"Insertion complete," he murmured now. "Engines to standby. Proceeding on ballistic trajectory only."
Vice Admiral T'Laihhae heard him. Her fine-boned face was impassive as always, as she studied the course projection on the screen. "Well," she said, after a while, "now, we get to find out how good they are."
Accompli was cloaked, her supercooled drive - captured Breen technology integrated with the intelligence warbird's spaceframe - emitting no radiation, no particles, not even its usual shower of sub-zero molecular debris. The warbird was whispering through the Xi Herculis system like a ghost, as near to indetectable as the most advanced Romulan technology could make it. Aitra quietly prayed to the Elements that they were indetectable enough....
"Passive scans running," reported Ruby from the science station. The black-clad android's face showed no emotion. Naturally, Aitra thought. "We are reading four Siohonin frigate groups. The nearest will intersect our course in... three minutes."
"Not too closely, I hope," said T'Laihhae.
"Margin of separation... three kilometres, if they, and we, maintain current course," said Aitra.
T'Laihhae nodded. "That should be good enough."
"If they are running tachyon scans -" Aitra began.
"No tachyon emissions detected," said Ruby. "According to the Klingons' data, the Siohonin do not even have tachyon detection capability."
"They're not supposed to have weapons capable of defeating Klingon warships, either," Aitra muttered.
"Quite," said T'Laihhae. "Well, we will learn nothing without taking some risks."
Aitra's careworn face fell. He turned his full attention back to the helm, and the controls of the cloak. When T'Laihhae started talking like that, things usually got... hectic.
"Approaching the Siohonin ships," he said.
"All detectors at maximum sensitivity," said Ruby.
The Siohonin frigates were flimsy things, small, underpowered, worthless in a fight... or they should have been. But the three ships in this patrol group moved through space with an indefinable arrogance, as if they owned it... which, for the moment, they did. Klingon resistance in the Xi Herculis system had been brushed aside in the early days of this... conflict.
"Light warp engines, impulse drive... low-power fusion only," reported Ruby. "I see no signs of exotic energies... I cannot get a reading on the interior components of those weapons modules, unless we can risk an active scan."
"No," said T'Laihhae.
"A microsecond neutrino pulse might not register -"
"Or it might. We must survive to make our reports. Passive scans only."
Aitra could almost swear the android pouted, but she said only, "Yes, sir."
Aitra checked his console. "Ships remain on course," he said. "I don't think they've spotted us."
"We will remain vigilant," said T'Laihhae.
The Siohonin frigates swept past the Accompli and dwindled into the distance. "Still on course," said Aitra. "No deviation... no other frigate groups departing from their patrol patterns."
T'Laihhae nodded. She remained imperturbable. Perhaps she had learned it during that time undercover on Vulcan, Aitra thought, that trick of absolute impassivity. He, himself, felt a bundle of nerves by comparison.
"Approaching the planet," he said.
Xi Herculis II, the only class M world in the system, once a minor possession of the Klingon Empire, now a newly conquered territory of the Siohonin. The Siohonin what? Aitra wondered. He didn't even know what the Siohonin called their state. An Empire, a Federation? A Republic, perhaps - that would have a certain irony.
"Damage to the orbital installations is extensive," said Ruby.
"As the Klingons informed us," said T'Laihhae. "Interesting."
"Why, sir?" asked Aitra.
"We believed," said T'Laihhae, "that the Siohonin had taken control of the orbiting stations and used them to subjugate and control the planetary population. Orbital artillery strikes make a powerful persuader. But, with the defence grid that badly damaged... and they have made no attempts to restore it...." She leaned forward, and tapped one fingernail against her teeth. It was a sign of intense emotion, for her.
"So?" said Ruby.
"So," T'Laihhae said, slowly and thoughtfully, "they must have some other method of controlling the populace. And the colonists were mostly Klingon... and Klingons are not the easiest of people to control."
"I cannot run a detailed check for life signs without active scans," said Ruby, her tone almost offended. "But it is possible to make some observations from the planet itself. The luminosity of the night side has declined some... twenty per cent."
Aitra turned to look at her. "What in the name of the Elements is the significance of that?"
"Luminosity of the night side comes mainly from one source," said T'Laihhae. "The lights of cities."
"It suggests that twenty per cent of buildings formerly illuminated at night - now are not," said Ruby. "It is possible that power-saving measures are in effect, or a curfew has been ordered by the occupying authorities... but it seems more likely -"
"I understand." Aitra swallowed. One home in five, now vacant and lightless. The picture was not a pretty one. "How could they have landed troops in such quantity? They have only a relatively small number of converted freighters to act as troopships."
"They may not need quantity," T'Laihhae observed, "if their quality is good enough."
"Coming up on the next patrol," said Ruby tonelessly. "Sir, there is something with them... I think it is a full-scale warship."
"Show me everything you can," said T'Laihhae. "But no active scans."
"I had gathered that, sir," the android said reproachfully. On the screen, an image appeared, of a cylindrical vessel with a massive domed prow.
"Interesting," said T'Laihhae. "Over-engineered in some respects... I see no need for the dorsal and ventral warp nacelles. High on structural integrity, probably low on shields... those strips must be disruptor arrays... hmmm." Her dark eyes were calculating. "That dome must hold more of their exotic weapons systems. I see no other reason for it to be there. I am almost tempted to risk that neutrino pulse.... No. There must be a better method."
If there was, Aitra thought, it would be nice if they lived long enough to think of it. The Siohonin battleship was frighteningly close; if it spotted them - He tried not to think about that. He rechecked the status of the cloaking device. Steady. Thank the Elements for that.
