#Katherine Tartovsky

[ericbarkman]

Tales of WID 72 #13 Disunity

     “And Lieutenant Commander Tanaka has increased shield efficiency by five percent,” Commander Katherine Tartovsky said as she was giving her report to Captain Benjamin Grayson.  She was the first officer about the UES Unity, and he always had her give a daily report on what was all happening on the ship.      “Excellent,” Benjamin said.  “We were cutting it pretty close in the battle against that Argosian warship, so that is a welcome development.”      “The next item on my list has to do with fraternization amongst the crew.”      “Regulations permit dating, as long as it’s not amongst members of the same department, or between department heads.”      “Yes, sir, unfortunately it has come to my attention that there are two cases where that’s being violated.”      “Which two cases?” Benjamin asked.      “Lieutenants Harris and Banman, as well as Lieutenants Anderson and Delgado.”      “Hmm, I’ll have to have a word with them.  Is there anything else?”      “No sir, that’s the final thing to report.”      “You wanted to see me, sir?” Lieutenant Jane Anderson asked as she entered Benjamin’s office.      “It’s been brought to my attention that there have been some breaches of regulations as of late,” Benjamin said.      “Sir?” Jane asked.  “What sort of breaches?”      “When out in deep space, when the only people you see a lot of days are other members of the crews, it’s only natural to form bonds.  That was understood when designing regulations regarding fraternization amongst starship crews.”      “Of course, sir.”      “So for most crew they are simply not allowed to date amongst their own department.  Department heads, however, are also not to date other department heads.”      “Of course, sir,” Jane said.  “I understand.”      “Excellent,” Benjamin said.  “You are an excellent security chief, and Lieutenant Delgado is an amazing fighter squadron leader, and I’d hate to lose either of you.”      “So yeah, that’s what the captain said,” Jane said as she finished explaining to Leandra Delgado what Benjamin had told her.      “That’s too bad,” Leandra said.  “We were having some fun.  Although he also asked me to go have a chat with him later, so that’s probably what that’s about.”      “He also has meetings scheduled with Wesley and Chuck.”      “What about Tanaka and Cerise?”      “What?  Are they seeing each other too?” Jane asked.  “Are all of the department heads seeing other department heads?  Either way, he’s probably just unaware of them.”      “Possibly, hopefully that’s all it is.”      “What do you mean?”      “Well, it looks like he’s talking with the same sex couples, but not the straight one.”      “Come in,” Benjamin said when he heard his door chime.  He looked up as Leandra entered his office.  “Ah, Lieutenant Delgado, please have a seat.”      “Of course, sir,” Leandra said as she sat down.      “Do you know why I called you here?”      “I have a pretty good idea.”      “Yes, I assumed Lieutenant Anderson would have talked with you by now.”      “Permission to speak freely, sir?”      “Go ahead.”      “How many relationships are you aware of that are against regulations?”      “Only two,” he said.  “Why?  Are there more I should be aware of?”      “There is a third I am aware of, but unlike the two you are dealing with, the third is a straight couple.”      “I hope you’re not insinuating that I am selectively enforcing rules as a result of my religious beliefs.”      “No, sir, I am simply pointing out how it looks.”      “What is the other couple?”      “Lieutenant Martel and Lieutenant Commander Tanaka,” Leandra said.      “Then I will talk with them as well,” Benjamin said.  “I was honestly unaware of this.”      Doctor Fareed Karim was just finishing up a physical on one of the fighter pilots that was in Leandra’s squadron, Pandaherbs.      “You seem to be in good health,” Fareed said.  “Although make sure to keep up with the stretches.  Spending time cooped up in a cockpit can definitely have an effect on your body.”      “Not a problem, Doctor,” Pandaherbs said as she stood up.  She left just as Benjamin arrived.      “Good to see you, Captain,” Fareed said.  “Here for you regular physical?”      “Another time, perhaps,” Benjamin said.  “I actually came here to ask for your opinion on something.”      “Of course, on what topic?”      “I notice that you’ve made multiple requests to UES Command regarding fraternization rules.  Specifically regarding department heads on a starship entering into relationships with other department heads.”      “It makes sense not to have people date within their own department, no doubt,” Fareed said.  “That can cause all sorts of issues.”      “The department heads are all also in the chain of command to captain the ship though, if something were to happen, which makes them a department of sorts.”      “If something were to happen to you, Commander Tartovsky would be in charge.  After her would be Lieutenant Commander Teng, and then Lieutenant Commander Tanaka.  So that’s three people that would be out of commission before it would become relevant.”      “Which is not an impossibility,” Benjamin said.      “Maybe not, but the ship is often out in unexplored space, and the only Humans are those aboard the ship.  You have a wife and family back home, but not everyone does and most Humans crave companionship, which can be important for mental health.  I’m not saying the rules should be completely gotten rid of, but perhaps that starship captains should be given a bit more leeway in their application.”      “You mentioned Commander Tanaka.  So then I assume you were already aware of the relationship he’s in.”      “I’m the chief medical officer aboard the ship,” Fareed said.  “There is a great deal I am aware of, or at least suspect.  In this case it was more of a suspicion than actually knowing.”      “Are there any other suspicions you have?”      “Of course, Captain, but I’m assuming you already know more than I do, and that’s why you’re here talking with me.”      “Even if I were to convince Command to amend the rules, is it really a good idea to let the relationships in question continue?  Tanaka and Martel aren’t even the same rank.  They may be in separate departments, but that is still a thing to consider.  And when it comes to Anderson and Delgado, Anderson is the chief of security.  That means that she has a certain level of authority on most people on the ship even outside of her department, and even more so on away missions, since she generally leads those.”      “Lieutenant Delgado is in charge of the fighter squadron though, so it’s not exactly like she goes on the same type of away missions.”      “True, that is a fair point.”      “I don’t suppose you have any issues with Harris and Banman though, beyond just the current status of regulations.”      “I don’t think it has any negative effect on ship operations,” Benjamin said.      “That’s a very specific way of answering that question,” Fareed said.  “Captain.”      “Perhaps.  My religious views are not something I push on those under my command, but that doesn’t erase them.  I’m sure you understand that.”      “Yes and no.  But it isn’t always easy to separate yourself like that.  Even if you don’t overtly evangelize, it can still affect how you interact with others, and how you make decisions.”      “Everyone has views on the world, and those views affect them in those ways,” Benjamin said.  “You can’t just pretend something is false, which you believe to be true.”      “That’s not what I’m saying, not exactly.  But plenty of people believe things to be true about you, based on your skin color, and even if they don’t overtly act on that, it still affects how they treat you.”      “Hmm,” Benjamin said.      A few hours later, Benjamin was talking with Admiral Jon Teleros over the long range comm.      “Yes, I have read the requests from Doctor Karim,” Jon said.  “And I will say, I don’t entirely disagree with him.”      “But you do partially disagree?” Benjamin asked.      “The UES is an interesting organization at this point.  It’s a military, no doubt, but not everyone in it has actual military training, since most of us were transferred over from the ESS.  Some, like you and I, were in the military as well, but not everyone was.  And the ESS is far more lax with fraternization rules.”      “That they are.”      “There have been debates at Command about the requests.  Most of those who previously served in a military are opposed, while those who did not are mostly in favor.  There are a few exceptions though, of course.  And I haven’t made an official decision either way.”      “Why not?”      “Well, for one thing everyone knows my history, so everyone is going to think I’m biased.”      “You and Isabel didn’t get together until later though.”      “True, but that’s never stopped the rumors.  And I’m already not exactly popular amongst the other admirals.  I’m not the only one pulling double duty with both the UES and ESS, but I am one of the more high-profile examples, and the one that deals with the stuff everyone else wants to ignore, or has to ignore.  Stuff like Harkon Smith’s department, or Aaron’s kid and his friends.”      “I don’t envy you on that,” Benjamin said.  “I hope to be a starship captain for as long as I can.”      “Yes, that’s something I’m sad to have missed out on, but let’s get back to your request.  If you want me to back your doctor on this, then I can do so.  I don’t know that it’ll do any good, but I can certainly try.”      The next day, Benjamin was in his office, when the door chimed.  “Come in,” he said, and Katherine entered.      “Sir,” she said.  “I’m here with the daily report.”      “Good morning, Commander,” Benjamin said.  “Please sit down.  What’s on the docket today?”      “Lieutenant Martel was wondering if we could divert course to run some more precise scans on a nearby system that’s giving off weird readings.”      “We are out here to explore, so I’d say that sounds like a good idea.”      “Next on the agenda, Lieutenant Harris has done some more work on translating the Uthrareenn language, and he is fairly certain that we inadvertently insulted them during the trade negotiations.”      “How insulting?”      “They may be charging us about double what they normally would.”      “Not ideal, but it could be worse,” Benjamin said.  “I’ll let the diplomats on Maltork Six know.”      “Next up, I heard about your conversation with Doctor Karim.”      “Did you now?”      “I have some concerns,” Katherine said.      “I can’t say that I don’t myself, but I’m more concerned with what you all heard of my conversation, and how?”      “I didn’t hear the details, just that it happened, and then I heard that Admiral Teleros finally took a position in the debate.”      “I did talk with him as well, if that’s what you’re insinuating.  I am impressed at how much you’ve been hearing.”      “As your first officer, it’s my job to be on top of things,” Katherine said.      “Indeed, which is why it’s somewhat surprising you didn’t hear about the relationship between Tanaka and Martel.”      “It must have slipped my notice.”      “Of course.  Unless there’s anything else, you are dismissed.”      “What can I do for you, sir?” Jane asked as the entered the captain’s office.      “How often do you check the ship for bugs?” Benjamin asked.      “With the size of the ship, and the size of my security staff, along with our other duties, the entire ship gets checked over the course of each week.  The details are all in my regular logs.”      “Yes, I was looking them over, and I notice you always have teams of two working together.”      “Of course,” Jane said.  “As much as Earth is trying to show off a united front when dealing with other worlds, we are still a world of many nations, and thus a ship with a crew of many loyalties.  Is there something specific you want to know?”      “What I am about to tell you stays between the two of us.”      “Of course, sir.”      “Commander Tartovsky was aware of a conversation I had with Doctor Karim.  She claims to not know the details, just that it happened, but I’m unconvinced.”      “She is the first officer,” Jane said.  “She is aware of the schedule we follow, and thus if she did plant anything, she’d know when to remove it.”      “Which is precisely my worry.  I’d like you to change up the schedule, but don’t update the files for now, just let your team know the details face to face.”      “Understood, sir.”      Jane was in sickbay with one of her security officers, Yun Liu, and they were scanning for listening devices, when Katherine came barging in.      “What’s going on in here?” Katherine asked.      “Just doing routine security sweeps,” Jane said.  “Nothing to worry about.”      “This isn’t scheduled for today,” Katherine said.      “Wasn’t scheduled for today, ma’am,” Jane said.  “The Captain asked us change around the schedule a bit.”      The scanner chose that moment to start beeping.  “We’ve found something,” Yun said.  She reached under the desk that scanner indicated, and pulled out a small listening device.      “Good find,” Katherine said.  “And I suppose it was a good call on the Captain’s part.”      “We’ll get this taken apart and studied right away,” Jane said.      “Of course.”  Katherine stepped aside, to let them pass through the door.      “What have you found out?” Benjamin asked as he entered the security room.      “Do you want the good news, or the bad news first?” Jane asked.      “The good news,” Benjamin said.      “The bug is Russian made,” Jane said.      “But the bad news?”      “We have nothing to tie it specifically to Commander Tartovsky.  