The Adventures of Jean-Luc Picard
The Adventure of
the Nensi Phenomenon
by Jasjit Singh
(jasjit@uranium.dashmail.net)

"He lived his life, in service to Starfleet, upholding the ideals of the Federation, to seek out new life, new civilizations, to explore, to make contact with other species, and to stay true to his principles and beliefs. He died, performing his duty, in loyal and honorable fashion. Of a Starfleet Officer, nothing more can be asked."

Picard's monotone voice sounded leaden. He was stricken with grief at the death of his former Captain, Walker Keel. Now he and the remainder of the survivors had gathered in the torpedo bay to bid farewell to their fallen colleages, and perform the rites for the burial at Space. Forty four brave men and women had died during an attack by Romulan warbirds, which had struck without provocation when the Stargazer had come too close to the planet Tau Epsilon Theta.

"We are, of the stars. From the vast and infinite cosmos we come, and for a brief time, we exist as mortal beings, in a corporeal form. And then, as surely as the journey begun, it ends, and we return to the stars. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust."

A bugle began to sound. It seemed to Picard that it was somewhere far off.

"And so it is, that we committ the body of our friend and colleage, Walker Keel, to the infinity of Space. May he rest in peace."

Picard laid his hand on the cold black exterior of the shining torpedo tube. Inside the tube lay the body of Walker Keel. His final resting place, in his coffin among the stars.

Picard bowed his head for a moment, and then removed his hand and stepped back. All the Officers stood at attention, as they had done forty three times before for all their other fallen colleages, and saluted. The torpedo tube slowed floated away from them, and then disappeared into the launch tube. Seconds later, it was fired from the Stargazer into Space. A single tear formed and rolled down Picard's cheek as he held his salute just that much longer than the rest of the assembled crew.

After the ceremony, Jack Crusher found Picard in the mess hall. He was sitting alone at a corner table with a cup of tarkelian tea before him. "How is it?" asked Jack, indicating the tea as he sat down opposite Picard. "Terrible," replied Picard. "It tastes bitter. Too strong." "I know how you must feel," said Jack. "You can't blame yourself." "Oh," Picard took a deep breath, "I was there. I saw it. It was an accident. We were under attack." -- he nodded -- "there was nothing I could do. I felt so. . .so helpless, to sit there and watch him be killed." "There was nothing anybody could have done," said Jack.

Picard nodded, acknowledging Jack's words. "Yes, well, the Stargazer is quite beaten up." -- he looked up and around as if assessing it's Space-worthiness -- "We need to get to Starbase for complete repairs."

Jack nodded his assent. "Kempek's repair crews really did a fine job," he commented. "To get the warp core going, that was a major feat in itself. But they also got our weapons online, and shields. And partial backup systems." "Nevertheless, those are temporary measures. And those Klingon hardware modules were not designed to work with Starfleet technology. Sooner or later we will run into malfunctions or faults. And when that happens," -- Picard downed the remainder of his tea, wincing at the taste -- "I want to be at starbase."

* * *

With so many of the bridge crew lost during the encounter with the Romulans, Picard had to reassign several of the crew designations and duties. He had promoted Do'reth Sainor to the position of First Officer. "You'll be my number one officer," he had said, with a wry grin, when promoting Sainor. T'Pau was now manning the science station, and Jack Crusher was at tactical and ops. Eddy Hastings, chief of security, now also manned the comm station. Helm control was given to a newly promoted Lieutenant Dmitri. And Mizilikizi Chanda had been promoted to acting ensign.

Picard stood on the bridge of a battered and battle-weary Stargazer, and took in a deep breath. Repairs were far from complete. Half the systems on the ship were offline. Replicators came on and offline several times during an hour. Environmental controls were also erratic. But, for all the minor inconveniences, the Stargazer capable of making the journey back to starbase -- she had shields, and weapons, and most important of all, a functioning Warp Core. The Klingons had scoffed at a minor detail like environmental controls, but they reinforced the weapons systems in the ship. They knew where the priorities lay in making a ship battle-worthy.

