Return of the Captured - Present Part 3
Posted on Wed Sep 30th, 2026 @ 3:33pm by Lieutenant JG Abrasax & Commander Peter Horn & Commander Hiro Sommers-Yoshida & Lieutenant Alena Alessa & Glinn Vaaet Pazon & Ilyas Horn
Edited on on Wed Sep 30th, 2026 @ 3:33pm
1,341 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Episode 9: Across Time
Location: Across the Deep Space 21
Timeline: Present (takes place before "The Retrieval Order")
on:
===Present, Deep Space 21===
Vaaet observed the desperation with quiet empathy, even if he found the emotional display inefficient. Panic wouldn't align the sensors. The failing pallet in Section 1 wasn't a random mishap; the rift's chroniton emissions were actively warping the localized subspace relays. They needed precise, systematic calibration of the phase variance to stabilize the loop - not hope, but solid science.
Inefficient as worry might be, it was all Peter had aside from hope. Especially when he had other family members to think of too, most notably another teenage son who was just as worried about his little troublesome brother and now a surprise baby girl whom he'd barely been able to hold. His primary concern right now had to be his duty and his missing son. "Are there any log in the station's history?" He finally considered, "any mention about disruption caused by a teenage child of non Cardassian or Bajoran origin?"
"You have reason to believe Ilyas is still on the station, only back in time?" Without waiting for an answer Hiro moved to an available console. After inputting the search parameters he ordered the computer to do a full search of historical logs.
While the computer was still busy searching, Maintenance reported back that the sensor pallet had indeed been out of sync, just as Abrasax had suspected, and it had been corrected. They added that the reason for the misalignment was unknown, so they couldn't guarantee if the sensor would stay aligned.
"I do not believe he would leave the station," Peter answered with a level of certainty, "not unless his circumstances forced him to."
Vaaet’s eyes narrowed slightly as he listened to Hiro and Peter theorize about the station's historical archives. He took a deliberate step toward Hiro’s console, his tone sharp, clinical, and completely devoid of comforting platitudes. "If the boy were logged in the Cardassian archives he wouldn't be listed as a missing Starfleet dependent," Vaaet pointed out, his voice cutting cleanly through the nervous hum of Ops. "He would have been flagged as an unidentified alien infiltrator or a localized security anomaly. The Cardassian Guard was meticulous regarding station manifests; if he appeared twenty years ago, his presence would have triggered an immediate containment protocol."
"I despise that Murphy, whoever they were." Abrasax commented as the computer finished the calibration. Abrasax tapped his combadge. "Thank you Maintenance, much appreciated! Ops out," he tapped his badge again and with the chroniton scan set, he activated it. "Okay, let's get this show set up," he said as the station's deflector arrays put Section 1 of the Docking Ring through a flood of sensor sweeps as all the chroniton particles were logged and analysed.
It didn't take long this time. "Confirmed, 20 years old and it seemed he continued on out of the section." Abrasax wondered what the station was like 20 years ago, it was under Cardassian control. "When did Starfleet gain this station, Commanders?" He asked, concerned.
As he listened to the Commanders, Abrasax expanded the scan's area so it could cover the entire station. It began to map out Ilyas' path and he input the command to get the decay rate of all chronitons particles. It was going to take maybe an hour but that was a side project as Abrasax went about getting the next part of the plan set up. He'd need to re-calibrate the Section 1's sensor pallet again, but now that it was in sync once more it could be done remotely, along with all pallets across the station.
A flagged security log detailed 2 Betazoids, 1 Bajoran, 1 Cardassian traitor and 1 child being processed in the cell block of the Security Office popped up on a computer search, as if it was new but yet wasn't. Their names left out for some reason but the logs after that had become corrupted but logs continued after a gap.
"The new administration takes over, yet the station’s archives remain a disaster of fragmented data," Vaaet sneered, his voice cutting through Ops with sharp, clinical precision as his eyes stayed locked onto the newly flagged security entry. He stepped closer to Hiro’s display, pointing a long finger at the corrupted entry. "A 'child' processed in the primary cell block twenty years ago alongside a Cardassian traitor. Given the security protocols of the day, if he was incarcerated during a localized phase-shift, his biological signature will be archived under the Guard's medical intake logs."
"Why medical and not security intake logs?" Abrasax inquired curious.
The log had a link to another log that detailed without details for sensors that were offline for that period of time, that the prisoners all managed to escape. Especially off the station, there were some additional reports of small riots among the workers that did get the Security Overseer injured.
"Standard protocol," Vaaet cut in, his dark eyes narrowing as he tapped a sequence into the console. "Security intake logs record surface infractions and inventory assets. Medical intake documents biological anomalies, quarantine risks, and structural physiological data. If a non-Cardassian minor materializes within a high-security zone during an active phase-shift, the Guard’s primary concern isn't criminal processing... it's containment of a potentially compromised organism. Security would come much later."
Abrasax raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Vaaet. "You say that like it happens often in Cardassian space." The computer chirped and he turned back to it. "It seems that we are ready, here goes nothing, as humans say," he said as he activated the tachyon pulse directed across the station.
He was expecting to hear of Ilyas' return wherever he happened to be in the past but nothing. Strange, unless they were behind forcefields as Vaaet said. Abrasax was about to dispatch a second tachyon pulse when 2 new and 1 expected biosignatures appeared in the primary science lab along with the Beacon's power spiked before it began to drop. Abrasax could have sworn it drew power from the station as well but that was hardly an issue.
He grinned, it seems the Beacon brought them back but... Wait, them? Who else was there? Abrasax got to his feet. With a grin he gestured to the lift. "I believe it's done, Commander Horn, come come," he chanted as he made for the lift. He had to meet who else came with Ilyas.
Peter was already moving, almost running towards the science lab. "Ilyas!" He called out, hoping for an answer even though he couldn't be sure it was him.
"Three distinct biokinetic signatures," Vaaet observed in a clipped, clinical tone as he scanned the updated telemetry on his PADD. "Hypothetically, if the temporal anchor collapsed while in close proximity to other organisms, the tachyon pulse would have bound their quantum states to the boy's arrival vector." He walked casually, entirely unbothered by the urgency around him. "Prepare for potential physiological shock. Displacement across two decades is rarely gentle on organic tissue."
"That would be your area of expertise, is it not Doctor?" Abrasax said from the back of the turbolift. "Shouldn't you be more... Concerned?" He inquired slightly unsettled by the Medical Doctor's lack of professionalism and care for those he is medically responsible for. Abrasax eyed the Cardassian critically, he was starting to be not sure he should trust Vaaet.
"Emotion does not stabilize cellular shock, Lieutenant," Vaaet replied, his tone flat and icy. "I am preparing for trauma protocols, not a reunion."
"Primary Science Lab," Abrasax said to the lift, with or without the Doctor.
“I believe the doctor has our best interests at heart, Lieutenant.” Hiro commented while following the Chief Scientist to the lift. “We’re not all alike. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations, remember?”
"If you say so, to the Doctor's best intentions I mean," Abrasax replied softly to Hiro.
Stepping past Abrasax with unhurried authority, Vaaet tapped his communicator, already issuing crisp commands to the infirmary. "Infirmary, prepare three stasis fields and an anti-tachyon wash. We have incoming temporal arrivals, and I prefer my patients alive."
TO BE CONTINUED...
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