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What a long strange trip it's been.. (A War of the Masters Backstory)
knightraider6
Member Posts: 396 Arc User
((This came about from talking with Patrickngo about how David Huntington and Rhonda Evans met up. She's appeared in A Property Line Dispute, and may show up in other stuff down the road. Anyway this is what we came up with, enjoy! ))
Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me, What a long, strange trip it's been.
May17, 2398. Starfleet Medical Command Shuttleport, San Francisco, Earth
“So, any idea on where you’re going after this TDY assignment Dave?”
Lt Commander David Huntington shrugged “not yet, Karen’s still got a few more months on her internship. Once she’s out, and we make it official, then we’ll try to get back to the Ark Royal once they’re done with the upgrades.”
Ensign Konstantinos Stavros just shook his head “I still can not believe you turned down a chance to serve on the Enterprise.”
David just chuckled “what can I say, I’m a hopeless romantic at heart” he replied “Besides duty here isn’t bad. It’s a good town, get to spend time with my fiancee, and her father has season tickets for Forty-Niners games”
“Still, it would be better to be out there you know? The Klingons and Gorn are still going at it, weird stuff is happening with the Syndicate, and I’m here being a glorified rent-a-cop for a hospital.” The young Greek ensign grumbled. “Nothing ever happens here.”
“In security, nothing happening is...a….good thing..” Huntington replied, , his voice trailing off as he saw something out of the corner of his eye, turning his head and looking curiously out at the landing pads.
Starvos turned curiously to see what had gotten his attention. “What the hell?”
“it looks like..no. you can’t open a transwarp conduit in atmo…”
Out on the field, it was almost like a lightning storm erupted out of clear air. Huntington hit the alert switch as he called it in, as the Ensign impulsively ran out the door towards the field. The lightning was spinning in a vortex, as if it was a tornado made of energy. Konstantinos pulled his phaser automaticly, looking for something to shoot.
In the security station, David just cursed under his breath as he finished calling in for backup. Damn Ensigns, always in a rush for action. Being this was Starfleet command, the on duty team was coming out the other side of the landing field when he reached Starvos.
“What the hell is it?” The ensign shouted, the noise it made was unbelievable.
The Lt Commander had a tricorder out, he wasn’t a science officer in this temporary assignment, but old habits never changed. “Some kind of quantum distortion, I’d recommend not getting too close to it Ensign.”
“Is..is that a hole?” the ensign stammered. Sure enough, a circular portal about two meters in diameter appeared in the midst of the maelstrom about fifty meters from the ground, and from inside, a form could be seen. Female humanoid, Caitian? no..they didn’t glow that shocking color of sapphire blue. Her head stuck through the portal, improbably reminding him of the skydiving he had done in his off time, when the jumpmaster would look out the door before people went through. For one moment her eyes met his..and for some reason, she had a look of what seemed to be sadness and pity. Then she disappeared back through the hole, and then seconds later, someone came flying through it-no, it looked more like they were pushed, especially from the indignant yelling coming from the black and white clad figure.
“what the hell?” Female definetly, southern north american accent as well. Huntington winced, a fall from that high could easily be fatal, reaching up for his combadge “Security to medical-emergen…”he never finished the word as the falling figure, stopped in mid air a bare three meters from the ground, glaring back up towards the portal, a greenish cloud swirling around her hands, though from the blood on her outfit, and the way she was shaking her head as if trying to clear it, definitely wounded.
Up above, the felinoid simply gave a cheery wave then disappeared, along with the portal and the maelstrom, the screaming noise from the storm disappearing as if being flicked off by a switch.
For a second there was silence. Then, of course it was Lt Starn. The Andorian was the very model of a perfect MACO in David’s view. Lots of bravery, lots of aggression...no common sense. Before anyone could even speak the Andorian had fired on the unknown individual, the phaser..missing? how could it miss? possibly something with the greenish cloud now forming around her, scanning it it showed a mix of pheromones and very exotic radiation.
“Gawddamnit, Starn cease fire!” he shouted, the andorian either didn’t hear or choose not to as he opened up again-this time not on stun. That seemed to hurt her-as well as TRIBBLE her off. Green energy streaked from her hands to the Andorian, charged particles slamming into him. Glancing down at the tricorder he blinked...that was a charged particle burst..that she somehow generated from her hands. yet scanning her-totally organic. A cloud began to swirl around Starn’s team on the far end of the landing pads, the security starting to cough and rub at their eyes. Didn’t seem to be fatal, as he scanned that as well...just incapacitating them. as if she doesn’t wanna hurt them he thought to himself-gotta be a way to shut this down before someone does gets hurt.
By now another of the security with Lt Starn had gotten into one of the shuttlecraft and took off, bringing the weapons of the shuttle to bear. Had to be Ensign Groobe, that one had picked up Starn’s bad habits and turned them to eleven. “CEASE FIRE DAMNIT” Dave yelled into the com, as weapons fire from the shuttle raked the landing pad, imperiling both parked shuttles and him and Starvos, the bursts from the phaser impacting damn close.
She rose up , flying away, almost as if drawing the fire away from those on the ground, then paused, right arm out towards the shuttle, bracing it with her left, seconds later a burst of particles (protons, his tricorder dutifully recorded) that went through the shields of the shuttle, disabling some systems as well as weapons.
Her victory was short lived though-the stress had obviously been too much for her as she collapsed, falling out of control towards the ground twenty meters below. No time to call for a transporter lock-he ran, gauging the falling body, and knowing in his mind how this was a very stupid idea. He made it just before she hit, attempting a catch which brought them both to the ground, Huntington screaming in pain as he felt bones break. At least it worked he thought, God, she’s just a kid! was his last thought before he passed out as he got a good look at her up close.
May 24, 2398, Lt Commander Huntington's quarters
He itched all over, almost from the second he woke up. The Doc had told him that was from the bone regenerator that they had used, both of his arms were broken, and spine almost shattered. He’d be back to duty in a few weeks though, he was off recovering in the meantime. He hadn’t heard from Karen though which almost worried him, until she showed up looking exhausted. “hey how ya feeling?” she asked.
“I feel like everything itches” David grumbled as she smiled, leaning over the chair and gently kissing him.
“Good job on the catch, though I’ve spent the last couple days dealing with your new fuzzy friend.”
“Who is she, and where is she from?” He asked “and why did you have to deal with her? I thought you weren't a trauma doc.”
