The Federation Tribune - December 2005

[Rob Versteegt]

                  ==== The Federation Tribune ====
                       ==== December 2005 ====

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Chief Editor's notes:
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What you have here before you, is the last regular Tribune of the year 2005.
Only one other issue of the Federation Tribune will appear in this year, and
that will be the Christmas special. So for the last time in 2005, you get to
see the summaries of all the dutystations, the posting stats, and the list
of those who got promoted. In this issue, you'll also find, amongst others,
the last part of 'Back to the Calhoun', an article about SETI, and of course
another Legendary Post.

I strongly urge you all to write Christmas stories, Christmas articles or
Christmas... whatever, to put in the Christmas newspaper! As long as it has
something to do with Christmas (and STFF and/or Star Trek) it's okay with
me! Of course if you'd rather write something about what 2005 brought you as
a player in FF, feel free to do so!

The deadline for these articles is December 24th, 1800 GMT. I'll try to
compile everything then, and send it before December 25th. ;-) Needless to
say... I look forward to all your articles! In the meantime though, enjoy
this issue!

Have fun!
Rob.

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USS Calhoun Status Report, November 2005, by Adrian Rodd.
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STARDATE: 2392.04.25

EPISODE: #25, "The Explorers' Fifteen"

LOCATION: Guarding the Tholian border, by Starbase 32; also, an away team is
trapped on an uncharted planet.

The away team, stranded on an uncharted world, have been spotted by pre-warp
(and pre-industrial) natives, and led to a village where they are trying
their best to minimise disruptions to the Prime Directive. With pirate
vessels approaching across the sea, apparently drawn by the crashing
shuttles, the team return towards their crashed ships to secure them as best
they can.

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USS Odyssey Status Report November 2005, by Dennis Church.
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Stardate: 2392.04.25

With the Odyssey still stuck in transwarp, an idea hatched primarily by
Commander Nerfertii and Lieutenants Elan and Nerell about lacing the shields
with virdion particles is quickly put into motion, and the Odyssey is
dropped out of transwarp - albeit not before the ship suffered extensive
damage. All ship's systems are offline, save artificial gravity.

A team led by Lieutenant Commander Nerfertii is sent off the bridge, first
to sickbay to escort the injured Ensign Creevel, and then to Engineering to
begin repairs on failing life support and other critical systems, while the
rest of the bridge crew stayed on the bridge. With some luck and crude
routing of power, internal communications have been restored - for how long,
no-one knows.

Unfortunately, it is soon discovered that photonic beings have boarded the
ship - Ensign Greystone and Transporter Chief Vandersteen have one cornerned
in the transporter room, and quickly called for reinforcements, to make
contact with the alien....or stop them by any means necessary....

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USS Valkyrie Status Report, November 2005, by John Hardy.
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Stardate: 2392.04.25

Location: In orbit of New Amsterdam Colony


Second Officer's Log: There have been no further developments in our search
for Commander Maiek, but we have not given up looking for him. As acting CO,
I have appointed counsellor Linda Lando as acting First Officer. I had
thought of others for the position, but feel that their services would be
best put to use in their respective departments.

We now seem to be trapped, or at leasted surrounded, by subspace rifts - too
many to count - from which torpedoes have been fired at us.

To the credit of science, they have suggested that we use the deflector dish
to create an anti-lepton field, which had some mild affects against the
rifts.

Probes have been launched into the rifts, and I hope we will recover them at
some later time to invetigate what is the cause of the attack against us.

We are now running on minimal systems - life support only - and are
re-routing power to the deflector dish, with a very positive effect. The
rifts have closed and we are no longer being fired upon, however I fear we
will not be able to maintain this indefinitely. End log.

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Pandora Station Status Report, November 2005, by Rob Versteegt.
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Location: Pandora Station is still orbiting Pandora II.

Stardate: 2392.04.25

Strange things seemed to be happening on the Station. Not only were there
people walking around who shouldn't even exist -the monster of Frankenstein,
or Cinderella for example- but the crew had also discovered a Starfleet
probe, which happened to be belonging to the USS Atlantis! Since that probe
arrived at Pandora through a subspace rift, it was theorised that the
Atlantis had to be in a similar predicament as Pandora Station: surrounded,
or even attacked by subspace rifts.

As a response to finding out this information about the Atlantis, the crew
decided to send out probes of their own, hoping to be able to communicate
with the Atlantis. So far, there hasn't been any luck.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Tek Aslam was working together with Police Officer
Cluff to organise a meeting for the civilians, to inform them of the current
situation.

