Star Trek: The Captain's Table Book 1: War Dragons by L. A. Graf

Author:L. A. Graf
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780671014636
Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek
Published: 1998-06-02T04:00:00+00:00

level of intelligence." Kirk paced from this

autopsy table to the next one. This Nykkus body

was far more damaged around the eyes and muzzle, since

he'd still been alive when he'd encountered the

absolute chill and emptiness of space. "Although not

their willingness to sacrifice themselves, it seems. Your

transporter chief said this guard beamed himself

into empty space after he forced her to transfer the

Nykkus who stole the Falcons?" "That's what

she told me," I said. "But I had one of the other

transporter technicians check the coordinates

he had her beam him to. If the shuttle bay had

breached to vacuum five minutes later, he'd have

been right next to one of the Falcons and able to climb

aboard."

"So he just mistimed his getaway." Kirk

frowned down at the rictus of asphyxiation

that distorted this alien's vacuum-bruised face into a

more savage expression than life could have given it.

"I see why you thought we should compare notes,

Captain. These tray be Nykkus, but they're not the

kind of Nykkus I encountered twenty years ago."

He leaned closer to the damaged face with its lidless

eyes frozen milk-white. "Spock, do you

remember the Nykkus we transported having these

elaborate scars?" "No, Captain," his science

officer said. "The scars I recall seeing on those

Nykkus looked like random relicts of battle,

nothing more." It was my turn to lift an eyebrow

across at McCoy, who rolled in his eyes in wry

response. Only a Vulcan scientist as

brilliant and retentive as Spock could recall

minor physical details of beings he had seen for

only a few hours, twenty years before. "What do

you think these scars represent?" I asked him.

"Tribal identification," McCoy said before

Spock could answer. "Rite of passage

ceremonies. Military hazing."

"All of which," said Klass clinically, "are

dysfunctions associated with excess levels of

masculine hormones during and after adolescence."

Kirk made a face. "You don't have

to talk about it like it's a disease-was "But indeed,

Captain, it can be," Spock replied. "In many

species, unusually high levels of normal

reproductive 144

hormones can result in unacceptable levels of

antisocial behavior among both males and

females."

McCoy snorted. "Don't beat around the bush,

Spook. Are you saying that we're dealing with nothing more

than a case of testosterone poisoning here?"

Klass gave McCoy another cold look, but the

Vulcan science officer didn't even lift an

eyebrow. After so many years, I supposed he was

resigned to McCoy's insistence on rephrasing

all his insights in more casual and less precise

language. "That might indeed be one part of the change

dist has occurred in the Nykkus," Spook

agreed. "Although I do not believe it

satisfactorily accounts for their increased

intelligence and remarkable military strategy."

"But the excess levels of reproductive

hormones are not in themselves the cause of this problem,"

Klass said. "They are merely a symptom of

whatever disease or mutation or genetic engineering the

Nykkus have bin subjected to."

McCoy opened his mouth as if he. planned

to continue that cause-and-effect debate, but I

cleared my throat and intervened. "This-er--hormone

poisoning might explain how the Nykkus were able to do

what they did these past two days, but it doesn't

explain what they're trying to accomplish by it."

Captain Kirk threw me a frankly approving

look, and I found to my surprise that it felt as

good now as it did back when I was a young helmsman

making suggestions on battle strategy.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.