A Cunning Plan (Part IV)

Posted on Fri Sep 13, 2024 @ 11:38am by Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant T'Lul & Lieutenant JG Anson Lee & Ensign Calaban Bel-Asher & Chief Petty Officer Walter Petersen & Charghwl'IH of the House of Soval & Lieutenant Jason Haines
Edited on on Fri Sep 13, 2024 @ 11:45am

1,719 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Tergum In Tempus
Location: USS Pachacuti, Holodeck 4
Timeline: MD 03

[PREVIOUSLY]

He had felt X'ae's hand on his arm, to calm him earlier but now he looked to the Ensign. "I have several ships at my command that we can be utilized, all crewed and ready, from birds of prey to battleships. I would recommend one who's commander is not associated with my House so as not to raise suspicion and have him question any cover story. Should the situation arise.

"9.8 is slightly out of their recommend range but not by much. How big a ship do you want?"

[CONTINUED]

Caliban looked relieved. "Nothing that would look out of place normally. A Then the only question is when we aim for. I'd suggest a couple of days before the invasion, but if anyone else has a better idea?"

For the most part the group seemed in agreement with the plan, they just had to finalize the details.

"I agree with that assessment Ensign." Annora said. "We don't want to land too far from the attack, but Three or Four days before should give us enough time to make the necessary preparations to fend off the Cardassians and their lackeys."

"The day before the Captain officially closes the Cardassian embassy at 1430, give or take a couple minutes actually," Jason said. "I believe her closing it down is the point where this timeline begins. We have to convince her not to and we have to get her to give an apology to the D'Tapa council. That way they won't give Turvan support. And if we can't get her to do that, we have a list of defensive tasks we must take to disrupt Turvan's operation."

Alanna nodded. "Turvan and his weapon have to fail and the Cardassians need to be defeated. If not, he'll just try again."

While T'Lul did not agree with the mission that this group was undertaking, this part of the analysis did not seem flawed. "As the Chief Counselor, I can tell you from my analysis of the Captain that I do not believe it is likely that you will be able to change the Captain's mind or to be able to encourage her to give an apology. She tends to be very single minded once her mind is made up. Of course, if you intend to reveal this timeline to her, she might be willing to listen if you can prove the disaster that is to come. She cares about the station above almost all else."

As the conversation continued, Annora looked over at the Chief who had been pretty quiet throughout the whole debate.
"In my opinion the Cardassians were a powder-keg just waiting to explode. As I recall Lieutenant, you tried talking to them after the incident, correct?"

"That I did." was the response from the security officer. "Both myself and Lt Winters from the Diplomatic staff. The Cardassians wouldn't listen to any suggestions we put forth in an attempt to prevent a second incident from happening. They were out of bounds and fully unapologetic. With that in mind, and fearing a more forceful response to any perceived threats on the Cardassians, I fully supported the Captain's decision to expel their staff. Without revealing our temporal mission, I don't know how to justify a sudden change of heart."

Caliban frowned. "The further from the invasion, the more damage we could do. Maybe someone could persuade the Captain to invite the Cardassians back?"

"Why invite them back?" Alanna asked. "Didn't they set up headquarters on Pangaea? If we keep that weapon of theirs from working, the coalition forces might be in time to defeat the Cardassians without the destruction of the station. That might be enough to change the outcome."

At the back of the room, Anson Lee raised his hand. "Uh, I know I wasn't here for most of it, but you said it was the station going boom that set off the whole 'primordial soup' thing, right? Are we sure the Cardassians had anything to do with the station blowing up? I had access to the sensors when the evac alarm went off. There were a lot of them on that station and I doubt they all made it off. Cardassians are a lot of things, most of them not great, but blowing themselves up isn't their style. It would suck to go back in time, keep them from taking control of the station and it still goes boom and we turn into soup."


It was a valid point that had yet to be brought up by anyone else. Perhaps this other security officer being an outsider would prove valuable if the mission moved forward.
"We don't for sure. You're correct."

If they were able to prevent the Cardassians from taking the station and prevent the later destruction, Annora was going to offer the Deputy Security role to the young Lieutenant. For now, though, they had to get to that point.

