USS Elementia Chapter 2
Chapter Two
“They might not have looked it, but they were just as surprised as we were.”
Deanna's words didn't make Will feel any better. Two starships who had no idea what was going on was certainly not better than one.
“Do we have any idea where they came from?”
“The anomaly seems a likely answer, sir.”
“The Romulan ship was destroyed when it got near it. You really think something could have passed through that thing?” Will turned his focus to Data.
“The anomaly was in an unstable state when the ship approached it. That could have been what caused its destruction. At present, I have no other theories as to how the Elementia appeared in our space time.”
Space time. This was turning into one of the things Will was starting to resent. Time travel. Alternate realities.
“Hopefully with some of... her staff on board-” It seemed their captain was having a hard time wrapping his head around what they had just been presented with too. “-we'll be able to come up with a more complete picture. Mr. Data, have you finished your search?”
“Yes sir. There is no mention of a USS Elementia in any of the Federation data banks. The ship design is also unknown, and I have found no prototype blueprints which could lead to the construction of such a ship.”
“I'd certainly love to have a look at her.” Geordi was wistful. “Those engines are nothing like anything I've seen before. And she passed through our shields without a second thought. That's... impressive.”
Worf frowned at the reminder. “Sir, I believe a security force should be accompanying Doctor Crusher.”
“I'm aware of your request, Mr. Worf.”
From the way the captain was looking at his security officer, a part of him had to agree with the idea.
“I could accompany her team.”
“I want you here Number One, to liaise with the Elementia's first officer.”
Because the ship's own captain had refused to step aboard the Enterprise? Or because of who it was? He tried to avoid looking at Deanna.
“At this time, I think it's best we treat our guests as if they were a part of... this timeline's Federation. Security should not be necessary.”
“Crusher to Picard, I have my medical away team ready and assembled in transporter room one.”
“Very well. You’d better go, Number One, I want you to be there to greet our guests. Mr. Worf, keep transporter lock on our away team.”
Everyone, half risen from their chairs, paused at his statement.
“Security should not be necessary, but it does not mean we can't be cautious.”
-
Beverly wasn't sure what she should have expected.
A lone ensign in a torn uniform, with their arm in a sling, was waiting for them on the Elementia. Her tricorder was up, diagnosing him before she was off the transporter pad.
“Your shoulder is dislocated.”
“There's plenty worse off than me. Sickbay is this way.”
How many, how badly, that they couldn't spare the time to put his shoulder back into place? Grip tightening on her medkit, Beverly hurried after the ensign. He had hardly finished speaking before he was moving out into the hall. Though the main lights were off in the transporter room, the emergency lights showed a clean and well maintained station. The ensign's disheveled exterior was much more in place in the hallway. Panels were torn off walls, cables were laid across the floor, and some of the emergency lights flickered. There were no bodies and there were no noticeable blast marks, but the scene made the hairs on Beverly's neck stand on end. What had they been doing?
She heard a hitched-in breath from one of the young nurses behind her. She would find out who later, make sure they scheduled a meeting with Deanna. Someone who got caught up in the destruction would be no good on an away team in the middle of a fight.
They turned a corner and suddenly the halls were filled. Stretchers and makeshift pallets lined up alongside the walls. Her tricorder whirred and beeped. They were alive. Most were asleep.
One groggy individual opened their eyes at their approach. Their eyes brightened when they landed on Beverly.
“Captain?”
The ensign who was leading them looked back over his shoulder at Beverly's team. “The ship is small. Our sickbay can't fit everyone.”
“Captain.”
The officer on the ground tried to stand, but the ensign hurried over to them. He crouched, face twisting a moment in pain as he shifted his shoulder.
“The captain is still in sickbay.”
“But-”
He placed his hand on their chest, pushing them back down. “Go back to sleep.”
Their fevered eyes returned to Beverly, confused.
“Go back to sleep Mark, it'll make sense after you've rested.”
Was it a sign of respect or of fear that they were trying to stand in her presence?
