USS Rosenante

Mission: The Quondam Season
Day: 6
Stardate: 2408.12.27

=========================

(USS Rosenante, Bridge, CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 6- 2200)

=========================

(USS Rosenante, Bridge, CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 6- 2200)

Ahmed sat in the center chair watching the main view screen as the planet
Xega III passed beneath them.  The unexpected appearance of the massive
unidentified Monoliths on the planet had caught them all unawares and now
hundreds of them reached nearly three kilometers skyward and were collecting
massive amounts of radiation from the planet's atmosphere.

For her part, the Rosenante had broken from standard orbit and had shifted
to a Solar orbit so that they could continue to take readings as the
Radiation that had killed the planet eons ago was diminishing. His most
pressing concern was simply, where was all that energy going?

Sciences had been able to detect a slight build up of power deep within the
core of the planet and Doctor Toenkampf was convinced that the  Monoliths
had to be part of the legendary Balancer machine that the now long extinct
Xegans were reputed to have built before their demise.

Ahmed however wasn't so certain that they were watching a device that would
limit itself to the planet. There were any number of unpleasant scenarios in
his brain jockeying for prominence.

"Captain, I'm picking up some sort of temporal flux "

Ahmed turned to look at Benoit  who was manning the  Science station. "Is it
originating from the planet?" he asked.

"Unlikely, it seems to be coming from outside the star system."

"Side affect perhaps?"

"No sir I don't think so, I think it's a wave front like some sort of
pressure wave but  consisting of  chronitons and other temporal particles."
He explained.

"Captain the device on the planet has stopped collecting energy, I am
detecting a increase in power output from the planet. The energy seems to be
shifting to one of the monoliths!"

"Mister Sullivan, red Alert shields up!"

The bridge was suddenly awash in red light as the alarms and alert lamps
came to life. "Helm, break solar orbit and take us out of the system."

"Aye sir!" Dralar replied.

The Rosenante turned away from her solar anchor and immediately a wave of
red and blue light filled the  main view screen. It was strikingly beautiful
and yet somehow very dangerous at the same time.

"Contact with the temporal wave in..."

Suddenly everything changed.  From some stations at the bridge, the
occupants seemed to nearly freeze in place while at others they accelerated
at speeds that left them appearing as a blur of motion.

Solid objects seemed to bend or stretch at impossibly long angles and The
distance from the  front of the bridge to his command seat seemed to
lengthen to an impossible distance until he could barely make out the
outline of his helmsman.

Jennifer's voice beside him was filled with a deep rumbling base, as if it
had been slowed down to such a degree that only the deeper tones were
audible. In contrast Raschen's voice was shrill and sharp pitched, as if he
had just spent time on a world with a Helium rich atmosphere.

The wave of light expanded, until Ahmed got the impression that  it was
enveloping his ship. Time wasn't being consistent and the engineer
recognized that the ship was in a state of uncertain temporal flux.

The Planet of Xega III suddenly appeared on the screen, first lush and green
and blue as it had been before the near death of it's native star had
boiled away it's oceans and baked it's soil. The next instant it was a
blackened husk, boiling with volcanic geysers spewing molten globules into
space.

Likewise the sun shifted and transformed as well, first yellow main
sequence, then growing larger and larger and assuming it's orange hue before
suddenly collapsing into a small cool white dwarf star.

It didn't take too long for Ahmed to realize that he was seeing a
conflicting flow of time, some backwards, some forwards, things to come and
things that had already come to pass.

He forced himself to his feet, and seemed almost elastic as the  odd effects
wrapped around him. Gravity seemed stable enough, although Ahmed was just
beginning to notice that some of the consoles were glowing with more light
than they should be while others seemed to be absorbing all the light that
came close to them.

He turned to speak, but realized that just as he couldn't understand anyone
else, they probably couldn't understand him either, and so instead of saying
anything he turned back to face the planet and watched as one of the
monoliths discharged a massive beam skyward.

