My thanks once again to all the readers. Stay tuned for next week's double release of the final chapter and the epilogue.
The Danube-class is a versatile little ship, but it offers so little privacy in its standard yacht configuration. I propose the Rhine-class, which is just a longer Danube that makes room for a walled-off sleeping section, perhaps full Defiant-style quarters. Utopia Planitia, get to work! Then again, with Mr. Dr. P. on the design team, maybe the lack of privacy was a feature, not a bug...
Previously, On Tomorrow's Possible...
"You're not the Kim Possible we knew. She died, the temporal anomaly caused by the Time Monkey shattering tore her apart, there was no way she could have survived. You're just a freak coincidence!"
"No touchie the monkey and she went… Poof!"
"So not the drama."
Chapter 16: Si vis Pacem, incipe bellum
The revelation had been an unpleasant one, but hardly a shocking one. Just another piece of the puzzle, dwelling on it would not help anyone. But there was one person who needed help to process it, even if he wanted to pretend otherwise.
Kim gently placed her hand on Ron's shoulder, guiding him back to the cockpit section's relative privacy. In lieu of words, she embraced him.
"I'm sorry, KP…"
"You're sorry? Ron, I can't even imagine what you're going through, you don't have to apologize to me."
"It's not fair to you."
"It's ferociously freaky and I don't know where to even begin, but 'unfair' is the least of my concerns." Kim stepped back slightly to look Ron in the eyes. "Counselor Troi is going to have her work cut out for her with the two of us, huh?"
"Think she'll take on Rufus, too? Little guy needs as much help as we do."
"If not, we'll just have to get him more cheese."
"Yeah…" He answered in an unconvinced tone. "KP, I've been wondering… What's going to happen if we destroy the Time Monkey?"
"Huh? What do you mean, we win," Kim answered in a confused tone.
"But what does that mean? Does life go on? Or does this reality vanish?"
The implications began to take shape in Kim's mind.
"KP?"
"Sorry, Ron, I was… I don't know… Do you… Are you having seconds thoughts?"
"I'm scared, but no, no second thoughts," he answered before gesturing for Kim to take a seat. "I have no idea what will happen, but I have a pretty good idea what will happen if Monkeyfist gets his ugly monkey hands and/or feet on the Time Monkey."
"Worse than the Klingons?"
"Bad enough that I have to ask you this: You promised you'd do everything to restore things, and I'm with you, KP… But I might have to choose between you or saving everything and… Well, I lost you once, I don't think I could lose you again."
"Ron, whatever happens, we'll be together until the end. I won't leave you and I know you won't leave me," she said, giving Ron a gentle smile. "Together we'll fix everything. 'I can do anything' used to feel hollow, but together, we can do anything."
"In that case, KP, what do you say to nacos and a movie?"
"Spankin'."
Kim's interest in Shego's disguise had made for an easy choice of Ron Night movie, for once.
'Dangerous to your Starfleet, commander. Not to this battle station.'
"So, you say all those guys in the background have names?"
"Yup, elaborate backstories, too."
'The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us.'
"So who's the guy in white? Why does he get a different color uniform?"
"He's Wulff Yularen, head of the Imperial Security Bureau. Never liked him, always –"
Ron was interrupted by the computer's announcement of an incoming secure transmission from the Enteprise, which Kim answered after taking a few moments to look more presentable.
"Lieutenant Possible," Commander Riker said on the other end of the line, "we've received your latest report. Mr. LaForge is making the arrangements for the secure storage of the artifact."
"Thank you, Sir," Kim answered.
"That's not why I'm calling, though. There's been a Klingon raid on Earth."
"What?" Kim could not hide her astonishment, never had the Klingons actually been bold enough to try such a daring attack. "But I heard nothing on the net."
"It's top secret information for now, we got very lucky and they were spotted near Wolf 359 by a technical crew debugging the Yamato's sensor arrays, so Starfleet had just enough time to mobilize system-wide defenses to intercept the Klingons. A few casualties, but it could have been much worse, that dockyard queen actually saved our asses for once…"
The USS Yamato was legendary for its unreliability. Launched six months prior to the Enterprise, it managed to enter service three months after the Enterprise, and only thanks to a special waiver for its underperforming dorsal phasers. At least among Galaxy-class crews, she was known as the Dockyard Queen, fabled to have been built on a Friday (or on 50-something consecutive Fridays) and said to be "permanently a piece of malware away from a warp core breach". Less-friendly jabs had her "living up to her namesake," the World War II Japanese battleship Yamato that sucked precious industrial resources for little practical military value.
"They were trying to hit us hard, twenty cruisers and at least forty warbirds. And they had intel on our patrols, they were doing Warp 7 without a care in the world – they just didn't count on the Yamato being in the right place at the right time."