The ensign didn't move as his shipmate laid back down. “The captain is through there, I- I need to stay with Mark.”
“That's fine. Alyssa, you start out here. I'll call you in if we need you. Everyone else, with me.” She marched for the sickbay doors, weaving through the stretched out feet of prone officers. Several more confused mumbles of 'captain?' followed her.
The doors opened and the sounds of the hallway immediately vanished under the whir and beep of machines. The noise of the equipment was rapidly cut through with sharp, succinct orders in a voice Beverly heard repeated back to her in her logs. Her counterpoint might be a captain, but it seemed she was also still a doctor. A weight she didn't realize she had, lifted in her stomach.
The captain looked to them the moment they stepped across the threshold. Her eyes skipped over the nurses and landed on Beverly.
“Good. You're here. The patient on biobed three needs to be prepped for surgery.”
No formalities, there were people who needed to be saved. Another strange comfort to hear from her own mouth. Beverly just nodded and moved towards the bed.
“Oh come now, a little internal bleeding never did me any harm.”
“Be quiet, Commander.”
The woman on the bed closed her mouth but rolled her eyes at her captain's command.
Another commander? Who was on this ship?
-
The light from Beverly's away team hadn't even vanished from the transporter pad when they received the two signals from the Elementia. Will took a breath to steady himself, and from the corner of his eye he saw Worf stand taller. What was it like for the Klingon, to see the woman he was currently dating in such a different position? Will didn't want to think about that. He didn't have time to think about it, either. And it wasn't any of his damn business. There. Settled. He wouldn't think about it.
The two figures fully materialized, and Will wondered how many more shocks he was going to have to take that day. Beside a command red clad Deanna Troi stood Natasha Yar.
His greeting stalled on his lips. He had to swallow to soothe his suddenly dry throat in order to speak.
“Welcome aboard the Enterprise.”
The two women stepped off the transporter pad, moving in synch and stopping just at the end of the small stairs.
Yar tilted her head to the side. “You recognize me.”
“Yes. We had a lieutenant Yar aboard this ship several years ago.”
Commander Troi's eyes were on the transporter chief when she spoke. “She died.”
Yar didn't blink at the statement. Troi's dark eyes finally landed on Will. To match his expression with whatever emotions he was feeling?
“Yes.” His tongue felt thick in his mouth when he answered.
Troi didn't look at Worf, but Yar was staring him down. The Klingon didn't budge under her cold scrutiny.
“Lieutenant Worf, our chief of security.” He tried to pick up the introductions, fumbling with the strange situation.
“I'm the Elementia's security chief.” Yar's words sounded like a threat.
Troi laid a land on her elbow before crossing over to stand in front of Will.
“And you're... Commander Riker.”
He couldn't place how she said his rank. Amused? Sad? This Deanna was harder to read than the one he knew.
“You know me.” He tried to smile.
“Yes.”
She didn't elaborate. Was he dead where she was from? Why not simply say so? She didn't seem to have any problem telling her fellow officer that she was dead in his universe.
“Well, Captain Picard is waiting, if you'll follow me.”
Yar's eyes stayed on Worf as they walked.
-
“Seeing someone close to you hurt can cause you to react differently than you might under normal circumstances.”
Jean-Luc had called back the counselor from exiting with the others. He wasn't sure what he wanted from her presence, but he knew he needed her at his side.
“I am not close to the crew of the Elementia.” From the corner of his eye he saw the door to the observation lounge. He would have turned and faced it if he weren’t speaking with Deanna.
Will would be back with their guests soon.
“You recognize some of their faces. Your mind will make a connection regardless of the facts of the matter.”
“Actually, I... I do not think I responded to the situation in a way I would have had I seen you or... Doctor Crusher in any danger.” Doctor Crusher. His old friend, Beverly. He did not need to say her name. The empath would sense the connection he felt to the older woman. That woman was not the one he saw on the bridge of the Elementia, nor the counselor.
“Does that bother you?”
