Part 20 (1/2)
He watched patiently as a new image built up: nearly three thousand tiny specks of light, each representing a hyper-powerful, interphase-cloaked photon torpedo attached to a warp drive that could outrace even the Borg. Most were in cl.u.s.ters of a few hundred. One cl.u.s.ter, he knew, surrounded Andor, another Alpha Centuari. The largest cl.u.s.ter by far surrounded the Borg sensor s.h.i.+eld that in turn surrounded the entire Terran system.
After the recent example of Carda.s.sian treachery, even Sarek's Vulcan mental discipline was hard pressed to keep him from s.h.i.+vering inwardly at the sight of so much destructive power. No one, not Carda.s.sian, not Klingon, not any Alliance race, had found a way around the security system he had designed and now controlled, but they had tried, just as Zarcot had tried to destroy the Wisdom and kill Sarek for his own short-term gains. If Zarcot or someone else of his ilk did gain control of them- ”Vortex,” he said, wrenching his thoughts back to the task at hand. As he spoke, the major cl.u.s.ters vanished as the screen zoomed in on two tiny cl.u.s.ters of only five specks each. One cl.u.s.ter, he saw, was moving rapidly away from the other.
”Targets.” At his word, a pair of ghostly Borg cubes appeared. One was in the midst of the more distant, comparatively motionless cl.u.s.ter of lights. The other was a short distance ahead of the moving cl.u.s.ter, as if being pursued by it. Which was, in truth, precisely what was happening.
Like every other known Borg s.h.i.+p, this one was constantly accompanied by a small cl.u.s.ter of the cloaked torpedoes, each one equipped with sensors that could track the Borg even while cloaked. The next time the Borg lowered the sensor s.h.i.+eld around the Terran system, every interphase-cloaked photon torpedo would, at the command of Sarek or one of the four trusted advisors, maneuver inside the nearest Borg cube, decloak, and detonate. Those surrounding the Terran system would attempt to do the same with the unknown number of Borg vessels that would suddenly be revealed to their sensors. The energy leakage that was an unavoidable part of the decloaking process would inflict major damage itself. The photon torpedoes, it was hoped, would finish the job, reducing the cubes to metal sc.r.a.ps and vapor.
If every aspect of the plan were executed perfectly, a few minutes after the Terran s.h.i.+eld went down, the quadrant would be free of Borg s.h.i.+ps for the first time in more than two centuries.
But even then there would still be the billions of planet-bound drones, the drones that once had been humans and Andorians and Alpha Centaurians.
But if Kirk and Picard and Scott were telling the truth, as he was gambling they were, if they survived long enough to reach the Guardian's World, if the Guardian agreed to help them- Without warning, the Enterprise darted away, first under full impulse, then going to warp.
Kirk, pacing the bridge nervously, winced as the pursuing Borg s.h.i.+p once again changed course far more sharply than anything that ma.s.sive had any right to do. Not as sharply as the Enterprise, but there wasn't nearly the difference in maneuverability he had hoped for. No matter how many times the Enterprise zigged and zagged, no matter what kind of evasive maneuvers Picard ordered the computer to execute, the cube followed, never once losing ground for more than a few seconds. They weren't being overtaken as fast as they would've been in a straight flight, but the cube was steadily closing the gap.
And they were little closer to the Vortex than when they had started.
”Four minutes to weapons range, Captain,” Worf announced. Over the last twenty minutes the distance to the Borg s.h.i.+p had been cut in half. Unless they found an evasive pattern that worked better than the ones they had been using, it would be cut to zero in another twenty or less.
As the computer angled the Enterprise into another sharp turn, something caught Kirk's eye as the star field swept across the viewscreen.
”There,” he said, pointing to a smudge that had appeared near the left edge of the screen, ”is that a nebula?”
