Lt. JG T’Fearne - For Want of a Fortune Cookie [Part 2]
Teayl Thorn
((Stellar Cartography, Deck 10, USS Ronin))
The Orion gestured to the data cable on the nearby counter, indicating they should hook the black box to the console once she’d opened access to the ports..
Solana: Some version of the Ronin? The version of the recorder that found us? This isn’t from our Kurosawa. ::she nodded to herself:: That explains why the variance is off so much on this thing. So, we just watched another versions of all of us’s Captain and XO die horribly. Yar, I hope that there’s not another Ronin somewhere that saw ours go out the same way.
Dekas: I can’t imagine how that universe will feel without those people. Because if nothing else, they at least don’t seem like they were from the, ah, mirror universe? They seemed normal.
Dekas had been quiet for so long that T’Fearne had grown slightly concerned, but maybe he had just been metabolising the grief and then the relief of the situation, or their discussion had made him uncomfortable. She looked at him more closely for the first time, bright plumage distracting from depths of empathy and compassion.
T'Fearne: ::softly in response:: Just like us, Commander.
Esot: Response
Solana set her tricorder on the floor and drew one of her curved knives. A quick adjustment and the blade began to glow white-hot. She carefully pried at the casing of the black box. It came free far too easily and shattered on the deck.
T’Fearne suppressed a small smirk at the corner of her mouth. Maybe they didn't need two thousand kelvins, just the burning emotions of an Orian security officer.
Solana: I really hope the data cores aren’t as geriatric as the rest of this thing is. ::she plugged in the data cable to the data port:: Alright, at least it connected. See if you can download the recorder data.
Esot: Response
Dekas: Will do.
Jenta returned to her station, and T’Fearne turned her attention to their intel feeds as the data began pouring into the ship's displays. She immediately ran a search for the most recent stardate.
Solana: Some of the files in the black box match the ones the Captain…well, a Captain Niac transmitted. Should let us fill in some of the blacks from what we were able to get from that burst transmission of his.
Dekas: Let’s hope so.
T’Fearne leaned closer to the data stream.
T'Fearne: Even partial confirmation helps us anchor the sequence of events. The most recent stardate here is 240502.03. That’s nearly two standard years in the future. ::frowning slightly:: Large portions are corrupted. There could be more buried in there. If we run an extrapolation and reconstruction program, we might recover additional data.
Esot: Response
More files appeared—mostly useless, some intact, none explaining the final moments.
Solana: Hmm, I found a fragment of a historical file. Don’t think it’s related to anything but it adds to the evidence that this wasn’t our Kurosawa. Something about a Delta Alliance between the Federation, Klingons, Romulans and the Dominion to face some threat from the Delta quadrant. The file’s too damaged to get more. So we know that wasn’t our people….so how does that help us find our people and stop whatever calamity they were warning about?
The Senior Chief gave a short, humourless snort.
Dekas: My realm of science isn’t based in quantum mechanics, though that would be very convenient right now if it was…
T’Fearne straightened slightly, the implications settling in, making her want to run, to run from this place, collect their people, leave this sector and go scoop up the Kurosawa. But they couldn’t leave. Who knew what else might emerge from the anomaly?
T'Fearne: Mine either, unfortunately, I went for Piloting as my minor. But this worries me. If one timeline can fall into a Federation-ending event, others may be at risk too. Which means this anomaly may not be random. And if this version of Niac and Raga came through… whatever destroyed their Federation may be coming through that storm next.
A chill ran down her spine.
Esot/Solana: Response
Dekas: I think that makes sense.
T’Fearne swiftly checked the security of the data they were collecting and was relieved that it was a self-contained unit. It was best if future information from another timeline didn’t contaminate their systems any more than was already approved by Starfleet Command and DTI.
T'Fearne: I’m placing a level five containment field over these components, we can still pull information, just continue to follow containment protocoles as you have been.
She nodded in approval, activating a small force field that sparked over the core and the black box.
Esot/Solana: Response
Dekas nodded, his feathers ruffling thoughtfully.
Dekas: Alright, so what do we do about that, then?
T'Fearne: I see two primary tasks. First, we identify which timeline they came from—use that “Delta Alliance” detail Jenta found as a search key. Then we reconstruct their chain of events from whatever we can recover from the core. Backwards and forwards. We find the point where their path diverged from ours. See if that helps us identify the threat.
She turned to the console and brought the large, glowing, three-dimensional holo-image into focus over the sparkling electrical anomaly as the events of the Kurosawas' appearance and explosion replayed in a loop.
T'Fearne: Secondly, this anomaly poses an active security risk, not just to Ronin but to incursions into our timeline. We need to either close it or barricade it.
Esot/Solana/Dekas: Response
T'Fearne: And we should prepare the bridge for the possibility that this warning has… company. I recommend we be ready to go to red alert at a moment’s notice.
Esot/Solana/Dekas: Response
T'Fearne: I’d prefer to be prepared—rather than surprised.
Esot/Solana/Dekas: Response
[Tags / End of Act One T’Fearne]
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Security Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
R240107T14