Stardate: 70116:1900
Title: Time Will Tell
Author: Admiral Elizabeth Foster
Time: Current
Scene: Starbase 9 (Home Universe)


She had warned her assistant that nothing but a life or death emergency was to interrupt her this afternoon; she was determined to get her reports on the USS Relentless and the USS Horizon completed for the council meeting tomorrow. Since then the Admiral had been interrupted four times. Elizabeth should have known better - life or death situations happened every second here. What she should have said was – ‘life or death situations that concern me’. 

With new clear instructions on her availability, Admiral Foster returned to her reports. She decided to start with the Relentless, which was currently undertaking its second mission into another universe. Before the ship and crew had left, the Engineering and Science departments had retrofitted a recording device they had picked up in the previous ‘other universe’ mission. They had hoped that they would be able to transmit data back home of their current mission.

So far Elizabeth had received a few reports. It had been agreed that they would keep messages short and, if sensitive information was to be transmitted, they would use a pre-assigned code. In a nutshell the translated reports from Captain Khavok said that the universe they had arrived in was still fighting the Dominion war, they had rescued Federation civilians from another ship that had been destroyed, and they had also destroyed a few Dominion ships in the process.

The Captain had mentioned a few problems with their now-sentient ship and in the most recent report they were concerned for her wellbeing. They had also along the way picked up an Omega bomb. The Admiral had to pause for a moment. Yes, she had read it right - an Omega bomb. If the transmitter worked both ways she would certainly be shouting strong words of caution at them. She was keeping her fingers crossed that that other universe and her crew would survive with such a deadly weapon lurking in their mist.

The Horizon had also been experiencing its fair share of trouble, which wasn’t the news the Admiral had wanted to hear. With the troubling undercurrents in the galaxy, it was hoped that the scientific exploration and expanding of borders would provide new valuable allies. The planet Kah’Leel had previously been unknown to the Federation. But chances were they wouldn’t be forgetting us anytime soon!

The dream chamber technology the Som-Nyan people had developed was fascinating and, even though it had shown up a few flaws in the crew and the Som-Nya had shown how such technology could be misused, it was still very interesting. It was unfortunate that the Som-Nya had saw fit to punish one of the Horizon’s crew for their past participation in nine murders, but Captain Deadilus had vouched for the crew member in question and Admiral Foster was prepared to let the matter go. 

Luckily they had worked with the growing resistance on the planet and had liberated the crewman with very little incident. The destruction of the Ferengi ship was dismaying but their hands were clean, from a political point of view at least. Perhaps with time the population of Kah’Leel would embrace their new found freedom, where they could live in a society where their thoughts weren’t monitored by dream chambers and hopefully become allies of the Federation. However, at the moment, Starfleet just had to respect their space.

Finally, to Starbase 9. It is said that light always overcomes the darkness; it is as simple as flicking on a switch. The Admiral would have to say that her time on Starbase 9 had taught her that there was nothing easy about flicking on a switch. It was especially difficult when someone well armed and dangerous had taken control of the switch and the light bulb had been stolen. Steps had been taken to reclaim the station but, as in most things, only time would tell.


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Admiral Elizabeth Foster
Commanding Officer
Starbase 9
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