SBA 4.2 The best of times, the worst of times

[Deleted]

Ezdreiana had enough of this, here he was talking about shooting her like she wasn't going to do anything. So without giving it another thought she fired on the Klingon and on Saarok. She made sure that they were just stunned, but it would allow them time to get everything straightened out.

"Don't just stand there," Ezdreiana said to her trusted friend," we need to tie them up before they wake up. I'm pretty sure Korok will be angry when he wakes up."

<Tedak, Voran>

The three of them quickly took there places and waited for the two of them to wake up. She knew that Tedak would not arm himself with a phaser, so she took Saarok's weapon and gave Korok's to Voran.

"Tedak, who else has been effected?" Ezdreiana asked," I know that the Tholian has been turned back into a larvae, but I don't know much else."

<Tag Tedak>

Ezdreiana had many more questions, but they would have to wait, since Saarok and Korok were beginning to wake.

<Tag All>

[Deleted]

The Romulan sighed again while raising his hands to shoulder height. "She is not a hologram though she seems to be the only one of this current time." He stepped away from the bodies of the security officers, kicking their weapons aside with his foot. "I am unarmed," he stated as Nut took wing and disappeared altogether in mid-air.

He cast an annoyed look at the Trill ambassador. "They seem to have turned into brash young men," he sighed, "and they do not remember us." He nodded towards the Vulcan. "In my time, you and I are close friends and regularly work closely together." Then he nodded to Korok. "You on the other hand I don't know, but I'm sure you're as honourable as Klingons can be."

Tedak ducked as the impatient Klingon fired a warning shot that only missed him by a hair's width. "Apparently not," he muttered at Ezdreiana, "and equally hot-tempered too." He sighed again. "We're not getting any further with you holding us at point-blank range."

Then Ezdreiana seemed to have had enough and stunned both Klingon and Vulcan.

"Don't just stand there," Ezdreiana said to her trusted friend," we need to tie them up before they wake up. I'm pretty sure Korok will be angry when he wakes up."

"Yes I'm certain," the Romulan agreed, "but they were taking us to cargobay six and I still believe we ought to go there. Perhaps you can have Lily beam us there?" Ezdreiana seemed to disagree so he and Voran ended up helping her to tie the two unconscious diplomats up. After that, Ezdreiana and Voran armed themselves with their captive's weapons.

"Tedak, who else has been effected?" Ezdreiana asked," I know that the Tholian has been turned back into a larvae, but I don't know much else."

"My son is affected," Tedak replied, looking anxious, "I hope he won't do anything rash. Oh...and I had requested Vebn's presence...I wanted to talk to him...he is still aboard is he not? There is something I need to tell him, and it's fairly urgent. That and I am a Romulan citizen, it is my right to speak with the Romulan diplomat under these circumstances."

[Deleted]

As Saarok slowly came to he found himself lying on the floor. That traitorous trill had shot him. How could have he gotten so careless? This would have never happened if they just shot everyone right on the spot. But what was here was here. He'll have to devise a plan to overcome these fools. If they think they have him, they are sadly mistaken.

"So Trill, you believe this will prove your point? That you will gain our trust by using your stick on us? You have just confirmed what i thought all along, this is nothing but an attempt to deceive us to reveal our secret information. But it will not work. There are visible flaws in your plan... but then again what can we expect from a bug like creature like yourself?", Saarok said

"Creating this Romulan there to act as he knows me will not work. However this flying pet was certainly a... touch that will ads to him appearing more... friendly. Therefore i compliment you for that move.", Saarok said

<Tag all>

[Deleted]

Korok slowly stirred, a pounding sensation in his head. His hands were tied behind his back, and he was flat on his belly. The Trill had shot him. He rolled on to his back and into a sitting position, about to stand and fight, were it not for the three particle weapons pointed at him. He let out a venomous roar of anger as he struggled ferociously with his bonds.
"You will all pay for this, hologram or not. I will escape here and return with my fleet to destroy you and your Founder masters. You will not escape the vengeance of the Klingon Empire" He roared again as his bonds refused to come undone. He had heard something strange though, a discussion about temporal anomalies. Perhaps this could be used to his advantage. He struggled more with his bonds, looking as if he foolishly fell sideways into the Vulcan as he thrashed, he whispered.
"If we play to their charade, we might be able to escape and kill them!" He suddenly stopped his violent movements, and rolled onto his back to look up in wonder at the Romulan. Piecing togeher the conversation he had overheard he said.
"Tedak, Ambassador Tedak? What is happening here? Why am I tied up?"

