After The Fall Part I
Posted on Sat Mar 7th, 2026 @ 1:03pm by Captain Thorrin & Commander Marisa Sandoval & Lieutenant Addison Talbert & Major Hastios Eilfaren
Edited on on Sat Mar 7th, 2026 @ 1:06pm
2,418 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
In The Nick Of Time
Location: Eight Lightyears From The Carlson Rift
Timeline: MD008 1031 hrs
Hastios carried her in without a word.
Addison was already moving ahead of him, clearing the space at the nearest biobed. He crossed the room in measured strides and lowered Maren carefully onto the surface, one hand steady at the back of her head until she was fully supported.
He stepped away immediately. This was Addison’s ground.
He moved back to stand near Thorrin and Marisa, posture composed, hands folding loosely behind his back. The faint scent of scorched metal still clung to his uniform from the shuttle bay.
His eyes remained on the biobed, watchful but restrained.
Marisa's eyes went from Maren to Hastios to Addison, taking in the details. She had so many questions about the woman and where she came from, but her primary concern right now was her well-being.
While the Doctor tended to her work Thorrin thought for a moment. He had been here before. Hell, he wrote the book on first contact with a temporally displaced being. Yet, he was deeply curious about this Maren, more so than he had been with previous individuals. "Maren Malbrooke. Let's start there, with the name. It is my experience that when getting to know a temporally displaced person, it helps to know about them in this universe. That being said..." His voice trailed off as he looked toward the ceiling. An affectation that Thorrin always did when he spoke to the computer, as if the computer was a person to be looked at when addressed. "...Computer. Is there any information on a Maren Malbrooke."
A short moment later the computer spoke in its soft feminine voice. "No records of a Maren Malbrooke exist. The closest records are files relating to Commodore Tyler Malbrooke, Lieutenant Commander Katherine Malbrooke and their family."
Another beat of silence later and Thorrin spoke. "Well, it seems that you do not exist in this universe. Before we get into who these people are and what have you I would like to know what brought you here. Can you tell me anything about the events that led to you being off the bow of my ship?"
The first thing Maren became aware of was the pressure of nearby minds.
It crept back into her consciousness before the light did, before the sterile scent of Sickbay or the steady hum of medical systems. Awareness pressed gently at the edges of her senses—focused, attentive, contained. Her lashes fluttered as she drew in a careful breath, her body tensing instinctively even before her eyes fully opened.
When she did focus, the ceiling above her was unfamiliar and too bright, the surface beneath her far too clean and supportive to belong to anywhere she trusted. A cool sensation lingered at her temple where the bleeding had been treated, and the ache in her ribs had dulled to something managed rather than sharp. That alone unsettled her.
She reached out mentally before she moved physically.
The closest presence was precise and steady—clinical concern wrapped in professional control. Beyond that, the composed calm of the Vulcan-blooded woman she remembered from the bay, structured and deliberate. Further back, more minds—alert but restrained.
Then she pushed toward the taller one. The soldier.
Nothing met her.
Not absence. Not emotion. A wall.
She shifted her focus toward the bald one—the commander. Again, she found only disciplined silence, an intentional shielding that felt deliberate rather than natural. It made her pulse quicken despite the medical field keeping her body stable.
Her eyes opened properly then, dark gaze moving across the room until it found them. She did not immediately respond to the question that had been asked of her; the words drifted past without taking hold.
Instead, she tried to sit up, wincing as the residual weakness reminded her she had collapsed not long ago.
“Where is he?” she demanded, voice rough but steadier than she felt. Her gaze searched their faces instead of their minds now, frustration tightening at the edges. “Where’s my dad?”
Her fingers curled against the biobed as if she expected to find metal there again, grounding herself in something tangible.
“You said I crossed into your universe,” she continued, confusion and urgency threading together. “So where is he? He said he was right behind me.”
Hastios remained where he was for a moment longer, watching the urgency in her expression shift from confusion to something sharper at the mention of her father. The tension in the room had changed. This was no longer a tactical situation. It was personal.
