ILLUMINARRPG: (8-2300)- Lieutenant Jaton Alyl

[Charles Gatling]

Mission: Death in the Shadows
Day: 8
Stardate: 2446.02.08

(USS Illuminar - Deck 5 - Medical Isolation Room - CSO - Lieutenant Jaton
Alyl - 2300)

The corridor was filled with smoke and flames, but Jaton felt no heat. The
smoke wasn’t burning his lungs either. The klaxons were still blaring, but
he felt no sense of urgency. He looked around and saw at his feet a pile of
rubble, the supporting beams that had collapsed as the fire weakened their
supports. And buried under all of it was himself. He was prone, just his
head and shoulders sticking out from the debris. His head was bleeding
profusely.

Such a sight should have filled him with dread, horror. But it didn’t.
Jaton sighed, frustrated. “Here we go. Am I dead? Again?”

The voice came from behind him. "This is where you exist now but not like
before. A point upon your linear timeline to which you refer. You are
changed Jaton Alyl."

He was now standing on his feet facing his mother again. "Benjamin Sisko
exposed us to a linear timeline but we are learning much from you." She
stepped closer. "You have shown us the ability to change."

He turned to face the voice. “Shown you how to change? Change how, atsa?”
He took her hand in his. He knew it wasn’t truly her, but it still felt
good to touch her once again.

"You misunderstand." She placed her left hand at his temple. "How those in
linear time may change, may alter their perception of where they exist. It
took the Emissary many returns to cease existing at one point in linear
time. You have shown greater adaptability." She removed her hand and walked
about while gazing at him. "Your linear existence is not at an end but is
paused. At this time."

Jaton nodded, seeming to understand. “So I’m not dead. Just in a coma? Is
that how I’m able to talk to you?”

Kazran stepped up beside him. "What is a coma?"

Jaton was taken aback for a moment by such a simple childlike question
coming from the wizened face of his eldest brother. “When a corporeal being
is severely injured, they will sometimes fall unconscious and cannot be
awakened again. Somewhat like being dead, but remaining alive, if just
barely. This state can last for months, even years.”

"Ah." Kazran nodded in understanding. "A pause in linear time because the
nature of it cannot be discerned."

“Well, a pause in one way. Sometimes you never awaken from a coma.
Eventually you waste away and die permanently.”

The mahogany skinned man stepped forward into his vision, his smile was
kind. "But you will not die. You are in a coma and your discernment of
linear time has been paused because your brain is asleep and not processing
it. Your medical team has not given you up." He looked toward the others.
"While his cells will continue to age in linear time his mind is unaware of
it."

Jaton squinted. “I know you. From history courses at the Academy. Captain
Sisko? Is that you?”

Benjamin Sisko gave him a crooked smile. "I was called that once but
over...", his hands raised and he gestured outward, "... over time it lost
its meaning. I was raised to consciousness because of a duty that needed to
be performed, a duty you will continue."

“Me? Continue how?”

"By existing. By making decisions that will affect Bajor. In the end that
is all that matters."

“But I’ve only been to Bajor once. And that was after I died the first
time. I don’t seem like the most logical choice. Why me?”

"Do you think I knew or cared about Bajor before I was stationed there? Or
for that matter for quite some time after I was sent there? The beginning
of the journey is the starting point and it can begin anywhere. The journey
itself is all that is important."

The fact he was talking back to a man who was technically his superior
dawned on Jaton and he snapped to attention. “I’m sorry, sir. But if I may,
you were stationed to Bajor for years afterwards. Am I going to have to
transfer to Deep Space 9?”

Sisko's smile widened and he chuckled as he waved a hand at Jaton. "I'm not
StarFleet anymore Lieutenant and you don't see how you are orbiting Bajor
now. You don't have to be sitting in the front room of your house to
protect it. You can be in the front yard or down the road. What you do from
wherever you are will bring you where you need to be. Your future does not
all take place at Bajor but it does include Bajor."

Jaton turned away, walking towards his office and away from the flames.
“You’ll excuse me,” he said as he walked through the door, “but this is a
lot to take in.”

(Reply: None)

(Posted by Spencer O'Dowd and Charles Gatling)


Charles Gatling
Commanding Officer
USS Illuminar
NCC 61240


"The light shines brightest amidst the deepest darkness."
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