Chapter Text
“This cannot be allowed to happen.”
“Certainly not. She has gone too far this time.”
“How has she managed to achieve so much without our permission?”
“There are some who believe she has received the protection of the Precursors.”
“Rubbish! No Life Worker can be superior to the Continuum.”
“Her ability to proceed with her plan despite our disapproval belays that.”
“Do you dare question our power? We must intervene.”
“What about our commitment to the Mantle? We have sworn to never interfere with events of their time.”
“We will continue to uphold it. If, however, they were convinced to disregard her messengers on their own accord, it would be of no consequence to us. All it will take is one meddlesome member of the Continuum to ask the correct questions.”
“Can we trust him?”
“He is a Q. We have no other option but to trust him.”
/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/-/*-
Sector 1195
U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-D
0525 hours, Stardate 48156.8
Things had been too quiet aboard the Enterprise recently. Since Captain Picard’s latest encounter with Q, there had been nothing remarkable happening, outside of the captain joining the senior staff for their weekly poker game.
Worf started each shift double-checking the security logs from the previous night, careful to make sure that no one on his staff had missed anything important. He had yet to find anything, much to his annoyance.
The majority of his shift passed slowly. Routine scans. Random communiques from his security teams, reporting nothing of interest.
It was going to be another boring shift, he decided.
Captain Picard and Commander Riker walked onto the bridge at near the middle of his shift. “Status, Mr. Worf.”
“There is nothing of any interest to report, sir.”
A grin passed over the commander’s face. “Is that disappointment I hear in your voice?”
“Of course not, sir.”
Another two hours passed. Commander Riker talked about a fishing trip when he was younger. Captain Picard spoke about Doctor Crusher’s latest theater production.
Worf couldn’t find it in him to be disappointed that he only had thirty minutes left in his shift.
Before he could begin to think about what he could do to make up for the tedious shift, a chirp sounded from his station. For a moment, he thought he imagined it, but as he looked down at the display, he realized that there was something wrong.
“Sir, sensors are detecting a subspace anomaly,” Worf announced from his station.
Picard stood up from his chair, casting a glance at Commander Riker. Worf knew there was nothing in Starfleet records that showed that this area of space of susceptible to anomalies. “On screen.”
There was a longer than normal pause from the Klingon. “Based on the readings, the anomaly is forming on the Enterprise. Deck 4, main shuttlebay.”
Will shot up from his seat. “Shields up.”
Worf pressed several buttons and frowned. “Controls are unresponsive.”
Picard took a step towards the Ops station. “Can we set up a containment field to contain it?”
Data’s fingers flew over the controls. “Attempting to establish a static containment...” His voice trailed off and his fingers faltered. “Sir, I am detecting a lifesign within the field.”
Picard and Will exchanged a glance. Picard gave a slight nod.
“Worf, get a security team down there,” Will ordered.
The Klingon nodded. He pressed several buttons on his console, ordering a half dozen men to the shuttlebay.
“Sir, creating a static containment field could potentially injured or kill whoever is trapped in the anomaly.” Data tapped a few buttons. “Based on the computer’s sensors, the anomaly is weakening. I believe that it will collapse on itself within two minutes.”
That was all the information Worf needed. He crossed the bridge, phaser in hand. Whatever was waiting down there, he wanted to be ready for it.
The ride in the Turbolift seemed to take longer than usual, but finally the doors opened and Worf approached the cargo bay. The rest of the security team stood outside the door, waiting in case anyone attempted to leave the bay.
“Mr. Worf, please advised that the anomaly has collapsed on itself. Commander Riker and I will down shortly to greet our guest. Picard out.”
Worf frowned. They had no way of knowing who was beyond the door and he had no intention of allowing his commanding officers walk into there without it being secured. He approached the control panel, overrode the security code.
Moments later, the doors slid apart.
Worf cautiously stepped inside, phaser in hand. He looked around the bay, not noticing anything out of place. He tensed, preparing himself for a surprise attack.
He listened for any out of place sounds, but all he heard was silence.
Who would want to try to sneak aboard the Enterprise? The Ferengi? The Cardassians? Or maybe the Romulans had some new technology? The grip on his phaser tightened.
“Show yourself,” he demanded. His eyes scanned the large containers in the corner, but he saw no movement. He walked to another stack of shipment containers when he heard it.
A faint groan came from his left.
When Worf spun around, he saw the intruder, laying on the ground. The person, wearing some kind of green armor, didn’t move as he approached.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
The person didn’t reply.
“What are you doing aboard the Enterprise?”
The bay doors opened behind him. Captain Picard and Commander Riker walked to Worf’s position. “He has not responded to any of my questions.”
