I Hate Temporal Mechanics

Posted on Tue Feb 28th, 2023 @ 12:49pm by Willian Targaryen & Lieutenant Jardok & Commander Ash Randall & Lieutenant Cyrus Marner & Lieutenant Ramat'iklan

3,279 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: No One Gets Left Behind
Location: Recovery Ward, Federation One
Timeline: 3189-03-16, 12:30

Lieutenant Jardok had spent his entire life as a man out of time. Having been born at the Vulcanis Lunar Colony in 2235, his parents had been focused on his becoming an academic just like they were. The only issue was he lacked some of the emotional control of his brethren, which had led to him being held back in some respects to his peers. Then there were the controversial beliefs that he held regarding the nature of the universe and time. This damaged his reputation, ended his arranged marriage, and even went so far to have him isolated and ostracized from his family.

So he found a new one in Starfleet, where he learned that time travel - despite the assertions of the Vulcan Science Academy - was more than possible. But he also hadn't been safe there. His parent's shadow was a long one and the Science Chief of the T'Plana-Hath, where he had his midshipman cruise, had been a frequent rival of his parent's theories. If it weren't for the Battle of the Binaries it was very likely Jardok would've been drummed out of Starfleet as well. His bravery during the battle almost led to an appointment to the Discovery, but instead he was sent to the Crossfield when Captain Lorca rejected his application despite Paul Stamets approving him. After some time he found himself eligible to join the Federation's Department of Temporal Investigations, where he got to meet the Guardian of Forever and accidentally fell through the portal to the late 25th Century.

While with the Department he served with distinction and was well regarded, but his emotional control sometimes got the better of him. This, coupled with the knowledge that most of the people he knew had passed away, eventually got to him and he returned to the Academy to study counseling. In time, he became a certified Psychiatrist who specialized in posted temporal incursion trauma. Despite his assignment to the Aries, he had finally decided to use shore leave to revisit Vulcan when the Enterprise traveled there for diplomatic talks; however, destiny had brought him forward in time again to this revolting period. Knowing they needed a trained science officer, since the majority of the science staff did not make the trip, Jardok agreed to be the Captain's Science Officer.

And that's what brought him to today. Entering the expansive Sickbay Compound, the ancient Vulcan already knew that their patient was in the Recovery Bay under lock and key. The Chief Engineer had been experiencing temporal symptoms in addition to some psychiatric ones. If Jardok's theory were true then it made sense that he'd be having some psychiatric problems because his connection to space and time were pretty much shattered. Reality was, if this didn't work, Commander Ash was probably going to die.

Inputting his authorization code to the panel next to the door, Jardok kept trying to build himself up internally as the doors slid open. His psychiatric training had helped him to overcome some of the emotional control disruptions he'd experienced over the years, but there were still times that he couldn't hide his true feelings. He entered the Recovery Ward, "How is our patient?"

The Chief Engineer lifted her head enough to get eyes on Lt. Jardok and laid back, with a smile. "Welcome to Dr. Who's Temporal Emporium. Today's special is a croniton count of 227,000..." Ash announced, in her best approximation of a carnival barker. "Act now, and you may witness the first, living, temporal anomaly at no additional charge." She added, with a little laugh. Of course, the situation was nothing to make light of but, after months of carrying such a massive load of cronitons, it was humor or rage and Ash was opting for humor at this point.

Matter-of-factly the Vulcan Scientist answered, probably not in the way any present would have anticipated, "You aren't the first living temporal anomaly I have ever met. The Guardian of Forever holds that distinction." For a moment, Jardok wondered what had happened to the ancient monolith that he had once been responsible for. The same monolith that had thrown him into the future and had such a profound impact upon his entire life. Most Vulcans would have found the Guardian fascinating, at this point Jardok loathed it. He just had to keep his emotional shields up to try to keep things separated.

"How's the rage going? I remember when I was trapped in a temporal mechanics nightmare I wanted to hurt people."

