Once we had a full cargo bay of unconscious patients in barracks-like beds, all fully human once more and no longer Borg, the issue of their guilt or innocence came up. Unlike their Collective counterparts, they didn't have the excuse of being mind controlled and their voices being drowned out by everyone else.
Instead of having to deal with that, or trying to conduct trials to sentence them, I made the executive decision to drop them off at the closest starbase with the information we retrieved from their memory implants and the computers on their ship and in their base, all of which were now destroyed.
Since Starfleet didn't have corporal punishment, as in the death penalty, the most they could earn was a stint in a penal colony and then they would be released. Again, I felt a little bad about doing that, after Beverly and the Chappels had worked so hard to heal them; but, it was good practice for them and none of their patients would be killed.
The starbase was a planetary colony, so there was no worry about straining their resources when we dropped off a hundred and forty previous Borg drones and a portable computer database with all their information on it. The one thing we didn't have was their original identities and we left instructions with the starbase XO about looking them up and figuring out who they were before they were Borg.
We left there and made our way to Marijne VII, where the science vessel named USS Raman was about to have an accident and the crew of seven were killed accidentally by the energy beings that lived inside the gas giant planet. They were there studying the strange readings and the ship dipped too close to the atmosphere and was sucked inside.
As luck would have it, we arrived just as they sent out their distress signal. They hailed us right afterwards and we beamed all seven of the crew off of the ship. After a short discussion with the captain of that ship, he sent the proper commands to the ship's computer to eject the warp core, which we grabbed with a tractor beam.
After the dangerous item was removed from the ship, he sent the ship deeper into the atmosphere and let the energy beings trapped on the ship to return to their people and it also gave them something to play with for however long the ship could last in such harsh conditions. With the warp core removed, it wouldn't explode or harm them in any way.
That was when I learned a harsh truth from the captain. Geordi LaForge's mother commanded the USS Hera and had passed by the same planet twelve days earlier and had called in the USS Raman to conduct science experiments. I knew the Hera had been declared lost with all hands in the show fifteen days after that visit while Geordi dealt with trying to rescue the crew of the Raman, which meant we had a slim chance to save the Hera.
I hit my comm badge. “Riker to Helm! Set course for Deep Space Three. Full warp. Get us there NOW!”
“Sir!” Wesley responded and there were several small beeps. “We're underway and will jump to warp in three minutes!”
“Thank you, Wesley. Have the warp core brought into the secondary cargo bay. I'm on my way up to the bridge to explain. Riker out.” I tapped my comm badge and looked at the science team across the table. “Captain, dropping you off at the closest starbase has to wait.”
“We understand, Admiral.” He said and the other six scientists nodded. “Do what you can to save them, too.”
I smiled sadly and didn't say anything. I didn't want to jinx myself or tempt Murphy, so I turned to Chappel. “Show them to the guest rooms and let them get something to eat and some sleep. We might be a while.”
“Yessir, you can count on me.” Chappel said and saluted.
I saluted back and left the meeting room and jogged to the turbolift. I rode it to the bridge and stepped out just as the ship jumped to warp.
“Tom? What's wrong?” Beverly asked.
I took a breath and let it out, then told her about what I just learned. I had thought the incidents with the two ships were unrelated and coincidental, only to learn the Hera had visited the same gas giant and must have picked up an energy being or two. The beings needed time to figure out how to function away from their gas giant home and it let the Hera travel far enough away to be declared lost.
“You think they'll look for a similar gas giant?” Beverly asked.
“Yes, and it would explain why the ship was declared lost. There would be no way to find it or any remains if it was destroyed inside the gravity well of a gas giant, especially if it was intentionally sent into the depths to set the energy beings free.” I told her.
“Then we'll trace their path from the starbase as quickly as we can.” Beverly said. “Ops, active scans for any gas giants that share similarities with Marijne VII. With the Caretaker Array's modifications to the scanners, we should find the ship if it's relatively intact.”
