“Plenty more where that came from,” the Bolian pilot said, tilting her smooth blue head to glance at Bralik. “Literally.” She furrowed her faintly striped brow. “Do you think this will protect the squales?”

“I think, young one, that sometimes you have to do somethingeven when the odds are that it won’t bring you any profit. Because then you can at least say you tried.”

Waen did not look comforted. “Is that a Rule of Acquisition?”

“No, dear. It’s a rule of getting by.”

Bralik’s console beeped, and she checked the readout. “Density readings consistent with a large bilitrium deposit at three forty-eight mark twenty,” she announced. “A second deposit beyond the opposite wall, maybe sixty meters deep. Close enough.” She tapped in a few calculations, sent the result to Waen. “Place the canisters at these coordinates.”

“Got it, Chief.”

A moment later, Bralik felt the shudder of canister ejection, then a low hum as the tractor beam engaged and moved the canister into position. “Careful!” she called as she noticed the beam spreading a bit beyond the canister. “We’ve seen what can happen when this rock drinks up tractor energies.”

But before she even finished, an energy discharge arced between the walls of the fissure, conducted through the residual rock vapor from the earlier explosions. Some mineral deposit must have had a residual charge still stored, just on the threshold of eruption. The discharge triggered a new explosion, and debris pelted the shuttle. “Shields holding,” Waen called. “Canister’s still intact.”

“Don’t count your latinum yet, honey! Look!”

The walls were moving. The fissure was collapsing in around them.

TITAN

Vale watched in alarm through the viewscreen static as the asteroid began crumbling apart in slow motion, the fissure closing to trap the Marsalis. “Get them out of there!” she called, not caring how.

“No transporter lock,” Kuu’iut called. “The radiation.”

“Vale to Ellington. Can you tractor them out before the fissure finishes collapsing?”

“We’re working on it,”came Olivia Bolaji’s voice. “Waen’s heading for the exit. We’re trying to shore it up with our tractors.”

Vale watched tensely as the shuttle’s beams strained to hold apart the massive chunks that were slowly crashing together. Energy discharges flashed inside the closing fissure, clouds of rock vapor bursting out and splashing over the shuttle’s shields. Finally, the Marsalisscraped its way past the rock walls and out into space, nearly sideswiping its sister shuttle. “Both shuttles, back to the ship, now! Kuu’iut, what’s happening?”

“The asteroid is breaking into three large pieces. They’re still in contact, but no longer physically joined—just resting against each other. But they’re shifting.”

“As soon as the shuttles reach a safe distance, blow the antimatter.”

“The canisters might not stay in range of the bilitrium.”

“All the more reason not to hesitate!”

“Aye, ma’am. Shuttles are at minimum safe distance—detonating.”

At least the detonator signal was strong enough to pierce the radiation; the explosion that erupted from inside the asteroid was satisfyingly brilliant and violent-looking through the static. The asteroid blew out into an expanding cloud of dust, and Vale gave a tentative sigh of relief.

But then Kuu’iut gave his somber report. “Not enough contact with the bilitrium. The explosion was unconcentrated, much of the energy lost to space.” As the dust began to clear, Vale saw that the asteroid was still in only three very large chunks, huddled fairly close together though drifting slowly apart and tumbling separately.

“Any way to blow those into smaller pieces?”

“Weapons are still down—and we need what power and maneuvering we have just to make orbit. And the shuttles don’t have the power.” It clearly galled the competitive Betelgeusian to admit defeat, but that didn’t stop him. “I’m sorry, Commander Vale. There’s nothing more we can do.”

SHUTTLECRAFT GILLESPIE

Melora Pazlar gazed at the sensor readings on the shuttle console in horror. Not only had Titanfailed to prevent the impact, but…“Pazlar to Riker,” she called. “The angle of impact has changed. The rock’s not coming down where we put the klaxon!”

“Not that they were willing to evacuate the area anyway,” Ra-Havreii said. The squales’ big bruisers had destroyed their second klaxon as well. Pazlar wasn’t surprised that trying to scare them out of a particular place had just made them more determined to stay there. It was downright humanoid of them.

“And it’s worse, sir—the impact zone’s a lot closer to you now. You’ve got to get out of there! Head west as fast as you can! We’re coming to get you, but we may not get there in time.”

“Make best speed, Commander. The squales aren’t letting us go anywhere, and I’m reluctant to use force on them.”

“Captain, you may have to. A stun beam won’t kill them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Riker out.”

Melora turned to Xin. “Is there anything else we can do?”

He sighed. “Not unless you have a containment field big enough to hold sixty billion cubic meters of water, a tractor beam strong enough to lift it all, and a transporter powerful enough to beam out any squales it contains before flying it into the asteroid’s path to vaporize it before it hits the ocean. Oh, and a death wish.”

“Sorry,” she said without humor. “Fresh out.”