"OLTION, KATHY JERRY - STAR TREK THE FLAMING ARROW" - читать интересную книгу автора (Oltion Jerry)

 Chapter One

CAPTAiN KJRK was in his quarters when the Kauld ship attacked. It was
late in the evening-past eleven-and he had been trying for the last
hour to put down the twenty-first-century potboiler he had picked up
for a little mindless entertainment before bedtime, but Ryan Hughes's
tale of piracy and romance in the early Lunar colonies had proven more
engaging than he'd expected. He was three-quarters of the way into it
when the inter com whistled for his attention.

He pressed the reply button on the wall panel beside his bed. "Kirk
here."

"Captain," Spock said. "Sensors have picked up a Kauld warship
approaching the planet. It is a single vessel traveling through normal
space under half impulse power. It does not respond to our hails."

For a moment Kirk couldn't make sense of it. Kauld ships on Luna? In
the twenty-first century? But then his own reality reasserted itself
and he remembered where he was. This was the Belle Terre system, and
the Kauld had been harassing the Federation colonists ever since they
had arrived here, nearly a year ago. " Go to yellow alert"' Kirk said.
"Move to intercept. I , 11 be right there."

"Acknowledged."

Y.irk looked for a bookmark, but there was nothing within reach that
would work. He fingered the pages real paper, printed especially for
the colony library then dog-eared page 248 and set the book on his bed.
He would probably hear no end of grief about that from the librarian,
but it was either that or lay the book facedown and risk breaking the
spine. That would probably lose him his library card, one of the few
pleasures this colony world, far beyond the edge of civilization, had
to offer.

He was alone in the turbolift on the way to the bridge. This time of
night, most of the crew were in their quarters or at their
graveyard-shift duty stations. He wondered if the Kauld knew that, and
if they expected it to affect the Enterprise's ability to respond. If
so, they would get a rude surprise. The same people who worked the day
shift rotated through night duty as well; there wasn't an inexperienced
crew member on board.

And few of them would regret kicking some Kauld butt in the name of
defense. It wasn't professional, it wasn't Starfleet, but there it
was. These sapphire skinned bad-tempered, antagonistic aliens had been
a thorn in the Enterprise's side ever since the colony convoy had
entered the Sagittarian sector. What had oginally been intended as a
simple escort mission while on her way into deeper space had instead
become an extended peacekeeping jo&-in part because of these alien