Posted by Ensign Jayden Bennett (Engineer) in Integration (All crew!)- Main Sim

Posted by Lieutenant Commander R’han (Chief Tactical Officer) in Integration (All crew!)- Main Sim

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Kaylee Baxter (Chief Diplomatic Officer) in Integration (All crew!)- Main Sim

OOC: Each crew member should post your integration piece here. It’s not a single location but rather a single subject. The gist is that at some point after arriving back on the Athena, your character will be given the small device. You hold it, press the button while touching your counter-part and voila, you’re one person. The one holding the device is the one that continues to exist. Feel free to add details about the location, your characters’ thoughts and feelings, and just as important, how you came to the decision which one gets to continue to exist. Remember that your ‘past’ self (the ones still on the ship that didn’t evacuate the Athena) will have slightly different memories than the ‘Current’ version of your character, who went through the evacuation and ship’s destruction. The ones still on the ship won’t have experienced events on the surface. Either way, you’ll all have great fodder for future character development. I look forward to reading each of your pieces!

Also, if you want to do aftermath posts and interact with other characters after the reintegration, please start fresh threads for those and save this one solely for the reintegrations.

(snip)

It was much after most of the other crew had been integrated, that finally the device landed in the hands of the blonde haired diplomatic officer. Present Kaylee had yet to encounter her past counterpart, as she had been slipping back into her former counselor’s role and helping some of her comrades with their decisions. It was only when she held the device in her own hands that she realized that this was her time to make a decision on her own, and the mere thought of it brought only confusion and guilt into her mind.

Past Kaylee had also been helping the crew through the transformation. Hearing bits and pieces of what had transpired, she had already made up her mind, and she knew that she had her own worst enemy to face - herself.

The two blonde women finally came face to face in the one place they both shared, their quarters. Past Kaylee entered to find Current Kaylee seated, the device in her hands. Current Kaylee looked up, slightly shocked and disturbed at seeing her own doppelganger, even though she had seen enough pairs of past and current crew members that this moment shouldn’t have phased her as much as it did.

“Well,” Current Kaylee said, standing. “I suppose we have a decision to make.”

Past Kaylee nodded. She could feel something inside of her bubbling to the surface, a burning desire to live. She said nothing.

“My experiences could be useful in the future,” Current Kaylee continued, trying to rationalize with herself, and the past version of herself, this big decision that now lay before them both.

Past Kaylee felt the anger building inside of her. She did not want those memories. She did not want to be blinked out of existence. She looked at her counterpart, wishing for a moment that she felt the calm that she saw in that other set of crystal blue eyes.

“I don’t want to go,” Past Kaylee said, her voice wavering, cracking. From her pocket she extracted a hand phaser. “I deserve to live.” She said aloud, raising the phaser and firing upon the woman standing before her.

Current Kaylee only barely recognized the pain in her past self’s eyes before she was stunned from the phaser and crumpled to the floor. The device fell out of her hands, clattering across the floor.

Past Kaylee slowly moved over to the device, picking it up in her hands. She then knelt beside her other self, stroking a stray strand of blonde hair away from the woman’s face. Then she pressed the button.

Once the integration was complete, Kaylee stood, catching a glance of her reflection in the mirror. There was something almost unfamiliar at the woman staring back at her, her lips slightly curling up into a smile. She tugged at her uniform jacket, straightening it. Reaching up, she adjusted the ponytail pulled tight and high on her head. Then turning on her heel, she left her quarters and went back about her duties.

-Kaylee Baxter

sad

OOC: I predict some interesting character development from that! ~L

The past Jayden took the device that would integrate them and looked at his counter part. They stood there on the bridge.

“Let’s not do this here.” The future Jayden said and the two of them quietly left the bridge and returned to their quarters. They didn’t speak or look at each other until they got to their quarters. As soon as they entered, the older Jayden tossed the device on a table, and for what seemed like a long time, they both just stared at it.

The past Jayden spoke first. “Who wants to see Dad first?” he asked sadly, turning to look at his future self.

“I do miss him, although I don’t know why.” future Jayden replied. “He wasn’t around much. Then he got himself killed.”

“True, but do you not remember our conversations while he was deployed.” Past Jayden asked curious.

“I do. What do you think?”

“I don’t want to die.” Past Jayden said, tears starting to show.

Future Jayden was also starting to cry. “I don’t think either of us are as brave as Dad was.”

“Yeah. So what do we do?” he was choking up now, they both were. They were also trying to put on a brave face, failing though.

“Let’s let the computer decide. Random, fair. we each pick a number between 1 and 100, then have the computer give us a random number between that and which ever one of us is closer to that number pays Dad a visit.” Future Jayden had a really hard time finishing that sentence. Past Jayden nodded in agreement.

“I’ll pick 21.” Future Jayden said sadly.

“77 for me.” Past Jayden replied. “Ready?” Future Jayden nodded. =^=Computer, give us a random number between 1 and 100.=^=

=^=49=^= the computer replied and the two Jaydens looked at each other, both rechecking the math in their head. It was dead even, there were 28 numbers between each selected number.

“Wow” both Jayden’s said at once and they both let out a sad laugh.

=^=Computer, again, a random number between 1 and 100.=^=

=^=92=^= future Jayden looked at Past Jayden, who nodded. Moving slowly, Past Jayden grabbed the device and handed it to his past counterpart.

“Say hello to Dad for me.” Future Jayden said, tears streaming down his face. His past counterpart closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Nodding. He seemed calm now, he accepted his fate.

“I will.” he opened his eyes and extended his hand to shake the others. “Good luck to you.” Future Jayden tried to smile, but couldn’t he closed his eyes and pressed the button on the device. When he opened his eyes, his counterpart was gone. He stood there for a few moments, trying to comprehend what had happened. Siffiling, he went to the bathroom to throw some cold water on his face. He took a look in the mirror at himself and nodded to his reflection. He straighented out his uniform, grabbed the device and returned to the bridge.

-Jayden

OOC: Each and every one of these is wonderful! Thank you for really going for it.
IC:
Janna and her duplicate had been helping the transition or others, supporting them in the capacity that she was well trained at. Finally, it was her turn. Her other self, the Past Janna eyed her critically, watching in that intensely curious way that was common to both of them. The differences were minor, based on the experiences of a mere few hours. But those hours were etched deeply into Current Janna’s mind and soul. Past Janna could see that easily enough.

Silently, Past Janna picked up the device and offered it to her…self. Current Janna scrunched up her face and pushed it back towards her Past self. Past Janna almost smirked, though it came off more as being sad. “It was that bad, was it?”

“Bad enough,” Current Janna replied. “Trust me. We’ve had enough pain in our lives that you won’t miss these memories.”

“But what about them?” Past Janna said, gesturing around her. “What about their pain?”

Cursing silently, Current Janna took the device. “I should know better than to play mind games with you.”

“It is kind of pointless. Entertaining on some level, but pointless.” Past Janna smiled. “Good luck.”

With a simple nod, Current Janna pressed the button and soon was standing on her own, left with the memories of burning blood rain and her fellow shipmates in grave distress. But she also had been witness to their heroics and devotion to not only the mission but each other. They had both been right, but in the end, Janna knew she was strong enough to deal with whatever came her way.

~Janna Kingston, ACNS