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[Chapter 3 – Buffer]
Vyr never liked swimming. Coming from the arid climate of Vulcan, large bodies of water were uncomfortable at best–and that was when he was outside of them. While training for Starfleet Security was intense, that intensity paled in comparison to MACO training. Learning to hold your breath underwater for minutes at a time, until your lungs felt like they would burst, even tying your hands in a weighted suit underwater that you had to learn to escape from. The exercises were grueling, even cruel but it taught a crucial skill–learning to control your instinct to panic in the worst situations. Being of Vulcan origin, he had better control of his emotions than the large majority of recruits, but anyone that said they don’t feel a hint of panic and anxiety while underwater, restrained, and in a weighted suit with no air tank, well they were just lying at that point.
He was underwater, deep underwater. Struggling to come to the surface as his lungs burned. Vyr heard faint voices–strange, this far down he shouldn’t hear anything, certainly not voices.
“Medical emergency! Doctor to the bridge!”
“Huh,” Vyr thought, “someone is having a bad day.” The surface was closer almost there, and finally he broke through.
Vyr sat up sharply gasping for air on the bridge of a ship. He didn’t recognize the faces, yet he did. As if seeing people he knew from earlier in his life, from school or childhood. The faces were clustered around him, looks deep concern on their faces.
“Commander, another anomaly coming in!”
“Lieutenant, stay with the Admiral,” the strange–familiar?–woman said to one of the other faces, “Helm! Hard to port, reinforce port shields! Engineering! I need impulse power!” The bridge was a flurry of activity. Vyr felt strange, his vision blurry, his head pounding.
“Tendaa to the bridge, Akira, that last anomaly caused a feedback loop, we’re struggling with antimatter containment.”
“Tendaa, you give me anything to manuver!”
Vyr, head pounding, heard a voice from inside. It was/wasn’t his. The disorientation was getting worse, his head spinning, as more strange/familiar faces appeared around him. There was more talking, movement, but the voices seemed distant, and moving farther away. But the voice that was his/not his from inside, it kept growing louder, more insistent. It pounded against his skull, the words “Anti-chronoton! Turn the ship into the anomaly and fire an anti-chronoton burst from the deflector,” he yelled, letting the distant voice out like a pressure relief.
Vyr’s vision was still blurry, distorted, his hearing distant, but he could tell the flurry of activity stopped briefly.
“Helm, you heard the Admiral. Turn into the anomaly, Mr. Chairok I need full shields forward while I reconfigure the deflectors for an anti-chronoton burst!”
“It’s going to be close, Commander!”
“Firing!”
It was like a giant, invisible hand grasped Vyr’s chest, crushing him before tossing him aside like a child would discard a toy that had fallen into disfavor. His ribs, bruised, his head, pounding, his breath, ragged.
A familiar voice: “There it is! There’s the anomaly!” It was Daniels! “It looks like…is it out of sync with space-time?” Vyr looked down at his hand. It was blurry. Everything was blurry. His hand was vibrating, his/not his at the same time. “Quick, we have to scan it! Hurry before we lose it–”
“Admiral? Admiral! Snap out of it!” It was Daniels in the 29th, in the timeline observation room. V’Larr had an incredible headache, made worse by Daniels snapping his fingers in his face. Vyr swatted his hand away in as close to anger as his Vulcan composure would allow. “We lost you there for a minute. How do you feel? Wait…I’m detecting chronoton radiation inside the room–that shouldn’t be–it’s you. You’re the source! Where did you go?”
“Admiral? Admiral! Do you know where you are?” It was Chief Medical Officer Kai-Ren. V’Larr was in sickbay on the Kearsarge, his head felt like it had been split open. It hurt to move.
“Doctor, he’s coming around. But look at his brainwaves…they’re…erratic…but they are showing consciousness…”
“Admiral? Admiral, I’m going to give you a mild sedative, your brain waves are very erratic.” V’Larr heard the hypospray at his neck, and felt the pounding in his head lessen. “Admiral? Can you hear me?” Just then Commander Akira entered sickbay.
“Stardate…what’s the stardate,” V’Larr asked weakly. Kai-Ren and Akira looked at each other, then back to V’Larr. “It’s 97315, Sir.”
It’s yesterday, V’Larr thought. This didn’t happen yesterday. “Commander,” he said, addressing Akira, “What of the anomalies?”
Akira’s eyes squinted in a concerned look: “V’Larr, we haven’t detected any anomalies. We’ve been on a routine patrol in the Alpha quadrant for the last week.”
“Wrong…timeline…” V’Larr said weakly, “it’s wrong, this didn’t happen…” The medical machines started to beep with increasing frequency.
“Doctor?” Akira said with alarm.
“Nurse, sedative, hurry!” Kai-Ren quickly administered the sedative, quieting the beeping machines monitoring V’Larr. After confirming V’Larr was stable, Kai-Ren turned to Akira: “Commander, look at this. See this trace? This is his neural activity. Over here,” he said pointing, “this is just after we got him to sick bay.”
