Lt Commander Samantha Palmer Mission Specialist USS Chimera NCC 9689 = Bridge Samantha sat in the command chair on the Bridge of the Chimera, gazing at the silhouette of the Gott displayed on the view screen. The Bridge was quiet, save for the background noise of the crew going about their business, interrupted every few moments by the noise of static interference coming through the audio channels. This interference was evident on the screen too as periodic bouts of static disrupted the picture. The space around the shape of the Gott was filled with hues of red, purple and indigo, casting strange and colourful shadows on the dark Bridge. Brushing a stray strand of her behind her ear, Samantha tried to organise the thoughts that ran rampant through her mind. She had been surprised that Guzman had relinquished control of the Bridge to her, but his timing couldn’t have been more ideal. Her heart beat fast with anticipation, as she knew the moment truth was close at hand; the moment that would reveal whether her, and more importantly Nicolas’s, presence had indeed been necessary on the Chimera. She replayed the orders received from Peckinpaugh through her mind. Firstly she had to oversee the installation of the modifications, and if there were any hiccups on their way to the Marsh, the responsibility fell on her to solve them. Secondly, she was to act as a library on temporal phenomena, offering explanations and making sure the Command team made informed decisions. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, she was to act as the representative of the Temporal Directive. This last order had come with a volume of sub-responsibilities. Unofficially, however, Samantha had been informed that Starfleet suspected the X!Chi were up to no good. It seemed that they were interested in the Gott’s research, and they had to be stopped from acquiring it at all costs. The details on what the X!Chi planned to do with the Gott’s research was never clearly explained, but Samantha knew that the research was much more than just simple ‘temporal viewing’. If the X!Chi managed to use the Gott’s resources and implement her research, they could attempt a temporal incursion. The mere mention of a temporal incursion sent shockwaves through the upper echelons of Starfleet Command. Time was a fragile thing, and if a primitively driven species like X!Chi began to toy with it, the results would be disastrous for all. Up until now, Samantha had hoped that they would find the Gott, blow all the X!Chi to hell, and return safe and sound to Federation space without incident. This would certainly spare her and Nicolas any revelation of secrets to the crew. But the large, menacing anomaly that was present a few thousand kilometres in front of the Chimera was slowly draining that hope away, and with the following words from Ensign Alex Quinn the last ray of that hope disappeared. It would seem that Samantha would serve her true purpose after all. “Astrometrics reports large scale neutrino and chroniton interfere from the anomaly ahead, ma’am,” the young science officer reported. Samantha remembered only meeting her briefly, but for some reason the girl’s name had stuck in her head. After a moment of pensive silence, she replied, “Thank you, Ensign Quinn. Can you pinpoint the origin of the interference?” “Ma’am?” Alex said hesitantly. “Chroniton particles are not naturally occurring,” Samantha explained, all the while keeping her gaze fixed on the screen. “And in conjunction with neutrino emissions would suggest active artificial interference with the anomaly. That interference must come from somewhere... please find it for me.” “Aye, ma’am,” Alex replied. Samantha's strange tone of voice had seemed to unnerve the Bridge crew, and even Nicolas, who had been deathly silent since Bretam left, turned around and gave her a brief glance. His clear blue eyes conveyed sympathy and understanding, and for a moment Samantha felt reassured that he was there; she didn’t feel so awfully alone in the decisions she were about to make. “Any results, Ensign?” she asked, this time looking at Alex. “It seems the interference with the anomaly is coming from the Gott, but there is so much disruption throughout the sensor network that it’s hard to tell,” she replied, sounding frustrated at the inability of 25th century technology to give her a good answer. Samantha was certain, however, that the interference did come from the Gott; it’s what she had expected. “Ops, what is the status of the temporal shields?” “78%, Commander. There appears to be a weak spot over the aft section,” the nameless officer behind her responded. “Weak spot?” she turned to him, more curious than alarmed. “Yes,” he replied. “It seems the area around the nacelles is uncovered.” Now she was alarmed. “Uncovered? Quickly, reset the shield harmonics. The warp plasma will attract the anomalies like moths to a flame.” Her words were scarcely cold when a violent energy ribbon hit the starboard nacelle, sending a temporal pulse through the plasma conduits into the warp core. The ship rocked violently and Samantha grabbed the armrest to keep from falling off the chair. “I