“Well, technically myself and Admiral Crusher. I’m xenobio, and to be honest, while this girl may have been from Earth, it’s definitely not our Earth.”
“Wait, back up. She’s from Earth?”
“Some place called Paragon City in Rhode Island.” she replied.
“Never heard of it. How many got hurt?”
“None serious, though it took a day or so to get the smell from Lt Starn and his troops” she said with a grin. “Evidently, according to Rhonda, she was, and I quote, ‘bitten by a radioactive skunk that had been exposed to alien DNA mutagens.’ Once she woke up and explained that, all it took was a couple hundred gallons of tomato juice to get rid of the smell. Though I think the poor Lieutenant is going to be lavender for a few weeks, that stuff tends to stain Andorian skin.”
“That sounds like something out of a comic book.” Dave said as he sat up.
“It’s got some of the quantum researchers in a tizzy. There’s theories about many parallel universes other than the Terran Empire one, Miss Evans seems to be definite proof of that it’s more than a theory.”
“Too bad he’s tied up with the refit, Captain McLain would definitely interested in talking to her about alternate realities. I’d imagine the poor kid is gonna have scientists poking her for months trying to figure out how she could do all that.”
“Not really-her powers were killing her. Admiral Crusher said it was a change in her DNA similar to what Kironide does. We managed to find a way to remove that. She can’t fly anymore, or basicly use telekinesis to pull quantum particles together into usable form, and the pheromones were easily handled as well. Not as hard to control as Orion actually.”
“How’s she taking that?” He asked
“About as well as something else dropped on top of a sixteen year old girl who was ripped from her family and home timeline and thrown in the future. She asked about you by the way, she knew she landed on someone. I think you should go visit.” Karen said as she headed towards the bedroom “I need a shower myself and then at least twelve hours sleep.”
“Need your back scrubbed?” Dave asked with a grin.
Karen just laughed “If I wouldn’t fall asleep on you, I’d take you up on that. I’ll be very glad when this internship is over, and I can get a normal schedule.”
He just laughed “We’re in Starfleet love, nothing we do is on a normal schedule.”
“point, well in that case…”
Two hours later, Starfleet Medical
The cane was annoying. Fortunately he’d only need it for a week or two then he’d be cleared for duty. Passing what looked like a former borg drone walking slowly in the garden outside the hospital with a physical therapist, it could be far worse he thought. He followed the directions on his PADD, they were keeping her for observation for a while-mainly to make sure that those mutations that both gave her power and threatened her life were gone for good.
He found her by one of the big windows in the ward, she was looking out the window towards San Francisco. Reminded him a lot of one of his younger sisters actually-well, of course except for the fact that his sister didn’t have white hair, and wasn’t covered with short black fur. Guess that mutation they couldn’t get rid of. Still he hesitated for a minute, what was he going to do, apologize for his squad trying to kill her?
Fortunately someone had found some clothes for her, better than the slightly shredded skintight suit she’d come through the portal with. She was poking at a PADD, no it was smaller than that as he walked up, and looked a bit upset. “is something wrong?” he asked
Rhonda almost jumped , she hadn’t been paying attention, and actually squeeked. “eep! uh, just having problems with my phone-battery’s going dead.” She blinked “Wait, you’re the guy from the airfield.”
“David Huntington” he said as he held out his hand, shaking hers was similar to a Caitians, without the claws at least.
“Rhonda Evans, I’m sorry for falling on you, and freaking out like I did.”
That got a laugh “Hell who wouldn’t freak out thrown someplace totally alien from where they were?”
“Funny thing is-this place seems normal to some of the places I’ve been. I’ve been in ancient Rome fighting, well, basicly TRIBBLE’s, mystical underground kingdoms, alternate dimensions-heck we were fighting yet another invasion when i got..”she paused then shook her head “doesn’t even matter really, does it? I don’t even know if we won or lost. I’m thinking we won, but I wish I could know for sure.”
“There’s no way to check the history?” Dave asked, before mentally kicking himself, remembering belatedly that it was an alternate earth she came from.
“Nah. Heck, There was supposed to be a global war on when I was born in 1996. There wasn’t, well other than some small scale civil wars here and there. But you never had to deal with the Rikti invasions, people didn’t have powers here, and best of all, you never had to endure Justin Bieber.”
“Who?”
“Very annoying teenage singer, who for some reason most of the girls in mah school just loved” She shrugged and sighed. “it could be worse ah suppose. At least this time I’m stuck in a dimension with air conditioning and running water, unlike Cimerora.”
“Air conditioning, heck we’ve got weather control now. Though they don’t use that too much except to dissipate dangerous storms.”
“That explains why there’s no fog, ah thought San Francisco was foggy a lot.”
“Oh it is, just early in the morning. It tends to burn off before noon.” He glanced down at the small white object in her hand “so what is it you were trying to do with that, phone is it?”
“Short for cell phone-well it’s a communications device, and used it to store mah music and pictures. But the battery’s about dead, and it was kinda damaged in the fall. Showed it to one guy and he said that he didn’t think they could fix it…”
Dammit. she looked like she was tearing up, that was probably the last link to her family and friends. He thought for a moment “Have they cleared you to leave the hospital yet?” he asked, changing the subject.
“I haven’t really asked..ain’t like I’ve got anywhere to go to be honest, or even money to go anywhere. The Nurse said that money isn’t used anymore.”
“It is, and isn’t. Its complicated” he replied “lemme check something, I’ll be right back.”
Half an hour later they were in the Chestnut Street shopping district, across the bay from the Academy and the Hospital there. He led Rhonda along the street,the girl unphased by the number of aliens in the area-but then , in a world like the one where she came from, people looking non human probably was fairly common. “Just where are we going anyway?” she asked.
“Not far, there it is.” he replied as they turned the corner.
“No Freaking way..”
David just grinned as she stood there open mouthed in front of the gleaming holo display of the Apple store. “I recognized the logo on the back, well it’s almost but not quite the same. They survived the chaos of the 21st century. If anyone can fix that device of yours, they can.”
In the store the techs were both amazed and flabbergasted. “It’s definitely one of our models, but the logo’s off. An alternate timeline you said?”
“Yes” David replied, fortunately both his Starfleet ID and the news of the incident a few days ago had been released, which helped ease their doubts on the legitimacy.”Can you fix it?”
