Something feels out of place (Part III)
Posted on Tue Aug 21st, 2018 @ 10:30am by Ensign Dana Wakefield
Edited on on Tue Aug 21st, 2018 @ 6:53pm
4,227 words; about a 21 minute read
Mission:
Episode 4 - The Sum of Our Parts
Location: Transport Ship / Warship Pioneer
Timeline: MD002 0800 hrs
Dana sighed, =/\= A couple of hours earlier is better than nothing, Sutherland out. =/\=
Turning and giving a weak smile to Aiden, she looked exhausted, he gave her a smile back as he plated up some food and poured them some wine.
"How about we eat, have a glass, then just cuddle up until morning," he said noticing how weary and exhausted she looked.
Dana smiled and walked over to him and kissed him on the side of his cheek "That sounds wonderful and a welcome distraction."
Aiden pulled the chair out for her, like a proper gentleman "Well you deserve it my love." he said and he leant in for a kiss as she sat down.
May 29 22394 0800 hrs (relative time)
Dana sat at the table watching Aiden sleep, he was flat out on his back, the sheet covering his lower torso. She smiled as she took a mouthful of the fresh black coffee that she had just replicated, after all, one could not possibly start the day without a coffee. Just then the sound of the internal communications disrupted her thoughts.
“Bridge to Admiral Sutherland, we are approaching the rendezvous coordinates, eta twenty minutes. The Pioneer is ready and awaiting your arrival”
Dana reached for and tapped her communicator.
=/\= Acknowledged, I’ll be in transporter room two in twenty minutes. =/\=
The gentle interruption had woken Aiden from his slumber, as he half opened his eyes, a grin crept across his face. “Morning beautiful.” He whispered as he slowly sat up in bed.
“Good morning.” She replied as she slowly walked over to the bed and gave him a kiss on the side of his cheek. “I’ve prepared some breakfast, I’d say you have ten minutes to grab a shower and get a quick bite to eat.” She said as she gazed into his big green eyes.
Aiden smiled back at her as he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms on the bed, giving her a kiss as he did so. “Or we could just cuddle for ten minutes.”
Dana giggled like a little school girl as she rested her head on his chest “Yes, but one wouldn’t want you smelling all day with a rumbling stomach, after all, it’s going to be a hectic and rather unpleasant day I can imagine.”
Aiden gave out a sigh, he knew she was right, it wasn’t a day he was looking forward to either, linking his fingers with Dana’s he looked at her and kissed her forehead. “You know, no matter what happens today, I’m still here, even if you just want to yell or throw things.”
Dana didn’t reply, she just nodded. She was used to getting things her own way, and if her plans worked out, today was going to be no different. Yes, it may be unpleasant, but it needed to be done, it had to be done and then she needed to make headway in destroying this research station that was now giving out worrying readings, the Federation's future depended upon it.
“Right, shower and breakfast.” She said, raising her head and sitting up on the bed “And yes, that is an order.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” He said leaning in for another kiss, before getting out of bed and slowly heading off to the sonic shower, his firm, toned naked body on full display.
-- Warship Pioneer – Transporter Room --
Sophia had risen early, the half-El-Aurian did not sleep much anyway, and was waiting in the transporter room. She was wearing the skirt version of her uniform and one boot, her left leg was in a medical contraption that was meant to aid tissue regeneration, but was having limited effect with her slow metabolism. She could walk but it looked awkward, as she took extra long strides so she wouldn't have to set her left foot on the deck all that often. For now, she was standing on her right foot, leaning against the transporter room's console, waiting.
"Sir, the admiral is signalling that she is ready for transport." The Transporter operator announced, giving Sophia an odd look.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sophia asked. "Get her aboard." Sophia wasn't an impatient person but she wanted to get off her feet again as soon as possible.
The Transporter operator nodded as he pressed a few buttons, then his fingers began an upward motion as the transporter kicked into action, the whole process was over just as quickly, as his fingers slowly began to come back down, Admiral Sutherland and her entourage stood on the transporter pad.
