Chapter 2 - Lost In The Middle Of A Foggy Sea
The doors closed behind Zachary as he stood starring at Hank and Mei-Wan, neither of whom moved a muscle.
"Evans what the hell is this crap about us not being able to use sensors within Fashod territory?" Zachary folded his arms across his chest. "I've had the entire science division preparing for a full survey for months now. We'll be in orbit of their homeworld for three days and astrophysics was anticipating a chance to examine the star in their system." He took several steps toward Hank. "Is there some explanation for this?"
"Uh... because they're paranoid and don't what us to scan anything in their territory?"
Zachary frowned and turned his irritated gaze toward Mei-Wan who had taken a cautious step backward only a few seconds before. "Tell him how this order flies in the face of everything we as scientists stand for."
Mei-Wan did her best to smile as a quick thought came to her mind. "That's exactly what I was doing when you came in. I'm hoping..." She was actually hoping what she was saying would make sense to Zachary. Being this close to him once again was not a pleasant experience. "I, uh, was thinking about seeking permission to take a team down to survey some of their ancient sites."
"Dream on, Mei," Zachary said with a roll of his eyes. "With a stupid order like this I doubt we'll be able to even do passive gravimetric scans." He shifted to Hank. "Well, Evans? You sent me the order. I assumed you'd know more about it."
Mei-Wan turned toward Hank to join Zachary's intense staring. A slight grin formed on her face as she noticed Hank's discomfort at trying to find an appropriate answer.
"All I can do is ask the captain about it." Hank sat up in his seat. "I get the orders the same as you. I don't think them up."
"Oh come on!" Zachary shouted. "You had to know I'd go berserk over this!"
"Is that what you call this?"
Zachary shook his head and laughed. "Okay," he said with a nod. "I'll go see Captain James in the morning."
"Sorry I couldn't do more for you."
"That's okay." Zachary smiled. "I shouldn't have blamed you." He switched to Mei-Wan. "Look, I know this is kind of last minute on my part..."
Mei-Wan did her best to appear pleasant. "What is it?"
"Well, I had promised Cindy we'd go down to the surface in the morning, but with this mess about the Fashod and their anal attitude I'll be tied up most of the day." His face softened. "Would you mind taking her down with you? As long as it doesn't interfere with any plans you and Todd had?"
Mei-Wan took a deep breath. She was still half asleep and too much had been thrown at her too fast. Now here was Duncan Zachary, a man who had tried to kill her, a man who had joined the G'voda and become one of them, asking her to help him out. Despite her first instinct to tell him "no" she realized the last thing she wanted to do was be alone with Todd Nakano until she understood more of what was going on.
"Sure," she told the science officer. "It's not a problem."
Zachary smiled wide. "Thanks, Mei."
"We'll be leaving at 0800."
"She'll be ready." Zachary looked relieved. "She probably would have insisted we follow you around anyway. Every time she comes to visit all she can talk about is getting a chance to spend time with you."
"It'll be fun."
"Thanks, Mei. I owe you... again." Zachary exited the room.
Hank finally spoke. "Cindy?"
"His daughter, but she died... she was killed during the war."
"Well, having her around certainly seems to make him a lot more likeable." Hank activated the comm unit on the desk once again. "You better hope she's not an insufferable brat."
Mei-Wan stared at the doors for a moment. "I wonder..."
"Well, right now we've got more important things to think about," Hank told her as he began looking through information on his display.
She walked around the desk and stood next to Hank. "Did you check Starbase assignments for Jack?"
Hank touched several controls and waited a moment for the information to come up. "No Jack McCall assigned to any Starbase."
Mei-Wan closed her eyes and tried to think of where else Jack might be.
Hank turned to her. "You know, Jack was awfully close to the blast. He may have been killed."
"We should have been killed ourselves, Hank." Mei-Wan looked back at the display. "If we survived he should have too. And even if he was..." She couldn't bring herself to actually say it. "So much is the same as we remember it. He should be here."
"I'll do what I can, but until I can get a link to Starfleet's primary database, it's going to be difficult to hunt down a civilian." Hank keyed several controls on the display. "After we finish here on Dalvanax, we're supposed to go to the Fashod homeworld and escort their Emperor to Earth. Seems there's some treaty to be signed."
"The G'voda conquered them five hundred years ago."
"Not here," Hank said. "And speaking of here, until we figure out how to get out of this mess, we'll have to do our best to be who everyone expects us to be."
Mei-Wan walked to the other side of the desk. "I don't know if I can do that, Hank." She sat down in the chair again. "Todd Nakano is... he and the Mei-Wan of this place are in love. There are things he's going to know, things he's going to expect."
"We can't let them discover who we are, Mei. If they do, we'll never get back to where we belong."
"You mean change things back to the way they were."
Hank grinned. "You're the scientist. I'm just the hard headed security chief who wants his old life back."
She frowned. "I'm glad you can find some humor in this."
"Oh, and you'd better leave the data searches to me too, at least as far as Jack is concerned. If you dig around too much it might draw unwanted suspicion. Me, I'm expected to be a nosey son of a bitch."
Mei-Wan smiled. "At least some things never change."
