Chapter 7
Science officer's log, Ens. Rikka Samae; stardate 61539.2: My idea to pull the chronitons away from the anomaly did not work. On the engineering end everything was fine. But the temporal disruption produced by the procedure caused additional harm to the entity. I believe I know now what needs to be done to compensate. I'm just not sure if it is possible.
"The temporal disruption of our chroniton removal operation caused additional damage to the anomaly," reported Ens. Rikka Samae to the officers in the conference room. They included Cmdr. Thrim, Lt. Cmdrs. Lect Nixx, Alivia O'Hara-Grant, Ulysses (Frank) Grant, Lt. Melinda Vibee, and Chief Petty Officer Shelton. On the viewscreen were Cmdr. Henry Hickensen, Dr. Crusher, and Dr. Bashir attending from sickbay.
"It also caused a reaction in Capt. Lander," reported Dr. Crusher.
"It was not as bad as other episodes," added Dr. Bashir. "But I urge caution in the future."
"So, we need a new plan," stated Cmdr. Thrim.
"Not necessarily," said Samae. She hesitated when everyone's eyes were on her. As a mere ensign she was not used to being part of senior staff meetings. But she was the science officer on this mission, so she continued. "Our previous attempt might have been a failure, but it was proof of concept. The chronitons were drawn out of the entity. But the procedure resulted in undesired complications."
"Should we be trying to use another method other than the deflector dish?" asked Vibee.
"The deflector wasn't the problem," said Samae. "Nor was there anything else mechanically that we did wrong."
"Then what did we do wrong?" asked Thrim.
"Our error was in pulling the chronitons from only one side of the anomaly."
Alivia asked, "You mean if we could surround the anomaly with additional ships from different angles, we could draw out the chronitons safely?"
"No," said Dr. Bashir with a voice of understanding. "You mean that we pulled from only one temporal side of the anomaly. You are proposing that we pull from both the past and present."
"Exactly, Doctor," said Samae. "We need the old Orion to draw out the chronitons at the same time as we do. In addition, it would help if the Mercury could act as the opposite pole of the magnetic, pushing the chronitons towards both Orions."
"That's literally impossible," said Vibee. "By the very definition of past and present, these two ships cannot do anything at the same time."
"From our perspective, you're right." said Samae. "But not from the perspective of the entity. From its perspective the entity is experiencing both the past and the present in a quasi-simultaneous fashion. It can see the old Orion and the Orion-A are moving forward through time in a parallel fashion."
"You might be right," said Dr. Bashir.
"How do you know this?" asked Cmdr. Thrim.
"I don't know with absolute certainty," said Samae. "But from what we've learn from Cmdr. T'Sel's mind meld, Capt. Lander is experiencing the past in her younger body. And her body here in sickbay reacted at a time parallel to when her younger self was passing through the entity's barrier."
"I agree," said Dr. Bashir. "The Captain's mind in the past and her body here in sickbay are proceeding through time both past and present in a parallel fashion."
"Which is most likely the result of the energy field connection between Capt. Lander's mind and the entity," added Samae. "It is a reasonable assumption that the entity is experiencing time similarly."
"This is all very fascinating," said Lt. Cmdr. Nixx.
"Fascinating?" said Cmdr. Thrim in a disgusted voice. "How can we coordinate a simultaneous, or parallel, action with a ship that is seven years in the past?"
Samae shrugged her shoulders. "For that I have no answer."
"I might have an idea," said Frank. Samae looked at Frank in surprise. "What? I have ideas every now and then." Frank turned towards Thrim. "We can coordinate our efforts through the Mercury. From its position from inside the entity, it might be able to be a bridge between the two times."
"Maybe," said Samae. "But you're assuming that the Mercury can interact with both temporal sides of the anomaly. It might be the case that the Mercury is merely linked to the old Orion from its contemporaneous time."
A beeping came, and a voice spoke through Cmdr. Thrim's commbadge. "Cmdr. Thrim to the bridge," said Lt. Luke Ryan, the helmsman. "We have activity from within the anomaly."
"How can you communicate with the future ship?" asked Acting Capt. Madani.
"The same way you did," answered Lindsey. "With the exterior lights. If they can see the lights turn off and on, then a message can be sent."
"A message more than just panic?" asked Madani.
"Oh yes," said Lindsey. "I can tell them anything we want."
"How will they figure it out?" asked Madani.
"As I told Capt. Taylor, I know the crew of that ship, and they know me. They will figure it out. Can you give me control of the exterior lights from here?" asked Lindsey as she sat in the first officer's chair.
Madani ordered to the crewman at tactical to give her control of the exterior lights. Lindsey's control panel lit up with the new command key. Lindsey tested it quickly. On the viewscreen could be seen the spotlight that shown down on the Mercury's name and hull number. Lindsey took a moment to think, then she proceeded to turn on and off the Mercury's lights in a deliberate pattern.
