Believe It Or Not

Posted on Thu Nov 8th, 2018 @ 10:05am by Lieutenant Commander Shaille Levine & Commodore Jason Myers & Captain Michelle Bartlett & Commander Rostra Tang & Captain Charlotte Averis

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/5
Location: Conference Room, USS Wellington

Charlotte returned the brief salute from the red-uniformed junior grade Lieutenant as they stopped outside the conference room doors. She and Sabrina hadn't seen ANYONE in the corridors and she was grateful for that. It meant that this Captain Bartlett was taking the situation seriously, keeping the two sides separate at least for the time being. "Thank you, Lieutenant." She murmured before brushing over her wounded arm and making sure no fresh blood had leaked through her new uniform. The tag of Averis over her left chest was clearly visible and she saw the Hunter on Sabrina's chest, the silver eagles shined brightly. "Alex should be along in a bit, I'm sure. He's probably BSing with their pilots if he's true to form. You ready?"

Sabrina shook her head. "There's no way to be ready for this," she muttered quietly. "C'mon, let's just get this over and done with before the bugs come back."

The Lieutenant keyed the door and it slid open, Charlotte leading the pair of the Icarus's officers into the conference room, seeing five figures a handful of meters inside. Two were the unmistakable twins of Dalacari, red uniforms and her eyes caught the three full pips of a full Commander, another gold-uniformed Lieutenant, then the woman she instantly recognized as Captain Bartlett, the fourth a male officer, older, his collar... She inhaled sharply as she began to approach, "Captain Barlett, Commander, Lieutenant, Commodore, sir." She added at the very end, coming to attention, "Captain Charlotte Averis, commanding the Icarus. May I present Colonel Sabrina Hunter, my senior Marine and acting Executive Officer?"

Sabrina nodded slightly as she was introduced. "Commander, Captain, Commodore..." she addressed them each but said no more. She still wasn't entirely sure these people could be trusted, let alone give them the lifeline Charlotte seemed to think they were going to provide.

"As you were, Captain." Jason replied. "Welcome aboard." he added.

"My First Officer, Commander Rostra Tang. And my Chief of Security, Lieutenant Shaille Levine." Michelle gestured as she introduced Rostra to Charlotte. "It's nice to finally meet in person. Under much better circumstances."

Not to be left out of the meet and greet, Rostra gave each of their visitors a nod and a warm smile in greet. "Agreed, it's a pleasure to meet you all, despite the circumstances."

Jason paused a moment. He was still unsure of whether anything Michelle did had truly been the right call. But... they were ordered to a distress call and they responded as per protocol. Whatever happened, it was enough to have caused significant casualties and introduced them to a strangely hostile threat. Perhaps it was warranted... Besides, as much as he had protocol on the brain, he knew he would have done the exact same thing in Michelle's position.

Shaille nodded in greeting to the newcomers but maintained firmly behind the command staff. At this point she was simply here as a silent observer, not that she was complaining. What ever the hell was going on out there was intense, and it seemed that they had somehow been landed squarely in the middle of it.

"It seems we have much to discuss, Captain." Jason replied. "The details we know so far are rather... vague, at best."

"Yes, sir." Charlotte was still trying to figure out how she was going to handle this flag officer. This was well and truly nothing she'd expected to see. "Sir? I'm not sure what all I SHOULD tell you and your officers. I am reasonably sure you're not from our past or our future, so this won't affect either timeline. Cochrane Protocols dictate that I shouldn't even be here talking to you, but we needed your help with the incursion, so those rules have already been bent. By all rights, sir, you should tell me to take all of my people, put them back aboard the Icarus and go back through whatever that anomaly is and find a way to blow it." She stiffened herself, ready to accept that decision if it came to it, "I would ask for a forty-eight hour reprieve if you command that, sir, to give my people some time to effect repairs and perhaps get some of my wounded treated."

