jump

by asbs

not mine

5. 5

p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2266, November 6th (1 Year, 3 Months, 6 Days)/span/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Five months later, we arrived at Barghest B-II, a lush L-Class World, teeming with terribly interesting flora and fauna, and right near three minor polities' met at invisible and constantly moving point in space. The Ka'ash, the Tanu, and the Nausicaans all claimed the system and all of them were warlike enough to fight over it… and the others all knew it. Whichever one claimed it first would very shortly face a war from one of their two neighbors… if not both./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"A trio of Federation Ambassadors had offered an alternative. Ambassador Trent Riordan to the Ka'ash, Ambassador Carter Haught to the Tanu, and Ambassador Sarek to the Nausicaans had suggested that the Federation might act as impartial mediator to settle the debate and perhaps stop a war or three. Potemkin was there to serve both as guarantor of the peace and as a not so subtle reminder to all the alien races that, while they might have local power, the Federation could easily swat all three like bugs… at the same time. Timmy-Boy outmassed each of the three diplomatic transports by a factor of five… combined. And, of course, it was the only armed ship in the system./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We were the advance party, and had arrived two weeks before the summit to scout and secure a venue. Once Science and Security had selected a spot, Engineering had erected a prefabricated pavilion with separate enclosures for each of the three races to withdraw to, as well as one for our ambassadors and their staffs. Each of the four modules had ensuite facilities as necessary, as well as providing each of delegations with their own secure kitchen and food storage, just in case./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Normally, as a doctor, I'd have had (hopefully) little enough to do with a diplomatic mission, but, as my mother in this reality was a close acquaintance of Ambassador Sarek's, I had been assigned the somewhat dubious honor of attending the Ambassador as his aide. One must understand that, to Vulcans, such pleasantries are both traditional and meaningless. The concept of service to others is ingrained and practiced, but service on such a small scale, which to humans would be gratifying, is to Vulcans merely the respect due an elder. Of course, Sarek was an impressive figure, accomplished as a diplomat and well respected by both Vulcans and non-Vulcans alike, but his area of study, the social sciences and their niceties, failed utterly to impress me. I was a Medical Doctor, a Scientist, and Engineer. I worked with the empirical, not the subjective (except inasmuch as the experience of time or pain is subjective)./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"All that is, perhaps, an overly long way of saying that Sarek and I didn't exactly hit it off. I respected his logic and accomplishments, but felt (in as much as Vulcans allow themselves to feel anything) little more than disdain for the lack of overt utility of his chosen profession. Also, he was a bit of a jerk. Sspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"till, if there was a way to measure just how poorly a peace talk was going… the fact that it was requiring a Vulcan known quadrant-wide for his restraint to be treated for tension headaches was probably a sign that things were not going well./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The term Ambassador Riordan used was 'Intractable'. The three sides were well into the posturing and threat making phase of their diplomatic strategy and none of them seemed to realize how idiotic and reactionary they were being. It was as if all three representatives had been chosen for their willingness to pick a fight rather than defuse one. Five times in three days the Federation Ambassadors had had to call for a time out to let tempers cool./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"At one point, the Ka'ash representative, Johel, had actively tried to attack the Nausicaan representative, Kahahgan Hagah-ha, despite the nearly 3 to 1 size advantage and 10 to 1 strength advantage the Nausicaan had on the Ka'ash. The hulking Nausicaan had simply stood there as the Ka'ash clawed at his chest, and our Security personnel had been trying to figure out if they were allowed to stun one representative to protect another. When it had become clear that they were not going to do anything, I'd been forced to use the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on the diminutive Johel, something that had not pleased his aides one bit… and which I think may have offended the Nausicaans as well./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The problem was that all three parties felt they deserved the planet, in that special way that illogical sophonts believe they have somehow earned something that cannot be earned and are thus willing to prove just how little they deserve something under the guise of making certain no one else gets whatever it is. None of them were willing to budge a centimeter or, as humans would say, horse trade, and so the talks went round and round and round in circles of illogic that grew progressively louder and more strident with each repetition. The posturing was getting almost as annoying as the scent of aggression hormones. /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Of course, all that posturing and yelling became irrelevant when, on the fifth day, Tanu representative Shrill-Cry-of-Waking was found assassinated just after the mid-day break./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"There is a moment in physics where pressure and temperature are perfectly aligned and matter can be a solid, a liquid, and a gas all at once. For water, that point is defined at 0.01 degrees celsius and 611.657 pascals (approximately 0.006 atmospheres), at that moment, water can both freeze and boil. That's what happened at Barghest, metaphorically speaking./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Within moments of the discovery, the compound was on lockdown. The shield protecting the pavilion from outside conditions and lifeforms sealed everyone inside and tempers instantly boiled over. No weapons had been permitted into the pavilion, but that hadn't stopped either of the two remaining representatives from drawing impressive looking knives and beginning to circle each other. Nor had it stopped whoever'd stabbed Shrill-Cry-of-Waking from bringing in that knife./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I sighed, flicking my wrist and two twin-barreled pulse blasters appeared in my hands. They were ones that I'd carefully spent the last four months tinkering with in my Warehouse's workshop every time I could spare a moment, and they were exceptionally deadly looking, unlike most Federation weaponry which was designed to look as harmless as possible. This is perhaps wise when trying to project an appearance of being harmless, but unwise when trying to project an appearance of strength. "I would request that both of you lay down your knives and step away from each other. These weapons can be slightly finicky as the last person I used them on discovered before his head exploded. I think I've managed to step down the power to be merely incapacitating, but I can not be sure. So please. In the name of diplomacy, don't make me hurt either of you. It would be bad for my career. And probably violate my hippocratic oath."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Ambassadors just gaped at me while the representatives glowered… but they laid down their weapons and backed away… I can't say from the table, since the Ka'ash representative was standing on it, but he walked to the far edge. "Now what?" He snapped./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""You have Weapon, Vulcan. You killed-"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Oh, shut up, you Nausicaan bug," I sneered with calculated insult. Nausicaans don't respect politeness, according to Sarek. "You're smarter than that. If the representative had been killed with one of these, I'd be a fool to reveal them and the mess would have been larger. No, if I'd wanted to kill Shrill-Cry-of-Waking I could have done it undetectably." I tossed one of the pistols to Ambassador Riordan and the other to Ambassador Haught, then tapped my science insignia. "This means I'm a Doctor, in case you'd forgotten. I'm a xenobiologist, and as it happens, the highest ranking Starfleet Officer in the compound." (That wasn't technically true as one of the cooks was a full Lt, but I don't think he was going to argue with me over it.) "As such, I'm now assuming command of this facility until we can determine what happened. If you don't object… and frankly, even if you do, we're all going to behave like civilized sophonts while I examine the body." The Tanu second squawked a bit at that, but I just shot it a challenging eyebrow lift. "Problem?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"It shook its head to indicate the negative… and yes, it is the correct pronoun, as the Tanu have an intermediary gender that acts to incubate their young while providing no gametes of its own. The two other genders both were far too aggressive and active to do so, with one hunting and the other protecting their nesting places… or had, tens of thousands of years in the prehistoric past./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Good." I snatched up my tricorder and set to scanning, watched from the door to the scene by all three seconds and Sarek. Suspicious as I am, and being fairly genre-savvy, I'd already known what I'd find, and the scans only served to prove it. The killer had been both desperate and foolish, as such people usually are, regardless of species. I considered the ramifications long and hard, giving myself a full ten minutes before returning to the main room. When I returned, tensions were so thick you could spread it on toast. "Ambassadors, Representatives… I know who the murderer is. Representative Johel, you're certain it was Representative Kahahgan Hagah-ha or one of her men, correct?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Ka'ash grunted in assent, eyeing his counterpart across the diamond shaped table./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I shifted my gaze to match the focus of Johel's. "Representative Kahahgan Hagah-ha, you're certain it was Representative Johel or one of his men, Correct?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Weapon too small for Nausicaan Hand."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Riiight. Regardless, Would you all agree that, whoever the culprit is, their faction should immediately recuse themselves from this conference?" Again, there was a slight but noticeable squawk from the Tanu Second, in protest or agreement was hard to judge, but the two remaining Representatives eyed each other with loathing, then nodded without breaking their hateful eyelock. I knew the record would show three agreements. I looked to Sarek, who was at the fourth point of the table. He nodded curtly. "Excellent," I sighed, breathing out slowly then, just as the silence was getting too be too much, said, "After studying the evidence, it is my conclusion that Representative Shrill stabbed himself."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The disbelief hammered at me from all sides. I think even Sarek said "What?!" The Tanu second simply broke down in tears./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I didn't even react to the emotional tide, but merely continued,"He stabbed himself. He propped the knife up on the back of his chair, then slammed himself back onto it."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Preposterous!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Where's your proof!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Lies!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Ka'ash Puppet!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Oh, stuff it, the lot of you!" I snapped, letting a small amount of anger bubble up. from within; it was far too easy. Vulcans are spectacularly angry people… hence the logic being very much an externally imposed control scheme. The Romulans are what you get when totalitarian fear and control are used instead. "Look," I said, allowing the logic to slide back over my visage as I brought up the images I'd taken and the analysis I'd done. "There are no non-Tanu DNA traces on the knife, which means it had to be one of the Tanu… but look, see this rip on the back of the chair? It matches the hilt of the knife. And see this heavy cord from the Tanu Flag, lying on the floor behind the chair? It was almost certainly draped over the knife to keep it balanced. And see where the Representative's fingers have clawed the desk? That's from spasms after he pushed himself back onto the knife."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""But why would he do this?" Ambassador Haught asked. "It must have been excruciating."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""To start a war between these two." I said, nodding at the Ka'ash and Nausicaan in turn. "The Tanu population growth rate is at least twice that of either of your races, possibly as high as five times that of the Nausicaans. The Tanu are desperate to expand their territory and if you two destroyed your fleets battling each other, you'd be easy pickings. Oh, and I wouldn't try attacking them in retaliation, they've got enough ground troops to swamp either of your forces and pretty much nothing to lose. I can't do anything for the Tanu. That's an internal matter that their government is going to have to deal with, but giving them another planet to wildly overpopulate seems like feeding an addict." I dismissed the protesting Tanu Second as they were escorted out of the pavillion, then turned to the others./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""As for you two. This planet is pretty much perfect for the Ka'ash. It's temperate, warm, and wet. That makes it marginal for you Nausicaans, you prefer things gloomy, dry, and cool. Might I suggest that there are at least three planets along the Nausicaan-Ka'ash border that are currently being used as mining colonies by the Ka'ash, that would suit the Nausicaans better. Certainly mineral rights on inhospitable planets are worth less to the Ka'ash than a fully colonizable world would be."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""We need those planets for strategic-"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""No this planet is ours, Vulcan-"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Give it a rest. You two are so all fired set against compromise that you almost let a third party trick you into going to war. The logic of it escapes me. So decide. Are you going to fight over this planet and let the Tanu pick your bones clean or are you going to make a deal? Either way, I'd like to get this over with so I can go back to my quarters and await court martial for smuggling weapons into a diplomatic mission. Anyway, it is almost suppertime and I am partial to the cook's Coq-au-vin." And with that I stepped back from the table and fell into parade rest. Of course, even getting them talking didn't stop the wrangling that ensued, but by the end of the evening we had a settlement. It even tossed a couple of bones the Tanu's way, mostly because that was the only way to make any of this work./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"And yes, I was called before the Captain. "Care to explain yourself?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""What I said, or the presence of the guns?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""What you said and the various parties' takes on it is already on file. Do you have anything to add to that record?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""No."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Then the weapons."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I know they're against regulation."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Highly."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""But they're something I've been working on. They're Sonic Pulsers, designed to incapacitate a target without damaging them. I… the first time I fired one was just after we'd been transported back from the Minos."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""You had it with you in sickbay?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Not… exactly. And I didn't exactly have them on me on Barghest."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Oh?" The Captain did his best impression of a Vulcan Eyebrow Lift./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I… I feel that I had better demonstrate," I allowed./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Captain considered, then asked, "Is it safe?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""It is." I flicked my wrist and a hypospray materialized in my grasp./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""How did you do that?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Microtransportation Fabricator. It's… it's power intensive. Each one…" I pulled up my sleeve, "can only be used once an hour or so and then it has to recharge… that takes 4 or 5 hours, depending on the drain." It was a much more powerful system than an OmniTool's fabrication system, but it combined the tech base of Mass Effect and Star Trek to devastating effect. The complexity of systems I could create was a thousand times greater than what the OmniTool usually made./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Where does it transport stuff from?" The Captain asked, taking the Hypospray from me and studying it./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""It doesn't. It has a set of basic patterns and everything else is mostly carbon and silicon structures. It draws the materials from the belt unit and the air."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""The belt Unit?