The Romulan Star Empire withdrew from direct confrontation with the Federation following the Tomed Incident in 2311, and for nearly thirty years no Romulan vessels were detected within twenty light-years of the Romulan Neutral Zone. It is believed that the Romulans chose to pursue an aggressive expansion policy into the Delta Quadrant, and curtailed their investigations into the Genesis Effect in favor of rapidly building and deploying new starships.
The Tholian Assembly appears to have abided by the terms of the Genesis Nonproliferation Treaty.
Unconfirmed reports indicate the Cardassian Union flirted with a Genesis Device-like technology, but abandoned the research following a catastrophic accident at their key research facility. The official statement from the Cardassian Union blamed Bajoran terrorists for the explosion, but data from long-range sensor arrays indicate the explosion signature was consistent with a massive, uncontrolled protomatter detonation.
New reports, however, indicate that while the major governments of the Alpha Quadrant don’t appear to be developing Genesis Device technologies, there are several terrorist factions and criminal organizations seeking to develop the technology privately. Among the organizations suspected of trafficking in protomatter with the intent of developing weapons of mass destruction are the Orion Syndicate and the Black Company, a large and well-equipped private mercenary corps.
[171] A protomatter-based weapon also was employed by the Dominion in an unsuccessful attack on Bajor’s primary star. In the aftermath of the collapse of Dominion forces in the Alpha Quadrant, other Dominion-crafted protomatter weapons might have fallen into the hands of black marketeers. Such weapons could be transformed into crude Genesis devices with the addition of a basic Genesis Matrix Generator and two components found in all transporters: the Heisenberg compensator and the quantum flux capacitor.
04.07 FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Because the Genesis technology is, in fact, stable and safe, it would be an ideal tool for rapid terraforming. However, to avoid the political furor that accompanied the first use of the device, such a visible display of its capabilities is not advisable.
Its use as a military technology continues to be expressly forbidden by the Genesis Nonproliferation Treaty, and it is in conflict with the essential tenets of the Federation charter. Its use as a weapon also poses the unacceptably high risk that the technology will be acquired by powers hostile to the Federation—most notably, the Borg.
However, the failure of so many other parties to develop a working Genesis Device suggests that Dr. Carol Marcus has depths of knowledge unknown to both our own scientists and theirs. Including her in further research, while she is still alive, would be crucial to success.
The recommendation of this office is that further research and development to seek methods for using the Genesis Matrix to direct the creation of animate matter from raw energy, for the pursuit of peaceful applications for the fields of medicine, agriculture, and aquaculture, is tempting but inadvisable
Lt. David Mack
fifteen
Captain Picard took a deep breath and rose from his desk, the ramifications of what he had just read still sorting themselves in his brain. Now he knew why Admiral Nechayev seemed so subdued—she was frightened, much more frightened than the Dominion, Cardassians, or Maquis had ever made her. And why not? In brilliant phosphors, his screen said there was no way to stop the Genesis Effect, and the basic components were off-the-shelf commodities.
Over the years, Picard had heard rumors of Genesis but had dismissed them as exaggerated tales or a theoretical technology. But it seemed that Genesis was all too real.
Picard paced his ready room, hands behind his back. The documents mentioned torpedoes as the delivery system, but this was no torpedo barrage they were facing—this was an energy wave, sweeping across space and expanding as it went. The documents said that ignition of this device caused an energy wave which swept across a planet, causing the mutagenic changes. It was plain to see that someone had perfected the device to work without the torpedo. [173] They were deploying the wave itself—indiscriminately across the vastness of space.
But who? And why? Picard pushed a hopeless sigh through his clenched teeth, realizing that the answer was depressingly simple. Conquer all the planets you want without risking a single casualty, and do it instantly! Not only will everything be just the way you like it when you get there, but there won’t be any annoying locals to bother you.
The captain tapped his combadge. “Picard to bridge.”
“Riker here.”
