Everything That Could Go Wrong... Part 1

Posted on Thu Sep 21st, 2023 @ 6:58am by Jeassaho Kea (*) & Dr. Izriel "Jaxx" Lonn

Mission: Fractures
Location: SS Mary Rose - 2304
Timeline: Variant Time Line - Future
2759 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Jeassaho slowly regained consciousness, the first sensation that washed over her was an icy chill that seemed to seep into her very bones. Her eyes fluttered open, and she found herself lying on the cold metal floor of a dimly lit spaceship corridor that was known despite the deafening silence. It was only broken only by the soft hum of machinery in the distance. Panic surged through her as she tried to piece together the puzzle of her surroundings as she scrambled to her feet.

The corridor stretched endlessly in both directions, its metallic walls reflecting a pale, sterile light that flickered on and off as Jeassaho started in one direction feeling the cold metal against her palms as she used it to keep her balance despite how it made her shivered uncontrollably. How had she ended up there? Memories eluded her, leaving me with a disorienting sense of isolation despite knowing she had been in Engineering seconds before.

“Hello?” She called as she heard footsteps in the distance before it dawned on her that they might not be friendly. She leaned down and picked up a mislaid spanner from what looked like someone’s attempt to fix something.

"Sleeping on the job? I told you double-shifts for a week was going to catch up with you."

It was a familiar voice if one could disregard the nuances. In the inconsistent lighting, the half-obscured silhouette approaching was also roughly a predictable stature, though there was something a little off about the gait. He stooped to pick up something along his own path, not immediately discernible from a distance, and paused to consider what was now quite obviously a partially dismantled access terminal. The sight of it didn't seem to perturb him. If anything, as his psionic register moved into focus, Izriel Lonn seemed positively resigned to what would normally have been considered sloppy workmanship. "Looks like you were right," he continued cryptically, leaning his weight against a hand pressed to the bulkhead as he scrutinised the wreckage. "Most of the relays in this section are blown."

Jeassaho took the man’s appearance and relaxed lowering the spanner just a little to her side. “Double shifts for a week?” The woman reflected his words back at him confused as she tried to connect what was going on with what she knew. “Well it is dark.” She answered the question she knew from the state of the ship but she did not know how she had come to be there nor working on the such a damaged area of what could only be SS Mary Rose if Jaxx was there.

"No point trying to pretend now, you know I keep count." There was a gruffness to his tone that seemed a little out of place, a weariness that didn't often weigh down the self-contained man. A familiar affection existed too, however, the comfort of age-old teasing and the smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle. It faltered only slightly as he moved closer to regard her, the faintest flicker of his brow conveying the niggle of confusion as he took her in with a sweeping glance. "Is that your official diagnosis, Captain? It's dark?"

Jeassaho looked around confused at the way he spoke. He looked tired and there was something different about his features, something subtle that she could not quite place. “Captain?” She wondered finally trying to work on what was going on instead of just standing there confused.

It was a ripple beyond the visible that conveyed the doctor's confusion best, a tentativeness to the telepathic connection that spoke suddenly of a mutual distrust. It was difficult to pinpoint, an intangible sense of something not being quite right, whilst so many indicators suggested their reservations couldn't possibly be correct. This was Jeassaho, he'd have staked a year's wages on it, but she was scared and that put him on edge, not the least because it seemed he was at least a partial cause.

"Unless you're planning on resigning sometime soon." He peered closely at her, studying her expression with a frown of his own. "You want to tell me what's up?"

"Nothing is up with me. What is wrong with you?" She demanded her tone a lot more fiery than his own as she tried to understand what was going on and why the ship was dark and one of her oldest friends was acting so strange let alone before she tried to make sense of why one second she had been in Engineering and the next there in the corridor. "Izriel I am not the Captain. Reuben is the Captain."

"No, I am very much the Captain." A voice called from further down the corridor. The figure walked into the light revealing another Jeassaho.

Though the tension in the air was thick enough to slice into baloney-substitute, there was something about Jaxx's guarded scrutiny, the way the pendulum of his gaze swung back and forth between both familiar yet slightly different faces, that presented more as tentative resignation than understandable alarm. If anything, the pair of them radiated a self-same inability to over-react, as if they'd been pushed past a tipping point where the universe no longer surprised them no matter its attempts. Apparently reaching a decision, the Betazoid moved towards the new arrival and, standing adjacent, turned to face the designated interloper.

