Looking for Clues

Logan had been in the Intelligence office most of the night, but after nearly four hours he'd found nothing that could lead the vessel to the location of the USS Hellcat and it's missing crew. There was a lot of information on Omega, but nothing concrete, many of the database entries had been encrypted and even Logan with his experience of Starfleet Intel procedures could decipher them all.

He'd also been keeping an eye on the search of the Engineering section of the vessel for any sign of Lieutenant James Wright, who had gone missing just before the Engineering and Saucer sections had separated. So far nothing had been found, which given the few facts that they did have, was not unexpected. Logan knew that someone had taken one of the Jem'Hadar shuttles and flown off right behind the USS Hellcat when it had left. Whoever had done this must have been an elite pilot, to be able to hide their departure by using the Hellcat as a 'shield'.

[Captain Taybar to Lieutenant McQueen.] Logan's comm badge suddenly announced. [What's your status ?]

Logan tapped his comm badge and replied. "No luck so far Captain. I've checked most of the recent entries into the Starfleet Intelligence database and our own systems, but I've not found anything useful. There are a number of encrypted files, which I can only assume are from Section 31, but I have so far been unable to decipher them."

[Keep at it.] Aki suggested.

"I'm going to check Lieutenant Moss's quarters next, then Rashad's." Logan stated. "Maybe they left something in their personal logs or in their quarters."

[Keep me advised.] Aki said. [Bridge out.]

Logan quickly shutdown the Intelligence consoles and headed off towards Stefen's quarters

Lieutenant Stefen Moss's Quarters

Using his security override codes to access the room, Logan quickly got around to searching the room. One thing that he immediately noticed was that the console had been left active and Logan sat down and examined the last entries.

*This is interesting.* He thought. *Lieutenant Moss received an encrypted message ten minutes after the end of the briefing. This could be the reason he suddenly decided to go with Commander Rashad onboard the Hellcat.*

Logan attempted to trace the message, but somehow it had been erased. Thinking fast, he checked the console's data buffer and to his surprise found that there was a copy of the last download still stored there. Whoever had downloaded information last must have been in a hurry, because they had neglected to erase the buffer. Recovering the data he soon started to work on decoding the message.

Half an hour later, he managed to finally get some useful data. Most of the message had been corrupted, the data buffer was not designed to hold large amounts of information over a long period of time, but there was enough to tell Logan where the Hellcat was most likely to be heading.

"McQueen to Bridge." Logan announced as he tapped his comm badge.

[Bridge here.] The voice of the Captain replied. [Do you have any news ?]

"I've found a partial message stored in the console buffer of Lieutenant Moss's computer terminal." Logan reported. "Most of the message had been corrupted or lost, but I do have a set of co-ordinates and a partial section of the message that will lead me to believe that they are the location of the Omega base where Private Moss-West is being held."

[Send the co-ordinates to the helm and get back to the Bridge.] Aki ordered. [Good work Lieutenant. Bridge out.]

Logan accessed the console and transferred the co-ordinates to the helm station on the Bridge. Within moments, they had jumped to warp and Logan headed out of Stefen Moss's quarters and back to the Bridge.

Battle Bridge

By the time he had reached the Battle Bridge, the Engineering hull was well away from the interference of the Tarn Vedra system and were preparing to jump to Slipstream. Logan moved over to the Security station and relieved the junior officer who had been there.

"Prepare to jump to slipstream." Captain Taybar ordered. "Mister N'akae, what's our maximum T-warp speed ?"

"T-Warp 12." The Andorian Slipstream specialist replied. "I might be able to get us upto T-Warp 14."

"Helm, what would our ETA be at T-Warp 14 ?" Aki enquired.

"About sixteen hours." Lieutenant Barker announced from the Helm.

*That's too long.* Aki thought. *The Hellcat can reach T-Warp 14, which means we're about seven hours behind them at best.*

"Lieutenant N'akae, is there no way to get any more speed out of the Slipstream drive." Aki asked. "Didn't I see a report from Lieutenant Heim which said we could reach T-Warp 16."

The Andorian looked annoyed at the mention of Lieutenant Heim and his report.

*That fool will get us all killed.* He thought.

"Those calculations were based on simulations only." Stelv replied. "I've not had time to look over the calculation myself, but in my opinion Lieutenant Heim's simulations are at best risky and would more than likely end up with the destruction of the Leviathan."

"Will they work ?" Aki enquired.

"For a while yes." Stelv admitted grudgingly. "But for how long I can't say."

"Prepare to jump to slipstream, divert all auxiliary power to the SFI systems and prepare to engage at T-Warp 16." Aki ordered. "Helm, take us in."

The Leviathan was soon travelling at break-neck speed in the quantum slipstream, heading towards the co-ordinates that Logan had discovered.

"Helm, what's our speed and ETA ?" Aki enquired.

"We're currently at T-Warp 15 point eight." Lily Barker replied. "Slipstream is at ninety six percent stability and we will reach the co-ordinates in about twelve hours."

"Mister N'akae, how's my slipstream drive holding up ?" Aki asked.

"We're running at one hundred and five percent of safe maximum." The Andorian replied. "But the drive is stable and I am reading no unusual variation."