Suddenly, the armored hand started to move. Worf’s grip on his phaser tightened.
But, the man didn’t make any moves towards them. He slowly reached up and lifted up the gold visor. As it slid up, Worf saw a face of a human.
“I need to get to Halo.” Then, his eyes fluttered shut, slipping into unconsciousness.
Riker’s brow furrowed. “What’s a Halo?”
“I have no idea, Number One, but I suspect we will find out soon enough.”
/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-
“I’m telling you, Jean-Luc, I have never seen anyone like him before.” Beverly sat behind her desk, looking at the medical readout from the John Doe that can mysteriously appeared on the ship.
Jean-Luc moved to stand next to the chair across from her. “But, he is human.”
She nodded. “Oh, absolutely. But, he’s like no human I’ve ever encountered.” She handed him a PADD full of medical readouts. “Carbide Ceramic Ossification. Catalytic Thyroid Implant. Occipital Capillary Reversal. Muscular Enhancement Injections. Superconducting Fibrification of Neural Dendrites. ”
“In layman terms, Doctor.”
She raised an eyebrow. “He’s superhuman.”
Picard looked up from the PADD. “Any idea how he got this way?”
Beverly shrugged. “He wasn’t born that way, if that’s what you’re asking. There is evidence of heavy scarring all across his body. That would indicate to me that he had some extensive medical procedures performed on him. Based on the tissue, I would estimate they are decades old.”
“Someone did this to him.”
“As horrible as it sounds, yes. I was able to run a non-invasive scan on him--”
“Non-invasive scan?”
She nodded. “Even if I could take off his armor, which I don’t think I could without Data or Worf’s assistance, I don’t know if it would injure him.. But, I found something else on the scan.” She tapped on her screen and spun the monitor towards Jean-Luc. A readout of the John Doe’s skull appeared. “He has some kind of neural interface implanted in the back of his neck--”
A stricken look passed over his face. “Do you think the Borg is involved?”
“No,” she quickly assured him. “There is nothing that even resembles Borg technology, but there is this.” She pressed another button and the image zoomed in. “Based on my tricorder readings, it’s some kind of isolinear chip. From best I can tell, it works with the armor and the neural interface.”
Jean-Luc sat there for a second, processing all that she said.
She nodded towards sickbay. “He woke up a couple of minutes ago. Deanna’s talking to him right now while I tried to review all the information.”
“Well then,” he said, raising his eyebrows, “let’s see what he has to say for himself.”
She led the way to where his patient was. Her jacket flared open as she walked ahead, brushing against Jean-Luc. He walked beside her.
As they approached the bed where their John Doe lay, Beverly noticed that the helmet he had been wearing had been removed. His pale skin made Beverly wonder if he had ever been exposed to sunlight or if he had lived under the helmet all of his life.
Deanna looked at the two of them. “This is John. He’s a Master Chief in the UNSC,” she said evenly.
Beverly and Jean-Luc exchanged a glance. There was no such thing as the UNSC as far as the doctor knew. Based on the look on Jean-Luc’s face, he didn’t know what Deanna was referring to either.
Beverly kept her frown hidden from her patient. None of the scans showed signs of blunt force trauma. Perhaps he had some sort of mental illness that she hadn’t been able to detect.
“The UNSC?” Jean-Luc asked.
The Master Chief sat up slowly, throwing his legs over the edge of the medical bed. Beverly’s breath caught in the back of her throat. This man, in some kind of robotic armor from the neck down, reminded her of Jean-Luc when he had been brought into sickbay after he had been transformed into Locutus.
Deanna looked at her, concerned. Beverly gave a curt nod. Now was not the time to reflect on those times.
“The United Nations Space Command.” His voice is rough. Beverly noticed his quick glance to his collar. “Sir,” he added quickly.
Picard shifted his weight from one leg to another. “I’m afraid that I’m not familiar with that organization.”
Beverly picked up a nearby tricorder and started running another scan on the man, allowing Jean-Luc to lead the conversation.
“It doesn’t exist here.”
He didn’t offer any further explanation. Beverly gave a half-shrug when Jean-Luc looked at her questioningly. Nothing on the readings she was getting showed any sign of mental illness.
“When you first arrived here, you mentioned something about a Halo,” Jean-Luc prompted.
John lifted his hand. In it, there was an object that looked similar to an isolinear chip. That must have been what was in his neural lace, Beverly realized. “We need to repair Cortana. She’s the only way.”
“The only way to what?”
“To complete our mission.”
