Epilogue: Yesterday's Galileo (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 28 Jul 2024 @ 2:56pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec & Lieutenant JG Saelihn Valenis & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Lieutenant JG Montgomery Vala & Ensign Mimi & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Ensign Mackenzie Laren & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror

3,648 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 2, Captain's Ready Room; Deck 1, Bridge
Timeline: MD 07, 1244 hrs

Previously, on Yesterday's Galileo (Part 1)...

"Biobed 3 is off line again?" Allyndra looked toward the piece of equipment. "I am going to put in a request for a complete replacement when we return to Regula I. That thing has been nothing but problems. Very good. You are in charge Nusien. I need to get some rest before I have bridge duty"

"Yes Doctor. Rest well." Nusien replied and turned to return to his duties. There was a small bounce in his step as he hoped today he would be able to get to his study of Bendii Syndrome as he sought a cure.

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

Deck 2, Captain's Ready Room

Galileo's captain listened to the nominal department reports come in across the comm before the channel closed. Aside from a few engineering issues following the maximum warp velocity test, the starship appeared to be operating within normal parameters. The momentary distraction had caused enough of a delay, and with her first officer still standing nearby, the important decision regarding the fate of the cold station's secretive and dangerous data needed to be made.

"Computer," instructed Tarin with a slight pause in her speech, "delete all encrypted files marked C-S-3-1-Omega in both the active and backup memory banks."

"Processing..." Another series of multi-toned chirps sounded before the computer spoke again, "The first duty," it unexpectedly replied in a most unorthodox manner.

A perplexed expression came across Tarin's face accompanied by a double-take. Her hazel eyes looked to Blake who merely shrugged and shook her head to indicate that she, too, had no idea what had just occurred. The taller commander tapped her commbadge once more. "Ops, Tarin again. Re-verify all computer systems are operating correctly." An edge of displeasure was present in her dry tonality and directed to the Nekomi ensign.

"Standby." Mimi's voice came back over the comm channel, it remained silent for several seconds as she ran a diagnostic. "Computer system functioning normally Captain."

Tarin now frowned, her lightly freckled forehead creasing while her eyebrows tightened together. Either she needed to discipline the junior operations manager when they returned to port, or... She couldn't think of another possibility for such an error. Not with Galileo possessing redundant computer cores and multiple backup networks. And what did such a phrase even mean? 'The first duty'? The last time she'd heard that combination of words had been almost 17 years ago at Starfleet Academy during one of her ethics courses. It was in reference to the guiding principle of each Starfleet officer; that their ultimate responsibility always was to the truth, whether it be a personal, scientific or historical truth. It was the individual duty to integrity and fortitude, without which no member of Starfleet could represent the ideals and core values of the United Federation of Planets.

But why had the ship's computer stated such a philosophy? It wasn't programmed to. It was a complex and responsive mainframe optimized to perform millions of essential calculations at phenomenal speed every second to keep the ship's systems running, but it was not a sentient entity. Disregarding the impossible and the absurd, the only way it could offer such a response was if...it had been programmed to do so.

But by who? For what reason? And how?

Tarin opened her mouth again to repeat her order. "Computer, delete all encrypted files marked C-S-3-1-Omega in both..." her voice trailed off when her conscious mind produced an unexpected revelation. What she was attempting to do here - now - with Commander Blake, was guided by what she personally believed to be 'right'. Suppressing the cold station's data was the decision she'd made because the facility's research and experimentation logs were too dangerous to be shared with the greater scientific community. Too many lives could be irrevocably altered by such a technology, and she'd also almost lost several of her own crew when they encountered horrors from 'the other side'. The entire balance of power within the quadrants could be altered and destroy the present (and fragile) peace and prosperity between all sentient species. 

And yet, what she perceived to be the correct decision and its inherent justification was directly at odds with her duty as a Starfleet officer - the first duty. If the cold station's files were deleted and the research suppressed, was she not violating her responsibility to the truth? Abandoning her responsibility as a Starfleet officer and a member of the Federation? Tarin glanced down to the carpet and clasped her hands in front of her waist while pondering in deep thought. Ultimately there were only two choices to decide upon: one born of her desire to make the correct moral decision and protect the future of the quadrants...and the other a personal obligation to herself, veracity and the Federation.

She turned away from Blake, shook her head, then privately scowled to herself. This was absurd. A complex LCARS program reminding her of her own core tenets? Absurd yet seemingly possible. How and why? That was a question for the coming hours and days. "Computer, disregard my last command. Restrict access to encrypted files C-S-3-1-Omega, all data blocks. Authorization Tarin-Alpha-Uniform-Seven-Zero-Zero-Delta."

