Chapter Two

“C OMING OUT OF WARP ,” reported Lieutenant Kell Perim from the conn of the Enterprise. “We’re five thousand kilometers from gateway three.”

“Proceed with caution, half impulse,” ordered Captain Jean-Luc Picard as he rose from his command chair and approached the viewscreen. He had heard so much about the Battle of Rashanar and the vast graveyard left behind that he felt as if he’d been here already, only this was their first pilgrimage. The image on the overhead viewscreen showed what looked like a nebula; however, it didn’t consist of stars, planets, and celestial bodies, but a swirling cloud of destruction. “Magnify that view, Mr. Data,” he ordered.

“Yes, sir,” answered the android at the ops station. His fingers darted across his console. The images on the viewscreen became bigger…and more disturbing.

Sundered, scorched warships from a dozen different worlds hung in confusion like the contents of a child’s toy chest dumped into space. Energy beams rippled between the silent hulks, making them look alive and still lethal. Surrounding these derelicts was a shroud of smaller debris, which glittered in the glow of a distant sun. Deep within the battle site were bright power spikes and giant arcs of energy, side effects of all the ruptured faster-than-light engines. The scuttled wrecks were reported to be in orbit around a mysterious gravity sink at the center of the graveyard. At the outer ring, most of these orbits were slow and stately, however some were fast and erratic. Most of the orbits were collision courses.

A few large chunks went crashing around the wreckage like pinball spheres. Picard could see dangerous plasma clouds glowing in the distance. There was also supposed to be an antimatter asteroid lurking somewhere in the spherical junkyard. To Picard, it looked like an immense snow globe filled with confetti, lightning, and hellish mobiles made from disemboweled starships.

“And this is supposed to be one of the safe entry points?” asked Commander William Riker, standing behind the captain. “I’d feel better if we stayed out here and explored with shuttlecraft.”

“I second that, sir,” came a voice from the rear of the bridge, at the tactical station. Lieutenant Christine Vale was a spare, compact woman who wasn’t given to offering unsolicited advice to the captain.

Picard’s lips thinned as he gazed at the mostly unexplored debris field-remnants of the deadliest battle in the Dominion War. Every ship that took part in the Rashanar engagement was destroyed. Not one single ship limped away to tell the tale. There were stories and superstitions about this place, and its legend continued to grow in the years since the end of the war. Despite the dangers, the lure of salvage and secrets often attracted the wrong sort of visitor. Military historians had yet to figure out what had happened here, and unraveling that mystery was the only part of this assignment which appealed to Captain Picard. Normally, he wasn’t eager to catalog so much death and destruction.

“This access point has been charted and cleared of immediate dangers,” said Data helpfully. “The Enterprise is within parameters for entry and is cleared for incursion to warning buoys, level three. However, sensor readings will be unreliable, and it is advised to raise shields.”

“Make it so,” said Picard with a glance at Lieutenant Vale. “If we’re going to spend three months excavating a mass grave, we might as well jump right in and not be squeamish.”

“Shields up,” answered Vale, working her board.

“Entry in one minute,” reported Lieutenant Perim at the conn. “I’m using the suggested coordinates and course, although the debris has shifted.”

The captain stepped toward her. “That’s to be expected. Take us in.”

“Yes, sir,” replied the unjoined Trill.

“Captain,” said Riker, “how many away teams and shuttlecraft do you want to send out?”

“Enough to recover bodies, work security, and run our science missions,” answered Picard. “We don’t think we’ll be able to use transporters, so-“

“Pardon me, Captain,” said Vale, “we’re being hailed. Captain Leeden of the Juno.”

“Oh,” answered Picard, mustering a smile for the captain with the longest tour of duty at the Rashanar Battle Site. “Put her onscreen.”

Although he was smiling, his counterpart who appeared on the viewscreen was not. Jill Leeden, the dark-haired, dark-skinned skipper of the Juno, said, “I suggest you stop right there, Captain. Don’t enter the boneyard.”

