“She’s stabilizing.  Whatever effect the dilithium was having on her has passed.”  Jordan sat at her desk reading through her report while Harris sat across from her, frowning.  “We checked the security team – their vitals were also elevated in a similar fashion.  The bridge team showed nothing unusual.”

“But it’s not Blood Dilithium?”  The ghosts of their Delta Quadrant experience didn’t seem to want to leave them alone.

She moved to the next section of the report, “What limited readings they were able to get showed similar frequency and harmonics to the Blood Dilithium, but it is not an exact match.  Fowler believes this is something different…or possibly a new kind of Dilithium.”  She shrugged, “Without more data, we don’t know enough to determine cause and effect beyond what was observed.”

Ambrose groaned, “This is sounding more and more like we’re going to have to go back over there.”  

She shrugged, “We could just leave it and continue in our search.”

He gave her an annoyed look, “We’re going to have to figure out what this is and what it’s doing.  The Palasa Group asked for our help, and we’re going to help them.”

Reid mused, “Begrugindly, I think, is the keyword you meant to say.”

Harris stood from his chair, “Entirely possible, Jord.  I’m going to check in with Fowler.  Keep me in the loop with Greer.”  She gave him a nod as he left.  Returning her attention to the assistant chief engineer, she continued to study the scans.

“That’s the thing, sir.  We’re not detecting it from here – even when I throw every sensor modulation I know at it.  Whatever it is, and however it’s affecting people…it has to be in the same room.”

Harris stood on one side of his chief science officer while his executive officer stood on the other side while Fowler ran through what she knew. He replied,  “We can’t risk sending anybody over there with what little we know.  I’m open to suggestions.”

T’saath thought for a moment, “Captain, in my review of the ship’s inventory, there was mention of mobile probes that could be sent into inhospitable environments.”  She tapped at the console, and the inventory screen showed up to ten available.

The CO gave a nod, “Lieutenant Fowler, set it up.”

It took an hour to locate the equipment, get it set up, and be transported over to the Jhou.  Fowler sat at her station as the unit materialized in engineering.  This model had wheels, two manipulator arms, and a 360-degree camera.  “Moving into position,” she reported as the image on the viewscreen showed the live view along with the incoming data from the various sensors onboard.  The probe moved into the center of the engine room.  “Sensors showing unusual readings from both the reaction chamber and the storage area.”  Tapping at her console, the sensors refined the readings, “It’s reading as Dilithium as a base, but the harmonics and frequency aren’t the same.  Parts of it are on the general spectrum we expect to see from healthy Dilithium, but there are some unusual spikes across other spectrums.  Here…and here.”  The data slid across the screen as the eyes of the bridge crew reviewed it.

T’saath leaned forward in her chair, “Lieutenant, isolate items 44 to 50.”  Fowler did as she was asked, and the Vulcan XO observed, “Captain, this spectrum traditionally is seen in empaths and telepaths who are actively broadcasting or taking part in their particular abilities.”  She frowned and asked, “Further isolate items 47 to 49 with comparative power analysis.”  The screen changed again, and she further observed, “Empaths and telepaths cannot remain focused on their abilities forever – they must rest or cease activity.  These readings suggest the hypothesis that this dilithium is similarly broadcasting as if it was a telepath.”

Harris turned in his chair, “Similar to Blood Dilithium.”

The XO shook her head lightly as she continued to examine the data, “Not entirely.  Lieutenant Fowler, focus on item 50 with a graph exhibiting the consistency of its output.”  The screen shifted, and a line graph appeared with a growing upward trend.  She stood and walked closer to the viewscreen, “Within the observations made with Blood Dilithium – it was necessary to build a device to communicate with whatever was contained within – in that case, it was the souls of the Benari.  With this…there is no need for a device.  The Dilithium we’re observing is increasing in its telepathic abilities over time incrementally.”  She turned to Fowler, “Compare the readings from the Blood Dilithium to this, please.”

Fowler knew where this was going suddenly and drew the comparison on the graph that they were all watching with rapt attention.  The BD line started out in a similar fashion to their readings, but it plateaued at a certain point while the other continued to climb at a marked pace.  She felt the hair on the back of her neck rise up, “Commander…this suggests that whatever we’ve got over there has outpaced the capabilities of Blood Dilithium.  We’re dealing with something new.”

Harris leaned forward in his chair, “We need to understand this…whatever it is more.  Can the probe open the storage unit?”  Fowler returned to controlling the unit and brought it up to the door.  It took her a moment to get the arms into position.  She turned to her CO, an expectant look on her face.  He rubbed his face in contemplation for a moment, “Chief Kondo, go to yellow alert just in case.”  The shields snapped into action as the ship shifted into a more focused status.  He finally gave a nod to Fowler, “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

The probe used the manual override controls, and they could hear the grinding of the gears as the door protested against what was pushing it open until the contents were visible to the probe and the crew.  The Dilithium glowed green, reflecting its light against the walls and ceilings. It was pulsing at irregular intervals.  Fowler reported, unnerved at the sight, “Probe is reading increased reading across all spectrums.” Suddenly the screen began to scramble, and Fowler’s hands tapped across the console slowly at first and then frantically, “Captain, I’m losing contact with the probe.  I’m also getting a signal attempting to come back on our connection?”

Kondo jumped from his console and quickly stood at Fowler’s side, reading the updating data, “Sir, I think…something on the Jhou is trying to…get access to our ship.”

Harris didn’t hesitate, “Break the connection.  Now.”  Fowler did as he asked, and the screen went blank and returned to the view of the transport ship. He turned to the two of them, “Report.”

The chief of security spoke up, “Whatever that green dilithium is, it was attempting to ride the subspace signal of the probe back to us.  I don’t know why, but I’m going with not good.”

Prentice alerted them, “Captain the Jhou is powering engines – main power just came online.”

Fowler returned her attention to the console in disbelief, “I have no idea how that happened, sir.”  She quickly focused every sensor they had on the transport ship as they watched the impulse engines warm up and push the ship away…and then, without warning, it jumped to warp.  She blinked and tapped away at her console, “Tracking it now…we’ll lose it in fifteen minutes on long-range sensors.  They’re moving at warp 8.”

Ambrose moved to speak but couldn’t find the words for a moment.  He settled on, “Gather all the data each of you has on this situation.  Senior staff meeting in fifteen minutes in the briefing room.  Lieutenant Atega, get me Starfleet Command in my ready room.”