“Could this night get any duller than it already is?”
The nightshift on the bridge was always relatively quiet. Deanna had joined me on the bridge because she was experiencing her ‘second wind’. She was wide awake and full of energy.
“Well I’m certainly enjoying this ‘downtime’ compared to what we experienced in the last four months. At least Laura is getting her sleep. But we both know that won’t last long, she only seems to sleep every couple of hours. It’s like she’s already testing her limits, and she’s not even out here in the world yet.”
I put a hand on hers, a smile spread across my face, but there was worry there.
“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. I won’t tell the captain you were on the bridge without your shoes. Your ankles are swollen again. You should put your legs up on something.”
Deanna glanced over at me and smiled.
‘Already done Imzadi, brought the small Ottoman from the living area of our quarters.’
I chuckled for a moment and then the smile on my face faded as Lieutenant Selsnon behind me spoke up.
“Sir, I’m getting intruder alerts on decks 15, 7, 8, 36, 2, and 1 the bridge. They have temporal signatures to them sir.”
The Borg came to mind and my guard was instantly up.
“Red alert!”
The space in front of me began to waver and suddenly, 50 soldiers in camo with guns came through. A smirking Doctor Sartos and Doctor Jacobson trailing behind them.
“Wasn’t too hard to figure out that you Mr. Riker, Deanna and the good Doctor Howard came from the future. We just had to figure out the right temporal frequency to open up an aperture. So, this is the starship Enterprise?”
I planted myself in front of Deanna to block her view of the soldiers, even though I knew that their bullets could very well kill me. Swallowing, I tugged down on my uniform shirt. Holding my head high, I looked at the jet black haired man with the steely gray eyes.
“Commander William T. Riker of the Starship Enterprise. This is the 24th century and you are not supposed to be here.”
The man with the jet-black hair and the steely gray eyes let out a humorless laugh and grabbed Deanna’s arm. With her right, she wrapped it around my waist. I found the barrel of a hand gun up against the back of my neck. I looked at her and projected a thought rather than saying it out loud.
‘It’s alright Imzadi, everything’s going to be just fine.’
Deanna reluctantly let go of her grip from around my waist and stood up tall. She winced, I knew that her legs and feet were swollen from Edema. Security converged onto the bridge, phasers drawn, though it would prove little use against all these guns. Selsnon had already contacted the captain by the push of a button on the security console above my head. It was Doctor Sartos that began to speak up again before steely-eyed jet black hair man could.
“Deanna, you should be in bed, and off your feet.”
We were lucky there were only human’s on the bridge with the exceptions of Deanna and Data. Wallens, the soldier that had helped us so many times while we were in the past, getting us extra food and other things, stepped towards Data in fascination.
“What are you?”
Data pushed aside the Conn console and swiveled the chair towards him.
“I am an Android sir. An Artificial Life Form. Lieutenant Commander Data. All Pleasantries aside sir, I must ask that you put aside your fire arm. You are quite safe here.”
Wallens put his gun back in his holster and looked around. But it was an as-of-yet nameless General who stepped towards me and pushed aside the black hair steely-eyed soldier.
“Move Tarnson. Commander, if I may, I would like to speak with your captain.”
The man’s tone was curt and impatient, but I held my cool and pulled down on my uniform shirt once more.
“Of course General…? He’s on his way to the bridge now…”
The general in front of me fixed his six bars insignia stripe on his uniform jacket.
“General Raymond Argonson. U.S. Air Force. Fine ship this is commander. What branch of the military does she belong to? Air Force? The Army? The Navy?”
The Navy? Air Force? The Army? What was he talking about? I did my best to stifle a smile, but it threatened to come through anyways.
“Sir, I think I’d better let the captain explain.”
Inwardly I sighed in relief as Captain Picard came onto the bridge.
“Captain on the bridge.”
All the Air Force soldiers stood at attention and saluted Captain Picard. General Argonson raised an eyebrow at me.
“Boy, don’t you know you are supposed to salute respectfully to your commanding officer?”
I stood at attention, but didn’t salute. Captain Picard stepped forward and introduced himself, though cautiously.
