USS Elementia Chapter 3
Chapter Three
War. A complicated variable in dealing with the Elementia crew. Picard didn't look back to his people as they flashed him looks of concern. Their professionalism would fall back on to their faces soon enough. He forced half a smile to his own before answering the commander. From his brief interaction with the ship's crew, he knew he needed to be blunt.
“I hope the presence of my chief of security at this meetings will not be distracting.”
Commander Troi didn't hesitant in replying, if his parroting her words interested her, she didn't show it. “It will not.”
Her lieutenant Yar looked about ready to disagree, but kept herself quiet.
“You said war with the Klingons, but it was a Romulan ship that was attacking you. Does your Federation have trouble with them as well?” Will eased back into the conversation, sitting straighter in his chair.
Emotion briefly flickered across her face. It looked like annoyance. Picard kept himself from frowning. Had she expected blind aid from them?
“The Klingons conquered the Romulan empire, though now they try and present themselves as equal partners in their continued expansion.” The edge of her mouth curled as she spoke, almost the beginnings of a sneer.
“You live in a dangerous galaxy.”
“Yes. One we are interested in getting back to.”
She finally looked towards his XO as she spoke. Was there a William Riker in her universe? Did this Deanna know him? Were they friends, as theirs were, or had something else happened in their lives? Being the instrument of the destruction of Beverly's family was painful enough. What other friendships were absent? Had they ever existed?
“Do you have any theories as to how you ended up here?” Their Deanna broke the silence.
Commander Troi looked back at Picard. “The tear off your port bow is what we came through. We were surprised to see a ship so quickly once we were through.”
He frowned. “The anomaly was picked up by a Betazed station two days ago.” A little temporal displacement wasn't unusual, especially when one was tearing through universes. According to Data anyway.
“Our journey through seemed instant.” She paused, lips pursing. “A Betazed station?”
“Was that not the region of space you were in before you came here?”
“No, we were in that region. Our exact coordinates would be appreciated, our computers still need a great deal of repair.”
“Then that shall go to the top of the list of things to assist with. What is it your ship needs?” Finally, to the purpose of this meeting. Not that their conversation prior to this hadn't been informative. Picard simply felt the wish to get business over with, and to get these people off his ship.
“Our chief engineer was compiling a list for me when I left. Of course, any personnel you can offer would be appreciated, though I understand you are unfamiliar with our engines.”
Riker shifted in his seat. “I mentioned the peculiar design on the way here.”
“Don't feel like your Federation is out of touch. It's a prototype, our ship is one of two that was outfitted with them.”
Picard made himself smile. “They are quite remarkable.” He doubted Geordi would get as detailed a look at them as the engineer would like.
Any people in the midst of a long war could hardly be trusting, no matter the faces that were asking them for insight.
-
“The commander is stable.”
The commander? The..? Ah yes, her initial patient. That woman had been three surgeries and five patients ago.
Beverly looked over to her own face. “Yes. Though, her wounds were.. unusual.” Most of the people she had treated had unusual injuries.
Her counterpart simply nodded, as if it was expected.
“What caused this?” It wasn't impact trauma, at least, not all of it, and it certainly wasn't weapons' fire. “Your crew... you weren't boarded.”
“No. There were power failures and several of our key systems overloaded.”
So badly that most of her crew was put out of commission? The wounds her tricorder had been picking up didn't all match typical console burns, or leaked warp core radiation. Beverly held her tongue, taking the information she had been given. She wasn't here to get answers from anyone. She was here to help.
“Are there any more critical patients you need help with? I'd like to check with my team in the hallway.”
“Check in with your people.” The captain turned and left as abruptly as she had arrived.
Beverly resisted the urge to do rounds of the biobeds first, this wasn't her sickbay, and headed out to check with Alyssa. Her nurse was easy to spot, as she was the only one standing in the hall. No more eerie echoes of 'captain' followed her as she moved between the crew. Were they finally asleep, or had they simply been informed of the situation?
“Alyssa.”
When she looked towards Beverly, a tiny frown was etched into the corner of her mouth. “Doctor.”
Had she picked up on the peculiarities of these injuries? Had something else caught her attention?
“How are things out here?”
“Alright. Nothing that rest won't solve.”
“That's good.” Where the hell had the people in sickbay been, then? What system had overloaded so badly that they needed surgeries, while the rest of the crew were not so badly hurt?
Alyssa fidgeted a moment, voice and eyes lowering. “There's... a lot of engineers.”
Beverly looked down the row of bodies that lined the halls. She hadn't noticed the sea of yellow uniforms amidst the bandages when she first laid eyes on them.
