Star Trek Voyager: Relative To Time

Star Trek Voyager: Relative To Time One

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen all at once"

-E.M Rauch

1

James Ducane sat in his poorly lit ready room, reading various PADD's given to him earlier on that day. He chuckled as he read one of them and realized it was congratulations from his Aunt back on Earth. Somehow, one of his crew had slipped it into his work pile. The rest of the work was tedious and inane, in his view. While the Relativity sat on dry dock, time was flying by at rapid speed. Frustration was an understatement. Ducane wanted to vaporize the whole lot of PADDs (with the exception of his Aunt Carol's, of course) and take to the bridge and begin his missions, but that was not going to happen - yet.

The ready room door chirped quietly and Ducane was forced out of his thoughts, "Enter" he said firmly. He figured it was time to sound more authoritative. Ducane smiled when the doors swished open and his oldest friend stood before him. "Doctor! Glad to see you. Please come in." The Doctor, the original Mark I Emergency Medical Hologram entered the ready room with a broad grin, "James, I hear we have a new Captain. When we're you going to tell the rest of the crew?" Ducane shrugged and gestured to the Doctor to sit. The PADDS would wait but Ducane took one of the slim metal computers and tossed it to the Doctor. The Doctor caught it and gave Ducane a droll look, "More regulations from Starfleet?" Ducane walked to the replicator and ordered himself a strong espresso. "No, our next mission plus something else, which is why I am glad you decided to barge in on my briefing." The Doctor rolled his eyes and smiled as he read the PADD, "My, they are detailed in their wording. You would think these people were Rhode scholars and not Admirals who may of at some point in their magnificent careers scrubbed plasma off a warp conduit." Ducane shrugged and sipped his espresso. He sat down and waited for the Doctor to complete his analysis of the official news from both the Federation and Starfleet. It did not take long for the hologram to explode in a tirade of verbal rage. "Dear Lord, James! They want what?" He said with his usual bewildered expression. Ducane laughed and put down his cup, "Read on, my friend, there is more." The Doctor gave Ducane an odd look and continued to process the information. Ducane sipped his coffee and smiled.

"Okay, James, I am calm." The Doctor said with a grimace. Ducane could not tell if his Chief Science officer was happy, mad or in dismay. He never really knew. Some missions excited the good Doctor and others weighed heavy on his conscience. "So tell me what you think, and exclude the colourful words you have picked up over the centuries." The Doctor handed the PADD back to Ducane, leaving it on the desk as he stood up and wandered around the Ready Room he had grown to despise over the past six months. "James, I am delighted that they chose you as Captain of this vessel. I cannot think of another individual, organic or non-organic that could do the job better. I am very proud of you and your father would have been too. However, my problem is with Starfleet's notion of sanity, or better yet, your notion of sanity. How could you possibly put me down as a candidate as your first officer? I am chief science officer and head of the sick bay, is that not enough?" Ducane smiled as he sat in a chair once occupied by his previous Captain, John Braxton. Braxton was in the brig at Starfleet awaiting trial for attempting to disrupt the timeline. Disrupt was a kind word, destroy and conquer was how Ducane thought of it. "You don't want to be my Number One, Lt Commander Zimmerman?" The Doctor smiled when addressed with his proper rank and name, "Well, of course I want to be a Commander. For God's sake, James, I have been a Starfleet officer for almost 500 years, and I am still only a Lt Commander. I would be crazy to not take it but I feel it's not my decision nor is it yours." Ducane sat back and sighed heavily, "Doc, it's going to be a battle but one I am prepared to take on. They are trying to stick me with Lt Commander Elsafadi, the lackey of Starfleet. His reputation for carrying around the Starfleet manual and quoting it several times a shift is known throughout the fleet. They want him here because of what happened with Braxton. Nevertheless, we need freedom, and a little room to bend some rules. Hell, we cannot do anything properly if I have a Federation stooge sitting beside me on the bridge. You are my last hope."

The Doctor nodded as if agreeing that he was the only answer to the Relativity's existence, "When you put it that way, what choice do I have?" James Ducane laughed and tossed one more PADD at the Doctor, "Read this. It's why we need you, and why we need to get out of dry dock as soon as possible."

The Doctor held the PADD in his hands as he rummaged through the information with his holographic eyes. He inputted the data faster than any human could have and he knew it. Once the information was ascertained, he glared at Ducane, "You really want to do this, bring them here?" Ducane nodded and got up so he could get another drink of espresso. He looked over at the Doctor, who seemed to becoming a few shades of red in the face, and then he asked the Replicator for two glasses of brandy. He took the snifters and placed them on the desk, "Drink up, my friend. We should have a toast to new arrivals. New adventures." The Doctor stared at the brandy and perked up slightly, "Well, I suppose you know best." He took the glass in his hands and gave the brandy a long inhale, pleased with the aroma. He privately thanked Miral Paris for giving him not only the ability to experience all five senses, but the holographic digestive system that allowed him to eat and expel organic material like a humanoid. His goddaughter, dead now over 400 years ago, had been a brilliant engineer and pilot, just like both her parents. The Doctor had even named one of his children after Miral, paying homage to the little girl who changed how he viewed the world. He was brought out of his reverie by Ducane's voice. "I'm sorry James, what did you say?" James Ducane looked at the Doctor with amusement, "I said cheers, and I also said you are in command of the Relativity until I return from Starfleet headquarters. I have to make your case there before Elsafadi wanders onto the ship. Most of the crew is on shore leave, so just ensure the safety protocols are kept with a level 2-security and then report to T'Pok, and fill him in. Take those two PADDS and set a security code for them. I do not want this getting out until I talk to the senior officers and then the crew. Any funny business and my case will be down the Jeffries tube." The Doctor smiled, trying not to look smug, "Your ship is in capable hands, James. I will keep things in order, as always." James Ducane stood up and started to toss his PADDS into his old silver titanium Halliburton brief case. It had been a gift from his great, great grandfather on the day of his graduation from Starfleet. 'Double G' Grandpa Jim (as he was called) had used it for his guns during his time as a Federal agent with the former United States law enforcement agency. It held special memories for James as a child and he cherished it. Some of the finest security personal within the Temporal Paradox Division had developed a high tech padlock and security prototypes to make the brief case impossible to open. It was within this case that he had some of the most sensitive and classified information known to Starfleet. Time ships and their captains held many secrets, and they lived a lonely existence at times.

The Doctor watched Captain James Ducane walk out of the ready room and into the capable hands of two grim looking security officers, who would escort Ducane all the way to Starfleet's San Francisco office. The Doctor sighed and gave the ready room a look over, imaging how he would arranged the furniture if he had been given the command of the ship. He whistled an old Earth nursery song as he made his way onto the bridge, ready to do battle with T'Pok and anyone else who felt threatened by him.