“I am not sure if I want to distrust these doppelgangers because I perceive them as imposters, or because.. of something else.” Why were the Romulans after them? Why did the captain refuse to come aboard the Enterprise?
“Something you think is wrong with their situation.”
“Yes.”
“You are worried not because you think you will protect them, but because you think you will second guess yourself on whether or not to treat them as a threat, due to the familiar association.”
“Yes.”
Deanna looked away from him, focus drifting across the table to the view of stars. Her shoulders lowered but he could not hear a sigh.
“At the moment all I can tell you is that I feel general anxiety from that ship, which is neither damning nor exonerating evidence of who they are. There's tension. Due to the recent attack they suffered, or something else.” She trailed off, frowning. “I wish I could provide more clarity for you.”
There would be no easy answers for his gnawing, unfounded suspicion of the Elementia. “Speaking of the matter is always useful.”
She smiled, eyes turning back to him. “Never underestimate how important it is to say something out loud, even if it is just to hear how it sounds.”
“Never underestimate the clarity you provide for me, Counselor.” He found himself smiling back.
“Hopefully this meeting will help us understand everything a little better.”
“Quite.”
Silence settled in the air between them, comfortable, familiar. So many of their conversations were punctuated by long periods of simple thought, the quiet brought him ease.
He stood when the doors to the room opened. Commander Troi stepped through the door first. Worf came after her, gravitating toward their Deanna. Picard's voice caught in his throat as Tasha Yar stepped into the observation lounge. Her eyes skimmed over him before examining the rest of the room. He pushed through the tangle of emotions he felt at seeing his old security chief. Will's eyes flashed an apology as he entered after her.
“Commander. Welcome aboard the Enterprise.”
“Captain.”
They shook hands and the warmth of her skin surprised him. Her being cold should have been more alarming, but it at least would have matched the guarded expression on her face.
“I hope the presence of the lieutenant commander will not be too distracting.” Commander Troi’s statement, it hardly sounded like a question, was off putting.
Did she know what happened to their Tasha?
“It will not.”
“Then I would like to get right into business, if that is alright with you.”
“Of course.”
She and Tasha moved to the empty seats at the end of the table.
Picard retook his seat. “I would like to reiterate that your captain is welcome aboard to discuss our coordination efforts.”
“Given the extent of the damage, she felt it was that best that she remain aboard and assist in sickbay.”
The other Beverly was still a doctor. He tried not to smile. Of course, even in another universe, she would be, even as she sat in the captain's chair.
“And to be frank, Captain-”
Picard stiffened in his seat as a sudden tension gripped the room, dread coiling in his belly.
“-I don't want her to be distracted by having to look at the face of the man who caused the death of her family.”
His mind tripped into a well of infinitely cruel possibilities that her words brought to him. Her family? Not just Jack, but Wesley as well? Could there have even been others where they were from?
Commander Troi finished her unnerving reveal with hardly more than a blink, face having betrayed nothing as she spoke of her captain’s losses. “Where I come from, the two of you have always managed to avoid each other. The coordination efforts will continue to be arranged through me.”
He managed a stiff nod. “Very well. Any equipment or personnel requests you have can go through Commander Riker.”
This Deanna's dark eyes didn't have a problem looking at any of them, even as his own crew's eyes skirted around the familiar faces across from them. There was no curiosity, or distaste, that he could find. Her rather stiff features were a little unnerving displayed next to the counselor he knew.
“One other thing, Captain.”
The dread he had felt at her earlier proclamation crept through his body. “Yes?”
“With any security personnel you feel necessary to send over to my ship, don't send the Klingon.”
Worf half rose from his chair, but their Deanna put a hand on his arm to calm him. The woman at the end of the table didn't even blink at the display.
“For his own safety and the safety of my crew, it is best he stays aboard the Enterprise.”
“Why is that co-” unselor, no, that wasn't right, “-ommander?”
“We've been at war with the Klingon empire for the past fourteen years.”
-
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