Author's Note: Once again, let me thank fififolle for her continued feedback and comments. It means a lot to hear someone's enjoying this. (hint, hint, to all you others who might feel the urge to comment) (ok, so I'm not subtle :) )

CHAPTER 34

The scout ship was pulled into the Falcon and the docking bay repressurized. Hoshi, who had remained where she had fallen on the floor, figuring it was the safest place to be after the last time the scout ship got hit, was helped up by Reed.

Tucker was the first one out the hatch when it was opened. "I'm goin' to engineering," he said, staggering as the Falcon rocked under a blow. "Malin's gonna need all the help he can get."

Kleth had pushed past Tucker as he spoke and had taken off at a run for the bridge. Reed, helping Hoshi, followed Kleth.

Reed hurried Hoshi as much as he could. He was worried. Her face was pale, and the farther they got from the docking bay, the more halting her steps became. He could tell her shoulder was hurting her terribly.

By the time they reached the ladder to the bridge, Reed could smell burning insulation. They stepped out on the bridge to the sight of smoke drifting from several consoles, one of them Garef's helm position. Garef himself was still seated there, operating the controls, an ugly burn across one side of his face.

Kleth was behind Garef, issuing orders as he finished spraying fire suppressant on the console.

"Bring us about!" Kleth ordered. "We will face that son of a targ and end his miserable existence."

Reed helped Hoshi to the captain's chair, and she gave him a feeble smile.

"Report!" she managed to say with some of her old forcefulness.

"The damaged cruiser is moving off," Kleth said. "The other cruiser is engaged with the Starfleet vessel, which has taken some damage but is still fighting."

"What about that new ship that came out from behind the planet?" Reed asked, moving over to the weapons' console where he lifted the unconscious Klingon who had been manning it out of the way.

"It will be in our weapons' range shortly," Kleth said.

"Incoming transmission," called out the Klingon at the communications console.

"Enterprise?" Hoshi asked.

"No. Shidak."

Engineering looked like it was the Klingon version of hell, Tucker thought as he ran to the main controls. Several fires were raging and smoke hung under the overhead bulkhead, and voices called out and were answered in guttural Klingon.

"What's still working?" he asked Malin, who was frantically ripping open a panel to get at some circuitry.

"Nothing is operating at full strength," the Klingon panted in reply through the haze, "but it is still holding together."

A loud explosion sounded from elsewhere in the room, and Tucker heard someone cry out in pain. The Falcon suddenly reeled.

"Stabilizers have been damaged," Tucker said after regaining his balance and glancing at the monitors. He started to head for the access port. "We can't maneuver very well if we don't get them fixed."

"Stay here!" Malin yelled. "I will see to it."

Shidak's face glared at them on the viewscreen.

"This is your fault, you bitch," he said. "I had hoped we would have been able to get along, but I see Nolan was right."

Hoshi didn't say anything. She was too furious at the man for everything that he had done, for everything he had cost her -- her husband, her self-esteem, her former life. He had played her for a fool, knowing all along that she held him responsible for Matthew's death.

Much as she'd wanted to kill him personally, she'd enjoy blowing his ship to pieces -- and him with it.

"You have cost me too much," the pirate leader continued. "I'm going to have to take my pleasure in you by seeing you destroyed."

"Not if I can help it," she heard Malcolm mutter from the weapons console as the viewscreen went dark.

Malcolm depressed two buttons, and twin lances of green fire shot out from the Falcon, striking Shidak's ship just as it entered weapons' range. The pirate's ship lurched under the barrage, but kept coming.

"Again!" Hoshi ordered.

Two more bolts were loosed, one missing as Shidak's ship veered to the side, the other striking a glancing blow.

"He has fired on us," Kleth said, adding scornfully, "finally."

Hoshi braced herself for the impact.

Tucker was trying to keep the intermix ratio balanced when the Falcon was struck as if by a giant sledgehammer. Knocked to his knees, he grasped the main control panel console to pull himself back up, only to be knocked down again when an explosion ripped through one side of engineering.

Looking up, he could see flames rising greedily upward, thick smoke billowing from the conflagration.

"Malin!" he called out, knowing the Klingon had been working in that area.

When he didn't get a reply, he called the engineer's name louder as he moved toward the fire. Holding up an arm to shield his eyes and face, Tucker had gotten to the edge of the flames when he saw the Klingon, face down, on the deck.