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USS Atlantis, Status Report, November 2005, by Ben Versteegt.
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 Locations of the (crew of the) USS Atlantis:

- Trapped in some sort of maze. (Captain Torn)
- Hiding inside a subspace distortion nebula near a star system with a Class
A blue star, apparently inside Dominion space, in the Gamma Quadrant. (The
ship and rest of the crew)

Summary:

- 2392.04.25

Hiding inside the subspace distortion nebula, the crew of the Atlantis -- 
excluding the Captain, unfortunately -- were momentarily safe from the
ongoing attacks of the subspace rifts. Unable to appear inside this nebula,
the rifts would undoubtedly attack the ship again as soon as it existed the
nebula, but until then, the crew was safe.

But a lot of damage had already been done. Many systems were not functioning
as they should, and deck 11 was a complete mess. Unfortunately, there was
loss of lives as well. Lieutenant Fletcher's fiancée, crewman Lemminkainen,
had been killed during the attack. Blinded by anger, the helmsman seriously
injured a medic before being sedated. Having ended the staff meeting,
Commander Velden and Lieutenant Rofellian paid a visit to Fletcher in the
brig.

While the two officers were away, two Dominion ships arrived, claiming that
this was their nebula and that the Atlantis had to leave immediately.
Lieutenant Andersson, who thought it best to present herself to the Vorta as
the Captain of the Atlantis, managed to bluff her way through most of the
following negotiation, but in the end, the Vorta still demanded that the
Akira class vessel departed the region... or he would open fire. In its
present condition, the ship was no match for two Dominion ships... let alone
the reinforcements the Vorta was threatening to call in.

After Velden and Rofellian arrived on the Bridge, and Velden assisted
'Captain' Andersson in the difficult talks, the Vorta agreed to give the
crew of the Atlantis a few minutes to make up their minds. Now, the crew
seems to have only two options: either obey the Vorta and get blown to bits
by the waiting subspace rifts outside the nebula, or stay inside the nebula
and die at the hands of two (and possibly more) Dominion vessels.

Unaware of what was happening on the Atlantis, Captain Torn was held captive
along with the rest of the COs and Admirals of the Frontier Fleet. Forced to
navigate their way through some sort of maze, where death could face them at
every turn, the officers started their perilous journey which could very
well be their last. Having barely escaped death by drowning, Torn and his
cell mates can only guess what their captors have in store for them.

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Public Relations Status Report November 2005, by Rob Versteegt.
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Compared to last month, this month was certainly not filled with
signup-activity. There were a total of 12 signups, and 1 of them signed up 3
times, while another signed up 2 times. So that means that there were only 9
individuals signing up. On the bright side, two of those individuals are
already on a dutystation somewhere.

Here's where those 9 people found us.

1: Had been in FF earlier.
2: Unknown.
1: Through a friend.
3: Search-engine.
2: Through a banner exchange / link on a site.

And that's it. Let's hope for more signups in December. Oh, and since I
didn't say it last time: Vote for Frontier Fleet to attract more signups!
http://www.frontierfleet.net/comm/vote is where you can find it. A new
voting site has already been added in November, so... let's vote!

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SF Academy Status Report, November 2005, by Rob Versteegt.
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==================
Active Instructors: (6)

Chief Instructor Sedaq, played by Adrien Rodd
Instructor Vivienne Creenan, played by Rob Versteegt
Instructor Argl, played by John Hardy
Instructor Liz Bronson, played by Laura Elliot
Instructor Sophie Jaune, played by Rob Verlinden
Instructor Randy Orsolo, played by Dennis Church.

==================
Instructors on LOA: (2)

Instructor Joran Moore, played by David Susman.
Instructor Miranda Winter, played by Ben Versteegt

==================
Cadets lost: (4)

Cadet Ikov Dravinski, played by 'Joe Smoe'
Cadet Tvork, played by Carlisle.
Cadet Adam McKinney, played by Shawn Ruden.
Cadet Alisa Alexander, played by Tiffany Boggs.

==================

New Signups: 9, and 3 passed the first obstacle, and entered the Academy.

==================
Individual Cadets: (6)

Cadet Alexic Freeotha, played by Timothe Loya (John)
Cadet Ramon Vos, played by Ramon Vos (Bobby)
Cadet Megan Richards, played by Stephen Clark (Laura)
Cadet Michell Weltion, played by Shawn Cartier. (Adrian)
Cadet Jun Lao, played by Lee Philips (Adrian)
Cadet Kato Yuko, played by Amber Maberry (Dennis)

==================
Graduates: (4)

Cadet Thorne, played by Spencer Beacock => ASTC Ensign Thorne, Pandora
Station.
Cadet Matthew MacDougall, played by Matthew Baldwin => ACSO Matthew
MacDougall, Pandora Station.
Cadet Kirsten Oliver, played by William Raymer => ACOUNS Kirsten Oliver, USS
Calhoun.
Cadet Paul Newman, played by David Lowbridge => ASTC Paul Newman, USS
Valkyrie.

