Changes

The answer I got wasn’t one I wanted to hear… when “I” had been assimilated there had been only one thought on my mind, one thought so strong it had become a part of the collective… that thought was Sam… the result was that she was assimilated, and became the new Borg Queen… The reason these Borg, in this timeline, were separated from the collective, and not functioning as they normally would, was that somehow my Borg counterpart had managed to separate himself from the Collective… what he’d done from there had literally destroyed the Collective from the inside… he killed the Queen, he killed Sam…

The Borg Wueste started by assimilating Sam, and, before I could do anything to stop him, me as well… we became a part of the Collective, the crew unable to do anything to stop this were soon faced with a battle of their own, as a Star Fleet Armada engaged the Borg…

Commander Syntranos, in his capacity as First Officer, took the ship to Starbase Alpha, Starbase One’s replacement, and began docking maneuvers. Once we were docked the crew began to disembark, and I was beamed over to the Starbase’s Sickbay for continued monitoring until I regained consciousness.

'''Stardate 20303.25'''

Time... what is it exactly? Whatever you choose to define it as, there never seems to be enough of it.

Since the completion of our last 'mission' time has gone by at an incredible rate.

Samantha and I were married in a ceremony aboard Starbase One. Admiral Beckett was as good as his word, and performed the ceremony... we even managed to get Yssy, Tam, and Jos involved, with Tam as the best man... it was perhaps the happiest day of my life.

The turnout was overwhelming, and the emotions present that day were equally overwhelming.

Before Sam and I could embark on our honeymoon though, a Romulan Armada attacked Starbase One.

We headed up to the Starbase's Operations Center to get an overview of the situation, just in time for a second attack to begin... this one from a Fleet of Borg Vessels.

Starbase defenses were instantly overrun, and Fleet Admiral Beckett, in his capacity as Commander Star Fleet, initiated the Armageddon Directive... a last ditch operation that acts to safeguard Earth and utilize what remains of the Fleet to save the Federation.

With the Armageddon Directive's activation Sam and I were transported back to the Gettysburg, where we prepared for immediate launch.

Power was offline aboard the Starbase by this point, so the Yoritomo fired a volley of Torpedoes to explosively open the bay, allowing for escape.

I took the Gettysburg to Warp seconds after we cleared the base, to avoid the Borg ships in the vicinity.

After clearing the system, we received our orders.

Star Fleet Command instructed us to attempt time warp... to travel back to before the attack and find a way to stop it from happening.

The science department, led by Lieutenant Xeth, put together the necessary calculations and fed them into the navigational computer.

No sooner had this been done than a Borg Vessel attacked us.

Inputting the proper heading, directly for Sol, I ordered the use of Science's Calculations, as the Gettysburg went to Maximum Warp.

We were successful in traveling through time, however, instead of traveling a few days into our past; we traveled 12 years into the future.

It seems likely this was caused by the Borg attack, which offset the parameters involved in the Time Warp Calculations.

The future we arrived in was one where the Borg controlled everything.

Earth, the entire system, perhaps the entire quadrant... all Borg.

With our primary sensor grid offline however, we had no way of knowing this at first.

It wasn't until a few hours after arrival that we realized we had arrived in the wrong time.

Before we reached this conclusion I sent an Away Team, in Shuttles, to dock with Starbase One... what they found however was that Starbase One no longer existed, in it's place was a huge Borg Installation... and that was when we realized we had arrived in the future, instead of the past.

I recalled the Away Team, and, through careful study of the situation, our actual location, 12 years into the future, was determined.

With the Gettysburg running on reserve power, and the Warp engines incapable of returning us to our own time, I realized we had only one option... we had to figure out just what the situation was in the here and now...

I redeployed the Away Team, led by Commander Syntranos, their new mission was to board the Borg Installation and retrieve any and all information on what this future was like. More over to find anything that could help us return to the past, and better still, stop the Borg there, and stop the collapse of the Federation.

The Away Team's mission was cut short, however, as they were ambushed by a lone Borg, her designation, one of twelve.

The attack was brutal, Lieutenant's Drell and Geran were injured critically and, aboard the Gettysburg, we lost contact with the rest of the team.

What followed is difficult to believe, but evidence of it stare me right in the face...

The Away Team was rescued by a new group of Borg... they weren't just any Borg though, they were the Away Team, they were members of the Gettysburg's Crew.

They transported the Away Team aboard their Gettysburg, an assimilated Gettysburg, and plotted a course for my Gettysburg's location.

At first, when I saw the Borg vessel on the screen, I was unable to recognize it... damage and assimilation had changed her so much... but, as she got closer, I recognized the basic design of what I assumed must be an assimilated Federation Vessel, either Fearless or Avenger Class...

