Come on, Kirk thought, his apprehension mounting with each passing second. Come on!

His stomach felt as though it might be trying to flip over on itself as the Enterprisewas rocked by another Tholian salvo. The deck lifted, the ship’s gravity and damping systems struggling to keep up as Kirk was pushed back into his chair. More alarms sounded around the bridge as various status and alert indicators flashed red. As the Enterprisesettled in the wake of the latest assault, Kirk glanced around the various stations, verifying that no one had been injured.

Spock, looking up from his sensor displays, said, “The Tholians appear to be redistributing their attack vessels, diverting a considerable number toward us and the Endeavour.”

“I think they’ve finally got us locked in,” Chekov added, casting a glance over his shoulder. “Shields down to sixty-four percent, sir.”

“Captain,” Spock said, “the station’s primary shield generators are off-line.” As though punctuating his report, the main viewscreen now displayed dozens of new impacts against the starbase’s hull. Unhindered by the station’s deflector shields, each new strike was inflicting far more damage as the enemy weapons chewed through duranium plating and found the less-resistant materials comprising Vanguard’s defenseless interior areas.

Whatever time remained to them could likely be counted in seconds, Kirk decided, and not very many of those. While the Enterpriseconceivably could outrun any enemy pursuers if he gave the order to withdraw, he had no intention of leaving Atish Khatami and her crew at the Tholians’ mercy. But beyond providing simple covering fire, there was precious little else he could do if the Tholians had decided to leave no survivors.

“Captain!” Uhura all but shouted, and when Kirk turned toward her he saw that the communications officer’s expression was one of fresh excitement. “The Endeavour’s signaling us. Their warp drive is back online!”

“Then let’s get the hell out of here,” Kirk snapped, once again offering thanks to those deities who chose to smile upon starship engineers. “Sulu!” Even as he spoke the helmsman’s name, he saw that the lieutenant already was taking action. His fingers moved at uncanny speed, manipulating the controls before him as he worked to guide the Enterprisetoward safety.

“The Endeavourhas broken orbit,” Spock reported from his station. “A few Tholian vessels are altering their attack vectors to pursue, but most appear to be continuing their assault on the station.”

“Watch our backs, Chekov,” Kirk said. “Keep the shields angled aft and concentrate firepower to cover the Endeavour’s withdrawal.” On the viewscreen, the image of the station fell out of the frame as the Enterprisebanked away, picking up speed and heading for open space. There still were far too many Tholian warships for his liking, but he saw that Chekov was addressing that issue as well. Concentrating the ship’s firepower forward, the navigator was not aiming for the enemy vessels so much as he was simply trying to scare them out of the starship’s flight path. His tactic, so far as Kirk could see, was having the intended effect.

“Warp eight,” the captain ordered. “Get us to the evacuation convoy.” Glancing toward the science station, he asked, “Spock? The Endeavour?”

Once more consulting his sensor data, the Vulcan nodded. “It has accelerated to warp and is on course for the convoy.” He then added, “Captain, I am detecting a massive power surge from within the station.” When he said nothing else, Kirk looked toward the first officer to see him turning from his console. Spock’s expression offered nothing, though the captain could see in his friend’s eyes what he had not said aloud.

“On screen,” Kirk said, rising from his chair as the main screen shifted from its view of onrushing stars to depict Starbase 47. Dozens of Tholian vessels darted around the station, many of them continuing to fire at it even as they worked to evade Vanguard’s weapons. Stepping around Sulu at the helm, Kirk had time for one final look at the station, silhouetted against the stars, before an enormous ball of white light burst from deep within its core. Instinct pulled his hands to his face to shield his eyes from the assault, but the viewscreen automatically adjusted its resolution to compensate. The blast spread in the space of mere heartbeats, consuming the station and the scores of enemy warships around it. A cloud of ionized gases pushed outward, sending with it whatever debris had not been annihilated by the massive matter/antimatter detonation. Then the blast began to fade, leaving nothing but the bits of twisted wreckage that were the only evidence that the Watchtower-class space station had ever been there at all.

“Oh, my god,” Kirk heard Uhura say, her voice barely a whisper. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw that she had moved from her own station and now was standing at the rail encircling the command well, tears in her eyes as she fixed her gaze on the viewscreen.

“Spock,” Kirk said, keeping his composure and reminding himself that the battle might not yet be over. “Scan the station’s location for Shedai life signs.”

The science officer said nothing for a moment, once more consulting his instruments before answering, “Sensors detecting no indications of the Shedai.”

Not taking his eyes from the main viewscreen as the last vestiges of the explosion continued to disperse, Kirk prompted, “You’re sure?”

“Affirmative,” Spock replied. “No life readings, and no residual energy traces. They are simply gone, likely obliterated in the explosion.”

Chekov said, “Let’s hope so.”

Amen to that, Kirk mused. “Are there any Tholian survivors?”

“Most of the warships were caught up in the blast,” Spock said. “Those few ships which were tracking us and the Endeavourare breaking off their pursuit.” He adjusted one of his controls before adding, “They appear to be on course for the Tholian border at their best possible speed.”

Kirk nodded. “I guess they’resatisfied that the Shedai are gone.” It certainly appeared as though Admiral Nogura and his people had accomplished at least one of their primary objectives: containing the Shedai threat. There was every reason for Kirk to believe that the top secret project also had borne other fruit, perhaps in ways he would never know or understand, but at what cost? Lives, ships, entire worlds had been lost; relations with interstellar neighbors and adversaries were damaged if not destroyed.

In the final analysis, would the secrets gleaned by Operation Vanguard prove to be worth their staggering price? It was a question for others to answer, Kirk knew.

But I doubt it.

ELEVEN

Stardate 5829.7

Starbase 12

Neither Kirk nor Nogura said anything for several long moments, and Kirk could tell from the admiral’s expression that the older man had not simply been listening to his report on the final moments of Starbase 47. Pressing his slight frame into the oversized chair, Nogura seemed to be staring at a point in space as he held his teacup between both hands, and Kirk decided he must be recalling the harrowing events as he had experienced them for himself.

“Admiral?” Kirk prompted after a time. “Are you all right?”

Clearing his throat, Nogura nodded before straightening his posture. “Yes. I’m sorry, Kirk. I guess I’m still a bit shaken up by the whole thing.” He blew out his breath, setting his cup back down on its saucer before resting his forearms on the desk. “I’ve been at this a long time, and I’ve even had a starship shot out from under me, but losing an entire space station? That’s a new one.”