Synthesis - James Swallow [33]
The whoop of the alert sirens underscored everything. Riker looked away from the AI unit as his security chief came closer.
“Captain, tell me you’re not seriously considering this. I was there when that thing got into a single computer console, and it took it apart and reprogrammed it in a matter of seconds. We let it reach out to the ship, and there’s no knowing how far it will go or what it will do.” He shook his head. “For all we know, this whole scenario could have been engineered just to get us to this point!”
“Attention,” said White-Blue. “Be advised. Sentry combatant programming is highly goal-oriented. Shipframe has likely designated the Titan as intruder/threat. It will not disengage until target has been neutralized.”
Troi drew a breath. “And by that you mean?”
“Destroyed.”
“If it does that, you’ll be destroyed, too,” insisted Keru.
Riker nodded. “If the Titan goes up, the antimatter explosion will obliterate your core along with all of us.”
“Agreed,” came the reply. “I do not wish my existence to be terminated any more than you do. Therefore, William-Riker, I restate that it is imperative you allow me to interface directly with your ship’s systems so I may call off this attack.” There was a pause, and when White-Blue spoke again, he was sure he heard an edge of real emotion in the words. “Interrogative: Why do you delay? Do you wish to perish?”
After a long moment, Riker shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not willing to take the chance.” He tapped his combadge. “Bridge, disengage and get us out of here.”
“Way ahead of you, sir,” Vale replied, dropping back into the command chair. “Tuvok, report.”
“With Lieutenant Tylith’s assistance, the shields are now holding at fifty-one percent. It should be sufficient to protect us until we can break for warp velocity.”
“Another energy surge!” called Y’lira. “Both ships this time, in synchrony.” Her gemlike eyes narrowed. “The phase patterns are identical… they’re firing!”
“Incoming,” reported Tuvok.
“Evasive,” said Vale, and she saw Lavena’s head bob in answer. The stars on the viewscreen tilted as the Titan pulled away; in a heartbeat more, the starship would be clear of the debris field and the troublesome distortion effect that had hobbled their warp drive.
The two ships fired at once. Invisible muon links had flashed between them in the critical seconds before the shots, each craft communicating with the other, sharing their strategic data in real time, conferencing to determine exactly where and when and how to lay their fire.
The streams of accelerated lethal particles cut toward the retreating rear of the intruder vessel. The unknown ship had refused to answer any beam-comm signals; it had already violated Sentry territory and the termination site of one of their kind. It had proven itself a threat and confirmed that with its unwillingness to surrender.
The scanners confirmed the presence of many wet-minds aboard the craft. Organics were unpredictable, illogical vectors, like errors that would manifest in incorrectly devised programs. It was likely they were scavengers, come to pick over the corpse of the shipframe lost here, and that was an action that could not be allowed to continue. The gathering of the destroyed, the recovery and reuse of such materials, was not for those outside the Coalition.
So they would be terminated, and with the data now collated, that objective would be enacted.
The twin beams lashed out and pierced the Titan’s shield wall with no loss of energy or power. Phased in concert with the Starfleet vessel’s deflector resonance, they tore up along the outside of the starboard engine nacelle, ripping into the glowing blue frame of the intercoolers, shattering warp coils and plasma injectors. Flares of sunhot gases and broken metals vented into the vacuum, and the Titan left a slick of ejecta