Mission 3

[Amanda Rose]

"Now that that is done, let's get down to business. It seems we have a troublemaker on
board." She slammed down the tickertape and asked, "Have you all seen this?"

"What?" Tegau's cry of astonishment was muffled by her hand over her mouth, her eyes
wide on the slander she was reading.

"Now, Tegau, you may be wondering why I have you here. After all, you're not security and
you're not implicated. However, I believe the crew member comes from your department.
As I was telling Mr. Young prior to your arrival, and this is all in the strictest of confidence,
I'm sure you understand, Mr. Soban had a conversation with a Mr. Goking. Something
about spending some time in my quarters. He may have chosen to, how shall I say it,
stretch the truth or put it in such a way that Goking has decided to slander me. His record
is anything but flawless and I'm concerned he's trying to take me down. We may need
your help. I ask you cooperate with Kirk and Young in this investigation."

"Absolutely anything but flawless," Young said in response. "The man spent time in the
New Zealand Penal Colony for murder. And that was BEFORE he enlisted in StarFleet. I
don't know what they're doing putting him on this ship, but he's here by the orders of
Command. If he IS trying to slander the Captain, he needs to be dealt with. No matter
what, he needs to have an eye kept on him at all times."

Tegau nodded quickly. "I'll keep a close eye on him, sirs. If he tries anything under my
watch I'll take appropriate measures." With that, her eyes slid to Kirk.

Shortly after, the doctor was dismissed and headed down the hall to prepare herself for yet
another away mission, her mind abuzz with all that was going on. Goking had been rather
distracted today. Was he getting anything done at all? How was the rest of her medical
staff doing?

Small hands vigorously rubbed her face and she took a deep breath before entering her
SickBay to make sure all was in order. All too soon, she had to leave to ga back down to an
Earth that was not her own....

[Amanda Rose]

Mission Date: June 29, 1863 0930 hours

Chad picked himself up off the floor and helped Laura up as well.
Just as he was about to say goodbye to the pretty young engineer,
Pendragon came around the corridor.

"Ah, Lieutenant," he said to the young man, "walk with me."

tag - Pendragon

As they walked along, Chad tried to badger the nervous, young engineer
as best he could. The fact that he had a fifth of tequila in him made
it that much easier. "You may be wondering why you're going along on
this away mission. Simply put, I want you to prove yourself. You've
bungled this mission three times. You didn't sweep the area in South
Carolina and we ended up with that brat running around, terrorizing
the crew. Sinclair was shot at Antetiam. The captain was shot at
Chancellorsville. With the timing we've done for this jump, we've got
ourselves a couple days to work before the actual shooting begins. I
understand that you turned yourself into the Brig for detainment.
Honorable of you, but pointless. A real officer learns from his
mistake. He doesn't hide behind it. He finds out what went wrong and
corrects it. Thankfully, neither of our fine officers were killed
because of the incidents. But we need to get this mission done. I
approved your promotion because you seemed to be a promising engineer.
Now I'm not so sure that's the case. I want you to prove me wrong."
He smiled and winked at Pendragon. "Otherwise, ye'll have to walk de
plank!" Chad let out a soft, evil laugh as they arrived at the
turbolift doors.

tag - Pendragon

"Meet me in transporter room 2 in ten minutes," Chad finally said.
"Be in nineteenth century costume and see if you can work a PADD into
an old stenographer's pad. We'll need a couple of them."

tag - Pendragon, away team

Commander Chad Young
Executive Officer/Chief of Science
U.S.S. America

[Amanda Rose]

Mission Date: June 29, 1863 0920 hours

James knew that Delaney would want to have answers when she got back
for the sudden changes in Maria. However, he couldn't find any
answers. Finally, the call down to the Science lab was answered by
the arrival of Michaels and Molis.

tag - Michaels

Molis walked into the main room of Sickbay and James stood in a rigid salute.

"At ease, Crewman," Molis said. "It's great to see that some of the
enlisted crew understand protocol when greeting the Chief of the
Boat."

James' arm went limp with the Master Chief's words. "There's been
some new happenings."

He quickly briefed them with the use of the medical terminal and the
scans of both Maria and Miranda over the last three hours. The three
of them studied them carefully and did not notice Maria wake up.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Is everything alright?"

Molis came over. "We're just pooling our resources to see what's
going on with you and the little one," she said.

Maria looked at her with a mixture of shock and concern, "What do you
mean ME and the little one? Is there something going on with me too?"