The beam curved around the planet, folding in upon itself, and continuing in
a straight line at the same time. It stretched, contracted and twisted as if
it were some living thing struggling to free itself from some terrible
constriction.

The sun disappeared, replaced by another massive wash of bright red-blue
Doppler shifted light and then there was blackness. A complete lack of light
that faded. 

Starships appeared next, A Prometheus class ship froze in place dead ahead
and to the  port side  of the view screen was  a Cardassian Galor Class ship
whose hull seemed to be writhing in pain.

Other ships appeared, some he could recognize and others that he couldn't
come close to identifying. They seemed to stretch out all around them in an
infinite plane, their appearances marked by nearly unperceivable flashes of
white-red and blue light.

Then suddenly, as quickly as everything had begun it ended. 

There was a singular flash of light, that seemed to emanate from a single
point in the distance. It seemed both infinitely bright and yet small at the
same time. It expanded outward, almost faster than the eye could see, but
conversely slow enough to allow him to wonder how long it would take for the
light to reach them.

Suddenly ships began to disappear from the main view screen and then the
universe seemed right again.

They were once again looking at Xega III. The monoliths were still there
although there was no sign of activity.  A dim Orange star still shone
nearby and it seemed as if nothing at all had happened.

"Helm, where are we?"

Dralar tapped a few keys on his console then reported. "We are in solar
orbit in the Xega system captain. Warp drive  is offline. Xega III is five
million kilometers to our port sir."

"Can you bring the warp drives back on line?" he asked.

"No response sir. There's something else, captain."

"What is that, Lieutenant?"

"The stars, sir. They are in the wrong place. And the chronograph is wrong."

"Wrong? How so?"

"Sir the chronometers say the Stardate is 2413.09.08."

"Five years?" Ahmed mumbled.

"Mister Jackson. Have every department on the ship run a level one
diagnostic on everything in their departments, include the Chronometers and
the Spiral drive. Get me a report as soon as possible and get Engineering
involved."

(reply Jackson)

"Mister Caskie, Get me a channel to Starfleet command, advise them of our
situation and get a status update. Find out if they have any idea what's
going on."

(reply All)
Daniel Greene

-------------------------
-------------------------

Mission: The Quondam Season
Stardate: 2413.09.23
Day: 1731

=========================

(USS Rosenante, Bridge, CO captain Ahmed Ibn Salid- Day 1731, 0500)
(USS Rosenante, Bridge, COPS Lt. Tom Jackson - Day 1731, 0502)
(USS Rosenante, Bridge, CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid- Day 1731, 0505)
(USS Rosenante, Main Engineering, ACEO Lieutenant Steven Matrix - Day 1731,
0506)
(USS Rosenante , sickbay, ACMO Ensign Sam Lopez- Day 1731-0507)
(Khitomer, Transporter Room , CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid- Day 1731, 0545)

=========================

(USS Rosenante, Bridge, CO captain Ahmed Ibn Salid- Day 1731, 0500)

Five years.

It didn't sound so bad when you said it, but thinking about it made you
realize exactly how much things could change in just five years.

1725 days, now that sounded much worse, than five years, but still they were
the same. It was the length of time that he and his ship had been slingshot
forward into the future. It was the length of time that his few remaining
loved ones had thought that he was dead and gone. It was the length of time
that he had lost in service and it was never coming back.

5 years.

After the incident at Xega III, Ahmed had thought that the monoliths had
somehow been responsible for their predicament., but that theory was soon
disproven as the crew had shifted through mountains of sensor logs and
scores of data. The effect that Ahmed had come to call the temporal wave,
had originated from well beyond their sensor range. It had barreled at
speeds that were non-recordable and had engulfed them and spit them out at
the same location,  1725 days into the future. Just a little under five
years.

Diagnostics had been performed and the ships system had been checked and
double checked so many times that even his operations officers felt like
they were becoming engineers. Each time the result had been the same; 1725
days lost.

