Robert Asprin – Tambu

“If you try anything, we’ll open fire on the fleet. There are a lot of ships in range of the Scorpion’s guns, and their crews are all busy partying. We could do a lot of damage before we went down.”

The fleet! Tambu’s mind raced as he searched his memory for the deployment of the ships around the Scorpion. There were none lying close to the mutineers’ ship, but over half a dozen within the maximum range of its weapons. They were too far out to muster a boarding party before the Scorpion could bring its guns to bear. What’s more, now that he was in contact with the mutineers, there was no way he could alert the fleet or order the endangered ships to disperse without Hairy’s knowing he was planning something.

Still, he couldn’t surrender control of two hundred ships to save six ships any more than he could do it to save one ship-one ship!

Slowly, his hand released the double lock on one of the levers on his console.

“Hairy,” Tambu said coldly. “You just made a big mistake, Hairy. I was willing to listen to your complaints because I think you’ve got a valid case. But I can’t be nice to you anymore, Hairy. You just became a danger to the fleet.”

Hairy was panicky now. He wet his lips and tried to speak, but nothing came out.

“Look at the console in front of you, Hairy. Do you see the red lever? The one with the double safety lock? Do you know what that is, Hairy?”

“It’s-it’s the ship’s self-destruct mechanism,” Hairy managed at last.

“That’s right, Hairy. But did you know I can activate that mechanism from right here at my console? Did you know that, Hairy?”