"Sophia." Dana said smiling, but then noticing the contraption around her leg. "I thought I told you to stay safe." she joked as she stepped down off the pad.
"This is from two weeks ago", Sophia replied dismissively. "Part of a bulkhead came down, broke my leg into several pieces." She didn't feel like going into any more detail on why this was taking too long to heal. Instead, she approached the younger woman and gave her a quick hug as a way of saying hello, with a glare directed at the head of her security detail daring him to get in her way.
Dana embraced the hug and squeezed her back "It's been too long old friend." she whispered noticing how quickly Sophia had changed the subject about her leg, something Dana knew meant she didn't want to talk about. "Well I hope you have that coffee brewing, and some pastry will go down nicely as well."
"Do I look like a maid?" Sophia smirked. "Come, I have a briefing ready. How many of your entourage will be joining us? I might have to bring in extra chairs."
Dana looked at Aiden, "Lieutenant, I'm sure you have plenty to be arranging and sorting while I have some breakfast and a briefing with the Commander."
"Of course Ma'am," he replied with a little smile, he glanced at Sophia and the smile disappeared. "Commander, a pleasure to meet you," he said before he took his leave.
"Sadly I can't seem to shift these guys," she said tipping her head backwards slightly. "But don't worry, they normally stay outside the door," she said laughing as she took Sophia's arm.
Sophia was grateful for the support offered and leaned on Dana every time she put weight on her left leg. "So that's the famous aide you're dragging around with you now?" Sophia whispered as her gaze followed Aiden.
"Yes, Aiden is extremely efficient," she remarked "Although this security detachment is party killers, I even offered them time off yesterday, but they chose to protect my door instead," she replied, giving her old friend the support she needed with her bad leg. "I hope this assignment hasn't been too trying for you?"
"After my time in that Cardassian prison camp, I won't ever complain about an assignment again", Sophia replied. "No, this will go away in a few weeks, I'll be good as new." They arrived at Sophia's quarters and the door opened as they approached, Sophia wasn't one to erect unnecessary security barriers like locking her doors on a Starfleet vessel. Inside, the room was decorated with abundant plant life and contained a table with four chairs around it and her workstation, nothing else. On the table, however, was breakfast laid out, for three. "I originally expected you to bring your boyfr.. aide along", Sophia said as an explanation.
Dana gave Sophia one of her glares, it was a good job they were friends. "Aiden has work to do, and so do we, we're just having a working breakfast." she said smiling, looking at the breakfast that she had gracefully arranged. "And your quarters seem..." she paused, "sparse, all work and no play makes Sophia a bore."
"I do some of my best thinking when surrounded by plants", Sophia said. "It might not look like much but it took me days to arrange it all. But fortunately for all of us, as half El-Aurian I don't require that much sleep, so I still got my work done." She sat down at the table and fished for a PADD she had put on one of her chairs. "This is the current status of our task force, ship names and names of commanding officers. As you can see, most ships are fully operational."
