"Sir," said Data, "we should be within visual scanner range in a few moments."

"Thank you, Mr. Data," said Picard. "Slow to impulse power. Prepare to activate main viewer. Yellow alert."

As the Enterprise slowed from warp speed to impulse power, Deanna Troi and several other crew members came onto the bridge to fill out the full bridge crew complement for alert conditions, which could result in an order for red alert and battle stations. Deanna Troi took her seat on the captain's left, with Worf manning the tactical station, Data and Ro at the forward stations, Riker sitting at the captain's fight, and other crew members manning the science stations, mission ops, and engineering, the latter manned by Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, who had come up from the main engineering section in response to the yellow alert. Quietly, but quickly and efficiently, the bridge stations had shifted into full enable mode, ready to deal with anything that came up. No one spoke. All of them went about their tasks, taking up their stations with a practiced a.s.surance that would have seemed almost casual but for the atmosphere of controlled tension on the bridge.

"We are within visual range, sir," Data said. "Scanners show an unidentified craft, bearing zero three six, mark two five."

"On screen, Mr. Data," said Picard.

The main viewscreen came on, like a window opening onto the star-filled blackness of s.p.a.ce. In the distance, barely visible, was a faint object-the source of the distress beacon.

"Distress signal coming through loud and clear, Captain," Ensign Ro said.

"Confirmed," Worf said from the tactical station. "It appears to be a nonverbal automated distress signal, sir, broadcast on a coded frequency."

"Increase to maximum magnification, Mr. Data," said Picard.

"Maximum magnification, sir," Data replied, echoing the order.

The image on the screen grew larger as the sensors zoomed in, boosted to their maximum range. Picard slowly leaned forward in his seat, his eyes intent upon the screen. All eyes were riveted to the main viewer. Riker slowly got to his feet, his expression astonished.

"What in the name of ..." Geordi's voice trailed off as he stared through his VISOR at the screen.

The main viewer was filled with an image of a type of s.p.a.cecraft none of them had ever seen before, though its lines were vaguely familiar. It was unmistakably Romulan in configuration, but it was huge, nearly twice the size of any Romulan ship they had ever encountered. Its design configuration marked it unquestionably as a warbird. It possessed the same predatory, birdlike lines that were the trademark of the Romulan shipwrights, but it was clearly an altogether different cla.s.s of vessel. This was an advanced design, with larger, more powerful engine nacelles, and it was bristling with other innovations. Even at this range, they could see that it would dwarf the Enterprise.

"d.a.m.n, it's big!" said La Forge.

"As you were, Mr. La Forge," snapped Riker, his gaze intent upon the screen.

"Red alert, Mr. Riker," Picard said tensely.

"Red alert! Battle stations!" Riker repeated, and as the signal alarm sounded throughout the ship, it triggered a flurry of activity on every deck as crew members hustled to their posts.

Picard got to his feet and moved forward, approaching the screen, coming up behind the forward stations. He could not take his eyes off the image on the main viewer.

"Mr. Worf, what do you make of that?" he asked.

Lieutenant Commander Worf shook his head. "It is not a standard D'Deridex-cla.s.s warbird, Captain," he replied. "It appears to be an entirely new design." He consulted his scanner console. "I am not picking up any activity in reponse to our approach, sir. Their shields are still down."

"Mr. Data, status report, please," Picard said.

The android quickly checked his readouts, a.s.similating the information faster than any human could. "The ship appears to be completely powered down, Captain," he replied. He frowned slightly, a response unnatural for an android, but one he had cultivated in his attempt to learn more about humans and to adopt as many of their natural behavior patterns as possible. "I am not picking up any signs of life aboard the ship, sir. The distress beacon is broadcasting on an automated frequency. Scanner readings show all lifesupport systems aboard the Romulan ship to be inoperative." He glanced up toward Picard. "They are all dead, sir."

"Dead?" Picard said.

"It could be a trick," said Riker.

"Mr. Worf?" Picard said without taking his eyes off the main viewer.

Worf shook his head. "I am showing no power, sir. At this range they cannot possibly be unaware of our approach, yet their shields are still down. I am showing no power to their weapons; readings are negative on lifesupport systems, and we are now within visual range and have not yet been scanned. The ship is drifting, sir. All readings indicate a derelict, with no life aboard."

"Mr. Data, do long-range scanner readings indicate the presence of any other Romulan vessels?"

"Negative, sir," Data replied, his gaze intent upon his readout screens.

"Maintain red alert," Picard said. "Slow to half impulse."

"Half-impulse power," Data acknowledged.

"Mr. La Forge, what do you make of it?" Picard asked.