[Deleted]

"Creating this Romulan there to act as he knows me will not work. However this flying pet was certainly a... touch that will ads to him appearing more... friendly. Therefore i compliment you for that move.", Saarok said.

"Illogical Vulcan" Ezdreiana said under her breath, but it was loud enough for everyone to here," if I was a Dominion spy, then how is possible that I know of your affiliation with Luther Sloan. You see Admiral I like you have been in intelligence, but I haven't degraded myself to serving in your particular branch of intelligence."

<Tag Saarok>

She didn't know if Tedak understood what she was saying, but Saarok understood clearly. No one should have known that Saarok was the Section 31 chief. A level 12 clearance was required to even look at his profile.

"Lily, please confirm who I am," Ezdreiana asked hoping to show further evidence of who she was.

"You are Ambassador Ezdreiana of Trill, Deputy Director of the Diplomatic Core. Office is located in the Diplomatic wing next to the offices of the Director of the Diplomatic Core, Ambassador Saarok of Vulcan."

<Tag Saarok>

"Do you require further evidence?" Ezdreiana asked.

=^=Admiral Magellan Lin, be advice of a serious problem down here. Mayor Tedak, Captain Voran, Colonel Korok, Ambassador Saarok and myself require assistant. We will not be able to reach Cargo bay 6 anytime soon.=^=

<Tag all>

[Deleted]

Tedak knelt down beside the Klingon, while listening to Ezdreiana trying to prove who she was. He had never felt so uncomfortable in his life. Not only did he not have any knowledge of this event happening in his past, he also felt very much out of place. He knew of events that hadn't even happened yet, and that might not in this timestream.

But seeing his closest friend acting so irrational was hurting him deeply. "You don't fool me colonel," he whispered, "you don't believe us yet here you are, acting like an irrational fool. Don't make more of a fool of yourself for you'll only dishonour yourself. I'm not releasing you, and neither will Ambassador Ezdreiana."

He turned to the Trill diplomat. "I would not trust me either if I were you ambassador," he offered, "while I am of the future there could be things I would know about your future. You would not want me to change history would you? There was a reason Captain Voran and I were escorted to a place to keep us safe, and keep us from interacting with others. I would suggest you try with all your might to keep that from happening. Talking to you is probably already too much."

[Deleted]

"Illogical Vulcan" Ezdreiana said under her breath, but it was loud enough for everyone to here," if I was a Dominion spy, then how is possible that I know of your affiliation with Luther Sloan. You see Admiral I like you have been in intelligence, but I haven't degraded myself to serving in your particular branch of intelligence."

"You are simply confirming your inferiority Tholian. You have started throwing petty insults at me as if that was going to aid you in your cause. Luther Sloan? I have no knowledge of such an individual. I work for the internal affairs department. Not in intelligence. And before you... embarrass yourself further, I suggest you chose an alternate interrogation method because this way you are loosing the little respect i had for you Tholian.", he said

"You are Ambassador Ezdreiana of Trill, Deputy Director of the Diplomatic Core. Office is located in the Diplomatic wing next to the offices of the Director of the Diplomatic Core, Ambassador Saarok of Vulcan."

"If you think a simple computer trick like that will fool me into believing that I am some Vulcan ambassador? You will have to come up with something better than that", he said

"Now release us so we can demonstrate how a proper interrogation is meant to be conducted", Saarok said

<tag all>

[Felix Savali]

=/\=This is Commodore Savali, Admiral Lin is not here. I will dispatch some security officers to your location to help you get down to the cargo bay, Savali out=/\=

This is getting crazier by the minute, Felix thought. He contacted security and ordered 6 officers to proceed to the location of Ambassador Ezdreiana and to escort everyone who is there to the cargo bay. Hopefully this problem would be sorted out soon.

"Frass, do we have an ETA on that specialist?", he questioned

"No response yet sir, but hopefully it won't be long.", Frass responded

"Let's hope there will be something left of this base by that time", Felix said as he concentrated on the displays again

"Do send someone to get that power generator back online. There still might be some changed people in that area and we can't risk them getting out. Too many have died already", Felix said

"Right away", Frass replied

[Deleted]

From the commotion around the base, Veronica knew her suspicions were probably correct. There was clearly a problem. As the plain looking scientist was deciding who to contact about this, someone contacted her first.

=/\= This is Doctor Chapman. =/\= "Doctor" always sounded funny to her. She never used the moniker, nor did the people she surrounded herself with. It made her feel old.

