Asking Some Questions

Posted on Fri Mar 29th, 2013 @ 9:58pm by Captain Li Hawke & El'Shar Blackhorse

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: El'Shar's Quarters
Timeline: Following 'A Night On The Town'

* * * El’Shar’s Quarters * * *

Li had left her quarters intending to track down El’Shar. It was only as she was leaving the lift that she realized just how late it was and decided to wait till a more decent hour. She briefly debated going below to see Suresh, given the vision in her quarters was him and he’d sent up a request to see the XO, but decided against it. That was best saved for when she was a bit more calm. In the end, she’d gone back to speak to the science team there and once they left, had waited up till Sakkath returned, all the lights on. She had told him what happened but as there was no reasonable (sane) explanation, there was little to be done.

Now it was the next night and when the message she’d sent to El’Shar was answered, informing Li she was home, Li departed immediately for the retired Captain’s quarters.

El opened the door, still in her date attire and still euphoric over the result of it. She was, in essence, lovestruck with a man she had only really known for about a day. But she didn’t care.

“Hi, Captain Hawke,” she said with a smile still plastered on her face. “Come in.”

“My apologies for the late hour, but it’s important,” Li said as she entered the quarters. And while she wasn't reading El’Shar, it was hard to miss the happy vibe she was giving off.

“Think nothing of it,” El said as she walked toward the bedroom. “Do you mind if I change real quick? It won’t take but a few moments.” With a nod from Li she ducked into her room and slid off the dress, put the jewelry away and put on sweatpants and a t-shirt. She came back out and sat next to Li. “So, what can I help you with?”

“Well, recall I said I’d like to discuss the incidents in your reports? I’m afraid it’s gone beyond that. I had one of my own after last night’s dinner.”

“Really? May I ask what you saw, and was it just a sighting or was it also somewhat corporeal?”

“Oh he was very much there. You’ve heard of the man who was responsible for Admiral Wegener and I being pulled to that alternate universe? He’s now below in the brig and what I saw last night...was him...the him from one hundred and thirty years in the future. He’d been released from prison two days earlier he said and had to come and find me. He was old, El’Shar.” Li closed her eyes a moment, recalling the encounter. “Very real, or so it seemed.”

“This is very interesting. I wonder if it’s somehow related to the portal that opened in Rick’s office? We still don’t know that much about that particular anomaly and it may have affected the base more than we know.” She had taken notes on what the science team had told her about her quarters and Marie’s and scanned through the information on a PADD she had on the coffee table. “The science teams seems to think that it has completely dissipated, and I don’t believe Rick has mentioned having any further problems in his office. But it is a bit of a coincidence that these things are happening around the same time.”

Li nodded. “I am curious about when yours and Marie’s visions ended. Mine seemed to be when reality intruded. He did not believe it was 2387 until the computer announced it and then he vanished.”

“Well, Marie saw an old flame sitting at her desk terminal. At first he wasn’t even acknowledging that she was there. When she comm’d me and turned back to him, he was gone. I came and talked to her and left, but when I did he apparently returned, but this time talking directly to her. From what she told me, she threw a book at him but I opened the door at the same time and nearly got nailed. By then he’d disappeared.” She adjusted her leg under herself, getting more comfortable. “As for mine, it was Rick. He came out of my bedroom there,” she said as she pointed, “walked to the kitchen and was getting some coffee. He went back into the bedroom for a bit then...” She blushed deeply and decided to skip the part about him being nude, “...then he came back out and sat in that chair and had a conversation with me. He couldn’t understand why I was acting so strangely about his being there and was even able to touch me, kiss me, even. When I jerked away and turned back, he was gone.”

She had mixed emotions about the meeting now that she and Rick had actually kissed. But it was still an obviously strange thing since she had not met him before then and that he was so comfortable being there, like they had been in a relationship for ages.

“I see.” Li considered El’Shar’s words. “It seems the same thing caused your visions to vanish as well. And yes, it was the same for me. He kissed me, touched me and it was so very real. I checked and Suresh was in fact still in the brig down below and not an old man. Very disorienting, even when you’ve seen as much as I have.”

El’Shar nodded. “Rick was still with you in the alternate universe when mine happened, and the computer verified that Marie’s visitor was commanding a ship in the Alpha Quadrant. Other than the obvious fact that this is happening in the first place, I’m concerned that this could cause widespread hysteria throughout the base and, possibly, cause some sort of security breach.”

“That is my concern as well. And Rick’s office is clean, we’re sure of that. The only other thing is the manner in which the Hammond crossed over and then came back. They had to, basically, tip open space to make a passage. That could be a possible cause, and Science is looking into it. But from a temporal point of view, what is your opinion?”