"How is such a large attack being kept a secret?"
"Not for long, that's for sure, and the only reason it's worked this long is because the battle was outside the solar system." Riker paused, as if searching for the right words. "We think Monkeyfist is involved. No one's heard from him since the attack and he was last seen on Earth, so it's at least possible that he supplied the intel."
"What do we do now, Sir?"
"We're changing our patrol to rendezvous with you ASAP. Commander Data will transmit an updated flight plan shortly, but you can expect a rendezvous about a day outside Cardassian space. We'll pick you up and continue on to Earth at Warp 9."
"Understood, Sir."
"Very well, Riker out."
The monitor switched back to the media player once the call ended, but Kim did not resume the movie.
"Ron, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"That it's great we'll be stuck in this glorified shuttle for a few days less than we were expecting?"
"Well, that too. But I meant Monkeyfist, he's gotta be plotting to steal the Time Monkey's body."
"I see what you mean, KP… You think he has any idea we have the head?"
"He'll at least suspect it when the Cardassians put two and two together and start putting up wanted posters of the four of us."
"Five, I figure they'll want to interrogate Rufus as well."
Rufus poked his head out of Ron's pocket, shrieking at the thought of dealing with a Cardassian interrogator.
"Alright, I take that back. Four posters."
Rufus' fear proved unfounded – there were no indications that the Cardassians had figured out what had happened by the time the Rio Grande crossed over into Federation space. Short of starting an interstellar war, they had no options left with which to threaten the four humans (and Rufus).
"Mark my words, KP, I'll be much happier if I don't have to deal with the Cardassian régime ever again."
"Same, Ron," Kim answered with great relief. 23 hours and 12 minutes remained to the rendezvous with the Enteprise.
With nearly a full day's travel left, Kim expected to at least have to deal with Drakken and Shego – but they instead opted to walk on eggshells, which somehow only served to raise the tension aboard the ship. Writing the report for the mission could only distract her for so long, and a few naps still left what felt like an eternity to dwell on what had happened. Though Ron did his best to be supportive, he too was still processing Drakken's revelation.
When they finally met up with the Enterprise, the captain and first officer were eager to discuss Kim's report. Although no new conclusions were reached relative to the next steps, Riker had concerns beyond the mission.
"Lieutenant, taking your report into account, I want you to schedule a session with the ship's counselor."
"I'm fine, Commander."
"Maybe, but we'll let a professional be the judge of that. Same goes for Mr. Stoppable. I can't order you to do this, but Doctor Crusher can and I'm sure she'll agree with me."
"Understood, Sir. I'll schedule a session…"
After being dismissed, Kim joined Ron in what she had found herself calling 'their quarters', even if the arrangement was unlikely to survive the mission. Families aboard the Enterprise. Unimaginable. Too tired to do anything more complex, they simply cuddled on the couch watching what Ron had termed "the finest television the 21st century had to offer," a show titled Agony County.
"Finest might have been an overstatement, KP."
"Ya think?" She began to answer when the door chime rang.
"Come on in," Ron said.
To their surprise, Guinan was the unexpected visitor.
"Am I disturbing?"
"No, Guinan," Kim answered, "we're just… surprised, I guess. I was waiting for Counselor Troi to call back, she said she might be able to fit in an appointment for us today."
"That's fine, I heard you needed to talk. The Counselor is great, but I think you need to start with a bartender today." Guinan ignored the confused looks from Kim and Ron. "So, you're worried that you might not doing the right thing?"
"I'm not sure I follow," Kim said.
"This business with timelines, it gives me a headache, too. Remember what I told you the other day, Kim?"
"You said I should trust him – I assumed you meant Ron."
"And how did things go?"
Kim exchanged a glance with Ron before answering, "Spankin'. Hardly could've asked for better."
"But there still is a dark cloud." Since neither Kim nor Ron answered, Guinan continued. "I don't have a clear answer for you, but I do know you'll do the right thing."
"But how do we know what the right thing is?" Ron asked.
"You'll just have to listen to your heart."
"Or you can listen to me and know all you need to know." Q's disembodied voice was followed by his appearance in the room, accompanied by the usual bright flash of light. "Kimmie-cub, you should know better than to associate with such dangerous entities…"
Guinan assumed a combative stance, her hands raised about chest-high.
Not sure that's going to help much against this guy, Guinan, Kim thought.
"Q, are you behind all this?" Guinan asked.
"How rude of you to assume that the Continuum had anything to do with this one," he answered. "In fact, I have worked tirelessly to fix things."
Guinan slowly dropped her guard, as Q made no obvious aggressive moves.
