Unlucky Seven,
Chapter Two
To Miss Lincoln's relief, this newest assignment had been relatively easy. Before departing in Seven's transporter for Alpha Centauri, she had been given a quick description of the planet she was about to visit and dressed accordingly. She donned a lovely sleeveless white a-line mini dress, dotted with red printed flowers. She also wore white round mod sunglasses. On her feet were anklets and red tennis shoes. She also carried a prim little blue overnight case, which she held in a gloved hand. Although she had been told all her life by her stuffy parents that it was improper and might be risky to meet a man without a chaperone, she was not a conventional girl and rebelled against tradition and convention every chance she got or when she felt she could get away with it. This was definitely one of those times, now that her parents knew what she really did for a living. She was very excited and a little nervous to learn that she would be traveling solo on this mission and that she would be going to the nearest star system, approximately a century into the future. She had inquired about Isis, but was simply told she was on an undercover assignment.
Roberta had previously accompanied Seven to the year 2063 on Earth in the state of Montana where she was introduced to the agent who was impersonating the man whom she was now bringing into the past, and she didn't like the imposter's suggestive leers and his lame pickup lines. He was also old enough to be her father and quite unattractive. Seven knew what kind of man he was, and she appreciated his fatherly protective presence. Miss Lincoln was introduced to the impersonator a week before the crew of the Enterprise-E was due to arrive, so there was no danger of encountering the Borg or of interfering with the crew of the Enterprise-E or their mission. However, Seven urged her to stick close to him, for the inhabitants of Earth in this time period could be very violent. She had also learned that this era was post World War Three, and she was now witnessing first hand the same kind of damage to the Earth that Seven had averted in 1968. She was shocked to learn that now the inhabitants of Earth faced an even graver threat than nuclear war; namely, the Borg. Even though the much older male agent was successful at his mission and pulling off his masquerade, he was rude and crude. She had sincerely hoped that the real Mr. Cochran was not like that, and was doubly relieved to learn from Mr. Seven that he was a very nice man, and much better looking as well.
When she arrived at Alpha Centauri, despite the very strange surroundings she found herself in, the actual Mr. Cochran put her at ease and did not act wolfishly towards her, and, unlike the imposter, was very considerate and respectful.
Alpha Centauri was a binary system, which accounted for the two bright suns in the sky. The planet also had three moons; two were visible during the day. Before she left on her mission, Seven had been in contact with the planet's officials.
The people in this system were humanoid in appearance, with high bulbous foreheads. They were a space faring race and resembled the aliens in the movie "This Island Earth" and had recently joined the newly formed United Earth Space Probe Agency, which, in a few years, would be the governing body of Starfleet Command.
Mr. Seven had been reluctant to mention the reason why Mr. Cochran was being brought back into the past, but after some consideration about the urgency of Miss Lincoln's mission, finally told her that she would be bringing him to the past to keep him safe from the Borg and he was secretly attempting to keep him from launching a probe called Friendship One, which, in a few hundred years, would explode in an alien atmosphere, creating a nuclear holocaust, nearly wiping out the indigenous humanoid population.
Even though Roberta had forgotten to don her necklace with the Q powers when assigned to pick up the real Mr. Cochran, she had come to the conclusion that her mission had something to do with the Borg when she had met the imposter. She had been wearing the necklace endowed with Q powers at that time, having been informed what kind of man Cochran's impersonator was, and was quite uncomfortable at the thought of meeting him. It was not unusual for the supervisor to remain tight-lipped about certain things, and she had the distinct impression that he was trying to protect her from something. She also had a strange feeling that the fake Cochran's lady friend named Lily was also an undercover agent. She appreciated Seven's presence, even though it had been several months since she had been rescued from the machine beings. She was getting intensely curious about how the Borg was introduced to humanity and wished she had worn her necklace so she could pick his brain. This time, for some unfathomable reason, it did not appear around her neck. She sighed and felt that she had now fully recovered from being abducted and partially assimilated. She also sensed that this easy solo assignment was Seven's way to make up for that and to point out to her that not every alien species was like the Borg. She, of course, had known that when she became friends with Isis, Scarlet and Saavik. This was the first time she was able to relax and enjoy herself, even on the hot arid alien world circling Alpha B.
Cochran had graciously explained who he was to her and had no problem complying with her request to accompany her back in time to twentieth century Earth. He was living on Alpha B, a planet the locals called Meta in its northern hemisphere, where the weather was a bit more temperate. Still, it reminded her of a fall day in Mississippi, a state she had visited in her childhood. They chatted for a time, and he gave her something cool to drink from a replicator. It was the first time she ever saw one, and she marveled at the technology. The Metans were more advanced technologically than Humans, but got along well with the Earth man who had settled there a few years after his historic space flight with the Earth's very first warp capable spaceship. For decades, they had been quietly monitoring radio and television signals from Cochran's home planet, learning all they could about Earthlings. They were fascinated by humans, and were not too surprised when the first human arrived with a Vulcan as a guide. They were cordial but cautious at first, until they got to know Cochran. One of the planet's officials admitted that there was a time during the late twentieth century when one of their top scientists decided to send a signal to Earth, but then quickly thought better of it. The signal lasted for thirty seconds and became known on Earth as the "Wow!" signal. The Metans did not repeat the signal, thinking that Earthlings might not be able to answer with their limited primitive communications equipment.
Roberta still could not wrap her mind around the fact that the handsome dark-haired young man who had rescued her from the Borg was her future son, and she knew that he was freaked out about it too. However, she also knew that he was quickly getting used to his new status as an MIB agent. They both felt privileged to know that humanity was definitely not alone in the universe, but also knew they had to keep this fact to themselves. Mr. Cochran spoke to Mr. Seven as he exited the transporter and after looking around for a bit.
"Hello, sir." Cochran said, shaking hands with Supervisor 194. "UESPA told me that you were sending one of your agents, but did not tell me that you were sending this charming young lady." He glanced at Roberta, who smiled and blushed.
"She's one of our newest agents, and I felt it was time for her to spread her little wings and fly. This was one of her first solo assignments. Welcome back, Miss Lincoln."
"Thank you, sir." She felt the weight of her future son's stare and blushed again.