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes sir". I lifted my tunic to show the thin, money-belt-like object I was wearing "It weighs three and a half kilograms and the mix can be almost anything. I even have a pair of dilithium crystals, small ones, in this section." I tapped the smallest armored section. "This rod can also generate a field to break down organic and non-organic soft matter, though there are security lockouts to keep the harvester field from being used as a weapon."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""You… designed this?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes sir, for away missions where I might need a tool I don't have."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Or a pair of Sonic Pulser pistols."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes sir. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the man from the Minos earlier. I was just reaching down to get my Uniform when he appeared and threatened me. I reacted and shot him before he could do more. I… it accidentally triggered another device I've been working on."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Which is?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""A personal emergency transporter. It… I thought there might be a way to make the ship's buffer system trigger a site to site transport. Within the ship. Say, from Engineering to Sickbay."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""And?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I can't quite get it to work right. It transports okay, but keeps fuzing the relay I'm using." This was, in fact, true. I couldn't quite figure out why though and it was driving me bonkers./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Why aren't you an Engineer?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I like Medicine."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""And tinkering with deadly weapons."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I like saving lives. Sometimes that means having the right scalpel."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I could have you court martialed… twice, in fact."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I am expecting that you will. It is the logical thing to do."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I'm not going to. Do you know why?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Human irascibility?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Human Intuition. You saved our lives back on Minos. Stopped a war… or at least postponed one, down there. But no more black project experimentation… at least with weapons and transporters. If you have an idea, run it by me… and the Chief Engineer. Now, you will report to Lt. Commander Kobok and share with him everything you've discussed with me. The microtranspo… the fabricator, the pulsers, the emergency transport. I'm assigning you to Engineering for 2 shifts a week, understand?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes sir."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Oh, and good job Lieutenant."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Thank you sir."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2267, March 27th (1 Year, 7 Months, 27 Days)/span/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I made full Lieutenant eighteen months to the day after arriving on Potemkin while Zane had made JG at the end of the first year. The rest of my feckless gang of mon and emperor were scattered about the crew, almost all of them in security or engineering… though Kay Adabra was in Astrophysics… she was also on the ship's 3-D Chess Team./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Starfleet Security had been, to put it mildly, deeply concerned with the potential for the Microfabricator and quietly black-bagged the whole thing, meaning that the only people who could use them would be Starfleet Agents. It was an idiotic decision, but not one I was in any position to contest. I'd seen what a society equipped with weaker versions could do in Mass Effect, seen how it had made colonization and mechanical work so much simpler… but somehow, Starfleet didn't trust its own people with the technology? I didn't think so. I suspected, rather, that Security and Information wanted to keep the tech as quiet as possible for as long as possible to get the best use possible out of it before the other polities started using it themselves./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The sonic disruptors, on the other hand, were deemed inhumane by the medical board, since they could be easily used to literally splatter someone across a wall, and I was strictly ordered not to make more of them. Again, idiotic, considering that, like phasors, they could be stepped down. But vaporizing ones enemy is somehow better than blowing off bits of them, so there you go. Humans… illogical as always./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"If two of my techs had been effective non-starters, the site to site emergency teleport relay was being quietly added to medkits across starfleet. The system still required a linked transporter system with active-passive ping, and a preset sickbay or hospital to function, but the single-use nature of the wafer-thin relay patch was not deemed an issue. Their utility in saving lives outweighed the issue of replacing them after each use. I'd received the Cochrane Medal of Excellence for that, as well as Starfleet Medical Progress Decoration./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I was on one of my exile shifts, working away under the watchful, and often highly opinionated Lt. Commander Kobok, who'd assigned me the task of improving the deflector dish's cycle time without any guidance or parameters as to what "Improving" might entail. By the way, while Vulcans seem pacific and even tempered to most of the rest of the Galaxy at large, when dealing with each other we come across as harsh, demanding, judgemental, sarcastic, and often cruel. It's all down to the smallest variation of inflection, something no one but another Vulcan would notice. Kobok and I may have respected each other professional, but on a purely personal level, we detested each other. Of course, being Vulcans, there was no way we going to let that get in the way of our duties./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Our duties that particular day were interrupted as we received word from the XO that the ship was going to warp and that I was needed on the bridge. Setting aside my latest brainchild, a progressive pulse deflector that could be used to scour corridors with stunning force (you know, just in case a ship was boarded) I jumped into the turbolift./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Lt S'Janus, reporting as ordered," I said, since I had probably not been summoned in my role as a doctor (That tends to be worded more in the vein of 'Medical Emergency on the Bridge!')./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The entire bridge-crew looked a little concerned, and the Captain halfway annoyed. He and the XO were clustered around the science officer's station. "Take a look at this, and tell us what you think, S'Janus," Commander b'Onno instructed./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I looked in the scope, considering. She hadn't given me any hint as to what I was looking at, clearly wanting me to make my own determination. "It looks like a star that is… destabilizing. These fluctuations… this is sped up… These are cyclic…" I was speaking aloud as I parsed what I was seeing. It looked like a star with severe gastric distress. "This isn't a natural phenomenon. Something is hitting that star with progressively more disruptive signals. It's as if they're dialing in on a frequency that can cause… there… It's beginning to flare."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I looked up to see the senior staff looking at me. "That's where we're headed, isn't it? Where is this?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""It is on the edge of the Romulan Neutral Zone. And yes, that's where we're going. We'd like you to continue monitoring. Unless you're needed in Medical?" The request was pro forma. Strictly speaking I was not in Commander b'Onno's division, but I wasn't going to refuse a request from a Senior Officer who had the Captain's silent but tacit approval./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Of course. Should I remain here, or head down to Astrophysics and monitor from there?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Commander considered, looked to the Captain, who nodded, then said, "You can take over at Navigation. We know where we're going. Just reroute the display."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes ma'am."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The show would have made it seem like we arrived 3 minutes later after a commercial break. The reality is it took the better part of 13 hours to settle into the system, an unremarkable Yellow Dwarf with a single inhabited planet that was home to 17 million Tellarite colonists from one of their more fractious (even for Tellarites) religious factions. They were fiercely self-sufficient and we were immediately told that they didn't need our help dealing with a sun that had gone a little wonky. They had two old planetary defense frigates and a system recon cruiser of more modern design, but none of them had the resources or scanning power of Potemkin./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Captain assured them we weren't here to interfere, merely to document and analyze, but immediately countered that once he was off the line, saying some less than politic things about local politicians. I kept quiet, continuing to study the baffling readings. They seemed, strangely… familiar. Then I pegged it. It was a deflector pulse pattern, not one designed to tumble intruders down long corridors, but being pushed through the main deflector array. But aside from that, the way it was being done was almost identical to what I'd been working on./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I quickly began routing computer power to the task, doing a backtrace to try and localize the source. It had to be within a certain ring… and there it was. A faint gravimetric distortion./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Captain." I interrupted his conference with the XO. "I've located what I believe to be the source of the disruption."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""On screen."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I flipped the visual up, then false colorshifted it to make the distortion more visible./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""What are we looking at?" Commander Braunstein asked./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I believe there is a ship there, broadcasting a deflector pulse beam of very high intensity at the surface of the star… or rather just beneath the surface."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""To what end?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I believe this is an attempt to generate an artificial and massive solar flare… with the goal of destroying the local colony."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Romulans!" the Captain hissed. "Helm bring us around in a slow sweep that makes it look like we're just doing routine observation. Weapons… I want a full spread of photon torpedos on the area just around that distortion and full phasers for 3 seconds. Yellow Alert, but keep it quiet."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Keeping it quiet meant passing the news by word of mouth, rather than a shipwide announcement. It was a paranoid thing to order, but fully understandable. If this was Romulans, their cloaking device would make targeting them difficult, and we couldn't be certain they couldn't read our systems (especially with our shields down) but there had to be a ship generating the effect. The evolution went off without a hitch. Our torpedos and phasers stabbed out at practically knife range… and passed right through the empty space without so much as a ping. Everyone looked to me./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""There has to be a ship there… " I began… then froze, a horrible nasty sneaky thought occurring to me. "One moment Captain. There's something I need to check." Oh nononono. This could not be happening. "Permission to launch a probe, Captain?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Permission granted, but I want an explanation."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""As soon as I have one, Captain."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I launched the probe, steering it around the distortion, being careful to keep it out of the direct line of the deflector pulse. I compiled the scans into an overlapping mosaic on the main screen as time seemed to drag by./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""We're waiting, Lieutenant."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""One more… Okay. I'm doing this on the fly. Char…" I said, addressing the Tactical Officer informally, "Could you remove all background elements we know we should be seeing?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Tellarite nodded, his dark eyes narrowing as he focused, stripping the layered images out one by one as as I worked to counter the distortion. Finally, after about ten minutes of silence, I got my gasp of recognition. I didn't feel vindicated. For the first time in a long while, I felt terrified. What my probe had picked up was there on the main screen for all to see… but I was the only one who realized the potential ramifications. They weren't just bad… they were potentially ruinous. Because, there on the screen… was a Constitution-class deflector dish./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Explain. Now!" The Captain ordered./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I believe, Captain, that we are looking through a window into a parallel universe. From the evidence, I believe it is one very similar to our own and… " I chose my words very carefully, "One where the Federation is a despotic and likely highly militarily aggressive state."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Commander Struchen quirked her half-Vulcan Eyebrows at me "You can infer all that from one image?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I can," I said, nodding. "The logic is difficult to refute. That is a Constitution Class Deflector. Hence, one may extrapolate that that is a Constitution Class Ship. Our attacks passed through the space without registering on anything and only by collecting nearly twenty minutes of scan data were we able to get even that clear of an image… and that was possibly solely because of the strength of the distortion they are creating. Thus, parallel reality. Given that, I suspect, rather strongly, that that ship is that reality's Potemkin. I cannot be certain of this fact, but it seems likely. Regardless, their actions are clearly hostile. Creating a Weapon System that can generate a Solar Flare on command has no non-terror weapon utility. It would be too slow to use against Warp Capable ships. Thus, it can only be used to attack planets or space stations. Thus, it is a terror weapon./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030;""One thing I don't understand…" the Captain said, considering my explanation, "Why are they trying to destroy our colony?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Oh, that's simple," I said "I believe they aren't trying to destroy our colony, as I don't think they know we're here. I believe them to be targeting some version of the colony in their own reality. The effect is simply bleeding over into our own."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Assuming you're correct… how do we stop them?" the XO asked./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""We… " I swallowed, knowing I was going to be pushing my luck. "We need to get over there, infiltrate the vessel, find out exactly how they're doing what they're doing… and not only sabotage their experiment, but stop it from happening again, if we can. I suspect from the way they are running through cycles, that they are testing a new and unproven technology. Sabotaging their efforts may cause them to lose face if such failure becomes public knowledge. Despotic governments tend not to be… forgiving."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""If that ship is Potemkin…" The Captain began./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Then that means it is quite likely there are, for lack of a better term, evil twins of all of us on board. Yes." I finished, cringing at the thought of just how dangerous an Evil Twin of me could be./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Excellent. Then that means none of us," he indicated the Senior Staff. "Can go over there. Two copies of any of us would be hard to hide. Lieutenant, since you seem to have some understanding of this technology, you'll be leading this mission. Pick two junior officers to assist you… then you and Kobok and Sumit get together and figure out a way to get into that ship undetected. I expect results within the hour."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I knew when I'd been dismissed. I also knew that I'd need the best… and that meant Zane. I also tagged Ensign Alger Jons, who I had every reason to believe was a top notch fighter (hint, it's the initials). I wanted to be able to use every tool in my arsenal in the Mirror Universe; I didn't need anyone not in on the secret tagging along./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The details of how we managed the transfer aren't important. They'd come across as technobabble to you and are highly classified to boot. Suffice it to say that, 90 minutes later, the three of us were standing in an ISS turbolift heading to main engineering… or rather to the jeffries tubes around it. All of us were dressed in ISS Uniforms thanks to a little creative fabrication and Zane and Alger both sported evil beards. I felt ridiculous in the ISS version of a female uniform, but then I'd felt fairly ridiculous in the USS's version of a female uniform too, so there you go./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"As soon as we exited the lift, we split up, going into full on stealth mode. My cloak allowed me to move unseen, but keeping from being bumped into is often quite tricky in a busy starship. Still I was on pins and needles, ready to kill my double within moments if she detected what I was about to do. "Victoria," I subvocalized, calling on my VI, now running with a bizarre hybrid of Pokegear, Omni-Tool, and Isolinear technology… with a lot of magic tossed in for good measure, "Is there another VI on board this ship?