“Asani, I do not like this plan.” said Harry, with a furrowed brow while helping Thomas pilot their ship. The vortex tunnel surrounded their vessel as they now traveled at Warp speed of two point two. “You are going to the largest court of the United Council to tell them that they are liars and murders.”
“We won’t say exactly that, Harry,” responded Asani while rolling his eyes. “But we will demand answers.”
Thomas turned in his chair and looked at Asani as he sat in the captain chair. “The United Council is not under the rule of the Federation. In fact, Asani, we only have two seats out of the eight-hundred and sixty-seven seats that are numbered in the United Council.”
“Yes, Thomas, I understand.” Asani was now looking through documents on a PADD.
“Do you know who holds those two seats on the council from the Federation?”
Asani gave a light sigh as he looked at Thomas and smiled. “I know at least one.”
“Oh yes,” said Thomas. “Admiral Richards was one of the two that asked you to build the bomb, which Harry and I told you not to build.” Asani tilted his head and gave a light smile while Harry gave an enthusiastic nod while working controls on the console in front of him. “The other seat is held by Vulcan Ambassador Nalk, so the Federation has very limited power.”
“Very true, Thomas,” said Harry as he turned in his chair. “And those two seats were elected by the people of the Federation. They were not promoted by top officials of the Federation which makes them one of the people.” Asani rolled his eyes and shook his head while continuing to look at the PADD. “I see that Asani is not impressed,” Harry continued with a smirk, “but what we are saying is that the Federation can do nothing to stop them.”
“Harry,” said Asani as he looked at the hologram with a furrowed brow. “We have the evidence that they lied to destroy Xiexath, stole the most powerful mineral ever discovered and created a weapon.” Asani gave a light smile. “Don’t you think they should pay for these crimes and be stopped?”
“Yes, of course,” said Harry with his arms held out. “But going into the ‘Lion’s Den’ is very risky.”
Thomas looked at Harry with narrowed eyes and a frown. “Lion’s Den? Where did you hear that term?”
Harry shrugged. “Some old movie. I think it comes from the Bible.”
Thomas scratched his chin. “From the story about the man who sees a burning flowerpot…or tree…or bush…something that is burning?”
“I do not think that is it.”
“What about the big boat where he carries the animals to safety?”
Harry shook his head. “I think it is the one with the guy who has a lot of coats.”
“It is Daniel!” yelled Asani. Which surprised both holograms. He gave a heavy sigh. “It is Daniel in the Lion’s Den which surprisingly is a very good analogy for this. But this is the only way we get their attention. Show them they cannot get away with this.”
“Then why are you going in disguise?” asked Thomas.
“I am still wanted by the Cardassian government, and I have been told there is a big price on my head.” Thomas nodded. “Plus, Riker will be doing most of the talking. Admiral Richards has not answered our hails, so he plans to confront him face to face.” Asani saw a large smile appear on Thomas’s face. “What?”
“I am just so glad to see that Admiral Riker is talking to you again.” Thomas gave a shrug. “Forgiveness is wonderful.”
“I doubt he has forgiven me, and I know he does not trust me, but…this is a start.” Asani looked at Harry who was staring at nothing. “Harry?” No response. “Harry?!”
Harry shook his head. “Sorry. I was reading Daniel in the Lion’s Den.” He turned towards Thomas. “Interesting story. I liked it. Not as good as the Lion King or Winne the Pooh but some good lessons—”
“Harry!” yelled Asani. Harry turned towards Asani with gigantic eyes. “How long until we reach Virinat?”
Harry quickly turned towards the console. “Still eighteen Earth hours to go. Jajot,” he said with disdain, “is taking us the long way because she wants to avoid all conflict.”
“That is a good thing, Harry,” responded Thomas with a head nod.
“I know, but…she thinks she knows everything. She’s so like…” He raised his hands to the side and scrunched his face. “Look at me. I’m Jajot. I know everything. I’m Romulan.” Asani shook his head and slowly laid his head back in his chair and closed his eyes. He could still hear the holograms continuing to argue.
“Harry,” said Thomas as he worked on his console. “She cares about Asani. She basically saved his life taking him to Remus. I think she knows what she is doing.”
Harry gave a light shrug and shook his head. “Yes, you are right. It is just that she is so…mean.”