She’s hardly the only Russian on the ship, plus it’s not like anyone else couldn’t have gotten a Russian listening device.”      “Keep working at it,” Benjamin said.  “But yeah, if we go forward with this, the Russians will claim we’re just trying to get rid of their person.”      “That’s why I’m leaving it out of my official reports for now,” Benjamin told Jon over the comm.  “But I thought you should know anyway.”      “Yeah, that’s a good call,” Jon said.  “If nothing else, knowing about it helps me understand some motivations better.  I think the Russians are trying to make you look bad.”      “Oh?”      “You’re the African-American captain of the first Earth starship.  A starship called Unity, and with an international crew, since we’re trying to portray ourselves as United Earth when dealing with the interstellar community.  But if they can show you applying regulations in a discriminatory fashion, that makes you look bad.”      “Based on reports from my Russian first officer though,” Benjamin said.  “They’d risk her looking bad as well.”      “It’s a risk they’re willing to take, I’m sure.  Russia is far more obvious in its homophobia than America.  And on top of that, she’s not exactly popular amongst her Russian colleagues and superiors.  She’s good enough at her job to have got this far despite it, but they wouldn’t consider it a major loss if her career was destroyed.”      Leandra entered the security command center, where Jane was still hard at work on learning about the listening device.  No one else was in the room, and Jane looked up at the intrusion.      “What are you doing here?” Jane asked.      “Curious, mostly, about what’s all been going on.”      “Not much I can share, I’m afraid.”      “I don’t even mean on the investigation, although the rumors on the ship about that are certainly interesting.”      “What are the rumors?”      “Everyone knows that a listening device was found, but there are various theories about what sort, and who placed it, and what this could mean for the future of both this starship and the United Earth Spacefleet in general.”      “All very good questions,” Jane said.  “We’re supposed to be a unified crew, but you take people from a bunch of varied backgrounds, each with their own cultures and prejudices, and sometimes it works out, but other time it doesn’t.  Not sure yet which this is going to be.”      “You wanted to see me, sir?” Katherine asked as she entered Benjamin’s office.      “Yes, please sit,” he said, and she did so.  “I’ll be frank.  You know all about the listening device we found, and neither of us are idiots.  We both know that you’re the one that placed it.”      “I doubt you have any evidence towards that,” Katherine said.      “That’s irrelevant.”      “If you’re trying to remove me from my position, accusations without evidence will only hurt your case.”      “Which is why I’m not trying to remove you.  I’m not going to lie, I don’t like you, and I don’t trust you, but I do respect you, and I do think you are good at your job.”      “Thank you?”      “I would very much like to trust you, but for that to happen, you’re also going to have to trust me.”      “How do you mean?”      “I’ve been looking over your service records, both ESS and Russian Armed Forces.  I, of course, did so back when you were first chosen as my first officer, but I’ve been giving them a closer look.  Specifically I’ve noticed several situations in which, despite ESS regulations, you ended up in situations where you had to choose between following ESS orders or Russian orders.”      “Real life is rarely as neat and tidy as the people making regulations wish it to be.”      “Oh, I am fully aware of that, but what interests me the most, is that in most of those situations, you chose to follow the ESS orders.”      “I made the best choices I could, based on what I knew at the time.”      “Do you regret any of them?”      “Some, but not all, and I also regret some of the times I made the opposite choice.”      “Well, now I feel like you’re in another of those situations,” Benjamin said.  “Your superiors in Russia want me out of the captain’s chair of this ship.  And they are trying to use this situation to that end.  So, you have a choice.  You can continue following their orders, and maybe you’ll succeed.  But ask yourself, why are you doing that?  Do you think I am a bad captain?”      “No, sir.  I may not agree with all of your decisions, but I do respect you.”      “Then is it about advancing your own career?  Perhaps your government is planning to recommend you as the new captain.  But if they don’t, what’s going to happen to you then?  If they manage to get a different Russian in as captain, the other governments are not going to be okay with this ship having both a Russian captain and first officer.  So then, you’ll be moving backwards in your career, laterally at best if the UES goes with another American captain, or really any non-Russian.”      “Like you said, that’s assuming they don’t recommend me,” Katherine said.      “You know your superiors and your government better than I do.  You tell me.”      “What do you want from me, hypothetically speaking?  If all this was true, and I admitted to it, I would be discharged anyway.”      “Give me the names, off the record, and we can move forward, with a greater sense of trust.”      “You know what bugs me about this whole situation though,” Leandra said.  She was still in the security room with Jane.      “That we weren’t even really a couple?” Jane asked.  “We were just having a bit of fun, letting off some steam.”      “It’s the fact that here we are in the year 2017, and we’re out here exploring the galaxy, and doing all this Star Trek shit, and yet not only are people still full of prejudice, but some are stoking that prejudice and using it for political gain.”      “People are flawed, and just because we’ve jumped forward in our understand of science and technology and the universe, that doesn’t just erase the flaws we have.  That’s part of why I joined security.  I keep seeing flaws in people, and want to keep them from hurting others as a result.”      “How’s that working out?”      “Dealing with physical threats is a lot easier than less tangible ones.”      “Don’t I know it.”      “So, I hear the vote went in our favor,” Benjamin said, over the long range comm.      “It went the way we wanted, thanks to the information your first officer provided,” Jon said.  “It remains to be seen if it’s in our favor or not.”      “What did you do with that list of names anyway?”      “I just had conversations with them.  Although the less you know about those conversations, the better.”      “Of course, sir.”      “That said, I’m sure there will be a cost to pay for this.  Politics is a never ending game, and while we might have the upper hand for the moment, that’ll hardly last.”