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Negative Commander," she replied in my ear, still using my ME rank./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Is there any magic you can detect?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Negative Commander," she replied again./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I sagged a little in relief. Assuming I had a twin on this ship, it didn't appear she was a Jumper. I relaxed. This wasn't going to be so bad after all… or so I thought. I was wrong, as I discovered when I rounded the corner into the ISS version of the lab I'd been using. There, wired into the Deflector Dish control panel… was the head of a Borg drone. And leaning over it was a half cyborged version of myself. /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I cringed, my emotions momentarily getting the better of me, but reined them in, listening as she talked to the thing./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Three-of-Twelve. What seems to be the delay?" Her voice was the same as mine, but carried a level of coldness and rampant non-sexual desire that would have done a Romulan proud./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""My Queen. We are processing as fast as this primitive system will allow. This unit's systems have not yet completed their self repair."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I am aware of that Three-of-Twelve. But this project is vital to the Collective. You must try… harder."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes, my Queen."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I stepped back out into the hall, hugging the wall. This wasn't good. It could have been worse, but it wasn't good. The Terran Empire and the Borg? Wonderful! Kirk hadn't even been to the Mirror Universe yet if I was remembering the timeline correctly. Fabulous! My evil twin had clearly acquired a damaged Borg and was using its adaptive circuitry to power her weapon. I wasn't sure if she was an actual cyborg or was simply pretending to get the Borg to obey her, but I wasn't at all certain that the Borg was fooled./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Victoria, scan this ship for nanotech infestation," I ordered./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Affirmative. Nanotechnological infestation detected in 21% of this ship's command pathways."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I cursed silently. The drone was using them, delaying the process as it attempted to take over the system. Part of me considered just letting the Borg eat the Empire… but as bad as the Terran Empire was, it was still better than the Borg./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Zane. Get the Pinch from the warehouse," I ordered over our warehouse comlink./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Fuck, I needed to do this fast. I stepped back into the bay, pulling a hypospray from my boot and using it on the guard watching the other me's back. I slowed time, sliding up behind my doppleganger and nerve pinched her. As the two began to fall, I reached out with my magic and forced it into the Borg Drone's head, shaping the Anti-Tech Hex in my thoughts. As I'd expected, Three-of-Twelve's system was no more shielded against direct magical interference than a 1990's era cellphone would have been./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Smoke started pouring out of the drone's eyes and it went dead. I didn't trust that at all, so I froze the entire console solid, then isolated then unit from the rest of the ship's systems. I slapped a transporter targeting patch on the thing (What, you thought the Transporter crews were just really good at guessing?) then used the remaining engineering console to gain control of the emergency jettison system. With a flick of a switch, I teleported the entire corrupted console and the head into a rapidly decaying solar orbit. It would melt in a second, then burn to ash in a few more. I heard feet pounding towards me and shifted into my Asari form, complete with Spectre Battle Armor and combat load out. I had Victoria in wand-mode and threw up a shield over the door, opening fire as the Evil Redshirts rounded the corner./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""VIctoria, initiate core jettison," I ordered as I mowed down the engineering crew. "Zane, Alger… Bug out in three."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Alger's down" Zane said./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I sighed. "Well bag him and tag him. Not leaving him in this reality."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Roger."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"And with that we used the emergency transport patches both I and my clone had created to leap into the cross reality relay we'd hastily built and jumped, moments before the warp core of ISS Potemkin scrammed, punching out the bottom of the vessel… just ahead of the EMP pulse that fried every electronic circuit and Borg Nanobot within the massive starship. They'd recover. Of course they would. I hadn't been able to bring myself to kill all those versions of my friends… after all, I didn't know if killing one of them would kill their counterpart… But they'd be missing one vulcan scientist./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"After scanning her thoroughly to make sure she wasn't actually a Borg Queen or infected in any way, I'd transported her into my warehouse and had my people bind her up and toss her into a cage… then fuse the cage's lock. I wasn't taking any chances with her… but I couldn't just kill her. I didn't know what that would do, but she was going to stay there until I decided. I did have her tattooed with a big E on the forehead and both hands, just so everyone knew which one of us was the Evil one./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Captain praised us, putting in Alger for a posthumous Legion of Honor, and Zane and I in for the Star Cross (mine with Clusters). Our scans were classified, of course. And AJ and Rocky were arguing about who'd gotten the cooler death. Morons./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2268, February 4th (2 Years, 6 Months, 4 Days)/span/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Sometimes the Universe purely sucks. Sometimes death isn't the result of bad writing, monster of the week nonsense, or out and out 'mwahaha' evil. Sometimes it's just bad luck. And often, one does not die alone./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Ultarian Hegemony was, at this time, a thriving, cosmopolitan unit that shared long borders with both the Romulans and the Klingons, as well as a smaller border with the Federation (Space is, after all, 3 dimensional… well, more so, but for this purpose, imagine two blobs marked Klingon and Romulan. Now put another blob on top of those two to form a somewhat amorphous pyramid. That top blob would be the Ultarians.) They were an old polity, having been warp capable when the Vulcans first stepped into space. The Ultarians controlled one hundred and twenty six systems, and had, at this time, a population of a quarter trillion, all united (in theory) under the banner of the Hegemony. Unfortunately, that same Hegemony, which had ruled (if neither wisely nor well) for millennia, was slowly falling apart./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Process, known to Humans as "Balkanization", is not traditionally a peaceful one. Rather than a single massive civil war or an amicable parting of ways, Balkanization involves a state fracturing into many smaller… and often mutually hostile… successor states. The results can be and, almost invariably are, bloody. With the Ultarians, who were distant cousins of the Klingons, much in the way Romulans and Vulcans are related, but less so, were fiercely territorial and clannish, the bloodiness was a virtual guarantee./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The reasons for this were simple and fundamental. Their technological progress had long ago slowed, then stopped almost entirely, and eventually become stagnant. By this time, they were lagging behind both the Romulans and Federation and their military was spread thin policing internal inter-regional disputes. As the threat of military clashes with the aggressive and younger neighbors downstairs had grown, the Hegemony had pushed for renewed investment in technology, in innovation… and begun a military build up in the hopes of proving to the Romulans especially that Ultarian space would be too difficult to claim. And that simple, reasonable proposition, had shocked the people out of their long complacency… and turned their ire against the Hegemony itself./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"There were many competing factions within the Hegemony, far more than any simple log can hope to detail, and in fact I am certain there will be many books written in the coming decades about what happened, but the factions essentially could be divided into four camps; Traditionalists, Isolationists, Pro-Klingon, and Pro-Romulan. The Traditionalists believed in the unity of the state and steadfastly refused to acknowledge the problems perceived by the others… and were perfectly willing to break a few heads to shut everyone else up. Each group of Isolationists wanted their own system or group of systems to break away from the Hegemony and establish independent states… though there were often multiple Isolationist groups claiming the same worlds or overlapping sets of worlds. The other two groups were pushing for either partial or complete annexation by their favored political ally. There was, you will notice, an almost complete lack of Reformers, something the Hegemony drastically needed./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Commissariat of Ultar, the supreme political power in the Hegemony, had sent a carefully worded and highly confidential letter to the Federation, in which they claimed to be interested in discussing joining the Federation, in whole or in part. To that end, The Potemkin was dispatched (with her sister ship, The Lexington, under the command of Captain Robert Wesley), to Ultar Prime, with instructions to help, and – if possible – determine if Romulan Agents were behind the destabilization of the Hegemony./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We arrived seven days before everything went to hell./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Nuclear weapons are, in the grand scheme of things, fairly lightweight when it comes to starship weapons. They are the lasers of explosive weapons. They don't really hold a candle to photonic, antimatter, or quantum munitions. For all that, however, they are frightfully destructive when used on civilian targets that haven't been hardened against them. Space Age buildings are incredibly strong. They are built of the same hyper-tensile substances that space-stations are made from and built to withstand the worst most planetary environments can throw at them. Even force nine earthquakes can seldom do more than shake them, and cyclones up to F6 have been known to do little more than scratch the paint on a well constructed skytower, even if the building lacks weather shielding. /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Nukes are not earthquakes, nor are they cyclones./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The sight of multi-kilometer high skytowers burning will haunt my memories for decades to come./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"For most of the crew, Ultar Prime was a shore leave. The issues the Senior Staff were dealing with were way above our pay-grades and the planet was, despite the troubles, at peace, the center of an unstable but ancient polity. We took in the sights, toured museums, walked the esplanades, and ate at the restaurants. It was a pleasant respite from the worries of exploration and military life./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"That pleasant retreat ended on the seventh day when sixty-seven nukes were detonated all across the capital city. Twenty-eight million people died in the ensuing catastrophe. I was five meters away from Kermit Trexler, my friend… when the first bomb went off./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I heard that first boom and jerked my head around. The second blast I didn't hear before the wall of free electrons slammed into my friend, vaporizing him in an eye-bright instant of time. Had I been closer, I'd have been dead too. Only the massive bulk of the building whose shadow I was in saved me. The heat was… impossible, the overpressure slammed into the building as I dropped to the ground, too stunned, deafened, blinded, to think about entering my warehouse./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"For eighteen days I worked, night and day, keeping myself going with more drugs than I want to think about, struggling to keep the wounded and irradiated and shell-shocked from dying or giving up. I shuttled children in and out of my warehouse's Medbay as fast as I could, but there were always more, so many more. There wasn't any heroism. There wasn't a good outcome. Two thirds of the dead had just… vanished in atomic fire… and yet the dead that remained could have been used to build a mountain. I saved so many many lives, both through my skill and through dint of all the technological and magical wonders at my disposal. I didn't hold anything back, not caring for a moment if anyone noticed… and yet, for every life I saved, I failed again and again and again./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"By the end of the first hour I was out of tears. By the end of the first day, I was out of anger. By the end of the first week, even despair had fled. I was a machine, the perfect Vulcan Logical Paragon./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"My companions, four of whom had been vaporized or crushed or burned only to be restored to life by the strange magic of Pokemon logic and the Warehouse, scoured the area of the city looking for survivors, bringing them to my aid-station or one of the others as fast as they could. But it was never going to be enough. Every Hospital in the city had been hit. Every, single, one. The seats of power were untouched. Every University, Museum, and Hospital… Public Parks, Stadiums, Malls… /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030;"Gone./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I understand war. I've lived it and fought it twice on both a personal and widespread scale. I've killed people and never looked back. But this wasn't war. This was terrorism. This was the casual, brutal, and utterly callous taking of life. Nothing could justify what happened on Ultar Prime./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"A day after we left the Ultar system, the humanitarian aid pouring in as medical ships arrived from all quarters, even the Romulans and Cardassians, I knocked at the door of our ship's counselor. "I… I think I need to talk."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2269, June 3rd (3 Years, 10 Months, 3 Days)/span/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Time eases all suffering. I'd been given a couple more medals, The Ultarian Medal of Crisis and the Karagite Order of Heroism. It took more than a year before I could bear to hang them besides my other awards. dI'd taken a six month leave from Starfleet to return to Vulcan and meditate upon what had happened, leaving it to Zane and company to stop the Enterprise (equipped with the M-5 device) from nearly destroying USS Excalibur and severely damaging USS Lexington. /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Meanwhile, I… was having what could be described as Vulcan Post Traumatic Distress Syndrome. Do you know why Vulcans are detached, why we pride ourselves on our ability to cleanse ourselves of emotions? Because, at the heart of it, we are a very, very angry people. The Romulans embrace that anger, letting it seethe and boil and use it as strength. It is what makes them cruel, cunning, and ruthless. We took the other path, the path of renunciation. But enough mental trauma can break through even the toughest control./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"So, for six months I communed with my self, learning, like a stroke victim, to put myself back together. To not let the anger that roiled within me take control. Time and again, the elders offered to meld with me, to help me achieve the balance I so desperately sought… but I couldn't do that. There was too much there that no one in this universe could ever be allowed to know. Or so I thought. But trauma builds on trauma. I'd lived through the violence of my own youth, the gang wars of Conduit LA, the depredations of the Reapers and Geth, the horrors of the Second Wizarding War, and now Ultar. There were not walls high enough to blot it all out, nor mortar strong enough to keep out the creeping darkness./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"And so, in utter hopelessness, I finally opened myself to the eldest of the elders "You can never reveal what you see within my mind," I told Strakkus. "You won't believe or understand it all, and I don't know if this is safe." He simply nodded, taking my hand. He must have been at least 200, his face lined with age, but calm, so calm. His mind was calmer still. A lake high in the mountains, shielded from the wind by high peaks. A mirror, at peace./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I… I won't go into what transpired. It is too deeply personal, even for this record. What I learned that day was forgiveness. Not of others, but of myself. The ability to forgive myself for not being stronger. Strakkus showed me how to be the river, when I'd always tried to be the wall. What he learned that day, was that he was not too old to be surprised./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I would very much like to see you as an Asari," he said when we were back in our own heads. I smiled softly, and showed him all my forms; Asari, Human, Vulcan, Infernape, Argonian… "Fascinating. And you really can…" I showed him ice. I showed him fire. I showed him magic. I showed him weapons unknown to the science of this universe and a sword that had been plunged into the antimatter stream of a starship and tasted the blood of a god./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I have, as they used to say in another world 'Seen some Shit'."