Mission 3

[Amanda Rose]

Mission Date: July 1, 1863 1300 hours (altered)

By the time noon rolled around, the town of Gettysburg had gone from
being almost a ghost town to being terrorized as a war zone. Twenty
Union Corps and fifty Confederate Corps were battling through the
streets of the village. Jackson's men were very cautious about
trampling the area of the Seminary.

The five hours since the transporter accident had given Chad time to
think. He had remembered reading much about Stonewall Jackson's
exploits for earlier stops in the mission, but he thought that Jackson
died after Chancellorsville. He wasn't sure, but everyone here
referred to him as Stonewall. There was only one Stonewall that
played a major portion in any American history that Chad had studied.
So he must have been mistaken.

Reports kept coming in from the individual corps about the battles.
Heth's, Early's and Pender's men had helped Jackson's Corps push the
Union soldiers past Seminary Ridge and onto Cemetery Ridge. That gave
the Union soldiers the higher ground, but they were vastly outnumbered
and surrounded. Jeb Stuart's good reports of troop movements worked
well as Lee maneuvered his troops to surround the existing Union
troops near the city.

Chad remembered that this battle was one of the greatest battles in
American history--even the history of all Earth. Three days of
bloodshed that seemed to change the whole tide of the war. And sap
all strength out of the soldiers on both sides.

However, this was not shaping up to be a long drawn-out battle. In
fact, it looked as if the Confederates had the slight advantage--even
though they have given their opponents the higher ground. The Union
had the higher ground, but they weren't able to set up their artillery
as quickly as the "good ol' boys" from the South could pick them off.
These Virginia men were avid hunters. That helped them become decent
marksmen during the war.

~~~~~~~~~~~

1830 hours

The hot July sun was still glaring down on the battlefield. The
bodies of the dead lay strewn up-and-down the hills of Cemetery Ridge.
Finally, word was coming from Lee. There had been little word from
his for a couple of hours now. It was obvious he was planning his
next attack, but the attacks always seemed to be one step ahead of his
orders. The Army of Northern Virginia was fighting like a well-oiled
machine--even though no one in the nineteenth century would know what
that was.

A couple of couriers on horseback were approaching, shouting and
pointing to the Ridge. Three horses were coming down--all waving
white flags of truce.

"General Lee wants to see you now, General Jackson," one of the couriers said.

Chad nodded. After ten hours, he'd finally gotten over the change.
Even though HE knew who he was, he was Stonewall Jackson right now.
He wondered as he mounted his horse ~Does the Prime Directive apply to
Earth? It was written by humans after all.~

He gave himself a mental shrug and decided this might just be the
adventure of a lifetime he'd been looking for. He might as well do
the best he could with this chance.

He made it to Lee's headquarters near the chapel on the campus of
Gettysburg Seminary. Chad wasn't very devout, but he knew that
Jackson was. He paid a bit of reverence to the chapel as he passed by
and saw the three Union horses drawing closer to the same destination.
He could now make out faces--Major Generals John Buford, Major
General John Reynolds and Oliver Howard. Howard didn't appear to be
too pleased to see Jackson coming toward him.

The four men dismounted almost in unison. The three Union generals
greeted Chad with a brand of distinction. It seemed quite apparent to
each of them that they were all merely soldiers and that, in the end,
all soldiers are friends. Chad allowed the three men to enter Lee's
headquarters before him.

Lee nodded in acknowledgement to each man as they entered.

It was Reynolds who spoke. "General Lee, I've come with my fellow
commanders to seek terms for a peaceful settlement of the battle that
has happened today. We came here with less than 30,000 men. We've
lost 18,000 already today. We've barely made a dent in your armor.
We respectfully wish to discuss terms of our surrender."

The words were music to Chad's ears. The Battle of Gettysburg would
end in one day as long as Lee didn't screw this opportunity up.

Lee looked at Reynolds for a long moment. He considered how close the
two of them actually were to each other. Both were commanders of West
Point. Both had been offered and declined command of the Army of the
Potomac. What terms could he give a man who was so much like himself?
In that case, what terms would he accept if the roles had been
reversed?

Lee finally said, "Terms of surrender are simple: Hand over the
firearms that were issued to you by the government and go to your
homes. There has been too much blood shed throughout this conflict.
Much more than was probably necessary, but that's a discussion for Mr.
Lincoln and myself."

Reynolds gulped. "That'll leave us defenseless against any further
attack from your men."

Lee shook his head. "That's why there's the second part. Go home.
