Dragon's Honor - Kij Johnson [97]
“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Picard said.
“Yes,” Riker insisted. “Please keep everything, with all my goodwill.”
Hsiao Har uttered a Pai curse which sounded unimaginably obscene.
“Which frees the Green Pearl and Kan-hi to wed,” Picard said briskly. “Let them do so immediately.”
Chapter Fifteen
THE ANCIENT PRIEST could not be roused.
“Is he dead?” Picard asked apprehensively. Considering the man’s obviously advanced years, it seemed more than possible that the excitement of the last fifteen minutes might have been too much for him.
“No,” Beverly answered, bending over the collapsed priest. “He just won’t wake up.”
“Poor old Tsailung,” the Dragon sighed. “He presided over my own first wedding, and my father’s before me.”
“Is he likely to come to anytime soon?” Picard asked.
“Oh, I doubt it,” the Dragon said. “These days, he wakes up only once every year or so. It required several months of preparation to rouse him for this wedding.”
Picard would have pulled his hair if he’d had any to pull. I don’t believe this, he thought. “Aren’t there any other priests available to perform the ceremony?”
The Dragon laughed. “My dear captain, does it look to you like I am running a religious retreat? Between you and me, I prefer to keep spiritual leaders at distance; they place too great an emphasis on celibacy and moderation.”
“Perhaps we can beam one here … ?” Picard began. His comm badge chirped, establishing a communications channel with Data.
“My apologies for the intrusion,” the android’s voice said, “but the G’kkau ships have taken offensive positions above the planet’s atmosphere. The Fang is directly challenging the Enterprise. Might I ask if there is any progress on the wedding front?”
“Mr. Data,” Picard said brusquely. “I promise you, I will get these two married if I have to perform the ceremony myself!”
“In that case, Captain,” Data replied, “I strongly urge you to do so promptly. The Fang is now charging up its disruptors.”
Picard shook his head. “I wasn’t speaking literally, Data. I just—” He froze as a sudden idea hit him with the force of phaser blast. Why not? “Data, prepare to beam the following individuals to the Enterprise.”
“Lower shields,” Data ordered.
Melilli Mera gasped out loud. She hesitated, her fingers frozen above the controls.
On the main screen, the Fang floated against a backdrop of distant stars. The curved point of its crimson tip seemed aimed directly at the Enterprise. A smaller display, inset in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, provided a graphic schematic of the location of the other four G’kkau warships in proximity to both the Enterprise and the planet below. As a precaution, Data had ordered photon torpedoes locked on the coordinates of each of the G’kkau vessels. All he awaited was the authorization to fire them.
“Lower the shields,” Data repeated, “for the fraction of a second required to beam the entire wedding party to Ten-Forward. Then restore the shields at full strength.”
“Okay,” La Forge said, manning the ship’s defense station. “Do you think we’ll get away with it?”
“Perhaps,” Data said. His memory circuits reminded him of the wedding of Miles and Keiko O’Brien, during the preparations for which he had personally uncovered a Romulan spy. “Are all human weddings so hazardous?”
“Honestly?” La Forge said. “I’ve been to a lot of bad weddings in my time, but this one takes the cake!”
The floor seemed to shake beneath Picard’s feet as he materialized aboard the Enterprise. At first, he assumed it was a transporter malfunction. Then he realized the floor really was shaking. The Enterprise was under attack.
“Hurry, everyone, take your places!” he instructed. Every human and Pai in the temple had been beamed aboard the starship, including the venerable Tsailung, now stretched out on the floor behind Guinan’s bar.
Ten-Forward was literally deserted. Everyone was at battle stations, he realized, briefly wondering