"CAREY, DIANNE - CALL TO ARMS" - читать интересную книгу автора (Carey Diane)

burbled across the station's shields, and the shields held. the
federation had made some kind of adjustment. he had always appreciated
the federation for its ability to come awake and be aggressive, and now
he had been given the little quirky gift of pointing out to the vorta
that the federation could be tricky enough for good defense too. at
dukat's order, an entire flank of the attacking armada had swung around
for a second pass against the carefully directed returning fire from the
station's upper phaser arrays. in his mind, dukat could see captain
benjamin sisko and his crew working in the operations center, doing
nothing arbitrary, targeting every shot, for they knew they were alone
out here. other than their single battleship, the defiant, now clearly
visible beyond the station, there was no other support here. although
that was a good signal that the federation was spreading its defenses
too thinly, dukat knew it also let ben sisko concentrate on only two
frontsin the ship and the station. that made the maneuvers here simpler,
and sisko was good at punches in tight quarters. the defiant was right
over there, setting up the mine field that, when complete, would protect
the mouth of the wormhole which was the only portal for dominion
reinforcements. the wormhole had to be kept open, for the dominion's
sake, yet for dukat there was something nauseating about needing the
dominion in order to take back terok nor. he longed for ways to set
himself and all cardassians apart from the dominion, their musclebound
jem hadar pawns, and their silky vorta mouthpieces. all around them jem
hadar ships wheeled in a majestic dance and were obliterated into
shimmering blooms against the crisp blackness of space and the encrusted
metal body of the station itself. still more got through and continued
attacking the station, and another flank went after the defiant. the
station took a hammering on those enhanced shields, but instead of
defending itself, the station's weapon arrays fired upon the dominion
ships going after the defiant. the station was giving the defiant's crew
cover, time to finish that mine field. a dangerous portent--sisko
apparently thought that, between the station and the mine field, the
station was the more expendable. arguable, but still strange ... who was
on the defiant? sisko himsell'?. no, he would stay with the station.
several of his officers-- dax or worfor major kira--could take command
of the ship, but sisko would think himself more effective in running the
station's defense grid and keeping track of all incoming attackers.

"are you disappointed, gul dukat?" the vorta asked him with that
musically sickening voice. dukat's neck almost snapped off as he cut
short a glance. he used the vorta's name like a slapping hand. "why
should i be, weyoun?"

"perhaps this will be too easy. we will take the station today. now that
you've accepted the superiority of the dominion, cardassia will have
what it could not possess on its own. others too are seeing the great
light of the founders' wisdom... the romulans, the tholians, the
miradoru, and now even the bajorans have accepted the inevitable and
made treaties with us." with a bitter smile, dukat shook his head. "do
you actually believe the bajorans wish to be our allies? no, no... and