A Strange and Wonderful Multiverse

Posted on Sun Jul 31st, 2022 @ 3:50pm by Captain Devin Hadenbeer & Lieutenant Commander Rayek trLhoell

3,152 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Into The Void
Location: Gamma Quadrant, Trialus System, Katra Station - Auxiliary Drydock
Timeline: August 2399

FIVE YEARS AGO...

Devin stared out at the work bees buzzing about the Lionheart A's hull, frantically working on last minute repairs and refits. Three years of constant travel had been hard on her. Three years navigating dimensions whose environments the ship had not been equipped to handle. Three years of running battles. Three exhausting years. And now they were reaching the end.

Problem was, the last two trips were going to be murder. Almost literally.

So engrossed she was in the activities taking place in the shelter of Katra Station's Auxiliary Drydock she failed to notice someone stepping up alongside her until their reflection in the window almost gave her a start.

Rayek hadn't intended to startle the female Captain from her distant thoughts with his near silent approach but he'd been asked to relay a message in person from the station's Acting Commanding Officer, Commander Magella. Why it fell to him rather than the station's own Executive Officer was a mystery. Perhaps the Commander felt that because the Amalthea had been the ship to find and ultimately invite the USS Lionheart-A to Katra for her repair work that it made them exclusively responsible?

"Captain," Rayek addressed, while turning to study the woman momentarily. "Katra's Commander has asked me to get an update on your ship's anticipated timeline for departure and asks if there is anything else that we can provide you and your ship and crew?"

Devin sighed and turned to regard Rayek. They had spent only a month here but some friendships were made quickly. She smiled wryly and handed him a PADD.

"Twelve crew have requested permission to stay. I have had talks with each of them, but they remain adamant and I cannot in good conscience force them to make the trip. It...hasn't been easy and I think for them any Federation that even remotely resembles home is preferable to what we are about to face."

The Romulan Starfleet officer looked over the PADD handed to him, noting the names of those that had requested to stay. While only having been in the company of the Lionheart's crew for a month, Rayek had come to know them rather well.

It would have been nice to say that the knowledge had only come to him via personal connections, but the truth was that when he first came aboard a month ago with the Amalthea's team of engineers to offer assistance to the stranded unknown Starfleet vessel, Rayek had taken the opportunity to hack the ship's logs and personnel files. He'd felt justified at the time, concerned that the ship was another Thinker ploy with more replicant clones. Yet scans of the ship and crew had matched their claims of having dimension jumped; and study of the hacked files proved the same. It was interesting to note that some individuals had counterparts living or having lived within the Federation, whereas for others there were no comparable records of.

The more Rayek learned from reading the hacked personnel files of the displaced ship, the more he came to respect and trust the Lionheart's Captain and her crew. It was because of that trust that Rayek could honestly assure the Captain of the future of her crew. "Of course. Your crew will be offered to continue their commissions or enlisted service with us though possibly at a lower rank until their superiors can assess their knowledge and skills to our standards, or if they choose to leave the Fleet they will provided placement among the civilian population on New Bajor or on Katra."

It was honestly a rather sweet deal.

Devin gave a nod, "Thank you, lieutenant."

She turned back to the window and gave a sigh, "I will not deny that I have considered settling down here myself. This next trip, the second to last..." she could see her wry smile in the window's reflection, "...in theory...will be among our most dangerous. Our probe picked up enough data to tell us what we are flying into is...Well, it is not good. If it comes down to a straight up fight we are going to lose. We have a plan but even if it works..."

She shrugged, "Marta gives us fifty/fifty odds. And she has gotten pretty good at her predictions."


Rayek remained stoic at the Captain's address of him by his demoted rank. Much like a Vulcan - a species he so often had despised in the past - Rayek's expression stayed neutral, not showing openly his frustration at having fallen so far from where he had hoped to be.

Two months ago the Romulan had been a Commander and the First Officer of the Amalthea. But that rank and role had been stripped away from him AGAIN... because once more his overly protective nature had ignored Federation and Starfleet regulations - this time in regards to the humane treatment of prisoners. Namely his brother, who in an attempt to assassinate Rayek had instead killed one of the Amalthea's science officers. One of those same Vulcans Rayek claimed to despise. A Vulcan that had saved a shuttle of three others - including Rayek - by bodily covering a sabotaged and overloading EPS conduit just as it was about to explode.

Rayek had attempted mete out Romulan justice to the culprit because he believed it was the only way to ensure his family's - his ship's - safety from his own brother, the Tal Shiar agent sent to kill him. But all Rayek's attempt had done was drive a wedge between him and his wife - him and his Captain. Rayek was in the proverbial doghouse both at work and at home. For the past two months he'd been sleeping in the security office, rather than in his bed beside his wife.

Rayek feared that he had finally self-actualized the future that Dr. Padrini had threatened him with a year ago. ** 'Once Tess will have enough of your egotism, I will be right there to comfort her.' The man had gloated. ** Not if Rayek had any say in the matter! Problem was, at present he had no say at all - and that scared him.