According to "F'rass", who seemed to be more than informal with his name, the starbase was in need of her temporal "expertise"

=/\= Expertise?! I am an anthropologist. =/\=

=/\= The computer says you are a doctor, and you are a temporal science specialist. =/\=

The computer was never accurate with her bio. =/\= The computer says I am a Doctor, AND I am a temporal scientist. I am not a doctor in temporal science. It doesn't matter. I'll join you, although you are going to have to give me directions. I only know the way from my room to the labs. I'm afraid I don't get out much. =/\=

F'rass relayed directions to Veronica, who pocketed the padd she transferred them to. She transferred the text of the studies she was working with. These might come in handy.

Reaching Operations Room, she was immediately greeted and briefed. Apparently, of those on board, she was the most qualified to analyze and deal with the current situation. She wasn't used to, however, barking orders at people. Instead, she tapped past the pages in her padd. "I'll have to look around for awhile... but I'm sure this has happened before somewhere. We might get some information if I can find how it was resolved previously." Veronica was fishing for answers, and she wasn't catching any very quickly.

[Magellan Lin]

The background noise of his communicator finally broke Magellan from his stupor and he got to his feet. He went to an equipment locker, pulled out a phaser and left the lab.

The small group of diplomats stood in continued bewilderment. Voran beside Tedak and Ezdreinaa still warily waving her phaser at the bound Korok and Saarok.

"Your charade is over" Saarok noted again "Take us to your Vorta"

"Vice Admiral Saarok" Magellan roared as he rounded the corner, he eyed sadly the pair of guards lying prone on the floor this blood seeping into the carpet, "You will stand down immediatly and desist this madness. "

Saarok sat up and met the Admirals glare evenly

Magellan stepped forward searching his mind for old codes from the dominion war but could think of none, he then realised what to do.

"Saarok I am Admiral Magellan Commanding Officer of this base. A code 16 Temporal infraction has occured. You are ordered to comply with the emergency measure laid out in the code. You have been affected."

He hoped Saarok was aware of the standing Starfleet Orders that had been set up years ago when Time travel was first discovered and were known only to senior staff.

"We are going to relase you from your bonds"

Ezedriana tightened her grip on her weapon,

"Its alright" Magellan reassured, "Korok remains bound. Now Saarok wil you be reasonable. It is illogical for you to act on such little information. Would Holograms bleed like that?, would we be able to maintain such an illusion when you took out the main generator in this area? We have a serious problem and I need your help, I need you working with me not against me."

TAG Saarok

[Felix Savali]

Great, Felix thought. Of all the Temporal Mechanics experts around, we had to have the luck of finding one who only took it as a side course. She probably knew as much about temporal mechanics as him.

"So Miss... Chapman. What will happen if this sort of thing has never happened before in exactly this way?"; Felix questioned

He did not like too much with going blind into solving a problem by hoping that something similar happened before. He could do that, heck anyone here in OPS could do that they needed an expert and instead they got this archeologist. Oh well he thought what is is, nothing they can do now.

[Deleted]

"Temporal displacement you say Admiral?", Saarok questioned as he got up from the floor after being freed from his bonds

"If what you are claiming is indeed true... there will be evidence around that can be detected. And if your are attempting to deceive me... You should know I hold a doctorate in Temporal Mechanics both from the Vulcan Science Institute and from the Starfleet academy.", he said reciting to part of his biography that was no secret and these Tholians, if it was them could know about

"If what you are saying is true... It is possible that the... deeds committed here by myself and the Colonel could be reversed.", he said

"Tell me Admiral, what is it that caused this incident? The Bajoran Time Orb? Or perhaps the quantum singularity from that Romulan’s vessel? Or perhaps a random unknown source of chroniton particles?", Saarok questioned

<Tag Magellan>

[Deleted]

Korok growled obviously as Saarok was untied whilst he remainedbound and on the floor. Deciding that if Saarok believed the Trill Admiral, then it was good enough for him, Korok got to his feet. Shaking away the hands of the security guards, he addressed the admiral.
"Admiral, you seem to know what is going on here and I do not. Quite honestly, so long as I get out of here, I don't care what it is you do. I am assuming this temporal infraction has thrown up a good amount of trouble, yes" He paused to see the look on the admiral's face. If himself and Saarokk had caused this much trouble, he could only begin to imagine what other problems others had presented him with today. He pressed on "I am of no use to you bound and angry, I will only try to escape and create more trouble for you. Release me, return my weapons, and I will submit to your rank seniority and assist in neutralising any trouble whilst you work out how to return us" he sighed "I was in the midst of the assault on Chintoka when I came here, and I lost my only son at Torros III, so I am used to obeying Federation orders. If you allow me to do this for you, you may consider it payment for my safe return to my time and vessel. I do not know whether i have come back or forwards, but regardless it must be imperative to all time that I fight at Chintoka. What say you?"