Picard crossed to his computer screen and entered a command. “Number One, I’m going to send you some reading material. Read it and disseminate it to the senior staff; send it to the Balboa as well. Add to the message that Dr. Carol Marcus was kidnapped six months ago. This concerns the current crisis, so tell everyone to start thinking. When Data and La Forge return, the senior staff will have a briefing.”
“Yes, Sir,” said Riker. “Got it. Anything else?”
“As soon as I can reach the admiral,” said Picard, “I’m going over to the Sovereign.”
Onboard the shuttlecraft Balboa, Data read the missive from the Enterprise in a matter of seconds, then recapped it orally for the others. From the sour looks around him, Geordi decided that all of them were getting sick to their stomachs hearing this, especially the old Klingon. When Data mentioned that Maltz was in the file, he perked up a bit, but then his gaze grew distant as he relived his own nightmares of Project Genesis.
Data concluded by saying that Dr. Carol Marcus had been kidnapped, which seemed to bring the mystery full circle. Sitting beside the engineer, wrapped in a blanket, Leah Brahms shivered, and Geordi resisted the temptation to wrap his arm around her.
Leah shook her head. “Maltz told me that we had invented it, [174] but I didn’t believe him. This Genesis sounds exactly like what I saw on Seran, down to the rapid growth of new life. I can only tell you ... if you are on the rock which gets chewed up by this thing, you don’t view it so benignly. Whoever tried to keep Genesis a secret was on the right track—they just didn’t work hard enough.”
“What goes around comes around,” said Geordi softly. “You think you can bury a thing—forget about it—but you never can.” He was thinking of his feelings for Leah as much as the promising invention turned deadly. He gazed at the slight woman curled up beside him. Her hair plastered limply to her head, grief etched in her face, and her clothes soiled and torn, Leah Brahms was still beautiful.
“It must have been awful down there,” said Geordi sympathetically, unable to find the right words. “I’m truly sorry about Mikel and your team. I can’t imagine—”
She gently touched his arm. “Let’s hope you’ll never be able to imagine it. Nobody deserves to die like that ... in sheer terror ... your body convulsed in pain.”
Leah shivered and lowered her eyes. “You never got to know Mikel very well, but he really liked you, Geordi. I would tell him all the places you went, adventures you had, and I think he lived vicariously through you. I know I did.” She swallowed hard. “We often talked about signing aboard a research vessel, but it was just one of those things we never did.”
“All of this is very touching,” said a snide voice behind them. “But is the Federation going to do anything about this?”
La Forge turned to see the Capellan, Bekra, looking expectantly at him. “Do you have any ideas?” asked the engineer.
“Yes.” The Capellan pointed to the radiation suit. “This thing saved her life, and it could save everyone’s, if we had enough of them.”
Leah gave a hollow laugh. “The plans and components are all gone ... lost with everything else on Seran. I’m sure I could duplicate it, but it would probably take me a few weeks—and we don’t have that. It also depends upon Romulan phase-shifting [175] technology, which is better than my poor imitation. We need to consult directly with the Romulans.”
From the copilot seat came a hearty laugh. “We’ve go
t somebody who can talk to the Romulans for us.” He pointed at Consul Bekra, and the Capellan shifted uneasily under the scrutiny.
Leah ignored him, and her eyes stared straight ahead. “That’s not the worst of it,” she rasped. “Even if you could survive when the Genesis Wave swept over your planet, you wouldn’t want to live in what was left behind. You wouldn’t want to be there for ten seconds.”
“I agree,” muttered the old Klingon.
“However,” said Data from the cockpit, “somebody must plan to live on the altered planets, or else why go to the trouble of terraforming them?”
“Maybe they just don’t like the Federation,” said Maltz. “There are plenty of species who don’t.”
“We’ve got to find the ones who did this,” said Leah softly, “and kill them.”
“Yes!” agreed Maltz heartily. “A blood oath. Kahless, give me the strength to be there with you, Captain, when you rip out their hearts.”
“Thank you,” said Leah grimly. “That would be good.”
