Chapter IV
He paused for a moment, rising from beneath the console and then tapping his combadge and answering, "La Forge here; go ahead, sir." "Lieutenant Commander, I was just speaking with Counselor Troi and she told me that she's been experiencing several temporal anomalies. I'd appreciate it if you checked for chronoton particles and localize the source of the disturbance. There may be more than one since the Counselor and the Doctor have both been affected at different times and places," the Captain explained. "Understood, sir; I'll get right on it," he replied and then walked over to his partner and said, "Well, Reg; looks like our pleasure cruise is taking a turn for the worse." Barclay paused for a moment, clearly showing a hint of his usual nervousness and then stating, "What do you mean, sir?"
"Just got word from the bridge, apparently we've encountered a temporal anomaly of some sort," Geordi answered and then gestured for his comrade to follow him. Reg did so, grabbing his tricorder and then moving towards the warp core. "This will be a good place to start," La Forge decided. His companion did a quick scan and then paused, asking, "Could you remind me how exactly we're going to deal with this once we find it, sir?"
"Well, depending on the size; it might be possible to use a forcefield to collapse it. Of course, we'd also have to match its frequency precisely. Based on what the Captain said, it sounds like there may be an underlying cause which is accelerating the propagation of the disturbance. However, since our sensors haven't detected anything around us; we could be dealing with a malfunctioning system which may mean that we'd have to perform a sweep of the entire ship. I don't want anything like that getting near the warp core," he answered as they finished their examination of the central mechanism; then pointed towards a nearby Jeffries tube and stated, "Looks like this place is clear, let's go check the plasma conduits."
Barclay nodded in agreement and then Geordi opened the hatch and crawled in. Reg came in after him and commented, "Do you suppose that this will interfere with the negotiations?"
"I don't know… this sort of thing can get nasty if you don't stop it quickly. Remember that time the Enterprise-D assisted a Romulan vessel which was having engine trouble a little over five years ago? If we're not careful, the whole crew could easily get stuck between one moment and the next," he explained and then paused as they arrived at the first conduit and added, "And believe me, the last thing we want is pieces of the Enterprise floating around in space."
Reg's face turned pale at the remark and then Geordi chuckled and said, "Relax, things aren't nearly that serious yet. I'm sure that we can handle this." His subordinate nodded, scanned the area and said, "I'm detecting a large quantity of chronotons nearby."
La Forge nodded, entering the access room and then paused at the scene in front of him. He tapped his combadge and stated, "La Forge to Captain Picard; sir, we've found something you might want to come see." "What is it, Mister La Forge?" the reply came. "I'm not exactly sure, but it looks like we've got a stowaway," Geordi answered.
"Understood, I'll be there shortly," Picard said and then he stated to their unexpected visitor, "Okay, just follow us." The man did so without comment and Geordi saw that Barclay was watching him to make sure the stranger didn't try anything. Finally reaching main engineering, he grabbed a phaser from a nearby locker; noting the Reg did the same as he said, "I'd suggest that you don't make any sudden moves."
Now that they were back in the light, he took a moment to look the man over. His hair was just starting to gray despite the fact that he didn't look over thirty years old and he had a few wrinkles beginning to form here and there across his face. He wore a uniform that Geordi wasn't familiar with, made of blue fabric adorned with gold bars that started below the chin and ran across his shoulders.
His rank insignia showed he was merely an ensign, but one thing was clear; he was definitely from Starfleet. Just then, the doors to engineering opened and both the Captain and Data entered; then moved towards them. Reg stood aside to allow the Captain to speak to their visitor and La Forge explained, "We found him in the access room close to the plasma conduits.
Not quite sure how he got there, but we detected quite a few chronotons down there as well. I'll check it out as soon as possible." "How did you get onboard my ship?" Picard demanded. "I understand your concerns, Captain. But I can explain everything. My name is Daniels and I am a member of Section 31," the intruder replied. The Captain evidently considered what their mysterious guest said and then stated, "I have heard of the group before and I have found my previous encounters with them distasteful at best. If you don't explain why you're here, I'll have no choice but to confine you to the brig." "But sir! You mustn't go to Cardassia Prime!"Daniels blurted out, trying to grab Picard by the arm.