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"He laughed, nodding. "So I see. But you've always been true to yourself. Never once have you given in to the temptations of such power and used them to oppress or harm. I fear many would not be so nice."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yeah. Me too. I blame Stan Lee."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"A few days later I left Vulcan, returning to the Potemkin. In the time I'd been away, Lt. Commander Struchen had been finally promoted to full Commander and had replaced Braunstein as XO. Lieutenant Commander Char Cring had taken her place as Second Officer. Braunstein had been given command of the Yamato. And Zane was now Ordnance Officer. Dear Lord, Zane, in charge of the weapons. We were all doomed./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I'm going to jump forward now, several months, to the time of this log, rather than tell you what happened as it unfolded, to get to my part in it all. Two months before this, Potemkin and six other ships had been sent to deal with widespread rioting on the Andorian Colony world of Shrivao. The deployment was supposed to be simple peacekeeping, keeping the two feuding factions apart until cooler heads could settle things. Then General Sothel Zh'kothris, Andorian State Security, got involved and 7,200 people had been killed and another 202,300 displaced./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"And that is why we, the officers of Potemkin who'd been on the ground for those few fateful weeks, were waiting around on Andoria, preparing to give testimony against one of the most respected members of the Andorian Government who was on trial for War Crimes./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Sothel insisted that she was innocent, that she'd had nothing to do with gassing of civilians, that her security forces had been fired upon from within the crowd and had only acted to defend themselves. The public was divided. The inner systems revered Sothel, hero of the Klingon War. The outer systems viewed her as a jackbooted thug. I… was there to give medical testimony./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"What can be said of a War Crimes Tribunal? Trials are bad. Politically charged trials are worse. There were already calls from within the General Assembly that Sothel should simply admit to wrongdoing and spare the state the trouble of convicting her, guilty or not. Many members of Potemkin's crew were of a similar sentiment. /spanSothel's forces had killed civilians. It didn't matter if they were following orders or disobeying them. They'd seen too much on Ultar and this, to them, was justice. The Human part of me wanted to agree. The Vulcan part wasn't sure./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Testimony isn't really exciting. It's dry, depressing, and often stirs up deep trauma in those giving it. I was on the bench, repeating facts that the Tribunal must have heard at least three times already, when a young man, barely a boy really, burst in through the courtroom doors and rushed to the center of the chamber./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""N… Nobody move!" He demanded./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"There was a great deal of 'What's the Meaning of This!?'ing from the officials on the bench, and the security guards moved towards the boy, but he repeated himself, sounding firmer this time. "Nobody move. I'm wired. Anyone touches me and we all go." He pulled open his jacket and revealed that he had an antimatter bomb strapped to his chest, and an old fashion solid projectile weapon in his belt./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Everyone froze./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""What do you want, child?" asked the chief Andorian magistrate./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I… I want her dead!" he yelled, pointing his gun at the accused, who hadn't moved./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I assume you're related to one of the victims?" the human member of the Tribunal asked./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""S… Six of them… M.. my whole family. T… they're all dead now. And it's her fault!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""And how is holding a courtroom full of innocents hostage going to bring them all back?" the Vulcan Tribune asked./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I-it's not. Y-you can… can all g-get out. Th-this is between m-me and the general. Y-you should know th-that I-I-I'm wired. Th-this thing is linked to my lifesigns. If…" he swallowed hard, "If I'm stunned or… or killed… it'll blow. I-I'm not sure ho-how powerful it is. I-I was having trouble d-doing the math… b-but I'm g-good with machines. I… it'll take o-out the building."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I looked at the bomb myself, doing the math in my head. If there was as much Antimatter in that bomb as it looked like, it would do more than take out the building. It could take out the heart of the city. Slowly, carefully, the courtroom emptied. No one noticed that I didn't leave./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Soon it was just me, the boy, and Sothel./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""What's your name, kid?" the general asked./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""W-what's it matter to you?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""A warrior likes to know the name of their killer." Her antennae twitched in faint amusement as the boy scowled./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""D-don't you m-mock me," he stammered./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I would not dream of it," she said, calm as lake water./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Th-then why are you smiling?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Because I have nothing to prove, nothing to lose. Either you're going to shoot me, or not. It's out of my hands. So tell me, what's your name."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""T-Tibass Ch'rallen."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Ah… I met your uncle Rylib once. Good man. Good Soldier."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""He's DEAD!" the boy shouted./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes, well, that happens when you're part of a mob."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""We just wanted to be heard!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""And we were listening, right up until your people opened fire."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""You gassed the entire Obyr district!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I did nothing of the kind."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""LIAR!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The general shrugged. "Believe or not. Shoot me or don't."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I Hate YOU!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I stood up from the witness stand at this point. "That's a terrible reason to shoot someone," I said./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Both Andorians turned to face me, shock on the boy's face, curiosity on the General's./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Wh-what are you doing here? I-I said everyone could leave," Tibass said, eyes wide./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Could," I clarified, "Not had to. I did not feel like it. You really should put that gun down."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""W-well, I'm not going to. And you," /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"he jerked the gun at the door, "Get Out!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""No," I replied, as calm as he wasn't./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I said get out!" he screamed, voice cracking./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""And I said No." I sat on the edge of the prosecution's table, where I could see both of them. "You won't shoot me. And you are going to give me the gun."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Will not," he said, sounding petulant and young./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I know," I replied, as if assuming he was agreeing that he wouldn't shoot me./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"He got the implication. /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""N-no… I mean I won't give you the gun." He pointed it at me. "I might shoot you."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes, but you'd miss. I'm very fast. And even if you didn't miss, you wouldn't kill me. I've been shot before. Lots of times." I smiled at that, a faint crinkling at the edge of my lip and the corner of my eye./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""If you're so tough, come and take it from me." he challenged, temper flaring./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I have no interest in being vaporized… nor in allowing you to vaporize an entire city. That's pretty much what that bomb you're wearing will do. I'm pegging it right around seventy megatons."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The kid gaped and the General scooted back some, then realized what she was doing and chuckled. "Habit," she explained to me with a shrug./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I nodded, then turned back to the kid. /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Look, Tibass. You can't kill the General."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I can!" he shot back, glaring at me, then set his jaw and raised the gun. "I will." His voice was steadier, but there was still a quaver. He was going to do, unless I stopped him./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""No," I said calmly, quietly. "You can't." I stood up and stepped between him and the General, hands out to show I was unarmed. "If you do, things will get worse."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"His eyes widened and he gaped at me, then growled, "How can it get worse? Everyone's dead!" His eyes were full of rage and tears were streaming down his face./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I shook my head sadly, allowing a trace of compassion into my voice. "No. I'm sorry, but that's not true. For you, maybe it is, but there are millions… billions more Andorians. And what happens here is important."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""She killed my family!" he sobbed, gun hand shaking as he tried to sidestep me, tried to bring his weapon to bear on the General. I let him. He had to see her face./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't. But that's not important." I knew I was being cruel, but it was the only way to reach him through his anger. I'd been there, not too long ago./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""How can you say that?!" He wailed, rounding on me, taking his eyes off the General completely for the first time. "Th-they were…. were… damn you-you Vulcan bitch! Don't you understand? I loved them!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Oh. I understand completely. And that's why you can't do this thing."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The General spoke up. "Actually, if you're going to argue that they wouldn't want him to kill me, that's not really how Andorian society works. Revenge killings are very much part of our culture."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The boy nodded jerkily in agreement and I sighed and shook my head./spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" "I am aware of this, but it isn't about them not wanting their deaths avenged with more killing. This is about more than guilt or innocence. It's about more than politics or justice. It's about stability, continuity… the essence of civilization." I approached the boy slowly. "This trial is important. If you kill the General, she becomes a martyr, a symbol of the government and national pride, gunned down by a terrorist. If you kill all of us, you become a martyr to the anti-government forces."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""So what?" He shrugged, shoulders hunched. He stepped back involuntarily as I got too close. "What's wrong with the anti-government forces?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Revolutions never work. Not in the short run. Often not in the long run. Change takes time, stability, hard work. Everyone thinks Revolutions are a shortcut. They're not. They shake up the system, lots and lots and lots of people get dead… way more than have already died… and things get worse. No revolution in history made things better in the short run… at least no first time revolution."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""What's a first time revolution?" the boy asked and I could tell the General had been about to ask it too./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""That's the one that brings down the old system. Eventually, the people who did that… the ones who were fanatic or angry or crazy enough to attack the old system… they begin fighting themselves, arguing over policy, over power, over who gets what share of what's left. Eventually, they make things so bad that there's another Revolution… or a Civil War… or a Holocaust…"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Bu-but…"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Tibass. I'm not going to tell you violence doesn't solve things. It very often does. Violence is often the only way to deal with Violence… but Violence begets Violence. If you kill the General, what's to stop the next person with a grudge against a government official… or a neighbor, from doing the same?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""But she-"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""It doesn't matter if she did or didn't. It doesn't matter to you in the slightest. You want… you need someone to blame, and since everyone is asking if the General is to blame, you assume she's the one. But it doesn't make any difference. Innocent or Guilty, your family is still dead. You should go and mourn them. Let the system provide justice. If it does, it does. If it doesn't, and you still feel wronged, work to change the system so it doesn't fail the next time. Remember, even if the General gave the orders, her men pulled the triggers. Her men released the gas. If she didn't, then someone else did. I was there. Someone started shooting from within the crowd. I can't say what happened. I can't say who was right and who was wrong. But I can say that killing her won't make anything better. Not for you. Not for her. Not for anyone. Not. One. Thing." /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I held out my hand. "Please, Tibass… Give me the gun."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Slowly, shaking, tears rolling down his face, Tibass handed over the gun. "Now, carefully, let's get you out of that bomb." He nodded, shivering, drained of emotion as I undid the explosive and disarmed it./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Tibass turned to the General. "I'll never forgive you," he said, voice steady for the first time./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The General nodded softly. "You shouldn't. I'll never forgive myself. It happened on my watch. That puts the blame squarely on my shoulders, even if I'm innocent of the charges." She turned to me. "You seemed very passionate about all this… for a Vulcan."