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #40 Trust is a Curious Thing

     Melinda Summers looked into the cell where Deanna was lying in a bed, with an IV connected to keep her sedated.  Even though she knew the door was locked, she checked one more time , just to be sure.      “Everything seems to be just the way we left it,” Mary Bishop said as she came up beside Melinda.      “That’s good,” Melinda said.  “At least as good as anything regarding this situation is.”      “So, what are we going to do about it?”      “I’ve been going over the files on all of the guards and other employees Deanna had here.  They seem to have mostly been taken from 1984, which is good as it’ll be relatively simple to return them home with their memories of this erased.”      “Yeah, I’m sure that’ll be very easy now that we’ve allied ourselves with the Temporal Development Division.”      “Still not a fan of that decision?” Melinda asked.      “Why wouldn’t I be a fan of that?  It’s not like they’ve erased our memories before.  Or brainwashed you to turn on us.  Or killed my father.  Oh wait.”      “If it weren’t for Rupert Teleros being in charge now, I’d have the same reservations.  Not to say that I don’t still have any concerns, like the fact that we’re already the ESS time division, and now we’re also going to be the operations team for the TDD.  But at least my concerns are lessened.  And in the meantime, our bigger problem is what to do with Deanna.”      “The brainwashing won’t work on her?”      “It might.  It might not.”      “Right, right, I know, I know, she’s complicated.  Speaking of, what about Sesla?  Are we still going to be working with her, considering she’s Deanna’s future self?”      “I mean, that’s a millennium of difference.  Not to mention that Deanna’s recent actions have taken her in a different direction than Sesla ever went.”      “Still, it might be better to keep her in the coma for now,” Mary said.      Meanwhile in the team’s base in the Cretaceous, Jack Masterson and the Ghost of his temporal duplicate were in Harkon Smith’s office.      “Doctor Quill has finished growing the clone body for Imhotep,” Ghost Jack said.  “So we’ll be able to transfer his consciousness soon.”      “That is good to hear,” Harkon said.  “There weren’t any complications with the new process?”      “Doesn’t seem like it,” Ghost Jack said.  “Everything seems fine.”      “So, I take it we’ll be growing a clone body for Sesla next,” Jack said.      “That’s what I wanted to talk with you about,” Harkon said.      “You don’t trust her, do you?” Jack asked.  “I mean, dumb question, of course you don’t.”      “As different from Deanna as she may be, she does still have her own agenda,” Harkon said.      “True,” Jack said.  “But it’s not like she’s the only person we have working here that does.”      “The difference is that everyone else here is on much more equal footing,” Harkon said.  “We were barely able to defeat Merlin.  If Sesla turned on us, there’s little we’d be able to do.”      “So, does that mean we aren’t going to be growing a new body for her?” Jack asked.      “We’ll have Doctor Quill start on it,” Harkon said.  “But I have not yet decided if we’ll follow through on that.  Understood?”      “You’re the boss, boss,” Jack said.      “Understood,” Ghost Jack said.      Melinda was supervising a team that was bringing several of Deanna’s guards outside to be teleported up to the UES starship Unity.  While most of the United Earth Spacefleet were unaware of time travel, there were a few high ranked individuals who were and who allowed the ESS time division to use some of their resources at times.      “Uh, Melinda, could I have a moment of your time?” Abigail Esau asked as she came running up.      “Sure, what’s going on?” Melinda asked.      “I’ve been going over the information we have on the temporal anomalies on this planet, and I’m concerned that just because we’ve stopped Deanna once, she may still continue to pose a threat.  Versions of her from before we stopped her could travel through a temporal anomaly and then we’d be in trouble again.”      “Hmm, yes, that would be a problem.  The anomalies are much different that what we’re used to dealing with.  They provide a much different set of problems than the time doors or even the Palore timeships.  Do you have any ideas on how to deal with it?”      “Short of destroying this planet in the past, no, not really.  And I’d be worried about what effect that would have on the timeline, especially because of the stuff involving alternate universes.”      “Yes, well we do have Tesla and ERK-147 working on studying this planet, so we’ll see what they come up with,” Melinda said.      Nikola Tesla threw a ripe apple a few meters in front of himself.  He then walked to it, but in a circular path so as to avoid the temporal anomaly.  He found the apple, rotten as if it had been there for a few months.      “Interesting,” he said.  “ERK-147, how big is that anomaly?”      “While less than a meter wide, it extends several kilometers up,” the little bot said.  “It also extends approximately three meters underground.”      “Fascinating,” Nikola said.  “Did the anomaly mapping from the Majestic include the underground portions?”      “It did not.  They only mapped the ones in the atmosphere.”      “We’ll have to complete the maps they started first of all.  That’s the number one thing.  And then we’ll do the second thing.”      “Which is?”      “That’s an extremely good question.  We need to determine how exactly this planet works in this method.  Objects managing to be on the borders of different times.  The fact that this apple and I started in the same time and location, but now we’re in a different time and location, but have experience a different amount of time getting there.  We are on the cusp of great discoveries here, and it’s really quite invigorating.”      Ghost Jack put one of his hands on the comatose Imhotep’s head, and the other on the head of the clone body they had made of Imhotep.  Both bodies were pressed up next to each other.      “Let’s hope this works,” Ghost Jack said before entering both of them simultaneously.      Imhotep’s dream was much the same as it had been the last time he was there, looking like Imhotep’s old home back in Egypt.  But at the same time he was entering what would have been the clone’s dream, if it had a mind.  However, being mindless, all he found was a vast nothingness.  The last time he had tried something like this it was very uncomfortable, but this time it was actually painful.      “Welcome back,” Imhotep said.  “Is it working?”      “It hurts, but seems to be working as intended,” Ghost Jack said.  “So, let’s try transferring you across.”      Ghost Jack took Imhotep’s hand, and tried bringing him over to the clone body.  It felt like a migraine extended across his entire body, which was really weird considering he was a ghost and had no body.  But as the pain faded, Ghost Jack realized that the clone body now had the dream world, while the original was now empty.      “It seems to have worked,” Ghost Jack said.      “Seems that way,” Imhotep said.      Ghost Jack exited back into the med lab.      “Did it work?” Doctor Jeri Quill asked.      “We think so,” Ghost Jack said.      Jeri gave the clone body a stimulant, and after a bit it woke up.      “Imhotep, is that you?” Ghost Jack asked.      “Yes, it is I,” Imhotep said as he sat up.  He looked at his original body lying next to him.  “This is very strange.”      “Yeah, but at least you won’t have to regularly see a second you,” Ghost Jack said.  “That’s when things really get weird.”      “What are we going to do with my old body?” Imhotep asked.      “It’s your body, so it’s your choice,” Jeri said.      Over in the cafeteria, Jack was having lunch with Dorian Winters and Philip Wilson.      “Yeah, it took some work, but we managed to stop Deanna from whatever she was planning,” Jack said.      “So, you don’t even know what she was up to?” Philip asked.      “Well, we know she was trying to become more powerful, so that she could kill Sesla without us being able to stop her,” Jack said.  “Still don’t know why though.”      “Killing her own future self,” Dorian said.  “I can’t even imagine what her motives for that could be.”      “Yeah, well, for now we have to figure out what to even do with her, in order to get the timeline back on track so Sesla is still her future self.”      “Can’t we just brainwash her?” Philip asked.      “That’s the plan,” Jack said.  “The difficulty is ensuring that it sticks.  You know how much trouble we’ve had with Aphrodite on that matter.”      “Please sit down,” Rupert Teleros said as Harkon entered his office at TDD headquarters.      “Thank you,” Harkon said as he took his seat.      “I read your report on the events at this rogue planet.  Have you determined yet how Deanna even found out about it in the first place?  Or where this Chloe that she bought additional information off of, was able to get it from?”      “Not yet, we’re still working on trying to figure it all out.  Were you aware of this planet beforehand?”      “No, we were not, and that’s very worrying.  That someone in the twentieth century has this sort of information without us knowing about it, it’s unprecedented.”      “We are doing our best to look into it, although we are also having to deal with the cleanup on the planet.  Not to mention learning more about it, which itself is taking resources from our investigations into alternate universes.”      “No, I understand.  Although if you need more personnel, I can arrange that.”      “No offense, but our people are already some of the best,” Harkon said.      “Oh, no doubt you have quality, but at times I’m sure you could also use more quantity.  But if you don’t think that’s currently a concern, then I’ll trust your judgement.  In the meantime, I do have another thing to add to your plate though.”      “So, what have you learned?” Melinda asked as Nikola and ERK-147 entered her makeshift office.      “The temporal anomalies on this planet are like nothing we’ve encountered before,” Nikola said.      “Yes, I already knew that,” Melinda said.      “I don’t just mean in the effects,” Nikola said.  “I mean in the way they interact with time.”      “My sensors can detect the anomalies just fine,” ERK-147 said.  “But they read completely differently than the time doors or the Palore time drives.  If I had just detected them without knowing their significance, I would not have even known they affected the timestream.”      “So, what does that mean?” Melinda asked.  “Is there a way we can get rid of them?”      “It’s too early to tell,” ERK-147 said.      “But the other question is if we want to,” Nikola said.      “Abigail brought up the possibility that because of them, even though we’ve defeated Deanna, she could still try again from before we did so,” Melinda said.  “I can’t say I’d want to risk that possibility if we can avoid it.  Especially since we only defeated her thanks to someone from an alternate universe that we might never be able to bring back here.”      “It’s true,” Nikola said.  “That is a risk.  But also, think of the possibilities it could bring.  The whole reason we’ve agreed to work for the TDD was for access to more time periods.  But if we could learn to harness the natural forces on this planet, we wouldn’t need them anymore.”      “You wanted to see me?” Jack asked as he entered Harkon’s office.      “Yes, come in please,” Harkon said.      “I hear you just came back from the TDD base.”      “I did, and they have a mission they’d like us to take care of.”      “Sure we don’t have enough to deal with already?”      “Melinda is in charge of the stuff on the rogue planet, and as for investigating your friend Chloe to find out where she got her information on it, we can’t exactly send you for that.”      “I suppose not.  So is this mission from the TDD something I’ll be doing on my own then?”      “You can take a few agents with you, if you think it’ll be necessary, but I don’t know that it will be,” Harkon said.      “What’s the mission?”      “You’re not going to like it.  But we need to return the time door in 2349 to the space station Oracle.”      “So the TDD can continue their experiments there?” Jack asked.  “After all the effort we went into to stop that?”      “All we did was prevent them from further altering the timeline in that area.  We never did anything to fix the changes they had already made.”      “Even still, letting them back in there…”      “Is exactly the sort of thing we expected when we agreed to join them,” Harkon said.  “I’m not too happy about it, but the Palore are the bigger problem now.”      “Are they though?  We haven’t even encountered them in a while.  Doesn’t it seem awfully convenient that just as we are becoming a bigger and bigger threat to the TDD, that suddenly a new enemy causes us to ally with them.”      “Is this your knowledge powers kicking in, or just speculation?”      “Just speculation, for now,” Jack said.  “I’ll do this mission, but I am wary of it.”      “Quite a lot to get done here,” Mary said as she sat down with Abigail for lunch.      “Yeah, I’ve been working non-stop for the past eight hours,” Abigail said.  “There’s so much to go through.”      “I think you’ve been staring at computer screens a bit too long then,” Mary said.  “And your eyes are getting a bit red.”      “Yeah, well, we need to be prepared if Deanna attacks again.”      “Ah yeah, I was hearing about your theories earlier from Melinda.  Do you ever miss the old days, before all this time travel stuff?”      “Even before time travel stuff, I don’t really miss much from after the incident.  You?”      “I don’t know.  I mean, it was certainly simpler back when I was just a simple farm girl in the 1870s.  But I don’t know if it was better.”      “If I was still in 2017, we wouldn’t have met though, so there’s that.  I mean, I suppose we’re in 2017 right now, temporal anomalies aside, but that’s only because we’re on a mission.”      “Yeah, I definitely don’t want us to have never met,” Mary said.      “And even if life is a lot more complicated now, we probably won’t be doing this all our lives.  Maybe one day we can get married and settled down, and live a more normal life.”      “And we could choose from any number of time periods to live in.  Preferably your time or further in the future though.”      “Eh, even in my time people can be plenty homophobic.  My hometown is a pretty good example of that.”      Philip and Dorian were sitting at a table in a bar, nursing their drinks, while trying to figure out their next move.  They kept glancing at the table in the back where Chloe was sitting.      “She’s not going to just tell us the source of her information,” Philip said.      “Well, not for free, obviously,” Dorian said.  “That’s why we need to offer her a decent chunk of change.”      “I don’t think we’ll be able to offer her enough for that.  