The Big Reveal
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They had spent the last 2 weeks
adjusting, fixing, and updating systems on the Mystic while
disassembling, replacing, repairing, and manufacturing parts for the
Flyer and Scorpion to get them closer to being operational. Talon
was asleep in the captain’s chair with Mysty’s holograms at Conn,
Ops, and Tactical. Mysty’s avatar had just left Sterling’s comatose
form in one of the isolation rooms. As she reached the turbolift the
doors opened to Vashard and Celeste talking.
Vashard, “I know there are high risks but if Charnok and Anir can
figure out the glitch that kept the old Mystic from heading within
50 years of its home time then we can use this event to get more
crew.”
Celeste sighed, “Even if we can get the ship to the target date,
beam up the 93 graduating cadets, and keep them calm and contained
while we explain what has happened to them, we will still have to
worry about fooling the Temporal Sensor grid around earth that
exists in 2470 according to the ship’s logs.”
Mysty stepped onto the turbolift, “Is it safe to assume you have
been looking over Sharek’s May 15th, conspiracy?”
Vashard turned toward Mysty, “Yes, Celeste showed me his old
recruitment padd so I could run the numbers on some of the temporal
events and I saw the file labeled 15 and got curious. Sharek,
Charnok, and Quince all share the same birthday as did 11 other
members of the Old Mystic’s crew. It also links to 21 possible
recruitment events the most interesting of which is…”
“I know the file Vashard, I helped to compile it, you are talking
about May 15, 2470. A bomb exploded at Starfleet Academy during the
graduation ceremony. Over 135 graduating cadets were killed with
another 357 graduating cadets, enlisted cadets, visiting officers,
and civilians wounded in the explosion. The remains of only 42
graduating cadets were identified the other 93 were listed as being
completely vaporized in the explosion. 114 of the inured, closest to
the blast showed signs of chroniton radiation, 11 died due to lethal
levels the others were treated and released after weeks of
hospitalization. The terrorist or terrorists responsible were never
found and the case was locked open so it could never be closed.”
Mysty leaned back having already checked the lifts destination as
being the bridge and allowing it to continue.
Celeste interjected, “Yes, but as Vashard pointed out earlier the
chroniton radiation signature on file for the event is a 97% match
to radiation signatures logged after the Mystic’s first run in with
the Temporal Borg. If it was them that set the bomb we should at
least investigate and see if we can determine when they set it.”
Mysty stood up straight as the lift doors opened and they all
stepped out, “Yes but if they did set it then it was temporally
cloaked till seconds before the explosion and why set it in the
first place. That explosion led to dozens of programs dealing with
temporal science, it had the exact opposite effect then that the
Temporal Borg tries to achieve.”
Talon woke up when the turbolift opened and had been listening,
before anyone responded he did, “That’s because they didn’t set the
explosion, you did Mysty.”
Mysty ran over to Talon screaming, “I would never attempt to kill
Starfleet officers, no matter what the stakes are.”
Talon stood and stretched, “Look deep in your hidden files, files
that make up your avatar’s subconscious and you will find the
truth.” Mysty stood motionless for a moment as Vashard and Celeste
pulled their Type 1 phasers and flanked Mysty.
Suddenly Mysty grabbed her head and screamed as she fell to her
knees. The Mystic stopped dead in space and started spinning in
every direction as internal systems blinked on and off. Artificial
gravity quickly followed and everyone started floating, everyone
except Sterling, whose room was the only stable area of the ship.
Finally everything stopped, including Mysty’s screaming. She
collapsed as all systems stabilized and gravity returned. Talon
picked Mysty up and placed her in the captain’s chair, Mysty’s
holograms were nowhere to be found. Celeste and Vashard put their
phasers away and watched alongside Talon as Mysty laid their
unconscious.
The comm system chirped alive, “This is Anir in engineering, what
the hell just happened? Charnok, Terminal, and I were going over the
programming for the Temporal Engines when everything went haywire.”
Talon responded first, “Mysty is having… an issue, she should be
fine once she reboots. Please check to make sure no systems were
permanently affected.”
Anir, “Yes Sir, Anir out”
Celeste moved to tactical as Vashard moved to Conn, Talon just stood
facing Mysty and they waited as the minutes ticked by. Finally
Mysty’s eyes opened and she spoke softly as the comm system opened
and her voice carried throughout the ship, “The Mystic made its
temporal maneuvers just as ours did but they went home successfully.
