Undiscovered Destinies

Posted on Thu Mar 5th, 2020 @ 2:09am by Division Admiral Celeste Yamaguchi-Hobbs & Colonel Brianna Hobbs & Major Daisy Rohr-McKnight
Edited on on Thu Mar 5th, 2020 @ 2:09am

Mission: Mission 56: Undiscovered Destiny
Location: Various Locations - USS Dreamcrusher
Timeline: 1730Hrs - December 23rd, 2391

Brianna called over the comm "Celeste, are you there?"

Celeste raised an eyebrow as she entered her quarters, wearing her uniform and medical jacket as she tapped her combadge. "Brianna... darling.. whats up?" she inquired.

"Hey, I'm sorry but I can't make it home for dinner tonight. I'm slammed here at work." Brianna told Celeste with a sigh. "Tell me you will be okay?"

"I'll be alright.." Yamaguchi responded. "I'll get some extra sleep... god knows I need it."

"Okay, love ya Honey!" Brianna forced a smile before signing off.

As if on cue, a stringed instrument was being played from Celeste's living room.

Celeste walked into her main living area, before almost skidding to a stop. "Who?.... are you?" she inquired of the being standing before her.

Reclined on Celeste's couch was a young Andorian Zhen dressed in some sort of archaic Andorian feudal clothing. She was gently strumming a five stringed exotic instrument. "You know the Andorians also have something equivalent to earth's bagpipes?" She asked rhetorically. "The Andorians make them out of tundra leopard's stomach. They both sound and smell horrid."

Rather then argue or demand explanations. Celeste simply sat down on one of the two single seat sofas near the main sofa where the Zhen was laying down. "The Andorians have a great many things." she responded. "I assume you are... not native to the crew?" she inquired as she took off her jacket. "Oh don't bother to deny it... I know you're not native to the crew.... If you were going to harm me... you'd have done it already as she sat back and got comfortable.

"Actually, I'm a friend of Pava's." She told Celeste. She then stood up. "Oh, forgive me, where are my manners?" She then did a tradition Andorian curtsy. "I am Mae'rel. I am at your service."

"Probably at the same place my manners are." as Celeste returned the greeting. "I am Celeste. Pava is my daughter." she spoke. "Pava spoke of you...." Celeste's eyes narrowed. "So you are a Zhen of many talents... Being able to appear in here.. Considering I changed the codes not that long ago..."

"Yes you are very diligent about your security." Mae'rel answered. "I can know see why Pava is such an exceptional person."

"Considering what I sometimes do in my off hours. Yes." Yamaguchi responded. "So... tell me something dear... How did you get in here and how did you get onto this ship..?" Celeste inquired. "And don't tell me you simply walked onto this ship or just hacked my security system... My brother is a master computer programmer and he taught me everything he knows..." Celeste slowly began to smile.

"How I got in here is so not important." Mae'rel told Celeste. "What is important is your well being."

"My well being?" Celeste responded. "How so?" as she peered at the Andorian.

"Your struggling with self doubt. You just need a little bit of encouragement." Mae'rel smiled.

Celeste regarded her with a gentle smile. "Of course I have my doubts.... You are more then what you seem..." she said quietly.

"No one ever accused you of being stupid, Dr. Yamaguchi." Mae'rel smiled. "We have to travel far tonight, would you like a bite to eat or maybe a refreshment before we are off?"

"No." Celeste responded. "I'll eat when I get back." she added. "Travel... and how pray tell do you intend to arrange this?"

"Travel is easy." Mae'rel smiled. "We will be there before you know." And with that there was a bright, white flash.

When Celeste's eyesight returned they where standing on an alien, yet familiar looking bridge of a star ship. The bridge was large and many lights were blinking. There where several holographs showing positions of ships and a large navigation map. the ship was oddly devoid of crew.

"Welcome to the USS Sullivan, flagship of Star Fleet Task Force Zeta." Mae'rel told Celeste.

Celeste looked around. "Okay... USS Sullivan... Never heard of her." she paused. "and.. how did we get here?... Wherever 'here' is"

"This is the year 2448." Mae'rel answered Celeste. "Please follow me to the observation screen."

