by Dalton S. Spence
Part IV - The Doctor is IN
In spite of our advance knowledge, the entity known as Q has successfully abducted our ship's counsellor, Deanna Troi. However, all is not yet lost. In his arrogance, Q has all but pinpointed her location in time, and challenged us to retrieve her. This would require that this ship, or a least an away team, travel back in time to Earth's 20th century. To do this, I need to get authorization from the highest authority"
As Picard waited outside the Admiral's office, Data reviewed for him the history and procedures for authorized time travel.
"Although the existence of time travel is a well known fact, the actual techniques and equations are shrouded in secrecy. The last recorded deliberate attempt at time travel (not including your mission to rescue me) was the "Whalesong" incident, where the command crew of the original U.S.S. Enterprise used a Klingon Bird-of-Prey to retrieve a pair of whales from 20th century Earth.
After that event, in one of the few unanimous resolutions of the Federation Council, it was resolved that any attempt at time travel must first be ratified by the unanimous decision of a special select committee of the Federation Security Council. For such a mission to be approved, clear and compelling evidence of two things are absolutely required:
To date, no proposed mission has been able to fulfil both requirements to the satisfaction of the select committee."
Picard sighed, "I can only hope that we will be the first to do so."
Data paused, them continued. "I believe that our efforts should concentrate on fulfilling the second prerequisite. If evidence exists that the mission did occur, any attempt to prevent it would automatically fulfil the first condition."
"I would think Q's involvement would be enough to do that," Picard said tightly, remembering Q's taunts.
"Ah'd say that depends on his motives," drawled a voice from the door. The captain and his second officer turned to see an elderly man in a Starfleet Admiral's dress uniform slowly enter the room. "Sorry ah'm late, but those damned bureaucrats seem to think Ah have all the time in the world. Don't they realize Ah've already spent most of it?"
Picard tried to hide his concern as he rose to greet the Admiral.(1) This man was Starfleet's liaison to the committee due to the fact that he was one of the three people alive today that had multiple experiences with time travel, and survived them. Of the others, one of them was currently on a sensitive diplomatic mission,(2) and the other was roaming the spaceways trying to catch up on 75 years of missed technology.(3) As the group entered the Admiral's office, Picard reflected on the fact that he and Data were probably the only ones in Starfleet to have met all three.
"Thank you, sir," Picard said, "for meeting with us so promptly."
"No need to thank me, sonny. At my age, if you don't do something quick, you might not get to do it at all. Besides, ah've always had a fondness for ships named Enterprise, and their crews." The Admiral paused for a moment, lost in his memories.
"Admiral, have you had time yet to read our report on the incident?" Abruptly coming back to the present, the Admiral replied, "Ah read it on the way here. This Q fella, he's the same one caused you to be late at Farpoint?" Picard nodded. "Ah've been reading the reports about him. Just the fact that he's involved is gonna give the committee fits."
"Why would knowledge of the involvement of a powerful extradimensional being cause the members of the committee to suffer seizures?" asked Data. "Are they ill?"
"The only illness they have is an excess of timidity!" growled the Admiral. "We have at our fingertips the opportunity to know more about our past than we ever dreamed possible, and Ah just KNOW they are going to throw it away!"
"What do you mean?", blurted the captain, becoming more worried by the second. "Surely if we produce evidence that the mission took place..."
"It doesn't matter," sighed the Admiral, suddenly looking every moment of his 143 years. "They're just too afraid to do anything. No matter what you say or show them, they'll just say it wasn't 'compelling' enough. Either they will give you a crackpot alternate explanation, or they'll say the evidence could be a fake."
"FAKE!" responded Picard indignantly. "I would NEVER stoop to such a thing, not even to save my SHIP, much less a member of my crew."
"Perhaps not," grumbled the Admiral, "but it isn't YOU they'd be accusing. After all, you weren't anywhere near New York when the painting were found."
Picard suddenly realized what the Admiral was trying to tell him. "They'd say Q could be trying to trick me into going back to change history myself." He considered the idea for a moment. "No," he finally decided, "it's just not his style. He would consider that kind of deception to be beneath him."
"Ah guess that depends on the wager." The Admiral thought for a moment. "Do you have any idea what it is, or who it is with?"
"None at all," replied Picard, "except that it has something to do with the pictures in the tunnels."
"The tunnels DO seem to be the key. Ah,d better go on down there and take a look for myself."
Picard stood up. "My ship can transport us there in seconds."
"Now hold it just a minute! No need to be in such an all fired hurry. Ah'll jest head up to the roof, and get a shuttle to New York." The Admiral headed slowly for the door.
"But, Admiral," protested Picard, "that could take hours!"
"Approximately 2.75 hours," added Data, "given the current traffic patterns over the city."
The Admiral turned as he reached the door. "The way ah see it, as long as we don't make any unrecoverable mistakes at this end of history, we've got all the time in the world. If we do, nothing will matter much to us anyway. Besides, rank has its privileges." As he left the room, he called back, "Are you coming or not?"
The captain and his second officer looked at each other for a moment, then followed the Admiral out the door.
REFERENCES
1. ST:TNG, Encounter at Farpoint, SD: 41153.7. In the series pilot, the Admiral's age is established as "137 years, according to Starfleet records." Although his identity was never in doubt, the Admiral's name is not mentioned in the episode.
2. ST:TNG, Unification I & II, SD: 45236.4-45245.8
3. ST:TNG, Relics, SD: 46125.3