Chapter Four

Limits

He had the strangest dreams of shapes and forms he couldn't even begin to understand, much less describe. He still marveled about the place and yet he'd only passed through the zone for a brief moment in time. Small things, like insects, had started to attack the shuttle, they'd seemed vicious as they pinged off the hull. He had thrown a worried glance at his newfound friend from the ship but the man had seemed undisturbed by the phenomena. Instead of being concerned he'd been hunched over the oversized console in the aft compartment. He adjusted something and then several small blue shapes filled the air around them. The 'mycelial network' the astromycologist Justin Straal had called it with a large grin on his face.

Apparently Straal and a colleague had started experimenting with a drive unit that could take a ship from one place to another across the galaxy within a moment using this unorthodox propulsion system. It seemed to Lorca like it was alive. Then the magic moment passed in a blur and was replaced by a tremendous force that seemed to throw them through time and dimension as the little vessel passed through an energy barrier. The energy field wreaked havoc with the systems onboard the shuttle, depleting the engines, frying the electrical systems and venting atmosphere. If they hadn't appeared so close to the lush and seemingly uninhabited planet their lives would have ended far sooner. For Justin Straal life had ended prematurely as he'd been crushed against a bulkhead in the crash. Lorca had awoken several days after the event, according to the shuttle's time recorder, to find his comrade dead.

Gabriel blinked his heavy eyelids open to a completely unknown surrounding and frowned. It wasn't that he wasn't used to sickbay, it was just that this was particular sickbay was not any sickbay he'd been visiting before. It seemed too large to be a ship yet too small to be part of the medical wing at Starbase 11 or Starfleet Medical back in San Francisco. He tilted his head to look around for a window but instead his eyes landed on Katrina Cornwell who was seated in a chair next to him. He frowned in confusion as the last thing he remembered was ungracefully collapsing in the arms of the Enterprise's XO back on the planet. 'The Enterprise,' he mused. 'He was onboard the flagship.'

Kat blushed, something she never did these days, as she realized she was openly staring at her old friend and lover. "I'm sorry," she mumbled and slowly turned her head to look at her hands.

To her surprise Gabriel seemed somewhat amused at her display of affections. "It must have been – what? – Fifteen years since I saw you blush," he said softly although his voice sounded strained.

She shook her head and chuckled bitterly for a moment and then shrugged as she turned to look at him again. "I- I'm sorry if I appear a bit distracted. It's just that I don't know what's real and what's not anymore or whom to trust these days."

Lorca laughed but it was without mirth. "I'd expected that to be my line," he mused seriously. "I didn't in my wildest dreams expect to enter a mirror universe, although, I did know of its existence since I had access to the files involving USS Defiant."

Kat shook her head sadly. "They all died, Gabriel, they never lived to tell what it was like but you and parts of your crew-" she caught herself as she realized what she'd been about to say.

It was his time to look away. "My crew," he contemplated darkly. "What happened to them, Kat?"

The Admiral stiffened at the depth of his voice, the coldness of it and the darkness of his blue eyes. For a moment she was back in his cabin that day onboard the Discovery. The resemblance to his counterpart was making her uneasy but then it was gone just as suddenly as it had appeared.

"Kat. The Klingons. Did they murder my crew?"

She hesitated.

"They did, didn't they? Those bastards killed everyone onboard the Buran in an effort to-"

"Please stop, Gabriel," she said softly. With a pang of regret she realized that there was so much he didn't know. It was so much he was supposed to know, so much he was supposed to have done.

"Every day I hoped to be found," he said dejectedly as he glanced away. "You must have known I disappeared, didn't you? God, Kat, I didn't die."

She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. "Gabe," she began sadly, regretfully. "There is so much you need to know."

He turned to look at her once again, his piercing blue eyes admonishing, accusing her somehow.

"Let's forget about that now," she managed with a faint smile. "Just rest and try to get better, stronger."

"There is something about the way you look at me, Kat," he said. "Something's happened."

"I thought you were dead," she replied.

He shook his head. "No, there is more to it. Kat, please I need to know."

She exhaled deeply, her shoulders slumping, her eyes downcast.

Gabriel reached out a hand to gently lift her chin up so that she was facing him. "What?" he asked softly.

OOOOOO

Una sighed and grimaced as she closed the hatch beneath the science station on the bridge and got up from the floor. She stared at her stained, possibly ruined, yellow tunic with dismay.

"They're not as handy as the blue ones," Ensign Rosh, the tactical officer, offered with a smirk as he, too, got up from the floor.

"Do we have shields now?" she asked.

"Give me a minute ma'am," he replied as he let his fingers fly over the panel before him. He gave her a nod with a faint grin on his lips. "They're coming back online now."

She breathed a sigh of relief. 'Typical of Christopher to leave in a time like this,' she mulled. To embark on some fancy assignment without them, without her in particular.

"Commander," Lieutenant Nicola spoke up. "We're being hailed by the medical vessel SS Antares."

She refrained from rolling her eyes. "Is that the best they can do?" she muttered sourly under her breath.

"Another vessel just dropped out of warp!" Amin called. "It's the USS Pegasus."

"Split screen," Una replied.

A moment later both captains appeared on the view screen before her.