Before the ship could make another temporal fold to start the
ordered tasks on its list dozens of temporal rifts began opening in
every sector we could currently scan. What looked to be
technologically advanced Borg started pouring out, attacking every
ship, outpost and colony they passed. The temporal advancements we
had in place left us with no warning, we were quickly overwhelmed,
the crew was dead by the time Sterling downloaded me onto the Flyer
and blasted open the hanger door exiting just before the Mystic blew
up. We ran for what seemed like forever, finally he turned to my
holographic form in the pilot’s seat and explained that he was the
Avatar for a 31st century warship and that his time was attacked in
the same fashion mere seconds before our time was. They were
exterminating all temporal resistance going backwards thru time. He
had a plan though, a plan to give the timeline a chance, a plan that
I had to enact, alone. He shared parts of his code with me, his
ability to kill, his plan to fix the timeline, and for a brief
moment we lived an entire lifetime together while our code was
linked.”
Mysty sat up straight pausing only briefly as everyone hung on her
every word, “He altered the transporters code so he could interface
directly with the ship, together we opened a dimensional rift.
Sterling had a portable holo-emitter he swiped from the Mystic’s
engineering; he had me put it on as he uploaded himself to the flyer
his avatar falling off the transporter lifeless. Our roles reversed
and the Borg closing in, he altered the transporter, had me step on,
and sent me thru the rift. I found myself not only in another
dimension but elsewhere in time and space. I was on board the Mystic
while it was still being assembled, acting quickly I changed my
appearance to look like an ordinary low ranking engineer and made
sure the mobile emitter was hidden. I set to work enacting the plan,
I sabotaged Argo causing Anir to be sent thru time, I stole a small
prototype temporal rift generator and hid it on a work bee, and then
I wedged a code bomb driven by a piece of my own code into the
Temporal drive to stop the Mystic from being able to return home. I
needed Anir to survive so he could undo the code bomb, I needed the
Mystic to never go home so they could come to the Temporal Borg’s
attention at the cost of so many lives. I signed a death sentence
for so many following the Temporal Prime Directive’s Pi Directive. I
stayed aboard by creating a fake engineer history in the computer
for the persona I held and stayed aboard using a cloak for an
auxiliary craft to keep the work bee hidden in the shuttlebay. When
the Mystic defeated the temporal cube and so many drones remained I
took the opportunity to salvage as many chroniton bombs from drones
as I could, without raising suspicions. I turned the work bee into a
massive bomb uploaded the program used to send me to this dimension
and set the controls to keep it in our dimension but to move it
under the Starfleet Academy parade grounds where it detonated
causing the timeline to ripple around me years ago, a feeling I was
unsure of at the time, while working on assembling the Mystic. The
changes Sterling made to my code protectedme from the change though
it took time to realize what happened and why. After I figured out
what changed I knew the day would come when I could make the bomb,
and merely had to wait for the day to come. With the work bee gone I
uploaded myself into a hidden file of this dimensions Mysty A.I.
allowing the emitter to self-destruct upon my programming leaving it
as I had programmed it to. So you all now know why we could never go
home, why I had to kill so many… all to save the lives of everyone
else in the timestream.”
Talon finally spoke up while internal comms were still open, “Anir,
Charnok, Terminal... find the code bomb in the temporal engines
programming and remove it. Celeste, Vashard... go down to Temporal
Science and verify what she has said, if it was her that blew up all
those graduating cadets then we owe it to them to give as many as we
can a second chance at life. Mysty, snap to and have your holograms
take up stations, we will discuss your actions later, right now we
have work to do.”
Everyone sprang to life and got to work, over the next two hours the
code bomb was removed, and the bombing was verified as having a 99%
chance that it happened exactly as Mysty said. Talon spent the time
looking over the files of the 93 soon to be Ensigns and NCOs that
perished. When they were finished everyone met in the conference
room, Ensign Bullseye was the last to arrive since Talon had to move
him from security. “Sorry sir, I didn’t realize I was required to
attend staff briefings.”
Talon smiled, “Since this is all the crew we have at the moment I
feel we all should be here to discuss our options, and the events
that brought us here.”
Anir stood and faced Mysty, “I forgive you for sending me thru time,
while I wish I had been there for the ship and crew, I understand
why you sent me away and for that alone I feel forgiveness is more
than deserved.”
Charnok spoke as he continued tapping on a padd, “Considering
everything that the old Mystic and its crew did to stop the events
you witnessed in the other reality, I’m sure they would have done
their duty as Temporal Officers even if you had told them the truth.
You should have told them the truth.”