Sabrina could hear the tension in Charlotte's voice and felt herself reacting accordingly, a knot of deep concern balling in the pit of her stomach. "We have no sickbay left, we have almost no functioning replicators, we exist on ration packs and determination," she said calmly. "I don't know how the hell the ship hasn't been blown to hell except the chief engineer is some kind of mad scientist that finds new ways to hold us together. But we've not backed down from the Shalti yet, and we aren't about to start now, with or without outside assistance in battle... but if we're going in alone, I know most of our crew would appreciate a hot shower, some good food and medical treatment before we get thrown back into the fray."

It was the gentle touch of Charlotte's hand on Sabrina's forearm and the very slight shake of her head. Sabrina was almost too blunt, the result of what SHE did, worse conditions than Charlotte herself faced. "Maybe we're better than that, but we're definitely not at the level of your ship." She knew her Marine was on edge as well, so she gestured at the conference table, "Do you mind if we sit, sir? I get this feeling this will be a long talk one way or the other."

"I think that'd go a long way to cooling off, and letting level headed decision making step in." Rostra said what was probably on everyone's mind. "Now, I'll get everyone some tea. Maybe even some..."

"... good tea from back home, which you all will probably ruin by pouring it into one cup." she said, a touch of humor to break the tension as she went over to the replicator and fabricated up a tray with an awful, awful lot of tea cups. Two for everyone, to be exact. She set two different cups in front of everyone; one cup of a reddish tea, while the other was more a yellow in hue.

After all the tea cups were handed out, Rostra made a second set of trips around the table. This time, she set a large empty mug in front of everyone. "Okay. So Dalacari tea is weird for Single Instance life to enjoy. I get that, hence the mugs, but feel free to at least try it before you mix them together." she commented as she took up two chairs at the table, with a solitary teacup in the hands of each bioform. Only a Dalacari could truly appreciate Dalacari tea.

"I had a chance to review the footage of the recent skirmish. Your fighter out-powers our heavy assault fighters, out-shields them, out-maneuvers them, and out..."

"... appropriates them. I can only guess at the armaments and defenses of your primary craft...the Icarus, was it?" she inquired, before continuing. "So if you out-tactic us..."

"... in regards to this parallel planar threat, I guess the first question on the docket should really be how *can* we help you? You don't really need additional armaments..."

"... or seemingly previous-tech generational torpedo chassis weapons, and I left my repair drone swarm in my other purse." she offered.

Charlotte smiled and gave a nod of thanks to Rostra, then moved both of the smaller teacups in front of her while ignoring the mug, one of the more 'polite' ways a non-Dalacari could treat the custom, to alternate sips from the two cups and took a sip from the red. "Our technology has adapted during the last decade in response to the Shalti threat and less so to the Kojal. When I called the Icarus a warship, it's because it is what she was designed as. We don't have anything more than a token science section, no diplomats, for all intents and purposes I'm that. As for how you can help us? That's a question I'm hoping we can find an answer to here. Before we get anywhere, I have a couple important questions to ask you: What is the date and year? and What is the condition of the Borg?"

Michelle looked over at Jason, who also seemed perplexed. "August 8, 2399." she replied. "The Borg haven't been active in 2 decades. Not since USS Voyager returned from the Delta Quadrant." she said.

"That's what it is..." Charlotte sighed, "Just what our experts predicted." She shook her head slightly then placed both hands flat on the table and pressed down slightly, "As I'm sure you know, when Voyager came back, Admiral Janeway from her future also had them send a virus back to destabilize the Transwarp Conduits. In your timeline, it worked. You haven't seen the Borg, possibly some random bits, but nothing remotely resembling a true incursion. Our scientists determined that in our timeline, when Voyager returned and they sent that virus, it mutated somehow. Instead of destabilizing the conduits, it infected the central Collective hive-brain and destabilized that instead. Instead of one large Collective, the Borg devolved to local control. Certainly, when there were Cubes and other concentrations, they had a mini-Collective, but otherwise, they were on their own."

