Captain Janeway
Chapter 1
The life-pod containing Garcia was hardly bigger than a photon torpedo. It was cold. Even with Sophia, the High Tech, AI companion warming him, he felt cold. Some of that was because it was cold. The life-pod had switched off heat to maintain the beacon- increasing the odds of being found. The Life-pod leaked heat like a sieve. Another reason he felt cold, or so he suspected, was that he was worried about the twins being cold, even though the portable womb’s internal heat was maintaining their optimum temperature. His shivering amplified heat production.
“You’re going to give yourself a fever if you don’t calm yourself,” Sophia said. “Could we have missed the target?”
“Sure,” Sophia said. “Kirk and Spock over shot McCoy by three days. I believe our timing and coordinates are right, but there are other parameters we may not have factored in.”
Garcia had demanded a visible door to look out into space. His life-pod was packed with neural-gel packs to bring Voyager up to full computer status. Secured to the outer edge were battery packs, as long as the length of the life-pod. They could bring Voyager up to full power and replace the damaged batteries. If he could just access one battery, he could sit here a year. If he died because of no energy on a life raft stock full of energy...
“We’re not going to die,” Sophia said. “I can put the three of you in suspended animation…”
“Which, is the equivalent of death, and I get reset?” Garcia asked.
“There is that,” Sophia said. “We could go back and try again?”
A ship that wasn’t there was suddenly there. It loomed large, so much so that Garcia’s next concern was they ram him. The suddenness was startling.
“Receiving a hail,” Sophia said. She didn’t wait to be told to put it through. She simply made it available.
“This is Captain Janeway, of the Federation Starship Voyager.” It was definitely her voice. A blink of an eye gave him a view of the Bridge. “Your call sign is Pathfinder? Are you Federation?”
“Captain, so nice to see you again,” Garcia said. He made an internal camera view available to her. “I was expecting you a bit earlier.”
“Tammas?” Janeway asked. She was coming out of her seat, coming forwards: “Is that really you?”
“Yep, really me. I brought you gifts,” Garcia said.
Janeway turned to hear Tuvok’s report. Her face showed all kinds of relief. She came closer to the screen.
“How did you know?”
“I can’t tell you. Well, not over the airways. I can say this much, ‘Harry Kim’ is a terrible name for a wormhole. Oh, and I miscalculated my power reserves, can you bring me on, soon. Thermal blankets would be greatly appreciated,” Garcia said.
“We’ll beam…”
“No! No transporters,” Garcia said. “Please. Trust me on that one.”
Janeway again turned towards Tuvok. She seemed concerned.
“Yes, I am sure Tuvok has noticed an anomaly. You really want to ask me that in person, not broadcasting.” Garcia nearly added, the last thing he needed was Captain LaForge showing up in the Challenger to arrest him. Again.
Tuvok came forwards. “We’re using standard frequencies. From this location, it would take a hundred years before the closest civilization would have the potential to even detect it, and even in that event, they would need a millennia to decode it.” “While you’re following protocol, I am freezing my ass off over here. And, I am pregnant. Twins,” Garcia said.
“That explains the other anomaly,” Tuvok said.
“Bring them into the shuttle bay,” Janeway said.
“Thank you,” Garcia said.
Janeway turned off the feed. She looked annoyed.
Voyager turned its back to him. The shuttle bay doors opened and the ship backed up, pretty as you please. Artificial gravity in the bay was turned off. As he entered the bay area, the ship changed its inflection, bringing the floor up to greet him. Whoever the pilot was, he captured Garcia’s life pod as easy as catching a falling egg, without breaking it, and without using tractor beams. Artificial gravity came back on, but slowly, which was very considerate thing to do, not jarring him or the babies. The babies quickly orientated back to an ‘up-down’ situation. Even floating in a womb, babies new up from down, and they did not like zero G. Garcia popped the canopy but before he could get out security was coming at him, weapons drawn. The lead was Borg.
“Seven,” Garcia said, his hands up, clear surrender.
