Station Post #19 The Return

Posted on Fri Sep 13th, 2024 @ 6:40pm by Captain Rogue "Ro" Green & Lieutenant Sean Loewen & Lieutenant JG Griffon Resch "Nazgul" & Lieutenant JG Ainkara "Kara"

Mission: FINAL JUDGEMENT
Location: various
Timeline: current

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Lieutenant JG Ro Green got out of bed, saw to her morning hygiene, got dressed for duty, and then headed for the door leading out of her cabin. For whatever reason this morning she felt a bit off. A Deja vu of sorts. She knew she was supposed to be here, assigned to the Intelligence department aboard DS9, but there was an odd tickling at the back of her brain trying to tell her she had already been here and done all that. Shaking her head she stepped out of her quarters and into the corridor, making her way to the nearest lift that would take her directly to OPS. As the open carriage lift stopped she stepped out of the lift and went to her small station set aside from the others, signing in for duty and adjusting the console for Intel analysis and Strategic Operations data.

"A bit tardy this morning, Lieutenant?"

Looking up from what she was doing, to address the familiar female voice, her eyes came to rest on the face of Colonel Kira. She froze, her eyes going wider as she looked into the face of someone that her mind told her she had not seen in over twenty years. Yet, here she was, youthful, as if the twenty years had had no affect on her appearance. Her memories mingled with one set of memories telling her this was right, the other trying to tell her that Kira was no longer a colonel and had joined the Bajoran religious order. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head slightly as she was trying desperately to get her mind back in focus.

"Are you alright, Ro?" Kira's concern came through her tone and could be seen in her eyes as Green had opened her own eyes again to look at her.

"I...I'm not sure. I feel...confused. I see you here, Colonel, as you are. But, there are memories of hearing about you becoming a Kai and serving the temple here on DS9." Green began to feel shame at her own inability to get herself under control.

Kira, despite the situation, gave a warm smile. "That thought has crossed my mind for when I finally decide to retire. Maybe the Prophets are giving you a vision of my destiny?"

"No disrespect to the Prophets, Kira. But, this is not that. I know, KNOW, that what I am seeing will come to pass. That what I am doing here and now, I have already done in my past."

"Your mind is still as strong as always, Ro. I am glad." The voice of Kira became another familiar voice and her entire being changed from that of Colonel Kira Nerys to that of a black haired beautiful woman decked out in finery that would make the Queen of Persia envious.

Like a tidal wave the memories came flooding in and Rogue Green knew who she was and all that she had ever been through. The mental rush caused her legs to weaken and she fell to her backside, hands coming up to hold her head. "Argh!" She hissed out. "What was that?"

"I had to make sure you could recognize yourself. That you had remained Rogue Green and not been influenced by the other."

Green felt her anger flare as she got herself under control, relying on the Core to aid her in that. That was another part of the confusion in the vision. It was her back when she was just another Human. Before the Reman pod had changed her into an augment, before she had known anything about the Core or...

"Qeritas!" Ro said with vehemence, getting to her feet quickly, facing the one who had caused discord on her vessel. "How dare you show yourself to me after what you caused."

"It appears that my reflection did well in her obfuscation." Qeritas responded. There was no anger in her tone, preferring to remain reasonable instead of responding in kind. "Look around you, Ro. You are so focused on me, on your anger, that you have not taken in your surroundings."

Green's anger began to subside, a little at a time, realizing that this was the Qeritas she had known for years now. Sure, she was a Q who found humanoids amusing, often times putting them through morality tests to determine just how altruistic they really were. No one had ever died during those games of hers, and if they did, it was mere appearance not fact. As instructed she began to look around, spinning about in place to see around her an entire galaxy full of stars, the swirling arms of solar masses spinning on as they should. From this vantage point it appeared that she and Qeritas were standing dead center of it all, to observe all that was out there. There were no stars in their immediate vicinity. Finally, her anger now null, Ro looked at her old friend and mentor. "Where are we?"

Qeritas gave that old crooked grin of hers, showing the cynicism in her expression and her eyes that, often enough, was her visage. "We are standing within the quantum vortex at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, as you call it. Quantum singularity, black hole, such colorful names that come from an absolute misunderstanding of the Universe as a whole. Anyway," she waved that off and came in next to Ro, reaching out and gently touching her back to turn her to face the way she was looking. Blue-white lines appeared and cordoned off a small section of the galaxy, with Qeritas beginning to explain. "That little area there, all chopped up like a badly portioned pie, is all that you know. All the governments and powers that rule over YOUR world as you know it. Rather small, don't you think?"

It was a rather small area of the Milky Way galaxy, maybe encompassing just a mere one-eighth of area. The rest of the Milky Way, from the point of view of the four quadrants of space, was not explored nor known by those who continually fought over what they possessed. "I have no doubts that what we think we know about our galaxy falls far short of reality."

