Stepping out of the Mirror

Posted on Tue Apr 12th, 2022 @ 12:57pm by Captain Freya Mannerheim

962 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Chapter V: The Calm Before The Storm
Location: Captain's Ready Room, I.S.S. Amelia
Timeline: 238703.14

Freya was sitting in her ready room. studying the technical specifications for the Klein-class ship she was commanding. Since her conversation with Kaiae, she had realised that if the Terrans were to try and attack Ourainavassa, the Romulan ship would be sorely outclassed. So, she had begun to create a document that she would send to Lieutenant Lynn, with some instructions on how to improve Ourainavassa's combat capabilities without needing to go through the lengthy process of replacing large amounts of hardware. Once complete, she would go across to meet with Kaiae and, at the same time, slip a datachip with the specs to the Lieutenant. She would also include the technical data for the spore drive, as well as other future technologies.

Yes, she was going to not only supply Imperial military secrets to an outsider, she was also going to mess with the timeline - but at this point she had no love left for the Terrans. She set the files to copy and leaned back, sipping on her glass of ice mead. He relationship with the Empire had been rocky throughout. First, there was the treatment she had received at the academy, and especially at the hands of Commodore Paladin. Then, when after years of Federation service she had thought she'd fully escaped them, the Terrans had returned. Of course, her experience with the Federation made her a vital asset to the task force, but now, with the alliance all but shattered, she was likely to be a liability again, or even considered a threat. A potential traitor. In that respect, she could relate more to Kaiae than the Subcommander could ever assume. So, she had sworn to herself that she would do whatever she could to ensure the Romulans' success in their evacuation plans. Smiling, she looked at the PADD on her desk. She knew somebody who would be able to help - if she could convince them. With another glance at the PADD, she took a deep breath, and opened a private communications channel and straightened her glasses. It was going to be now or never.

It took a few moments for the call to be answered, and the face of an old man appeared on the screen in front of her. A face she had seen many, many times.

"Eilif Haraldsson?", she asked, quietly.

The old man grunted. "What do you want?", he asked, his voice a deep growl, with a strong accent. It had been many years since she had heard that voice, since that fateful cruise on ISS Cromwell that had ripped her out of the Terran universe the first time.

"My name is..." Freya hesitated, unsure how to best do this. "I'm Captain Freya Mannerheim, of the USS Amelia", she finally said, deciding to somewhat obscure her identity. "A friend gave me this contact and told me to call him if I ever needed his help. Well, I need it now."

Eilif grunted again. "Funny. My granddaughter's name is Freya. So what's the name of that friend of yours?"

Freya took a deep breath. This was going to be even more difficult. "Svanir. He's got a transport ship, called the Bifrost."

The old man's face fell. "Sorry. My son is dead. And the ship destroyed. He won't be able to help you."

"I... I know." She glanced at the chronometer. "It happened about a week ago, didn't it?"

Eilif's eyes narrowed. "It did. His son was also killed. My granddaughter Freya lost her leg. She's at the hospital now, getting a prosthetic. How do you know this?"

"Listen to my voice, look at my face, and answer that question yourself," Freya replied in the dialect of Norse spoken on Nygard.

Her grandfather simply nodded. "So, you found a way to time travel, then?"

"Yes. Although I come from a different timeline, so I'm technically not the Freya that's in the hospital right now. But I really do need your help. Or rather, my Romulan friends do. They're trying to evacuate their families before the supernova, and could use another ship. And I know you have access to one, old man. Or did they blow the Skidbladnir up as well?"

Eilif burst out laughing. "I see I won't be able to keep that secret forever, then. I don't know how we are talking, I don't know what is happening. And I don't know if you are who you say you are. But if you can prove it to me, then you will have my help."

Freya paused. She did come from a parallel universe, of course, but, so far, a lot of things appeared to match. She checked the chronometer again, and knew what to say. "You came to see me, well, this version of me, in the hospital this morning. And instead of asking you anything, I apologised to you, for not being able to save more of my family. You told me that I could not have done anything more than what I had, and that you were grateful to the Gods that at least Sora and I escaped."

The old man nodded. "Send me your coordinates. I will have the ship prepared and with you within the next ten days. I told you, you can always come to me to ask for anything, granddaughter."

The Captain sent over the details, and, after confirming them and imploring the old man that he must never share the true identity of the mystery caller, closed the channel. Meanwhile, the files had finished copying onto the datachip.

With a smile, Freya opened the comm channel again. "Subcommander Kaiae, I'm heading over to your ship. I've got something for you."

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