Chapter 1
"Captain, I'm detecting a temporal breach on the
surface." Said Seven of Nine, my temporal officer. It was her
job to scan for the changes in the timeline that it was our job
to prevent. The ship was kept in a state of temporal flux, so
that any effects from a change in the timeline would not effect
us. If the surface scans differed from what the computer said
should be happening then we were supposed to investigate and
correct any errors.
"Confirmed." Said Data, my first officer who was at
the moment sitting in Ops, standard procedure for a temporal
breach.
"Magnitude?" I asked.
"Unknown." Said Seven. "It's impossible to tell this
early."
"Okay, what do we know?" I asked, pulling a display
closer to me and calling up the scans which Seven was using.
"I'm isolating the location. North American
Continent... United States of America... I've got it; the event
took place in an arena just outside of Orlando, Florida." Said
Data.
"What was going on?"
"I'm checking through the historical records... There
was a concert in progress, a group called the Backstreet
Boys." Said Seven.
"Commander." I said. "Scan the television satellites,
and look for any mention of the concert on the news channels.
Let's see if we can find out what's happened."
Data seemed to find what he was looking for because
the next minute he activated the viewscreen and from the
corporate logo in the corner I could see that we were on CNN.
"...And one of the huge girders supporting the stage
just fell down, right above where the Backstreet Boys were
dancing. There is a state of confusion here with thousands of
fans milling around, a lot of them crying, but none of them
knowing what to do. This is Emma Johnston, for CNN news."
Once the reporter signed off the view flicked back to the
Studio.
"And this just in, the Backstreet Boy's management
have issued a teary press report. All five boys died instantly in
the collapse. Their body's have been moved to an unknown
location for post-mortems." Said the young looking anchor,
barely controlling her own tears.
I was troubled. None of what was happening made
sense to me. What would be the purpose behind trying to kill a
musical group? Fine, I thought, I realise that someone might
want to, but extraterrestrials? Time was far more fragile then
anybody had realised, only when Voyager incorporated
Temporal Shielding into their systems and saw the changes
going on all around them was it discovered. Earth's history
needed to be protected from change, to preserve the
Federation's future. And so the USS Timeweave was
constructed, with Starfleet's finest technology and it's best
officers to insure that the future would still be the future in the
morning. Inspiration struck and I jumped out of my seat and
walked towards the nearest Turbolift. "You have the bridge
Data." I said as the doors closed. "Main Sickbay." I said to the
computer.
-----------------------
"But can it be done?" I asked.
"Theoretically, yes. But we'd need precise medical
scans of each of the five bodies if we want to replicate them."
"How precise?"
"Ideally, I would like to have each of them up here so
that I can use the computers scanners. A medical tricorder
isn't going to be enough."
I nodded and tapped on my Com badge. "Data, I need
to find the exact location of the bodies of the music group." I
said.
"The Backstreet Boys." Prompted Data. "I've already
had the bodies located. They are being brought to a morgue
now."
"Once they are alone I want you to transport them up
to Sickbay, one at a time, and we'll need enough notice of
someone entering the morgue to beam them back again, just in
case."
"Aye Captain." Said Data.
"Henessey, prep a surgical bay for post-mortem.
Jordan, I need to you to work on the medical scanners, get
them ready for a molecule by molecule scan." Ordered the
Doctor. He looked at me. "You don't need to be here. I'll let
you know when we're finished."
I was used to the Doctor's manner so I nodded to him
and left to go to my Ready Room.
"Seven, could you join me in my Ready Room
please?" I asked.
She entered the room. "Yes captain?"
"I plan to transport the five men out just before they
get hit by the girder and replace them with replicated bodies.
Suggestions?" I asked.
"We'll need at least two time jumps, we have to
pinpoint the exact time that the girder falls, and then decide
the most appropriate time to transport them out." Explained
Seven.
I'd already thought that, but I had to be sure. "Right,
get on it."
She nodded curtly and left. I called up all the
information that was available on the Backstreet Boys in the
ship's computer and then connected to the terrestrial Internet. I
was overwhelmed by what was available. I went through as
much of it as I could before the Doctor informed me that he'd
completed his scans. I left my Ready Room and went to the
bridge and sat in my chair.
"All hands, this is the captain. Prepare for a temporal
jump." I said. "Seven, are you ready?"