***PADD content***
Task Force Status
Destroyers
U.S.S. Seleya, Shi'Kahr class - operational - Lieutenant Commander T'Pot
U.S.S. T'Pau, Shi'Kahr class - operational - Lieutenant Commander T'Drink
A.I.S. Weytahn, Siral Tir class - operational - Lieutenant El ek-Tron
U.S.S. Broadsword, Sabre class - long range sensors disabled - Lieutenant Commander Marisol Rodriguez
U.S.S. Hathaway, Constellation class - operational - Lieutenant Commander Olaf Sigursson
U.S.S. Cerberus, Defiant class - operational - Lieutenant Malik Pokrovsky
U.S.S. Leipzig, Norway class - main phaser bank disabled - Lieutenant Commander Masana Hino
U.S.S. Katrina, New Orleans class - deflector at half strength - Lieutenant Commander Semhar Haile
U.S.S. Etruscan, Centaur class - operational - Lieutenant Commander Vanna Pisano
U.S.S. Asimov, Miranda class - operational - Lieutenant Commander Ester Valbergsdottir
U.S.S. Agrippa, Miranda class - operational - Lieutenant Commander Hans Werner
Cruisers
U.S.S. Tudor, Excelsior class - one forward torpedo tube fused - Commander Thomas Fitzpatrick
U.S.S. Guernica, Excelsior class - operational - Commander Gwenyfar Jones
U.S.S. Rainbow Warrior, Excelsior class - operational - Commander Keira Murray
U.S.S. Victory, Steamrunner class - operational - Commander James Moore
U.S.S. Montgomery, Akira class - operational - Captain Marijke Zeldenthuis
U.S.S. Aquarius, Ambassador class - operational - Captain Ling Shen
U.S.S. Barbarossa, Galaxy class - operational - Captain Thomas Riker
U.S.S. Agamemnon, Galaxy class - operational - Captain Julia Styles
ChR Arien, D'Deridex class - operational - Commander Ssaedhe i-Llaiir t'Taicir
Special
U.S.S. Excalibur, Constitution class, refit as hospital ship - operational - Lieutenant Catherine Mint
U.S.S. Raleigh, Nebula class, carrying torpedo strike platform - operational - Captain Paige Turner
U.S.S. Pioneer, Intrepid class, equipped with temporal displacement torpedo - Captain Wilfred Sutherland
***End of PADD content***
"Ssaedhe, that is Commander t'Taicir, is fully dependable", Sophia added. "She was in the area and I was able to convince her to add her warbird to our forces."
Dana closed her eyes and gently smelt the aroma of the coffee, as usual Sophia had pulled out all the stops, it was her favourite blend, hand ground, not that replicated imitation. "How on earth did you get this, even I've had difficulty in war time," Dana said reopening her eyes as she started to look over the PADD.
"I've had over seventy years to secure some supply lines", Sophia winked. "I might not be an ambitious career officer like yourself but I've got other things in life which I enjoy having." She took a sip of tea, which she preferred over coffee in the mornings. "Which brings me to a concern I've been having recently. As I'm sure you're aware, El-Aurians have a certain knack for feeling the timeline. I'm only half El-Aurian and I've never been one to trust in my senses over scientific data, but this is a temporal anomaly we're dealing with and I've been having... odd memories that I can't explain. I believe, and I use that word carefully, that something is not right with where we are, and when."
"I have an odd feeling as well, it all started yesterday, like Aiden, I didn't recognise him, I woke up in my quarters with a splitting headache, something I put down to several empty bottles of wine of the counter the next morning."
"That is a likely explanation, in your case", Sophia agreed without batting an eye. "But I think the Dominion is up to something, and we might need to risk more than usual to put a stop to it. Many of us will likely not come back from this. Though, if I'm right and if we succeed, that won't matter. And yes, I know I'm sounding like every bloody priest who's ever spoken. It's the best I can do at the moment."
Dana sighed, she had to update lists on a daily basis of the dead, injured and missing, the lists seemed to get longer and longer. "If only people knew..." her face and tone changing "The Federation are on the brink of losing this war, and if we lose the Dominion will not accept surrender, they will wipe every last human out of existence, our species rendered to a forgotten page in history."
Pausing, she took another mouthful of coffee, her expression signalling to Sophia the seriousness of what she had just told her, holding onto things as a Fleet Admiral was hard and not having anyone to talk to about it was even harder. "The implications of what I have just said, stay between us."
"Between us and every other El-Aurian still around", Sophia said. "I know what it means. If this does not work, our next strategic option should be holding out as long as possible, so that refugees can get out and into the depths of the beta quadrant, or onto generational ships to another galaxy."
Dana attempted to raise a reassuring smile, Sophia always did try and look on the bright side of things. "I have my orders for the next strategic option if our mission fails," Dana said with a heavy heart, a look of sadness now coming across, however not even Dana could discuss that final option with Sophia. In fact, there were several safeguards in place to prevent the final option from becoming known including the device now implanted with her brain.
"I'm still impressed with this list, good work Commander, I need those I can trust behind me," she said as she reached for a pastry before gently licking her lips.
