Episode 13


Tiny Trek


Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 8b
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 12-14b
Chapter 15

Back to the story


Chapter 1

{Myst's Quarters}

Priscilla slid onto her couch with a sigh. The last couple weeks had been nicely quiet, but there still was unusual activity on the Griffin in the form of the telepaths on board trying to help Rinali re-learn all the lessons of her youth. After her duty shift had been over, Pricilla had gone to check in on Rinali. She was getting better, but the progress was slower than hoped.

Priscilla was just starting to get comfortable, when her commbadge went off: "Captain to the Bridge!" Sable's voice called out.

"On my way," she replied as she jumped off the couch and headed out.


{Bridge}

"Report," Priscilla ordered before she had even made it halfway off the turbolift.

"There's some sort of anomaly-" Sable began to report.

"We received some sort of warning hail-" Zosin started to say at the same time.

Freeman arrived then and quickly took over at Ops.

"I'm not going to be able to get us out of the way in time!" Sable announced.

"Sensors read it's not solid," he began to say, "there should be no impact. Contact in 5..."

Priscilla was now in front of her chair. "On screen," she ordered as she turned to look behind her.

"4..."

"Science! What *is* it?"

"3..."

"The computer cannot find a known match," Anna replied.

"2..."

"Trying to analyze now..."

"1..."

When she blinked she was completely shocked by the scene before her. (What the !!!) she thought. Where was she!?! What had just happened!? And... why were there children on the bridge of a starship?!?

Priscilla forced herself to slow down a moment and take stock. She slowly turned around. It looked like the bridge she was on was one of a Galaxy class ship, though definitely modified. There were people of varying races, even a Cardassian in a Starfleet uniform! Though everyone she was looked pretty young. Maybe this was a cadet cruise? But... how did she get here? She was literally *just* in her quarters eating dinner. And she didn't recall a transporter beam. It was like, one moment she was eating, and the next she was standing here!

And, if this *was* a cadet cruise, where was the ship's Captain or XO who would be supervising? PLUS, there was still the matter of the children!

One little girl, maybe 7 or 9 years old, was sitting at the chair before what Priscilla assumed was the Science station. The blue uniform she wore was WAY to big for her. She tentatively raised her right hand, even though the sleeve of the uniform prevented it from being seen.

"Sir?"

Everyone on the bridge turned to the source of the voice. A brown haired young adult looking human, about six feet tall, was the source. He wore a gold uniform and was standing next to the now vacant Ops station. "What happened?" he asked.

Priscilla immediately realized he was looking at her, and asking her. She frowned. The pips on his collar indicated he was a Lieutenant, which very much outranked her as she was just an Ensign. Why was he calling her sir?

Suddenly he noticed his own uniform, and was apparently surprised he was wearing it. That prompted Priscilla to check her own. Red highlights. That was correct. But wait a minute... she looked around at the uniforms everyone was wearing again. These weren't proper Starfleet uniforms! Where there should be color there was gray, the only departmental colors were under shirts and highlights. They looked like a combination of the cadet uniforms and Starfleet duty issue. How odd...

"Captain?" the man asked again, once he got over his second shock.

Priscilla looked around. Had the Captain finally arrived? No wait, he was looking at her again... and so was everyone else on the bridge. Suddenly her hand moved to her own collar. There, much to her shock, she felt four pips properly in place.

"Okay..." she said aloud, finally, looking around again with somewhat of a lost expression on her face. This was totally surreal!

"Is everyone okay?" was her first reaction.

Everyone nodded except the one girl at the science station. She started waving her hand frantically.

"Yes?" Priscilla asked, looking directly at her.

Suddenly the girl became very shy. "I, um, I have to, um, go to the bathroom, please?"

Priscilla might have smiled or laughed in any other situation. Now, she just nodded. The girl stood but didn't actually go anywhere. When she looked expectantly back at Priscilla, Priscilla pointed discreetly in the direction she remembered the bathroom on the bridge level of a Galaxy class starship should be.

As the girl run off, Priscilla turned back to the "Lieutenant".

"Do you know me?" she asked.

"No sir," he replied. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Priscilla replied with a frown. "Does anyone here know what's happened?" After getting no response above mumblings, Priscilla decided on a change of tactics. "Okay. My name is Priscilla Concord. Apparently I'm supposed to be the Captain here. However, the last thing I remember was eating in my quarters on the ship Dauntless where I serve as an Ensign."

The man from Ops nodded thoughtfully. "Gordon Freeman," he replied. "Incoming third year Cadet."

The woman at Conn piped up. "Ryan Sable. Incoming first year cadet."

"Zosin K'amast," the Cardassian behind the security console said when everyone turned to him. "I just applied to the academy last week..."

"It looks like you were accepted," Priscilla commented. She sighed with deep thought behind it. "Hm... I wonder," she said. But before finishing that thought she waited for the rest of the people on the bridge to introduce themselves. Once that was done, she looked up slightly. "Computer, respond."

"Acknowledged," the computer responded.

"Computer, what ship is this?"

"This is the USS Griffin, NCC 1979."

"Computer..." she gave a sideways glance, as if warning people to brace themselves, "what's the date?"

"Stardate 56-"

"Five six!" a couple people replied, cutting off the rest of the computers response.

Priscilla just nodded. "Fifteen years from now..." She looked around. "Or rather, from what I know to be now."

"Me too," half the people echoed.

Priscilla didn't know what to do. She was a diplomat, not a commander! She took a deep breath. "First let's make sure everyone on the ship is alright. We also have to sent a report to Starfleet Command. Maybe we'll be lucky and there is another ship close by that can help. Um, somehow. Anyways, let's see if we can find out what happened here..."


{Elsewhere}

"Mommy?"

A teenage girl looked down at the pair of children before her. "I don't know where your Mother is," she replied somewhat absentmindedly. Was she babysitting these two? What had happened?

The younger sister looked at her brother. "What happened to Mommy?"

He shook his head, still quite a bit in shock. "I don't know," he replied. He thought for a moment, then ran over to the comm unit next to the replicator. "Sickbay!" he called after tapping the pad to turn it on. "Sickbay! Sickbay!"

"Please state the nature of the Medical emergency," a calm and practiced voice eventually replied from the other side of the comm system.

"Our Mother got smaller!" he replied.

"Can you be more specific?" the voice requested.

"She... shrank! I saw it happen. And she doesn't remember us. And... she looks different," the boy tried to explain.

"Like in the pictures grandma shows us!" the sister added with sudden inspiration.

"Yes!" the brother replied, "that's it! She's *younger*!"



Back to Top

Chapter 2

{Bridge}

Priscilla looked at the schematic of the ship. Impressive she thought, her sister would be very intrigued by the gel-packs used. But that was not Priscilla's area, people were, so with some trepidation she called up the file onthe senior staff.

Priscilla's own file came up first. She paused wondering if she should really read it. As she thought about it, all she could do was focus on her picture. She looked older. But then she noticed her name. Priscilla....Myst.

She stopped.... married?... she wondered. (That's enough), she thought. She knew she had to find out who the other senior staff were and gather them as quickly as possible.


{Commander Daem's Quarters}

Jaquelle tossed and turned. She could not sleep well. She had a big test in the morning and wanted to get up and study, but she did not want to disturb her room mate. Maybe she could slip out in the dark. She climbed out of bed, headed towards the door, ran into something and fell flat on her backside.

"Ouch!" she couldn't help from yell out. But surprisingly her roommate didn't even stir. Then she realized that she didn't even sense her room mate in their dorm room. That was strange because her roommate was a full Betazoid and they always communicated telepathically.

"Lights," she called out. As the light came on she realized that this was not her dorm room. This was not even a dorm room's design that she recognized. It looked more like a ship.

"Computer," she said, "What room am I currently in?"

The cold voice of a ship's computer responded.

"You are in the quarters of Commander Jaquelle Daem aboard the USS Griffin."

(Oh no), thought Jaquelle, her mother had always warned her that at some point she may experience time period, or planes of existence shifts, but it had never really happened before.

She picked herself up off the floor. (Nice quarters), she thought. (Maybe someday they may really be mine.)

(OVER THE COMPUTER:)

"This is, a, Priscilla Con... Um... Myst. It appears we have somehow gone 15 years into the future. Would the following senior staff please report to the bridge conference room Commander Jaquelle Daem, Lt. Commander Ryan Sable, Lt. Commander Rinali Travin, Lt. Gordon Freeman, Lt. Jack Stone, Lt. Anna Krasinski and also Lt. Vosch Karenek."

Priscilla was afraid that the young lady who ran to the bathroom might have been her science officer. It would be helpful to have a second and hopefully older, science officer present.

"The ship's computer will direct you," Priscilla added.

(So it is not just me), thought Jaquelle as she proceeded to the door.


Back to Top

Chapter 3

{Bridge}

"All Stop," Priscilla ordered, just now thinking the ship might still be moving.

The person who identified herself as Ryan Sable looked thoughtfully down at the Conn station before her. She had been flying ships nearly all her life, even as a child she was flying (supervised, but still). Despite the controls being laid out differently and some being labeled differently, they were all still the same controls to fly a ship that she knew. A few moments later she had enough figured out. "Reading half impulse," she replied as she keyed in the command to stop the ship. "Coming to all stop... now," she reported as the "Captain's" orders were carried out.