”It appears to be,” Data agreed as the Enterprise once again hit maximum warp on its new course. ”It is not, however, large enough to allow us to elude the Borg. Even if it were entirely sensor-opaque, which it is not, it would be useless to attempt to hide there. The range of Borg weapons is such that if the Borg were to station themselves just outside the nebula, they would need only to sweep the entire nebula, and- ”
”Picard,” Kirk said sharply, his voice suddenly filled with hope, ”I know my last suggestion hasn't worked out all that well so far, but that nebula gives me another idea.”
”Explain, Captain.”
”No time. Just take us in there, quickly. I'll explain as we go. Please.”
Picard scowled at him for a moment, then glanced at the figures streaming across the viewscreen, quantifying the overall rate at which the Borg s.h.i.+p was overtaking them.
”Very well,” he said abruptly. ”Give Ensign Raeger the details of what you need.”
At least, Sarek thought as he watched the ultra-secure viewscreen in his quarters on the Wisdom, Picard's unwise attempt to flee had proven one thing: It was the Enterprise the Borg were after, not the Wisdom. Unless it meant only that the Enterprise had attracted attention by moving, and the Wisdom had not. But whatever the reason, the Wisdom had not been touched by the Borg sensors since the Enterprise had launched itself into flight.
Sarek was uncertain what he would do if the Enterprise, in its increasingly desperate maneuvers, took itself and its pursuer out of sensor range. While the cloaked torpedoes could-and would-easily keep pace with the Borg s.h.i.+p, the Wisdom could not. He was also uncertain-puzzled- as to what Picard was thinking. He was buying a little time, but to what end? He couldn't keep the Enterprise out of range of the Borg weapons forever, not even for another hour.
If it weren't for the real possibility that Picard was permanently linked to the Borg, he would have answered the Enterprise's hail long ago, letting Picard know that the Borg s.h.i.+p could be destroyed at any time, but- His puzzled frown deepened. What was Picard doing now? The Enterprise had entered one of the tiny nebula that dotted the region of s.p.a.ce the Vortex was pa.s.sing through.
And it wasn't coming out, not if the Wisdom's sensors could be trusted. They could distinguish only vague shadows within the nebula, but the surrounding s.p.a.ce was crystal clear. And empty.
Was it time? he wondered. With the Enterprise motionless, the Borg s.h.i.+p would be within weapons range in less than a minute. Its weapons were fully charged and ready. Certainly Picard could not be foolish enough to think that the nebula would provide a safe hiding place. Not only was it far too small, but there were numerous voids, some running through it like meandering river canyons. All the Borg s.h.i.+p needed to do-Suddenly, a set of symbols flashed on the viewscreen and vanished. Calling them back onto the screen, Sarek saw that a s.h.i.+p, presumably the Enterprise, had just pa.s.sed through one of the narrow, canyon-like voids, exposing itself to the outside world for a fraction of a second. But that fraction of a second was enough for the Wisdom's sensors-and, almost certainly, for the Borg's. The Enterprise was moving, Sarek saw, at full impulse on a course that was only a few hundredths of a degree from being a collision course with the oncoming Borg s.h.i.+p.
For an instant he thought that Picard must have realized he couldn't escape and was planning to do as much damage to the cube as he could-by attempting to ram it.
A foolish maneuver at best, but then Sarek saw the true endpoint of the Enterprise's present course: the Vortex. And he realized what Picard was attempting. If the Enterprise went from full impulse to maximum warp the moment it emerged from the nebula, it would pa.s.s well within weapons range. But at that speed, with the cube moving at an even greater speed in the opposite direction, the Enterprise would be through that range in too short a time for the cube to react effectively.
By the time the cube was able to make a complete one-hundred-eighty-degree turn, the Enterprise would have gained enough time to reach the Vortex before the cube could catch up.
They would then have time-at least a few seconds-to do what Sarek should have realized they were planning from the start of the evasive maneuvers: transport Kirk into the Vortex.
Which might restore the timeline without the help or advice of the Guardian.
Perhaps it would not be necessary to give away the Alliance's secret weapon after all.