“I don’t know Lieutenant. We can’t, but I just got off the line with one of the engineers. They definitely want to look at this, and possibly want it for their museum.”
“uhm..well it’s kinda got everything that ah have left on it. Music, pictures, and so forth, ah’d kinda like to have that.”
The tech thought it over, scanning the phone “only sixty four gigabytes? how did you fit anything in there?”
“Ah thought it was big when ah got it honestly.”
“Humm. Well, it’s solid state non volatile flash memory,” he said, looking at the circuit trace from his scanner “power here, input, output, volume…” he pulled out a PADD from behind the counter, then powering it up, hooked it to the scanner for what seemed like two seconds. “there, try this” he said, handing over the PADD.
Fortunately some things hadn’t changed in the several hundred years. “you got it all! how did you do that?”
The tech just grinned “just because a technology is old, doesn’t mean it’s worthless. We still use a variation on that today, just on a different scale.”
“But.. I can’t afford to pay for this-”
“You don’t have to, we replicate those by the case. It’s the software and the like that actually get ‘sold’, and in this case “he said looking at his own terminal “Just consider it a loan, while the tech guys down in Cuppertino get a chance to poke at your antique.” He grinned “Hell, you could probably auction that off online, working 21st century tech is worth a lot of latinum to some collectors, I’ve seen an iPhone 3 go for almost fifty bars.”
“Is that a lot?”
“It’s not a fortune, but it would buy most of everything in this store.” David replied “Like I said, it’s complicated. People don’t need money for most things, food, medical, living, with the replicator technology we have now that’s easy. It’s luxuries that people work for, and cost ‘money’.”
She nodded, as the tech gave her a receipt for her old phone, and showed her how to work the loaner PADD. “Makes sense I guess.”
*****
June 15th, 2398, Starfleet Academy Medical, 2045 hours
She shouldn’t be doing this-but she was sick of it. Yeah, technically she was considered a kid legally in this world-even though she had a FBSA card with one of the highest clearances available. Of course, that meant diddly-squat here as her grandfather used to say.
The social worker was the worst. Talking of her need for therapy, and going on and on about how Rhonda was from “such a primitive and superstitious time’. The caseworker nearly had a stroke when he found she’d been going to church every sunday as well. LtCdr Huntington hadn’t looked down on that..but then he was only acting as her liaison as something to do while he was recovering, now that he was cleared for duty he was, well, back on duty.
Fortunately, despite their technology several hundred years ahead of her own time, their security still relied on actual people. People who were friendly, and answered seemingly innocent questions. Finding out how they tracked patients was easy enough, tho harder to counter. Still, no one said she couldn’t leave, but after another day of listening to the case worker...ugh. she needed a change of scenery for a few hours. The fact that Starfleet Medical shared grounds with the Academy was a bit of a problem, but there were enough people coming and going that once she got out of the building she’d be fine. It was just like getting out of anywhere else-no one ever looked up she thought.
She’d climbed down tougher buildings as well-there was just the slight issue of it being well lit-but black fur on a friday night was hard to spot. There was just one small problem-she wasn’t the only one trying to get sneak out on friday night. Damit, three of them, trying to keep quiet below her and failing miserably.
“I still say we should have just went to the on base club with everyone else." one of the males replied, human possibly, hard to tell in this light.
“That place is lame-and the Andorians always hog the jukebox.”
“Keep it down, we’re going to be spotted! ” the human girl that seemed to be in charge of the other two, well as in charge as one cadet can be over a couple of others.
“Actually you should be worried about being overheard” Rhonda said from above them “it’s only spotted if someone sees you.”
The short one with the big ears (ok, huge, even bigger than Elephant Girl’s were back home) actually squealed, the other two quickly shushing him “Quiet, you’re gonna get us caught!” the human one hissed.
“We’re already caught” the male human whined, as Rhonda dropped over the edge of the ledge above them, dropping to the ground. “Wait a minute, you’re not Cadre..”
“Nope, and if you keep your mouth shut about me slipping out, I’ll keep mine shut about you.”
“Wait a minute, I heard about you-you’re that girl that fell through a hole from an alternate dimension.”
“Close enough-look I’ve been cooped up in here for weeks, I’ve got the damn social services poking at me, I just need to get out for a few hours.”
“Heh, that sounds familiar. Stacy Meyers” the ringleader said “and this is Craig and Noz.”
“Rhonda. So where are ya headed?”
“Into Trouble,” the ferengi cadet replied. “You know we’re not supposed to be leaving the Academy grounds.”
Stacy just shook her head “Look, I promise, We’ll hit the club, everything will be fine, and no one will get into trouble.”
Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me, What a long, strange trip it's been.
May17, 2398. Starfleet Medical Command Shuttleport, San Francisco, Earth
“So, any idea on where you’re going after this TDY assignment Dave?”
Lt Commander David Huntington shrugged “not yet, Karen’s still got a few more months on her internship. Once she’s out, and we make it official, then we’ll try to get back to the Ark Royal once they’re done with the upgrades.”
Ensign Konstantinos Stavros just shook his head “I still can not believe you turned down a chance to serve on the Enterprise.”
David just chuckled “what can I say, I’m a hopeless romantic at heart” he replied “Besides duty here isn’t bad. It’s a good town, get to spend time with my fiancee, and her father has season tickets for Forty-Niners games”
“Still, it would be better to be out there you know? The Klingons and Gorn are still going at it, weird stuff is happening with the Syndicate, and I’m here being a glorified rent-a-cop for a hospital.” The young Greek ensign grumbled. “Nothing ever happens here.”
“In security, nothing happening is...a….good thing..” Huntington replied, , his voice trailing off as he saw something out of the corner of his eye, turning his head and looking curiously out at the landing pads.
Starvos turned curiously to see what had gotten his attention. “What the hell?”
“it looks like..no. you can’t open a transwarp conduit in atmo…”
Out on the field, it was almost like a lightning storm erupted out of clear air. Huntington hit the alert switch as he called it in, as the Ensign impulsively ran out the door towards the field. The lightning was spinning in a vortex, as if it was a tornado made of energy. Konstantinos pulled his phaser automaticly, looking for something to shoot.
In the security station, David just cursed under his breath as he finished calling in for backup. Damn Ensigns, always in a rush for action. Being this was Starfleet command, the on duty team was coming out the other side of the landing field when he reached Starvos.