"The Guardian of Forever can perform an anatomically impossible act upon itself." Ash replied, in an overly cheery tone. "That..." The chief engineer continued and stopped herself for a couple seconds while she considered whether she could tell Jardok about her experience and if Ramat'iklan could know and then, shrugged. "...never mind. I'll just start ranting, you'll get to see some of that rage you asked about and the doctor here will have about 5 seconds to sedate me before I rip my way out of my restraints." Ash stated, matter-of-factly, as if it had happened before and more than once. "I don't like the guardian much." She added, after a few seconds, and left it at that for the moment. "So, you know, I've been temporally aware all my life and I have always carried a, small, load of cronitons...maybe twenty to a hundred, at maximum. It's part of my physiology." She advised, telling Jardok a tid-bit of information she hadn't told Ramat'iklan even after several weeks.

Ramat'iklan felt like flipping a table over. After everything she'd put him and his team through for the past few weeks babbling depressing nonsense, only now did she choose to open up to someone who wasn't even a doctor - granted, someone better qualified to treat her than a actual doctor, but still. "Welcome, lieutenant." He said as he entered the recovery ward. "Do you have any idea as to how we might treat her condition? Perhaps it might have something to do with the excess of chronitons commander Randall claims to be carrying?"?

"Indeed," it was the Vulcan in him that answered. Opening the HoloPADD function of the TriCom he wore, Jardok started scrolling through the different functions until he brought up the correct datafile. "Fun fact: I'm not really a fan of the Guardian either. He's the reason I had my first temporal incursion," the Science Officer explained. "My entire life had been spent trying to prove time travel was possible because my people were so opposed to the very concept. It ostracized me from everyone in my civilization and led to my ending up in Starfleet. Turned out I was right," he typed on the controls. "If you didn't know I'm from the 23rd Century," he flipped the holodisplay so that the others could see it, "Here is our silver bullet. Any of you ever seen one of these before? This is a bio-temporal chamber." He spoke fast when he was nervous.

Ash nodded. "I tried an anti-chroniton purge but without much success. It was incremental treatment. Not enough inti-chronitons and not enough time to try and build a chamber or generate a large enough dosage to do the job all at once. Purge some chronitons and I'd just gain them back like I'm tapped into an ocean of them. Maybe a bio-temporal chamber will make a difference? I'm certainly willing to give it a go at this point. Full sedation will be a good idea. My previous attempts were exceedingly painful." The engineer admitted.

"Oh I'm not saying this is going to be a walk in the park, Commander, far from it in fact." He began adjusting controls on a holographic interface hovering near the biobed as he continued speaking in a matter-of-fact tone, "We will start by exposing you to a precisely modulated field of antichronitons in an attempt to purge your system of the chronitons and bring her back into temporal sync with the rest of the crew. Once that sequence is completed we will employ the biotemporal field, which would theoretically push your cells to an earlier stage of entropic decay and stabilize you." He typed the whole time he spoke, navigating the various displays with precision, "I, like my Vulcan brothers, will not lie to you, Commander. There is a high probability that this process will kill you, but failure to purge your systems of the chronitons will have the same impact. If you are willing to proceed I'll arrange to have the bio-temporal chamber brought here. Mister Ramat'iklan will monitor your biosigns during the procedure."

"Please, enlighten me, lieutenant. First of all, where have you been keeping this chamber of yours?" Ramat'iklan raised an eyebrow as he swiped through his holo-PADD. "Second. I am open to trying this procedure your propose - but not without more data on it and the risk factors that it involves. I would therefore like you to furnish me with any and all data you can provide on it, specifications, likely rate of success, possible complications and anything else that is relevant. I want it all, and I will not allow you to effect it at any point before I do. Third." Ramat'iklan sighed. "I would like to consult with medical officers more senior than myself with that data provided to me, from which I will decide whether or not we may go ahead. Is that acceptable?"

"The longer that we take to initiate the process, the higher probability that it will fail as Ash is still generating chronitons," Jardok protested with a sigh. He spoke quickly, "Much of the technologies and what I am about to reveal are classified, doctor, but we have a Temporal Research Laboratory aboard this ship and the equipment has been aboard this whole time. The risk factors are quite easy," he looked at Ash, "this procedure may kill the Commander, but failing to do it will kill her just the same based upon what I have seen so far about her condition. Doctor Marner is the only member of the medical staff with a high enough clearance to receive the specifics of the treatment at this time aside from Doctor Kiala; however, he is off the ship so it may be difficult to ascertain his acceptance of this treatment option. We could try to call him if you like."

