Lt. Robin Hopper: Upside Down
Robin Hopper
((Situation Room, Level 6, Copernicus Center – Amity Outpost))
Whenever she was worried, truly deeply worried, Robin could feel it in her cybernetic leg. It was a strange sensation, a sort of building of tension – as though the stress was being carried down her nerves into the prosthetic’s bioneural circuitry and pooling there, with no way to release. She’d tried bouncing it, like she’d seen so many other people do when they were feeling anxious, but it didn’t seem to help… In fact, during a university final exam, it had caused a lock-up that almost led to being kicked out of the examination hall.
Standing here, now, she could feel it. Her journey from Terminal A to the Situation Room in Copernicus with Scotty had seemed calm from the outside, but inside she was a jumble of knots. Something was wrong. Very wrong. The fact that they’d been summoned for a Priority One meeting was already cause for alarm. Add to that the strange quantum signatures of the three Betazoids who’d returned early from the trip to Idrustix, the fact that the Targhee was nowhere to be found, and the unusual stable subspace fissure that had formed concerningly close to Amity… it was a miracle that her leg hadn’t exploded.
Once everyone was assembled, including Keehani and Kizat – both of whom Robin gave furtive nods of friendly recognition and little more – Wil called the meeting to order.
Ukinix: All Starfleet officers, can I have you standing at attention, please.
Hopper realized, as she straightened her back and held her hands tight against her side, that she’d already practically been at attention. She looked at Wil with nervous curiosity. He seemed on edge as well. The fact that this was, in all the time since she’d transferred to Amity just under one year ago, the first time that she’d been called to stand at attention was not lost on her.
Ukinix: Most of you I think know that me asking you to all be at attention like this is out of the ordinary. ::To T’Pel:: Ensign, I know you’re new, I assure you this is not something I’d normally do. ::To everyone:: But we are in the situation room, and we have a situation. What I’m about to tell all of you is classified and confidential. There are severe punishments from Starfleet if that’s contravened. For your own sakes, is that understood.
The group responded in a disjointed chorus. The Starfleet Officers present new the words, but for those who’d been serving aboard Amity the longest, the formality was uncharacteristic of the typically-easygoing First Officer.
Carter: Understood, Commander...
Iovianus: Aye sir.
Hopper: Understood… Aye. Commander.
Wong/Hopper/Reade/T’Pel: Response
Robin tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it wouldn’t go away. It had been nearly a year since she’d left her posting on the Wall Street to become Amity’s Chief Science Officer. On that ship, Captan Sh’Thorn regularly began senior staff meetings at attention. It was amazing to her how accustomed she’d grown to way things were done around the station, that simple military protocol almost felt unfamiliar.
Ukinix: ::To Keehani and Vaje:: Envoy, First Secretary, I’ve verified that you have appropriate security clearances as FDC personnel. If you decide to stay for this briefing, the same Starfleet rules will apply to you. However, you have the option of staying or going. It’s up to you.
Robin glanced at Keehani and Vaje from the corner of her eyes, keeping her head facing forward.
Keehani: I accept, Commander.
Kizat: It is our duty to work together.
Ukinix: Very well. ::Turning back to officers:: At ease, everyone. Have a seat, and say hello to our newest medical officer, Ensign T’Pel.
Robin relaxed – as much as she could – and found a seat beside Ikaia, taking some comfort in the proximity to her friend.
Carter: Welcome aboard, Ensign…
Iovianus: Nice to have you.
Kizat: A pleasure to meet you.
Hopper: I’m not sure anyone experiences a “quiet first day” in Starfleet. ::Nod:: Glad to have you with us, T’Pel.
Wong/Reade/T’Pel: Response
Robin set her hands down in her lap but, feeling restless, moved them to the large square table top, before changing her mind and putting them back in her lap. A moment later, she flattened them on top of her thighs and took a deep breath through her nose.
Wil took a central position in the room and gestured to Ikaia, John, and Vaje.
Ukinix: I understand the three of you have had an interesting meeting in the Chief of Mission’s office.
Carter: Yes, we did...
Kizat: Like I mentioned to you in our earlier recap there were plenty of issue to bring forward about whatever may be going on.