<TAG Admiral Lin>

[Magellan Lin]

Magellan eyed the klingon a moment,

"Korok. I know you are a man of honour, or at least I know you will be when you are Ambassador here. I will release you from you ties but you will not get your weapons. You have killed my officers and whilst it was a mistake, I willnot risk further casualties. Saarok, I want you to assist our specialist, Felix should have rounded her up. We will meet her in my lab."
He paused, catching tedaks eye.

"Tedak, you may go see Vebn, but I warn you - do not tell him anything that could affect the timeline. Korok go with Tedak, make sure he stays safe. Ezedriana can you check on Kaskrene and find out if... Saaroks aide is alright."

TAG all

[Felix Savali]

When Magellan was done with issuing directions to the timeline aliens, he contacted Felix and told him to send the specialist down to his lab so that they can start working on repairing this mess.

"Well Miss. Chapman, Admiral Lin has requested that you join him and Ambassador Saarok in the lab where all this trouble started.", he said

"The lab...", she said, "And where is this lab, I am kind of new here", she said

"Oh, do not worry, the computer here will give you instructions as you go, won't you Lily", he said speaking to the computer

"Yes, I will, please proceed towards the turbolift which will be activated for you.", Lily replied

<Tag Chapman>

After Chapman left OPS, Felix collapsed into his seat. What a day he thought. His head still ached from the blow he suffered from that Cardassian. But he couldn't afford to go down to sickbay now that is something that will have to wait.

[Deleted]

"Tedak, you may go see Vebn, but I warn you - do not tell him anything that could affect the timeline. Korok go with Tedak, make sure he stays safe."

"Of course not admiral," the Romulan reassured the younger man, "I may be getting old, in human terms, but I still remember a few things about temporal directives. I just wish to see how my old friend is doing, and speak to him of this current situation."

At the Trill's curt nod, Tedak left the area with the scowling Klingon in tow. He was certain he heard the colonel mutter something along the lines of 'nursemaid', but he chose to ignore it. "I'm sorry for having had to tie you up," he tried to start a conversation, "and I don't believe we've been properly introduced yet, not even in the time we're supposed to be. I'm Ambassador Tedak of house tr'H'Rhinann."

While he waited for the Klingon to respond, he navigated himself a way through the mazes of Assaillant's corridors towars Vebn's office. He was pleased to find it still in the same spot. "Ambassador s'Khellian, what a pleasure to finally meet with you again." Old Nut winged in and settled on Vebn's shoulder and nudged his cheek as a sign of friendship; something the actual Nut would never have done. "I need to speak with you and it is very important, perhaps you could join me and my Klingon companion here for some lunch? There seems to be a problem on SBA, and I feel you need to be alerted to it."

[Deleted]

The Commodore looked Veronica up and down. He didn't seem too impressed with her ideas.

"Of course - we can take a more proactive approach." Her knowledge was usually underestimated, in anthropology - and now temporal science. She had studied with the best back on Earth. She was not about to let herself be shown up here, however, being passive as she was, she allowed the Commodore to push her around a bit.

Veronica was kindly dismissed, at Savali's displeasure, or so it seemed. The scientist didn't mind. She wasn't Starfleet, she didn't have to answer to these people. The only reason she was helping was because she wanted to get back to work, and for the base to stay in one piece. She had no affinity for the temporal prime directive, nor did she wish to uphold it. She thought she would help, but the reaction she received earlier started making her think otherwise.

She kept her rants to herself as she arrived in the lab where this experiment thing went wrong. There were clearly spacial and temporal anomalies emanating from the lab, and those that were already present had pretty much mapped.

Veronica pulled her tricorder out of her back pocket... having pockets was a benefit of being a civilian scientist. It was already set up to scan for subspace and temporal anomalies, but the anomalies were not holding still. In fact, they were traveling like bubbles from the lab. The larger ones, actually manifested into soap-bubble-like objects, bending the light as it passed through.

Chapman ran her tricorder over an area where the anomalies seemed to be in high density. "Did someone erect this forcefield?"

<tag>

"Well, it was a rather dumb idea." Veronica was being rather blunt, especially while talking to the high-ranking officers that weren't used to being talked to without the proper officer etiquette. She meant nothing by it, but her lack of patience shined through.