"I guess that explains part of it."

The older Jeassaho rolled her eyes as she looked at the man and pushed back her shift to reveal the bump. “She’s not even pregnant nor wearing the clothes I left you wearing.” She chuckled as she surveyed the younger version of herself.

"It's dark. Your ship keeps falling to pieces."

It was the difficulty with situations like this though. Not being able to sense his unborn child had been, if not an instant alarm bell, certainly a gradual suspicion. The baby's psionic register was immature and, as was typical, the bond was more consistent with the mother. That wasn't helped by the fact that life kept conspiring to place its parents in two separate locations consistently. Negotiations took time and, these days, there were plenty of them.

"We annoyed anyone with cloning technology lately?", Jaxx asked, his gaze still focused on the woman he wasn't entirely sure he was ready to deem a younger version of his fiancé. Instinct, perception, everything wanted him to trust his gut but there was too much at stake and too many examples of betrayal in recent years. "Are you going to tell us why you're here?," he directed the question at the newcomer, not unkindly but without attempting to hide his reservations.

“Not since we found Reuben’s clone.” Older Jeassaho commented with a frown. It was still hard to speak the man’s name and think on him when things had gone so wrong.

“I do not know. I was in engineering and then something happened and I was here.” The woman admitted looking at her older self confused. She looked tired but she also looked glowing from pregnancy which was a joy to see that she was healed enough to eventually to carry a child. “What year is it?”

"2403."

It was a straight, honest answer. In any other situation, the question itself might have incited several more but as far as any of them could tell, this was a trio of telepaths doing more than just verbally scoping each other out. Trusting that this wasn't some kind of ruse wasn't going to come easily but there seemed little harm in giving the potential imposter this detail.

Five years or so away from the moment she had left? It made no sense to her when she thought about it all now. “2398. What… what happened here? Why are we… you guys together?” Young Jeassaho demanded as she leant out to the nearest wall and held onto it for a moment trying to making a little sense of what was going on.

A pair of arched eyebrows conveyed a moment of wry humour as Jaxx angled his gaze down at the woman beside him and joked, "It's a fair question." An elbow to the stomach caused him to wince before offering a tired chuckle and there was no mistaking the ripple of affection that passed between the pair, not dissimilar to what might already have been expected but staunch and resolute in decisions that had followed. He turned his attention back to their visitor and once again chose his words carefully. "We ran out of anyone else we could trust."

"Everyone else died and left me running this heap and trying to keep a dream of Reueben's alive." Older Jeassaho lay her hand on her bump barely visible through her flight suit but was hard to ignore the kicking.

"Where is he?" The younger version asked as the dizziness slowly started to leave her allowing her to think through everything.

"Gone."

The past few years had provided too many reasons to distrust the universe for Jaxx to be overly keen on the explanation that was unfolding. Time travel, as far as he was concerned, was a little too fanciful for the daily grind they usually faced. "We lost him at the start of 2400."

Older Jeassaho winced but said nothing more on the subject. “We need to get you to sickbay and looked over.” She promoted quietly taking charge of the situation now that she was no longer thrown by seeing Jaxx with herself. It had been a strange out of body moment for her.

A sideways glance from Jaxx hinted at an element of disagreement but without the privacy of telepathic exchange, he said nothing. If this was who it seemed to be, then he was completely outnumbered by the most stubborn person he knew. With a silent sigh, he stepped aside and allowed the younger version to fall into step beside her older counterpart, allowing him an opportunity to keep watch from behind.

No one said anything as they moved through the beaten and broken corridor along to the nearest turbo lift. The lift shuddered and shook as it took them several decks to sickbay. The deck the older Jeassaho stepped out onto was better lit but there was an air of silence that hit the young version instantly. “You have no crew?” She wondered.

“We will discuss more once you are checked over.” The elder version said simply.

"Do you have any idea how you got here?" As much as he wasn't in a hurry to believe this was somehow a past version of Jeassaho dumped in the midst of everything else that was going wrong, Jaxx didn't have a better tact to follow other than playing along for the moment.

“Not a clue. I was in engineering and we were fighting the Temperance.” Younger Jeassaho answered.