Frank followed Thrim out of the conference room and on to the bridge. "Report," said Thrim.
Lt. Luke Ryan turned around in his chair at the helm. "The Mercury has been turning on and off its exterior lights."
"Like last time?" asked Thrim.
"No, Sir. This time it appears to be a deliberate pattern. But I can't make sense of it," said Ryan.
"Have the computer search for patterns," said Thrim.
But Frank walked closer to the viewscreen. He tapped his commbadge. "Henry, are you seeing this?"
"Yes, I am, Frank," replied the Captain's husband from sickbay. "It's Lindsey."
"How do you know?" asked Thrim.
"It's an old code that we used in our Academy days," said Henry. "Computer, run the light code through the universal translator, specifically Morse code. Display on the sickbay monitor and on the captain's chair."
Thrim took his seat. Frank sat next to him in the first officer's chair and leaned over to read Thrim's monitor. A set of numbers and letters displayed on the monitor.
RXCTRAYQPMLKSIRESBPHNR3L2OHNRMPRXCTRAYQPMLKSIRESBPHNR3L2OHNRMPRXCTRAYQPMLKSIRESBPHNR3L2OHNRMPRXCTRAYQPMLKS…
"It's gibberish," said Thrim, as more and more letters and numbers appeared.
"Just wait," insisted Frank.
Henry's continued issuing commands to the computer. "Identify repeated pattern. Isolate and remove the rest."
RXCTRAYQPMLKSIRESBPHNR3L2OHNRMP
"Reorganize to begin with the combination of '3L.'"
3L2OHNRMPRXCTRAYQPMLKSIRESBPHNR
Frank whispered an explanation to Thrim. "'3L' is the Captain's handle, her code name. It's for her initials, Lindsey Lorraine Lander."
"Remove every other value starting with the '2' after the '3L,'" ordered Henry.
3LONMRCRYPLSRSPN
"What does it mean?" asked Thrim.
Frank took his guess. "It starts with the Captain's handle '3L.' 'MRCRY' might mean 'Mr. Cry,' but I think it's the Mercury without its vowels. 'ON' literally means 'on.' 'PLS' might be 'please.' And 'RSPN' might be 'respond.' The message reads, 'On Mercury, please respond.'"
"That's my reading of it, too, Commander," said Henry. "This message was meant for me. Allow me to send the response. Once Lindsey knows she has our attention, I imagine she will drop the private cypher and use standard Morse Code."
"Proceed, Commander," said Thrim. He turned to Lt. Chaput-Mikkelson at operations, "Give external light control to the computer in sickbay." Then Thrim looked at Frank. "How did you know?"
"I've seen the Captain use this means of communication before," said Frank.
"I guess I missed it," said Thrim. "I knew the Captain had communicated something to her husband during the Borg battle in Romulan space, but I was fully engaged in working the Orion's weapons at that time."
"That wasn't the time I was referring to," said Frank. "I was referring to the time she contacted the Orion from on board the Enquiry."
Thrim paused as he caught the reference. Lindsey had once slipped a message past the Federation's secret Section 31, and Thrim at that time had been a member of Section 31 attempting to deceive Capt. Lander into starting a war. "That's how she did it," said Thrim. "I never figured out how she had contacted the Orion back then. By withholding that tidbit, she's been taunting me for years."
Lindsey continued the flashing lights until she saw the Orion-A kill its lights.
"Is that a good thing?" asked Madani.
Before Lindsey could answer, the lights on the Orion-A were flashing.
"They can see us!" shouted Ens. Kolm.
The flashes stopped, and the Orion-A's light returned to full on.
"What did that mean?" asked Madani.
"Computer, run the light sequence through the universal translator, Morse Code." The computer beeped and displayed the results on the first officer's chair, where Lindsey was seated. Madani looked over her shoulder.
DVUPLXAGCLHS4WTR6
"What does it mean?" asked Madani.
"Just wait," said Lindsey. "Computer, begin sequence with 'HS.'"
HS4WTR6DVUPLXAGCL
"Delete every other value starting with the '4' after 'HS.'"
HSWRDULAC
"I still don't get it."
"'HS' is the code name of the man sending the message." 'HS' in fact stood for Henry Samuel, Lindsey's husband's first and middle names. But she wasn't about to tell Lt. Madani about her future husband. "The 'WRD' is simply words without their vowels. In this case I suspect it means 'we read.' I believe the 'U' stands in for the word 'you.' 'LAC' was a shorthand we developed to mean 'loud and clear.' Thus, 'WRDULAC' means, 'We read you loud and clear.'"
"Wow," said Madani. "Either you are telling me the truth, or you are the most fantastic liar I've ever met."
"Captain, the Orion has reestablished communication," said Ens. Kolm.
"On half the screen," said Madani. "I don't want to lose our visual with the future ship."