Don't get in our way toward Washington and you won't be harmed. You
have my word on that."

Reynolds nodded. "A soldier's word is his bond," he said. He turned
to his fellow generals. Meade hadn't made it to the battlefield yet
so Reynolds was the ranking officer. After a moment of discussion,
the three Union generals came to an agreement.

Reynolds turned around, took his firearm out of his hip holster and
laid it on the table. "We'll accept your terms. Each battalion
commander will turn over his battalion's firearms at a place you
decide."

Lee turned to Jackson, "General Jackson, I'm placing you in charge of
inventory both of the firearms gathered as well as the battalions
which have surrendered."

Young nodded. "I'll do my best, sir."

Over the course of the next few hours, thousands upon thousands of
firearms were gathered in front of the chapel of Gettysburg Seminary.
Lee had ordered the rest of the battalions to assist the Union troops
in mobilizing the wounded and burial of the dead. Both sides were
filled with warriors, but it wasn't a personal war between them. Both
sides were fighting for their respective governments. Both sides were
patriots.

Twenty battalions of men, badly beaten and despairing the trip home,
handed over their issued weapons and began their trips home as far
away as Maine and Wisconsin. Several members of the 13th Pennsylvania
Infantry pleaded for the chance to join the Army of Northern Virginia,
but Young wouldn't allow it. There was no room in the Army for those
he couldn't trust.

As night fell on Gettysburg, there was nothing but the small campfires
of the very celebratory Confederate troops. The joviality increased
when word came that the march on Washington started the next morning.

Commander Chad Young
(trapped in the body of Lt. General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson)
Executive Officer/Chief of Science
U.S.S. America

[Amanda Rose]

Mission Date: January 1, 2296 (altered)

Stonewall sat in the command chair of this vessel. He wasn't quite
sure exactly what he was to do here. The blue fellow hadn't exactly
been very friendly ... except to Kelly. He figured that must be the
leader of these people.

From what he could tell, humans in this place were themselves slaves
to these blue people. Andorians they were called. What did that
mean? He wasn't sure. The message came that all the department heads
were encouraged to go to the briefing room.

He had been called Commander. This must be a naval vessel of some
sort. He didn't understand the great semantics of his current
situation, but he knew that he needed to be there. He wasn't sure
what he was going to do, but he knew he had to be at the meeting.

Several other crew members headed towards the little closet again
after the message arrived. He figured that he would follow them and
then find the briefing room.

The seeming magic of the sliding doors still amazed him every time.
He came into the room and had another striking of awe. The room was
almost completely filled with women. In fact, he was only the second
man in the room.

"Good, Commander," O'Connor said. "You're finally here. Let's get
this started."

tag - briefing folk

Lt. General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson
(trapped in the body of Chad Young)
Confederate Army - Needs to be Dead Guy

[Amanda Rose]

Mission Date: July 16-18, 1863 (altered)

The city of Baltimore stood between the Army of Northern Virginia and
Washington DC. It was there that the Army of the Potomac decided to
make their stand. General William T. Sherman had been called
northward, halting his insurgence into Confederate territory, to help
defend the Capitol. General George G. Meade, looking to rally his
troops, made his stand outside the city limits of Washington. He sent
General Ullyses S. Grant forward to fortify Baltimore against the
barbaric attack being expected from the Confederate army.

It was the evening of July 15 that the Confederate army came within a
couple hours' march from Baltimore. Lee and Young had taken their
separate routes for this. The barbaric attack that the North expected
was nothing compared to what the Confederates actually had planned.
Lee took Stuart's calvary, A.P. Hill's Corps and Ewell's Corps--25,000
or so men--and headed east to Philadelphia. Young had the remainder
of the army--over 40,000 men--and set up camp within a dozen miles of
the Union front line.

[ Baltimore, July 16, 1863 ]
Around one in the morning on July 16, 1863, Young sent an elite force
of Infantry into the woods around Baltimore. These scouts were
ordered not to shoot unless fired upon. Young had faith that they
would have no problems following those orders. These men had one
thing on their side: they were wearing Union uniforms taken from the
dead at Gettysburg and along the way. This subterfuge was a great
risk for these young men, but it was their youth that made it more
possible. In either army, a Private was a Private. The higher
officers were known to each other, but it was simple to claim to be a
Private. There were so many Privates that even their battalion
commanders couldn't keep track of all the names.