"And we'll have to not only destroy that science station but also kill the anomaly", Sophia continued. "To that end, the engineering staff, under your father's direction, has come up with a special torpedo that emits an antichroniton blast which should, in theory, close it." She paused and took a sip. "The downside is, if it doesn't work, our only other option is an antichroniton deflector blast at close range, which will destroy the ship when the anomaly collapses. Not that it would matter much, this timeline would cease to exist, according to our best minds on temporal mechanics. I'd call it a 99% certainty."
Dana nodded while trying to reply, however she had a mouthful of pastry and of course it was rude for you to speak with your mouthful. Gently placing her hand over her mouth, she quickly devoured before speaking up.
"Temporal mechanics, it always gives me a headache. An effect can precede cause, and reactions can be observed before the action which initiated it, see my head is starting to hurt already," she said as she wiped the remnants of the pastry from around her mouth before gulping the remainder of the coffee down. "Well friend, I better go get this unpleasant moment over with and relieve the old man of his command. I'm glad in instances like this, that I do indeed have my own security escort."
Sophia shook her head. "I understand that things haven't always been easy between you and your father, but he's a good man and he's been doing a good job as commander of this ship", Sophia said. "You need not take command of the ship directly to take control of the task force. In fact, I predict this will go easier if you don't, both professionally and personally."
"As hard as it is to believe, even I get orders Commander. Sadly I do not have a choice."
Sophia nodded and stood. "I guess I better come with you. We should have the latest reports on enemy fleet movements available on the bridge, anyway." She didn't like this, and wouldn't want this to blow over. Not that it would matter much, as their reality would soon collapse in on itself anyway, but Sophia couldn't be sure what ripple effects their actions would have once that was accomplished.
***
Dana stepped out of the turbolift onto the bridge, flanked by her security escort and Sophia. Her eyes quickly met Aiden’s, she smiled and gently nodded to him. He quickly cleared his throat and announced her arrival.
“Admiral on the bridge.” He barked, as all eyes now turned to Dana, the crew immediately springing to attention, but there were one set of eyes that seemed to be burning a hole into her soul, she glanced towards the Captain’s chair and that of her father. It had been some time since they had last spoken, and the resentment for her was clear on his face.
“Captain Sutherland, if we may speak in your ready room.” She said in a soft, polite tone.
The look of resentment stayed on his face; it would be wrong to say he hated his daughter because no matter what, he had brought her into this world, but they had not been on good terms for the last several years. In all honesty, they barely tolerated each other these days.
“Whatever you want to say to me, you can say to me in front of my crew; we have no secrets here.” He replied, seeing how far he could push his daughter.
Aiden’s chin nearly hit the deck, his facial expression changing, ‘how dare he speak to Dana like that’ he thought to himself, gripping his fists tight. He hated it when someone failed to show proper etiquette to a superior officer, but he hated it even more when someone was disrespectful to his girl. He was about to chastise the Captain, his mouth opened but Dana raised her hand towards him, signalling that she had this.
Without showing any emotion, Dana calmly spoke, “Very well, Captain Wilfred Sutherland, by orders of Starfleet Command, I at this moment relieve you of your command, effective immediately.”
There were several whispers from the bridge crew, her security officers poised to draw their weapons if needed.
Sophia noticed how the guards tensed up. Having an honour guard, or even a serious protection detail in times of war, with changelings around, made sense. But these guys, she felt, were overly wary of fellow Starfleet personnel. With that little trust, with Starfleet officers working against each other rather than with one another, how could their mission succeed? She didn't know why Dana wanted to see her father removed, his pride and self-worth thus attacked, or why someone else had ordered her to, but this state of affairs wouldn't help them with their task, which Sophia rated of supreme importance.
She limped on towards the briefing room, saying, "Admiral, Captain, I must urge you to dispense with ceremony. We must act quickly if we are to succeed." Similar words had been spoken often, and Sophia hoped they'd have the appropriate effect now. It wasn't often that she, one of most calm, laid-back and patient people in the known universe, urged to swift action. She hoped that aspect wasn't lost on the others.
