Digging for Answers - Part II
Posted on Wed Sep 10th, 2025 @ 6:10pm by Commander Marisa Sandoval & Lieutenant C'Mila Juli & Major Hastios Eilfaren
Edited on on Wed Sep 10th, 2025 @ 6:18pm
2,034 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
In The Nick Of Time
Location: Science
Timeline: MD03-0630
The two scientists spent the first day searching through the Herodotus and DTI computers for differences in the timelines that could indicate when the history had been altered. To not get bogged down in a detailed search, they focused on marking where the timelines differed, or began to differ, so they could go back and do a more detailed search. When they finished for the night, they had fifteen separate incidents of note.
Marisa took the opportunity to invite Hastios to join them for day two as his knowledge of history and strategy would be helpful.
Marisa arrived at the science department five minutes early, eager to get back to work.
When the first officer arrived to the lab, Juli had put the fifteen incidents up on a board that identified where in the timeline they fell to provide a visual representation of the events. Right now, investigating fifteen events seemed like a daunting task, but Jules had to admit that it could be a lot worse given what they were actually working.
"Good morning, Commander. Can I get you anything? Coffee?" Juli asked.
"Good morning. A glass of apricot juice would be appreciated. Ready to start eliminating options?"
"I am. The romantic in me hopes that if it was that marriage, that it wasn't a forced one. I don't know how I'd feel if we somehow have to save a civilization by forcing a marriage on two unwilling participants," Juli mused as she walked over to the replicator to order the first officer's juice.
She glanced back over at the Commander her mouth dropping open for a split second then shutting again, then said, "The need of the many, though, right."
She typed in the command for the order, and picked up the glass and brought over to Marisa.
"Should we think through this manually first, or dive right into some simulations you think?" She asked.
As he approached the doors Hastios subconsciously angled his body more diagonally as if he was too wide to enter straight on. He was probably fine, but many lifetimes of having to do this had engrained on his behaviour. The doors opened and he saw Lieutenant Juli talking to Commander Sandoval. "I would say good morning..." he then indicated to the board, "but more than a dozen temporal changes or events is far from good."
Marisa was about to agree with Juli that if it was the marriage, she hoped it was a happy one, when the door opened to admit Hastios. She smiled in greeting. "Good, yes, but we need to decide which of these are causational and which are a ripple effect."
The half Vulcan turned her attention back to Juli. "I would like to see if any of these events are tangential first."
"What do you think?" Marisa then asked Hastios.
"It could be a lot worse," Juli pointed out. "This is far from chaos."
"That is true. And we do not need to have the one answer as we will likely learn more once we look at the planet itself," Marisa said. She looked from Jules to Hastios. "Should we take each event and all look at the available evidence, or each take five and see what we find?"
"Even the smallest change can have the most devastating effect." Hastios replied. "Human's call it the Butterfly Effect, so I think it is probably a good idea to go through each event, possibly starting with what we think is the most important that we've identified a possible change in."
Marisa nodded. "A number of records report on a disagreement over ownership and development of a scenic piece of property overlooking one of the oceans. One group, led by a Vwaraarti named Xandrex wanted to preserve it and a different group, led by a Kroat named Bartold wanted to exploit the natural resources. The two databases have different outcomes that eventually led to long-term hostilities. However, there was one report that a compromise resolved the issue, but not what that compromise entailed, nor which group came up with the idea."
"The second I think shows promise is the possible marriage alliance between Llewellina and Krendal. One record indicates the two married, uniting the two factions under one rule. Another says that Llewellina ran off with a Kroat warrior. Or was kidnapped and murdered. The resulting war led to the Kroats being the sole survivors. There is also an indication that one of the two ran away with some official, again escalating hostilities."
Marisa paused, turning to Jules. "Which of the other events do you feel should be a priority?"
"I was looking at their technology a little bit. Agriculture specifically. Their technology developed at a similar pace, helping help both parties yield better crops, and avoid floods, but it seemed to benefit the Kroats more than the Vwaraarti, because they still had better soil, and that's where I noticed the divergence," Juli explained. The DTI has them experimenting with weather modification not all that long ago, but in whatever timeline the Kroats are in right now, they've had it for a while."
"That is definitely worth exploring," Marisa said, making a note of it. Then she turned to Hastios. "Is there one or two you think of particular interest?"
Hastios folded his arms, his expression thoughtful as he considered the question. "The marriage and the land dispute both show potential as flashpoints, but there is one other anomaly I found curious..." he said as he ran a hand through his hair, " it is small on the surface, but significant if viewed strategically."
