Temporal Integrity - Setting things in motion - Part 2

Posted on 05 Nov 2024 @ 8:04pm by Captain Ricardo (Rico) Montoya & 2nd Lieutenant Emily Spicer & Lieutenant Commander Aiden MacMahon & Lieutenant Jason Rhineholt M.D. & Lieutenant Tavana of the House of Torath & Lieutenant Heather Fischer-Montoya

2,648 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: M-18 The Past is Future

[Bridge]

Nico arrived on the Bridge, his gaze going immediately to the Captain, someone he'd seen in passing, but had little direct interaction with since that was generally left to the Department Head. At 6'5", Nico wasn't someone that went unnoticed. Broad-shouldered and well-muscled, owing to him lifting weights as a way of thinking through his problems, with a mop of wavy hair, he moved quickly, his expression weighted down by the death he'd somehow missed. And wasn't that something that needed resolving in his mind? He came to stand beside the Captain and waited to be noticed.

The first to arrive was not who he had expected, but knew the large junior officer by sight. "There a reason Lieutenant el-Altaa sent you in his place?

"He's dead, Sir," Nico said. "When the ... beam ... hit us, it sheared off a couple of bolts on a rack in the armory and it came down on him." He paused a moment, shaking off the questions, and continued. "He died immediately. Doctor Reinholt has taken his body down to the Morgue."

Aiden swirled around from and stared at the newcomer on the bridge. He was not sure he heard right.

Rico looked to Aiden with a puzzled and a concerned look. The energy field used to knock them all out shouldn't have caused any physical damage to the ship nor had there been any reports of any other damage. Regardless of the cause they had other issues to address. "Have engineering examine the damage to confirm the cause of the failure. In the mean time you will need to assume leadership of the department. You up for it?"

"Yes, Sir," Nico said. "And I've already put in a request to engineering to replace the bolts and inspect the damage." He shrugged lightly. "Doesn't feel right, Sir."

"Wait... " Aiden said, "the Chief is dead!?" He liked the man and was quite shocked. He did not have the calm demeanor of the Captain, returning the perplexed stare he received. "What the hell, that shouldn't have happened," he said shocked, but he gathered his composure somehow and got up. "I will follow up with engineering... and see to the memorial arrangements," he said quite nonplussed. And angry. He pursed his lips to prevent his thoughts from flying out of his mouth.

After seeing to the deceased Chief in the morgue, Jason made his way to the bridge to let the Captain know of the accident; if he didn't already since he was the CMO. Exiting the Lift he walked over to Rico "Excuse me Captain, I assume you've heard about the Security Chief by now.....a tragic incident. Would you like me to contact his family" Jason inquired with a sympathetic tone.

"Yes..." Looking up to the man at tactical. "...Thank you Doctor but no, that's my responsibility, but will have to wait until we have completed our new mission."

Nico, assuming he was no longer needed in the conversation, moved over to his station and started checking out the readings. Nothing alarming revealed itself nor had he expected it to but still, he would monitor. He stood quietly, feet shoulder-width apart and arms folded across his chest, reviewing the moment when he'd woken up, staring into his Chief's dead eyes, while he kept his gaze trained on the readouts.

Urushi sat at the science console, she was rubbing her head. It felt like something was pounding in her brain. Yet an unusual feeling cane from her stomach where her symbiot sat. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she couldn't help but feel like something just wasn't quite right.

By the time Jason reached the bridge, he was borderline furious and showing it in his facial expressions and stance. The authorization command that released whatever it was that woke them up came from Command, so someone knew about this, and he was betting on the CO or XO from the announcement. "Captain, Commander. I also have one fatality, went over the catwalk in Main Engineering and landed wrong when we were all knocked out." Jason's voice was ice cold in fury, but he was going to wait and request a private moment with the duo as to preserve chain of command...for now.

There had been several curious look at the mention of 'new mission', but once the senior staff were all present he took a looked around the bridge and stopped at the dejected security officer before beginning. "Ok. First the reason and how we were all knocked out. Those that had been on the bridge will recall that I was calling for an alert before we were incapacitated. What we had detected was a temporal distortion and Federation time ship from almost 800 years in the future.