Asani was soon fast asleep.
“Stop looking at me,” said Faye with a small smile. Her hazel eyes glowed through the disguise as a Xiezios.
“Sorry,” said a disguised Asani. “I do not even realize I am doing it.”
“Well, we are in public now, so you need to behave.” Faye said with a stern finger while looking around. She gave a heavy sigh. “Being in these celebrations makes me nervous.”
“I agree.” Hundreds of Xiezios surrounded them in this large well decorated room. Flags of red and orange with the symbol of Xiezios were everywhere. Tables filled with the best cuisines of the planet were all around. Asani shook his head. His jaw was clenched, and eyes narrowed. “Quite remarkable that the leaders and government officials of this planet eat like kings while millions die in poverty mining their prized mineral.”
“This is the history of many civilizations,” stated Faye as she took a green looking squid from off the table. “Early Earth history was much like this.” She took a bite. Asani stuck out his tongue and gagged. “What?”
“I do not know how you eat that. It looks disgusting.”
“They are delicious,” said Faye as she took another bite. “You cannot judge food by its looks.”
Asani saw a face in the crowd that made his nostrils flared and his brow furrowed.
“What is wrong?”
“He is here,” said Asani, not looking away.
Faye turned and saw the leader of the Xiezios people, Diavol Cain. Everyone around him were bowing and praising him as a King. She shook her head. “Not sure what they see in him. Not sure if it is honor or fear.”
“Definitely fear,” said Asani without moving his eyes.
“They say his heritage is true Xiezios,” Faye explained with her brow furrowed. “Xiezios descended from large lizard-like creatures. Diavol Cain’s heritage is the last true birthright. All others have evolved.”
“That is why they say his blood is pure,” said Asani with disdain. “Only chosen females are allowed to be his wives so his children are pure.” He shook his head. “Sounds so medieval.”
“Remember Asani,” said Faye with her smile. “We must follow the Prime Directive. We cannot judge civilizations to our own bias.”
“He murders his own people for his own self-interest,” said Asani. “I wish the people of Xiezios would rebel against his rule.”
Faye lightly grabbed his hand. “You’re always telling me how we have to follow procedures.”
“I know, but…for Cain I would make an exception and stick that prized rock of his up his royal ass and light it.”
Faye gave a light laugh. “You are wonderful Asani.”
“Asani?”
Asani slowly opened his eyes and saw Thomas’s face. “Have we arrived? I really slept.”
“We still have four hours to go until we reach Virinat,” Thomas answered with a small smile. “Harry and I think there are some things that we need to show you. They are quite concerning because of what they are telling us and not sure what to do.”
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Asani leaned forward and rubbed his eyes. “More concerning then nuclear death rocks that can destroy galaxies and rogue governments conspiring together to create massive chaos.” He gave a light smile as he put his hand through his curly mop on top of his head.
Thomas gave a light laugh and a shrug. “True that there are deeply concerning events happening as we speak, and I do not want to make light of those, but what we have found is equally troublesome.”
Harry turned in his chair to face Asani. “We also think…these findings could be related to what is going on now.”
“What findings? What is your source?”
“Remember that file that Lieutenant Michaels shared with you on what the Federation has found?” asked Thomas.
Asani brow furrowed as he put a hand through his hair once again.
Harry gave Asani a light smile. “Right before you discovered Ensign Byers was alive and then went all nuts in finding a way to Remus…” He stopped when he saw Asani’s glare.
“It is coming back to me,” responded Asani as he glared at Harry. He then looked at Thomas. “What do these findings show?”
“Well…they first show what we expect,” answered Thomas as he stepped back and pushed a button on his console. A floating hologram of data appeared beside him. “These maps, reports and recordings show battles happening between Starfleet ships and Xiezios, plus against other vessels from Klingons, Romulans and others, not to mention other Starfleet ships. Battles that show what we know is going on. Rogue conspirators from all species forming alliances to attack their main governments and others. Civil war and Universal war combined.”
“Chaos,” stated Harry in a nonchalant tone while shrugging his shoulders. Asani looked at Harry. “What? It is the best way to explain it.”
“Please continue, Thomas,” Asani said while leaning back in his chair.
“But there are these other findings that the Federation cannot explain, and we think we might… possibly know what they are.”
