i ★ [ partially-accidental video ].

[gaspeite]

[ when the video feed for the tone kicks in, it shows a young woman with green skin, red hair, gold-painted lips, wearing a feminine version of a futuristic military uniform. those acquainted with captain kirk and commander spock might notice the familiar design, particularly in the starfleet emblem on her chest. she looks dazed, confused, angry

Comments

voice;

[vettecrasher]

[ That noise? That would be Jim dropping his Tone on the floor in shock. And then picking it back up again. ]

Gaila?

voice;

[gaspeite]

[ she jumps at the noise and given that her specialty is to be as computer-savvy as possible, is easily able to figure out how to make to tone go from video to voice; nevermind that the technology is so primitive it makes her teeth hurt.

that's a voice she knows, though, and even though she should be cross with him over the kobayashi maru debacle, she's too relieved to hear a familiar voice to care at the moment. ]

Oh Goddesses, Jim? Is that you?

voice;

[vettecrasher]

Yeah. Yeah, it's me. Wow, this is awkward. You at the train station? Or, what was the train station?

voice;

[gaspeite]

[ the word "awkward" does well to remind her of the maru incident and even though he can't see it, she's frowning and glaring a bit at the tone in hand. ]

You-- I can't believe you did that! I almost got suspended for your antics, Kirk!

[ last name. oh yes, she's ticked. but, then confusion sets back in when he mentions a train and the anger's momentarily forgotten. train? what was a train? she'd never seen the trains still in use on earth and orion didn't have anything like that. or, if it did, they didn't call them trains. ]

Train? I'm not sure what that is...

Re: voice;

[vettecrasher]

Yeah, look, I'm sorry about that. I meant to apologize, but, well. Things happened, you know? Do you know?

[ He let out a slight noise and there's a creak as he sits on the edge of his bed. He was all kinds of confused now. The Farragut had on survivors, didn't it? So how was she still alive? ]

Trains... big metal boxes that carry people from place to place on rails and go choo-choo. When most people first get here, it's by train.

voice;

[gaspeite]

No, I don't know. What should I know?

[ she doesn't like the sound of that. it's too...ominous. ]

I wasn't on a big metal box that goes choo-choo, Jim. I was on the Farragut, in engineering. I was helping reroute power from the engines to the forward shields. We were being attacked.

At least, I think we were under attack. The ship kept rocking and the captain had already called red alert...

voice;

[vettecrasher]

[ He swears under his breath and then pauses. What does he tell her? That she's dead and so is everyone on the Farragut? He couldn't do that. But she was smart enough to figure things out on her own. He had to tread very, very carefully. ]

The Farragut was under attack, Gaila. The distress signal from Vulcan was a trap. That's what I was wondering if you knew. It...

Look, this place, it's a nexus. It pulls people from different universes and times and dumps them here with seemingly no way out. I'm from a few days in your future, so I was wondering when you were from. That just told me.

voice;

[gaspeite]

A trap? A trap by who? Who would attack Vulcan? The Vulcans are a peaceful race. Why involve Starfleet? Why trick us into--

[ she stops. too many questions. she needed to give him time to answer them. ]

Nexus... So...this isn't Vulcan? And you're from the future. Did I hit my head?

voice;

[vettecrasher]

A Romulan from an alternate universe. You know that transmission Uhura picked up? That was him. It sounds crazy, I know, but that's what happened.

[ He kept it simple and vague. Maybe then he wouldn't end up accidentally letting something slip. ]

voice;

[gaspeite]

Alternate... Jim, this sounds like nonsense straight out of Temporal Theory 101. It is crazy!

voice;

[vettecrasher]

I'm telling the truth, Gaila.

voice;

[gaspeite]

The truth means little coming from you these days, James Kirk. How am I supposed to know this isn't another trick of yours to beat the unbeatable?

voice;

[vettecrasher]

A lot can change in a few days, Gaila.

voice;

[gaspeite]

Like you being a Captain now? Commander Spock tells me you are. Who gave you a captaincy after the stunt you pulled?

voice;

[vettecrasher]

I can't tell you that.

voice;

[gaspeite]

Why not?