Priscilla nodded. It was a good rule of thumb she had been taught as a child: When lost, stay in once place, stay right where you were if you could. She sure felt like she was lost now....

She turned and headed into the Conference Room.


{Deck 1 Conference Room}

After calling for the senior staff and while waiting for them to arrive, Priscilla called up information on the rest of the ship's compliment. And her eyes went wide.

"A thousand eight-four people!" she whispered to herself. "And have we all...?"

She closed her mouth and shook her head. This was NOT a good situation. What was she supposed to do?!

(Think Priscilla, think. You're a Starfleet officer. Yes, so there *has* to be a regulation or emergency plan for something like this somewhere... Right? Oh, if only I could ask someone- Wait! That's it! Ask someone. Ask Starfleet Command! They would want a report to be written and sent to them about this anyway. Right, *that's* the regulation...)

She, now a bit more hopeful about the situation, called up a new communication file and began filling it in.

"To: Starfleet Command

From: USS Griffin

Report Subject: Emergency Situation


Sirs,

The crew of the Griffin is experiencing a very unusual and problematic situation. I, supposedly Captain Priscilla Myst according to the ship's computer, am Ensign Priscilla Concord. I serve on the Dauntless, I am only 23, and I just graduated from the Academy a little over a year ago. Yet I find myself the senior most officer on board currently, with a few cadets and academy applicants amongst my crew, and everyone else being too young to even be considering joining Starfleet.

We are uncertain as to what has happened. If we all have been kidnapped and placed on this ship. If we all have been thrown forward in time somehow, as the computer also tells us it is 15 years later than any of us remember. Or if something else has happened. Can you please confirm the current date?

I am about to try and put together a staff that can at least keep things under control and operating on this ship. Then we will go through sensor logs and other records in the computer to see if we can find any relevant information. The computer tells me there are over a thousand people on board, most a civilian population. If they have been affected as well we might be looking at a ship-wide panic possibility. Any advice on dealing with this situation would be greatly appreciated.

I am also requesting a skeleton crew be sent to us. We may be able to find enough people with the skill and knowledge to keep things running with the computer's help, but there are not enough of us with the proper training to continuously support a ship of this type for any extended period of time.


Submitted by: Captain/Ensign Priscilla Myst/Concord Stardate: 56575.9 / 41575.9"


She reviewed her report quickly, then sent it off to Command herself, bypassing the ship's communication queue, and adding a Priority One status to the message. She considered sending it as a distress signal, but she didn't want to alert any hostile foreign powers in the area of the Griffin's potentially crippling problem.

Now her hope was that there was another Starfleet ship in the area, so that help would be able to reach them soon.


Back to Top

Chapter 4

{Holodeck 3}

"Okay Vosch, you may think you are pretty good at hitting my curve ball, but try my slider," Krasinski said in a semi taunting, but still a friendly tone.

"Bring it Anna." Karenek was still getting used to calling her Anna. He was much more comfortable calling her Lieutenant, or Chief, or even sir. However, Anna insisted formalities were not necessary during off shift hours and especially when in private.

Anna could be heard saying under her breath, "Bottom of the ninth, two out, two on, three-two pitch. Krasinski gets ready to wind-up..."

"beep-beep-beep." Krasinski looked at her time piece and shook her head. "Always in the bottom of the ninth. Well Vosch you are off the hook for now. I am due for my shift in fifteen minutes. We will finish this another time." Krasinski then left the holodeck and headed for her quarters for a hot shower before reporting to the bridge for duty.

Once Krasinski had left, Karenek spoke, "Computer, simulate a slider." A holographic image of Anna appeared and threw the pitch, which Karenek promptly swung and missed. Karenek shook his head and thought, "If I didn't know better, even the holographic image smirks like Anna."

Karenek then got into his suit and headed for his quarters. His shift was not for another three hours, but a nice shower and some ale would be nice to get ready. Since alcohol was to Karenek's race, what coffee or caffeine is to humans, he always had one mug before every shift.


{Karenek's Quarters}

Karenek had just finished his ale and just reentered his environmental suit when he felt ill. "Hmmm, I have never felt that before," he thought. "I wonder why the ale had that..."

Before he could finish his thought the voice came over the public address system again, "This is, a, Priscilla Con... Um... Myst. It appears we have somehow gone 15 years into the future. Would the following senior staff please report to the bridge conference room Commander Jaquelle Daem, Lt. Commander Ryan Sable, Lt. Commander Rinali Travin, Lt. Gordon Freeman, Lt. Jack Stone, Lt. Anna Krasinski and also Lt. Vosch Karenek."

"Lieutenant?" Karenek thought. He then chuckled to himself, "That would be nice someday. It must be that human Troy, he is such a prankster. Either way I better get to class or I will be in trouble."

Karenek left his quarters in search of classroom D173. While leaving he noted that his suit wasn't quite right. I t was a little difficult to maneuver in, almost like it was two sizes to big. "I am going to have to get my back-up from home. I just hope I don't knock anything important over until it arrives." As Karenek exited his quarters, he noticed the corridors were different then he remembered. "Computer, I think I am lost, where is classroom D173?"

"There is no classroom with that identifier on this vessel," the computer replied.

Puzzled, Karenek looked around and thought, "I see other cadets and young ones... Maybe it was classroom D137. I am always mixing up my human numbers." Karenek then asked the computer, "So computer, where is Room D137 then?"

Again the computer replied, "There is no room number on this vessel.

"Okay then, where is the SP10245G program being held today?" Karenek inquired.

"That program concluded stardate 41575.9," the computer responded.

"And today's stardate is?" inquired a now thoroughly confused Karenek.

"56575.9," the computer voice said.

After a few moments, Karenek began to laugh a little. "Troy, I am not sure how you did it, but you have to teach me," Karenek thought to himself. "Okay computer, you mentioned a vessel, so what vessel am I 'SUPPOSEDLY' on?"

"You are currently on the USS Griffin NCC-1979," said the computer.

"Sure I am, Troy," Karenek thought.

"Lieutenant Karenek, this is Captain Con... um... Myst." Priscilla was still working on using the name others would know her by, even if it wasn't hers. "You are on your way?"

"Sure... and where am I supposed to be reporting to?" Karenek's voice was sarcastic and even borderline condescending. He had no idea that this was not an elaborate prank.

"The bridge conference room," Priscilla replied. Her voice was a bit defensive in retort to Karenek's sarcasm.

"Yep, I will be there. Make sure to tell Troy I am on my way."


{Conference Room}

Priscilla looked at the other officers, "Who is Troy? I didn't see him in the files. Did I miss someone?"

Karenek then entered the room bumping into the door and then the small end table which was in the corner. "Okay Troy I am here..." Karenek's voice faded into embarrassment as he noticed that none of these people were Troy.

Priscilla spoke up, "Karenek, you better take a seat. We have a lot to go over."


Back to Top

Chapter 5

{Conference Room}

Priscilla surveyed the group that had gathered. It was an interesting mix. She could sense that two of them were at least part telepathic. And then there was the last to arrive, wearing an environmental suit of some kind.

She smiled a small smile at them all. "Welcome to Starfleet," she opened with, her tone half joking and half serious. She briefly pondered how literal the term 'staff meeting' was in this case. Then, with a small sigh, she began. "My name is Priscilla Concord- Myst!" she corrected herself, shaking her head. She quickly filled them all in, pretty much telling them the same as what she wrote in her report to Starfleet. Then she asked everyone to introduce themselves. "Computer, if you can assist please?"

"Priscilla Myst. Rank: Captain. Position: Commanding Officer," it informed them all.

Priscilla motioned to the person on her right, who sat there by virtue of having the next most experience in Starfleet.

"Gordon C. Freeman," he said.

"Rank: Lieutenant. Position: Chief Operations Officer," the computer added.

And so it went. Priscilla tried to judge the reactions of each person as they were informed of their rank and job. And of everyone to find out the Chief Science Officer was only seven years old, when it was the Science department, and perhaps the Medical department, who would most likely be the ones to solve this problem.

When it was Priscilla's turn to speak again, she folded her hands and leaned forward, thoughtfully. "I believe the best thing for us to do while waiting for a reply from Starfleet is to try and see if we can find out what happened to us. Commander Daem, if you could join me in searching both the crew and civilian populations for people with skills relevant to helping keep the ship running or finding out what happened. Especially engineers. Lieutenant Junior Grade Karenek, I would like you to take over the Science Department temporarily."

Priscilla wasn't sure, but she though she saw Krasinski pout for a moment.

"Lieutenant Freeman and Lieutenant Commander Travin, please work with Karenek, and the three of you start looking through the computer files and sensor logs to see if they can tell us what happened. Lieutenant Stone, please check the medical logs for the same. Lieutenant Freeman, I'll be leaving you in charge of the Bridge while I'm off. Lieutenant Commander Sable, you seem to have extensive skills at the helm despite what's happened to us. I'd like you to keep an eye on the ship's position and short range sensors."

Before she could say anymore the computer chimed. "Sickbay to the Captain."

"Captain here, go ahead," Priscilla replied.

"This is the EMH. There is a situation-"

"EMH?" Priscilla asked.

"Emergency Medical Hologram," the voice answered.

Priscilla looked at the other 'officers' with a mix of confusion and curiosity.

