The Winds of Change
Posted on Mon Oct 28th, 2024 @ 2:49am by Jerimiah Isaacs & Commander Marisa Sandoval
Edited on on Mon Oct 28th, 2024 @ 2:55am
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Like Sands Through The Hourglass
Location: DTI Director's Office, Greenwich, England, Earth
Timeline: Five Days Prior to MD001
Marisa barely had enough time to get to Earth before her appointment. Why she had to come all the way here to be told about her new assignment was a mystery. It did make her extremely curious. Especially when she could find no information about the man she was to meet. Hopefully she'd have time to see her family before she had to head out again. Unless she was staying here. Or maybe her new ship was here? But if so, why Greenwich?
She shook her head. Speculating would do no good at all. There were literally hundreds of potential assignments for a scientist in Starfleet. She distracted herself by catching up on the latest archaeological findings, but her mind kept going back to the simple message she received. She was being transferred. She was to report to a specific office in Greenwich, England, Earth and the date and time. If she hadn't caught the next shuttle, she would have been late.
When the air taxi dropped her off, she had less than ten minutes to get inside and find the right office. She didn't even have time to change out of her Vulcan tunic and pants. They were functional and comfortable for travel. They also had the added feature of keeping most people from starting up random conversations. Not that she minded. She often enjoyed talking to people, but she wanted the relative quiet to catch up on messages and hopefully reply to some former professors about potential papers. She ran her fingers through her hair and walked into the outer office.
She smiled at the woman behind the desk. "Hello. I'm Marisa Sandoval. I have an appointment."
Meghan Kilkilli was a pretty woman about 30 to 35 years old. She wore clothing and her hair in a style that was reminiscent of the 1920s on Earth. Meghan smiled softly at the woman before her. "You are expected, Ms Sandoval. Please help yourself to a refreshment and go right in."
"Thank you," Marisa said, returning the smile. "I think I will grab a refreshment on my way out, if that is permissible." She wanted to focus on the purpose of this meeting right now and not have something in her hands. She inclined her head to the woman and went into the office.
Jerimiah sat behind his desk and sipped his wine. There was a stern look upon his face. The Director of the Department of Temporal Investigations hated it when people were late. "You're late!" In truth Sandoval was only two minutes behind the scheduled time. However, Isaacs liked to test people's patience. He thought it revealed the true nature of a person.
"I came here directly from the spaceport," she replied placidly. "As you are no doubt aware." She wondered if the timing had been deliberate to see how she would react to the possibility of being late. "In fact, if I had taken your kind offer of a refreshment, you would still be waiting." She chose to take this as a game, or a test. She'd met his type before, bureaucrats who wanted to ensure she knew who was in charge. Still, she couldn't help giving him a half smile as her eyes betrayed her humor. "I could go stand in the corner as penance, if you prefer."
"Having a seat will be fine." The Director's slow and deliberate cadence of speech intoned. "Now I bet you are wondering why you were summoned from halfway across the known galaxy just to attend a meeting with an old bureaucrat like me." He paused and sipped his wine again. In truth this was a method for him to ponder what he would say next. "Tell me Marisa, may I call you Marisa?" Jerimiah did not wait for an answer. "Tell me Marisa what do you know of time, and time travel." Jerimiah Isaacs may be a lot of things but subtle was not one of them. Like Captain Thorrin he believed that there simply was no time for subtlety.
That was an interesting way to begin, and made her think of several responses. "That depends on the nature of the question and whether it deals with spacetime, quantum mechanics, or theoretical physics. But I get the feeling you're talking about something more...concrete. So, I'll simply say that academically, enough. In practice, not as much."
"I will preface my next statement with a warning. What I am about to tell you is classified to the point that you would become only the fourth person to know of it. If you accept the knowledge and refuse the position then your memory of our meeting and what was discussed here will be wiped from your brain and you will continue your life blissfully unaware. Is this understood and accepted." At times like this Jerimiah's speech pattern came in handy. It emphasized the seriousness of the situation.
She nodded. "Understood and accepted."
He leaned back in his chair and tented his fingers. "Excellent, I hoped you were up to the challenge. Marisa time travel, and by extension travel to parallel dimensions is real. Of course you know that, but what you may not know is that it can be controlled, we can travel through it just like a warp drive moves us through space. The Department of Temporal Investigations has three timeships. I want you to be the Executive Officer of the flagship of the group." Jerimiah not only was explaining things but he was gaging whether or not Marisa would be receptive of his side of things, or would she side with Thorrin. He decided to pause and allow what he had said to sink as there was ever so much more information for her to absorb.
She mentally sifted through what he said and the various ramifications. Control time... She wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but doubted she'd get a straight answer. Or if she did, she wasn't sure she'd like it. At the same time, this was a fantastic opportunity and one she would consider carefully. If he checked her background, he might have an idea of her views of history, but if not, she wasn't going to elucidate.
Marisa kept her expression neutral as she then considered the position. She assumed if she found she didn't like it, she could resign, have her memories of the assignment wiped, and be assigned elsewhere. She nodded once, signaling her compliance. "Who would I be working with?"
Now the real test began, Jerimiah thought. "In command of the USS Herodotus is an ornery El Aurian named Thorrin. He is upwards of five hundred years old and fancies himself a connoisseur. If you ask me he is a royal pain in the ass. However, there is no one more suited to the job. You won't find much on him in the databanks, he makes sure of that. If it means anything I do not like the man. But I would trust him to preserve this timeline any day of the week."
