A series of yellow progress bars were moving across his screens.

“He’s bypassing the local firewall,” I said.

“He’s transferring the entire acoustic library to an unencrypted commercial satellite.”

“We need to cut the power,” Hayes said, looking around the corridor.

“The main breakers are in the auxiliary machinery space,” the lieutenant said.

“But that will drop the entire control room grid.”

“Do it,” Hayes ordered.

“I can’t do that without the Captain’s permission,” the lieutenant said, backing away.

“The ship is on shore power, if I pull those breakers—”

“If you don’t pull them, our acoustic secrets are going to be sold to the highest bidder,” I said.

Suddenly, a loud buzzer sounded through the passageway.

A red strobe light began to flash on the bulkhead.

A voice crackled over the ship’s 1MC general announcing system.

“Prepare for underway. Secure all shore connections.”

“They’re disconnecting the power lines from the pier,” Hayes said.

“The boat is transitioning to internal reactor power,” I realized.

Once they switched over, the internal network would be isolated from any external override.

The transfer would complete automatically.