Only Human

Posted on Thu May 18th, 2023 @ 8:46am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis Dr & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson & Lieutenant JG James Phoenix & Ensign J.B Dersch

Mission: Writing the Q Cards
Location: USS Washington

Joe stood before the others obviously a bit perplexed and overwhelmed at whatever had happened to bring them here. He was grasping at what this all implied, all while trying to grasp with the simpler and more present issue of meeting everyone for what was likely the first time in person. "Alright, assuming this isn't just some sort of crazy dream, my name is Joe Carroll, and I am apparently the captain. It looks like you are Jeff my XO, Julia my CMO, and well, I don't believe I have actually seen the rest of you, though I am guessing you are all now replacing your character from our sim. I suppose I should say welcome to the Star Trek twilight zone. I think we need to make introductions for our own sanity."

Shon, no Linds, no Shon, no definitely Linds stood before the mirror, a rather portly woman in a definitely stretched StarFleet Lieutenant Commanders uniform. “If this is a dream it’s a bloody good one” she said to no one in particular.

“Doctor!” A passing ensign acknowledged her without doing a double take as the passed her walking down the corridor. She stood still feeling the slight thrum of what she presumed were the warp engines. She began walking not really headed anywhere when suddenly she wanted to meet the rest of her crew mates that she had been writing with for such a long time. Making a decision she headed for the bridge “might as well begin at the top” she said to herself again then stopped. What if was only her dream! She imagined all the laughter when they saw the overweight slightly greying small elderly woman. “Seth, Shasta!” She exclaimed out loud and looked for a cupboard to hide in.

Dersch then knew what was going on and said "Hell Yeah." Dersch then ran to the bridge to look for the Captain since this is going to be a very interesting next few days! Thing is though the former 30-31 year old is now 16 years old but still can kick ass.

Joe looked at the others. "Mostly adults, but why is a Wesley Crusher cosplayer here?" he questioned as he looked at who he assumed was Dersch. Joe had a rather military regard about him, so in that regard he fit in with being the captain of a ship. He needed to get a grasp on reality at this moment though, and he needed to come to grips with being in what seemed like a giant cosplay set with people who knew mainly from writing for years.

Jeff looked around at the group. He was a tall man (6ft) slender with short salt and pepper hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. Like Joe he had a somewhat military manner having served and then in law enforcement. "Um anyone have an explanation? What is going on?"

"Assuming this isn't some sort of fever dream, then we have been brought here by Q. Not sure how this is possible, being brought into a world that we all thought of as fiction, and fan fiction to be accurate" Joe replied. "I am almost afraid to walk out onto the bridge."

Near the window was a young adult, about 18 years old. Chris blinked a few times in the event he was in some sort of lucid dream. He rose his head and looked around the room. Most of the people in there he didn't exactly recognize by face but he knew who they were. It was quite obvious that a Q had brought the group there. Five minutes ago he was sitting at his desk playing online games with friends and now he was in the uniform of one of his beloved character's in a universe that he always dreamt that could be real one day.

Being a future sailor in the US Navy, he didn't have any training yet, but he knew some terms added with his vast research of the Star Trek Universe. All things considered, whatever happened next, he at least hoped he could take care of himself. Chris spoke up as he looked at Joe. "You and me both. I wonder if they'd see us as our actual characters or just as who we are right now."

"An excellent point to consider. Perhaps we can test the theory without alarming the entire crew" Joe replied. He looked at Jeff and Julia to see if they had any thoughts on the subject at hand.

Linds had decided to show herself, she was amazed that she no longer had to use her crutches to walk. The feeling of freedom and stability she had not felt for six years encouraged her to head for the bridge.. she entered the Captain’s ready room to see it full of people she did not know. “Erm hello, I’m Linds anyone know what is going on and who is Seth?”

Jeff pointed to a man standing there quietly as the others spoke. "I believe that is Seth." He told Lindsay.

“Beats me” Janet looked around those gathered from where she stood. At 49 she seemed to be one of the older members of the group. “One minute I’m sitting reading my email, the next I’m here, it looks like we’re in an episode of Star Trek, I hope someone has some proper answers for us.”