"The forcefield keeps the anomalies all concentrated... but that's in the present. Did you even consider that, in the past, the forcefield didn't exist? The bubbles, which - from what you've told me - are reverting people to younger and older states, are probably existing in the present, past, and future. The fields are useless, and probably dangerous."

Someone made a gesture across the room, and the forcefield went down. The temporal bubbles did not move, setting the officers in the lab at ease.

"So - as I was saying, we should really be seeing if this happened before."

Clearly, everyone felt that was a waste of time, and they didn't need a temporal scientist to tell them that.

"Why can't you people think fourth dimensionally?" That got a few people's attention. "If these are temporal bubbles, and we can find where they've existed in the past," she held her padd by its corner and bobbed it in the air above her head, "then we will be able to see how the people in the past reacted... that is, if it occurred in our past time-line. It's important to know this stuff, people, otherwise we might be countering what the scientists in this lab are doing... or did do.. in the past."

She lost the whole room. "Let me explain it simpler for you."



OOC: Sorry about the ambiguity in my posts. You guys went nuts this week, and I am finally caught up.

[Magellan Lin]

"Why can't you people think fourth dimensionally?" That got a few people's attention. "If these are temporal bubbles, and we can find where they've existed in the past," she held her padd by its corner and bobbed it in the air above her head, "then we will be able to see how the people in the past reacted... that is, if it occurred in our past time-line. It's important to know this stuff, people, otherwise we might be countering what the scientists in this lab are doing... or did do.. in the past."

She lost the whole room. "Let me explain it simpler for you."

"I think I m with you" a voice came from behind her, she turned to see a middle aged Trill admiral enter with a Vulcan,

"I am Admiral Magellan, Base Comamnder and the man responsible for this mess. This is Saarok, he too has temporal training."

Veronica took the profered hand,
"You did this?"

Magellan nodded sadly.

"I once served on a unsuccessful Temporal Ship Prototype. I replicated a single temporal engine and was testing it. Nothing I was doing should have resulted in the problems we are having."

"You made the forcefield?"

"Yes" Magellan nodded, "It was supposed to contain any problems but it seemed to have interfered."

Veronica held up her Tricorder to face him
"You can say that again"

Magellan frowned at the readings, most didnt make much sense to him but one line on the oscillating graph did,

"Thats a temporal displacement wave... that could well have affected my engine tests but how and why is another matter. Perhaps the nebula is to blame. Its proven to have unique properties in the past."

TAG ALL

[Deleted]

Saarok listened while Magellan spoke to some annoying human female who was trying to make the Trill Admiral Appear "silly" as humans say. He shook his head as he stepped onward and took the tricoder from her hand.

"Hey", she said but he paid no attention to her as he began hitting keys on the tricoder

"Hmm", he said as he was walking around the room with it and scanning

"Interesting", he continued as he scanned the bubbles more thoroughly

"Of course"; he kept saying as he was still walking around scanning with the tricoder

"Innovative"; he said as he kept on scanning while the pair kept looking at him like he was mad

Finally he returned back to where he started and closed the tricoder giving it back to the woman.

"Well Admiral, I have been able to confirm what you have said, therefore for now.... I believe you.", he said

"However where these bubbles are concerned... There is more to them than a simple malfunction of the engine. Had this occurred only by the acts you caused with that engine... the bubble would not still be here. And from what i am able to see this engine alone could not caused something like this.", he said

"And it could not maintain it seeing it is... completely burned out. Now my conjecture would be that there is a source of chroniton particles somewhere that is feeding the disturbance and therefore maintaining it. As for your suggestion", he said looking at the woman, "If you expect to find information about people disappearing in the past to match that some people from the past appeared here... That is not likely, that is because this has not occurred before in this timeline. However... there is a possibility for similar temporal incidents taking place before, but not the effects of this one occurring in the past. For if it did occur in the past, and in our timeline. We would not be here thinking how to resolve the problem.", he said

"Now it would be my suggestion that we find what is maintaining these bubbles and after we do that... we can work on how we are going to reverse their effects", he said, "I do have business to attend to in my timeline and would prefer not to waste too much time here", he said

<Tag All>

[Deleted]

With all the excitement, Aiken had been torn between writing notes, recording what was happening with a small microphone, and trying to follow anyone who seemed interesting. Initially this had been Korok and Saarok; however they had soon become too volatile and he had left them in search of safer stories. He couldn’t work out what was happening, but the whole station seemed to be in some kind of mad delusion. From what he could tell, initial pointers were indicating that there were some kinds of temporal disturbances. He had already sent off two quick reports to the network when he finally turned a sharp corner to find a bubble in front of him. He paused for a second, and then raised the camera from his hip to start filming it. He’d heard some other people talking about these, that they were the cause of the ‘problems’.