"Yes captain. I've set it for one hour before the
event."
"Begin." I said.
The computer spoke its familiar sentence. "Temporal
jump requires Level eight authorisation or higher."
"Authorise Temporal Jump. Lawlor four four two
delta." I said.
"Authorisation excepted." Said the computer. The
deflector dish discharged its energy in front of the ship,
creating a crackling temporal ribbon that was just large
enough to fly the ship through.
"Lieutenant, take us in." I said. The ship moved out
of its Earth orbit and was enveloped in the ribbon. Once we'd
flown out the other side we were in the past. Seven
immediately left the bridge to begin preparations for her trip to
the surface. Once she'd established the exact moment that we
should switch the Backstreet Boys for replicated alternatives
she beamed back up and we prepared for the second jump.
"Transfer complete captain." Said Data. Because of
how precise the timing had to be the computer had been
programmed to perform the switch. Because of preliminary
injuries that Seven had noticed that had been caused by falling
debris I'd decided to have them transported directly to
Sickbay.
"We've got them captain." Said the Doctor. "They're
all unconscious, but there are no injuries that we can't
handle."
"Let me know as soon as any of them are conscious."
I said, getting the usual 'Aye Captain' in response. I went to
my ready room and skimmed through status reports. About an
hour later the Doctor informed me that one of them was
awake. I went straight down to the Main Sickbay.
"What sort of condition is he in?" I asked.
"Physically, he's alright. But I've put him on a light
sedative because of the shock, he'll sound a bit drowsy."
"And the others?"
"Physically fine, except for this one." He said,
walking over to the bed that Brian Littrell was lying in. "He's
in a critical condition. The rest are still unconscious and I
don't want to have to wake them up." Said the Doctor.
"Fine." I said, going over to speak to the one who
was awake. I recognised him as Nick Carter from the
background work that I'd been doing. "Hello Nick." I said
softly.
"Hello." He said, smiling lazily, as if he wasn't in full
control.
"Hi Nick." I said gently. "How are you feeling?"
"Ok." He said. He stared off into the distance trying
to concentrate on something, which wasn't easy with the drugs
that were in him. "Where am I?" He asked.
"You're... you're in a hospital Nick." I said.
He looked around him. "Funny hospital... hey, look -
there's Kevin, and Howie, and AJ... all the guys." He frowned.
"Where's Brian? I don't see Brian. He should be here, we're
all here so where's Brian?" He asked, looking back up at me
in confusion.
"Brian's in another room Nick. Don't worry." I said,
trying to comfort him.
"I need Brian! Where is he? Is he hurt?" He asked.
He gripped my arm with his hand.
"He's fine Nick." I said. The Doctor rushed over,
hearing the commotion and sedated Nick again.
"Lieutenant Paris, report to the Main Sickbay." I said
over the Com. A couple of minutes later he came in looking
flustered.
"Yes captain?"
"You've got a good knowledge of this time period. I
want you to programme the holodeck to emulate a hospital
ward from this time period. Use the nearest holodeck, if
there's someone using it, kick them out."
"Aye captain." He said stiffly. He still hadn't gotten
used to the idea of a captain who was still in his twenties.
Admittedly, it was very unusual; the youngest captain in
Starfleet being put in charge of the most powerful starship in
the fleet, but it was too good an assignment to pass up, so I'd
taken it.
"Doctor, as soon as Lieutenant Paris is finished, I
want you to move them over to the holodeck and keep the
technology discreet, I don't want them suspecting anything
until I have a chance to explain everything to them."
--------------------
It was the next day before the Doctor pronounced the
group well enough to be told the truth about the situation.
Brian wasn't in the ward because he was much more badly
injured and was only now emerging from 'critical' status. I
changed quickly into what would have been considered to be
'suitable' clothing. It was an uncomfortable suit in some shade
of grey that I was wearing. As soon as I entered the holodeck
and went through the area that concealed the entrance and into
the only ward that existed I was bombarded with questions.
"Where the hell is Brian?" Asked Kevin.
"Why can't we speak to our families?" Asked Howie.
"Why isn't there a TV?" Asked Nick.
"Where's my phone? All I want to do is ring my
mom." Said AJ.
I asked for silence and then started to try to explain.
