"If we don't stop this…" Jamie took a breath and finished Bones' statement.
"A lot of people will die. The last time anybody tried this was in 2053 towards the end of the third world war. A simultaneous viral assault crippled the New United Nations mainframe. That combined with a ballistic missile assault destroyed the world as it was. Everything from communications, security, utilities, food, the whole system crashed. If they pull this off, using the cloaked ship to destroy major cities, it would create mass hysteria. They would cause a panic and raise the xenophobia to a whole new level."
Sulu shook his head, "Then they could pull a Paxton and try to kick all the non-humans off planet."
Kelso spoke up, "Or worse, they could pull a Green and just kill anyone not up to snuff… good old eugenics."
World war three traces back to the 2020's, but the major conflict happened in the 2050's. The United States and the European Union made up the New United Nations and were against what was called the Eastern Coalition. E.C.O.N. was made up of Asian and Middle Eastern countries. On the first of May, 2053, they launched a bomber and nuclear attack against major cities in the U.S. and Europe. The New United Nations fired back and it turned into an all out nuclear war.
A few days later, E.C.O.N. launched an invasion of North America, the U.S. military suffered massive losses. American forces killed E.C.O.N.'s leader but the destabilization was worldwide. The United States of America was one of the only nations to survive but with all the destroyed cities, the crash of federal support and warlords taking control, the nation was in as much chaos as the rest of the world. A cease-fire was called at the end of 2053 and the living leaders met in San Francisco to end the war.
In 2054, Colonel Philip Green, a New United Nations solider, turned up in Alaska at the head of a massive army comprised of both New U.N. and E.C.O.N. soldiers. President Mendoza, the last President of the United States of America, ordered Green to stand down, but he refused and slaughtered his way across the continent. He killed those he deemed the 'weak' and 'impure' and those afflicted with radiation-sickness from humanity's gene pool, killing millions, until finally meeting his demise in Montana from an orbital strike.
When it was all said and done, most of the world's nations were gone and over 600 million people were killed. Ten years later, Zefram Cochran made first contact with the Vulcans.
John Frederick Paxton was the same brand of crazy as Green. Paxton was the head of Terra Prime; they were terrorists, plain and simple. They threatened to destroy the pre-Federation Starfleet HQ if the non-humans didn't leave earth. Jamie had a special hatred for them. The baby they created with Trip and T'Pol's DNA died because of their bad science and even though he didn't know about her for long, little Elizabeth T'Les Tucker was still very much Trip's daughter. She's buried on Vulcan next to T'Pol's mother, Jamie visited on a few occasions.
Sometimes, Jamie wondered if he always looked out for her because he couldn't protect his child. She knew it was a dumb thing to worry about, but on her worst days, the thought crossed her mind. Trip would be the first to tell her that she was crazy, mainly because he never treated her like a kid, let alone his kid.
Trip and Pike walked into the room and the captain spoke to the group, "We notified Archer and Reed about what we found, they want us to head back to earth. They have a team in the area to take out Redux and ships monitoring this sector and ours."
Jamie shook her head, "That won't make a difference. Redux is prepping to launch this mission as we speak and the ship is cloaked. If I had to guess, they're already heading that way. I would be."
Trip nodded, "Which is why we need to leave, now. You got room for two more on that ship of yours?"
"You can have my quarters and I'll room with Gaila," Uhura said from next to Jamie, the Orion nodded in agreement.
From there everything happened quickly; Trip and Jack were going with them back to earth, they were packed and on the ship in a flash. Jamie sat in her quarters as they were headed back to earth. Bones walked in and watched her for a few minutes before he said anything. "What is the plan? Is there a plan? I mean, I get that we're crunched for time and all but we can't run off half-cocked," Bones asked what Jamie was sure was the question on everyone's minds.
"Trip and Pike are working on it. I'm sure that whatever they come up with, you won't like it."
He rolled his eyes, "That's because you always end up doing something stupid. Did you ever consider that?"
"Did you ever consider that I know what I'm doing? That I'm not as reckless as you think?" He looked at her, Jamie knows she's a little crazy but her heart was always in the right place. She wanted to do the right thing no matter what it cost her; it was one of the only traits that Jamie knew she got from her dad.
"Yes, I do know that you're brilliant but that doesn't mean I like watching you get hurt, Jim. I won't be around forever and I won't always be able to fix it. You scared the shit outta me. The fucked up part, is that I know you'll turn around and do some shit like that again. You always do." Jamie took a breath, she wasn't going to argue with him, he was right.
"What would you like me to do, Bones? Sit on my hands and pretend that bad things don't happen? Let people get hurt or die? Tell me what you want me to do," She was calm, Bones wasn't. "I'll sit this out if that's what you want, but you gotta tell me what you want. I'm at a loss here, Len."
"I want you to think, Jim. You mean a lot to more people than you think."
"That's what you think, that I don't think?"she asked. "I hate to break it to you but there are a million things running through my mind at any given moment. The top three things I'm thinking about right now are; if we fail, Joanna and Kevin are on that planet. Your daughter and a kid that I killed for, that I protected with my life. I'm thinking about the hundred and three ways that everyone on this ship could end up dead and I'm thinking that I don't like you being mad at me for being myself. I am always thinking. I've been on the other side of this, where all it took was for someone to do the right thing and I was the only one who stepped up... I was thirteen and I'm the only one who did anything. I know that it comes off as reckless, but I'm honestly the least reckless person you know aside from Spock." Jamie took a breath, "I'm gonna go find something to do before one of us says something we'll regret later." Jamie hopped up and left the room; she slammed right into Trip near medical.
"I don't like that look on your face, J.T. Come on." If this ship was bigger, they'd be in a Jefferies tube but leaning against the wall in the cargo bay would just have to do. "You know he's just worried."
She nodded, "Yep, I still reserve the right to be pissed off for a little while. If you're gonna stay, shut up, Tucker." Trip chuckled and sat down next to her on the floor and let Jamie rest her head on his shoulder.
"Fair enough."
AN: Thanks to Memory Alpha and Beta for info on WW3.