Chapter 5 - Frames Of Reality
Mei-Wan sat entering information into a data storage device in her and Jack's temporary home on Gamala. Two lamps gave the room a warm glow Mei-Wan barely noticed. She picked up a PADD as the front door opened and Jack strode into the dinning room where she worked.
"Still at it?" he asked as he leaned down and kissed her cheek.
She hardly reacted to his affection as she continued working. "Another hour and I'll finally be finished."
"Great," he said with little emotion as he walked to the kitchen and got a glass out for himself.
Mei-Wan set the PADD down. "I'm sorry, Jack." She stood up from her seat and walked over to him as he poured juice into his glass.
"Sorry about what?"
"When you walked in and kissed me and I ignored you," she said.
Jack grinned. "Don't worry about it."
"Jack, I don't think we can just pretend things like that don't matter. In a week I may be on my way back to Hel'yra and we might not see each other for a year."
He looked down at his glass refusing to make eye contact with her. "I don't want to talk about that right now."
"Damn it, when will we talk about?" she demanded.
He walked out of the kitchen. "Not now, Mei, okay? I've had a very strange day and dealing with this right now wouldn't be a good idea."
She followed him to the living room where he sank down into the couch. She sat in the chair across from him. "Admiral Simmons?"
"What?" he seemed confused.
"Your meeting with Simmons."
Jack smiled. "I almost forgot about that."
Mei-Wan frowned. "Then what exactly did you do today that made you forget about the admiral?"
Jack started to speak, but stopped. "I'm afraid its classified, Mei. Please don't ask."
"Okay." She tried to convince herself that he was telling the truth and not just trying to dodge talking about her going back to Hel'yra.
"Actually, Simmons wasn't as bad as I thought he'd be today," Jack said. "He's given me a staff of twenty to deal with the administrative work on the Chamberlain."
"I thought flag officers were the only ones who had a staff."
"Usually they are, but the size of the ship and the crew are a bit out of the ordinary," Jack said.
"At least you won't be spending four to six hours a day dealing with all that busy work anymore," Mei-Wan said.
"I'll actually have some free time for a change," Jack said with a frown.
Mei-Wan realized they wouldn't get a chance to enjoy that free time if she went on the expedition. She hated how they were wasting the time they had left.
Jack turned to her. "There was something I needed to ask you about."
"Okay."
Jack continued. "On my way to the Starfleet Building today I heard a religious kook rattling on about some craziness about the need to violate the Prime Directive…"
She interrupted. "I've never heard any religious objections to the Prime Directive."
Jack smiled. "Me either, but he went on about that and he mentioned the Ancient Progenitors too, so I listened to him for a bit until Federation Security showed up and arrested him."
"They arrested him just for speaking?" Mei-Wan asked.
"No, it seems this particular nut has already violated the Directive on three worlds. One of the planets he went to was a society that had just made its first few spaceflights and he gave them warp technology supposedly so they could join their 'humanoid brothers' elsewhere in the Galaxy."
"You sure this is a religion and not a mental problem?"
"Maybe," Jack said. "There was something about this guy that really bothered me. He knew that you were my wife and he spoke directly to me."
"I suppose I should have been prepared for things like this," Mei-Wan said. "Usually questions of origins become a religious issue."
"I'm going to do some checking. I'll let you know what I find out about this Janus Osmand and his strange religion."
Mei-Wan took a deep breath and stood.
"I was thinking if your parents were here by now we could…" Jack stopped as he noticed his wife was standing.
"Jack, are you sure his name is Janus Osmand?"
"Yeah, I checked with Federation Security after they picked him up."
She turned to Jack. "Where is he now?"
"In the Security Station Lockup about three blocks away from here," Jack said. "You've heard of this guy?"
"Janus Osmand was one of my Archaeology Professors at the Academy."
***
A tall dark-haired Federation Security Officer led Jack and Mei-Wan down a corridor toward a visiting room in the heavily guarded area. They entered a small room divided by a large transparent barrier. Three chairs and a table sat on their side of the divider.
The officer turned to them. "He'll be brought to the other side in just a moment, Captain. Your conversation will be monitored."
Jack nodded as the officer left. Mei-Wan was already in one of the chairs as Jack moved to one next her and slowly sat down. A loud electronic click sounded in the room as the two-way communication system activated to allow them to speak to someone on the other side of the barrier.
A door on the other side opened and three guards led the man Jack had watched mesmerize a crowd of hundreds earlier that day.
Mei-Wan's eyes went wide. She could hardly believe what she saw.
"It's so nice of you to visit me, Mei-Wan," Osmand said as he sat in the chair on his side of the transparency.
"Professor Osmand?" Mei-Wan asked hoping it really wasn't him.
"I thought my little comment to your husband might get you to come by."
Mei-Wan couldn't believe that the person she respected most out of all her instructors at the Academy sat accused of violating one of the Federation's most important laws.
Janus Osmand turned to Jack. "Your wife was one of the brightest students I ever taught at the Academy, Captain. I knew she'd make an important contribution to the Galaxy one day, but I couldn't have imagined she would actually discover a world once inhabited by the Ancient Progenitors."
Jack didn't respond.
Janus smiled. "I take it you think me insane, Captain McCall?"
Jack grinned. "Something like that."
"I speak of a truth from ages long since past. A truth that now only comes by revelation. Is it insanity to speak the truth? "
"I guess that depends on how you define truth," Jack replied.
Mei-Wan shook her head. "What happened to you? How could you give warp technology to a primitive world?"
Janus leaned back in his chair. "How could I not, Mei-Wan? They were at the same point Earth was about four hundred years ago. Imagine what it would have done for Earth to have learned a century earlier that humanity was not alone in the Universe. Think of the wars that would never have happened."
Mei-Wan glared at him. "You know damn well that's not up to us to decide!"
"Isn't it? Aren’t I responsible for how I live my life? Don't I have a responsibility to do what is right?
"You're playing games with logic. You know that not interfering with less developed cultures is how we keep ourselves from exploiting them and harming their normal development."
Janus laughed. "The philosophical poison from the mind of Frank W. Erodius has damaged this Federation from its beginnings. His lofty morality was nothing more than an excuse for inaction and lack of responsibility for the plight of others."
"It has allowed other cultures to develop naturally," Jack said.
"And did we allow the Klingon culture to develop naturally after Praxis exploded? No, we came to their aid," Janus said. "And it was the right thing for us to do. Just as it was the right thing for me to do in coming to the aid of the humanoid culture on Undal Three."
Mei-Wan closed her eyes. "I never would have believed this kind of insanity could come from you."
Osmand smiled. "I don't blame you for thinking me insane. Ten years ago I would have thought the same, but the discovery of the Ancient Progenitors changed everything, Mei-Wan. You know that."
Mei-Wan opened her tear filled eyes. "All I know is that a man I respected is very ill."
"When did having a different point of view from the accepted norm become the a priori indication of insanity?"
Jack shook his head. "Spending your time with Skorr warriors isn't my idea of the action of a balanced mind."
Mei-Wan turned to Jack. "What?"
Janus smiled. "Evidently all you know of the Skorr is what frightened ignorance produces in Federation propaganda. The Skorr are a very spiritual and proud people."
Mei-Wan turned back to Janus. "The Skorr are a warrior race. What are you planning? A crusade?"
Janus frowned. "I am working to bring all of the descendants of the Ancient Progenitors together to fulfill a common destiny as was revealed to me. It will be a destiny of unity and greatness for all humanoids."
Jack looked down for a moment and then back to Osmand.
"Is that such a horrible thing to dedicate one's life to?" Janus asked them.
"Perhaps the goal isn't, but the means to achieve it might destroy the very thing you're trying to create," Jack said.
"Stop thinking in the limited way the Federation allows, Captain. Consider the large scale view of the Galaxy as a whole."
Mei-Wan stood. "You're using the Ancient Progenitors as an excuse. History is full of examples of religious zealots who claimed higher goals, but spent their time spreading misery because the means to their goals were just the same old crusade for personal power. You were the one who taught me about that, remember?"
Janus nodded. "You'll understand eventually, Mei-Wan. When you discover more about the Ancient Progenitors you'll see why they seeded this Galaxy with a diverse collection of different versions of themselves."
"I don't think I can ever understand what you're doing or why." She turned and left the room.
Janus looked to Jack. "You're curious, aren't you Captain?"
"I think I've had more than my fill of revelations about the Progenitors for one day," Jack said. "It doesn't really matter anymore what you have to say. I seriously doubt you'll get many followers in the Federation prison you'll spend the next ten to twenty years in, Professor."
"You might be surprised how even imprisonment has its uses for someone like me," Janus said with a smile.
"You'll just keep re-framing reality to fit your religious views won't you, Osmand?" Jack asked as he walked out of the room.
Janus smiled. "We'll see who re-frames reality, Captain McCall."
