Immortal Coil - Jeffrey Lang [62]
“I don’t think so,” Heyes said, checking her readings for the third time. “We know what to look for with a cloak. There’s no distortion, no graviton concentration, no energy spike—” Then, suddenly, she cried out, “Hard to starboard!”
Troi spun back toward the screen just in time to see the starfield flicker and ripple. The attacking ship seemed to slide out from under the skin of space, its hull shimmering like liquid, then suddenly crystallizing as it emerged completely. A wave of energy pulsed from its prow, twisting and distorting the edge of space/time.
The Enterprise rocked. Primary systems shut down and Troi felt the strange flicker and hum through the soles of her feet that meant the artificial gravity was on the verge of failing. “Primaries are offline,” Tolman, the engineering officer, announced. “Secondary systems are unavailable. Switching to batteries.” Work lights around the bridge flickered on and air recyclers struggled to clear the smoke.
“Route power to shields,” Troi ordered. “Helm, can we move?”
“Barely, Commander. Thrusters only.”
“Use them,” Troi said. “Try to keep moving.” She turned to look at Heyes, who must have cracked her head on the panel during the last attack because she had a large, bloody gash on her left temple. “What did they hit us with?” Troi asked.
“Good question,” Heyes said. “The sensors flared out, but I got some data before they went down. It’s some sort of subspace waveform, the kind of thing we calibrate our warp engines to prevent from happening.”
“Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?” Troi asked. “Science officer?”
Casciato, at sciences, shook his head. It must have been his panel that had blown out because his eyebrows and the hair on his forehead were singed away. “Never,” he said. “It’s theoretically possible, but impractical because the radiation generated behind the wave would be inimical to any form of carbon-based life we know.”
Heyes asked, “Could the ship be a robot? Remotely piloted?”
Troi shook her head, concentrating. “No, it’s not a robot. I’m sensing anger. Intense, determined and constant.” She tried to regulate her breathing, to calm herself and float free of the bridge’s controlled chaos. Reaching out across the void to the enemy ship, Troi tried to identify the source of what she was feeling, something that was somehow familiar, but twisted around on its axis. She felt a word forming in her mind, a name, a concept, but before she could grasp it, another voice intruded.
“I’ve got sensors again,” Heyes announced. “They’re coming around. Moving slowly, but picking up speed. I’m guessing that they can’t use that subspace weapon very often.” She checked the energy levels. “Recommend we keep them on our port side, if possible. Shields are stronger there.”
“You heard the commander, Ensign Welles,” Troi said to the conn officer. “Make it so.”
“Aye, Commander.”
The intership crackled overhead, then cleared. La Forge’s voice said, “Bridge, this is engineering. What’s happening up there?”
“We’re in a fight, Geordi. Unknown attacker, new kind of weapon.”
“Understood,” La Forge said. “I was worried you were steering us into a planet again.”
I guess I’m never going to live that one down. “Don’t tempt me,” she warned him. “I think that, whoever they are, they’ve used their big gun. If we can have power back, we should be able to take them.”
“That’s what I like—confidence. Give me five minutes.”
“You’ve got thirty seconds,” was Troi’s answer. “Bridge out.” Troi felt the mood on the bridge lift, though she knew that their confidence was not entirely well-founded. If their attacker regrouped before Geordi could bring main power back on line, she knew they could only take one, at best two more assaults.
The primary lighting came back up and, as if on cue, the turbolift doors parted and Captain Picard strode onto the bridge. He looked around quickly and took the temperament of the crew. Seeming satisfied, he nodded to Commander Heyes, then turned to Troi, who rose from the center seat. Picard took his chair and began to study