Paradoxes of Causality Pt4

Posted on Sun Oct 29th, 2023 @ 9:24pm by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Lieutenant Commander Kevin Kilbane & Commander Shr'Nesh Karadis & Captain Yadira Tristen & Lieutenant Commander Jaal Jaxom & Lieutenant Kell Asaa Dr & Lieutenant T'Lira Sh'Karra & Lieutenant Commander Isabelle Savette
Edited on on Sun Oct 29th, 2023 @ 9:27pm

1,627 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Investigate the Chintoka Shipyard Buildup
Location: Cardassian Time Ship.
Timeline: Current.

"Dammmmmnn..." Kell gave that some thought. "They were taking a big chance there."

"Yes, but they'd failed everything they knew to try, plus took several chances on a luck, with deadly results. Other than it could take a while, and why would that matter if they could eventually slip backwards in time to alter history in itself. Boggles the mind in paradoxes, what is possible, what would actually happen, etc. Other than a SF vessel some time ago, time travel is still very much an unreachable mystery. And I think it should stay that way."

Kell considered that. "So you know there's a Founder involved?"

"Yes. Rumor is, the Founder has someone with them that might be able to advance this prototype. It's imperative that not happen."

Kell nodded, but she could feel O was leaving something out, so she didn't reply.

O looked at her for a moment. "I also think... that this ship is a giant bomb. That faction I mentioned might have an agent on the crew, with the task of being a suicide bomber. When the Founder is here, or close enough, they would overload the warp core or something, creating a large enough blast to take out a large area."

He shrugged. "I haven't proved that yet, it's just a possibility I've been pursuing. It may not be true, or may not involve this particular vessel."

Kell considered that. "Since everyone is secured now, and will shortly be relocated, that shouldn't be a factor going forward, but it does make me curious if anything is programmed to happen if the Founder is close enough."

O now considered that option. "Possible. Put all the systems on manual that you can, and double-lock any safeties so they can't be easily overridden."

Kell nodded. "What can you tell me on the Founder?"

"That seems to be a fact, and the course that was laid in was done in secret so no one else would know until we departed, and pretty much arrived. But I think it's strange there was no meeting here, it's some isolated location in secret. Maybe the Founder knows about the faction I told you about, or some other issue. No one seems to see much of them anymore, but they haven't really been up front in most cases in a long time anyway. But... most of the projects here all point to ways to instigate the inevitable resumption of war with the Cardassians as a whole. They're gearing up with weapon projects, of course, but they seem to have changed their strategy somewhat and now they're trying to create ways to instigate other party's interference to be the apparent perpetrators of the war, likely to either gain allies, or at least push some into a neutral position so the Federation has fewer allies and resources."

Kell leaned on the cell doorway, contemplating what she's heard. O gives her a few moments... He smiles ever so slightly when she realizes there's a particular item they haven't covered. Her gaze sweeps over to his...

O nods. "That does work... to a certain extent. From what I understand, certain conditions have to be present for it to work properly, to manage to change a being to a Cardassian. It is not infallible! On a planetary scale, it's a hit or miss really. They would, in theory, take time to wait for the greatest volume of favorable conditions, then drop it to start spreading. In the end, it also works as a mass bio-weapon. The failed changers so-to-speak. They would beam up or otherwise assist the ones that changed, to defend against any of the failed ones, assuming any survived. In the end, it's not the great feat they hoped for, and they're still tuning it, but they'd have to really tailor for each major species for best results, so for some it would never work, but still, bio-weapon on a mass scale. Even not from a time-slip slant, they could wreak real havoc in our time now."

Kell mulled that over but she could tell O still had something... She folded her arms, waiting for him to continue.

O shook his head. "What is your role on your ship? You would make a decent Intel puke."

Kell laughed, waving her hands in front of her. "Nonono, I want none of that. I'm just a country doctor. This is all way outside my normal bailiwick."

O nodded, accepting her answer. "The bio... it's deadly to Cardassians! The ones that were changed, not so much, but to an original Cardassian, the nanites or virus or whatever it really is at its base, it still tries to rearrange their DNA at the molecular level. They take very special care with it, and they're freakishly afraid of it therefore. That info got out before it could be controlled. It's at least a rumor for the lower ranks, but all the upper officer ranks are aware."