“A lot of them mumble about the engine while I treated concussions. They aren't security.”
If a ship this small had that many security personnel, it would have been a different kind of peculiarity.
“I want you to report back to the Enterprise.”
“Sir?”
“Give the captain a quick report, and collect anymore supplies you can.”
“Of course.”
Maybe it was time to start looking for answers.
-
Yar and Troi clasped hands, and Will saw their arms tense, as if they were about to arm wrestle midair. Tiny smiles crooked onto the corners of their lips.
“See you on the front.”
Yar nodded, dropping her hand and then stepping back onto the transporter pad with a host of Enterprise engineers, Geordi among them. She had been far from thrilled when Commander Troi had told her she was heading back to the Elementia without her. Their short, clipped, conversation in the corner of the observation lounge had made their Deanna shift uneasily in her seat. Whatever she had sensed from them had put a small frown on her face, it hadn't vanished even when Will left to take them to the transporter room.
Will nodded at the transport operator, a part of him was foolishly put at ease by Yar's departure. Perhaps that was what Commander Troi had intended by sending her off. It was unsettling to look at her, and she was still alive and well on the Enterprise. Was she trying to do his crew a favor by not having one of their dead comrades walk its halls?
“Is there anything else you wish to discuss?”
She turned back to face him. “I have concluded everything that my captain wished for me to discuss.”
“Well then, you have time for a drink.”
Her face went blank. Rather than offend her, Will was pretty sure he had just surprised her. He smiled, though it wasn't quite as bright as it normally was.
“You have alcohol on this ship?”
Yes, but that wasn't his intention. “We have synthahol in Ten Forward.” He resisted the urge to offer his arm as they moved back into the hallway. This was not his Deanna. This universe's Deanna was not his Deanna.
“This Enterprise is quite different than the one back home.”
Will imagined so, though he did not let his mind stray too far into the possibilities. A war, a crew without Beverly, Deanna, Worf, or himself, if he had read her expression on seeing him correctly. Was she still even the Federations flag ship? It was a fascinating if unsettling question. A drink in Ten Forward would hopefully relax the situation, and curiosity.
The crew in the halls gave them a wide berth and plenty of double takes. She was unperturbed by the people, until they came across a group of children. They trotted by, more interested in their game than the adults around them. Will stopped walking, and Troi moved a step past him before halting as well.
They had vanished from sight before he bothered speaking. “I imagine there are no children on warships.”
“None that the Federation does not deem old enough to die.”
Wesley. Could her Beverly have really lost her son due to some kind of war effort? Was that Picard, or that Federation, the ones responsible in the end for such a bright boy's death?
The rest of their walk to Ten Forward was in silence. This Deanna measured her steps with his, though she was following him, she managed to keep up the appearance that they were walking side by side. Perhaps taking her to such a public place was a bad idea, but he could not bring himself to take her somewhere more private. He did not want any whispered remarks to start floating around the ship about unusual time spent with a doppelganger Deanna. Thomas uncomfortably pushed himself to the forefront of his mind, but that man at least had been from this universe.
Guinan glided over as they took their seats at the bar. She smiled, looking completely at ease as always, even in the face of their unusual guest.
“Commander Riker, Commander Troi, what can I get you?”
Even if she was just reading the rank off of her uniform, it was more likely news of her had spread throughout the ship before them. The familiar faces aboard the Elementia's crew would not have been something they could have kept quiet.
“Your presence Guinan, as always, is appreciated.”
Her smile brightened, but she said nothing else after they placed their orders, drifting off to make the drinks in silence.
Troi spared the crew amongst the tables nothing more than a quick glance.
“You're sure your captain won't mind you relaxing right now?”
“Will yours?”
His ship wasn't heavily damaged, and most of his crew wasn't out of commission. “It's important that our crews have an opportunity to get to know each other. We're the direct links back to our captains.”
She tilted her head, acknowledging his comment, or perhaps Guinan, who had returned with their drinks.
“Do all Federation ships have a bar in your universe?” She ran her fingers around the edge of her glass.
“Not necessarily a bar, but most ships are outfitted with some form of recreation center. As this is a Galaxy Class ship we have room for a bit more. We've got a holodeck too, but you have to schedule your time in it.” Will took a sip of his drink and nearly spat it back out, it was so sweet. This was certainly not what he had ordered. What was Guinan pulling?
“Families and recreation. What is the objective of a ship like this?”
“Deep space exploration.”
She shook her head, still toying with her glass rather than drinking. “Sounds like my father's Starfleet.”