“Findings?” asked Asani with his eyes narrowed and thinned lips. “Findings like unidentified ships, black holes, other cosmic events?”
“Well…no,” replied Thomas. “It is hard to explain.”
Asani leaned forward. “Hard to explain?” He gave Harry a quick glance, who shrugged. “Where did the Federation find these…findings?”
“They were scattered at different locations, which is one of the reasons why we are nervous.”
“Thomas, I am confused,” said Asani in a slightly agitated tone. “The Federation found something. How would you describe what they found?”
Thomas shrugged his shoulders. “I guess the best way to describe it is…a time signature.”
Asani’s eyes grew twice their size. “What?!”
Harry raised his hands in an apologetic gesture. “Do you remember when an alien probe came to Earth looking for walruses?”
“Whales,” said Thomas. Asani looked between them both with narrowed eyes. His mouth hung wide open. “Humpback whales to be more specific.”
“That is right, it was whales.” Harry grinned and shook his head. “I don’t know why I thought walruses.” The grin went away upon seeing Asani’s face. “Ok. Ok. A probe came to Earth looking for whales and the only way to save the Earth was to go back in time and bring back whales.”
Asani shook his head. “I remember reading reports on…what does this have to do—”
“There is also the event,” stated Thomas, “where Captain Picard and team found the Enterprise stuck in time helping a Romulan ship because there was an explosion that created a black hole that then created pockets of time that were all moving at different rates of speed.”
“That sounds really cool,” said Harry. Asani put his hand through his hair. “There is also the event where Picard and team go through the Borg time warp and have to stop the Borg from stopping First Contact and the time that they get caught in that time loop–”
“Enough!” shouted Asani. He gave a heavy sigh. “What does this all have to do with these findings?” He looked at Thomas. His eyes were twice their size.
“They are all related to time,” explained Thomas. “When there are events that manipulate time, a signature is generated much like radiation from a nuclear explosion or…radio frequencies being broadcasted…or ships going through warp…they all leave a type of signature.” Asani leaned back in his chair and placed his fist under his chin. “These events we spoke of definitely left a mark in the spacetime continuum and the findings that we see show that events will happen that could affect us all.”
“What events?” asked Asani. “These signatures show events that happened?”
“Only evidence of these events happening,” stated Thomas. “Like voices, warp signatures, different frequencies…they seem to tell a story.”
Asani’s eyes narrowed. “What story?”
“Well…,” said Thomas. He shrugged.
“It is hard to say,” said Harry, “but looking at voice patterns and other frequency patterns…we have determined that tragic events will happen which will result in a cosmic event happening of unknown proportions.” Asani eyes narrowed. Harry frowned. “It will be cataclysmic across many species which may be the demise of the Federation.”
Asani could only stare. “You get this all from…listening to these…time signatures.” He gave a light shrug. “Sounds like you are listening to an old radio station that somehow knows the future.”
“There is a lot there, Asani,” stated Thomas. “We have found voices from people that we know have died, to voices of people we know, to voices of people that…sound like they are not nice people.”
“We see warp signatures of ships that are non-existent to others that we know have been destroyed,” said Harry. “It is like a million-piece puzzle, and we only have a hundred pieces.”
“But you are certain that a cataclysmic event will happen?” asked Asani.
“That looks to be the case,” said Thomas.
“But how are these time signatures created?”
