There's Something Happening Here
Posted on Mon Aug 6th, 2018 @ 7:30pm by Chief Petty Officer Leslie Calhoun & Gunnery Sergeant Gaagii & Lieutenant Amelia Zano Psy.D.
Edited on on Mon Aug 6th, 2018 @ 9:23pm
3,081 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Episode 4 - The Sum of Our Parts
Location: Various DWS Pioneer
Timeline: MD001 1220 hrs
May 28 2394 1220 hrs (relative time)
The Belly of the Beast
Billy rose to his feet and the Belly of the Beast was empty. The last thing he remembered was Joran Thal shouting orders to secure the SCIF. "Computer what is the status of the SCIF?" Billy grunted to the computer. "The SCIF is functioning within normal parameters." The soft voice of the computer intoned.
Now where is everyone? Calhoun thought. He placed his codes in the system and put the destruct sequence on verbal standby to be issued by his command. However, it was when he stepped out to the guard office that he was surprised. There was Sergeant Gaagii manning his post. "Afternoon Chief. Need anything?" His monotone rang out followed by the smile. "No Sergeant. However be on guard no one in and no one out without my order." Billy replied and it was when Gaagii stood to attention that hit Calhoun like a sack of bricks. There was something terribly wrong here. This was the Pioneer but not, the uniform was wrong... Gaagii stood in full battle fatigues.
***
Department of Interrogations DWS Pioneer
Amelia blinked for a mere second and the counselling department was not the way it used to be. It felt wrong, dirty and she couldn't quite place her finger on what it was. She rose from her desk, blackened out and sharp on all corners. The room itself not adorned with trinkets or accolades of wisdom but blades, instruments used for interrogations and medals for services rendered in acquiring information through nefarious means.
She looked in the mirror, pawing at her comm. badge as if it wasn't real, like a mark on her shirt that just wouldn't come off. She was in doctors clothes, real doctors clothes and she never wore those. Instead of being in relaxed clothing to set people at ease she seemed to be in militaristic styled clothing, her hair up high and in a tight bun. Looking at her face she squinted as if she didn't recognise who she saw for a second, she rubbed a scar on her right cheek like a smudge waiting to come off but instead it remained.
"Everything alright sir?" someone she didn't recognise asked.
"Sure, why wouldn't it be?" Amelia replied.
"You never stick around after such an intense mental interrogation. That Bajoran is in pieces!" he laughed before walking off quite amused with himself.
She left the room noting the words 'Interrogation Suite - Dr. Amelia Zano M.D. Psy.D.' and a chill ran down her spine.
This wasn't right. This wasn't her.
***
Corridors DWS Pioneer
As Billy walked through the ship he noticed the subtle differences between what he knew to be right and what was here. Things like comm badges were different, and so were the uniforms. As he walked the hallways he noticed that there were people that would never be on a Federation starship. People like Jem'Hadar, and Cardassians. All were wearing a variation of the Starfleet uniform. However, it was militaristic armor was involved and all remained armed no matter what tasks they were doing.
His first thought was to find out about the Pioneer that he was on. The more he journeyed the more he remembered why he knew this was wrong. He was El Aurian, and as such when time changed he didn't. He knew there was another and now he had to find her.
***
Corridors DWS Pioneer
Amelia had began to wander the corridors of the Pioneer, feeling the seemingly recent battle damage that littered the walls. Scorched wall marks and burnt pieces of carpet that seemed to be at the bottom of repair lists and to her this didn't feel like how it should be.
Walking down the halls of the ship people seemed to avoid her, as if a monster stalked the halls preparing to pounce on any prey that got close. She felt out of place there, with a slight nagging feeling that this isn't usually how people reacted to her presence but at the same time she felt again this was all she'd ever known.
As she looked down the corridor she saw Chief Calhoun walking to her with what looked like great purpose. The only one in the whole time she'd been 'out and about' that seemed to wanted to get to her, as if he needed too.
Billy had been searching the ship for the Amelia, he had to see if she felt it too. She was young true but she should still know. With this in mind he moved through the ship as a man on a mission. It seemed that this Pioneer was used to that, curt nods instead of hellos was the method of choice to acknowledge each other as they past.
As walked the corridor of Deck 2 he saw her at a distance. She was trying her hardest to fit in but failing and he knew that she felt it as well. He stopped in front of her and came to attention. "Chief Interrogator, we must speak. It is of the highest import, and top secret. Is there a secure location where we can speak ma'am." He spoke loud enough for those in the hallway to hear. He wanted them to know that something was happening.