Linds turned towards Janet, “you know I think you are Callie, I’m Shon, pleased to meet you.” She held her hand out to Her and added “I hope we’re not pregnant!”.

“I doubt it!” Janet grinned as she looked at Linds. “I have two kids already in the real world, that’s enough for me.”

"Well I think we should all be on alert. Anyone with Q powers is a danger to this ship and us" Dersch said just to put it out there.

"We need to determine the extent of the change, and then determine what we need to do to play this out. Q said something about watching things play out and coming back, so obviously this is some sort of game to him. I should note, it wasn't the Q we all know well, it was his son. Based on that I suspect this to be some sort of surreal juxtaposition that will play out as we stumble around." Joe informed everyone. "We simply have to play our roles as best we can."

"A Q and Q's son no less. This is just perfect." Jeff replied. He walked over to Janet and Lindsay. "I'm Jon er jeff, you must be Lindsay and Janet."

Janet nodded. “That’s me, It’s nice to meet you Jeff.”

Linds nodded at Jeff, “pleased to meet you.”

"Sir I suggest we maintain a yellow alert or some type because when it comes to anyone related to Q, Q had sent the Enterprise D to the Borg and I don't know what going to happen here" Dersch suggested.

Joe looked at Dersch, "We are all Trek fans. We know what Q means, and honestly, not much we can do about him. Why are we going to alert the whole ship unnecessarily? I think you are allowing yourself to get caught up in the moment. You are young and prone to getting easily excited. As much as I hate saying this because of how old it makes me sound, take a moment and let the adults consider the situation." He looked at Julia, "How you handling this?"

Julia looked over the rim of her ever present coffee cup, silently taking in the situation and attempting not to freak out - or at the very least not cause a scene whilst doing so. She took a breath before replying "As well as you can expect I guess - we have no choice but to play the game it seems" With a long career in the fire service she had seen many weird and crazy things, but this certainly took the case.

“Wait a minute!” Linds exclaimed. “I’m really in space, really out here? I have to see.” She walked over to the windows and looked out into the vastness of the Universe. For a minute she could not speak for the words caught in her throat, then “oh God it is so beautiful. I never thought I would ever see it for real.” Was all she could say, there were no words. Then she felt hands on her shoulders and she knew it was Seth. She turned her face burning as everyone else faded away. “Is it really you?” She asked.

Dersch just sighed and found a place to sit, Still wearing his Uniform.

Seth flashed a beautiful, beaming smile at her, "It's really me." He answered, "Were you expecting someone else?" He teased gently.

“Tell me Seth, who do you see before you?” She smiled.

"What do you mean? Who do I see? I see you Shon. Who am I supposed to see?" Confusion in his voice.

She smiled lovingly at him. “No reason, I’m just checking. Did you leave Shasta in our quarters?”

He chuckled and bent down and kissed her quickly and lovingly. "I do so love you and your silly self. And in answer to your question, yes Shasta is in our quarters."

Linds suddenly felt twenty years younger, then, suddenly remembered her characters Vulcan side, something she did not have yet she retained all the medical knowledge. She knew she could go to sickbay right now and deal with anything. She squeezed Seth’s hand loving the feel of it in hers.

Janet too gazed out at the stars. “Ohhh Wow! This is incredible! Question is how in the hell do we get to swap back to our characters? What if Q has too much fun with us?”

Linds was silent thinking about her medical situation. Cancer had long been consigned to history in this century, if she stayed maybe, just maybe her life could be prolonged. She already had no need for crutches and her sciatica had gone, maybe the cancer had as well.

After listening to certain conversations, Joe thought he had a grasp on things, or at least he hoped he did. Each of them were replacing the main character they normally played on the sim, and none of the others seemed to recognize that things had changed. He wanted to make sure he was understand the rules completely, so he walked over to the computer on the desk and asked, "Computer, bring up the service record for the captain of the USS Washington."

The computer complied, and to his amazement it wasn't showing Shran dh'Klar, but rather him. The bio was almost identical to the one he had written for Shran, but the personal details were his own. He sat in the chair trying to comprehend the implications.

