As the Captain departed the Bridge, Erik took his seat. Slowly, almost leisurely. The actions they were taking now…and we’re going to take in the near future…weighed heavily upon the Executive Officer’s mind. He shook his head slightly, as if that would grant him some additional measure of clarity or focus.  

“Mister Lisald, forward your course to the helm,” said Erik calmly. “Engage at maximum warp.“ He drummed his fingers on the small console attached to his seat. “Also, have an escape vector ready to engage at a moment’s notice.“ Erik realized that he had not been ordered to program an escape route, but part of his job was to anticipate the Captain’s orders and having a backup plan just made sense. 

 

The Helmsman acknowledged the orders, and the Cygnus began to move in a smooth arc away from the planet’s gravity well. In a matter of moments, the ship was clear and began accelerating at many times faster than light toward what they hoped would be the Crystalline Entity. 

The scientist in Erik cried out silently, raging against the inner turmoil that he felt. As a person that has devoted his entire adult life to the pursuit of truth, he wanted to study the Entity in the most minute of detail and discover its origins. But as a Starfleet Officer sworn to protect the officers and crew of the Cygnus as well as the people of the Federation and the galaxy, he wanted to put a stop to this thing once and for all. It has not just killed sentient beings, fauna and flora…it has wiped an entire civilization from history, with only their depopulated cities standing as a shattered monument to the fact that they had ever existed.  

Omicron Theta. Forlat III. Melona IV. And now The Commonwealth. All wiped from existence because of that monster. This has to end, here and now.    

Erik Larsen could not drive these thoughts from his mind. He has studied the research of Dr. Kila Marr, and the logs of the Enterprise-D, and was familiar with how she had destroyed that Entity. He was reasonably certain that he could adapt that technique for the Cygnus. The Captain would almost certainly want to attempt communication. 

All they needed to do now was wait.