Star Trek: The Empty Chair Read Online Free PDF Page B

‘super-heavies,’
Gauntlet
and
Esemar;
and three corvettes,
Llendan, Chape,
and
Sumpter.
Those last ones are probably more lightly armed, and intended for supply and support work.”
    “Those’ll be the easiest targets,” Jim said, sitting down in the center seat again. “For which reason I assume they’ll stay farthest out of the way if they can. But one thought. Mr. Spock—” He glanced over at the Vulcan. “—if I remember correctly, ‘sumpter’ is a word for a mount that’s carrying extra cargo.”
    Spock nodded. “I will be scanning it for the new cloaking device waveform, Captain, as soon as the ships drop conventional cloak and come within range.”
    “Good. If any of them are carrying another little surprise like the one they pulled out of their hats at 15 Tri, I want to know soonest. Mr. Sulu, off station-keeping now. Manage us a more or less circular course around the station, one eighth impulse. No rush at all.”
    “One eighth impulse, aye,” Sulu said.
    “
Sithesh
is signaling the smaller vessels to get ready to move,” Uhura said.
    Jim hit the intercom. “Sickbay.”
    “McCoy here.”
    “I see your balloon, Bones, and it’s a big fat one. Hope you’ve got everything fastened down.”
    “No fear of that, Jim. You be careful.”
    “Believe me, it’s on my mind.” The thought of what kind of weapons a “supercruiser” might be carrying concerned him, but even when outweaponed,
Enterprise
had speed and agility to count on—not to mention her crew, without whom no hardware was more than just a heap of wires and data solids. “Hang on tight, Bones. Out. Engineering!”
    “Here, Captain,”
Scotty said. He sounded as if he wished he were elsewhere.
    “Status.”
    “Ready on impulse, Captain. But we’ve no warp.”
    “None at
all,
Scotty?”
    “Not if you want to use the warp engines again anytime soon. We’re not done with our recalibration. The new crystal has too many irregularities to deal with in such a short time.”
    “Scotty,” Jim said, allowing himself to sound deeply disappointed. It was not entirely an act.
    “Captain, don’t make me promise you something I cannot deliver!”
    “No,” Jim said sadly. “I’d never do that. How’s impulse?”
    “At a hundred and ten percent,”
Scotty said, sounding only marginally brighter.
    “That’s where we need it,” Jim said. “One last check on weapons systems, Scotty.”
    “Just finished now, sir. All systems are fully charged and all tubes loaded, ready to go hot.”
    “Captain,” Spock said. “We are getting a tactical-systems feed from
Sithesh.
The incoming ships are going to lower warp speeds, preparatory to dropping out.”
    “Distance?”
    “I am having some slight difficulty converting distances with the desirable precision from the Artaleirhin data feed,” Spock said. “Closest estimate would be two point six three light-hours, closing fast.”
    Jim nodded. Even just a few billion kilometers’ worth of warning was of value. “Feed Mr. Sulu the coordinate data. How are they tracking cloaked ships even that precisely at this distance?”
    “I would very much like to know,” Spock said.
    And so would the Federation,
Jim thought. But for the time being he put the question of his sealed orders aside. The point now was to both survive to be in a position to use them,and to get
Enterprise
into a position where using them would be easy. “
Bloodwing.”
    There was a pause. Then Ael’s voice said,
“Ready, Captain. They are close.”
    “We’re ready for them. Good luck, Commander.”
    “And the Elements with you as well—”
She broke off. Jim raised his eyebrows. She sounded tenser than usual; revealing in itself, in an officer usually so self-contained and self-assured. Jim sat back and waited the last, hardest few seconds.
    “The incoming fleet is beginning to drop out of warp, “Spock said, as calmly as if reporting the weather. “
Gauntlet
and
Esemar
have come out first.”
    “The heavy