Armageddon Sky by L. A. Graf

Author:L. A. Graf [Graf, L. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780671006754
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 1997-09-02T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

“hear ME KOR. Now.” Sisko never particularly noticed how his voice sounded, especially in the middle of a tense situation. The only reason he suspected something about it changed was the way his bridge officers and ensigns dove into their work at times like these, as if Furies stood behind them breathing fire down their necks. Even Worf wasn’t immune to the effect, although his stiff posture made it clear he could have resisted that aura of command if his officer’s instincts ever told him to. Sisko SUSPECTED he himself had looked much the same way when he’d been on the receiving end of Admiral Nechayev’s steely voice only a few hours before. “Excellent work, Captain,” the admiral had said, her ice-pale eyes gleaming despite the cometary INTERFERENCE that danced through her high-security transmission. “The loss of the Victoria Adams—perhaps even the loss of her passengers—may very well be worth finding out that the Cardassians planned to smuggle drevlocet off this Armageddon planet of yours. You may have just saved millions of lives.”

“Thank you, Admiral,” Sisko said shortly. “But don’t start filing any obituaries. I haven’t given up on the crash survivors yet, or on my away team.” Nechayev arched her eyebrows. “But I thought you said you had to drop back into a depowered and cloaked orbit to evade the Klingon blockade. How are you going to protect the planet from comet impacts now?” Sisko grimaced. “I don’t know.” Dropping abruptly out of warp with his exhaust camouflaged and his shields repolarized to blend in with the magnetosphere had seemed like the best way to evade Kor’s drunken, wild chase. It wasn’t until after the fact that he’d realized he’d once again trapped himself into doing nothing. “I’ll think of something.”

“Perhaps,” Nechayev suggested, “you could negotiate with Dahar Master Kor.” Sisko eyed his sector commander in deep suspicion. He’d never known the admiral to make a joke, especially not in a situation as tense as this one, but surely she couldn’t be serious now. “What makes you think the Klingons are going to be any more amenable to negotiation now than when they fired on the Victoria Adams?”

“Because now,” she pointed out gently, “you can inform them that this planet is a natural source of drevlocet.”

That brought Worf’s head up from his intent scrutiny of his piloting screens. “The Klingon High Council swore to uphold the military convention banning drevlocet!” he growled. “On the Honor of the Emperor Kahless! They would never use it.”

“I am aware of that, Commander,” the admiral retorted. “In fact, it’s all that’s keeping me from ordering five starships to take control of that system immediately. I trust the Klingons will protect Armageddon adequately, once they know how dangerous the planet really is.”

“That’s why you want me to talk to

Kor,” Sisko realized. “So he knows the real reason why the Cardassians have been trying to goad us into a fight.”

“Precisely.” The admiral transferred her steely gaze back to Sisko. “The stakes in this game are now very high, Captain.

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