“We’ve scanned, inspected, and verified each piece, Commander.  All clear.”  The cargo bay quartermaster crew handed her a PADD with the scans, and she stepped through the doors.  It had once been an oblong ship with thrusters and a pair of small warp engines.  Okada activated the tractor systems and began to reassemble the ship that had brought their unconscious patient to them.  She wasn’t worried for the woman – Longfellow was a competent and sterling physician.  He was cranky most of the time but stayed focused on saving and healing his patients, seeing through his dark cloud of annoyance.

The metal and materials were similar to Federation construction to a point.  The design of the thrusters and warp engines was primitive by her standards.  As the system began to assemble the pieces, she began to work on understanding how fast it could have gone.  She focused the computer on the engine housings, and she had an uneasy answer within an hour.  The door to Cargo Bay 1 slid open, and the grizzled face of the Quartermaster strolled into the massive room.  She waved him over, “Master Chief Wyatt.”

Henry rolled his eyes, “It’s just Chief or Henry, Okada.  I’m too old for titles and ranks.” He stared at the ship as it slowly became solid, “That’s an Argovan design, for sure.  What are they rated for warp…five?”

Katusumi scoffed, “I forget how old you are, sir.”  With a cheeky grin, she handed the PADD over, “Warp 4.5, so you were close.”  It was his turn to scoff as she walked up to the temporary shield that surrounded the ship, “But she was pushing this thing more demanding than that.  Computer estimates she found a way to push it to warp six…or even seven.”  A shake of Wyatt’s head was her answer, and she replied, “Argovan ships aren’t built for that kind of speed.  Background on them has them as very insular and protective – they don’t get outside of their system at all.  Don’t see a need to consult with…lower functioning humanoids.”

Wyatt mused, “She managed it somehow.”  He tapped at the PADD, frowning, “You see the metallic reports?”

Okada hadn’t, but she saw it as the ship assembled: “She packed on extra bits of the hull…is that a whole layer of ablative armor?”

Henry joined her, returning the PADD, “That’s not all.  There’s evidence of various protective measures she wove into the hull itself…not to mention the computer and power grid.  To borrow an old Earth phrase…she supercharged the hell out of this thing, Commander.”  He pointed at the schematics on the device, “She had redundant systems for just about everything.  This Argovan knew how to engineer.”

The Chief Engineer of the Mackenzie was silent for a moment.  She pondered the burn mark patterns becoming evidence as the assembly reached the halfway point, “I agree she’s brilliant…but that still doesn’t answer the question as to why she ended up out here.”  She pointed at the patterns, “Those aren’t light weapons that made those marks.  Notice they’re not just on this side…they’re all over.”  She noticed a scan result.  Her mouth dropped open, “Chief…that’s not just weapons fire…that’s burning from transitioning roughly through the atmosphere.  She didn’t transition like most ships do these days – nice and easy.  This wasn’t just her taking a joy ride…I think she was running.  That weapons fire wasn’t exact – it was scattershot.  I’d bet…well, something valuable that if Kondo reported on this, he’d make the same conclusion…this Argovan woman was running and running fast.”

Wyatt thought over her theory and agreed, “If that’s true…then what was she running from?  And what happens when it finds us?”

Okada grimaced, “There’s a lot of things out here, known and unknown, that would send an Argovan running like mad.  You want the shortlist or the long list?”  She sighed and returned to watch the ship assembly, “Whatever it is, I’d rather it just stayed the hell away from us.”