021 - Whatever Is Ours Is Yours

[not_annika]

[Seven travels all across the resort, starting to make very slight adjustments to the system. Odds were that once the Federation shifted from a duotronic to biomenetic system that her changes would be rendered irrelevant, but she had to in good conscience attempt to warn them.

As a precaution, she would set it only to activate once the fated Borg attack had begun. It would be a futile gesture, she knew, to have the system warn the Federation of the whole attack, but she had to do this one thing, if she were to live with herself.]

[OOC: Seven's going to act shifty all port, but instead of Risan security stopping her, a Starfleet Officer from the future, Lieutenant Ducane is. If you want to be part of a thread that features him as well, just add Ducane to your thread title. Add finish if you want to be there when he finally convinces her to stop. Obviously, there's only going to be one of those.]

Comments

[timesbureaucrat]

There was something wrong. A temporal displacement and tiny tremors in the timeline. Nothing severe, but enough to itch at his senses. He took a displacement meter from his pocket, switched it on, and began following the displacement back to its source.

[not_annika]

The source was a man standing at ease behind Seven who either hadn't noticed him or was ignoring him. Though dressed in local holiday gear, his posture was clearly militaresque. His expression was fairly neutral, if a little sad. "Hello, Seven."

Seven continued to work on her panel without so much as a glance at him. "Hello, Lieutenant." The general tone being 'get lost'.

The shifting of his jaw indicated he got the unspoken dismissal loud and clear. Still, he had to try. "You shouldn't be here."

Seven glared at the screen. "Irrelevant. I am."

He sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.

[timesbureaucrat]

Narvin overheard their brief conversation, which answered a few questions, while bringing up half a dozen more. He sauntered up, entering the conversation uninvited.

"So. Obviously you two know each other. I know why she's out of her proper time, which raises the question...why are you, Lieutenant was it?"

[not_annika]

He looked at Seven, asking who Narvin was, before looking back. "Ducane. Who are you?"

"Coordinator Narvin," Seven replied before Narvin could attempt to answer, her eyes still glued to her work. "He is a Time Lord. A species from another universe dedicated to the mastery of time."

"How did she arrive here?" he asked Narvin, since he seemed to know so much. He was a little suspicious, given Seven's description, it was easy to jump to the conclusion that the Time Lord was the one who had brought her here. Possibly moved by the deaths of the Risan people, but possibly for his own motives.

He did not bother correcting the fact that according to their records, a man, going by the name of the Doctor, claimed to be a Time Lord, lived in their universe. It did not change the origin of this one and the Doctor was a big enough pain in the neck to start giving Seven ideas.

[timesbureaucrat]

"A powerful cosmic entity with a large transdimensional ship. We're both passengers on it for the moment. It wasn't supposed to come here but an irresponsible young human had other ideas and temporarily seized the controls."

He tilted his chin up and stood in a semi-formal stance with his hands clasped behind his back. "You still haven't said why you're here in this temporal zone, Lieutenant Ducane."

[not_annika]

Ducane gaped. How the hell was he going to undo that?

Again Seven answered a question meant for someone else. "He is here to prevent damage to the timeline."

"Yes, and seeing as I'm a native to this universe, would you be so kind as to leave me to it?" My turf, buddy, back off. "Seven, you know you can't do this."

"Your appearance here would seem to suggest that I succeed."

Ducane pulls a face. "It suggests you change the timeline, it doesn't… that's not even the point! I mean, 'can't' as in the moral dimension, not the physical one."

"Then I do succeed?"

"Seven."

"The moral dimension is that I make certain that the Risans are saved," Seven finally looks up at him in anger. "I will not warn them before the Borg invasion, merely giving them sufficient time to evacuate. Just Risa."

Ducane melts a little at the desperation of her last plea. One planet, given all the destruction, doesn't seem terribly much, does it? He does have his duty. "I'm sorry, Seven. But you, more than anyone, should know that the Borg and time travel don't mix."