"Are you a doctor?" Daem asked.

"I am a hologram programmed in all emergency medical procedures and thousands of first aid and surgical techniques-" (Wow, my sister would love to learn about that,) Priscilla thought as it explained itself. "-May I proceed with my report now?"

Most of the teens exchanged glances. Krasinski started to swing her legs, it was clear she was starting to get restless.

"Go ahead," Priscilla responded.

"Sickbay is being swamped with minor injuries of varying kinds, and I have no nurses to assist me. All patients claim the cause was suddenly finding themselves doing something they had no prior knowledge of.

"Makes sense," a couple people commented.

"Even more strangely," the EMH continued, "I have had a couple dozen children report in that their parents have changed or grown younger, and no longer remember them. They are all quite distressed. Dealing with such is beyond my programming."

"Children weren't affected?" Freeman wondered aloud.

"Interesting," Karenek replied, looking at Krasinski, who shrinked back under his gaze.

Priscilla looked at Daem. "We should start with them first," she said. "Find all the children, both who were before and are now, bring them together, calm them..."

"Why don't I try to find some people who can look after them while you are doing that?" Daem offered. "I can begin the cataloging of potentially helpful skills at the same time."

"Good idea," Priscilla nodded. "Anyone have anything they want to say before we get to work?"

Krasinski tentatively raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"Where's my sister?" she asked with the innocence of youth confused.

Priscilla smiled softly. "I don't know. But as soon as we're done here, you and I can go looking for her. And, if you're up to it, I will need you to be my very special helper," she offered.

Krasinski's face brightened at the sound of that. "Special helper?"

"Yes," Priscilla nodded in that way adults talk seriously to children without the tone that upsets them. "It's a very important job, do you think you can do it?"

Krasinski looked around, getting shy again. "As important as their jobs?" she asked, jus quickly pointing to the other people at the table.

"Perhaps more so," Priscilla replied. "We're going to help all the children and make sure are they're alright. So you see, you're the best one here to help me."

Krasinski nodded. "Okay."

Priscilla smiled again. "Good. Anyone else?"

(Well, she's definitely good with children,) Daem thought.


Back to Top

Chapter 6

{Jaquelle's Quarters}

Jaquelle felt a great sense of satisfaction. Over half of the ship's teachers were still adults. Many had backgrounds in early childhood education and a handful thought that they should be still teaching that age group. The ship's Administrator of Education had 30 years of experience... well, fifteen now and was setting up a new education plan. Of those teachers who thought they were still in training, most had daycare and teacher aide experience. Those children who had not been thrown back 15 years would be kept busy. The administrator was setting up a separate program for those adults who now found themselves as children.

What Jaquelle was most happy about was finding a number of older people who thought they were still raising their own children. They were more than happy to take on the after school hours of those children who suddenly found them self with awfully young parents.

Jaquelle looked around "her" cabin. She was still pretty amazed to find how nice it was. Of course the entire ship was pretty amazing.

"Now," she thought as she sought out her outside the ship communication device, "I don't know what Starfleet will be able to tell us, but Mother has experience with time shifts, if she can be found." Jaquelle knew that her mother could be anywhere, literally. But sometimes, she thought, she could sense her. As she opened her mind, what she sensed was not her mother, but the crew, the civilians, the ship, and their concerns.

Jaquelle stopped for a moment, then it dawned on her.

"Computer," Daem said out loud.

"Working," came the cold voice.

"I would like to talk to Captain Myst, please." Almost immediately a human voice answered.

"Priscilla here, who am I addressing?"

"Oh, sorry Captain, this is Jaquelle Daem."

"Oh yes, Commander, what can I do for you?" Just as Priscilla had a hard time getting used to being called "Myst," Jaquelle was again momentarily stopped by being called "commander."

"Captain," Jaquelle answered. "I believe we should shut down out of ship communication, except yours to Starfleet. Also, any personal logs."

"Why?" asked Priscilla.

"Those of us who are supposedly senior staff have been pretending to be Starfleet Officers. It's kept us busy." Jaquelle explained. "But really, I'm a teenager and what's going on is scary. I want to talk to my Mother and ask her what to do. I can sense that there are a lot of used to be Starfleet officers who are now teenagers, or even younger on this ship. They want to talk to their friends or family too."

"This is a remarkable ship, I think the communication system can handle the load." Priscilla stated.

"That's not what I'm worried about," Jaquelle interjected. "What if they find that their friend or parent isn't still alive? The anxiety on the ship could be paralyzing."

"I understand," is all Priscilla said. But what she thought was, no wonder Jaquelle would grow up to be a ship's counselor.


Back to Top

Chapter 7

{Ready Room}

Priscilla walked in slowly, trying not to gawk as she looked around. *This* was *hers*?

She had, of course, seen Captain's Ready Rooms before. But it was different this time because this one was supposedly hers!

After a few minutes of walking around lightly fingering *everything*, she reached the chair behind the desk. A small smile started to creep to her lips.

Was this why she had decided to go into Command? Had she given up on being a diplomat?

Realization started to sink in, and her mouth curled the other way into a frown. This was too odd. She? A captain? Of course not! She was just an Ensign... an Ensign PLAYING Captain. They were ALL playing here. Playing ship... She sighed heavily.

"How are we going to survive this?" she wondered aloud as she sat down. "We're just a group of kids playing ship... On a real ship. In real deep space. With a real temporal problem."

She sat back and pondered Daem's question. Shut down all communications as recommended? Daem had made very good points. But... if communications were shut down and people found out Priscilla had *intentionally* made that so, wouldn't that create anxiety too?

She sighed heavily again, and creased her forehead to keep the overwhelming feeling that threatened to make her cry from sweeping over her. She sat forward slightly and cleared her throat, hoping she would still sound enough like herself for the computer's vocal identification.

"Computer, restrict all off ship communications with the exception of with the Bridge," she ordered.

"Communications restricted," the computer replied calmly.

Priscilla nodded absently, her mind wandering in thoughts of how she wished she could sometimes just shut down all her emotions. Like in times like this. She actually *did* know how, due to her Vulcan heritage, but she never worked to refine that skill. Mostly because there wasn't a practical way to just unlock her emotions later. Victoria had. She wanted to be able to work without distraction if it ever became necessary, like life and death necessary...

Priscilla had to fight back the urge to cry again. Thinking of her sister suddenly brought forth all sorts of questions and concerns about Victoria now, fifteen years later than Priscilla was. How weird to not be the same age as your identical twin! And should she try to contact Victoria? Would that be unfair when she'd just prevented everyone else on board from being able to contact their family, possibly their only support system in this crisis, just like Victoria was hers? Perhaps Victoria already knew? Maybe?

She shook her head to try and push aside that train of thought. She had duties to attend to... not that she knew what they all were. And she had people to care for... not that she know how. Biting her lower lip, something she hadn't done since the time at the Academy when she had nearly broken down for the depression of not knowing what to do with her life, she turned the LCARS computer terminal to face her and activated it.

"Computer, begin recording." The computer chirped it's compliance.

"Captain's Log... well, sort of. More like Ensign acting as Captain Log.

"Our situation thus far is documented in the message I sent Starfleet asking for help. I simply wish to record this for Starfleet's records in case... in case something does wrong that we, a teenage and younger crew, can't handle. I'm already impressed with the 'senior staff'. They are taking this situation to heart, just as I have, working as best as they are able with their limited training, if any! Except for myself, everyone working is a cadet. Oh, and apparently some sort of semi-sentient holographic doctor. At least we don't have to worry about medical issues! That is actually a big load off my mind, knowing we can at least be physically cared for. But there is so much more still *on* my mind..."

Priscilla sighed, and the crinkled forehead maneuver was recorded in the log, though very few would know it's meaning.

"It might as well be the fate of the Federation resting on my shoulders," she admitted after a moment of silence. "For that's how I feel." She looked right at the screen. "A thousand people! No, more!" she gestured opening to indicate the ship. "More than a thousand people on this ship! What am I supposed to do? How to I care for them? Protect them? And the ship too... We're not near any Federation stations. Command hasn't responded yet to let us know if there's any ships nearby. What if something goes wrong? What if what's happened to us was intentionally caused by some alien race with malicious intentions?"

She bit her lower lip and looked down. "I *will* try my best," she promised, speaking quietly. "But I don't know if it will be enough. And if it's not..."

She looked up at the door of the ready room. "Then I just want all their families to know that... that-" she inhaled deeply "- that I'm sorry."

Knowing she couldn't fight it successfully any longer, Priscilla turned away and quickly called out: "Computer end log!"

As the tears started to fall, she took a very deep breath, then let it out slowly. Finally she decided it was probably a good idea if she meditated to calm and center herself. She clasped her hands together and steepled only her two pointer fingers, in traditional Vulcan fashion. Then she let her head fall to rest on her hands as she slipped into the blissful escape of empting the mind.


{Civilian Quarters}

Jack woke up, as always, with a smile.

(Today will be a good day,) he thought to himself as he stretched. He didn't know that for sure, but he always thought it! It just seemed to help him get up in the morning...

And after thirty-five years, he really needed a reason to get up every morning. His wife had been killed eleven years ago in a transporter accident. His only other love... well he was pushing sixty and still just a Lieutenant Commander. It almost felt like a betrayal. But he recognized that it was really just his own inability holding him back.

