Blind Man's Bluff - By Peter David Page 0,86

tactical readings through the science station. “Commander,” he called out over the red alert, “two ships to stern, closing fast. They have us targeted where the shields collapsed. A few hits there and we’re done.”

iii.

One of the smaller ships exploded.

The Excalibur’s bridge crew had no idea how or why it happened. All they knew was that one moment there were two ships diving toward them from behind, and the next there was one. The remaining ship pivoted, darting away from the fireball that quickly burned itself out in the vacuum of space. Huge chunks of debris were hurtling everywhere and the smaller ship moved to avoid it.

And then it was struck as well.

Once again the blasts came out of nowhere, this time a series of glancing blows. Not wanting to suffer the same fate as its companion, the smaller vessel peeled off and leaped to warp.

The battle cruiser, seeing its advantage in numbers disappearing, suddenly lost its taste for the fight. Its defensive capabilities were already supremely compromised because of the battering that it had received from the Excalibur. Unable to offer much more in the way of pitched battle, and no longer able to count on the other ships to batter away at the Excalibur while her back was turned, the battle cruiser turned away from them and started to flee. The Excalibur immediately went in pursuit, but it was more for show than anything else, particularly because the ship was still severely limited in her warp speed. But the display of determination on her part was more than sufficient to get the job done; the battle cruiser took off as well.

iv.

“Someone want to tell me what just went on here?” said Burgoyne.

Kebron and Xy were both consulting their instrumentation. “Something just came out of nowhere, Commander,” said Kebron. “Came in behind us and protected us. Blew up one ship, chased the other off.”

“Scanning the area,” Xy said. “Not picking up anything except debris from the one that blew up and the ship we managed to cripple. Do we take them aboard, Commander?”

“We have enough problems without having to worry about prisoners on board the Excal,” Burgoyne said firmly. “We leave them. With any luck, someone will pick them up. Without any luck, it’s still their problem, not ours.”

“Aye, sir.” There was a faint tone to Xy’s voice that insinuated he wasn’t entirely approving of Burgoyne’s attitude.

At that moment, Burgoyne could not have cared less. S/he was too busy reviewing what had just transpired. Blasts of weaponry, no apparent source, nothing detected now, all in defense of the Excalibur…

It made no sense.

Then Burgoyne realized that it, in fact, made perfect sense.

“Of course,” said Burgoyne. “The Spectre.”

“The Spec—” Kebron looked confused initially, for the remark seemed to have come out of nowhere. But then he comprehended what Burgoyne had already figured out, and he grunted softly in annoyance with himself. “Right. Naturally.”

Xy looked at his father with clear admiration. “An invisible ship that’s defending us. I don’t know any other ship that can open fire and remain cloaked. Who else would it be?”

“There could be more than one out there, but it doesn’t seem terribly likely to me. How about you?”

He shook his head. “Not really.”

“Commander, we’re being hailed. It’s Soleta, all right,” said Kebron.

“Can you respond?”

“No, we’re still running on forced silence. But I can put her on-screen, even though she won’t see us.”

“Fine. That’s something, in any event.”

Soleta’s face appeared on the viewscreen of the Excalibur. She was in mid-word, which indicated that she was just talking in hopes that they were listening to her. “—blown them to hell when you had the chance, Burgoyne. When you’re under assault isn’t the time to be pulling your punches.”

Kebron looked with silent accusation at Burgoyne, clearing sharing the philosophy that Soleta was espousing. “How the hell did she know I was in command?” said Burgoyne.

“She probably assumed it since, if Calhoun were here, he would not have been pulling punches.”

“We can discuss the fine points of command decisions later,” Burgoyne said in annoyance.

“Anyway, you’re probably wondering what I’m doing here,” she said. “I just thought I’d swing by. Say hello. Oh,” and she spoke in an almost convivial manner. It was hard to believe the woman was even part Vulcan. “And I brought along a friend.”

She stepped slightly back and another image appeared on the screen.

Morgan Primus gasped.

The mocking ghost image of her had remained in place at ops during the entirety of the battle with the Thallonian vessels, but