He turned and gestured to the board, his finger pointing toward a notation midway down. "Here. This incident involves the disappearance of a young political advisor named Tevalin, roughly a decade before the marriage event. In one timeline, he vanishes without a trace. In another, he becomes a chief architect of a peace accord. The divergence here appears subtle, but his influence is echoed in several subsequent policies... particularly in trade and shared governance."
Raising an eyebrow, Marisa nodded. "Yes. That does look promising." She moved it to the top with the other choices mentioned. "We have five that are not very likely. I would like to put them at the bottom." She looked at the other two. "Shall we put what we have here in a list of best to worst options?"
"That makes sense to me," Jules agreed.
"I hope that Commander Aloria can do something with the distress message," she added. "If it came from *now* or fairly recently, does that mean it's possible that someone went back in time and caused these changes? If so, I'm leading toward this political advisor Tevalin disappearing, or the marriage. And in that case, I'd look at the sudden introduction of the technology, to narrow down the timeline. See who the "inventors" were, and who they had contact with."
Hastios stepped closer to the board, his eyes scanning the timeline before settling on the top entries.
“Tevalin’s disappearance stands out. It’s subtle—but it shifts everything. You don’t go from vanishing to becoming a chief negotiator in another version of history without someone interfering.” He paused, arms folding across his chest. “That doesn’t read as coincidence. That’s targeted.”
He looked between Marisa and Juli. “The land dispute and the marriage alliance are more visible flashpoints—but if you wanted to start unravelling stability early, removing a political influence like Tevalin would be a smart first move. The rest could be fallout.”
He then nodded toward the entry Juli had flagged. “As for the technology—weather control coming into play earlier in one timeline, and favouring the Kroats? That’s not just divergence. That smells like interference. If someone dropped tech into the wrong hands too early, that alone could tip the scales—economically, politically, even socially.”
His brow furrowed slightly as he considered the implications.
“We start with Tevalin, the land, the marriage, and the tech divergence. Prioritise those. If the others link in, we map it. If not, they wait. Focused pressure is better than chasing everything at once.”
After a beat, his tone dropped a shade lower.
“We’re already two steps behind. If someone’s rewriting this from the inside, we need to find where they made the first move—not just where the damage is loudest.”
"Agreed. That is where the digging comes in," Marisa said. "The captain would like a top ten list of most likely alterations as soon as we can. Therefore, our next step is to take these events and determine which are most likely to have been artificially altered."
Finally, they had a list of ten events that looked promising. At the top of the list was the marriage alliance between Llewellina and Krendal. Marisa wasn't sure if it was the thought of true peace, or happily ever after, but she was pleased to see it on the top.
The second event on the list was Tevalin and whether he disappeared or became chief architect of a peace accord. Third was the premature development of weather modification by the Kroats. The last five were found to be of no relevance.
"Okay," Marisa said, sitting back. "I believe we have what the captain requested."
Juli nodded and took in a deep breath. This was still going to take a while. Even with the events narrowed down it still felt like they were searching for a needle in a haystack. "Would you like me start running simulations, Commander? See if the computer can predict the likelihood of each of these being the ... world changing event?" She offered.
Marisa nodded. They'd done the research. This was the last thing to do before handing the list over to the captain. "Yes. We can make any adjustments based on the numbers."
"On it, Commander." Jules responded right away, popping up from the research terminal and quickly walking to one of the lab stations. "We'll see how long the computer takes to run these, but I should be able run at least a few at a time."
"Good. As we only have ten, I expect it will not take long. While you do that, I will look for additional corroborating information with Hastios."
Hastios leaned in as Marisa spoke, his eyes skimming the pared-down list before he gave a short nod.
“Cross-checking’s the right move,” he said, his tone even. “If these shifts were deliberate, there’ll be fingerprints somewhere. Not obvious—never obvious—but a pattern, a phrase repeated, a name that shows up where it shouldn’t.”
He stepped forward toward the nearest console, pulling up data feeds with a practised ease, his broad frame leaning slightly over the display as if he were bracing against the weight of the work. “I’ll start pulling the political threads—trade routes, treaties, council records. Who was in the room when decisions turned. If someone nudged the board, that’s where it’ll show.”
Minutes passed with the quiet hum of systems and the muted tap of controls, until Hastios finally exhaled through his nose, leaning back from the console. “That’s enough for the captain to work with. We’ve narrowed the field—now it’s a matter of testing which spark lit the fire.”
Lieutenant C'amila Juli
Chief Science Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
He glanced toward Marisa and Juli, his expression steady, resolved. “We’ve done our part. Time to pass this up and let the next phase begin.”
Marisa nodded. "I will have the computer collate the data the three of us came up with into one report, then we can present it to the captain." She looked from Hastios to Juli. "Excellent work. Thank you."
A post by
Major Hastios Eilfaren
Chief Security & Tactical Officer
Second Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Commander Marisa Sandoval
Executive Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
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