This group successfully fulfilled their mission. They claimed to be
refugees who fled Gettysburg and had been wandering through the
Pennsylvania and Maryland countryside, trying to avoid the
Confederates. They were accepted into the camp and took their places
to find out where the Union troops were stationed around the city.

How funny it was when one of the spies was asked to go on the first
scouting line in the morning. The plan was working to perfection. As
the Union line reached the edge of the nearest woods to the
Confederate army, the spy--Private First Class Andrew Jacobsen of the
18th North Carolina Infantry--fired two quickly-fired shots into the
air above the soldiers. As he fired, he acted that he'd been shot so
he was wildly returning fire. The Union line was quickly dispatched
back into the woods. Jacobsen crawled out of the woods and tossed the
red scarf from around his neck in front of him. He stood up and came
to tell Young where the troops were standing outside the city. The
Artillery divisions were given the places to fire against the city to
make the Union line fall back into the city. The "Stone Wall" was set
up to take the northwestern quadrant of the city by nightfall.

[ Philadelphia, July 16, 1863 ]
As Young began his deployment against Baltimore, Robert E. Lee sat
atop Traveller. His 25,000 men were right outside the city of
Philadelphia, waiting for the order to advance. The Pennsylvania
volunteer militia was the only regimental group left from the battle
of Getxtysburg and the defense of Baltimore left to guard the city.
Meade at least wanted to make sure that there was some resistance in
case Philadelphia was attacked instead of Baltimore, but it was a
gamble that he wasn't sure would pay off.

Lee actually laughed when Stuart had returned with the report that
Philadelphia basically lay before them bare of defenses. With his
men, he took a hard line and started from the southern edge of the
city and worked their way forward. By noon, over a third of
Philadelphia had been battered by artillery and set ablaze by the
Confederates. By nightfall, a third of the city was under Confederate
control (which didn't make the city's half million inhabitants very
thrilled).

[ Baltimore, July 17, 1863 ]

Scouts sent further into the city informed Young very early in the
morning that three battleships had taken up position in Baltimore
Harbor. Fort McHenry was being protected from the water. Fort
Carroll would be little different. It would have been better if Lee
were here for this portion. After all, he designed Fort Carroll.
He'd know its weaknesses.

Young sent the "Stone Wall" up against the western portion of the
city. He ordered everything to be burned. The Union troops were torn
between defending the city and guarding the prisoners in Fort McHenry.
Grant and Sherman didn't want to see the city captured by the
Confederates, but they had different viewpoints as to how to keep the
city intact. That even momentary indecision gave the Confederates all
the time they needed. By 10AM, the southwestern quarter of the city
was ablaze and the Artillery batteries were placed in firing range of
City Hall. Young sent Hood and Early under a flag of truce to City
Hall to deliver the demands for surrender. The terms were dismissed
by Sherman as ridiculous.

The battle continued all through the day. The artillery took out City
Hall within two hours. During those two hours, Longstreet's Corps
took out most of Grant's troops. Sherman's Army of Tennessee
continued skirmishes from between structures, but the overwhelming
Confederate army continued to keep them running. By nightfall,
Grant's army had been completely decimated and Grant was dead.
Sherman's troops backed all the way to Fort McHenry. Young ordered
J.E.B. Stuart to Philadelphia to report on their progress to Lee and
deliver news of his progress there.

[ Philadelphia, July 17, 1863 ]

In Philadelphia, Lee faced less struggles. The Pennsylvania militia
was holding out at the railroad yards. Lee had a sinister plan for
this day. He ordered his men to break camp (where Temple University
would be established twenty-five years later) at dawn to begin the
next wave of attacks. He had come into the southwestern section of
the city. There was really only one thing he wanted to do in
Philadelphia--declare Confederate liberty. He set up the men in
twelve waves--one for each of the tribes of Israel and each of the
Lord's disciples--to achieve the singular goal of capturing
Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. He was met with minimal
resistance by the few dozen advance troops bravely sent out to defend
the city against the impossible odds. These men quickly surrendered
and were taken prisoner by Hill. The Philadelphia Police Department
was called out to dispatch the rabble that was heading its way to the
cultural focal point of the city.

Lee spurred Traveller towards the back of the army to keep from
getting shot by some punk cop. The police officers lined up three
blocks south of Independance Hall, but they quickly retreated when the
first Infantry wave came into view shooting. The fact that this
battle was going so well fueled the troops with adrenaline. It was a
great feeling to be on the winning side of the war for so long. They
were now getting the idea of just taking over the North instead of
making their independance solid.

