Section 31_ Rogue - Andy Mangels [113]
Hawk swallowed hard as he watched the warbird grow larger on the screen. Seeing death make such a close approach lent an air of unreality to the entire situation. “I’m not even sure Data was able to transmit the signal before that last direct hit crippled him,” he said.
Picard looked across Hawk’s console at the one light that was flashing there. Reacting to the captain’s quizzical expression, the lieutenant explained what it was, and that he couldn’t shut it down.
Picard sat quietly staring at the light for several seconds as it pulsated. Long flashes alternated with shorter ones, though Hawk could discern no obvious pattern. “You’re right, Mr. Hawk,” Picard said finally. “Data hasn’t sent his transmission. But he has managed to load it into the transmitter’s memory buffer.”
Hawk was puzzled. “How can you tell?”
“Because he just told me. Those flashes-it’s an old-style radio code. Morse, I believe it was called. Data is saying ‘transmit buffer data now.’”
Hawk’s eyes grew wide as he grasped the idea. Data had assembled the command sequences necessary to move the cloaking-buoy network and thereby trigger the singularity abort-but his injuries had forced him to dump the command into the memory buffer before he’d been able to take it all the way through his subspace link to the Romulan array.
Hawk’s hands moved quickly across the console. He sighed with relief when he determined that the subspace channel he needed was still open.
“Transmitting,” Hawk said, slapping the final touchpad with his palm.
“Forward disruptor tube is fully charged, Commander,” said the Gal Gath’thong’s weapons officer. T’Veren watched with quiet anticipation as the young woman’s hand approached the firing toggle.
From across the central control room, the grizzled operations centurion spoke up, the customary steadiness missing from his voice. “Commander, something is happening on the security network’s outer periphery.”
The weapons officer paused in mid-keystroke, and T’Veren’s diagonal eyebrows went horizontal with puzzlement.
“Has the cloaking field malfunctioned?” T’Veren said.
“It appears to have gone into a maintenance shutdown mode, sir.”
“What?” T’Veren roared in outrage. He knew this could only mean that the Apparatus that held the subspace singularity in check was now decloaked and visible. Such a thing should not have been allowed to happen-at least not prior to the Federation’s legally binding withdrawal from the Geminus Gulf.
“The field-generation pods also seem to be… moving,” the decurion reported, sounding perplexed.
T’Veren struggled to keep his voice level. “Moving in what manner?”
“Inward, toward the Core’s containment facility itself. They have remained in formation, and are on a fast approach vector, heading toward the defense-pod network.”
“The defense pods are becoming active!” the helmsman said excitedly, the crippled scoutship now all but forgotten.
“Tactical!” T’Veren shouted. He wanted a clear picture of what happened as the middle-level defenses protected the Core from this apparent systems glitch.
On the screen, a tactical diagram appeared, showing the outer spherical array of cloaking generators as it swiftly contracted. Inside that sphere lay a second, stationary globe, composed of hundreds of small but heavily armed defense pods. T’Veren noted that the synchronized collapse of the outer sphere of cloaking generators was accelerating.
T’Veren watched in mute astonishment as the two spheres merged briefly; a moment later, the shrinking cloaking array had contracted so much that it slipped inside the stationary defense-pod network. The cloaking devices continued moving in formation, heading even faster toward the Core Containment Apparatus itself.
“Defense pods are turning inward and acquiring target locks,” the centurion said breathlessly. “They are taking aim on the cloaking-field generators!”
T’Veren felt a rush of cold terror rush up his spine as he realized the full implications of what was happening.