"No, not inability," he assured himself in the mirror as he cleaned his face. "What did the Counselor say again? Don't let people walk all over you. And you need to be more vocal about what you want, else they won't know you want it!" He smiled at himself, and with a nod set about changing clothes.

(Yeah, but when you mentioned your ambition to the XO, you were told you just didn't exhibit what it takes to move up further,) he reminded himself, causing his smile to falter. (Said you need to be more... aggressive, with your career.)

"But I can't!" he lamented aloud in rebuttal to himself. "Step over other people? Those people being my co-workers?! They're my teammates! We're working for the same good, why do I have to best them to get even a bit of recognition?? I should only have to best the problems that face us!"

He sighed. "If only they'd just give me a chance. I would prove myself. But they *won't* give me a chance unless I follow their rules for proving I'm worth the risk..."

As he reached to affixed his communicator on his uniform, he put the smile back on his face. "At least I'm ON the team," he reminded himself. "That's more than many people."

Then he noticed his communicator wasn't where it should be on his nightstand. Suddenly he started to realize there was A LOT not where it should be. In fact, these weren't his quarters!

"Huh?!"


Back to Top

Chapter 8

{Stellar Cartography}

Now that Karenek realized that this was not a practical joke, the wondering of how he could help began running through his mind. He is only a few months in a special species interrelations program that Starfleet had set up. Karenek then sat down in his chair and thought. He knew in the back of his mind this was not a time to question the why or how, but just to do.

"Computer. Can you tell me the location of Lt. Morluck?" Karenek inquired as he began to effort the scenario.

"Lt. Morluck is currently assigned to Starbase 12 as assistant chief science officer." the computer replied.

Thinking to himself, "Well I guess that sort of confirms the theory that we are indeed somewhere in a future time. He should be still back at the academy." Then speaking aloud, "Computer, please connect me."

"All communications have been restricted. Please state your clearance code." If Karenek didn't know better, he would have thought the computer was slightly belligerent. Of course, it was most likely the stress that was beginning to wear on him.

"What clearance code?" he thought. Karenek begin rummaging through the papers on and around and in the desk at which he sat. If in his future life, he was anything like his present, then he knew he would have written it down somewhere. After five minutes or so, he found what he was looking for. "Computer, security clearance Lt. JG Vosch Karenek SP10245G. Please connect me to Lt. Morluck on Starbase 12." Karenek tried to say it in a tone worthy of his rank.

Then on the computer screen in front of him appeared an older version of the man he remembered seeing just two days ago, well at least in Karenek's view of existence. Karenek had a hard time remembering that supposedly 15 years had passed. "This is Lt. Moluck," the man said very little voice inflection or emotion. At least that hadn't changed , which in turn relieved some of the tension on Karenek's mind.

"Sir," Karenek began, "this is Vosch Karenek on the Griffin. I am in a bit of a spot and not sure what to do." Karenek's voice became slightly panicked in it's tone.

"First off, you must stay calm and focused on what needs to be done. Emotions can cloud judgment in times like these." Morluck instructed just like he had fifteen years prior when he met Karenek for the first time. "Use your trouble shooting skills and analyze each piece. Then you can begin..." Lt. Morluck's transmission was cutoff mid sentence.

"Computer! What happened? Bring him back!?" Karenek exclaimed as he realized his life line had just been severed.

"There is to much radiation interference for the communication." the computer said in it's cold usual manner.

Karenek drew a deep breath and began to evaluate. Thinking aloud, "Okay. First, I must stay calm. Use trouble shooting skills."

"Computer, play back the ship's log when we encountered the anomaly in question." The computer played back the log as Karenek had requested. "It doesn't make sense," Karenek thought aloud. "Computer, what is the composition of the anomaly?"

"The composition of the anomaly: 56% Xenon, 34% Neon, and 10% Thallium."

"Thallium?" Karenek pondered. "Xenon and Neon, that is strange enough in space, but Thallium? I have never heard of Thallium gas being found."

"Computer, run analysis, any scientific or natural phenomenon that would leave those gases as a residue."

"Only one process found," the computer replied after a few minutes of research. "A natural phenomenon when back to back Gamma Rays result in a positron collision with negatively charged electrons from either alpha or beta particles."

"Computer, what was the radiation field conditions just before entering the anomaly."

"There were no abnormal levels of radiation detected," the computer replied.

"Computer, expand search results to include radiation bands that are not normally scanned for as part of protocol. Specifically Gamma Ray bands."

"An increase of Gamma waves of 115% detected 3.72 seconds prior to entering the anomaly lasting 4.15 seconds at 511 KeV."

"Cause?"

"Unable to determine without more data," the computer replied.

"Captain, this Karenek."

"Go ahead Karenek," Myst replied over the comm link.

"I think I have found a big piece of the puzzle, though I do not know how it fits yet."

"Understood. Report to the Bridge conference room for the update," Myst said with a sense of urgency.

Karenek reported the findings as he had found them to Captain Myst and the senior staff. "I am currently also doing a cross analysis to see why the children were not affected. If it is because of the gamma radiation, it is most likely the answer is in body chemistry. I would like to meet with the current ranking medical officer so we can analyze the medical computers."

"Good work, Lieutenant. Keep me informed." Captain Myst then let Karenek go back to work. After he left she looked at the rest of her staff assembled around her. "Any ideas?"


Back to Top

Chapter 8b

{Conference Room}

After Karenek left, Priscilla almost smiled a bit. Progress was good, especially knowing what happened! It meant there might be a chance they could figure out how to undo what happened. Of course, that was still a long way off.

"Any ideas?" she asked Daem, Freeman, and Travin, the only others still in the room with her.

The three shook their heads.

"It would all be speculation," Freeman stated somewhat authoritatively. "What if we go back through the anomaly? What if it's no longer there? What if, what if, what if?"

Priscilla nodded. "Very true. That wouldn't get us anywhere. I think the E... MH could be useful in figuring out the anomaly. Hmm... I wonder if there's a scientific version of that hologram? That would be really useful too!"

Daem shook her head. "I already looked for one. It doesn't exist."

"Ah well," Priscilla replied with a shrug. "Let's continue assigning the civilians to help as their skills fit. And I'd like a diagnostic of all critical systems done so we can be sure we're alright for now." After looking around and hearing nothing, she stood. "Dismissed then."

The others stood and headed out, except for Travin.

"Yes?" Priscilla asked after the others had left, feeling good that she was doing very well at keeping herself together in front of others. Of course, she'd always been able to mask her true feelings when she wasn't alone. It was part of what would make her a good diplomat: being able to stay upbeat and neutral amongst others despite how she felt inside.

"I... wish to discuss the personnel in the Security Department right now," Travin began hesitantly.

"Is there a problem?" Priscilla asked.

Rinali nodded. "The Cardassian."


Back to Top

Chapter 9

Anna Krasinski sat in the classroom for those children who were once adults. The teacher was lecturing on the history of warp drive technology, but the only thing she heard was blah..blah..blah. All she could think about was that at only 24 she was the Chief Science Officer on board a galaxy class Starfleet ship. She knew she was really only 8 but somehow, at least the computer thought she was the Chief Science Officer. Maybe, she thought, people would finally notice her, instead of her famous Mother and Father and four older siblings. She wondered if her little sister finally had been noticed, too.

Anna suddenly thought that if she were the Chief Science Officer (she just liked saying it over and over in her head), she should be doing something. After all the First Officer was only 16 and had never even gone to Starfleet Academy. Anna reasoned that by 16 she would be in Starfleet Academy, even though she knew that wasn't possible. Still, the Chief Science Officer of a galaxy class Starfleet ship should not be sitting listening to warp drive history during an emergency. She should be helping, so Anna got up to leave.

The professor was so engrossed in his lecture that he almost didn't notice Anna leaving. Finally he looked up at her.

"Excuse me, Miss.." he had to look down at his padd to figure out who she was. "Miss Krasinski. Where are you going?"

"I am the Chief Science Officer and I am going..." Anna paused for a second and thought, where am I going? "I am going to the Chief Science Officer's Office," she continued very pleased with herself as she walked out the door.


{Science Office}

The doors opened to the Science Office. Anna peeked in at first, not sure of what she was doing there. She was relieved to find out that no one was there. So she walked in and announced herself.

"Hello computer this is Chief Science Officer Anna Krasinski," she said in a loud voice.

The computer responded in it's usual cold voice.

"Your vital signs are normal. You have no know diseases or parasites." Anna thought that was a strange greeting. A computer that monitors how well you are when you address it.

Just then the doors to the Science Office opened. Anna turned to see Captain Myst walk in with an unpleasant look on her face. But before either of them could say anything, the computer went on.

"But it does appear you are suffering from a change in molecules similar to the effects on members of the Enterprise shuttle crew when an energy field disrupted transport on star date 46235.7."

Anna knew she was in trouble but her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

"Did we go through an energy field like they did a little while ago?" she blurted out.

"Define the time parameters please," responded the computer.

Anna stood for a second not knowing what to say and a little too scared of how much trouble she was already in. But Priscilla forgetting that she had come to retrieve the wayward young "officer," interjected.

"Did the space around the Enterprise Shuttle on star date 46235.7contain any unusual increase of Gamma waves?