The vast empty Space loomed up on the main viewer before them. "Helm, take us out," ordered Picard, "Warp four." "Aye sir," came the prompt reply, "warp four."

The lights dimmed briefly, and then the Stargazer shot out into Space. Picard shivered slightly at the sudden chill in the air, hugging himself as he looked around and made his way to the command chair.

He hesitated when he got to it. Sainor looked at him intently, and then at the chair. "You did not have any problems sitting in that chair while Keel was Captain," remarked Sainor, as if testing Picard. "No," replied Picard, "I didn't. But then he was alive. And he *was* Captain. Now, there are only ghhosts. And me."

Picard sensed a trace of concern in Sainors face. He waved his hand. Then, in demonstration, he plopped down into the chair, and looked up at Sainor as if to say "See, there, I did it. I'm not overwhelmed with grief. I can handle it."

Sainor frowned. A whisper of a thought wormed it's way into Picards mind, as if from some strange foreign land. "Your composure of events past is not what worries me," whispered the ethereal voice, "it is of events yet to come."

Picard glanced sharply at Sainor, but Do'reth had his back turned to Picard.

* * *

They had only been en route for twenty minutes when helm control reported something seriously wrong. "We're slowing down," said Dmitri, almost apologetically. "I don't know why. Engine output has not changed, but our velocity is decreasing. Warp three point eight . . . three point four. . . three."

Picard tapped a console. "Engineering, report," he said. "Engineering here," Khalid's voice came over the comm, "engine output is nominal, sir, the energy is going to our warp nacelle's. But we're losing velocity fast. I recommend we cut engines." Picard glanced at Dmitri, who was still monitoring velocity: " . . . two point seven . . . two point one."

"Engineering, increase to warp eight," said Picard. "Aye sir," replied Khalid, "although I don't recommend this."

The starship hummed and throbbed as the engines put out more power. Picard and Sainor looked around, expecting for some change. The main viewer showed empty Space, with only a few tiny glittering stars. Dmitri kept his eye on the velocity: " . . Warp one point eight . . . one point three . . . warp one. Sir, we are down to warp one. Our velocity is falling to sub-warp speed."

"Engineering," called Picard, "ahead Warp nine!" "Aye sir," Khalid's voice sounded tired, as if he knew that this was not going to work.

"Sir, we have stopped," Dmitri looked up at Picard, almost wincing.

"What? We are at warp nine!" "Aye sir, and not moving."

Khalid's voice came over the comm, suddenly sounding urgent. An alarm could be heard from somewhere behind him, "We must shut down the warp core!" he warned, "The energy output is draining our warp engines too much, and they are barely holding together as it is. We cannot tax them like this for much longer without risking a warp core breach!"

Picard looked at the main viewer. They were at a dead stop. He checked the console sensors. They registered a full stop. "Captain!" Khalid urged. "Shut down all engines," replied Picard. And then, turning to Sainor, "Why have we stopped? What is wrong here? Are our engines no longer effective? We are outputting warp nine, we should be moving."

Sainor seemed thoughtful. "Perhaps we can maneuver on impulse power?" he suggested. Picard nodded. "Helm," he said, "ahead full impulse." "Aye sir," replied helm, and set the speed and course.

There was no movement.

"Reverse engines. Full impulse."

Still no movement.

"It would seem," remarked Sainor, "that we are stuck, sir." "Indeed," replied Picard. "But how? And why?"

He turned to Hastings, who was at the comm station. "Mr. Hastings," he said, "would you be so good as to raise Starfleet on subspace." "Aye sir," replied Hastings, as he began the transmission. But then, his brow wrinkled. "Something is wrong, sir," he reported. "there seems to be some sort of interference pattern. It is acting as a dampening field. We cannot transmit or recieve."

Picard's brows rose.

"Keep trying," he instructed.

