Reve closed in. “With the shields we have, Bones, there’s only one way the Enterprise can target our engines without tearing the rest of the ship apart.”
Kirk smiled as he saw Scott and the holographic doctor look to him with the same expectant expression McCoy had.
“This is what we’re going to do,” Kirk said.
“He’s at warp one point eight, and still slowing,” Worf reported.
The Klingon had taken Leybenzon’s position at the tactical console. The security officer was now at an auxiliary station that had been configured to control the ship’s transporters. As soon as the Belle Reve’s shields went down, Kirk and everyone on board his vessel-however many there really were-would be beamed off and held in the buffer while their identities were confirmed. La Forge had set up a separate circuit for the holographic emitter that gave the Emergency Medical Hologram his physical form.
“You’re not certain you’ve covered all contingencies,” Troi said quietly.
Picard sighed. She was right, as usual.
“Kirk can dock with us, in which case we can beam him aboard, confirm his identity, and move forward,” Picard said. “Or, he can try to speed by us at warp. If he does, I doubt even the Belle Reve’s shields can withstand the onslaught of phaser fire and quantum torpedoes we’ll be able to direct at her. Or, he can turn around, in which case we’ll have another opportunity to disable his engines and take him in tow. It’s difficult to think that he has any other options.”
“Yet you’re not convinced,” Troi said.
“I keep asking myself: What would I do in Kirk’s position?”
Lieutenant Leybenzon looked up from his auxiliary console. “Sort of like playing chess against yourself. Impossible to make secret plans.”
Picard agreed. “I know Kirk’s sitting on his bridge right now, asking himself what he would do in my situation.”
Worf gave another report from his console. “The Belle Reve has slowed to one point five and holding.”
Picard looked to Worf. “He’s not dropping to impulse?”
“No, sir.”
“What is it?” Troi asked, and her concern mirrored the alarm Picard suddenly felt.
“Kirk knows exactly what strategies I’ll take against him….” Picard’s apprehension escalated as he took the next step and tried to work out Kirk’s next move. “So he’ll…” And then he had it.
He jabbed at his communications controls. “This is the captain… all hands brace for collision!”
“You can’t be serious,” McCoy said.
“Take a seat and brace yourself,” Kirk said. “Mister Scott, keep us on course, fifty-meter deviation only.”
“They won’t know what hit them,” Scott said.
But Kirk knew better. “Yes, they will. By now, Jean-Luc knows exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Fifteen seconds to impact,” Scott said. He sounded as calm and confident as Kirk felt.
“But his ship will be destroyed!” Troi said.
Picard felt anger surge within him. “He won’t hit us dead-on. The fact that he’s only at one point five means he doesn’t want to destroy us any more than we want to destroy him.”
Worf growled from his station. “May I suggest evasive maneuvers, sir?”
“That’s what he wants us to do,” Picard said. “It’ll give him just enough of a delay to slip past us.”
“I don’t understand,” Troi said. “Why is he doing this?”
Picard tried to hide his admiration for Kirk’s tactic, but failed. “With him coming directly at us, we can’t hit his engines without shooting through his bridge. And he knows I won’t do that.”
“We’re just going to sit here?” Troi asked.
“It’s an old Earth game called ‘chicken,’” Picard said. “But I know how to change the rules, too.”
“Captain Kirk! The Enterprise has dropped her shields!”
Kirk reacted to the holographic doctor’s shock with admiration for his foe, and his friend. That particular tactic he hadn’t anticipated.
“Well done, Jean-Luc,” Kirk murmured. “Are all her shields down?”
“Navigational shields only,” the Doctor replied. “But they’ll only protect her from dust and debris, not us.”
“It’s all right,” Kirk said. “Jean-Luc knows we won’t hit him.”
“Orders, Captain?” Scott asked.
“Maintain course,” Kirk said as he once again put himself in Jean-Luc’s position and guessed what his fellow captain’s next move would be.
“He’s going to try and slow us down with tractor beams.”
“Och, but that’ll tear us apart!”
“They’ll have transporters on standby, ready to save us.”
“Should I change course?”
“No,” Kirk said. “Power up our tractor beam and don’t hide the signature. We don’t have enough transporter capacity to save Jean-Luc’s crew, so if he wants to cause damage, he’ll have to be sure he can clean up after himself.”
“Their tractor beams are powering up,” Worf said.
Picard grinned-the only one on his bridge who wasn’t behaving as if total destruction was only a few seconds away. “Got him.”
“What?” Troi asked.
“Anything I can think of,” Picard said, “Kirk can think of, too. So the trick is to stay just one step ahead of him, even for a few seconds… Mister Worf, stand by on shields…”
“Standing by,” Worf growled. “Impact in– “
“– five seconds,” Scott said. “Four…”
Kirk gripped the arms of his chair, and only at three seconds to impact did he finally realize that Picard had out-maneuvered him.
“Scotty!” Kirk shouted. “Hit him dead-on! He’s going to– “
21
THE OORT CLOUD, SECTOR 001
STARDATE 58567.4
Like their captains, if the Belle Reve was the irresistible force, the Enterprise was the immovable object.
At one second before impact, the Enterprise’s shields flared into life at full power, just as Kirk had anticipated.
The Belle Reve’s shields impinged on the Enterprise’s in a silent, rippling flare of blue Casimir energy.
But not enough energy to completely dissipate the forces of that collision.
Some bled into warp space as spreading pockets of subspace distortion. Some spread into normal space- time as cascading gamma radiation that over the course of hours would register on astronomical detectors throughout the inner solar system.
And the barest fraction of one percent was converted into kinetic energy.
Motion.
The Enterprise spun around her center of gravity, an enormous, off-center windmill.
Inside her hull, alarms screamed and the structural-integrity field that held her together drew all power from her generators, lowering gravity, blacking out the lights.
The crew not strapped into place at their duty stations were thrown into bulkheads, slid up to the overheads, propelled by centrifugal force.