Although confused, the captain lifted his hand and said, “Full stop.”

“Aye, Captain,” responded Perim.

Still trying to be charming, Picard said, “I didn’t realize we would have a welcoming party. Is there some danger we don’t know about?”

“There are thousands of dangers you don’t know about. We don’t either, and we’ve been here a year.” Her image began to break up with static, and her next words were inaudible.

The captain turned to Christine Vale. “See if you can amplify their signal.”

“Too much interference,” said the human, shaking her short brown hair. “The Juno has broken off contact, but I’ve got them on sensors-they’re headed out of the field toward our position.”

Riker gave Picard a quizzical expression. “What was that all about?”

“I trust we’ll find out soon,” answered the captain, turning back to the grim reality on the viewscreen. “The ‘boneyard,’ she called it.”

“It looks more like a haunted house to me,” said Riker.

They watched as a jagged beam arced dramatically between two derelicts, one Klingon and the other Jem’Hadar. A moment later, the hulks collided in a shower of sparks. For a moment, it seemed the two ghost ships were still battling each other. Then they slowed down as a chunk of a large nacelle went hurtling through the wreckage, banging around like an entrant in a demolition derby. It finally coasted on its way, altering course with everything it hit.

“Where did that nacelle come from?” asked Riker.

Data shook his head and wrinkled his brow slightly. “Unknown, sir. Its presence did not register on sensors until we made visual contact. All of the debris seems to be affected by the gravity source at the center. It appears to be unstable. This is assuming that our sensor readings are correct, when they may not be.”

“Captain, the Juno is within transporter range,” announced Vale at the tactical station.

Everyone on the bridge turned to see a stately Excelsior-class starship emerge from the scorched hulks in the graveyard. The warship cruised slowly to a distance that brought it nose to nose with the larger Enterprise.

“Sir,” added Vale, “Captain Leeden requests permission to transport for a brief meeting with you.”

“We’ll meet her in the conference room next to transporter room three,” answered Picard as he nodded to Riker and headed for the turbolift. “Mr. Data, you have the bridge.”

The two officers arrived in the conference room slightly ahead of their visitor. The captain hoped that after a year in this unique site, she would be able to enlighten them and help their investigations go smoothly.

A moment later, an ensign escorted a tall, lanky woman with dusky skin and hair to the conference room. She looked very regal in her black-and-gray uniform, if a bit younger than Picard had anticipated from the static-filled images.

“Captain Leeden,” Picard said warmly, stepping forward to shake her hand. She gave him a firm grip but very little expression. “This is my first officer, Commander Will Riker.”

“It’s a pleasure,” she said flatly. Picard motioned to the table. The skipper of the Juno strode purposely to a chair and sat down.

Picard and Riker sat down across from her, and the captain said, “I’m curious to know why you stopped us from entering. We had our shields up and were obeying the known protocol. Is there some new hazard?”

“It’s very simple, Captain,” said Leeden. “No ship enters the boneyard without clearance. That means my approval. If you read your orders, you’ll see that I’m the fleet captain of this lost outpost. There are usually half a dozen authorized starships plus their shuttlecraft working the site at any one time, and we can’t cover all of it. We’ve been deluged with impostors, even ships impersonating Starfleet vessels.”

She counted on her fingers. “We’ve got Pakleds, Androssi, Orions, Hok’Tar, Ferengi, Kreel, and a dozen other syndicates actively trying to loot this graveyard. As you can imagine, the Dominion spacecraft have been magnets for them. In the last two months, we’ve had four scavenger ships destroyed, and also we’ve had major damage to two of ours.”

“Now that we’re here,” Picard assured her, “I think we can alleviate some of your workload. So, security is your biggest problem?”

Captain Leeden replied gravely, “Our primary mission is to recover the dead, which I consider to be a sacred responsibility. I come from a lengthy military family. We follow the creed of ‘leave no man behind.’ We’re too late for some of these crews, but we’re doing the best we can. The scavengers don’t care about the bodies and they interfere with our duty.”

