Nine Years Later in the Nimbus System

[Annabelle O'Halloran 0]

Caroline stepped off the turbolift on the Reaent's science deck, heading for the Astrometrics lab where the computer told her she could find Anna. The two of them had had a conversation interrupted by the perplexing briefing from McQueen in the conference room, which had included the arrival of the Reaent's old captain, a man of whom Caroline had only the vaguest knowledge. This (combined with her curiosity about the situation in general) had led her to seek out the young chief of science again at whatever work she might be doing at the moment. She looked around as the lab's heavy doors slid open and caught sight of Anna standing at the far end at a console. "Hello!"

 

Anna heard the doors slide open but didn't really register the sound until she heard her name called. Turning her head, she saw Caroline at the far end of the lab, and smiled at the sight of her friend. "Hello, to you, too. Welcome to the Nimbus system," she added, waving her arm to indicate the starscape overhead.

 

"Why, thank you kindly," Caroline said, laughing as she crossed the room. "I knew I felt somehow different. Anything interesting making itself known?"

 

"Hmm...define 'interesting' from the point of view of a Counselor," Anna replied, tapping the console in front of her. The view above them changed dramatically as Anna zeroed in on Nimbus III, itself. "Here's where we're headed, although actually, this is just a view taken from the Velan Observatory," she added.

 

"Tales of the strange, weird, and otherwise bizarre," Caroline deadpanned, sliding onto a chair with a good view of the screen. "But I'll settle for the scoop on what it is we're supposed to be going to see. Beautiful starscape," she said, leaning back in the seat and eyeing the vista with appreciation. "Have any more readings come in like those Captain McQueen was talking about?"

 

"Nope," Anna replied, stepping back, hand going to her hip as she turned to pace a bit. "Nine years between incidents is strange. Someone is either very patient or what they originally scanned was in the process of becoming something else. Something that might possibly have come to fruition just recently." She paused for a moment and then deadpanned, "Unless the place is just haunted."

 

Caroline smiled. "Very scientific of you, though I suppose after we've accidentally met James Kirk face to face, I shouldn't be labeling anything impossible, eh?" She folded her arms, keeping her eyes on the starscape for a moment before looking back at Anna with a chuckle. "Seems we're making a habit of finding interesting things where there is supposed to be 'nothing'."

 

"Well, Reaent's motto is 'To learn all that's learnable' and I just hope this time we actually are able to find something," Anna responded. "We never did find out how the whole 'now you're dead and now you're not' scenario happened and going back in time to 2293? That distortion never did reappear and remains a mystery."

 

"Third time's the charm," Caroline offered casually, spinning her chair slightly to face the other woman. "And somehow I have a feeling you could be quite tenacious if you found a way to get your teeth into a corner of the problem. If it turns out to be anything we can observe, I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it."

 

"It's funny you should say that," Anna chuckled, thinking of the conversation she had earlier with Will at the gym. "As it turns out...you're right, Caroline--I am tenacious to a fault. No wonder you're such a terrific Counselor." Walking back to the screen, Anna leaned forward and tapped in a series of commands bringing up the scans that had caused all the fuss nine years ago. "I've been looking through these and I have to be honest, I can't tell which interests were best represented by the programming changes; Klingon, Romulan or Federation--a case could be made for each of them."

 

Caroline looked gratified at the compliment, and, despite her lack of real knowledge on the subject, her interest was perked by the mystery. "They've ruled out any kind of automated process, I guess? Internal maintenance or something, malfunctioning and behaving abnormally?"

 

"The Phoenix ruled that out nine years ago but came to no actual conclusion of what did instigate the changes in scanning parameters." Anna blew a piece of hair off her forehead as it escaped her headband. "I swear, Caroline, this ship never seems to get the kind of missions where supplies are needed by a colony and we drop them off and then get invited to stay a few days and enjoy their seashore." She glanced over to the other woman. 'Did I mention they have a seashore? No, well, in my fantasy they do. In reality, if we went to deliver supplies, we would find that the colony, no doubt located on a fetid swamp, had disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a bad smell. Which...I might add, we would not be able to figure out because it would be from another dimension or something."

 

Caroline bit down on a grin. "That does sound more or less accurate," she said dryly. "And I could tell you that you'd be tremendously disappointed and bored if things were so simple but I'm not sure you'd believe me."

 

Anna slanted a sideways glance at Caroline, and started laughing, shaking her head. "Of course I know that--what kills me is that you know it, too. I am clearly just a pane of glass to you, Dr. Curtis."

 

"Not a pane of glass," Caroline said with amusement. "Call it a tapestry in which I've managed to trace a few threads. But I do hope we find something of interest -- conclusively. Do you think they'll send you over to investigate or will it be strictly flyby until they know what's going on?"

