On and on it went. The Weapon had been here. It could practically *smell* her. But this planet held no interesting items. No interesting weapons. One of the beings had proven to be effective... to be worthy enough to be followed. Just one, out of an entire universe. So when she had escaped, it had followed her. At a safe distance, at first. Not showing anything when she destroyed the Romulan warbird. Coming slightly closer during her encounter with the pointy eared beings at the planet. And now on to another planet. She certainly got around.
Not that it was any of it's business. It was just here to follow. So follow, it did. Soon, if all went according to plan... if it was allowed to do something... then soon, the Weapon would be theirs. Another one to their collection. The Weapon known as Slade would resist, of course... but it was fully prepared for that.
So slowly, gently, it followed. Leaving nothing in its path, except destruction, and a gentle wave of energy...
-----
Kieran Braveheart was surprised as he looked through the readings again. "Confirmed Sir." he answered Captain McMillan's question. "This energy is unlike any we have encountered before." He glanced at the Captain, and wondered what the man was thinking now. This kind of unknown energy, this close to Alpha Menea... and then also that close to the Romulan warbird that this renegade Slade had been to... it couldn't have been a coincidence.
But why the unknown energy? If it truly *was* Slade who was leaving an energy trail -something which didn't seem very likely, since Slade simply didn't leave any trails- then why would it be an *unknown* energy trail? It would have been more logical to detect a trail which they *could* understand. But this...
"Whatever it was," came the voice of Lt.jg Chu from Engineering, "It has been big. Captain..." she looked at McMillan with worries in her eyes. "The only race I can think of that has vessels this big, are the Borg."
A flash of alert echoed through the Bridge officers... but luckily this quickly dissipated. "Borg don't leave energy waves like this, Lieutenant." McMillan replied as he glanced at the viewscreen. "Ensign Braveheart, is there any way to boost sensor efficiency?"
Braveheart glanced at Chu, and both nodded. "Boosting power to the sensors." Chu's voice echoed through the Bridge. "Try it now."
But even with extra power, it just wasn't enough. They seemed to have reached a dead end: how to track down an energy trail to see where that huge ship had gone to, if they couldn't detect the energy in the first place? Unless... "Tachyon beam." Braveheart burst out. "We might be able to make the energy visible with a Tachyon beam."
Captain McMillan and Commander Arado were in agreement: Science and Engineering could work on such a beam. And moments later, the beam was fired from the main deflector dish, lighting up the energy trail like an old fashioned christmas tree... before it faded again. But it was enough. "Analysing data Sir." Braveheart reported, and then with a smile, added "sending coordinates to the Helm."
***
It had taken roughly an hour for the Gibraltar to arrive at the unknown planet where the energy seemed to have taken them. Mr. Clawtooth at the Helm had done a great job getting the Gibraltar there safely, and he silently wondered if the Captain would notice this. Judging by the frown on his face though, he most likely didn't. Clawtooth couldn't blame him, actually: the Captain was a scientist at heart. This kind of stuff fascinated him. Not that Clawtooth thought this was boring: on the contrary. He just hoped that one of these missions would involve more than just flying somewhere, getting into high or low orbit, or...
"We're beaming down." Captain McMillan ordered the Bridge crew. Apparently they had found the source of at least some of the energy. That was the good news. The bad news: down on the planet there was radiation... too much in fact, for anyone to survive down there. Doctor Bourne had -praise the man- whiped up some injections for all. But they wouldn't last more than 30 minutes. After that... well, Clawtooth would rather not think of that.
So after getting the injection -and trying to get used to the slightly uncomfortable feeling that always gave- Clawtooth and the rest of the USS Gibraltar's senior crew, were ready to beam down.
***
Not for the first time since beaming down to the planet, Captain McMillan wished he had brought down an EV suit, like most of his crew. He was cold, he was feeling nauseated, and his cough didn't seem to be improving. The fact that he was drenched with water -a rather unfortunate landing spot to be sure- didn't help either. He understood that the radiation was getting to him, but he didn't want to show anything. They had to keep on going.
What they found down here though, was interesting, to say the least. Buildings and vehicles which were damaged, though did have evidence that they were used very recently. Slade's DNA was also found. Quickly, the Captain put one and one together, and blamed this destruction and the lack of lifeforms on Slade. 'Damn.'
He coughed again as his crew found some buildings which weren't damaged. Now that was a surprise: it was also the source of the radiation, and some of the energy they've been searching for. When approaching it though, the Captain felt as if someone or something was squeezing the life out of him. He could no longer produce a full sentence without coughing at least twice, and his clear vision was impared as well. He felt dizzy, nauseous, and nearly passed out. It was because of the quick thinking of Doctor Bourne that he was beamed to safety of the Gibraltar...
***
Commander Unadecal Arado watched his Captain disappear in a hint of blue light. "I want to know exactly what happened." The Commander demanded. Truth be told, he wasn't feeling all that good himself. Odd, since this morning he still had a harty breakfast... something he was now regretting.
"Commander," Kelly Heron, the somewhat rebellious, but oh-so-good Tactical Officer, spoke up as she waved her tricorder around. "The energy. It's all around us. And it's intensifying." She looked directly at him. "I recommend we get out of here."
Arado met her eyes, and saw she was serious. More than that... she was certain that getting away from this damned place was the best thing to do. He could see it in her eyes... and that was enough for him. Besides, he already started to feel light-headed: no reason to become like the Captain... Clearly, this energy had to be causing this, somehow. Or the radiation antidote didn't work as the doctor had planned. 'or both' He realised grimly.
Quick action was required here... and quick action was what Arado did. While around him his crewmates were grabbing to their heads, stomaches or tried to keep balance -whatever was happening, it was happening to them too- Commander Arado tried to keep his head calm, and tapped his commbadge. "Arado to Gibraltar. Six to beam up... NOW!"
-----
The beings seemed to have discovered its energy trail. Well, no matter. They also seemed to have gotten ill, though not serious. A pity. They went back to their ship, hopefully so shocked by the experience that they'd never follow it's energy trails again. Though it knew it was not efficient to hope such things, it did feel apprehension. What if those beings in their ship would to track it again?
It mused softly, as it followed the Weapon. Soon, it would not matter anyway. On and on it went... forever, if necessary.
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