It was abrupt but definitely caught her attention, even blind she would have noticed the man in front of her. "Of course Senior Chief." She found herself saying quite formally. "My suite is always suited for such conversations, Interrogation Room 5 is best for such secret conversations." She added leading him there.
***
Office of the Chief Interrogator, DWS Pioneer
Once they arrived she noted the blood smear across the wall and the remnants of a Bajoran ear piece. She noted Calhoun look at it, "Dominion trained Bajoran enforcer, had some interesting stories to tell." Amelia said fixing a loose strand of hair. "Now what can I do for you Senior Chief?" She asked, not wanting to let on she felt out of place. Being a young El-Aurian she had never been through something like this before.
"Before I continue, I suggest you secure the room so we will not be interrupted. You can do this under your authority." He stated while standing at attention, however, his face told a different story. He hoped that her skills as a counselor would pick up on it, but he had to be sure that no one else would hear what he had to discuss.
Pressing a button on the interrogators side of the table. "Room secured. Nothing leaves here unless under my control." She replied.
His stance was one of respect of her authority but even that felt wrong, also it matched the face he pulled. In her mind there was a more calming influence that creeped in. "What's on your mind?"
He broke his stance into a more relaxed pose. His first task was to gauge if the time stream affected her the same way as him. He decided the best method was to leap in feet first. "Amelia what was the topic of conversation in the mess hall when you approached me to talk?" He asked tentatively and then squared his jaw in case his gut was wrong this time.
Catching her off-guard seemed to be a trait Chief Calhoun had in abundance.
However, a memory surfaced. "We sat in a lounge? And talked about El-Aurians... I called you old. Oh my Gods why do I remember this? This didn't happen... the uniforms we wear, my position here. They feel wrong..."
He smiled, "Precisely! I had to make sure that you were you. We El Aurians are as constant as any star. When the timestream changes we don't. So something has happened in the past to cause this timeline to unfurl. The question is... What?" He responded and for the first time looked around the room. "It seems counselling techniques have changed."
"It's very conflicting..." Amelia began, "I know this to be wrong but know everything about how to interrogate people, across species that I didn't even know existed and exactly how to break people, their spirits..." she began to feel herself welling up but tried to remain composed. "Chief, I don't do this... I help people. I fix minds, not break them..."
In some small sense she cursed the Gods for making her species the ones who could remain unaffected by these sorts of phenomenon, it almost felt like a punishment.
"If you hold on to that, hold on to what you know to be fact. That you help people, you build them up not tear them down. You will get through this. Trust me my brain is filled with Intelligence I never thought we would ever need let alone use. The first thing is there is a war on. The Klingons and the Romulans are at war... with us." Billy began to pace it always helped him think. He reached to his waist expecting to find his pipe and it was not there, much to his own chagrin.
He paused in his pacing for a moment. "I believe that it will be safe to say that no one on this Pioneer will remember what we do. I have that same feeling that something is out of place here. But now we must seek to find out what, or who."
"But how do we do that?" she asked realising it seemed like an insurmountable task. "It could be anything, anyone... We don't even know where to start."
"Well fortunately we are both well placed to get the ball rolling on this. You as an officer will have access to this ship's command crew. Theoretically the crew's should match. I can work the other angle from the SCIF checking on people's background, etc. However, the most important thing is to not let on. Do not let anyone know what we are doing." Billy replied and then snapped his fingers as an after thought. "The big question is who would have such an affect on the timeline?"
"And what?" she said placing her hand on the wall. "It's all well and good finding out who has affected things but we need to find out where it changed. If you say we are like a fragment out of time then we should be able to look at history and it should jump out at us right? Or am I thinking that is all too easy?" she paused for a minute. "Wait, act as normal? This place see's me as some vindictive evil b***h. They all fear me, the ones I've seen at least... what happens if I have to interrogate someone?"
Billy looked at her sympathetically "If you have to interrogate someone you do it. Perhaps you use a kinder gentler method, but you do it. If they find out who and what you are then, to be honest I am not sure what they would be capable of. It is as easy as you say... Well sort of... Finding it is the hard part. It could be something as broad as someone died in this timeline, or something a subtle as someone turned left when they should have turned right. The one thing you must remember is that if we are successful whatever you do here will cease to exist and you will remain the Amelia that you know." He paused smiled broadly, winked at her and then spoke again. "Think of it as your first Listening exercise."
"Why do we have to be so complicated?" she asked rhetorically, the very thought of interrogation made her feel sick. Turning to Calhoun she gave a weak smile in her efforts to appear more confident, "Let's start then?"