Capt. Taylor appeared on the left half of the viewscreen. "We lost contact with you during the anomaly's episode," said the Orion's Captain. "The temporal variance shifted. Do you have any idea what happened?"
"As a matter of fact, we might," said Madani. "It was something that the future ship did. We are just about to ask them about it." Madani looked at Lindsey and nodded.
"Ask them? How?" asked Capt. Taylor.
"We can see them, Captain; and they can see us. We are using our exterior lights with Morse Code," answered Madani.
"We saw that, but we weren't able to crack the code used," said Capt. Taylor.
Lindsey was aware that not every member of the bridge crews of the Orion or the Mercury were aware of her temporal displacement, so she answered cryptically. "It was a code that I was familiar with, Captain." Capt. Taylor nodded her understanding. Lindsey added, "From now on we will not use any additional codes or cyphers."
"Good," said Taylor.
"Lieutenant, ask the future ship what happened," ordered Madani.
"One moment, Captain," replied Lindsey. "Computer, program exterior lights to transmit via Morse Code any words we request." The computer beeped its acknowledgement. "Computer, transmit, 'Future ship, this is the USS Mercury. We read you loud and clear. What did you do to the anomaly?'" The computer beeped again, then it sent the message by turning on and off the external lights.
There was a pause. Then the Orion-A's lights went out. This was followed by a long series of flashing lights. Once it was done the ship went dark again, before resuming its normal lights. "Computer, translate the future ship's light signals through audio," said Madani.
"Translation reads, 'We attempted to draw out the chroniton particles from the anomaly. It was unsuccessful. We are gathering information and running models on a second attempt. Stand by, Mercury."
"That's what they said?" asked Capt. Taylor. "You've done it. You've made contact with a ship in the future."
"It appears that we have," said Lindsey.
"The Mercury is responding," said Shelton.
Thrim spoke his request. "Computer, render the translation audibly."
"Translation reads, 'Future ship, your previous attempt changed the temporal variance of the anomaly. Do not reattempt without consulting us.'"
Thrim looked around at his bridge crew. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just successfully made contact with a ship seven years in the past." There was a round of applause. After the applause faded, Thrim continued. "We need to keep working. Ens. Rikka, begin your study into healing this temporal entity. The possibility of the old Orion and the Mercury assisting is now open to us. Consult with Drs. Crusher and Bashir on the possible medical consequences to the Captain. O'Hara-Grant, you and your engineers assist her as she needs. Grant, your job is to monitor the communications between us and the Mercury. Make sure there are no unnecessary violations of the Temporal Prime Directive."
"Yes, Sir," said Frank.
"A wise precaution, Commander," said Lt. Cmdr. Lect Nixx.
"Let's get working," said Thrim. "I want an update within the hour."
"I've been working on the simulations," said Samae. "I think if the old Orion can match our temporal variance and chroniton resonating frequency with their deflector dish, we should be able to draw out the chronitons without further injury to the entity." Alivia watched as Samae ran the simulation on one of the screens in Engineering. "It would help too if the Mercury could modulate it shields to push the chronitons towards us."
"Sounds simple enough," said Dr. Bashir who had joined them. He was there to examine how their actions might impact the Captain's health.
"Simple enough?!" asked Alivia. "It's not simple at all. Matching temporal variance is easy enough, and so will the modifications on the Mercury, but matching the resonating chroniton frequencies of two different deflector dishes in two different times is near impossible."
"I don't understand," said Samae. "If the old Orion can modify their deflector dish in the same way we modified ours, shouldn't the resonating frequencies be the same?"
"Sure," said Alivia. "If the old Orion was a Galaxy class ship that came off the same construction line within the same year as the Orion-A. But it didn't. The old Orion was constructed over fifty years ago. If the timeline Frank provided is correct, we are dealing with the old Orion before its final refit. Its components such as its deflector dish are probably over twenty years old, with maybe a hasty Dominion War refit. Do you have any idea the changes that have occurred in deflector dish technology in the last twenty-six years?"
"Um, no, I don't," said Samae. Alivia's young friend seemed like she was about to deflate. But then she straightened up and faced Alivia. "I see that this is difficult."
"Difficult is an understatement," said Alivia.
"Commander," interrupted Samae. "Can it or can it not be done?"
Alivia was taken aback. It was the kind of thing a commander would say. Alivia hadn't experienced this kind of boldness from Samae before. Samae noticed Alivia's surprise. "I'm sorry, Commander. I over stepped."
"No, don't apologize, Samae. You're the scientific theorist, I'm the engineer. You come up with the ideas. It's my job to make them happen. We engineers are often pessimists, always eager to tell you what can't be done. Sometimes we need someone to push us."
"But I'm only an ensign."
"An ensign whom Cmdr. Thrim entrusted with this project," corrected Alivia. "You are the lead science officer on this project, and you have asked me if this could be done." Alivia paused in thought. "It could be done if I could speak to someone who knew the old Orion's systems." Alivia's mind lit up like a light panel. "I need to talk to Vlad."