"Then there is hope for you," Qeritas said, with that slight smarmy tone to it. Whether she was being altruistic or instructive the Q just could not keep herself from reminding organics that they were nothing but specks of dust in the eye of the Universe. Specks so small and ineffective as to not be noticed. But, like all living things there was hope for them. Qeritas turned to face Ro, getting Green to face her. All pretense of snark was gone. "Your way of life is in danger, Ro. By this, I mean the Federation. My counterpart was from the Mirror Universe, my direct opposite. She entrapped me by a means beyond your understanding even though she had help from your counterpart. The Terran Empire has allied themselves with Mirror Qeritas. Using the Gola and their internal energy reserves, and their time dilation ability, they have learned to open a subspace rift between the Universes. It is unstable and cannot hold for long. My nemesis is aiding them in correcting that, but she cannot interfere directly. Instead, she relies on them like I rely on you. They are making great strides in the technology necessary to open the gateway permanently and that would allow whole fleets to pour through and begin to invade your Universe."

"You didn't think to warn me?!" Green raised her voice in a flash of anger, and then immediately caught herself and raised a hand up in supplication. "Apologies. You just said she entrapped you. I'm sure how that was done would be a whole other story which we don't have time for. Can you get me back to the Nazgul?"

Qeritas gave a sigh, her shoulders actually slumping slightly before she looked into Ro's eyes. "I can. However, breaking free from the prison she had made took a lot out of me, and the center vortexes are how we recharge if we find ourselves diminishing. I will need time to recover strength if I take you back right now." Qeritas saw Green give a crooked grin and smack her lips cynically. She cocked her head in a saucy stance. "I know what you're thinking. What a horrible shame it would be for me to rely on you instead of the other way around."

Green gave a soft laugh and did the finger pistol pointing at Qeritas. "Nailed it in one." Then she gave a light cackle. "Ohhh, this is way too satisfying. But, you know me, Qeritas. You get me back and you are welcome to stay and recover. Quickly, I hope, since we may need you due to the attack on starbase M-69."

"Yes," Qeritas said. "The Assul are dangerous and driven by their own belief system. Another example of your little section of contested space being assaulted by those outside of it."

"Alright, then." Ro said, her flippancy now gone. In the days ahead they were going to need this Qeritas to offset and defeat the other. "Let's get back. You will be left to heal and regain your strength as we battle the enemies WE can."

"Done." Qeritas raised her right hand and snapped her fingers. There was a blinding flash of white light and then the next moment they were standing in front of the forward viewport on the Bridge of the USS Nazgul. Loewen got to his feet immediately, as did Resch, their exclamations causing Kara to spin around and look, she too getting to her feet at what she saw.

Loewen had cried out as he stood up. "Captain!"

Green noted that even though the eyes had been on her from around the Bridge due to the surprise of her sudden appearance, each and every set of eyes were now locked on Qeritas. "Hello, everyone. There is no time to explain everything. This is not the Qeritas that fooled us all, this is the one who caused her to flee. Are you in command, Mister Loewen?"

Confused by what was being said, but deciding to trust his CO, Sean responded. "I am. Commander Billi was wounded during her scuffle with," his eyes looked to Qeritas, but with what the Captain had said he decided to trust her on this. "Anyway, Sickbay says she is stable and will recover. As per Starfleet protocols, Captain, I relinquish command to you. Kara, please note the return of Captain Green and that she is reinstated as CO of Nazgul."

"Aye, Sir." Kara brought out her handy-dandy personal PADD and did just that.

"Thank you, Sean. Please, return to your duties while you lot catch me up on where we are and what is going on. Who is Number One?"

Kara spoke up. "That would be me, Captain. Mister Loewen valued my insight and logical approach to things."

"You will remain Number One until Billi recovers. Mister Resch, please have security escort Qeritas to a VIP suite. I find her to not be a threat but due to previous events if you choose to place a guard outside her door I leave that to your discretion."

"It'll be done, Captain. I'll take her myself. Right this way, Miss Qeritas." Resch said.

"Aww, he called me 'miss'." Qeritas retorted, being her usual self.

"Not now, please." Green said, non-chalant. "Just go and rest."

"Fine, fine. Lead the way, handsome." Qeritas and Griffon stepped into the port lift.

Loewen sent his relief over to man the tactical station until Resch returned and then slid into his helm chair. As this was being done Ainkara gave Green an entire rundown as to what had occurred while she was gone, and even as they continued to approach the base, she went through the situation threatening docking arm nine and the damaged EPS manifold.

Right there on the Bridge, after being caught up, Green voiced a log entry, which was also a voice message to M-69 command that she had returned to the Nazgul with the aid of a Q, and was now back in command. She asked that if any of them had questions or needed to speak to her to please contact the ship when ready. It was time to focus on the threat of the Assul.

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