"Were you able to capture any of the sensor data? That could be useful to have in trying to figure out just what happened. Accidental or on purpose, it should be possible to prevent DS5 from turning us all to soup as you put it. I will have a chat with the engineering staff once the station is secure, and any sensor data will be useful but not required. Between our Cardassian friends and Earth First, it'll be easy enough to make up a vague excuse about some Intel suggesting a plan to blow up Starbases. We'll do a full security sweep and have engineering double check all their systems."

Anson shook his head. "I was scanning for our people to transport them out. That how I know the Cardassians didn't start evacuating ahead of the system warnings. I didn't have time to look for anything else."

And even if he'd had time, it probably wouldn't have occurred to him. He was a security officer, not an engineer or a scientist.

It was a long shot, and one Annora didn't expect to pay off.

"That's not a problem Lieutenant, it was pretty chaotic up there. The Cardassians not attempting an evac seems to indicate it wasn't a planned event. When we get back to the station, I'll make up some chatter about possible sabotage. With engineering and Ops on a higher alert it should help ward off any threats. Speaking of which, when are we attempting this cockamamie plan to rewrite history?"

"I think we should look closely at what made the station blow up," Alanna said. "That may give us some valuable information for when we go back. As to when that is..." She smiled. "Time is on our side."

T'Lul had to partially agree. "What made the station blow up should be our focus. However, time is not on our side, as you have punned. We have one attempt. Jump too far back and we could die before the incident. Jump too far forward and we miss our opportunity. And, we only have one attempt and a paradox has a higher likelihood of occurring the more people go back."

Alanna nodded. "I think we need to come back in a few days to make the final plans. That will give Caliban, Jason and I time to meet with T'gan and plan exactly when and how we can best make the jump. Then we'll pick a team and a time. Does that work for everyone?" She looked around. "Those who want to be part of that team, let me know. For the rest, your suggestions are still appreciated."


Hopefully Starfleet wouldn't completely leave the sector before the team could implement their plan. Paradoxes or not, Annora felt a duty to try and correct the tragedy.
"The Chief and I will be there. In the interim we'll try and cook up some surprises for our guests should we need to defend the station again. I'm sure we can come up with some unorthodox but still legal ideas. Mr. Lee, you're welcome to join us if you wish, but are under no obligation to do so."

Anson nodded. "Might be the end of all our careers, but can't have much of a career if the universe ends. Besides, you'll need someone along who you can be sure you won't have to worry about encountering their past self."

T'Lul considered the options. She did not think that time should be tampered with; however, if she did not go, they were liable to cause a paradox. If they insisted on this course of action, someone needed to be the voice of reason. Besides, her career was likely in the dumpster at this juncture. Logically, her best option was to head back to the past. "I will join you," she told the group simply.

"I'm not worried about encountering my past self, but that's a conversation for another time. Glad to have you along for the ride. We should take some time to do some research before regrouping. My assigned quarters should be sufficient as a meeting place. Unless things change, let's plan on tomorrow at around 1700. Others are welcome to join, but this will be a security focus."

The Cardassians were more or less a known entity. The Xi'Cadian allies would require a bit more research, as to her knowledge Starfleet hadn't fought them before. At present, Annora was looking forward to a shower and bed.

"Sounds like a plan to me", Jason said. "It will give me some time to get familiar with Ensign Caliban's work."

"If each of us gathers what information we can between now and the next meeting in, say, two days, we should be able to come up with a solid plan." Alanna looked at those in the room. "For now, let's keep this to just us." Finally, she turned to Caliban. "Thank you for setting this up. Now, let's get out of here before someone gets curious."

A Post by

Ambassador Charghwl'IH of the House of Soval
Klingon Ambassador
Deep Space 5

Ensign Caliban Bel-Asher
Science Officer
Deep Space 5

Jason Haines
Civilian Ne'er-do-well
Pangaea

Lieutenant Annora Tesaro
Chief Security Officer
Deep Space 5

Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space 5
Chief Archaeologist
Pangaea

Lieutenant T'Lul
Chief Counselor
Deep Space 5

Chief Petty Officer Walter Petersen
Security Officer
Deep Space 5

Lieutenant JG Anson Lee
Assistant Chief Security Officer
Deep Space 5

 

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