Dersch sat there listening to the introductions while also watching the Space outside the ship. "Letting the Adults Work things out"

“We cannot stay closeted in this room.” Linds announced, “we have to go about our duties and see how things pan out. For good or ill we are currently in this situation so, I suggest with Joe’s permission we get to it?”

Dersch perked up in and said "Yea Lets do that!"

Janet looked somewhat perplexed. “I’m not a trained Counsellor so I guess I’m just going to have to wing it for now.”

Dersch Looked to Janet and Said "You will do fine.."

Linds gave Janet a strange look. “How come I know everything my character does then?”

"I believe we know what our character knew, but we don't possess the exact same abilities" Joe offered. "I certainly don't have the sixth sense Shran had, nor his telepathic ability. But I do know everything that he knew, and thankfully, I retain all my Star Trek knowledge. I do agree that we can't just stand around here forever. We need to try to function as if everything is normal, at least for now. That means we need to focus on what we, or rather our fictional selves were doing before we appeared here. That means Julia and Linds working in sickbay on that Kilrathi Fever issue, Janet helping the New Liberty people with their transition with Earth and the Federation, and Jeff being liaison for pretty much everything. Chris, you and Dersch, I mean, well, I guess you guys are on patrol duty at this point." Joe walked over to Dersch, "Sorry about getting a little testy. You are only a couple years older than my oldest kid. Last time I had to deal with anyone your age that wasn't my own child was when I taught."

"Its Fine" Dersch Said

Janet nodded. “I don’t have Callie’s senses, all those Betazoid abilities are gone. I’ll just have to rely on good old Human intuition. I’m sorry Linds, what I meant was I’m no real life Counsellor, I just enjoy playing the part, only now we all have to do it for real.” She looked to Joe. “I’ll do my part Captain, one way or another we’ll get through this.” She offered Jeff a curious look. “Jeff, can I talk to you in private?”

"Sure thing Jan." jeff answered with a smile.

Janet waited until they were away from prying eyes before speaking. “This is kind of...awkward, but as our characters we’re a married couple, with a son, hell Harry will see us as Callie and Jon. What are we going to do about our...living arrangements?”

Jeff didn't rush an answer. Jan had a very good point. After several seconds he answered. "I don't see where we do anything Jan. If we do, that is going to arouse Harry's suspicions and endless questions. I think we do like we have. Share the same bed, no sex of course and just go from there. What do you think?”

She paused then nodded. “I think you’re right, I trust you to be honorable.” She grinned. “I’m already a mum so things with Harry won’t change any. Anyway I guess we’d both best get back to work.”

Jeff smiled back. "Thank you for trusting me. I would never do anything to betray that trust Jan. I will be entirely honorable. You have my word."

Janet nodded. “That’s good enough for me. This is going to be seriously weird, trying not to slip up. The crew will still expect me to be Betazoid, and instead I’m just Human. Guess I’ll have to make up an excuse for that.”

"I don't think so Jan. I think the crew will still see you as Callie. It is only us." Jeff waving his hands at the others, "Who see us as ourselves."

Janet nodded. “I’m not so sure” she pulled up her personnel file on the PADD she was holding and showed it to him. “The file is in my real name.”

Dersch Walked out of the Room and started his patrols.

Joe watched Dersch exit and looked back at the others. "Alright everyone, let's give this a go. We'll reconvene later."

Linds took her time getting to sickbay, everything looked new to her but she knew it from the storylines. Occasionally she reached out and touched something just to make sure it was all real. As she walked people nodded to her and passed the time of day. More than once she felt her ears wondering if they were growing tips and was a little disappointed that they remained the same smooth roundness that they had always been. Even using the turbolift was a thrill. She hurried up slightly as she thought about meeting the daughter she had long ago invented and who had been given back to her by an entity. At last she reached the main sickbay and entered.

As the others exited the ready room Joe finally walked out onto the bridge. He knew he had to contain his emotions, but he wanted to take this all in, even if it was just some bizarre lucid dream, he wanted to remember every detail. He looked around as he approached his command chair and saw everything and everyone. He wondered if Deanna might realize the difference of everyone? It was going to be an interesting time.