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I looked up at her from where I was kneeling on the floor over the bomb. All I said was, "I was on Ultar Prime." She flinched, then nodded./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Tibass was arrested, but sentenced to counselling and public works. The General was acquitted on lack of evidence, but retired immediately after the trial, taking full responsibility for the actions of her men and the debacle. I got a letter of commendation, which I very much considered throwing away. Never again will I revel in the idea of getting medals for valor. All it takes is being in the right place at the wrong time./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2269, October 11th (4 Years, 2 Months, 11 Days)/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"There is an song of Earth, already old when I was born into my first life, that claims that 'Breaking Up is Hard to Do.' Apparently the planet Dork-Nem (yes, Zane thought it was hilarious too) had never heard of this song./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Dork-Nem was a several thousand year old colony… not that the Tellarites had had warp drive or even sublight slow-ships nearly that long, but rather because some other party had transported the original colonists their against their will. The Colonists had been reabsorbed into Tellarite culture centuries ago, but there remained cultural differences between the Nemians and the rest of the Tellarites, predominantly in their religion. That divide was making an already disastrous situation orders of magnitude more frustrating./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The planet had been experiencing a progression of larger and larger quakes for several years, thanks to the rogue stellar core that was drifting steadily through the outer system. No one was exactly certain where the chunk of neutronium that massed nearly 40 solar masses had come from, but there it was, inexorably drawing closer and closer to Dork-Nem's primary, causing the star to bulge and deform. If it could stretch a star into the shape of a giant comet, imagine what it could do to a planet… or don't. The gravitational disturbance was slowly pulling the planet apart./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Tellarite government hadn't been caught totally off guard by this problem. They'd had over a year to prepare and had, with much yelling and complaining, managed to evacuate over 98% of the planet's 450,000,000 colonists. The last 9 million were being… a bit of a problem, however./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"As the planet had emptied, the remaining population had crowded ever more densely into the holy city of Gaavr, the oldest on the planet, and there they'd begun praying, night and day, for salvation. They were the disciples of a charismatic holy man named Zebl Glash who ranted and raved that only the faithful would be spared this test of the people's faith. Exactly who or what they were supposed to be faithful to besides Glash himself was largely a matter of interpretation./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Interpretation we did not have time for, since the quakes were getting worse and worse with every passing day, and the window for evacuation was closing. The evacuation fleet could carry almost 2 million or so in a single lift, and with a day and a half round trip to the holding camps at the nearest habitable world, it would take just over 8 days to get the remaining population out… but that presumed two separate provisions; first, that the planet lasted that long, and second, that the people were willing to leave./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"My job was to work on the first. Lt. Commander Kobok was back on Vulcan, dealing with Pon Farr and hopefully getting some much needed relief, and so Lt. Price was the senior Engineer aboard. She and I were working on the problem, but the best we'd been able to come up was a series of twelve self-drilling stabilizer / shield pylons with which to ring the inner city. They had to be placed in pairs fourteen kilometers apart, and that was stretching the field to its theoretical limits./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We were installing the second of them while the ship's fabrication department worked feverishly on the remaining dozen (the need for spares was almost certain). We weren't certain how long they'd hold, but the planet itself seemed quite in a hurry to rip itself apart, with low level quakes creating nearly constant vibrations that were slowly shaking the ancient buildings apart, those that hadn't already fallen./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Our security was being provided by elements of the Tellarite Army, who'd helped clear the area for the pylon and forced the remaining 'faithful' into the inner city. There were something like 60,000 Tellarites crammed into every square kilometer of the inner city; a space that could not conceivably support that many people for any significant length of time. The soldiers were gathered around, looking on as we fiddled with the last fiddly bits… when the shooting started. The first shot pinged off the pylon's plasteel superstructure, hitting me in the chest and spinning me around. I dropped. I might be bullet resistant, but I certainly don't like being shot./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Why are they using projectile weapons?" Price asked, apparently confused and definitely not taking cover. Engineers… I swear. Apparently, one of the soldiers agreed with me, as he flung himself on Price, but not before a plasma blast tagged her, blasting off her left arm… which thankfully was the prosthetic one. She immediately tried to get back up./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Stay down, lady!" yelled the soldier./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""The Pylon requires additional calibration," Price said./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Look, Lady, your arm's missing!" he pointed out, clearly unable to believe anyone could be this dense./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Price had a similar look on her face as she she replied, "I am able to function within operational parameters."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"He gaped, then growled, "Lady, your arm is fucking gone… pft!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"She waved her existing arm nonchalantly. "It is not a concern, please go about your business."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Are you okay?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my chest… ooowww. Breasts are not geared for stopping bullets./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I will be, as soon as it comes back," she replied, looking mostly annoyed at having to stop working./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Comes back? Arms don't come back!" the soldier snapped./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"She considered, then said. "In that case, I shall have to replace it."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""In the middle of a firefight?" His tone was incredulous./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Probably better than waiting until the firefight is over. I might need it."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I rolled my eyes and hailed Potemkin. "Potemkin, this is Team Baker. We are taking small arm and plasma weapon fire. Please assist."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Roger Baker, wait three. I repeat three."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Will do Potemkin. Baker out."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I pulled my side arm, regretting that I couldn't pull something bigger out of the warehouse. I made a mental note to come up with something that looked like a phaser but was more powerful. Still, I had Victoria project a HUD on the omni-gel lenses over my eyes and began picking out targets. They weren't particularly well trained at keeping to cover, and I managed to pick off several when they showed themselves to take shots. Price meanwhile was sitting against the wall and attempting to reconstruct her prosthetic arm out of the damaged unit and our tool kit. "Price! Draw your sidearm and return fire!" I snapped./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I am-"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I can see what you are doing. But if you don't return fire, you're not going to get a chance to use that new arm."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Reluctantly, she set aside her work and drew her phaser. I don't know what her mental malfunction was, but she was a skilled, methodical shooter, picking off targets almost as fast as I could. Our reinforcements arrived soon enough, and, after driving off the fanatics, we were able to get the pylon up and running. But we hadn't counted on the locals trying to disable the pylons./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"As we installed the third pylon pair, I commented to Lt Commander Char. "Are all your people crazy, or is it just this lot?" He chuckled "We're all crazy in our own way, S'Janus. These people are just scared."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030;""Scared!? The planet is breaking up!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030;"He shrugged. "For some, leaving behind everything you've ever known is more frightening than dying."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""So we should let them die?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"He considered, then said, "You cannot force someone to live."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"It was the last thing he ever said before a sniper round took the top of his head clean off and spattered me with Tellarite greymatter… which had the good grace to slough off as the sky opened up and drenched us all./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We started setting up portable shield generators before beaming down the pylons as we continued to work, leaving armed squads at each as we went. Yet it was beginning to feel like a lost cause. They were willing to kill just to keep us from trying to save them. I had no idea how the Captain and the diplomatic team were getting on, but I suspected they were getting as frustrated as I was. As the deadline passed and there was now officially no way to get everyone off the planet, I decided to take matters into my own hands once again./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I waited until the Captain returned to the ship and, crossing through the Fanatic's compound in full stealth mode, I made my way to "Prophet"'s citadel, the ancient temple facing the city's largest plaza. The plaza was full of prostrate faithful, praying towards the citadel until they passed out… at which point, the temple guard would collect them and allow another to take their place. The unconscious (or in some case dead) faithful were simply tossed into one of the allies leading to the plaza. Our rescue teams would then evac them if we could. Sometimes the guards attacked the army medics. Tellarites are weird./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Scaling the outer face, I made my way inside, quickly locating the so called holyman. I cast a wall of silence around us, then dumped the statue of the local creator deity into my warehouse and replacing it. I was in my Asari form to keep him off his guard and keep him from recognizing my species. /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""What do you think you're doing, Glash?" I demanded./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"He had been praying, prostrating himself in front of the statue I'd replaced. He sat up straight, looking around… then turned his head and looked up at where his statue had been. "What?! Who are you? How'd you get in here? Where is Domrak!? This is Blasphemy! Guards! GUARDS!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I did the Tellarite equivalent of smirk, and said, "They can't hear you Glash. And I got in here long before this place was built."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"His eyes widened. "H… how?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I brought your ancestors here, Glash. But that's not important. What do you think you're doing?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I am remaining true! Domrak demands it!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I did nothing of the kind… and it's pronounced Jamratk," I lied, having no fucking clue who brought the Dork-Nemites to Dork-Nem, or how the name was pronounced. "You're going to get your people killed."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""No!" he shouted, "We shall be lifted up! We are faithful! And you are not Jamratk… Domrak… you are not our God!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"My eyes blazed and I summoned a pillar of ice under me as the air crackled around me in biotic fury. "SILENCE YOUR BLEATING! I AM JAMRATK of the SOLCHUN AND IF I SAY A THING IT IS SO!" He fell backward, scrambling away from me and soiling himself in terror as the walls of the room, strong enough to withstand the quakes without damage, cracked and crumbled partly. "As for your faith? Yes, you are faithful… and that is why I sent those nice Tellarites in their nice evac ships. To lift you up and take you away from this place."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""But this is our home!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes, and Tellar was your home before that. I took you from there to here. I never promised that this would be your final stop."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""But… You… you lie! You're… you're trying to-"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Wingardium Leviosa." I said, voice not changing in inflection, as I flipped him across the room./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"He slammed into a wall and slid down to land on his head. "I… that… that was a trick!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I transformed his pillow into a dove and it fluttered out of the room before flying out of the window./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Y… you-" I could tell his resolve was buckling. I froze the walls on one half of the room, as I charred the curtains on the other side./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Glash. I am not playing around. You will go to your people and you will tell them to board the ships and go to the promised land, or I will cause the ground to open up and swallow you in darkness and fire for all time to come." My voice had lost all emotion, and I strode over to him, pillars of ice rising out of the floor to support me so that I loomed over him as I reached him. I plucked him up, one armed, letting the heavy pig-man dangle from my outstretched arm without apparent strain. "You will do this thing and then you will wait for me here. I will come for you once the last of your followers have been lifted up. And I will take you to your just reward." and with that I turned to Apparate away, leaving behind a remote surveillance bug./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"He paused, considering. I raised my communicator and said, "Now Glash… or do you really want to see what happens when a God gets angry." I'd like to claim that I called down lightning at that point, but the crash of thunder and blast of lightning was entirely coincidental… plus, I had no idea how to call down lightning. I clearly need a perk for that./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I had done what I had to, but I told no one. Not even Zane. Once Glash had given the word, the fanatics were all too eager to be saved. In fact, there was quite a lot of fighting for positions, though we made it clear that the younger individuals and family groups would be given preference, then slots would be apportioned by age and health. It wasn't very nice, but triage is triage, and Vulcans are good at setting aside sentiment./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"In the end, we couldn't save almost three million of them. There just wasn't time and lift capacity. As the planet cracked up in one final, titanic convulsion, we were beaming people up as fast as we could lock onto them, all transporters running flat out, with refugees packed into every available compartment. I'd even sedated as many as I could and stuffed them into the warehouse where they were covering nearly every available surface and cluttering up my spaceship (which still didn't have a functional Warp Drive, but not for lack of trying. Building Nacelles isn't easy.). But in the end, I fulfilled my promise./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Glash!" I boomed, appearing in his room./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Y.. you came!" he exulted. "I knew you would."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes. I came. Your insanity cost millions of lives, Glash."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""But… It was for you. We stayed for you."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""No," I shook my head. "They stayed because you told them to. You stayed for you. I thought about killing you, Glash. I considered it long and hard. But instead, I'm going to leave you here… Here with the people you betrayed to your own hubris. Goodbye Glash." And I left him there as the city slowly sank beneath the endless waves of magma that were sweeping across the planet's surface. As the pylons protecting city failed, a deeply vindictive part of me imagined I could hear Glash screaming. Then I remembered that I'd left a bug in his apartment and realized that I could./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Victoria. Kill that feed, would you?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2270, May 19th (4 Years, 9 Months, 19 Days)/span/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Just shy of five years on, four years and eight months into my stay in this universe, I was invited to a medical conference on a lovely ocean planet named Potrin. It was warm, with no polar caps and blessed with vast chains of lushly forested islands rich in almost completely harmless lifeforms. The biggest land predator was a predatory lizard slightly longer than a human femur… it ate a diet of giant beetles that fed on decaying forest mast. The oceans had the normal pelagic and benthic threats of course, but with so few land-masses, few littoral or neritic predators existed./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"One of the most stunning things about Potrin was the massive and eternal hurricane that slowly progressed completely around the planet's equator once every 40 days. Our shuttle was routed down over the hurricane, but safely above it, as was traditional, to allow visitors to witness the force and beauty of the storm. /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We'd been ferried to the system by USS Einstein, an Oberth-Class science vessel, and given a shuttle while Einstein went off to study the nearby nebula. Onboard the shuttle with me were Drs. Quinton Castillion (human), Hunter Mattix (Human), Kennik Caldera (Betazed), Bethanne Wooster (Human), Morris Otombo (Human), Sar (Vulcan), T'Vot (Vulcan), as well as our pilot Darius Smith (Human)./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The trip in system had been routine and we weren't expecting much excitement besides perhaps a little drunken flirting after the day's seminars and panels were concluded. That was not what we got. Indeed, as we were crossing out from over the eye, our starboard nacelle… fell off. At least, that's what I was told. The sudden jerk slammed my head into the bulkhead and the next thing I knew I was lying on a mat of leaves on a tropical island with a serious concussion and a severe lack of anything resembling memories./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"When I asked what had happened, I was told we'd crashed, that the shuttlecraft pilot had managed to more or less ground us within a few feet of this island, and that we were without comms or anyway off the island and that the storm would be returning in a few days and we were essentially doomed. Dr Otombo had suffered a broken arm, T'Vot a broken leg, and I'd suffered a concussion and blood loss, but I seemed to be recovering nicely. Also, that I had a nice tricorder and they were wondering where I'd gotten it./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I… I think I built it," I admitted./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""You think?" the human female… Bethanne… asked./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I'm having a great deal of trouble remembering things. It… some of it seems like a story I heard once, but I'm not sure which memories are mine and which are… fictional. Am… Am I Vulcan or Human?