"What's so funny?" Mullen inquired, also smiling, but more because she was laughing than because of anything humorous she may have said.
"I'm sorry, but my understanding of your history is that your people are paranoid of outsiders. You know, aliens? You've absorbed everything you've seen here as if it came as no surprise," Ivanovna explained.
"I believe in unexplained phenomena, including the existence of extraterrestrial life," Mullen began evenly. "Occurrences of the supernatural happen every day in this country; unfortunately most people are too guided by scientific truths to trust what they see with their own eyes. Something extremely rare or extraordinary happens to a person, and sort of a mental block kicks in; they can't classify it in any way, so they either panic or they dismiss it as something easily explained." Mullen paused for a moment, while Ivanovna listened intently, "I believe in it, in that I am open to such possibilities."
"You are a man ahead of your time, Agent Mullen," Ivanovna replied.
"Thanks, I think," Mullen smiled back her. Ivanovna had just ducked her head underneath a control panel, when Mullen suddenly lowered his voice and whispered, "Did you hear something?"
Ivanovna poked her head back out, "Like what?"
"Somebody outside I think; more like several somebodies," Mullen hissed.
"Is it your partner bringing help?" Ivanovna asked.
Mullen shook his head, "It's too soon; she shouldn't be back for at least another half hour."
Ivanovna got up quietly and slowly approached the door. At the open exit she listened carefully for a moment. "I'm going outside," Ivanovna whispered, glancing back at Mullen before disappearing out the doorway.
Seconds later there was a scream of surprise; Mullen was up in a flash and out the exit door, brandishing his familiar pistol in lieu of Ivanovna's technology. Immediately upon exit he saw two people standing by Lieutenant Ivanovna; both wore similar clothing. Ivanovna was clutching her chest. "Drop your weapons!" he shouted to the two newcomers.
"It is alright; these are friends," she said to Mullen. "Commander it is good to see you, though you nearly startled me to death! I thought we were marooned for sure," Ivanovna said with a sigh of relief to Yilaan and O'Shea, who had recently beamed down near the source of the titanium signatures detected on the Vienna.
"Who is this?" Yilaan asked Ivanovna, eyeing Mullen suspiciously.
"This is Agent Mullen of the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Ivanovna said. "Agent Mullen, this is Commander Yilaan and Lieutenant O'Shea from my ship."
Mullen nodded and lowered his gun, "More of your friends from the Federation?"
"I see you two had a chance to become acquainted," Yilaan flatly surmised. "What is your status Katrina?"
"There are two serious injuries, and Michaels is dead. The Runabout is a total loss. We need to get our people to the Bristol," Ivanovna reported.
Yilaan shook her head and cursed under her breath. "Very well," she replied simply. "Yilaan to Doctor Giovanni," she continued, glancing skyward and pressing her comm-badge.
"I'm here Commander," the reply came.
"You should be reading two life signs in the Runabout; beam them both up and get yourself back to the ship," Yilaan ordered. "Send someone back for us when this is done."
"Acknowledged," Giovanni replied.
"Is this the way you move about from planet to surface then; you don't land in general?" Mullen asked, trying to soak it all in.
"We use both methods," Yilaan replied evasively. She then gave Ivanovna a stern look, "Lieutenant, may I speak with you for a moment?" Yilaan shot Mullen a look and took Ivanovna by the arm off to one side. "Katrina, was it really necessary to give that man every intricate detail of the Federation?"
Ivanovna made a face and stiffened her posture. "I have betrayed no secrets Commander," she replied formally.
"That may be, but shouldn't you have thought twice before telling him who we really are? I mean, aside from the potential repercussions to the time line, people in this period of Earth's history were very paranoid of off-worlders," Yilaan reproved.
"It was a judgment call I had to make Commander. He and a friend saw us crash; they confronted us with weapons, and my universal translator was nonfunctional, inciting an angry response in them with my foreign tongue. I had to bring the situation under control, so I explained who I was," Ivanovna replied.
"Did he believe you?" Yilaan asked.
"No, of course not. I then showed him how our weapons worked. He was very open-minded from that time on," Lieutenant Ivanovna responded.
Yilaan's eyes grew wide, "You shot him?"
"No, he had already confiscated my equipment by the time this happened. Which reminds me," she continued, sparing a glance over Yilaan's shoulder at the F.B.I. Agent, "he still has my gear. At any rate, I showed him how they worked. Apparently he's sort of on the fringe; he believes in things and can accept things that the rest of society just isn't ready for yet."