"Additional Level Nine security clearance required to perform this function," stated the computer after a micro-delay in processing.

The taller and athletic-framed commander turned back to her first officer before speaking after a short sigh. "I can't do this, Blake. What I - we - think is right or wrong out here isn't our place to judge for others. You were correct and I was wrong: there is no right answer."

It was hard for the first officer to accept, for she herself had been inside the cold station and seen its abominations with her own eyes. But duty was above all else and the future still remained unwritten. She spoke her voice authorization again after which the computer confirmed the order.

"Data access secured." 


Deck 1, Bridge

Vala watched the data stream in from the sensors. Completely as expected. Normal background noise. The epitome of space and time working in concert as they usually did.

Wait... No. Something wasn't usual. A small flash on the screen denoted a change in normal conditions. As the data scrolled his eyes widened. This wasn't something you saw outside of the lab unless... unless something strange was about to happen.

"Surge of temporal particles," his tone took on a serious edge, "Chronitons. Seems to be a field of some kind... scanning for the origin..."

"Chronitons?" Ullswater initial reaction was incredulous but as she watched the results of Vala's scan appear on her screen there was no doubt. The emergent field was showing perturbations propagating out like ripples on a pond surface. Only unlike in a pond these waves were unthinkably large and moving at unthinkable speeds, tearing through reality like an earthquake.

With a little shake in her voice Ullswater put into words what they could both see. "It's us... The waves are coming from inside the ship. It should be easy to locate the oscillator with the internal scanners."

It was easy. Such was the magnitude of the disturbances it took Sofie one look to see exactly where the propagation began. "Bridge to Captain Tarin. Is something happening in the ready room?"

The captain's familiar dry tonality infused into her reply over the comm channel with genuine curiosity. "No. Why?" Aside from her private conversation with Blake regarding the cold station's information dissemination, nothing noteworthy had occurred. Certainly nothing the rest of the crew would be concerned with.

Ullswater did her best not to sound alarming as she responded. "We've detected a significant temporal disturbance propagating from your location. I'd advise you exit the room, sir. The disturbance may well be dangerous." Well it was at least reassuring to hear that the Captain was alive and well but surely something of this magnitude would have an identifiable source. Concerning.

An unimpressed reply returned over the channel. "Lieutenant, this is a systems test, not a temporal-theory test. But I'll return to the bridge shortly." The dismissive nature of the concern was obvious in Tarin's subtle New York City inflection.

The sensor readings were there in front of her, clear as day. Ullswater was taken aback. Did the captain not trust her? That might be fair given the events of the last weeks, she wasn't sure she even trusted herself, but still the captain's tone stung. "Acknowledged sir."

Two long minutes later, the primary bridge entrance swished open and Tarin's tall and athletic figure presented itself. She stepped inside the command chamber with prominent strides from her long legs while glancing around the various stations and personnel to take note of their routine demeanor. Well, most of them except science.

"Ullswater, this better be good," Tarin chided the young brown-haired science chief while walking over to the science alcove and standing over both she and Vala's shoulders. "Show me what you have."

Ullswater pulled up a visualisation on the screen. It showed a ripple pattern emanating from the ship, rapidly propagating outwards. As time progressed the waves coming from the ship began to decrease in amplitude and eventually vanish. "Following a flash of light we observed this pattern of excitement in the temporal field resulting in large amounts of chroniton generation." She placed her words precisely sticking to the barest statement of fact, a defensive play. "Lieutenant Vala, you're an expert in this type of phenomena so perhaps you could add some analysis."

Vala looked up from his console, the mention of his name drawing his eyes away from the scrolling information. He rarely got to make good use of his expertise in the field, and it was fascinating. Concerning, yes, but exceptionally interesting.

"I'm afraid I cannot draw any conclusions without looking in more detail at the data," he said as he turned to face Tarin, "In my experience temporal events of this sort can have... challenging implications."

Ullswater nodded in agreement and, while keeping her eyes on her station rather than Tarin, added "I can have someone check over the ready room for chroniton sources to make sure it's safe. In the meantime it might be advisable to use a different room."

