To Be Or Not To Be

Posted on Thu Oct 16th, 2025 @ 9:45pm by Commander N'Garzi Zora & Commodore Jacob Kane

Mission: Aeon's End
Location: USS Athena - Ready Room
Timeline: MD-01: After "Taking Stock"
1348 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

With the majority of his department heads out and assigned, Kane was quick to halt Zora before she joined them to pitch in with the repair efforts. However, it was marred by a moment of silence as he internally wrestled with his own line of thought before he put it into the universe.

"I know you're eager to help get the repairs underway, but..." He rose from his desk and paced. "I've asked Lieutenant Zade and P'rel to look over the history records from the other Athena." His hand came up immediately to stop her before she spoke. "I know. It's totally against the temporal prime directive. But..." He sighed. "Level with me here, N'Garzi: seeing and hearing everything that my future self told us, do you think I'm at least a little justified in wanting to know if this was somehow...fixable?"

Zora was usually one for the rules and could have quoted several regulations that Kane was about to breach. However, any commanding Starfleet officer worth their weight knew that rules set in theory, in the clean environment of the classroom, didn't always track in the deepest depths of space. He didn't need the rulebook; he needed justification.

"Have I ever told you that I was at Voyager's welcome home ceremony?" She asked. "I was working in the Diplomatic Corps at the time," she continued after he shook his head. "Most of the information surrounding their final mission out of the delta quadrant is classified. However, Ambassador Vron, my commanding officer at the time, managed to find out and he liked to talk, a lot. Let's just say, Janeway broke a few temporal rules to get her crew home and what did Starfleet do? They promoted her." She fixed Kane with a mirthless smile. "We're talking about billions, make that trillions, of lives. The rules be damned, Sir. I think you're more than justified."

His face remained pensive, even in the face of a reasoned response. "Justified. I'm sure a lot of people said that about fighting a war against the Dominion too." He wandered over it in his head a little more. "The rules are there for a reason too. We could fix one problem and create an even worse one. I know that too. So how do we know which is the right option?"

"How do you ever know?" Zora asked bluntly. "You make decisions all of the time, admittedly, normally on a smaller scale. But you do it. Is this time any different?"

"Because...it is." His hands fidgeted, uncharacteristically. "Normally we're talking about a few hundred; the lives of one ship's crew. Or maybe a few. We're talking about billions of lives. Yes, we could save them. Or we could doom them to an even worse end." Stretching with frustration his fidgeting hand instead banged against his desk lightly. "Damn, I hate temporal mechanics."

Zora gave him a sympathetic smile. "The problem with humans is that they view time as the enemy. A creature that is stalking them in the dark, to be avoided at all costs. Some humans even try to tame it, thinking themselves the masters over one of the universe's most elusive elements." She leaned forward in her seat and placed her palms flat on the desk, either side of Kane's balled-up fists. "My people view time as a companion, a faithful friend that walks alongside us until the end, where we become one." She looked up at him, their dark eyes meeting one another. "You might not always see the path, it's sometimes shrouded and scary, but time has presented you with a gift."

"If that's the case, why doesn't it feel much like a gift?" he grumbled. A short pause. "Don't think I didn't notice your absence from the other ship's crew. Were you tempted to find out what happened?"

"Curious? Yes. Tempted? No," she replied as she eased back into her seat, creating some space between her and the Commodore. "That would be like peeking at the gift before the big day," she added, continuing with her analogy. "I imagine we lost a lot of good people along the way. Did it bother you? Me not being with your counterpart."

"Yes," he answered bluntly. "And no. Twenty-plus years is a long time. I'd have anticipated you with your own command in half of that time." It was a compliment wrapped up in pragmatic deduction. "In which case, things may not have worked out quite as either of us would have hoped from that eventuality, given the state of the fleet. Still: at least one of us made it."

"And rather you than me?" She teased with a smile that barely changed the shape of her face. She let it fade, and with it, the mood in the room felt sombre again. "You know I'll back any path you choose to take?"

"Yes." Kane's acknowledgement matched her sombre expression. Maybe her willingness to follow him all the way was part of the problem; perhaps he needed someone to fight him on this one. Ironic, in a way, that everyone was pulling in the same direction on this one. They had all seen this future, heard the stories, and now they were set on making sure it didn't come to pass. "As I would back you," he added. A pause. "Anyone else on the crew said anything about the situation yet? It can't have stayed quiet for long."

"There have been rumblings," she replied, her smile returning unexpectedly. This crew had the uncanny ability to work hard and gossip even harder. It was one of the perks of working on a smaller ship; there was never an escape from the rumour mill. "I think they're too focused on getting the ship back in shape to really contemplate our current predicament. It will happen though. I'm sure P'rel is currently pulling all the data she can from this timeline to analyse at a later date." She meant it as a joke but there was too much truth in the statement to be ignored. "Actually, that might be exactly what she is doing. Do you need me to keep an eye on her?"

"No more than usual. I've learned that a P'rel with something complex to unpick generally helps keep her out of trouble. And we've got a lot more pressing matters to worry about right now." He paused, rubbing his beard. There hadn't been much time to process between the Planet Killer and then landing in this mess. "Getting back home has to be an objective too. I know that El Aurians are...attuned to the universe a little, right? Maybe you and Lt Ryan can science something up on that front once the repairs are complete?"

Zora raised a single eyebrow. "We do," she confirmed. "And you must be desperate if you're willing to rely on the pseudosciences to get us home."

"Know thy strengths..." He retorted. "Why do you think I have you as my XO?" It was the faintest of light-hearted remarks he could muster considering the circumstances. "Of course, I have to keep this ship and crew alive long enough for you to be able to save us."

Zora returned the smile. "Glad to be of service," she replied, holding her arms out, like a falcon spreading their wings. She dropped her arms and subsequently, the smile faded too. "I wanted to catch up with Ryan anyway. She didn't seem herself during the meeting and we need everyone to be on their A game, right now."

"Hard to expect everyone to be. Carry on, Commander. And..." He gave the slightest nod. "Thank you for the input."

"Anytime," Zora replied. She went to pat Kane's outstretched hand, thought better of it and fixed him with a genuine smile instead. She left the room, wondering how he would approach this latest catastrophe. All the while knowing whatever decision he came to, it would be for the good of the crew, the ship, and maybe the entire galaxy.