Chapter Eleven

The young boy awoke on a sleepless night. He was slightly older than when the man came, but much older in the mind and spirit. It had been a year since Romulans had killed his father. But now his mother was gone too, the Federation didn't know what had attacked the ship, but the boy knew, and he wasn't aloud to tell anyone. The race that had attacked was still just a rumor, but other people had encountered them to. He was now in an orphanage and his foster parents were coming the next day. The thing was, he didn't want to go with them, or any other foster parents. But they were coming nonetheless. The people at the orphanage asked if he wanted to change his last name to the name of the people who were adopting him, he decided not to.

***
The boy awoke yet again, this time he was three years older. And yet again he was in an orphanage, his foster parents had died a month before. Strangely, everyone who took care of the boy died. This was bothering him.

Jack Watkins then awoke, disoriented and nauseated. He looked out the window in his quarters and saw the Klingon Negh'Var-class cruiser along side of the Premonition. Once again, Jack Watkins would have a sleepless night.

***
Thaddeus Debbing thought over the things that had happened in the past eleven years. We could use the Temporal Vortex, he thought to himself, and change the past. But then, what would happen to the timeline? Would the people of the Alpha Quadrant come together like they have? Then again, not near as many people would have died. But what about the loves that have formed between races, like Rob and Jpak. The abilities of this ship could do a lot more good than harm. It might be worth the chance, because if the people knew about what was going to happen. If what we're going to do with this mission doesn't work, Debbing thought, then we'll use it.

***
"So what would you have been if you weren't a helmsman?" Jpak asked Robert.

"I had always thought of a carrier as an ambassador," Robert replied.
"Really? That's what I would have done if it weren't for this," Jpak exclaimed.

"Maybe if all of this didn't happen we would have still met," Robert implied.

"Maybe, but this isn't a time for 'what ifs'," said Jpak.

"Jeez, don't sound all mean about it," Robert joked, "Hey, remember what this ship can do? If the captain decides to go back in time, which I really hope he will, it might just happen".

"You think he would do it?" Jpak asked him.

"I hope," said Robert, "I hope".

***
"Hey Jpak," said Watkins, "Time for my check up".

"Alright then," she grabbed a blood pressure monitor and help it up, "Roll up your sleeve".

"Okay," Watkins said as he rolled up his sleeve. Jpak attached the monitor to his arm and watched it measure his blood pressure.

"Well, it looks like you've got normal pressure," Jpak said as she took off the monitor. She pointed to the neural scanner's examination bed, "If you'll lay down over there please. I'd like to take a neural scan". She watched as Watkins walked over to the bed and lie down.

"Okay, scan me up doc," said Watkins. Jpak activated the scanner, everything seemed normal. But then as the scan neared completion she noticed something that bothered her.

"Umm, Jack, I'd like to run the test again," she said. But as the test concluded she saw the same thing. And what she saw was something she didn't like.

***
Jpak walked into the captain's ready room, "Sir, I need to talk to you about Commander Watkins".