Ash looked between Ramat'iklan and Jardok, a couple time, and shook her head. "Would have been nice to know we have a, dedicated, Temporal Research Lab aboard." Ash mused, to herself, quietly. "As far as I can tell, the only reason I'm alive at all is because my physiology is geared to handle chronitons to begin with or I would have turned to dust a long time ago but Jardok is correct, this level of chronitons is going to kill me, eventually. Let's do this and get it over with." The Tuansee stated, a note of anger in her voice.

"You know better than anyone how many secrets are on this ship, Ash," Jardok replied. The Vulcan brought up the control interfaces and began the process of transporting the components of the bio-temporal chamber. He sighed, "So, looks like Doctor Ramat'iklan was correct. Three authorizations are needed to implement this process aboard the ship because of the immense power needs: the Captain, the Chief Engineer, and the Chief Medical Officer."

"Well, you have my authorization." Ash stated, quickly and closed her eyes for a few seconds and opened them again. "Something wicked this way comes..." She added, quietly, her eyes focused on something only she could see, and sighed. "I can't tell when." She lamented, and looked to Jardok. "Let's get authorization, please. Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear." She told him.

"And we'll need the captain as well." Thank goodness for the several layers of bureaucracy needed to get anything big done on a starship. Ramat'iklan tapped his commbadge suppressing a sigh of relief: "Doctor Ramat'iklan to the captain, please."

The Captain's voice answered quickly, "Yes, Ramat'iklan?"

"Sir. We have come up with a possible way to treat commander Randall's condition - which involves the use of a bio-temporal chamber at lieutenant Jardok's suggestion. GIven the limited number of things we can do... I see no other better option at this moment." A brief sigh. "Use of the chamber, however, requires the express authorization from the commanding officer, chief medical officer and chief engineer due to the immense load it will place on our systems."

Jardok was on the other side, "Doctor Marner?"

Cyrus had just gotten back to Enterpise, and had just gotten cleaned up, "Yes Jardok?" Cyrus took a moment to see where Jardok was at, his brow furrowing at the location. There was probably something going on at medical that needed his attention. "I am on my way and will find out what is happening." Cyrus making a beeline towards Medical.

Instead of bothering to get dressed in his uniform, Cyrus had stayed in his civvies and put a blue smock over his normal attire. He looked with concern seeing Ash there.

"Ash are you okay? And what is the situation?" he was worried though with seeing Jardok and Ash there, in the temporal area, Cyrus was getting a sinking feeling. "Anyone want to get me up to speed? Ash?"

"We are going to use a bio-temporal chamber to try and resolve commander Randall's condition. Sir, given the extremely limited number of options we currently possess to achieve such an end, I have decided to go ahead with it." Ramat exhaled.

Ash looked to Dr. Marner. "I need a chronoton-ectomy." She answered him, in a chipper tone. "Just need your, official, okee-dokee along with El Capitan Targaryen's to do the deed." She added, with a couple of nods.

"I will definitely be giving my okay for this. I am sorry I wasn't here to help out." Cyrus replied looking at Ash. "Wouldn't want anything happening to you." He turned his attention to Ramat'iklan. "Looks like you are doing your best." he said. "Okay, so chronitons have been building up inside you. Sorry just getting up to speed."

"Ummm..." Ash started and then, shrugged. There was no helping it. "...I normally carry a small load of chronitons. You might say that I'm a chroniton sink and, when the event occurred that catapulted us to this time, I became saturated. Instead of carrying a small load of twenty or so chronitons, I'm carrying a couple hundred thousand. If it were twenty I could just disconnect and shed the load. With what I carry now I can't disconnect and I can't shed the load and my attempts to utilize anti-chronitons on my own haven't worked due to power issues, at the time, that limited the number that could be generated. What few chronitons I could purge were quickly replaced. The process was also, extremely, unpleasant." Ash explained, quickly, shifting her position inside the straight jacket to get a little more comfortable.