I discounted the possibility of it being a Fearless Class Heavy Cruiser almost instantly, however, as I knew of no such vessels that would have been in the area at the time of the initial Borg attack... and while I couldn't be positive what might have happened in the twelve years that had passed, I had nothing to work with outside of my knowledge of the past...

My best guess was that it might have been the Dauntless... while I couldn't imagine Matt Thrawn allowing his ship to be assimilated; it seemed the most logical conclusion.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Realizing we didn't stand a chance if the Borg wanted a fight, I tried something somewhat unorthodox... I hailed the Borg vessel.

What appeared on the viewscreen haunts me, even now... I looked into my own eyes, into the eyes of an assimilated Dan Wueste... I knew than it was the Gettysburg, and while that raised more questions than it answered, it at least told me with whom I was dealing.

After this Borg had returned the Away Team, minus Commander Syntranos, and despite what my years of training and work in Star Fleet told me, despite my every instinct, I invited this Borg to come aboard... it was the only way to get Syntranos back, and I knew it might well prove to be only way to find a solution to this problem.

I took Sam and we headed down to the meeting point... Cargo Bay 5, a location I had selected because it could be explosively decompressed in the event of an emergency.

My Borg Counterpart beamed aboard, with Syntranos, and talks began.

After deciding I could trust this Borg, I elected on a change of venue, and we adjourned to Sam's and my quarters.

Sam's presence seemed to make the Borg uneasy, making it all the clearer that he and I were one and the same.

What he told us in our quarters was, to put it mildly, troublesome...

The Borg attack on us, as we entered Time Warp, had, in fact, offset our calculations... it had also created an alternate reality, one where we arrived 12 years into the future... and a second where our attempt at Time Travel failed, and we were assimilated...

The person sitting across from me was the result of this alternate timeline.

Sam, Darsyn, and I also found out why the Borg were so disorganized in this time... seemingly in a state of decay... their Queen, the unit that allowed them to work as a collective, had been destroyed... that Queen, as a result of a something I had thought during time travel, during assimilation, had been Sam... And She had been destroyed by me... by the Borg that was me...

I realized then, and it was agreed then, that this was a timeline that must not continue, that must not be allowed to happen in the first place... that it had to be stopped... too many people had suffered, and it was time for it to end.

Calling together the Senior Staff, we moved to the Observation Lounge.

Before beginning I addressed ship's business that time had not allowed me to previously handle.

I promoted Joe Daher to Lieutenant, this, coupled with the recent promotion of Couly to Lieutenant J.G., working to help solidify the Tactical Department...

I also promoted Jeff Xeth to Lt. Commander, and altered crew assignments slightly.

Darsyn Syntranos was moved in as First Officer, a position vacant since Chris McCullough's death... I assigned Dade Sykes as Second Officer, Munroe as Chief Medical Officer, and moved D'Atal in as Chief of Security and Third Officer.

Through this the Command Crew was complete for the first time in what had felt an eternity.

Moving on I, or more over the Borg Wueste, briefed the Senior Staff on the situation.

The next step became figuring out a way to accomplish the mighty task before us... to return to our time, and end this timeline...

How we will achieve this remains unclear, however, with the recent addition of the Borg Versions of most of my Senior Staff, with the exception of a Borg Sam, as it had been destroyed, and a Borg D'Atal, as, from what I've gathered, it had been killed during the Away Team's rescue... working together I am cautiously optimistic that we can determine how to complete our mission, and make it a success.

This situation has been made bearable only by Sam's presence, here, with me... I cannot begin to imagine what this Borg must have gone through, to be alone, something I have never been good at... worse still, to have been forced to kill Sam... Through it all I must also wonder what life has brought for Yssy, Tam, Ray, Jos, and so many others, since last I saw them... if we fail what will their fate be? From what I have been told, by this Borg me, if we fail, they will die, or worse be assimilated... I love Star Fleet, I love the Federation, but it is for them, my friends, that I do this... I'm sure it is the same for most of the crew... we do this to save our homes, our friends, our families, we do this because, if we fail, we will have lost everything that matters...

That, in the end, may be what allows us to win, we fight for our homes, the Borg fight for nothing more than conquest, and that is a goal incapable of producing the force of will necessary to ever truly be victorious.

Stardate 20304.19 The Meeting with the Senior Staff was, overall, a success.

The situation was laid out, the stakes were made clear, and a plan was established.