"Go on and get some sleep. I'll let you know if I find anything."
Mei-Wan looked down at the floor. "Hank, we're going to have to find out what the G'voda did--- how they changed time."
He leaned back in his chair. "How do you suggest we do that?"
She thought a moment. "If they had done something as drastic as killing Hitler, Khan Singh, or Colonel Green at birth we probably wouldn't even exist. It has to be something small; almost beneath anyone's notice."
Hank's eyes widened. "Hey, it's not like I'm a historian or anything. They could have changed a million things and I wouldn't catch it."
"Going through the historical database is something an archaeologist is expected to do from time to time." She stood from her chair. "So, I'll check that while you keep looking for Jack."
As she approached the doors, Hank rose from his chair. "You do know time machines aren't something you can exactly find on the open market. Even if we do find out what caused this, we may not have any way of fixing it. We might have to accept that this is how things are going to be."
Mei-Wan stopped. She felt like screaming at Hank for bringing this up now, but he was right. They might have to spend the rest of their lives here. "We're not at that point yet. Until we know what caused this, I think we should assume we'll be able to reverse it."
"Mighty big assumption."
"I know, but we don't belong here." She turned to him. "I'd like to go home and soon."
***
Mei-Wan walked cautiously past the open doors into the quarters the ship's computer said belonged to Mei-Wan Lau. But it was difficult for her to get past the feeling she was invading someone else's privacy.
The doors closed behind her as she hesitated a few steps from them.
"Lights," she called out. A moment later, the room was flooded with a soft white illumination. While it had the familiarity of being a stateroom on the Chamberlain, that was where all similarity ended. Paintings covered the walls and a wide variety of artifacts sat on shelves and tables throughout the outer room. Mei-Wan recognized one of them as a piece she had unearthed during the Iconia expedition she had gone on at the age of seventeen. She lifted it with both hands, examining it. She was glad certain aspects of her life hadn't changed. The Iconia expedition had brought her love for archaeology into full bloom. It had helped make her who she was.
Mei-Wan set the artifact back in it's place and made her way to the bedroom. In contrast to the meticulous nature of the outer room, the sleeping area was a disaster. Sheets from the bed were scattered about and several pillows were propped up against one wall. A tray of food and two empty wine glasses lay nearby on their sides.
"What the hell happened here?" she whispered to herself.
She reached down to pick up the sheets and quickly understood. The smell was unmistakable. It was what Hank had mentioned earlier--- the aroma of ecstasy gone wild and passions unleashed.
Mei-Wan let the sheets fall to the floor and staggered backward. Something about this scene reached into her soul and begged for a hearing. She told herself it had to be the confusion of the situation and how tired she felt.
Her steps faltered and Mei-Wan felt herself fall backward onto the bed. "Here..." her voice quavered. She stared at the glasses on the floor and the pillows nearby. It all seemed so familiar.
Suddenly she was in Todd's arms, their bodies entangled. "Mei... I love you, Mei…"
She screamed and pulled herself back toward the head of the bed. "This is impossible!" Mei-Wan curled her legs up under her as she fell onto the bed and wept. "It never happened!"
***
Mei-Wan opened her eyes as her ears were assaulted by an obnoxious door chime. She still lay in the fetal position where exhaustion had won out over her confusion four hours earlier.
The chime sounded again, demanding she attend to it.
She slowly crawled across the bed. Once to the edge she placed her feet on the floor, resisting the urge to look over at the objects on the floor which had brought the vision of her and Nakano to mind before she fell asleep. She trudged toward the doorway to the outer room and stopped.
Her heart raced. They'd been here the night before. This is where they had started.
The door chime again bleated.
Mei-Wan listened. That sound, they'd left because of it.
The flash of memory she had experienced wasn't so much visual as a collection of sensations. Todd's body against hers, his hands pulling her close as she...
Closing her eyes, Mei-Wan tried to force the memory away. Something had gone horribly wrong when the timeline had changed. Nothing she had studied or read ever hinted at a situation like this. She was afraid that before much longer she might lose her mind or worse, her identity.
She inhaled and moved into the outer room, toward the door whose chime again sounded. She hoped it was Hank with word of how they could get away from this madness.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"It's me," a strident female voice said over the speaker. "Come on, open up!"
For a moment, Mei-Wan considered running back into the bedroom to hide, but whoever awaited her on the other side of the door would be far less troubling than letting her thoughts drift back to the memories of a life she had never lived.
She touched the control for the door.
"Is he still here?" demanded the dark haired tornado who blasted through the doors and past Mei-Wan. She stood, looking about the room. "Well?"
The young woman turned to face Mei-Wan.
Mei-Wan's eyes opened as wide as they could and then some. The young woman she stared at appeared to be in her early twenties and was nearly the same height as Mei-Wan. She had shoulder length jet-black hair and wore a fierce expression on her Asian features. But the thing about her face that most captivated Mei-Wan was, aside from a few differences, this young woman wearing the rank of ensign and the division colors of engineering, had the same cheeks, nose, and eyes as her mother. There was only one person aboard she could be.
"Oh my god..."