/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-
The senior staff sat around the conference table. Picard sat at the head at the table. On the left, separated by a couple of chairs from the others, the Master Chief sat.
“As you all know, at 0525 hours today, the Enterprise detected a subspace anomaly which transported the Master Chief and his AI companion onboard,” the captain started. “According to him, he and his AI companion have been sent on a mission from an entity called the Librarian.”
Will cast a quick glance at the newcomer. He hated the fact that he couldn’t see the Master Chief’s face. Over the years, playing poker had made Will into someone who could read anyone based on their body language. When he looked at the Master Chief, all he saw was a distorted reflection of the room in his visor.
He shifted his gaze to Deanna. Years of knowing her allowed him to see through the face of neutrality. She was curious about the newcomer, but Will didn’t sense any concern from her.
It didn’t make him feel much better, however.
“The Librarian is a member of a species known as the Forerunners. It is, according to the Master Chief, an ancient race that was a sort of precursor to humanity as we know it.” Picard leaned back in his chair. “They were nearly extinct. Only a handful of them managed to put themselves in a sort of status field -- a cryptum-- which kept them alive for over one hundred thousand years.”
Across the table, Geordi let out a low whistle.
“What happened to the others?” Will asked.
“After being under attack by a hostile creature known as the Flood, they activated what they call the Halo array. The result of this was that nearly every lifeform in its attack path was killed. The universe was subsequently repopulated due to a so-called Conservation Measure,” Picard continued.
“I am afraid that there are no records to indicate that anything like that ever happened, sir.” Data cast a glance at the Master Chief.
“That’s because it didn’t occur here. The Master Chief is not from this timeline,” the captain replied evenly.
Will had to hand it to Picard. He didn’t know if he could repeat all of that without letting his skepticism seep into his voice, talented poker player or not.
“He is from another timeline?” Worf asked. The Klingon didn’t even attempt to hide his suspicion.
“Yes.” It was the first time the Master Chief spoke. “The year 2552.”
Will watched as a confused look pass over Data’s face, but the android voiced no question.
“I’ve contacted Starfleet Command and they have authorized us to investigate the coordinates that the Master Chief has provided. I have already had Ensign Rogers set a course for the Halo ring,” Picard said. “Meanwhile, I want Mr. Data and Mr. La Forge to work on repairing the chip that houses the Cortana program.”
The Master Chief stiffened.
“If that’s alright with you, Master Chief.”
“Of course, sir.” It was difficult to tell under the layers of armor, but it seemed to Will that he was hesitating to hand hand Data the chip in his hand.
“Commander La Forge and I will do everything we can to repair your chip. If we cannot, we will not do anything that will damage it further.” Data reached out to take the crystal from him.
The Master Chief released his hold on the chip. “Thank you, sir.”
Data studied him for a second. “Perhaps it would be to our advantage if you were to go with us to Engineering. Since your suit is recalibrated to interface with the data crystal, your presence would prove to be most helpful.”
Geordi nodded. “I agree, Captain. I could duplicate the energy signatures from the Master Chief’s armor, but it’d save us a lot of time if he was working with us.”
Picard nodded. “Very well. You three go to Engineering. If there is any progress, I want to be contacted immediately.”
The three men nodded. “Dismissed.”
Will waited until the doors closed behind the trio before looking at Deanna. “What’s your take on him?”
“He believes everything that he is saying. There is nothing that I can sense from him to indicate that he is being anything less than truthful,” she replied.
Beverly added, “I ran additional scans on him and there are no signs of mental illness. He is beyond the picture of good health. For being 46 years old, he has the body of a man in his late twenties.”
“Either he really is from the future in an alternate timeline or he has fooled everyone on this ship, including himself,” Deanna replied.
“What about this Cortana?” Will asked.
“Whoever she is, he is very concerned with her. This isn’t some random computer program.” Deanna answered.
“Do you think Geordi and Data will be able to repair her?”
Picard raised his eyebrows. “Something tells me that he’s not going to take no for an answer.”
/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-
It had taken the better part of three hours and some creative tinkering, but finally Geordi and Data had rigged up a contraption that should allow them to access the Cortana program. Geordi ran a final diagnostic, then gave a nod when the results appeared on the screen. “We’re as ready as we’re going to get.”
Geordi looked at Data and the Master Chief. The android seemed unusually short standing next to the seven-foot tall man in armor.
Despite the fact that he had been with them since they had left the conference room, the Chief offered little of his personality to them. So far, the Master Chief had limited himself to short answers, always ending with “sir”.
Geordi set the modified isolinear chip reader on top of the display unit. A thick cord ran from the back of it and plugged in directly to the main computer port. Data stepped forward and slid the chip in the reader.
