The Complication

From Romulus With Love

With Doctor Crusher's help, they had determined the contagion had been released sometime between 14:00 and 14:22 hours at the first of these hotspots.

Beverly's research had proven that once released into the airwaves, the initial agent had an approximate twenty-two minute 'life' before it dissipated. From there, it required person-to-person contact in order to spread.

Using the average incubation period, Doctor Crusher determined that the hotspots were activated at different times. Unfortunately, this information did not aid in narrowing down the suspects as theoretically it was possible for one person reach all of those places in the timeframe of the contagion's initial release.

However, Tasha and Worf had been able to use this information to limit the number of possible suspects – not by much – but anything was better than nothing. Everyone on the crew had access to those spaces but only 432 had schedules that would have permitted them access to all four locations at the appropriate times to coincide with the release.

Comparing these records to the access panel logs, Worf and Tasha had been able to eliminate an additional 178 people from the suspect list.

Their next step had been to examine the medical logs to see which members of the crew were confirmed as unconscious during the time when the refuse release was activated to send the Romulan ship information and materials.

In the end, they were still left with 213 names of possible suspects.

Now they were left looking for other possible motivations.

"What if separate all of the individuals that are human from other humanoids?" Tasha suggested. "Beverly's research seems to indicate non-human species have some level of natural immunity that doesn't make them as sick."

"The perpetrator is likely Romulan," Worf replied.

"That's an assumption," Tasha retorted.

Worf nodded, conceding the point.

They couldn't make any assumptions. There could be a Romulan defector or someone impersonating a human, Vulcan, or other humanoid through the use of genetic modification.

Worf tapped his screen several times and made a separate list to track any newer transfers.

"If they are using genetic modification, it would likely have shown during any medical scan involving bloodwork," Worf explained. "These are all individuals that have been aboard less than three months and have yet to undergo a routine physical."

Tasha chewed on the inside of her lip.

After a few seconds, she shook her head as she stared at the viewscreen.

"What's wrong?" Worf asked.

"This took planning," Tasha said.

There was something about focusing on new transfers that didn't sit right with Tasha.

"Make a copy of the list, but I don't want to spend too much time on this group tonight," Tasha replied.

Worf raised his eyebrow at her as he awaited an explanation.

Tasha got up and stretched.

"The Romulans took a big risk in obtaining that information drop," Tasha theorised as she paced back and forth. "I don't think they'd take that kind of chance for three months of information."

The Romulans had marched an entire fleet of ships across the Neutral Zone.

They had been just one false step from starting a war.