"Their ships are not equipped for and offensive or significant defensive action so to protect themselves, the hit us with a neural field to render us unconscious. This allowed them to not only brief Commander MacMahon and myself, make a few modification to the ship, but also fulfill their own historical events.

"Now for the why. It seems that the temporal cold war we learned about in our pre-Federation history classes has gone hot. We are only one of many ships being recruited for this effort to save the Federation and preserve our future and their history.

"According to our future Federation counterparts temporal agents have gone into the past to once again try to destroy the Federation. They need us to help them make sure events unfold as they are supposed to while they hunt down the various temporal agents sent back to alter the past.

"To protect us from any changes in the time time we have been equipped with temporal shielding. And to allow us to move through space and time, our deflector dish has been modified to create a spatiotemporal vortex. Lt. Mitchell, while I am sure these modifications were done properly, you and you people will need to keep any eye on things. The last thing that needs to happen it to get stranded in the past or have our cloaking device compromised and be seen and contaminate the time line."

As he listened to the Captain outlining their mission, Aiden realised again how propoterous it actually sounds. He would never express his thoughts, especially to the crew. But the resentment he felt against their visitors from the future remained.

"Captain. Just to be absolutely clear here. You and the XO participated in and allowed unauthorized personnel claiming to be Starfleet Temporal Agents into Engineering to "adapt" vital systems, incapacitate the crew which resulted in multiple injuries and at least two fatalities? And withheld that knowledge from the people responsible for those systems, until at this point, we cannot accurately know whatever else they may have decided to do to our systems in the process? Do I have that right?" The fury was evident in his tone, and again Jason's stance as he glared directly at the two senior officers.

Rico knew Aiden might react and held a hand up in his direction to hold off any reaction. " 'To be absolutely clear' we participated in nothing Lieutenant. The XO and I were incapacitated like everyone else, and awakened and briefed on the situation while those modifications where being completed. As to their credibility, what proof they where from the future would have been to your satisfaction? We were on the Federation timeship and believe me, that ship was centuries more advanced than anything the Federation currently has. They were able to make those modifications to our systems because they had the historical knowledge and access codes needed to make those modifications."

Aiden nodded in agreement, careful to keep his own anger and resentment out of his voice. "This is unusual Lieutenant, but not unheard of. The best we can do now is to focus on the task at hand. We need to keep our heads straight, and I am also talking about dealing with the rest of the crew," Aiden said looking at the other officers present too. "They will be confused and probably anxious too. This was a very stressful event, we don't need to add to that. So let's mitigate any risks we can and remain calm," he said.

"Agreed. I don't know any Chief Engineer that wouldn't get upset with someone messing with his or her ship with consulting them first so I understand your frustration. However what's done is done and we have a job to do."


"Our first tack is to ensure the destruction of Praxis. The intel on the tis is that that preservation of Praxis allows the Klingon Empire, aided by the Romulans, to go to war with and defeat the Federation. Lt. Spicer, We will need three insertion teams. Doctor, they will need to be altered to look like Klingons. Lt. Mitchell, the insertion teams will need charges powerful enough to destabilize any structural reinforcement that might be put in place. Be sure to replicate Klingon components so that Federation technology isn't found in the debris."

All this temporal stuff was outside her swim lane but she would have the teams put together and sent to the Doc to get modified. "Aye Sir. I have already put the Marines on alert and deployed them to their emergency stations."

"A bit premature Lieutenant, especially since no alert has been ordered...However, given the unknowns at the time we will just caulk this up to erroring on the side of caution. No assumptions next time."

She nodded a the surprisingly mild dressing down. "Yes sir."

When a lull in the conversation presented itself Rhineholt spoke up "After we are dismissed those who need facial alterations please stop by primary sick bay and I will see to the changes myself" Jason instructed wanting to handle such an important matter personally.

"Understood, we'll have the requisite materials fabricated, but better to 'build' them by hand. Replicating a Klingon energy signature in the entirety won't be feasible. If that is acceptable." Jason responded in a short, concise manner, working to bury his anger and maintain professionalism. There was a hanging bag at the gym calling for him here soon.

"I know this is a lot to take in but we have a job to do and even more after this. Let's get to it."


As everyone moved to see to their assignments Rico looked to LT. Rook, now manning the Tactical station. "Are you alright Lieutenant?"