"I assure you that there are good explanations to all of your
questions."
Kevin interrupted me. "There had better be. I don't
know what kind of a hospital this is but I'm starting to think
that it's not one. We've only ever seen one Doctor, who
refuses to answer our questions, and no nurses, and this place
looks wrong. If you've done anything to Brian or us you are
never going to get away with it."
"Brian is not here because he's still in a critical
condition and is being cared for in more suitable
surroundings." I said.
"The accident?" Asked Nick. "I remember seeing
something falling and then I woke up and saw your face, only
we weren't here, we were somewhere else. I'm just glad that
we survived that."
"Okay." I said. "I'm going to explain something to
you. And I want you to listen to the entire thing with out
saying anything. I guarantee that it'll answer all your
questions." Getting nods from each of them I plunged on.
"We're on a spaceship right now. The job of this spaceship is
to make sure that everything that our history books say
happened happens. According to our history, you didn't have
that accident in Orlando. In that accident, if we hadn't gotten
you out, you would have died. That means that someone has
messed with the timeline, and we have to figure out who it
was and why. That's why we saved you, we're hoping that
you can help us. Everybody on Earth think that you died,
that's why you can't talk to your families, and that's why you
couldn't watch television up until now. I know that you're
going to find it very hard to believe it, but it's true."
They all gave me incredulous looks. I didn't blame
them. "You expect us to believe that?" Asked Kevin. It was
clear that he spoke for the group, as most of the fan websites
had said.
"Yes, I do. You said that you wanted to watch TV?" I
asked. "Computer, Create an early twenty-first century
television and link up to a television satellite that is
broadcasting CNN." I ordered. A second later a television
materialised on the floor. They gasped in astonishment. After
a couple of headlines they started talking about the tragic
accident that killed the Backstreet Boys.
"So far the investigation into what happened in
Orlando has not yielded any clues as to the cause. We go now
to our entertainment correspondent who is attending one of the
many memorial services that have been organised by the fans
of the boys. Of course, we say boys, but they were really
young men in the prime of their lives..."
"Computer, switch to US MTV." A continuous
stream of BSB tribute programs was being broadcast. "Delete
television." I said, turning to the open-mouthed group. "Do
you get the idea?"
"You could have faked those programs." Said Kevin,
still not willing to believe.
"Don't be stupid Kevin. How could he have faked the
TV?" Said Nick. "Look what happened! It appeared and
disappeared right in front of us!"
I smiled gratefully at Nick for trying to make my job
easier. "Deactivate program." I said, and everything
surrounding us dematerialised to more gasps from the group.
"Can we see Brian?" Asked Nick.
"Of course, I should have thought of it sooner. This
way." I said, leaving the holodeck and stepping out into the
corridor. I walked briskly, because we were on the same deck
as Main Sickbay we didn't take a Turbolift.
"How big is this ship?" Asked Nick. He was certainly
the most willing to except what had happened. The others had
dubious looks on their faces and were trailing a couple of
metres behind.
"More then twelve thousand metres long, with fifty
two decks." I said, I was immensely proud of the Timeweave
and I loved to show her off to new people.
Nick nodded appreciatively. "That's fairly big
alright. By the way, you seem to know a lot about us. But I
don't know anything about you. What's your name?"
I laughed. "With everything that's been going on I've
forgotten my manners. My name is Robert Lawlor."
"And you're captain of this ship?"
"That's right." I said. We had gotten to the entrance
to the Main Sickbay, but instead of going straight in I waited
for the others to catch up. Once they did I went towards the
doors. As soon as they opened I heard multitudinous alarms
going off and saw the doctor rushing with several of his
assistants towards the bed that I knew Brian to be in. Nick ran
in. The Doctor looked up at me.
"Get them out of here!" He shouted. I pulled Nick
and the others out of the room and back into the corridor,
getting strange looks from people passing by.
"What's wrong with you?!" Shouted Kevin. "Why
can't we see Brian? What's wrong with him?"
"You'd only be getting in the Doctor's way if you
were in there. I don't know what's wrong with Brian." I
replied calmly. I looked over at Nick; he was very quiet,
which was odd, considering that he was supposed to be
incredibly close to Brian. "I'll bring you to your quarters, and
I promise to let you know the minute I know anything."
Chapter 2
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