Sensors and Sense (Part 2)

Edward Solomon (cont)

After meeting the Eric Solomons who've gotten stuck on Nantucket Earth, a few things have finally come clear to me. Not exactly comforting and I do not use it as an excuse, but it explains a few things.

That and a few faint sensor indicators/signatures I got while scanning Cort awhile ago.....

I don't like being a pawn....

Alright, a bit of background info on myself appears to be in order here I see.

Originally I was a member of a resistence movement called the Marquis back in what I now call the Star Trek: TNG universe. See, my world and a bunch of other border worlds next to the Cardassian Empire got ceded over from Federation hands into their hands. It was part of a peace treaty or some such in order to at least avoid yet another costly war the Federation really didn't need. In retrospect I guess it was the best of a bad situation. After all, at the time the Federation was still reeling from a "close encounter" with the Borg Collective (barely survived it, really) AND had the Dominion to deal with. Another battle front wasn't a good thing at the time and I guess it seemed alright to cede a few planets who's ownership was in dispute anyway was a small price. Heck, the Federation made efforts to move and compensate those who were being put into....er....inconvenienced by this. They even did what they could for those stubborn ones who refused to give up their homes. Well, I was one of those stubborn ones who refused to leave their homes and, of course, the Cardassians violated my rights and my property like the others who'd stayed behind. Finally I joined in an effort to kick the Cards out. Even had some unofficial aid from those within Star Fleet, so it wasn't totally hopeless. Worked well enough until the Cards called in those Dominion bastards to..... Never mind. The crushing defeat of the Marquis happened after the Marquis ship I was on got sucked (along with the USS Voyager later) into the Delta Quadrant (70 odd years away from home).

The Voyager was a Federation vessel part of an effort to quiet complaints by the Cardassians (who we'd inconvenienced) that the Federation wasn't doing enough to keep the Marquis (who'd been ducking in and out of our secret bases located within Federation space) under control. She'd been sent out to track my resistence cell down and arrest the lot of us, really. But with things as they turned out it soon came down to where we needed to join forces in order to survive and get home. That would take a miracle, see, because we Marquis felt betrayed by the Federation and Star Fleet (those who weren't secretly helping us) and.... You get the idea. Somehow, though, the captain of the Voyager (Janeway) managed not only to get us to join forces, but got us to.... Well, put it simply we got "assimilated" into the crew and became "Star Fleeters" (as the Military puts it).

I was a engineering sort in the Marquis with a panache for code breaking and such. In the olden days I'd be termed a "hacker" and I somewhat got a thrill from that. Got my fellow resistence fighters out of a few tight situations with unlocking doors and taking down security systems. Went on to keep being and engineer type while on the Voyager.

That is, that's what my memories told me. Will tell you what I mean in a second so bear with me.

While on our way back to the Alpha Quadrant (i.e. home) we rand afoul of from a Seven of Nine duplicate who was still a full Borg. She gained control of the ship, but messed up so where the Voyager crash landed (intact) on a class M planet. We regained control of the ship and even were able to "un-assimilate" a young human man named Scott Chen from that Seven of Nine duplicate. The duplicate, meanwhile, was in big trouble. Chen's memories were....something that got sucked into the Collective and that was....bad. Chen's memories are something like a computer virus on steroids. It eventually burned out the Collective, believe it or not! Operative word .That's a good thing, folks! Was one of the things that got us free of the Collective when we got caught by surprise by the still active Collective. That and Scott Chen, but that's a bit later.

Problem is, here, that it was a wildly unpredictable virus! It took over the duplicates's assimilator nanites and caused them to transform the Borg female into what can only be called a little female dragon, for crying out loud! Scott Chen, Wildman and family eventually took the little thing in as a pet, but....

No, getting ahead of myself here...

Okay, thing here is that I got violently assimilated into the Collective for a time. Not something I relish. It was a mind rape! Chen sacrificed himself to get us free and for that I shall always be true to him and think the best of him. Chen died...but then came back! Yes, BACK from the dead! Scott had within him a strange energy we term Chaos energy. Things always odd happened around him unless we used some kind of dampening material to keep it under control. That said, the energy was something that a parallel version of Janeway wanted to further her dark goals. She'd been building a large multi-dimensional empire, you see. Fooled us into thinking that we needed to help her get Scott (still dead) or else a lot of people were going to get killed by that Energy....

We learned differently, soon, from a bunch of humanoid animal versions of ourselves (called "furries") the truth and we got Scott (now back amongst the living) away and ruined the evil Janeway's plans. In the process our two Voyager had to double up into one Voyager, but that's a long story....

After a lot of adventures and misadventures with Scott (who'd joined the crew and eventually married "furry" Wildman) we had this encounter with this one Parwrath thing of a bobber and got sucked into the Terra Prime universe. We, seriously damaged, were rescued by the Military (who'd been in a battle with the Enemy to save Terra Prime).

.....

