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On the other side of the temple, the Rocinanteslammed into the Klingons’ camp. Then there was nothing to see except a white flash of fire, and nothing to hear but thunder.
T’Pry
Pe
She closed her hand around the compact, box-shaped weapon and held it away from her human compatriot. “Do not change any of these settings,” she said. “It is currently primed to emit a narrow beam on heavy stun. Hold your fire unless you see a Klingon take aim at me. Is that clear?”
“Absolutely,” he said with another curt nod.
Despite harboring some doubts as to Pe
“Got it,” Pe
Doffing her heavy outer robe, T’Pry
Pe
Then her ears detected the sound of a starship’s impulse engine shrieking into a power dive. As she turned her head to seek the source, Pe
From behind the temple, the Rocinanteappeared. It arced over the decaying stone ruins and ejected an emergency pod as it began a nosedive toward the Klingon’s compound.
The pod bounced across the temple’s roof and skidded down a stony slope as its hatch was jettisoned. A humanoid figure tumbled out as the pod slid over the roof’s edge.
An alert klaxon blared in the Klingon camp as the Mancharan starhopper pitched nose-first into the ammo dump.
T’Pry
A blast wave followed seconds later, pushing a scouring wall of sand outward from the temple. Pe
When the din and glare had passed, T’Pry
Shaking off her shroud of sand, T’Pry
“Oh, I can tell you right now,” Pe
Stun pistol in hand, Qui
Dammit,he cursed at himself, this is really stupid.
All he had going for him were the element of surprise and the fact that most of the Klingon garrison had been vaporized by his pseudo-kamikaze attack with the Rocinante. The golden fireball from the crash was still expanding into the air behind him as he stumbled up the sloped roof and opened fire on the befuddled troops ma
By the time the four Klingon soldiers realized they were being shot at, Qui
Qui
Another massive explosion from the ground engulfed the side of the temple below the turret. Huge slabs of stone were hurled into the air inside a cloud of pulverized rock fragments. A great cracking noise accompanied the spread of a fissure on the side of the turret’s base, which sagged and began to slide away.
Jumping down to the terrace, Qui
More of the temple’s sandstone edifice collapsed, taking with it the center of the terrace. As Qui
Dust surged into Qui
Through the freshly wrought gap, he heard Klingon troops inside the temple regrouping and preparing to counterattack.
No way down from here,he realized. I could jump across to the next level with a ru
He couldn’t stay put; on the roof he’d either be an easy target once the Klingons got reorganized, or he’d be cut off and unable to help Bridy Mac.
What I need is a stepping-stone.
He heard ru
Behind him stood a mostly intact turret. He climbed onto the slope that led to the turret’s base and sprinted to it. Taking an explosive charge from his backpack, he made his best guess as to where to place it. Have to eyeball it. He jammed it in a nook at the tower’s base, armed the trigger, and leaped away.
As a squad of Klingons appeared on the level below him across the chasm, he keyed his remote detonator.
An explosive flash vaporized a sizable wedge of the turret’s foundation. Just as Qui
Down below, the Klingons retreated in a panic.
Now the fun part,Qui
The turret fell into the gap, smashing through the roof as it made impact. For half a second the tower slowed as it punched through the stony obstacles of floors and walls—and that was the moment Qui
As the rocky structure calved into chunks, Qui
Ahead of him, the squad of Klingons stared in disbelief. Then their leader aimed his disruptor at Qui
Qui
The rest of the squad scattered, all of them returning fire on the run. Shots went wild and caromed off the walls, blasting away chunks of rocky shrapnel.
Charging forward and cursing like a berserker, Qui
Surveying his handiwork, he permitted himself a small, satisfied smile. Not bad, old man,he congratulated himself. This half-assed rescue might turn out okay, after all.