Riker cleared his throat and asked, “How were the scavenger ships destroyed?”

“Commander,” said Leeden wearily, “you’ll find that there’s no shortage of ways to die here in Rashanar. You’re spending three months in the boneyard-by that time, you’ll just be learning your way around, if your ship hasn’t taken too much damage to be useful.”

“We’ve been in difficult situations before,” Picard said. “I will admit that you have more experience than we do at this site, but we have our orders too. We’ve had several scientific investigations approved by the admiralty.”

He glanced at his first officer and saw Riker nodding in approval.

“Scientific investigations,” echoed Leeden. “Well, that’s useful to the galaxy as a whole. If you want to help me, keep those scavengers off my back. I’ll retrieve the bodies, which is a tricky job under these conditions. It would take you a long time to learn to do it safely. I know the Enterprise can fight, so fight them off. But I warn you, they don’t always leave if you ask nicely, not even after a warning shot across their bow.”

She sighed and said, “I hate to cut this short, but we just cracked open a Vulcan ship, and we’ve got it tractor-beamed. There are delicate protocols we have to follow with the bodies. In twenty-two hours, we should be finished…if we don’t have to chase scavengers. Welcome to Rashanar.” With that, Captain Leeden rose from the table, assuming their business was concluded.

Commander Riker sat upright in his seat and said, “Captain, before you go, we wanted to ask you about the anomalies. The gravity sink, the antimatter asteroid, the weird discharges? Aren’t you studying them?”

“Studying them?” asked Leeden. “We’re trying to avoid them. The gravity sink is getting stronger, and it’s causing a vortex. Believe me, you don’t want to find that mobile mass of antimatter, and heaven help you if you do.”

“But these phenomena have to be categorized and explained,” insisted Picard.

Captain Leeden shook her head. “We’ve had plenty of science vessels come through here, and most of them ran screaming into the night. You don’t understand, gentlemen, there is stuff in that battle site that you won’t find in any physics text, and it changes by the second. It’s not a normal junkyard…it’s truly haunted. I hope you won’t regret coming here.”

With that ominious warning, the captain of the Juno strode toward the door and left the conference room. Picard and Riker followed her out and down the corridor into the transporter room.

“Captain, one more question, if you please,” asked Picard as Leeden stepped onto the transporter pad. “How could every ship in the Battle of Rashanar be destroyed? Do you know?”

Leeden sighed for a brief moment, her face showing the pain of all she had seen. “On every ship, we’ve seen evidence that they fought to the death…weapons exhausted, shields out, life-support gone. Surrender didn’t seem to be an option for anyone. Enter with care, Captain Picard, and stay in contact. Most of the buoys are subspace relays, and we usually find that delayed subspace works better than RF when inside the boneyard, despite our close proximity.”

The impressive woman motioned to the operator. “Energize.”

Picard and Riker watched the captain of the Juno leave their ship in a swirling column of crystalline particles.

“Hmmm,” said Captain Picard, his lips thinning. “That didn’t go as planned, did it? However, this is her turf and we do have more to learn from her than she from us.”

“I seriously think she needs a break from this assignment,” commented Riker. “I’d like to arrange a meeting between Deanna and Captain Leeden-nothing official, maybe a social occasion-just to get the counselor’s opinion. If we want to do what she says would help her the most, we should scan for looters and send shuttlecraft to patrol the perimeter.”

“Do that, along with everything else we planned to do,” answered Picard. “I want to use all the resources of the Enterprise-full duty shifts, every shuttlecraft in flight. Let’s bring ourselves up to speed as quickly as we can.”

As the door whooshed open, the captain allowed himself a slight smile. “Take us in as far as the warning buoy six. Then I want my new yacht prepared to launch.”

Riker’s jaw clenched as he stepped into the corridor. “Captain, I don’t need to tell you how dangerous it is out there. While you’re off the ship, there may be difficulty with these wildcat salvagers.”