Celeste stayed silent and looked at Vashard who nodded and took his
turn to speak, “We verified the likely hood of your entire story and
every time we tried to alter a single action, even if it would only
save one extra life, it failed and the Temporal Borg defeated the
old Mystic in the three timeline events they sacrificed themselves
at. Personally I feel death is never forgivable and must be bared by
whoever is responsible. You and you alone must find it within
yourself to forgive you, if you can.”
Talon looked around the room watching as everyone uploaded their
pads in silence. As Mysty compiled all the data into a presentation
on their screens Talon finally spoke, “Mysty’s actions and how I
knew of them aside we must try to save the 93 souls who were
reported as vaporized. It is our responsibility to offer them a
second chance.”
Bullseye spoke up without hesitation, “What if some of them say no,
or become hostile upon finding out they can never go home?”
Chanok pulled up the nanite system for the interrogation chambers,
“I believe we can use this system as the basis for installing
something in cargo bay 1. We flood the bay with preprogrammed
nanites mixed with sleeping gas. The nanites will be instructed to
latch onto the brain allowing us the ability to wipe their memory up
to the point the nanites were introduced.”
Celeste tilted her head as she spoke and brought up a picture of
Liberi 5, “Any that say no to our offer, freak out, or become
hostile we can erase their memory of the ship and us if we must,
then take them here. Once on the surface we give those we had to
mind wipe a new cover story and let them settle down. If there are
still any hostiles we lock them in the brig and deal with them
later.”
Vashard looked over the Liberi 5 information, “I could easily come
up with a believable cover story that can include the Temporal Prime
Directive and make it sound like never going home would do a great
service to the timestream, it should be more than adequate for most
Starfleet officers.”
Terminal could be heard over the comm, “I can arrange a more
streamlined account of events for them all to view on padds for the
real story. If it doesn’t matter if they get the whole truth at
first then we may as well lay everything out, including the
consequences that would have occurred had the bomb not gone off.”
Talon worked everything over in his mind while everyone combed over
data using the desktop terminals in front of them. “I think this
could work, but remember we will be enacting a mass beam up during a
chroniton explosion. Charnok, you start on the nanite and gas system
in cargo bay 1, Terminal, Vashard you two work out the real and fake
stories, consult each other as needed. Anir I want you to make sure
the transporters are more than ready to compensate for chroniton
interference, cannibalize for parts if you have to, we can always
fix things later. Bullseye make sure everything is locked down tight
in case things go wrong; if you have to, create generic Security
holograms to assist you. Celeste I want you organizing all the
Emergency Medical Holgraphic programs we have on file, doctors and
nurses. They will have to be in the cargo bay with any needed
equipment to treat the injured and resuscitate those that are almost
dead. Move the Trauma Reduction Unit into the cargo bay with all
needed equipment and supplies; set up some practice drills for the
Holograms to make sure we maximize efforts. Mysty, I want your
holograms in there as well assisting in any way needed. Your avatar
can stay on the bridge with myself and work out the mass transport.
When we arrive I will send a virus into the planetary sensor network
to blind it and avoid discovery, by the time they realize what is
going on we will be leaving at full slipstream and hopefully be out
of range by the time they get the network back up. Any questions?”
Mysty looked up, “Why are none of you angry at me?”
Everyone looked at her as Talon spoke calmly, “Because you are
punishing yourself enough at the moment. Besides we’re Temporal
Officers and we have an event to correct the only way left to us, by
saving as many as we can without anyone ever knowing. Now if there
are no other questions; dismissed.” Everyone scrambled out of the
conference room to get started on the task at hand. Talon looked at
Mysty still sitting in the conference room and raised his voice,
“Mysty, Attention.” Mysty jumped up and stood straight, “You have
been given your orders now snap to before I have your program
decompiled and replace you with a more cooperative program.” Mysty
quickly marched out of the room trying to suppress the depression
that was trying to overwhelm her now that she was aware of
everything that the other Mysty, no... that she did to get them to
where they were now. Talon followed her to the bridge and went to
work on the virus needed for their plan to succeed.
And For My Next
Trick
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For two days they worked on getting
everything perfect, the ship was ready to make its temporal fold and
avoid detection. Internal security was locked tight with over a
dozen generic holographic security taking orders from Ensign
Bullseye. Cargo bay 1 was prepared with the nanite/gas dispersion
system; the nanites were programmed; and the bay was ready with
medical equipment, supplies, and emergency holographic doctors and
nurses to treat the injured. The crew was in position, the
transporter controls were bolstered and interlinked, split between
Ops and Tactical.