By 1PM, Lee was standing in the Liberty Bell pavilion. He had pulled
out a copy of the Confederate Constitution. He had set up this time
for a reading of the Constitution and a ringing of the bell to declare
once again the liberty of the Confederate States of America. It was
during this presentation that the Pennsylvania militia decided to come
out from the railroad yards and attack. One of the stray shots being
fired went through Traveller's neck. Hearing his horse and closest
battlefield companion's wail, Lee ordered the slaughter of the entire
city of Philadelphia. Under cover of Hill's best sharpshooters and
artillery batteries, Lee himself doused the entrance way of
Independance Hall with three barrels of Pennsylvania whiskey and
torched it. The rest of the city of Philadelphia fell to the flames
before nightfall.

Traveller had survived the not-quite-fatal shot, but he was in no
condition to carry Lee any time soon. Lee had taken him to a safe
place overlooking the raging torment of hell fire and brimstone that
the city of Philadelphia had fallen to that afternoon. He set his
sights to the southwest--WAshington DC and Abraham Lincoln. There was
a bit of unfinished business left to tend to with Mr. President.

[ Philadelphia, July 18, 1863 ]

J.E.B. Stuart rode into the Confederate camp at Philadelphia an hour
after dawn. He and his companions had ridden through the night. It
wasn't the first time he'd done that during this war, but he sure
hoped it was the last. He always hoped it was the last. As he
surveyed the smoldering damage, he was quoted by Harper's Weekly as
saying, "I'm sorry, General Lee. If I'd known you were having a
bonfire, I'd brought marshmallows."

Stuart informed Lee of Young's progress in Baltimore. Lee seemed
pleased with the report. There was much greater resistance set
against the Confederates in Baltimore. Philadelphia had merely been a
struggle against the sheer size of the city. That was no longer a
problem. Lee invited Stuart's cavalry to rest while he sent troops
into the city to see if they could salvage anything else from the
ruins.

[ Baltimore, July 18, 1863 ]

Young weathered a night where it was hard to sleep. The thoughts in
his mind were stirring him to seeing exactly what was going on. He
wanted the war to end, but the understanding he was getting from the
destruction so far of Baltimore was leading him to believe that the
war was soon to be over with the Confederacy being victorious. Now,
how to keep the Confederacy being victorious and keep the war short.
That was the question. Did he go after Fort McHenry or did he just
continue on to Washington? It'd be at least tonight before Stuart
would get back with orders from Lee. What would he do? He was
trapped in Stonewall Jackson's body. He had done well with staying
within what he knew of Stonewall's character, but how much longer
before someone would suspect something was different about him?

Finally, in the middle of the night, he called Longstreet, Early,
Pickett and Heth into a top-level pow-wow. Young got the insights of
each of his generals. They seemed to be quite split about the matter
too. Pickett and Heth were insistent on freeing the Confederate
prisoners from Fort McHenry. Longstreet and Early wanted to continue
on to Washington, leaving Baltimore in its current crippled condition.
Young thanked each of them for their thoughts and said his orders
would be forthcoming in the morning.

After a short nap, Young awoke to the sound of rifle fire. It was
still early in the morning, but it sounded like Sherman wasn't waiting
for Young to make up his mind. He came out of his tent and ordered
everyone into the battle. Nothing would be left undone in Baltimore.
Everything was to be burned until they got to Fort McHenry. Once the
Confederate prisoners were freed, they'd be allowed to rejoin the army
and continue the march on Washington. Young sat on his horse--an
animal he'd never learned to ride himself, but found it quite
enjoyable in the body of a veteran rider--overlooking the carnage that
was being inflicted upon the rest of Sherman's army. By dawn, Sherman
had been killed. Longstreet and Pickett had been injured, but they
were not life-threatening. The "Stone Wall" marched on to Fort
McHenry. There, the last of Sherman and Grant's men finally
surrendered.

The surrendered Union soldiers were forced to release all Confederate
prisoners and then lock themselves in the prison. It would be
considered inhumane in the twenty-third century, but this was, after
all, a barbaric culture in the midst of a war. Things happened in war
that had to be justified simply on the basis of necessity. Yeah,
that's how Young rationalized it to himself. Watching Baltimore burn
gave him great satisfaction. He privately dreamed of this being a
city on Andoria if there came a war between them and the Federation.
What a glorious battle that would be!!

Commander Chad Young
(trapped in the body of Stonewall Jackson)
Executive Officer/Chief of Science
U.S.S. America

[Amanda Rose]

O'Connor was in a foul mood. She nodded at Jamison and Delaney as
they came in. Kirk sat at her designated location. But where was
Young? She was more than miffed. IT was one thing for him to try
and steal a briefing and give assignments but to be LATE!