"In fact," he continued, "some naysayers were really unhappy, said it was all wasted effort, plucking little Kimmie... Well, we'll see about that soon enough."
"Dude," Ron said, "enough with the games. Drakken says that Past Kim died in the past. What's going on here?"
"Yeah, Q, tell us what your little game is," Guinan added.
"He's my father," Kim announced, drawing a shocked look from Ron and a raised eyebrow from Guinan.
"Thankfully only in a metaphorical sense," Q said all but confirming Kim's statement. "I, as self-appointed point person of the Q Continuum for this crisis, had to thread the needle that would allow us to fix things without making a bigger mess of things."
"I don't want to be your – or anyone's messiah."
"Now, now, Kimmie-cub, don't let this all go to your head… You're not a messiah, you're just a very naughty girl who's going to destroy 'priceless artifacts'… And Stoppable was the right man in the wrong place, together you can fix the timeline."
"And what happens to us?"
"That depends… Your future is yours to create. Assuming that the damned Iconians and their Time Monkeys are out of the picture for good."
"KP," Ron said, "I say we hit Monkeyfist hard. I'm really not sure about this whole Q business, he doesn't seem all that trustworthy…"
"Your words wound me, Stoppable," Q interjected.
"…but I know Monkeyfist. Plus, you know, the enemy of my enemy and all that."
"You could have said the word 'friend', but I'll take what I can get," Q added.
Kim mulled over Ron's words. "Guinan, unless you have something big to add, I'm inclined to agree with Ron. Monkeyfist betrayed the Federation to the Klingons and he had no problem with them trying to kill us."
"No. I don't trust Q – we go back a while – but I can't fault him on this one. He is right that the timeline is all wrong."
"In that case," Kim concluded, "We'll do it, on one condition: I want you to answer a question, Q."
"Deal, but remember the 208th Rule of Acquisition…"
"Sometimes the only thing more dangerous than a question is an answer," Ron whispered in her ear. "I did a lot of business with Ferengi in my past life," he added as an explanation.
"Is Drakken right," she asked, "did the other Kim die after the battle with Shego?"
"Indeed she did," Q answered succinctly.
"Couldn't you have saved her?" Kim insisted.
"No, because… Well, I'm really not at liberty to say…"
Kim looked over at Guinan, who seemed to agree with Q's words, or at least understand their implications, and opted to drop the matter.
"I wish you luck, Kimmie and Stoppable. I'll be in touch," Q said before snapping his fingers and disappearing in another bright flash.
"Drop by Ten-Forward if you need to chat again. I'm always happy to help," Guinan said.
Kim thanked Guinan as Ron opened the door for her.
She was driven by a renewed sense of duty. Although she did not appreciate Q's way of interacting with people, all signs pointed in the same direction: The Time Monkey must go.
"Ron, if it's okay with you, let's leave Agony County for some other time and draw up a plan for getting rid of the Time Monkey."
"You got it, KP."
A few hours of brainstorming later, with PADDs strewn about their quarters, Kim and Ron had prepared a plan to retrieve the body on Earth, reassemble the statuette, and eliminate its threat. It was a bold plan, Shego would pilot the Rio Grande with Drakken for support, while Kim and Ron would be the boots on the ground. The body of the Time Monkey would have to be stolen, as the risk of Monkeyfist's interference was too great – not to mention the urgency of the whole mission, which did not pair well with the inevitable bureaucratic struggle of legitimately removing the so-called artifact from a museum. A specially-configured photon torpedo would deliver the coup de grâce to the statuette and hopefully 'fix' the timeline.
It was a bold plan, but Fortune had favored the bold over and over again, so Kim decided to push her luck.
"Ron… It's not fair for me to pretend to be your Kim. You deserve better, and she deserves better, too." Kim tried not to stumble over her words as Ron gave her a worried look. "I had… Uhm, an idea… Do you think you could get used to calling me 'KS'?"
With a confused look on his face, he asked "What's the 'S' for?"
"Stoppable…"
"Oh, sure, now we're on a last name basis, Possible? Don't be silly, KP."
"No, Ron," she said with a deep breath. "Kim Stoppable."
"Ah, I get it, put our names together to make a new one and – wait, you're saying you want to –"
"Now you're getting it, Ron." In response to his dumbfounded look, she cooed, "Sooo… Do I get a yes?"
Rather than a verbal response, Ron kissed her, the extra-strong dose of Ronshine a welcome surprise for Kim. She rested her head on his shoulder, and Ron whispered in her ear, "KP, you get the most bon-diggity 'yes' I have ever said."
"In that case, Ronnie… Before Counselor Troi calls, let's go speak with the captain. I don't want this opportunity to pass us by…"
Si vis Pacem, incipe bellum - If you want Peace, start a war.