The Borg Counterparts of the entire Senior Staff have come aboard, with the exception of my wife and Mr. D'Atal... the Borg D'Atal was killed aboard the Borg base, rescuing my Away Team... and the Borg Sam was killed by the Borg Wueste, because she had become the Borg Queen...

To say the details have proved confusing would be an understatement.

My Borg alter-ego has provided us with the needed calculations to return to the past, to return to our time, our reality... and he has made this voyage possible by doing what we couldn't, providing us with a working Warp Core.

Ironically, and much to my surprise, this replacement Warp Core comes from the Valley Forge, my first Command, and a ship I had believed destroyed by the Borg assault... the Forge saved me in the past, and it has saved us all again... How I wish I could stand on the Forge again, to Command her again, even for a moment... I didn't realize just how much I missed her until I saw her Warp Core there, floating in space...

With the help of my crew, and 'my' Borg crew, that core is now a part of the Gettysburg, and with it we shall move towards the future, by traveling to the past, and hopefully doing something to save our homes, and stop the Borg.

We are being accompanied by the Borg who has helped us, in theory they should cease to exist when we return to our time... they seem to long for death... but who can blame them? I find myself being able to empathize with them far more than I ever imagined... because I see in the Borg that is me, everything that makes me who I am... I know I would feel as he does, were our roles reversed.

May fortune favor the bold and the brave... may we be successful, may we correct the wrongs of the past... may we set things right... for once we can turn back time, for once we can forget the past, for once we have the opportunity to build a future worthy of survival.

We will shortly be returning home, home to a time I can only hope we can save...

'''Lt. Dade Sykes Chief Engineering Officers Log, Stardate 20212.21'''

Well, I have made it this far. Considering the troubles in my past, it is a miracle I am sitting where I am. I have been moved from Security to Engineering, and given a promotion to CEO aboard the Gettysburg. I must say, I had not expected this turn of events...but they are appreciated in any case.

Our ship is in total disrepair at the moment, an effect of our slingshot around Sol. We attempted to return a week in the past to divert a Borg attack, but somewhere....we messed up and ended twelve years into the future. A small away team was gathered, including myself, to determine when we were.

Get it out of you, Dade. Bottling yourself is what got you in trouble in the first place.

Earth is gone, a product of Borg ingenuity now. In this future, all is lost....humanity...Star Fleet....destroyed. I thought my Brig time was the hardest thing I ever faced, but when my eyes sat sight on the chaotic scene....I knew what true hardship was. Another away team is being formed....a suicide mission to board the Borg Installation that sits where Starbase One used to. I have sent two of my finest Engineers....Lieutenant Celestial and Ensign Ortega....to accompany the away team. I fear their loss, but I know that with enough determination and heart they will succeed and return. If something were to happen, I don't know if I could face the fact I was the one who sentenced them. Time will tell, I guess.

Darsyn has become more distant to me since my grave mistake with his sister. With Trish gone, I had hoped he would be a pillar for me...but anymore, I feel alone. It is best, though, I continue to keep a face of complacency...for the crew, and my Engineers. In time, I hope Darsyn comes around.....as do I hope Emmerene does.  Dad, I hope your proud.....

Stardate 20211.06:'''

I did it. I got accepted to the Enlisted Medical Program. In a few short months I'll return to Star Fleet as a certified medical crewman. It's what I've always wanted, but...what am I going to tell Jeff? "Sorry, but I've got to cut our relationship before it starts. Job over you..." How can I say that.

My parents will be thrilled but... what am I going to tell Jeff? I really think it can work between us, even if he's Trill. My parents opinion on men shouldn't effect my discision...but it does. I don't know.

I guess this is better than going back to the acadamy for 2 years. If we were going to handle that, can't we handle this? I don't know... I need to think, but I don't have time. He's in ten forward with Chuck, isn't he. Breakfast. What am I going to tell Jeff...

Computer End Recording

Stardate 20211.07:'''

Well, the captain's wedding is today, and I should be excited. I am, but Chuck's responce to not knowing aggrivates me. You'd think he would have already sucked the information out of my head when I found out. He was angry, but knowing him, he'll get over it. I'm amazed it upset him that much...

But what amazed me more is Josie. "We need to talk..." What happened? She seemed so distrought and lost. Like she didn't know what to do. Maybe this has to do with the fact that I have CSO position. They do say that you shouldn't date your superiors. But look at the Captain. I don't know. She'll explain whatever it is. I just don't like the way she left me hanging...

Computer...End Recording

'''Lt. Commander Darsyn Syntranos Computer, begin recording: Syntranos, Commander Darsyn, Chief of Security and Second Officer. Startate: well it really doesn't matter here does it?'''