They had contacted Starfleet command, who had told them to stay put since
their command communications codes were no longer valid. They were ordered
into a complete communications blackout and escorts had been sent to guide
them to an unknown location for a meeting of some sort.

Imagine Ahmed's surprise when one of the two escorting ships was another
Rosenante Class vessel. The USS Chimera had been launched a short while
after the Rosenante had gone missing. It had been in service nearly three
years by the time that the original prototype ship of the class had even
returned.

There was no mistaking the suspicion in the voice of Captain Zannara the
Commanding Officer of the Chimera, though the Vulcan did not realize it, or
perhaps because she hid it so well, there was a tension about her demeanor
that spoke volumes about the situation to Ahmed.

Salid had agreed to cooperate, of course, but he had placed his people on
the task of checking to see if they were even in their same universe. It had
turned out that they were and that whatever event had conspired to hurl them
forward through time had not given them a clear means to return from whence
they had come.

"Captain,"  Dralar's voice sounded from the Conn station at the front of the
bridge, we've arrived at Khitomer."

"Khitomer?" Ahmed asked.

"Yes sir, I'm certain of it." the Skorr Helmsman replied with a surety that
Ahmed envied.

"Put it on the screen please." he ordered.

The familiar blue-green planet made famous by the Accords that still bore
it's name snapped into sharp focus on the main view screen. The space
immediately surrounding that planet was filled with vessels of various
classes, but Ahmed recognized several from the 52nd fleet including the
Hades and the Boudicca.

He wondered if they were here for the same reasons that brought his ship
here, and was hoping that wasn't the case. To have had so many starships
simply disappear only to suddenly all reappear five years later would have
made any government nervous.

Perhaps that's why they had been gathered together here, to determine if
their ships  were a threat to the continued safety of the Federation. After
all, the last time that this many ships of the 52nd fleet had disappeared,
they had withdrawn in preparation to launch the civil war that would ravage
the federation costing billions of lives.

A moment later, a chime sounded at the back of the bridge indicating that
they were receiving a hail.

"Put it on screen," The captain said not waiting for some one to tell him
who was calling.

The image shifted to that of a woman. Her face was friendly, with small
crows feet at the corner of her blue eyes. Her blonde hair was graying at
the temples, but was put up in a conservative bun. She wore admiral's pips.

=^= Captain Salid=^=

"Admiral." Ahmed replied.

=^= My name is Singleman=^= she said politely, giving him a name o work
with.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Admiral." Ahmed responded in kind.

=^= Thank you captain. I have orders for you.=^=

"Alright, Admiral. I'm listening."

=^= You are to beam down to Camp Khitomer within the hour captain for a very
important meeting.=^=

"I see," Ahmed stated then smiled, "I'd be glad to Admiral. I'll put
together an away team and we'll beam down shortly."

=^= NO away team captain.=^= she said quickly, leaving no doubt as to the
passion in her voice. =^=You are to beam down alone, Captain. Do you
understand me?=^=

Ahmed regarded her for a moment and though his instincts were setting off
alarms, the woman was a Federation admiral and he was duty bound to obey her
orders.

"Of course admiral. I understand. I will be on the planet within the hour."

=^= Very good captain, We'll see you then.=^=

The image of the admiral faded and Ahmed was gazing once again upon
Khitomer. He regarded it for a few more moments before turning to look at
Commander Caskie.

"I don't like it Jennifer. But I don't see that I have a choice. Whatever
mystery we're facing is happening here. I want the prefix codes and all the
command codes for this ship changed. Once I leave the ship, revoke my
security codes until I return and am certified. You'll retain command of the
Rosenante until that time." Ahmed ordered. "I'll hold a staff meeting upon
my return from the planet, assuming I am allowed to return."

(reply Caskie, All)

Daniel Greene

-------------------------

(USS Rosenante, Bridge, COPS Lt. Tom Jackson - Day 1731, 0502)
 
Like everyone else on the rose - Tom was wondering what the h*&& had happened these past few hours.
 