“How do you know me?” Seven said. The Doctor tried to pass her.
“Hold,” Seven said.
“Can’t you see he’s suffering from an extreme case of hyperthermia?” the Doctor asked.
“You mean hypothermia,” one of the guard corrected.
“The Doctor’s correct,” Garcia said. “I overcompensated and in essence, now have a fever. I need to lower my body temperature, and I need a sugar. Orange juice. Or a lactic ringer IV infusion…”
“I am the Doctor,” the Doctor said.
“You haven’t answered how you know me,” Seven said.
Janeway and Tuvok entered. “No more questions,” Janeway said. “Clear the bay. Doctor, you may remain.”
“May I come out?” Garcia asked.
“Sure,” Janeway said.
Garcia practically fell out, not realizing how numb his leg had become, and probably would have landed on his head had the Doctor not caught him. Landing on his head was preferable to landing on the babies. “I want him in sickbay, now,” the Doctor said.
“No transporters,” Garcia said. “I’m alright.”
“No, you’re not!” the Doctor said, reaching into his pack. “I want a stretcher in here.”
“Not yet,” Janeway said.
The Doctor took an item from his pack, an armband, and secured it to Garcia’s arm, over his uniform; Velcro held it tight. The armband had visible fluid blisters going around its exterior, and would make an intravenous push, even through the fabric.
“The babies are in excellent condition,” the Doctor said. He had a realization.
“You minimized life support to give them the optimum consideration?” “Yes,” Garcia said.
“If you had any concerns for their wellbeing, you wouldn’t have put them in that situation in the first place,” Tuvok said.
“That’s a reasonable point,” Garcia said. “I actually hear that a lot.” “What have you done?” Janeway said.
“It’s clear what he has done. He has violated his oath to Star Fleet, broke the prime directive, and violated all known temporal ethics,” Tuvok said. “And, I brought you gifts,” Garcia said.
“We can’t use them,” Tuvok said. “We would be as guilty…” “You really don’t know enough to make an assessment,” Garcia said.
“How did you come to be here?” Janeway asked.
“I sat up a rail gun in front of the Guardian of Time, asked to see this sector of space time, and shot myself through the Gateway as easy as threading a needle,” Garcia said.
“So, the Federation approved you being here?” Janeway asked.
“Not precisely, no,” Garcia said.
“There is no way the Federation gave you access to the Guardian of Time,” Tuvok said. “And there is no way you could overcome their security. They also have a failsafe designed to blow up the Guardian’s planet in the event that they might lose the base,” Tuvok said.
“Yeah,” Garcia said. “The problem with that plan is they didn’t consider someone going back in time and using the Gateway prior to Kirk’s discovery of it. That’s one of the inherent problems with time machines. Once they go online, they have access to forever. And the Gaurdian, well, he’s been there a long time. No pun intended. Can I have one those blankets please?”
“No,” the Doctor said. “You only think you’re cold. You need to adjust down.” Janeway came forwards. “I am going to ask you this again, and I expect your answer to be very precise; what have you done?”
“The timeline as we know it has been derailed. I am working for a black ops organization that is doing everything in its power to put it back on track with the least amount of collateral damage,” Garcia said. “To that ends, I need your help. There is a window of opportunity for me to solicit help from several species in the Delta Quadrant, and or steal technologies that will assist our primary objective.” “And you expect me to help you?” Janeway asked. “I don’t expect you to do anything. In fact, it’s best you act as if I weren’t here. You don’t have to do anything but keep me alive through what I expect will be the longest damn year of our lives,” Garcia said.
“May I please get him to sickbay?” the Doctor asked.
Seven entered the shuttle bay.
“Not now, Seven,” Janeway snapped.
“Now,” Seven said, holding her ground.
Janeway and Tuvok retreated to speak privately with Seven.
“Turn your back to Garcia,” Tuvok said. “He can read lips.”
Seven and Janeway looked away from Garcia. Tuvok remained where he could see Garcia and could lean just slightly to have his lips out of line of sight.