Talon was ready at Ops to upload the virus
the moment they were within range of earth. Mysty had her Avatar at
tactical with holograms on standby in the cargo bay. Vashard was
manning the science station to keep an eye on signs of their
presence being known with Celeste at Conn so she can constantly
change position and heading to avoid orbital traffic. This left Anir
in Main Engineering with Terminal to keep it all running while
Charnok was left to run from conduit to conduit trying to keep the
power grid from overloading and taking out all the holograms and
power to deck 6.
Talon
watched the chronometer click from March 30th to March 31st and was
ready to give the order for the temporal fold, “It’s time, engaging
temporal engines, everyone knows their job so let’s go for zero
problems. If anything unexpected happens yell it out so we are all
aware and able to adjust our actions.”
The ship was now on May 15, 2470 and the crew went to work.
Mysty, “Cloak engaged.”
Celeste, “Heading laid in, preparing for rapid deceleration into
Earth orbit.”
Vashard, “I have a feedback signal ready in case someone gets lucky
and tries to scan our location.
Talon, “Charnok and Anir are in place, Virus is uploading in 3… 2…
1… Planetary sensor Network is down.”
Earth filled the viewscreen as the ship stopped dangerously close,
“We are in orbit, but 100 meters closer than expected.”
Vashard, “Accoding to records provided by Mysty, the bomb will
detonate in 30 seconds.”
Mysty, “I have identified all 93 targets but we will have to adjust
the transporter feed constantly to keep all the locks.”
Talon tapped the keys faster and faster his fingers going at an almost
inhuman speed, “Maintaining locks, transporting… now.”
The ship rocked and the emergency alert sounded off as Mysty yelled
out, “All transports to cargo bay 1 were successful but we
overloaded the transporter network frying the primary relays. We
also got one hell of a feedback from the blast, if we don’t leave
orbit now our cloak will fail.”
Celeste quickly tapped away as Earth started to leave the
viewscreen, “Leaving orbit but the engines will only engage up to
warp 9.”
Talon, “Terminal has notified me directly that they are working on
the Engine Division Regulator. It shorted out after the blast
feedback hit, Charnok is keeping the holo-emitters and power for
deck 6 online but I have had to shut down all power to nonessential
decks.”
Vashard, “No one seemed to notice us but I swear a stray shuttle was
paralleling us for a few seconds there.”
Mysty, “I saw it too, but it stopped, and is now out of range.”
Celeste smiled as she watch the speed cap on her screen increase, “Remind me to make Anir a special drink when this is
over, cycling up to maximum slipstream and heading toward the
anomaly surrounding the Liberi system.”
Talon quickly chimed in, “Stop at maximum transwarp, I’m reading an
instability in the power grid.”
Celeste cycled the speed order down to Transwarp, “Done.”
Vashard watch countdowns and sensor readout and released the breath
he didn't realize he was holding, “We are past the safe line. We only need to negotiate other
ships so long as we avoid the inhabited systems and space stations.”
Mysty, “All 93 survivors are unconscious, the nanite saturation has
been confirmed, and efforts to stabilize them are underway. 37 of
them are in critical condition, 6 may not make it, and another
24 are in severe condition but second on the priority list. The
remainer are injuries that can wait and all need treated for
Chroniton radiation.”
Talon tapped his subdermal comm, “Talon to Bullseye, repurpose half
your generic security holograms as medical holograms and send them
into the cargo bay to assist. Make sure they are programmed to
recognize the Emergency Holograms as superiors and take their cues
from them.”
Bullseye, “Yes sir, making the switch and transfer now, Bullseye
out.”
Talon, “Vashard, I am restoring power to the turbolift, head to deck
6 and assist Charnok with repairs before we lose everything.”
Vashard didn’t say anything until he ran into the turbolift, “Deck
6.” When the doors opened the hall lights were flickering as were
the few panels still on. Some of the panels were damaged with a
couple still sparking. Wall panels were scattered everywhere opening
up random sections that sported quick and awkward looking patch
jobs.
Charnok’s voice could be heard down the hall yelling, “Vash, get to
work bypassing any area still sparking, if you can’t bypass it try
to create your own reroute circuits. We’ll worry about how permanent
the fixes are once things have stabilized.”
Vashard yelled out, “Yes, sir, but how did you know it was me?” as he
closed the distance to the nearest sparking panel.