He inclined his head slightly toward Thorrin. “Captain, I’ll return to the bridge. If she requires formal questioning, or if this shifts back into a security matter, I’m available immediately.”
His tone carried no edge, only quiet readiness. He did not look at Maren as a threat now, merely as an unknown variable.
“If containment becomes necessary,” he added evenly, “we are prepared.”
With that, he stepped back fully from the biobed, giving Addison and Marisa the space they needed, and left Sickbay at an unhurried pace. The doors slid closed behind him, sealing the medical bay in calm light once more.
"There were no other vessels that came through the rift that you emerged from. However, if you and your father were attempting a temporal experiment it is possible that something went wrong and he emerged in another time, another universe, or both. Aboard this ship we have the technology to search for and perhaps find him. However, we will need to know more about you and him." Thorrin spoke calmly and evenly. He did not want to alarm the woman in any way. The fact that she asked for her father was a good sign. It showed that she was willing to talk under the correct conditions. He looked at Hastios as the Marine left. Thorrin used a simple nod to convey that he had heard and understood Hastios.
“Temporal experiment?”
Maren stared at him like he’d just suggested she’d tripped over a warp core for fun. A short, incredulous laugh escaped her before she could stop it, and the motion sent a sharp stab through her ribs that made her flinch.
“Are you serious?” she shot back, breath hitching as she tried to push herself up on one elbow. The movement cost her. Pain flared hot along her side and her shoulder protested immediately, forcing her to grit her teeth. Somewhere above her, a monitor began to chirp faster as her heart rate climbed.
“We weren’t out there running science fairs,” she continued, words coming quicker now, edged with irritation and adrenaline. “We were being chased. Dominion cruisers on our tail, Jem’Hadar trying to box us in. Shields were failing. That wasn’t a ‘let’s test a theory’ moment.”
She pressed a hand instinctively to her ribs as another pulse of pain rippled through her, but she didn’t stop.
“He called a micro-warp burst through debris to break their targeting lock. Short jump. Dirty vector. Just enough to scramble their sensors so we didn’t get blown apart.” She winced again, breath thinning, but her glare held steady. “That’s not an experiment. That’s what you do when you’re about to die.”
The monitor’s tone ticked higher, reflecting the spike in her vitals as frustration tangled with confusion.
“It’s worked before,” she added, voice tightening as something more vulnerable slipped under the anger. “He was right behind me. He doesn’t miss his marks.”
Her jaw clenched, both from pain and the refusal to let that possibility settle.
"Perhaps he didn't miss his mark. Perhaps you did." Thorrin said without an ounce of emotion. The pieces of this puzzle had begun to fall into place for him. He had learned more in these moments than he intended to let on, at least for now. "Ms Malbrooke. With your permission Doctor Talbert here can tend to that pain of yours."
Marisa watched Hastios leave, then her attention was on Maren and Thorrin. Being lost in time was bad enough, but losing her father at the same time would be very difficult to accept. Could the captain find this Malbrooke and rescue him? Part of her hoped so.
Maren’s head turned sharply toward Thorrin, dark eyes flashing despite the dizziness threatening to pull her back down.
For a split second she just stared at him, disbelief hardening into something sharper.
“Wow,” she muttered, the word edged and brittle. “That’s what you’re going with?”
She tried to push herself more upright and immediately sucked in a breath as her ribs flared in protest. The monitor above her responded with an irritated series of faster tones as her heart rate spiked. She pressed her palm to her side but refused to fold in on herself.
“I didn’t miss,” she said through clenched teeth, anger bleeding into the strain in her voice. “I know how to hold a vector.”
The pain was starting to crawl under her skin now, the adrenaline that had carried her through the shuttle bay finally burning out. Her shoulder trembled and her vision swam faintly, but she refused to let him see uncertainty.
When he mentioned the doctor, her gaze flicked sideways toward Addison, then back again with open sarcasm.
“With my permission?” she echoed. “What are you going to do if I say no—just let me bleed on your nice clean floor?”
