And Baby- Ch. 8

And Baby Makes Four

By Samantha Quinn

All disclaimers in Part I.
Spoilers: “Shuttlepod One”
A/N: Words between // denote telepathic thoughts. Words between *** denote regular thought.
A/N: I didn’t switch POVs this time! Hence, the chapter is shorter.

Part 8

Briefing

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Aboard the Cochrane

Alanna sat surveying her senior officers, or what was left of them. In comparison to the rest of the crew, their survival percentage was actually quite high. The thought disturbed her. Should not the senior officers be the ones whose lives were lost first? They were the ones making the decisions to go to battle-should they not reap the consequences first?

But somehow it rarely seemed that way in Starfleet. The list of casualties was littered with gallant junior officers and enlisted crewmen. Only occasionally did the names of a senior officer join those prestigious ranks. It reminded the Captain of the jokes that they used to tell in the Academy about officers sending in lower ranking men before them in ancient times. Frankly, Alanna saw too many similarities and she wasn’t pleased about it. Not one bit.

Whether she liked it or not, Alanna did appreciate the fact that she had lost only her counselor and her communications officer. *Neither are really needed in our time line.* the Captain mourned privately. A counselor was only needed when the mental health of your crew was a concern. Here, in war, Alanna couldn’t allow herself that luxury. Every man for himself. Her crewmen’s well being wasn’t something Alanna could ponder on. And in the midst of war, who needed an efficient communications officer? There seemed to be less and less need for hailing anyone. *Torpedoes have an amazing ability to communicate without words.* Alanna reflected sadly.

With the loss of Counselor Addison and Lieutenant Yen, Alanna’s senior officer staff was down to four others: her science officer, Lt. Leland; her pilot Ensign Zachary Sisko; her security officer Lieutenant Tabitha Stoffer, and her engineer, Lieutenant Commander Jasper Brandeis. All four were looking at her expectantly, along with Dr. Ellen Cutler, Alanna’s CMO.

“Leland, start recording,” the Captain instructed the Gabbaccian. Loyally, he nodded and Alanna was left with the feeling she had frequently when looking at her scientist. Regret. Regret that she had been responsible for his father’s death. Regret that she hadn’t fulfilled her role as the “antidote.” Regret that Leland was the only non-human in all of Starfleet, following the destruction of Vulcan. And not a very welcome one at that.

Sometimes Alanna wondered what life would have been like if the Gabbaccians hadn’t been successful in their mission. She wondered if Starfleet would have included non-humans as well. If they would have followed through with their original mission of seeking “new life and new civilizations” and embraced them as part of their fleet.

“Recording, Captain,” came the ever loyal reply.

“March 21, 2199* in our timeline, or March 21, 2153 in our current time line. I, Captain Alanna Tucker of Earth Starfleet Vessel Cochrane have assembled my senior officers to this meeting to be briefed on events heretofore classified as top secret by the governments of Earth. Due to impending events, I have deemed it appropriate for them to be let in on the reasons why they are possibly putting their lives in danger and allowing them the option of expressing their opposition to a plan which will very well mean a death sentence to them if they return to our time period.” When Alanna paused, she glanced at each of her officers in turn to gage their reactions. There were none. *Of course not. We’re in a war. Death is imminent on a daily basis.* War had hardened them.

The Captain continued, “As you all know, time travel is strictly forbidden by Earth Vessels. Any such travel will result in immediate execution. What you may not know is why. I take it all of you are familiar with the first Warp 5 Earth Space ship, the Enterprise?”

Her crew obediently nodded, and the Captain longs momentarily for a universe that would permit a more lax environment. Ignoring that desire, she continues, “And of course you are familiar with the role they played in establishing first contact with the Gabbaccians and the Suliban.”

More nods and untrusting looks tossed in the direction of Leland. Sighing a bit, Alanna again continued. “As you are probably aware, thanks to the first contact with the Gabbaccians, both T’Vel and myself were genetically engineered.”

“I’d heard that,” interjected Lieutenant Stoffer. “But I never understood why. I mean, T’Vel I could, but you . . .?” The lieutenant’s voice faltered a bit. Alanna allowed herself a tired smile. No one wants to question the birth of their Captain. Somehow it seemed inherently insubordinate.

“Perhaps I should allow Leland to answer that. His father was responsible for both events,” Alanna replied.

Leland gave a curt nod. “My father was the doctor aboard the Letal. Nantuck’s original purpose of course was to develop a highly advanced killing machine. Upon finding Lieutenant Reed and Sub-Commander T’Pol, Nantuck believed their genes to be perfect for such a purpose. His intent was to combine the DNA of T’Pol and Reed, genetically emphasize traits for aggression and raise the child in a Gabbaccian training camp. Which is of course, exactly what happened with T’Vel.”

“Of course. Explains how she was able to come up with a device that can completely destroy an entire planet,” replied Stoffer angrily. Unquestionably, the Captain knew, part of that anger was directed towards the Gabbaccian sitting across from her. “But what does that have to do with the Captain?”

“My father felt pity upon the humans and did not enjoy his life’s work as a killer. He saw in Commander Charles Tucker seeds of compassion which seemed to be reciprocated in Sub-Commander T’Pol. He decided to secretly breed an ‘antitode’ to the child that would become T’Vel. The antidote, in my father’s eyes, would have the emphasized ‘good’ genes. In addition, the child would be raised in a loving home.”

“Then you were the ‘antidote’?” inquired Dr. Cutler.

The Captain nodded.

“But Captain,” protested Ensign Sisko, who was the only other senior officer who had been briefed on the mission before they had left their time line. After all, a pilot has to know where they are flying the ship to. “I still don’t understand something. Even if we are successful in stopping them, what’s to stop the Gabbaccians from our time period, what’s to stop them from sending in more? If the Gabbaccians from 2199 are determined to create-“

“They are not, Ensign,” Captain Tucker interrupted.

Three of the four faces around the table looked very confused.

“The Gabbaccian ship we are tracking comes from the 31st century, not the 22nd,” replied the Captain. “If we get rid of it, then the Gabbaccians in our time period will not be a problem, as the scheduled Gabbaccian-Human first contact does not take place until the 26th century.”

There was a moment of silence as Tucker’s crew processed that information. “If that’s true,” argued Stoffer, “then why were the Suliban in our time?”

“Because, the Captain is the antidote,” replied Leland. “They were attempting to stop her from stopping them before coming back to the 22nd century to help their allies, the Gabbaccians.”
***

A/N: It’s a somewhat widely held belief that stardates don’t come into usage until the founding of the Federation. But in case you haven’t noticed, the Federation is not intact (not saying it never existed, just that it currently does not) and so, thus, Star dates have fallen out of usage. Besides, since everyone in Starfleet is human (for reasons that will be explained later), they have reverted back to their date format that Archer uses.

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