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The younger of the two brown skinned humans… Quinton… chuckled. "You must have hit your head pretty hard."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Vulcan," said the female Vulcan… T'Vot./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Excellent. May I recommend that we attempt to construct either some shelter or a craft to carry us out of the storm's path and towards civilization?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I could continue, drawing out the suspense, but the simple fact of the matter is that, yes, we got off the island before the storm arrived. Once I'd convinced the others that I wasn't imagining being an engineering expert, we pooled our skills and managed to turn the ruined shuttle craft into a skimmer. It was a terrible bodge job, rushed and barely airworthy, but we did it it. Oh… and Hunter Mattix turned out to have been the saboteur, apparently out of an attempt to kill Morris Otombo for failing to save Hunter's son fifteen years earlier. Even after my concussion healed and I remembered who and what I was, I am baffled by that one. Murder-suicide makes little sense as it is, but even in the name of revenge, killing half-a-dozen innocents is just… how does one justify that?/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"All in all, I rank this the Worst Vacation I've Ever Been On… Still, bet it would have been a cool episode./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2271, April 14th (5 Years, 8 Months, 15 Days)/span/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"At the end of the Potemkin's five year mission, we had a change of command; Captain Rademacher got bumped up to Commodore and we got Captain Braunstein. Woooo. Send in the clowns. Sorry, that's not fair to Sherwood. She was a fine commander… just a little… Have you seen M*A*S*H? A little Henry Blake. Good heart, competent… just a little argumentative at times and often… scatterbrained. Flashes of brilliance sometimes though. Insight you wouldn't believe. A Mustang… she'd worked her way up from enlisted to command rank. Hard as hell to do, but she'd done it./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"For weeks we'd been tracking an anomalous ion signature as it meandered across several star systems, twitching and jinking around as if it was an object spinning slowly on all three axes while at warp. That was, in fact, what I suspected it was, but with scant evidence. We finally lost the trail as it entered an area of utter blackness. Our scans couldn't penetrate the darkness, low power phaser bursts did nothing to it, and, as we slowly mapped its fringes, we became aware of just how massive it was. It was an irregular blob of space, sixteen to eighteen light years across, and it utterly blocked all signals of any kind from passing through it./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"After much consideration, Captain Braunstein ordered us to lower a probe into the cloud on a tether. We did so, ready to sever the connection if anything untoward were to happen. Nothing did, and when the probe was withdrawn it seemed unharmed by the experience. Safety relatively assured, we slowly entered what we were fairly certain was a Dark Matter Nebula./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"For half an hour, everything seemed to be going well. Our ramscoops were pulling in trace particles and we'd isolated them in forcebottles for later study… and then our Warp Core died, and with it our shields, deflectors, and impulse engines. The ship immediately switched to internal back up, but that was a finite resource./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"For several days we worked round the clock on the problem, our fevered brains coming up with more and more exotic and outlandish attempts to get the engines restarted. We tried launching photon torpedos into the darkness in an attempt to blast holes in it, but if they exploded, we could not tell. We tried it again with fusion bombs, but either the circuitry failed, or the darkness ate the explosion./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"By the fifth day, the air was growing stale, the lights had been cut to ten percent in all crew areas, and a pervasive odor of onions could be sensed at the back of our tongues. We'd switched to rations rather than use the energy needed to run the food synthesizers, and the temperature aboard the ship was rising. I was doing my part, generating Ice where I could, but my reserves were limited, even with magic./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"By the sixth day, we'd begun sealing off sections of the ship, moving people in towards the center where it was cooler and where life support could be more easily maintained. Much of the crew were now reduced to huddling around chemical lights, waiting for the inevitable./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Part of the problem was that there was no way of knowing just where we were. We'd been travelling under one quarter impulse for half an hour, which meant (in theory) that we were somewhere near two light minutes into the cloud, and we'd probably been slowed to a stop relatively quickly, or the dark matter would have ripped the ship apart when the deflector died. That gave us a small but significant window of space to somehow cross. And that assumed we were still pointed in the same direction. I'd tried the few divinatory spells I knew, but none of them had that kind of range./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Finally, with things getting desperate, I asked Zane what he'd do./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I uno," he said, shrugging. "You're the brains of this operation. I'm the brawn. You're the steering, I'm just the speed."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I laughed. "Does that make us a car?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yeah, well, if we are, we need a-" we looked at each other, then grinned. "A tow!" we cried as one, slamming the knuckles of our right hands together as if we were the Wonder Twins. It was a testament to how long we'd worked together, because never once in the forty-five years we'd been together had either of us owned a car or ever had a breakdown that would have required a tow. The closest thing we had ever had was the Mako, which was (with enough Omni-Gel) self repairing./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Right… hmmm… let me think," I said, pulling up VIctoria, who didn't run on ship's power. I ran the math, then ran it again… then a third time, just to be certain. /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Half an hour later, I took the proposal to Captain Sherwood./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""That's insane!" she commented./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""It very much is," I agreed. "It is also the only thing I can think of that might work."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"She grunted, then chuckled. "Okaaay. If you think you can do it, go ahead. But if it doesn't work, don't come crying to me."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I laughed, the shook my head. "If it doesn't work, I'll be crawling back for a very long time."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Do you know how far two light minutes is? It is 40,475,000 kilometers. Imagine you had a rope a centimeter thick. Do you know how much space that would take up, all spooled up? The answer is 3,178,899 cubic meters… or roughly a cube 147 meters on a side. My proposal was nothing less than to fabricate such a cord, made of carbon fiber… and with it tow the Potemkin out of the darkness. There were only four small problems with this plan./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"1. There was no ship waiting outside the nebula to tow us clear./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"2. There was no way to get such a rope to the ship even if the ship was there./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"3. There wasn't enough carbon on the ship to make such a rope, even if there was a way to get it to the ship that wasn't there./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"4. While carbon nanotubes are incredibly strong, with a tensile strength on the order of three hundred Gigapascals, towing a ship that's the better part of a kilometer long would take waaaay more than that./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"But those were mere roadblocks. Indeed, I had a completely insane plan for each of those steps. Step One relied on seeing just how fast we could get a shuttle craft going before it exited the hanger bay. See? Insane! /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Step two relied on making a rope not one centimeter thick, but two and a half millimeters thick… but still just about 40.5 million kilometers long. At one sixty-fourth the volume, it would fit, barely, inside a shuttlecraft, and with a high power feed, should play out fast enough… in theory. See? INSANITY! Step Three would be relatively easy, with the reduced mass requirement. All we needed was a block of refined carbon 2.3 meters on a side… or rather four such blocks. No problem there, right?/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"No, it was Step Four that was the tricky bit./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We worked nonstop for the next eight hours, every second seeming like an eternity. We stripped the ship of every source of ready carbon it contained, the food, the sewage, hydroponics… we even scrubbed all the carbon-dioxide out of the atmosphere and shaved people's hair. I even snuck in as much carbon as I dared from the warehouse. Carbon Nanotubes are incredible things. One of the strongest substances in the universe… and, when very very tiny… among the best electrical conductors known. Two and a half millimeters may not seem like much, but when you're talking about nanometer channels for energy, it's bigger than it seems. And we had six shuttle craft./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"One by one we launched the shuttles, each on a slightly different but perfectly parallel course. Four of them trailed tiny tiny wires, whisker thin, as they plowed through the darkness. The other two, the heavy shuttles, carried the last of our precious generators… and me. I knew it was cheating, but I didn't really care. If all else failed, I had a starship inside the warehouse and I'd use it. I didn't know if it would fare any better against the dark matter, but the technology was utterly different and FTL capability wouldn't be needed to rescue the Potemkin. The only reason I hadn't tried it yet was because doing so would pretty much end my career… worth it if it saved my crew-mates, but certainly not if there was another way out… as a last resort, I could just load everyone into my warehouse for the rest of the decade… right?/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We coasted through the darkness, close enough in formation to be able to see each other even through the oppressive fog. Whatever property of the cloud had killed Potemkin's warp drive, also killed our impulse engines fairly quickly, but we'd already built up enough speed, and after what seemed like an eternity, but was probably closer to two hours, we were free of the darkness. One by one we maneuvered the six shuttles into close alignment, killing relative velocity by use of reaction thrusters. Then, carefully, we hooked the tiny wires to the generators… and waited. And waited… and waited./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Two days later, the mothership slowly, achingly slowly, pulled herself free of the grip of the darkness, the trickle of power we'd fed her, bolstered by the output of our own impulse once the residual dark energy had been bled from them, had done the trick. It took nearly a week of heavy maintenance to get the warp drive operational again, and by the time we limped back to a starbase the air almost tasted normal again. For once, I was glad to receive the medal, in this case the Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry. I'd earned it. But I was even more pleased for Zane, who kept polishing his medal and looking insufferably pleased with himself./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I was forced to leap on his back and apply noogies. It's a sibling thing, you wouldn't understand if you don't have one./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2273, January 1st (7 Years, 5 Months, 2 Days)/span/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"By my seventh year in service, I'd finally been promoted to Commander, spending less than a year at Lt. Commander before being booted upstairs. The second promotion in a year's time came about as I was made Potemkin's Chief Medical Officer. I was now, officially, senior staff (I'd been serving as interim chief for nearly three months by that point, but that is, I assure you, the nature of the bureaucratic beast). It is all too common in the military, or any hierarchical power structure, to be below establishment… that is, to have holes in your table of organization. It happens even to Vulcans, as there are seldom enough qualified bodies needed to fill all the slots./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"This is not a bad thing, however. Merely a fact of life, much like how all the most annoying moments in life come about as a result of someone being a right arse when you're in a hurry. Take for instance the events of First January, 2273 by the Human calendar. span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We were on our way from Point A to Point B, the exact details are irrelevant and almost certainly meaningless to you. Suffice to say we were not too terribly far from the Klingon Neutral Zone and leave it at that./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I'd been hearing a strange buzzing noise all day, a noise that was as if someone was speaking in the room just next door and I could almost make out individual words but not quite. As it turns out, all the Vulcans and Betazeds aboard were hearing it too and by the end of Alpha shift, I'd seen each and every one of them. Finally, I took the matter to the Captain… just in time for a blue 5 feet tall Yoda to appear on the bridge./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"He flickered, cleared his throats (I later learned they had two), then said, "My name Is Kaas. [Pronounced somewhere between 'Chase' and 'Case'] I am speaker for the people of Yuria VI. I believe I am speaking to the people of the Federation aboard the vessel named Bodemgin… forgive me if I have pronounced that incorrectly. We can only guess at the pronunciation of your written languages. We are in desperate need of help. A plague has begun to ravage our people and we are at a loss for how to fight it. We know that we have never met you, but we beg of you… your technology is so advanced… please… help us find a cure." He gave a strange headwaggle, what we were to come to know as the Yurian equivalent of a bow, and vanished./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Doctor?" the Captain asked, waving her hand in front of my face./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Ummm… Yes Captain?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""You stopped talking and just stared into space for almost a minute. Are you alright?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I paused, then nodded slowly. Clearly she hadn't seen the visitation. "Yes. I am fine. Please hold on for one second, Captain… and with your permission?" I raised an eyebrow in a questioning way and she, looking a little confused, shrugged. I tapped the all hands button on the arm of the Captain's chair and said, "Any Crew member who has just viewed a distress call from an entity calling itself a Yurian or the Speaker of Yuria VI, please report to the main conference room."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The captain did her best impression of a Vulcan, raising her eyebrow like an old pro. "Distress call?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""I believe so. Psychic in nature. But I do not want to salt the pool. If you would ,Captain?" We headed down to the Conference room where, as expected, every member of the crew with any degree of psychic sensitivity was waiting for us. "Each of you, independently, please grab a pad and record what was communicated to you by this individual. Include a visual description as well, if you would."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The results were, with some expected degree of variation, all remarkably similar. I showed the Captain. "Our presence has been requested."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""What information do we have on Yuria VI?" she asked Daniel Levi, the head of planetary sciences, once he'd been summoned./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""They are a pre-space society which has been visited by traders from both the Federation and Klingon Empire multiple times. As you know, the Prime Directive does not restrict the actions of Federation Citizens, only of Starfleet personnel. They are technologically advanced, comparable to Earth in the decade leading up to the Eugenics War, but they have been so for at least the last two centuries. The people are said to have limited psycho-sensitive abilities."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Thank you." She dismissed him, looking to me. "Well, shit."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Indeed Captain," I agreed. "Coming to the aid of the Yurians would be a violation of General Order One, subsection 15, which prohibits 'Helping a society escape a natural disaster known to the society, even if inaction would result in that society's extinction.' What shall we do?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Would it? They have directly contacted us, asking for our assistance."