T'Pau made a report. "Our sensors," she said, "are also suffering from this 'dampening' phenomenon." "I had a feeling that you were going to say that," Picard mumbled.

* * *

Picard had a private conference with Jack Crusher, T'Pau, Eddy Hastings, and Sainor in his ready room. "I want to make sure that we are not defenseless while we are in this, predicament," said Picard. "Hastings, are our shield generators intact?"

"Aye sir, as far as we can tell," replied Hastings.

"Get a level two diagnostic performed on them, and the weapons systems. I want to be completely ready in case the Romulans decided to show up unannounced."

"Aye sir."

"T'Pau, Jack, I want you to begin working on a way to free us of this 'trap', if it is that, and get the Stargazer moving again."

"Aye sir."

"Mr. Sainor, perhaps you would like to take a shuttlecraft out for a little flight?"

* * *

The view from the tiny one-man shuttlecraft was limited. But Sainor was able to maneuver the shuttle using thrusters. So it was possible to move! He had taken the smallest of the Stargazer shuttles, in the hopes that the smaller the vehicle, the easier it would be to move through Space using it.

He swung about as he reached the end of the length of the Stargazer and fired thrusters again, pushing back over the gleaming white body of the starship. On the bridge, Picard and the others waited as he reported what he saw, and sent back telemetry. It was a primitive approach for data transfer, very limited compared to sensors, but like the Stargazer's sensors, the shuttle's on-board sensors were also malfunctioning. Sainor was not sure if the information being sent back would be of any use, but he sent it nonetheless.

The progress was painfully slow, and Sainor had to fire the thrusters manually to adjust the shuttlecrafts trajectory. But he persevered, and eventually the tail end of the Stargazer was in his view. His tiny shuttle floated high above the stagnant warp nacelle's. Sainor tapped the buttons on helm control, setting the course back to the launch bay for the shuttle. His flight had been useful in proving that whatever strange force was at work here, it could not affect thrusters.

The shuttle was beginning it's about-turn when Sainor caught something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped the shuttle in mid-turn, and looked closely out the window. It was the warp nacelles that had caught his attention. There was something different about them. They did not have the normal glow that the matter-antimatter reactions produced from the dilithium crystals. These warp nacelles were almost black in color. And something felt very strange about them. Sainor fired the thrusters as he adjusted the pitch and yaw of the shuttle, turning it perpendicular to the nacelles. He zoomed in on them, wanting to get a better look.

It was only when the proximity alarm went off that Sainor realized how close he had gotten to the warp nacelle's. The shuttle was swiftly hurtling through Space towards the Stargazer, with thrusters firing on full. Sainor leaned back and took a deep breath, readjusting the firing pattern of the thrusters and the trajectory of the shuttle. He cleared the warp nacelles with room to spare. As the nacelle's receded from his view, behind him, he sighed.

After Sainor had returned to the Stargazer, he examined the results of the shuttle's data-gathering. There was nothing unusual, expect the the strange look of the warp nacelle's.

"We need to get a better look at what's happening to the warp nacelles," he said, half to himself, as he stood in the lab with T'Pau. She turned around to face him, her eyebrow raised in question. "They looked odd," said Sainor, in reply to her puzzled look. "Black, almost. Warp nacelle's dim, and even when the warp core is shut down and there is no matter anti-matter flow, they are not pulsating with energy. But this was different. It was almost as if, as if they were *contaminated*." "It is our propulsion systems that are affected," said T'Pau, nodding in agreement. "It is a good idea to investigate further."

While T'Pau and Sainor were in the lab, Eddy Hastings completed his diagnostic of the shield generators and the weapons systems. "Everything checks out fine, sir," he reported to Picard, who nodded thoughtfully. "Good," said Picard, "go to yellow alert."

* * *

"Crusher to Picard."

Picard was disturbed from his reverie in his ready room. The voice on the comm system belonged to Jack Crusher. "Picard here," replied Picard, turning off the console display that he had been reading from. "Sir, I think you had better come down here. I believe we've discovered the reason for our immobility." "On my way," acknowledged Picard as he headed for the door.