I took her hand as I sat down beside her and Beverly gave mine a squeeze. The tension on the bridge was thick as we travelled to Deep Space Three. With luck, they were still in contact with the Hera and we could warn them about the danger.
Six hours later, we dropped out of warp near Deep Space Three. It was a combination spacedock and space station and I called the station's commander to find out the USS Hera's current location. He wouldn't give me the information, however. He claimed that he didn't recognize my authority and wouldn't hand over crucial Starfleet ship movements to whoever I was.
I almost growled at the idiot for intentionally endangering the lives of three hundred people aboard the Hera because of it. Instead I took a breath and let it out and gave the man my best glare. He flinched and recoiled as if I slapped him.
“I don't care if you don't recognize my authority, commander! What I care about is that three hundred people are about to die because you refuse to relay a message to them about the imminent danger they are in!”
“There's no evidence that...” The man started to say.
“Read your goddamned messages, you fool!” I interrupted and he frowned at me. “We sent it as soon as we dropped out of warp and hailed you. The longer you delay my very reasonable request, the greater the chance you are the cause of their deaths!”
The man looked down at his computer display and started typing. The sound cut off and Chappel cleared her throat.
“Sir, can I?” Ops asked.
“Yes, as quickly as you can.” I said and she started typing as well to hack the starbase. “Wesley, as soon as she has anything, get us onto the trail at our best speed, regardless of local regulations.”
“Aye, sir. I'll be ready.” Wesley said and typed in the commands to initiate as soon as he had any details.
The sound on the viewscreen started again.
“I'd like to talk to the captain of the USS Reman.” The commander said.
“The entire science team just went through a harrowing experience and almost died, which is exactly what you just read about, commander. They are asleep and unable to talk at the moment.” I said calmly.
“That's convenient.” The man said. “How do I know this isn't all fabricated...”
“I got it!” Chappel exclaimed and sent the data to the Navigation console. “The USS Hera is on a standard courier mission and is still in contact with the station.”
“You can't know that! You're committing espionage on a Starfleet starbase!” The commander shouted.
“You better hope I rescue the crew of the Hera or I'll come back here to take my frustration out on you. End call!” I spat and took a breath. “Wesley, let's go. Show them what a capable ship can do.”
“Yessir!” Wesley said and hit the button.
The ship whipped around and went to full impulse, which was against regulations, and the wake shook the entire station and caused several warnings and a structural failure on one of the docking pylons.
“Adjusting course to Navigation's directions.” Wesley said. “Prepare for warp.”
“I have the Hera's comm signal locked in.” Ops said and pushed several buttons. “Standard hails are not being responded to. Composing a specific message for Captain Silva LaForge. No response.”
“Jumping to warp 9.995!” Wesley said and the ship entered warp.
“Scanners on full! Give us a map of the region as quickly as you can.” Beverly ordered. “Most likely spots for them to stop take priority.”
“Aye, sir.” Several voices responded. Ops, Tactical, and two of the science stations worked on a comprehensive map that they could use to start the search.
“We're only two and a half days behind their estimated disappearance.” I said, my voice full of hope. “We can do this, people. We can succeed where everyone else has failed.”
Beverly's hand took mine again and she gave me a firm nod.
*
It took just over a day to find the ship we were looking for, the USS Hera. Twenty-six hours had passed since we left Deep Space Three and that time had been damning. We had to drop out of warp to scan similar gas giants along the route and that took time. Time we didn't have.
Beverly gave me a sad look and didn't respond.
“I won't be long, I promise.” I said and she nodded.
I didn't bother with the teleporter ruse and checked with my clairvoyance power and then stepped from the bridge of my ship to the bridge of the Hera. It was eerily quiet, as if death herself was there to claim it.
For the first time ever, I felt a presence appear in reality that I hadn't felt in a very long time.
“It wasn't you, was it?” I asked and felt reassurance, so I sighed. “It's just the way things are?”
