*   *   *

“Okay, we’ve got a problem,” Sonya told the team as she and Tev entered the observation lounge. “The ship is Androssi, and it turns out it’s some new modular design. It’s split into three separate ships now, and all three of them are headed for us.”

“If their sensors picked up the Dancing Star before this,” Pattie said, “they would have known it was enormous. Maybe they figured they’d need three ships to deal with it.”

“Could be,” Sonya said. “But why they sent them isn’t important right now. In two hours we’re going to have all three in our face. What are we going to do about it?”

She turned toward Fabian, and he managed not to grin or sigh. It was nice being the team’s tactical expert, and knowing they looked to him at a time like this. At the same time, he sometimes wished those expectant stares were focused on someone else.

“How big are these three, compared to Biron’s ship?” That was the one they were most familiar with, having encountered it twice already.

“Seventy-five percent,” Tev replied. Fabian wasn’t surprised that the Tellarite would know the size of Biron’s ship—he’d already demonstrated that he loved research, and that he’d read up on the S.C.E.’s previous missions, including the encounters with Biron at Maeglin and Empok Nor.

“Okay, so we’ve got three ships, each three-fourths of that size.” Fabian got up and paced while he thought out loud. “No way we can take them ourselves—the da Vinci might be able to handle one, though we’d come away in bad shape ourselves.”

“The Dancing Star dealt with that Cardassian ship, the Grach’noyl,” Soloman commented.

“True, and it could probably handle at least one of these. But I doubt it could take two, and that’d still leave one for us.” Fabian shook his head. “Sorry, Commander, but this is a fight we can’t win.”

“We can run,” Tev said, and glared back at them when they all turned toward him. “Valor in the face of overwhelming odds is simple foolishness.”

“No argument there,” Sonya admitted. “But I don’t think running would work. They’ve got three ships—they could send one or even two after us, while the remaining one or two lay claim to the Dancing Star. And we cannot let this technology fall into the Androssi’s hands.”

“Hell, they could focus all three on us,” Fabian replied, “blow us away, then come back and pick over it at their leisure. A quick scan will show them that the Dancing Star is unmanned, so they’ll know it’s not a threat.”

“What if we just scuttle it and go?” Pattie asked. “Toss it into the nearest sun and take off? They’ll stop to see if they can retrieve it, which should give us the time we need to get away safely.”

But Fabian shook his head again. “No good. They’re too practical for that, and there are three of them. They’ll leave one ship behind to watch the sun, and the other two will pursue us. Keep in mind that the Androssi would love to get their hands on Starfleet tech, too, and they’ve no compunctions about killing us to get it.” He stopped pacing and glanced up. “I do have one idea, though. It’s a bit crazy, but I think it’ll work—and it’ll keep both us and the Dancing Star out of their hands.”