She was about to page Young over the comm when he walked in, looking
a tad confused. She settled a bit. "Good, Commander, you're finally
here. Let's get this started."

tag - all Chiefs

O'Connor pounded her fist on the table and said, "We have a problem.
Either one of our historians altered history or we did something to
alter history. We need to find out. This is most definitely January
1, 2296. However, as some as you probably have seen, this is not the
2296 we left."

tag - all

"Kirk and I have traced the divergence in history to the Civil War
battle of Chancelorville. Apparently, Stonewall Jackson was not to
leave that battle under his own power and would die from pneumonia a
mere eight days after being shot at that battle. Instead, he somehow
survived and apparently led a successful campaign at Gettysburg and
thus forced the Union to surrender.

The problem with this is that it did not create a United States as
history records it and to make a very long and convoluted story
short, we humans are now apparently regarded as third-universe
citizens. The Andorians seem to be in charge and their war-like
tendencies have them at war with just about everyone. This is their
Federation.

We need to get back to the past quick, before we are discovered by
the Andorians who seem to think we belong on the Vulcan war front.
No doubt, they'll soon discover something wrong."

O'Connor looked at Wells, "Delaney, Acting Chief, how is Meyers?"

tag - Laura Wells, Tegau Delaney

O'Connor sighed at the bad news. "Well, Wells, it seems it is time
to prove my faith in you. Work with Pendragon to get us back at the
appropriate time."

She then turned to Young, "What do you say to these plans? Any
objections?"

tag - Young, all at briefing

[Amanda Rose]

Mission Date: January 1, 2296 (altered)

Jackson was following the rest of the crew members from the Bridge.
He was taking in the scenery without being too conspicuous.
Everything changed when he saw a huge cat walking toward him. ~What
the devil is going on here?~ he thought to himself.

"Oh, Young, it's you!" Keth said happily, gripping his immediate
superior by both shoulders. "I'm glad to see you're okay, the
data...all the data from the rift it...was...well we're making a small
mountian out of the print outs!"

Keth sounded overly happy, almost giddy.

Jackson looked at him and cocked his head. "What are you talking
about?" was all he could choke out.

Oh come on!" Keth said, wrapping one arm around Young and leading him
away from the bridge towards the science labs. "The old 'what are you
talking about' joke is old! You know the temporal displacement rift
caused by the creation of two paradox's. I shot a probe off into it
and fired a second during the transit, so we have a ton of data. You
know...need your help."

He scoffs slightly "Besides, apparently...I'm you in this whacky universe."

Rift. Paradox. Help. ~Help!~ Jackson wanted to shout. Finally, his
understanding of duty took over. "I'm sorry, my good sir," he said,
"but my help is needed right now in the briefing room." He looked
around almost helplessly. "Now, where is it? I'm so lost here.
Could you show me where it is, Cat Boy?"

"It's Keth." he growled, turning to face Young and poked a claw tipped
finger at him "I thought you humans were all peaceful, no need for the
name calling."

He sniffed loudly, his eyes taking on a watery sheen "Not all of
us..*sniff* are as easy to pick on...as some...*sniffle*."

"Look ... Keth," Jackson stumbled. "I just need to get to the
briefing. Don't cry. Real men don't cry. But then ..." His voice
trailed off. He needed to get to the briefing and this whimpering,
quivering mass of cat was going to be no help. "I'll just find it
himself."

Jackson turned to go back the way he came. It looked just like the
rest of the corridors. His head was swimming as he felt lost at sea.
"Where's the danged briefing room?" he shouted to no one in
particular.

"Thrid door on the left by the third dyno scanner relay." Keth sniffed
loudly, pointing with enough force that a single serated claw shot
out. "Down there."

"A dyno-what?" Jackson asked. "I don't know what the devil you're
talking about. What is this place?!" He saw the claw shoot out and
grabbed for a sidearm. It wasn't there. How would he defend himself
against this attacker? "You slaves should be better at giving
directions than this. And put that weapon away."

Keth suddenly seemed to collect himself, and grow a shade colder. He
stood up, looking down at Young from the full seven feet of height
that Huanni gravity and biology affored him.

"Slave?" Keth hissed, his voice a razor like tone of hatred. "Did you
just say that word...about myself?"