Giving up sources isn’t exactly a good long term business strategy.”      “Then what are we supposed to do?  Just sit here hoping she meets her source while we’re watching?  Who knows how long that could take, assuming it even does.  Plus we can’t risk spending too much time here and accidentally messing up Jack’s timeline from when he was in this era previously.”      “No, we need to figure out where Chloe lives, and search her place when she’s out,” Philip said.      “So, we’re just supposed to follow her home?  In her business, I’m pretty sure she’ll notice if she’s being followed.  Hell, she’s probably already figured out that we’re watching her.”      “Maybe we can use that.  Convince her that we’re checking her out, and one of us goes and hits on her?”      “We’re a gay couple.”      “Yeah, but she doesn’t know that.”      “You want to do what?” Sandra Rodriguez asked.      “Hire you to fly me to the space station Oracle,” Jack said.      “The last time you did that, I was trapped there for months.”      “It’ll be easier this time.  We don’t have to worry about the mercenaries now.”      “Oh yeah?”      “Yeah.”      “Do I want to know why?”      “Probably not,” Jack said.      “And you want to bring the time door with?  After all the work it took us to get it off there in the first place, you want to go and just bring it back?”      “Yeah, we have our reasons for doing so.”      “I mean, I’m going to charge extra for this.  A lot extra.”      “Yeah, no worries.  We can cover it.”      “Hey,” Philip said as he went up to the table where Chloe was sitting.  “How’s it going?”      “Not interested,” Chloe said without even looking at him.      “Not interested in what?  All I asked was how’s it going.”      “You and your buddy over there have been checking me out all evening.  But I’m not interested.”      “Right, sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.”      “Could you also make sure your friend doesn’t bother me next?”      “Yeah, yeah,” Philip said before returning to the table with Dorian.      “So, how’d it go?” Dorian asked.      “Didn’t work, we’ll have to figure something else out.”      “That’s the last of them,” Mary said to Melinda as they watched the final of Deanna’s employees being teleported up to the Unity.  “It’s just Deanna herself we still have down here.”      “Hmm, yes,” Melinda said.  “Could you send Abigail up there to make sure they are ready to receive her?”      “Of course.”      “And then meet me by Deanna’s cell with all of the other agents we have on planet.  Except the science teams.”      “Right away.”      “They have phone books in this era, right?” Philip asked.  “If we can just find out Chloe’s last name, we can look her up in the phone book.”      “And how are we going to manage that?” Dorian asked.  “Jack doesn’t even know it.”      “Then we’ll just have to try following her and hope she doesn’t notice us.”      “It’s too bad we can’t just go invisible…”      Philip and Dorian looked at each other, their eyes wide.  “Dammit, how did we not think of that sooner?” Dorian asked.      “I guess we’re just idiots, but we thought of it now.”      “Can’t have her seeing regular Jack, but we don’t have to worry about her seeing Ghost Jack.”      Mary joined Melinda at Deanna’s cell, along with another two dozen agents.  Every one of those twenty-four agents had their weapons at the ready as Melinda and Mary entered the cell.  Mary checked the IV, to make sure it was still secure, while Melinda checked the medical scanner to make sure that Deanna was still fully sedated.      Mary and Melinda started rolling the bed containing Deanna out of the cell, while every other agent had their weapons trained on Deanna.  They went down the hallways, taking the shortest path to an exit.  Every time they went over a bump on the floor, everyone tensed up for a moment, before they continued on.      But they eventually got outside without incident, and Melinda activated her comm to the Unity.  “We’re ready,” she said.  “Get a lock, and teleport us up.”      Ghost Jack floated down into the gym, where Imhotep was working out.  “So, how’s the new body treating you?” Ghost Jack asked.      “I mean, I know it’s genetically identical to my previous body,” Imhotep said.  “But it feels different.  It’s going to take some getting used to.”      “Yeah, I can imagine.  I don’t know how comparable it is to back when I first became a Ghost, but I’m sure there are parallels.”      “Possibly, I suppose I just need to give it some time.”      “Ghost Jack, please report to the time door room,” they heard over the PA system.      “Guess someone needs me for something,” Ghost Jack said.      “How long until we get to Earth,” Melinda asked after going up to the bridge.      “Should be a day or two,” Captain Benjamin Grayson said.  “Mr. Banman, can you give a more specific estimate?”      Lieutenant Chuck Banman looked down at his piloting console.  “Thirty-five hours and nineteen minutes.”      “I’d prefer faster, but if that’s the best we can manage, it’ll have to do,” Melinda said.      “We could go faster, but it would involve going through hostile territory, which I’d prefer to avoid,” Benjamin said.  “And we don’t want to be starting any wars.”      “No, we don’t,” Melinda said.  “This will have to do, and hopefully it’ll be enough.”      “Yeah, that’s not a problem,” Ghost Jack said.  “Is she still at the bar?”      “She was when we left,” Dorian said.      “That’s the bar right up ahead,” Philip said.      “Ah yeah, I’m familiar with that bar, albeit from my own time,” Ghost Jack said.  “I’ll go scope it out, and find out if she’s still there.  You two wait here.”  Ghost Jack flew off, turning invisible as he did.      “Wait, what?” Philip asked.  “We’re just supposed to wait out here on the sidewalk?”      “I mean, there’s a bench over there, we can go sit down, I guess,” Dorian said.      As they went and sat down, they heard someone coming around the corner.  Neither of them thought much of it, until they heard and recognized two voices.  The first was Jack, but it was too soon for Ghost Jack to be coming back, not to mention he would not be walking.  And they knew the regular Jack was off on a mission in another time period, which meant it could only be the regular Jack from earlier in his personal timeline when he had previously been in this time.  That was only confirmed by the fact that the other voice was Deanna, from back when she was still their ally.      “Oh shit, we can’t let them see us,” Philip said as he looked around for somewhere to hide.      “If we run that’ll just make them more likely to notice,” Dorian said.  “We just need to keep them from seeing our faces.”      “Wait, are you suggesting what I think you are?  But we’re in public.”      “Yeah, well, it’s our best bet.”      They started kissing, and Jack and Deanna passed by without incident.      “Okay, I think that worked,” Dorian said after they had turned another corner.      “We should maybe head out though, just in case they turn back,” Philip said.  “I don’t know how common guys making out with each in public is in the 70s.”      Meanwhile in the future, the present version of Jack was playing a game of Jakut with Sandra while they were en route to the space station Oracle.      “Checkmate,” Jack said as he moved a piece on the board.      “Yeah, that’s not how this works,” Sandra said.  “I mean, that is a legal move, and even gets you two points, but there isn’t a checkmate in this game.”      “Right, right.  