“What am I looking at doctor?”
“Brain waves of someone who has recently had a siezure. But that isn’t the point, look over here–this is just before he regained consciousness.” Kai-Ren pointed to a line that became erratic compared to the earlier plot. “Look very closely. There is a second plot that follows the first, point for point. Nearly identically.”
“Which means…”
“I don’t know what it means, but I can tell you what it is. Another brain.”
Akira shook her head like an insect flew in her face. “Doctor, you’re going to have to lay that out for me a bit better.”
“Ok look, this is a chart of his brain activity. This line is his consciousness–or lack thereof, his physical awareness. Its a single line up to this point where it becomes erratic and now we see a second consciousness. A second consciousness nearly identical to his that wasn’t there when he first came into sick bay.”
Akira considered this. “The Admiral mentioned that this didn’t happen that we were in the wrong timeline,” she said thoughtfully. “Doctor, I want you to do every workup you can on the Admiral, and report to me immediately when you have results,” she said as she turned to leave.
“What am I looking for?”
“The wrong timeline,” Akira said over her shoulder as she left sick bay.
aka @maceviktor#9440
[Chapter 4 – Overrun]
“Lieutenant Commander! Lieutenant Commander,” Vyr heard more insistently. He felt someone shaking his shoulder, and he startled opening his eyes to a shrieking ringing in his ears that rapidly started from nothing, built rapidly to a painful crescendo, and then just as rapidly receded back to nothing. “Never known you to fall asleep during a shuttle ride, Sir. We’re almost there.”
“I was merely meditating, Chief,” Vyr said.
“Defera control, this is the Jolly Roger, requesting landing clearance.”
“Jolly Roger, you are cleared to land at landing pad 3.” The aging Galileo-class shuttle craft was still used as a troop transport. The spacious interior, weapons lockers, the large rear doors for disembarking soldiers, and the relative inexpense of the shuttle compared to more modern designs made it perfect for moving soldiers inside and outside the atmosphere. Vyr felt the shuttle deftly glide onto the landing pad.
“Last stop, Defera command. Welcome to the Borg front! Now everybody out!” The rear door dropped, Vyr took his helmet from between his feet to under his arm and filed out. He was quickly greeted by an Ensign: “Lieutenant Commander Vyr, Commander Kuzmina wants to see you right away. Come with me please.”
Vyr followed the ensign over to the command center where Kuzmina was looking at a map table with other strategists. Kuzmina looked up and saw Vyr’s approach. “Ah, Lieutenant Commander, welcome. I’ve reviewed your dossier, very impressive. Awarded the Vulcan Scientific Legion of Honor before joining Starfleet, awarded the Grankite Order of Tactics during the Iconian campaign, at which point you joined the Military Assault Command, and then thrice awarded the Star Cross for Exceptional Valor for actions in the Dyson Sphere, Deep Space 9 during the brief Dominion take over, and…a location classified high enough that it is redacted on the official record.
“I can see you’ve done your research, Commander,” Vyr stated matter-of-factly.
Kuzmina gave a curt nod and continued. “Lieutenant Commander, I’ve got a mission of critical importance. Based on your service record, you seem the ideal candidate. How familiar are you with our operations here on Defera?”
“I know the basics. The Borg have invaded to assimilate Deferi in an attempt to obtain knowlege or information on Preserver technology. This is a joint operation between the Federation and Klingon alliances.”
Kuzmina gave another curt nod, “Good. Day to day the MACOs and Klingons hold the line. We push, the Borg push back. They win some ground, we win it back. We’ve fought them to a stalemate, until about a week ago.” Vyr arched an eyebrow but stayed silent. “About a week ago, we started gaining ground. The Borg seemed to be falling back, and they weren’t counter attacking in force.”
“A most unusual behavior for the Borg,” Vyr said.
“That isn’t all Lieutenant Commander. We’ve begun to detect unusual emissions from here,” Kuzmina said pointing at the map table. “This is the power plant. The Borg have turned it into a local hive. It also serves as a regeneration facility. We’ve raided it on a regular basis to disrupt their regeneration cycle, slows them down for a few days if we’re lucky before it’s repaired. But lately, the Borg have kept to themselves. Not pushing our lines, falling back, and even more curiously, less traffic in and out of the power plant.”
“What are the emissions?”
“We can’t determine that. I can tell you the amount of power being used in the facility has doubled and is increasing. The increase in power is distorting our readings on everything else in and around the power plant.” Kuzmina addressed the other strategists at the map table: “Dismissed. Lieutenant Commander, you stay.” The others walked out, leaving Kuzmina alone with Vyr. Vyr waited in silence for Kuzmina to continue. Kuzmina looked as if she was carefully considering her next words: “Lieuten–Vyr. Vyr, let me be clear. This mission is not only of critical importance, it is likely the most dangerous mission that you will have ever undertaken.”