“What the hell is it?” The ensign shouted, the noise it made was unbelievable.
The Lt Commander had a tricorder out, he wasn’t a science officer in this temporary assignment, but old habits never changed. “Some kind of quantum distortion, I’d recommend not getting too close to it Ensign.”
“Is..is that a hole?” the ensign stammered. Sure enough, a circular portal about two meters in diameter appeared in the midst of the maelstrom about fifty meters from the ground, and from inside, a form could be seen. Female humanoid, Caitian? no..they didn’t glow that shocking color of sapphire blue. Her head stuck through the portal, improbably reminding him of the skydiving he had done in his off time, when the jumpmaster would look out the door before people went through. For one moment her eyes met his..and for some reason, she had a look of what seemed to be sadness and pity. Then she disappeared back through the hole, and then seconds later, someone came flying through it-no, it looked more like they were pushed, especially from the indignant yelling coming from the black and white clad figure.
“what the hell?” Female definetly, southern north american accent as well. Huntington winced, a fall from that high could easily be fatal, reaching up for his combadge “Security to medical-emergen…”he never finished the word as the falling figure, stopped in mid air a bare three meters from the ground, glaring back up towards the portal, a greenish cloud swirling around her hands, though from the blood on her outfit, and the way she was shaking her head as if trying to clear it, definitely wounded.
Up above, the felinoid simply gave a cheery wave then disappeared, along with the portal and the maelstrom, the screaming noise from the storm disappearing as if being flicked off by a switch.
For a second there was silence. Then, of course it was Lt Starn. The Andorian was the very model of a perfect MACO in David’s view. Lots of bravery, lots of aggression...no common sense. Before anyone could even speak the Andorian had fired on the unknown individual, the phaser..missing? how could it miss? possibly something with the greenish cloud now forming around her, scanning it it showed a mix of pheromones and very exotic radiation.
“Gawddamnit, Starn cease fire!” he shouted, the andorian either didn’t hear or choose not to as he opened up again-this time not on stun. That seemed to hurt her-as well as TRIBBLE her off. Green energy streaked from her hands to the Andorian, charged particles slamming into him. Glancing down at the tricorder he blinked...that was a charged particle burst..that she somehow generated from her hands. yet scanning her-totally organic. A cloud began to swirl around Starn’s team on the far end of the landing pads, the security starting to cough and rub at their eyes. Didn’t seem to be fatal, as he scanned that as well...just incapacitating them. as if she doesn’t wanna hurt them he thought to himself-gotta be a way to shut this down before someone does gets hurt.
By now another of the security with Lt Starn had gotten into one of the shuttlecraft and took off, bringing the weapons of the shuttle to bear. Had to be Ensign Groobe, that one had picked up Starn’s bad habits and turned them to eleven. “CEASE FIRE DAMNIT” Dave yelled into the com, as weapons fire from the shuttle raked the landing pad, imperiling both parked shuttles and him and Starvos, the bursts from the phaser impacting damn close.
She rose up , flying away, almost as if drawing the fire away from those on the ground, then paused, right arm out towards the shuttle, bracing it with her left, seconds later a burst of particles (protons, his tricorder dutifully recorded) that went through the shields of the shuttle, disabling some systems as well as weapons.
Her victory was short lived though-the stress had obviously been too much for her as she collapsed, falling out of control towards the ground twenty meters below. No time to call for a transporter lock-he ran, gauging the falling body, and knowing in his mind how this was a very stupid idea. He made it just before she hit, attempting a catch which brought them both to the ground, Huntington screaming in pain as he felt bones break. At least it worked he thought, God, she’s just a kid! was his last thought before he passed out as he got a good look at her up close.
May 24, 2398, Lt Commander Huntington's quarters
He itched all over, almost from the second he woke up. The Doc had told him that was from the bone regenerator that they had used, both of his arms were broken, and spine almost shattered. He’d be back to duty in a few weeks though, he was off recovering in the meantime. He hadn’t heard from Karen though which almost worried him, until she showed up looking exhausted. “hey how ya feeling?” she asked.
“I feel like everything itches” David grumbled as she smiled, leaning over the chair and gently kissing him.
“Good job on the catch, though I’ve spent the last couple days dealing with your new fuzzy friend.”
“Who is she, and where is she from?” He asked “and why did you have to deal with her? I thought you weren't a trauma doc.”
“Well, technically myself and Admiral Crusher. I’m xenobio, and to be honest, while this girl may have been from Earth, it’s definitely not our Earth.”
“Wait, back up. She’s from Earth?”
“Some place called Paragon City in Rhode Island.” she replied.
“Never heard of it. How many got hurt?”
“None serious, though it took a day or so to get the smell from Lt Starn and his troops” she said with a grin. “Evidently, according to Rhonda, she was, and I quote, ‘bitten by a radioactive skunk that had been exposed to alien DNA mutagens.’ Once she woke up and explained that, all it took was a couple hundred gallons of tomato juice to get rid of the smell. Though I think the poor Lieutenant is going to be lavender for a few weeks, that stuff tends to stain Andorian skin.”
“That sounds like something out of a comic book.” Dave said as he sat up.
“It’s got some of the quantum researchers in a tizzy. There’s theories about many parallel universes other than the Terran Empire one, Miss Evans seems to be definite proof of that it’s more than a theory.”
“Too bad he’s tied up with the refit, Captain McLain would definitely interested in talking to her about alternate realities. I’d imagine the poor kid is gonna have scientists poking her for months trying to figure out how she could do all that.”
“Not really-her powers were killing her. Admiral Crusher said it was a change in her DNA similar to what Kironide does. We managed to find a way to remove that. She can’t fly anymore, or basicly use telekinesis to pull quantum particles together into usable form, and the pheromones were easily handled as well. Not as hard to control as Orion actually.”
“How’s she taking that?” He asked
“About as well as something else dropped on top of a sixteen year old girl who was ripped from her family and home timeline and thrown in the future. She asked about you by the way, she knew she landed on someone. I think you should go visit.” Karen said as she headed towards the bedroom “I need a shower myself and then at least twelve hours sleep.”
“Need your back scrubbed?” Dave asked with a grin.
Karen just laughed “If I wouldn’t fall asleep on you, I’d take you up on that. I’ll be very glad when this internship is over, and I can get a normal schedule.”
