Day of Honor 01_ Ancient Blood - Diane Carey [100]
“You are being most discourteous, madam,” Data said blandly. “Perhaps a pause to regain composure would serve us all.”
The Rogues gawked in shock, unable even to swing their phasers around before Mrs. Khanty reacted.
She howled and twisted the buffalo prod upward toward Data’s face.
Though he was still hanging and without leverage, he managed to crank his face away from her just as the prod veered toward his eyes. The prod struck his vest lapel, zapped brightly, and set the vest instantly on fire in a hail of sparks. The fabric enjoyed burning, and flames quickly swept the front of Data’s clothing. Still, he did not let go of Odette Khanty’s wrist.
Terrorized, the woman transferred the rod to her other hand and swung it wildly, striking Tyro with a numbing jolt of electricity and setting him on fire, too. He slammed backward, numb and convulsing. He tumbled into two other Rogues, who also rolled into flames and scrambled away, trying to put out their clothing.
Riker blew into action, pulling from his belt a simple shielded stunner, unscannable, and driving it into Mortash’s sternum. The big Klingon stared at his body, looked at Riker, and clawed at the air. Riker instantly took possession of Mortash’s phaser and started dropping Rogues when he could get a clear shot.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t easy. The small cell burst into a flurry of movement. Under cover of that movement, Crusher pulled out a medical injection device—smaller than the usual sickbay version—and lanced another Rogue in the throat. He knocked her to the ground, then dropped like a sandbag, unconscious. As another Rogue sprung after Riker, Crusher got that one, too, with an injection directly in the face.
How many was that? Worf tried to clear his head. How many Rogues were left standing?
Data raised his other hand and tried to pat out the flames on his clothing. The heat was becoming intense enough for Worf to feel it several steps away, and Data wouldn’t be able to see through the fire, which might also damage the delicate camera mechanisms in his eyes.
The prosthetic sheath on his face was now melting, his human disguise curling like parchment, revealing the golden android skin beneath. His special contact lenses were fading, spreading wide and losing their integrity, revealing his catlike amber eyes. Those eyes sta ed down at Odette Khanty.
Mrs. Khanty struggled insanely, but now looked up at the creature holding her wrist in his iron clamp and saw the corpse becoming a wraith. She pulled back and screamed out her horror.
At the metal grid, Worf yanked and strained, but could not break the cords that bound his wrists. “Data!” he shouted.
Data slapped at his clothing, and decided to sacrifice his grip on Odette Khanty long enough to reach up and rip the noose off his neck. He dropped to the ground, distracted for a fraction of a second.
During that instant, Odette Khanty swung her buffalo prod in a great arc, snapping and setting fire to another Rogue, and Crusher’s lace sleeve, then bolting for the corridor. She slammed into the opposite wall, just under the monitor.
“Here? You think I’m spending the rest of my life with manure on my shoes? This dump is a stepping-stone.”
She swung the prod upward and smashed the view screen. Sparks erupted in a violent display that blanketed half the corridor, and in that fog of fireworks, she disappeared.
“Data!” Worf howled again, this time over the whine of Riker’s careful phaser shot.
“Coming,” Data said evenly. Plowing over the fallen Rogues, he snapped Worf’s braided bonds as if they were shoelaces.
As Worf struggled to regain control over his numb legs, Data whirled on the remaining Rogues and drove two of them into the back wall, one with each hand, hard enough that they both collapsed with head injuries. Data’s violence could be very precise.
Then he turned to the last Rogue standing—Ugulan. Ugulan’s notable obstinancy