He took a couple of deep breaths as he watched bubble floating slowly across the corridor. Half of him wanted to simply stand here and film it as he was doing, but the other half wanted to turn the camera on himself and run through the bubble. From what he had seen, although it didn’t seem like the results were positive they wouldn’t kill him. It took him ten seconds to make the decision and twenty more to write himself a note:

YOU HAVE BEEN TEMPORALLY SHIFTED. DON’T PANIC. – Aiken.

He hoped that he would believe himself. He placed the note and the camera on the floor, and after aiming it in the right direction, walked slowly towards the bubble.

The walk, three steps, seemed to take forever, and all kinds of misgivings came over him. He did however keep his gait steady even while his mind was all over the place. Those three carefully placed steps later; there was a remarkable lack of magnificence, no crackle, no snap, and not even a whiff of a pop.

Aiken looked around; confused for a few seconds until he saw the camera on the floor. He frowned at it for a second, and then picked it up, inadvertently lifting the note with it. Feeling the PADD loose under his fingers, he slid it free from the camera and glanced at it. His eyes widened for a few seconds, the white heavily interlaced with bloodshot strands of red showing clearly. It was then. He ran a hand through his grey hair, the stress lines accentuated across his face. She was still… He felt the tears pricking against the bottom of his eyeball and blinked quickly a few times to try and get rid of them, rubbing at them furiously. He had to find her. She was still… He choked back another sob and dropped the camera to the floor, rushing almost blindly through the corridors, not caring who he knocked out of the way.

He didn’t remember the event itself. Perhaps temporal mechanics simply didn’t allow it; he had simply come out of the experience with a complete memory blackout. But there had been other reporters who had covered the event, and a short bit of video.. He paused for a second. The short bit of video that he had recorded at the start was the recording of what must have just happened. He had obviously just walked into the bubble, and this was the result of that action. His head ached slightly at the mere thought of the science of this disjointed part of his life. He had spoken to people; found out what had happened, but he hadn’t known after the event what would happen. Which means that this time he still wouldn’t know. He frowned and sat down for a moment. Surely he only had to speak to someone, tell them to tell him when he came around. There were people who remembered this event, how was it that he couldn’t speak to them?

The sobs and tears engulfed him finally. He’d been running, not just to find her, but to escape his (future) memories. But you can’t run from yourself, and he couldn’t ignore it anymore. She was dead. They were both dead, and he hadn’t been able to prevent either. He’d been here before and he hadn’t been able to tell anyone about it sufficiently to prevent it. Why even bother this time?

He could feel his shirt soak up the water, clammy and cold against his chest, but he didn’t care. What did any of it matter when he couldn’t save them?
“Mr Fedetenko?” A soft voice, lined with confusion asked.
“Huh?” Aiken looked up, confused.
“Admiral Lin asked me to check up on you.” The trill, Ezedriana, was speaking warily, probably worried about the grey hair, wondering if he was going to react as madly as Korok and Saarok had.
“I’m fine.” He replied succinctly, not wanting to get into a conversation.
“No you’re not.” The ambassador seemed to be making a bad decision to care.
“Yes. I am. Now please.” He pulled himself abruptly to his feet, causing the trill to jump back slightly in surprise. “I have to find my daughter.”
Ezedriana looked him up and down, and then placed a hand on his shoulder. “No, I don’t think that would be…” She trailed off as the reporter threw the hand off him and stormed off. “What a disturbed fellow.” The trill commented sagely with a light shrug of her shoulders.

[Deleted]

Even with Magellan's reassurance, Ezdreiana did not release her grip on her weapon. She wouldn't take the chance that Saarok would attack them. As Ezdreiana listened to Magellan explain the situation to Saarok she realize how emotional the younger Saarok actually was. He would deny it, but living almost her entire life with a Vulcan had taught her to pick up on some things.

When she was positive that Saarok was no longer a threat, she lowered her weapon and waited for the Admiral's orders.

"Ezedriana can you check on Kaskrene and find out if... Saaroks aide is alright."

"Understood Admiral, though what Saarok's aide says is right, I was there when Kaskrene was replaced by the larvae," Ezdreiana said," I will go back to the conference room and check up on him, though I'm sure there is a medical team attending to the dead and wounded."

Ezdreiana excused herself and went back to the place where this all started. She remembered the look of surprise on the security officer's face when they realized they had been shot. Ezdreiana tried not to panic, but that didn't work since she had been shot.