 

Settling into the seat next to Caroline, Anna turned her head and meeting her gaze just shrugged. "I swear to you--the only time I have ever stepped off this ship for an away team is when we went to see the Guardian of Forever to ask his advice and enjoy a photo op." Anna smiled, adding, "Well, you know what I mean. While training at the Academy, I pictured myself finding extraordinary examples of rare cell structure or the ancient remains of long vanished civilizations. So far, it appears that I'm posted to the U.S.S. Temporal Disaster Locator and I have to tell you, Caroline...I hate temporal anomalies. So, in answer to your question of whether or not we'll leave the ship" Anna paused dramatically for a second and then said, "I don't know."

 

Caroline couldn't help but be impressed at the fact that despite some amount of aggravation or disappointment inherent in the younger woman's words, her expression held more good humor than anything else. "An admirably open-minded approach," she said, chuckling. "Though you of all people as a scientist should know that two samples is hardly enough to establish a pattern -- it's been an unfortunate coincidence for you to start off with two such missions at once, but you've got a lot of time ahead of you. For the rest -- I guess I'll just have to stop demanding that you be a prophet in addition to all your other duties," she added with a wink.

 

"As a quantum biologist, I am obsessed with finding patterns," Anna huffed as if offended, and barely managed not to start laughing. "And I appreciate you letting me off the hook Nostradamus-wise, Caroline," she answered humbly, shifting gears and now even more amused by a sudden vision of McQueen asking Science to report and answering him in quatrains written in a number of dead languages. It would surely take the cake, she thought and managed not to giggle. "If we get a third one anytime soon, I am going to assume it's a curse of some sort."

 

"On the ship, I hope, and not on you personally," Caroline said dryly. "It'd be a great loss if we had to treat you like a modern-day temporal Jonah rather than Nostradamus." She turned her chair slightly to look at the starscape again for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I look forward to hearing what you find out, whenever the captain sees fit to hold a meal -- I mean, staff conference -- again. Speaking of which -- the last one interrupted me before I could really ask...how was your leave? Go anywhere interesting?"

 

"I am not a temporal Jonah!" Caroline's sense of humor always delighted her, and Anna, already on the verge of giggling, burst out laughing over her reference to staff meeting as meal. "Did you see Captain Michael's face when he saw all the cakes lined up? I thought he was going to have a stroke! It was really good to see him, though." Still chuckling, Anna nodded, saying, "Yes, I did go somewhere--Big Bear, California. Will Tomlinson invited Tabor Nansk and me to join him at his family's home."

 

"Big Bear...not familiar with it, but that was very generous of him." Caroline had only met Tomlinson a few times, but she remembered it as if it were yesterday, first when the young pilot had spoken to her soon after she'd come aboard, during the whole "back from the dead" debacle, and then again later when she and Anna had purchased their respective pets back at the Reaent's *last* leave, base-side. He'd seemed steady enough, a nice fellow. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

 

"It was wonderful for the most part," Anna answered, wishing she could tell Caroline about Tabor's mysterious disappearance but reluctantly aware she shouldn't. "His parents are such nice people, so welcoming. They're so proud of Will, Caroline-he's really lucky." Anna's smile softened with the memory of it, and she looked at the other woman, adding, "They made me feel like part of the family. Tabor too." Anna paused, suddenly feeling shy and a little embarrassed, but she knew Caroline would understand, she already knew Anna's background, so she continued, "They treated me better than my own family would if I came home, and there'd be no question of Will being welcomed like that if I were to take him to Kilo."

 

Caroline nodded quietly; Anna had told Caroline a little bit (though, Caroline was sure, certainly not all) about the home life she had come from and she could believe Anna when she said that Will would probably not receive a warm reception there. Too, she suspected there was probably a little jealousy at work on Anna's part as well; her father's disappointment in her, more even than her own potential death, had preoccupied her most after the Reaent's near-destruction, and she probably envied the pride she saw in Will's parents. Most importantly, though, Caroline could tell that the Tomlinson’s easy acceptance of her was significant to the younger woman, on a couple of levels, and she couldn't resist a slightly knowing smile at the shy happiness she saw abruptly glow in her friend's expression. "That must have meant a lot to you," she said lightly. "I don't doubt they felt themselves lucky in their son's choice of guest."

 

Shooting Caroline a sharp glance, Anna nodded slowly, remembering her conversations with Lisa Tomlinson and her kind, actually, loving words when she'd gifted Anna with the holoslides taken during the visit. "It meant...a lot," Anna confirmed. "He's important to me, Caroline."