Wong: Response
Robin furrowed her brow, trying to find the connections between the Betazoids’ strange behaviour and the unusual readings they’d discovered. She felt, simultaneously, that there were a million possible explanations – and none. She stopped her mind from spinning any further as Wil shared additional information with the group.
Ukinix: In simple terms, we have an incursion. In your time in Starfleet, you may have heard about the alternate universe that contains a fascist imperialist version of the Federation called “The Terran Empire”.
Robin gasped, audibly. There had been plenty of speculation and rumour amongst her classmates at the Academy about such things – none of them substantiated, aside from the ominously vague ‘redacted’ files that her fellow cadets would point to as they whispered about “other timelines” and “temporal wars” and “dark alternate universes.”
As a scientist, and especially as a physicist, Hopper was well aware of multiverse theory and the probability (in fact, near certainty) of the existence of other universes – not just other dimensions, but entire realities that existed beyond their own, some similar and others drastically different… But the Terran Empire? She’d always assumed the rumours about that particular reality was wild speculation, or some sort of entertaining fantasy.
Ukinix: Information around the parallel universe is limited, however the brutality of that Empire is well known. That’s no secret.
Wil then turned to look between Ikaia, Scotty and Robin as he spoke.
Ukinix: Lieutenant Wong, your tricorder scans of Ambassador Vataix, and Lieutenants Reade and Hopper, your analysis of the transporter logs, triggered an automated Starfleet protocol named “Parallax”. The computer has assessed that there is a very high probability that a version of Ambassador Vataix, Tri’lea Polgonz, and an unidentified associate who recently arrived on Amity are from that universe.
This time it was Keehani’s turn to gasp. Robin’s gaze connected with hers, offering her a small sympathetic nod of understanding. She felt an urge to take Keehani’s hand in hers so that they might both be reassured… If they hadn’t been seated across the large table from one another, she would have.
Carter: Well damn…
oO No kidding… Oo
Kizat: That explains what we saw and heard from the three of them.
Wong/Reade/T’Pel: Response
Hopper: I feel a bit like we’ve been putting together a jigsaw puzzle without knowing the final picture. ::Shaking her head:: Now that we have it, I don’t think I like it… ::Looking around the room:: So what now?
Ukinix: An automated priority one message has been sent to Starfleet command, but it will take days to get there of course. That means we’re to enact this protocol immediately. We’re on our own, and the clock is ticking. The Parallax protocol reveals that Starfleet has had several encounters with this universe over the last 150 years that have been kept classified. Intelligence and data from those encounters are how the computer determined that we have had a probable incursion. The specifics of those encounters weren’t revealed, only enough information for us to be able to carry out our mission.
Wil pressed a few times on the main display table’s console screen, to bring up a holographic display that floated above it. On it was the planned navigational path of the Targhee from Amity to Idrustix.
Ukinix: The protocol is clear – anyone from the parallel universe must be sent back, no exceptions. Similarly, anyone that has made their way to this parallel universe must be returned. I have dispatched the Daintree to Idrustix to find out what happened to the Targhee – the nebula means that sometimes we have comms delays with the colony planet, so we don’t yet know if the Targhee got there. I’ve also instructed Ops to not allow any other vessels to leave or dock Amity. Transporters station-wide have been taken offline.
Carter: We might want to lock down the subspace transmitters, and limit access to our library records. The last thing we need to do is to let them have too much access to anything.
Iovianus: Targeted to the three of them only. We do not need to spread panic among everyone.
Robin nodded, then let out an exasperated breath as she shifted to shaking her head. She rested her forehead in her hand for a moment, before shifting her attention to Cassian.
Hopper: While I agree, Commander – we may need to lock down the SRC. There’s all sorts of things they might get their hands on in there if they can bypass regular security.
Wong/Reade/T’Pel: Response
Ukinix: The three people that we are looking for are somewhere on this station. ::To Cassian:: Commander Iovianus, you’ll join me, Lieutenant Wong, and Ensign T’Pel in finding and apprehending them. We have to do that as quietly as possible.
Iovianus: We will find them.
T’Pel/Wong: Response
Well, that was half of the equation. Even if they could locate and convince – or force, if necessary – the intruders from this other reality to return to their own universe, that left half the problem unsolved. In Robin’s mind, the more troubling half… locating their own people who had left on the Targhee.
