| Genesis 2, p. 7 |
| �We can start our search of Venus,� Lieutenant Commander Lamb suggested. �That would take too long,� said Commander Vaughn. �UNSF Intelligence has been looking for him for years and still hasn�t found him yet.� �Plus, K�Tesh might get wind that someone�s looking for him, and relocate,� added Fleury. �What are we going to do when we have him?� asked Lieutenant Commander Ames, the Chief of Security. �Kill him or take him into custody?� �Take him into custody, most likely,� said Mansel. �Let�s worry about that when we get to it, though.� �What if he�s in a starship?� �The Explorer has disabling phasers,� said Lieutenant Commander Lamb, speaking as the ship�s weapons officer. �Not as concentrated as regular phasers.� �Then what can we do?� Ensign Hardy asked, once again surprising Mansel. �Do we have information on the ships they use?� Lieutenant Talaj asked. Commander Vaughn caught on, along with Mansel a second later. �You want to compare the warp signature residue to the ship�s exhaust,� Commander Vaughn said. �Is that it?� Lieutenant Talaj nodded the affirmative. �It should work,� said Mansel. �Get to it, Lieutenant. Dismissed.� As the senior staff filed out of the conference room, Vaughn and Mansel stayed behind. �You�ve got a competent crew, Captain,� Mansel�s Executive Officer commented. �A lot of top notch officers.� Mansel nodded. �Seems that way.� He paused, looking at Vaughn right in the eye. �I just wonder if I�m good enough a leader.� Vaughn patter his commanding officer on the back. �Relax, Darryl. You�re shaping up to be a good Captain. You�re asking the right questions, doing the right things. You�re sticking to the book for the moment, which is good. You haven�t the experience yet to try some harebrained stunt, and you realize that. Just keep doing what you�re doing, and we�ll come back from our seven years alive.� Without waiting for a response from Mansel, Vaughn walked out of the conference room, leaving Mansel to ponder his thoughts. Five minutes later, Talaj had the answer. �I have it, sir,� she reported to Mansel, who was standing behind his chair. �Well?� Lieutenant Commander Fleury asked, leaning against a console not too far from Lieutenant Talaj. �The residue of the warp signature was left behind by K�Tesh. Using it, we can plot a course and follow his route. We�ll have to do it fast, though, the signature is deteriorating rapidly.� �Ahh, the game is afoot,� said Lieutenant Commander Lamb. �We don�t want to go so fast that we totally run off the trail,� Mansel said, leaning against the back of his chair. �Can you calculate the best possible speed, Lieutenant Broadaway?� �In most cases, sir, the best recommended speed when following a trail of any kind is 750,000 knots.� �Then do it,� said Mansel. �750,000 knots, following K�Tesh warp signature.� �Aye, sir.� The Explorer powered up its engines, off to track down a terrorist who had been wanted and sought after for years. Not for the first time, Mansel wondered how he ended up commanding a starship. An hour later, the Explorer was still holding at 750,000 knots, hot on K�Tesh�s trail. Mansel had resolved to finally sit in his seat, gripping the armrests unusually hard. The worst part was the waiting. He could do nothing until the Explorer caught up with K�Tesh�s ship. Even then, Mansel wasn�t quite sure what he was going to do. As he was pondering this, Lieutenant Talaj frowned, looking at her console. �What�s the matter, Lieutenant?� Commander Vaughn asked, who had been watching her. �Sir, I just lost the warp signature.� �Lost it?� �Yes sir, I mean it just completely disappeared at this point.� She frowned ever harder as he she pushed a few buttons on her console. �It doesn�t trail off like most signatures do, it just ends abruptly at this point. I can�t explain it,� she admitted. �Lieutenant Broadaway, full stop,� said Mansel. He supposed that this was better than just sitting around, waiting for something to happen, even if it was something that didn�t exactly help the mission. �Yellow alert,� Commander Vaughn commanded. �Who knows, he might be hiding around here somewhere.� |
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