Jackson admired the Huanni's stature. There were many slaves that
he'd seen throughout his travels in the South that had equally
impressive physiques without the fur. However, he knew better than to
back down. "Obviously, there's been a problem in understanding your
place here. I don't know where you come from, but I'll be damned if
I'm going to let you talk to me like that."

"Young...I've known you a while but I never took you for a
xenopobic..." he lowered himself slightly, until his sharp eyes meet
his commanders. A language of hate and understanding seemed to be
transmited from one to the other.

"But you call me a slave...or any of my people...every agian." he
smiled, showing off a row of sharp teeth "I'll give the Dr's something
nice to put in the accident book...okay?"

"Are you threatening me?" Jackson said. "I'll have you know, I am
Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson. I've been through more hell than you
could possibly give me. And if I understand the structure here, I
outrank you. If you were one of my men on the battlefield, I'd have
you executed for your statements."

"And if..." Keth's mental gears turned for a moment "Wait...no your
Young...not Stonewall...and I'm pretty damn glad not to be under the
command of a bigot!"

Keth was both angry and baffled. He liked a good mystery, he just
prefered to be in the company of sugary confections before he tackled
one.

"No," Jackson said. "I'm Thomas Jackson. I don't know where I am or
why I'm here. But the problem is I'm here. If you don't like it," he
edged closer to the larger Huanni, "you can take it up with the
Captain."

"I will...then." he nodded "Yeah...er..."

The big Huanni grabbed Stonewall/Young by the shoulder, and began to
move him towards the briefing. He wondered, if this was a permenant
arrangement with a crazy Texan in Young's body...if his wife would
mind him murdering him? Hey! She might help!

Joint Post by

Lt. General Stonewall Jackson
(trapped in Young's body)

&

LtJG Keth Soban
Science Guy/Huanni Bully
U.S.S. America

[Amanda Rose]

Things had been a whirlwind for Tegau. Meyers was unconcious and in SickBay, her
condition worsening to a coma before Tegau could stabilize her. Now stable, her codition
was being very closely monitored. Maria's condition had been on her mind the entire time
she was down there. The doctor had just started an analysis of the babies when a briefing
was called. With a sigh, she left the analysis running and headed to the briefing.

She took her seat quietly, noting the tense mood. The Captain seemed more than a little
miffed, and the Commander was absent. Finally he came in, uncharacteristically late, and
Tegau gave him a questioning look while O'Connor started the briefing.

O'Connor pounded her fist on the table and said, "We have a problem. Either one of our
historians altered history or we did something to alter history. We need to find out. This
is most definitely January 1, 2296. However, as some as you probably have seen, this is
not the 2296 we left."

"Kirk and I have traced the divergence in history to the Civil War battle of Chancelorville.
Apparently, Stonewall Jackson was not to leave that battle under his own power and would
die from pneumonia a mere eight days after being shot at that battle. Instead, he
somehow survived and apparently led a successful campaign at Gettysburg and thus
forced the Union to surrender.

"The problem with this is that it did not create a United States as history records it and to
make a very long and convoluted story short, we humans are now apparently regarded as
third-universe citizens. The Andorians seem to be in charge and their war-like tendencies
have them at war with just about everyone. This is their Federation.

"We need to get back to the past quick, before we are discovered by the Andorians who
seem to think we belong on the Vulcan war front. No doubt, they'll soon discover
something wrong."

O'Connor looked at Wells, "Delaney, Acting Chief, how is Meyers?"

"She's in a coma. Her condition is grave... I can do the best with what I've got, but it's
looking like she'll be needing better care than what we can give her here," Tegau reported.

O'Connor sighed at the bad news. "Well, Wells, it seems it is time to prove my faith in you.
Work with Pendragon to get us back at the appropriate time."

She then turned to Young, "What do you say to these plans? Any objections?"

Tegau looked over at Young, tilting her head a bit. He seemed.... lost.. "Commander, are
you alright?"

[Amanda Rose]

Someone tapped Brian on the shoulder. He was too intent in staring at the patterns in the warp field to turn around and instead settled for grunting. He couldn't shake the feeling that the smaller eddys just weren't quite...

"I said..." It was Drak'nah. She twirled him around to face him, not a woman to take a grunt as an answer. "... I see you just got back."

"What? No," Brian replied. "That was ages ago."

"Then what are you doing still in the garb?" Jade queried, twanging his braces.

"Hey!" Brian protested, though his feelings were more hurt than his anatomy. He waved his clipboard as if to slap her away.

