Captain Freeman was sitting in his Ready Room, going over crew evaluations and other reports on the health of his officers. One report from Yilaan regarding Ivanovna troubled him; Yilaan thought that Ivanovna was having a tougher time getting over the pain the brainwashed Monroe crew and the Romulans had caused, and she wasn't talking about it with anyone. Yilaan had said she didn't know what the problem was, and didn't want to probe her mind, but that perhaps the Captain could get her to talk about it.
Freeman tapped his comm-badge. "Lt. Ivanovna, this is the captain. Please report to my Ready Room."
"Right away Captain," Ivanovna's voice came back over the intercom.
Ivanovna soon found herself on the Bridge, buzzing the door to the captain's Ready Room. "Come in," the captain said from within, and she entered. "Sit down, Katrina," the captain said, as he himself stood and went over to his food synthesizer in the wall. "Can I get you something?"
"No sir," Ivanovna replied brusquely. "Thank you though," she added, almost as an after-thought.
The captain nodded and said to the wall console, "Computer, apple juice, three degrees Celsius." The computer made angry beeps and pleading noises of distress at him, before finally producing the beverage he asked for. The captain shook his head at the machine. "Jevor says it may need a new receiver coil, and that he'll get to it soon," the captain explained to Ivanovna, who merely nodded. The captain sat back down at his desk, took a drink from the glass of apple juice, and ran both his hands through his hair. "So, what's wrong Katrina?" he said at length.
"Sir?" she replied innocently.
"You forget we have a very perceptive friend on board this ship, Lieutenant," Freeman replied, referring to Yilaan and her empathic abilities. "This friend told me you were distressed, but that same friend didn't want to read your mind to find out what it was all about. However, the mental well-being of my Bridge officers concerns me, as I am the captain of this ship. I also would like to consider myself your friend." Ivanovna smiled slightly at the comment. "So, what's wrong?"
"I failed you, I failed the ship!" Ivanovna blurted out suddenly. "My duty was to detect the threat before it was there, and to prevent danger to this ship. Instead, we were boarded and beaten up."
The captain sighed. "Everyone thinks you were a hero, Katrina. You took more punishment and did more to try and stop the Romulans and that brain-washed crew than most everyone else on this ship. I've had Ensigns wanting to switch out of the Engineering and Navigational Divisions to work with you. 'The best I've ever seen,' one man said. 'A tribute to the uniform,' fifteen other people told me." He paused, while Ivanovna looked sheepishly down at her feet. "You're only Human, Katrina. You're not perfect, but you did your best. Of course you wish you could've done more; God knows that we all wish we could've done more to keep from happening what did happen to us back then. But it's over, and done with, and you should be proud of how you handled yourself. Did you think that when I went over the security log videos of the take-over of our ship, and extolled your virtues in front of your peers, that I was kidding around? Quit kicking yourself for what you didn't do, and take pride in what you did do; you've earned it, after all."
At that moment, an anxious voice came in over the ship's intercom. "Medical team to the Bridge, immediately!"
"Reiv, this is Captain Freeman, what is it?"
"Yilaan has just collapsed sir! She's unconscious," Reiv replied.
Freeman nodded quickly to Ivanovna, and the two rushed out on to the Bridge to see the Bristol's first officer sprawled out on the floor.
"What happened exactly, Lieutenant?" Freeman asked as he knelt beside Yilaan and felt her neck for a pulse.
"I'm not sure, sir," Reiv began. "We were having a conversation when suddenly she just collapsed."
Yilaan began to stir and her eyes opened. "What the...? Where am I? Captain?" she said to the crowd of onlookers.
"Commander, are you alright?" Freeman asked.
"Yes I'm okay I think," she replied. Suddenly the full weight of what she'd just experienced came flooding back to her. She sat up suddenly, wide-eyed. "Reiv you bastard!" she shouted. "Get the hell away from me!"
Reiv's expression was one of pure shock as he instinctively took a couple steps back. "What did I do? Commander, what's wrong?"
Yilaan paused, "What is the date Captain?"
"Stardate 90130.7, Commander," Freeman replied.
"And this is the Bristol? And I'm the First Officer on this ship?"
"Yes to both questions," Freeman replied.
"And Bradley isn't empathic?"
Freeman was slightly taken aback. "Not as far as I'm aware, Commander."
Yilaan sighed and lay back down. She was home. Even as the medics arrived, she started laughing. She clapped her hands together and shouted with glee; her fellow Bridge officers were speechless and completely confused.
Giovanni was running a scan with her medical tricorder. "Well, this is interesting," she commented.
"What is it, Doctor?" Freeman asked.
"Well, Yilaan is fine. Her mind, however, is exhibiting traces of temporal energy. She's been somewhere else; for quite some time it would seem," Giovanni replied, intrigued. "No pun intended."
"But she's been here the whole time!" Reiv objected.
"Captain," the Asian female Ensign at the tactical station interrupted. "Sensors are indicating some sort of cloud ahead, directly in our path. It is radiating temporal energy."
Freeman, glancing at the ensign and at Yilaan with an alarmed look, said, "Slow to impulse, Ensign Gates," to his navigator.
"Aye sir," she replied, carrying out his order.
"Lieutenant," Freeman said, pointing for Ivanovna to take over at the tactical station. "Prepare a class one probe for launch into the cloud."
"No! No, don't!" Yilaan said abruptly, standing up and nearly knocking down one of the medics that was helping Dr. Giovanni. Freeman turned to look at his first officer speculatively. "Captain, please! Don't launch the probe! You're going to have to trust me."
Captain Freeman eyed his first officer suspiciously for a moment. "Very well," he said finally, putting his hands on his waist. "What should we do?"
"Just ignore the cloud. In fact, getting us as far away as possible would be perfect," she said.
"Very well, Commander. Under the circumstances I'll take your advice. Reiv, Gates, give this cloud a wide berth and then get us back to our previous course and speed," Freeman ordered.
The sound of hands clapping preceded a flash of light, and Q, in a Starfleet Admiral's uniform, appeared on the Bridge. "Nicely done, Commander. I'm glad we don't have to go through that again."
"So am I," Yilaan replied.
"Will someone please explain what the devil is going on?" Freeman interjected.
"To put it simply, Captain, your first officer is a hero. She helped put a stitch in time and saved more than nine; she saved your precious Federation from a threat to its very creation," Q replied, pleased with his use of a Human saying, along with the dual rhymes. "You have a very special person in your crew here, Captain; a tribute to your race."
There was silence while Q's words were absorbed by the Bridge crew. Freeman cleared his throat and smiled at Yilaan. "I look forward to reading your report, Commander."
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