Dragon's Honor - Kij Johnson [87]
Data wondered briefly if the G’kkau played poker. “I did not contact you to bluff,” he said.
“Do you then wish to surrender?” Kakkh hissed with what may have been amusement.
“Not at all,” Data said.
“I see you have left Pai and retreated to the nebula. Very wise, in light of the slaughter to come.”
“Permit me to point out,” Data replied, “that the Enterprise is not currently in the range of your fleet’s weaponry.”
“We weep with disappointment,” Kakkh said, reminding Data of an old Earth idiom concerning crocodile tears. “We are comforted only by the knowledge that most of your chief officers remain on Pai, and so will die hideously in the destruction.”
“If you wish to destroy the Enterprise,” Data continued, “you must change course to do so. The fastest approach vector, should you so desire, would be along oh-four-six prime.”
“Sir—” Melilli said, her voice too low to be picked up by the communications channel. Data saw no opportunity, nor any compelling reason, to explain his strategy now.
“Do you intend to sacrifice yourself, you artificial mammal?” Kakkh taunted him. “Would you throw away your pseudoexistence merely to distract me from my inevitable victory?”
“No, Master Kakkh, I have merely called to tell you that you are the second cousin to a throkmelkk.”
There was a moment of stunned silence, then Kakkh recovered his voice. “What!?”
“A throkmelkk, Kakkh. Also, your spawnmates are the product of a level-three mutation involving their farandolae. If they even have farandolae, as I have reason to doubt.”
Kakkh’s jaws snapped spasmodically. His tail whipped the inky fumes roiling behind him. “You must die! Die! Die!” he ranted. “Change course at once! Destroy the Enterprise!”
Another large lizard crowded into view on the screen. “Master Kakkh!” Gar protested. “What about Pai?”
“The rest of your crew,” Data added, “are kebbs with irregular V-chromosomes.”
The hisses and howls of rage, along with the sounds of sharp claws scratching against metal, coming over the communications channel threatened to deafen everyone stationed on the bridge. Ensign Kamis lowered the volume automatically. “That should suffice, I believe,” Data remarked. “Lieutenant Tor, prepare to take evasive action if necessary.”
“Yes, sir!” said the Andorian at the conn.
The turbolift doors breezed open behind Data. La Forge bounded onto the bridge. “How’s it going?” he asked.
“Within expected parameters,” Data informed him. As predicted by Starfleet files, the G’kkau had proved extraordinarily sensitive to epithets of an evolutionary nature. “Onscreen.”
An empty starfield was replaced by a schematic of the G’kkau fleet’s proximity to the Enterprise. The hostile warships were again represented by yellow triangles. Red disks marked the location of the photon mines, which formed a perfect sphere with the Enterprise, indicated by a blue circle, at the exact center of the sphere. The entire G’kkau fleet, led by the Fang, arrowed in on the Enterprise.
La Forge took his place at the Security position, where Worf usually stood. “I can detonate the mines at any time,” he reported.
“Wait for my command,” Data said, watching the screen. The first few yellow triangle crossed over into the sphere defined by the red disks. He waited patiently as more triangles followed them. “Red alert,” he said. “Shields up.”
“The first ships have entered the mined area,” Melilli announced. “Twenty-five percent within range of the mines … fifty percent … Sir, it’s hard to tell exactly how many ships are in range.”
“Please do your best,” Data said.
“It’s about seventy percent … eighty … ninety …”
Data examined the visual display on the screen. The lead ships were microseconds away from firing on the Enterprise. He could not risk losing the ability to communicate with the mines. “Fire,” he said.
Concentric circles radiated from red disks, which immediately blipped out of sight. As the expanding circles overlapped with the edges