LtJg Lera Michaels - Cassandra

[steve...@yahoo.com]

((Conference Room, Deck 1, USS Khitomer))

Hobart: Oh, thank goodness. All present and accounted for, sir.

Kael: I hope you’ll hear us out Captain Shayne.

Admiral: He wouldn't have brought us here otherwise, Kael.

oO That was an interesting exchange. I would have expected the two junior individuals to be more deferential to ... She does look a lot like an older Ginny. Concentrate, Lera. Remain silent, Lera. Hear the words only alluded to. Oo

Shayne / Tori: Response

Kael: :indicating Ayemet: What’s her problem?

Admiral: She's not your mother. Let's focus.

Ayemet:Looking at the Admiral: Why are you here? Why the hostility?

Tori: Not hostile. Just tired still, right my love?

Hobart / Shayne / Any: Response

Kael: My apologies :pause: We’ve been through alot, and it’s important that you listen to us. That you give us a fair hearing.

Admiral: We are your legacy. I'm Imogen Lacy, who you all call “Ginny.” Forty years from now, give or take, nobody does that anymore. This is Tori Semara, my best science expert, carrying on the work of her mother, Amelia. This is Kael Ohnari-Dewitt, our… technical specialist. ::clears throat:: We've come to hold back the tide in the war against the Alliance.

Lera glanced down at the table.

oO Our Ginny is, what, in her mid 20s? Assuming this is the same person from the future, that would make her mid 60s. This Ginny is definitely older but that old? If true, then the years have been kind to her. And the two others? Oo

Lera leaned forward and stared first at the woman and then the man.

oO If they were related to Ohani and Semara, then the only way they could be forty would be for Semara and Ohani to be pregnant now. If younger, then both become pregnant a number of years into the future. Dewitt-Ohani implies that Connor and Ayemet are no longer married. Divorced? Ayemet dead? No more thoughts on those lines, Silent, Lera. Watch and listen. Oo

Ayemet: Not your responsibility. You can’t just go around changing history to a version that suits you. :: beat :: More sympathetically: I know something of the Sheliak, but what will happen will happen. WE can’t change history to our liking. How many misguided people have tried to do that?

Hobart: A lot of folks want to make history. We only call them misguided when they fail.

Tori: This isn’t about likes and dislikes. This is about lives. More than you can imagine.

Any: Response

Dewitt: ::at Tori:: Have we lost the Isles?

Tori: Venthis, Emisa III, Theta 122… I’ve lost track. Planets they can’t even use. Simply, they hate carbon life. :: Beat :: We lost all contact with Starfleet over a year ago, and with Alliance ships crawling over the Isles, we have no reason to believe they haven’t kept pushing further.

Any: Response

Kael: Captain It’s not just the Isles. That’s just the starting point of what happens. The Admiral and Tori :pause: They have a plan that could change all of that.

oO Plan? Of course there is a plan. This particular threesome risking their lives in a barely spaceworthy shuttle in a region of space with unusual hazards without a plan would be completely illogical. It also means they prepared for this. And it seems likely they will tailor what they say to achieve their goal. Oo

Admiral: The Lattice Alliance was, at this moment, losing. It may not feel like it to you, but they are. They were spread too thin, and cracks were forming. I saw classified reports that units were beginning to turn on each other. That's why, a week from now, they're going to raid a POW camp on Alpha Trionus II.

oO And they want us to get there first. And do what? Oo

Richard: :: Pulling out his tricorder and opening a notes app :: POW camp, Alpha Trionus two.

Ayemet: To what purpose?

Any: Response

Admiral: They used overwhelming force, and it took six months before Starfleet figured out where they launched from. No survivors, orbital defenses completely destroyed. High ranking military official was the target, but that wasn't what mattered.

Lera smiled slightly. She began twirling a stylus around her fingers.

oO Do they want us to attack the attacking fleet's launching point. One ship against a gathering fleet? The odds against success would be astronomical. If the high ranking officers were not what mattered, what did matter? Perhaps they want us to warn Starfleet about the attack so they will be prepared. Is that the explanation about this particular threesome? Perhaps they think they could persuade us but not Starfleet headquarters. Perhaps. Oo

Ayemet: You can’t be serious.

Hobart: Lieutenant.

Any: Response

Dewitt: What matters then, Ens… Gin… ::quietly:: Admiral?