They had somehow been vaulted FIVE years into the future. At first Tom and the others refused to believe it had happened. But with study of all sensor logs and confirmation of the ship's system s via diagnostics, they were indedd five years into the future.
 
Jackson, freed for a moment from his duties, wondered what his family had thought. they were five years older but he had not aged. The implications were staggering - they might even be dead for all he knew.
 
They had tried contacting SF Command and were ordered into a communications blackout. 
 
~This is not looking good~ Jackson thought to himself.
 
Captain Salid had spoke to some admiral Jackson had never heard of. He had been ordered to the surface for a 'meeting'. Tom Jackson did not like that one bit. From Commander Caskie's demeanor, she didn't either.
 
Tom had a thought and spoke almost immediately. 
 
"Sirs, while I respect SF COmmand's wishes - I suggest we develop some type of transponder to gove to the skipper in cse things go bad and they try and detain him" Tom added.
 
(reply: Salid or Caskie)
 
Tom had never been to Khitomer and wanted to vist but they were isolated and surrounded.
 
(reply: Any on Bridge)
(Posted by: Bill)

-------------------------

(USS Rosenante, Bridge, CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid- Day 1731, 0505)

"Sirs, while I respect SF Command's wishes - I suggest we develop some type
of transponder to give to the skipper in case things go bad and they try and
detain him" Tom added.

Ahmed nodded. "I agree. " He said after a moment of thought. It would make
me feel better and besides, we're not entirely certain of the situation.
There's no telling what may have happened to the federation in the five
years we were gone."

What Ahmed was thinking about was the situation with the group that he had
dubbed the Omega Conspirators. Those individuals who had attempted to build
an omega device  for the sheer purpose of browbeating the federation into
turning over power.

They had been foiled through a combination of skill, luck and audacity with
the help of Captain Saleke and The USS Furious. The records however that had
been obtained had been deemed unreliable by Starfleet intelligence and
members of the admiralty. 

Ahmed didn't know if the promised subsequent investigation that had been
promised had happened or not, and that made him very, very uneasy.

"During the meeting, I want you to monitor me at all times mister Jackson.
At the first real sign of trouble, You're to do your best to get me out of
there. If that's not an option commander Caskie will have standing orders to
get the Rosenante free and clear of this place until you can get a grip on
what exactly the political and Military situation may be."

"Put together two transponders, one for them to find and one to remain
hidden until I activate it. I'd rather not take any chances."

(reply Jackson)

Ahmed turned next to Raschen, "Once I leave this ship, Commander Caskie will
be the Commanding officer until we certify that I am well and able to return
to command. That said, when I am returned I am to remain under constant
guard until that time. No one comes aboard this ship with out commander
Caskie's direct orders.

(Reply Raschen)

He then turned his attention to Sullivan. "Effective upon my return and
recertification you will be the acting First officer."

(reply Sullivan)

He then tapped his Commbadge, " Salid to Doctor Lopez."

(reply Lopez)

"Doctor can you please meet me in sickbay. I will need a complete neural
mapping and cellular DNA mapping performed upon myself and we have a little
less than an hour to do so."

(reply Lopez)

"Thank you Doctor Salid out."

He tapped his commbadge again, "Salid to Matrix"

(reply Matrix)

"Lieutenant I need you to do everything in your power to make the Rosenante
as ready for a possible conflict and high speed retreat as possible. I need
everything to be ready and available should it be needed. Bring the second
warp core on line if needed, but do your best not to look like you're
getting ready for a fight."

(reply Matrix)

"Report to Commander Caskie when you are ready."

(reply Caskie)

He turned then to Ensign Remey, a new addition to the crew. " Ensign I'd
like for you to take charge of a special project for me. I want you to
covertly scan the rest of the ship's here and let me know how many and which
of them have been affected by the same or similar affect that launched us
forward. Then I'd like to see if you can extrapolate anything about where
this effect may have originated or what may have caused it."