As if reading her mind, Wil shifted his attention to Carter and addressed exactly that point.
Ukinix: Commander Carter, we need to ready the Independence and get it to the parallel universe somehow. Please work with Lieutenants Hopper and Reade to start enacting that plan. This may also be a rescue mission.
Carter: She'll be ready, Commander..
Robin nodded fervently.
Hopper: ::To Wil:: Already on it, Commander. ::To Carter:: Commander. ::To Both:: I’ve been studying an unusual anomaly with Ensign Premkumar in Stellar Cartography…
She held up the PADD, now the sole source of data pertaining to the stable subspace fissure.
Hopper: I can transfer you our findings. ::A nod to Scotty:: Lt. Reade and I followed a hunch and have found a link between the subatomic irregularities in our reality-hopping Betazoids and this fissure…
Reade: Response
Hopper: We’ll continue to look into it as we prepare.
What Robin left unsaid, for now, was that all evidence was pointing to the unlikely fact that their subspace fissure had coalesced into something far more intriguing – and disturbing: a quantum singularity that was stable enough to serve as an interdimensional corridor. However, she wanted to be sure before she brought that possibility to the table, lest she sow false hope (or fear).
Ukinix: Envoy Kizat, I’m assuming the FDC has action plans in case the Ambassador becomes unavailable? You might want to enact those protocols. I’m also formally requesting on behalf of Starfleet that we take First Secretary Ukinix with us on the Independence.
Robin followed the other eyes in the room to Keehani, who still seemed shocked by the entire thing. Perhaps, as a civilian, she’d never even heard the rumours that such parallel universes could exist. Robin could imagine how disorienting the idea would be, let alone the thought of potentially traveling to one.
Kizat: Of course we do. I am loath to lose the First Secretary but you will benefit from her deft hand.
Ukinix: ::To Keehani: First Secretary, in the meantime if you could analyse the Parallax protocol files and find out what you can about the political situation in that parallel universe, and anything relating to their Delta Quadrant.
Keehani: ::Nervous tone, rapid nod:: Y-yes. Yes, of course.
There was a pause, as everyone took a moment to digest the startling information they’d all just shared and received with one another. It felt surreal – like something from sort of of holonovel thriller… only it was reality.
Robin’s mind was reeling. Even with the news that people, agents potentially, from a parallel universe had invaded – purposefully or by accident – their reality and actively posing a threat to the Outpost… to galactic society, potentially… she couldn’t stop coming back to the same question. Where was the Targhee?
She tried to think practically, but she couldn’t shake the unsettling fear that they might never find them – or worse, that they’d find them killed by some twisted fascist empire all because they’d accidentally stumbled upon a spatial anomaly.
oO What if they’re already dead? Oo she worried.
oO The next time I see Nathan could be at his funeral… Oo The thought made her want to vomit.
Eventually Wil broke the silence.
Ukinix: Any questions?
She shook her head in silence, trying to gain control over her thoughts.
Carter: How soon do you wish to depart?
Ukinix: response
Iovianus: None from Security sir.
Wong/Reade/T’Pel: Response?
(( OOC – Backsimming can happen here if anyone wants to do so. ))
Ukinix: Let’s break into teams and get to it.
Everyone around the table split into their assigned groups. Robin did her best to numb herself to her fears and focus on the task at hand. Worrying wasn’t going to help anyone. She needed to be present, to think clearly, to find a solution. That was the only way they were going to save… everyone. She turned to Carter and Reade, putting on her most resolute face.
Carter: Meet me on the Indy B in ten minutes. We have a lot to do…
Hopper: ::Nodding:: Right. I.. will.. do what I can to secure the SRC, in the meantime.
Reade: Response
Hopper: Commander… I think you should know – there’s a decent chance one of the spatial fissures in the benamite fields has created a corridor from our universe to theirs. That is likely how they passed into our reality…
Carter/Reade: Response
Hopper: If that’s happened, it’s just as possible that the Targhee passed through as well and ended up in this alternate reality. If the Daintree doesn’t locate them… I think that’s the next most logical place to look.
Carter/Reade: Response
TBC