***
Astrometrics Lab, DWS Pioneer
In the ship's astrometrics lab, Jati was looking at the odd sensor readings which had started filtering in about an hour earlier. Something was not right, yet she was unable to put her finger on it to tell what exactly it was. The Cardassian woman had not been aboard the Pioneer for long and was still unfamiliar with many of the ship's systems. But she understood sensors, and some had received Dominion upgrades for enhanced cloak detection. She felt queasy, hungry even though she had eaten a healthy breakfast less than two hours ago. She turned on the subspace radio and started listening to the unfiltered signals. Sometimes, her artificial ears picked up on things that gave her clues which the computer on its own was unable to make sense of. She heard something that should not be there but even with the help of the ship's computer, now tuned in to that exact frequency, she could not make sense of it yet. But she had only just started her shift, she'd have a few hours to try to figure it out, she thought.
***
Office of the Chief Interrogator, DWS Pioneer
Billy nodded at Amelia in agreement that they should get started. "Well then I think that the first stop should be Astrometrics. We need to see if space itself has changed, once that is figured out we can then know how to proceed. It is my assumption that an Interrogator and an Intelligence analyst should not be questioned if we arrive together." He then pointed toward the door, "After you ma'am" he added with a smirk.
Amelia sarcastically bowed, "How kind Chief... good to know that you're aware of your station." she replied with a wink. She unlocked the room and began the walk to Astrometrics, again the corridors seemed to part as Chief Calhoun followed in tow.
***
Astrometrics Lab DWS Pioneer
In the meantime, Jati had figured out one thing. There had been an anomaly in the space-time continuum which had happened recently, and close by. She understood both terms were fairly useless when discussing time and space, especially since on the scale of the universe, everything that they knew or would ever know would classify as recent and as close by. Chroniton radiation was easier to pinpoint, and Jati made some discreet inquiries for a broad set of sensor results from listening posts all over the sector. She didn't specify what she was looking for, however. The last thing she needed was someone to get wise of what she was in the process of discovering, and either shut her down or take the credit.
Billy and Amelia arrived at Astrometrics, expecting to find it empty and not in use. However, instead they found a Cardassian officer using the lab to scan the sector. Billy immediately went on the defensive in an attempt to discover who this person was and exactly what they were up to. He was a little rusty on his Cardassian insignia, however, he recognized her rank to be about equal to Amelia's so they had that on their side. He stepped up to the Cardassian woman and gave the salute that he had seen numerous times since his arrival in this timeline. "Ma'am I am here with the Counselor. We need use of this lab."
Jati did not return the salute, but she did look over at them and nodded a greeting. "I am in the middle of some delicate scans, and have allocated all the scientific sensor suites to this task as well. Can you do what you need to do without interrupting those scans?" She didn't want to turn them away completely but she wasn't about to let them disturb her research.
"I believe so. However, the work we need to do is classified and comes from the highest levels. As such we are going to need the room. I am sure you of all people can understand the need for secrecy Glen." Billy ventured to take a few steps in. He didn't really care what the Cardassian was working on. He just needed her to leave if he and Amelia were to complete their work.
"I will need to see your authorisation for that", Jati said, her tone turning defensive. She looked over at the counsellor, who was superior in rank, and wondered why the non-com was leading the conversation. "Or you can wait until I'm done. There's a space-time anomaly I'm trying to pin-point and I need to look at the sensor data as it comes in."
Billy made like he was going to say something in response and then realized that he had the ship's feared Inquisitor with him. He stepped behind Amelia and as he did the look on his face spoke volumes. Specifically it said that if there was ever a time to be that Inquisitor, now was that time.
Suddenly the nerves in Amelia vanished as her 'alter-ego' took over, Calhoun's face a picture if ever there was one. "My authorisation as Senior Interrogator is enough Glen." Amelia began. "What we have to look at is not for someone of your station, unless you think you are better than us? I'd hate to see this little misunderstanding turn into us meeting in my suite. That would be... most unfortunate, especially for your sister. I hear she's doing well..."
She had no idea where all that had came from, every inch of her body felt dirty, her skin crawling with little ants but she kept up the demeanour of her 'role'. Keeping up appearances seemed to be important here.
For the moment the three people stood in Astrometrics without saying a word. Each wanted the other to make the next move. For Amelia and Leslie the plot was thicker as they had no idea who this Cardassian was or what her agenda was. It seemed that there was no another hurdle to jump as the two El Aurians sifted through this mess.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Amelia Zano PsyD
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
Glen Jati Niall
CDF Liaison/Assistant Chief Science Officer, USS Pioneer
Senior Chief Petty Officer Leslie Calhoun
Data Systems Analyst, USS Pioneer
PNPC Malbrooke
Sergeant Gaagii
Team Leader RECONN Fire Team, DWS Pioneer
PNPC Malbrooke
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