The familiar female voice of the computer translated the light code from the Orion-A. "We wish to attempt the chroniton draw again. This time we would like ships from both the future and the past to draw out the chronitons. The Mercury will need to act as a communication bridge."
"Capt. Taylor, did you hear that?" asked Lindsey to the captain of the old Orion on the viewscreen. Lindsey had to remind herself to be very careful in how she spoke about the future ship. If she let it slip the fact that the future ship is also named Orion, that would clue Capt. Taylor and others on board the old Orion of their ship's fate. That could disrupt the timeline. And as much as Lindsey would like to disrupt that timeline and save the life of Capt. Taylor and so many others, she knew that she could not. She had made the painful decision to leave the timeline as it was.
"Yes, Lieutenant," said Capt. Taylor. "We are receiving the future ship's communications via the Mercury's computer. We should be able to initiation our own communications to the future ship using the Mercury's lights."
"We will make them aware of that," said Lindsey.
The computer's voice interrupted. "Incoming communication from the future ship." The computer paused. "Communication reads, 'We will provide guidance on adapting the past ship's deflector dish to match the temporal variance and the resonating chroniton frequency to our deflector dish. Please confirm information on past starship: class, hull number, warp core and deflector dish model numbers, and stardate of most recent refit.'"
Capt. Taylor responded, "Tell them that the past ship is linked into the communication, and we will reply with the information."
"Yes, Captain," said Lindsey.
"Curious, Lieutenant." Capt. Taylor started her question. "Wouldn't the future ship already know that we are the Orion? Didn't they learn that information via their 'other means of communication'?" Capt. Taylor was referring to Lindsey's transtemporal mind meld, but couldn't say so out loud for her bridge crew to hear.
"Likely," said Lindsey. "But I suspect that they are trying to maintain the Temporal Prime Directive. They don't want to reveal too much of what they may or may not know."
"So, my engineers can expect the flow of information to be fairly one way as they work with the future ship?" asked Taylor.
"I believe that is true." Lindsey hoped it was true. If the crew of the Orion-A let the wrong information slip, then there could be a problem. Lindsey returned to the first officer's computer interface, which Acting Capt. Madani had given for her use. After the old Orion sent its message, and the Mercury relayed it to the Orion-A through its lights, Lindsey activated the manual light controls and tapped out a message.
"The last message from the Mercury was unintelligible," said the Orion's computer.
Thrim looked at the read out. "Frank, I think the Captain sent us something in code. Can you crack it?"
"I think so," said Frank, who was sitting in the first officer's chair, next to Thrim.
"Don't bother, Frank," said Henry over the comm. He was still in sickbay with his wife's body, but he was working alongside them from the sickbay computer. "I already have it decoded. I've transferred it to the command chair monitors.
Thrim looked at his monitor which read: OLD BRD LSTNG MMBR TEMP 1 DRCT.
"What does it mean?" asked Thrim.
"The old bird is listening, remember the Temporal Prime Directive," said Henry. "That's my reading of it."
"Seems like a reminder to us not to reveal future information to the old Orion," said Frank. "A reminder not to violate Starfleet's Temporal Displacement Policy."
"Exactly," said Henry.
"Understood," said Thrim. "Remind everyone who has contact with the Mercury or the old Orion to double check what they are saying." Thrim tipped his head in an upward direction to speak to the computer. It was a silly habit since the computer could hear him regardless how he tipped his head. But since the computer had no face to look at, most people spoke to it as if it were above them. "Computer, halt all communications via exterior lights until they are approved either by me or the chief of security."
The computer beeped its acknowledgement. Thrim looked at Frank, who was the chief of security. Frank gave him a nod. Thrim leaned back in the captain's chair and waited. Captains and commanders were people of action. But right now, the work was in the hands of others.
The image on the engineering viewscreen changed from the Lakota's communications officer to the that of a human male. "Lt. Cmdr. Vladimir Kustov here. Ah! Cmdr. O'Hara-Grant. It is good to see you again."
"It's good to see you too, Vlad," said Alivia to her former crewmate. Vlad was the acting chief engineer of the old Orion when its regular engineer was killed in action. Vlad continued in the same post with the Orion-A until Alivia took over the job. After the Orion-A Vlad took a job on the Lakota, an old Excelsior class ship under the command of Capt. Erika Benteen. When the Lakota's chief engineer retired Vlad got the job, despite his constant insistence that it is no fun being the chief.
Alivia pointed to the young girl next to her. "This is Ens. Rikka Samae," she said. "I don't know if you remember her."
"No," said Vlad. "But I do remember your sister. I was very sad to heard of her passing."
"Thank you, Commander," said Rikka.
"What can I do for you?" asked Vlad.
Alivia answered, "You can help me polarize the Orion's deflector dish to act as a chroniton magnet. We need it attuned to a very specific temporal variance and chroniton resonating frequency."
