Immortal Coil - Jeffrey Lang [108]
Approaching the edge of the bowl cautiously, Rhea and Data found the edge of a seam, dug their fingers under it, and tore up the section of hull as effortlessly as a human would lift up a rug. Power conduits burst. A plasma relay ruptured and a geyser of energy shot thirty meters into space. The plasma plume narrowly missed Data, but Rhea was directly in its path. And as the pair continued to tear into the vital instrumentation beneath the hull, Rhea’s skin dissolved and drifted away in a puff of atoms.
“Can we beam them out?” Picard asked.
Riker studied the sensor output. “No. Too much interference from the plasma.”
“Shuttlecraft?”
“The Archimedes is ready to depart, but I wouldn’t give it much of a chance if it was fired on.”
“Tell the pilot to stay inside our shields,” Picard ordered. “If you see a chance, drop the shields and order them to go.”
Riker relayed the order to the shuttle pilot, then refocused his attention on the main monitor. Vaslovik appeared to be hypnotized by the sight of Rhea ripping up hull plates and tossing them into space. Data was wisely staying clear of the plasma energy discharges, but seemed happy to grab chunks of free-floating debris and dash them against the hull. They might be fleas, Riker thought, but they were tenaciously effective fleas. Against the shimmering violet atmosphere of the gas giant, it was, Riker had to admit, an eerily beautiful sight. He glanced over at Deanna, who was standing at the tactical station and saw that she too was captivated by the image. Sensing his stare, she glanced over at him and shook her head in wonder.
“We have to get the ships to move toward the gas giant, Captain,” Vaslovik said.
“Why?” Picard said. “They’re obviously too clever to be drawn into such a simple ruse.”
“There’s more to it than that,” Vaslovik explained. “I think I know how we can end this conflict without any more loss of life, and perhaps even offer the poor wretches aboard those ships some kind of salvation.”
“Tell me how, Professor. Precisely.”
Vaslovik told him. He spoke quickly, but it still took half a minute to paint the captain a complete picture of what he was proposing. Picard listened, frowning. In truth, he almost refused to believe a word of it. Then he remembered to whom he was speaking.
Picard looked down at Riker, who quickly reviewed their options. He didn’t like what he was seeing. They had little or no chance of surviving an all-out firefight. The Enterprise might be able to outmaneuver the androids’ ships, and could definitely outrun them if it came to that, but not in time to save Data or Rhea. Crazy or not, Vaslovik’s idea gave the pair a chance. Riker nodded.
Picard turned to the conn officer. “New course, Ensign Welles. Put us between the enemy vessels and the planet, but be sure to keep them between us and the space station.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Number One, once we’re in position, we’ll need to get their attention.”
“I’m on it,” Riker said.
“No.”
Everyone looked up. The speaker was Sam, who stood quietly out of the way with Maddox and Barclay since the battle began. “You and your crew have endured enough, Captain. Your ship could easily be destroyed acting as bait. If we can really end all this the way Vaslovik proposes, I’ll do it.”
Picard looked at Sam sharply. “Why you?”
“If the androids know where I am, they’ll come after me,” Sam explained placidly. “It’s that simple.”
Riker turned to look at Picard and saw the tiny cleft appear between his brows, the sign that he was focusing fixedly on a problem and approaching a solution. A handful of seconds ticked past and then his eyes snapped up. “It was bothering me before,” Picard murmured. “How you could