“He has Borg technology on him,” Seven said.
“Are you sure?” Janeway asked.
“I can prove it, if you allow me,” Seven said. “What do you intend do?” Tuvok asked. “If I am correct, it’s better that I don’t speak it,” Seven said.
“You’re saying he is augmented?” Janeway asked, her voice going lower. “He can hears us.”
“Just go with me on this,” Seven said.
“There’s a lot of that going around,” Janeway said. “Fine. Show me.”
Janeway and Tuvok accompanied Seven back to Garcia. She drew a phaser from her hip, turned it up to the highest kill setting and pointed it directly at Garcia. The Doctor stood up.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” the Doctor said.
“Step aside, Doctor,” Seven said.
“Lower your weapon, Seven,” Janeway said. “You proved your point.”
“No, I have not,” Seven said. Garcia managed to stand up.
“You shouldn’t be standing,” the Doctor said. Garcia waved him off.
“You didn’t even flinch,” Janeway said.
“Unfortunately, I have lost that reflex,” Garcia said. “When you die as often as I have…”
“What?” Janeway said.
“Oh,” Garcia said, as if hearing a voice in his head. “You wanted to activate my Borg shielding. That makes much more sense.”
“What did you think she was going to do?” Tuvok asked.
“Kill me,” Garcia said.
“You want me to kill you?” Seven asked.
“No, not particularly,” Garcia said. “Phaser actually hurt. A lot.”
“But you are okay if she does?” Janeway asked.
“I am quantum tied to a past set point. If you kill me, or I die, I revert back to start, retaining all the knowledge I gained along the way,” Garcia said.
“I need you to strip,” Janeway said. “Doctor, I need you to deactivate his neural interface.”
“I can’t,” the Doctor said. “He doesn’t just have a neural implant. He has a full brain make over.”
“What do you mean?” Tuvok said.
Garcia made a gesture and a holographic display of his brain arrived. “I have an artificial corpus callosum. Enhanced neural connectivity to all brain regions, extending down into the body and the entire nervous system.” “You’re a Borg,” Seven said.
“More advanced than the Borg you know,” Garcia said. “I am also accompanied by Sophia, a virtual companion. She is a sentient being. You would consider her an AI.
Sophia, introduce yourself, please.”
Sophia arrived beside Garcia, as solid as the Doctor. “Greetings.” She was human. She was beautiful, in an ancient Egyptian sort of way, with straight dark hair, and eyes that were too large to be precisely human. Her eyes were Disney large. She resembled a human hybrid, a mix of an unknown species, one that was likely hyper-feminine in nature. Something a human couldn’t resist. Something Garcia couldn’t resist. “You have a mobile emitter!” the Doctor said. “But, I don’t detect…”
“What I wear is beyond 29th century tech,” Garcia said. “And you can’t have it.
Its primary purpose is to keep me alive as long as possible.” “To what ends?” Janeway said.
“Again, I am here to save the future,” Garcia said. “I am still the Garcia you know… Well, no, I am not. Technically, I am now hundreds of year older than the Garcia you knew. I kind of lost count of the precise age. You have heard of Gary Seven. Well, my people have met their people, and we have formed an alliance. The future of humanity employs representatives from the past. I am monitored around the clock. When I get back, they down load my experiences directly into a computer bank that is temporally secured from all time changes, measuring divergence, and whatever artifacts they can retrieve. Future memories are as elusive as dream memories, held in conscious memory, not brain memory. They study that information and send me back until I have met their agenda. So there’s two ways this goes down. The first, easiest way, you accommodate me, stow me away in the Brig for all I care, and just keep me alive.” “The Federation doesn’t endorse capital punishment, but they will allow infield court martial leading to your death if you are found interfering with the time line,” Tuvok said.
“The time line is gone!” Garcia snapped. “Everything you know is gone! Vulcan is gone! I am trying to fix that. Go ahead, kill me. We’ll do it the hard way, which means the next time you pick me up, instead of giving you the truth I am going give the lie. And every time you see through it, kill me, I will come back with an improved lie until I accomplish my mission. I rather not do that. For once, I would like to get through a season without overbearing, manipulative strategies.”
