Disclaimer: Star Trek and all its characters belong to Paramount Pictures. Carrie belongs to author Stephen King but the words are mine. The characters of the Four Orders (FO*) are entirely my own.

Requested Story by T-Rex-1000

AU/ST/Carrie/FO*: Admiral Brigham enacts a desperate plan to save the life of his granddaughter, enlisting the help of Starfleet captain: Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise under false pretense and no matter the cost. But the price comes too high…

End of Part 1

Chapter 10

45086.06 (01.02.2368)

It has been a year since ensign Carrington's farewell party. Carrie had gone to Earth several weeks later when she got accepted. Everyone had noticed how quickly she had been accepted, which was unprecedented. Such things usually took their time but apparently Carrie had impressed the academy brass as they were eager for her to begin.

She made her goodbyes and left the ship after a humble but memorable party where everybody got drunk and could barely stand on their feet. The responsible ones for this were Captain Picard and Commander LaForge who supplied the alcohol. They knew Carrie did not approve of the lack of it onboard so they did their best to make it a party worth remembering.

Ella stayed behind as she was not ready to leave just yet. Still, she promised to make contact often, which turned out to be every day. At first, Carrie welcomed it as she had yet to make any friends. Ensign Carrington, or as it was now, Lieutenant, was of big help. But even with him, it took the others a long time to warm up to her. It was painfully obvious she was not from around there.

There were still many customs she had to learn and that took its time. Apparently no one outside of the Enterprise knew that she was from another century and the Starfleet Commander that greeted her told her it was to stay this way. Starfleet did not encourage its captains to go back in time and take people back to the future. Her situation was an exception that Starfleet approved of but did not want to encourage it in anyone else.

She was given credentials and a place to stay, courtesy of Starfleet. And it was not a bad place but it was far from the campus, and that did not suit her. But with Lieutenant Carrington's help she was able to find one small studio on campus grounds in which she could stay some of the time.

The classes proved to be a lot harder than those of the entry exams. The first few weeks were a complete nightmare for her as she struggled to keep up. Ella helped her a lot and she appreciated it.

She had focused her studies on the aspects of teleportation and how to detect it or mask it. Also she wanted to know how the sensors worked and how to avoid them. She needed also to find the most perfect material that will help with masking her life sign and make it virtually undetectable for any tricorder or ship sensors. She also took classes in xenobiology and exobiology, and diplomacy. She needed to know more about the ETs in the surrounding galaxy.

The most fascinating creature for her happened to be also the most notorious issue Starfleet had – the Q continuum, and one Q in particular. All information pointed out that this being was omnipotent or at least nearly so. For a moment, she dared to imagine she was or had these abilities which would save her from studying anything. Studying had become lately even more difficult but the subjects she wanted were complicated.

Over the weeks and months, she relied on Ella, Carrington and a select few but her perseverance was the determining factor that despite being born 3 centuries ago she was smart enough to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to survive the 24th century though mostly Starfleet academy and some of its pompousness.

Despite struggling with many aspects of the educational process, Carrie had been determined to succeed. And she managed to impress the academy brass so much with her performance that she became the first student to complete the training not only in record time but to graduate earlier than any other student before her.

Carrie invited Ella and the command staff of the Enterprise to the Academy to celebrate. Of course, not everyone could come as the ship was in the middle of a mission. But they promised when things cool then that they would attend the graduation ceremony.

Quelling her dark side had also proven equally difficult. She had believed that studying would occupy her time so much her darkness would not have the opportunity to emerge but she was wrong. And the best solution, she found laid in the holodecks.

Her troubled past was not something easily forgotten or buried. And while she began getting used to the new environment, she could not simply move on. She had to work through it. And that was the point that was difficult. Normally people would confide in their therapists but she could not risk it. She doubted they remain understanding. Still she was certain to find a way.

Today, she was in her apartment studying hard for her final in teleport mechanics. Her teacher was a very annoying Starfleet officer that did not tolerate any slacking of any kind regardless of one's background.

It was still mind boggling that humans have succeeded to make teleportation work. At first, she had difficulty grasping the idea of being disassembled to her constituent parts and then transmitted through a data stream. The idea that one becomes nothing than computer data was frightening but not because of the process itself. It was frightening because that meant that her body was destroyed and then rebuilt.

She often pondered how human one remains after being destroyed and rebuilt so many times. What parts of the original remained? Was everyone just copies of their former selves? Clones, the words resonated with her. They were all clones, copies!

The first time she shared that with Ela, she had laughed at her concept of things.

"Oh, come on, Carrie!" She had exclaimed. "We are not clones."

"What would you call it then?"

"A clone is less than the original. It is a copy of the original and while it looks the same it is not."

"Then what are we?"

"We are we. The teleportation merely shifts us from one location and puts us in another. We are one hundred percent ourselves and therefore not a bunch of clones."

Carrie admitted there is certain logic to it. Still she shared that with her most preferred Starfleet guy, Commander Riker and he reacted in exactly the same way. Still, he thought it would be a nice extra credit for her to make a study about her point of view too. That left her a bit perplexed and Riker explained:

"Every technology has its own quirks and it is not outside of the possible that your words have some logic behind them. You can make a study on the long term effects of using the beaming technology and its implications in maintaining our true selves intact."

Of course, she was not going to start such a project as her teacher would become overly excited that Commander Riker of the Enterprise has made such a suggestion given his personal history with it mostly because that would become her personal hell. Her teacher was obsessed with any Enterprise mission and its crew. She thought that could explain why he was holding her to such high and sometimes impossible standards.