Charlotte sat back in her seat and continued, "I'm not sure about you, but we certainly wondered why we never saw a full-scale invasion by the Borg. They had the capability of turning their enemy's own people against them, yet all we'd seen were single Cubes, maybe a couple randomly together. The reason is that virtually exactly the opposite side of the Borg's territory as us, they were throwing most of their resources against the Shalti and Kojal and holding even ground with them. Their incursions against us were 'recruiting' runs to find another population to assimilate to throw against them. When the Collective collapsed, so did the coordinated fight and the Shalti and Kojal ran right over them. Our contacts with remaining elements of Borg that are still active confirm that their 'Homeworld' was literally taken apart by a massive fleet. Then they just kept moving." She shook her head again. "Because Admiral Janeway wanted her old crew home earlier, the Federation, the entirety of basically known space, got destroyed. I could give you the details if you want."

Rostra listened, in a combination of rapt attention and worry. "To be fair, the reason you never see an all out invasion by the Borg in any circumstance is really a question of logistics." she started, a tea cup in each form's hand. "See, any..."

"... invasion is, by its very nature, a grab for resources. Land, minerals, labor, even technology. An invasion, and ultimately war itself..."

"... is a landgrab. Now factor in the Borg. They would be factoring in the logistics of any invasion as a cost basis. How much do.."

"... they stand to lose by invading, and then weighing that against their potential gains. For the Borg, the resources they stand..."

"... to gain are the forces that oppose them plus the civilians they protect. Unless those numbers are astronomical, or the technological..."

"... gain is astounding, there's almost no reason for the Borg to ever wholescale invade." Rostra commented, then stopped and thought. She just boiled down the Borg to numbers and it didn't feel right. "S.. sorry, that all just sounded pretty cold. I mean..."

"... I don't know if people lost anyone to the Borg and that's one thing that always scared us Dalacari." she was quiet for a moment as each form took a sip of tea. "So, about those Shalti?"

"The Shalti." Charlotte confirmed, "They're an insectoid race with several different classes: the Royalty, Worker and Warrior castes. Warriors are reminiscent of Praying Mantises with some refinements such as three fingered hands to hold plasma-type weapons, have a measure of self-intelligence, but Sabrina can go over those better. Workers are six legged, four armed insects that do all of the building, repairing, anything that smells of manual labor. They are most absolutely drones, without the capability for independent thoughts and are controlled by either the Royalty classes or the ship-brains themselves. Royalty are the ones that are the most dangerous: There's the Empress on top, there's only one and she lays eggs for other royalty and is the mastermind of the entire race. Under her are the Queens, usually found controlling star system areas, major fleets of warships. Some queens are ambitious, some aren't. They're the ones who hatch warriors and 'build' the ship-brains and can coordinate major fleet actions. Princesses are basically 'young' Queens still maturing and well within their first century. They control smaller groups of ships and warriors, individual bases, large warships, partial-planetary areas."

She took another sip from the red tea, "They use purely biological technology that we haven't been able to reverse engineer, well, capturing any of it is difficult. You can't capture one of their ships, it'll defend itself, and once the ship-brain dies, things start to decompose quickly. Their fighters are outright drones, unmanned, with decent cognitive functionality and excellent speed and maneuverability. There are larger control fighters that are piloted by a warrior and if uncontrolled by a Princess or better, the control fighter and warrior can bring the drones into a cohesive and coordinated force." Charlotte sighed, "It's a very hive society, much like the Borg, but somehow they communicate on a faster-than-light level with one another. We've estimated, due to certain events, that the roundtrip communications between a queen in the local area and the world we call Shal is about five days."

Jason paused, looking at Michelle occasionally while Rostra and Charlotte went back and forth. He'd heard the stories of how the Borg were ultimately defeated. But he'd never imagined that Admiral Janeway's actions did the polar opposite in an alternate universe. It was a lot to take in. And in that moment he was a little thankful for his own reality.

"An enemy like that would put up enormous challenges for the Federation in our reality to defend against, never mind if the Federation is either weakened or virtually no longer existent." Jason replied. "I'm... assuming it's the latter?" he asked to clarify.