"Affirmative. An increase of Gamma Waves of 115% were detected 4.01 seconds prior to transport."

Priscilla looked at Anna.

"Good work Chief Science Officer," Priscilla said. "For now you may accompany me to my ready room."


Back to Top

Chapter 10

Jack had spent nearly half and hour first trying to get the computer to give him a uniform, then "convincing" the replicator to make a uniform for him. Having finally gotten the proper gold uniform in the proper size, he then headed out to what *would* have been his station had he been on his ship. Of course, that wasn't even where it was supposed to be. He had then learned from the computer that this was a Galaxy class ship, which both made sense with all he had seen in the last hour, and also set him to awe. The Galaxy class was only a couple years new, most Starfleet personnel hadn't even seen one in person, much less set foot on one!

But he had memorized the class's schematics as soon as they were made available to the Corps of Engineers. He knew the schematics for every active ship class, and a couple that had been retired within the last ten years... or rather 25 now, he had discovered from the computer. So it was relatively simple for him now that he knew what kind of shp he was on to find where he wanted to go.

Main Engineering was deserted.

Jack looked around, shocked. This was *not* good. He looked around for a few minutes, checking output readings, but not yet sure of enough to touch anything. To his ease, everything looked stable.

Nodding to himself at the end of his tour, he "hmmm"-ed. What should he do now? He should be helping whatever the problem was (there was clearly a problem if Main Engineering was deserted). He should be figuring out what happened to himself. He should...

-Report in.

Immediately he spoke. "Computer, locate this ship's Chief Engineer."

"There is currently no Chief Engineer on board," the computer replied.

Jack frowned. Alright then, next step up. "Computer, locate this ship's Executive Officer."

"Commander Jaquelle Daem is currently in Main Sickbay."

Jack grimaced slightly, hoping she was visiting and not a patient. It'd feel like an awful breech of protocol to him to have to go directly to the Captain to report in, even if that's what circumstances dictated.


{Sickbay}

Jack walked in and looked around. There were several in civilian attire attending others with minor wounds. A few teenagers in some sort of academy looking uniform were following the civilian doctors/nurses around with tricorders and supply trays. Finally Jack spotted who had to be the Chief Medical Officer off to one side speaking with another young looking person in a red uniform.

(Perhaps this is a cadet cruise? That would explain only one Medical Officer on board and bunches of cadets. And perhaps even the lack of Engineering personnel.) Jack reasoned. (But... what about all the civilians?)

Shrugging, he approached the Doctor, but waited far enough away as not to encroach on the currently conversation. Almost immediately the two stopped talking as the younger looked at him curiously.

"Um," Jack decided to take the opportunity offered to him, "Doctor. The computer said the XO was here a few minutes ago. Can you tell me where she want please?"

"Apparently, this is her," the EMH gestured to the young woman before him.

Jack managed to keep an odd look from passing across his face. Now he was certain this was a cadet cruise. He nodded. Then looked at Jaquelle.

"Sir... I am Lieutenant Commander Jack Davidson. I wish to report for duty. But first I may need to be examined by the doctor, as the computer tells me-"

Jaquelle nodded. "We've all been affected," she assured him. "Thankfully the ship and computer has not." She looked at the EMH. "We'll resume this conversation later."

"As you wish," the EMH replied. "Computer, end program," it stated. Then it winked out of existence, leave Jack just as startled as he'd been all morning!

"-Davidson, come with me please," he heard Jaquelle say. Nodding absently, he followed the young officer out of Sickbay.


{Conference Room, Deck One}

Priscilla smiled at Anna. "And there's the method the Enterprise crew used to reverse the effects on their crew who where affected," she said, pointing to a an attached technical write-up to the Executive Officer's log on the events surrounding that ship's Captain, Chief Conn Officer, Ten Forward Host, and civilian Botanist's de-aging.

Anna nodded, starting to read through the attachment with a serious look on her face as if she could understand it all.

"Now we just need to find someone who can implement this for us," Priscilla commented, thinking aloud. "The difference being, they didn't experience a memory loss and we have." She tapped her communicator. "Con- Myst to Karenek, please join us in the Conference Room."

=/\=Yes, on my way,=/\= he responded a moment later.

Almost immediately the door opened. But instead of Karenek, it was Jaquelle leading someone else.

"Captain," Jaquelle began, "I believe this is someone you want to meet."

Priscilla looked at the man, her eyes widening slightly as her hopes soared. He was wearing a uniform she recognized! The pips on his collar indicated a Lieutenant Commander, and he actually looked old enough to have been one for awhile! Could it be?!?

"Are you *really* a Lieutenant Commander?" she asked, both hopeful he was and afraid that he wasn't.

Jack looked at the young woman before him, in that academy-type uniform with a department color of red and pips indicating a rank of Captain. But there was no way...

"You can't be more than 25 years old," he remarked with confusion. No one could make Captain that fast.

"Twenty-three," she replied. "And as far as I remember, I'm only an Ensign. But you?" she prompted.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm Lieutenant Commander Jack Davidson. Assistant Engineer," he looked around, "though not of this ship."

Priscilla nodded. "Computer, service record for Jack Davidson."

"Jack Davidson. Retired from Starbase 137 twelve years ago at the age of sixty, after thirty-seven years of service in Starfleet, rank Lieutenant Commander, position Chief Engineer. Previous assignments include-"

"Thank you, that's enough," Priscilla replied, smiling at Jack.

(At least I made Chief Engineer,) Jack thought to himself half sarcastically.

"We need your help," Priscilla informed him. She reached out and pressed the commands to bring up the information she and Anna had found on the viewscreen in the Conference Room. She quickly filled him in on what had happened to everyone on board, Karenek's discovery, Anna's discovery, and the Enterprise's experience. By the end, Jack was standing right next to the view screen reading while nodding thoughtfully. Anna was standing beside him, doing just as he was: reading carefully and nodding ever so often.

=/\=Captain to the Bridge!=/\= Freeman's voice rang out through the comm system with a touch of urgency.

"On my way," Priscilla replied. She looked at Jack. "Davidson, Anna, keep on it. Use Karenek too when he gets here. Commander, let's go."

Jaquelle nodded and she followed Priscilla to the Bridge.


{Bridge}

"Report," Priscilla said as soon as she was through the door.

"There's an alien ship on an intercept course," Freeman replied, relinquishing the Bridge to her.

"Does it match any configurations the computer knows?" Priscilla asked.

"Checking," Sable replied from the Conn. "Yes," she after several seconds. "But there is no data on the species beyond it's name and a note that they are xenophobic. It appears Starfleet has not had direct contact with them after first contact was made."

"Hail them," Priscilla ordered.

"No response," Freeman replied. "Should we raise shields?"

"No," Priscilla replied, her diplomatic training starting to kick in. "We don't want to appear aggressive or alarmed. We should try to make contact before assuming anything. Keep hailing."

"They're passing us," Sable announced.

Priscilla almost gave Freeman a "see?" look, but caught herself.

"They're stopping near the anomaly..." Sable continued to report. A few seconds later she spoke again. "They are coming about."

"We're being hailed," Freeman announced suddenly.

"On screen," Priscilla replied, turning to address the aliens.

"Audio only," he added a bit sheepishly for not having said so to begin with.

"Then let's hear it," Priscilla replied patiently.

=/\=You have ruined our experiement!=/\= a very harsh, and loud, voice accused.

"We are sorry," Priscilla started to reply.

"They've cut communications," Freeman announced.

"They're powering up weapons!" Sable announced, overlapping Freeman.

Surprised at the turn of events, Priscilla faltered for a second.

"Red Alert!" a voice called out from the back of the bridge. The shields automatically came up just in time to bear the brunt of the alien's attack.

Priscilla turned to see Jack Davidson starting to walk down to the front. He had been standing back there since Priscilla had called for the first hail, deciding to work on the Bridge at the Science and Engineering stations instead of in the conference room so he could satiate his curiosity at what was going on. He had stopped working about ten seconds later as he watched the group of, for all intents, children try to run a ship in a real situation! And when the non-simulation started to get serious, and dangerous, his training kicked in. There was clearly no one else able take control, so he had to, so he did.

He looked at Priscilla as he stepped into the command area of the bridge. She just nodded, with a relieved look on her face.

"Conn, evasive pattern delta-two. Ops, keeping hailing. Tactical, return fire, just a warning shot across their bow for now."

"Aye sir," Sable's voice replied, followed by an "Aye sir," from Freeman. But at the noticeable lack of confirmation from Tactical, Jack turned to look.

Priscilla had already jumped up the stairs. As she keyed herself into the station she glanced up at him briefly before looking back at what she was doing. "Warning shot, aye," she replied. (Thank goodness they haven't changed the weapon controls much since I graduated!) she thought. Being only a year out of the academy, from her perspective, she still remembered all the basic training on the Bridge stations she had been given as part of her ever-changing curriculum program.

The aliens returned fire, but weren't trying for a warning. The Griffin rocked under the impact.

"Shields holding at 85 percent," Priscilla replied.

"Change evasive pattern," Jack ordered. "Aye," Sable replied.

"Try and take out their weapons," Jack added.

"Aye..." Priscilla replied slowly. This would take a bit more work.