“I trust you to handle them, Number One,” said Picard confidently. “Don’t be concerned, I’ll keep the shields up. Someone needs to take readings on that gravity sink, plus there’s a Galaxy-class starship that went down in the same area.”

“The Asgard,” said Riker, nodding somberly. “Yes, we have the coordinates for it. A recovery team has already gone over that ship, but it’s classified as dangerous and in an erratic orbit.”

“I’ll take Commanders Data and La Forge with me,” decided the captain. He met Riker’s concerned gaze and said, “We haven’t got much time to make a difference here, so let’s do everything we can.”

“Yes, sir,” agreed the first officer.

 

The captain’s yacht, Calypso, was a step up from a standard shuttlecraft, with an elliptical shape, low warp drive, and more opulent passenger room. It was a copy of his last one, the Cousteau, which had been destroyed at the Ba’ku planet. The yacht could dock outside the Enterprise, allowing a quick launch without going through the shuttlebay.

Beside him in the pilot’s seat, Data swiftly ran through the prelaunch checklist. Geordi La Forge sat at an auxiliary console that he had already configured into a science station. It might have been selfish to take three senior officers on one mission, mused the captain, but understanding this gravity sink was essential to the safety of the crew. If it was relatively benign, they wouldn’t have to devote much time or many personnel to it, but if it was as dangerous as had been suggested, then they had better start planning how to deal with it with the best personnel possible.

On the small overhead viewscreen, one of the warning buoys was suddenly engulfed in ripples of wild, arcing energy. Picard was reminded of the story of Benjamin Franklin’s kite braving the lightning storm. The roving web of energy then moved on and surrounded the blasted hull of a Klingon bird-of-prey, making it look like a green mountain in the middle of a tropical storm. Nearby, other derelicts bobbed in space like balloons from yesterday’s birthday party. Clouds of plasma and ozone throbbed with unclassified energy. Geordi La Forge glanced at the captain, then at his readouts, and shook his head.

“I don’t know, Captain,” said the engineer. “The Enterprise’s shields have been hit six times by energy discharges since we stopped here. I can’t advise dropping shields, even briefly. These discharges are totally unpredictable. With shields down, one strike might start a chain reaction. The Enterprise may be safe if we just sit here, but to launch all the shuttlecraft we have planned, we’ll need to back off to a safer spot. Maybe go outside the site.”

“The Calypso can launch quickly enough to leave from here,” said Data. “But I agree with Geordi-extended operations without shields would be unwise.”

Picard nodded grimly. “For now, we’ll be the only craft launching from here. Are we ready?”

“Yes, sir,” answered Data.

The captain tapped his combadge and said, “Picard to bridge.”

“Riker here,” came the swift reply. “Are you sure you can’t be talked out of this? I haven’t made my usual effort.”

“No,” answered Picard with a smile, “but I will allow that we can’t launch any other craft from here. Lower shields on my mark, raise them as soon as we leave. Then pull back to the gateway before you launch any more shuttlecraft.”

“Aye, sir,” replied Riker. “If we lose contact, we’ll try the subspace frequencies. We’ll just have to put up with the delay. You’re cleared for launch.”

Picard glanced at Data, who nodded vigorously. “Mark,” said the captain.

“Shields are down,” reported Geordi.

With the sure hands of the android at the controls, the yacht, which looked like a miniature Defiant-class vessel, dropped from its dock and glided cautiously into the boneyard. With mysterious flashes of energy all around them, it felt like cruising into an ocean storm. Deftly the android guided them between the blasted hulks and glittering clouds of debris, but rubble still sizzled against their shields. It was sobering to see so much destruction and waste close up. Picard’s disheartened mood deepened.

“Data, head to port ten degrees,” said La Forge as he studied his sensors. “I’m already picking up the gravity surge.”

“I see its location,” answered the android. “I am correcting course.”