Conversation inside the shuttlecraft trailed off after that, as the pall of death haunted their journey back to the Enterprise.
“The Stellar Cartography room,” said a young ensign, pointing toward double doors at the end of the corridor. “The admiral is in there.”
“Thank you, Ensign,” replied Captain Picard. Since the Soverign was the model for the Enterprise, he could have found the right room without any difficulty, but protocol demanded the escort. “You have a fine ship here.”
“Thank you, Sir,” answered the young man, snapping to [176] attention. He remained at attention until Picard strode through the doors at the end of the corridor.
The Stellar Cartography room of the Enterprise had been turned into a war room, with the positions and courses of hundreds of ships outlined on a sweeping, three-dimensional, holographic star chart. The image rotated slowly, updating constantly, showing fleets of ships converging on their position. Admiral Nechayev stood in the midst of the three-dimensional rendering, pointing out vessels to an aide, who made notes on a padd.
Picard waited patiently while the admiral finished her task; then she stepped down from the holograph and shook his hand. “Thank you for coming, Captain Picard. You see, we haven’t been totally inactive—we’ve got portions of five fleets coming and more in reserve. Of course, a lot of these ships are freighters, passenger ships, and such. The official story is that we’re evacuating planets because of a plague.”
“I told my senior staff the truth,” answered Picard, “and I let them see the documents.”
Nechayev scowled, and her eyes narrowed upon the captain. Her aides cast their eyes down and tried to look busy. “You had no authorization, no right ...”
“I don’t believe we can fight this thing unless we’re totally honest about what it is. And to do that my entire crew needs to know about Genesis.”
“What you believe, Captain, is not the issue. And be assured I will deal with this willful breach of security after this is over,” she said angrily. But then her bright eyes filled with resignation. “For the time being, though, a more important problem remains: Just how are we going to fight it?”
“I don’t know, but even if you had ten times as many ships on that map, we could only evacuate a small fraction of the people in danger. I don’t want to spend all day playing God, trying to decide who lives and who dies.”
[177] “Nobody wants to do that,” snapped Nechayev, “but until we have a workable plan, evacuation is the only alternative.”
Picard gaped in disbelief. “You would abandon Earth to this monster?”
“We’re not sure Earth is in danger yet,” said Nechayev defensively. “We have to collect more data.”
“What about the Romulans?” asked Picard. “We’ve got to tell the Romulans, because it’s going to hit them, too.”
The breath went out of Nechayev, and her shoulders slumped perceptibly. “If you read the documents, you know we’re prohibited by treaty from even discussing Genesis with anyone else. Starfleet has struggled for years to keep Genesis under wraps. I violated seventeen regulations just showing those documents to you.”
Picard’s lips thinned. “If nothing else, those papers show that this has been a poorly kept secret. I need to be able to discuss this matter freely with my staff and other experts.”
She turned her back on him and stepped once again into the revolving holographic map. Now her aides were nowhere to be seen. “So, Captain, you’re saying you’ll continue to disobey my orders and a treaty signed by all the great powers of the Alpha Quadrant in order to do whatever you see fit.”
“I’ve proven I’ll go to great lengths to save Earth,” answered Picard.
The diminutive admiral froze in her tracks, apparently making up her mind about something. Then she turned to him with a tired expression on her pinched face. “Now I have to cover for you and give the order for everyone in the fleet to be told about Genesis. That’s all right—it’s better that I’m in the brig than you.”
Picard smiled slightly, hoping that was a joke. “Under the circumstances, you couldn’t get in trouble for this, could you?”
“I’m in considerable trouble already,” answered Nechayev with a sigh. “I was in charge of the security for Dr. Carol Marcus. My career is basically over after this—win, lose, or draw.”
[178] “That’s not fair,” said Picard with all sincerity. “You’ve always had the tough assignments.”
Nechayev flashed him a very brief smile, then resumed her all-business demeanor. “I see from your reports that you suffered some casualties.”