Back to Top

Chapter 11

{Stellar Cartography}

Vosch had studied the information that had been provided to him from the Chief Medical Officer. The question still remained as to how come the children were not affected. This peace of the puzzle could be the most important piece if the "de-aging" process would be reversed successfully. He continued his studying to find that nothing from the medical or physiological files was shedding any light on the situation.

"Lt. Karenek?" The voice came from behind him almost startling him. It was that of a young human teenage girl named Terri. She wore the rank of Ensign and the computer says she is supposed to be working in the same department, although she thinks she is still in her Junior year of High School. "You must be hungry. You have been staring at this computer and those files for hours now. Have something to eat." She placed a plate of food and some milk on the table beside Vosch's terminal. She then stared over his shoulder at the terminal, "So what are you looking for, anyway?"

"I am looking for something that all the children have in common that would have kept them from being affected while we passed through the anomaly." Karenek replied. "I just can't find anything."

Terri nodded. "Maybe you are looking in the wrong places. Adults always seem to think issues and answers are other then there own."

Karenek looked up at Terri with a puzzled look, even though she couldn't see it through his suit. "What are you talking about, Ensign?"

"Maybe it isn't the children that have something in common, maybe it is the adults." With that Terri smiled and left the room.

With no other apparent answers in site, he began following up on what Terri had suggested. Several hours had past and what seemed to be more computer requests for analysis then any one living being could fathom asking in a life time, when there it was; the possible answer he was looking for.

Vosch, like a shot got up and headed for Sick Bay.


{Sick Bay}

Upon his arrival, Vosch noted that the XO was leaving with someone he did not recognize. "Sir," he addressed Jaquelle.

"Lieutenant, how is the research going into our situation?" the XO inquired.

"I think I have found a major clue, but I need to check with Dr. Stone first," Karenek responded.

"Very well, carry on." Almost as an afterthought she added, "By the way, this is Lt. Commander Jack Davidson. I will give you two a more thorough introduction at a more appropriate time.

Jack just looked in wonder at the environmental suit never seeing anything like it.

"Welcome aboard, Sir," Vosch addressed before proceeding into sick bay.

Upon entering Vosch witnessed numerous teens and children seeking medical attention. Everything from the boo boo belly to scrapes and bruises. Karenek addressed the EMH, "I need to see Dr. Stone."

The EMH looked at Karenek as if it was slightly upset that he was being interrupted. "He is in with a patient. If it is not an emergency, then please schedule an appointment."

Just then Stone walked out from one of the exam areas. "Dr. Stone, I need to see you." Vosch looked at the EMH and continued, "It's an emergency."

Dr. Stone brought Karenek into his private office. Vosch showed Stone what he had found. "So you believe that the reason for us being effected, and not the children is because of this?" Stone inquired.

"Yes, Doctor. The only common factor I could find is the increase of Tetinary excretions. Every race has an equivalent which is released once puberty is reached for that race. For you humans it is FSH. Regardless, it is the same atomic structure and is common in all adults. I believe that somehow, when we passed through the Gamma radiation increase, the reaction with this hormone is the route cause of the de-aging process."

Doctor Stone nodded in agreement. "Would this have affected our memories as well?"

"I don't know. I need to do a little more research." Vosch replied.

Just then the voice came of Vosch's com badge. "Con- Myst to Karenek, please join us in the conference room."

"Yes, on my way," Karenek responded.

Karenek arrived at the conference room to find Davidson and Anna both poised in the same position. Anna was looking as thoughtful as she mimicking every move Davidson did.

"Ahhh, Karenek. Looks like we meet again." Davidson said.

Karenek gave the latest information that he and Stone had found out. Davidson listened intently and gave more nods in the usual manner and Anna nodded almost in sync. "Come, we best get to work." Davidson said.

The threesome sat at the computer and without saying a word, Davidson started entering parameters for a series of simulations. He then looked towards Karenek, "Karenek, continue to process these simulations, one may help us reverse the de-aging process. While you are doing that, I will go to the bridge to see if I can garner any more information that might be of use." As Davidson went to leave, he turned towards a slightly disappointed young girl, "Anna, your job is to make sure Karenek doesn't miss anything. I will be counting on you."

"Yes Sir!!!" Anna beamed as she was now really starting to feel her importance grow.

Davidson then left the conference room and headed for the Bridge.


Back to Top

Chapter 12

{Bridge}

Priscilla targeted the alien vessel's forward weapons array. Set the phasers to fire a long steady shot at full power to break through the shields. Locked the target on. And fired.

And the ship turned again.

Priscilla grimaced as her shots hit the ship, but not there mark. Then the sensor readings came in.

"How about their sensors instead of their weapons?" she offered apologetically.

"I'll take it," Jack replied with nod. "Conn, come about for another pass. Since they can't see us at the moment, move us so we are shadowing them for several seconds, match their speed as well. Tactical, try again for their weapons. Or engines, but be careful not to overload their warp core."

"Aye sir," the two women replied. Jack looked over at Freeman.

"No response yet," Freeman replied.

"Shadowing," Sable reported after a few seconds passed.

"Firing," Priscilla announced a moment later. Then... "Their weapons are down."

"They're moving off, increasing speed," Sable announced.

"Let them go," Jack replied with a half frown. "Status report."

"Shields at 67 percent," Freeman replied. "Only minor damage sustained."

"I don't suppose we have any repair crews?" Jack asked no one in particular. Then he shook his head. "No, of course not. Very well, minor damage can wait until we can get to a starbase. Stand down Red Alert."

Priscilla was about to thank Jack for taking over, and offer to make it a permanent thing until everyone was back to normal, when Freeman spoke.

"Incoming hail, for Captain Myst," he reported somewhat hopefully, "from a Deep Space Fifteen."

Oh! Maybe this was Starfleet Command! Priscilla surely hoped so. "On-"

"The person identifies herself as Victoria Concord," Freeman finished.

"In the Ready Room," Priscilla replied with a smile.


{Ready Room}

Priscilla wasn't nearly as surprised as the face on the other side of the communication was. Her sister looked absolutely stunned!

"Cila?" Victoria asked, quite confused. "You're... twenty-five?"

"Twenty-three," Priscilla corrected with a nod and a shrug. "Torya, I don't remember the last fifteen years. Please d-"

"I understand. OH do I understand," Victoria assured her. "Except, *I* didn't youthen as well. What happened?"

"We're not sure yet," Priscilla replied. "The whole ship is affected. Except the children. The sensors registered some radiation anomaly. Now there's aliens claiming they made it. Things are a mess here, but we got lucky, there's a retired Lieutenant Commander on board who no longer remembers he's retired. So we're all alright so far."

"That's good to hear," Victoria replied, letting out the breath of worry she had been holding thus far. "Can I do anything to help?"

"Can you get Starfleet Command to give us an answer?" Priscilla asked.

Victoria looked uncertain. "I can try." She snapped her fingers as a thought occurred to her. "And I think I know just who to talk to."

"Thanks so much, Torya!" Priscilla replied with a smile, seeing to relax a bit. "I have to go now. Communications are restricted, I really shouldn't have taken this one either, but..."

"It's okay," Victoria nodded. "I would have made sure you got it, so don't feel bad. We'll talk later when you can. I just had to check on you."

Priscilla nodded. "Of course. Thanks. Concord out."

After the communication ended, Priscilla leaned back in the chair. (So now what?)


{Conference Room}

Jack walked in to check on Karenek and Anna. Just to make sure they were alright and not too unsettled by the attack to get back to work.

"We're fine," Karenek assured him. Anna just nodded meekly.


Back to Top

Chapter 13

Jason Crawford walked into the cabin he shared with Daniel Defore. They had been friends since first year of elementary school. They had been number one and two in their high school class, they graduated Starfleet Academy together but had been stationed apart for the past three years. At least that is what they had remembered. It was clear that at some time fifteen years in the future they were together again.

"Hey, Danny," Jason said as he slapped Daniel's leg. "I could use some help in Engineering. You and I are the only ones old enough to make sure those new fangled engines run correctly. I finally figured them out."

Jason tried to hand Daniel the padd but Daniel just stayed laying on his back in his bed with his hands behind his head staring straight up. Daniel's gaze was icy, his face was stern.

"Why do you care?" is all Daniel said.

"What do you mean?" Jason responded. He had never seen his friend so apathetic to duty, so absent of drive.

Daniel sat up, turned toward his friend and pointed at him.

"Have you looked at your uniform? You're a Lieutenant, so am I." Daniel almost spit the words out with disgust.

"So?" Jason questioned.

"We are 18 years out of Starfleet at this point and we are both still Lieutenants." He said. "When we split three years ago we were sure one of us would make captain by thirty, thirty-five at the latest and promised that the other would be offered a chief engineer or first officer position. The captain on this ship just got out of Starfleet and I am not sure that the first officer has even started high school, and we are just Lieutenants."

"One of us could be chief engineer," Jason responded. "I haven't seen anyone yet who has claimed that position."

"Oh sure," Daniel responded sarcastically. "The chief engineer shares a cabin with his friend."

Jason knew there was no response. But he knew he had a job to do and still believed in duty and honor. He left the cabin and went back to engineering.


Back to Top

Chapter 14

{Griffin - Commander Daem's Quarters - Three Hours Later}

Despite the fact that they weren't exactly hers, Daem felt rather comforted by the quarters that belonged to her older self. Some of the decorations felt somehow familiar and even those that didn't seemed to make sense to Jaquelle. The room suggested a sort of continuity between who she was now and who she would someday become. With all the confusion on the ship, Jaquelle was grateful to have a place where she felt at home.