==================

And that's it for this Academy Status Report. 4 graduates... that's pretty
good! Let's hope there'll be more graduates next time!

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Promotions in November 2005, by Rob Versteegt.
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>From Cadet to Ensign:

Cadet Thorne, played by Spencer Beacock => ASTC Ensign Thorne, Pandora
Station.
Cadet Matthew MacDougall, played by Matthew Baldwin => ACSO Matthew
MacDougall, Pandora Station.
Cadet Kirsten Oliver, played by William Raymer => ACOUNS Kirsten Oliver, USS
Calhoun.
Cadet Paul Newman, played by David Lowbridge => ASTC Paul Newman, USS
Valkyrie.

And that's it. Congratulations!

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Posting Stats, November 2005, by Rob Versteegt.
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USS Calhoun: 67 posts.

Adrian Rodd: 36 (Cal 12, Ody 1, Panda 18, Atly 5)
Kelley MacKinnon: 12 (Cal 12)
Laura Elliot: 10 (Cal 10)
Mark O'Bannon: 10 (Cal 10)
Jake Hanlon: 4 (Cal 4)
Angelic Noble: 6 (Cal 6)
Neil Langston: 6 (Cal 6)
William Rayner: 2 (Cal 2)

USS Odyssey: 48 posts.

Rob Verlinden: 9 (Ody 9)
Dennis Church: 5 (Ody 5)
Martin Miller: 9 (Ody 6, Atly 3)
Dawn Johnson: 1 (Ody 1)
Abby Leib: 1 (Ody 1)
Daniel Balding: 4 (Ody 4)
Jovan Gegov: 8 (Ody 8)
Jonathan Healey: 3 (Ody 3)
Matt Huffman: 1 (Ody 1)

USS Valkyrie: 51 Posts.

Brandon Allard: 1 (Valk 1)
Jonathan Hardy: 4 (Valk 4)
Richard Clogston: 12 (Valk 12)
Ann Montague: 2 (Valk 2)
Nick Bartkowiak: 4 (Valk 4)
Ruben Hilbers: 18 (Valk 9, Atly 9)
Michael Calcagno: 1 (Valk 1)
David Lowbridge: 3 (Valk 3)

Pandora Station: 117 Posts.

Bram Peeters: 14 (Panda 13, Atly 1)
Rob Versteegt: 79 (Cal 5, Ody 4, Valk 15, Panda 45, Atly 10)
Sussie Andersson: 3 (Panda 3)
Gael Imaddedine: 5 (Panda 5)
Scott Rick: 17 (Panda 17)
Aaron DeLay: 2 (Panda 2)
Donald Johnston: 1 (Panda 1)
Matthew Baldwin: 2 (Panda 2)

USS Atlantis: 84 Posts.

David Susman: 13 (Panda 4, Atly 9)
Ben Versteegt: 11 (Ody 3, Panda 1, Atly 7)
Alonzo Soban: 4 (Atly 4)
Mike Sheinin: 1 (Atly 1)
Hanna Brunefeldt: 15 (Panda 4, Atly 11)
Patrick Buidin: 16 (Atly 16)
Morgan Kadar: 8 (Atly 8)

FCT:

Guido Dorssers: 3 (Panda/HQ 3)
Clare Bradley: 0

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Legendary Posts, by Rob Verlinden.
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In 2001 Jim Janssens was the FO of the USS Odyssey. Jim had an aquarium in
his quarters, with a goldfish, named Phlox. Bram, known as one of the
silliest people in the fleet, topped himself in silliness, by actually
posting with the goldfish as a character. The following are two consecutive
posts pasted together about the adventurous life of a goldfish...

Subject: Phlox

(NRPG: imagine some Jaws-like music in the background when reading this <G>)

(USS Odyssey, FO's quarters, Phlox's aquarium - 2390.6.23, 12:01)

Phlox was moving around a bit slowly, and decided that he would swim around
counter clockwise today. He had circled the large stone in the middle of his
territory about three times when he spotted some movement at the surface.
Phlox slowed down and looked up, the movement has stopped.

~Where did it go?~ he thought, and started swimming a bit higher, very
carefully and staying close to some large leafs. Five minutes later, there
still was no trace of anything that could have caused the movement he saw,
and Phlox decided to go back to deeper water, and swim some more circles
around his stone.

Halfway the second circle he stopped, ~Wait a minute, didn't I already swim
this way around earlier today?~

Phlox turned around, and started swimming around the stone clockwise.

~This is much better, can't swim the same circles all day!~

NRPG:
This post is for all people who think nothing exciting happens inside an
aquarium...;-)

RPG:
(USS Odyssey, FO's quarters, Phlox's aquarium - 2390.6.23, 17:22)

The large two-legged airbreather that lived outside his territory had
brought him his dinner again. He had almost eaten everything when he noticed
it. One piece had floated into... into The Corner!