In the lab, T'Pau, Sainor and Jack stood around a class three containment field. Inside the field was what could only be described as the residual plasma from a matter anti-matter reaction. It floated about in the air, swirling in clouds of billowing black and grey. Picard eyed it warily as he stepped into the room. "T'Pau," he said, almost in a whisper, "am I to understand that you have brought a sample of the residual warp nacelle plasma on-board?" "Aye sir," replied T'Pau without hesitation. "Are you aware just how toxic that material is? It is very dangerous to have it on board." "Aye sir," concurred T'Pau. "Hence the containment field. We captured this sample from the internal linings of the warp nacelle tubules. It was not easy to extract it, but we managed to obtain enough for testing purposes. Mr. Crusher was accomodating enough to volunteer for the manual handling of the plasma until we could release it in this containment field." "And what have you learned?" asked Picard.

"This plasma has been altered," replied Sainor, "from it's natural state." "Altered? How?" "Unknown. It is a peculiarity of the surrounding Space that is modifying the warp plasma. When the dilithium reactions occur, there is an energy output. We can measure it. But once the warp nacelle's have been injected with the warp plasma, something goes wrong. The energy is somehow, drained. And that leaves the plasma, looking this this."

Sainor waved a hand at the swirling black mass of clouds in the other half of the room.

"It is devoid of energy," he said, "it does not have the chemical properties required to sustain the energy to even light a single element." "You mean, this Space, that we are in, is affecting the *chemical nature* of the warp plasa?" Picard asked incredulously. "That is our supposition," said T'Pau.

"Find a way to get the warp plasma functioning again," said Picard, nodding to them all.

* * *

And so it was that the Stargazer hovered motionless in Space, like a ship dead in water, for over five days. The crew maintained their posts, and work continued as usual. Except that they had no communication with any other ships, or with Starfleet. There was the slighest sense and feeling of isolation that was beginning to creep in on the crew.

So when the young crewman came to pay Picard a visit in his ready-room, he had more than enough time and inclination to listen to what the ensign had to say.

"Well, it is about our, um, situation, sir," ensign Sukath was sitting on a chair in front of the Captain's table. Picard nodded encouragingly. "Our loss of warp power," confirmed Picard, "or rather, our inability to move at all." "Aye sir. I am not human, as you know. I am from a distant world which is far removed from the Federation and it's allies. My people, the Nensa, have existed for centuries, and there are many things they know. One of those things, may be what is causing our problems now." "What do you mean?" "When I was a child, growing up, my grandfather used to tell me stories about a giant web that was similar to a spiders web, but more deadly, that would float out in Space, invisible and undetectable, until an unwary ship got caught in it. It would block all comm channels and movement would be impossible. Well, at warp speeds anyway. There were many stories of Nensa ships that were trapped in these webs, and the crew often went insane from the isolation, and killed themselves, or those that didn't, died of starvation, or suffocation when the life support systems of the ships failed."

Sukath stopped, his face contorted in pain, as if reliving some horrible past memory. He composed himself and continued:

"Many attempts were made to escape from these webs. Some ships that got caught tried using thrusters to find their way out. But the web itself moves. And it moves with an intelligence, and it moves fast. Faster than any warp drive. So the ship with thrusters would only end up getting more lost, and eventually life support would fail, and the crew would die. There were many such invisible webs in Nensi Space. My people, when they became Space-faring, learned to live with the webs, and avoid them, and respect them." "Why have we not seen or heard of any of these webs before?" asked Picard. "Because, until now, they were localized to Nensi Space. But it appears that at least one of the webs has moved farther out, much much farther. There is no way to detect one. And they always take a different location. So we may not be the first ship to be caught in *this* web."

Picard nodded. "If there is even one way to get out of these webs," said Picard, "we'll find it." "Thats why I came to see you sir," replied Sukath, "in past, the Nensa did not know what to do when caught in the web. But, eventually, the web gave up some of it's secrets. Some people on a voyage ship discovered a way to counter the effects of the web on the warp nacelles. I know how to make us move again!"