“Well…” said Harry with a smile. “That all depends on how you think time works.” He stood up straight and excitedly placed one finger from each hand in the air. His eyes narrowed and his nose twitched. Asani now knew he was going to get a long presentation on time. “There are three theories about time travel. Linear fixed timeline, linear dynamic timeline and multi-dimensional timeline.” Harry then drew a line with his fingers and a holographic line appeared. “Linear fixed means that all events that happened cannot be changed. No matter what you change in the past, time will correct itself and events will still happen.” While Harry was explaining, a small holographic tornado appeared at the left side of the line that Harry just drew and began moving towards the right. The small tornado disappeared at the middle of the line, and a tiny sun now rose from the middle of the line and then set at the right side of the line. “Everyone that believe is this timeline, believe in something called ‘fate’. There are many movies of young mermaids that believe their fate is to become a princess to a wonderful human prince, if they only had legs and could live up out of the ocean.” Harry gave a large smile, closed his eyes and sighed. Asani glanced at Thomas, who could only shrug. Harry then continued, “The deniers of this so called ‘fate’ are the ones who coined the phrase ‘delusions of grandeur’ which I find quite humorous.” He then drew the line again. “The linear dynamic timeline means that when you change the past, the future is changed.” While he spoke, a weird looking car was seen moving from the right to the left of the line and then disappeared with a bolt of lightning. “With this timeline, you must be careful because if you make your mother fall in love with you instead of your father, you could erase your own existence, which is also known as a paradox.” While Harry was talking, two small male and one small female human looking characters appeared at the left side of the line, while one small male human looking character appeared on the right side of the line. The female in the middle of the two males, moved from the left male character to the right male character and a heart symbol appeared. Then the character on the right side of the line appeared to be shaking his head and pleading, but then faded away.
Thomas began to nod. Asani rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Harry. I believe I under—”
“Wait, there is one more. The multi-dimensional timeline.” Harry drew two squares. Asani covered his face with his hands. “This is where life happens in two dimensions. Both run in parallel, but there might be instances where one dimension interferes with the other. Like if you had to go back in time to find ancient stones and then snap your fingers and bring everyone back.” While Harry was talking, glowing stones appeared in the left square and then moved to the right square, where a glove appeared, and the stones attached to the glove. The glove then snapped its fingers and the hologram disappeared. “This could also be the reason why Ambassador Spock went missing…”
Asani held up his hands. “Ok, Harry!” Harry looked at Asani with huge white eyes. “In telling me all this, how does that help me understand how these time signatures are created?”
“Actually, my point was that we don’t exactly know,” Harry said with a large smile. Asani covered his face with his hands again.
“What Harry is trying to say, Asani,” said Thomas while shaking his head at Harry, “is that time travel and different dimensions is all theory. We know it has been done, but there is nothing factual about it. No one knows exactly how it works. We are just theorizing using the data we have found.” Asani looked at Thomas and gave a small shrug. “But what we believe is that when large cosmic events happen, there could be what are called ruptures in the spacetime continuum. That means voice frequencies, warp signatures, and other data could fall through these ruptures into our existence, creating these pockets of data from another time which we have named time signatures.”
Asani leaned forward and placed his chin on his fist. “So…am I found in these time signatures?”
Thomas slowly nodded.
“Good thing is, me and Thomas are there as well,” said Harry with a shrug.
“That does make me feel better,” said Asani with a smile. “Is data from our ship found as well?”
“It is there,” said Thomas.
“Who else did you find?”
Thomas gave Asani a smile. “There are one-hundred and sixty-seven voice patterns—"
“One-hundred and sixty-eight,” Harry said nearly yelling.
“No, Harry!” shot back Thomas. “One-hundred and sixty-seven.”
“I know it is him!” yelled Harry. “It matches almost perfectly!”
“It is not him, Harry! Just drop it!”
Asani held up his hands and turned to Thomas. “Who does he think it is?”
Thomas shook his head. “Harry thinks we found Elvis, which is absurd!”
“It is possible, Thomas!” yelled Harry.
“Why would Elvis be on a starship flying in another dimension!?”
“They could have gone back and got him!”
“YOU ARE AN IDIOT!”
Asani whistled loudly. Both Harry and Thomas stopped arguing and then looked in opposite directions. “Thomas, please continue.”
Thomas turned and looked at Asani. “We have found one-hundred and sixty-seven voice patterns that match people in our databases. You, me and Harry are three. One that we know which is quite concerning is Diavol Cain.”
Asani’s eyes grew twice their size. “Are you certain?”
Thomas nodded. Asani put his hand through his curly hair. “There is still a lot that we do not know, Asani. But we thought it best to let you know what we have found.”
Asani nodded. “Thanks…to both of you. Maybe we can use this to our advantage. I will need to ponder on this.” He leaned back in his captain chair. “Let us put a pin in this for now.” Asani gave a light smile. “Best not to tell anyone about this. Let’s first solve the issue with the United Council and the…galaxy killing rock. But I feel this…time signature stuff, will become very important.”
“Only time will tell,” Harry said with a grin. Thomas and Asani rolled their eyes.