"I've never seen anything like it, sir," Geordi La Forge replied. "So far as we know, the Romulans don't have any ships like this. It's a completely new design, a brand-new cla.s.s of warbird. It makes their D'Deridex-cla.s.s ships look as obsolete as our old Const.i.tution-cla.s.s starships. I think we may be looking at a prototype of a new generation Romulan warbird design, one that we know absolutely nothing about. Sir, this could be an incredible opportunity. If the ship truly is a derelict, we could beam over a boarding party and-"

"Delay that suggestion for the moment, Mr. La Forge," Picard said, still keeping a wary eye on the main viewscreen. Every muscle in his body felt taut. Something wasn't right. He could feel it. All eyes on the bridge were upon him. No one spoke. They all watched him and awaited his orders.

"Status report, Mr. Worf?" he said, his eyes intent upon the screen, as if he were trying to bore holes through it with the force of his gaze.

"No change, sir."

"Mr. Data?"

"No change, sir. Scanners indicate no life-form readings," Data replied. "Lifesupport functions aboard the Romulan ship are inoperative."

"They may have experienced a catastrophic failure of their lifesupport systems," Riker said. "If the ship's a prototype, it may have contained a design flaw that remained undetected until it triggered a ma.s.sive systems failure. If so, they never had a chance. They suffocated even as they were trying to evacuate."

"But surely they had backup systems?" said Deanna. "Lifesupport suits they could have worn in an emergency?"

"Not necessarily," said Riker. "The Romulans have never given as much priority to the safety of their crews as we do. They may well have had a backup system, but if it crashed at the same time as their main system, then that's all she wrote."

"Excuse me, sir," said Data. "That's all who wrote?"

"It's merely an expression, Mr. Data," said Picard. "It means that was the end of it. There was nothing they could do."

"That's all she wrote," repeated Data. He nodded. "Yes, I see. She, in this case, doubtless referring to the human conceptualization of Fate, writing a final chapter, as it were, and putting a period to the-"

"Please, Mr. Data," Picard said impatiently.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"Counselor, your opinion?" said Picard.

Deanna shook her head. "I am sorry, Captain, but lacking any individuals on whom to base an intuitive reading, I can give no relevant response. I can only advise caution."

"Indeed," Picard said, his lips tightening into a grimace.

"Sir," said La Forge, "this could be an amazing windfall for us. A chance to examine firsthand a new generation Romulan warbird, to say nothing of the opportunity this represents to gain valuable intelligence... . All their codes, their computer files-it's all there, ripe for the taking!"

"Yes, Mr. La Forge, I am aware of that," Picard said. "If, indeed, this situation is what it appears to be."

"Sir, there are no life-form readings aboard that vessel," said Worf. "All systems are powered down. Even if it were some sort of clever ruse, at this range they could never power up in time to const.i.tute a threat. The ship is completely at our mercy."

"I know, Mr. Worf, I know," Picard replied. "But it just seems too easy."

"Why would they send a prototype design out on a shakedown cruise without an escort?" Ro asked. "It seems illogical."

"Yes, to us it does," said Riker, "but maybe not to the Romulans. They have an obsession with secrecy. If there were any flaws in the design of a new generation warbird, they would not want them revealed. Typical Romulan pride and arrogance. They never admit to making a mistake."

"Well, it looks like they made one h.e.l.l of a big one this time," Geordi said. "Captain, it'll be only a matter of time before some Romulan ship responds to that distress beacon, and then we're going to be up to our ears in warbirds. We've got a window of opportunity here, but it's not a real big one. With all due respect, sir, we can't afford to pa.s.s it up."

"Geordi's right, Captain," Riker said. "What's more, the law is on our side. That warbird is in violation of Federation s.p.a.ce, even if there is no living crew aboard. Technically we'd be within our rights to claim it as a prize."

Picard shook his head. "No, Number One, that would never do. We will have to return that ship to the Romulans. Otherwise we risk creating an incident that could threaten the truce, which is already fragile at best. However, that does not mean we cannot take advantage of the opportunity to learn as much as we can about that vessel before the Romulans respond to its distress beacon."

"Prepare an away team, sir?" asked Riker, anxiously.

"Yes," Picard replied. "Stand down from red alert, but maintain yellow alert. I want protective suits for the away team, Number One. There may be contamination. Also, a full complement of security, Mr. Worf."

"I shall see to it, Captain," Worf replied.

"Ensign Ro, maintain long-range scanner sweeps for any sign at all of Romulan vessels responding to that distress signal."

"Understood, sir."

"Number One, I want you to head the away team," said Picard.

"Yes, sir. I'll take La Forge and Data in addition to the security detail," Riker said.

"Dr. Crusher will be standing by, ready to beam over as soon as you've established that it's safe," Picard said. "I shall want a full medical report on conditions aboard that ship before we send anyone else over."

"Understood, sir. I'm on my way."

"And, Number One ... be careful."

When the away team materialized on the bridge of the Romulan warbird, the security personnel had their weapons ready and each member of the away team carried a Type II phaser set on heavy stun. Regardless of what the scanner readings said, Riker saw that Worf wasn't taking any chances. Prior to transporting to the ship, the security personnel had taken up position around the rest of the away team in tight perimeter formation, their phasers held ready so that, if necessary, they could fire the moment they materialized aboard the Romulan ship. However, there was no reason to fire. For almost a full thirty seconds after they materialized, no one moved or said a word.