Molis kicked herself for taking over the situation. She had no idea
what Goking had or hadn't told his patient.

Maria tried to sit up, but she became suddenly very dizzy. Her head
seemed to be swelling and shrinking at random. The effect was so
disorienting that she vomited all over her stomach and Molis' hand.

Molis looked at the vomit covering her hand in irritation until she
noticed that it seemed to move on it own. Not the normal clumping
drops but a slight back-and-forth motion AGAINST gravity. She was
reminded of the children's story that humans tell about the little
engine that could.

"Get me a test tube," she said to James and Michaels. "I want a
sample of this to analyze."

James thought it was odd that she'd want to analyze a sample of vomit,
but she was the Master Chief. He thought ~Maybe Saurians don't vomit~
as he remembered his last bout--a bout he lost--with a bottle of
Saurian brandy. He got a test tube and handed it to her as the
automated timer on the biobed went off.

"It's time for my routine scan every twenty minutes," James said.
"It'll just take a second."

He opened the ultrasonic tricorder and pulled out the monitor as
Delaney walked back into Sickbay. "Welcome back, Doctor," he said
cordially. "Just doing my routine scan."

tag - Delaney

A second later, "What the heck?" James shouted. "Lieutenant, Master
Chief, I think you need to take a look at this."

He switched the monitor's output from the tricorder to the overhead
display of the biobed. Maria struggled to see the monitor, but the
waves of nausea kept coming. She figured that watching it upside down
might not be so bad after all.

The monitor's display was amazing--even to 23rd century standards.
Miranda was displayed in terrific 4D clarity, but she wasn't the only
one there. The Science and Medical teams stood in awe as they
watched--in real time--the natural separation of what looked to be
conjoined twins. There was just a small attachment between the back
of both skulls.

tag - Delaney, Michaels, anyone who wants to play a Medical NPC

James couldn't believe his eyes. What had simply looked like a freak
accident where a embryo had grown an extra set of legs was now almost
two separate embryos. He stood there with his mouth gaping open as
the two twins finished the separation. There were now two children
inside the XO's wife's womb growing.

James hadn't noticed it before, but the umbilical cord had split in
half as well. Both twins were being fed off the same placenta. James
knew that he needed to kick up the nutrients that he'd injected into
the near-comatose woman hours ago to support two children now. This
was getting all-too-complicated for him. Thankfully it was nearing
the end of his shift.

He rubbed his eyes more from weariness than disbelief. The
chronometer display on the ultrasound tricorder said he had two more
minutes on his shift. "Do you think you can handle this, Lieutenant?"
he asked to Delaney. "My shift's done in about two minutes."

tag - Delaney et al

Crewman James Goking
Medical Technician
U.S.S. America

with Special Guest Appearances by

Master Chief Karibo Molis
Science Officer/Chief of the Boat
&
Maria Young
XO's Wife/Mother-to-be

[Amanda Rose]

Mission Date: June 29, 1863 0930 hours

Brian slouched towards the briefing room. He didn't want to go on the away mission, but he felt morally obliged - that, however, didn't mean he had to be happy about it. As he rounded the corner, he saw Young and Wells and greeted them, "Sir, ma'am."

"Ah, Lieutenant," replied Young, "walk with me."
"Um, yes sir," Brian changed direction obediently, hoping that this meant he didn't need to go to the briefing room. Heck, maybe he'd be really lucky and they'd change their minds about him beaming down...

"You may be wondering why you're going along on this away mission. Simply put, I want you to prove yourself. You've bungled this mission three times..."

Brian almost stopped walking. Bungled? OK, maybe he hadn't thought of everything, but "bungled" seemed a rather strong word.

"...You didn't sweep the area in South Carolina and we ended up with that brat running around, terrorizing the crew..."

Hang on, thought Brian. I wasn't the only person on that landing party. Anyone could have said, "shouldn't we keep the tricorders handy", but they didn't.

"...Sinclair was shot at Antetiam," Young continued. "The captain was shot at Chancellorsville. With the timing we've done for this jump, we've got ourselves a couple days to work before the actual shooting begins. I understand that you turned yourself into the Brig for detainment. Honorable of you, but pointless. A real officer learns from his mistake. He doesn't hide behind it. He finds out what went wrong and corrects it. Thankfully, neither of our fine officers were killed because of the incidents. But we need to get this mission done. I approved your promotion because you seemed to be a promising engineer. Now I'm not so sure that's the case. I want you to prove me wrong." He smiled and winked at Pendragon. "Otherwise, ye'll have to walk de plank!" Chad let out a soft, evil laugh as they arrived at the turbolift doors.