"It's OK. We've got things covered here. Go get changed. You'll be back before Wells even notices you're missing. She's just gone to a meeting anyway - a quick shower and you'll be back before her."

"I suppose so," Brian had to admit, he was still grimy from the Away trip. They'd been running for their lives just before they beamed up and he probably wasn't to be sniffed at... He handed over his clipboard. "I'll only be a few minutes."

He glanced over his shoulder once more at the field as he left, still unsure why his attention kept going back to it, then jogged back to his quarters. For once, his door didn't put up a fight - perhaps that last threat had worked after all? That or he was in some weird parallel universe where his door hadn't developed anthropomorphic symptoms to the point of sociopathy...

A short shower and a clean uniform later, he was ready to roll.

He paused for a moment - his hand reached out to switch on his desk display. He usually checked the headlines before heading out of a morning, but in the nick of time, he reminded himself that this wasn't morning and he needed to be back at Engineering pronto - no time to sit and peruse the day. The desk stayed unlit and the headlines unread...

Thus it was that a still blissfully ignorant, but better smelling, Brian returned to Engineering.

"Much better," declared Jade, handing him his clipboard back.

"Great," he acknowledged without any enthusiasm. "I'm so glad you're happy."

"And I'm happy you're glad," she replied before turning to return to her duty station. Brian shook his head. He never would understand her.

"Head up, it's the boss," someone murmured.


TAG - Wells


Lt jg Brian Pendragon
There and back again

[Amanda Rose]

Wells had managed to hold the ship together in order to get them back
to Chancelorsville. O'Connor only hoped that Young/Stonewall Jackson
was still going to cooperate. He had to get shot in the arm. He had
to die of pneumonia.

How Pendragon/Wells/Drak'nah intended to do the "soul switch" with
the assistance of Tegau was beyond her. She only knew that they all
seemed convinced that it was going to work.

O'Connor furrowed her brows as she thought about being in the past
again. It was not a place that she wanted to be. But, things had to
be corrected. Worse, she needed Blake and Hamilton to verify that
everything was correct before they slingshot back to the future to
give their report. With luck, their report would help the Federation
remain intact.

Either way, O'Connor was certain that she was going to have some
serious words with Admiral Moore. There was no way in hell that she
was going to do this again. Maybe Jessie was right.... He needed to
be stood up to.... O'Connor was not afraid of anyone but she knew of
her circumstances coming to Captaincy. Moore always supported her
but now, she was becoming his pawn and she did not enjoy that.
Frankson would have laughed at her. Right now, she could cry.

And just where was that crazy cat, Keth Soban? Or Sinclair? They
had been strangely quiet, as had Connel, the Civil War orphan.
Considering Connel had the same Irish blood as O'Connor, she found
that QUITE unusual. But, for now, she would let it pass.

O'Connor arrived at the transporter room, hoping everyone would
show....

tag - everyone (do something, someone.... anyone....)

[Amanda Rose]

OOC: Marissa, I hope you don't mind me borrowing Wells. Feel free to fill in any gaps!

IC:

Wells took Drak'nah and Pendragon to an out-of-the-way office. Once the door had fully closed, she told them what had happened.

"But that's impossible!" blurted Brian.

"There are plenty of highly intelligent people who thought time travel was impossible, but we've just done it. Several times, in fact," countered Wells.

"So, let me get this straight..." Jade queried, "Commander Young and this Civil War guy..."

"Stonewall Jackson."

"Yeah, him," Jade continued, "have somehow managed to swap bodies, as a result of which the Commander has managed to win a war that should have gone to the other side and the whole of history is fubar?"

"That pretty much sums it up," replied Wells.

"And the Captain expects us to fix it?" queried Brian.

"Also an accurate summation."

"O... K....."

"Thank you for that positive reaction. Brian, you said something about the warp matrix looking odd?" Wells asked.

"I can't quite put my finger on it, but there was something bothering me about it, yes."

"I'll just take a quick look at that while you two start brainstorming. Rope in anyone else you need. The future... well, ours at least... may well depend on it!"

As Wells left the room, Jade murmured, "No pressure there, then..."

Brian was still boggled. His worst nightmares of travelling in time in the first place seemed to have come true, only with a weird switcheroo to add to the mix.

"But what if it's a better future here? What if it was actually an improvement in some way? Who are we to judge? How can we even make a decision like..." he was interrupted by a sudden shooting pain - Jade had slapped him round the back of the head.

"No - we're not having deep and meaningful philosophy. That isn't our job. Our job is to work out how to reverse it. It's someone else's to make the decision whether to use what we come up with or not."