As Rayek listened to Captain Hadenbeer admit to having considered staying herself, he wondered if rumor of his misdeeds and his former position had filtered through the ship to her and Lionheart's crew. He hoped not. Listening more closely, Rayek frowned at the odds that her ship's First Officer gave their success. He would have liked to have done something to improve those chances but Rayek was no scientist and his understanding of the dimension jumping that the Lionheart would be doing was far beyond him. All he could do was offer them his support presently.

"At moment's like this, I suppose is when as Starfleet officer's we are supposed to look at the situation as 'glass half full'." Rayek remarked while meeting her gaze and holding it a moment silently - his attempt to offer his acknowledgement of her courage. The moment passed and Rayek looked down to the PADD in his hand and copied over the list to his own PADD. "I'll make arrangement to have these twelve brought to Katra."

"Thank you," Devin replied. She hesitated, then asked, "I...don't suppose I can find out what happened to my counterpart here? Is she still alive? Did she join Starfleet? Does she have a family? Or is the dreaded Temporal Prime Directive still in force?"


Rayek, who had sneaked access to exactly the information being asking about, didn't meet eyes with the Captain; rather he kept his eyes on his PADD as he considered how best to answer.

"For those that are remaining we will be offering a brief synopsis of their counterparts lives but requiring that they do not attempt to make contact with family or friends from their former lives. They will be starting anew. There's even talk of new identities to assist with the restart." Rayek began as a preamble. "But for those returning, it was deemed best not to share any potential foreknowledge. I'm sorry."

Devin nodded, not at all surprised. She sighed and replied, "For the best, I suppose. I would spend the rest of the trip second guessing myself if my counterpart was considerably more successful...or happier...than myself. I have made some...unfortunate decisions, and I-"

"There you are!"

Devin turned to see Commander Wallan striding purposefully towards the pair, a smile on her face. She said, "Good news! I have convinced several of our, shall we say, less than happy crew that they were wrong to leave. Twelve has become seven."

She handed a PADD to the captain and then turned and regarded Rayek, "Hello, lieutenant. You are looking as inscrutable as ever. Did anyone ever tell you that you'd make a good intelligence officer with that poker face of yours?"

As Captain Devin accepted and then further justified the reasons for not needing to know her counterparts choices, Rayek idly wondered if he would be even half as amenable. Probably not. Rayek knew all too well how deep his need for intel was - even just those peripherally associated with him and his family. He couldn't see himself following someone else's notion of what was appropriate to know or not.

The arrival of Commander Wallan drew Rayek's attention and immediately at recognition of her (and more importantly, her telepathic species) he ensured certain areas of his own mind were closed off to her telepathic and empathic abilities. Rayek recognized that this 'blank wall' that he presented towards her could be considered rather rude, especially given his own recently 'outed' ability, however the Romulan felt that was far better than her gaining unimpeded access to knowledge of him and his past that she should not have.

He turned partially to face the Betazoid First Officer as she gave her report to her Captain. The news she carried about fewer people staying was indeed good. Several on the Federation Interim Council - created not long after the Thinkers had forced closed the wormhole to the Alpha Quadrant - had been opposed to allowing any from the Lionheart-A to remain, siting potential destabilization of the entire galaxy. Thankfully some of the more reasonable minds prevailed and that fear was laid to rest.

Anticipating the Commander's greeting as she turned eyes towards him, Rayek offered a slight polite bow. While being described as inscrutable was not bad thing, especially to the rather paranoid Romulan; it did, however, bring to mind his features as bland-faced and emotionless as a Vulcan. Perhaps in rebelliousness, Rayek grimaced at the mental image. He was not emotionless! Romulans prided themselves on the depth of their feelings. They considered themselves so much better than their Vulcans 'cousins' because of the strength of their passions - and Rayek was no different. The things he felt, he felt fiercely. Love, Hate, Paranoia - there were no half measures.

Still the Commander was rather astute in her observation. She certainly wasn't the first note his affinity for intelligence gathering. Not that any aboard the Lionheart were privy to his background in the Tal Shiar, or his brief stint on Katra as her Strategic Operations Officer, prior to his first demotion to Ensign. (This was his second demotion - and only to Lieutenant this time.) As it was, only a dozen or so individuals in the Gamma Quadrant knew his full past.

Rayek smoothed his grimace into a slight smile - just to prove he wasn't emotionless like a Vulcan. "I'll assume you meant that as a compliment... and say thank you.... before inviting you to this week's poker game. The buy in is 100 credits."

It was near impossible to tell if Rayek was teasing or not.

"Ah, sadly I will have to pass on that," the commander replied with a theatrically sad sigh, "In a week I fully expect to be meeting my evil counterpart and locking horns with them. I-"

"If you would excuse me," Devin murmured, "I believe I will give one last 'go' regarding our seven hold outs. Lieutenant, it was a pleasure knowing you," her face was almost unreadable, but there was a sense of...fatalism there as she turned and walked away.

Wallan watched Hadenbeer stride down the corridor to the transporter room, after a bit she said, "When this is over I hope she resigns," she turned to Rayek, "I fear there is too much bitterness and distrust in her to ever truly be happy in the captain's chair."