“Gentlemen. As you were. I’m Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship U.S.S. Enterprise. A question if I may, how did you come aboard my ship?”
General Argonson still stood at attention and put his left hand out for Captain Picard to shake.
“We traced two temporal distortion signatures in one of the hangar bays back at the base. Do the words Beta Tli System mean anything to you?”
I shook my head. They must have heard me talking about the ship in the hangar bay.
“We… passed through that system a couple of years ago. You must’ve heard me say that over the video camera feed…”
I was generally curious about the other temporal distortion General Argonson mentioned. Tarnson, the jet-black haired steely gray eyed soldier that had grabbed for Deanna’s arm shoved her into the chair. I caught her before she hit the chair. I glared up at Tarnson. I looked up at Selsnon and nodded my head at him.
“Lieutenant Selsnon, take Sergeant Tarnson to the Brig for assaulting a Starfleet officer. And confiscate his gun.”
I helped Deanna sit down in the chair. She looked into my eyes and gave a smile.
“I’m ok Will.”
It was Doctor Sartos that gave the strange smile.
“The second temporal distortion we followed came from the tracking device we planted in you Deanna. We did it to monitor your daughter’s progress.”
My face paled. So they were the ones that implanted that tracking disc inside her. My fists curled into balled fists.
“Our daughter is not a science experiment, a pin cushion or anything else you might think prudent to your investigation. She is a living, breathing being.”
The strange smile disappeared from her face and replaced with sympathy.
“Don’t you mean a living and breathing human being? I would say that since she is still inside the womb she needs to be monitored.”
I narrowed my eyes at Doctor Sartos.
“You still believe you are in control of the situation in front of you. We spent four months at a secret military installation called Area 51 which is now a museum, undergoing tests and medical procedures at your own discretion. None of you have that authority here.”
The captain put his hand up to stop me from talking.
“That’s enough for now number one. General Argonson, I assure you, there is no need for your weapons on this ship. This is not a ship of war. This is a ship of exploration. The Earth that you know, is now a part of history. Earth no longer has an Army, Navy, or Air Force. Those branches of the military flamed out of existence in the late 21st century. We have facets of all three. Earth is now part of an organization called the United Federation of Planets. I’ll be happy to show you around, but first I must insist that you lower your weapons. You are perfectly safe on the Enterprise.”
General Argonson put his hand up and all the soldiers put down their weapons. Each of the security officers confiscated their weapons, making a massive pile on the floor. We’d have to give them to the computer to recycle them. I leaned in and whispered to the captain.
“For now sir, I suggest we don’t reveal too much until we’ve gained their trust and they’ve gained ours. Until they’ve let their guard down a little.”
Captain Picard nodded his head yes and turned his attention back to General Argonson. All the soldiers followed and General Argonson followed Captain Picard up to the turbolift. They would have to go in shifts.
“Now gentlemen, if you would so kindly follow me, we want to make sure you are all in good health, so I want to have our doctor examine you and your soldiers.”
General Argonson nodded his head in approval and waited for the turbolift to open. Wallens nodded his head at Argonson and spoke
“General Argonson, sir, if I may, I’d like to remain here and explore.”
He nodded his head in approval at Wallens and entered the turbolift with the last of the soldiers, accompanied by security. A smile spread across his face as the turbolift closed, and he made his way towards Deanna and I.
“Wow, Deanna you are getting so big. You must be excited.”
A light shade of red appeared to spread across Deanna’s face.
“You mean excited for the second time? I never expected to give birth to the same baby twice. Those four months being held captive taught me to not trust anything around me. I’ve still got track marks in my arms from the iv needles and a large scar on my right arm from having so many blood transfusions. This little girl, our baby, Laura isn’t a science project as Will mentioned.”
She pointed to her stomach for emphasis and placed her hands over it, rubbing gently. I placed my own hands over hers. Wallens sighed and hung his head.