The red-collared commander listened to the two scientists, unimpressed and with a dubious frown tugging at her inner eyebrows. "A temporal event?" She studied the particle detections from several moments ago on the science console, noted a lack of any current traces, then shook her head to herself. "Let's start with something a little more plausible before jumping to the fantastical. Yes, chronitons possess temporal properties, but they're also produced by cloaking devices...specifically those of the Romulan variety. As well as Borg transwarp technology. Now, there aren't any Borg out here last time I checked," she gestured with one of her arms to the main viewscreen and the streaking stars beyond, "but there is a Klingon warship traveling in formation with us. And if the Klingons are operating in this sector, I'll make a strong bet that the Romulans are as well. Or...we could be experiencing a computer malfunction and a false detection."

Vala shifted slightly uncomfortably in his seat. "Very well sir, all options will be considered..." His tone belied a certain skepticism. He knew Rihannsu cloaking devices as well as anyone in Starfleet and a gentle wave of Chronitons from inside an uncloaked ship were not typically a sign of one. "As is usual procedure."

"Good... But perform another sensor sweep just in case, and conduct your scans of the ready room," Tarin then conceded before stepping back from the alcove and returning to her own station at the center of the bridge. Why was it even the mundane evolutions seemed to involve some extraordinary occurrence aboard this ship? "Helm, take us out of warp. Full stop. Let's see if we have uninvited company. Engineering, prepare to generate a tachyon pulse discharge from the deflector arrays; full coverage. And notify Praxis of our intentions."

"Understood sir, beginning a sensor sweep." Barely moving Ullswater put in the command at her station and the sensor array dutifully embarked upon its thankless task. "I'll have someone take a look the ready room once the systems test is complete." She shot a glance towards Vala that said You are going to be that someone.

Sera raised a brow at Tarin's order but said nothing to question it. "Aye sir." Data was coming in from main engineering; damage was noted to warp core plasma injectors. They could handle the bandwidth, but even with her minimal knowledge of the engineering team, the splitting of resources might be met with some...resistance, perhaps?

"Ensign Sera to Ensign MacKenzie. We are apparently hunting for the source of chroniton particles recently detected. Please prepare to generate a tachyon pulse, full coverage from the deflector arrays."

"Aye, sir." Came the acknowledgement from Mack. "Configuring the deflector arrays now."

Mack hadn't been out of the Jefferies tubes long when the order came down to generate a tachyon pulse. Full coverage from the deflector arrays meant they needed to be properly configured for such action.

From her station in engineering, Mack's fingers glided over the smooth surface as she effortlessly switched tasks to configuring the ship's deflector arrays in preparation for generating a tachyon pulse. One by one, green lights appeared on her console's screen, indicating that the deflector arrays were properly aligned for a tachyon pulse.

"Deflectors are configured for tachyon pulse, standing by for further orders." Mack reported.

"Understood. Your expedient response is noted, Ensign Mackenzie."

Mimi quickly tapped out the message to the Praxis, informing them of the plan to stop and investigate whatever anomaly they'd just detected. "Message transmitted."

It didn't take long before her console bleeped an alert at a response. "Captain Kuran says: Understood, you have our thanks for the supplies, Qapla'." The Klingon phrase didn't roll smoothly off of Mimi's tongue. "The Praxis is changing course and increasing speed.... they are leaving."

"Aye, Captain. Coming out of warp.", Rafe responded. He reduced speed to sublight and then came to a full stop. "Full stop, Captain."

The streaking white and sky blue stars condensed their striping in the main viewscreen until they became small stationary dots in the distant cosmos. Galileo-A finished decelerating from its previously-high warp factor and now dropped to a slow impulse speed within a barren and unremarkable portion of the Pleiades Cluster.

The feelings she Saelihn couldn't shake brought her to the bridge. A compelling pull to that location as she felt it was her place to be and that it was almost like being driven there for answers. As the doors of the lift opened there was a strange feeling on the bridge from multiple officers, confusion, frustration, a little fear.

The soft yet audible swish of the turbolift doors opening then closing prompted Tarin to look over her shoulder to the new arrival within the vessel's command center. "Lieutenant," she acknowledged Valenis' presence, though she thought it awkward the junior security officer had seeming made her way here unprompted. On the other hand, the young El-Aurian's arrival was a fortunate happening, especially considering their current circumstances. "Take your station. We've detected a surge in chroniton particles which Science believes to be a 'temporal event'. I personally think it's more likely a cloaked Romulan vessel is shadowing us and got too close...but we'll find out soon enough."

Saelihn looked at Commander Tarin with almost a blank stare but her gaze hardened as she heard the word 'chroniton'. Moving to her station, "I think science has the right idea." she commented sitting down. "There are certain things on this ship that don't feel right, and my head is killing me." she added. Thankfully she'd taken some of her medication as the onset of her temporal migraine hit, so it wasn't feeling as bad as it could have been.'