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""This is true, but it might also be viewed as as a violation of the ban on providing knowledge of technologies and or sciences."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""So you advise against going to the Yurian's aid?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Negative. The needs of the Many outweigh the needs of the Few. Facing a Court Martial for violation of the Prime Directive is a small price to pay to potentially save many lives. As the people of Yuria appear to already know all about us and possess the ability to contact us directly using little more than thought, it can be assumed that their lack of space travel does not represent an ignorance of galactic civilization."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Excellent. Not very proper, but very Vulcan of you. And just what I wanted to hear. Now, go put that in writing and get your department ready." She turned from me. "Helm, set course for Yuria VI."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I'd like to tell you everything went well. I'd like to tell you we arrived in time, cured the plague, and saved all the lives. If you want to believe that, please, skip to the next log. I won't mind./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"When we arrived at Yuria, there was already a ship in orbit. It was Klingon Science Vessel (Yes, they have those… don't look so surprised! The Klingons did become a spacefaring race all on their own, after all.) named the K'Margh. They'd arrived a day earlier. While the shows tend to focus on Klingon Warriors and their grand Klingon Warrior Traditions, the reality is that there are Klingon Bookworms, Klingon Scientists, and Klingon Doctors. They're not… the best… but they are far from the worst. That would be the Pakleds. The Pakleds are literally the worst at everything. They make Ferengi look like charmers./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The K'Margh's crew, a biological survey team, had already begun collecting samples from the afflicted and gotten a jump on sequencing the disease, though they were having considerable problems with getting a clear result. Their chief medical officer, a microbiologist named Dr. Ragawn was friendly enough for a Klingon, but baffled by the almost insane variation in disease samples taken not just from patients across the planet from each other, but often by samples taken from the same victim./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The disease's symptoms were another issue. They seemed almost random, and we rapidly compiled a list of over thirty different common signs and symptoms, with an additional hundred or so less common. It took me longer than I'd have liked to figure out what I was looking at, but by the fifth day, it dawned on me, and by the sixth the tests had come back, letting me know I was right. The disease was a kind of carrier pathogen./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"At the core, it was a bacteria that, rather than weakening the host's immune system directly, picked up and stored any virus it was exposed to in special catch and release pockets on its skin. The Bacteria, which was all but impervious to viral infection on its own, would seed the host with whatever diseases it had, some of them useless against the host, others more effective, and then ride out the ensuing breakdown. The reason we were seeing such a vast array of signs and symptoms was because different viruses had different incubation periods, and different timing, and two different bacterium might have totally different weapon loads./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The riddle of what we were dealing with solved, creating an antibody that could fight the bacterium became our number one priority, while the rest of the ships' crews worked with the Yurians on containment. Thankfully, the Yurians were advanced enough to understand medicine and to have already initiated absolute quarantines on all their far flung communities… but in the centers where the disease had hit first, the deathtolls were mounting./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We did solve the case, Ragawn and I. The Bacterium was resilient, but unicellular life is seldom that advanced and we were able to create a pseudo-virus which would, when introduced into the host, be adsorbed preferentially over any other virus… and once absorbed, be unable to be released again. This would functionally disarm the bacteria. We distributed it to the Yurians… and that's when the first trouble began./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I don't know if the Yurians realized how good our sensors were and just thought we wouldn't care, or if they were genuinely ignorant of our capabilities, but it quickly became evident that they were distributing the agent preferentially. While, yes, it made sense to inoculate those centers where the disease had not yet firmly landed, it became clear that they were essentially abandoning poorer regions entirely./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Now we, the crew of the good ship Potemkin, had a problem. This was an internal social issue and we could not legally interfere. So that's why we used the Klingons. The Klingon Empire had no such compunction, and with a few judicious bribes of… shall we say certain beverages that Captain Sherwood might or might not have had squirreled away that might or might not have been entirely legal… we convinced the K'Margh to beam down some of the agent production units to each of the major regional hospitals. Of course, it didn't take a Betazed to read the Yurian Government's reaction to that, but they maintained an air of civility./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Still, better than a billion people had the disease, and despite our best efforts, it was still spreading. And of course, the viral cocktails made treatment of the sick almost impossible. There was nothing we could do but continue our efforts. Plagues don't have happy endings. In the end, Yuria was more than decimated. Of the planetary population of 8.3 billion, 2/3rds died… almost all of them poor, in poor regions, with limited health care and limited access to food and water. In the major industrial and political regions of the world, the survival rate was 90%. And there was nothing we could do about it./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Dr. Ragawn and I destroyed our samples of the disease and, by mutual agreement, issued a 100 year Quarantine of Yuria. I also did a complete scan of the K'Margh's computer base and discovered that Ragawn's lab assistant was secretly working for Klingon Military Intelligence and had stashed away samples of the disease and the detailed scans of its biology, as well as a recommendation that it be studied for use as a biological warfare agent. I'm sure Ragawn will miss him./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"In the end, both Sherwood and I faced inquests to determine if we'd acted appropriately, and a strongly worded reprimand was placed in each of our files. The Yurian Government awarded the crews of each of the ships that had come to their aid their highest civilian awards. Sherwood and I quietly spaced ours. To this day, I do not know if the Yurians created the plague to rid themselves of excess population or merely used it that way. I do know that, on any other industrial world, the loss of quite so many people would have ruined the economy and plunged the planet into political turmoil. Neither happened on Yuria. Never before have I felt so used, but I remind myself that, for all of that, I did my duty as a doctor and saved as many lives as I could. Perhaps future generations will forgive me for my part, however unwitting, in genocide./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2273, October 22nd (8 Years, 2 Months, 22 Days)/span/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Imagine you're a Starship, cruising through the darkness of space. Imagine that you have a crew of serious, hardworking, and dedicated individuals from a dozen different races. Imagine, one day, you run into a cloud of micro-meteors… and stop dead in space./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Yes. We ran into an anomaly. How unexpected for a Constitution-Class Starship, I hear you saying. That almost never happens. Yes yes, Dr. Sarcasmo, reel it in. After what I assume was the first commercial break, we began to investigate. At first, we had no idea what we were dealing with, but we soon discovered that our warp bubble had been disrupted by the substance of the meteors. It was a material unknown to our science and largely resistant to our scans. Whatever it was, it was not matter as we knew it. Slowly, we tried to back out of the cloud, but it flowed with us, like a spoon dipped in honey. Then the monkeys attacked./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"If only I weren't serious. One moment, we're pulling away from a few hundred million micro-meteors, the next second a swarm of tens of thousands of centimeter high quasi-simian creatures are scrambling over the hull, tugging and ripping at anything exposed. A quick reversal of the hull's polarity later (Shut it! Sometimes you really do have to reverse polarity!) and they'd been flung off and we'd raised our shields. We thought that would be the end of it. But then the monkeys became cavemen and started beating on our shields with their fists… which didn't work, so they manufactured clubs… which didn't work either, but put an actual strain on our shields./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Over the course of the first thirty hours, the swarm evolved, steadily, from monkeys to bigger monkeys to cavemen to zulu warriors to greek hoplites to roman legionaries. And their numbers were increasing. From an initial batch of perhaps 30,000, there were soon over a million of the tiny things, smashing their weapons against the shields as the engineering crews worked to figure out why our warp bubble wasn't forming./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"By the time we hit the hundred hour mark, they'd evolved into musket men (taking a brief detour into knights, then samurai, then conquistadors. Of course, the resemblances weren't perfect, and these are just the names the History Department and I came up with as we observed, not wishing to harm the essentially harmless beings. By the time there were a billion of them, around the middle of Day Five, I realized they had to be a strange kind of Von Neumann machine. They'd also evolved into tiny little soldiers in fatigues with machine guns that fired infinitesimal bullets that individually would perhaps sting to be hit with, but at the numbers we were being hit with, they were actually causing our shields to fluctuate./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We began to worry about the middle of Day Seven when they started developing laser weapons and there were more than a trillion of them and we'd made no progress. I'm sorry to say that, it took me until Day Nine, when they had evolved to the point that there were roughly a quadrillion of them, each in their own tiny little space fighter, all blasting away at us with protonic weaponry, to figure out what was going on. "Where are they getting all that energy from?", I asked myself… and then it hit me./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Kill the Warp Field!" I said, rushing onto the bridge./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""We don't have a Warp Field!" the Captain shot back, "That's the problem!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Yes… Yes we do. We're still generating it. That's why we can't bring it up. They're absorbing it. It's what's allowed them to evolve so quickly, and what powers their weapons. It also might be why they're so aggressive."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"She gave the order, though we didn't lower our shields, and slowly, the endless siege stopped. I sighed. After a very long pause, the microfighters pulled back, swarming together. They made a giant head, moving as a single swarm, collectively a couple thousand times the volume of Potemkin. The head considered us for many long moments, then slowly condensed into a single massive moonsized rock and, after spitting out a small copy of Potemkin… warped away./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""They left us a copy of ourselves?" the helmsmen asked, incredulously./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Captain and I shared a look, and I nodded. She smirked. "Open fire, full spread. Vaporize it."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We'll never know if it was a trap or not, but the wisdom of the Ancients still holds. 'Beware of Von Neumann Machines bearing Gifts.'… or Gifts bearing Von Neumann Machines. Either way… some gifts carry too high a price. There's a lesson in that, probably./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2274, September 19th (9 Years, 1 Month, 19 Days)/span/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Here's a question for you: When does a criminal society cross the line into being an actual society? That question is never straight forward, and when the people asking are members of Starfleet, it has special significance… and special pressure./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Sharing a common border with the Klingons and the Federation lies a multi-system polity known colloquially as The Orion Syndicate. Some would call them a nation. Others would call them criminals and thugs. The Orions claimed neither, just the right to rule their own worlds… and peddle drugs, slaves, and weapons all across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. They supported piracy, they kidnapped, blackmailed, and spied. But they largely did so with proxies and were, if not liked, at least respected by their own people. At least the free ones./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We were coming back from one of the infrequent but routine diplomatic rendezvous with our counterparts in Klingon Space, leaving the Neutral Zone behind us as we began our slow return to Earth for the end of our second 5 year mission, when a small space freighter hailed us, sending out a targeted distress signal. It was suffering engine trouble and was calling for any Federation vessel./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We arrived less than forty-five minutes later, having briefly jumped to maximum warp, and slowed just in time to see three small attack craft decloak and begin firing at the freighter. They weren't even vaguely a match for our systems and we rapidly disabled them, then rescued the freighter's crew and passengers, who turned out to be a couple of Pakleds and three dozen Orion females, all attractive, young, and bearing the indications of being slave girls, though they'd changed out of their slave garb and into working jumpsuits. Our security forces also boarded the attackers and discovered they too were crewed by Orions, all of them male, tough, and lacking any identification as military. Rather, they carried civilian ID, which made them pirates. /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"We arrested them and seized their vessels, which we tractored to our hull as we headed for the nearest starbase to drop them off. I may have taken advantage of the situation to study… and then subsequently duplicate their cloaking devices, which were clearly illicitly acquired Klingon Military models, but I hazarded a guess that they were a generation old at least./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Still, using my scans and the replicator system I'd spent the better part of the last decade building and refining, it was fairly easy to both create a functional duplicate as well as gain a detailed understanding of the process by which it worked. Creating the replicator really wasn't that much of a leap forward; the Federation of Kirk's time was already using a similar system for food synthesis and a separate and much larger and simpler system for general fabrication. All I'd had to do was refine the systems, compact them, and link resultant machine to basic building block supplies… which now took up quite a large section of my smaller drydock, where it had fabricated any number of things, including a warp core, deflector array, and nacelles for the Black Jenny. That was soon bolstered by the addition of a cloaking device./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"A holodeck is not a hard thing to build either. All it takes is holo-emitters, computing power, and a knowledge of forcefield physics. In fact, the only real trouble I faced in all of this, besides fitting research and development time into my not unbusy schedule, was getting my hands on enough dilithium to last me until I could find a way to either replace it or create my own./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Oddly enough, my reasons for pressing ahead with the creation of the holodeck was my evil twin, who I was, despite the fact that she was ruthless, unethical, and murderous, hesitant to kill. She was what I could have been without too much of a paradigm shift, and yet I had her locked in a cage from which I never, ever, let her out. I couldn't take any chances with her. Sure, the cage had been moved to one of the bedrooms (it didn't take a technical genius to transform part of the housing complex into a functional brig), and I'd asked Uriel to speak with her, to get a sense of her. His report was far from glowing. He compared her to Mehrunes Dagon… and not favorably. Alternate Spock she was not. Joseph Mengele would have been horrified by her disdain for life./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Regardless, I wanted to improve her quality of life, while I figured out what to do with her, though I was more and more tempted just to fire her into the heart of a star with every encounter. I wasn't exactly innocent in this. Anesthetizing a kidnapped prisoner and performing unauthorized plastic surgery on her was a violation of medical ethics on a pretty severe scale, but there was no way I was going to allow her to continue wearing my face, cyborged up or not./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Still, as long as no one found out, I wouldn't have to give