"Interesting," said Vlad. "I can't imagine what situation would call for such a modification."
"Rikka can provide more of the scientific details."
"Well, modifying the Orion's deflector dish should be easy," said Vlad. "I don't see why you need me. You know the Orion much better than I do."
Alivia smiled. She had deliberately withheld information for maximum surprise. "It's not the Orion-A's deflector dish I need modified. It's the deflector of the original Ambassador class Orion that I need modified."
Vlad paused in confusion. "How's that possible. The original Orion was scrapped. I was there."
"We are dealing with a temporal anomaly," explained Alivia. "And on the other side of the anomaly is the old Orion from about seven years ago. I am transmitting you the information now." Alivia sent the information that the old Orion had sent them.
Vlad studied the information. "This is before its final refit," said Vlad.
"Were you on board the Orion at that time?" asked Alivia.
"I don't think so. I joined the Orion a little over six years ago, several months following this stardate you've sent me." said Vlad. "I stayed on board through its refit, all the way to its decommissioning."
"So, you are familiar with the pre-refit Orion?" asked Alivia.
"Absolutely, I tore that ship apart and put it back together again," said Vlad. "I know it backwards and forwards; both before and after."
Alivia smiled again. "So, would you like to join me in the first transtemporal modification of a starship?"
"It would be my pleasure," said Vlad.
Lindsey walked around the Mercury's Main Engineering. "Lt. Mirgal?" Lindsey called out to the nearly deserted engine room. Lindsey heard a sound and turned to face it. Out of a Jefferies tube crawled a Tiburon female. Her hair was uncharacteristically short for a woman of her species, but perhaps the longer hair would make crawling in Jefferies tubes more difficult. The yellow shoulders of her uniform were soiled with grease, burns, and other substances encountered in starship maintenance.
"I'm Lt. Mirgal," answered the woman without hardly looking at Lindsey. "You must be the officer from the Orion that Madani told me about." Mirgal walked right passed Lindsey without even looking her in the eye.
"I am," said Lindsey. She was not used to being ignored in this fashion. In the future Lindsey was a captain. But in this time period she was only a lieutenant junior grade. Mirgal out ranked her. "Did you receive the modification requests from the future ship?"
"Yes," said Mirgal with a bit of bitterness. "I am working on them right now, along with all the other things needed to keep this ship running in these unique circumstances." A beeping sounded from a nearby computer terminal. Mirgal ran up to it. "Matthew!" She shouted. "The matter/anti-matter containment field is dropping again! See if you can stabilize it!"
"On it, Sir!" shouted a human male from three floors above.
"As you can see, Lieutenant, we are very busy down here," said Mirgal. "But the modifications the future ship has requested will be done within the hour, barring any unexpected complications."
"Do what you can," said Lindsey, forgetting for the moment that she was speaking to a higher-ranking officer. "These modifications might help get us out of here, Sir."
"I hope so," said Mirgal as she grabbed a coiled cable and headed back to the Jefferies tube she had come out of. "We are certainly short handed down here." She reached the tube entrance, but then turned and faced Lindsey for the first time. "Do you have any engineering experience or training?"
"I only have the engineering extension course from the Academy. My teacher was Chief Miles O'Brien."
"O'Brien's a good man," said Mirgal. "But if you only have an Academy extension course then you would be more of a liability down here than a help. You should go back to the bridge." Then Mirgal disappeared into the Jefferies tube.
"Yes, Sir," said Lindsey with a smile. She turned and left Engineering.
"Geoffrey, how are the modifications coming?" asked Capt. Taylor of Lt. Cmdr. MacDonald.
"So far, so good," said the human engineer. "The initial modifications of the deflector dish were easy. But this fine tuning to match the temporal variance and the chroniton resonance frequency of this future ship is the toughest."
"Has the communications link with the future ship helped?" asked Taylor.
"Yes, Captain. Whoever the engineers on the other side are, they know what they are talking about. Although they withhold some valuable information. It would be easier to match them if I knew more about their ship. They won't even tell me what class ship they're running."
"Maybe it's a class that hasn't been invented yet," proposed Taylor.
"I suppose that's possible," Geoffrey MacDonald paused. "Captain, do you know how far into the future these people are?"
"No," said Taylor. Because she knew that Lindsey was from that future, it had to be less than a lifetime. But only she, Luis, and Dr. Randle knew about Lindsey's time traveling mind. The fewer people who knew the better, even if it pained Taylor to withhold information from her chief engineer.
"Fortunately, these future people know a lot about the Orion," said Geoffrey.
"They probably have the historical records and blueprints," said Taylor.
"Nah, it's more than that," said Geoffrey. "I think one of them worked on board this ship."
"What makes you say that?" asked Taylor with a note of concern.
"They occasionally use slang terms that my crew and I use on this ship."
"Such as?"
