Chapter 6 – Iterations
The head of Section 31, Admiral Harriet Caul, stared at the PADD in front of her. "A time traveler, eh? Well, that throws a spanner in the works." She peered at the device more closely. "So if this is – allegedly – the wrong iteration, then there's got to be some major interference that made our timeline just jump the track like this. And whatever it is, I'd say it's got what to do with that radiation band cycling."
She clicked around on her desktop unit, engaging communications. "Full encryption, through the maximum number of layers."
Working.
"There seems to be a temporal dislocation here, on our side of the proverbial pond. It might or might not be affecting your mission. As for the deposed emperor, I suspect his activities aren't helping matters any. So kindly get him to cease and desist, at least for the time being, until this is worked out. The Enterprise-E is going to one of the systems on our side that's affected. I would rather that they didn't get a visit from the twenty centimeter radiation band, the so-called Mirror Universe, just yet. You'll have to assure the restoration in some other way. Send back the usual acknowledgements through the usual encrypted and diverted channels. End transmission."
She shook her head. "I knew there'd be problems with this," she said to no one. "But a temporal dislocation? That is assuming Richard Daniels is telling anything at all near the truth. It's certainly the most reasonable explanation for his radiation band. And I would know about it, if there had been any other crossovers, in either direction."
=/\=
On Lafa II, in the Mirror Universe, Admiral Carmen Calavicci made her deliveries and was unmolested. She stopped at a large outdoor market. "I beg your pardon," she said to a large copper-colored Calafan fellow who was sitting near the entrance and whittling something or other. "Are there any of the homeless, you know, the stateless among us, who come through here, ever?"
"Stateless?" he asked, stopping what he was doing. His almost Irish-sounding brogue was a sure sign of an origin on Lafa V. He then flicked his finger at her, twice, which was a kind of silent catcall.
"Yes, well," Carmen fought to not become flustered or irritated by the man's less than fully welcome attentions. "I've often wondered about such things, seeing as I'm a bit stateless myself."
"Do you need a home? I could have my wife move over in our bed," he joked.
"No, thanks. All I want to know is if you've seen any bloody hu – I mean, Terrans, any stateless or impoverished Terrans?"
"A few. They come when the market is closing up for the day. We give away the last of the food so that we don't have to pack it up."
"Is one of them a middle-aged, dark-haired chap? His eyebrows might angle just a touch, as he has a smidge of Vulcan in him."
"A picture would be helpful."
Carmen had a 31st century PADD that had been camouflaged to resemble the technology of the time period. She pulled it out and clicked around until she found what she was looking for – an image of Charles Tucker XI, who had been known as Charles VI, the Emperor of Terra and its many conquests and provinces. "Here." It was an image of Charles during better days.
"The Terran Emperor!" The Calafan erupted in a deep belly laugh. "If he's here, then he's got a substantial price on his head. Tell me, have you an inkling as to where he might be? I'd love to put a new extension on my home with the reward money."
"It was just a shot in the dark. Oh, look at the time!" She feigned glancing at a wall display behind the man's head. "I've got deliveries to make. Ta."
Once she was in her vehicle – the Calafans still had some delivery vans – she said aloud to no one, "After hours, eh? You might not be coming here yourself, Eleven, but I'll wager you've got someone else who does. As they say, I shall return."
=/\=
Caul picked up a message in her office. "How very interesting." It said –
There seems to be strain here between Madden and Porter. It threatens to interfere with their cooperation.
As for my other task, I can report that the Emperor in exile is in a secure location. He has hired Porter's Mirror counterpart to handle all mundane tasks so he can remain hidden. Tamsin Jennifer Porter goes by Jennifer or Jenn on that side, and seems to believe that she will become the Empress once the interregnum is concluded. Charles XI has elected not to disabuse her of this notion, at least not as of yet.
Caul tapped out a secured response for an encrypted transmission. It said –
Determine whether Daniels has a counterpart or another temporal operative working on the other side of the pond. We cannot allow them to interfere with our mission, to force an early end to the Mirror Universe interregnum and thereby eviscerate the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.
