Out of Time, Out of Place

by gluegirl56

The real Captain Gabriel Lorca is finally found, in the Prime Universe, but how did he get back and when? What's been going on? A familiar face is not always trustworthy and people change. Gabriel has struggled to come back but he soon realizes everything is not what it used to be. And will Katrina, Michael and the rest ever trust him again?

1. The Long Lost

Star Trek Discovery*

Out of Time – Out of Place

Chapter One

The Long Lost

Lieutenant Commander Gretchen Illy, USS Enterprise's Number One sat in her captain's vacated chair and sadly watched as the smaller vessel, the USS Discovery, disappeared in a blur of blue and white light. She sighed inwardly and wished, not for the first time that Captain Pike was still aboard and not in temporary command of the other ship.

Unfortunately, Pike couldn't use his own ship for the mission he was to embark on due to the drive-unit. The USS Enterprise might be the best thing the Fleet had but she wasn't equipped with the experimental spore drive that the Discovery housed. The Enterprise simply couldn't travel the distance required for the mission in the instant it took for Discovery. Besides, the Enterprise was built to explore strange new worlds and civilizations beyond anything anyone had ever seen or been to before. Although she was Constitution class and built as a heavy cruiser her assignment was one of peace. That was also one of the reasons the Admiralty had decided Captain Pike should use the Discovery for this type of mission. The Flagship of the Federation wasn't to be seen as a symbol for wartime or instill fear in people throughout the galaxy, she was to instill curiosity and to carry the message of peace.

There was another reason behind Pike taking temporary command of Discovery too, one that was top secret at the moment. One the SFC probably didn't know how to deal with at the moment and felt it best to send the Discovery away as fast as possible. It was the delicate topic of Captain Gabriel Lorca.

Gretchen sighed and shook her head, she didn't envy those who had to attend to the matter. 'How did you explain that the promising captain of the USS Buran, that supposedly survived the incident while his ship was destroyed by enemy hands, didn't actually survived at all?' she pondered as she stared blankly at the large view screen in front of her.

'How did you explain that a counterpart from another universe took the captain's place and managed to fool the entire stab and that not even his closest friends could tell the difference? Furthermore how did one explain to the people of the Federation that the impostor had gotten the command of one of the most secretive and expensive project currently existing.' Gretchen sighed and reached up to absentmindedly run a hand over her forehead.

'How did you actually explain to the masses that Captain Lorca, who wasn't Captain Lorca at all, was trusted with the USS Discovery to put an end to the war that started with USS Shenzhou? How do you explain that he used everyone and everything around him to get back to his universe and that by doing so he sacrificed thousands of people to the Klingons and thereby let the enemy expand far longer than would have been necessary had the Discovery returned home to Starbase 46 with the modifications she carried?'

Gretchen couldn't help but to grow cold as she thought about it. 'The impostor Gabriel Lorca had deliberately taken one of Starfleet's greatest assets away from the front line at a crucial time. Had the Discovery returned immediately with the harmonics that gave them insight in the resonance of the Klingon shield modifications the war would have ended, or at least evened out the odds, far earlier.'

It was not without dismay that Number One realized dejectedly that that part of the war would never be revealed to the people of the Federation, certainly not the fact that Starfleet had messed up. For in truth it wasn't coming down to a handful of people. It wasn't down to Captain Gabriel Lorca or even the former mutineer, Michael Burnham. They'd just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time – or in Captain Lorca's case - not present at all.

"Number One," the ensign at the communication's station said excitedly. "I'm picking up a distress call. It's faint and irregular but-"

Gretchen Illy, the young woman referred to as Number One, turned around in the captain's chair and frowned at the confused yet jovial look on the man's face.

"It makes no sense, ma'am but its Starfleet," he finished.

Gretchen marveled at the words briefly. This was the rim of the galaxy as they knew it at the moment. No one had ever set foot this far out in space, at least not anyone from the fleet. It had taken two extra days to get out to Discovery's location on maximum warp. They wanted to meet up at a secret location where no Klingons lurked even though the war had ended and everyone was focused on rebuilding what had been lost. The planet before her on the view screen was not supposed to be inhabited, even though it could be classified as an M-class planet in its early stage of development.

Her mood darkened somewhat as she straightened and worked out the kinks in her back. The Enterprise was just about to head back to known Federation space for a while when the captain was away. She hadn't expected, nor did she want, to deal with something unknown without backup.

"You're right, Mr. DePaul," she mused. "It makes no sense at all."

OOOOOO

To be continued

*My apologies for any inconsistencies and grammatical errors. I'm not a native English speaker. Feedback is very welcome and keeps me going. Also, I tried to find the name of "Number One" but was unable to do so therefore I invented the name Gretchen Illy. The story is without doubt going to differ from canon when season two starts. Anyway, I do hope you'll like this!