“I remember that, even they scurried off. They looked worse than we do now and that is saying something.” The elder version muttered as they arrived at the better lit sickbay and Jeassaho got a better look at the pair.

Whatever had befallen them, it hadn't been enough to complete erode Izriel's code of ethics when it came to his work. Whatever suspicion he had, it didn't keep him from ushering the younger Jeassaho up onto one of the biobeds before rummaging around for one of the only working medical tricorders, which still required a tap on the edge of the bed before it would work. As far as engineering procedures went, it earned him a frown from both experts but he was way past the kind of patience required for a delicate touch. "Not exactly a classified piece of information though," he pointed out.

“No but a good reference to where she is from.” Older Jeassaho pointed out as she sat on the opposite bio bed. She knew the man knew how to look for the obvious signs of a clone or changling so she stayed quiet in that respect.

“You look really pregnant.” The younger version commented taking in the way the flight suit moved around her to reveal quite a bit bump.

"Leaving that one for you." The glance exchanged between the doctor and his tired engineer was a mixture of familiar camaraderie and something...else. Telepathically it was a jumble too, a tangle of grief and resolve and mutual reliance. Jaxx didn't even try to hide the fact that, despite what this newcomer might expect, everything that mattered to him was currently inside his Sickbay. His Sickbay. So far, there was no evidence that anyone else worked there.

Younger Jeassaho raised an eyebrow at the statement but broke into a smile as she took the man in and the way he looked at the older version of her. It was starting to make a bit of sense to her now but it did bring up so many more questions on how things had gotten so bad for the ship and them.

“Whimp.” Older Jeassaho commented putting a hand on her bump. “I am really rather pregnant.” She sighed. “But that is neither here nor there, we need to figure you out and how you got here from 2398.”

“No, it’s really rather important. I want to know more. This ship it’s…” she could not figure out a word to sum it all up.

"Not going to fare any better with us muddying the timeline," Jaxx remarked as preliminary scans not only pointed to a confirmed identity, but trace elements of what he'd come to view as temporal residue. It wasn't complete proof but it was enough for him to buy into the explanation for the time being. "If you intend on trying to get back, the less you know, the better."

“Well, she has to go back otherwise I won’t be here and… ohhh this is why I failed temporal mechanics the first time. If neither of us remember this event how is it happening. Is time flexing on us? Have we done anything to?” The older Jeassaho commented holding her head fearing that a headache would brew any second.

"You're asking me? You're the one that keeps pressing the universe's buttons." It was a tease, affectionate despite the clear underlying accuracy of at least something conspiring against them. "It is like the last time though," he added mysteriously, holding up the tricorder's readout for his fiancé to see.

Something about the way he said that was frustrating and secretive that she did not like at all. She wanted answers to what was going on. "The last time?" The younger Jeassaho demanded taking the tricorder before the older version could see or attempt to grab herself.

The frustration was met by a raised eyebrow and a pair of arms folded across a chest that was just a little broader than what would have been considered as usual an hour ago. If all was as it had seemed, this Jaxx had five years more experience in dealing with the other Betazoid's tenacity. "Turns out the universe is full of temporal holes and we have a talent for falling into them."

“Course it is.” Younger Jeassaho commented with a small smile as the older version moved off the opposite bio bed and took the tricorder to look at the readings.

"Same trace elements, surprised she's not trailing space sparkles." The conversation was verbalised, which was about as much courtesy as was extended to the bewildered participant who had zero context for the situation being referenced. "We don't have time to wait for it to resolve itself if it even will. The longer you two spend together..."

“Have not turned off the lights to see if she sparkles.” Older Jeassaho said trying to look at what the tricorder said properly. “Well, we can’t just kick her off or anything.”

"If it's anything like the last time, we have a couple of hours at best before you both start feeling it." Arms still folded across his chest, Jaxx fixed his Jeassaho with a stern look that seemed somewhat harsher than the doctor's usual easy-going manner. "At least this time, it's two versions of the smartest person on the ship." He winked at her. "If anyone's going to find a way to reverse a temporal misalignment..."

“Flirt.” Older Jeassaho commented and moved over to soothe him a little. “It’s okay. Not going anywhere.” She whispered pulling him into the office so they could have a private conversation.