Stardate 52013.4

     It had been a few hours since the staff meeting.  Elea was down in 
Engineering.  Syxx was going through each of her systems one by one, trying to
determine what the problem with her was.  
     Captain Mason sat in his ready room.  He was starting to grow impatient 
with the whole situation.  He'd gotten no progress reports from Syxx or Carter.
He thought about Elea's strange behavior, what if it's the further product of 
tampering from whoever might be on the ship, maybe Syxx.  He was the one to 
find Dr. L'vant.  Maybe he killed her and pretended to find her to cover his 
tracks.
     He thought about what his wife would say, that he's being illogical.  He 
should wait until he has evidence before making judgments.  He knew that was 
good advice, but still had the feeling that if the Dominion were involved it 
might be too late to act by the time he finds evidence of it.  Out of the 
corner of his eye he noticed in the window that they were passing the Kinshou 
Nebula.  The gasses swirling around inside it really did create an impressive 
display, and he sat and watched it for a while to calm himself down.
     The display beeped as a Commander Ming's terminal was fed a sampling of 
the data that the science stations were receiving on the nebula.  She stood 
up from her chair on the bridge and walked over to the Ops station where 
Lieutenant Commander Mull was sitting.  She was still worried about Elea, and 
it had been a few hours, but she knew Syxx well enough to know he wouldn't 
report anything until there was something definite to report, so she assumed 
Elea's condition was unchanged.  So much had happened in the past couple of 
days, and she found the best comfort to be to focus on her duties, "Are you 
getting clean sensor readings on the Nebula, Commander Mull?"
     Mull tapped a few buttons on his control panel, "The static radiation is 
interfering a little with the readings.  I'll try to clear it up."
     Commander Ming returned to her chair, "Send the readings to the 
Interstellar Science Department when you're done."
     Ming returned to her chair and watched the viewscreen.  The normal image 
of the space in front of the ship had changed to a view from the port side, 
where the nebula was.
     "Beautiful, isn't it?" she said to no one in particular.
     Mull gave a somewhat dismissive answer, "Sure."
     Ming looked at him almost sternly, "You should learn to take some 
enjoyment in your work, Commander.  You don't see something like this every 
day."
     Before he could answer, Mull was interrupted by an alarming beep from his
console, "Commander, I used an old Bajoran scanning algorithm to clean up the 
sensor readings, one we used to use to find hidden Cardassian transports.  When
I did I found a Cardassian warp signature."
     Commander Ming stood up quickly and walked to where Mull was sitting, 
"Cardassians?  Starfleet hasn't detected activity by any members of the 
Dominion in this sector."
     Mull said a little smugly, "I guess I found the first evidence of it, 
then.  The warp trail was intentionally masked.  I can tell enough to know it's
very recent, though."
     Ming dismissed Mull's smugness considering the gravity of the situation, 
"Mr. Mull, set a course to follow the warp trail.  Warp 5."
     Mull made the course change from the Ops station since Elea wasn't back 
from Engineering yet.  Looking a little worried, Commander Ming sat back down.
She tapped her communicator, "Bridge to Mason.  We've found something I think 
you should know about."