Dragon's Honor - Kij Johnson [83]
But Troi was way ahead of him. “Exalted One,” she said, holding on to his arm. “You must contain your mighty fury until we can discover the truth. Restrain yourself, for the sake of the poor, unworthy girl whose safety we are all so concerned about.”
“Well,” the Dragon said grudgingly, “perhaps I can delay my wrath a little longer. Still, I will not tolerate deception beneath my own roof.”
“Nor is there any reason you should,” Picard said. Well done, Deanna, he thought. He noted that her blue gown, although still intact, looked rather more disheveled than before. Shoving the matter aside for the moment, he addressed the Emperor in a firm tone. “First we must determine the precise nature of that deception.”
“Well, I had nothing to do with the girl’s disappearance,” the Dragon insisted.
“Nor did I,” Lu Tung said glumly, “although that should go without saying.”
The two powerful Pai lords eyed each other suspiciously, but they no longer looked like they were ready to declare bloody war, at least not right away. Thank heaven for small favors, Picard thought. He took advantage of the lull in hostilities to sidle closer to Troi. The Betazoid counselor fell back from her close proximity to the Dragon. “We came as soon as we heard about the Pearl, Captain,” she whispered. “The Dragon insisted.”
He inspected her carefully. She appeared none the worse for her sojourn in the Dragon’s chambers. “I hope you were not too inconvenienced. Earlier, I mean.”
“The Emperor is a remarkable man,” she said, a coy smile playing upon her lips. “And full of surprises.”
Her reply was curiously vague, Picard thought, but now was not the time to pursue the matter.
“So?” the Dragon said petulantly. “Now what are we to do?”
“Perhaps,” Picard suggested, hoping to reinforce the sense of common purpose, “someone should notify the Heir?”
“Why?” the Dragon asked, looking quite surprised by the notion. “He scarcely knows the girl. Let him enjoy his party.”
“Let me see if I got this straight,” Geordi La Forge said. “We can’t attack the G’kkau directly, and we can’t even lay a string of photon mines along the Empire’s borders without violating the Prime Directive. Is that right?”
“You have summarized our predicament quite concisely,” Data said, “which is why we require another option, preferably one that will incapacitate the G’kkau ships rather than destroying them.”
Easy for you to say, La Forge thought. He still hadn’t figured out how to put on a fireworks display that would impress the jaded Pai. Now Data needed a deliberately roundabout way to immobilize an entire alien fleet. The life of a Starfleet engineer was never an easy one… . He examined the bridge’s main viewscreen through his VISOR. The viewer now charted the progress of the G’kkau invasion force through the nebula, each approaching warship indicated by a small yellow triangle silhouetted against a swirling violet background—or at least that was how they appeared to La Forge; sometimes, he knew, his color perceptions were more vivid than those received by ordinary humanoid eyes. On the graphic display, the G’kkau fleet resembled a swarm of buzzing yellow-jackets en route to Pai. There had to be some way to slow them down, he thought. Some sort of interstellar fly trap. “What kind of drive do they have?” he asked.
Lieutenant Melilli answered him. “It’s a primitive form of hammer drive, sir. A betaneutrino drive capable of speeds in excess of—”
“I know the drive,” La Forge said impatiently. The last thing he needed now was a lecture on alternative warp sources, not unless they could provide him with some snazzy fireworks by the time the sun rose on the Imperial Palace. “I did some of my Academy work on one.”
The Bajoran officer gave La Forge an icy look.
Ouch, La Forge thought. He mentally added Melilli Mera to the