He just laughed “We’re in Starfleet love, nothing we do is on a normal schedule.”
“point, well in that case…”
Two hours later, Starfleet Medical
The cane was annoying. Fortunately he’d only need it for a week or two then he’d be cleared for duty. Passing what looked like a former borg drone walking slowly in the garden outside the hospital with a physical therapist, it could be far worse he thought. He followed the directions on his PADD, they were keeping her for observation for a while-mainly to make sure that those mutations that both gave her power and threatened her life were gone for good.
He found her by one of the big windows in the ward, she was looking out the window towards San Francisco. Reminded him a lot of one of his younger sisters actually-well, of course except for the fact that his sister didn’t have white hair, and wasn’t covered with short black fur. Guess that mutation they couldn’t get rid of. Still he hesitated for a minute, what was he going to do, apologize for his squad trying to kill her?
Fortunately someone had found some clothes for her, better than the slightly shredded skintight suit she’d come through the portal with. She was poking at a PADD, no it was smaller than that as he walked up, and looked a bit upset. “is something wrong?” he asked
Rhonda almost jumped , she hadn’t been paying attention, and actually squeeked. “eep! uh, just having problems with my phone-battery’s going dead.” She blinked “Wait, you’re the guy from the airfield.”
“David Huntington” he said as he held out his hand, shaking hers was similar to a Caitians, without the claws at least.
“Rhonda Evans, I’m sorry for falling on you, and freaking out like I did.”
That got a laugh “Hell who wouldn’t freak out thrown someplace totally alien from where they were?”
“Funny thing is-this place seems normal to some of the places I’ve been. I’ve been in ancient Rome fighting, well, basicly TRIBBLE’s, mystical underground kingdoms, alternate dimensions-heck we were fighting yet another invasion when i got..”she paused then shook her head “doesn’t even matter really, does it? I don’t even know if we won or lost. I’m thinking we won, but I wish I could know for sure.”
“There’s no way to check the history?” Dave asked, before mentally kicking himself, remembering belatedly that it was an alternate earth she came from.
“Nah. Heck, There was supposed to be a global war on when I was born in 1996. There wasn’t, well other than some small scale civil wars here and there. But you never had to deal with the Rikti invasions, people didn’t have powers here, and best of all, you never had to endure Justin Bieber.”
“Who?”
“Very annoying teenage singer, who for some reason most of the girls in mah school just loved” She shrugged and sighed. “it could be worse ah suppose. At least this time I’m stuck in a dimension with air conditioning and running water, unlike Cimerora.”
“Air conditioning, heck we’ve got weather control now. Though they don’t use that too much except to dissipate dangerous storms.”
“That explains why there’s no fog, ah thought San Francisco was foggy a lot.”
“Oh it is, just early in the morning. It tends to burn off before noon.” He glanced down at the small white object in her hand “so what is it you were trying to do with that, phone is it?”
“Short for cell phone-well it’s a communications device, and used it to store mah music and pictures. But the battery’s about dead, and it was kinda damaged in the fall. Showed it to one guy and he said that he didn’t think they could fix it…”
Dammit. she looked like she was tearing up, that was probably the last link to her family and friends. He thought for a moment “Have they cleared you to leave the hospital yet?” he asked, changing the subject.
“I haven’t really asked..ain’t like I’ve got anywhere to go to be honest, or even money to go anywhere. The Nurse said that money isn’t used anymore.”
“It is, and isn’t. Its complicated” he replied “lemme check something, I’ll be right back.”
Half an hour later they were in the Chestnut Street shopping district, across the bay from the Academy and the Hospital there. He led Rhonda along the street,the girl unphased by the number of aliens in the area-but then , in a world like the one where she came from, people looking non human probably was fairly common. “Just where are we going anyway?” she asked.
“Not far, there it is.” he replied as they turned the corner.
“No Freaking way..”
David just grinned as she stood there open mouthed in front of the gleaming holo display of the Apple store. “I recognized the logo on the back, well it’s almost but not quite the same. They survived the chaos of the 21st century. If anyone can fix that device of yours, they can.”
In the store the techs were both amazed and flabbergasted. “It’s definitely one of our models, but the logo’s off. An alternate timeline you said?”
“Yes” David replied, fortunately both his Starfleet ID and the news of the incident a few days ago had been released, which helped ease their doubts on the legitimacy.”Can you fix it?”
“I don’t know Lieutenant. We can’t, but I just got off the line with one of the engineers. They definitely want to look at this, and possibly want it for their museum.”
“uhm..well it’s kinda got everything that ah have left on it. Music, pictures, and so forth, ah’d kinda like to have that.”
The tech thought it over, scanning the phone “only sixty four gigabytes? how did you fit anything in there?”
“Ah thought it was big when ah got it honestly.”
“Humm. Well, it’s solid state non volatile flash memory,” he said, looking at the circuit trace from his scanner “power here, input, output, volume…” he pulled out a PADD from behind the counter, then powering it up, hooked it to the scanner for what seemed like two seconds. “there, try this” he said, handing over the PADD.
Fortunately some things hadn’t changed in the several hundred years. “you got it all! how did you do that?”
The tech just grinned “just because a technology is old, doesn’t mean it’s worthless. We still use a variation on that today, just on a different scale.”
“But.. I can’t afford to pay for this-”
“You don’t have to, we replicate those by the case. It’s the software and the like that actually get ‘sold’, and in this case “he said looking at his own terminal “Just consider it a loan, while the tech guys down in Cuppertino get a chance to poke at your antique.” He grinned “Hell, you could probably auction that off online, working 21st century tech is worth a lot of latinum to some collectors, I’ve seen an iPhone 3 go for almost fifty bars.”
“Is that a lot?”
“It’s not a fortune, but it would buy most of everything in this store.” David replied “Like I said, it’s complicated. People don’t need money for most things, food, medical, living, with the replicator technology we have now that’s easy. It’s luxuries that people work for, and cost ‘money’.”
She nodded, as the tech gave her a receipt for her old phone, and showed her how to work the loaner PADD. “Makes sense I guess.”
*****
June 15th, 2398, Starfleet Academy Medical, 2045 hours
She shouldn’t be doing this-but she was sick of it. Yeah, technically she was considered a kid legally in this world-even though she had a FBSA card with one of the highest clearances available. Of course, that meant diddly-squat here as her grandfather used to say.