Yes, Sir," Nico answered as he looked up from the console and met the Captain's gaze. "I'm alright. Just this ... feeling ... like things aren't how they're supposed to be. I don't know. Weird, right?"

The Captain shook his head. "Not at all. Loosing a member of the crew, especially someone you work with everyday, never feels like something that was 'supposed to be'. But right now we have a job to do and you are now the one the rest of your department is looking to." It's not Lieutenant el-Altaa's department anymore, now it's YOUR department and I need you and your people at their best. Can you give me that...Lieutenant?" Rico watched the young officer to see if he caught the full meaning of what he said.

"Yes, Sir, of course," Nico answered. "We'll be ready when we're needed."

Rico grinned as it appeared his meaning was missed. "That's good to hear.


[Sickbay]

The two squads of Marines assigned to the mission where all in sickbay clothed as miners or as Klingon security forces and were all either waiting to be, were in the process of, or had already been surgically modified to look like Klingons and all were listening to the briefing their new LT was giving them.

"...according to the logs filed by Captain Sulu of the Excelsior, Praxis blew on Stardate 9521.6. That places the detonation at 21:44:03. According to the Captain, the target time for our little jump will be stardate 9521.37228. That will give us two hours to get in, disable any structural integrity reinforcement, place the charges, and get out so the Phoenix can move to the other side of Qonos. Not just to use the planet as a shield but to ensure detonation before we move on to our next target. Everyone understand?"

Urushi sat there listening. Temporal sciences were not her speciality, and she couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. "So, let me get this right..." she spoke out. "We're going to destroy a whole Klingon moon?"

Spicer turned to look at the fleeter sitting up on the biobed. "No. Just to make sure what is supposed to happen, does happen."

Looking around sick bay Rhineholt saw one last Marine that needed facial alterations "Sergeant please have a seat and we'll get started" Jason instructed watching the Marine comply "This won't take long and should be virtually painless." Grabbing his instruments he carefully started with the forehead ridge and slowly worked his way down covering the entire face. Once finished the Doctor picked up a hand mirror and showed the Marine "See not even your mother would recognize you now" he stated with a grin. "Boy that's for sure. You will be able to give me my old face back when this is all over, right Doc." "Yes of course; unless you like the Klingon look" as the Sergeant just grinned and left to join the rest of his fellow Marines.

Tavana realized she had no idea what the Marine CO looks like, but it was easy to spot her in the very busy sickbay. She was positioned near the middle, checking the Marines as they were leaving, directing those coming in. Calm, focused, high energy all in one. She walked over to her and waited for a few moments for her to finish talking to a Marine leaving. ~Pretty well done~ she thought as the "klingon" warrior passed her on his way out. "Lieutenant, can I talk to you for sec?" Tavana asked.

Spicer turned and looked at the fleeter, she seemed like she was about to pop for some reason. Then back to the other either still being worked on and those still waiting. "Sure, I still have some time before I'm up. What can I do for ya?

"Lieutenant Tavana Kelan of the House of Torath, Chief Strat Ops," she introduced herself and she had to admit it felt really good to say it out loud. "The Captain has granted me permission to join this mission, so I am reporting for duty, Lieutenant, if you can use me," she said.

Spicer looked the new over the new arrival quickly. Normally she would object to a fleeter being inserted into her operation but in this situation an actual Klingon would be an asset. "That I can. I 'll have you take over team 3, their Klingon wasn't the best."

Taking her aside she briefed her on the op and her targets.

[Transporter Rooms]

It had been some time since the Captain had given them their assignments but now they were ready. Each team had been surgically altered to look Klingon and were equipped with their explosives. Lt. Spicer and her group of Marines filed into the transporter room while the rest of the Marines moved to the their assigned areas to wait for the order to beam in. Some were in uniform and others dressed in random clothing, posing as prisoners.

"Remember we are taking new prisoners to their assigned areas. Speak and act Klingon at all times. The areas we are beaming into will be areas destroyed in the explosion. If we encounter resistance you are to vaporize any opposition there is no record of any issue prior to the explosion so we can't leave any sign of trouble. Take your positions."

Stepping to the comm-panel. "Lt. Spicer to the bridge. Captain, we are in position."

 

RSS Feed