"With a shout, not a whisper." Charlotte confirmed, "It took them eight years to reach our borders here in the Delta Quadrant, another three years to take us apart all over the place. And it isn't just the Federation. Qu'onos is an asteroid belt, as is Vulcan and a dozen other worlds. Remus was sterilized when it didn't surrender, Romulus was bombarded by asteroids taken from their asteroid locus, Ferenginar is a wasteland, more so than it was. All that remains of the Gorn are two converted colony ships, they'll be extinct within twenty years any which way. What remains of the Cardassians are fighting next to the Bajorans on Bajor, Deep Space Nine is long gone. The Romulan Remnant combined with the Klingon remains and are being as aggressive as they can be without taking unnecessary losses. Betazed was captured and the Shalti are performing genetic experiments, presumably to try to add telepathic abilities to their own selves. Earth? They took Earth a year into their entry to the Federation proper. Of the twelve billion people on the planet, we evacuated just over three million, losing a third of the Fleet in the process. The current population of Earth? Zero."

Michelle looked on, horrified. She could feel a lump in her throat at the idea of it. Earth, gone. The entire Federation, gone. Minus whoever has managed to survive. "And so the remains of the Federation have reassembled, hopefully somewhere safe?" she asked.

"If by safe you mean they don't know where we are yet, yes. We have twelve bases scattered around, the largest being on a planet in a binary star system that is masked by a pair of small black holes. The system itself is actually stable and safe, the black holes interfere with each other gravitationally and make it into a null-point. All of the major powers are working together, those that remain." Charlotte glanced to Sabrina, "We're still fighting. We're finally getting new construction out of our shipyards, like the Icarus, with tech that can stand up to them. We're not giving up."

It took a moment for Rostra to pull herself together. Their story was the definition of a battle without an end, a war they couldn't win. And even if they DID win, they'd go back to nothing. Homes and families shattered, worlds obliterated... it all seemed like something out of a human fictional work. When she did speak, it was a hush. Almost a whisper.

"You need to talk to Valeria." she advised. "In private. Off the record. Patiently."

"Now, assuming you already haven't, and assuming that the Ts'usugi on your side of the mirror are as cryptic as our allies are." she paused, and then the other form started to talk. "They have tricks up their sleeves that'll change the way you think about war. Mining craft, relativistic weapons, and a galactic communications hub. Silent..."

"... and untraceable. Their power source is vastly different from the Federation's." she paused, and then looked at everyone in the room, "Vastly."

"Talk to Valeria Mordin." Rostra then turned to the other command staff she was familiar with, "She'll need to talk to her authorities back home. Oh Dia, I could be brought up on charges if Ts'usu even..."

"... knew I was suggesting this." she said. Were the secrets of the Ts'usugi guarded that fiercely...

"They won't tell us." Charlotte said quietly, "We're actively allied with both the Ts'usugi and the Dalacari. Your core worlds on both sides are safe and being defended, but most of your outer systems were overrun. When the Shalti were first encountered and they engaged us... Both the Dalacari and Ts'usugi did nothing. We went to them and asked for their help and they told us it wasn't their problem. It wasn't until two years later, during their drive on Earth, that the Shalti mounted a full-scale invasion of Dalacari space with a secondary strike on Ts'usugi outposts, then when the Ts'usugi came to the Dalacari's aid, another hammer fell on the Ts'usugi. Then, and only then, did we get emissaries proposing an alliance. We have some Ts'usugi personnel helping us with keeping some of our bases undetected and we've got some Ts'usugi and Dalacari tech built into our new construction, but none of the major pieces."

That didn't sound anything like the Dalacari she knew. And she was one of them.

"Then the Dalacari, and by extension the Ts'usugi, where you're from are too different from the people I know here for my suggestion to have bore fruit. Though, if you..."

"... decide to change your mind there's a difference in the Ts'usugi mindset between asking to be told something and showing up already knowing." the silent Dalacari form raised a teacup to illustrate. Though, it did mean one less discussion she'd have to have with the Ts'usugi Ministry of Secrecy and Security. For that, at least, she was thankful.

