Read Star Trek: The Empty Chair for Free Online

guns,” Jim said, “ready to break up an ambush. Let’s see the tactical, Mr. Spock.”
    Spock transferred the tactical view to the front viewscreen. Jim saw what he thought he would, the two big ships plunging into the system almost at right angles to the ecliptic, as Courhig had predicted. Already Jim’s heart was pounding with the thought that the Romulans had made one of the three great errors of this kind of warfare, that of dividing your forces before you have adequately assessed the danger—though there were some naval tacticians who claimed that any division of a fleet into subsections was already an error, whether the threat had been correctly assessed or not. By that standard, this incoming fleet was already in trouble, though whether they knew it or not was at issue, not to mention how the forces waiting here would exploit the error. If the Grand Fleet ships rejoined to work again as a more closely aligned group, that would be a problem.
But a mistake they made once, they might make again.
    “The Grand Fleet vessels are all now in system,” Spock said, as the two tagged shapes of light that represented
Gauntlet
and
Esemar
slowed further, and one after another,the other points of light popped in behind them, in a loose globular formation. “We are being scanned.”
    “No response,” Jim said. “We shouldn’t be able to see them; let’s let them suppose we can’t.” He stared hard at the tactical. “Let me know if they make any changes in acceleration or vector suggesting that individual vessels or a subgroup may be about to break away.”
    “No indications of that as yet, Captain. They are shifting formation somewhat, however. Heading directly for Artaleirh; none appear to be diverting toward us.”
    “Keep an eye on them, Spock. Especially for any sign that some of them might be about to try to seed that star.” It was the smaller vessels in the group that made Jim most suspicious in this regard; the corvettes would almost certainly have more than one function here, since they would be only of secondary use in a fight among starships of any size.
Not that we won’t seed that star ourselves if we don’t have a choice,
Jim thought, and was once again left very uncomfortable by the concept. How must this moment feel for the people on the planet, knowing that either the enemy or their own side might suddenly make their homeworld uninhabitable?
    “We have two of our cruisers out in abeyance at the moment to interfere with them should they start such a run, Captain,”
tr’Mahan’s voice said.
    Jim let out a brief breath of relief that he hoped no one heard.
Dammit, we ought to be able to handle it ourselves,
he was thinking.
Damn crystal anyway!
“Good man,” he said to tr’Mahan. “We need to stay still for the moment. We’ll protect your fallback position here. If they make a move, they’re all yours.”
    “I understand your reasoning, Captain. We are ready now. Here they come.”
    Jim’s hands clenched on the arms of the center seat.

THREE
    On
Bloodwing,
Ael stood behind her command chair, watching what lay there glittering in the dark blue light of the tactical display. Nine ships were arrowing down from the night at Artaleirh, and the thought of what that world might be about to suffer filled her with pain. But if they did not suffer it, much worse pain would yet befall all the people on that world, and many others.
If only this works…
    “Course change as they go into lower sublight speeds now,” Aidoann said. “All their weapons are going hot,
khre’Riov.
They are initiating big hyperbolic least-expenditure curves, with Artaleirh as their common locus.”
    They are giving us a chance to regret our intentions,
Ael thought.
I hope we can return the favor.
“They plainly think this engagement will be over quickly,” she said to Aidoann. “So it may, but not as they intend.” Ael glanced down at the seat of her chair, considering that she might prefer to sit this one out. It