Time Unwraveled

Posted on Wed Jul 31st, 2024 @ 11:00pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Inara Senn

Mission: The Andromeda Strain
Location: Inara's Lab

Inara entered her lab. "Computer lock the door, I need no distractions, and I need to think without Deanna just floating in here as she usually does."

The computer chirped as it locked the door as requested.

"Computer give me a holographic representation of the entire sector, including data from our chronoton sensor analysis for the last two days." She mentioned.

The holographic data materialized as requested. The sector appeared, the star systems where the temporal activity was very hot glowing red. The Andromeda was shown in the neighboring system and their sensor data was feeding in as well. The chronoton readings were particularly high in the system the Washington was in, with multiple large temporal anomalies and tesseracts and other strange spacial anomalies present.

"So, it's not only temporal, but it's also effecting subspace. No... This is not natural." She began performing additional scans into the upper and mid-range subspace domain. "Possibly natural... This has all the instabilities of something natural, but artificially controlled... Maybe..." She spoke. "Computer, Holographic Whiteboard." A whiteboard appeared in the lab, and she picked up a dry erase marker and started writing. It was like she had a vague idea of what she was researching. "Probably not from our timeline... but.... Yggdrasil... Yes... multiple timelines intersecting. The Norse legend of Yggdrasil and the arrangements of their world from Midgard to Asgard is not the description of one world, but many realities and the tree may be a description of multiple timelines effecting said realities. The mirror universe for example. Similar... but different. I remember an incident where... The Enterprise D encountered...... Multiple versions of itself... Different but same... "Computer, give me a representation of the structure of the Norse universe on monitor four."

As the requested information came up on the monitor a friendly voice spoke from behind in a soft voice, "Be mindful of what you are looking at Inara. You are moving dangerously close into realms of thought you were told not to dabble with again."

"And if I don't, two federation starships will be destroyed by who knows what. And now we have invaders showing up here all the sudden, furthermore they're not here for tea, scones, and delightful conversation." She noted. "Look, I'm not a good person, Danu. I'm a very terrible person who once killed two thousand Jem'Hadar in the worst way possible." Inara was still tormented from the war. "And I keep on doing terrible things, it's time to try to do something right for once."

"You are hardly the first person to have to do unspeakable acts in a time of war. War brings forth the worst in a species, but it also brings out the best. The incident you speak of was not of your creation, and it wasn't the vile act you portray it as. You torture yourself for past sins. The loss of..." Danu trailed off.

"I deserve it as well." Inara noted. "If the Fates want to destroy me for saving my crew, and the one of the Andromeda, that is their business." She noted. "At least Deanna might find my research and save this ship. Or even help stop what is happening. And I was just plunged back into the Dominion War, and every time I think about what happened, I wished Benjamin Sisko would have had the insight to collapse the mouth of that damned wormhole before the Dominion sent five million Jem'Hadar into this quadrant."

"He tried" Danu noted. "It was not what was meant to happen. Not in this reality. It is tragic what happened, but for those that survived the war, damaged as they may be, they gained a new appreciation of life and everything that comes with it. You too will realize that, eventually." Danu walked up to Inara and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I will not allow the Fates to harm you for acting in the best interest of your friends and contemporaries. They will not be your demise. In fact, they will shortly be forced to grant you a kindness they hoped to deny you."

"I know you know more than you're telling me, but this is what I will tell my Captain, and with what I am discovering in this room, if I were to publish it, it would be the comedy of the ages at the Daystrom Institute, and being laughed at by those stuffy eggheads is not something I will look forward to." She noted and continued. "Someone, or something, is trying to unravel time in a way we have encountered before across multiple time space continuum, and about ten years ago the USS Enterprise D encountered a temporal 'tesseract,' as Deanna has termed it, that started filling space with alternate versions of the Enterprise." Inara mentioned. "Including one ominous reality where the Borg won. Must be a very single-minded realm indeed. Either way, someone is ripping time and space for their own benefit, and these anomalies will only increase in scope."

"The Borg.... What a terrible existence that would be. To exist, but as a component. Obsessed with perfection, which is something impossible in a finite universe. The more I think of it, the more unbearable it becomes. Speaking of something unbearable. If Morrigan is here, and you are here, that means that irritating bitch is here too. No... Best not think of her. I don't want her here." Inara stood and walked over to the coffee machine, then she began to put a package of Javan Roast into it.

Danu offered a smile. "You are partially correct. A species is attempting to enter your universe from their own, and they are from a period that would be considered the future from your perspective. They are not shredding time as you think though, but what they are doing is having unforeseen consequences that they were unaware of and can't stop unless they cease what they are doing. In a way, they have similar goals to the Borg, though they don't assimilate others." She shook her head, "You have no control over where Hela or anyone else might be. You may not be aware of certain things regarding Hela, or others. Perhaps that is best. Just know that something positive is coming your way."

Inara looked at the Norse Interpretation of time. "When you're a tenth century Danish Viking and your told by a god to try to understand dimensions, time, and reality, in a certain context, without science or technology. And then they come up with this."

Danu offered a soft chuckle. "Considering the limited means, it is an apt description. Fourteen centuries have passed and your species and others have not truly learned to understand time much better. But you will. In a few more centuries your species and others will learn enough to attempt to tame time, and you will be largely successful. But you are not at that point in time. Your reality is in the here and now, and that is where your focus should be."

"Alright, back to business... These intruders... Now they have a means of which they're trying to control these disruptions. It's less than an elegant means of time travel, like H.G. Wells, or a TARDIS, and more of a crude form of time travel like a Delorean modified into a time machine. They're trying to break time open, which tells me the means of which is in this time. They'd have to do it, because time has a way of not wanting to be distorted. The means of which should be here."

"You are forgetting something. The dimensional component. They aren't just distorting time, but space as well, traversing universes. The tesseract technology they use works on similar principles" Danu replied informatively.

"Not only across multiple time-space continuums but dimensions as well." Inara noted. "Usually I do not invoke Gods, because I view them to be hypocritical asses at times, but I'll say it. OH MY GOD, have they fucking lost their minds? They found a crack in reality and they decided to push it open." Inara noted. "Once again, science being used to fuck things up."

Danu looked at Inara. "I believe the humans have a saying. Pot, meet kettle. No species is without fault when it comes to using scientific knowledge in ways they shouldn't. These beings, they come from a vile reality. They have conquered their whole universe, killed trillions, and they seek new realities to conquer."

She adjusted the chronometric scan. "The number of time-space fractures are increasing. A time space cascade. Drop a tiny bit of water into the lake it easily becomes a tidal wave in other dimensions and realities... Damn... We have to close this, immediately. It's not only effecting realities, but also all of the branches of Yggdrasil that branch off of... the source of these disruptions. It is in one place, but it is everywhere. Here." She pointed at a holographic star chart near the heart of the anomalies. And they've effected the rest of the branch in such a way that they've already destroyed countless probabilities."

She suddenly held her head.

'I will destroy Cragen in the past.'

"What is this, this pain?!?!"

"Focus Inara. You are delving into things better left undisturbed" Danu replied softly. "You should check in with your comrade Deanna. She has discovered important details about the anomalies as well. The two of you are on working on the same problem but working separately, you are creating twice the work. She won't hurt you if you trust her Inara. In fact, she will be the key to something marvelous for you if you just open up a little."

"Yes..." She began to walk towards Deanna's location holding her head.

"Good Inara. You are on the right path" Danu replied.