Killing Blow by Kevin Ryan

Author:Kevin Ryan [Ryan, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure, Star Trek Fiction
ISBN: 9780743446020
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 2002-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

CAPTAIN KIRK WAS the first to fire. He took the shot running, about midway down the wall of the ravine.

It was a difficult shot, but the captain did not miss.

The powerful phaser beam leapt from the rifle and reached out for the pilot’s head. It flared brilliantly against the weapons platform’s shield. Kell felt a tinge of disappointment. Unlike the first pilot, this one had not turned off his shield.

If the shield were off, this battle would already be half over.

Kirk had no doubt studied the reports from the System 1324 incident, which showed that the shield was weakest at the top.

Kell was not surprised to see the shield holding, even after a phaser rifle blast. He had seen the platform’s shields absorb beam after beam of phaser-2 fire. [135] They would absorb more than one blast from a phaser rifle.

But not much more.

Kell fired his own weapon. The blast went wide and he aimed for another shot, targeting the weapons platform in the rear this time. He hit that shield at the pilot’s chest level. The shield flared a brilliant purple.

Kirk came to a stop about two-thirds of the way down the ravine. The cover was adequate there with more trees than the bare clearing directly below them.

Kell saw movement in his peripheral vision and guessed that the primitives were escaping behind them. He kept up the fire. He and Benitez concentrated on the platform in the rear, while the captain and most of the others concentrated on the one on the front.

The pilots were slow to respond. They expected to be hunting unarmed primitive beings and were now being pounded by high-powered phaser fire on a planet that should have contained no technology beyond simple hand tools.

Few beings would be able to adapt quickly to that abrupt a development. Clearly, the Orions were not among that few; they were buffeted by fire. They fired their own weapons but could not find decent targets and none of the deadly blasts came anywhere near the landing party’s position.

“Hold your fire,” Kirk called out, after a few moments.

He stepped down to get closer to the bottom of the ravine. Taking careful aim, he fired two blasts at the lead platform. Then another three at the rear vehicle. Both ships’ shields flared and then disappeared, though the vehicles were left intact and the pilots unharmed.

[136] Kirk started down the ravine wall. Chief Brantley called out to him.

“Captain, the last time we faced those weapons platforms, they were booby-trapped. The Orions did not want to be taken alive.”

Kirk nodded, but continued down, saying, “They knew they would be taking on Starfleet then. This time they weren’t expecting any resistance, and the Orions don’t usually resort to that kind of extreme action. I’m betting that they didn’t institute the same protocols here. They still think this is a secret operation.”

Then he shot the security team a look over his shoulder. “And nobody blows themselves up until I get some answers.”

Kirk stepped out into the clearing, his rifle aimed straight at the Orions.

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