" TARGET COMING in range now, Captain."
Captain Benjamin Sisko nodded. "Thank you, Major." He leaned forward in the command chair of the U.S.S. Defiant and stared intently at the viewscreen. "All weapons to full power. Raise shields."
"All weapons powered." Kira Nerys glanced up from her panel to Sisko's left. There was a gleam of excitement in her eyes, and the-more-than-fleeting suggestion of a smile on her lips. "Ready on your command."
Sisko could understand her feelings perfectly. It had been more than a month since any of them had been off Deep Space Nine at all, and it felt really good to be back in space and back in action. Though commanding DS9 was hardly a simple desk job, it was good to spread one's wings and head out among the stars again. "Hold steady."
"Shields at full, Captain," Chief O'Brien reported from his panel.
"Thank you, Chief." Sisko could feel the thrill of the hunt now. He watched the forward image intently, waiting for the first glimpse of the …
"There she is, Captain," Jadzia Dax said. She was seated at navigation, between Sisko and the screen. Her superior eyesight had caught the briefest flicker of movement that he now belatedly noticed.
"It's a Calderisi raider, all right," added Odo from his station. "Classic configuration. And they've powered up their weapons, too." The shapeshifter was the only one who didn't look eager for this confrontation. That was mostly because he still hadn't mastered the art of shaping his somewhat rudimentary features into semblances of human emotions.
"They can outrun most ships in this quadrant," Sisko murmured. "But they can't beat this one. Open a hailing frequency," he called out.
"Open," Dax responded.
"This is Captain Benjamin Sisko, of the Federation starship Defiant, to Calderisi raider," he said, slowly and clearly. "You are ordered to stand down your weapons and prepare to be boarded. We have reason to believe that you are running illicit weapons to the Maquis." He gestured to Dax for her to terminate the transmission. "Now," he said, "let's see what their reply is, shall we?" He hunched forward in his command chair, feeling the tension building within him.
"They've changed course," Odo announced grimly. "They are now heading directly for us." He shook his head. "Foolish. And typically humanoid. They are also opening fire."
The screen dimmed automatically as twin phaser bolts lanced out from the dart-shaped ship that skimmed toward them. The Defiant trembled slightly as the bolts impacted on the ship's deflectors.
"I think we can take that as a no," Kira commented.
"No damage to shields," O'Brien called.
Sisko raised an eyebrow. He hadn't really expected the Calderisi to surrender. They were a volatile species at the best of times, and he had been certain that they were indeed the gunrunners he was after. Still, he hadn't expected them to do anything as foolish as trying to attack the Defiant. "Even so, I think we had better defend ourselves, Chief." He spun to face Major Kira. "Fire a warning shot across their bow."
"Across?" Kira sounded disappointed.
"Across," he repeated, with a slight smile. "For the first one, at any rate. And … fire!"
Kira obeyed. The Defiant shuddered slightly as the phasers lanced out across the void at the twisting raider.
"Open a channel," Sisko ordered Dax, "and stay as close to them as you can manage." When Dax nodded, he called aloud, "Sisko to Calderisi raider. I repeat: Stand down, or we shall be forced to disable you. I cannot be certain that this will not result in some loss of life to you."
Another twin blast of phasers shot from the raider, again dissipating harmlessly against the shields. Grim, Sisko turned to his Bajoran first officer. "All right, Major—target their engine nacelles and take them out."
"Aye, sir," Kira replied with a great deal of satisfaction. Her hands flew over the phaser controls.
"Captain," O'Brien called out suddenly. "I'm registering a drop in shield strength." He sounded harried and puzzled. "They're down to ninety-five percent and dropping."
"What?" Sisko spun to face him. "What's causing it, Chief?"
O'Brien glared down at the panels. "Outside interference," he said. "There's some kind of jamming signal coming from the raider. It's causing interference in the generator wave somehow. I've never seen anything like it. Shields are now down to eighty percent."
Sisko turned back to Kira. "Now would be a good time to fire," he said gently.
"I'd agree with you, Captain," Kira agreed, frustration evident in her voice, "but whatever's affecting the shields is affecting the targeting sensors, too. I just can't get a lock on a confirmed target. Plus," she added angrily, "power levels on the phasers are dropping. We soon won't be able to fire them at all."
"Best guess, then," he ordered, scowling. "Any damage you can do to stop this attack." He spun back to O'Brien. "Any idea yet whats causing this, Chief?"
"None," the engineer answered, irritated with the reply. "As Major Kira says, all our sensors are being affected, too, so I can't get a straight reading on this thing. Off the top of my head, I'd say it was some sort of modified delta-emitter array, but how they could power one from a craft that small beats me. I could do with a bit of time to study it. Say, a couple of weeks." He gave a mild grin.
