Past The Point Of No Return

Posted on 03 Dec 2023 @ 6:49pm by Lieutenant Aria Rice & Commander (La) Kuran

3,135 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: IKS Praxis - Primary Hull, War Chamber
Timeline: MD 01, 1602 hrs

[ON]

After briefing the Security team, Aria had contacted the Praxis, requesting a meeting in person. She had needed the time to process anyway, so the slight delay most likely caused by the Klingons trying to figure out things had helped.

She would have preferred a shuttle. But she knew better than to request any special measures just because she did not enjoy beaming twice in a day. The moment her eyes worked again she was on the Praxis and stepped off their transporter platform.

The dimly lit and hazy interior of the Klingon warship presented itself once again. The familiar scent of heavy Klingon musk permeated the room while yellow running lights along the deck's baseboards cast the new arrival in an unorthodox hue. In front of the Starfleet officer stood a tall Klingon operations officer, his goatee strong and his long hair pulled back behind his head into a robust ponytail. He stepped forward to greet the familiar Human woman.

"Sogh Rice," he formally spoke her assigned Klingon rank, "Captain Kuran will speak with you immediately. Follow me." The officer turned and exited the transporter chamber, its door mechanically groaning as it opened.

Aria gave him a nod, even if he couldn't see it, and followed. She did not ask questions, but her eyes looked for signs of any trouble that the Klingon ship had experienced during the...time travel. Hearing her old title...well, not that old title being spoken was strange. As if she had dreamt it and now she was back in the daydream.

The Klingon officer briskly walked with long strides through several corridors until entering the battlecruiser's long structural spar which connected the forward primary hull to the aft secondary hull. All throughout the straight walkway, multiple Klingon engineers could be seen tending to exposed relay panels with various tools while working quickly to repair whatever damage the warship had sustained during the temporal transit.

After several minutes of rapid walking, the two arrived at the entrance to the starship's war chamber, a large and expansive room dedicated solely to strategic and tactical operations. The operations officer pressed the chime with the side of his fist. "Captain, Sogh Rice has arrived and awaits you." A short pause ensued followed by the mechanical groaning of the door's entrance as it opened. The escorting Klingon grunted to the Human then departed away from her and back down the long central spar.

The war chamber was dimly lit as usual. Large Klingon LCARS displays lined the walls along with ceremonial warrior sashes, bat'leths, hunting trophies and d'k tahgs. But the room was empty aside from one person sitting at the head of the briefing table. It was Kuran in all of his Klingon glory, his appearance unchanged since the last time he'd seen Rice off to her starship earlier in the day. In front of him was a large bowl of gagh which he was currently eating, and a second bowl of fresh wiggling worms was laid out for his guest. He looked up at her from his food, his dark eyes brightening beneath his robust cranial ridges. "Sogh Rice," he proclaimed as he finished chewing, then sucked his finger tips clean of gagh broth and smiled with sharp teeth. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you returned to Praxis...but I couldn't predict it to be so soon!" He rose from his chair, genuinely pleased to see her again, and extended a formal arm for her to clasp.

Aria took it, her hand small on his forearm but it didn't matter. "Neither could I. I wish I came here with good news," she admitted and met his eyes. "But it was best brought in person."

He scanned her blue eyes for a short moment before grunting with private understanding. "Yes...I assume this is about the anomaly we entered, and that my science officers inform me we are now twenty-five years in the future?" The tonality within his gruff voice expressed displeasure and annoyance at the apparent circumstances.

Aria nodded as she took her hand back. Both went behind her back as she met his eyes. "We've been pulled through 25 years by Admiral Lirha Saalm, from the future. There's a war going on between the Federation and the Klingon-Romulan Alliance. The Federation is losing and she means to change it, so the war never happened." It was the right thing, to tell him the truth.

His eyes grew wide at the revelation. He'd expected Rice to confirm his science officers' findings but...this? A future of conflict between their two governments and a Starfleet admiral attempting to change it through time travel? Klingons allied with Romulans?! Kuran exhaled a terse breath then began to smile, his eyes softening with humor as he slowly started to chuckle. Then he fully laughed, rearing his head back with a giant smile. "You truly have become a Klingon warrior! You have mastered the art of our humor, after all these days," he continued to chuckle before gesturing for her to sit at the table with him. "Sit with me and eat. You are still to skinny. And let us end these jokes, as much as I enjoy them."

"I wish it was a joke," Aria said and sat down, watching him for a long moment. "I am not sure what else I can say except that." Maybe he would have questions. Right now, she was not sure he even believed her.

The expression on the Klingon captain's face melted from genial to discerning and then to anger as he creased his cranial ridges and narrowed his eyes. "You expect me to believe the Klingon Empire has allied with the Romulans...?" He clenched a leathered fist then firmly placed it on the table. "This is not possible! The High Council would never join forces with Romulan baktag!"