The two women stood in front of a large view screen about thirty feet high and twice as long. On the screen was a view of space with a large black gash flashing with a sickly green light. In front of the gash were several small insect like vessels drawing the blackness and green light into their hulls.

Mae'rel turned to Celeste, "Have you ever heard of the Xhor?"

"No." Celeste raised an eyebrow. "I assume those are the Xhor?" she inquired. "I have a great many questions... as you well know." she regarded the Andorian. "There are very few beings with the ability to do what you just did... and I surmise that you are a highly evolved being... A member of the Q continuum I assume?"

"As I said before, you are not a stupid woman Doctor Yamaguchi." Mae'rel told her. "Yes, they are the Xhor. They have ripped apart the fabric of dark matter to fuel their vessels. It is very unstable but very potent energy force. Those ships are small but very effective. Once they are powered, they will over run the galaxy. The only chance to stop them is now, while they are charging their power engines."

"Before we continue, are you familiar with the butterfly effect?"

Celeste's throat went dry. "Yes." she answered. "I know of it... I pull one strand and the timeline auto corrects for the missing strand, something always changes." she paused. "Chaos theory."

Mae'rel smiled. "Let my add the crew." Mae'rel snapped her fingers and several crew appeared at their stations. They were frozen in time. Mae'rel looked at Celeste. "Your an astute woman, you will notice that there are no Vulcans or Klingons among the crew. There are also no Akurians."

"So... something went wrong in the past." Yamaguchi responded. "I assume these guys consumed the Vulcans and the Klingons... and no Akurians.... that Alliance could have been severed.." Celeste mused softly. "Thats just a guess of course." she paused before she shifted her attention back to the Andorian Zhen before her. "You selected me...you had your reasons so I'll play it your way.. "

"Oh, that would be so simple had that happened." Mae'rel told Celeste with a sad face. "No, twenty years earlier than now the remains of the Klingon Empire rebuild themselves out of the ashes of their fallen empire. They were not the undisciplined tribal clans of Klingons past. They were more disciplined and more technically inclined. Federation President Bremer declared himself both President of the Federation and Emperor of the Klingon Empire. The Klingons resisted and Bremer started a program of essentially genocide."

What few Klingons remained swore loyalty to him. Any Federation citizen with at least ten percent Klingon blood was ordered back to the Klingon Empire or face forced migration or death. The Kurokuri broke ties to the Federation due to what happened and the Vulcans just left the Federation over the atrocities. Star Fleet was decimated in the war and lost eighty percent of it's fleet."

Celeste listened in mute silence, mute horror growing on her face. "My god." she whispered. "Horrifying." she paused. "You want me.. to change the past that leads to this outcome?" she asked softly.

"I want you to just observe and understand how important you may be." Mae'rel motioned to the ship's captain. It was a portly man in his late twenties. His uniform was adorned with a Klingon's warrior sash and every inch of the uniform was covered in medals.

"That admiral has more decorations than a Christmas tree." Mae'rel mused. "He is a Christmas tree admiral from a long line of Christmas tree admirals. His name is Micheal Hurd-Bremer III. He is a Rear Admiral and owes his position to nepotism."

Mae'rel turned to Celeste, "Would you like to see him command this ship, humanities last hope?"

Celeste nodded, her face a study in horror and mute shock. "Mmm... Yes.. proceed.." she swallowed. "Mmmm. I think I'm going to be ill.." she paused as she pulled herself together. "No.... Proceed... I must see this through.."

"Very well..." Mae'rel snapped her fingers.

The crew flew into motion. "Approaching position now, Admiral." A young female Caitian officer told Hurd-Bremer.

"About time, close in and open fire on my order." Hurd ordered.

The Caitian turned around in her seat. "But Admiral Harmon's orders were to hold until they were ready to flank the Xhor?"

"Are you questioning my orders bitch?" Hurd-Bremer shouted at the top of his lungs. "I know more about fighting than that old fossil! Do as your told! I can have you summarily executed you know?" He shouted while unholstering an old Klingon disrupter.

The Caitian just shook her head and followed orders. As the ship approached Hurd-Bremer started shouting "Open fire!"