Sera tilted her head and quickly regarded Lieutenant Valenis intently for a moment. She was in agreement. Something had changed, something subtle. What exactly was that flash?

"Then performing a tachyon pulse is simply part of the scientific process, Lieutenant. Eliminating the impossible to discover the truth."

Sera then turned her attention back to the imposing woman sitting in the captain's chair. "Captain Tarin, the deflectors have been calibrated. Tachyon pulse ready at your command."

The confirmation of the tachyon pulse's readiness elicited a prompt reply from Tarin. "Activate." Hopefully now, all this bizarre postulation surrounding temporal events and 'waves' could be dismissed.

Sera's fingers glided across the LCARS screen pressing various commands. "Aye, captain. Activating tachyon pulse...now."

In space, Galileo's dual deflector arrays began to brighten, specially their outer imagining coils which brightened into glowing cerulean hues before flaring and discharging their invisible tachyon particles in a 360-degree burst from the Nova-class' center. The pulse wave rapidly spread through the local vicinity up to 50 km in distance then started to degrade.

"No cloaked vessels have been detected, sir." Ullswater remained professional her words not imbued with a quantum of the I told you so energy swirling around her brain. "Sensors are not currently picking up any chroniton excitement. If there was a cloaked ship it is no longer here."

"Secondary scans also show no evidence of a cloaked vessel." Vala added, having glanced through the local neutrino emissions and other telltale signs of cloaked ships. Given the sophistication of the ships sensors, he would have expected to see something if Tarin's theory held water.

It would just be an echo of other officers statements but tactical had to give an appraisal of the scan and Saelihn did so. "As science has stated, no vessels on sensors." However, she not expected there to be any.

Tarin reached up and rubbed her smooth forehead with the index and middle fingers of her left hand. Negative detections along with an ongoing geopolitical roadblock between the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire meant she had little recourse with which to navigate this strange and impromptu situation. Ultimately, however, Galileo's ongoing directive within the Pleaides Cluster wasn't to hunt cloaked Romulan vessels. The Mark II Nova-class was a planetary research platform designed for scientific survey and investigation. To perform extended scouting evolutions without probable cause was a deliberate waste of time and resources.

"Zeror," Tarin summoned the young Trill yeoman from the rear of the bridge, "make a note in the ship's log: 'Stardate 69373.02, chrontion particle surge detected. Cloaked Romulan presence suspected, subsequent tachyon pulse discharged. Local scans report clear. Temporal 'event' suspected by officers Ullswater and Vala. Possible computer mainframe malfunction. System test complete. Returning to Regula I for further investigation. End.'"

"Aye Sir." Jeysa replied. Turning back to the console she began the log entry she also prepared a message to send to Regula I to inform them they were returning ahead of schedule.

The log was updated and as best as Tarin could tell, there was little more to be accomplished in this small portion of the local sector grid. Whatever - whoever - had been out here causing chroniton emissions, it was a task to now internally investigate. Here, in the black depths of space several hours from Regula I, was not the appropriate place to stay idle, especially in the wake of the Klingon warship's departure. Such an unorthodox and brief alliance was fleeting at best, and it was prudent to not linger for too long in an area in which Galileo's position had most likely been reported to foreign intelligence. "I'd call this a good-enough systems test. Secure stations and stand down from scanning posture. We're returning to Regula I."

Saelihn turned, "Captain, can I have a word with you when possible?" she asked. There were a number of things nagging at her she needed to air with Tarin.

The question prompted a slightly-curious glance toward the security officer followed by a curt nod. "Meet me in the conference room shortly," instructed Tarin. She hoped this didn't concern the cold station's senior researchers still isolated in the brig - the longer they were required to maintain custody over the two scientists, the more unnerved it made her. Fortunately, they would soon be out of her crew's hair - as soon as they returned to Regula I. "Helm, set course for the station. Warp 2. Engage," she then ordered.

Galileo-A maneuvered at impulse to slowly bring her bow around and align with her familiar homeport destination. The Nova-class' luminescent cerulean nacelles began to brightly glow with rapidly increasing intensity, then flared. In an instant, the small starship's silver hull elongated then snapped away into the far distance, disappearing from view with only a faint trail of cosmic dust in its wake. The local space within the expansive Pleiades Cluster was punctuated by a small flash which soon faded: the final remnant of a Galileo at this point in space...and across time. For now.

[END EPISODE 19]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Montgomery Vala
Deputy Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Sofie Ullswater
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Deputy Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Mackenzie Laren
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Rafe Caradec
Senior Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Saelihn Valenis
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

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