"Approaching periastrion with Xi Herculis II," he reported. The point of closest approach to the planet might be the point of greatest danger, too. Especially with all the space junk - wreckage of destroyed satellites - in the low orbitals. It was not that any of the fragments themselves posed a threat to the Accompli - but if the Siohonin noticed one bumping into apparently empty space and ricocheting away, they would leap to investigate.
But nothing happened. The warbird curved smoothly through the colony world's sky, and out and away, and no one noticed its passage.
"Velocity increased as expected," Aitra reported. The gravitational slingshot effect wasn't much, but he was in favour of anything that got the ship out of Siohonin-held space a little quicker. "On course according to projection. Cloak is stable."
"No sign of pursuit," said Ruby. "Siohonin frigate groups are remaining in their standard patrol patterns."
"So far, so good," muttered Aitra, then, "Wait. Some of them are moving...."
"Towards us?" demanded T'Laihhae.
"No, sir. Towards.... There. That comet." Aitra narrowed his eyes. "I'm trying to get a look...."
"Nothing on sensors," said Ruby.
The comet was cruising in from the fringes of the system, nearing the perihelion of its centuries-long elliptical orbit, sporting an impressive fan-shaped tail. They had considered using it for cover on the way into the system, had rejected the idea. But if someone else had had the same idea.... Aitra studied the white haze of the comet's tail, his practised eyes searching. "Yes," he said, eventually. "There's a visual discontinuity... slight, but it's there."
"A cloaked ship, hiding in the comet's tail?" T'Laihhae asked.
"Sensor readings do not confirm this," said Ruby.
"No," said Aitra, "they won't. Whoever's out there, he's good. But not quite good enough."
Two groups of Siohonin frigates were making their way towards the comet now. "I see nothing," said T'Laihhae doubtfully.
"It's there," said Aitra. "Not sure what it is, but it's definitely there. They've seen it."
There was a brief, distant flicker of greenish light on the viewscreen. "The Siohonin are firing disruptors," said Ruby.
"At what?" asked T'Laihhae.
"Unknown. But it is in the vicinity of the comet. Their eyes must be as good as Subcommander Aitra's."
Aitra shrugged. "I just know what to look for, that's all."
"Ship decloaking," said Ruby. "ID confirmed. Klingon B'Rel Bird of Prey."
Given the choice of being blasted with his shields down, or going down fighting, the Klingon captain had taken the obvious choice, Aitra thought. "Do we move to assist?" he asked.
"No," said T'Laihhae.
"Those light ships are no match for us. If we can engage them quickly, before they can bring their special weapons on line -"
"No," T'Laihhae repeated. "We are here to help the Klingons, by gathering intelligence and bringing it back to them. We cannot jeopardize that mission. Remain on course. Maintain cloak."
It made a brutal sort of sense. But Aitra's heart bled for the Klingon ship's captain, as he brought his ship round in a tight turn, facing the Siohonin. Light leapt from the Bird of Prey's disruptor cannons, and the shields of the lead Siohonin ship flared and went down. Fires stippled the narrow cylindrical hull, air gushed from the habitation ring around it.
"Ruby," said T'Laihhae. "There will be sensor noise in abundance during the battle. You may have one active neutrino pulse, at your discretion. I repeat, one only. Make it count."
"Thank you, sir," said the android. Her metallic eyes turned to her console; her hands were poised over it.
The Klingon captain was good. He jinked and swerved, and the first pulses of the Siohonin kinetic lances nearly missed, striking only glancing blows which sent shattered plating flying from his ship's wings. Disruptor light flashed between the fighting ships. A white-hot plume of flame burst from the side of the first Siohonin ship.
"Ruptured electroplasma system," said Ruby. "The Siohonin has lost main power and is drifting."
A second frigate suddenly blew apart: the Klingon ship had fired a torpedo at point-blank range. For a moment, Aitra allowed himself a flash of hope. In a one on one fight, surely the Klingons would have an advantage -
Then the Klingon ship's luck ran out. The last Siohonin in the group made a sudden turn, and something flashed from its forward weapon arrays - and the hull of the Bird of Prey burst open in a ball of brilliant flame. The flash of a core breach came only an instant later.
"Klingon ship is destroyed," Ruby reported.
"Did you get a scan?" T'Laihhae asked.
"Yes, sir. I believe I have a picture of the frigate's internal weapons assemblies."
"If you have," said T'Laihhae softly, "it might make their sacrifice worth something."
"If we can get out with it," Aitra remarked. "The Siohonin ship is coming about. Another frigate group is en route."
"Reading many active sensor pings," said Ruby. "But they are not directed at us. They are scanning the comet, at high intensity."
"Are they moving to recover escape pods?" Aitra asked. "From the Klingon? Or from their own ships?"
"No escape pods on sensors," said Ruby. "The Klingon did not have time to launch them, or they were within the blast radius of their core breach. The Siohonin ships... I still have some life signs on the first one, the cripple, but there are no pod launches, and no ships are moving on intercept vectors."
"They are abandoning their own stranded spacers?" For once, T'Laihhae sounded scandalized.
"They are certainly not making rescue operations a priority," said Ruby. "We are moving out of the range of my passive sensors... I will not be able to maintain a clear picture."
T'Laihhae shook her head. "Never mind. Our first priority is to escape with the data we have. Our next priority... is to gather more." Her face was thoughtful.
"Another sweep of the system?" asked Aitra.
"Probably not," said T'Laihhae. "We should try to insert an agent.... Siohonin females are ubiquitous and disregarded in their society, we know that. I wonder how much cosmetic surgery would be required...?"
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