Rubbing his head, Brian pouted, "Doesn't that make us Oppenheimer or something?"

"Don't make me hit you again!" threatened Jade. "Lt Commander Young's life is in danger. He's one of us, so we do whatever is necessary to get him back in one piece. You'd want them to do the same for you, wouldn't you?" Brian sighed. "OK, so..." Jade punched up a virtual whiteboard in the centre of the room and began pacing around it. "Where do we start?"

Brian got to his feet and approached the board. "Presumably, we need to try to reverse the events that occurred on beam-up... It all happened rather quickly, but we've got the transporter readings - that'll give us persons and positions at time of beam-up. I can just about remember the direction and speed we were going in..."

"Hey - we might even trump Heisenburg!" cackled Jade.

Brian ignored her as he frantically "scribbled" in thin air, the landing party, the soldiers, the direction the gunfire had been coming from, everything he could possibly think of. Jade took up a position on the opposite side, programming in the transporter data and adding a timeline. Finally, the pair set it to play back at a slow speed and stood back.

"Hang on. Did you see that?" Brian frowned.

"See what?"

"There." He pointed at a corner, resetting the display to replay that section, magnified and slower.

"What the heck is that?" Jade tilted her head to one side, trying to get a better view.

"That's the disruption to the transporter beam. Slowed right down, you can just about see the direction it came from..."


*** Time and many ideas pass...

Wells came back in, swift to close the door behind her. The way the ship had been with rumours lately, this one was bound to get out too and she didn't want the blame.

"So, what have we got?"

By now, they had shaped it into a basic animation, complete with energy fields crackling in key areas - it certainly helped to see it slowed down and depicted in that manner.

"So, that's our culprit?" Wells homed in on the anomaly.

"It seems to be directly below that rift that navigation reported," Jade added, zooming the display out to show the rip almost in orbit above.

"Ahhhh," it was Wells' turn now to wave at the non-existent board. She added in the readings from the rift, such as they were.

"So that means, if we can position the ship just here..." Brian pointed, "and set the deflector dish to exactly the reverse of the rift's output..."

"... while shielding the area from the rift's actual output..." added Jade.

"... meanwhile not falling in it ourselves..." warned Wells.

"... and getting Young and their guy in exactly the right place at the right time..."

"... heading in the right direction..."

"... we might just about..."

By now they were in unison, "Pull this off!"

[Amanda Rose]

Jessie was sure that there was going to be another reprimand placed in her record. She had shoved the fact that she was right in O'Connors face and proving to her that she should listen. The captain obviously didn't like being proven wrong but at this point Jessie didn't really care. Someone had to watch over her and possibly save her from herself, things that she had been asked to do by more than one person and things that she had been failing at.

There was also the fact that she blatantly disobeyed O'Connors order to return to the planet upon their coming back to the past. They had screwed things up once and sending a bunch of people back down was going to do nothing but make the situation worse. It seemed like no one understood how time travel worked at all. Maybe she would suggest a more extensive temporal mechanics class be implemented.

Jessie sat in the security office looking over details of the security rotation. She hadn't been able to really talk to her security staff since this whole thing started. He just wanted it to end so they could go home and hopefully things would return to how they were supposed to be.

After finishing her inspection of the security logs Jessie headed back to the bridge. Though she should have done down the planet, since she didn't it was here command duty shift. Jessie sighed... so this was all that she could look forward too, second officer, with the slim chance of getting promoted to Commander and then being placed as XO, nothing more.

She had never really cared before but now it was starting to eat at her slightly. She deserved a command just as much as anyone else. She was a good officer, a little hot-headed and tempermental at times but then again who wasn't. This was all the fault of Moore, the man couldn't get to her directly but he could make sure that she was never have a Captains Chair of her own.

Still in a way she was glad that she would never have to bare the burden of command. She was happy being Chief of Security, this way she could do what she did best, serve as protector. That was her calling. A captain had to be a diplomat, scientist, protector, counselor and many more things. Jessie just was not ready for that nor did she think she ever would be. She preferred to be able to focus on one thing and that was kicking the butt of anyone that threatened the ship.

The turbolift door opened to reveal a bridge where everyone seemed to be busy but exhausted. Jessie strolled across the bridge and plopped down in the center chair. For just a brief moment she wished that America was hers. She loved this ship and even though she knew that she would never have a command of her own she know that this was the ship that she wanted.

to be continued...