"Not funny, Chief," Sisko objected. "Status?"
Embarrassed, O'Brien checked his panel. "Shields down to sixty percent and falling."
"They're coming about," Odo announced. "I'd guess they aim to attack us now. It's difficult to read my instruments, but it looks like they're preparing to fire again."
As Sisko watched the viewscreen, he saw the dart-shaped raider heading for them. Twin phaser beams lanced out, slashing into the Defiant. The ship shuddered as the inertial dampers struggled to keep her steady. The lights in the cabin dimmed, flickered, and then settled down to about half their former level.
"That's it," O'Brien announced. "The shields are down completely. The power interference is spiraling around inside the systems now."
"We've lost the phasers," Kira reported grimly. "I'm firing a photon torpedo." She glanced up and managed a tight smile. "Best guess, so you'd better hope I'm feeling lucky today."
Sisko nodded. There were very few options left to them. Whatever weapon the Calderisi were using, it was wreaking havoc with his ship. Another run like the last one would destroy them. He watched as the ship on the screen began to turn. Then the picture started to break up as the power levels continued to fall. "Damn," he muttered. If he was going to die, he would prefer to stare his fate in the face as he did so.
There was the flash of a photon-torpedo ejection, and the ship shook with the strain—a strain that they wouldn't normally have even felt thanks to the dampers. Now it seemed as if the Defiant was falling apart about their ears.
Then there was a bright flash on what was left of the picture screen—the torpedo detonation.
But had Kira hit the target?
For several seconds, everyone on the bridge stared at the screen, holding their breath. Nothing came into sight. Finally, Odo called out, "I'm registering debris ahead. The raider was completely destroyed."
"Well done," Sisko said, sighing with relief. "Very nice shooting."
"Thank you," Kira said with a smile.
From where he'd been sitting watching the others, Julian Bashir spoke up. "Remind me not to play darts with you today, Major. Even blindfolded, I think you'd beat me."
The only one of the crew not smiling was O'Brien. With a scowl, he said, "I just wish we hadn't been forced to destroy their ship." He shook his head. "I'd have loved to get a good long look at that weapon of theirs."
"We all would, Chief," Sisko agreed. "But under the circumstances, I think we did well just to survive. How are the systems now that the raider is gone?"
"Recovering slightly," O'Brien answered. "But not by much. We're going to be limping back to DS9, Captain."
Sisko nodded. "I'm in no hurry right now. How long will it take to get the Defiant back up to par when we do reach home?"
O'Brien shook his head. "It depends on how many systems were damaged and by how much," he replied. "I can't get consistent readings here. It could be days, or even weeks—if we've got the spares, and if there aren't too many repairs on the station to keep my crew busy."
"I understand." Sisko turned back to Dax. "Set course for home. Best speed." He managed a small smile. "If you could manage a rough estimate of how long it'll take us, I'd appreciate it."
"As soon as I can, Benjamin." Dax bent to her task. Sisko saw that her hands, instead of flying across her board as they normally did, lingered and repeated tasks several times. Finally, she looked up. "Course laid in and executed." She shook her head. "It's really slow, I'm afraid. It's going to take us at least six hours to get back."
"Understood. Can you patch through a channel back to DS9? We'd better let them know we'll be late for dinner."
"I'll try my best." She bent back to her board again. A moment or two later, she said, "I've got a weak audio link, Benjamin. It's all I can raise."
"I'm glad for even that," Sisko told her. "Sisko to Ops: Can you read me?"
"Ops here," came a faint, crackling voice. "Your signal is very faint, Captain. Are you all right?"
"Not exactly, Mr. Soyka," Sisko replied. "We've destroyed the Calderisi raider but sustained damage. We should be home in about six hours."
"Understood," Lieutenant Soyka's weak voice came back. "Do you need assistance? I could have a runabout out to you pretty quickly."
"Thank you, no," Sisko said ruefully. "We'll just head back under our own steam, licking our wounds. Sisko out." He cut the link. Gazing at the screen, he sighed. The picture was still rather fuizzy—symptomatic of the ship's damage. Still, at least they had survived, and stopped the weaponry shipment. Whatever new weapon the Calderisi had, it would be up to Starfleet now to try and track it down and neutralize it. He'd have O'Brien transmit a full report when they reached home.
Then the chief was going to be very busy getting the Defiant back into order. Sisko could only hope that until it was fixed, there wouldn't be a need for it.
And he knew how weak his chances were that this would be so. On DS9, crises were the order of the day. . . .