Report all progress, positive or negative, at once.
Satisfied with the message, she sent it. Then she commanded, "Computer, get me all information that we have on time travel."
=/\=
Richard Daniels was back on his ship, as it was nighttime again. "Computer," he commanded, "give me whatever's in the Master Time File about the Section's investigations into pulse shots, ionization diffusers, and radiation band cycling."
After a few moments, the ship's computer responded –
Ready.
"In the original history, what did the Section know about ionization diffusers, and when did they know it?"
In the original history, Section 31 conducted some unsuccessful experiments with ionization diffuser technologies and cloaking technologies. These failures were covered up, as Section 31 was in breach of the Treaty of Algeron and this activity threatened relations between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. In 2379, Section 31 learned of the existence of the Cookie and its late inventor, the Gorn, Szish. An operative was hired to pose as an athlete and get onto Dana MacKenzie's team. The operative's chief purpose was to observe and investigate the ionization diffuser and send data and images to Admiral Harriet Caul, the head of the Section at that time. The intention was to attempt to reverse engineer the device but not reveal any intent to circumvent the treaty.
"Right, yeah; what about pulse shots?"
The existence and use of pulse shots was not known during this time in history, except as engineering trivia. It was felt, at the time, that pulse shots were merely evidence of improperly aligned pulse cannons, and nothing more. When pulse cannons were eventually replaced by phasers and photon torpedoes, the means of creating and sustaining pulse shots was mainly lost. A pulse shot's ability to create a transuniversal rift was only known to a few. For transuniversal hybrid engineer Geordi LaForge, the aftermath from a pulse shot was only known to have been a means of interphasing in time. LaForge did not at that time understand the universe-crossing application of pulse shots. This engineer's understanding of that secondary application was attained, according to records, at the time that the radiation band cycling issues were encountered by the Enterprise-E.
"Speaking of that," Rick commanded, "tell me about Section 31 and radiation band cycling."
As a part of investigating transuniversal crossovers and time travel, and as a hoped-for means of controlling both, Section 31 began to experiment with chi spectrum radiation. When combined with a modified pulse cannon, a chi radiation pulse shot was thereby created. Such a hybrid expulsion of energy opened a portal to the Mirror Universe and to other radiation bands as well, in a random fashion. When the application was discovered, these experiments were discontinued in the 21 centimeter radiation band universe. However, in the 20 centimeter band radiation universe, colloquially known as the Mirror Universe, the result was replicated, and a regular cycle of chi radiation was pumped out of a modified pulse cannon.
"Where did this happen?"
On Lafa II, near Point Abic.
"Who did this? And why?"
The Mirror Universe inventor of radiation band cycling was one Tamsin Jennifer Porter, known as Jenn or Jennifer in that universe. Porter's motivation was evidently a desire to minimize the interregnum and speed up the restoration of the Emperor Charles VI to the Mirror Universe's Terran Empire throne.
"What's in it for Tamsin? I mean, Jennifer?"
That specific information is not available in the Master Time File.
"Okay, got it. But she's not doing this for her health, I'll bet. Maybe Tamsin – eh, Jenn – maybe she thinks she'll be the next Empress? It's not like Charlie Eleven's got any prospects. He's not situated like Charlie X and the others were." Rick thought for a moment. "I'd better contact Carmen. This is gonna be tricky. Heh, I don't normally suggest to my own boss that she seduce anyone. She is so not gonna like the idea of that. Computer?"
Working.
"How is it possible for Tamsin Jennifer Porter to have a counterpart? Doug Hayes didn't have any kids in the Mirror. Or did he?"
That question will now be investigated. Genetics and family tree records will be compared. It is estimated that this investigation will take several hours and will be run in the background.