Rayek inclined his head respectfully in response to the Captain's leave-taking. He had half expected the Betazoid to follow after, but instead Wallan remained standing with Rayek until the Captain was out of sight. The Betazoid's opinion on the Captain, and her hope for the future was interesting.

While Rayek could understand the Betazoid's perspective, it wasn't at all how Rayek saw Captain - and he certainly didn't deemed it to be a negative. The majority of Romulans were distrustful - a cultural necessity to survive to adulthood - many of which were also bitter - but Rayek believed that is what made them such fine tacticians and strategists. They trusted no one and thus were prepared to take on whatever the Elements threw at them.

Rayek knew that for the longest time he was exactly as Wallan described the Captain, distrustful and bitter. In fact, Rayek had been worse - villainous even. But all it took was one person at the right moment to change his entire life.

"I don't believe that's entirely accurate, Commander." He considered a moment if it was appropriate to say more - given his now reduced rank, but Rayek doubted there would be any better time to offer his own insight to the XO.

"Trust has no proprietary claim on happiness. Nor is distrust and bitterness permanent conditions of a person's personality. Being distrustful of a foe is not a liability; it is wisdom. However, if the Captain is distrustful and bitter towards her crew," not that Rayek had seen any sign of that during his time among the Lionheart crew, "then as her XO, you might consider working harder to discreetly point out to her the trustworthy actions and deeds of those around her, recognizing them and the sacrifices they make each day to follow her command."

Learning to trust those he commanded had been one of the first lessons his counselor had started Rayek on when he became the Executive Officer of Katra Station nearly 3 years ago. It wasn't something that came naturally to the Romulan after years of abuse, villainy and his cultural upbringing, but Rayek was far better at it than he had been. Not that he would ever want to grow lax in his initial distrust of people. He believed it was what kept him and his family safe for the most part.

"It's not her crew," Wallen replied as her eyes strayed towards Lionheart, "She loves us, fiercely. Every loss the past three years has taken away another part of her. No, it is the admirals she does not trust. Years ago there was a mission and she lost her unborn child. She could have said 'no' to Admiral Necheyev, but she did not. And then this mission..."

She turned back to Rayek, "Admiral Connagher assured her it was safe. He made all sorts of promises regarding the 'bugs' being 'ironed out'. What the scientists had not taken into account was mass. Mass skews all calculations. And they did not account for multiple jumps, how every one is like a huge 'belly flop' into a swimming pool, straining the hull on a subatomic level. Lionheart has one good jump left in her. Problem is, she needs to make two."

Wallen smiled sadly, "Thing is, there is a ship design perfect for dimensional travel: the Chariot class. I have seen the schematics and her tapered secondary hull is perfect for piercing dimensional barriers with a minimum of stress on the hull. If the admiralty had just waited a couple more years..."

Wallen's words were impactful to the family-oriented Romulan. None of what he'd read about Captain Hadenbeer in the sneaked files had hinted at her having miscarried during a mission. Yet Rayek didn't doubt the Commander's claim about this. The revelation was one that Rayek felt he could somewhat relate to. Not that he had actually lost a child himself due to work, but the during his first few months aboard Katra, he'd experienced the vivid mental illusion of having romantic bonds with most of the female officers aboard, all with children. Rayek had been devastated when the illusion was peeled back to reveal the truth: that he had no family - back then believing his siblings and parents all dead and his homeworld destroyed when Hobus went supernova.

The Commander's further information about the subatomic damage to Lionheart explained the Captain's earlier words. Yet still they were determined to try for home. Rayek, not being from their dimension, had no real idea why their Admiralty would have pushed from this mission early but he suspected they had their reasons. Not that Rayek felt it was his place to be justifying this to the Commander or Captain, so after Wallen finished speaking, the Romulan only nodded and spoke to the one thing he felt might offer some sliver of hope.

"Katra's best are doing all they can to improve your ship's odds."

"And we won't forget it," Commander Wallan replied with sincere gratitude, "Torpedoes topped up, fully fueled, key repairs made, it could make all the difference."

She unconsciously straightened her duty jacket and said, "I need to get back to the ship and make final preparations. Thank you, lieutenant. For everything," she held out her hand to him, "I very much doubt we will meet again."

She smiled, "But who knows? If I have learned anything it is that this is a strange and wonderful multiverse, where anything could happen..."

Rayek nodded at her words that remarked how Katra's aid could make all the difference. Given the state of the Lionheart when the Amalthea came across the other ship, the Captain's words were a bit of an understatement. He accepted her hand formally and shook it even as she remarked how they were not likely to meet again. Again a bit of an understatement since the Lionheart would be dimension jumping to return home. That technology was still years away from any sort of consideration in the Federation as far as Rayek was aware.

He raised a slight skeptical eyebrow when the Captain stated 'anything could happen'. While that might be true... it was unlikely.

"Jolan'tru, Captain. Glohhaasi' mnekha" which the Captain's universal translator would identify as 'Farewell, Captain. Good hunting.' Which was the closest the northern Romulan dialect got to expressing 'good luck'.

 

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