Picard had little to do but gaze out the front viewport at the depressing array of stricken spacecraft. For a starship captain, it was impossible not to envision the Enterprise as one of these derelicts. If we had participated in the Battle of Rashanar, would we have fared any better than these others? wondered the captain. Suddenly the musty hulk of a Cardassian Galor-class warship swiveled slightly, as if touched by an invisible hand.

“I saw one of the wrecks moving,” Picard pointed out.

“The gravity effect is definitely stronger here,” said La Forge. “This entire graveyard would be spread out over a larger area if it weren’t for the gravity.”

“I am slowing down,” reported Data. “I do not think we should get much closer-the source is less than one kilometer away.”

“I don’t see anything,” said Picard sharply. “Can you pinpoint its location and size?”

Geordi shook his head. “Not unless we triangulate using sensor arrays. That might take a while…and be inaccurate. It’s the equivalent of looking for a black hole-we wouldn’t know it was there except for the effect it has on other objects. But the debris isn’t in a stable orbit. Objects are crashing into each other, falling apart, getting zapped by discharges.”

With his ocular implants, La Forge peered through the viewport into the boneyard. “That gravity dump is out there, and given these readings, I have a theory where it came from.”

“Please enlighten us,” said Data with interest.

“Well,” the engineer began, “almost every ship in both fleets was equipped with artificial gravity. On Starfleet vessels, the gravity generators are redundant and are among the last systems to fail. I believe it had to be the same with most of these starships. As the battle wore on, more hulls were ruptured in close combat. The gravity generators on some ships continued to work; then the graviton stream extended into space. It’s possible that enough of the gravitons cohesed to produce this mutant gravity source.”

Data cocked his head. “Although your theory is intriguing, Geordi, proving it would be difficult. It would be impossible to reproduce these circumstances for an experiment, and even a computer simulation would be insufficient.”

“I know,” said the engineer with a sigh. “That’s why I’m telling you, but probably won’t be putting it into my report. But we’ve got clouds of plasma, antimatter, and who knows what else running loose here. Why not gravity?”

“It’s the closeness of battle that’s a mystery to me,” mused Captain Picard as he surveyed the carcasses of lost starships. “Yes, a few badly damaged vessels might slug it out toe-to-toe, but all these ships-it’s like they were paralyzed with indecision until it was too late.”

Data shook his head slightly. “Captain, this site has been much disturbed. The gravity sink has caused a collapsing effect. I would not place much credence in the current positioning of the ships.”

“Perhaps not,” said Picard grimly. “Whether they were here or ten kilometers from here, this was a bloodbath. As Captain Leeden told us, something kept them all fighting until the death. But what?”

“I have an interesting visual,” said La Forge. “I don’t want to get any closer, but I’ll put it on the viewscreen.”

Picard turned his attention to the small overhead viewer, where he saw what looked like an out-of-control merry-go-round. When he got a better look, he frowned. It was really blasted hulls and broken nacelles circling swiftly around a dingy mass of debris. This whirlpool of junk was illuminated briefly by spikes and spits of energy, making it look more hellish than it already was.

“A vortex,” said Picard grimly. “Captain Leeden mentioned it.”

“There are level-five warning buoys around it,” said La Forge.

“I am compensating for increased gravity,” reported Data. “I suggest we withdraw a few kilometers.”

“Is the gravity sink going to be harmful to our operations?” asked Picard with grave concern.

“Not if we stay away from it,” answered La Forge, “which would be my advice. We’re still tracking the orbits of the biggest shipwrecks.”

“I concur,” said Data. “We could study it further, but that would be risky and might only add to the inconclusive data we already have.”

“These sensors are a mishmash,” complained Geordi, shaking his head in frustration. “I’m actually getting life-sign readings. We know that can’t be possible. One thing I’ve confirmed-our secondary target, the Asgard, is off to starboard about two kilometers.”

The captain nodded. “Commander Data, proceed to the Asgard. Mr. La Forge, I hate to see us give up on a good theory. Is there any way we can use probes to show that gravity generators were the cause of this anomaly?”