The social worker was the worst. Talking of her need for therapy, and going on and on about how Rhonda was from “such a primitive and superstitious time’. The caseworker nearly had a stroke when he found she’d been going to church every sunday as well. LtCdr Huntington hadn’t looked down on that..but then he was only acting as her liaison as something to do while he was recovering, now that he was cleared for duty he was, well, back on duty.
Fortunately, despite their technology several hundred years ahead of her own time, their security still relied on actual people. People who were friendly, and answered seemingly innocent questions. Finding out how they tracked patients was easy enough, tho harder to counter. Still, no one said she couldn’t leave, but after another day of listening to the case worker...ugh. she needed a change of scenery for a few hours. The fact that Starfleet Medical shared grounds with the Academy was a bit of a problem, but there were enough people coming and going that once she got out of the building she’d be fine. It was just like getting out of anywhere else-no one ever looked up she thought.
She’d climbed down tougher buildings as well-there was just the slight issue of it being well lit-but black fur on a friday night was hard to spot. There was just one small problem-she wasn’t the only one trying to get sneak out on friday night. Damit, three of them, trying to keep quiet below her and failing miserably.
“I still say we should have just went to the on base club with everyone else." one of the males replied, human possibly, hard to tell in this light.
“That place is lame-and the Andorians always hog the jukebox.”
“Keep it down, we’re going to be spotted! ” the human girl that seemed to be in charge of the other two, well as in charge as one cadet can be over a couple of others.
“Actually you should be worried about being overheard” Rhonda said from above them “it’s only spotted if someone sees you.”
The short one with the big ears (ok, huge, even bigger than Elephant Girl’s were back home) actually squealed, the other two quickly shushing him “Quiet, you’re gonna get us caught!” the human one hissed.
“We’re already caught” the male human whined, as Rhonda dropped over the edge of the ledge above them, dropping to the ground. “Wait a minute, you’re not Cadre..”
“Nope, and if you keep your mouth shut about me slipping out, I’ll keep mine shut about you.”
“Wait a minute, I heard about you-you’re that girl that fell through a hole from an alternate dimension.”
“Close enough-look I’ve been cooped up in here for weeks, I’ve got the damn social services poking at me, I just need to get out for a few hours.”
“Heh, that sounds familiar. Stacy Meyers” the ringleader said “and this is Craig and Noz.”
“Rhonda. So where are ya headed?”
“Into Trouble,” the ferengi cadet replied. “You know we’re not supposed to be leaving the Academy grounds.”
Stacy just shook her head “Look, I promise, We’ll hit the club, everything will be fine, and no one will get into trouble.”
"It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier." R.A.Heinlein
"he's as dangerous as a ferret with a chainsaw."
"he's as dangerous as a ferret with a chainsaw."
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Starfleet Academy Security office, June 16, 0710
The double line of cadets sweated, at least those whose species did anyway. While it was accepted with a wink and a nod that the third year cadets were not allowed off base privileges without a pass, they were also not supposed to get caught. Especially not get caught in the middle of a brawl with locals. At the moment the upperclassmen, those who should have known better were getting the brunt of the Lt Commanders ire. “So, your ‘honor’ was in doubt when the female cadet slapped you, did she have any reason to do that Cadet?”
“Well, uh..”
The officer glared at rather large hulking specimen of future MACO material “yes I’ve watched the surveillance video. After you tried to grab her after getting slapped-either that wasn’t syntheol, like you were supposed to have limited yourself too, or you got your TRIBBLE kicked by someone a quarter of your mass.”
The Cadet wisely kept his mouth shut, he knew it was syntheol, he was able to clear his mind when things went south. The Lt Commander wasn’t done yet however. “And instead of working together when things went pear shaped, you and your classmates ran, leaving underclassmen behind in a bar with a hoverbike gang.”
“Sir, I-”
“I don’t want to hear any more Cadet. All I can say you’re damn lucky she didn’t break any of your bones, seeing what had happened against the hoverbikers. Especially after how she rallied the rest of the cadets against the hoverbikers who were attempting to assault Midshipman Meyers-who like most of the females in the club were not served syntheol like they asked for-then tried to use that to their advantage against her.”
At that he did have a look of grim satisfaction on his face “And for those of you who care, Meyers is fine, and the ones who attempted to get hands on with her had their hands broken by her-among other things by the time she was rescued.” He paused in front of the one at the end of the line “While I can’t condone fighting with locals, you obviously paid attention in Advanced small unit tactics Cadet, so there may be a merit to offset the demerit. Who’s your section leader?”
Rhonda had tried her damndest to not be noticed when she was rounded up with the rest of them. She was going to space-jail, she just knew it, and she was starting to feel sick. “uhm..uh..”
“She’s not a Cadet.” a tired yet amused voice said from the doorway. David Huntington had been back on duty for a few days, while not the weirdest start to his day, it was close.
Now Lt Commander Stone was confused “Wait..you mean.” he said looking closer at Rhonda, then at the Senior Cadet trying very hard to vanish and failing miserably. “you not only got your TRIBBLE kicked, but by a juvenile Civilian?”
She stepped forward “Sir, Ah take full responsibility-ah had sneaked out of the hospital, accidently ran into some cadets and talked them into taking me along. If not f..fo.. for that-”
“if not for that, they would have gone anyway, and things could have been far worse for Midshipman Meyers.” Huntington replied “instead you-”
there was a retching sound, as David sighed. “instead you puked on my boots…”
Security, half an hour later
“Doc’s got her on detox-think that’s another charge against the bartender.” Huntington said as he came back in the office after changing and checking on Rhonda who was sleeping in the security station infirmary.
“I agree, the Commandant will probably end up declaring that club off limits to all cadets after this finally.” Lt Commander Stone shook his head “have you seen the video from that by the way? I was serious about commending her. That girl’s been trained good by someone.”
“I did, and yeah. Pity her case worker is probably going to use this as evidence to have her put in ‘enhanced care.”
“Bull. if that kid needs to be anywhere, it’s here. When she saw Meyers get drug off, even while drunk she got the cadets organized and went through those punks like a phaser through butter.” Stone pulled out a PADD and started on his report. “Admiral wants to talk to her anyway, why don’t you go along with her, and bring it up with her monday morning?”
David thought about it for a moment, then nodded “Sounds good. Hell of a lot worse places she could end up” he grinned.