"Ambassador what are you doing here?" a medical crewman asked.

"Admiral Lin asked me to check up on the Tholian Ambassador," Ezdreiana responded.

"The Ambassador is in sickbay, its imperative that he is placed in his natural enviornment," the crewman responded.

"Understood, I will go to sickbay and see what needs to be done," Ezdreiana said leaving as quickly as she had come. She knew that sickbay would filled with patients, but they needed Kraskrene to survive. If the Tholian ambassador was to die, it would mean war not only for the Klingons, but to the Federation as well.

"Where can I find the doctor?" Ezdreiana asked entering sickbay," I need to know about Ambassador Kraskrene."

<Tag anyone in sickbay>

[evoran]

Not having been given any orders by the Trill Admiral, Voran decided to follow Lin, the Romulan business didn't seem to involve him, and in any case, he didn't trust Romulans, even if he was in the future. They had all been going to cargo bay 6, but that plan seemed to have been abandoned, besides, given the choice, Voran would rather do something productive than sit around doing nothing and, after all, he was a scientist.

"Thats a temporal displacement wave... that could well have affected my engine tests but how and why is another matter. Perhaps the nebula is to blame. Its proven to have unique properties in the past."

"What Nebula?" Asked Voran.

<Magellan>

"The Betreka Nebula? Then, this must be Starbase 2?" Said Voran, finally getting a grip on where he was.

<Magellan>

[Magellan Lin]

Now that the smoke had cleared from the lab, the full extent of the damage could be assessed. The engine was a write off and much of the connected hardware too. Magellan perched himself on the edge of the desk and watched as Chapman continued to carefully pace the room with her tricorder.

She was insistent that there must be some evidence remaining in the lab, some form of signature. She ignored Saarok and continued to assess the patterns that might be evident in the past. He left her too it and focused on Saarok. The vulcan looked little different from who he did normally, but his personality was harder, cooler and the emotion that bled through was of belligerence and veiled hostility. This was a man who dealt in the seedier and less clear cut areas of Starfleet policy. This was a dangerous man and unlike the Saarok of the future Magellan didn't think he could trust him.

Voran on the other hand was just the same, and Tedak for that matter. The Romulan seemed to have maintained his annoying superior airs and graces and a penchant for doing exactly what he wanted regardless of anyone else.

"What Nebula?" Asked Voran.

"The Betreka Nebula. We are currently very close to its edge"

"The Betreka Nebula? Then, this must be Starbase 2?" Said Voran, finally getting a grip on where he was.

Magellan nodded,
"In your time you would know it as that."

Voran moved round to stand beside Magellan.
"I take it we know each other"

Again Magellan nodded,
"Is that your El Aurian perception kicking in, or just guess work."

Voran shrugged,
"A bit of both. Its strange, members of my race usually detect such discontinuity's in time and space"

"But you don't in this instance?"

Voran shook his head.
Piece by piece parts of the puzzle were appearing but none seemed to connect. The future versions didn't recall the incidents in their time line and now a species known for its ability to detect temporal changes couldn't.

"Dr Chapman" Magellan asked as a thought came to him, "Perhaps the problem isn't so much temporal as inter dimensional. These people are displaced in time and unidimensional space... I m not sure where that gets us but its a starting point...and we know the nebula can have that affect, 4 years ago the Copenhagen was thrown into an Alternate Universe in the Nebula."

Outside the station just exiting the Nebula itself was the Emoli. A Vellili class Battlecruiser. It moved with a deadly sense of purpose. A trait Lent to it by its bold lines and plunging diagonal shaped prow. As long as Sovereign and as wide the Emoli was one of the new ships the Assembly had built containing the Romulan cloaks. Admiral Yakak stood facing the viewing crystal and watched as the ship glided out of the nebula gases and into deep space, only an hour away was their target.
Yakak attempted once more to reach Kaskrene through the moot mind but found the only contact somewhat reminiscent of the hatchery, Kaskrene was there but not responding. He had to know why and he suspected Klingon subterfuge.

3 Lightyears away in the opposite direction the IKS Heg'vak abruptly changed course and likewise headed for Starbase Assailant. General Ch'lork fresh from his liberation of Klacma was not as it happened on the bridge. He sat instead at his table in the mess hall. A targ had been freshly slaughtered and his chef was at this minute preparing the heart for him. He had brooded over the impending peace. He was one of those who believed it was time for the Klingons to make war again, and against who better than the Tholians. So it was with no great surprise nor sadness that when he received a high security databurst from the embassy on Assailant stating that the talks had broken down and that something had happened, he ordered the Negh'var class vessel to investigate. Something was afoot and he doubted Korok could handle it himself. The Ambassador nor the station itself was currently responding to hails. He had to know why and he suspected Tholian subterfuge.