“I’ll ready a shuttlecraft with some probes when we get back,” promised La Forge. “We’re approaching the Asgard-I’ll put it on screen.”

The viewscreen showed the crippled Galaxy-class starship about a minute before they could view the entire spacecraft with the naked eye. Seeing this blasted derelict, which was intact enough to resemble the old EnterpriseD, tugged at Picard’s guts. It was missing one nacelle, and the underbelly was ripped so badly that it looked disemboweled; still it was a grand wreck, one of the most impressive in the entire boneyard. Somberly Picard recalled how he had lost his Galaxy-class ship in the Veridian system while fighting Dr. Soran’s murderous plans. The EnterpriseD had been a total loss, split in two with the saucer section crashed on the planet and the rest destroyed by a Klingon bird-of-prey. Fortunately, most of his crew had survived.

As the captain surveyed the husk of the Asgard, he decided that destruction was preferable to leaving such a morbid monument. The forlorn ship wasn’t even in a place where anyone could safely visit it. It was not only a tragic memorial but a neglected one as well.

“The bridge appears mostly intact,” said Geordi. “Of course, we’ll need environmental suits to get around. I’m still getting faint life-sign readings, but I don’t trust any of these sensors. What would you like to do, Captain?”

“Let’s suit up and go over,” answered Picard. “Can we use transporters?”

“I wouldn’t advise it,” answered La Forge. “But the previous recovery team put in a new shuttle dock for their use, so we won’t have to do an EVA to get aboard. Data, it’s a lifeboat hatch on the starboard dorsal.”

“I see it,” answered the android, skillfully piloting the captain’s yacht toward the only working dock on the massive derelict. “Five minutes until docking-you may suit up.”

On their approach to the saucer section, clumps of debris sizzled against their shields, and nearby energy arcs ripped through the blackness of space. This made Picard uneasy, and he tried to ignore the feelings of déjŕ vu as they cruised under the familiar-looking hull.

Data finished the docking procedure and rose to his feet just as Picard and La Forge put on their helmets. The android, needing no environmental suit, strode ahead of the two lumbering humans. Data opened the airlock, turned on his handheld light beam, and strolled into the hatchway. He shined his light around the corridor, becoming the first to board the Asgard in many months.

“I’m going to secure this hatchway,” said Geordi, his voice sounding hollow in Captain Picard’s headgear. “We may shift while we’re docked. I don’t want the Calypso breaking free.”

“Make it so,” agreed Picard. La Forge punched in commands on a panel by the airlock. After the two humans stepped into the corridor of the Asgard, the engineer used his tricorder to complete the security precautions. The sheen of a forcefield spread across the opening for a moment, as his tricorder beeped in response. La Forge slipped the device into a pouch on his waist and nodded to Picard.

In their bulky suits, Picard and La Forge walked down the corridor like two toddlers. The captain’s light beam caught an access port that had been emptied, leaving nothing but ripped wires. Ahead of them, Data paused to let his comrades catch up, and he consulted his tricorder while he waited.

The android turned his light on an unblemished bulkhead and activated his built-in communicator. “There are no signs of hand-to-hand fighting or boarding parties. However, many of my readings are inexplicable.”

“I put my tricorder away,” said Geordi. “In this place, I’m not trusting anything I hear, and only half of what I see. You know, if we stay on this level in this same direction, we’ll reach someplace familiar-Ten-Forward.”

“Let’s take a look,” said Picard grimly. They lumbered onward.

Data had to force the doors open to allow them to peer into the ship’s biggest observation lounge. When Picard looked over the android’s shoulder, he caught his breath. The spacious room was a blizzard of broken glassware, dishware, foam, and furniture, all in pieces and floating in suspension. They couldn’t even see the big observation windows at the forward part of the hull. This widespread destruction was like a microcosm of the Rashanar Battle Site itself, mused the captain. It brought a sense of futility to their mission.

“I don’t really want to go in there,” said Geordi, echoing the captain’s thoughts.

