Oblivion - Michael Jan Friedman [78]
Greyhorse looked at him. “I beg your pardon? Isn’t he your friend?”
“The brig,” the captain repeated. Then he used the ship’s intercom to contact Joseph and let him know.
“Whatever you say,” Greyhorse muttered. Then he directed his team to place Demmix on an antigrav gurney.
Picard turned to Guinan, who was still standing on the platform. Holding his hand out to her, he brought her down beside him.
“This is Guinan,” he told Ben Zoma. “Without her help, I would be quite dead now.”
The first officer inclined his head. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise,” said Guinan.
Picard addressed Ben Zoma. “I was hoping you had tracked our progress when we broke off from the rest of Oblivion.”
“We did,” the first officer confirmed. “Hard not to notice when a piece of a city goes flying off on its own.”
“Any trouble picking up our biosigns?”
“None. The only problem was deciding how to retrieve you. We couldn’t get a transporter lock as long as the vessel’s shields were up. And we didn’t dare try using a tractor beam. It might have pulled that thing apart.”
“Then you saw our shields go down,” Picard suggested.
“At which point, we knew you might not have much time. So we got you and Demmix out of there as quickly as possible.” Ben Zoma indicated Guinan with a lift of his chin. “And your friend here as well. After all, you had your arm around her. We figured you might want her along for the ride.”
Picard smiled at Guinan. “Your intuition was impeccable, Number One.”
Abruptly, Wu’s voice came to them over the intercom. “Wu to Transporter Room One. That Ubarrak warship is coming after us. One hundred thousand meters and closing.”
Picard swore under his breath. The Ubarrak…! They were still coming after Demmix. But he wasn’t going to let the Zartani go without a fight.
“Battle stations,” said Ben Zoma, without waiting for the captain’s authorization. He looked at his friend. “This would be a good time to put Demmix’s strategic tech data to work.”
Picard sighed. “Unfortunately, Number One—”
“Don’t tell me,” said Ben Zoma. He glanced at the medical team that was carting the Zartani out of the room. “Demmix didn’t have the information he said he did.”
The captain clapped his first officer on the shoulder. “We’ll have to face the Ubarrak without it.”
Ben Zoma managed a smile, if a tense one. “That’s all right. You know how much I like a challenge.”
Turning Guinan over to the transporter operator for the moment, Picard led the way to the bridge. When he and Ben Zoma got there, Wu was sitting in the center seat and there was an Ubarrak warship fixed on the forward viewscreen.
Wu arched an eyebrow as she caught sight of the captain. But like her colleagues, she refrained from remarking on his appearance.
Relinquishing her chair to Picard, she said, “Weapons range in ten seconds.”
“Hail the Ubarrak,” Picard said as he sat down.
“No response,” Paxton reported from the com station.
“Then send them a message,” said the captain. “Tell them the game is over, and they have lost. But if they want to fight us anyway, we will be happy to oblige.”
The Ubarrak kept coming—undaunted, it seemed.
“Phasers and torpedoes,” said Picard, “full spread, on my mark.” He raised his hand. “N—”
But before he could get the word out, he saw the Ubarrak ship veer off and excecute a long, powerful loop. Then she went back the way she came, without taking a single swipe at the Stargazer.
Like a dog denied a juicy bone, the captain thought. He smiled to himself.
He would keep his people at battle stations until he was certain that the Ubarrak were gone. But it seemed that they had dodged a very large and deadly bullet.
Dixon Hill would have been proud of them.
Chapter Twenty
PICARD CONSIDERED his old friend through the energy barrier that contained him in his cell. “Demmix,” he said, by way of a greeting.
The Zartani said nothing in return. But then, what could he say? What could he impart to the captain that would even begin to repair the rift Demmix had created between them?
Picard