"Oh my god is right!" Li-Na Lau threw back at her sister. "You promised me, Mei! Why the hell did you lie to me?!"
Mei-Wan couldn't speak. Waking up in Nakano's bed had been a bad enough shock, but seeing a sister who had never been born was too much. She had finally hit her limit.
Li-Na's piercing gaze relaxed a moment. "Don't look at me like that. You knew I'd find out. How hard do you think it was to ask the computer where you were?"
Mei-Wan tried to inhale, but her lungs wouldn't cooperate. "I need to sit down." She searched for a couch.
Li-Na's intensity faded. "What's wrong?"
"I'm just tired," Mei-Wan said as she fell back into the couch.
Li-Na's eyes narrowed. "If you hadn't spent the night with Nakano you wouldn't have that problem, would you?"
Mei-Wan looked at the younger woman again. There were a thousand questions she wanted to ask, but Hank had been right--- she needed to fit in until they figured a way out of this mess. "I think that's my business, don't you?"
Her anger building again, Li-Na Lau took the chair across from Mei-Wan. "You promised me you were going to finally end this idiotic relationship. You and I have had our problems, Mei, but you've never outright lied to me." She leaned forward, a more cherubic appearance came to her face. "Even when we disagree, we're always honest."
Mei-Wan regretted how Li-Na felt, despite not having been the one who had lied to her, but then she noticed something in her sister's eyes. It was so slight, but it was something she had seen before. It was part of the look her mother got when she was trying to manipulate her. Li-Na had obviously copied their mother's behavior.
"Okay, I'll be honest." Mei-Wan almost laughed because nothing of what she had to say would be anywhere near honest. She just hoped that what she made up would get her sister to leave her alone for a while. "I just need some time to figure all of this out."
But Li-Na wasn't giving up. "You know how much Mom and Dad are against this. They will never accept Todd... ever."
Mei-Wan glanced over at the chronometer. It read: 0647. She had just enough time to get ready. "Look, I've got a full day ahead of me."
Li-Na frowned. "What's the matter with you? What the hell changed between last night and this morning?"
"I'm not feeling all that great and I'm really not in the mood to be badgered about this right now. Can we talk about it later?"
"I'm not badgering you--- I'm you're sister."
Mei-Wan tried not to laugh. "Then I'm not in the mood to be questioned right now."
Li-Na shook her head and walked over to Mei-Wan. "You know this relationship is a mistake. Please, don't let it go any further. If not for your family, then for yourself." She leaned over and kissed Mei on the forehead. "Please?"
Mei-Wan looked up at her. This time Li-Na seemed genuinely concerned. The manipulative stance was gone. "It won't go any further without me giving it a lot of thought, okay?"
"That would be a first," Li-Na said with a chuckle as she walked toward the door. "We still on for lunch?"
"Uh..." Mei-Wan tried her best to figure out the right response. "I'm going down to the surface. I don't know if I'll be back in time." That much at least was true. She had no idea at all what the day would be like.
"You're going down there with Todd, aren't you?"
"Yes."
Li-Na Lau shook her head in disgust and stormed out the door.
Mei-Wan threw her head back over the edge of the couch. "I have got to get out of here."
***
Twenty minutes later, Mei-Wan dressed after a quick shower had helped her to wake up. She finished zipping her uniform jacket up as she touched a control for the comm panel in her quarters. A second later, Hank Evans' haggard face filled the display.
"You awake?" she asked him.
"Not really. What's up?" Hank ran his hands through his thinning hair to help keep himself conscious.
"I was going to ask you that question?"
"So far nothing on Jack. I'm slogging through as much civilian info as we've got, but so far it's not looking promising." Hank leaned forward. "Uh, have you been having odd flashbacks of things you don't remember?"
Mei-Wan took a short breath. "Yes, you too?"
"Yeah. It's not unpleasant, but it sure the hell makes it hard to sleep."
"I got unpleasant and easy to sleep." Mei-Wan ruminated on that a moment and realized the memories weren't really all that unpleasant, but were difficult to accept. "My sister came by earlier."
"How'd that go?" Hank asked with a grin.
"Not good. Evidently she and the Mei-Wan of this timeline are having an argument about Nakano."
"That might be useful if you need to ditch him."
"Maybe, but..." She hesitated. The idea of "ditching" Todd didn't feel right. She didn't know if it was just some instinct about the relationship or something else. "I'd be worried he'd get suspicious if I did that."
Hank nodded. "Probably right. If you've been having an argument with her, better to keep that going. Don't act outside what they expect any more than you have too." Hank paused a moment. "But if he and the you of this reality are in love, you might have to..."
"I'm going to do my best to avoid that situation at all costs, Hank. I am married, remember?" The brief flashes of her and Nakano together made her feel guilty enough. The thought of actually making love to him...
Mei-Wan looked away from the display. For some reason, it didn't bother her near as much as she imagined it would.
"If it were me, I'd just go with..."
"Hank..." Mei-Wan cut him off sternly as she turned back to stare at him over the display.
Hank frowned. "Okay, I'll mind my own business, but do remember I have a stake in you maintaining your cover."
"I just hope I don't have to keep it up for too long."