"Sir," began Brian. This was it - do or die time. He could stand up for himself, explain his actions, point out the importance of shared responsibility and the contradiction between what Young had said and what the Captain had told him the day before, when he had helped her to her room. He could make his mark and stand up for himself. What was he, a Man or a Mouse?

"I... I... I...... I'll work on it."

Squeak.

"Meet me in transporter room 2 in ten minutes," Chad finally said. "Be in nineteenth century costume and see if you can work a PADD into an old stenographer's pad. We'll need a couple of them."

"Aye, sir." Brian saluted and haired off to Engineering. Ten minutes wasn't long - it was a good thing he had already got a couple of suitably-disguised PADDs from the first away mission still on standby. He had even recharged them in case they were needed, so he only needed to pick them up them and run for the clothing. He grabbed a handful of his improved forcefield belts as he passed his workstation - Young hadn't specifically asked for them, but he didn't want to beam down into that barbaric era without them.


Lt jg Brian Pendragon
Wimp

[Amanda Rose]

The strangeness never seemed to wear off. In fact, it seemed to be
increasing all the time. All of a sudden, there was this pain. It
wasn't a violent pain, but it was a pain that wouldn't quite go away.
There was a dulling, but it alternated with a throbbing.

The more the alternation accelerated, the more cramped she felt in the
womb. She was running out of room within Mom. Soon, the pain
subsides quickly and she finds herself staring at an exact duplicate
of herself.

She looked interested ....

Miranda (& Yet-to-be-Named Twin) Young
XO's Unborn Daughter(s)
U.S.S. America

[Amanda Rose]

"It's time for my routine scan every twenty minutes," James said. "It'll just take a second."

He opened the ultrasonic tricorder and pulled out the monitor as Delaney walked back
into Sickbay. "Welcome back, Doctor," he said cordially. "Just doing my routine scan."

Tegau nodded and was about to say something when:

"What the heck?" James shouted. "Lieutenant, Master Chief, I think you need to take a
look at this."

He switched the monitor's output from the tricorder to the overhead display of the
biobed. Maria struggled to see the monitor, but the waves of nausea kept coming. She
figured that watching it upside down might not be so bad after all.

The monitor's display was amazing--even to 23rd century standards. Miranda was
displayed in terrific 4D clarity, but she wasn't the only one there. The Science and Medical
teams stood in awe as they watched--in real time--the natural separation of what looked
to be conjoined twins. There was just a small attachment between the back of both skulls.

"Whoa," Delaney breathed, watching in amazement. Miranda was seperating into an
identical twin at an alarming rate.

"Do you think you can handle this, Lieutenant?" James suddenly was asking her. "My
shift's done in about two minutes."

Tegau gave him a disappointed look. Here was the problem of a century, secrets waiting
to be figured out and lives perhaps at risk, and he wanted to go to his quarters. She would
have given anything to stay rather than go on an away mission, but those were her orders.

"Go," she ordered him crisply. She looked at the science officer. "Please take readings.
Nahuel, try and figure out if anything unusual has happened during pregnancy that may
have caused this. Maria," Tegua took the woman's hand. "You and your baby will be fine."

She sighed, looking at the cronometer. She needed to get into costume. Leaving orders
with her staff for Maria's care, she headed to get changed and then to the transporter
room, wishing she could stay in SickBay.

[Amanda Rose]

Mission Date: June 29, 1863 0936 hours

The turbolift doors closed on Pendragon as he turned to hurriedly get
ready for the away mission. "Deck G," Chad ordered. His mind raced
with the problems on the ship--the mission, Goking, O'Connor not
liking to accept her own delegation of powers, his wife and daughter.
It seemed like the list kept growing.

The doors hissed open upon reaching Deck G. He quickly walked to
Sickbay to see that Delaney had already been there and left. They
were all gawking up at the biobed readout above Maria's biobed.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, quickly worried that some major
catastrophe may have just occurred.

"That's a difficult question," Nahuel gave an answer.

Chad could see that this man was worried about something. He came
over to check out the display that had everyone so overwhelmed with
curiosity. It was an ultrasound, presumably of Maria, that displayed
a set of identical twins. He was flabbergasted that the Medical
department was displaying the wrong output. There was only one child
at the last visit. And the one before that. And the one before that.
There was never a set of twins. So why were they watching this?

"Whose ultrasound is this?" he said after he got his anger under a bit
more control.

"Mine," said Maria harshly. "You missed a great show, Chad. A
natural separation of seemingly conjoined twins. Basically, it looks
like Miranda's made herself a duplicate."

"That's not possible," Chad said. "Does this have something to do
with the quantum fluctuations?"

Everyone in the group gave him a look that signaled to him more of a
mental shrug than a definite answer.

"So," Chad replied, "the mystery deepens. First, there were
fluctuations on a quantum level inside Miranda. Then there were
quantum fluctuations in Maria. Now, all of a sudden, there are two
children in my wife's belly instead of one?! Some sort of weird
asexual reproduction?" He waved off any answer. "I know. I know.
'We don't know yet.' I understand. Where's Delaney?"

"She went to get ready for the away mission, Commander," Nahuel replied.

"Not any more she's not," Chad replied. He tapped the comm button on
the wall. Lieutenant Douglas Smith answered the call from the Bridge.
"Patch me through to Lieutenant Delaney's quarters, Lieutenant, and
we need to talk in my office after I return from the surface."

tag - Delaney

"Vacation's cancelled, Lieutenant," Chad said as Delaney answered.
"Report back to Sickbay."

tag - Delaney

"No, nothing's wrong per se," he answered. "But I want our best
medical mind on this mystery. There shouldn't be a need for a doctor
on this visit. The town's pretty much quiet since the armies haven't
moved in yet. You can sit this visit out. Young out."

tag - Delaney

He turned to Nahuel and his Science crew, "Get to the bottom of this.
I want to know what's going on and how to fix it. Keep checking to
make sure there aren't any more duplicates being made."

He headed out the door and went back up to his quarters to change into
the appropriate attire and prepare himself for this mission. He
pulled up the computer's records concerning Harper's Weekly, a major
periodical of the North American continent during this time frame. He
quickly gathered a quick set of questions he'd use in his cover story
to get the information he needed.

Commander Chad Young
Executive Officer/Chief of Science
U.S.S. America

[Amanda Rose]

Mission Date: June 29, 1863 1012 hours

As the Medical staff had stopped their deep inspection of her
daughters (or was the other twin a son?), Maria was growing very bored
of bedrest. "Lieutenant," she said to Delaney, "would it be possible
to get a computer interface? I need something to do here other than
just lay here."

tag - Delaney

"Thank you," Maria said as Delaney went back to studying the results
from the latest blood, urine, amnio and any other possible sample test
that had been ordered to come up with some reason for the recent
duplication and to predict if another would be coming.

Maria knew where and when they were. She even knew why they were
here. She also knew that her family had roots in Arkansas on her
paternal grandmother's side. There were old family stories she was
told as a young kid about ancestors in the Civil War, but she couldn't
remember any of the names. However, the ship was filled with a vast
genealogical database that covered most of the members of StarFleet.
How convenient for those who like to dabble in genealogies and are
stuck in bed until kingdom (or twins) come.

She started back with her paternal grandmother and worked her way back
to a woman born in 1886. She was born in Frederick, Maryland, but
there was no record of parents. ~Don't tell me I'm twenty generations
removed from an immaculate conception~ she thought to herself.

She smiled at her own little joke. How many people had tried to pull
that over the last twenty-three centuries? Even her own mother had
joked with Maria's grandfather that Maria had been conceived by
immaculate conception. She had never understood why. Maria's parents
were basically married when she was conceived (ok, so she was
conceived in the women's restroom at the rehearsal dinner, what was
the difference, right?).

She thought about those days. Not many records were kept straight.
More people cared about documenting deaths than births. Very morbid
society. She thought about the little girl from this time period that
she had seen several times during the last couple of visits to
Sickbay. She was probably eight or nine years old. By 1886, she
would have been thirty-five-ish. Definitely still time for a child.

On a hunch, Maria cross-referenced the birth records for the entire
state of Maryland during the months of March, April and May of 1886.
The majority of the records were quite complete. However, as would
become quite usual over the next two centuries, in many places the
father was labeled as "Unknown". There were a few that simply said
"Negro".

Maria shook her head. Even twenty years after the war, the old wounds
hadn't healed. There was still that separation even though there was
a supposed civil rights for all men regardless of color. What a joke
that was! Separate everything between races--school, bus seats, water
fountains. What kind of world was that to live in?

Maria put the console away. She had hit a dead end with her orphan
ancestor. There were probably many that suffered the same fate in
those days. Children just showed up. It must have seemed like some
people were just sending their little ones downstream in little wicker
baskets, hoping that someone who had a bit more money would find them
and care for them.

She somewhat understood their intentions. They wanted a better life
for their children. She wanted a better life for her children. A
life without war. A life without tensions among the major powers of
the Federation. A life of utopia. ~Wouldn't that be something great
for everyone?~ she thought to herself.

She laid her head back and rested. She had undergone that search down
amnesia lane to find a name for the new twin. She couldn't find one
she liked. She grabbed the console and looked at the last record
again. Marlena Elisa Vazquez. ~Miranda and Marlena~ she thought to
herself. ~Those sound like good twin names.~

She fell asleep as the names continued to echo in her mind. She did
like Marlena. It would be a good name.

Maria Conchita Gonzales Young
XO's Wife
U.S.S. America

[Amanda Rose]

Mission Date: June 29, 1863 0945 hours

Chad arrived in Transporter room 2 right on time. 0945 exactly. The
other four members of the away team seemed to have been milling about
and not really looking at each other. No doubt Hamilton and Blake
were having another one of their arguments, Pendragon was worried
about getting shot in his contraptions and Kirk probably wanted to
wring all their necks. So, all in all, everything's just right here.

"Let's go, people," Chad said as he entered the room. "Let's check on
history so we can get out of here quicker."

Chad took his spot on the transporter pad. Blake looked around,
"Isn't there supposed to be a sixth on this mission?"

"Lieutenant Delaney is taking care of a medical situation in Sickbay,"
Chad replied calmly. "She'll join us the next two days. Right now,
there's more important items on her agenda."

He tried to remain as calm he gave them the only pertinent information
that affected them. Inside, though, Chad wanted to explode and talk
to someone. But who? The only ones he'd probably trust with that
sort of confidence would be Molis and Delaney. He once considered the
Captain in that capacity, but she was a high-strung,
emotionally-charged woman who changed her mind as often as some people
breathed.

As the transporter beam took hold of him, his thoughts were still
flurrying through his mind at something around warp 7. When he
re-materialized, the away team found themselves atop Oak Hill, just
northwest of town proper. It wasn't a place that the battle was
concerned with. Those places were south of town--Seminary Ridge,
Cemetary Ridge and the two Round Tops. This place might provide
sufficient seclusion for beaming in and out without much chance of
detection.

He reached into his satchel and grabbed his cowboy hat/tricorder. He
scanned the area for life signs. "Doesn't look like much going on
outside town this morning," he finally said. "Let's split up and
check things out. Kirk, take Pendragon and Blake with you into town.
Get a feel for the people in the town. Mr. Hamilton, come with me.
I'd like to check out how the Seminary is handling the situation. Be
back here for beamout in one hour."

tag - away team

Commander Chad Young
Executive Officer/Chief of Science
U.S.S. America

[Amanda Rose]

Tegau was almost ready when the comm chimed. "Vacation's cancelled, Lieutenant. Report
back to Sickbay."

"Has something happened?" Tegau asked, her heart catching in her throat at the thought
of something going wrong just as she left. Her staff was very capable, but still...

"No, nothing's wrong per se," he answered. "But I want our best medical mind on this
mystery. There shouldn't be a need for a doctor on this visit. The town's pretty much
quiet since the armies haven't moved in yet. You can sit this visit out. Young out."

"Thank you, sir," she answered with a bit too much enthusiasm and relief. Grinning, she
changed back into uniform and headed for SickBay.

As soon as she got there she made sure Maria was comfortable and had access to a
computer, and made sure the monitors were recording output so they could be analyzed.
"Let's go back to the beginning and try to figure out when and where this started. Is the
curve for rate of change constant at all?"

She poured over the graphs as data was collected, trying to determine if they could
extrapolate a beginning for these changes. Meanwhile, science and medical were working
together, analyzing samples and looking at quantum fluctuations. Just in case, Tegau
checked the fetuses, comparing their genetics against each other to see if they were
indeed acting like regular identical twins or if maybe one had a higher rate of the
fluctuations than the other. Hopefully this wouldn't be a case of a vanishing twin...


Lt. Tegau Delaney
CMO