“Well, it certainly does seem to have elements of time travel since Rick, in my case, thought that we had been in a relationship for some time, which I can only assume would have been seen through the eyes of a Rick from the future. Alternatively, since he’s El-Aurian, there’s no real way to tell how old he could have been in his mind. And your visitor was obviously older, and looked it. As for Marie’s, however, she said that he looked like he did when she last saw him, which was several years ago. So he could have been a version from the past.”

“So there’s no logical pattern.” Li frowned a moment. “The question is, is it the real future? A possible real future? A past that would have happened had Marie stayed in the Alpha Quadrant?”

“It could easily have been that,” El’Shar said, thinking of what Marie had told her about Commander Kaye. “But, as you know, the future is never really set in stone. There are so many factors that can affect the outcome, change how things could be. Every decision we make can splinter off into a whole new group of ‘what could have been’ simply based on that decision. For example, my kissing Rick earlier--” She stopped, clamping her mouth shut. “Uh, sorry, bad example.” She pressed on, blushing again. “Like the decision to take the Hammond through to get you guys back. Had Commander Sakkath decided that it was too risky, many things wouldn’t be the same, but there would still be an alternate timeline, like you visited, that may have gone through and made the rescue attempt.” She shrugged. “So we have no way of knowing if these people we’re seeing are somehow looping forward, or backward, in time on us or if it’s something else altogether.”

“And this is why I chose not to go into Temporal Affairs.” Li smiled faintly. She really didn’t want to think of what her present would have been had they not been rescued. She shook her head slightly to clear it. “I don’t envy Commander Leroy, or your replacement.”

“This one won’t be easy, for certain. It seems to skirt the lines of being temporal and something else altogether. And while I am now retired, and will try my best to stay out of it, I’m pretty sure I’ll be tempted to stick my nose in it to some degree.” She shook her head and chuckled. “I’ve spent the last year or so dreaming of not having to deal with it anymore, and here something really interesting comes along and I feel somewhat...curious about it.”

“Only natural.” Li’s smile faded. “It is something of a relief that I’m not crazy and it was as real for you as it was for me. It could have been worse I suppose, it could’ve been Rhys that appeared from the past.” She shivered slightly in spite of herself.

El’Shar cocked her head to the side. “Old...nemesis? Boyfriend? Really bad cook?”

“He was my fiance. We’d been promised as children but I lucked out, at least it seemed so. He was gorgeous, considerate, incredible. At least he was until he tried to kill me and very nearly succeeded. Then he tried to kill Sakkath too. He’s no longer among us.” Li looked down at her hands and realized they had drawn into tight fists. She forced them to relax. “Long story but that’s the important parts.”

“Yikes,” was all El’Shar could say to that story. “Yeah, it seems you’re quite lucky that it wasn’t him.”

“Though that raises an interesting question, doesn’t it? How real are they? And could one of these visions possibly harm us? We’ve seen that they can touch us, I could even reach into my vision’s thoughts. It stands to reason that if they can touch us, then harming us isn't out of the question.” And if that was true, Li might be sleeping inside a forcefield for now...just in case Rhys did show up.

“I believe you are correct. They could potentially harm us, but one thing that all of these visions had in common was that we were supposed to be in a relationship with them.” She stood and got a hot tea from the replicator. “Help yourself if you want something,” she said, then added, “Marie was in a relationship with Commander Kaye, so that one’s not so far fetched. But I was not in a relationship with Rick when I saw my vision, and I can only guess that you haven’t been in a relationship with Suresh due to your marriage to Sakkath, and that the former is the criminal sort. Yet, each of the visitors that we saw believed that we were all involved with them.”

“Some association, yes. Which means that something completely unknown won’t appear to us. I suppose there’s some small comfort in that, since we’ll know how to deal with what we do see. That’s three of us now, however, and all too similar to ignore. I think that perhaps it’s time I spoke with the Admiral. I believe a warning is necessary.”

“I’ve wondered if others have also seen something but were too disturbed to mention it?” El’Shar asked. “It may be worth finding out just to see if this is more widespread that we thought.”

“Agreed.” Li glanced at the time and rose. “I’ve kept you late enough and I really need to get moving on this before something more than just a sighting happens.”

El stood with her and walked her to the door. “Let me know if I can help with anything else,” she said. She then added, “Listen, ah, about what I said earlier. Can we keep that under wraps?”

A genuine smile now appeared on Li’s face. “I came up through the ranks in Intel, years of undercover work before being assigned to the Berkeley, then here. Need I say more?”

El nodded. “Good enough for me. Have a good night, Li.”

“You too, and I would suggest caution, just in case the next one you see isn’t so friendly.” With that, Li turned and departed, now in a hurry. She needed to see Ricky.


***********

Captain Li Hawke
Even More Unsettled

El'Shar Blackhorse
Giving Away Too Much