* * *

Picard, T'Pau, Sainor, and Jack Crusher stood in the lab, eager to see the result of the experiment. In the center of the room stood Sukath, armed with a plasma rifle. He glanced back over his shoulder at Picard, and then hoisted the rifle up into aiming position. He obtained the lock on the floating plasma before him, and fired.

The rifle was set to a low level intensity, wide beam. It was almost like performing a baryon sweep. Sukath swept over the black plasma several times, and eventually, the color and consistency of the plasma began to change. It was a slow process, but after ten minutes, the plasma was a pulsating deep orange and red.

Sukath turned around to face Picard and the rest, a victorious smile on his face. "Number One, set up auto-fire sequences for plasma rifles in the internal linings of the warp nacelle tubules," said Picard, "we're getting out of here."

He stepped forward and patted Sukath on the shoulder, a huge grin erupting over his features. "Well done, Mr. Sukath," he said. "Well done."

* * *

Two hours later, they were ready to try. Khalid had watched with a frown on his face as Sainor, assisted by three other crew members, had set up plasma rifles in the internal linings of the warp nacelle tubules. It was a cramped space, and work progressed slowly, but eventually, they had the rifles all aligned to the proper angles, and the firings sequencers had been synchronized with control modules that relayed the firing signal to a console on the main bridge.

"You realize that if this does not work," Khalid had warned Picard, "we'll be stuck here for good. We're going to get full throughput from the engines, and if we don't start moving, we'll overload the warp core, and that may result in a warp core breach."

Picard had replied that had understood. And now, they were ready to try. There was a tense silence aboard the bridge. Picard looked around at all the expectant faces, manning their stations, ready to begin the attempt. He stopped for a minute. "Before I give the order to proceed," he said, "I want you to know, each and every one of you, that it has been my distinct honor to serve with you aboard this fine ship. I regard each of you highly, and without you, without her crew, this ship is not complete. I know that you are capable of the feat that is asked of you. And I know that whatever the outcome, you will give it your best efforts."

A resounding "Aye sir!" rang through his ears. Picard adjusted his uniform, preparing himself for the challenge to come.

"Mr. Dmitri," he said, "power up the warp engines, standby mode. Mr. Sainor, begin the firing sequence."

As Dmitri began powering up the engines, Sainor sent the firing signal. The warp nacelles were getting flooded with a low level intensity, wide phasor beam. The bridge crew watched the progess, which seemed painfully slow. Under their feet, they could feel the thrum and vibration as the warp core powered up to full levels. "We are ready with the warp engines," Khalid reported from engineering. "Acknowledged, Mr. Khalid," replied Picard.

After several more minutes, the warp plasma began to clear. They were ready to try. "Mr. Dmitri," said Picard, "ahead warp one." "Ahead warp one, aye sir," replied Dmitri, and programmed the velocity. The ship jerked, and then began moving, sluggishly at first, and then more smoothly.

Smiles began to form on the faces of the bridge crew. They were moving! They were going to make it out of this quagmire!

"Mr. Dmitri, increase to warp velocity two," said Picard, taking a seat. "Warp two, aye sir," replied Dmitri, increasing the velocity.

Picard gave the order to increase to warp three, and then to warp four. By now there were shouts of jubilation on the bridge, and people were hugging each other and clasping hands in congratulations. Only Picard sat alone, watching the readings and the speed. They were not out of the web yet, he told himself silently.

And that was when the alarm sounded. It seemed much louder than anything else. Everyone fell silent. As if in a dream, Picard turned around to see Sainor run towards his station, and check the readings. "Sir!" Sainor reported, "some of plasma rifles have lost alignment. They are not firing at the correct angles. The warp plasma is affected!"

As if to confirm the gravity of the problem, Jack reported that they were losing velocity. "We have fallen back to sub-warp speed," he said.