The doorbell rang. She lifted her head from the pad and wondered who that can be. She headed to the door and peeked through the hole. She had to install one. Well, she could have easily used a camera but she was old fashioned. She had to maintain some sense of the past otherwise assimilating the future would have been far more difficult.

Strangely enough there was no one at the door. She turned around and then stopped. What if it is someone shorter? She would not be able to see him or it. Carefully she crept back to the door and pressed her ear to its cold metallic surface in the hopes of hearing something that would help her.

She heard steady panting and moaning. She pulled away. That was weird. Was someone having sex in front of her door? That was so inappropriate. She thought these 24th century guys were more evolved than that. But then again passion happens in the way it wants to happen. Of course, it could be someone injured as those sounds would fit that profile too. Or it could be both? She thrust her head and decided to chance it.

The door slid open and nothing happened. She ventured out and saw a man that she recognized at once as Private James Stanton. He was a friend to Joseph Carrington. She had seen him on a few parties but never had direct contact with him. The reason she remembered him was because he was the soul of the party. It is difficult not to be noticed this way. But why he had chosen to be at her door that she had no idea.

He stood still on the wall next to her door still steadily panting and moaning and apparently he had noticed her standing on the threshold.

"Carrie White," He whispered.

How did he manage to remember her name? She had virtually no interaction with him. She did not even think anyone would notice her on parties as she usually sat in the darkest corner so she could be virtually invisible.

"How do you know my name let alone where I live?"

"You're Carrington's protégé."

"That's ridiculous. We have barely hung out."

James coughed hard a few times. "You came from the Enterprise and you are the first to graduate ahead of everyone. That attracts attention. And Joseph is very protective of you."

"You don't look too good."

James attempted a smile but couldn't. His time was ending.

"I will call for help!"

"NO!" James mustered enough to say firmly. "There is no time for this anymore. You have to find Joseph and deliver a message."

"I will get him on the horn and you can give it to him yourself."

"No time and it can't be risked through the main system. Personal contact only."

Carrie frowned. She did not like where this was going. Actually what was going on?

"What is going on? Why come to me?"

"Despite the way you attracted attention to yourself recently, Ms. White, you are an unknown variable. Besides, they are looking into all my contacts and you are not on it."

"They? They who? What's going on?"

"All you need is this data crystal." James said and handed it to her. "Code name: Vedek, password: Bareil!"

She took the crystal.

"And this one contains your instructions on how to find and safely deliver the crystal to Joseph's boss, password: Dax."

"Joseph's boss?" She paused.

"You have seen him on the Enterprise with Joseph!"

"Deville?"

"Yes,"

"Okay, but who are they?" Carrie took the second crystal in hand.

"The less you know the better…"

"This is not a satisfactory answer…" She exclaimed. "Hey!" But James was breathing no more.

She pondered for a moment but then got inside. She was inches away from calling Starfleet security when she decided to check the instructions first. She placed the crystal in the communication slot and entered the password.

The very first thing that appeared gave her instructions what to tell Starfleet security and apparently once done she would get the rest but for now that was all she could see. She had no idea how he foresaw what she would do. How did he know she would not simply ignore his plea and call Starfleet security and tell them everything the way it actually happened?

How much did he actually know about her? She was not hiding much from the people she now knew but no one on campus other than Carrington knew her true origin. Of course the most disturbing part was what she got herself into. What was Joseph and James involved into?

She reached again to call for Starfleet security but another question stopped her. What the hell is a vedek? Was it a title or simply a name? She accessed the database and sought the word.

"What the devils…" As it turned out the word "vedek" was Bajoran and translated roughly into a priest though the database mentioned something called "Kai" as the supreme spiritual leader or something.

What did I get myself into? Carrie wondered and it was not going to be the last time she would ask herself that.

"Ok, so, it is more like cardinals around the pope." She reasoned after reading more about the Vedeks. She thought of seeking out this Vedek Bareil but stopped herself. If whoever was after James had access or the ability to monitor the database it would not be prudent to give away potentially dangerous knowledge so easily.

The logic was that whatever this was it involved danger she knew nothing about and one she could not look for in the database as someone might be looking for increased interest about it. Although of course, the code name and password may not be associated directly to James mission but still it was a huge risk. She would need to learn more in a different way.

She braced herself and called Starfleet Security explaining what had happened mostly the way she had been instructed. She could not follow verbatim the instructions as it did not fit the situation.

"We thank you for your cooperation, Ms. White." Lieutenant Marx told her after the body had been recovered. "And your timely reaction, given the circumstances,"

"Thanks, I think."

"Could you think of any reason why Mr. Stanton would be at your door?"

"None, actually," Carrie said as that happened to be the truth. "I have seen him on a few parties but we have never met or talked."

"Still there must be a reason?"

"I can't think of one."

"Being famous isn't enough?"

"Famous?"

"You are the first student to graduate the Academy quicker than any other student in history. This attracts attention."

"I haven't thought about that. I do not see myself as famous or anything."

"And this is admirable but…"

"What are you suggesting Lieutenant?" Carrie interrupted. "I don't suppose you have bothered someone that was famous at your time for whatever reason or just for the fun of it, let alone in such circumstance."

"You have a point. But perhaps, you being famous and so may have been the reason but we will look into it."

"Or he simply ended up dead on my door without knowing details of who lives here?"

"That is also a possibility, which is probably the most likely one but we do have to do our due diligence."

"I understand. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, not at this point," – Lieutenant Marx said. "Thank you again for your reactivity, and good night."

"Thank you, good night."

Carrie was not entirely convinced Marx was happy. He seemed the type to look for shadows in every corner or he could be easily one of those chasing James. Nah, now she was starting to see shadows in every corner.

Still, what did she get herself into?

To be continued…

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