"Apparently in this future, they have," she said before she looked down, at the food. Thinking. "I can't advice you on what you should do, Kuran. It's not my place. I was sent here to inform you of what was going on. And...that is that."

"I did not ask for your counsel," he forcefully stated with respect, "but I must know why. You believe this truth, but why has the Empire allied with the..." he struggled to recite the full sentence, the very thought of collaboration with the Romulan Star Empire being equivalent to eating a rotten targ corpse. "You were sent to inform me. Tell me what you know. What you have heard."

Aria watched him, letting out a tired sigh. "It was that station. Whatever happened there, Blake and Tarin deleted the information. Apparently, it still made its way out, but Starfleet and the Federation kept denying it. In the end, war. And because the Federation is losing to your people, we are now here, out of time, so they can undo the last 25 years."

"...The station," he glanced up and to the side in deep through before it dawned on him. "Yes...that 'secret' station your vessel was attempting to protect when the Ferengi attack you." One piece of the puzzle was now falling into place. But the next question was one which precipitated a new line of query. "What did happen on that station, Sogh Rice?" he candidly asked using her Klingon title to convey his seriousness. "What is - what was - the Federation concealing?" He pushed his bowl of gagh away from him." What are you not tell me?"

"I haven't read the after action report," Aria said and it was the truth. She hadn't had the time. "I can only guess based on what I've heard or seen. They rescued some scientists, who were working on something. I get the feeling it wasn't exactly ethical, because last I saw those scientists they were in the brig and the research was destroyed by the Captain. For any real information, you need to ask Captain Tarin."

He curled his lips into a scowl at the revelation of Federation science suppression. It was not unknown to any officer in the Klingon Defense Force that Starfleet was not the 'pure and just' government of moral superiority it portrayed itself to be. And now...he had proof. "Your captain is not here, now. You are," he pointed to her. "If you have any respect for me and honor for yourself, you will tell me how my people somehow," he clenched both fists again then spit on the floor next to the table, "have become allies with the Romulans. This, I must know!"

Aria let out a breath as she shook her head, sitting back. Good thing she had a brain for detail. "Romulans knew what was happening in the Cold Station, the Federation and Starfleet denied it. The Romulans even tried diplomacy and got nothing in return, just lies from what I can gather. Silence. Then, the research logs got leaked. Everyone got pretty pissed off, understandably. Distrust spread. From what I can gather, the Vulcans tried to calm things down being as logical as they could be, and but the Cardassians, Romulans and your people weren't satisfied. Sometimes, a shared enemy build bridges. And the Romulans and Klingons got talking and got closer. Maybe it was a classic the enemy of my enemy is my friend...or maybe you have some good politicians. The Cardassians tried to calm things down too, but it didn't help. But the first war, in 2395, was just the Klingon Empire against the Federation. A year later, the Romulans joined in, with an Alliance." She stopped and met his eyes, letting him consider her words.

It wasn't often that Kuran held his tongue or struggled to find words to express himself. Something in his youthful yet rugged features seemed to change while he contemplated the complexity of what the Human exchange officer explained. "What could be so unnerving to shatter decades of peace between our people...?" he muttered to himself, gaze staring down into his half-eaten bowl of gagh. Then he looked back up to Rice. "You admit the Federation is at fault in this new war? Due to their deception?"

"It is my personal opinion. I do not know if it is fact, I do not have the details," Aria said bluntly, holding his eyes. Because all she had left was her honestly. "It is my truth, as some would say. The way I see things."

He listened to her candid perspective and self-acknowledgement of personal interpretation. Perhaps the objective truth was difficult to ascertain, yet still, the implications of their current situation demanded he make an important decision. "You have always conducted yourself with honor in the time I have known you," was his reply while he continued to scrutinize the future-now-present. "It seems our people are now enemies. I assume your captain has sided with the Federation and will commit to its defense? To fight against the Empire in this time?"

"Captain Tarin will follow Admiral Saalm. If there is a battle then yes," Aria said before she threw whatever caution was left out of the nearest airlock. "But her aim is to change history, to prevent this all from every happening." She kept her mouth shut on the details or morality of it, unless asked.

"I see," Kuran huffed while absentmindedly fiddling with his bowl of slowly-writhing worms. The concept of returning back in time to change the future was controversial within the High Command, but even more controversial might be the question of allegiance. "Then I also must assume that your captain is attempting to determine if I, too, will ally myself with my government and fight against the Federation." His dark brown eyes stared inquisitively into the Human's. "Or perhaps, she has sent you here to persuade me to ally Praxis with Starfleet...?"

