Stardate: 70211:1400
Title: Decades of Regret
Author: Executive Officer Abigail Winters
Time: After "Doppelganger"
Scene: USS Relentless


For those of you who haven’t been following the plot here goes a quick summery of the really scary things currently facing the Relentless crew.

Firstly, the Omega bomb we had been hoping we could discreetly destroy before it obliterated this universe has now vanished! Secondly, someone was murdered in our cargo hold. Thirdly, we have just been asked who we actually are. For those of you REALLY far behind on the plot, we aren’t from this universe...

~

The Admiral Foster of this universe had the same ‘kill a man with my bare hands’ demeanour that she had in our universe and, as she levelled her gaze from Alex to Abby, the XO wished she could shrink in to the potted plant in the corner, wishing she had escaped with the other officers when Alex had dismissed them from the meeting.

"Who are you?" Libby asked at last. This was the first time they were going to have to explain their inter-universal travelling ability to an audience that was less-than-receptive, very weary, and scary in a ‘throw you out of an airlock’ way.

"I am Captain Alexander Khavok of the USS Relentless. Perhaps a better question, Sir, is 'where am I from?'"

He gave the sentence a moment to sink in.

"We are not your enemies. We are from another universe and we have taken our exploration from that of our own known space to inter-universe travel. Our arrival here was fortuitous as we were able to save the civilians on board the transporter," the Captain explained.

"What proof do you have of what you say?"

"What proof do you require?" Abigail interrupted. "You yourself realised something was different – can you think of any other logical answer?" She spoke to the Admiral using her past experience with the woman’s double to guide her. Elizabeth Foster was, after all, a logical woman at heart.

The Admiral sank into a chair whilst she mulled all the information over.

"What happened to... our... Relentless?"

"I’m sorry to say that it was destroyed." Alex’s voice was full of compassion; he all too well knew the price of battle.

"Can this war take any more from us?" Cried the Admiral in frustration "Have you started to travel inter-dimensionally to escape the Dominion War."

"It is different in our universe - the war is over," Alex explained.

"Did we lose?" The defeat was apparent in the slump of the Admiral’s shoulders.

"No, we won our war." It was said with humility as even that victory had come at a great price – the loss of too many lives.

"Was it the Omega bomb that turned the war in your favour?" They were a little surprised that the Libby in this universe not only knew of the bomb but was also considering its use.

They were going to have to choose all their words carefully from now on.

"No, the war was not won by an Omega bomb," the Captain spoke passionately. "Look back at all three of Earth’s world wars - history has taught us several times before that the use of super weapons only leads to decades of regret afterwards..."


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Commander Abigail Winters
Executive Officer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
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