Phlox had only been in The Corner one time; he had just been swimming
around, and he had swum into it, not knowing something was wrong. At the
same moment there had been a lot of noise, and a lot of red lights had
started flashing. Not knowing what to do he had swum into the solid water
that kept the deadly air outside, and he had had a headache for 4 days. Also
the red light with noise had returned a few times since that day, often
followed by periods of darkness, other flashing lights, loud noises and
sometimes violent shaking.

Phlox was certain something was wrong with The Corner... but there was a
piece of food in there, caught in a plant. There had to be a way to get the
food, without getting into The Corner.

He swam from side to side a few times, sometimes looking at the piece of
food in The Corner, thinking about what he could do. Suddenly he got an
idea. He approached The Corner, but he didn't cross the border which was
indicated by the Purple Pebble. Phlox turned around, so his tail was facing
the plant with the food. He started swinging his tail violently, and he used
his other fins to stay at the same location. After a while, he stopped, and
looked at the result of his actions.

It had worked! The piece of food was freed from the grip of the Corner
Plant, but it still floated behind the PPB (NRPG: Purple Pebble Border).

~Phlox, you coward...~ Phlox thought, ~Just get that piece of food, show The
Corner who's boss around here!~

~May the Great Fish protect me~ he thought, and gathered as much speed as
possible. As swift as an arrow he darted over the PPB into The Corner. He
grabbed the food, and rushed back into the safe area on the other side of
the PPB.

~It's one small swim for a fish...~ he thought, while he was eating the last
piece of his dinner.

(reply any)
(posted by Bram Peeters)

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SETI at Home (Classic) - 1999-2005, by Bram Peeters.
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Last month I wrote an article about BOINC -
http://www.frontierfleet.net/lcars/page/1472 - and ironically on the same
day that the newspaper was published, SETI at Home nicely announced that SETI
Classic was shutting down in a month, at 15 December which was yesterday.

For about 5 years there has been a STFF SETI-team, which can be found here:
http://setiathome2.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_127658.html
In that time ten of STFF's members (yes, 11 are listed, I am in there twice
:-P) have processed almost 8000 work units for SETI and donated over 9 years
of computer time (which could have been quite a lot more if I hadn't
switched to the new SETI/BOINC thing a lot earlier this year already <G>).

Goodbye SETI at Home Classic.

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The Death of an Admiral, by Rob Versteegt.
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It is with great sadness that I bring you the news which you all already
know: While captured by some sort of aliens, after being abducted through
subspace rifts, Admiral Graag, the Fleet's Second Officer, died because he
didn't catch a stone. Or well, he caught it, but it was too heavy.

This grave news has of course shocked all of us. I therefore asked several
people who happened to be in the chat, about their reactions.

Guido, our GM and FCO, said this:
<Guido> So? Barclay will use his magic finger to put the stone aside and
then Graag can stand up again. :P
<Guido> It's after all just a strange simulation. ;)
<Bobby> Aha! So Barclay is involved!
<Guido> Dunno yet. Haven't written my next post yet. ;)

Interesting, readers... interesting! Maybe F2O Graag isn't dead at all!
Maybe F2O Graag will live on, as FCO Barclay shows his god-like powers!

Meanwhile, I asked another person who just happened to be in the chat that
day. Clare, who plays FFO Tir, had time to answer this question, about what
her first reaction was to Admiral Graag's death. Her reaction was the
following:

<Clare> Bram killed himself?

It is indeed hard to believe that this could happen. Why don't we ask Bram,
the player behind F2O Graag, himself? Well, that's a good idea, but... we'll
do that, later on. First, we interviewed Sussie.

<Bobby[newspaper]> Sussie, what do you think of Graag's death? :P
<Sussie> uhhh
<Sussie> fun? <G>

Interesting... the plot thickens. Guido reveals that Barclay's god-like
powers will bring Graag back, (as he said: [23:07] <Guido> Well, Barclay
will use one single finger to push the stone away so that Graag can get up
again.), Clare believes that Graag is Bram, and Sussie thinks Graag's death
is fun.

A day later, I asked Ben, Rob007 and Adrian... here's what they answered:

* Rob007 will role the stone away and see Jezus has resurrected
<Bobby> You mean Graag? :P
<Rob007> Then you get Graag religion

<Ben> I was surprised. Not exactly shocked, because I didn't really believe
it. In fact, I still have my doubts. :P

<Aridd> I was shocked.
<Aridd> And I was shocked again when I read the post. ;)

Most of these reactions make sense. Shock, surprise, and... Graag religion.
Interesting. But... what does Bram think of it? Alas, when we asked him for
comment, he said this:

<BramP> sorry Rob, the reason will not be revealed until the special edition
dvd is released with my commentary :P

This rather cryptic answer was later supplemented with the next statement:

<BramP> I kinda killed him because the towel stuff made it impossible to
ever turn him into a serious admiral character again later
<BramP> however... now he will be remembered as the towel guy forever...