"Sir, we are well out of range." A human officer standing next to the admiral advised.

"I'm in charge!" Hurd shouted back. "Now, do as your told!" Hurd-Bremer waved his pistol around. The ship started to open fire. The Xhor easily dodged his shooting. "What! You missed you idiot!"

"We are out of effective range!" The executive officer shot back.

Hurd-Bremer leveled his weapon at the Commander and shot him. As he dropped dead to the deck the rest of the crew went nervously back to their stations.

On a nearby view screen an older human woman with silver hair appeared on a view screen. "Admiral Hurd-Bremer, This is Fleet Admiral Harmon, what the hell are you doing? This wasn't part of the planned operation!"

"I'm trying to fix you stupid plans!" He shot back. "Your plan never would have worked, it was up to me to save us all!" He then turned to the Caitian. "Take her off my viewscreen or I'll shoot you."

The caitian quickly followed orders and the Harmon disappeared. Several Xhor ships closed in on the Sullivan and started to fire. The ship rocked violently and there were several explosions on the bridge.

The female caitian looked back at Hurd-Bremer. "Shields failing and are now gone! You've killed us you fat idiot!" With that Hurd-Bremer raised his disrupter at the caitian girl.

Everything then froze. "The ship will explode before he gets that shot off." Mae'rel told Celeste. "Looks like things didn't go to well."

Celeste watched in silence, she nodded her head. "Looks like it." she agreed. "So... what now?"

"Remember what we talked about? Chaos theory?" Mae'rel asked. "One small action can send things into very different directions. Let's look at another way things can turn out, shall we?" And with that she snapped her fingers.

The bridge was back in one piece. There were now Klingons, Vulcans, and Akurians among the crew. There were also a lot more Star Fleet ships on the tactical display. Hurd-Bremer was at an auxiliary station and had on just ensign rank and no other awards. In the captain's chair was a tall man in his forties with commodore rank. He had Klingon blood by evidence of his crest. Celeste could hardly not miss the resemblance with Rol'cholk's crest.

Mae'rel looked at Celeste. "The Federation took a much more reasonable approach and the Klingon Empire joined the Federation."

Celeste regarded the Klingon-Human male who was busy handing a report to his aide. "Is that?" she asked softly as if not wanting to break the moment. One of her hands moved so she could gently touch her abdomen.

Mae'rel smiled at Celeste. "Let us observe how a talented officer handles this." She snapped her fingers and the crew went back into motion.

"Commodore Yamaguchi, Xhor vessels in sight." The Caitian told him. Yamaguchi simply nodded in response.

"We should fire now!" Hurd-Bremer yelled at Jackson.

"No, now back to your station Ensign and anymore outbursts and you'll be removed from the bridge. Admiral Harmon gave us specific orders to wait until Admiral McKnight is in position." Jackson told the fat youth.

"Commodore, Xhor are beginning to open fire." The caitian told Jackson.

Jackson looked at a young Klingon officer at the prime weapons station. "Open fire at my command, Lieutenant Kronth." The young Klingon acknowledged Jackson's orders.

Several explosions rocked the ship. "Damage report!" Yamaguchi ordered.

"Superficial damage, shields still at seventy percent!" The Caitian responded with a little panic in her voice, Jackson remained stoic.

"Fire Kronth!" Hurd-Bremer shouted in a panic stricken voice. The young Klingon ignored him and continued to look at Yamaguchi.

More explosions rocked the ship but the crew remained silently at their stations. "Shields down to sixty, no fifty percent!" The caitian told the crew.

A female's voice came over the comm. "USS Sullivan, this is Admiral McKnight, we are in place!"

"Now Kronth, now is your time!" Jackson told him. The Klingon opened fire and one of the Xhor vessels exploded.

Several other Star Fleet vessels appeared and started to pound the Xhor vessels. They methodically started to destroy the Xhor fleet.

"Commodore!" The caitian girl alerted Jackson. "The Seydlitz has lost its shields!"

"Pull us between the Xhor and the Seydlitz." Yamaguchi ordered. The crew acknowledged and the Sullivan maneuvered between the two ships.