"Like extra-terrestrials?" Yilaan said with a smile. Ivanovna smiled and nodded and the two walked back over to the shuttle and to Mullen.
"Everything alright?" Mullen asked; Yilaan nodded affirmatively.
"Mullen, what are you going to tell the others about us after we've gone?" Ivanovna asked.
Agent Mullen sat on a nearby rock and stared straight ahead. "I have a duty to the truth," he replied simply.
At that, their banter was interrupted by a call over Yilaan's comm-badge, "Commander, this is Captain Freeman," the captain's voice called out. "We are in orbit and are ready to beam up the Runabout, you, and Lieutenant Ivanovna, at your earliest convenience."
Yilaan pressed her comm-badge, "Captain, go ahead and beam up the Runabout. We'll be along in a moment." She then turned to Agent Mullen and offered her hand, "Thank you for keeping my people safe." The two shook hands and Yilaan then took several steps back, glancing at Ivanovna while the disabled ship behind them dematerialized.
"Lieutenant could you remain a moment?" Mullen asked of Ivanovna.
Yilaan nodded affirmatively to Ivanovna and pressed her comm-badge, "Bristol, one to beam up."
"Your things," Mullen said, handing her back the instruments he had earlier confiscated.
Ivanovna smiled at him, "Thank you. What did you mean earlier when you said you have a duty to the truth?"
"That this event will be entered into my reports," Mullen replied. "But, without hard evidence . . ." he continued, letting his sentence trail off. Branches of trees behind them cracked suddenly with the approach of several people.
"Mullen?" Scala's voice called out. "Mullen are you there?"
"I'm here Scala," Mullen yelled back, turning his head away from Ivanovna to shout and back again to address her. "It's time for you to go now, but I have one question."
"What is your question, Agent Mullen?" Ivanovna asked as Agent Scala and several men in uniform crashed through the surrounding brush and walked slowly towards them.
Mullen thought for a minute. "Never mind," he replied, smiling and shaking his head. "Go back to your people."
Ivanovna nodded and took a few steps back. "Thank you, Agent Mullen."
"Mullen, what is going on?" Scala asked. "Where is that ship?"
Mullen didn't reply; seconds later to the surprise of all save Mullen, she dematerialized. As she went, a strange shimmer of lights flew rapidly up from the ground all around them, disappearing over the trees almost as quickly as they had appeared.
***
Back aboard the Bristol, the ship limped its way back through the wormhole and into their own time. The survivors of the Runabout crash were all administered to by Doctor Giovanni, who happily reported that all would be fine in time. On the Bridge, Lieutenant Hathaway was at the helm, Freeman and Yilaan were in their command chairs, and the newly promoted Lieutenant Junior Grade Bradley was at the tactical station. In addition, Ensign Carlon was at the navigations position and Jevor manned his Engineering panel at the back of the Bridge. As the Bridge crew was discussing what to do about this passage into Earth's past, the hole imploded upon itself, and both it, and the gaseous anomaly surrounding it, disappeared.
"That makes things easy," Freeman noted sarcastically with a half-grin as he and the Bridge crew watched the event on the viewscreen, their ship a safe distance away. Freeman and Yilaan exchanged looks. "I believe we're due at Starbase 78 soon; let's get there a bit early, shall we?" Freeman was about to order a new course for the ship when he was interrupted by Bradley.
"Captain, something strange on the sensors here," Bradley reported from her station, her fingers dancing across the control panel. Freeman got up from his command chair and walked around to her station to see what she was referring to.
"This looks like an energy spike from inside the ship. In the main shuttle bay and in a transporter room. And now they're gone!" Freeman noted with interest. "Jevor, what do your panels show?"
Jevor worked the Engineering panel for a few seconds. "I'm showing a slight power variance in the area of the ship you specified, but it only lasted a few seconds. What you detected, Lieutenant, could be just a glitch in the sensors; I'll have my teams go over the array again. They may have missed something in their repairs," Jevor replied, swinging around in his chair to face the captain and Lieutenant Bradley.
Bradley glanced at Freeman while the latter nodded and patted her once on the shoulder as he walked back around to his command chair. "Very good Commander Jevor; keep me posted. In the meanwhile, helm, get us on course to Starbase 78. Full impulse until warp drive is repaired."
"Aye sir," Hathaway acknowledged, and the ship lurched off in the direction specified for it.
Go on to Part Two of the "Kindred Spirits" trilogy
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