A feeling of reassurance touched me and I nodded. I left the bridge and found the first body. I knelt and touched the man and found out they had been dead for only a short time. I rewound time for them just enough to bring them back to life and I could tell their synapses were burned through.
I tried rewinding further and all it did was make them experience more intense pain for longer. I rewound them for entire days and the symptoms didn't abate. It made me wonder how long they suffered before they succumbed to the energy being's influence and I realized that even if I rewound them to before they had encountered the energy beings, their synapses were still fried.
Once they had been touched, they were corrupted. I sighed and realized that the energy beings also had a temporal aspect, so there would be no saving anyone already affected. All I could do was put them out of their misery. I ended the man's life and moved on.
I could sense the lives of the people huddled inside engineering behind reinforced bulkheads with energy shields and I could feel the two energy beings pounding on them to get inside. Like the living people, the energy beings were desperate to save their own lives and needed the fresh bodies to take them to a new home.
I stepped to in front of the bulkhead and energy shield and the two energy beings immediately turned to me and lunged, my mind too bright and enticing for them to ignore. I created a tiny black hole on the tips of my index fingers and both energy beings were sucked in instantly and disappeared. I ended the power and went to the panel that would let me talk over the intercom.
It was destroyed to stop any energy from entering the safe area and I reached through the energy shield and tapped out a message on the bulkhead. I used Morse Code, even if no one knew what it was, just so they knew it was someone with intelligence on the other side when they heard the pattern.
A moment later, the bulkhead clanked and hissed as it opened and nearly two hundred people were revealed and tightly packed into the space.
“Oh, thank god!” Silva LaForge said. “Cut the power to the shield.”
“But, captain! They could still be out there!” The human Chief Engineer responded.
“I shot them with an inverted polarity beam and removed them from existence.” I said and patted the hand phaser on my hip. “There were only two of them.”
“Only two.” Several of the crew whispered, their surprise muted, since most of them were Vulcans. The energy beings had devastated their ship and there were only two of them. If there had been more, how quickly would they have been infected and died?
“Are there any of you alive that came into contact with the creatures?” I asked as most of the people came out of the enclosed space and into main engineering. By their thoughts, they had been there for two days and that was more than long enough for most of them.
“Over here.” A human nurse waved me over and there were fifteen people suffering from having their synapses fried. I touched each of the Vulcans, just to make sure, and held in my sigh. Again, my powers proved ineffectual against a temporal energy being's influence, once they came into contact with a living body.
“I'm sorry.” I said, my voice full of sadness. “There's nothing that can be done, except to make them comfortable until they pass away or you can put them out of their misery.”
A few of the Vulcans crowded past me and sat next to the infected and talked to them, as if comforting them. They were in fact comforting themselves as well, because the worst thing for a Vulcan was to lose their faculties and none of them had a chance to perform a backup of their personalities with their mates.
“Here.” I said and handed the nurse a modified medical tricorder. “You can scan their brains for yourself. There's no recovery once their synapses have burned out.”
The nurse took the tricorder and scanned the closest Vulcan woman. Her eyes widened at the details the tricorder showed her and she looked at me. “How did you know? You only touched them and didn't use this.”
“Temporal Prime Directive.” I said and a few people gasped, one was a Vulcan, to my surprise. “I tested a crew member near the bridge when I boarded and he was the same.”
Captain LaForge strode over to me to give me a good glare. Beverly's was much more intense, so I didn't flinch. I turned to face Silva and gave her a sad smile, one that was similar to the one Beverly gave me when she had to let me come over here without backup or any guarantee of my safety, besides my word that I would be okay.
“Oh, my god.” Silva said and her face paled slightly. “We weren't supposed to survive.”
“In a day and a half, the ship loses its IFF contact with Deep Space Three. Five days after that, you and your ship are officially declared lost. They send out several ships to look for you and they don't find a trace.” I told her. “I suspect the energy beings broke through your hasty shield and take one or more of you over and force you to plunge the ship into a similar gas giant to Marijna VII.”