Jaquelle's door sounded its notification of someone on the other side.

"Come in," Jaquelle answered with an easy confidence that came from her peaceful mood. A young woman, probably no more than eighteen, nervously entered Jaquelle's quarters. It hardly took a telepath to see that she was deeply troubled.

"Can I help you with something?" Jaquelle asked.

The young woman shifted her weight uneasily.

"It says you were the ship's counselor?" she said, not bothering to explain what 'it' was. Jaquelle nodded.

"I apparently was. But it seems that I...or my older self, was promoted to first officer."

"I talked to the counselor, but it seems like she's got her own problems right now. So I was wondering if I could talk to you?"

Jaquelle motioned to an empty chair across from her and the young woman sat down.

"What's troubling you....?" Jaquelle asked, letting her voice trail off where she would have said the woman's name.

"Oh, I'm Nina Caelford. I guess I'm a civilian. Anyway, there's a rumor going around that the scientists have something that might make us the age we're supposed to be."

"I can't be certain." Jaquelle had heard from the captain about potential developments of that kind, but she didn't want to get anyone's hopes up if the experiments failed. "But it may well be true."

"I was wondering," Nina began, looking down at her feet. "If it does work, I was wondering if I could maybe stay the way I am."

Jaquelle was silent. It was not the sort of question she had expected. She realized that it was important not to appear shocked by Nina's request. She simply waited for an explanation.

"It's not something where I want to look like this forever or never die or whatever would happen. It's just...it's like I don't have a choice in what happens to me anymore. All these decisions I've already made and I don't know why."

"How did you find out about these things?" Jaquelle asked gently.

"The two kids; I guess they're mine." Nina sniffed loudly and turned away for a moment. "I'm not even sure if I want to have kids but now here they are calling me "Mommy" and my mom's their grandma. I've been dating this guy and I like him all right, but now I'm supposed to be married to him. And it's not like the kids can tell me whether he and I are happy or not. And I don't even know why I'm here at all. I thought I was going to be a chef. I've looked through my quarters and there's nothing that shows I still do anything like that."

Jaquelle watched Nina as she collected her thoughts. She knew that letting Nina remain as she was couldn't be the right choice. Nina had made a life for herself that included to children who needed her. But she couldn't very well insist that Nina take responsibility for relationships she didn't yet understand or use guilt to convince her to return to her correct age.

"I can't force you to undergo the process, assuming it works," Jaquelle said at last. "But I can't honestly tell you that I think you should stay this way. Even if it's hard to understand why, you did make these choices. I don't know what happened that made you change some of the ideas you had about how you wanted to live your life. But I'm almost certain that you changed for the better in some ways. You're probably able to do some things you wouldn't think possible now. And I doubt that there's nothing left of who you are now, even if you can't see it in the little bits of your future life that you've found."

Nina listened attentively as Jaquelle spoke. Her look of worry wasn't completely gone, but she seemed far less distraught than she had earlier.

"Some of the crew have been writing letters to themselves for when we're back at our correct ages. You might want to try doing that. Then when you're at your regular ages again, you'll be able to think about the choices you made and understand why you made them.

"But after that, I want you to try and relax. We have plenty of teachers to look after the children. Spend some time doing things you enjoy. Talk to some other people if you feel like it. We're all going through the same thing and I bet talking about it with you would help some of them."

Nina seemed to think about this for a while. Then she slowly got up from her chair.

"Thank you, Commander Daem," she said. "I'll try that."

Nina turned and headed out the door. She had barely left when Jaquelle was called for a senior staff conference.


Back to Top

Chapter 12-14b

{Conference Room}

The "senior" staff was gathered in the Conference Room. Jack stood beside Priscilla at the head of the table and looked around.

"We have a solution," he informed them, "using the transporters, with some medical technology and forced radiation mixed in." He quickly held up one finger. "But, it's currently untested. As only the sentient life on the ship was affected, we haven't had anything to be able to experiment with. Also, we can only change one person per transporter back at a time."

"So you are asking for volunteers," Daem observed.

Anna nodded large nods.

Karenek piped up. "We are uncertain of what the risks might," he informed everyone. "Without any testing, we can't even pin down odds."

"So there's some question as to what might happen?" Priscilla asked. "I mean, it's just if it doesn't work then nothing changes?"

"No," Jack and Karenek replied together. Karenek quickly shut up and let Jack continue.

"We'll be manipulating, changing the pattern during transport in order to reverse what's happened to us. We're 90 percent certain we can get the body to the age we're aiming for, using the computers' most recent medical records of the individual as a guide to compare against while we monitor the progress of the reversal."

"There's always risk in Starfleet," Freeman commented.

Priscilla stood up. "I'll be your test subject," she offered.

Freeman frowned. "No," he said. "You're the ship's Captain, and the ship and crew will need you to be such again as soon as possible. That means you're the first one *after* all the bugs are worked out of the process. I'll be the guinea pig."

Jack nodded. The boy was right. "Let's go," he said before anyone could argue.


{Transporter Room Two}

"How long will this take?" Priscilla asked.

"About twelve seconds," Jack replied as he worked.

Freeman stepped up onto the transporter pad. Stone stood by with a medical tricorder and an emergency medical kit, just in case.

A minute later Karenek nodded.

"Ready?" Jack asked.

"Yes," Freeman replied.

Everyone heard the transporter take its hold. And all not being changed watched as the teen before them finished growing up. Twelve seconds later the transporter completely rematerialized Gordon Freeman.

He took a wary breath and stepped down from the pad a bit unsteadily.

"You'll feel a bit woozy for a few moments," Jack assured him.

"He's reading completely healthy and nearly identical to his last exam's records," Stone reported with a smile.

Freeman looked down, turning his hands over as he stared at them. Then he slowly shook his head. A very sad look crossed his face. "It didn't work."

Everyone looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean?" Priscilla and Stone asked at the same time, Stone starting to take scans all over again, wondering what he missed.

Freeman looked up at Jack, now that they were about the same height. "I don't remember," he said.

"Nothing?!" Karenek asked. Jack turned away slightly, a look of failure crossing his face for a moment.

Freeman thought a moment, then looked at Karenek. "I remember... graduating."

"A year," Priscilla breathed. "He only got a year back."

"We can't do this again," Jack informed them all. "You're already, physically, where you're supposed to be. If the memories didn't come back too... because of the radiation and all... there's nothing more we can do..."

"What went wrong?" Anna asked, not quite understanding what the repercussions for Freeman were.


Back to Top

Chapter 15

{Conference Room}

"Starfleet won't be of any help," Sable nearly spat out. "The message from HQ said they can't get another ship out here for two days!"

Travin nodded. "And that's too long... especially after what's happened to Freeman! If even rumors start, we're going to have a bigger problem on this ship than we already do!"

"What if we went back through the anomaly?" Daem asked. Priscilla looked hopeful at the idea. So far nothing else was sounding good.

Both Jack and Karenek shook their heads. "It's unstable, compared to the readings the sensor logs show," Jack replied.

"Even if it wasn't," Karenek added, a touch of bitterness creeping into his voice, "at best nothing would happen. But most likely we all would lose another fifteen years."

Priscilla flopped back in her chair and rolled her head to the side. She almost felt like screaming. "Uuuhhh!" she said instead to vent her frustration.

Jack sighed inwardly. (The children are tired of playing,) he thought, getting worried that his help might be running out, (their patience has worn thin.) He glanced at Daem, curiously. (All except her.) He wondered briefly at why, before returning to the matter at hand.

"Perhaps we should take a break for now. Everyone get a good night sleep, and we can come at this fresh in the morning?" Jack suggested.

"That sounds like a very good idea," Jaquelle agreed, looking at the 'Captain' in a way that said she should seriously consider it.

Priscilla sighed heavily, but nodded. "Yes, your both right. We're too tired, stressed." She stood. "Let's meet again at 0700 hours and see what we can come up with then."


{Much later}

Priscilla walked slowly, watching her feet as they stepped... one... in front... of the... other....

She hadn't been able to sleep. She hadn't been able to stop thinking. She had tried meditation. She had tried drawing upon childhood lessons and Vulcan philosophy. She had even gone to her last resort: music. Nothing had helped.

Since she was feeling restless, she decided to be so, and had just started walking. It had taken half an hour before she had decided where she wanted to go. It was some place she thought might help her feel a little better, simply by association. For she was missing her sister something fierce tonight too.

On her way, she passed the time by watching her feet, and wondering what a documentary would be like if it was recorded from that view, that of a foot, or pair of feet.


{Main Engineering}

As she entered, Priscilla looked up at the slowly pulsing warp core. She was momentarily awed by it, and realized again that she was on one of the most powerful ships in the fleet, the newest and greatest. At least, in her frame of reference.

Sighing for the umpteenth time that evening, she began to meander around. Not looking at anything specific, not really taking anything in either. As she passed by some stations she absently trailed her fingers over the consoles.

"Oh, sorry," a voice suddenly said, very much surprising Priscilla.

Coming out of her own little world, she saw the owner of the voice was a male about her current age, wearing a gold uniform. "Oh! Um, oh, no," she replied, recovering herself. Then she smiled. "No, I was just wandering around."

