Genesis 2, p. 7
“We can start our search of Venus,” Lieutenant Commander Lamb suggested.

“That would take too long,” said Commander Vaughn.  “UNSF Intelligence has been looking for him for years and still hasn’t found him yet.”

“Plus, K’Tesh might get wind that someone’s looking for him, and relocate,” added Fleury.

“What are we going to do when we have him?” asked Lieutenant Commander Ames, the Chief of Security.  “Kill him or take him into custody?”

“Take him into custody, most likely,” said Mansel.  “Let’s worry about that when we get to it, though.”
“What if he’s in a starship?”

“The Explorer has disabling phasers,” said Lieutenant Commander Lamb, speaking as the ship’s weapons officer.  “Not as concentrated as regular phasers.”

“Then what can we do?” Ensign Hardy asked, once again surprising Mansel.

“Do we have information on the ships they use?” Lieutenant Talaj asked.

Commander Vaughn caught on, along with Mansel a second later.  “You want to compare the warp signature residue to the ship’s exhaust,” Commander Vaughn said.  “Is that it?”

Lieutenant Talaj nodded the affirmative.

“It should work,” said Mansel.  “Get to it, Lieutenant.  Dismissed.”

As the senior staff filed out of the conference room, Vaughn and Mansel stayed behind.

“You’ve got a competent crew, Captain,” Mansel’s Executive Officer commented.  “A lot of top notch officers.”

Mansel nodded.  “Seems that way.”  He paused, looking at Vaughn right in the eye.  “I just wonder if I’m good enough a leader.”

Vaughn patter his commanding officer on the back.  “Relax, Darryl.  You’re shaping up to be a good Captain.  You’re asking the right questions, doing the right things.  You’re sticking to the book for the moment, which is good.  You haven’t the experience yet to try some harebrained stunt, and you realize that.  Just keep doing what you’re doing, and we’ll come back from our seven years alive.”  Without waiting for a response from Mansel, Vaughn walked out of the conference room, leaving Mansel to ponder his thoughts.

Five minutes later, Talaj had the answer.

“I have it, sir,” she reported to Mansel, who was standing behind his chair.

“Well?” Lieutenant Commander Fleury asked, leaning against a console not too far from Lieutenant Talaj.

“The residue of the warp signature was left behind by K’Tesh.  Using it, we can plot a course and follow his route. We’ll have to do it fast, though, the signature is deteriorating rapidly.”

“Ahh, the game is afoot,” said Lieutenant Commander Lamb.

“We don’t want to go so fast that we totally run off the trail,” Mansel said, leaning against the back of his chair.  “Can you calculate the best possible speed, Lieutenant Broadaway?”

“In most cases, sir, the best recommended speed when following a trail of any kind is 750,000 knots.”

“Then do it,” said Mansel.  “750,000 knots, following K’Tesh warp signature.”

“Aye, sir.”

The Explorer powered up its engines, off to track down a terrorist who had been wanted and sought after for years.  Not for the first time, Mansel wondered how he ended up commanding a starship.

An hour later, the Explorer was still holding at 750,000 knots, hot on K’Tesh’s trail.  Mansel had resolved to finally sit in his seat, gripping the armrests unusually hard.  The worst part was the waiting.  He could do nothing until the Explorer caught up with K’Tesh’s ship.  Even then, Mansel wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do.

As he was pondering this, Lieutenant Talaj frowned, looking at her console.  “What’s the matter, Lieutenant?” Commander Vaughn asked, who had been watching her.

“Sir, I just lost the warp signature.”

“Lost it?”

“Yes sir, I mean it just completely disappeared at this point.”  She frowned ever harder as he she pushed a few buttons on her console.  “It doesn’t trail off like most signatures do, it just ends abruptly at this point.  I can’t explain it,” she admitted.

“Lieutenant Broadaway, full stop,” said Mansel.  He supposed that this was better than just sitting around, waiting for something to happen, even if it was something that didn’t exactly help the mission.

“Yellow alert,” Commander Vaughn commanded.  “Who knows, he might be hiding around here somewhere.”