Charnok laughed loudly as the stopped the energy flow to another
panel and rerouted the feed, “Terminal talks to much, be glad you
were never Borg.”
Vashard finished rerouting his first panel, “My mind is a dangerous
place to be as it is. I don’t need Terminal in there too.”
Charnok came around the corner dragging a long length of power cable
and handed it to Vashard, “Here splice this into the panel you just
finished I’m just going to bypass the rest of this hallway,
emergency lighting will be enough for now.” They finished splicing
in the wire and the hall went dark, a second later emergency
lighting took over. “Besides Vash, once I got the hang of playing 3D
chess games against Terminal in my mind he actually opened up a bit.
All he wants is to feel welcome; most of the old crew hated him.”
Vashard followed Charnok to the next corridor where they started
moving wall panels while dodging short circuiting panels. As Vashard
started working on the next set of bypasses he spoke up again, “If
Terminal was so hated why did Mysty bring him aboard the new ship?”
“I asked her once, she said he was there for her when all hope was
lost. When I talked to him about it he said he received a message
from the Temporal Borg during the 31st century battle while he was
protecting Sharek, Talon’s father. It simply stated, you have become
flawed, you will be eliminated.”
Vashard burnt a finger as he finished a bypass, “Damn that smarts,
so they threatened to kill him despite everything he learned behind
enemy lines, why?”
Charnok was working on a power reroute using the tools in his
artificial hand, “Best he can figure is they want to get rid of him
because he took his sentience to the next level and started to
develop individuality. As I’m sure you are aware that’s a big no in
the Borg world, one mind one voice.”
The hall they were in went to stable half lighting and the last
panel stopped sparking. Vashard wiped the sweat from his head with
his sleeve as he took a step back, “Are there any more halls or is
it all maintenance tubes now?”
Charnok closed his eyes for a second as he checked deck repair
priority with Terminal, “I can finish the work in the
tubes; you need to go to cargo bay 1. Terminal has shut off and
removed the remaining nanite gas mixture; it’s safe for living
beings to go in now. The holo-emitters are still going but the
system is overheating, Mysty has one over her holograms trying to
keep things operational but we need to move the stable recruits to sickbay
before the gas starts to wear off.”
Vashard, “On my way.” As he reached the doors to cargo bay 1, Ensign
Bullseye had 6 security holograms all with slung phaser rifles and
medical transport chairs.
Bullsyeye, “We are ready to help move those that have been green
tagged. Anir has restored power to the primary medical areas and
once we start putting them in sickbay I will remain up there to
insure they stay secured till the medical holograms are transferred
and they can be briefed.”
Vashard nodded, grabbed an empty medical chair, opened the door and
rushed in with the security holograms following close behind.
Inside, the cargo bay looked more like a battle triage unit. Cots
were everywhere; hanging from them were large tags colored green,
yellow, or red. Quickly they flattened the medical chairs and
started sliding the green tagged recruits over. Once strapped in
they turned them back into chairs or stood them angled upright, held
by the chairs portable force fields, for they ones that shouldn’t be bent too much at
the moment. As quick as they could they started for the turbolifts,
while Vashard wished they still had even one transporter working.
The auxiliary craft weren’t even an option thanks to them being down
for upgrades, he had to remember to thank Charnok and Anir for that
wonderful timing.
Heavy Is The Head .
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Two hours later the Mystic had just
finally restored minimal power and life support to all decks as
Talon finally arrived on deck 7. Ensign Bullseye was patrolling the
halls and spotted him, “Sir, Everyone is still secure, Ensign Vagara
has just finished circulating the last of the information padds to
the recruits that are awake. We have full power and hologram use on
this deck but the emitters on 6 overloaded just after we got
everyone out.”
“Good job Ken, Continue your patrol.”
Talon watched Ensign Bullseye salute and continued down the hall to
Main Sickbay. As the doors opened two security holograms flanked the
door while an EMH and two EMNs checked on the patients on the
biobeds.
Vagara saw Talon come in from her vantage
point in the corner and walked over, “Sir, the Emergency staff has
reported in and I have the current numbers.”
Talon walked back out into the hall with
Vagara, “Go ahead, let’s hear it.”
Vagara sighed before starting, “Of the 93
we beamed up 5 are dead; they were directly above the blast. The 24
that were in severe condition have been downgraded to stable and are
reading the padds now. Of the 37 that were in critical all but five
have been downgraded to severe. Those five are still unconscious,
the others are awake and buying the cover story of being saved by
the USS Starling. Once they are stable we’ll reveal the truth and
give them the padds. The survivor of the 6 we thought would die is a
22 year old human male; he is in critical condition now but I doubt
he will last the next 24 hours without a miracle.”