Geoffrey responded, "Such as calling the primary portside EPS conduit between Main Engineering and the deflector dish 'old lefty.'"
"Is that common engineering shorthand?" asked Taylor.
"No," said Geoffrey. "We had problems with it last year and I started calling it 'old lefty.' The name stuck."
"So, the engineers from the future…?"
"Either worked on this crew or really did their research," said Geoffrey. "Hey, do you think it could be the future version of me on the other end?"
"I suppose that's possible," said Taylor with a joking smile. However, it was quite possible for one of the Orion's engineers to be working on the future ship. If Lindsey Lander was indeed captain of that ship, perhaps she had tapped former crewmates to be part of her crew. But such thinking wasn't helpful. Taylor didn't know the future, and acting on speculations might disrupt future Lindsey's timeline. "Geoffrey, I think you should focus more on the task at hand than on speculations about the future," said Taylor.
"Understood, Captain."
"Capt. Taylor to the bridge. The Mercury and the future ship are communicating."
"On my way," said Taylor.
"I should be done here within the hour, Captain," said Geoffrey before she left.
"Carry on, Commander." Taylor left Engineering and took a turbolift to the bridge. As she arrived on the bridge, she saw Acting Capt. Madani and Lindsey Lander on the viewscreen. She issued her one-word command, "Report."
"Captain, the Mercury has completed the future ship's requested modifications," said Acting Capt. Madani. "Speaking as the ship in most distress, I respectfully request a that we proceed in a timely manner."
"Understood, Captain," said Taylor. "We need only an hour longer here."
"The future ship is almost ready," said Lindsey.
"Strange isn't it," said Luis from his first officer's chair. "Working across a temporal anomaly with a ship from the future. Did the ship reveal its name?"
"No, Sir," said Madani. "And the distortion from the anomaly prevents us from reading its hull number."
"Respectfully, Sirs," said Lindsey. "The less we know about the future ship the better."
"Agreed," said Taylor.
"I know," said Luis. "It's just that my curiosity is killing me. But I suppose we just have to wait a decade or two to learn the truth."
Taylor smiled at the idea. "Perhaps. I look forward to the day we will all sit across a table to talk about our shared temporal experiences." Taylor looked up to see Lindsey Lander smiling at the thought.
"That's assuming that you live to see that day," joked Luis.
Then Taylor saw it! It was subtle, but it was there. Lindsey had flinched! Even in that briefest moment Taylor could read the truth on Lindsey's face. In that horrible half second Theresa Taylor could see it all.
She would not live to see Lindsey's future!
It all added up. Lindsey's shock when she and Luis had entered sickbay. Her pleadings for Luis to stop asking questions in the ready room. Lindsey Lander was sitting on a bigger secret than Taylor had ever imagined. She was sitting on the knowledge of her death!
In the longest second of Theresa Taylor's life. She experienced an existential crisis and stared her own mortality in the face. She had never given much thought about her death. But now she was faced with a person who knew both how and when she would die!
Of course, Taylor didn't know that for sure. Perhaps she read Lindsey's face wrong. But she doubted that. However, she didn't know when this would happen. Lindsey was very careful not to reveal from how far in the future she had come. She never gave a stardate, she never mentioned what age she was, or when she had taken command of her ship. In fact, Taylor didn't even know for sure that this future ship was Lindsey's first command. Maybe it was her third captaincy. Maybe the future Lindsey Lander was as old as Taylor was now.
The only real hint Lindsey had let drop was that she had knowledge of Voyager which was currently deep in the Delta Quadrant. But it could still take Voyager forty more years to get home. For all Taylor knew, she would die peacefully as an old woman.
But that wouldn't explain Lindsey's flinch. If she had died a natural death, why would Lindsey react negatively? Her reaction implied that Taylor died an untimely death. And such a death might not be far off.
"I can't wait to read what the scientists on the future ship have to say about this anomaly," said Lt. Okimoto, interrupting Taylor's thoughts. "Maybe they are even reading my reports on the anomaly to help them. Maybe I am helping in two different time periods!"
"That's a neat thought," said Luis.
Taylor collected herself. "The Lieutenant is right," she said. "The less we know about the future the better. We will just have to wait as Cmdr. Gonzalez suggested." Taylor nodded to Lindsey on the screen. The time traveling officer nodded back her appreciation.
Taylor took her own advice. Whether she had interpreted Lindsey's facial expressions correctly or not, future knowledge of her death had no bearing on the present. Nor should it ever. She could not let the idea of death being around every corner affect her. Theresa Taylor had to live her life here in the now.
"Inform me when we are ready to begin the chroniton extraction," said Capt. Taylor as she adjusted herself into a more comfortable position in her captain's chair. Whatever the future had in store for her, she would live her life as she always had. And right now, that meant taking care of her ship and crew.