Noting the discomfort of Ash, a frown appear on the normally congenial doctor's face. "We are not waiting for the Captain's approval, lets get Ash in there right away. And I mean now. Too much time has passed." he looked over at Jardok. At this point depending on how long this its going to take the captain to answer, Cyrus may well have to start the procedure.

Ramat'iklan opened his mouth to correct the CMO - but quickly closed it again and rushed to assist. Procedure be damned if the Commander's life was seriously at risk.

Ash shook her head. "We must have authorization from the Captain because he'll have to authorize a grey alert similar to what was required for a slipstream 1 transit, back in the day. Primary and secondary system will be impacted." The Chief Engineer advised Dr. Marner.

"Confound it, that just makes things-" Cyrus didn't finish that thought. Instead he tapped on his combadge. "Captain Targaryen, Doctor Marner here, we need your permission to help Ash shed some Chronitons. It has become a dire situation. And if you will be so kind to come down, please do. Marner out."

"I'll be down in a few moments, Doctor," The Captain's voice came over the communicator.

Jardok checked the readings on his tricorder, "Great, the Captain's coming, I feel safer already."

Cyrus shot Jardok a quizzical glance. "Is that supposed to be humor or a truth? I felt that the Captain needed to be here, for this particular circumstance." he looked over at Ash. "How are you doing there?"

"I'm fine, doctor. Half a minute or half an hour, I don't think it will make much difference after months and months." Ash replied, in a chipper tone. "It'll all be fine." She added, with a couple little nods.

Jardok fell silent as he adjusted the equipment for the biotemporal chamber, choosing not to further dig his own grave.

The Captain entered quickly, having used the built in transporter function of his TriCom Badge to beam from the Bridge to Sickbay. He mused, "I've never done that before."

Looking around the room he saw Doctor Marner, Doctor Ramat'iklan, and Jardok standing around Commander Ash on the biobed. Fortunately, they had just defeated the Emerald Chain vessel and he was able to give his full attention to this project. He just hoped it wasn't too late, "Do I want to know what's going on?"

"We will be working with lieutenant Jardok in order to purge the excess chronitons from commander Randall's body. Apparently they are the major cause of her symptoms thus far." Ramat'iklan deadpanned as he worked to prepare Ash for treatment.

Ash shrugged, as best she could in the straight jacket, and looked to the Captain. "The procedure requires a significant power draw that will take non-essential systems off line and seriously impact secondary systems." Ash informed him, and sighed. "I tried, Captain. I really, really tried." The Chief Engineer stated, quietly.

Willian crossed his arms as he looked at the Chief Engineer, "We're not exactly in friendly space here at the moment and the Enterprise is helping to manage the computer systems of the Risian Satellite Grid while they realign. How many systems will go down, how long will they be offline, and how quickly can I bring them back if the Cerulean decides to return?"

It took Cyrus a moment or two for his head to click, and gave himself a facepalm. "Good heavens I had forgotten how much juice it will take to disperse the chroniton particles from Ash. Its just that, we need her as well, very badly." the doctor said rather fervently.

"Primary systems; propulsion, weapons, shields, life support, etc would be remain online, including the primary and secondary computer cores and their backups." Ash advised. "Think of it as the same as a condition grey back in the says of slipstream 1 and slipstream 2 transit." The engineer added. "Seventeen minutes to generate the anti-chroniton charge. Less than eight seconds to reroute power if something comes up."

Jardok, having anticipated the next move, activated his holoPADD and displayed it for the former Admiral.

Willian sighed, "As much as I care for Commander Ash, she's been on this ship as long as I have, I can't give you long with our current situation. You have 30 minutes," he input his authorization.

"Okay it is time." Cyrus answered his own authorization added as well. "Okay Ash, let's get this done." Concern showing in his eyes. He didn't want her to take anymore damage that what she has taken so far.

"Fine by me. Bring on the pain." She answered, in a grim tone.

 

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