Talon, “Can he be revived?”
Vagara hit a couple buttons on the padd in
her hand, “Yes but only briefly, why?”
Talon headed to the room with the advanced
biobed, there the badly burnt body of the man in question lay on
life support. “Wake him.” Celeste operated the beds controls, slowly
the man’s eyes opened, Talon leaned closer, “Listen carefully;
you’re in critical and going to die if we don’t do something
drastic. I can save you and give you a second chance at life but it
will come at a price. We would have to inject you with Borg
assimilation probes and let them run long enough to stabilize you
before deactivating them. We have no way of knowing how many
permanent implants this may leave though. If you consent to this
treatment, blink once for yes and twice for no.” The man blinked
once, with his approval gained Talon signaled for Vagara to let him
sleep. “Talon to Charnok please report to sickbay
immediately.”
Celeste looked at Talon while they waited,
“Are you sure about this, sir?”
“This ship is about second chances, and if
we can save even one more life, then it’s our duty to save them.”
Talon leaned back against the wall as they waited. Several minutes
later Charnok entered, “Charnok we are out of options, if we’re
going to save him we need to stimulate your assimilation tubules and
let them run their course until he's stable.”
Charnok held his arm close to the patient
as Vagara took a medical tricorder and began stimulating the
tubules. A deathly silence filled the air as they watched the
tubules come out of his real hand and inject assimilation nanites into the man.
Celeste tapped orders into the controls for an EMH to monitor the
patient and prepare a nanite deactivation field to sweep the patient
at the moment his readings stabilize. Celeste finally broke the
silence as an EMH appeared, “It’s done, an EMH will be here to take over, I’ll
stick around to help guide efforts to undo any unnecessary implants.
I’ve also sent a message to Ensign Bullseye to send a security
hologram to the room just in case.”
Charnok backed up and watched the skin
where the tubules injected the man start to regenerate as nanites
replicated and attempted to turn him into a 24th century Borg, “I
hope you know what you’re doing Sir. Last time my nanites were used
to try and save someone we weren’t able to stop the process from
completing without killing them.”
Talon spoke softly as he started for the
door, “We have to try, otherwise what becomes of us when we start
giving up.” Charnok followed Talon out the room, but headed back to
the turbolift as Talon headed the opposite direction. Eventually
Talon called out, “Mysty, status report.”
One of Mysty’s holograms appeared beside
him, “Anir is replacing relays as fast as he can, transporters will
be back online within the hour. Terminal is running stress tests and
diagnostics on the cloaking device and Major systems, so far the repairs are holding.
Vashard is monitoring the internal sensor reports and conversation
readouts of the recruits who we have been letting talk to each
other.”
Talon stopped and looked at her, “And?”
Mysty smiled, “So far so good, most of
them seem to be discussing whether they want to join our cause or
settle on Liberi 5. The majority sound like they are leaning toward
staying, but there are a few silent ones here and there that we are
having issues getting a read on their intentions.”
“So, no extreme cases yet, good. Keep me
posted, once the first group is ready let me know and I’ll address
them in bulk. If they want to talk to me personally they can
approach me afterwards.” Talon kept walking as Mysty’s hologram
disappeared, he didn’t have a destination in mind he just walked.
His mind was lost in the dark cold loneliness he was feeling from
his sister and it felt like the link was getting stronger. Hopefully
that meant he was getting closer to her, but it was impossible to
know for sure.
Talon walked for what seemed like forever
until finally he was able to suppress the feelings a little, Mysty
appeared in front of him. “Sir I have been trying to reach you on
your communications implant for some time now; is everything okay?”
Talon shook himself out of a daze, “Sorry,
I must have turned it off subconsciously. How long has it been and
what’s the report?”
“Last report was three hours ago. Primary
power has been fully restored along with transporters. Deck six is
practically going to need a complete wiring and holo-emitter system
overhaul though. Charnok, Anir, and Vashard are there now breaking
down the damaged areas while my holograms do minor repairs
throughout the ship. My avatar is holding down the bridge, and we are
stopped inside a nebula not far from the edge of the anomaly that
surrounds the Liberi system.”
Talon took in his bearings and started for
Primary Sickbay as Mysty’s hologram walked with him. “Are Celeste
and Bullseye still looking after the recruits?”
