish light from its hooded display brightening the area around her eyes. “We are still too far away for our sensors to identify individuals, but I can confirm the presence of several dozen humanoid life signs, some of them Aenar and some unidentified.”
Archer sighed heavily, considering whether to tell Shran the news. Better to keep him in plain sight so he doesn’t try to use his own ship to ram the Romulans, or do something else equally stupid, he thought. He looked to Hoshi. “Call Shran up here to the bridge, Hoshi. Make sure he’s escorted. Unobtrusively.”
He turned back to face the forward viewscreen. “All right, people, we’ve planned this out, now let’s make sure we pull it off perfectly. Travis, make certain that we’re on top of them before they know it. Malcolm, transfer as much energy as you need to our ventral hull plating. And ready all weapons.”
He turned his chair toward the other side of the bridge. “Hoshi, be sure to keep that translation program running, just in case we need to use it. But we are not going to announce ourselves or give them time to find a way to hang onto the Aenar.”
He raised his voice so that everyone on the bridge could hear it clearly. “Everyone, stay on your toes. We get in, we get dirty, we get the Aenar out, and we head back home. No mistakes.”
He tapped the intercom button on his chair arm. “Ensign Moulton, are you ready with the transporter?”
“Yes, sir,” the young officer said crisply. “We’ve calibrated the transporter to retrieve only live Aenar. Anything else will be left behind.” He could hear the excitement in her voice; a transporter specialist, she was one of the new crew members who had come aboard after the conclusion of the Xindi crisis.
“Excellent,” Archer said. He kept the com channel open, and leaned forward again.
In his peripheral vision, he saw the others looking at him expectantly, as if they all stood poised at the starting blocks of a foot race, and he was the odds-on favorite.
“Take us in, Travis,” he said. “Full impulse.”
The ship trembled slightly beneath his boots. Archer stared at the viewscreen. He knew that this maneuver was physically dangerous for both the ship and the Aenar, and also represented a serious political risk for Earth’s Starfleet, which he represented. But he also knew that it was the right thing to do.
“Twenty-five seconds to our mark,” Mayweather said, the tension in his voice almost palpable.
“Readying weapons,” Malcolm said.
“Scanners are resolving addition life-sign data,” T’Pol said. “Thirty-seven Aenar, and twenty-two others.”
As if on cue, Archer heard the turbolift doors open behind him. He turned and saw Shran walking somewhat unsteadily onto the bridge, escorted by Corporal David McCammon, one of the MACOs. Theras accompanied Shran on his other side, a hand placed supportively on Shran’s shoulder.
“Five seconds,” Mayweather said. “Four, three, two—”
“Fire!” Archer said. An instant later, two reddish directed energy blasts lanced out in unison from the forward ventral phase cannons. The image on the viewscreen showed the beams striking the aft end of the Romulan transport vessel, causing a pair of silent explosions.
“Targeting again,” Reed said, then depressed