Riker hesitated. Clearly the human was uncomfortable having his mate still aboard during a hunt. Not to mention the Vulcan tactical officer, who was aboard one of the other livemounts, assisting in the training. But he accepted Qui’hibra’s estimate of the risk. “Very well. It’s your fleet, it’s your call.Titan will follow and observe.”
It took a while for the mounts to cross the star system even at warp. Qui’hibra used the time to fill Troi in on the situation once she arrived. The quartet of spinners turned out to be on the far outskirts of the system’s cometary belt, making it a somewhat longer flight. Qui’hibra ordered the school/fleet to maximum warp, knowing that Titanwould need some time to catch up, but not concerned by the fact.
He was a bit concerned, however, by what the sensation wall showed when they came out of warp. Chi’tharu reacted to it as well, speaking over the comm. “Look how fast they go! How did this happen?”
His Vomnin scientist, Fasden, spoke. “They are still on the system’s outskirts. They would not have been decelerated much yet by the star’s light pressure.”
“No, there is more,” Qui’hibra said. “I have never seen spinners move this fast.”
After a moment, Titan’s scientist Jaza spoke from his own ship, lagging behind but still in communications range. “There’s a pulsar seven light-years back along their course. Its emission cones sweep right through their path. They must have used that radiation to gain an extra push, and gotten a gravity boost from the pulsar as well.”
“Is this a problem?” Troi asked.
“It will take some work to match velocities,” Qui’hibra said. “It makes for a more interesting chase.”
She studied the sensation wall. “It looks to me like they’re coming right at us.”
“Yes, they are. Fleet,” he commanded, “make backward thrust, and stand by to fire. They will overtake us before we can match velocity. We will meet them face-on and take what shots we can. All mounts, aim for the nodules around the outside, not the sail. And make sure to stay well clear of them once they pass.”
“Wouldn’t it be safer to stay out of their way and then approach them from behind?”
“That would let them gain more of a lead, and more time to react to our approach,” he told the Betazoid. “Right now we are backlit to them, hard to detect—we have surprise on our side, and they will have more trouble dodging at this speed than we will.”
“Firing range in five,”Chi’tharu announced.
“Mounts, fire at will. Good hunting!”
But he felt that something was wrong. A sense of unease pervaded him, and no stings were launched. “What is wrong?”
“They’re reluctant to fire,” Troi told him. “The creatures don’t pose an immediate threat to the jellies, and they don’t want to provoke their hostility.”
“Do not fear,” Qui’hibra called to the mount around him and to its schoolmates. “We have trained for this, we are ready. The spinners react slowly. As long as you remember your training, you will be fine. This is just another game! Try to hit the spinning balls! You can do this!” The optimum shot, of course, was to sever the radial cord which held the nodule in place, amputating it from the spinner. But that was a much harder shot.
His coaxing seemed to do the job. The livemounts moved into attack formation and began firing. Their first few shots went wild or pierced the sail uselessly. “The star-jellies are unused to leading the targets,”Tuvok reported from aboard his mount. “I suggest the gunner crews concentrate on aim, and let their thoughts direct the jellies’ fire.”
“Gunners, do as he suggests.” With the gunners’ experience guiding the mounts, the shots began to fall truer, and one by one the nodules began to be blasted open, their hydrogen ignited. But the losses were fewer than they should have been at this stage, with the spinners nearly upon them. “Concentrate your shots on a single side of each,” Qui’hibra commanded. “Unbalance them enough and they will spin out of control.”
But there was too little time. A few more nodules fell, and one of the spinners began to wobble and drift off course. It instinctively tried to compensate by trimming the sail between its radial cords, changing the way it caught the light, but of course out here the light was too feeble to matter. Qui’hibra could tell from the way its sail was undulating that it was no longer a threat; it was too unbalanced now to stabilize itself, and the oscillations would build until it tangled and tore itself to tatters. But the other three were still intact and almost upon the school/fleet. “Evade,” Qui’hibra called.
The mounts began to dodge, but one remained on course, still firing. He focused his thoughts on it, knowing his mount would direct a comm signal there. “You are too close to its path! I said evade!”
A voice came back—Se’hraqua. “We are off its direct path. Just a few more hits…”
“Do not let it move to grab you!”
“This far out, the star’s magnetic field is too weak to tack against!”
Idiot!Se’hraqua knew the physics well enough, but not the tactics. “You fool, they can tack off each other’s fields!”
Even as he spoke, he saw the spinners repelling apart and knew it was too late. What happened next was almost too quick to see. The spinners swept by, and the sail of one caught Se’hraqua’s ship. The force of impact wrapped that part of the sail around the livemount, and the spinner’s momentum swept it forward. That sector of the sail began retracting along the radial cords, giving it slack as it wrapped itself layer by layer around the mount, trapping it.
Troi gasped, and Qui’hibra understood why. The trapped livemount was frightened, sharing its fright with the others, and their hormones fed it to him and his people. “Remain calm!” he urged everyone. “We can rescue them. Keep firing at the nodules, make it lose control of its wrapping! Se’hraqua, if you still live, fire out from inside, try to burn a hole through.”
“They are pulling away too fast!”Chi’tharu cried. “We cannot do it in time!”
“Keep your focus, Huntsmaster! Keep the skymounts’ emotions apart from your own! And mounts, do not despair! You can rescue your schoolmate, we will help you! But you must manage your fear!”
Someone was screaming now—it sounded like Se’hraqua. On the sensation wall, livid violet stings were shooting out from the enfolded spinner as the captive mount tried to blast its way free. But the blasts were feeble, most of their energy absorbed by the mesh, doing limited damage. After a moment, the shimmer of the mount’s teleportation beams began playing over the sail from inside, disintegrating its inner layers. But it kept wrapping more and more layers around the mount. Stings from the other mounts lanced into view as they tried to assist its escape. They were picking up speed, gaining on the spinner, which had been slowed some by the impact, falling slightly behind its two surviving fellows. When they grew close enough, they added their teleport beams to the effort. Soon, the livemount broke free and shot unevenly away from its tattered cocoon. Crows of relief and triumph from Se’hraqua and his crewmates sounded over the comm. The other mounts began moving to rendezvous with their schoolmate.
“No,” Qui’hibra ordered. “We must engage them again. Finish this one off and take out the others!”
Troi shook her head. “They don’t want to do that. They’re had enough.”
“Enough? This is nothing! No one has been lost.”
“They’re still new at this, Qui’hibra. Isn’t this enough for one test run? Give them a chance to get used to it.”
But suddenly he saw something on the sensory wall. “Everyone, hunt stations! The prey is turning to fight!” Or rather, one of the other two spinners was slowing, letting the school/fleet catch up with it. It must have pushed off its partner’s magnetic field to get the deceleration.