Truth and Consequences, Part II

Posted on Sun Jun 28th, 2026 @ 10:03pm by Lieutenant Mila Lynn & Colonel Sehan t'Varis K.I.A. & Captain Freya Mannerheim & Subcommander Kaiae t'Lien & Centurion Nancy Gable & Major Ashley Rogers & Lieutenant Hatham tr'Krotash

2,440 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Chapter VII: Into the Storm
Location: Medical bay, Ourainavassa
Timeline: 238704.31

While Lieutenant Lynn worked on synthesising the truth serum, Raven had been kept in the brig, as previously agreed. When the serum was ready, she had been taken to the medical bay, where, after an extensive medical scan, she had been placed in a chair connected to a Tal Shiar lie detector.

Once the other senior officers arrived, Captain Mannerheim stepped forward, and addressed Raven directly. "I want it noted that you have willingly and knowingly agreed to this procedure, and all associated risks," she stated, to which Raven simply nodded.

"Based on the scans performed by Doctor Gable and Lieutenant Lynn, I can confirm the following of your claims as fact. Genetic scans and your general medical condition, as well as your quantum signature, confirm that you are indeed Sehan t'Varis, known to this crew as Raven. You carry residual chroniton radiation that confirms your claims of a temporal displacement, and the quantum signature of the clothes you are wearing does not match your own, confirming your claims of displacement to another universe."

The turned around and looked at the other officers. "Lieutenant Lynn has been tasked with assisting Doctor Gable in monitoring the Colonel's vitals. While the serum she was given should not pose any severe health risks, you never know with Terran medicine. Lieutenant Lynn will also monitor the lie detector. As for myself, I am simply here as a witness at this time. I have examined the data given to us by the Colonel, and compared it to intelligence that was gathered both by this crew, and ISS Amelia, and it seems to be plausible. Of course, that does not prove that it is true. Any good deception has to stand up to at least some verification efforts, after all."

She beckoned towards Mila, who stepped forward, holding a hypospray. "This serum will compel the recipient to tell the truth. Attempting to lie will cause physical pain - as expected from a Terran invention, really. The lie detector is being used as a secondary verification, just in case." The young scientist walked over to Raven, and injected the serum. "It will take one minute to take full effect."

Once a minute had passed, Mila glanced at the readout for Raven's vitals, and simply nodded. "We can begin."

Captain Mannerheim smiled. "Very good. As is standard procedure for these things, I will begin with a verification question." She turned to Raven. "You are the mercenary Sehan t'Varis, known as Raven, former holder of a Tal Shiar commission to the rank of Colonel, former commanding officer of the Independent Romulan Warbird Ourainavassa. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"You departed this vessel with no prior notice on standard date 238703.03. Why?"

Raven drew a deep breath. "I received a message from my ex-partner, Ellie Greaves, recorded and sent just before her death. She had information claiming to relate to the fate of my mother, and how it is related to the woman that claims to be her, the one we know as Vulture."

The Captain simply nodded. "So far, so good." She turned to Hatham, Ash and Kaiae. "Your turn."

"That is a summary, not an answer." Kaiae said flatly. "Of what did you find of this so compelling as to leave at a critical juncture and risk everything we had been working for here?"

Raven turned her head to face Mila. "Does this room have a terminal where I can access my personal logs? I think it would be best to show them."

Mila handed her a PADD. "Here. This PADD is linked to the central computer, with read-only access, restricted to your personal files and the logs and information gathered by this ship before your departure. Thought it would come in handy. And don't even try an override, it won't work."

"Thank you. I have no interest in overriding anything anyway." The colonel quickly tapped a few commands, and opened a file. "This is the message that triggered my departure."

The PADD showed Ellie Greaves, wearing Terran uniform, and clearly in the middle of a fight. "This was recorded when the previous Amelia was destroyed. Ellie's last act was to send me this," Raven explained, before hitting play.

"Sey, I'm sorry. If you receive this message, it means I'm dead. There are many things I want to say to you, but there's no time. I'm recording this to tell you something you must hear. I found something. About-" An explosion went off in the background, and someone called out for help. "I need to go. I'm attaching a file with what I've found. I've always loved you. I am-"

Once the message had played out, Raven opened the attached file. It was an audio recording.

"Romulan Republic Warbird Emerald Raptor, Commander's private log. Finally, I have captured my counterpart. We've already extracted all the useful info, of course. As usual, the Zhat Vash have been very helpful. So the little slut went and hooked up with a Tal Shiar bigwig. The one who designed this legendary warbird we have heard so much about. And they have a daughter. Well, that will be useful for sure. Operation Emerald Chain is going swimmingly. She'll be transferred to the Drozana prison camp tomorrow, and terminated. Can't have the real one show up when I'm trying to impersonate her, can I."

Once the message had played, Raven continued. "As you can see, Vulture is an agent of the Zhat Vash, from the Romulan Republic. In the Terran universe. The log has a time stamp, too, so I took the timeship and tried to jump to those coordinates, in the other universe, intercept the transport, rescue my mother, then jump back to just moments after I left. But something went wrong. I ended up at the right time, in the right universe, but in completely the wrong place, with most systems completely fried. I was stuck, and had to ride time out normally. I knew Vulture was the only one with the tech to jump universes, or at least the most easily accessible option, so after I managed to get away from the Terran ship that picked me up, I went looking for her and joined her operation. I had to get back, and to get as much information as possible while I did it. I also managed to sabotage a few of her operations. Her orders were to capture the Sianna as well as the other ships in that convoy, but I convinced her to let you guys go to spread fear."

Freya nodded. "Classic bootstrap paradox. You knew the hospital ship would escape, so you made sure it would. You said you were picked up by the Terrans. Do you remember what ship?"