More explosions hit the Sullivan. "Shields down to ten percent!" The Caitian shouted.

"You'll get us killed for them!" Hurd-Bremer shouted.

"Remove that man from my bridge!" Jackson shouted at the security officers. They removed the sobbing man as he protested. Jackson looked at Kronth and just nodded.

Kronth fired the weapons and destroyed the last Xhor vessel.

Mae'rel snapped her fingers and everything stopped. She turned to Celeste, "That went better."

Celeste smiled as she regarded the Commodore in the center seat. "Yes... it did." she responded softly. "Is that my son?" she indicated Jackson. "He has my eyes..."

Mae'rel smiled at Celeste. "I don't know, is he your son? Anyways, there is a little more you should see." She snapped her fingers and things went into motion again.

"Excellent shooting Lieutenant Kronth, Admiral Kiatara will be honored." Yamaguchi told Kronth.

Kronth laughed, "Yes, my mother always told me to keep my weapons training at its pinnacle. I never seemed to be a good enough shot."

Jackson nodded and looked at the caitian. "Open comms. Sullivan to Seydlitz, how are you doing?"

A view screen opened up. On it, a slightly younger woman sat in the captain's chair. Celeste noticed on odd familial resemblance to someone else. The woman had burn marks all over her body and a gash on her forehead. "This is the Seydlitz. Our engines have taken critical damage and we have sustained high casualties. Everything is though, stabilized. We will need a tow back to base."

"Excellent, good to see your okay Captain Hobbs." Jackson smiled.

"Thanks big brother," Hobbs smiled back, "Hobbs out."

Mae'rel looked at Celeste, "Seen enough?"

Celeste smiled. "Yes.." she responded simply. "So... what now?" she inquired of the Andorian before her. "I wonder who Captain Hobbs's father is." she mused softly to herself.

"Who indeed?" Mae'rel mused. "Just remember, Brianna decided to have a child to give companionship for Jackson. She saw how Pava and Pasha were close. So no Jackson Yamaguchi, no Zoe Hobbs." Mae'rel told Celeste. "Now, how about a nice meal, you deserve one after all this."

"Brianna is a grown woman, she doesn't need me to decide her path through life." Celeste explained with a gentle smile. "A Nice meal would be great... I have much to think about." she regarded the Andorian next to her. "If I have my way... Jackson, my son... will turn out like him." she indicated the Commodore who was busy sending aid to his siblings ship. "Jackson... is a man I can be proud of.."

"Chaos theory has more to do with influence rather than deciding or taking direct action." Mae'rel told Celeste. "Brianna will be influenced by what you do rather than you making decisions for her. Many other things may or may not happen depending upon what you do."

Celeste nodded her head slowly. "You have given me a great deal to consider. If Brianna decides to have a child. He or she'll be raised in a good home with loving parents." she then shrugged. "As the saying goes, the future is not set."

Mae'rel simply smiled. "Very well. Now, how about a proper dinner?"

"That sounds delightful." Celeste responded with a smile.

"Excellent, what would you like?" Mae'rel asked.

Celeste paused. "Surprise me." she responded. "I try not to be demanding of others."

Mae'rel snapped her fingers and both women were dressed in mid 20th Century clothes. They were sitting at a table in what appeared to be a Chinese restaurant.

"Welcome to Pho Quan Duc's, San Francisco, Earth, 1948." Mae'rel informed Celeste. "Best Chinese food this side of the Pacific and this century."

A well dressed Chinese man approached the two. He looked at Mae'rel with a little confusion. "You have a blue face?"

"Oh, that's because I'm Swedish. It's cold where I come from." Mae'rel answered.

"Oh, alright." The man replied, still confused. "Let me know when you are ready to order."

Celeste nodded. "Thank you." she responded as she tried not to laugh at the man's reaction to Mae'rel and her blue skin tone as she looked through the menu. "Interesting place this.." Celeste mused aloud. "I'll get this and this.. and this." as she indicated a soup, a starter and a large plate of chicken on a bed of rice.

Mae'rel smiled at Celeste. "Don't worry, our meal is on me."

"You are too kind." Celeste responded with a warm smile.