He turned Malin over and grabbed him under the arms, pulling him away from the fire. The young engineer was heavy and, after pulling him a few meters, Tucker dropped under his weight.

"Malin!" Tucker said, sitting on the deck and cradling Malin. "Come on, buddy. Don't crap out on me now."

The Klingon moaned and his eyelids fluttered before opening.

"Trip?" he said in a voice soft even for a Klingon, and started coughing.

"It's OK," Tucker reassured him. "We'll get ya fixed up."

"Take care of the engine," Malin said.

"Malin? Malin!" Tucker shook the Klingon but didn't get a response. Looking into Malin's eyes, he could find no sign of life.

"Son of a bitch!" Tucker screamed.

Hoshi had managed to stay in her chair, Reed saw as he picked himself off the deck. Shidak's gunner was good, and the last shot had hit the Falcon hard.

The battle had coalesced into pairs -- the Falcon versus Shidak's ship, while Enterprise was involved with the remaining heavy cruiser. Concentrating on weapons for the Falcon, Reed hadn't had time to check on the Starfleet vessel's status.

"Course change," Kleth bellowed, even though he stood next to Garef. "Bring us in below him. Ma'Com, fire as we pass."

Reed nodded, feeding instructions into the console.

He spared a glance for Hoshi, who was hanging on with dogged determination. She was in pain, and she had to be anxious, but he saw no sign of it, and his admiration for her, after all she had been through, increased.

He could feel the Falcon shift direction under his feet as the course change was implemented.

"Ma'Com!" Kleth called, getting his attention. "Aim for the weak spot on the belly of that ship."

Reed's brow furrowed as he looked at Kleth. "Where?"

"Directly in front of the plasma exhaust ports."

Reed nodded, tying in targeting with the scanners, searching for the right spot.

Another blast from Shidak's ship rocked them.

"Fire in engineering!" reported one of the Klingons who was monitoring ship's systems at a station at the back of the bridge.

Reed saw Hoshi glance at him in concern, knowing that Tucker was in engineering, before she asked, "How bad is it?"

"The engineers have not evacuated," the Klingon answered. "It is not too severe."

"What about casualties?" she prodded.

"Several are injured. One dead -- the chief engineer."

At first Reed thought he meant Tucker, but immediately realized it must be Malin. Then he had to turn his attention back to the weapons' console. They were rapidly closing on Shidak's ship.

Shidak was furious. It had been a long time since he had set foot on the bridge of his first prize, this Klingon ship that had become the first in his fleet of pirate vessels. It was fitting that it would be the weapon of that bitch's destruction.

Nolan had told him that she blamed him for the death of her husband. That only would have made taking her that much sweeter.

He hadn't counted on the loyalty of her first officer, or the cleverness of the 'fleeter she was enamored with. He'd take care of all of them at once, blowing their ship out of existence, and then he'd take care of the Starfleet vessel.

He'd have to move his base of operations once he cleaned up this mess, but that was a small price to pay for keeping his empire.

Reed kept his eyes on the targeting scanner. "Got it!" he called out when the weakness on Shidak's ship was highlighted on his screen.

"Fire!" Hoshi ordered.

Reed's fingers danced on the console, locking in coordinates and finally depressing two buttons. Once again, the Falcon spat deadly fire, and the beams found their target.

Everyone on the bridge watched the viewscreen as small flickers of flame surrounded the spot on Shidak's ship that had been hit. The flames grew, and explosions began to rip out portions of the hull.

Hoshi, still sitting in her captain's chair, was spellbound by the spectacle. In her mind, she envisioned Shidak writhing in pain, dying on his burning bridge before a final tremendous explosion obliterated the ship. She didn't shield her eyes from the excrutiating brilliance of that blast, but took fierce joy in it.

"The other cruiser is breaking off its engagement with the Starfleet vessel," Kleth reported.

Still Hoshi sat there, staring as the last embers of Shidak's ship were extinguished in the coldness of space, and with them, something inside her diminished as well.

Reed was watching her in concern, and shot a quick glance at Kleth. The big Klingon was also watching his mistress and what he saw apparently worried him as well. Catching Reed's glance, he jerked his head, indicating Reed should get her off the bridge.

"Tell Enterprise we'll assume orbit around Shidak's planet," Reed told Kleth as he helped Hoshi up from her chair. "I'll talk to Archer later. We are not to be disturbed, except for any medical assistance Enterprise can send."

Kleth nodded in acknowledgement, a small smile on his face, before turning back to his duties.