“I agree with you. Oh, congrats by the way.”
“For what?”
Stone just grinned and handed over a PADD. “The new promotion lists came out this morning, and unless there’s another David Huntington assigned here TDY from the Ark Royal, congratulations Commander.”
Starfleet Medical, Admirals office, Monday, 0830
He’d gone in first, leaving Rhonda sitting nervously outside the office. She’d heard stories from her father about his time in the Marines before he met her mother. while she wasn’t in this Starfleet or whatever it was called..she was still in trouble.
Inside the office, the Admiral listened to him. “So let me see if I’ve got this right-you want to admit a sixteen year old girl from an alternate 21st century Earth into Starfleet Academy?”
“I had her take some of the non technical entry tests, she wanted a good way to know what she needed to learn about this time, and that seemed like a good way to show what her weak areas were. Admiral, she scored a 73 on her first attempt.”
“Thats close, but not passing.”
“Her first attempt with no preparation. If she had a week to study, I’d think she’d have no problem beating that score easily.” David looked towards the door and the waiting room outside “Sir, between that and her actions at the club..she’d be an asset to the Federation. Only question is would she want to, but compared to the alternative…”
Admiral Crusher simply nodded “Well why don’t we ask her?”
Rhonda nearly jumped when the yeoman tapped her on her shoulder “Miss Evans? The Admiral will see you now.”
Taking a deep breath, she stood and nodded, entering the room. Both the Admiral and Dave smiled reassuringly at her. For a moment Rhonda thought she’d seen the Admiral before, then it came to her “You were one of my doctors.”
“I was. I may not get to do much with all the work running Starfleet Medical,” Dr Crusher said “But I do tend to lend a hand when I can, helps me keep in practice.” she smiled “As of your last test this morning, your DNA is stable, and has been since we did the reseqencing.”
“I thought that was banned nowadays?”
The Admiral glanced at Dave, who simply grinned “Told ya she’s sharp.”
“It is” she replied “if it’s used to enhance someones genetics. Doing repair work like we did with you, or to save someone’s life is allowed.”
“But if those abilities ever come back, then I’d be breaking the law?”
“Hardly, what happened to you wasn’t done intentionally. And if it did return, well there are races in the Federation who do have similar abilities, so it’s not like there would be much of a problem for you down the road.”
“Assuming I’m here that long..I’m hoping that they’ll find a way to bring me back. Though...they’re usually darn good about tracking folks down who get displaced like ah did, within a couple days. It’s been over a month now..”
“If they don’t however…”
Rhonda sighed “if they don’t, as Mister Smarmypants pointed out, I’m still considered a minor for two more years here, and he’s threatening to put me in foster care.” She smirked “at least he’s not wantin to have me committed about my ‘delusions of super powers’ once Lt Commander Huntington there got him a copy of the surveillance video of when ah showed up here. Last I saw of him was saying something about picking the wrong week to stop drinking.”
That got a laugh from both of the officers. “I can imagine. And while bureaucrats like him have their place, I don’t think you’d be very happy in foster care.”
“No not really. Goin home would be best, but that’s starting to look like that might not be for a while.”
“if you did make it back,” the Admiral asked “what would you do?”
The question seemed to surprise Rhonda. “Well, I couldn’t go back to what I was doing, ya’ll took care of that. Don’t take me wrong, I’m eternally grateful for that, I mean i’m not gonna keel over dead before I turn 21 now. Yeah I miss being able to jump off a building and fly off into the sunset-but I can live without it. I guess, I’d finish school, then…” she shook her head, never really having had a chance to think about long term plans ever since she was changed. “Probably try to get into college, then Med school. I already had to know a lot, while being able to create energy fields that healed injuries was fine, if you didn’t have a clue on just what you were putting back together..”
“I can imagine” The Admiral said with a smirk. “well, Lt Commander Huntington had a suggestion, and I happen to agree with him. While you are technically a minor, you can at your age enrol at the Academy. By the time you graduated you’d be of age, and if you grades are good enough, someone with your experience and drive could easily earn a slot in the Medical program.”
“But..I’m from a couple hundred years ‘go. Everything ah know is out of date, or never happened here, hell we never had any Eugenics wars in the 1990’s, and ya’ll never had spandex clad brutes bashing each other over the head with locomotives.”
“When you’re from doesn’t make as much difference as you might think. Not everyone who gets admitted to the academy is from a world as advanced as we are on Earth. Intelligence and ability to learn is more important than what you knew before you get there.”
“How would I get in though? I thought you had to be the best of the best even just to apply.”
The Admiral just smiled. “Admirals get a couple of appointments a year, one of the perks of the job. Technically, someone from a non federation world like your situation it takes two admirals-fortunately I know one rather well who owes me several favors.” She grinned “So I can get you in...though it would be up to you after that.”
Rhonda walked over to the window, the view of San Francisco bay, and the city on the other side. Other than the shuttles going to and fro...it could have been her home time. “Nothing happens without a reason. My dad used to tell me that. We might not have any idea, or be able to understand what it was, but there is a purpose to life. So, ya need to go through life with a purpose as well.” She smirked “while I probably could have made a comfortable living with my guitar, specially as a lot of the songs I knew weren’t written here, or forgotten over time..saving lives is a better purpose. Where do I sign?”
*****
Starfleet Academy, May 22, 2402
It was weird in a way, that this day finally came. It seemed like it took forever, and the first few years were, well, not hard, but challenging. She was officially Ensign Evans now, though she mistakenly showed her roommate some of the video she had from home. She was also still Polekitty, though at least only her friends called her that. Better a nickname than something that reporters referred to her as in news stories. The congratulatory message from Admiral Crusher this morning was a nice boost as well-it was nice to be remembered, and Rhonda did suppose that Admirals did tend to follow when the cadets they appointed to the Academy got commissioned. Or their aides did probably.
The actual graduation ceremony had taken place, they were sworn in. Now it was a time for Family and friends...the former, well they were four hundred years and probably half a dozen universes away. The latter she had at least.
She was watching as one of them was doing the actuall pinning on of her rank. There was a small stage, with the Federation flag in the background, where they would pose for pictures when a family member or loved one would pin the shiny Ensign pip on their collar. She smirked as Maria’s parents tried to get her younger brother to calm down enough for them to pose, pinning the pip on her collar when she heard someone behind her.
“Bet you thought I wasn’t gonna show.”