Impulsively, Reg aimed his phaser; stunning the Ensign and then the Captain shook his head and stated, "I'd best speak with our guests about this development. Data, take him to the brig and then meet me in the conference room."
"Understood, sir; although it might be helpful if I can share my personal observations once I arrive. They may prove useful in dealing with our situation," the android replied and then hauled Daniels off. Geordi shook his head in amazement and then the Captain paused, turning around and said, "Continue with your search; hopefully he didn't damage anything."
"I'm on it," he replied and then turned to Reg, who rapidly put down the phaser before commenting, "I'm sorry… the Captain- he- there was no-" "You don't have to apologize for that, Reg. The Captain's safety is one of our top priorities and who knows what that guy would've done? For now, we'd best return to our job," he stated. "What do you suppose Mister Data observed that we didn't?" Barclay asked as they continued scanning other sections of the vessel.
Geordi chuckled and said, "Funny that you should ask. Data always has about twenty different things going through his head, maybe more. One time I asked him to give me some ideas on what to feed Spot while he went away for a while. In return I got a list of over three hundred nutritional supplements that he'd devised and his analysis of the reactions Spot had to each." Barclay nodded nervously and then they continued with their work. "Looks like there isn't any danger of our mysterious anomalies forming down here. The amount of chronoton particles has decreased significantly," Geordi commented.
"Do you suppose that Daniels was the source of particles?" Reg asked. La Forge paused at the suggestion and then said, "You might be on to something there. Let's go check the plasma conduits again and see if there's a change." Barclay nodded and then the two of them returned to the Jeffries tube. As they crawled along, Reg stated, "I was wondering… well, I'm not sure if this is the time to bring it up…" "Go ahead, I won't bite," Geordi promised as they reached the place where their uninvited passenger had been found and began examining it. "I've been thinking about this for some time and I'd like to request a transfer," Barclay explained.
La Forge faced him, noting that his friend was sweating even though it was cool in the chamber. "You're serious about this? I thought you liked it here," he remarked, confirming his friend's hypothesis and replacing the tricorder on his belt. "It's not that… I mean, I appreciated the chance to work at Jupiter Station right after the loss of the Enterprise-D and I've been thinking that I might do better on a research project than a starship," Reg told him, speaking rapidly as though he was afraid he wouldn't be able to explain himself if he did otherwise.
"If that is what you want, I'll put a recommendation in your file whenever you like. But it won't be the same without you," Geordi told him, opening the hatch in the floor and glancing downwards before starting his descent. Barclay followed, observing, "It's generous of you to say that, sir… but we both know I'm not entirely comfortable dealing with reality."
La Forge smiled, recalling that Reg had engrossed himself in numerous holodeck programs for a time until circumstances had shown him the need to deal with his actual problems. His friend had coped well over the years since then, although he remained something of a hypochondriac and doubted his skills. Geordi was willing to bet that it was merely Reg's nervousness about what they were facing that motivated his outburst.
"Tell you what, if you would still like to do this once we're done with the negotiations; I won't stand in your way," he offered.
"I'd appreciate that, sir," Barclay told him as they reached the next deck. La Forge began his search, noting that his tricorder was only picking up the usual array of emissions from the Enterprise and the two of them. "We've covered the important areas. Let's start a level 1 diagnostic to see if our systems have been compromised," Geordi directed, climbing towards the upper floor once more with Reg following dutifully. Upon arriving in main engineering after exiting the Jeffries tube, he strode over to a nearby terminal and input his request.
While the onboard systems stared to run tests of themselves, La Forge sighed wearily. It would take several hours to finish the examination and there was little he could do to speed the process. "Would you check the alignment of the dilithium crystals for me, Reg?" he requested and Barclay strode over to the core and accessed the panel there. "Everything looks good over here," his friend reported.
Geordi nodded, reflecting on the odd events which had been taking place. First the anomalies and now Daniels, then the temporal disturbances seemed to vanish. He wasn't sure precisely how, but La Forge felt certain that these weren't random occurrences. However, they had little evidence to suggest a connection. "We're going to have to go over the sensor readings and find out if they noticed anything," he decided. "Won't that be like trying to find a needle in a haystack?" Reg asked.
"Try the opposite and you've got it," Geordi replied as he called up the files in question and they began to look them over.