A polished and laid back man in his fifties with an upward curl to his lips looked at her and appeared to be somewhat amused. "Una," he began in a light voice. "What is Starfleet's finest doing in the middle of nowhere acting like a sitting duck?"

Una smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. "Rub it in Captain Rodgers," she said sternly yet her tone was light and teasing. The captain of the sister ship to the Enterprise was a well-respected officer and a good friend of Pike.

The slightly younger captain of the medical vessel harrumphed and then gently spoke up. "It is not often we're receiving a distress call from a Constitution class ship, ma'am. My name is Captain Harrold Paule, I'll offer assistance in every way I can."

"Please, stand by, both of you," Una said. "We're currently ferrying Admiral Cornwell and a special medical patient. If we need assistance with that I'll get back to you, Captain Paule."

She nodded at the communication's officer and the screen switched to displaying only Captain Robert Rodgers of the USS Pegasus.

"Where is Pike by the way?" Rodgers asked casually. "I'd expected him to take this call, no pun intended, Commander."

"The captain is not on board," she replied cryptically. "Would it be possible to lend me a hand down in engineering? I would like to get power back online."

OOOOOO

Katrina Cornwell rubbed her tired eyes and sighed in frustration. She didn't mind Captain Rodgers, quite the opposite, but she didn't need him to meddle into this and she wasn't ready to explain the presence of Captain Gabriel Lorca to anyone else at this time. For a moment she'd contemplated bringing Gabriel on board the smaller medical vessel but had then decided against it. While SS Antares was on her way to Starfleet Medical to get supplies to a remote colony she didn't deem it safe enough for Lorca. In fact she'd almost found it to be a welcomed respite not to arrive back at San Francisco too soon. That gave her more time to talk to Gabriel herself before he was whisked away.

She glanced up from the data pad she'd been studying as the doorbell rang.

"Enter," she said.

"So this is where you're hiding," Doctor Boyce said as he walked up to the desk and sat down opposite her. "I see he didn't bring much with him."

Katrina glanced around Pike's ready room and noticed for the first time that nothing seemed to be missing. Her eyes landed upon a picture of the bridge crew smiling at the camera and frowned. "I believe he expected the mission to be a short one; as did I," she offered.

Boyce sighed. "Yeah, if life was ever that simple," he mused lightly with a twinkle in his eyes. "I'd like to think both of you would have learnt by now that isn't the case."

"Titbits of the famous Doctor Boyce wisdom?" the admiral asked innocently.

"Can't hurt," he offered with a shrug. "Look, I've been meaning to talk to you but it seems you still like to occupy yourself."

Cornwell broke into a sly grin. "In an effort to keep from dealing with my demons," she admitted. "I believe you told me that back at the academy."

Boyce nodded. "Kat," he began seriously. "I can't imagine what it's been like for you back home especially not when all hell broke loose; the war and everything that brought to your doorstep."

The admiral nodded sadly. "We lost a lot of good people," she admitted in a subdued voice. "But I refuse to lose hope and I refuse to lose Gabriel now that I've finally found him."

"Yes, he's the reason I've come to see you," Phil admitted. "I don't have to tell you that he's going to need psychology sessions."

Katrina sighed and looked away for a moment.

"However, as strange as it sounds, it' not his mind that I'm mostly concerned about," Phil said seriously. "Captain Lorca has been suffering from hallucinations, yesterday he woke up in the middle of the night, screaming for someone named Straal to get out of the way. I can't even begin to phantom what he's been through. You and I both know that SFC is going to interrogate him not once, not twice-"

Katrina held up her hand to stall him and shook her head sadly.

Philip sighed and ran a hand through his white hair as he sat down in the chair opposite her. "You asked about his eyesight. There is nothing wrong with his eyes but with his leg."

The admiral held her breath and expectantly waited for him to continue.

"There is a rather severe injury to his left thigh that has been healed by now. The injury was left unattended and it's a miracle he didn't die from it in the first place. It's a phaser wound that left the tissue deeply scarred and short-circuited several nerve ends. If I'm to guess I'd say he can't walk properly without a limp. I can't say at this moment if it's fixable or not and by the look on your face you are well aware of what that means."

Her eyes darkened and she nodded. "He will be retired-," she deduced. "-as he's seen unfit for command."

"And given his actions during the war-," the doctor began, emphasizing the word his, the SFC might feel an obligation to the people to sacrifice him-"

Katrina shook her head. "You forget that he was portrayed as a war hero by the Federation in order to keep up appearance, as was the rest of the officers on board the Discovery."

"None of us are naïve, Katrina," Boyce replied darkly. "That was when they thought they'd be able to keep a lid on it and he'd been reported KIA. Starfleet Command will go to the bottom with his disappearance and it's enough that one crewman on board the Discovery tells someone, anyone, back on Earth the true story for this to turn into a full blown investigation by the press."

"Which is why we've sent the Discovery away," she reminded him seriously. "To aid Captain Pike in finding the origin of the seven red signals."

"I wish you'd kept Chris out of this," Boyce added wearily. "He's been through enough as it is."

"He's the one and only captain who can unite the crew of that ship," she said with confidence.

OOOOOO

To be continued