It was a half-resigned shrug from Captain Averis, "I'll have to consider talking to your Valeria Mordin then. But different influences, diff-"

The door to the conference room slid open and both Alex and Jack walked into the room. Alex stopped a step and a half in, "Jesus Christ, Skipper, you started without us?" He glanced around, "Crap, and we've got brass in the room? You coulda warned me, Skip."

Followed inside by another officer wearing the same rank pips. He glanced around quickly, seeing new faces he didn't recognize. "Jack Carver, CAG, Wellington." he quickly introduced himself before finding a seat.

Charlotte resisted the urge to bang her head on the table, "Sit down, Commander." She hissed at him, then glanced to the other senior officer, "My apologies, this disrespectful officer is Lieutenant Commander Alexander Setine, my fighter squadron commander. Survivor, in any case. We were ambushed before we came on that anomaly, killed at least two of the ships in our task group, scattered the rest and the rest of his squadron died to get us away."

"Sounds like you're having no end of good luck." Rostra said, shaking her head slowly, "I recommend we get Engineering in here at some point, or hold a ship wide..."

"... staff meet. Engineering can work on a few suggestions to help once you all return to your original path." and then Rostra did something she hardly ever did. She acted rude for just a moment by holding up a finger towards Charlotte, silencing whatever protest of assurance that they had taken ever possible route of technology and had every specialist in existence aboard their ship.

"We have someone on our ship I know for a fact you don't have on your's. Cor Cordale." and she pulled up his profile on her ever-present PaDD. "He's a Thux, best in the fleet. Clever..."

"... and dangerously inventive. Specializes in antimatter containment and gravity theory. Minors in hologram theory and replicator dynamics. He once lifted a ship off..."

"... a planet by wiring the boson plates in the hull up to the deflector dish and made a shield that repelled gravity." she let that sink in. "He's got a hell of a think tank at his..."

"... disposal PLUS I'm arranging to rent some calculation time with one of the series seven Thinking Engines at the Academy of Tactical Diagnostics. Should have a..."

"... reply in a few hours on that."

Charlotte took the finger with as much grace as she could and closed her mouth again, then nodded. "And that will be most appreciated, Commander. I'll need to try to get my Chief Engineer available to work with yours." Some consternation crossed her face, "That brings up another point, and I'm sorry to bring this up, but I haven't heard anything about the wounded I sent over, not that there's been much time. My Chi-Eng was one of the ones transported over and if there's any way to get an update on my people?"

"I got an update from Sickbay before this meeting started," Shaille replied. "From the 18 crew members we transported aboard, there were two casualties. Unfortunately our medical staff were unable to give me names and positions, however the two casualties were male. 15 of the remaining crew are in sickbay, three are still listed as critical and one has been isolated to the brig." She glanced at Charlotte apologetically. "There was..." she hesitated for a moment. "There was a minor incident, which I am sure we will be able to resolve once this meeting is over."

Michelle looked over at the Chief of Security. Minor incident? Oh man, she hoped so.

Shaille shrugged every so slightly, almost imperceptibly in the general direction of the commanding officer. It was what it was and at that moment she was opting to refer to it as an incident.

"With the Commodore's permission, I think it would be appropriate to allow those officers that were injured some time aboard and some guest quarters. I'll ask my Operations Officer to make the arrangements. With your okay, sir." Michelle said to Jason.

"Proceed. Might be the only peace any of them have ever known." Jason replied. "We will also ensure that engineering starts assisting with any repairs necessary. Seems we'll all have to work together and hope to hell they don't come back for Round 2."

"With all due respect Commodore, I'm not sure it would be entirely wise to allow the two crews to intermingle freely at this point. Perhaps we would be better off cordoning off a section of the ship and allowing the crew from the Icarus to indulge as much as they wish without exposing our own crew to potential temporal contamination." Shaille was well aware that her opinion would likely be met with hesitation but she was also aware that this situation had the potential to go south at an alarming speed.

"I'm inclined to agree." Rostra said, throwing in her hat with Shaille. "All it would take is for two people to meet at the wrong time for questions to be asked that really shouldn't..."