The scene on the bridge of the warbird was not pretty. It was a graphic reminder of what could happen to any of them if there was ever a similar catastrophic failure aboard the Enterprise. The bodies of the Romulan bridge crew were slumped in their seats and over the consoles. Some were simply sprawled out on the floor.

"Riker to Enterprise." The first officer spoke over the comm circuit inside the helmet of his protective suit.

Picard's voice came back over the speaker in his helmet. "Go ahead, Number One."

"We're on the bridge of the warbird," Riker said, looking around him. "The entire bridge crew is dead, apparently of suffocation."

He glanced around at the bodies sprawled all over the bridge of the Romulan warbird, then began taking tricorder readings as the rest of the personnel carefully spread out.

"There is no sign of life aboard the ship," he continued. "Repeat: no sign of life. Whatever happened must have happened very quickly. Judging by the positioning of the bodies, my guess is that the lifesupport system not only underwent catastrophic failure but set off a purging cycle that was evacuated through the exhaust ducts and failed to properly cycle in new air. We don't have a vacuum, but there simply wasn't enough air for the crew to breathe. They were literally choked to death by their own ship."

"Any sign of radiation?" asked Picard.

"Negative," Riker replied. "La Forge is checking out the bridge engineering consoles right now, but it doesn't look as if there was any leakage. We can beam Dr. Crusher over and have her check for possible viral contamination, but that isn't what killed them. The bodies are all displaying signs of cyanosis. My guess is that this happened a very short time ago. Dr. Crusher should be able to confirm that."

"Have you checked out any of the other decks?" asked Picard.

"Worf is on his way to do that right now with a security detail," Riker replied, "but if there were any life aboard this ship at all, we would have picked it up by now."

"Shall I have Dr. Crusher beam over with her medical team?" Picard asked.

"Affirmative," said Riker. "Just make sure they're wearing suits."

"Commander, there's a chance I may be able to get us some air," La Forge said. He was standing by one of the consoles on the bridge and gazing down at it intently. "I've found their engineering bridge consoles. The configuration is different from ours, but with Data's help I think I can figure this thing out."

"Can you get the lifesupport systems back on line?" asked Riker.

"There's a good chance of that," said Geordi. "I'm still showing residual power to these instruments, which means that as soon as Data can help me decipher these Romulan controls, I can run some diagnostics, maybe even adapt some of our instrumentation from the Enterprise, and figure out exactly what went wrong here. Maybe the ship powered down as a by-product of the systems failure. Maybe the crew powered down by accident while they were dying, or the disaster could be a result of some sort of fail-safe program they built in. I don't know for sure yet, but if I can get a crew down into the main engineering section, I should be able to find some answers for you pretty quick."

Riker activated his communicator. "Mr. Worf, report please."

"It appears to be the same all over the ship, Commander," Worf replied. "The Romulans are all lying dead where they fell when the lifesupport system purged itself. The systems failure must have occurred at the same time all over the ship."

"Which means it must have been a failure in the central control in main engineering," La Forge said. "We might be able to jury-rig a repair from our own engineering stores."

"Okay, Geordi, get on it," Riker said.

As La Forge left the bridge, heading for the engineering section with Data, Dr. Crusher materialized behind Riker with her medical team. They were all dressed in protective suits with self-contained life support. They began at once to examine the dead Romulans.

"Riker to Enterprise."

"Go ahead, Number One," Picard replied.

"Dr. Crusher and her team have arrived," said Riker. "La Forge is on his way down to the main engineering section with Data. He thinks he can effect repairs and get the lifesupport systems back on line. There doesn't seem to be any immediate danger here. Any sign of Romulan ships responding to that distress signal?"

"Negative, Number One," Picard replied. "We are picking up nothing on our long-range scanners."

"Sir, I'd like to request permission to deactivate the distress beacon," Riker said. "If the Romulans haven't picked up the signal yet, there's no point in inviting trouble, is there? And it would buy us a lot more time."

Picard did not respond immediately.

"Sir?" said Riker.

"I heard you, Number One," Picard said. "Very well, make it so. Secure the ship and report back to the bridge as soon as possible."

"Understood, sir," Riker replied.

He turned to Dr. Crusher. "I'm beaming back to the ship," he said. "Geordi's going to see if he can get the lifesupport systems functioning again. He'll need help from Engineering, and probably some equipment, too. The captain's going to want a full medical report."

"I should have one for him shortly," she replied. "It seems fairly obvious what happened here. They all suffocated. The cyanosis, the att.i.tudes of the bodies, the superficial injuries where they clawed at themselves and at their clothing, it all bears out your initial a.s.sessment. Should we do anything about the bodies?"