“Yes, ten crew members lost when we had to jettison the forward torpedo module. Now I understand what was happening to it ... and what would have happened to the ship.”
“That was quick thinking, Picard. I know it wasn’t easy.”
The captain nodded slowly, grateful for the acknowledgment from someone who did know. “We’re having a memorial service at twenty-three hundred hours. It would be an honor if you could attend.”
“Certainly, Captain. Afterwards, I would like to see those projections which show that Earth is clearly in danger. We haven’t been able to project that far from the data we have.”
“For that, we’re relying mostly on Dr. Leah Brahms and the survivors from the first planet hit, Seran. Brahms has been observing it and tracking its course the longest.”
Nechayev nodded, her brow furrowed in thought. “Yes, she’s the one who lived through it—in a phase-shifting radiation suit. Has fate given us one tiny piece of good luck in all of this destruction?”
“The suit’s aboard our shuttlecraft,” said Picard. “With her permission, we can take it, dismantle it, and start replicating it. It will be slow going, but—”
“Yes, do it.” Admiral Nechayev walked back into her revolving hologram of fluorescent starships streaking across a three-dimensional star chart. “Now you’ve got to leave me, Captain. I’ve got to officially break a ninety-year-old-treaty as well as commit treason. I may hold off on talking to the Romulans until we hear the whole story.”
Picard cleared his throat. “We supposedly have a Romulan spy coming on board, one of the refugees.”
[179] Nechayev scowled. “Alliance or not, they still have more spies in our midst than anyone else. I may need help dealing with them. See you at the memorial service.”
“Yes, Sir,” answered Picard, hurrying out the door. His escort was still in the corridor outside, waiting for him.
The shuttlecraft Balboa swooped through the launch door into the main shuttlebay like a bat returning home to its cave. When the craft set down and Data stilled the engines, a sigh or relief echoed inside the small craft. The Enterprise wasn’t solid ground, but it was the closest thing to it, thought Geordi; and these people had been put through the wringer. His first priority was to get Leah Brahms settled into her quarters with a regimen of food and rest.
He would probably ask Counselor Troi to see her
, because she needed help in dealing with her grief. He was troubled by her talk of killing her husband’s murderers, although that was probably a normal reaction under the circumstances. However, he knew that Leah had a temper and a lot of determination. After all, she had raced the Genesis Wave through light-years of space, trying to warn as many people as she could. Geordi had been the focus of her anger, and he knew it was a force to be reckoned with.
He wondered how well Leah would be able to continue with her life, providing any of them got out of this alive. He had tried not to think of her as single and unattached, but it was impossible not to when she was so alone. But Geordi vowed to himself not to complicate her life or make her more unhappy than she already was. He just hoped he didn’t get weak and tell her how he really felt.
When the shuttlecraft hatch opened, La Forge was a bit surprised to see Commander Riker waiting for them, along with a security team. They didn’t have drawn weapons and obvious uniforms, but he recognized the personnel. Not far away stood another clutch of people, Dr. Crusher and a small medteam. One by one, they filed [180] off—Leah Brahms, La Forge, Consul Maltz, Consul Bekra, and Paldor. The Tellarite lent support to the one-legged Capellan, and they seemed to have become allies. Data was last off the craft after shutting down the Balboa’s systems.
“Welcome aboard the Enterprise,” said Riker. “I’m Commander William Riker, first officer. We know you’ve been through a lot, and we were thinking that you might like to rest before we debrief you.”
“I can rest in Sto-Vo-Kor!” growled Maltz, putting his hands on his hips. “How do we get this big ship turned around and find out who is responsible for this?”
“We’re working on that,” answered Riker. “We’ve got a fleet of ships trying to surround this wave, which we think is conical in shape and expanding. Once we get its dimensions, we can triangulate its source.”
“We had the same trouble,” agreed Leah. “You would need a fleet of ships to measure it.” She staggered a bit on her feet, and La Forge propped her up.
STAR TREK: TNG - The Genesis Wave, Book One Page 17