"This information could easily have been given to you by Captain Tarin," Aria said as she sat back, slowly, looking thoughtful. She might be young, especially for a Chief, but she liked to think herself a realist with some things and an idealist with something else. And also, she liked to think she could read the terrain. "Sending me here with it posed a risk. If you decide to go with your government, you could keep me as a hostage or execute me as an example. A good Captain would know it and have weighed up the risk. But to answer your question, I wasn't asked to persuade you. Just to let you know what was going on." She met his eyes, her blue ones holding his.

He listened to her words and reasoning, then a subtle smile parted his lips. He raised his hand and held up a single index finger before slowly lowering it. "Your captain is more clever than you realize. By appointing you as an ambassador, she is attempting to use our mutual respect of each other to her advantage..." Kuran tilted his chin back and let out a deep chuckle. "Yes...your Captain Tarin is a savvy commander. I could, of course, order my weapons master to destroy both your vessel and this new one, then contact the High Command to inform them of Starfleet's attempt to alter this future." He didn't mention any hypotheticals regarding Rice's fate should such an event occur, but instead focused on the larger picture. "But where is the glory and honor in defeating a crippled opponent?"

Aria chuckled, watching him for a long moment. "You could always wait until they're repaired, and then do it," she said lightly, a small smile coming to her. And then it faded. "What I advice you to do, regardless, is to reach out to your own people. I only know one side of the story, which is the one fed to me by Admiral Saalm. I don't know if it is the truth, perhaps it truly doesn't matter in this time...but this is not the Federation and Starfleet I served and would die for. I don't know if I am being fed lies."

It was still the same Rice he remembered. Conflicted by her duties and obligations versus her true calling as a Klingon warrior. She'd expressed as much to him in the past, even if she privately denied it. "You do not trust the Federation," he stated with acute observation. "Then it is time, Sogh Rice, for you to join us again, so we can both reveal the secrets of what has really happened here." He stood from his seat, tall and with strong posture, then extended his forearm to her. "Join me again, and together we will seek out the High Command and learn the truth of..." he gestured to the overhead bulkheads, "...this new galaxy. You may even be welcomed as a Federation ambassador within the Great Hall of Qo'noS."

Aria looked at him, taking a slow breath. Inside, warring emotions. She had been so relieved to leave the Klingon ship, yet she felt just as trapped on the Galileo-A. She didn't trust or even recognise Lirha and had been confronted with a Federation and Starfleet that were not what she had fought for. It was not what her father had died for. The temporal prime directive had been broken, as if it meant nothing, for the chance for the Federation to save itself, with no thought of the people born in the last 25 years who might never be born if things changed. The selfishness of the people of this time rubbed her wrong.

"I will do it," she said, the words escaping before she had the chance to truly consider it. "It comes with conditions. You may not accept them. But I am not joining your crew to fight this war straight out. I join it to find out the truth. I join to see if there is anything worth salvaging of the Federation, if there is a chance for peace for all of us. If there is not, then...that is that. But I want the truth. All the sides of it." Her hand went to her combadge and she unclipped it, putting it on the desk, meeting his eyes and holding them. "Even if it hurts, or will label me a traitor."

Kuran took heed of her proclamation and stoically watched her remove her connection to her vessel. He rounded the corner of the table to stand next to her then placed a large and heavy hand on her shoulder while taking the Starfleet commbadge she'd discarded and placed it in his pocket for disposal. "I accept your conditions. Until we reveal the truth of our new existence, Praxis will not engage any Federation vessel unless we are fired on first. You have my word." He brought his fist to his chest and thumped it against his breast plate. "Your original quarters are still vacant and I will have your uniform replicated again."

Aria watched him for a moment before she returned the salute. "Thank you," she said, for his promise. It was more than she could have hoped for. Now it was done, she felt a little numb, but also with purpose. Shackles removed, she could question and find out what was going on. To find answers and be able to see the true impact of this time. To perhaps find if there was anything to salvage here. "Captain, I would like permission to contact the Galileo-A and inform them that I am resigning my commission as a Starfleet officer. And to send a personal message to my friends. I...owe them that, if this is the last time I ever speak to them."

"Proceed," Kuran nodded, granting her this one final and important opportunity to close her chapter of Federation life. "I will leave you to your privacy here to finish your affairs. Report to me in one hour on the bridge," he instructed, then swiftly walked to the war chamber's exit before looking back at her one final time. "Ensure you finish your gagh. You still require more protein."

Aria chuckled as she nodded, a smile coming to her. "Yes Captain," she said, sitting down. She watched the food before she shrugged, reaching to pick one up and eating it. At least she still had the iron stomach of a native Lunan.

[OFF]

--

CMDR Kuran
Commanding Officer
IKS Praxis
[PNPC Saalm]

&

Lieutenant Aria Rice
Formerly Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

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