Lt Commander Samantha Palmer Mission Specialist USS Chimera NCC 96899 = Officer’s Restroom, USS Gott Samantha splashed the cool water on her face and glanced at her reflection in the cracked mirror. Outside, on the Bridge, every single crewmember was busy getting the Gott up to shape, in the hopes that the small vessel would carry them home. Nicolas had been by her side since they came to the Gott, and she was very thankful for that… if it wasn’t for him, she would probably have cracked under the stress. Along with Nicolas’ help and the Gott’s sensor records, she’d been able to piece together a radical theory that might get them home. However, the last piece of the puzzle still eluded her, and she needed a few moments of isolation to get her thoughts together. The theory was based around the Alpha Trialus star, which was scheduled to go Nova in less than 24 hours. This was according to the Federation astrophysics database and the Gott’s long range scans of the star’s volatile nature. Though Alpha Trialus was several light years away, the effect of its death would literally give birth to what would become the Spinward Marsh in 10,000 years. Alpha Trialus’ explosion would ignite nuclear fusion in Beta Trialus; it would redistribute the planetary orbits of Delta Trialus; it would see the birth of a new star in the Trialus Nebula. But most importantly, it would destroy Sigma Trialus, a white dwarf, setting free vertion radiation from its core. This radiation in turn would encounter a tachyon stream form a naturally-occurring subspace eddy. The result would be a subspace burst from the tachyon stream that would ripple several light years away… close enough to be felt by the Gott. The burst would disturb spacial folds, causing temporal anomalies to be formed and beta-dechyon radiation to be released into the Marsh. It would take months to manipulate an anomaly the way the X!Chi had to allow them to create a temporal conduit… and that was if the crew could figure out how exactly the X!Chi did it. But if they attempted to open a conduit in subspace during the Trialus event, the temporal distortions would be strong enough for it to work. They only problem was to get them back to the exact time they came from. The Gott’s research wasn’t that far developed, and the X!Chi had probably just been shooting blind when they opened the conduit. Samantha looked away from the mirror as the door slid open and Nicolas walked in. “Are you all right?” he asked. “You’ve been here for a while.” “Yes, I’m fine… I just can’t seem to think of a way to get back to the right time. My head is stuck,” she explained. “Have you spoken with the Chief of Science?” “No,” Samantha replied. In truth, she had been consciously avoiding interacting with any of the crew. Their animosity towards her and Nicolas were growing by the minute, and she could feel it. “Maybe she has some ideas,” he suggested. Then added, as if reading her mind, “and she’s a Vulcan. I’m sure she won’t try to stab you in the back.” “Very funny, Nicolas,” Samantha retorted, sounding herself just like she did ten years ago, when he used to make the same kind of jokes. The door slid open again, this time revealing a half-Vulcan tactical officer. “Commander Palmer, Commander Guzman is looking for you,” she said. Samantha nodded and then glanced at Nicolas as she walked past him, offering a small smile. =