Isaacs rubbed his chin as if he debated if he should continue. "There is another side of him though, one that troubles me at times. He can be quite zealous in his pursuit of things. This would be your secondary mission to keep Thorrin in line. Make sure he does not go off the proverbial deep end." Jerimiah had a mind to turn Marisa into his sleeper agent without her even knowing why.
The first part she found interesting. Isaacs didn't like the man who would be her captain, yet he trusted him. It said a lot for Thorrin's character. The second was...concerning and required elucidation. "Go off the deep end how and for what purpose?"" She wasn't sure she liked the undertones of what he was asking.
"He can get to be a tad obsessive, sort of like a dog with a bone. It is both his strength and weakness. However, as a Captain that can be a worse issue. If he becomes to obsessed with something that can ruin well to put it simply everything. That is where you come in. Should something like that happen it is your job to bring him back from the edge." Jerimiah was skirting the real issue, and that would be something that would come in time. But first he had to lay the ground work.
"And yet you trust him enough to captain a time ship." She wanted to ask what was really going on here, but pawns who asked too many questions were sacrificed. She shook her head to clear the thought. "We can all be a bit obsessive about some things. I, for instance, am a scientist."
"I trust him with the ship because there is no one better to command a vessel of this magnitude then a El Aurian who has been around for as long as he has. Someone who remembers his people's original homeworld before the Borg came, and still will not try to change that." Jerimiah thought for a moment how much he wanted to tell this woman, how far down this rabbit hole they should go. "People like him do not understand the gray of things. They look at everything as black and white. Sometimes he needs to be made to understand that events, and people who live in the gray are just as good and at times necessary." It was the best way he could word it without telling her the complete history of himself and Thorrin,.
"I agree that not everything is black or white. Ignoring the gray areas can lead to extremism. But there are also times when the correct answer is a cut and dried yes or no." It was becoming patently obvious that there was a lot of history between this man and her new commanding officer and that they had some serious disagreements. She was not going to allow herself to be caught in the middle--if she could help it.
Isaacs decided right in that moment that Marisa was the best person for this job. He knew that Thorrin and himself were two sides of the same coin that often did not agree. She would serve as a good mediary. Someone who could bridge the gap between the two men. "And that is precisely why you are the best person for this job. I tell you that if you accept you will see and hear wonders that you never thought possible. But you will also be in for a very lonely life. You will never be able to have contact with anyone outside the Thucydides Program. The job is yours for the taking."
Lonely, yes. But could she do some good? She hoped so. And if it got too much, there was always the out clause that she could have her memory wiped and go back to her old life. But she wasn't a quitter, and she did want to do this. "I accept."
Jerimiah smiled and slid a PADD across the desk. "As of now this is who you are. You are to travel to Kok Station in the Carlson Nebula. There you will meet Captain Thorrin and the Herodotus. I will see to it that he is aware of your impending arrival." Isaacs held a finger up as if he had forgotten something. "My apologies... Before we proceed. Would you like some time to get your affairs in order? Perhaps say good bye to someone. After all you are about to disappear without a trace. Eventually you will be presumed dead."
She didn't pick up the PADD. Dead? "Why not simply declare me missing?" She shook her head, negating that thought. "Better yet, I'm a scientist. List me as being on a deep space science mission that will last up to three years." She was thinking of her family and how they would react to the news that she was dead. "That would serve the same purpose as no one would be able to contact me and no one would know where I am."
"But then my dear Marisa people would come looking for you when you did not return in three years." Jerimiah said flatly, to him there was no other answer she had to be dead. He was curious what her aversion to the idea was. But that would have to be a curiosity that he would satisfy at a later date. "I have a compromise to offer you. We will make sure that you are listed on a classified assignment in deep space. No one will be able to know where you are. In two years you will be declared missing, you went missing on a mission or some such. Two years after that you will be declared dead. So, in all that would be a total of four years before anyone knows anything. If you want to return to your life between now and then you can with no issues. But..." And here is where Jerimiah raised a finger as if to indicate this was a sticking point. "...if you are still with the program in four years we are going to have to show something. After that long your family should have some closure. Is this fair?"
"Can we make it five? I prefer odd numbers. Three years on a classified deep space mission, two years missing, then I will agree to telling my family I am dead. It is more for my father and his extended family. They are a close-knit group." She knew there was every chance he'd say no, but she could try. If he said no, then she would agree to four years.
Isaacs thought deeply for a moment. On the one hand he did not want to be dictated to, and on the other hand Sandoval would be too perfect for this assignment. Besides, he could always have the file changed whenever he wanted, who cared what he told her. He smiled and knocked on the desk. "Very well Commander you drive a hard bargain. Five years it is."
"Does a year matter that much?" There was something about the look in his eye and the way he said it that made her mistrust him. But she had nothing except her years observing people as a counselor to go on. She took a moment to consider walking away, then nodded and took the PADD, making sure the change in time was duly noted, then she signed it and sent a copy to her new commanding officer. Still holding the PADD, she raised an eyebrow. "Is there anything else you wish of me?"
"Not at all Commander. Thank you for joining us at the DTI. Suffice to say you should get packed and get moving. As I said before pleae make sure to use the assumed identity on that PADD when travelling." Jerimiah stood and motioned toward the door. He had planted the first seed on what he thought would be the undoing of Captain Thorrin.
Marisa stood and gave him a formal Vulcan bow. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Isaacs. it has been...most enlightening." She had much to do, she mused, as she walked out the door. First of which was to visit her family and make sure she had everything put in order for when Isaacs declared her dead.
A Joint Post By
Jerimiah Isaacs
Director
Department of Temporal Investigations
Commander Marisa Sandoval
Executive Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
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