"And whom is to replace me?"
Dana turned and looked at her old friend, it didn't give her any pleasure to berate her own father like this, she had tried to be civil and polite by asking to see him her ready room, but he had insisted.
"I will be taking command and the Pioneer will serve as the Flag Ship for an upcoming mission."
For a moment there was nothing but silence. Wilfred straightened up, "With all due respect, you may be a strategic expert but you have no experience of command. That is my area of expertise, I know what this ship and this crew can accomplish together, I don't doubt your sincerity but replacing me is a mistake I won't allow Starfleet to make, not with the stakes resting so high."
"This crew will follow orders", Sophia said, loud enough for all to hear. "And however our personal feelings are, the survival of the Federation hinges on the success of this mission. Your daughter understands this, Captain. And I know you understand this as well." She paused, looking at him. "We need you for this mission, and the role you need to play makes it necessary that you relinquish command of the Pioneer. It isn't ideal, but what is in wartime? Join us in the briefing room, young man, you're going to like where this is going." Sophia didn't make a habit of pointing out she was older than the others, especially not around Dana who was well aware of how unusual it was for her to have been assigned her rank at her age. This time, however, she felt it was like playing a trump card, to remind them that age alone wasn't the primary cause for ability, authority or loyalty.
Wilfred sighed, he extended his arms towards the briefing room, signalling that he was at least ready to hear them out.
Dana eyed Aiden, whom immediately rushed over to her, "You better get Lieutenant Larim Myles, he's our Legal Council and Intelligence Officer, then you both better join us in the briefing room."
Aiden nodded and rushed off and Dana turned towards the briefing room. "Thank you" she mouthed towards Sophia as they all headed off towards the briefing room.
Dana hated to admit it to herself, but her father was correct, her attention to detail and her natural ability for strategic planning was what got her elevated to her current position, but her actions and quick thinking had saved a Starbase, several battle fleets and countless lives. On the other hand, she did indeed lack command experience, having never commanded a ship, or a crew, she would certainly be an underdog, but as she had explained to Sophia earlier, even Admirals get orders.
As they entered the briefing room Dana turned to Sophia who did not look happy, but her friend had managed to so far hold her tongue. Sometimes Dana wondered what she would do without the restraint of her old friend, she knew that she was always on hand to reel her in or offer her advice and she had again proved her worth in the current situation.
Sophia grabbed a cup of tea from the replicator as she sat down in her customary position, back to the wall display that she was going to use, and with her legs crossed and stretched out, the injured one atop of the good one.
“Captain, the following briefing has been classified as top secret, there will be no computer record of this briefing and its contents are only known to me, Commander Meridhia and Starfleet Command,” Dana said, nodding to the Commander.
She hoped this explanation would help her father to understand the importance of this mission, why the stakes were so high and why she needed to take command of his ship. She gently nodded at Sophia.
"I spent some time this morning briefing Dana on the status of our task force, as well as what we have been able to ascertain regarding the temporal anomaly. We are agreed that we need to take it out, with specific modulation." She looked at the Captain, saying, "What I haven't told you yet is that I am convinced this reality, as we know it, will collapse upon closing the anomaly. I understand there are several different effects at play. Some different quantum realities are affected by having people injected in them or exchanged with others, all those who were close to the anomaly in the reality in which it was first formed. We are not one of those. Ours is a small bubble that is unstable, and that needs to be re-integrated with the whole. The bad news is, once we've done that, there will be very few traces left of our efforts here, maybe none. The good news is, in the other reality we're not losing a war against the Dominion. The Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, they're stable and relatively amicable towards each other." She raised her hand to prevent any protest. "We should not attempt to preserve this reality, it cannot last. Someone will collapse the anomaly and we will simply vanish, but if that someone doesn't do it right, the primary reality might be damaged. We, in our other forms, might come back mentally or physically deformed, as out of a bad transporter accident."
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Junior Grade Dana Wakefield
Chief Operations Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Sophia Meridhia
Chief Counselor, Empok Nor
PNPC Niall
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