Admiral: A lowly quartermaster, a Tholian. Captured at the Siege of DS33, he proved to be a… unifying and stabilizing figure. Eventually, Supreme Leader. Unified the alliance, and conquered the Quadrant within a decade.

Lera stopped twirling her stylus and leaned forward. It was Ras who asked the question.

El’Heem: Great man theory? You want us to kill baby Hitler?

Michaels: History is full of examples where a single strong leader dies and another rises up to take their place.

Richard: Even if you took the leader out before they rose to power. You haven’t done anything to stop the situations that are occurring right now to have set them up. Who is to say someone else doesn’t slot right into place. If assassination is your goal here I mean.

Tori: Sorry - who’s Hitler?

Hobart: Somebody worth strangling in the crib.

Any: Response

Ayemet : Hitler was a 20th century dictator who was the leader of Germany on Earth. The war against him cost millions of lives.

El’Heem: What made ::pausing:: uhh makes this…Tholian so formidable?

Tori: He speaks fluent Sheliak.

Tori: You have to understand that, at this time, no member of any species has ever learned the Sheliak language. Even telepaths can’t understand them. It's part of what their sense of superiority is built on. But Tholians being imprisoned side-by-side with Sheliak created a unique environment for one to learn the language. His book will be the first published in their language by an alien to their culture. He will be the first non-Sheliak to deliver addresses in the language. Factor in his radicalization during his imprisonment, and he’s going to become a force of uniting hatred the likes of which this quadrant has never seen.

Tori's gaze was riveted on Lera. Lera returned a half smile.

oO That is insufficient to explain the rise of this quartermaster. It takes an array of skills to become an effective commanding officer much less become a leader of nations. Being fluent and being persuasive are not the same thing. ... I wonder. Can you read my thoughts? I will think it again. A leader needs to be more than fluent. They need to be diplomatic... politic... persuasive. At this point, I am not persuaded. Oo

Tori: Tholian and Sheliak units don’t combine outside of Federation prison. It’s possible there will never be another like him.

Michaels: That is possible. But, it is not impossible that there will be several more like him. Based on what you said, every Tholian or Sheliak in that prison is a candidate.

Any: Response

Michaels: I have a question. ::beat:: A two part question. ::beat:: I confess that I do not understand the equations and engineering around time travel or inter-multiverse travel. I will concede that your version of the Ouachita is capable of both. You could have travelled to anywhere in space and time. Why did you pick this place, in a nebula that makes detection difficult, and this time? If the quartermaster is the critical individual, why not travel to DS33 during the siege, where there were numerous dead Tholians, and kill him there?

Kael: Traveling through time ain't like dusting crops! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova, and that'd end our trip real quick, wouldn't it?".

oO A snarky comment? Definitely not an answer. Perhaps... perhaps... Perhaps their Ouachita can only move through time. Perhaps it could only do it once. Oo

Banks: To clarify: you’re saying that your ability to travel back in time is constrained, and there are only certain places or times you can successfully travel to?

oO Thank you, Juliet. Oo

Tori: Yes.

Admiral: Response

Connor: So what is the exact plan, then, Ginny?

Admiral: Response

Ayemet: Admiral, I’ve had my taste of the Lattice Alliance hospitality :pause and then speaking slowly: But you can’t seriously think that by killing this individual it will somehow change everything for the better? You’ve no idea the effects their death might have.

Admiral/Tori/Any: Response.

Ayemet: You expect us to help you? Why would we do that?

Tori: Because if you don’t, you die. :: beat :: Not all of you, not all at once, but most of you soon enough. :: The silence in the room was deafening. :: Mostly pointless deaths fighting pointless battles. If you don’t like the sound of that, then open your ears.

Michaels: ::To Tori :: Miss, unless you desire to become a Cassandra... and if you do not know what that means, I am certain that Admiral Lacy can explain it... you may wish to consider the need for trust. Your male companion's... Kael is it not? I assume you were not named after Superman... Your companion's "answer" to my question has convinced me that there is a great deal you are not telling us. Whatever your reasons, it does give the impression that you do not trust us. That leaves us :: beat :: that leaves me little reason to trust you.

Admiral: Response

Hobart: Might as well tell us.

Admiral / Any: Response

Tags/TBC

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LtJg Lera Michaels

Engineering Officer
USS Khitomer
K240106LM2