Section 31_ Rogue - Andy Mangels [111]
Data did not reply, leaving Hawk to assume that he was accessing information, either from the ship’s computer or from elsewhere in the Romulan array. A moment later, Data broke the anxious silence.
“The cloaking buoys maintain their relative positions by means of a system of onboard station-keeping thrusters. Each thruster pack carries a large fuel supply, so that the buoys can hold their positions for years without requiring maintenance.”
“And what would happen,” Picard said, “if each and every one of those buoys were suddenly to point their main thrusters away from the singularity, and fire them all at full throttle?”
“In that scenario, Captain, there would be an equal and opposite reaction. The entire cloaking-buoy network would quickly collapse inward, simulating an attack on the singularity.”
“Bringing about an automatic abort,” Picard said.
Data sounded intrigued. “Perhaps I can gain access to the buoys’ thruster command pathways through one of the multiple backup channels in the array’s maintenance grid-“
Picard interrupted him. “Do whatever it takes, Data. And hurry.”
Data once again lapsed into silence as Hawk fought with the sluggish controls, bringing the scoutship tumbling past an active Romulan gunport just in time to avoid a direct hit. Hawk ardently hoped that Data’s silence meant that the android had already begun moving those buoys.
A moment later, the scoutship shook as though something extremely heavy had struck it. An overhead conduit ruptured, fogging the crew cabin with gray, foul-smelling vapors. The collision alarm hadn’t sounded, so Hawk assumed that the scout had taken a glancing blow from one of the warbird’s secondary disruptor banks. A glance at the tactical display showed that the scout’s engine core had taken a high-angle disruptor hit as well.
Before Hawk could relay this information to Picard, the captain cried out in pain and went sprawling from his seat onto the deck. He lay there, groaning and clutching at his chest.
Hawk understood the problem immediately. The damaged engine core must have emitted an acute radiation burst-the tetryons Dr. Crusher had been concerned about-causing some sort of malfunction in the captain’s artificial heart. But Hawk couldn’t afford to be distracted from his duties at the helm, not if any of them were to survive this mission. He had to hope that Data could tend to the captain’s urgent medical needs.
A split-second later, a flash of light issued from behind the cockpit, filling the scoutship’s interior with the acrid smell of ozone, burnt circuitry, and scorched artificial flesh. Glancing behind him, Hawk saw patterns of blue incandescence shooting through the cable that connected Data to the scout vessel’s computer core. Saint Elmo’s fire briefly crackled around the android’s head. He convulsed briefly, then became as motionless as a statue, frozen in the act of rising to render aid to the captain.
Not good, Hawk thought as he returned his attention to the viewer. There, the coruscating inferno of the subspace singularity still burned, as brightly and defiantly as ever.
And the warbird Gal Gath’thong was coming about, like a hungry shark closing in for the kill.
Chapter Sixteen
In the central control room of the warbird Gal Gath’thong, Commander T’Veren kept a dispassionate eye on the scoutship that rolled and tumbled across his screen. Though his directive to destroy the small vessel had been authorized by no less a personage than Tal Shiar Chairman Koval himself, T’Veren remained curious about the motives of whoever was inside. By flying evasive patterns at close quarters with the Gal Gath’thong, the scout had so far managed to avoid being severely hit by the warbird’s weapons.
The heavy brows of the young decurion behind the weapons console were knit together in frustration. It was apparent that she knew that the other vessel should have