(reply Remey)

Now that he was finished with issuing orders, Ahmed turned and strode
towards the Turbolift. "Number One, you have the bridge."

(reply Caskie)

Ahmed smiled as the doors to the turbolift closed behind him.

"Sickbay" He said.

A moment later the Turbolift started moving.

(USS Rosenante, Main Sickbay, CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid- Day 1731, 0510)

Ahmed strode into the main compartment with a sense of purpose, he knew that
he was working against a deadline, but this had to be done if they were
going to be able to insure that he was the right person when he came back
aboard after the meeting.

"Doctor Lopez," Ahmed said as he greeted the doctor. "Where shall we begin?"

(reply All)
Daniel Greene

-------------------------

(USS Rosenante, Main Engineering, ACEO Lieutenant Steven Matrix - Day 1731,
0506)

Matrix had been pouring over the blueprints, schematics and most of the
unpublished materials we could find, including briefs and papers he had
written over the years. ~Damn...my memory isn't what is used to be...~
Matrix contemplated the equations glowing on his display screen.

The mark VI dual core warp drive was an engineering marvel, but sometimes it
baffled even the most seasoned engineer. The injector system had lost nearly
3% efficiency since the refit and Matrix was on a mission to find out why
and fix it. The lost wasn't much of a concern, in fact most warp core
efficiencies vary as much or more over the course of a mission. Those issues
were usually related to high-warp travel in short succession like system
hoping during an engagement or during a large fire-fight between vessels.

As Matrix sipped his coffee his commbadge chirped, Salid to Matrix." called
the Captain. 

Matrix nearly choked...=^= Matrix here Captain, how may I be of
assistance?"=^=

"Lieutenant I need you to do everything in your power to make the Rosenante
as ready for a possible conflict and high speed retreat as possible. I need
everything to be ready and available should it be needed. Bring the second
warp core on line if needed, but do your best not to look like you're
getting ready for a fight." replied the Captain.

Matrix looked in horror up at his display board...most propulsion systems
were showing yellow or red, the warp systems were currently running a level
2 diagnostic and for all purposes were offline.

Matrix swallowed hard, =^= Aye sir, every effort and discrete...understood.
=^= 

~Great! This damn thing is filleted like a fish and the CO wants it readied
without looking like we're sporting for a right...~ thought Matrix.

"Wait!" said Matrix aloud. ~What better cover than a diagnostic run and
efficiency puzzle to solve for the engineering crew?"

Matrix tapped up the duty roster and thought through his next move.
"Computer, compile the following message to be relayed to all primary
engineering teams including the Chief Engineer." ordered Matrix.

"Matrix to primary engineering teams. Alpha and Beta teams one and two
report to engineering at 0630 for shakedown assignments. We will be working
through the current loss in injector efficiencies with the dual warp cores."
Matrix paused, "Computer, compile and send as described."

"Matrix to Ensign Rixx, you're needed in engineering immediately. Please
report." said Matrix.

(Reply Rixx, anyone else (engineering, operations, etc))
(Posted by Steve)

-------------------------

(USS Rosenante , sickbay, ACMO Ensign Sam Lopez- Day 1731-0507)
 
Sam was not at the top of his game this morning at all. the news of the time 
jump had hit Sam very hard. He needed some work to get over it and now 
he was going to get some.=/\=Salid to Doctor Lopez.=/\=
 
Sam tapped his commbadge"Lopez here."
 
=/\=Doctor can you please meet me in sickbay. I will need a complete neural
mapping and cellular DNA mapping performed upon myself and we have a little
less than an hour to do so.=/\=

 
"will do captain"Sam said.
 
=/\=Thank you Doctor Salid out.=/\=

 
Sam started getting all the equipment ready and was done by
the time the captain walked in.
 
"Doctor Lopez," Ahmed said as he greeted the doctor. "Where shall we begin?"

"just stand right there it should only take a few minutes"Sam said as he started 
the mapping processing.The cellular DNA mapping was quick to the finish 
and the neural mapping was half way done."We should be done right about
now"Sam said as looked over the results.
 