“And I have not yet heard exactly what this mission is, Commander.”
“The power plant has three sublevels. Sublevel 1 is basic power redirection and control. Sublevel 2 is were the large regeneration alcoves are. The ones–”
“Yes, the ones that you raid regularly, Commander I did listen to your brief.”
“The third sublevel we know little about. We send scouts in, and they rarely come back. The ones that have returned come back with little usable data. We have every reason to believe that whatever the Borg are doing, it’s happening there since we haven’t observed anything irregular on the first two sublevels.” Kuzmina studied Vyr closely. He stood at perfect attention, meeting her gaze, not with aggression, just with the calm of a seasoned veteran. “I’m sending you down to the third sublevel, to investigate and disrupt Borg operations by any means necessary.”
Vyr thought a moment. “Commander, if this is to be so dangerous, I am but a single soldier. Why do you think that I shall fare better than your scouts? Your mission plan, it would seem, is quite illogical based on the information you have presented.”
Kuzmina gave a slight grin, and shook her head briefly. “Lieutenant Commander, you have full discretion on this mission. I’m assigning you 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company. 30 MACOs.”
“And what strategy–”
“Stop there Lieutenant Commander. I’ve given you the mission. I would suggest you assign your soldiers as you see fit. Take this PADD, this is all the information we have on the power plant: schematics, notable locations, and confirmed and suspected patrol routes.” Kuzmina could see a questioning look on Vyr’s face. “It’s operational security. If I know the details of your plan and I get assimilated…I’ve given you the mission. I would suggest you use the same operational security. Hand the objective out, let the men work out a plan while concealing the overall goal of your mission.”
“This is logical,” Vyr said.
“One more thing Lieutenant Commander. See the quartermaster, you’ll be taking the experimental Mk XII armor on this mission. Dismissed.”
“Sir!” Vyr said as he left to see the quartermaster.
Shrieking–
No–
Louder–
Stop–
Pounding–
No–
Blinding–
“Kai-Ren to Commander Akira”
“Akira here.”
“Report to sickbay sir, you’re going to want to see this.” Kai-Ren didn’t have to wait long before Akira arrived.
“Report, Doctor.”
“I’m not sure I’ve found the wrong timeline, but I’ve found lots of chronoton radiation. I wouldn’t say he’s producing the radiation, but it is very close to that.” Kai-Ren walked over to a holographic display and activated it: “his bones are aged differently. These bones here, younger, the ones here, older. Some bones are ageing faster, some slower. Commander, how much do you know about the Admiral’s service record?”
Akira looked at Kai-Ren sharply: “No more than is what is in his Starfleet dossier. Why do you ask?”
“Well,” Kai-Ren said, and took a hard swallow before continuing, “he’s got scar tissue from healed wounds and broken bones. Anti-proton wounds, and a couple that are definately old disruptor wounds, lots of plasma scarring. I didn’t find anything in his service record to indicate where any of this could have happened. The amount of healed broken bones I’m seeing is reminescient of a soldier who has seen lots of hand-to-hand combat.”
Akira considered this. “Doctor, I think you may have found the wrong timeline. I don’t think this is our Admiral V’Larr.”
“Chairok to Commander Akira.”
“Go ahead Mr. Chairok.”
“Commander, we’ve detected an anomaly on long range sensors.” Akira’s eyes narrowed, remembering when the Admiral asked her about the anomalies. “Chart a course, maximum warp,” she turned to the doctor: “looks like we may have found the timeline we’ve been looking for.”
Ears ringing, head swimming, vision blurry, Vyr could feel himself being dragged across the ground. “Lieutenant Commander! Lieutenant Commander! We’ve got to go, get up!” Vyr shook his head trying to clear the daze, just as he did he could see Commander Kuzmina being assimilated by Borg. “Lietenant Commander, the Borg found a way to beam through the scattering field, we’re being overrun! We need to go, we need to get on the shuttles!” His head clearing, he picked himself off the ground and drew his sidearm, taking careful aim at Commander Kuzmina before she was fully assimilated and fired. Merciful and painless, and depriving the Borg of any intelligence they may have gained from the Commander. The Petty Officer looked at Vyr in horror for a moment, then understood what Vyr had done. “It’s time to go!”
“You will compose yourself, Specialist.” Vyr said, standing up and calmly surveying the surroundings. “Specialist, report. Where is your unit?”
“Most of them already took a shuttle out. The Helios is in orbit treating wounded and organizing for a counter attack.”
Vyr considered this while looking around. Base camp had become disordered chaos. MACOs were in a fighting retreat, fighting a delaying action while base camp was evacuated by shuttle with a constant stream of Borg beaming in. For every Borg taken down, three more came. MACOs were being assimilated, wounded, the Borg were taking every person they could. “Specialist you will accompany me as we form a unit. I have a mission to complete.”
aka @maceviktor#9440
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