Interesting... very interesting. Well, it seems that Admiral Graag's death
came as a shock to the Frontier fleet community. Well, not to all of course:
some thought it was fun, which of course is all in the eyes of the beholder.
Maybe Graag made some enemies, so people liked it that he died...

Whatever the case, Graag's death had one definite advantage: without it I
couldn't have written this article. A rather silly article, I might add, but
that's okay. The Tribune could use some silliness. Which is why I'll ask
someone else to kill his or her character next time. Maybe I could write an
article about that as well! So... any volunteers?

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Back to the Calhoun: Part 5. By Rob Versteegt.
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Summary: Jeff Jalando has been arrested for a crime he would commit in the
past: the destruction of the Calhoun. However, someone beamed him over to
the Calhoun in the past, letting him experience everything the crew
experienced. Ultimately, Jalando found out that Kevin DeSerre, the First
Officer of the Timeship Eternity, had been behind this. He found this out
too late though, since DeSerre paralysed Jalando, programmed a phaser to
fire at some explosives on the Calhoun, and beam out, leaving Jalando to be
unable to do anything to stop this. The phaser fired, the explosives
reacted, the Calhoun got destroyed.

And now, the conclusion: "Back to the Calhoun", part 5.

It was a quiet day on Pandora Station, as usual. The fact that this old
Ceylon class station was not really the centre of the galaxy, was the
biggest understatement Jalando ever heard. Still, he liked that. Nothing
much happened around here. . . which meant nothing dangerous could come from
this assignment. The most exciting thing which happened this whole
month -April, 2392- was a report that the USS Solstice, the starship
assigned to the Station, would be a few days late. But that didn't matter.
The Solstice was away most of the time anyway.

First Officer Jeff Jalando smiled to himself. He might not have the most
exciting job in the universe, nor the most eventful one, but at least he had
a job. The lack of events allowed Jalando to relax more often, and to
indulge himself in one of his passions: Science. He often requested
scientific reports from other dutystations, since he had already scanned
everything in range here.

At moments like these, when there was nothing to do -and there were a lot of
those moments on this Station- Jalando thought about his career. From Ensign
to First Officer in less than a year. Most people would find that
surprising, but not Jalando. In fact, Jalando had been the only person who
wanted the job. Apparently, most people wanted action and excitement. And
that was something you just wouldn't find on Pandora Station. Still, that
didn't bother this First Officer.

What did bother him though, was his future career. Within a year, Pandora
Station would be given back to the civilians, and all the Starfleet people
would have to be relocated to other dutystations. Maybe Jalando could
arrange it to become First Officer on some sort of back-water
'nothing-every-happening-here' colony. Well, he hoped so. Because if there
was one thing which Jalando wasn't suited for, it was the adventure which
all those other people desired. Well, maybe he would just retire. Live on
one of those colonies as a scientist, spending the rest of his life looking
at PADDs with difficult equations. He smiled thinking of this. Ah, what a
life that would be. There would be no adventure there, but. . . he wouldn't
miss it. . . would he?

Jalando took a deep breath, and sat down in his chair. But this was when
things didn't seem right anymore. . . his chair was supposed to be soft, and
this chair was hard. . . metal-like. He looked up, and. . . saw that he no
longer was in his office. There were figures standing around him. Three, or
at least that was what Jalando could see at the moment. "Hello?" He asked,
trying to hide the uncertainty in his voice. "Where. . . where am I?"

"You're on the Federation Timeship Eternity." A female voice, filled with
authority, stated. "Welcome Commander Jalando." The person belonging to this
voice, said. "I am sorry we had to drag you from your quarters like that,
but. . ." There was a pause. "We need your help."

Jalando now blinked. "Help?" he asked, surprised about whatever was
happening here. "Uhm. . . what do you mean?"

The Captain of the Timeship Eternity now started clarifying what she had
just been saying. "As you are probably aware, Commander, about two years
ago, the experimental transwarp ship the USS Calhoun exploded. This was not
supposed to happen."

Now Jalando leaned forward. "Not?" What this woman was saying just didn't
make any sense. It had happened, hadn't it? "What are you saying? Someone
meddled with time, and caused the Calhoun to explode?" He shook his head.
"Do you have any idea who did it?"

"Yes." The Captain now said, looking Jalando directly into the eyes. "You."

*****

Jalando just couldn't believe it. This Captain had explained everything: how
her First Officer had set the Jalando from another timeline -or the same
one, without the Calhoun's explosion- up to let it seem as if that Jalando
was the guilty one. How Mr. DeSerre had also fooled this Captain, and how he
got discovered via the use of temporal transporters. While the Eternity had
been unable to apprehend DeSerre, this Captain did know that because of her
interfering, the timeline had been changed. To do as little damage to the
timeline as possible, they asked the Jalando from this timeline -an altered,
wrong one, apparently- to step in.