back my various awards… which by this point included the Vulcanian Scientific Legion of Honor for my work in the field of Ethical Calculus, the Carrington Award for my work in creating the first universal vaccine for the common cold, the Zee-Magnees Prize for my work with monopole magnets, and the Nobel Prizes in both Physics (for my work on warp manifold efficiency) and in Medicine (for my work in auto-diagnostics). Perhaps the strangest of my awards was the Star of Khaless for my work on Ultar and Yuria. The invitation, which had come from Klingon Chancellor himself, had stunned the Federation Council when the Klingon Ambassador delivered it in person on the Assembly floor. Not only was I the first Vulcan ever to be so honored, but the first Medical Doctor. It was a very strange ceremony, as I listened to the Chancellor praise my valor against the forces of our mutual and age old enemy, disease…. And then he pinched my ass. Only Klingons could think a foreign military officer decking their Chancellor in front of a public audience was funny. The Chancellor thought I was flirting with him and offered to continue the fight in private. Klingons… Oy./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"But that was for later. For now, we had to deal with the Orions. As we arrived at Starbase 16, we discovered that the Orion Military had beaten us there, and they were demanding the return of their ships, their men, and the runaway slaves. The ex-slaves were, of course, requesting asylum. And now we've come full circle on the issue at hand./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"For you see, among the former slaves was one Zhavva and, according to both her and Starfleet Intelligence, she was the leader of a massive slave rebellion among the Orions. According to the Orions, she was a criminal, a terrorist, a saboteur, a thief, and a murderess. But one man's terrorist is another's patriot, right? And General Order One was very much in play. I won't go into detail over much over the many many long and intricate debates we had about what we dared or did not dare do, over the ethics and morality of the issues, and (less officially) over how attractive she and her companions were./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The crew was firmly on the rebels' side, as were most of the officers… okay, all of the officers. Absolutely no one thought the Orions were in the right. But the legality of the issue was… tricky. And we were told a special legal envoy from Starfleet's JAG office was being dispatched to deal with the issue./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The Captain called me and Zane into her day room. "Okay, you two. You've managed to pull off any number of strange and only partially explained miracles over the years. We need one of those now."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Zane said, "We could pull an 'I am Spartacus'!"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Captain Sherwood smirked. "They were all executed."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Well, umm… we could blow up the Orion's ship and pretend it was an accident?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""Try again."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"While Zane was thinking, I suggested, "We could stage a jailbreak, then, while the slaves stole the cloaked fighters, get in the way while trying to help capture them?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;""That might work, but what if the Orion ship can track them through the cloak?"/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I gave her a smirk "I'll make sure that's not the case. Give me… two hours."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"She nodded and I went to get Zhavva and explained the situation to her… and then I gave her an unexpected additional offer. "Look, there's a chance the escape won't work. I cannot be certain my modifications will work, but there is a place aboard this ship that no one else knows about besides me and my… associates. We do a little… off the books transportation from time to time. I can hide you there, in medical stasis, for a couple weeks, until we reach our next port of call. There I can drop you off without anyone else knowing and you'll be free to resume your activities."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"She considered, then shook her head "Tempting… but my companions are also my friends. My life is nothing compared to the cause… and truth be told, I'm no brilliant warleader. I'm more in the nature of charismatic figurehead. But it's nice of you to offer. You Vulcans have a reputation for even dealing… nice to know you can be sneaky sometimes."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I smirked. "You have no idea."/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"I cannot say there was no attraction between the two of us, nor can I claim that nothing had transpired between me and the attractive, cunning, and daring rebel leader in the days leading up to the escape, but we had a time limit. Zane and the gang were carrying out a little unauthorized modification of the Orion warship. Did you know that nacelles are often held on by explosive bolts so that they can be jettisoned if they destabilize?/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The jailbreak escape went off without a hitch, at least from our side, the slavegirls used their wiles to distract our crewmen and beamed aboard the small ships, we moved to intercept, accidentally blocking the warship's firing solutions, and then, once the Orions' had discovered the rebels' sabotage, towed the now Nacelle-less ship back to the starbase, just in time for the JAG representative to arrive and yell at us./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"He yelled a lot more a day later when the Orion ship, in the process of reattaching their finally recovered nacelles, discovered further sabotage that forced the entire crew to abandon ship as the corridors filled with a semi-toxic gas that turned their normally green skin purple and made their voices sound all high and squeaky. Once aboard the Spacestation, it was discovered that most of the Orion crew were wanted in various systems and many of them had false IDs, and the ship, now empty, was declared derelict and seized, then searched, where it was discovered they were carrying contraband. So they were, their Captain included, arrested, creating a massive diplomatic incident (and supplying me with quite a number of useful and highly illegal or restricted goods… after all, what were the Orions going to say? "No your honor! There weren't two crates of Romulan Ale! There were fifty!" I think not. Also, three Orion warp capable shuttlecraft / smuggler vessels, all loaded with contraband would do wonders to bolster my fleet). Stealing isn't nice… but stealing from criminals is at least fun./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"JUMPER's LOG, Star Date 2275, July 30 (9 Years, 11 Month, 364 Days)/span/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Every party has to end. By long standing tradition, my adventures always ended on a beach. This time, that beach was on Risa. My friends and I raised our glasses in a final toast to Starfleet, while the Redshirt brigade compared all the various ways they'd been killed. Out of a sense of completionism, I'd already accepted a position at Oxford, where, in theory, S'Janus would be teaching a postgraduate slate of courses in Xenobiology, Artificial Intelligence, and Medical Diagnostics. I'd also be giving a series of public lectures on interspecies ethics and responsible stewardship. It sounded like she'd be having an interesting couple of decades, and I was, for once, almost tempted to stick around. But, as they say, 'Time and Tide Wait For No Vulcan', and I couldn't stay. Perhaps someday a TNG jump would cross my desk and I'd return, or I'd get bored enough to choose to use the Return from the Warehouse. But either way, I wouldn't be the same person then that I am now./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"Of course… that's true for everyone. We are constantly reinventing ourselves in new ways, discovering new depths and experiencing new things. That is, after all, the point of life. Me and my friends, we just did it a bit more rapidly than most… and to a greater extreme./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"The last few seconds of TOS ticked away and, once again, the world froze and the Pillars rose. "Thank you for playing, please exit the reality," I said, then raised one last toast to Starfleet, so much better in real life than the original series had made it seem… and so much worse as well. Ah well, that's reality for you./span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: underline;"WORLD 8? Not Quite/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"As my squad and I re-entered the Warehouse, which we'd collectively decided to call "Home Two" a few years earlier, just after we'd finished actually building the Warehouse Suites out of 23rd century ship parts, it was to the sound of Harpsichord music… which is odd because I don't own a harpsichord and don't particularly care for their sound. I drew my wand and motioned everyone forward quietly as my left hand iced over and we moved towards the house./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Welcome, Welcome, and Be ye Welcome!" came a voice floating out of my long long distant childhood. I blinked, surprise breaking through my calm, as I beheld William Campbell, blue coat, ascot, and pompadour, sitting at a, yes, harpsichord./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Trelane?!" I gasped, "What the hell?/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Now now, that's no way for a Vulcan to speak," The Squire of Gothos chided./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""My apologies, your brattiness. But primus, why are you in my home, and secundus, how are you in my home?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""I'm Trelane! I can do anything! And You came to my Universe and didn't even say hi? I was slighted! Slighted I say! I demand satisfaction."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"I groaned "Oh shut up. It was TOS. Kirk encountered you, not me."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""But you could have. You could have joined Enterprise and visited me."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Look, Q Junior. Go away. I've got a month of very serious lounging planned and I don't want to deal with you… Or Corbin, or John."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Who?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Q or Q."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Oh. Them. Right. Good Call. Anyway, I think Q is bugging someone else right now. But Q's free. I can go get him if you like?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""I'm sure you could," I drawled, marginally amused to find that I could somehow know exactly which Q was which as this bizarre conversation continued. "But no thanks."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Okay… but next time you're in my neighborhood, you have to promise to play with me. The Q are sooo boring!" I groaned, which he seemed to take as agreement. "Oh, and I have a letter for you from a mutual friend."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""We don't have any mutual friends."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Well, he's a friend of mine. He was a little annoyed you stabbed him with your Goblin Sword."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""I stabbed a lot of people with my Goblin Sword. I may have been drunk, but I wasn't murderous. Almost all of them deserved it. And I healed and usually apologize to those who didn't."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Well, Shiggy says he was just minding his own business when you snuck up behind him and asked him to say hello to your little friend."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Shiggy? Do you mean Sheogorath? He… I… well… yes, technically that did happen." I said, somewhat sheepishly. "But he was trying to destroy reality… or at least making my hangover so much worse. Plus, I didn't kill him. Just… made an introduction."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Yeah, well, he says he's expecting you, next time you swing through."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""I don't think that's going to happen. To either you or him."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"Trelane smirked, "Oh. You'd be surprised. We've pulled some strings. Keep on Jumping, and both of us will see you again."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Trying to tempt me to go home are you?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Naw. You try that before coming by for a visit and we might have to visit you instead."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"I shuddered at the chaos that Trelane and Sheogorath would cause on my home reality, then smirked. "You could run for president. Better than some of the jokers who are doing so right now."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""You wouldn't like me as President."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Probably true. Now, would you kindly leave."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""I'm only going because I want to, not because you've conditioned me to obey your commands whenever you say Would You Kindly." I rolled my eyes, and when they returned to their original positions, TOQ and his harpsichord were gone. My companions rushed in then, as if they'd been caught in temporal fly paper./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"I sighed, then had a horrible thought and snapped, "Victoria! Status of the Prisoner?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"My Omni-VI, now operating in a Magitek-OmniGel FTL field that was one step short of a true Quantum Field, said, "Evil S'Janus is no longer in her cell. A Baboon wearing a Tutu and a Tricorn has replaced her."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"I shuddered, not looking forward to finding out what Q-T and Shiggy had planned with my evil cyborg counterpart, but knowing that, like it or not, I was going to find out at the worst possible moment./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Zane? Have the Vending Machines shown up yet?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Yup. They're in Chinese. And there's an empty wooden rack next to them."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"This I had to see. I went into the warehouse proper. The Vending Machines of Destiny had been installed in their own awning that looked like a bus stop this time, with the words 'CHOOSE YOUR FATE!' in flashing Neon above them. Next to them, just outside the alcove, was the kind of wooden rack you find in tourist hotels, the kind that carry brochures and pamphlets about all the local attractions. It was currently empty, but had a sign on it that said 'Coming Soon'. I wondered what that was all about, but turned my attention back to the machines, then almost squealed with glee./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Ranma!? The next jump is Ranma? Woooo!" It is possible I may have done a little dance at that point./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"Zane bopped me. "The show with the all the pervy fanfics you like so much?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"I nodded happily, then said, "Heeeey! Not all the fanfics I like are pervy! Some of them are just a little naughty. And most of them are actual improvements on the writing of the original show!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Like the one where Ranma's a ditzy blonde?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""That's parody."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Or the one where she's a lesbian?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Also parody."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Or the one where she's Sailor Sun?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""That's a crossover. And yeah, those were pretty good. A little wrong, but good."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""How about the one where Ranma had a little sister who was the martial artist while he was the geek? The one where he definitely wasn't sleeping with the sexy little sister… but wanted to."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Careful Destiny was cool! Shame it tapered out."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Yeah, and you've read the official unofficial lemon section how many times?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""It was hot!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""You're a perv."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Thbbbt."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Very Logical."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Bite me!" Word to the wise… Never tell a Lucario to bite you. Owww./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""How about Girl Days, or Burlesque, or Genma's Daughter, or… what was your favorite one called… Couch Trips?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Hey, Couch Trips was cool. They all needed therapy. Look. Ranma ½ is possibly the best example of a great setting and great characters being utterly wasted by an author who doesn't a) think of them as more than gag-delivery vehicles and b) doesn't really understand the cultural and social impact of what she's writing. It's like Orson Scott Card and Ender's Game. Great book, but the writer is a bit of a tool. Same with Watchmen, V For Vendetta, and anything else Alan Moore has ever created. Or Narnia."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Yeah, Yeah. Well, this isn't Fanfic Ranma. This is Canon Ranma. Wacky Hijinks and all."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"I sighed. "Yeah… just have to hope it's the manga and not the Anime. There were some really stupid Anime episodes."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;""Bet it's both. We're going to be there for 10 years."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #303030; text-align: justify;"I nodded, "Well, let's see what we've got."/p