[snip]

=/\= Admiral Riles here Captain, how are things going out there?=/\= He said.

Glen replied to the Admiral. =/\= Good progress made, I think, although I have to say that if we hadn’t already experience time travel, some of the revelations might be mind blowing. We have made contact with the 24th Century ship and had a meeting where we shared information on the ‘Dark Serpents’. It appears that while the threat is much larger in the future, they are more vulnerable to attack in the here and now. We are also preparing a weapon that should be effective against them and halt their advances. We have experienced some sub-space anomalies that I can only describe as ‘ghosts’ but have been instructed on how to counteract those. We also found a hidden ‘Boron Particle’, something akin to an ‘Omega Particle’ which the 24th Century engineers dealt with for us. I think that may have been an attempted attack upon us. It seems that these 24th Century officers deal with a good many things on a frequent basis that we would find almost fantastical. The Captain of the ship is the daughter of the Romulan Commander Andone, who I have liaised with on several occasions. So, there are Romulans in Starfleet, as well as talking antelopes. There has been a lot to take in. Our next mission is to investigate the third planet of a local system, a planet that has disappeared in the future. The idea is that the disappearance must be significant to this mission. Also sir, apparently as regards time travel, the Merrimack has some special property of protection… I admit I don’t understand the science behind it… but as a result of our earlier time travelling we have been charmed and are immune to some attacks. =/\=

William turned around in his swivel chair. The future was an intimidating place for sure. He wondered if he had any ancestors there, children of his own or if his family line dies with him. He truly wasn’t getting any younger.

=/\= I heard from the station commander about the scans possibly showing that anomaly. It’s something we’re looking right now see if we can replicate it but right now the egg heads here at HQ and Memory Alpha all are stumped on ideas so probably isnt something we’ll see happen anytime soon. As for the rest of what you said, not sure how I feel bout the idea of the Rommies being in Starfleet in whatever future your friends are coming from, just doesn’t seem right if you ask me given all the problems we’ve had since the get go..=/\= Trailing of for a moment, he shook his head then obviously putting aside his personal feelings, =/\= In either case good to hear you’re in one piece still, the folks behind the scenes coordinating this with some egg head from further in the future here at HQ says ‘things are on track’ whatever that means, he keeps spouting off some nonsense about some ‘temporal prime directive’ bunch of hog wash if you ask me. In either case since we cant send you any ships to help fight this ‘dimensional/time hopping snakes’ or whatever you’ll have to do what you can on your own with your future friends, again this further future guy here at HQ says it’ll all work out but its damn annoying not having more information to give you or advice.=/\= He commented.

=/\= It does appear that they are very tied to their ‘Temporal Time Directive’, when it suits them to be, Sir! =/\=

=/\= In either case keep us appraised if you can, despite our future friend here at HQ telling me not too I’m sending the USS Portsmouth and USS Brans both Miranda class cruisers out your way with several Larson class destroyers. I know they won’t be of much help but they should be there in another hour or two regardless. If you find a use for them in some way get in touch with Captain Sturpets of the Portsmouth he’s got overall tactical command of that squadron..=/\= He said.

=/\= Anything else?=/\=

=/\= I appreciate the gesture Admiral, but as I just outlined, the reason the Merrimack is fighting capable here, is due to the temporal hiccup we got during our time with the Elders and Ancients, that also effected our weapons. No heroics here, Sir, but Captain Sturpets’ squadron do not have that protection or upgrade, and they would be heavily disadvantaged in any fight against the Dark Serpents. I think that it is better that they assemble somewhere nearby and wait for the present time, making a show of force. If we get into a battle, once the tide has turned in our favour, we can call in the cavalry to finish off. With all due respect, Sir, if it doesn’t turn in our favour, then it would be pointless to throw more ships, and weaker ships, into an unwinnable frontal assault. =/\=

Cross heard her transmitter bleep and clicked it open....Glen would hear the doctor mutter something before closing it back.
‘’Captain that was from sickbay,apparently our new doctor is some what paranoid and suggested that the twins would be safer if we erect the force field emitter once its available’’ for a brief moment she turned her face away lest he saw the tears welling up in her eyes.

As we waited for the Admiral to reply Glen made a thumbs up sign back to Cross. He found it unlikely that it was really Bre’s idea. Glen could understand that Cross might feel that way after her own child was stolen by the Ancients/Elders but it was a concern he now had himself too. These Dark Serpents could flit in and out of subspace at will and that made the Merrimack vulnerable. So, anything that increased the protection of the ship was okay with him.

=/\= If you’re sure then, Captain. Very well I’ll put the squadron on standby 5 light years off. Anything else to add?=/\= He asked

=/\= Nothing important that I can think of right now… Just one thing! I admit that I don’t fully understand the weapons that my XO and COS are preparing, with the assistance of the Ark Angel. I do however, know that previous experiments with subspace weapons have shown they have a very unpredictable nature. I’m a little concerned about the effects that could occur as a result of using these weapons, such as a subspace tear, but I have agreed to it as I see no other way of attacking the Dark Serpents when they seem to exist within subspace itself. There is a strong possibility that Ark Angel, or ourselves, may cause permanent damage to subspace in this region although it is very remote and unpopulated. It could even be the reason that the third planet disappears. Having time travelled so much, having seen the Merrimack in the future turned into a floating museum, it makes me wonder about our legacy. I don’t wish to be remembered as the Captain who destroyed a Sector and made it uninhabitable. =/\=

William perked up at the sound of subspace weaponry, he hadn’t been in the meeting much to his chagrin so this was the first he’d heard about what kind of weapon they were designing. He’d been briefly a part of a think tank that was looking into potential uses of Subspace weapons, although his work had been entirely theoretical as he understood it the weapons were probably the most unstable kinds of weaponry available.

CSO

OOC: Isolytic “burst” subspace torpedo weapons will be outlawed in the future at the Second Khitomer accords in about 30-40 years time. Despite that ban they will continue to be used, most notably by the Son’a in the film ‘Star Trek: Insurrection’.

IC: When the call to the Admiral had finally finished, Captain Glen turned to his CSO. “You weren’t in the meeting but you will have gathered that we are going to investigate the third planet in this system and why it no longer exists in the time from which the Ark Angel came back from. I want you to lead on that investigation. You will also have gathered from my conversation with the admiral that we are working on subspace torpedo weapons to defeat the Dark Serpents. I have a bad feeling that the loss of the third planet is no coincidence. I noticed in your personnel file that you were briefly a part of a think tank that was looking into potential uses of Subspace weapons. You are therefore probably the most qualified person aboard to investigate any link.”

Captain Glen, CO