"Zero four two mark zero zero one azimuth," Kenyon replied quickly. Part of the port armor plating had already been destroyed. Although the power had been rerouted to the backup system, the Dominion had been targeting it faithfully ever since. The port nacell had already been damaged to the point of uselessness. "They're just waiting for us to come around."
Kirk shook his head. There were only eight left, and six of them were the small, raider ships. Their shields, however, were down to thirty percent. His mind briefly started dwelling on quality of the idea to disobey a direct order and attempt to save the hostages. He shook his head violently as another polaron weapon struck the ship, causing another violent shudder. Now was not the time to think about this. He had another idea. "Okay, T'Nia, re-engage the auto-fire on these four ships around us."
"Three of them are not yet in range," she replied.
"They will be in just a moment," Kirk countered. "Tyler, on my signal, I want a hard burn to port. Bring us to one five one mark zero one two. You throw us out there, then spin one more hard one eighty. T'Nia, as soon as Warlord spins, engage the autofire." This was, yet another, dangerous move. But, since he was making so many potentially horrible decisions already, what was one more, he thought. He may as well get court-martialed for something good.
T'Nia complied as Tyler banged in the course setting. "Commander," T'Nia began, "at this range, all four enemy vessels will be destroyed. The resulting explosions will be quite... dangerous."
Kirk nodded. "I figured. But our armor will take a number of general explosions better than a handful of directed polaron beams," he said with a shrug.
T'Nia briefly looked back at her friend and commander. She saw and felt great stress in him, yet... unseen to anyone else, he smiled quickly and winked. "Your logic is quite sound," she said, turning back around.
"Alright, people... get ready..." Kirk commanded. He once again stood from his seat.
"Commander, I'm getting a communication from the planet surface from its public broadcasting frequency!" Elaine yelled. She strained to playback the message to determine its contents.
"We can't worry about that now," Kirk countered.
"Commander, the cardassian ships are moving!" Kenyon added.
Kirk's eyes bulged. He turned to stare at Kenyon. "Okay, maybe we can worry about THAT." Another blast rocked the Warlord, causing more alarms to sound. "Elaine," he stated, pointing his thumb to the alarm above his head. This time, he learned from his earlier loss of calm and gave her a smile instead.
Elaine had been panicked several times almost to hyperventilation. As she turned to look at the commander speaking her name, she saw him motioning to the alarm that wouldn't stay off. This time, he smiled at her. Somehow, that made all her worries melt. She couldn't help but smile back. "Sorry, Sir," she remarked, then turned off the alarm one more time.
Kirk turned back to the second officer, shaking his head. "Figures, they stay out of it this long, now... we're almost done..."
Kenyon's smile lit up the room. "They're on an intercept course for the Dominion ships! They're loading weapons!"
Kirk wasn't optimistic yet. "Are they backing the Dominion up or blowing them up?" he asked.
Elaine slammed her earpiece to the panel. "Sir, the cardassian Prefect ordered his forces to engage the Dominion!" On the tactical screen, five Galor class ships accellerated towards the three Dominion ships that had been laying in wait just around the moon and began firing. The bridge crew cheered until another bolt from the attacking cruiser struck the unarmored port hull of the Warlord, sending sparks from a pair of overloaded power conduits above the bridge.
Kirk, now filled once more with defiance, spun back to the two in front of him, who were facing the viewscreen. "Alright... let's finish this. Tyler, spin us around. T'Nia, make that thing go away."
"Aye, aye, Sir," Tyler replied with a smile.
"Certainly, Sir," T'Nia replied emotionlessly. As Ensign Bristol spun the ship around, T'Nia targeted the attacking cruiser with all forward firing weapons.