Nothing But Time
Posted on Sat Feb 22nd, 2025 @ 5:43pm by Lieutenant Commander Tarian Aloria & Lieutenant C'Mila Juli
Edited on on Mon Feb 24th, 2025 @ 1:53am
2,363 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Like Sands Through The Hourglass
Location: Office of the Chief Temporal Operations Officer - Deck 4 - USS Herodotus
Timeline: MD002 1400 Hrs
Lieutenant Juli had spent quite a bit of her first day on board reading manuals and trying to learn as much as she could about the special technology that was on board the Herodotus. She also did some digging into the Chief Temporal Officer's background. The Captain was right. She would need to rely heavily on the chief's experience and expertise, at least at first. The ship was a different beast than the type of temporal mechanics she understood best - understanding past anomalies and applying them to hypothetical emergency scenarios in the hopes that should you encounter one in the wild she would be prepared. However, the ship could transport them through time and dimensions a number of ways. As she learned what they were capable of, the thought of what their future missions could be seemed even more of a mystery.
Her mind was mulling over these things and all that she'd learned just in the last 36 hours or so as she walked to the Chief's office on Deck 4.
Tarian had been looking over his own manuals and making sure that he was up to date on everything that the crew needed of him before they shipped off. Since he had just had a meeting with several other crew members, Tarian's office door had remained open, just in case someone else decided to pop by. He was sitting at his desk when he noticed someone else had come by. Looking up at the young officer, Tarian smiled and asked, "Can I help you with something today?"
"Hey, Hello. I'm C'Mila Juli, Chief Science Officer. If you have time I know the Captain was hoping that I could connect with you at some point." Juli hesitated near the doorframe and watched for any reactions to indicate that it wasn't the best time.
Tarian waved for the science officer to come into his office. He was excited to meet up with a fellow scientist, especially one who might have been able to fill Tarian in on everything that had been happening up to that point. Or, at least one who would be able to go over everything together. Tarian pointed to the replicator and said, "I was about to get something to drink. Did you want anything?"
Juli nodded as she walked in. "Sure that would be great. Tarkalean tea latte?" Juli helped herself to one of the guest chairs and took a seat. "How was your trip here? Have you been here long?" She asked.
Tarian ordered up the Tarkalean tea latte for the science officer before ordering up some Bajoran coffee. The two drinks materalized within a few moments and Tarian grabbed them off the replicator pad before walking it over to Juli. Setting it down in front of her, Tarian thought about the trip for a moment and replied, "It wasn't too bad of a trip. I just had a long layover to get here, as I just made it onboard within the last few hours. I've been trying to catch up with all that we're about to experience."
Tarian took a sip of his drink before asking, "How about you? When did you get onboard or have you been onboard for a little while?"
"Just about two and a half days ago, and it's been a lot of information overload," she admitted. "I didn't even know the full details of the assignment until I got out here actually. I've been running a department, but in the past I did a lot of field work. A few special ops assignments. I think that's what made me an attractive recruit for the position," she offered. "That, and I come relatively untethered."
"I'm just glad to be apart of such a ship and be able to meet some amazing people, much like yourself. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of field work have you done? I'd love to know more about some of the areas that you've studied," Tarian offered up, curious as to what her fields of expertise were beyond what most of the crew studied.
"Threat response," Jules responded. "I worked on a couple of different teams working on countermeasures to Breen activity. They needed a scientist. My primary focus has always been astrophysics and chemistry. At the Academy I anticipated that being more about wormholes and nebulas - which it's certainly useful for, don't get me wrong. But, I can be a bit of an adrenaline junkie sometimes, so when these assignments came up and I was lucky enough to get picked, I got down and dirty with biochemical and transphasal weaponry. Not on the same mission thankfully, but that's a little bit of what I've been into."
"But, you. I think you're the one with actual time travel experience, right?" She asked.
Tarian walked to the replicator and recycled the drink he just finished up and ordered him and his companion new drinks as he listened to her about her background. As he walked back to where they were talking, he offered her up the fresh drink and thought about his History with time itself. Tarian couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Yeah, I was studying time travel itself when the Vulcans still didn't believe it was possible. Part of me for the longest time thought about whether or not we could actually achieve what we're doing here and now onboard the Herodotus. But, some of the stuff I've seen would make you question time itself sometimes. That's why I'm glad they made the protected temporal database back at DTI HQ."
Juli hadn't finished her first drink when Tarian had already handed her a refill. She was grateful for the new cup though. She liked her hot beverages hot, not lukewarm. She downed the rest of the first drink, and then took a cautious sip of the new one, savoring the way it almost burned her throat.
Juli's eyes widened at Tarian's disclosure. She new the Vulcan Science Directorate had been forced to acknowledge time travel around the same time the Federation was established. That would make Tarian at least... She couldn't even fathom a guess.
"So what is the protected temporal database exactly? I mean, I kind of know what it is - but who gets to decide what goes there and why?" She asked. "What are the criteria?" She had her suspicions that some of the decisions were arbitrary, but until today had really never been 'in the know' enough to have an educated opinion. She realized it would likely be a long while yet before she'd still be able to form one.