Raven nodded. "I.S.S. Poseidon, Miranda-class, NCC-426 something. Captain Paladin, commanding officer."

The Captain visibly shuddered. "Ironic that you would run into him of all people. By the time he was my instructor at the academy, he was a Commodore. And a right piece of work. How did you escape?"

"When they were done with the agonisers, they threw me in the brig. I managed to seduce the guard, knocked her out cold, and stole a shuttlecraft. Jumped to Drozana, but I was too late. I later learned I arrived there an hour after my mother's transport. She was already dead. Vulture didn't seem to recognise me. I mean, of course not. This was two years before we first met her. Time travel is weird."

Freya checked the monitors, and nodded. "So far, according to the biodata, she's telling the truth. We have about thirty minutes before the serum wears off. Next question?"

There was lying and then there was misdirection. And omission. "Two questions then," Hatham said. "First, what about any of this precluded telling us about it rather than just disappearing with no explanation? Second, what relationship did you develop with Vulture over the time in her service?"

Raven remained silent for a moment, until the Captain spoke up. "I think we may have hit one of the side effects of the serum, Lieutenant. It seems she is only able to process one question at a time." She turned to the Colonel. "Let me repeat his first question. Why did you not disclose your plan, but leave so suddenly?"

"It was a hasty, spur-of-the-moment decision. With the timeship, I did not expect to be gone long. And I did not wish to drag any other members of this crew into what was primarily a personal matter. I realised my mistake as soon as I arrived in the past, in the other universe, with no way of getting back, but I also had no means of communicating over long distances, let alone through time and dimensions. I was also worried that sharing my plan would alert the Terrans to the situation, and cause them to intervene."

Freya nodded. "And his second question, what kind of relationship did you have with Vulture?"

Raven considered the question for a few seconds, before replying. "I would not say that there was much trust involved. In fact, I do not believe she trusts anyone fully. At first, I served as a Subcommander on one of her birds-of-prey, and when its commander was killed in battle, I was promoted to take his place. My ship was one of the first in Vulture's fleet to be fitted with a Stamets device, the blueprints of which had been stolen from the Terran Empire by the Zhat Vash. I believe she saw me and my crew as expendable, and so we were made to test the device extensively, until the next phase of what she calls Operation Emerald Chain was launched, an incursion into this universe. I only learned of her plans what she shared with her ship commanders, which was highly compartmentalised. Vulture is an expert at operational security."

She took a breath. "As Commander of a scouting vessel, most of my missions in this universe simply involved determining the strength of certain convoys, most of whose defences I intentionally overstated, so that they would appear less appealing targets. However, the vast majority of my missions were to escort transport ships filled with captured civilians. I have provided the locations of where they were held in the logs I've given you. The raid on the Sianna and her convoy was the only direct attack I was involved in."

Ash looked up after listening to Raven, "Look, I have had more than enough temporal, alternate universe, timeline spaghetti bullshit. What do need to from us?" After dealing with her alternate counterpart, all Ash wanted was a straight forward mission where she can get her hands dirty and maybe do some good.

Raven smiled. "Good to see you, Ash. I simply came here to help out, that's it. I know I have no right to return to this ship anymore, I gave that up when I left so suddenly. All I ask is that you look after my baby. Eavy, I mean. And this ship. What you do with the information I gave you is entirely up to you. I'm not your commanding officer anymore, from what I understand the Captain and Kaiae are both filling that role now in some way or another. Just finish the mission. Once we are done here, I will be on my way, and continue to do what I can to sabotage Vulture's operation."

Exactly who on this ship was stupid enough to tell her the information she used to develop that 'from what I understand'?!? Kaiae thought, alarmed.

Hatham's brows ascended halfway up his forehead. "What makes you think we are going to release you to return to her?" He'd almost begun to believe her, but drop-info-and run had him right to 'This is a trap'.

Raven shrugged. "I am still under the effect of a truth serum, am I not?" She turned to Kaiae. "And I can see from your expression that you are wondering how I know that you are both in command. It's simple. I gave the Captain the command codes, but you are Romulan and would never accept a stranger coming in to take over. Since neither of you is dead, you must have come to some form of agreement. The way you handled the Terran ship indicates that the Captain was in command at the time, yet she deferred to you at the beginning of this interrogation. Simple deduction."

She took a deep breath. "I have violated a number of direct orders from Vulture to be here. Chances are, if I go back, she will have me killed. So I will not go back to her. I will operate in coordination with you, in order to use my smaller ship to inflict pinpoint strikes on her operation."

"And what assurance do we have that you won't simply choose to leave again; or double-cross us?" Unfortunately Kaiae was fairly certain even as she said it that there wasn't actually a reliable answer; and she hated having to make reckless decisions backed into an untenable corner, but they seemed to be multiplying daily of late.

Raven chuckled. "Kaiae. You know that nothing I can say will convince you. Even under the influence of truth serum. But this crew is like family to me. I would never harm them. I will leave, yes, but that is because I am going to try and divert Vulture's attention away from you. I am on your side."

Mila checked the displays, and shook her head. "That's thirty minutes." Right on cue, Raven fell unconscious.

"Right. That's all we're going to get, I fear," Freya observed, before shrugging. "Have her taken back to her quarters and confined there. We can revisit the question of what to do with her once we have dealt with our other guest." She turned to the other officers. "Are we in agreement?"

That being under truth serum wouldn't convince people entirely too familiar with how well their distant cousins the Vulcans could misdirect while never actually telling a lie, was perhaps the one thing Hatham could agree on without reservation. However, they had gotten as much as could be expected, so with a reluctant nod he conceded. "Yes."

Quickly, Raven was removed from the examination apparatus and placed in an observation bed until she regained consciousness. Freya looked around the room and nodded. "Right. Well. I suppose we better deal with Rogers next."

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