What happened next I had always looked back upon and just asked myself why it had happened this way. At the time it seemed to be the thing to do....

Have vague dreams and such, though, of it being more than what it had first appeared....

At first it appeared to be a big culture clash. We rubbed each other the wrong way. Voyager crew who'd been part of the Marquis, still shaky from everything, went a bit nuts and dragged the more level headed (few that there had been, alas) along with them. We say the Military and saw another Cardassian Empire in the making. The Cardassian Empire and the evil Janeway empire rolled up into one. Being that the Military was very positive towards cybernetics didn't help (still was shaky about being assimilated, see).

At the time the Slammer ships were about to launch a lethal final blow against the Enemy in a war that had been a war to extinction. We, being a bit....er.... Look, we took a leave of reason. We thought that the Military was BSing us about how bad the Enemy was. We thought that their answer of kamikaze ships to kill the Enemy to the last was horribly wrong (never mind that the Military told us about the Enemy wanting to do that to the Military first).

We insulted them and we insulted those on Terra Prime (who'd come to become friends with the Military).

Yeah, we were in the wrong. This is real life (or what passes for it). Might not happen that way on the TV show, but.....

Well, the thing here is that I and my "furry" brother got it into our heads that we could sabotage the Slammer ships via computers and save the Enemy from destruction. We'd planned on not getting caught.

Boy, were we idiots!

The Military has been doing computer security and computer intrusions for a LONG time. They were at a level that nobody in the Federation (self included) thought possible.

We got found out but the Military folks didn't kill us. They were mad as hell at us, but they didn't kill us. Cooler heads prevailed, despite the CO of the Military wanting to execute us. Turns out that Probe talked (or more like shouted) him out of it. That aside, the Military even got us home, despite that. They did, however, they were going to keep a weather eye on us to make sure we (the Federation) didn't try anything else against them.

That is the reason why when another dimension's Enemy/Alliance war came to the shores of the Star Trek universe we didn't get totally destroyed by the Enemy. The Military saved our bacon.

They saved us.

Do you have any idea.....how I feel when I look back on what I did?

....

To say I feel two micrometers tall is a vast understatement.

Ah, but there is something that might make you think better of me.

See, we found out that in all there were two other Voyagers with the same story as ours. One was a Voyager who'd made it back to Earth before us. One was a Voyager who'd been ambushed by the Enemy and all but a few survived it (others eaten). Nothing odd in that, all considered, but there turns out to have been disturbing indications of only one being the "real" Voyager and the others being some kind of counterfeits made by some super powerful entities. Indications of the Q were involved.

I shall not go into the details of how this was discovered, but needless to say I was......disturbed to think that perhaps I was not the person who I thought I was! When I became a Champion I had asked the Rule about that, but only got a partial answer to it. The Rule had confirmed that the rumors about the other two Voyagers having been created by Q (that insufferable shit). Even told me that Flagg, who'd somehow regained his memories from prior lives and thus became a major danger, had been able to trick the SOB into creating them in a plot that eventually resulted in the Rule of the Star Trek universe (a non-freewilled Rule) destroying Q and the Q Continuum killing them out of a reflex action.

....

With them gone, they couldn't prevent that parallel dimension Enemy from stumbling across the Star Trek universe and invading. Was some kind of overly complex scheme to bring about an orgy of death, despair, and destruction that would somehow play into the eventual destruction of the Dark Tower.

Don't ask how. After all I've seen and learned I know now how little I really know and understand. Can't say how it would have happened but I believe Them....

Ah, that said you might wonder about me? About how I became a mage and all that? How a human being (which I was) from the Star Trek universe got changed?

On the last night on Terra Prime before the Military booted us out for what I'd done, we'd been confined to our ship. I, being stupid, broke confinement and crashed a Military party. They were cool about it and let me join in, despite prior times of me and others making an ass of ourselves. Not realizing that the drinks being served were real alcohol (not synthahol), I got hammered and royally pissed off some of the folks there....

Look, the Military personnel there at the party were what we would call Elite Forces. They'd seen hard fighting and were in the need of some time to wind down and calm down! They partied hard and played hard, but they were doing it to "decompress". Hell, I think they'd been so happy with the thought of their war with the Ememy being almost over that they'd been able to allow a jerk like me into their party.....

.....

A guy was able to break up the fight before it started and basically told me to get out of there (scared the bejesus out of me when I got belligerent). But saved my life he did when he caused me to run away in drunken fright. Only thing here is that the Sigin who'd become a demifox and his family were strolling about the base at the time and I ran into them.

Into?

How about over some of the kit!

Little guys didn't get hurt (injuries healed vastly quick due to their nature) but I scared them badly. The kits bit me and I got their kind of neo-lycanthropy. Eventually became a demifox myself due to them not having the means anymore of curing me. The Voyager had no choice but to leave me behind on Terra Prime because what I was becoming wasn't able to survive long without magic. Had magic in the Terra Prime reality but not back home.