Tarian couldn't help but chuckle a little bit, as he'd never been asked so many questions about the secured database at DTI HQ before. It took Tarian a few moments to think about who was given the power to put stuff into the database and what was actually in there, as it had been a few weeks since he had to use it. But, it was filled with stuff like how History had happened on several worlds, both Federation and otherwise.
Tarian took another sip of his own drink and replied, "Well, there's a lot of History in the database. A lot of it has to due with how History happened for various worlds in and out of the Federation. Mainly, it was there to make sure that nothing has changed because it is protected from the timeline by temporal shielding that the DTI made several decades ago. As for who has the ability to change anything about it, it's mainly the people close to the top. There's a board of people, including the DTI director that makes those kinds of decisions. They want to make sure nothing is added or taken away that would be beneficial to us in the field."
"I see," Juli responded. "So, if something is out place in the galaxy it could be only the people inside the Headquarters that know about it. And us now possibly? I assume we'll often be protected by our own temporal shields. At least when we're on the ship. The Captain mentioned that you would be the one to talk to about the paradoxes. Don't worry, I am not going to scramble your brain with a hypothetical right now. I just pointed out that the mechanics of time travel aren't that complicated for a physicist to master. It's the paradoxes that trouble the scientific community."
Tarian couldn't help but chuckle a little bit as he heard Juli talk about paradoxes and time travel moments. He took another sip of his drink before replying, "Well, it's more like, in case something feels off or if someone at HQ or here notices something, we can make sure that nothing is out of place. If it is, we can make sure to try and fix it up. You should have seen the Romulan incident of the mid-2340's. It was a crazy moment to fix up, but the database was so key!"
Juli grinned. "So what was the Romulan incident of 2340?" She suddenly found herself a little jealous of El Aurians and the long lives that they lived.
"While I wasn't apart of it directly, it was something one of my fellow operatives had to deal with. Apparently, the Enterprise-C went through time and visited a future Enterprise-D, where the Federation was embroiled in a war with the Klingon Empire. Unfortunately, something we didn't realize until some time later was that a certain officer from the Enterprise-D came back through time, having a daughter named Sela. Captain Picard had to deal with that in the 2360's," Tarian replied, trying to remember all of his facts correctly.
Juli moved to the edge of her seat. "So now, theoretically with a ship like this, we could have kept that from happening. But that's already documented, so we wouldn't. But how is now even the right time. Surely there's someone in the future who could come back and change or correct any future event. But to us, the future should be unwritten. But it really isn't is it?" Juli's eyes narrowed. "What's it called, predestination? If I'm meant to be in this program and drop out, someone is going to come and convince me to get back in, or vice versa. What choices are even real?"
Juli's head was beginning to spin. She had never thought of how many actors were likely at play trying to control and manipulate time. If you believed in butterflies, the time police could care about even the smallest nuance.
Tarian could tell that Juli's head was starting to spin out and go in a countless amount of directions. He placed his hand on Juli's shoulder gently and said, "Don't worry. While the DTI is still young for an organization within the Federation, We've had plenty of experience in finding and fixing anything that may go awry. Plus, Starfleet itself has the Temporal Prime Directive, which has helped in making sure that rogue agents within Starfleet and the Federation don't go back and try and fix a mistake. Time is a fickle thing, but it's not so fickle that it can't be fixed it something truly goes haywire."
"I don't know if that's what I'm worried about, or if it's the sudden realization that my fate is already decided," she answered honestly. She was having a surreal moment.
"Well, like Doc Brown said in the Earth film 'Back to the Future,' your future is never written. It's something that can be changed and that's even more true now that we've got one of the Federation's first ever time ship," Tarian replied, knowing that time and temporal paradoxes can make anyone's head spin. But, destiny was something that he never ascribed to...at least not fully.
"Maybe I should watch this film?" Juli asked. "It sounds like it could be insightful."
"Well, if you do, watch for the subtle differences throughout each of the three movies, if you decide to watch all three of them!" Tarian offered up, knowing there were some minor changes that could get past the casual viewer.
"There are three?" Juli stated in confirmation, now less sure about her commitment to watch them. "And are these documentary style or more of a lecture series?"
Tarian couldn't help but let out a small chuckle when he heard the words documentary. He looked at the science officer and replied, "No, they're old Earth movies. But, it's about a mad scientist and his scrappy sidekick that travel through time in what Humans called a 'Delorian.' It was an old Earth car, but the movies showed what Humans thought of time travel back in the late 20th century. It's definitely worth a watch."
Juli had no idea what a Delorian was, and she tried to imagine what an old Earth car that could time travel might look like. She smiled and let out her own small laugh. "I am having a difficult time picturing that. I suppose I will have to watch it for myself sometime," she agreed.
"I appreciate your time today. You've definitely given me a lot to think about," Juli said as she started to stand up. "Thanks so much for the tea. Maybe later this week you would be up for running through some simulations with me?"
"Yeah, I'd love to! Just let me know when you're off sometime and I'll have to show you around 1985 Earth with good old Doc Brown!" Tarian replied as he got up with Juli to show her to the door.
Juli still didn't have an inkling of what this film was about that had Tarian so excited, but his enthusiasm for it had her curious. "Alright, sounds like a plan," she agreed, grinning as she walked out of his office.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant C'Mila Juli
Chief Science Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Lieutenant Commander Tarian Aloria
Chief Temporal Operations Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
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