Thrim sat at the head of the conference room table. On his left were Lt. Cmdrs. Grant and O'Hara-Grant as well as Ens. Rikka. On his right were Henry Hickensen and Drs. Crusher and Bashir. At the far-right side sat Lt. Cmdr. Lect Nixx, who was observing.
"Status," requested Thrim.
"The Orion-A is ready for the chroniton draw," said Alivia.
"And the old Orion and the Mercury also report that they are ready," said Frank.
"What is the likelihood of success?" asked Thrim.
Ens. Rikka answered. "With the chronitons being drawn out from both temporal sides of the anomaly by both Orions and with the Mercury also guiding the chronitons to us, the entity should heal itself."
"And if that happens…?" Thrim led the young scientist on.
"The entity should revert back to its non-temporal state," answered Rikka. "That would free the Mercury and the Captain."
"The Mercury would end up where…I mean when?" asked Frank.
"I have good reason to assume that it will end up in its original time," said Rikka.
"But from our perspective it will, what, disappear?" continued Frank.
"Yes, I think," stated Ens. Rikka.
"Then how will we know that it has returned to its original time?" asked Thrim.
Ens. Rikka shrugged her shoulders. "Check its mission logs here in the present, I guess."
"How do we know that we are not setting up an alternative timeline here?" asked Frank.
"We don't," said Rikka with greater conviction. "And in one sense it doesn't matter. Whatever this entity is doing to the Mercury, it is already affecting some timeline, ours or another's. But either way it would do no good to leave the Mercury in there. Since we know the Mercury is still a ship in the present, then we also know that it was not meant to be destroyed in the past. The Mercury will be benefited by our actions regardless of what timeline it ends up in. And there is also the fate of our Captain as well as the fate of the entity itself. I see no argument for our inaction."
"Most interesting reasoning," stated Lt. Cmdr. Nixx.
"I agree with Ens. Rikka," said Thrim. "We ought to proceed." Thrim turned to his right. "Doctors, have you learned any more about how the chroniton draw will affect the Captain?"
Crusher and Bashir exchanged a nervous glance, and Thrim knew he was about to receive bad news. Crusher acted as the spokesperson. "We have run numerous simulations. In some of them the Captain was fine. In some, she died. In the majority, she experienced neural damage."
Bashir cut in to provide a bit of hope. "But all the simulations reported a lack of data for an accurate simulation. The truth is that we don't know how the Captain will react to chroniton draw."
"Every time we've done something to affect the anomaly, the Captain has reacted negatively," said Crusher. "I have no reason to believe that this will not be similar."
"Are you just talking about our Captain here in the present? Or does this danger also extend to the Lindsey Lander of the past?" asked Rikka.
Dr. Crusher shook her head, and Dr. Bashir answered. "We don't know. Perhaps the risk of injury or death would be limited to the present, but it is also possible that the younger Lindsey Lander may also suffer ill effects?"
"Including death?" asked Thrim.
Dr. Crusher answered grimly. "Possibly. As Dr. Bashir noted, we just don't know. We are in uncharted medical territory."
"Are you recommending that we do not proceed?" asked Thrim.
Crusher shook her head. "I can't give a recommendation," she said. "Given that the alternative is to leave Capt. Lander in her current condition, which shows no sign of improving, I can't say what the best course of action is."
"And there is the Mercury to consider," said Bashir.
"You two don't worry about the Mercury," said Thrim. "That ship is my concern. You report on your patient."
Crusher looked at Bashir. He spoke, "I agree with Dr. Crusher. I cannot give you a recommendation either way. The best we can do is lay out the pros and cons and let you make the decision." Dr. Crusher nodded her agreement.
Thrim turned to Cmdr. Hickensen. "Henry, did the doctors tell all this to you?"
"This and more," said Henry. This was practically the first time he had left sickbay since his wife had first passed out.
"As next of kin, I want your opinion," said Thrim.
"Okay, well, I stay we let the Captain make the call," replied Henry. "Her body might be in sickbay, but her mind is over there on the Mercury. Let me ask her. I will use our code. Only she will know."
Thrim nodded. "You have permission to use the ship's lights. Inform your wife of the danger and let me know her answer."
Lindsey was in the first officer's chair when the Orion-A's lights went dark. It was a longer than normal pause before its lights began signaling. Lindsey recognized immediately that it was in code.
The computer figured out the problem right away too. "The incoming communication is unintelligible."
"Put it on my screen," said Lindsey. The seemingly random assortment of letters and numbers appeared. Lindsey mentally rearranged them.
"What is it?" asked Madani as he returned to the bridge. He had made a visit to sickbay and the modified cargo hold for one last check on the incapacitated crew. Lindsey didn't answer right away. "Was it transmitted in code? Does it contain future knowledge I shouldn't have?"
"Yes to the first. No to the second," answered Lindsey. "It is a message meant only for me. It says that our attempt to heal this entity might be dangerous to me."
"How dangerous?"
"Unknown, perhaps lethal."
