Scanners

Posted on Mon Aug 2nd, 2021 @ 2:47pm by Colonel Sehan t'Varis & Ensign Skylar Southgate

1,900 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Chapter IV: Unravelling the Mystery
Location: Commander's Ready Room, I.R.W. Ourainavassa
Timeline: 238702.21

Raven threw herself onto the couch in her ready room. What a busy day this had been already. As soon as the Amelia had arrived at Drozana, she had gone over to the Terran ship to meet with its Captain, as well as her own first officer, to discuss the question of what to do with a ship full of frozen Romulans. Now that a plan had been made and was being put into action, it was time to address the next order of business. She had taken Mila aside as she returned from the Amelia, and told her about her idea with the scanners. Detecting chroniton and Omega particle radiation traces would go long ways to helping them figure out what Vulture and the Zhat Vash were up to, and the young scientist agreed. Mila had also told her of the Terran MACO officer, Ezra Perez, who had requested to join the crew of the Ourainavassa, and a meeting with the new recruit, along with Commander Rogers, had been set up for later in the day.

The colonel groaned as she looked up at the chronometer. It was still late morning, but she felt more tired than she had been most evenings recently. Still, there was more to take care of. Specifically, the scanners themselves. Daisy's friend had said she would see if a loan could be arranged. Although Renee had taken over as quartermaster, Gedak's strange way of keeping records had ensured that nobody quite new just yet how much money actually was available for such things, so the offer was very welcome indeed.

Skylar made her way to the agreed meeting point, which was aboard the Romulan warbird. Daisy was lagging behind and assured the synth she would be there shortly afterwards. After passing the guards at the airlock, Skylar declined the offer of an escort, favouring instructions on how to get to her destination instead. This was the first time Skylar had ever been on a full-size starship, but somehow she didn't find it as particularly momentous as many others would. The warbird was clearly geared towards military operation, something which didn't particularly interest Skylar. She was a scientist, an explorer, at heart.

Upon arriving on the bridge, Skylar walked over to the ready room and pressed the chime. It was clear the way things were run on this warbird were somewhat different to one operated by the species who designed it, although from what Skylar knew of the Romulans, she considered it may not be such a bad thing after all.

When the door chime rang, Raven sighed and lifted herself off the couch, straightening her uniform as she walked towards her desk. "Enter," she called out, once she had sat down on the chair behind the desk.

With permission to enter granted, Skylar walked into the ready room and stood around a metre or so away from Raven's desk. Skylar had to wonder how a mercenary came to be in possession of such a powerful, modern warship, but then again the synth considered that perhaps she didn't want to know after all. Before speaking, the synth removed the prototype scanner from her pocket and showed it to Raven.

"Here's the first scanner, ready for you to have a look at" Skylar said, looking down at the considerably shorter other woman.

Raven took the scanner, and gestured at the chairs on the other side of her desk. "Please, sit." She looked at the device in her hands, and nodded. "Looks good to me. How many of these can you provide? I'll set up a meeting with my Chief Science Officer later, so she can get a look at them. As I said before, I'm not a scientist, so I wouldn't know whether they fulfil our requirements."

Skylar took the offered seat.

"How many do you need? My brother and I are happy to do it for a reduced price to absorb the cost of materials, but we can't do it for any less I'm afraid. Feel free to test it as you please, but I will be chaperoning the device until full payment has been received" Skylar responded.

"I think it would be best, in that case, to determine whether it meets our specifications then, before we order any more," Raven replied, and handed back the scanner. Suddenly, she realised why Skylar looked so familiar to her. Recalling the conversation she had had with the mysterious messenger, she decided to take a shot into the dark. "Say, Skylar, was it? You wouldn't happen to be acquainted with a Professor Barrow, of Starfleet R&D?"

Skylar did indeed know Kenneth Barrow, the man who'd been supplying the synth colony for the past several years after his friend and colleague Dr Keith Atkinson went into hiding there. His support had been invaluable in ensuring the colony's survival, especially after Taryn took their only means of transport when she left.

"Yes, I do know Professor Barrow. Why do you ask?" Skylar responded.

Raven smirked, her assumption having been confirmed. "Oh, his name was mentioned to me a while ago, as one who might be able to set up a meeting with a particular scientist. Who might be able to help with our mission. Tell me, Skylar. How familiar are you with the science around time travel?"