Picard nodded somberly and pointed to an access hatch above their heads. “That Jefferies tube will take us to the bridge, won’t it?”

“Yes, sir,” answered Data. With a gentle leap, the android soared through the low gravity to the hatch, got a handhold, and pulled the hatch open. He climbed into the access tube, while Picard turned off the magnetic field in his boots, jumped, and floated upward to join him.

The three of them had nine decks to climb; it was easy going in the low gravity. The Jefferies tube afforded access to several internal systems, and they could see evidence of burned-out circuits and hasty, ultimately futile repairs. Picard tried not to think about the bodies that had been recovered here, in Ten-Forward, the bridge, and every other part of the Asgard.

“Why couldn’t they get away in escape pods?” he asked no one in particular.

“According to the Asgard’s last message, all their computer systems failed,” answered Data as they climbed. “They reported that Breen thermal-pulse weapons damaged every sensitive system on the ship. We are unsure what happened after that, because all logs and visual records were stolen by looters.”

“Stolen?” Picard shook his head grimly and sighed. What did he expect to find here that teams of investigators and looters had overlooked? It was almost as if the crew of the Asgard had lowered their shields and allowed their most crucial systems to be taken out, mortally wounding the ship.

Suddenly, a strange clang sounded on the other side of the bulkhead-on level three. The visitors stopped to listen and glanced puzzledly at one another; Data let go of the rungs of the ladder long enough to check his tricorder.

“My readings are inconclusive,” said the android. “Should we investigate deck three?”

“We’ll check there on the way back,” answered Picard, who had seen many pieces of junk floating through these ghostly corridors. “For now, let’s keep moving.”

Delving into a ghost ship was like exploring a tomb, he thought, only this tomb had been plundered by grave robbers.

A few minutes later, their light beams were probing the eerie darkness of the Asgard bridge, illuminating the scorched circuitry, uprooted seats, and smashed access panels on the bulkhead, deck, and consoles. For the first time, Picard saw clear signs of looting, or possibly very careless recovery of sensitive components. The captain was drawn to the command chair, which was charred and splattered with blood but still rooted to the deck. Data divided his attention between the ops station and his tricorder, while La Forge went to his old post at the conn and wiped the dust from the membrane surface.

“There’s still static electricity on these controls,” observed Geordi. “No power, of course. Why didn’t they consider towing this ship out and retrofitting it?”

“It could be retrofitted, but that would be inefficient for a ship of older design with no crew,” said Data bluntly. “As long as you are assembling and training a new crew, it is more efficient to assign them to a new vessel.”

Picard wanted to protest and say there was value in an old warhorse like the Asgard, but Data was right. Without a crew to lovingly put her back together, as his crew had done many times with the Enterprise, it wasn’t going to happen. Like it or not, the Asgard was an elaborate mausoleum at best, scrap metal at worst.

The android consulted his tricorder. “I am receiving fewer inexplicable readings here than in the Jefferies tube. Is there anything in particular we should look for, Captain?”

Picard waved his hand in his bulky suit, realizing how pointless this venture had become. The mysteries of the Battle of Rashanar would probably never be solved, at least not with a cursory examination of a ship that had been picked clean like a Christmas turkey.

Suddenly they heard a very loud noise, like a small explosion, and the tricorder on Geordi’s waist began to beep. The engineer consulted the device. It was easy to see his pale eyes widen through the faceplate of his helmet.

“Somebody is trying to steal the yacht!” he said in alarm.

“Permission to intercept them?” asked Data, moving swiftly to the Jefferies tube.

“Yes, go!” answered Picard.

The android vaulted for the access panel, grabbed the handle, and propelled himself headfirst into the Jefferies tube.

The captain tapped a button on his wrist to activate a com device in his helmet. “Picard to Enterprise,” he said. When there was no answer, he repeated, “Away team to Enterprise.”

The silence told him they were on their own, and somebody was trying to steal their only means of transportation.