Despite the urgency that was driving the Borg Queen's actions, a kind of exhilaration she had forgotten the very existence of gripped her as she raced after the Picard creature's s.h.i.+p. Like the capacity for fear, it was something that must have, all unknown, lain dormant in some vestigial corner of her still-largely-organic brain, only to be resurrected by her more-than-intimate contact with the Balitor creature and its out-of-control emotions.
One small part of her was disappointed that the chase would soon be over. The Picard creature's s.h.i.+p, while agile, was steadily losing ground. Soon it would be within weapons range, and that would be the end of it. The concentrated firepower of her s.h.i.+p would reduce the entire structure and all its occupants to a spreading cloud of plasma in a matter of seconds.
Ahead, the fleeing s.h.i.+p made an abrupt turn, nearly ninety degrees, but it would do the Picard creature no good. No matter how maneuverable the tiny craft was, it would be- Abruptly, the Enterprise slowed. A moment later, it began to fade from the sensors. But even as it did, something else was revealed to her through the visual interface: a nebula, a small cloud of interstellar dust.
She watched in disbelief as the Enterprise, now on impulse power, faded entirely from the sensors as it crept into the heart of the nebula. Surely Picard couldn't think he could hide in such an obvious way?
At her current speed, she would be in weapons range in less than thirty seconds, at the nebula itself in little more. Once there, she could simply sweep the entire nebula. It might be largely opaque to her sensors, but it would present little obstacle to her weapons.
But then, for just an instant, the Enterprise reappeared as it moved-still on impulse power-through one of the voids in the nebula. In that instant, she saw the projected course of the Enterprise, showing precisely where it would reenter open s.p.a.ce. It had essentially made a U-turn and was on a near-collision course with her s.h.i.+p.
If she had not been in direct control of the s.h.i.+p, that piece of information would have been noted and used only to pinpoint the spot where the Enterprise would most likely emerge from the nebula. Without her guidance, the s.h.i.+p would have continued racing toward the nebula, altering its course just enough to bring it even closer to that exit point than its present course would. And its sensors would continue to monitor all s.p.a.ce surrounding the nebula in case the fleeing s.h.i.+p reappeared at some other point.
But she was not bound by the limitations of the drones who normally controlled the s.h.i.+p. Their orders were narrow and rigid, while hers were, basically, whatever she said they were.
In less than a second, she saw two things. First, if the Enterprise went to maximum warp the moment it emerged, the combined speeds of the two s.h.i.+ps would be such that they would pa.s.s each other so rapidly she might not have time to fire.
Second, the course the Enterprise appeared to be following led directly to the Vortex.
And she realized something that would have meant nothing to any drone but which meant everything to her.
The two-the ones called Scott and Kirk-had ”appeared” near the Vortex, and now Picard was apparently attempting to return them to that same spot. Would they then vanish the same way they had appeared, going back to wherever or whenever they had come from, taking Picard with them?
And how, she wondered as a new possibility suddenly arose out of her Locutus memories, could she even be certain that they were still on board? The three of them and any number of others could very easily have left the Enterprise and remained behind in the nebula in one or more of the smaller craft the Enterprise carried.
Craft that a normal Borg s.h.i.+p would ignore once the main craft had been destroyed.
But with her in control, this was not a normal Borg s.h.i.+p.
Whatever their plan, they would not escape.
With a renewed sense of urgency, she slowed the vessel, dropping out of warp just as the Enterprise's projected emergence point came within weapons range. At this lower relative speed, she would have more than enough time to disable the Enterprise when it emerged, no matter how rapidly it was moving, no matter what evasive maneuvers it undertook. She could then determine whether the Picard creature and the other two were still aboard or had remained behind in the nebula in one of the smaller craft.
There was no way any of them could escape now.
Twenty-Three.
SAREK'S HOPE of keeping the Alliance's secret weapon a secret was short-lived. Seconds after the Wisdom's sensors had picked up the Enterprise's motion within the nebula, the Borg s.h.i.+p altered course slightly and dropped to sublight.