And so now Jalando would be transported to the Calhoun of 2390, just before
its explosion. Jalando did not like this at all. Not only was it terribly
dangerous -he could even die!-, but that Captain of the Eternity had also
made it perfectly clear that he was not the Jalando which should exist. No,
he was a different Jalando. A wrong Jalando in a wrong timeline. That
bothered him the most. Even if he was successful in saving the 'right'
timeline, *his* timeline would be lost! *He* would be lost! Or well, he
would probably live on in that other Jalando. Or. . . would he? It was all
so terribly complicated.

But nevertheless, armed -armed!- with a very advanced phaser, Jalando was
here, standing on the transporterplatform. He had been asked to save one
timeline, and thus destroy another. Destroy the timeline he knew was real. .
. It was a dilemma. Given more time -he smiled wryly at his own lame choice
of words- he might be able to think of a way for his timeline to exist as
well.

But time was up. The Captain wished him good luck, told him that he was
doing the right thing, and then activated the transporter. A moment later,
Jalando had travelled back in time. . .

*****

"Clever, aren't you?" A man's voice was heard by Jalando, who, after
rematerialising, quickly hid behind one of the many crates here. "Once the
Calhoun explodes, Starfleet Temporal will find you there, and that will lead
to your arrest, which will lead to you being transported into the past by
me, which will again lead to the Calhoun's destruction." The man talking had
to be Kevin DeSerre, the 'bad guy'. Jalando frowned, and swallowed. He
grabbed his phaser, and realised that he probably had to shoot. But he
didn't. He couldn't. "Don't try to understand it Jalando. Just accept it.
It's fate, live with it." Jalando? Did this man just say Jalando's name? He
had to know what was going on. . . he had to know. So he took a glimpse.
Just a glimpse. What he saw baffled him: there, DeSerre was aiming such a
futuristic phaser at. . . Jalando! Another Jalando, apparently. From the
'normal' timeline. Jalando -the one hidden behind the crates- winced. . .
that was obviously the Jalando he had to save. . .

"Or better yet, die with it." DeSerre now said, after which Jalando heard a
phaser being fired. A thud was heard a moment later. Anger now made its
entrance in Jalando: DeSerre had just shot him! Or well, him from another
timeline. But it was still him, wasn't it? Did this mean that his mission
was over? That he had failed? No, this couldn't be, could it? Could it?

Doubt entered Jalando. The chance to do something about this had been his,
and he hadn't taken it. He had failed. . . he had waited too long. And he
found that he hated himself for that. This had been such an important
mission. . . he should not have failed. It should have succeeded, even if it
had meant his destruction. At least that way, he could have done something
to have mattered, instead of staying this weak, pathetic First Officer of
some meaningless Station. . .

Just as Jalando wanted to jump out of hiding and actually *do* something to
stop DeSerre from doing more damage, he heard the man talking. . . talking?
To whom? Quickly, Jalando took a peak, and saw to his surprise that the
Jalando who had been shot wasn't dead. . . just immobilised. Maybe there was
hope for success anyway. . .

"Oh don't worry, I won't kill you." Jalando heard DeSerre say to the other,
paralysed Jalando. "Well, not yet anyway. In fact, you will kill yourself."
This certainly did not make sense, and for a moment, Jalando wondered if
DeSerre had lost his mind. But. . . further explanation told him that this
was not the case. Well, further explanation after some very annoying
chatter, actually. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" The cruel man
asked the immobilised man. "Go on, do something to me. I dare you."

Silence. Jalando swallowed. Maybe he would have to do something. Yes. . .
yes, he would. Now. Yes, now. In a moment. He swallowed again, and looked at
his phaser. As far as he could see, it was set on stun. Good, he wouldn't
kill anyone. Okay, time to do something. Anything. Time to be hero.

But all that happened was DeSerre laughing out loud while putting his phaser
in the immobilised Jalando's hand. Why? Jalando blinked, and kept looking,
careful that DeSerre wouldn't see him.

But the only Jalando DeSerre saw, was the paralysed one. "I've programmed
this phaser to fire automatically in about a minute." DeSerre started, while
Jalando -the one still standing- listened from behind the crates. "In the
direction it's facing now, the phaserbeam will hit these containers. . . and
we both know what disastrous reaction that would have. The Calhoun would
explode if that would happen, would it not?" An ingenious plan. Terrible,
diabolical and yes even evil, according to Jalando. But ingenious
nonetheless. "Well, it will. And the best thing is, this way people will
think you did it. You'll get all the blame, and nobody will expect me to be
the one responsible. Isn't it great?"

