Consulting The Cone of Silence

Posted on Sun Aug 13th, 2023 @ 10:42am by Captain Tristan Faust & Chief Petty Officer Meredith Corden

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 4: Through a Glass, Darkly
Timeline: M4 MD03 (2268.07.12) 0845

The Captain went down to the records division acommpanied by Yeoman Corden and headed towards the Midway's SCIF known colloquially as a Cone of Silence, a long dated reference not many except the Captain would understand.

“Captain, do you need assistance locating the record,” the desk records officer asked after the Captain had made his request.

“No ensign,” Tristan responded, “But thank you for the offer.” He walked up to the SCIF which contained every highly classified report and record in physical form, at least those applicable to starship operations and exploration. He slid his ID into the card slot and looked into the scope to submit for a retina scan.

The door opened for him and he walked into the small room. The ship was filled with archive boxes marked with an unfamiliar records marking on each box, at least unfamiliar for those untrained. He walked to the shelf on the port side and picked up one of the gray boxes and set it onto the walnut veneered table. He sat down, opened the box and removed one of the powder blue binders with the Starfleet Command logo emblazoned on it.

The title page read, Report and Subsequent Research Related to Parallel Universe First Encountered 2267.10.06

"Now that we're here and the door is close, I can clue you in," Tristan responded as he looked over at Meredith. His yeoman naturally held a high security clearence and had a firm need to know. "There was a high probability that by entering the interphase we would end up in a parallel universe, but seeing the insignia worn by the survivors we picked up... Well, it narrowed down to which universe we are in," he said.

Meredith had been silent as they walked down, with a serious expression. With her security clearance and her duty's as yeoman, there was very little about Starfleet protocol and record keeping she didn't know, but this is the first time the captain had actually brought her down here. She knew it could only be to share something very serious.

She sat down next to him and her eyes glanced at the binder he was holding. "One Starfleet has had contact with before, sir?"

Meredith had joined Starfleet because she wanted to be an explorer and normally the news of not just other worlds but other universes would have excited her, but she knew her captain well. They were in a dangerous place.

The Captain nodded, "A year ago, almost, the Enterprise encountered a parallel universe through the transporter due to an ion storm. Based upon these two random occurances of interphase I would assume this universe and ours are very close... Although I would defer to Sciences on specifics. I'm not much of a theoretical physicist."

He opened the binder and began to glance through it and then stopped at a particular page. It detailed symbols and uniforms observed and then slid it around to show Meredith. "This is very similar to the emblem on the survivor's uniforms, close enough that they must be related," he said.

"I am not even sure what it means for a universe to be close to another," Meredith admitted, briefly trying to imagine more than four dimensions in her head.

She looked at the insignia. "You can make out the continents. It's definitely Earth." She frowned. "Terran Empire with a sword instead of the olive branch of the United Earth seal. A war-like universe, captain?"

The Captain nodded, "Captain Kirk notes a barbaric empire which resorts to mass murder and control through fear... Officers move up through the ranks through assasinations and factions are common... Commander Spock notes how the counter parts from this parallel universe stood out due to their personalities... Pure Id as Sigmund Freud would observe," he detailed, "And we appear to have traveled 100 years in their past..." He leaned back into the chair, "And these barbarians may have the Defiant... And if that's the case... Then we have an extremely difficult path ahead of us."

"Pure Id?" she asked. "Even the Vulcans?" She paused, remembering another report from the Enterprise, one that had created quite a stir a few years ago. "Perhaps like Romulans?"

She shook her head. "Extremely difficult, sir," she agreed. "Maybe a subterfuge would be possible, if they look human?"

"According to the report the Vulcans are very similar to the Vulcans in our universe but are subjugated as second class citzens, as are all non-humans," Tristan summarized, "The Terrans are human and as far as anyone can tell are direct copies of those from our universe... If we were 100 years in the future, in our century, it would be entirely possible we could meet our alternates... As scary as that thought is."

"What are the odds of the same couples having the same children in a universe where everything else is so different? There must be some kind of...I don't know. Something else for science." She sighed. This was very strange.

"I'm not sure how specific and identical everything is, but it seems as though that is the case," Tristan responded, "Captain Kirk and his away team didn't have enough time to really scan the ISS Enterprise's database... Once we identify the two officers we have in custody, then maybe we can test this theory... Since they should have counterparts in our universe, although they are no doubt long dead."

"If they were in Starfleet, even in the 22nd century, they'd have files," Meredith agreed.

The Captain nodded, "I'm sure by now security has identified our guests, let's go check," he said. He looked over at Meredith, "I think this is all we need, classified wise..." he said, meaning for her to pick up and take the reports with them.

"Yes, sir," Meredith responded, picking up the files and preparing to follow after him.

They made their way back to the outer area of the reconds section and Tristan went up to the desk and hit the comm, not asking the desk officer for permission. "Captain to Security, have you run the biometrics of the individuals in sickbay?" he asked trying to be as vague as possible.

"Yes sir," the voice said over the come.

The Captain nodded, "Flag the information to me and mark it top secret," he responded.

"Affirmative," the security officer responded as the channel closed.

The Captain walked down to one of the records computer terminals and queried the information, "We are about to find out who these two are..." he said. The first image popped on the screen, "The male officer is Captain Calvin Ivers... Last assignment, Commanding Officer USS Icarus, Daedalus-class... Given his uniform he's a lieutenant which means..." He was looking down the personnel file, "Ok... At this point on our side he was the assistant chief engineer on the Enterprise, NX-01."

Meredith followed him over. "What about family, sir?" she asked. "If the same people keep being born, that might imply they keep finding the same partners and having the same children." Might imply? She's honestly not sure how else it could work, but she's trying not to forget how little can really be known bout this world.

"Some..." Tristan responded, "Some serving in the fleet even." He turned off the screen and stood up. "I think we have enough here... Send word around, I want the senior staff assembled in the briefing room at 0930... We'll need copies of the reports." It was eery to him thinking if they didn't find a way to leave their guests here in this universe they could potentially meet the great-grandchildren of their counterparts.

"Yes, sir," Meredith said, coming briefly to attention and then turning to the nearest comm to do just that.

 

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