"... be brought up. Or, worst case scenario, someone from the Icarus decides to stay and put their Wellington doppelganger in their place." she held up a hand, "Now I'm certain..."

"... something like that would never happen, but let's take steps to ensure it doesn't." the forms then turned to Charlotte. "And, I apologize. I was rude before, but when everything..."

"... I suggested was met with we have, we did, we failed... I didn't want to risk running into that same brick wall again."

Charlotte waved a hand, to show that she didn't hold any bad feelings about it, still sitting back to watch the interactions of the Wellington officers.

Reassured by the support of Rostra, Shaille tapped at the PADD in her hand. "I believe I can isolate a sufficient number of guest quarters to house anyone who may want to come aboard, though some may need to share. All quarters will be fully functioning with replicators and unlimited sonic showers. I can also set aside a cargo hold for access to industrial replicators and such."

Jason nodded in agreement. "I hadn't considered that. I suppose we should try and keep the crews separate for now. Proceed with your idea."

"Right. Well... Is there anything else your crew needs from us at the moment?" Michelle asked.

With a slight nod, Shaille took a step toward the door. "If you will excuse me, I will see to the arrangements so there is no further delay." Without waiting for a response she disappeared through the doors and into the corridor, almost immediately issuing orders as she exited.

Charlotte watched the industrious security officer depart the room and smiled slightly, "Commodore, I definitely think we need to keep the crews separate for the time being in any case. Once we find out what the 'incident' was, I would like myself or one of my senior people to be involved. But, aside from the injured, I would prefer that my people remain on the Icarus. Except for the Colonel and Commander here, there are two people from my bridge crew that know the Wellington isn't one of ours. And the wounded, of course. As for repairs, I need to talk to my Chief. A lot of the tech on the Icarus was either her brainchild or one of her team's and I don't want anyone poking and prodding without her say-so. In any case, she would be the one best to talk to your engineer Cor." She made eye contact with Rostra, giving her a nod, "He sounds like someone Renee would get along with swimmingly, thinking so far outside the box that you can't even see the damned thing to begin with."

She returned her look to between Jason and Michelle again, "And Sir, Captain, I think if you can give me a chance to look in on my wounded, the three of us need to have a discussion about intentions." She glanced back over to Sabrina, "And if Colonel Hunter can arrange time with your senior Marine? As you said yourself, sir, there may be a round two and if there is and if a larger ship is involved, you may have boarders. Your security teams and your marines may be busy and the Colonel can help get them ready for that."

"Proceed." Michelle and Jason both said at the same time. They exchanged a bit of a smirk before carrying in. It would be by no means the first time that happened. "I will make sure that my departments coordinate with yours as necessary... And is as safe to do without getting Temporal Investigations down our backs." Michelle continued.

Sensing a slightly lull in the conversation, Jack piped up. "Sirs, if it is at all likely that Black Sheep will be sent out to fight again with the aid of Shockwave, I believe it would be tactically advantageous to give his ship's computer performance data on Black Sheep's Gryphons, including handling envelopes, weapon loadouts, tracking capabilities, etcetera undsoweiter. Likewise I would request a full brief on Shockwave's fighter's capabilities." he mused, steepling his fingers. "I've already lost two ships and two crew that I cannot replace any time soon, and if we're going out there again with a quarter less ships I would like every tactical advantage we can get."

Charlotte glanced first at the Commodore and Captain, then to Alex and finally over to Sabrina, then back over to the Commodore, “I concur with Commander Carver, sir.”

"I'll have Lieutenant Garcia arrange that." Michelle replied. "The more organized we are for any future attacks, the better. If there's nothing further, we should probably call the rest of the senior staff in."

"Agreed." Jason replied. "If that's all right with you, Captain Averis?"

"Your ship, sir." Charlotte agreed tacitly, then paused for a moment, "They need to know that this can't go beyond the bulkheads of this room, then beyond the ship, just for concerns of Temporal Investigations then. Less contamination the better."

"Well then. Let's call them in and get this dealt with." Jason replied.


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