[Deleted]

"A rift leading to the mirror universe?", Saarok questioned with a remote ounce of interest, "That is most intriguing and it shines an entirely different light on this entire incident.", Saarok said

"For it is not illogical that the phenomenon caused by your test engine interacted with the rift hidden within the nebula to cause an inter-dimensional time shift. Meaning it is not impossible that not only we are from the past or future, but that we are also from parallel time lines.", he said

Saarok had a distinct feeling that no one in the room was taking him seriously. And that was not something he was used to. People feared him back there where he came from... well at least those who knew he existed. But now he was stuck in this era where not only people did not fear him but they also discarded his comments like they were given by some fool. And this Doctor Chapman not only did she completely ignore him but she was so self centered, which was a typical human feat, but it her cases completely unsupported by any facts. He knew when he was not wanted.

"But... i see you do not have any need for my help therefore it is logical for me to depart. It was a pleasure admiral"; Saarok said to Lin as he left the room before anyone else could say anything new

=/\=Computer, are you familiar with Special order 51557=/\=

=/\=Affirmative=/\=

=/\=Execute order 51557, authorization code Saarok 478AT3=/\=

=/\=Unable to comply, access code not recognized=/\=

That was a logical response, and exactly what he expected. This will set of a red light at the Internal Affairs department and they will in response send someone to investigate and when that someone arrives here... Things will become much more interesting. But now... it was time to go meet the Romulan "friend".

=/\=Computer, where is... Ambassador Tedak=/\=

=/\=Ambassador Tedak is at the Romulan Embassy=/\=

=/\=How do i arrive there=/\=

=/\=Follow the marks on the walls=/\=

Excellent, Saarok thought as he proceeded to meet this friend of his. Perhaps he could be useful to him if he played his cards correctly. After some walking round the base and encountering several fore fields that were lowered, he finally arrived where he intended. The Romulan embassy. He was going to wait for Tedak to emerge from there; after all it was unlikely that that arrogant human bellow would come up with a solution to their situation any time soon.

<Tag Tedak>

[Deleted]

T'Val and Stuart were glad to be back aboard Assaillant; their honeymoon had been brief but also very relaxing. It was something they both had needed very much, even though they had celebrated their marriage for the most part. As the newlyweds stepped out of their shuttle, they were met by a young ensign who seemed rather familiar to both.

"Greetings mother," the young man spoke, smiling in relief, "hello father. It is good to see you again, I trust your conference went well?" The young man seemed to be searching for someone. "Is Naois not with you?" he asked, now looking concerned, "you did say my brother would be with you."

T'Val and Stuart froze in their tracks, casting eachother a surprised and worried glance. "Who are you?" T'Val asked carefully, as she looked about to faint.

D'beren managed to look genuinely hurt. "It is me mother, don't you recognize me? I just met dad but he seemed so old...something must've happened while you were away. Something bad because I don't see young Naois with you."

"Who?" T'Val asked as she clutched at her husband for support. Her mind was reeling as she was confronted with an adult son, who was asking about a sibling that could not be. Thankfully, they were paged to return to sickbay as soon as possible. The two hurried to their domain, with D'beren following them in concern.

A nurse motioned them towards a small cubicle which was surrounded by a forcefield. She quickly informed them of what had happened. "That is Kaskrene?" T'Val querried, "he looks...diffrent." Soon they were approached by the Trill diplomat, who looked relatively unchanged.

"I do not know ambassador," T'Val answered her query about Kaskrene in all honesty, "we will have to conduct thorough scans of all personnel that have been affected to construct a pattern. From what I can see, Ambassador Kaskrene has been reduced to a mere hatchling while my son has aged to an academy graduate at the rank of ensign. He seems to believe he has a young brother named Naois. And from what he told me, Ambassador Tedak has aged approximately 40 standard years. We have not yet been informed as to how this has happened, perhaps you would be interested in filling us both in? We have just returned from our honeymoon, only to land in this chaos."

(Ezdreiana)

T'Val cast a concerned look at her mate. "What do you think Stuart?" she asked, "are we in any danger? So far you and I have been fairly safe." She turned back to Ezdreiana. "We could seal off sickbay for now, you would be safe here against these....time bubbles. Any who need assistance can be beamed in rather than coming through the doors."

(Ezdreiana/Mercy/anyone else)