Part 4 (2/2)

”No, Number One.”

”The G.o.ddard is no longer within sensor range, Captain,” Data said.

”Display route taken by the G.o.ddard.”

The starfield on the viewscreen blinked out and was replaced by another, this one with the Enterprise at its center and a string-straight, blinking path leading away. A moment later a series of figures appeared along the length of the blinking path, all extracted from the record the stars.h.i.+p's sensors constantly and automatically made of all objects in its vicinity. The G.o.ddard, the figures indicated, had gone into warp drive within seconds of clearing the Enterprise shuttlebay. It had immediately exceeded the shuttlecraft's design parameters by hitting warp three-point-one.

At a distance of approximately six billion kilometers from its starting point, ten billion from the Enterprise's current position, the path ended.

But nothing, according to the sensors, was at the end of the path.

The thought that the shuttlecraft might have been destroyed darted through Picard's mind, but there was no indication of any significant energy release anywhere along the path, certainly not at its end.

Picard turned to Guinan, who had lowered herself gingerly into Counselor Troi's unoccupied chair on his left. ”Guinan? What do your feelings have to say about this?”

”They're saying the same as before, but even more intensely. Something is happening that- ”

”Captain,” Data broke in, ”sensors are detecting a subs.p.a.ce variance consistent with a cloaked s.h.i.+p, either Klingon or Romulan, moving at warp speed.”

”Tag its location on the screen,” Picard ordered. A moment later a flickering vector arrow appeared several billion kilometers from the far end of the G.o.ddard's indicated path. According to the figures that flickered in time with the arrow, it was moving at warp eight.

”Intercept course, maximum warp,” Picard snapped to Ensign Raeger at the conn, then added unnecessarily, ”Don't lose it.” Unless whatever it was, Romulan or Klingon, was employing a brand-new form of cloaking technology, there was little danger it could elude the Enterprise sensors.

He turned again to Guinan. ”Does this help clarify anything?” he asked. When she only shook her head, he darted a look around the bridge. ”Theories, anyone? Suggestions? Will? Lieutenant Worf?”

”It makes no sense, Captain,” Riker said, still watching the screen, ”but it certainly looks as if the G.o.ddard was intercepted by a cloaked Klingon or Romulan s.h.i.+p.”

”This deep in Federation s.p.a.ce?”

”I told you it didn't make sense,” Riker said with a grimace, ”but what else could it be?”

”It is Klingon, Captain, not Romulan,” Data spoke up. The flickering vector arrow had been replaced on the screen by a solid dot, which expanded into a tiny but equally solid image of a s.h.i.+p. ”It is, in fact, a bird-of-prey.” Data paused, looking from the image on the screen to a host of sensor readouts. ”However, it is nearly a century old,” he added. ”That model has not been produced since the early twenty-fourth-century.”

”Crazier and crazier,” Riker muttered.

”Open a channel, Mr. Worf,” Picard said.

”No response, Captain,” Worf said a few seconds later. ”However, readings indicate their communications system is activated.”

”They're listening but they aren't responding?”

”Apparently.”

The tiny image of the bird-of-prey vanished from the viewscreen.

”They have altered the phase of the cloaking field,” Data said. ”I am attempting to compensate.”

”Mr. Worf, where would their last known course take them?”

”Directly to the nearest star, Captain,” Worf said. ”The Arhennius system is less than three hours away at warp eight. It contains no habitable worlds.”

”And beyond the Arhennius system?”

”The next star on a direct line beyond Arhennius is approximately fifteen days distant, but a bird-of-prey of that vintage could not possibly maintain such a speed for more than a few hours. Anything above warp six was used only for emergencies of short duration.”

”That is not entirely true, Captain,” Data said. ”In his memoirs of the House of Gorm, B'ator claims to have maintained warp eight-point-one for three days in order to take part in the final battle of- ”

”The House of Gorm,” Worf interrupted scornfully, ”is far better known for 'making claims' than for the battles it actually fought.”

”Let's not lose sight of our primary goal here, gentlemen,” Picard reminded them, but even as he spoke, the bird-of-prey reappeared on the viewscreen.

”Compensation successful, Captain,” Data said.

”It is still following the same course,” Worf said, ”and ignoring our hails.”

”Mr. Data, can we be certain that the G.o.ddard is being transported in the bird-of-prey?”

”We cannot. The altered cloaking field still produces a great deal of distortion. There appears to be a smaller vessel of some kind present, but it is impossible to determine anything further-except that it is completely powered down. No systems are operating.”

”How long until we overtake it?”

Suddenly, Guinan's hand fell on Picard's arm, gripping it tightly. ”You have to overtake it before it reaches Arhennius, Captain,” she said with quiet emphasis.

Startled, Picard turned toward her. ”What is going to happen at Arhennius, Guinan?”

”I don't know. All I know now is that that is where it all starts. The Enterprise must be there.”

”To stop it? To help it along? What?”

She shook her head, her fingers tightening even more on his arm. ”I truly don't know. But we must be there. That much I do know.”

”And if we aren't?”

”You're wasting time, Captain!” she said, a completely uncharacteristic flare of anger in her voice.

Or perhaps fear, Picard thought, a s.h.i.+ver momentarily gripping his own spine. The only time he had heard anything even remotely like this in her voice or seen her demeanor change so radically was when she had encountered Q, the thought of which only intensified his uneasiness. If there was anyone-or any thing-he did not want to ever again be involved with, it was that often childish and always infuriating creature of incalculable power and infinite perversity.

”Will we overtake the Klingon s.h.i.+p in time, Ensign?”

”I can't be certain, Captain,” Raeger said, not looking up from the controls. ”But we won't be more than a minute behind when it reaches the Arhennius system.”

”Mr. La Forge,” Picard said abruptly, activating the link to engineering, ”can you give us any more? Safely?”

”I doubt it, Captain, but I can try to tweak the warp core alignment and possibly the matter-antimatter ratio. Just don't expect the sort of miracle Captain Scott was famous for on the original Enterprise.”

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