can’t reset the shields!” the Ops officer shouted as the red alert lights flared up. “The computer has locked me out.” Samantha leaped out of her seat and ran to the Ops station. The officer stepped aside for her and she glanced over the console. The starboard nacelle was miraculously still in one piece, but the ribbon that had struck it had caused the shield systems to lock out completely. She entered her override codes, but it wasn’t accepted. The only way to reset the shields would be to do it manually from Engineering, and if it wasn’t done soon, another ribbon could strike the ship. “Ma’am, I’m reading wide scale temporal fluctuations in Main Engineering,” Alex reported urgently. “Temporal distortions are forming all over the place and they’re trapped by the shields. Sensors are also detecting fluctuations in the anomaly ahead. Its gravitational pull has increased by 200%.” Samantha caught Nicolas looking at her, and for a moment she wished her could take over, but this was her responsibility. “Helm, compensate for the gravitational interference, but keep us at the same position.” “Aye, ma’am,” he replied confidently, and Samantha could swear she saw him smile from the corner of her eye. “Bridge to Engineer, please respond,” she said, tapping her commbadge. There was no answer. “The comm signal is rebounding off the temporal interference,” Ops reported. Suddenly Samantha realised they were out of options. It was suicide to try and go to Engineering. With such temporal interference, it would be impossible to try and reset the shields. But if they didn’t do something soon, the whole ship would be in jeopardy. Perhaps if they reset the deflector frequency… She was about to give the order when the ship gave another rumble and suddenly quieted down. “Report,” she said sternly, still standing in the middle of the Bridge. “The shields have been reset,” Ops reported. “They must have done it in Engineering. Temporal anomalies have dissipated, and shield coverage is 100%, strength at 76%.” “Bridge to Engineering… report,” Samantha said again. This time she got a response. “Bridge, this is Specialist Axa…” the woman’s voice was silent for a moment, and Samantha feared the worse. Then her voice returned with vigour. “Lieutenant McTaggert is dead, and there are serious wounded down here plus some serious damage. Medical is on their way.” “Thank you, Specialist. Keep me updated,” Samantha responded. “Bridge out.” The Bridge was silent for a moment. Once again Samantha found Nicolas looking at her, and she knew the time had come to do what she had been wishing could be avoided. On the view screen, flashes of bright white and purple light emanated from the temporal anomaly. It was becoming increasingly unstable. As she looked at it, the reason why began to dawn on her. It all began to make sense. Nicolas’s presence, his secrecy, Peckinpaugh’s forecast, her own reason for being on the Chimera… it all made sense now. The X!Chi were indeed planning a temporal incursion. Their primitive drive for galactic domination was sending them back into the past to wipe out all trace of any species that could ever interfere with them. This was the brainchild of a hive mind, a collective that only strived to overpower all… it had been seen many times with the Borg, and now the X!Chi were doing the same. Samantha calmly sat down in the Command chair. She tapped in her ship’s command override codes in the console next to her as if it was and everyday occurrence. Her unwavering spoke out, softly but heard clearly by everyone. “Crew of the Chimera, this is Lieutenant Commander Palmer. As of Stardate 240508.01, I am assuming temporary command of this vessel as stipulated under Article 24 of the Temporal Prime Directive. All hands, evacuate Sections 34 to 36 and all Jefferies tubes along the outer hull, Decks 5 through 10. Standby for prototype deployment.” Upon finishing, she entered another code into the console, and then stood up. The astonished bridge crew stared at her, and she reached to tap her badge. “Commander Guzman, please report to the Bridge immediately.” = Throughout the Ship In Main Engineering, a blue shimmering hue suddenly surrounded the warp core. Among the chaos, engineering and medical personnel looked at the core as began to hum strangely. A curious engineer tapped at a console to find the core locked out and found its power output reading 110%. Outside the ship, a brief blue shimmer signalled the activation of the dual temporal shielding. It not only acted around the ship, but also affected the hull’s deflector plating, hence the reason for the evacuation of those sections. Anyone who came near the affected plating would suffer severe health problems. As personnel travelled throughout the corridors, bulkheads became infused with temporal forcefields, ready to active at the moment a temporal anomaly was detected. The crew began to mutter among themselves, their morale suddenly beginning to drop as fear of the unknown began to take over. This strange SSF woman had now annexed their ship, and the General was not there to challenge. Their only hope now lay in the hands of the XO, Commander Guzman. =