"I know a great deal about the science concerning time travel, but it's not something I'm particularly interested in taking any further. My particular fields of interest and expertise are astronomy and medical science, so if you're after a time traveller then I'm afraid you're asking the wrong person" Skylar responded, slightly confused by the unexpected, probing direction this conversation was going in.

"I see," the Colonel replied with a slow nod. "Have you ever come across this, in your studies?" She tapped a few commands into her console, and activated the holographic screen in front of her, displaying the shifted quantum signature of the Terrans.

Skylar nodded. "I have, once. When I was out on a walk on my home world, I found an artefact which was from both the future and another timeline. I was very skeptical of this finding, until I realised that the technology it involves doesn't exist in this galaxy and would take longer to develop than the length of time it has travelled back from. While the evidence of time travel and other timelines is undeniable, I firmly believe that we should steer well clear of meddling in things which can cause vast amounts of irreparable damage in the blink of an eye. I would advise you, very strongly, to do the same"

Raven smiled. "What about preventing the damage that such meddling could cause? Especially if that damage would not only affect our own timeline, but could well have implications for the entirety of the multiverse? Would you not say that is something that should be done?"

"If someone is trying to meddle with timelines, then I would suggest you do whatever it took to stop them. If it means killing them, then kill them. I'm not the person who'd easily take another's life, but if it meant preventing that level of catastrophic damage, then I'd be able to deal with having it on my conscience. What are you getting at here, Colonel?" Skylar replied, wondering where Daisy had got to.

Raven paused for a moment. "I have already said too much, is what my allies would tell me right about now. What I will say, however, is this. We have evidence that a group from the future is conducting experiments that show a high likelihood of catastrophic failure. And by catastrophic, I mean widespread disruption of subspace across several quantum realms. We do not know what exactly they are doing, or to what end. What we do know, however, is that they must be stopped."

"If you know that they need to be stopped then I'd suggest you do that as quickly as you can, by any means necessary. Would you like me to take a look at this evidence, Colonel?" Skylar responded.

"I highly doubt that you would be able to tell us anything we don't already know," Raven replied, shaking her head. "We know where they are, we have an idea what their facilities are. Unless you can get the blueprints for a research station that won't be built for another century or so, I don't think there is much you can help."

"If you change your mind then feel free to let me know, but more to the point, why do you want or need the blueprints for something that doesn't exist yet? If it doesn't exist yet then it doesn't pose a threat...or is there something you aren't telling me?" Skylar asked, her eyebrow raised.

Raven chuckled. "Tangled timelines can be rather confusing. Just because that station won't be built until the 26th century, or potentially even later, doesn't mean it doesn't exist yet." She brought one of the images captured by the short scouting mission to Hobus up on the screen. "That right there was taken a month ago. And that is the station I am referring to."

"If what you're saying is true and this isn't an elaborate hoax, then I need to see this for myself. If you'd be so kind as to provide the co-ordinates then I'll make my own way there in due course" Skylar responded, analysing the image.

"I can't do that." Raven shook her head. "Our people barely made it out alive. If you go in a small craft, you will likely not survive. If you go in a bigger ship, they will know they've been discovered, ruining everything we have been working towards. And before you suggest going in under cloak, we have reliable information that they are able to break though pretty much any cloak currently in use. Unless you have a timeship or something equipped with a cloak from beyond the point in time these people are from, it would not only be a suicide mission, it would further jeopardise our efforts to stop them. Your apparent close relationship with Daisy is the only reason I trust you enough to have shared any of this with you. I will not be held responsible for your demise."

She frowned. "Speaking of Daisy, didn't she want to come to the ship as well?"

"My brother's ship is too small, but yours isn't. How about you let me and whoever's in charge of your engineering department take a look at your cloak to see what we can do? As for Daisy, she was supposed to be coming but she's helping my brother with something. I can contact her and see how long she'll be if you like?" Skylar responded.

"We're not taking this ship to Hobus before we're ready," Raven replied, before noticing her slip-up. "Fuck. Well, I won't tell you more than that. And yeah, I need to talk to Daisy, so if you can get any idea where she's at, let me know."

"Leave it with me, Colonel. In the mean time, I'd like to arrange a meeting with your scientists so I can go over the scanner with them and see what they think. Same place as yesterday at say...13:00?" Skylar replied, placing the scanner back in her pocket and departing.

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