Shocked by what he had heard, Jalando looked from behind the crates to this
Mr. DeSerre. . . When the words hit him, he realised that what the Captain
of the Federation Timeship Eternity had said, was the truth. . . *his*
timeline was not the right one. . . the Calhoun was meant to survive.
Jalando was meant to survive, but not in the way that he did now. No, the
'real' Jalando was the one lying there on the ground, paralysed, with that
futuristic phaser in his hand.

Jalando swallowed, and looked at the phaser in his own hand. Except for
their appearances and their names, this was also something both Jalando's
had in common. The difference between the two of them though, was that this
Jalando could use it. . .

"Well, if you don't mind, I'll be going now." DeSerre's voice made Jalando
look up. He had made his choice. DeSerre would not be going anywhere.
"Mister Jalando, I hope we never meet again. But then again, there isn't
that much chance of that happening, now is there?"

"That's where you are wrong." Jalando shouted, and jumped out from his
hiding place. He felt adrenaline pumping through his body, his heart was
beating faster than he thought it could, and his body was trembling. . . but
still, he kept the phaser aimed at DeSerre. A quick glance at the other
Jalando was all this Bajoran-Betazoid needed to tell his other self about
the situation. He knew the other Jalando would understand: he himself
understood as well.

The surprise on DeSerre's face turned into what seemed to be a mild form of
relaxation. This was something Jalando failed to understand. The man could
be shot at any moment, and yet he was relaxing! Did he see Jalando's nerves
ranging inside of him? Didn't he think that Jalando would shoot?

"My my." DeSerre's annoyingly calm voice filled the room. "Two of you.
Either this is a twin of yours which I haven't had the pleasure of meeting,"
He spoke to the Jalando who was unable to answer, "Or my beloved Captain has
asked assistance of the Jalando of another timeline. . ." He tilted his head
sideways, and smirked. "That must be it. So." He now addressed the Jalando
who was holding a phaser at him, apparently without any fear. "The Calhoun
will explode in. . . let's say. . . thirty seconds. You're here to stop
that, am I right? No don't bother to answer. Listen, if you want to prevent
that phaser from firing, and thus destroying the ship with you on it as
well, you'll have to. . . shoot me."

Jalando didn't move, but his eyes showed that he realised the necessity of
it all. And DeSerre noticed that. "Oh, that's right. You cannot shoot me.
Ever since the Jem'Hadar killed your big sister, you've been afraid to even
touch a phaser. You cannot even fire a phaser on a hologram without having a
nervous breakdown." He smiled, and nodded. "Oh yes. I've read your file." He
turned around, facing the other Jalando. "Well, your file, actually."

The paralysed Jalando's eyes were filled with urgency. He knew. . . oh, he
knew the situation the other Jalando was in now. He understood it
completely, with all his heart. And yet, he also knew that if that man
didn't get past DeSerre within fifteen seconds or so, this phaser would
react with these explosives, and the Calhoun would explode, thereby changing
history.

"Well, what's it going to be?" DeSerre's voice was loud now. . . clearly he
was trying to put pressure on the Jalando who was aiming the phaser at him.
"Shoot, or die! Decide. . . now!"

A moment of silence followed. . . and Jalando did not know what to do. He
closed his eyes, and instantly saw the image of his sister. Adriana. She had
fired, back then. She had fired her phaser to protect Jalando and his
siblings. She had probably known that she could die for opening fire on a
Jem'Hadar soldier. And yet she had fired anyway. She had been afraid. And
yet she had fired anyway. Her courage allowed Jalando to live on. And it was
her courage who now inspired Jalando. . . to do what was right.

Seconds were slowly passing by, while Jalando opened his eyes, looking
directly in DeSerre's. So full of confidence. So full of arrogance. This man
couldn't be allowed to win. Jalando would have to stop the other phaser. And
there was only one way to get there.

"For you, Adriana." Jalando whispered, and activated the phaser. DeSerre's
eyes which first showed confidence, now showed fear, as the man got thrust
back by the power of this phaser. Seconds were passing by, and Jalando knew
what he had done. He had just harmed another living being. He had fired a
phaser at him at point-blank range. On the stun setting, yes. . . but this
phaser was so powerful. . . maybe this man was dead already.

Seconds were passing by. The phaser in the paralysed Jalando's hand began to
buzz. Time was up. The two Jalando's look at each other. . . and the Jalando
left standing knew what had to be done. He raced past the now limb body of
DeSerre, and jumped.

The phaser fired.

The phaserbeam made its way towards the crates filled with explosives.
Within a tenth of a second, it would impact with those crates. . . if
Jalando hadn't interfered. Just before the beam hit the crates, Jalando -the
one who could still move- caught the beam in the chest. When Jalando hit the
floor less than a second later, the danger was over. The Calhoun had been
saved, and the transwarp project would continue. But Jalando. . . he was
dying.