So her Ian had been an officer too. Had he died young as well, or had he had the opportunity to get older? To tell his daughter about the way the Federation used to be, before the Klingon war that they were tangled in? “I hope your Starfleet has a chance to become that again.”
She finally took a drink.
He almost took another drink himself, before remembering what was in the glass. He scanned the bar, but Guinan seemed to have vanished. He would have a couple of words with her later.
Deanna seemed to have lost interest in conversation, so he pushed forward with his own question. “What you said to Yar, before she left, that was...” Unusual seemed a rude thing to say.
“With the Klingons pushing forward every year, there only seems to be front line posting anymore. Our way of simply saying 'I'll see you later'.”
How badly was their war going that goodbye had been replaced with such a thing?
-
“Geordi.”
“Hey, Doc.”
“Find anything?”
The engineer froze. “Uh, well.. I'm just getting acquainted with the systems.”
“Right.”
He hesitated before fully turning to face her. “Something on your mind, Doc?”
“I'm not sure. You'll tell me if you find anything unusual?”
He opened his mouth, a tiny smile on his face, took another look at Beverly, and clearly changed his mind about what to say. “Of course.”
She nodded, already distracted, unfocused on what was in front of her.
“Was there something else?”
“Oh.. no.” Beverly stuffed her hands in her pockets to keep from wringing them, finally getting her feet to move and take her out of engineering. She shouldn't have given to the impulse and come down here personally. She could have contacted Georgi remotely, it would have been less suspicious than a personal visit. Was it suspicious behavior to just want to talk to the engineer from her ship? Was she even being watched?
There weren't any crew in the halls on the way back to sickbay. Most of them were there. The few that were still capable were in engineering, with Geordi. Alyssa had been right, there was an unusually high number of engineers aboard. That along with the two commanders was definitely odd. Odd enough to warrant her unease?
She stopped short at a flash of yellow hair.
It couldn't be.
She instinctively followed.
“She sent you back.”
Beverly stopped just out of sight, so focused on her target she hadn't realized she had been led back to sickbay. She took out her tricorder and pretended to take a reading off the man at her feet.
“You know how she gets. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really the security chief around here.”
It was. Tasha Yar. How long had this Beverly known her? Served with her?
“Don't doubt it for a second. You did your rounds before coming to see me, didn't you?”
“Partly.” It was a stiff admission. “It seemed like a lapse in security not to talk to you about what happened over there.”
Should she make her presence known? If she happened to overhear something, it wasn't as if it was deliberate. What if she turned the corner and it wasn't really Tasha? It had been so long since she'd heard her voice, perhaps she was mistaken.
“You make it sound terrible.”
“It was strange.”
“The Klingon?” Her voice was cold.
What was wrong with Worf?
“Partly. Apparently my counterpart used to serve on that ship and is currently dead.”
Well, there went that desperate theory. No matter the universe, that Tasha was alive. That had to be some form of good, right?
“Serve with Picard? He would have wasted your potential.”
Such a strange thing to hear from her voice.
“He seems calmer here.”
“Less evil to crush with his fist.”
“Perhaps.”
She wished she could see them without revealing herself, their sudden lapse into silence had her skin itching. Were they whispering and she just couldn't hear? They weren't making much effort to keep their conversation private, standing in the middle of a full sickbay. Then again, most of the crew around them were unconscious.
Beverly's voice, much more hesitant than before, picked up again. “Even with a Klingon on board that ship, do you think Deanna will be alright?”
“Sometimes I wonder if the two of you worry about the rest of us half as much as you worry about each other.”
Yar's voice was light, almost as if her words were part of an old joke, but the comment nearly had Beverly dropping her tricorder. Why would the two of them be so keen to look out for each other? Simply their relationship as captain and first officer?
“You know the answer to that.”
“Yes. And you saw who else was there. You know how she gets around him. She'll be fine. Better than here, around the injured, though I would have preferred to stay with her.”
“You know I need you here.”
“You have everything ready? I thought-”
“Doctor, is there something wrong with the crewman over there?”
The tricorder jumped in Beverly's suddenly shaking hands, but she caught it before it could leap to the ground. She stepped out from the corner, trying to school the shock from her face. How long had they known she was there?
“Just recalibrating my tricorder.”
“Of course. This is Lieutenant Tasha Yar, I believe you knew a counterpart of her.”
“Yes.”
Tasha was frowning, though her captain didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed. What had she stopped Beverly from overhearing? So much of their conversation had been peculiar- what could possibly have warranted silence?
“Hello.” She tried to smile.
-
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter