Section 31_ Rogue - Andy Mangels [95]
Holding tightly to his console, Riker said, “It was another subspace distortion-wave, Captain. Quite a bit stronger than the previous ones.”
“What the hell are the Romulans up to?” Picard said, not expecting an answer. “Yellow alert. Status report, Lieutenant Daniels.”
Staring at his readouts on the upper bridge, Daniels spoke breathlessly. “I’m getting reports of minor hull-breaches on decks eleven and twelve, Captain. Forcefields are up and damage-control crews are responding. It could have been a lot worse.”
“What about the Chiarosans?” Picard said. “Can you tell if the planet was affected?”
“Apparently not, sir,” Daniels said. “I’m monitoring their orbital communications tether now. It seems to be working, and I’m not picking up any emergency message traffic. The atmosphere and the planet’s Nightside must have taken the brunt of the shock.”
“I recommend we don’t take the Enterprise any closer to the singularity than it already is,” Riker said. “We can’t predict when these subspace slippages will occur, and a ship this large is a sitting duck for spatial disruptions this intense.”
“Won’t our shields protect us?” Troi said.
Riker shook his head. “Subspace distortions alter the shape of space itself. The Enterprise occupies a pretty fair amount of that space. And she can’t take this sort of punishment the way the planet can.”
Batanides strode toward the turbolift, where Zweller awaited her with a sullen expression. She paused in the open doorway and turned to face the bridge. To Picard, she said, “Commander Zweller I and will be in the shuttlebay.”
Picard nodded to her. “Everything is ready for you,” Picard said simply, then watched as his two oldest friends entered the turbolift, headed to their rendezvous with Chairman Koval. Just before the doors hissed shut, Picard saw the thunderheads looming behind Batanides’s gaze.
He was supremely thankful that he was not Cortin Zweller.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Data and La Forge, the Romulan scoutship was ready for launch ten minutes ahead of schedule. The bridge crew had detected three more strong subspace distortion wave-fronts that followed no perceptible pattern. The Romulans were clearly stepping up their efforts. It could be that they were closer to harnessing the subspace singularity’s colossal power than anyone had suspected.
But they might also be losing control of it, Picard thought. No wonder they wanted us to clear out of here yesterday.
The shuttlecraft Herschel, carrying Zweller and Batanides, had already departed when Picard entered the shuttlebay. Now that the damage had already been done to Federation-Chiarosan relations, Picard could only hope that his old comrades-at-arms could extract some useful information from the Romulans. And that they would survive the attempt.
Aboard the Romulan ship, Picard found Data seated directly behind the cockpit, where he had become part of an arcane and faintly disturbing tableau. The back of the android’s head, including much of his hair, lay discarded on a nearby seat. The gleaming cortenide and duranium of his skull lay exposed, baring the busy polychromatic flashings of the positronic matrix that comprised his sentience. A flat, paper-thin cable ran from near the top of his head to an information access port in one of the bulkheads.
Picard realized he was staring when Data smiled up at him. “Please forgive my appearance, Captain. This direct interface will allow me to access the array’s security grid a great deal faster than I could by entering commands through the consoles.”
Picard had rarely seen Data in such a state of partial disassembly. The sight was a stark reminder of the huge gulf that still separated his inorganic friend from the humanity to which he aspired. Organic beings, Picard reflected, tended to take their basic bodily integrity as a fait accompli.
“Carry on, Mr. Data,” Picard said as he made his way forward into the cockpit, where he took one of the two narrow seats. Lieutenant Hawk sat in the other, and was running a series of preflight checks.
During the flight from