“The gravitational forces would crush the ship and overload the warp core when we were deep enough.” The Chief Engineer commented.
“Which would kill everyone that might still be alive and probably the energy beings as well, meaning the entire accident should never have happened.” I said and looked back at the captain. “Now you know what has to be done.”
Silva gave me another glare and then sighed. “The ship isn't repairable, is it?”
“No, its suffering the same effect that the infected crew members are. I didn't realize until I boarded that there are temporal signatures to the energy beings, which means anything touched by them has always been touched by them and it can't be undone.”
“Dammit, I suspected something like that when none of the medical procedures or Vulcan mind melds worked.” The nurse said and tried to give me the medical tricorder back.
“Keep it. I have more.” I said and waved her off. “The problem I have now is I only have a small ship with a max crew of 150 and most of the spots are taken.” I said and then thought about it. “That's assuming your crew cares about being on a ship again.”
“No.” Most of them said and Silva sighed.
“I'm reluctant to command a ship myself after what we went through for the last few days.” Silva said and took a breath and let it out. “We have to pretend to remain dead, don't we?”
I was about to nod, then thought about it. “Are the humans among you from Earth or a colony?”
“Colony.” Nearly every human said.
“The same one or spread out?” I asked.
“All over. Even the majority of the Vulcans are from different regions on their planet.” Silva added.
“Well, if you can get your families and friends to stay quiet about it, I can slip you all back to your homes and no one will know.” I said and everyone gave me wide eyes. “A bit of judicial plastic surgery can hide you in plain sight if you don't have any family or they won't go along with it.”
“The ship is a complete loss and I doubt I'll be given command again.” Silva said and looked at everyone's expectant faces. “I can't go back to Earth and my family are too tied to Starfleet for them to agree to hide me.” She gave me a look. “I'd like to request to board your ship and see where your Temporal Prime Directive takes you.”
A couple of the Vulcans nodded and moved over to Silva, clearly wanting to come along as well.
“We wish to return home.” The Vulcans sitting with their friends said. “This has the same symptoms of a similar disease back on Vulcan. No one will question us when we return with them.”
“Is that everyone?” I asked and they all nodded. “All right, those wanting to go home, line up. I'll have you all back there and in your beds before you know it.”
“How?” The Vulcan in the front asked.
I held a hand out and he shook it. “Sometimes time and space are immutable, unless you know a few tricks.” I plucked his home location from his mind and smiled. “Like so.”
Everyone watched as I 'pushed' him away and he disappeared.
“Where did he go?” The next Vulcan asked and held his hand out.
“He's standing in his living room and wondering how he got there.” I said and did the same thing to him. He disappeared and the next Vulcan was a woman.
“I need some changes and I can claim I am my cousin.” She said.
I caught the details in her head and nodded as she took my hand. Her features changed slightly, making a lot of eyebrows raise, then she was gone.
“I gotta try that!” A human male said and took my hand. “Make me handsome and rich!”
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I said and gave him a unibrow. The humans laughed and the Vulcans smiled, which was a huge compliment.
“What did you do?” He asked and reached up with his free hand to touch the bush across his cranial ridge. “Hey! What did you do?!?”
“I'm teaching you a lesson about being careful what you wish for.” I said and removed it, tweaked his face a little to make him look aristocratic, then handed him a bar of gold pressed latinum. “Good luck.”
He disappeared and everyone exchanged looks, then the next Vulcan stepped up and took my hand.
“Fix my ears and brow to human standard and send me to Deep Space Eight.” The Vulcan asked.
I nodded and did so, fixing his hair as well, then he was gone. I was then crowded in an orderly fashion as they asked for what they wanted and I sent them along. None of them would ever figure out I was also giving them mental command to never talk about what they had gone through or mention meeting me.