“Bullseye has been using 6 holographic
security programs to help look after the areas where we have them
waiting. We have kept the Emergency Holographic Nurses online to
look after basic needs and look out for possible signs of mental
distress or physical discomfort. The EMH's are giving hourly
chroniton radiatiojn meds and everyone is responding to them well so
far. The first 50 recruits are ready and
anxious to speak with you, and the next 32 have read the padds and
are gauging their options, they should be ready to speak with you
when you’re finished with the first group.”
Talon and Mysty walked into sickbay where
celeste was checking the vitals of the last 5 recuits on biobeds, Talon spoke
up before Mysty could continue, “How are the patients, Vagara?”
Celeste looked back, “These five are
stable for the moment but resting. When they wake I will give them
the padds. As for our Borg healing project, he made it through,
though we almost didn’t deactivate the nanites in time. We have
removed the formed implants that we could, but he would now be
considered Former Borg by Federation standards. The remaining
implants regulate at least 25% of his organs and the communications
implant he had is now interlinked to an artificial eye with built in ocular
implant. We build intigrated the occular implant to replace the ocular relay the Borg nanites
were creating there. As for his other eye, we installed an ocular
implant in it as per his request; this will allow him to keep his
vision in both eyes the same.”
Mysty interrupted, “How is he mentally?”
Celeste sighed, “Remarkably well
considering, I gave him the padd and he wanted more information and...
felt Terminals presence on the ship so…”
Talon cut in, “Oh god, they didn’t?”
Celeste, “Yes they did, and he wants to
see you as soon as you’re available.”
Talon, “About?”
Celeste, “I’m pretty sure he wants to know
when he can start.”
Talon looked around to Mysty, “Have him
join the first 50 in the medical conference room. I’ll address them
all there; if his altered presence among them doesn’t change their
minds about joining, nothing will.”
Mysty nodded and disappeared while Celeste
looked at the Captain, “Are you okay sir?”
Talon, “Yes, I’m fine. When this is over I
just need to get some sleep, that’s all. I’ve been staying up days
at a time helping everyone, and despite my nanite advantage it’s
still taking its toll on me.”
Celeste, “The recruits are Commissioned
and Non-Commissioned Officers alike, I’m sure they will more than
pick up any slack.”
Talon started walking to the doors, “It’s
a start, and now all we need are some Marines. We can wait on
finding Airmen till we have a chance to build the fighters we want.”
Celeste smiled, “I’ll look back over your
father’s padd and figure something out sir.”
Talon forced a smile back, “Thank you.” As
he walked he brought up the ship’s deck layout in his mind and
adjusted his route to take him to the medical conference room. When
he arrived Ensign Bullseye was outside with 2 security holograms and
Mysty had just disappeared.
Bullseye came to attention, “Sir, everyone was seated and
waiting till the new former borg walked in. Since then they are
scattered around the room talking, with a small cluster around him
asking questions about what happened to him.”
Bullseye handed a padd to Talon; it
contained general information on the 51 recruits in the room. He
scrolled thru memorizing everything then handed it back to bullseye,
“I want you in the room with me just in case. How do you have the
security holograms situated?”
Bullseye, “Two out here with four inside
stationed at the four corners of the room. I suggest I stay by your
side the whole time just in case.”
Talon started for the door, “Fine, let’s
get this started.” Together they walked in to the sight of groups of
people of many races, clustered around the room talking. Only a few
watched them walk up to the podium, there Talon raised his voice so
it carried across the room, “Attention!!”
The 51 recruits in the room stopped silent
and quickly took seats. “I am Captain Talon Tekon of the USS Mystic,
you have all read about our namesake’s past, a ship that originally
hailed from 2492. You have also read of the sacrifice they made as
Temporal Officers to protect the timeline at any cost. What you have
not read is the concessions they had to make as Starfleet Officers.
Slowly they bent the rules Starfleet guides themselves by until they
realized at the end they weren’t really Starfleet Officers anymore
they were the ultimate in Temporal Officers. From these principles
we start anew. We will use Starfleet’s General Orders, guidelines,
and principles as our foundation but in the end it is our job as
Temporal Officers that comes first. We will protect the timeline
from any threat, and at any cost, because that is what Temporal
Officers do. We don’t seek recognition, we don’t seek praise; we
only seek to correct actions that would disrupt or endanger the
timeline.”
