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

they're not afraid of us, either. not those brats who fought me
unremittingly during the cardassian occupation of the planet. no, you
misunderstand."

"your instincts tell you differently?" weyoun asked. "the bajoran treaty
is some kind of trick?"

"not a trick... a message."

"from whom?"

"from benjamin sisko. he is their emissary with the beings who live in
the wormhole. the bajorans would listen to him. i'm sure he was the one
who convinced them to make a treaty with the dominion, just as i'm sure
the treaty is a shield, not a bond. that

agreement is a message from him to me. it means to tell me that he is
already beginning to maneuver events." weyoun's intelligent eyes
flickered with concern, then changed. "you read too much into things."

"do i?" dukat handed back. "then i must be foolish to notice that
starfleet has not defended the station with a flank of ships. all we
have here is the defiant, which is doing a job over there, and the
station taking the blows and defending itself. i must be overly cautious
to appreciate the station's enhanced firepower and shields. no, there is
some reason for this... perhaps they're sacrificing the station for some
reason. something else is at work here ... we would be imprudent to
think else." around them, on every screen, dominion ships speared toward
the station. several, at least eight, were instantly obliterated,
lighting space with fireballs of primary detonation, then a second plume
as the ships weapons or fuel ignited. battle in space was a glossy
thing. in a line with dukat's flagship were the cardassian flanks, which
he had deliberately held back, allowing the jem hadar to take the brunt
of the initial wave of defensive fire. briefly, dukat relished the
foolishness of the ironheaded jem hadar and the arrogance of the vorta,
who had thought the vanguard was an honor and that dukat was doing them
a nice gesture by letting them go first. the station's effort to defend
itself and the defiant was costing many dominion ships, but anyone
looking could see that the dominion and cardassian wings simply
outnumbered the defenders and would overrun them eventually. dukat also
didn't care how many dominion ships were sacrificed. they were hardly
his comrades. jem hadar soldiers were manufactured minions who served
somebody else. their loss was no loss. station weapons were now cutting
into the cardassian flanks too, but that was the cost of any enterprise,
and the brunt had already been swallowed by jem hadar.

"once again, your old control zone of bajor will be yours, dukat," the
vorta representative began. "you should be proud. you're returning in
triumph."