Almost immediately, the lights in Engineering dimmed.
“Warning,” said the ship’s main computer calmly, “data saturation levels nearly maximum capacity.”
Geordi’s fingers flew over the control panel, shutting off the reader. The binary code was still streaming across the screen as the ship attempted to process all of its data.
Seconds later, his communicator chirped. “Geordi, what’s going on down there?” It was Commander Riker.
“I underestimated the amount of data that this data crystal contained,” Geordi admitted. “We’ve shut off the interface until we can create a buffer.”
“Understood. Riker out.”
Geordi exchanged a glance with Data. “Have you ever seen so much data on one chip before?”
Data shook his head. “No.” He turned to the Master Chief. “Tell me, are there many programs like Cortana?”
“Not anymore.”
An awkward silence settled between them.
It was Geordi that broke the tension. “It’s going to take me some time to figure out just how to start creating a buffer.”
“If I may suggest...” Data looked at the Master Chief briefly. “The back of your helmet contains AI housing, does it not?”
“Yes.”
“Then, hypothetically, Geordi and I should be able to use it to filter the amount of data that enters into the Enterprise’s systems,” Data said.
Geordi nodded. “That could work.”
The Master Chief looked down at them. “What do I need to do?”
“Simply remove your helmet,” Data replied. “We will not know what adapters we will need until we are able to see it.”
For a moment, Geordi wondered if the Master Chief was going to do as the android suggested. But, slowly, the Chief lifted his hands and released the locks on the helmet. Seconds later, he lifted the helmet up and carefully handed it to Data.
It was clear that he was uncomfortable being exposed. Geordi wondered how long it had been since he had taken off his helmet.
Geordi watched as Data inspected the back of the helmet. “I believe I can find an adapter to interface with this.” He placed the helmet beside the chip reader. “I will be back shortly.”
Before Geordi could offer to find the part, Data had walked away leaving him alone with the Chief. Normally, the Chief Engineer could become friends with anyone, but he suspected that this man was not in the mood to make acquaintances with anyone.
Still, it could be a while until Data returned. “So, Master Chief--”
“Chief,” he corrected.
Well, that was a start, Geordi thought.
“Chief,” he started again before he realized he didn’t know what to say. He studied him for a second. His VISOR was picking all sorts of energy signatures from his suit. There was even a faint reading coming from the back of his neck.
His eyebrows furrowed. “You have a neural implant?”
“Yes.” There was a pause. “How did you see it?”
“You’re not the only one with a neural implant, Chief?” Geordi tapped his temple. “I’ve got two of them. It allows me to interface with my VISOR to see.”
“You can detect energy signatures with it.”
Geordi nodded. “I can’t see like most humans, but it has come in handy from time to time.” He nodded towards the Chief. “What is yours for?”
“It acts as an IFF.” There was a long pause. “Cortana’s program--”
“I believe I have found a suitable adapter.” Data’s voice cut off the Chief’s words. He glanced between the two men. “Was I interrupting?”
“It was nothing,” the Chief said.
Data took him at his word and handed Geordi a small adapter that was attached to a short wire. Geordi reached around and connected it to the chip reader as Data plugged it into the back of the Chief’s helmet.
When he finished, he gave Geordi a quick nod.
Geordi took a deep breath. “Let’s try this again.”
This time when he activated the reader, he stayed near the controls, ready to shut it down if necessary.
“Fascinating,” Data said from another console.
Confident that the Chief’s helmet was providing enough a buffer from the Enterprise’s systems, Geordi walked to where Data was.
“I am noticing that there appears to be a large amount of redundant data within her matrix,” Data said, glancing at the Chief.
His body tensed. “It’s the rampancy.”
Data’s eyebrows went down. Geordi was as confused as he was. “I am afraid I am unfamiliar with that term.”
The Chief shifted his gaze away. “She’s dying.”
An interesting word choice, Geordi thought. Then again, if Data’s systems were to start slowly shutting down, he would use that same term.
Data pressed a few buttons. “I am sorry to hear that. Perhaps there is a way to get her program functioning properly again.”
Geordi frowned. They didn’t even know the first thing about how her program even worked. “Data, we don’t even know if we can get her program working in the first place,” he reminded him.
“I am confident that I will be able to do that,” Data said assuredly. “However,” he looked at the Chief again, “it will take a while. Perhaps you will find your time better spent resting.”
The Chief whipped around to face him. Geordi lifted his hands. “We will contact you as soon as we find anything.”
Several seconds passed before the Chief finally gave a curt nod. Then, he spun around and left the two of them alone.