And Khalid's voice broke over the comm: "We are losing containment of the warp core! The energy overload is too much for it to handle. If you are going to do something, Captain, better do it now! Or we might have a core breach on our hands!"

Picard made split-second decisions in his mind. Shut down the warp core? That was not possible at this juncture. If they shut down the core, they may never be able to restore warp power again. They would be stranded without recourse. But they could not risk going to higher warp speeds -- they had already been slowed to sub-warp speed, and the engine output was at critical levels. No, they had to get moving again.

Picard swung around to face Jack. "We need those warp nacelles flooded with the phasor beams!" he said. Jack understood and nodded. He ran towards the turbolift.

Inside the warp nacelle tubules, it was hot. Jack Crusher crawled along the bottom steel shaft with three phasor rifles hanging from his waist. Above him was the throbbing and pulsing glow of the warp nacelle. Jack wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve, and then looked up. There were several plasma rifles firing in sequence, but some had lost alignment, and were instead firing at the ceiling of the tubule.

Jack set down the phasor rifles on the floor slowly. It was difficult working in the heat. He could tell that they were not moving - the ship had a different vibration to it. He knew he had to work quickly. He grabbed the first rifle, and took aim at the rifles above that were mis-firing. He fired at them in short, controlled bursts. They fell harmlessly to the floor, their activation sequences severed from the main control cords, so that they now lay dormant.

Jack crawled a little farther into the tube, and then sat down with his back against the warm metal wall. This was his vantage point. Directly above and ahead of him was the main section of the warp nacelle, where the blackness in the warp plasma was starting to spread again. This was what was causing them to slow and stop. And the blackness was starting to snake out towards the other parts of the warp nacelle.

Jack reset the rifles he was carrying to the correct intensity level. He placed two of the rifles at his feet, and programmed a continuous auto-fire sequence into them. The third rifle he held in his hand.

He tapped his comm badge. "Crusher to bridge," he called out, "I am ready to begin." "Proceed, Mr. Crusher," Picard's voice said.

Jack tapped each of the two rifles at his feet, and they began firing a continuous stream at the warp nacelle. Almost blinded by the light, Jack had to refocus his eyes so that he could see where he was firing. He aimed his weapon directly at the center of the blackness.

He would have to keep this up for ten minutes or more.

And sweat ran in rivulets down his face.

Minutes later he was gasping for air. But he kept his finger on the trigger, following the black spot as it moved and writhed under the constant barrage of phasor fire. And he kept firing. The plasma rifle on his left suddenly stopped firing, caused by a burned out power cell. That side of the room appeared suddenly darker after all the brightness. Jack kicked at it angrily. It toppled and fell with a clang down several stories of metal ladders and shafts. He could hear it for minutes as it kept clanging against metal in it's long descent.

He growled and renewed his attempts at the now-growing black circle.

It was not working. The circle was growing again.

Jack struggled to his feet. He blinked several times. His vision was fading, he could not be sure where the black spot was. But he kept firing.

And then they were moving again. He could feel it. And Picard's voice cracked over the comm: "Mr. Crusher, we have achieved warp nine. We are almost clear of the web. Return to the bridge."

"Aye sir," replied Jack, gasping for breath. He began to turn . .

. . . and that's when the explosion occurred. It came directly out of the warp nacelle, something like a solar flare -- it tore right through the metal walls of the inner and outer tube linings, bursting through to open Space. And Jack was right in it's path.

Though they had slowed, and eventually stopped because of the explosion, the force fields had held, and the ship was relatively stable. And they were in normal Space now, free of the web.

* * *

Picard stopped outside the medical bay, a hand clutched to his heart. He did not know how to proceed. The doctor had just told him that Jack, the body that they had recovered, was dead. And Picard had sent him to his death.

Picard slid to the floor in the hallway, his head in his hands. He was going to have to live with this decision, for the rest of his life.

The End

The Adventure of The Nensi Phenomenon
-------------------------------------
© Jasjit Singh, December 1999