Shifting Shadows

Posted on Sun Aug 10th, 2025 @ 3:12pm by Lieutenant Commander Tarian Aloria
Edited on on Sun Aug 10th, 2025 @ 11:03pm

1,067 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: In The Nick Of Time
Location: Astrometrics - Deck 5 - USS Herodotus
Timeline: MD004 1900hrs

Tarian was sitting in his office, finishing up the Vulcan Mint Tea that he called up to help with the headache he had. After he finished with the tea, he placed the cup onto his desk as the mint from the tea lingered in the air. While there was still a bit of an ache behind his eyes, Tarian could tell that his headache was starting to go away, even if it wasn't completely gone.

He pulled the PADD off of his desk and started to look over everything that he had collected over the last few hours. Sensor logs, Temporal field readings. Chronal echo data. The data was all there in front of him, neatly organized and filed away for anyone to look over. However, the more that Tarian looked over the data, the more he realized that he didn't like it.

Not that it was bad data or it wasn't something he could use. It was just the fact that something wasn't right about it. The more time that he looked at the data, Tarian realized the readings were gnawing at him. Then, it clicked.

The numbers weren't staying put. The numbers that he was looking at wasn't the same ones that he remembered down in Astrometrics. The phase variance between the orbital interference and the planetary readings had shifted by a fraction of a percent since he first logged them down in Astrometrics.

Nothing about this should have been possible. But, Tarian was sitting there in his office, watching it unfold in almost real time. It was like the shift wasn't random, but more progressive in nature. Even it was something so minor that it took Tarian several looks to finally catch onto it.

Getting out of his chair, he tucked the PADD away under his arm and made his way out of his office. If this was what he suspected, he would need more information and a bigger picture view than something on a PADD. Something that the main sensors on the bridge couldn't give him.

Tarian knew that he would need the specialized sensors down in Astrometrics to get a better picture of that fraction of a percent shift that he was starting to catch onto. Coupling the ship's main sensor array with the temporal mapping suite down in Astrometics would allow him to pinpoint the interference across the surface of the planet and around the planet itself. It might even allow him to pinpoint the origins of the interference, now that Tarian knew what he was looking for.

If someone...or something...was manipulating the Kroat homeworld and its timeline right now, Tarian wanted to find out who and bring it to the Captain's attention.

It didn't take long for Tarian to get to Astrometrics. Once inside, there was a junior officer that was manning one of the side stations. "Commander, what can I do for you today?" she asked. Looking over to her, Tarian smiled and said, "I'm looking to input some new parameters. Do you mind clearing the display for me?"

She nodded and had the display cleared, ready for whatever Tarian would put in. Walking over to the main controls, Tarian pulled out the PADD from underneath his arms and within moments, the holographic display of Kroatia and its surrounding planets came up. Looking over the information from the PADD, Tarian put in the information from the adjusted sensor calibration from earlier. It was the calibration and information that Tarian was using to cut through the interference surrounding the capital and the Primer's complex. As the data was being feed in by Tarian, a new layer of temporal mapping overlaid the planetary display.

And that’s when he saw it.

The interference wasn't just static or background noise. Slowly, but surely, there was definitely a shift across the capital, like a storm that was slowly starting to roll in. As the temporal activity was moving along, there were microfractures in the local spacetime continuum. Not noticable to most sensors, but with the massive temporal suite that the Herodotus used and employed, it was something that could be brought up if you were looking for the right thing in the right place.

Tarian started to look over the information that was now starting to flow in and change with the new data. He zoomed into one bit of data and his eyes narrowed. There were two identical signatures. One from the planet surface and one from orbit. However, the signatures appeared to be approximately 11 hours apart.

Again, there was still more information coming in and he wasn't able to pinpoint exactly who was causing the temporal issues. But, Tarian was able to pinpoint that it was someone close, as this level of technology could not have been done from a far away point. Not even from one planet to the next.

He exhaled through his nose before looking back at the screen. Someone was messing around with time and how it acted on this planet, but Tarian wasn't sure exactly who it was yet. Not only that, but some of the information that was coming in showed that there might have been multiple someones that might be playing into this. There appeared to be stuff happening in the past, present, and future on this world.

The best way that Tarian could describe what was going on was by stacking glass panes on one another and getting different refractions or rainbows from each one. Eventually, it all just became a blur that could hide just about anything.

Before he said anything to anyone, Tarian put in all the information and made sure to put it all in the temporally protected core. That way, nothing could happen to it and if something did, he would be able to say that it wasn't only affecting the planet now, but the ship as well.

Tapping his combadge, Tarian said, "Aloria to Bridge. Captain, would you mind coming down here to Astrometrics? I think I may have found some new evidence and think you should take a look at it. Plus, I want a second pairs of eyes on it to make sure that it doesn't do anything wonky in the meanwhile."

A Post By

Lieutenant Commander Tarian Aloria
Chief Temporal Operations Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656

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