Onward towards sanctuary

Posted on Sat Oct 15th, 2022 @ 12:44am by Captain Michael Murphy & Captain Jackson Adams & Lieutenant Commander Steve Ryan

Mission: The World We Never Knew
Location: USS Montana bridge

ON:

The USS Montana's trip had been uneventful, and they were nearing the planet Vulcan. Captain McDaniel had taken up a place on the bridge on one side of Captain Adams. Commander Murphy would usually be right next to Adams as well, but since McDaniel was there he didn't mind helping check things over at Tactical.

As they approached Vulcan Captain McDaniel said,

"Communications, please open a channel to Vulcan."

The officer at the console looked at Adams for permission and he nodded. "Channel open" came the reply.

"This is Captain McDaniels, request permission to enter orbit. Authorization, delta, Adams 422.

After a brief silence the response came,

"Welcome home, we feared the worse and we see you brought federation friends."

"It is a long story. Please prepare to receive our landing party of six."

"Very well, I look forward to your report" came the response.

Looking over at Adams,

"Sir, I think we should assume standard orbit and beam down to headquarters. There will be a lot of questions."

Lt. Mann looked over at the Captain,

"Sir, it is wise to further disturb the timeline, or whatever this is?" he asked.

Captain Adams responded,

"Mr. Mann, if we are in for a penny, we are in for a pound."

Looking over at his XO,

"Commander, I suggest we take Mr. Mann and three others and find out what the hell is going on.."

"Yes, sir," Murphy said to Captain Adams. "Just give me one more moment here, and I'll be ready."

Lt. Ryan was operating at the Communication console, his eyes darting here and there on the blinking lights to oversee the main operations while his mind was racing trying to figure out the current situation.

Seeing Commander Murphy at the close-by tactical station he moved in and approached him on a low tone of voice
"Commander, what do you think of this situation?" he asked

"I think we signed on for adventure and, even though this isn't something any of us could have predicted, we are definitely on an adventure," Murphy said with a small smile. He wanted to make sure the crew didn't worry too much. Worrying was his job.

"Can I speak freely?" he murmured to the commander, darting a quick look towards the two captains sitting at the center of the bridge..."since we've been attacked by the Klingons I've been wondering what kind of situation we were facing. We might have been on a parallel universe or in a different timeline" he slightly raised his shoulders to then continue "Fact is, now that we know that we are indeed on a different timeline we should be extremely careful in what we do and do not do. Whatever action here will modify the timeline, the future one and the past." he concluded.

Murphy nodded and answered quietly, "You could be right. If all we did was travel through time into our own future, though, nothing we do will matter if we can return to the past because this is a future where we disappeared. Our return means everything will change because we are there when we weren't. Unless our return to the past means that at this point in our future we will exist in two places." Murphy paused a moment to let that sink in before continuing, "But if we are in a parallel timeline, we are already changing it by being here. In any case, Captain McDaniel may have been destined to die on that planet and now we've saved her." He stopped talking and closed his eyes for a moment, fighting off a headache. Then he looked back at Ryan and asked with a genuine tone, "Let me know of any other perspectives I might be missing, Lieutenant. In the meantime, you're with us on the away team."

OFF:


Captain Jackson Adams,
Commanding Officer, USS Montana

Captain McDaniel
Commanding Officer, USS Montana-A

Commander Michael Murphy,
Executive Officer, USS Montana

Lieutenant Steve Ryan
Chief Communications and Operations Officer, USS Montana