She whirled around “David! Er, I mean Captain!”
Huntington just laughed “We’re off duty, you can call me David ” he teased.
“Where’s Karen?”
His face clouded for a moment, then he shook his head “we split up.”
Damnit. “I’m sorry to hear that” she said, truthfully, and feeling a bit guilty, even though she had no cause to.
“It’s all right, it’s kind of like those old country songs you like-the one that’s the loudest accuser of cheating is the one actually doing it.. Anyway wait here, I’ll be right back.” he said as he disappeared back the way he came.
“Did he say they broke up?” Rhonda glanced over at the cadet, er Ensign on her left.
“Yeah. I know they had a fight last year, she accused him of wantin to have an affair with me.”
“Well, he’s on the market now, go get him.”
Rhonda shook her head “No. He sees me like one of his sisters, not that way, and ah ain’t gonna jeopardize our friendship for a teenage crush.”
“Eh it’s your life Evans.” Huntington was back in a minute after going to the kiosk “allright, got you registered.”
“For what? I wasn’t going to do the whole picture thing” she admitted.
“It’s tradition, besides, I didn’t dig these out for nothing” he replied, handing over a small box. She opened it, finding a pair of polished Ensign pips inside.
“They brought me luck, and they should do the same for you.”
It wasn’t as embarrassing as she thought it would be, though she still didn’t care for having a fuss made over her. And the picture was good, a definite Kodak moment as it were. Most of her fellow ex cadets were showing off the Academy to family and friends, of course having seen it hundreds of times being IN Starfleet, they didn’t have to do the nickel tour, instead sitting along one of the tree lined paths as David gushed enthusiastically about his first command.
“..almost finished with the last of the upgrades, so I should be getting orders soon, hopefully for something more scientific. Maybe even a chance to go over those ruins on Taugus III, there’s rumors that the planets government might open that up to exploration again.”
“That would be nice, even nicer if the Klingons and Gorn quit their fighting.” Rhonda replied.
“Not much chance of that so far, though the diplomats are trying. At least you don’t have to worry about that yet. So picked out where you’re going for post grad leave?”
She shook her head “Nah, gonna stay here, and get a head start on the work for Med School. I barely squeeked by with getting out of here, and that’s gonna be even tougher.”
“Barely squeeked? Seventy eighth out of a class of 210 isn’t barely squeeking, hell you did better than I did.”
“It still isn’t great, and this is literally life and death stuff, especially on the surgery side. I’ve gotta do better.”
He smiled reassuringly “you’ll do fine, and when you’re done in a year and a half you’ve got a berth on the Gabirel Bell with your name on it.” he said “assuming of course BUPERS doesn’t TRIBBLE that up.”
*****
USS Powhattan, Vega sector, October 7, 2407
“How about you get me another cup of coffee Lieutenant?”
Lt Rhonda Evans resisted the urge to growl. She’d been on this...throwback for two months now, TDY from the Gabirel Bell after they discovered the 22nd century Constitution class ship stuck in a temporal vortex. Captain Huntington had managed to free them, but then command had transferred her over for the trip back to Earth, as being a ‘fellow temporally displaced person’ as the Admiral from personnel had said, would be better suited for helping bring the crew into the modern era.
She couldn’t argue with the logic, nor could her captain. And most of the folks on the crew were decent enough...even if she did have to wear a miniskirt short enough to make a Risan blush. But if that Swaggering tin-plated dictator with delusions of Godhood grabbed her TRIBBLE one more time...Ok, maybe in the 2300s people acted that way-but hell, even back from when she was from originally that kind of behavior was over the line, much less Starfleet in 2407. Fortunately other than the first time, he hadn’t touched her again, at least with his hands “Aye Sir. “she replied insead, going over to the replicator and ordering the coffee the way he liked it. Two more weeks, and she’d be back on the Bell.
She handed him his coffee, resisting the urge to spill it in his lap, it would be for the good of the galaxy, honest. All she came up to the bridge for originally was to deliver the medical dept report on the last of the casualties from the wormhole incident that had sent the Powhatan forward in time. “Also, here’s the report you asked for”
The Captain smiled at her, in what he probably thought was a charming seductive grin. “Thank you Lt Evans” he said, when fortunately he was cut off by LtCommander Starling at communications.
“Captain, I’m picking up a distress call from the USS Khitomer.”
At least he was all business when things called for it she thought, though he still couldn't hold a candle to Captain Huntington “onscreen.”
”This is the Emergency Medical Hologram aboard the USS Khitomer. I am requesting assistance from any Federation vessel in range, we have been boarded by the Borg.”
She listened to the message with dawning horror, while Captain Branson looked confused “Borg? what, are they terrorists from Stockholm 4 or something?”
Rhonda sighed, her palm over her face, while on the screen the hologram just looked confused. “well since the doc in a box is asking for help, that makes it a medical emergency, Lt Evans, beam over and see what you can do.”
Sixteen hours later
She was tired, filthy, bruised and sore when she returned to the Powhattan. the Captain had only sent her over, so of course despite her protests she at least went armed. “where’s the Captain?” she asked, wanting to give him a piece of her mind.
“G..gone sir. Those Borg things..beamed over, took him, every senior officer..they started to take components off the ship, but then evidently decided against it and beamed back.” the young Caitian transporter tech stammered.
Oh TRIBBLE...she immediately felt guilty even though she had no cause to, over wishing something would happen to Captain Branson “Who’s the senior officer in charge?”
“You are, Sir…”
The news was even worse once she got to the bridge. She literally was it...oh there was beta shift, but the officers were gone as well-she had one hundred and forty nine very scared crewmen on board. She didn’t want this, but life’s what happens when you make other plans.
“Computer” she said as she sat down in the center seat, pointedly not looking at the scorch marks on the bridge. “Ships log, effective immediately, I am taking command until such time as we recover the Captain and senior officers, or they’re replaced.”
There was a momentary delay, then the computer replied. “Change in command acknowledged.”
Yeoman Bishop looked nervous, he’d been training for helm, but there was a big difference between studying and the real thing. “What are your orders Lieu, I mean Captain?”
She looked over the message that had been received “Set a rendezvous course with the USS Renown. They can help get the rest of the systems back on line, so we can follow the Borg and get our people home.” I hope she thought, as the ship jumped to warp.
"he's as dangerous as a ferret with a chainsaw."