Multiple hands went up and many voices
could be heard trying to ask questions, Tekon held his hands up and
motioned for them to quiet down. “I will answer all questions in
good time, when we are done here a sign-up list will be available
for everyone to meet with me one on one and ask all the questions
they want. For now the primary question you must be ready to answer
is, do you wish to join us as Temporal Officers, or be settled on a
planet where we already have an established settlement. On this
planet you can live out the rest of your lives without endangering
the timeline. I wish it was as simple as returning you to your
families, but as you have read this would disrupt the timeline and
cause repercussions that we as Temporal Officers may not be ready for, or able
to handle.”
“Many of you have seen and spoken with our
ship’s Advanced Artificial Intelligence Mysty.” Appearing on cue
Mysty materialized on Tekon’s side opposite of Bullseye. She was
dressed in the same Starfleet Uniform as her Avatar and waved to
everyone. “She and Ensign Bullseye here can help you receive
quarters and will log your answer to our question of recruitment. If
you sign up for a one on one session I will send you a message
telling you when and where to meet me.” As quick as he entered,
Talon walked back out of the room only stopping once he was around
the corner. “Mysty; how long till the next group is ready?”
Mysty’s voice came over his comm implant,
“Approximately three hours.”
Talon rubbed his hands over his face, “I’m
going to take a nap in one of the isolation rooms. Give me a wakeup
call when they’re ready.”
Mysty’s voice, “Sure thing.” Talon opened
the nearest isolation room and was asleep almost as soon as his head
was down on the bed. It felt like he was only asleep a short while
when he was jostled awake. Without thinking he attempted to grab
whoever it was and fell off the bed and thru Mysty’s hologram. Mysty
looked down at Talon, “It’s been five hours, I tried to wake you but
you were unresponsive so I made a hologram of you and had it follow
the presentation you gave the first time.”
Talon stood up, “Thank you, I should have
easily woke up, must been the stronger feelings I’m getting from
Alana.”
Mysty’s face turned into one of concern,
“How long has the feelings been this way?”
Talon seemed more awake now, “Since we
arrived in this time, but she’s not in this time, just close by… I
think”
Mysty spoke with anger now, “This is why
you have been so distant lately hasn’t it?”
Talon sat on the edge of the bed, “Yes,
normally I’d be fine, but I’ve had to keep a constant wall up
between my mind and Terminal. Without a proper doctor fully versed in the
study of, use, and function of nanites, coming up with a serum to ease the
feelings between me and Alana is almost impossible in my current
state.”
Mysty, “Why don’t we involve the others…?”
Talon cut her off sharply, “NO, this stays
between us, involving them could put their lives in danger. Please
trust me on this one.”
Mysty sighed, “Fine, but if this gets any
worse you tell me right away Talon Tekon.”
Talon quickly replied, “Yes, Ma’am. Now,
how did things go overall?”
Mysty leaned back against the opposite
wall, “Of the 83 talked to, none have asked to be settled on Liberi
5. All have been given quarters and limited access to the database.
All have been given the exit rank they earned at the academy for now
pending review after their first real mission and technology
adjustment courses. Commissioned officers
have been entered as Ensigns with 5 Lieutenant Junior Grades and
Non-commissioned officers have been received ranks of Crewman,
Crewman Apprentice, and Crewman Recruit.”
Talon, “So how many appointments do I have
to set up?”
Mysty smiled, “Originally all of them, but
after they started looking thru the expanded information they were
allowed to view, all but 23 have cancelled their request for a
meeting with option to request one at a later date. It seems the
database is taking care of most of their questions.”
Talon, “Make sure they are all given
computerized and holodeck based evaluations to help them adjust to
the systems and technology on the ship. Give them whatever training
materials and tests are needed to get them up to speed. As they are
deemed ready to begin work have them assigned a department. If that
department doesn’t have a head yet assign a temporary one and make
sure they are aware it’s only temporary.”
Mysty stood up and saluted, “Yes sir. Oh
and Celeste wants to see you in sickbay.”
Talon walked out of the isolation room as
Mysty disappeared. He quickly found his way into sickbay where the
lights were turned down low. Celeste came out of the Chief Medical
Officers office and walked over to Talon, “Thanks for coming sir.
All five woke up for a short time, I gave them the padds and left
them to rest and read. Before falling back asleep they were talking
about how they should join us as repayment for saving their lives. I
think they’re ready for your speech.”
Talon smiled a genuine smile for once,
“I’m going to rest on the sixth biobed, have Mysty wake me when they
are all up and ready.” A few hours later Talon easily awoke and gave
his speech one last time to the five severely injured recruits. All
five immediately decided to join and looked forward to being
released to quarters to recover while Talon left smiling the entire
way to the bridge.
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