 

Caroline nodded understandingly, her smile widening a little. "And that's a very good thing," she affirmed, leaning back in her chair slightly. "We all need something -- or someone -- important. Keeps us getting up in the morning." Her tone was not teasing; Anna's expression had an earnestness about it which was at the same time amusing and very serious. But a wicked grin twitched at the corner of her lips for a moment as she added, sotto voce, "Or, occasionally, makes it overly difficult to want to do so. Either way, it's worthwhile." She felt herself safe in the joke; there was none of the pain of unrequited love in Anna's tone. Something was in the process of working out for the young Lieutenant, and Caroline, for her part, was pleased to hear it.

 

"Very difficult," Anna murmured, thinking back to the other morning and how she'd wanted nothing more than to stay in bed and make Will finish what he's started the night before. "And, we're here on this ship---it's really a world all its own, backgrounds don't necessarily have to matter...do they?" Anna realized she wasn't asking Caroline, she was asking herself. And unfortunately, it mattered to her.

 

Caroline didn't say anything for a moment. "Your background will always be a part of your past, a part of you...but the future...you make that on your own, especially out here," she finally said carefully, realizing that she was as much an eavesdropper on internal monologue now as anything else. "It is a world all its own indeed."

 

Anna looked past Caroline to the work screen which showed a picture of the Velan Observatory with Nimbus III looming behind it. But in her mind's eye she saw Kilo Station, a place that for better or worse, would always mean home. Because it's where her family, her clan was. "Our past forms us, Caroline. You of all people know how important a role early environment plays in who we become. Our identity begins there."

 

"Yep," Caroline said, nodding agreement. "It will always be there -- and should be. It gives us a grounding while we determine how high we want to reach."

 

"I used to think it would always be there for me," Anna replied quietly, her words only lightly tinged with sadness. She'd had almost five years to get used to the fact that her choice to go to the Academy and join Starfleet was seen as a betrayal.

 

"Do you miss it?" Caroline asked neutrally, watching Anna's expression, looking for hints as to the direction of her thoughts.

 

"Yes, of course, I do," Anna answered unequivocally. "I loved growing up there and I miss it very much. There's no other place like it, Caroline, but..." Her voice trailed off, and she struggled to find the right words. "Intellectually, I know the bylaws are rigid and based on a world that doesn't exist anymore and yet I know in my heart that the reality is that the community I grew up in is unique, still thrives and wouldn't be able to exist the way it is now without those rules." She shrugged, "Rules which I chose to break and a choice I would make again." She smiled at Caroline. "I am a clear case of wanting to have my cake and eat it, too."

 

"Well, you're aboard the right ship for that," Caroline said dryly, then added more seriously, "I know what you mean, and I don't blame you. There's always a point where we...realize the disjoints between where we came from and where we're going, though I have to admit yours are a little more sharply defined than most. For what it's worth, I think you have plenty of time to find a balance. And I think you will."

 

"Caroline, you're absolutely right!" Anna exclaimed, feeling a weight drop off. "There's nothing but time, and on this ship, we occasionally get to bend it." Will and she were at the very beginning of something that would last a long, long time, she was sure of it. There was no rush to formalize anything. "I feel so much better, Caroline, thank you."

 

Caroline felt a familiar rush of gratification, the rush that had gotten her into this occasionally crazy business in the first place; even though this hadn't exactly been a conversation Caroline had been expecting, the expression on Anna's face was a satisfying one. "I'm glad to hear it," she said, smiling, and she leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, letting her voice take on a slightly teasing tone. "Besides, between the man and the station, it sounds like you've got plenty to keep you occupied right here in the present. Everything else...it'll work itself out."

 

"I'm holding you to that prognosis, Doctor," Anna answered, in the same teasing vein, before glancing at her watch. 17:30. She had ninety minutes. She looked back to Caroline, smiling as she rose to her feet. "I have to get going, I'm meeting Will for dinner, but how about we get together later in the week? Come on over to my place and bring Nelson. It's the least I can do since I trapped you into a session outside your office."

 

"Sounds excellent," Caroline said with a grin, standing up as well. "Have a great time, and tell Will I said hi. And when we next meet, I look forward to hearing all the ghost stories of the Haunting of Nimbus III."

 

"I, myself, am hoping it's something along the lines of a programming glitch or evil minded spying or anything explainable." Anna, mood far more cheerful than it had been a few minutes before, moved towards the doors at the far end of the lab, her mind already on the evening ahead, but before she reached them, she turned around, calling back, "I've lived on an old station-and Velan used to be manned--you wouldn't believe the nightmare old plumbing can cause."

 

Edited April 21, 2010 by Annabelle O'Halloran