"Okay. In the meantime, I gotta figure the Mirror Universe Tamsin Porter isn't a perfect match. After all, Hayes and Madden weren't on the ISS Defiant at the same time, and O'Day died young. But that's the original MU history. Damn, if Porter is a Hayes descendant, and she and Charlie Eleven have a kid? We'd be talking genius conquerors. They'd be good at nearly anything they touched, I'll bet." He sighed. "Okay, let's think positively. There are a lotta balls in play right now. Heh, play. Dana MacKenzie could sure help with that. Computer?"
Ready.
"Compare iterations of Dana MacKenzie. Include not only the original and current versions, but the other twelve this agent has, heh, encountered."
In the twelve alternate iterations this agent has experienced so far, the following observations have been made of Dana MacKenzie:
· Eight such iterations appeared to be clinically depressed, whereas three were righteously angry. The eleventh iteration was not observed long enough to determine which emotional state was predominant
· In six of the iterations, MacKenzie was in a relationship with MACO Major Emmett Kent Hoberman. In four such instances, Hoberman was stationed on Keto-Enol. In the remaining two, Hoberman was stationed on Andoria, as in the original history. Twice, the relationship was that of an engagement; for both such variants, Major Hoberman was stationed on Keto-Enol.
· For the other six iterations, MacKenzie was in a relationship with Security Crewman Darren Shaw. Shaw was stationed on the Enterprise-E, whereas in the original history, Shaw was a member of MacKenzie's Black Sheep sports team. In the current iteration, Shaw is a ship's counselor, covering the night shift.
· For all twelve iterations, MacKenzie was in a close relationship with her half-second cousin, Martin Douglas Madden. The Madden-MacKenzie relationship was considered to be a threat in one iteration, and the MacKenzie-Hoberman engagement was broken as a direct result of such threats.
· In four iterations – two while in a non-affianced relationship with Hoberman, once while engaged to Hoberman (the same instance as when the engagement was broken due to Hoberman jealousy regarding Madden), and once while in a casual relationship with Shaw, MacKenzie took part in a brief fling with Temporal Agent Richard Daniels.
"Yeah, heh." Rick smiled to himself. "You're some piece of work, Dana. I can tell you're unhappy here."
=/\=
In Martin Madden's quarters, he tossed and turned, unable to get to sleep. He finally engaged his communicator. "Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie – get me her voice mail, please."
"Marty?" Dana answered, a little groggily.
"Oh, Mystic, I didn't mean to wake you. I'm sorry."
"That's okay." She yawned. "What's up?"
"I just – all I can think of is this alternate timeline that we're supposed to be living in. Do you think Rick Daniels is telling the whole truth about it?"
"I, I just don't know, Straight Arrow."
"Then there are the other universes, and our family tree. Mystic, our lives are upside-down."
"It's funny," she said, now fully awake. "See, I have times where I just feel like I don't, I don't belong. Every now and then, I want to just chuck it all and play baseball. I guess maybe I did, in some other timeline."
"Or maybe it was in some other universe. You think the varying universes are just alternate timelines?"
"I dunno, Marty. All I know for certain is that a timeline isn't right unless we're together."
They were both quiet for a moment. "I feel the same way, Mystic."
"Daniels keeps talking about the main timeline, but I just, well, Marty, should we be buying what it is he's trying to sell us?"
=/\=
Rick lay down but he couldn't sleep, either. "I gotta contact Carmen and this is the only way. Computer?"
Ready.
"Is it possible that any part of this temporal dislocation is due to the temporal cold war that was waged by the Suliban?" There was a pause as the ship's computer checked its records.
The Suliban as a race are no longer waging the temporal cold war. However, the operative colloquially known as 'Future Guy' has not yet been vanquished. It is possible that he is behind at least some of these issues.
"Give me all available information on Future Guy."
There is speculation that this operative is at least part-human or part-Terran, due to his fascination with the 21 centimeter radiation band universe's history of Earth. Others speculate that this so-called Future Guy is all or part-Romulan, as there is also an interest in Romulan and Reman affairs, particularly in the Nero-led alternative timeline.
"What's the most reasonable explanation for both of these ideas?" The computer weighed the evidence before it responded.
The probability is at 92% that this so-called Future Guy is two persons.
"Well, I'll be damned."