Wow, it has been a long time since my last log entry. I hope I cover everything.

Two more dear friends transferred. Commander Sanu Lee, a man I was just getting to know, and Trish Delacroix, the woman I fell in love with.

I know it was probably just infatuation, but how can I help not being infatuated with her? She knows practically everything about me, and I know so little of her. But she's engaged to Alex Lorien. Seems okay. At least we're still close friends. And I wouldn't trade that for anything.

She deserves that First Officer position more than anyone. And one day, she's gonna make one hell of a Captain.

Then there's Chris McCollough. A man no one seemed to know. He's been dead a while now. Killed on my shift by Romulans who were holding Sam...er...Commander Wueste. That idiot. Should have stayed on the ship...

It's good to have Sam back. Only now I get to order her around! I'm still getting used to that one! She's been appointed Strategic Operations Officer, whatever that's supposed to be.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I almost forgot about my little sister. Stabbed by one of my best friends. I'm supposed to be mentoring Dade, helping him. But how? How can I help someone who almost killed the only family I have left?

I mean I shouldn't feel that way I know. I went insane and killed someone myself. I still have nightmares about Taldan Kwen.

I don't know. I'll talk to Captain Wueste about it. Maybe he'll know what to do.

Now comes the real kick in the head. The Borg. The damned Borg. What happened? Why are they attacking now after 30 years of silence? I keep wondering if my father had something to do with it. I know he was evil, but I don't think he was stupid.

We tried traveling into the past to stop it from happening. Look how well that turned out! Now we're 12 years into the future with no way to get back home and I'm going on a practical suicide recon mission to find out if they have a weak spot!

I just pray we all make it back in one piece...

Ensign Traci Talazac Recording.  Computer, begin log entry. Where to start? This is the first log entry I have made since being assigned to the USS Gettysburg. Strange things have been happening in Star Fleet, and even more on this ship.

After graduatingComputer, begin log entry. Where to start? This is the first log entry I was have made since being assigned to Security under the command of LCdr Darsyn Syntranos. My Security Chief is good, caring man. After reading his personell records, I find it hard to beleive he killed a manUSS Gettysburg. But then againStrange things have been happening in Star Fleet, sometimes we must kill to protect lifeand even more on this ship.

After reporting for dutygraduating, my first assignment I was assigned to guard one Security under the command of the support staffLCdr Darsyn Syntranos. ApparentlyMy Security Chief is good, he had been trying to access something from Engineering and found something very valuablecaring man. After reading his personell records, I find it hard to the Captain at leastbeleive he killed a man. Not exactly the first assignment I had in mindBut then again, but orders are orderssometimes we must kill to protect life.

We reached Starbase 1 shortly thereafter After reporting for duty, my first assignment was to guard one of the support staff. Apparently, he had been trying to access something from Engineering and docked. While we we were docked found something very valuable, to the station came under attack from Romulan forcesCaptain at least. How they got past Not exactly the Federation border undetected remains a mysteryfirst assignment I had in mind, not that it really matters anymorebut orders are orders.

The We reached Starbase was holding its own until it 1 shortly thereafter and docked. While we we were docked the station came under attack from Romulan forces. How they got past the Borg . I couldn't beleive Federation border undetected remains a mystery, not that it myself, but after thirty years the Borg have returned to wreak havoc on the Alpha Quadrantreally matters anymore.

They took Sector 001 completely by suprise. FAdm Beckett The Starbase was forced to initiate holding its own until it came under attack from the Armageddon DirectiveBorg . I couldn't beleive it myself, whatever but after thirty years the hell that is. The Gettysburg was ordered Borg have returned to try the slingshot manuever around wreak havoc on the sun in an attempt to travel back in timeAlpha Quadrant.

Unfortunately we were pursued They took Sector 001 completely by a Borg vessel into suprise. FAdm Beckett was forced to initiate the time riftArmageddon Directive, and we ended up twelve years into whatever the futurehell that is. In this fututre, Star Fleet does not exist, at least not The Gettysburg was ordered to try the slingshot manuever around the sun in Sector 001. We're trying an attempt to get travel back home, but we don't know how. God help us allin time.

End log recordingUnfortunately we were pursued by a Borg vessel into the time rift, and we ended up twelve years into the future. In this fututre, Star Fleet does not exist, at least not in Sector 001. We're trying to get back home, but we don't know how. God help us all.

'''Lt. (J.G.) Robert Truax LtJg. Truax Personal Log Stardate:20301.06'''

On a more personal note I have just been promoted to Lieutenent Junior Grade.

[[categoryCategory: Mission Logs]][[Category: USS Gettysburg, CA-1863]]