The other person nodded. "Sorry to interrupt. I was just..." he looked around and shrugged, "working I guess."

Priscilla smiled somewhat ruefully. "It's nice to have at least one person who knows how to deal," she remarked actually to no one in particular.

The guy gave her a strange look. Then actually looked at her, and noticed the rank on her uniform. "You're the Captain," he said, somewhat surprised.

Priscilla nodded. "It's nice to meet you," she said genuinely, holding out her hand.

"Jason Crawford," he replied, accepting the handshake.

"So," Priscilla said, looking back at the warp core. "You understand all this?"

Jason smiled. "Yup. Well, the high level stuff. And I've realized it's all just advancement on the basics they teach at the Academy. So I don't think it'll be much longer before I understand enough to maintain them without wasting time trying to figure out what connects with what!" He sounded very sure, and proud of himself.

Something in Priscilla actually relaxed, some small part of her. She reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you."

He looked at her a bit confused. "For what?"

She just patted his shoulder lightly before letting go of him. "For helping. For..." she chuckled slightly. "Never mind," she said, shaking her head. "Glad to hear we're in good hands. Carry on." She started heading out, and realized she was VERY tired. "I have to get some sleep..."

Jason nodded, "Aye?" he replied quietly. He looked at the young woman who would eventually beat him to the rank of Captain, and then shrugged. Life wasn't always fair. But he planned to help keep this screw up of them all from possibly getting worse in the only way he knew how. Smiling to himself - for he was also very much enjoying getting to explore around and learn without someone over him telling him "Stop that!", "Don't go there!", or "Do this or that mundane thing instead of something you want to" - he got back to work.


{Next day, afternoon}

"Is that..?" Karenek started to ask incredulously.

Jack looked back and forth between the readouts three times, triple checking.

"It is, isn't it?!" Karenek asked, becoming very excited. Anna quickly climbed up on a chair so she could see what the two were looking at.

"I think so," Jack agreed, with reservation.

"That's it!" Karenek said excitedly.

Anna jumped up and down. "Yes yes yes yes yes!" she exclaimed.

"Now hang on," Jack cautioned. "You saw what happened with our last solution."

Karenek was immediately deflated. But Anna jumped off the chair and started to run out. "We have to tell the Captain!" she yelled at them excitedly.

Karenek looked at Jack, who smiled slightly. "I believe the Chief Science Officer just gave us an order," Jack said.

Karenek broke into a smile again. "Sure sounded like so to me."


{Conference Room, again!}

"All we had to do was take into account the Hiesenburg Compensators were doing their job, when in this rare instance we don't want them too," Jack explained as simply as he could so all the 'laymen' would understand, "and that inversing the radiation was too much. So this time we'll be transforming its wavelength and frequency to something similar to an inverse, but which will be a constructive force instead of destructive."

This morning had been not bad news, but certainly not good, though everyone had seemed in a better disposition for a night's sleep. Now WAS good news! And the feeling that had started last night that things were going to be alright, was growing again. Priscilla smiled.

"So what you're saying is: you need another guinea pig?" she asked.

"Yes," the three replied together.

People started to look around at each other.

"I'll do it," Jack Stone said with a tone of finality. "That way I can also properly assess as the process is underway." He looked at the trio. "Can you rig up an energy transmitting device that can interface with the controls while the trial is underway?"

Karenek looked at Jack. "Uh..."

Jack grimaced slightly. "Maybe... if I had someone who understood the transporter better than I to help."

Priscilla jumped up with a grin. "I think I know someone who just might," she informed them. "Lieutenant Jason Crawford, please report to Transporter Room Two."


{Transporter Room Two, Two Hours Later}

"That should do it," Jason said from underneath the transporter console. Jack checked everything to be certain before confirming.

"You're all set Doctor," Jack said. "You should be able to make minor modifications during the transport if you need to."

Jack Stone nodded, picking up what would be his interface control once it was turned into energy. "Let's try this then." He stepped up onto transporter pad and turned to face the group. "Whenever you're ready."

"Alright," Jack Davidson replied. "Energizing."

Everyone waited, some patiently, some not, as the twelve seconds passed. They watched the Doctor 'grow up', and Davidson noted a small change come from the Doctor twice. He made sure the tweaks were recorded for next runs.

Then the transporter let go, and Stone took a breath.

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"Well, I remember..."

Priscilla slightly said a prayer to whatever all powerful being(s) might be paying attention.

After a moment's assessment, Stone nodded. "I don't seem to remember 2368, but everything else is in place." He smiled. "I even remember what I was doing when we de-aged."

"YAY!" Anna cheered.

Priscilla grinned. (YES!) she screamed to herself.

Stone stepped down off the pad and approached Davidson. "I think if the first change is done a few seconds earlier, that should correct the memory gap," he said, getting back into business mode.

Davidson nodded and made the appropriate adjustment.

"I'll go next," Travin piped up.

Both Jacks looked at her. "Are you sure?"

"It needs to be tested again," she said.

Priscilla nodded. "If it works properly this time, we can get started on everyone."

Karenek spoke. "I'd prefer to analyze the data before jumping into multiple tests."

Jack Davidson thought a moment. "We should test this change," he said. "Then we'll need a confirmation run through. Then we can analyze to be certain we've caught all the variables." Travin stepped onto the PAD. "Let's go then."


{Next morning}

The scientists and engineers were loathe to try and change back multiples of people at once, when they already had a definite working fix. Sure it was taking *much* longer to do everyone individually than six at a time like the transporters could manage, but it was also safer.

Only a third of the ship's compliment were back to normal. After the first few were definitely successful, Jaquelle and Priscilla had quickly set about making up a schedule of who would be returned to normal when and at which transporter. Or rather, which type of people, and it would be a first come first serve basis. The very first were the Senior Staff. Then Karenek, Jason, and four other science officers chosen by Anna, four other engineers chosen by Jason and Jack, and five of the medical staff chosen by Jack Stone. That way there were six teams that could run the reversal processes, one for each of the transporter rooms.

After that, priority was given to the parents of the smallest children. Then it was a ratio: two transporter rooms for Starfleet personnel and four for the civilians. The Starfleet ones were broken down further into specific times for each department, in a half hour rotation. Engineering first, followed by Medical, then Command, then Operations, etc.

Now a new team for each of the transporter room having been briefed, the original teams were being relieved so they could get some sleep.

Priscilla was not tired, again, however. She was looking over the reports of the reversals, and started worrying again. Some people had not showed up during their possible turns that would have been expected to.

Such as Ryan Sable.


{Late evening}

All but several dozen were back to normal. Priscilla was starting to nod off. The end was near, so she was starting to be able to relax.

She had spoken with Sable. It was clear that girl would not be convinced to undo go the treatment. She had read through her personnel file and personal logs, and had decided her life without her parents thus far was too hard to want back. She was going to not finish out the Academy, and instead try to find a way to go after her Father. Priscilla wasn't sure if she should respect the decision or not. But in the meantime, she told Sable the transporter reversal would be available to her for a while yet, and not to decide too quickly or rashly.

There were a handful of others who didn't want to be changed back for various reasons. Daem was speaking with each in turn, standing in for the absent counselor, seeing if they really didn't want to return to their lives or if they were just afraid.

Now the door chime startled Priscilla back to full consciousness.

"Come," she said.

It was Jack. Davidson. "Captain," he greeted, and then smiled. It was good too see a full fledged and experienced adult behind the pips. He had been startled at first when she had stepped off the transporter, virtually unchanged. He had been worried someone the process had failed. But then he found out she was a cross breed of four races, two of which were long lived. And now he could definitely see the wisdom, well at least some, behind her eyes.

"Commander," Priscilla replied with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

Jack sighed slightly. "Actually, that's just what I wanted to talk about." Priscilla was momentarily confused. "I'm soon to be a Lieutenant Commander no more," he stated.

Priscilla nodded slightly. That was true... but she didn't quite understand what he was getting at.

"Sir," he started again, this time with more resolve. "I don't want to undergo the reversal."

"I see," Priscilla responded flatly. After a moment's silence between the two, she started to speak again, but Jack cut her off.

"I'm sorry sir, but from what I've learned the last twelve years of my life were- Well, let's just say I've felt more useful the last few days than I have in time I DO remember. And I was wondering, if maybe... If you might have use for..." he looked down and started fiddling with his fingers.

"Davidson," Priscilla interrupted sternly. His head snapped back up to look at her. She looked down at the LCARS console before her, and called up the crew manifest. "Recent events have left a few holes in my Senior Staff. I am planning on offering Chief Engineer to Jason Crawford. But-" she looked up at Jack.

He started to get a very hopeful feeling. (Chief Engineer?!? Me? Oh please...)

"-that still leaves two very important holes. I was hoping you'd consider taking the positions of Chief Operations Officer and Second Officer."

Jack was stunned. He couldn't more than blink for several seconds as his brain tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Priscilla walked around from the other side of the desk. "Jack, you showed great skill and initiative the last few days. You've proved you're reliable and capable. You've earned this chance."

He nodded, a small smiled forming on his lips. "Thank you so much," he said quietly.

Priscilla smiled fully. "I'll take that as a yes. Welcome back to the fleet," she replied, shaking his hand, "Commander."


Back to Top