The two Jalando's looked each other in the eyes. The paralysed Jalando could
do nothing else but shed a tear. . . while the dying Jalando looked back
with what seemed to be a smile. "Remember." He said with great difficulty.
"Remember. . . me. Remember, so. . . I did not die in vain." He winced in
pain, and his breaths became more and more shallow. He would die within
seconds. "I hope that. . . where you belong, things are a bit more. . ." He
coughed, "interesting. . ."

The only thing the paralysed Jalando could do, was look at his dying self.
It would be over soon. Very soon. The man's last breath would come quickly.
And it did. With it, he uttered one last phrase. "Adriana would be. . .
proud of me."

And that was it. Commander Jeff Jalando, First Officer of Pandora Station,
was dead. And Commander Jeff Jalando, First Officer of Pandora Station,
could do nothing else but wait until the effects of the phaserblast would
fade away. . . and mourn for the person who had saved his life, and the
universe as he knew it. . .

*****

On the Timeship Eternity, Jalando got beamed on board. The Captain of this
Timeship smiled at him, although he did not smile back. "Ah, Commander." The
Captain started talking. "I'm pleased to see that your mission is a success.
The Calhoun survived, thanks to you, and. . . well, you." She said this as
if this was nothing more than a joke to her.

"I do not see the humour in this, Captain." Jalando retorted. "The other
Jalando. . . he gave his life for me. For the preservation of the timeline.
He gave his *life*! I don't know if that means anything to you Captain, but
it does to me! So excuse me for not laughing!" He wanted to walk away from
the transporterpadd, but got stopped by the Captain.

"I do understand, Commander. But look at it from my point of view. Because
the Calhoun was saved, this Jalando's timeline never happened. He never
existed, so he never got to give his life for you. I don't know if that's
any constellation, but it is to me. It has to be, in the temporal business."

Jalando looked at the Captain, a puzzled look on his face. "He never
existed? But I saw him! How could he have saved us all if he never existed?"

The Captain once again showed him one of those mystery smiles she could show
so well. "That, Commander Jalando, is called a temporal paradox. It's best
to ignore it, especially if you want to keep your sanity." She paused, and
took a deep breath. "What matters is, you managed to save the Calhoun,
without too much meddling with the natural development of time there."

Jalando nodded slowly. "I've tried to keep out of most major events,
although that didn't always work, I'm afraid." He swallowed, and suddenly
thought of something. With a hint of alarm on his face, he turned to the
Captain. "But what will happen if the Calhoun crew finds the bodies of the
other Jalando, and DeSerre?"

The Captain only smiled vaguely. She didn't seem to be too happy when
hearing the name of her former First Officer who had been the one
responsible for all of this. "Well, about the corpse of that other Jalando.
. . that's not a problem, since there never was another Jalando." She paused
for a moment, but not long enough for Jalando to comment on that. "And as
far DeSerre. . . well, he got beamed away before we could do that.
Apparently he's still alive, and another temporal organisation -probably the
one he was working for- has retrieved him. So I'm afraid he's still out
there. . ."

Another moment of silence filled the room. Jalando didn't respond: he was
too busy trying to comprehend what had happened. He was drawn out of his
concentration though, by the Captain of this Timeship who once again
addressed him. "Once we find him, we'll send out the agent who already has
some experience in dealing with him." Both the Captain and Jalando looked at
each other, and both knew whom she was talking about. It was only a matter
of seconds, before the Captain of the Federation Timeship Eternity, spoke
up. "You. . ."

*****

The next thing Jalando knew, he was sitting in the comfortable couch, in the
safety of his own quarters. The glass filled with a nice, cold Betazoid
drink was standing on the table, as if nothing had happened. In fact,
*everything* around here looked as if nothing had happened. He looked at the
chronometer, and realised that virtually no time at all had passed: he had
gone to his quarters, got transported on board the Timeship, had this
adventure, and got transported back to his quarters in. . . well, in no time
at all! Maybe he was all imagining it. Maybe none of this had happened.

But it had happened. Of that, Jalando was sure. And one day. . . when
Jalando would probably least expect it, he would be called upon again, to
perform his duty. His duty as a Temporal Agent. He had gone Back to the
Calhoun. Maybe, some day, if he were to be called into action again, he
would go some other place. . . and most likely, some other time.

Until that day, Jalando would cherish the experiences this mission had given
him. And while he stood up, picked up his drink and gazed out at the stars,
he wondered. . . if he had been in the other Jalando's shoes. . . would he
have fired? Would he have stepped over his fear, and do what needed to be
done? Would he have jumped in front of the phaserblast, sacrificing himself
so that the rest might live?

He took a sip of his drink, and realised that he'd probably would never
know. Or maybe. . . some day. . .

=====