“Well you have my assurances that I do not follow any of what Doctor’s Sartos and Jacobson were doing to you Deanna. Some of it was bordering on inhumane. Believe me, I’ve seen some crazy things. Two tours in Iraq and it begins to mess with your unconscious mind. A lot of bad dreams. I had just graduated from John’s Hopkins when I was called to duty. I was going start my own practice. The first thing doctors learn is the saying: do no harm. We are held by that very oath. 35 weeks now is it? Only a month to go.”
The both of us nodded our heads in unison. But shook our heads no at the last sentence.
“Actually, I still have two months to go. Ten weeks to go until I make it to 45 weeks.”
Deanna projected her thoughts to me suddenly, causing me to fidget in my seat.
‘Mr. Wallens feelings are genuine Will. He’s trustworthy. He’s also trying to figure out a way to stay here on the Enterprise. He doesn’t want to go back to 21st century Earth. Or to the Air Force base that is Area 51.’
I nodded my head at Deanna and listened as she spoke to Wallens.
“I’m from a planet called Betazed. All these people in this room are from Earth, except for Mr. Data of course, he was built on a planet called Omicron Theta. My father was human. There are many other species on this ship. I’ll talk to the captain if you’d like, see if we can let you stay.”
Wallens raised his eyebrows at Deanna. I cleared my throat.
“I don’t think he’s quite ready for your ability yet sweetheart.”
Deanna only shook her head and the two of them smiled at each other. His smile grew into amazement.
“Wow. You can really read my thoughts? Like a Telepath?”
Deanna shook her head no and propped her feet back up on the ottoman.
“Actually, I have what one would call an Empathic sense. I sense and usually feel what others are feeling. I can’t usually read what someone is thinking. I can only hear people’s thoughts with others of my kind on my planet. With the exception of my husband of course. But that’s been 18 years in the making.”
Wallens hung his head low once again and reached for Deanna’s hand.
“It was wrong for Doctor Sartos and Doctor Jacobson to take away your baby after her birth. They had no right. You are right, your daughter isn’t a science project, and I don’t pretend that she is. You are free to sue us if you’d like…”
I raised my eyebrows at Wallens. Huh?
“With all due respect, Doctor Wallens, we have no intention of doing such a thing. In this century, we’ve moved beyond petty bickering. I would not wish what the two of us went through on anyone, not even my worst enemy.”
He nodded his head and stood tall. My attention momentarily averted from Wallens to the view screen. The stars whizzing by always calmed me. I looked Wallens in the eyes and spoke again.
“Have a seat doctor. Captain Picard should be back in a few minutes.”
It had already been an hour. I saw Deanna yawn in the seat next to me. She could barely keep her eyes open. I patted her hand to wake her up. She shook her head and gave me a tired smile.
“I think I’ll go back to our quarters, soak in a hot bath and climb into bed.”
I nodded my head but noticed she was having trouble standing up. I clasped both of her hands and helped pull her to her feet. As we made it up to the turbolift, I saw her take a sharp breath in and let it out quickly. As we waited for the turbolift doors to open, I watched her shift her weight.
“Hip joints bothering you Imzadi?”
She nodded her head and leaned into me.
“Yes, which means it’s going to make it a little difficult to get in and out of the bathtub. The hot water should at least relieve a little bit of the pressure.”
I nodded my head as the turbolift doors opened up. As we stepped inside I nodded to Data.
“You have the bridge Mr. Data. Let the captain know that I’m dealing with a family emergency.”
Data nodded his head in acknowledgement.
“Ay sir.”
Deanna kept leaning into me as we waited for the turbolift to reach deck 8. When the lift doors opened up on deck 8, we slowly exited. We were barely past the first bulkhead when she told me to stop.
“Will, I need to stop.”
I nodded my head and instead of letting her stop, I scooped her up into my arms and grunted my way the 2 meters to our quarters. Once the doors to our quarters opened up, I found my legs were starting to shake under the weight, my muscles beginning to scream with intolerance. Now in the bathroom, I set her down on the floor on top of a towel. I felt something in the back of my neck.
“Don’t move.”
Deanna was wincing on the floor, but held up her hands, and so did I. We were still in trouble.
To Be Continued…
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