TITLE: Hidden Truths Part Twelve

SUMMARY: Questions answered.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing trek related.

NOTES: Hahaha you're going to hate me for this ending! Nah, I'm not that cruel, the next part is up too.

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Chapter Twelve

IN TRUTH

The walk to the shuttle-pod was silent, though the two people onboard had a thousand a one things to say to each other. To Trip's surprise it was Jon that finally broke it. "How did the Kett find these rifts through time?"

"Same way we did." Trip replied. "The rifts are scattered around space, all you need to do is scan them using an exact frequency."

"If they're that easy to find why hasn't anyone opened one accidentally?"

"Only the Kamidari know the frequency to scan. The Kett find the rifts that Kamidari have already found and opened. Once they have been opened you can travel anywhere and time you want."

"So the rift here, now - someone already opened it?"

"I opened it." Trip knew what question would follow next, and the ones after that. The chain was a predictable one.

"Why?" Jon asked.

"Something happened....I had to change it." Maybe that much information would suffice. But knowing Jon, and the human species in general, they were very curious. And sometimes they wanted to know more than they should.

"The Kett interfered before?" Jon continued. Clearly the vague explanation was not enough.

"No." Trip answered. Stalling for time with Jon was like trying to prevent time from even passing - not impossible but highly difficult.

"Then why? Surely you can't just go around changing time, that goes against everything you've told me your species stands for."

"I made a mistake. The rift should have closed behind me." Trip was sure these revelations were not helping to mend his shattered relationship with his Captain.

Jon finally came to an accurate conclusion. "This is your fault isn't it? You opened the rift, you weren't supposed to and the Kett found it. That's why they're here, looking for you."

"Yes." Trip said simply.

"What could possibly have happened that could make you risk all this?"

Trip was silent. If he told Jon, he was sure to understand, but he'd already broken every rule he lived by. Then again, what was one more? At least Jon would understand. "Rigis Jata." He began.

"Something else happened? Something worse than what did happen?"

"Someone - Hoshi - she was killed. I tried to protect her but....I failed."

Jon didn't speak for a moment. For that moment he understood Trip's motives. He didn't entirely understand Trip himself, but his motives were clear. If someone Jon cared about was killed and he had the chance to change it - if the opportunity was there.......

They had reached the shuttle bay. Jon had some of the most important questions answered, now the mission was at hand. Time was of the essence and the trip to the shuttle bay had actually been a short one. Jon realised he had bombarded Trip with questions and he had answered them all in the time it took to reach their destination.

When they were in the shuttle, leaving Enterprise, Jon made another inquiry. "You were supposed to tell me any of this, were you?"

"To tell you the truth I was getting real tired of covering my tracks."

"Your ribs." Jon said bluntly, as if just reaching a conclusion. "They were already healed."

Trip smiled. He knew full well that Jon would have figured him out eventually. If not now, some other time, maybe years from now, maybe a week. Maybe Malcolm and Hoshi would have told Jon what they knew, and together they'd solve the mystery. He supposed that was all changed now.

The conversation faded as the shuttle approached the growing purple rift. "Are you ready?" Trip asked.

"Sensor are at the right frequency." Jon replied. It seemed farfetched to him that you could close a rift the same way you could open one. But Trip was apparently the expert in these matters, and despite everything that had happened, Jon still trusted him.

"One last question." Jon said quickly, as if he would never get to ask another. "Surely you're just being here would change things? You've already affected so many events, and people's lives, how can you have stayed impartial to the time-line?"

Trip smiled again. Jon always wanted that little bit more. "You know that myth that the tiniest thing can affect the time-line?" Jon nodded slightly. "It's not that true."

Jon actually laughed in astonishment. "Not that true?!"

"The elders gave me my orders more than twenty years ago, they know more than I do. Now are we gonna close this rift or not?" Trip smiled.

"Initiating sensors now."

The effect wasn't entirely as they had hoped. Tendrils of electrical energy grew longer and thrashed at the sky more violently. The rift was still growing, faster than before.

"It's too big - the rift is too big, it can't be closed." Trip said in a panic.

"What do we do?"

Before Trip could gave an answer (In actual fact he didn't know what to do anyway), three Kett ships came through the rift.

Jon turned to Trip and stated more clearly. "Trip, what do we do now?"

But once again his question went unanswered, this time for an entirely different reason. When Trip turned to his Captain with a look of dismay, he disappeared.

During his last, confused thoughts, Jon saw the tendril of purple energy snap at him, and felt it strike the shuttle with force. As he and the ship were enveloped in the purple light, Jon was knocked unconscious with questions that might never go answered.

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End of Chapter Twelve

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