The Last Stand - Brad Ferguson [3]
“Nothing much, Captain,” Riker replied. “Hibberd replicated the thing before we left, returned the original to its habitat, and dissected the duplicate. There was some initial hope that the creature might be sentient, but Bergeron says, quote, ‘If you give it ten million years, it might amount to something, emphasis on might.’ Unquote.”
Picard nodded. “I see. Too bad.”
Riker continued. “All in all, Planet Four seems the next best thing to a paradise, in some ways—except, of course, that the natives are all gone, their cities and other artifacts have been crumbling into dust for six millennia, and we would die within fifteen minutes if we beamed down to the surface unprotected.”
Picard shook his head. “I wonder who came through here and did all this, Will. Two planets devastated, one apparently irredeemably. It seems incredible—”
“Worf to Captain,” came a distinctively deep voice.
“What is it, Lieutenant?”
“Sir, sensors have detected a warp-field generation pulse, eighty-seven point three light-years off, bearing four hundred ninety-five mark twenty-three. Duration was zero point one seven seconds.”
“Any sign of a ship in that area?”
“No, sir. Wait—there it is again. Same range and bearing. The duration was zero point five eight seconds.”
“Commander Riker and I will be right there,” the captain said. “Picard out.”
“Now that’s odd,” Riker said, climbing out of his chair.
“Indeed.” The captain rose and, adjusting his jacket for the umpteenth time that day, glanced at the survey summaries that still lay, unread, on his desk. They say there is no such thing as a useless fact, Picard thought, but sometimes I wonder.
The captain and first officer left the ready room and stepped directly onto the bridge. Ensign Ro Laren was in the captain’s chair. “Captain, Commander,” she greeted them as she rose. Her tone was as formal and correct as ever. Without another word, Ro moved away from the conn and relieved her replacement at the flight control console.
“Any indication of warp-field strength, Mr. Worf?” Picard asked as he took his seat. Riker plopped down to his right.
Worf shook his head and frowned at his Tactical panel. “Neither pulse lasted long enough to be able to tell, Captain.”
Riker spoke up. “A bit over eighty-seven light-years from here at that bearing—isn’t there a system near those coordinates, Mr. Data?”
“Yes, Commander,” Data replied, nodding. “There is a system with a G0-type star at that location.” The android paused for a moment, awaiting the results of a long-range sensor scan. “Sensor readings coming in now. The system in question has eleven planets. The third and fourth may be class-M. The system lies well off our course through this sector, and so it was not included on our survey list.”
“That may change,” Picard said dryly. “Anything else, Mr. Data?”
“I am not sure, sir. The star seems to be generating more interference in midrange space-normal EM frequencies than might be expected.”
“Oh?” Picard thought about that for a moment. “Is there anything about the nature of the interference that might be considered unusual?”
“No, sir,” replied Data, shaking his head. “There is simply more of it than I would expect to see from this type of star.”
“Captain,” Worf called. “There has been a third pulse. Same bearing, same range, duration zero point eight three seconds. This pulse lasted long enough for us to derive a reading of field strength, sir. It was sufficient for warp factor one.”
That was more than enough for Picard. “Ensign, set course for that system, warp factor three.”
“Laid in, sir.”
“Engage.”
Chapter Two
Captain’s log, supplemental. The Enterprise has just crossed the orbit of the outermost planet of the star system we have designated as 30453 FAS. As we have drawn closer, we have determined that the extra electromagnetic interference that we thought was somehow being emitted naturally by the star is actually coming from the third planet of that system. Therefore, the interference cannot be natural. Someone must be transmitting it on purpose, but who—and to what