(Reply by captain salid)
 
(Posted by shawn)

-------------------------

(Khitomer, Transporter Room , CO Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid- Day 1731, 0545)

Ahmed rematerialized in a hum of energy and s display of sparkling light
motes that would have made fireflies jealous had there been any around to
see the site. 

The rosenante's transporter was perfectly safe to use, but it was
experiencing a few odd side effects that had been caused by some sort of
reaction of the chronitons  on the materials located inside the coils of the
Heisenberg compensators. Thus the motes of light and the abnormally loud
hum.

It wasn't so bad really. It was really more reminiscent of the old
transporters found on the Constitution class ships before the modern
improvements of the transporter had rendered most of the more flashy effects
obsolete. 

In a peculiar sort of way, it was fitting. After all, Khitomer was made
famous because of the Accords that were agreed to in this facility. Those
accords would never have happened had it not been for the brave actions of a
legendary crew serving aboard and equally legendary Constitution class
starship.

It made him smile to think about the unintentional homage to those officers
that served at a time when things were very different then they were now.

There were two security officers standing in the transporter room of the
facility when he finally finished rematerializing. They too had noticed the
abnormal noise and glow from the transporter as was apparent by the look on
their faces.

"It's slightly out of alignment," Ahmed explained as he stepped down from
the platform, "But perfectly safe."

One of the two security men nodded, and then stated in an even voice "
Welcome to Khitomer Captain Salid."

"Thank you Lieutenant." Ahmed stated as his eyes dropped down to the  man's
collar for a moment to check his rank.

"If you'll come with us sir, we've been ordered to escort you to the
meeting. But you'll have to leave the transponder with the transporter
chief."

Ahmed smiled. Gave a short nod and then reached into the hem of his uniform
sleeve and  removed the small transponder and handed it to the security
officer.

The lieutenant took it and handed it to the transporter chief.

"Thank you sir."

"No problem." Ahmed replied, " How many people will there be in this
meeting?" Ahmed asked as the pair escorted him from the transporter room and
into an adjacent corridor.

"Can't say sir." The second security officer replied, he was an ensign.

"Can't or won't say ensign?" Ahmed asked as they turned the corner.

"Can't sir." There was a pause, "It's classified."

Ahmed nodded and then changed the subject somewhat.

"Been a lot of changes in the federation in the last five years or so?" He
asked lightly hoping to get something of use.

"Again, sir can't say."

"Let me guess, Classified also?"

"Yes sir."

"Okay then, is there anything that isn't classified around here?" Ahmed
asked still making light of the situation.

" Can't say, sir." The ensign replied, then looked over his shoulder and
smiled, "It's classified."

Ahmed chuckled softly to himself, "Very well then Ensign, let's just not
talk about it shall we?"

"Yes sir."

A few moments later, Salid was lead into a large rectangular conference
room.  It was well endowed in exotic hard woods and brass fixtures. The
floor was polished marble and was laid out in a pattern that naturally drew
the eyes towards the dais and podium at the far end of the room.

Several chairs were set in rows along the majority of the room. They were
arranged in ranks, and were split only by a central walkway that lead from
the entry door to the dais below.

A large video monitor was prominently placed behind the podium although
Ahmed doubted that it was to display the speaker as the room was not so
large as to make it difficult to see anyone that might be standing there.

Already there were quite a few officers present, all of them line rank, and
Ahmed suspected that they, like he were the commanding officers of several
of the vessels that were currently located in the system.

One thing that Ahmed did notice was the lack of admiralty in the room. It
was almost as if Khitomer was hosting a Captain's convention.

Ahmed found himself a seat far  from the dais, where he would be able  see
clearly, but would not draw undue attention to himself. Until he had a
better understanding of what was going on here, he'd rather not be noticed
if he could avoid it.

(reply Any CO's present iyw)
Daniel Greene

-------------------------
-------------------------

End Compile
Compiled by Marilyn


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