[timesbureaucrat]

"Native to this universe or not, you're just a human. You think a few centuries with time travel capability makes you an expert?"

Narvin listened to the conversation for a few nanospans, then--being rather more pushy than Duncane--he simply sidled up next to Seven in front of the panel and started changing her changes.

"Altering the future simply because you'd feel guilty if you sat on your hands and did nothing is the height of selfishness. This is precisely the sort of sentimentality that a responsible time traveller avoids. An entire planet of people alive who should be dead can cause temporal chaos. Save a few billion here and you might directly cause the death of trillions in the aftermath."

[not_annika]

"I think it makes it my business. Besides, you're assuming the laws of time work the same in your universe and mine."

Seven responded the same way she did the last time a man pushed his way into her space and messed up her work. Though this time she did have somewhat more of a motive. She went to punch him in the nose, probably enough to knock him over, if not break his nose outright.

Ducane tried to catch him before he fell. There were distinct advantages to not taking the pushy approach. "Seven, he's right. The Risan people survive. My own great, great grandmother was one of them."

Seven gave him a skeptical look. "You do not seem particularly giving, Ducane."

He gave her a similar look back. I'm talking to you rather than just shooting you, I'm catching a jackass who seems intent on taking over my job with no authorisation, how giving do you want me to be? "I'm on duty, Seven. Please?"

Seven walks off.

[timesbureaucrat]

Narvin was taken completely by surprise by the blow, yelped and fell into Ducane.

"That was completely uncalled for!" he squeaked.

[not_annika]

Seven didn't bother responding.

Ducane wanted to get after her before she got too far away, which was a bit difficult with an armful of Time Lord. "She's a former Borg, Coordinator, she takes their crimes very personally. I need to follow her, she won't give up this easily. Once I find out when she started, I can undo all of the damage." Literally.

[timesbureaucrat]

Narvin regained his balance and brushed off Ducane's hands like they were an imposition.

"Well go on then. But if you don't stop her, I will."

[not_annika]

Ducane wasn't particularly bothered, having too much on his mind. He couldn't see her anymore, but time was on his side. "Ducane to Relativity. When and where is Seven's next computer access recorded?"

He frowned slightly as the subdermal communicator responded before nodding. "All right, I'll need you to transport me there."

He looked at Narvin, notably not giving him the information he had. "Don't alert the local authorities or make a fuss. I don't want to have to clean up your messes as well." Technically, whatever Narvin did didn't fall under Ducane's jurisdiction as he wasn't native to this universe as well as this time but if it related to Seven, it related to the clean up.

He jerked slightly as if hearing something and nodded. "Energise." A column of energy surrounded and paralysed him for a brief second before dematerialised in a column of blue light.

[timesbureaucrat]

"My messes? I've been dealing with temporal disturbances since before you--"

And then Ducane was transmatting away. Narvin humphed.

"Arrogant human." There was a part of him that was tempted to sabotage Ducane's efforts simply out of spite. But he was a CIA operative and couldn't let a petty grudge get in the way of maintaining the timelines.

[not_annika]

When Ducane rematerialised, she was bent over another terminal. "Seven..."

She interrupted immediately. "That was not advised."

Ducane blinked in surprise, not understanding what she meant. "Sorry?"

"Temporal psychosis. You are being careless with your health."

Now, he was really surprised. He didn't often get genuine expressions of concern from people he was trying to thwart. "I... will keep that in mind."

"I do not have the ability to travel from this time period."

"Ok." It was a couple of seconds before he realised that, hey, Seven's still attempting to change history there. "Seven. You don't have to do this." He knew he was stepping into dangerous territory and was careful. "What the Borg did was not your fault."

"I am aware of that."

"Are you?" He tried to get into Seven's line of sight so he could meet her eyes. "Seven, we would have never have survived the Borg at all if it wasn't for you."

Seven still didn't meet his eyes but her hands stopped moving. Bolstered, he continued. "You're obviously from a time where you're going through a lot. Admiral Janeway, your aunt..."