Three - Michael Jan Friedman [71]
“In that case,” said Picard, “good luck—especially to you, Lieutenant Asmund.”
“Thank you,” came her reply. “You have my gratitude.”
“You’re a little premature,” the captain told her. “First, let’s make sure this works. Picard out.”
“Six hundred thousand kilometers,” Idun reported.
They were nearing the point at which the Balduk broke off pursuit when they clashed earlier.
Picard glanced at the com station, where Paxton was waiting for the word to do his part.
“Ready?” the captain asked.
Paxton nodded. “Ready, sir.”
Picard drew a deep breath and regarded the viewscreen. “Take us in, Idun.”
Suddenly, they were slicing into the midst of the [214] Satellites, headed right for the Coordinator. The Independent tried to get in their way, but it was too late—the Stargazer was already surrounded by Satellites.
The captain pointed to his com officer. “Now, Mr. Paxton!”
It was a strange sight to behold—that of his enemies opening a clear and unobstructed path to his objective, when they should have been harrying him with every weapon at their disposal. Yet they were indeed opening a path for the Stargazer.
And the commander of the Coordinator had to be more surprised than anyone.
Picard darted a glance at Paris, who was manning the weapons console. “Full spread,” he bellowed, “phasers and photon torpedoes!”
Before the Coordinator could maneuver out of harm’s way, the Stargazer unleashed the spectacular and unrestrained fury of her weaponry. Phased emissions ripped through the Balduk vessel’s shields, leaving her naked to the savage force of the matter-antimatter projectiles.
The Coordinator tried to fire back, and a couple of energy volleys found their mark—but the effort was short-lived. In a matter of seconds, the Stargazer had reduced her to little more than a hulk floating in space.
Only then did the commanders of the Satellites seem to realize that they had been duped. But without the Coordinator to direct them, they couldn’t operate with a single intent.
They converged when they shouldn’t have, diverged when it was unnecessary, and even came close to hitting [215] each other with their weapons fire. Paris was able to take advantage of their confusion, picking them off one by one.
And little by little, Idun was able to move them closer to the dwindling anomaly.
Nikolas entered the transporter room expecting to surprise the hell out of everyone present—Gerda Idun included. As it turned out, he was the one who was surprised.
Gerda Idun wasn’t standing on the transporter pad as the ensign had expected. She was on the other side of the room entirely, fiddling with the transporter controls.
And Refsland, who should have been at the control console, was slumped against the side of it—unconscious.
Nikolas didn’t get it. In the moment it took him to get his bearings, Gerda Idun snatched up a phaser pistol and leveled it at him.
At that point, he got it even less.
“Hey,” he said, “it’s me.”
“Stay where you are!” Gerda Idun snapped, her gaze hard and unwavering.
Nikolas shook his head. “What’s going on?”
“I’m going home,” she told him.
It was only then that Nikolas saw Simenon stretched out on the floor, his motionless form partly concealed by the control console. And it looked like someone else was stretched out alongside him.
The ensign moved sideways to get a better angle and saw that it was Joseph. No doubt, the security chief was where the phaser had come from.
[216] “What did you do?” Nikolas asked.
Gerda Idun continued to work the controls with her free hand. “I grabbed Joseph’s phaser and stunned him. Then I did the same thing to Refsland and Simenon.”
“But why?” he wondered.
She looked up at him, every bit as poker-faced as before. “Because Simenon’s coming with me. We need him.”
Nikolas didn’t know what Gerda Idun was talking about, but he knew it wasn’t right. “Don’t do this,” he said.
“I have to,” she insisted.
“You can stay here,” the ensign said. “With us. With