Garcia nearly fell, but Sophia responded before he was even aware he was about to fall. She touched his arm, but she also stiffened his close- in effect, an exosckelton. “He needs rest,” Sophia said.
“Seven, Doctor, escort him to Sickbay. Quarantine him until further notice,”
Janeway said. She stepped closer. “Don’t die.” “Okay,” Garcia said.
Chapter 2
After being stabilized, Garcia was allowed to retired to quarters. Guards were put just outside his door, and down the hall, line of sight. The computer in his room was deactivated. He sat in a lounge chair, under blankets, sometimes letting his hands come out for the coffee beside him. Janeway found him sipping at the coffee when she came in.
“Where did you get that?” Janeway asked.
“Replicator,” Garcia said. “Oh, um, my suit has a replicator imbedded in it.”
“You’re telling me…”
“I am a god,” Garcia said.
“You are not a god,” Janeway said.
“No, I am not, but I am so far technologically advanced…” “That I couldn’t stop you if I wanted to?” Janeway said.
“No. You could stop me,” Garcia said.
“How?” Janeway said.
“You tell me to stop,” Garcia said.
Janeway shoved a foot rest over in front of the lounge chair with her foot and sat in front of Garcia. “And you’d stop?”
“Technically, I out rank you. My Star Fleet Rank and privileges are still in effect,” Garcia said.
“You intend to pull that shit here in the Delta Quadrant?” Janeway asked.
“No,” Garcia said. “You interrupted me… I don’t know how to do this.
Hypothetically, assume for a moment, God exists. A single god has authority, sovereignty over everything in his domain. Now, imagine if you will, there are two gods, equally sovereign. How do two such beings end a dispute? If they’re equal in every aspect, it doesn’t matter what they do, the end result is nothing ultimately happens. They can either negotiate, or they can stay locked into an eternal conflict. In all of my experiences, I have learned one thing. There is no conflict. We all want the same thing. To grow, to love, to thrive. I may have some access to some better toys, maybe even more knowledge, but my judgment is not superior to yours. I will defer to whatever you decide is best for you and your crew.”
“So, you’re going to espouse some new age line about it being all good?” Janeway said.
“Never. It’s not all good. Some things suck. Some things suck ass. Dead puppies suck. Babies with cancer suck. If you’re not disturbed by these things, I am going wonder about you,” Garcia said. “I am not expecting you to gloss over the bad. You experienced your share of heartaches since you’ve been away. I am privy to the highlights.”
“You know?”
“I have watched your entire timeline,” Garcia said. “I know everything about you. I know everything about Voyager and its crew. I am also responsible for you ultimately getting home.”
“We do get home?”
“Will knowing that help you or hinder you?” Garcia asked. She avoided the quick answer, weighing it. “The Pathfinder is my ship. I will enable Barclay to find you, and guide you home. I will make it possible for Star Fleet to communicate with you in real time. But it has to happen in time. It has to make sense. The situation needs to be plausible. I can’t just turn over future tech to the Federation. I personally know too many people who would abuse it. Small growth, over time.”
Janeway was quiet for a long time. “I don’t have the luxury of you sitting down here doing nothing for a year,” she finally said.
“Fair enough,” Garcia said.
“You will be employed in Sickbay, as a secondary Doctor,” Janeway continued. “And I want you to be the ship’s counselor. I want you to see everyone at least once, and give me full eval on the crew’s mental health.”
“Not a good idea,” Garcia said.
“You did say you would cooperate?” Janeway reminded.
“I haven’t logged a single hour of counseling in…”
“You’re a licensed counselor. You were a ship’s Captain. That’s a full time counseling job,” Janeway said. “My crew needs you.”
“I don’t know how long I am going to be here,” Garcia said.
“You said a year,” Janeway said.
“Yeah, but a year cycling through hell is not the same thing…” “Is Sophia here? Listening?” Janeway asked.