The Romulan War_ Beneath the Raptor's Wing (Book 1) - Michael A. Martin [199]
“Fine. What the hell just happened?”
He studiously avoided shrugging again. “I guess all I can say about that,” he said, catching his breath, “is ‘Here there be dragons.’”
Enterprise
The reports had been coming back fast and furious for the past fifteen minutes. There had been heavy losses, both in orbit and on the ground. Though Archer could hardly believe it, the Battle of Berengaria was already over. Earth’s single most decisive victory in the war thus far—Earth’s only solid victory, decisive or otherwise, some would argue—had taken slightly less than twelve hours to achieve.
It was hard to accept. He kept expecting the Romulan fleet to reappear. Instead, the Romulans had beaten a hasty retreat from the Berengaria system, taking care to leave behind next to nothing in the way of intact Romulan technology. According to the MACOs on the ground, they had even taken pains to either vaporize or collect all of their dead before their small surviving complement of ships had gone to warp. There were no prisoners to interrogate, nor even a corpse for Phlox to examine. Archer was relieved, given what would almost certainly happen to Earth-Vulcan relations once the Romulan-Vulcan relationship became known.
The victory had been decisive, but it had not come cheaply. In addition to MACO losses on the ground that numbered in the hundreds— about half of the troops that had landed—a similar percentage of the Starfleet attack group had suffered fatal damage as well.
“I have logged seven of the Daedalus-class ships as lost with all hands,” Reed said glumly as he delivered his after-action report to Archer in his ready room.
Sitting silently behind his desk, Archer looked over the list of ship names—names drawn from history and mythology that had earned yet another mark of distinction today: Olympus, Valley Forge, Cochrane, Dykstra, Probert, Ptolemy, Stephen Decatur.
“The Essex and the Roosevelt took the smallest amount of damage, Captain,” Malcolm said. “They could pursue the Romulans as they retreat.”
Archer shook his head. “No. They’d probably never catch up, unless the Romulans wanted them to. We’ll keep Essex and F.D.R. here with Enterprise for a while, along with Archon, Carolina, Lovell, and Intrepid. We all need some post-battle repairs, so we’ll get those under way here while Captains Ramirez, Narsu, Shumar, and I sift through whatever the Romulans left of Starbase 1—and whatever the Romulans built here since they arrived last November.”
“What about the Vulcan outpost, Captain? Do we claim salvage rights?”
Archer scowled. “Starfleet has decided to leave the Vulcan outpost to the Vulcans.”
Reed nodded. “Has Starfleet Command issued us new orders, sir?”
“Liberate Deneva. Once our flotilla is ready to rendezvous with the reinforcements that Starfleet is sending.”
“Understood, Captain,” Reed said with a small, wry smile. “Ready or not, Deneva, here we come.”
SIXTY-SEVEN
Early in the month of D’ruh, YS 8765
Saturday, April 3, 2156
ShiKahr Spaceport, Vulcan
THE CUSTOMS INSPECTOR’S FACE was a mask of impassivity, just as Colonel Talok expected, considering which world he was presently visiting.
“Welcome back to Vulcan, Minister Tavak,” the inspector said. “Your travel documents appear to be in order.” The inspector handed back the datachip after giving it a perfunctory examination. “Live long and prosper.”
“Peace and long life,” said Talok, whose normally prominent forehead ridge had been smoothed to a placidly Vulcan appearance to match his newly assumed name and mannerisms.
Carrying only a small valise, as was the real Minister Tavak’s wont whenever he traveled offworld, Talok made his way through the vast open spaces of the spaceport’s public gallery. He headed to the transit square, where a public antigrav vehicle would carry him into the government district