Oblivion - Michael Jan Friedman [76]
“Is that so?” said Picard.
“Don’t you think so?”
“Even if I did,” the captain said, “what would you have me do? Just surrender to you?”
“It would certainly make it easier on both of us,” said Demmix. “And I might be convinced to release you before I turn the others over to the Ubarrak.”
“Spare me,” Picard told him. “I made a mistake by trusting you once, old friend. Do you really think I would do it again?”
He had barely finished his reply when Demmix came hurtling at him, his hands reaching for the captain’s legs. But Picard was ready for him.
Springing into the air, the captain vaulted over his adversary like a little boy playing leapfrog. Then he took two steps, dove in the direction of the remote-control device, and snatched it up as he slid into the bulkhead.
Turning it over in his hands, he found the stud that controlled the energy barrier and depressed it—just before Demmix came crashing into him.
Picard tried to keep the device away from the Zartani, but Demmix was too strong for him. The captain delivered a short, quick blow to his adversary’s nose, hoping to damage his gas-supplement, but Demmix just hit him back twice as hard.
Stunned for a moment and unable to see, Picard felt the Zartani try to drag the device from his fingers. But the human held on nonetheless, refusing to relinquish the thing.
Suddenly, Picard couldn’t feel Demmix fighting him any longer. He heard a couple of thuds in quick succession, and as his vision cleared, he turned around and saw that the Zartani was lying stretched out on the deck—at the feet of Tain and one of his Cardassians.
The other Cardassian was standing at the vessel’s control console. As Picard watched, he looked back at Tain and said, “Done, Glinn.”
Tain then took his disruptor—which he had apparently succeeded in recovering from Guinan—trained it on an open section of bulkhead, and fired.
His beam hit the bulkhead with devastating results. Obviously, the dampening field had been lifted.
“There,” said Tain. “That’s a little more like it.”
Guinan moved to Picard’s side. “Nice work,” she said.
“You too,” he replied.
But they were still on course to rendezvous with the Ubarrak. He had to do something about that.
Moving to the end of the console where the helm controls were located, Picard went to work. But he had barely gotten under way when Tain barked at him.
“What are you doing?” the Cardassian demanded, pointing his disruptor at the captain.
“I’m putting us on a course back to Oblivion,” Picard explained. “Unless you have an irresistible urge to see the inside of an Ubarrak warship.”
“I don’t,” Tain conceded. “But then, I don’t have any particular desire to return to Oblivion either.”
“What are you saying?” the captain asked, though he was afraid he knew.
“We’re in a warp-cabable ship,” said the Cardassian. “Why not shoot for a more challenging destination? Suddenly, I’m homesick for Cardassia Prime.”
“And why would you want to go there?” the captain asked.
“My superiors sent me to Oblivion to get information,” said Tain. “As a starship captain, you must be full of information. Now step away from that panel and give me that remote-control device.”
Picard frowned. He wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of being interrogated on Cardassia Prime.
“And if I don’t?” he asked, trying to buy himself time to devise a countermaneuver.
The Cardassian smiled. “If you’re not concerned about your own health, think about your friend’s.” And he swung his weapon over until it was pointed at Guinan.
“Don’t worry about me,” she said bravely.
But the captain was worried about her. Grudgingly, he handed Tain the device.
The Cardassian took a moment to examine it. Then he dropped it on the floor and fired his disruptor, incinerating the device.
“All right,” he told his underling at the control console. “Bring us about, Karrid.”
A moment later, the captain felt a subtle change in the vessel’s thrust. The cargo hauler was turning, adopting a new