Kell breathed, not sure how Finchley could use that info, but she added it to the list. She looked down at the unconscious body and pointed.

"He need to be a hero?"

O looked a little confused, but said, "Sure, that would be a feather in his cap maybe. What do you have in mind?"

She pointed at herself. "Doctor, remember?"

He nodded slowly, not sure how much to trust her but followed her directions as she pulled the man's upper body and had O lie down underneath.

She moved the body around until she was satisfied, even going so far as to use her med-probe. When she pulled her weapon, O's eyes went wide as she fired point blank into the top body, driving through and impacting below. His gaze faded and she closed his eyes.

"You'll live O... rest well and I hope your continuing mission proves fruitful."

Once she's satisfied the two are stable, giving them a sedative and bio tailored for Cardassians to heal. It would look like the loud-mouth jumped in front of the blast, saving his crewmate (perhaps)...

Palming the cell's energy barrier, she secured the chamber, checked the others to make sure they'd be unconscious for a bit longer, then worked on keeping what she learned all straight in her head as she headed back to the bridge to brief the Captain.

Finchley was somewhat surprised when Kell re-entered the bridge area.

“I thought you were beaming the captured Cardassians over to the Blackeagle?”

"They're ready when we have a lock." He could tell she had things on her mind she was working out in order to tell her tale. . .

“Lieutenant Jaxom had already got fix on the Blackeagle and beamed over” Finchley replied, believing Kell already knew that, so something else was afoot.

“I don’t think you’d have come back to the bridge unless you had something on your mind Kell” he said, unusually using her first name, not something he was prone to do unless he was looking to give someone an opportunity to explain themselves “What’s on your mind?”

"This thing has gotten all convoluted. Founder, confirmed. Time-slip, a bit more vague, and possibly bait. Warmongers amongst the Cardies that don't care much for the Founders, check, and this might actually be a floating time bomb to take one out, maybe..." She related the highlights of her conversation with the 6-T agent, culminating with the bio agent they'd encountered.

"Granted, they could both take out opposition on a world that doesn't make the change, and bolster their forces with the ones that do. But it seems rather risky... and unpredictable... Are they really that desperate?"

“If I’m genuinely honest, yes, I think they are” Finchley replied “You see the Cardassian’s we’re facing now are, to use a parenting metaphor, are kind of like young teenage children. They’re getting a little beyond needing the grown ups to do everything for them, in this case the grown up is the Founder. They want to do things for themselves, test their abilities, stretch the bounds of freedom. However, they’re still scared of the unknown, hence they needed the Founder for this time ship project. But, like all teenage groups, you have your bad apples, and in terms of the Cardassians, they’re the bed teens who want to kill the Founder.”

He stopped a moment, then continued “I don’t doubt the 6-T’s information that this ship could be a flying bomb, but at the same time, I have to weigh up the pro’s and cons of saving it so the Federation can go over it with a fine tooth comb and improve on it, or destroy it. Besides all of this, we also need to remem…”, but at that point ship alarms began blaring.

He checked the long range scanners “Shit!, the Cardassians have found us. Get the prisoners and yourself off this ship and onto the Blackeagle now”.

He looked at Karadis and Kilbane “You two as well, Kilbane, you’re now the Senior Officer, you’re in Command of the Blackeagle.”

Kilbane nodded, Karadis was about to remonstrate, but Finchley’s raised pointed finger killed off any argument she had.

“Get the information we got back to SFI, not Starfleet…understand” he said to Kilbane.

“All of you, get going, now!” he finished.

Kell gave him a sober nod and hot-footed it back to the brig, tapping her comms as she entered and confirmed her headcount was the same.

=/\="Asaa to Blackeagle. 5 to beam over around me, plus Kilbane, Karadis, and I... STAT!"=/\=


[BLACKEAGLE]

Kell helped pull the unconscious Cardassians off the pad and remained until security took them off her hands.

She looked at Kilbane. "You ready for this?"

OFF:

 

RSS Feed