Another pulse sounded from the monitor as she shifted again, wincing despite herself.
“Just fix it,” she muttered, frustration and pride tangled together. “I’m not here to prove how tough I am.”
"You already did that," Marisa replied gently. There was a note of humor in her voice as she spoke. "And very impressive it was, too."
She watched Maren, more as a counselor than the first officer. "When you feel better, perhaps we can explain to your satisfaction."
Addison had been watching the readings that the bio bed was producing, and scanning Maren as well.
"Hmmmph, I wasn't going to ask permission." Addison slightly grumped, having already started prepping what was needed to deaden the pain, and begin the dermal regeneration.
The readings that were being shown, gave Addison concern, the woman was suffering various injuries.
Moderate concussion, laceration to her head, bruised ribs. Addison sucked in some air between her teeth. Maren was also suffering from a shoulder strain, and there was the not too subtle tissue damage from being singed by electricity.
She looked at those gathered in sick bay,
"She's going to be needing some quiet time, to start recovering from her empathic neural overload."
The time sensor started beeping wildly, Addison turning to get the reading from it.
"Captain, from the readings I am getting she is from the timeline 26.22.02" Addison glancing over towards Thorrin, before she went back to work, attending to Maren.
Without missing a beat Thorrin began to scan his own memory for that timeline, those identifying numbers. Yet, nothing seemed to connect. "Computer, kindly identify the diversion point between our timeline and timeline 26.22.02." A moment later and the computer began to speak. "Temporal divergence occurred during the Dominion War. In the prime universe the alliance of the Federation, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Star Empire won that war and drove the Dominion back into the Gamma Quadrant. In the timeline identified the Dominion was able to win the war and seize control of the Alpha Quadrant."
There was a beat of silence in Sick Bay as the Doctor ministered to the patient and the information was absorbed. "Well, that would explain your comments on the Dominion and explain exactly how tough you are." Thorrin said flatly. If there was supposed to be humor there it was not evident.
"It would also explain her mistrust of us," Marisa added. "She clearly cannot conceive of a universe where the Dominion lost the war." She was keenly interested in Maren's telepathic ability--and lack of control--but this was neither the time nor the place to ask questions.
Maren lay still while the doctor worked, the quiet hum of the dermal regenerator moving across her temple. The sting faded into warmth as the cut began to close, but her attention had drifted elsewhere.
She had noticed the uniforms the moment the shuttle door opened.
No Dominion grey. No Cardassian command markings. No compliance badges stamped onto every chest. Even the ship itself had felt wrong the second they dragged her inside—too intact, too confident. No patrol codes, no occupation banners, no nervous tension that came with operating under Dominion authority.
She had seen all of that.
She just hadn’t trusted it.
The computer’s explanation hung in the air while Addison continued working, the calm voice describing a version of history that sounded almost ridiculous when spoken out loud. Federation. Klingons. Romulans. Winning.
Her eyes shifted slowly across the room, studying each of them again—not the way she had in the shuttle bay, as threats, but as pieces of a puzzle that refused to fit the world she knew.
“You don’t act like people who lost a war,” she said finally, the words quieter now but edged with careful scrutiny. “There’s no fear in this room. No one’s watching what they say. No one’s waiting for a Dominion officer to walk in.”
Her gaze flicked briefly toward Thorrin, then to Marisa.
“In my universe,” she continued, “Starfleet didn’t look like this anymore. Ships like this stopped existing a long time ago.”
The thought settled heavier than she expected.
Her fingers tightened slightly against the biobed sheet.
“So, either this is the most elaborate Dominion interrogation I’ve ever seen…” she said slowly, “…or you’re telling the truth.”
She paused, studying their faces one more time.
“And if you are telling the truth,” she added quietly, “then my dad isn’t here.”
A Joint Post By
Captain Thorrin
Commanding Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Commander Marisa Sandoval
Executive Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Lieutenant Addison Talbert
Chief Medical Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Maren Malbrooke
Civilian, USS Pioneer
RSS Feed