MSPNPC CloQ - Time Enough At Last
Elliot Huxtable
((Off the Starboard Bow of the USS Resolution))
The pale androgenous figure of CloQ peered through the misty glass at the small science vessel before them. The air was still, but filled with the sound of one hundred ticks from one hundred clocks. Clocks covered every surface in the expansive ship, with the exception of the desk. There were wall clocks, hanging clocks, even clocks on the floor, covered in a thin layer of a see through material. The clocks were of every conceivable make, design and language, and ranged from a basic sundial (complete with a miniature sun for accuracy) to a Cardassian timepiece, and even a small collection of rocks that seemed to move on their own accord. CloQ had collected all of these throughout their long existence, fascinated as they were with time and all its ebbing and flowing.
Checking the pocketwatch they’d acquired from the court of Louis XVI (shortly before CloQ had wisely fled), they noted that it was almost time for the experiment to begin. They turned to the desk, a large wooden contraption that they had liberated from the Vulcans many moons ago and ran a thin hand through their auburn hair. The desk was as the Vulcans had left it; dark wood with a light inlay, except for a panel, inserted by CloQ themselves, that detailed the ship’s status. It was arguable that CloQ didn’t need a ship, being a member of the Continuum as they were, but how else could they display their collection?
The display on the desk allowed CloQ to monitor the timeflow around the ship, and around the Resolution. They’d picked the small science vessel for two reasons. One, there was nobody else around, and two, their crew had some experience with time travel already. CloQ pursed their thin pale lips, and drummed their fingers on the desk. The final minutes before the beginning of a test were always the most stressful. The best laid plans of mice and Q gang aft aglay, they’d heard from another Q, but they were damned if they knew what that meant.
They brought up the schematics of the ship, and snapped their fingers. Time around CloQ stopped, as it did on the Resolution, and on the Klingon bird-of-prey that was decloaking off their port bow. Neither ship would be able to sense CloQ, which was just the way they liked it.
CloQ ran a slender finger down the list of experimentees, although CloQ already knew all of them by name. They’d been studying the manifest of the Resolution long and hard.
Captain Nicholotti, her helmsman Yalu, security officer Sherlock and the tactical officer Ketteik were all on the Bridge. They were about to find out that the Klingons had decloaked, and had no intention of responding positively to hails. CloQ had tricked the Klingons into believing they were still in Klingon space, and that the Resolution was an enemy interloper. They were in for a fight on their hands.
Smiling, CloQ moved onto the second group. Commander MacKenzie, the Engineer Matu along with the two science officers, Yellir and Etan, were in Main Engineering. When time restarted, they would find the warp core was going to breach in five minutes unless they thought of something fast. CloQ hoped they could, or it would be a short experiment.
Finally, CloQ looked at the team he’d stranded in Sickbay; the doctors, Adea and T’Suran, as well as the counsellor, Sirin. They were about to find that the fourth member of their group, Nurse Nusin, desperately required urgent surgery to remain alive.
Three teams, three separate catastrophes that might all impact one another. CloQ smiled, and wondered how they were going to cope.
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CloQ
as simmed by...
Lieutenant Commander Genkos Adea MD
Second Officer & Chief Medical Officer
USS Resolution
G239502GS0
Time, he's waiting in the wings
He speaks of senseless things
David Bowie