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[Chapter One – Gentle]
Status Log, stardate 97318.64, USS Kearsarge, Admiral V’Larr reporting. We’ve been on patrol in the Deferra system for the last week, trying to track down a strange anomaly. This anomaly seems to appear and disappear before we can determine the full nature of it. We are detecting faint chronoton emissions, but we haven’t been able to make a definitive determination who, or what, is causing it. It seems to appear at irregular intervals in different locations in the sector, seldom the same place twice.
Admiral V’Larr did a final check of his uniform in the mirror. Squared jaw, sharp cheeklines and dark hair, if there was a stereotypical Vulcan appearance, he had it. His uniform, pressed, with creases you could cut your finger on, as it was only logical that the commanding officer set the standard for all aboard in dress and demeanor. He walked smartly, briskly to the bridge.
“Report, commander.”
“Sir, the anomaly hasn’t reappeared since our last sighting 6 days ago,” came the sharp, brusque response of Commander Akira, a Krenim science officer. “The MACOs are holding the line against the Borg invasion on Deferi, and fighter wing Alpha is nearly ready for alert status.” Three days ago Kearsarge stumbled on some errant Orion raiders which were easily dispatched by a wing of Peregrine fighters, however a few of them took some minor damage.
“Very good commander. I’ll be in my ready room, you have the bridge.” V’Larr, looking down at his PADD of daily duty officer reports, walked into his ready room. As the doors shut behind him, he noticed something was amiss.
“Admiral,” said the familar voice.
“Daniels,” V’Larr responded in annoyance. “May I remind you, that the Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible.”
“Admiral, you are the only Vulcan I’ve met with a sense of humor, seeing as you come from the 23rd, and one of our most valued Temporal Operatives.” V’Larr stood silent, not in his ready room, but with Daniels in the timeline observation room in the 29th. Daniels waited briefly for a response that did not come, mumbled to himself and continued: “Admiral, there’s a problem with the timeline.”
V’Larr raised an eyebrow: “Am I to guess what this problem is?”
This time it was Daniels turn to be annoyed: “Admiral, we have a missing MACO operative on Deferra. The anomaly you’ve been trying to track down, it is temporal in nature. The reason it is moving is due to how the timeline is being altered. Subtly. In fact, we almost missed it. We’ve got a MACO missing here, on Deferra, a missing Romulan from new Romulus, and a missing Gorn that frequents the Drozana station. All seemingly unrelated.”
“Look here,” Daniels said, pointing, “our Romulan, Ruvan, he went missing several years ago. He’s –or he was–the great grandfather to Nenila…here…” he said pointing to another timeline.
“And Nenila held a position of stature? Captain? Ambassador? Admiral?”
“No. That’s the thing. She joined the Romulan navy, worked in engineering as an ensign transporter operator. She was promoted to lieutenant, transferred to a starfleet joint operations post, again as a transporter operator, and then left starfleet and started a family. Of farmers. On New Romulus. Or, at least that was what should have happened. Of course with Ruvan missing…”
“And you mentioned a Gorn?” V’Larr said quizzically.
“Her name is Z’Ard, and had a liking for the dabo tables on Drozanna. She liked the dabo tables so much, she ended up gambling away all her posessions, and lived in squalor on Drozanna Station for several years until she had one lucky spin. She won enough latinum to buy Drozana Station. She then went to Nimbus, purchased a large plot of land which she turned into a very successful night club and casino.”
“A…night club…and…casino, you say,” V’Larr said incredulously.
“Yes.”
“I can see why you almost missed it. How did this change the timeline?”
“Here,” he said pointing, “what we found–so far–is this weapon shipment. Before the timeline change it was intercepted by a Federation patrol.”
“And after the change, the weapons arrived to their destination.”
“No, the shipment never happened in the new timeline.”
“At this point it would be logical to assume this weapon shipment is of no particular importance.”
“Not that we can see, not yet.”
“So how do you know any of these changes have significant impact?”
“Look, over here,” Daniels said, walking across to a different timeline, pointing, “The battle of–well, that isn’t important. In this battle in the 27th, this ship, the USS Forrestal is lost,” Daniels said as a holographic display of an aging Jupiter-class carrier is shown. “In the unaltered timeline, the Forrestal survives while the Blue Grass, the primary command and control ship is destroyed. The Forrestal was the reserve command and control ship in the battle.”
“This would seem to be a more positive outcome for the Federation. Fascinating. Yet I fail to see–”
“I’m not done. Look,” Daniels said, pointing. “There are no timelines after the 28th in the altered timeline. However instead of sweeping changes, whoever is doing this is masking their actions in obscurity. Not making changes, but ever-so-slight nudges. Nudges so small they should be nearly impossible to predict. It was only recently that our own predictions found this.
V’Larr looked from the timelines to Daniels and back again, pondering if such slight changes could really be predicted with such accuracy. “You haven’t mentioned the MACO operative yet.”
Daniels crossed the room back to the current timeline. “Perhaps our biggest mystery, Lieutenant Commander Vyr.” Daniels activated a holographic display showing the face of the Lieutenant Commander.
V’Larr squinted at the display, scrutinizing every feature of the face. “It is logical that there are only so many combinations of genetic expressions, and that there may be two beings of the same likeness.”
“Admiral, that isn’t just a likeness. That’s you.”
aka @maceviktor#9440
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