The Last Stand - Brad Ferguson [22]
Picard’s mouth opened. “A fleet? Do you mean to say that each one of those lights is—?”
“A Krann ship, of course,” Jemmagar said impatiently. “At our last count, the oncoming Krann fleet consisted of one hundred sixty-three thousand, two hundred forty-seven ships of various sizes and configurations. We estimate that there are more than three billion Krann aboard those ships. Don’t play the fool for our benefit, Captain Picard. Surely you knew all this already.”
“I see one hundred sixty-three thousand, three hundred ninety-six Krann ships indicated on this display panel, Captain,” Data said. “Minister Jemmagar is incorrect.”
“Some of those blips are false echoes,” Jemmagar grated. “A completely accurate count is impossible. Might our friends from space condescend to allow us a certain margin for error?”
“Uh, thank you, Mr. Data,” Picard said distractedly. “Kerajem, you say these are Krann ships? But we never saw them!”
The First Among Equals studied Picard for several moments. “I could almost believe that,” he almost whispered.
Picard was still looking at the display panel. “On our way here to Government House, Kerajem, my first officer reported to me that we had detected a brief indication of class-M conditions—that is, normal environmental factors—in free space near the orbit of the fifth planet in this system. He was monitoring the situation closely, as the phenomenon could be interpreted to indicate the presence in this system of a known adversary of ours. There was no clue that it could have been anything like—this.”
“The leading elements of the Krann fleet are just inside the orbit of Ma’ak Unselbe,” Klerran pointed out. “Your ship may well have detected a temporary failure of the camouflage system of one of the Krann vessels. They are rare, but they occur. We’ve noted them in the course of our monitoring the approach of the Krann.”
“You are able to track their ships?” Worf asked. “Their camouflage system, as you call it, is of no consequence to you?”
Klerran shook his head. “It was at first, Lieutenant. We knew they were coming, though, and we kept looking for them in all sorts of ways until we finally found them. We have gotten very good at finding things, you know. We found you quickly enough, after all—”
“First Among Equals,” came a voice from a hidden loudspeaker. “There is a priority call from Minister Hattajek at the War Room.”
“Put it through immediately,” Kerajem ordered. “Yes, Hattajek. What is it?”
“Kerajem, we are presently tracking two large craft of unknown type approaching the city at high speed. We are assuming that they are hostile. Estimated time to your position is three minutes.”
“I wonder whose they are,” Jemmagar muttered, staring at Picard.
“Defense condition one,” Kerajem snapped. “How come we didn’t spot them sooner, Hattajek?”
“Unknown, First. General Blakendet suggests that they used a new type of camouflage that we were not initially prepared to detect. We spotted them only as they entered our atmosphere and left an ionic trail. We are tracking them closely now.”
“Launch interceptor missiles,” Kerajem ordered.
“Interceptors launched,” came the reply.
Picard’s communicator buzzed.
“Enterprise to Picard,” Riker said. “We’re tracking two unmanned chemically powered spacecraft of unknown origin. They’re leaving a significant ionic trail behind them. The unknowns are flying at an altitude of fifteen thousand three hundred meters at a constant speed of two hundred ninety meters per second, bearing seventy-seven degrees grid north and heading straight for your position. Present distance from you, forty-nine point three kilometers. Estimated time to target, two minutes fifty seconds.”
“Are the unknowns dangerous?” Picard asked.
“We’re not reading any explosive materials aboard either of the unknowns, Captain. There are power sources aboard that seem independent of engine configuration, however. Those sources may be part of onboard energy weapons systems. But at that speed, the two unknowns would be able to do considerable damage to the