While magically examining me after the bite attack, Sigin noticed some indicators of mind control! Seriously powerful stuff at that, but sneaky. Doubt even he, an accomlished Dragon Mage, would have noticed it if he hadn' t been lucky. That in part played a role in what got my crewmates spared....

That said, the demifox knew that strong measures were needed in order to free my mind from it being influenced whenever the perpetrater felt like. I learned later that while magic might have worked, it might have backfired and scrambled my mind into a milkshake or somehing. It could have left me a vegetable so another, less drastic measure was taken. Basically, I was shocked out of it.

The means he used were harsh, but needed. He lured me in one day by showing me equations on subspace that....showed that the mages of Terra Prime knew some more about sub-space in some areas that us Star Trekers did! It was the first real indication that I actually acknowledged that the odd technological spurts here and there on Terra Prime (things like the revolver being a notable example) were do to the natives and not to the Military giving out goodies! Leading me down the path a bit to prove to me something (AND to help me out in snapping me out of it), I foolishly signed a contract of apprenticeship....in my own blood! Lesson there was always to read the contract before signing AND to make sure of what the pen's ink actually is! Blood signed contracts are binding in ways I'd read of in fantasy novels and religious stories! Good God, was it......painful.

Sigin eventually released me from the contract, free and clear. Not before, however, force feeding my mind memories of a Phantom agent and a Lizard soldier. The agent's memories showed me (forced me to see) that the Military really was right about how bad things were for those civilians back Home. Showed me how corrupt the Company was..... The Enemy's memories were of it eating.....a human being. Showed me the true face of the Enemy. Sigin removed the memories (don't think I could stand to live with them really), but the lingering remains make me....shudder.....

How in God's name could a race become so......

.....

It snapped me out of it, anyway. Sigin then suggested a means of snapping the rest of the Voyager crew out of their problems and so they soon got shocked out of their control when they actually saw what had happened, via recordings, what the Enemy had done to that duplicate Voyager they'd ambushed. That and the Military actually returning them home to the Star Trek universe.....

Now, despite all of what I just said, it wasn't for sure that my Voyager was a counterfeit. There were other reasonable and likely explanations for those mind control indicators

Turns out, though, that I now see that our little debacle back on Terra Prime was a Flagg special. If it had happened differently then the Voyager would have been executed and the Military wouldn't have been keeping tabs on the Star Trek universe. That or it may have lead to war between us and them. Basically a lot of death and destruction could have happened.

Didn't, though.

Thank God!

Well, I remember (in a sleepwalker kind of way) of seeing readings back on the Voyager like I saw recently on my tricorder. Seems that Flagg was farming out the fun and Walter did the honors this time in setting us on our course. Remember in my dreams of this guy popping in out of nowhere, wearing robes and.....commanding us. The sensors had, before we blanked the sensor logs, recorded the readings given off by Walter's presence. Don't remember much (even in dreams), but those readings stand out enough for me to suddenly remember....like a bolt from the blue.....

Walter used me. Used my friends.

I'm not going to let him use anyone any more. Man's dangerous one and must be stopped. Death isn't necessarily the result of what this duel will bring. If he loses (and I plan on making him lose) I and the others have an idea or three on how to make sure he's not going to be a danger ever again. Exile to a branch of reality where no magic is and he doesn't know the Beam pathway (i.e. does not know where to find a Door back to Midworld and such) will do the rest of us a world of good!

.....

That is the ideal outcome....

Forget about how my heart screams for it. Killing Walter. It's a matter of principle as well. Despite how old fashion it may seem compared to contemporary ethics of the Star Trek universe.....

.....

Funny.

As dark and cynical as I thought myself to be at times, Andrea calls me a bright eyed idealist. Was attracted to me for that. Guess that by Military standards and by the old fashioned standards of Terra Prime....I still am an idealist.

Used to laugh at the hopeless idealists back in Star Fleet.....

Nevermind.

I realize, now, why the Rule hadn't told me everything but said instead I'd come to know the truth when I was ready. Before, at that time, I'd been crushed and lost. Now?

I'm free.

The deeds I'd done in what I had thought to be a moment of insantiy I can blame instead on the true culprits.

When I had met my analog "brother" on Nantucket Earth I'd been put into a frame of mind where I was ready. When I caught the traces of Walter while scanning Cort (who'd been healed as a side effect of the fixing of the Dark Tower), I know now the truth.

I may not be who I exactly thougtht I was, but I know now who I am. I do not need to keep beating myself up for what I was forced to do, but I must remember it else I shall become complacent and stupid.....and could actually do something that stupid.

I am a Champion of the Rules and Agents and I will do the right thing as what should be done. I shall do the just thing.

I shall fight Walter, who's been summoned. Not here yet.....

....

OH, before I forget, let me finish up with that explanation.

1. Walter is only one person who Steven needs something done about. The other is his wife....