"To your future self or past self?" asked Madani.
"Either. They don't know." Lindsey leaned back in her chair. "They are asking me if we should proceed."
"You? Why would they ask you?"
"Because I'm the one that is risking my life and because I am their captain," said Lindsey.
"What are you going to say?"
"I need a few minutes," said Lindsey. "I will tell them that I need a few minutes." She activated the exterior lights manual control and tapped out the coded response. Then she looked at Madani. "May I use your ready room?"
"Sure," said Madani. "It's not exactly my ready room."
Lindsey stood up and walked into the captain's ready room. She opted not to sit in the captain's chair, since this wasn't her ship. So, she sat opposite it. Lindsey took in the situation. If she told them to proceed, she might die. Lindsey had risked her life several times in her career, particularly in the last five years. But this was different. This time she was risking her younger life. What if her younger self died? The timeline would be irreparably damaged. She would have broken the Temporal Prime Directive.
But what other choice did she have? She couldn't leave the Mercury here. And if she stayed in this time, she would eventually ruin the timeline anyway. She had to do this and hope that at least her younger self would survive.
But if she did die, maybe she could do something to at least maintain the key events of the timeline. If she couldn't play her role in time, perhaps others could!
Lindsey circled the captain's desk and searched the drawers until she found a data card. She plugged the data card into the computer console and sat in the captain's chair. "Computer, record the following log entry into this data card. I want no record of this log stored anywhere on this ship, only in the data card." The computer beeped its acknowledgement.
Lindsey took a breath. "Encrypted log, Capt. Lindsey Lander of the USS Orion NCC-26532-A; stardate 54736.4: Capt. Taylor, if you are viewing this, then my younger self has died in the attempt to free the Mercury and restore me to my time. Without my presence in your timeline, you will have to make sure that certain events happen in the same way they did in my timeline. I know that I am placing an immense burden on you, but I trust you to do it."
Lindsey continued to record her log entry for the next fifteen minutes. When she was finished, she encrypted the entire log using Capt. Taylor's own command codes. She pulled out the data card and took it with her back to the bridge.
Madani was sitting in the captain's chair when Lander came out of the ready room and approached him. He stood up. "Did you make your decision?"
"There was always only one answer," said Lander. She extended a data card to Madani. "If I die; if my younger self dies, I need you to give this to Capt. Taylor. It's locked with her own command codes. She is to open it and show it to no one else except the Department of Temporal Investigations."
Madani took the data card with a sense of awe. He held in his hands information on the future. But it wasn't his to know. "I will give it to her."
"Thank you. I'm going to signal the Orion and tell them to proceed."
"Of course," But instead of activating the comm to speak to the Orion, Lander activated the external light controls. Did she make a mistake? Did she call the future ship by the wrong name?
Madani looked at the Galaxy class future ship, and then back to Lander. But she made no indication of a mistake. He looked back at the future ship. While the image from the Mercury's sensors was not clear enough to make out the ship's name or hull number, the lettering was about the right length for the word 'Orion.' In addition, the last digit of the hull number did seem set off from the rest as if by a hyphen, perhaps indicating a letter behind the number. That was common practice in Starfleet when one ship shared a both its name and hull number with a previous ship.
Madani considered with awe the possibility. Was the future ship the Orion-A?
The Mercury's lights went dead, then they flashed in a pattern. Ser'rek Thrim leaned over to see Henry Hickensen decipher the code on the first officer's computer screen.
OVCJE4ELD3LVPARE
Henry rearranged the letters to begin with the Captain's handle.
3LVPAREOVCJE4ELD
Then Henry deleted the meaningless values.
PROCEED
Henry looked up at Thrim. "You have her answer."
"Yes, I do. Return with the doctors to sickbay, Commander. Your wife will need you more than the Orion will."
"Thank you, Ser'rek," said Henry. He stood up and joined Drs. Crusher and Bashir.
"Attention everyone," said Thrim. "Make your final preparations."
Dr. Crusher approached Thrim. "Might I remind you, Commander, that Mrs. Lindsey Lander has been declared medically unfit for duty. Even in these unique circumstances, I would not change her status. At this moment, she is not the commanding officer of this ship. You are in command, Captain Thrim." Ser'rek noted the doctor's use of his position title as opposed to his rank. "You are under no obligation to follow her orders."
"Thank you, Doctor. Your point is noted." Thrim turned to Lt. Cmdr. Nixx. "Now do you see how the full weight of decision can fall upon a first officer? Are you still interested in the job?"
"Sir, I respectfully withdraw my application for first officer of the Orion," said the commander.
Thrim nodded to him. Then he faced forward and said, "We will proceed with the chroniton draw as soon as possible. All departments notify the bridge when you are ready." Thrim sat back in his chair. It didn't pay to second guess his decision. He had thought it through. They were going to proceed whatever the consequences were, even the consequence of the life and death of the captain.