So, you just win by getting the most points before the game ends?”      “Kind of, but there are some bonuses awarded after the end.  That can change things up.”      As she was explaining, the ship dropped out of superspace, and an alarm started blaring.      “Proximity alert?” Jack asked.      “Probably the same mercenaries from last time.  I thought you said they wouldn’t be a problem this time.”      “They won’t, I just need to let them know that,” Jack said as he followed Sandra up to the bridge.      She opened the comm to the lead mercenary ship.  The image of the captain appeared on screen, the same one they had encountered last time.      “Hey Totorgo, long time no see,” Jack said.      “I don’t believe I gave you my name last time,” Totorgo said.      “Yeah, but I got it from your employers,” Jack said.  “We’re kind of working together now.”      “Wait, you’re what?” Sandra said.  “You failed to mention that.”      “It’s complicated,” Jack said.      “Do you have any proof of this?” Totorgo asked.  “Or am I just supposed to take you at your word?”      Jack typed a handful of characters on the keyboard.  “I’m sending an authorization code now.”      “Hmm,” Totorgo said.  “It checks out.  You’re free to go.”  The comm ended.      “So, you’re working with those bastards now?” Sandra asked.      “Like I said, it’s complicated.  Turns out they aren’t quite as bad as previously though, and more importantly there are worse problems out there.  The enemy of my enemy is my reluctant ally and all that.”      “Right,” Sandra said.      On the Unity, Mary and Abigail were having lunch in the mess hall, with some of the crew.      “And that’s when she realized that there was confetti coming out of the back of her fighter craft,” one of the fighter pilots, who’s callsign was Cheddar Cheese, said.      “I still don’t know how you managed that,” said the pilot in question.  Her callsign was Pandaherbs.      “What did the admiral say about that?” Mary asked.      “He didn’t say anything,” Cheddar Cheese said.  “But I heard that he looked like he was holding back some laughter.”      “Yeah, I could see that,” Abigail said.  “Admiral Teleros seems like he has a good sense of humor.”      “Wait, do you know him?” Pandaherbs asked.      “Kind of,” Abigail said.  “I have a friend who’s dad used to work with him.”      “Oh yeah, who’s that?” Cheddar Cheese asked.      “Curtis Hammer is my friend, his dad’s name was Aaron,” Abigail said.      “Aaron Hammer, yeah, he was part of the Admiral Teleros’ old ESS team back in the day,” Pandaherbs said.  “Captain Grayson was on that team too.”      “That’s pretty cool,” Abigail said, right before alarms started blaring.      “What’s going on?” Melinda asked as she went onto the bridge.      “We were dragged out of superspace,” Benjamin said.      “What?” Melinda asked.  “How?”      “Don’t know that yet,” Lieutenant Cerise Martel, the chief science officer said.  “We’ve never encountered something like this before.”      “That’s because that technology shouldn’t exist yet,” Melinda said.      “There’s a ship nearby though,” Lieutenant Commander Jiang Teng, the chief tactical officer said.  “And it is a type of ship we’ve encountered before.  It’s a Palore ship.”      “Dammit,” Benjamin said.  “What are they doing?”      “Nothing yet,” Jiang said.  “They do have their shields up, but their weapons aren’t locked on us.”      “They are hailing us, Captain,” Lieutenant Wesley Harris, the chief communications officer said.      “On screen,” Benjamin said.      A Palore captain appeared on the screen.  “Hello Captain Grayson, my name is Daskata.  You have someone aboard that I want.  Hand them over and you’ll be free to go.”      “Who would that be?” Benjamin asked.      “I believe she goes by the name Deanna,” Daskata said.      “What do you want with her?” Melinda asked.      “That is not your concern, Agents Summers,” Daskata said.  “You should just be glad I am not asking for you and your people as well.  But if you resist, I will be taking you and Agent Esau as well.  You have ten minutes to comply.”  The viewscreen went back to a view of space.      “What are our chances of escaping from them?” Benjamin asked.      “Not good,” Chuck said.  “We can’t go back into superspace as long as whatever they did is in effect.  And at sublight speeds, well unless they are a hell of a lot slower than us, it’ll take a very long time to get outside of this area of effect.”      “And fighting them?” Benjamin asked.      “Based on my scans, they are a lot more powerful than us,” Jiang said.      “Deanna is your prisoner,” Benjamin said, turning to Melinda.      “We can’t turn her over to them,” Melinda said.  “Who knows what they’re planning on doing with her.”      “Do you have any ideas on how to deal with them, in that case?” Benjamin asked.      “So, what did you find?” Philip asked after Ghost Jack had returned to him and Dorian.      “Well, I followed her to an apartment,” Ghost Jack said.  “Took a look inside, and it certainly looks to be her place.”      “Okay, then the plan is to wait until tomorrow, and then go in and check it out when she’s gone, I guess,” Dorian said.      “Yeah, I’d say so,” Philip said.  “And hopefully we don’t have any more close calls with the past versions of Jack and Deanna.”      “You saw them?” Ghost Jack asked.      “Yeah, but luckily they didn’t see us,” Dorian said.      “As far as we know anyway,” Philip said.      Mary and Abigail joined Melinda and Benjamin in Benjamin’s office, which was just off the bridge.      “Why not me?” Mary asked, after they had the situation explained to them.  “Or any of our other people?  Why did they just say that they would take you two if we didn’t cooperate?”      “Perhaps they didn’t know who else was all aboard,” Benjamin said.      “Then how did they know that I’m aboard?” Abigail asked.  “No, I think Mary is on to something here.”      “Possibly,” Melinda said.  “But we don’t have much time.  We can’t outrun them and we can’t outfight them, at least not in starship combat.”      “You want to go aboard?” Benjamin asked.  “We don’t even know the size of their crew, but I doubt we can take on all of them.”      “Maybe we can’t, but Deanna can,” Abigail said.      “No, we can’t be considering that,” Mary said.  “We barely managed to stop her the last time, and now we’re just going to wake her up.  Hell, for all we know, she allied with the Palore, and that’s why they are here.  To free her.”      “My gut says they aren’t allies,” Melinda said.      “Even if they aren’t, she’s not our ally anymore either,” Mary said.  “Let’s say she does defeat all of them.  Then she has a timeship.”      “To be fair, you need multiple timeships to actually use them for time travel,” Abigail said.  “It’s why ours is mostly only of use as a starship.”      “Even still, setting her on the loose with a starship as powerful as that doesn’t seem like a great idea either,” Mary said.      “No, if we do use her, we’re going to need a plan to deal with her as well,” Melinda said.      After arriving at the space station Oracle, Jack teleported aboard with the time door.  He appeared in the area that had previously been controlled by Sesla.  But with the changes to the timeline, he was not certain what to expect.      As he appeared there, there was someone waiting for him.  The man named Xavier, who had been Sesla’s servant, and who still looked the same.      “Hello Xavier,” Jack said.      “Master Masterson,” Xavier said.  “We’ve been expecting you.”      “Have you now?”      “The Mistress foretold your return.  I will take you to her.”      “I still need to set up the time door.”      “All in time,” Xavier said.  “All in time.”      Melinda held the injector up to Deanna.  “The second I inject the stimulant, I will back off, and then you’ll teleport her over.”      “Of course,” Taro Tanaka, the chief engineer said.      Melinda injected the stimulant, and then backed off, and Deanna was teleported over to the Palore ship.      “Now we wait,” Melinda said.      “And hope we don’t get screwed over in the process,” Mary said.      Jack was lead into the throne room by Xavier.  It looked much the same as the last time he had been here.  The only major difference was that the throne was now on a swivel, and was facing away.      “Mistress, Master Jack Masterson has arrived,” Xavier said.      “Excellent,” came a female voice from the throne.  It was not the voice of Sesla though, but it was a voice Jack recognized.      “Abigail?” Jack asked.      Meanwhile, in another era, Abigail, Mary, and Melinda were on the bridge of the Unity, waiting along with the bridge crew for what was about to happen.      “The Palore ship hasn’t left yet,” Jiang said.  “But it also hasn’t made any aggressive moves.”      “Can our sensors detect anything happening aboard it?” Benjamin asked.      “Not really,” Jiang said.  “We’ll be able to tell if they lock weapons on us, or whatever, but if Deanna is actually doing anything aboard the ship, we can’t determine that currently.”      “Which means, we’re in the dark for now,” Mary said.  “I don’t like that.”      “Wait, their shields just went down,” Jiang said.  “In fact looks like their ship is dead in the water.”      “How many lifesigns are aboard it?” Benjamin asked.      “One human, and a few thousand Palore, but it looks like the Palore are all unconscious.”      “Hail the ship,” Benjamin said.      “Yes, sir,” Wesley said.      It took a few minutes, but eventually Deanna appeared on screen.  “Would anyone mind explaining why I’m aboard a Palore ship?”      “They wanted you, and we didn’t have much choice,” Melinda said.  “But we woke you up to give you a chance.”      “Uh huh,” Deanna said.  “Why?”      “We figured that you’d be able to take them out,” Mary said.  “And now you’ll have to turn yourself back over to us, or we’re going to blow the explosive we put in your head.”      “You mean this explosive?” Deanna asked, as it materialized in her hand.      “Shit,” Melinda said.      “So, what exactly are we looking for here?” Dorian asked as he was searching through desk drawers.      “Anything that’ll give us any clues as to where Chloe got that intel from,” Philip said as he looked through the closet.      “The problem is that she deals in information,” Ghost Jack said.  “So even if we find clues to one of her sources, it might not be the one we are looking for.”      “We’ll just have to be thorough then,” Philip said.      Ghost Jack passed through a wall, and then came back.  “There’s a vault in this wall,” he said.  “It’s too dark to read anything in there though.”      “Can’t you like, create some kind of ghost light or something?” Philip asked.      “Yeah, no, it doesn’t work like that,” Ghost Jack said.      “Where’s the door?” Dorian asked.      “Behind this painting, I assume,” Ghost Jack said as he took a painting off the wall, and revealed the door.      “I’ll see if I can unlock it,” Dorian said as he put his ear to the lock and started turning it.      “Captain, with your permission, can we fire all weapons at that Palore ship before Deanna does anything else?” Melinda asked.      “Permission granted,” Benjamin said.  “Commander Teng, open fire on that ship.”      “Yes, sir,” Jiang said as she did so.      The Palore ship was pelted with weapons fire.  Without any shields, it was quickly destroyed.      “Any remaining lifesigns?” Melinda asked.      “The Palore are all dead, many of them vaporized,” Jiang said.  “There’s no sign of Deanna though, alive or dead.”      “I’m going to guess it’s too much to hope she was vaporized,” Mary said.      “It’s hard to know what kind of abilities she even has after stealing powers from magic users from other universes,” Abigail said.      “Other universes?” Benjamin asked.      “That’s classified, by the way,” Melinda said.  “Everyone on the bridge is going to have to keep that quiet.”      “Sorry,” Abigail said.      “Got it,” Dorian said as he unlocked the vault and opened it up.  It was full of filing cabinets, which themselves were full of a variety of documents.      “This could take a while,” Philip said.      “Maybe, maybe not,” Ghost Jack said as he started looking through them.  “Everything seems to be pretty well organized, so we just need to find the right stuff.”      “Like this,” Dorian said as he pulled a folder out of one of the filing cabinets.  “This is the intel we got from her.  At least some of it is, but there’s more in here than what she gave us.”      “Hmm,” Ghost Jack said as he looked over Dorian’s shoulder at the files.  “Wait, that one there.”      “This?” Dorian asked as he looked at a paper with some sort of symbols he did not recognize.  “What is this?”      “I can’t read it,” Ghost Jack said.  “But I recognize the letters.  The other Jack might be able to decipher it though.”      “What language is it?” Philip asked.      “It was a language used by the first generation of Gods,” Ghost Jack said.      “The first generation?” Philip asked.  “Like, what are we talking about here?  Greek Gods, Egyptian, Norse?”      “All of them,” Ghost Jack said.  “The first generation had the progenitor of each of the different pantheons.  So Chronos for the Greeks, Ymir for the Norse, I think, I don’t know who for the Egyptian or others, but you see what I’m getting at.”      “So, Chloe got her information from one of them?” Dorian asked.      “Don’t know,” Ghost Jack said.  “I feel like that’s unlikely, but clearly there’s some sort of connection.”      Meanwhile in the future, Jack was still trying to process the situation, as the chair turned around, and Abigail got up off of it.  It was clearly Abigail, but she was as pale and bald as Sesla had been in this era.  And she was wearing the same sort of black dress.      “You seem surprised to see me,” Abigail said.      “How did you wind up here?” Jack asked.      “Leave us, Xavier,” Abigail said, and Xavier bowed before leaving the throne room.  “Sesla needs to be here.”      “But you’re not Sesla,” Jack said.      “Somebody has to be, and she got killed back when she was Deanna, so I’ve taken her place in the timeline.”      “When did this happen?” Jack asked.      “From your team’s perspective, it’s happening right now-ish.  Deanna was killed while en route to Earth from the rogue planet.”      “And what, you just didn’t return through the time door when you got back to Earth?”      “No, I did, I went back to the base in the Cretaceous, I just never left that era, at least not with time travel.”      “So what?  You’re tens of millions of years old at this point?”      “And I don’t look a day over twenty-five.”      “That’s insane.  Why would you do that?”      “Like I said, to preserve the integrity of the timeline.”      “There’s got to be an easier way to do that,” Jack said.  “And why from the Cretaceous?  Why not just stay where she was when she was killed, and take her place from that point on?”      “It’s complicated, as you will soon learn,” Abigail said.  “But the war for all time is about to become far more chaotic.” To be continued…