Dinner with a Friend

Vectra is pacing in his quarters, dressed in casual clothing. "I am so bored, and so stressed!" He decides to leave his quarters, and go find dinner. Stepping onto the turbolift, "Computer, recreation deck." The turbolift immediately responds and takes him where he would like to go. Stepping from the turbolift, he takes notice of all his choices for dinner. "Italian food, great!" Walking to the counter, he orders eggplant parmesan and spaghetti. He grabs his food as it's slid down to him, "Thanks!" Then, he goes and finds a place to sit and eat in the back corner. He takes a slow bite of his eggplant, savoring the taste in his mouth, "This is great!" While eating, he reviews his PADDs on the communication relay he is trying to create.

Jen is in her quarters, sitting on the couch in her favorite blue jeans, and a loose flannel top, barefoot, going over the PADDs that Vec had brought her about his communication relay, and the nanites to be used in it.

She reaches down into her lap, to pet the orange and white cat lying there. The cat nudges her PADD, demanding attention. She puts the PADD aside, and pets the cat behind its ears. "You know, Ophie, I need to get out more. I love you and all, but sitting here with PADDs and my cat isn't going to help me out at all, you know." The cat looks at her knowingly, and purrs even louder, asking for more petting. She picks the cat up, and deposits it on the floor, much to the chagrin of Ophie. "I'm hungry. Suppose I should go find some food, huh?" She pads into the bedroom, and puts on a pair of socks and sneakers. En-route to the door, she says, "Computer, lights to 10%, and feline supplement 23 to be delivered at 20:00." A slight beep acknowledges her request. She turns one last time to her cat, "Ophie, you be good. I'll be home soon."

She walks out of the quarters with only one PADD, and goes to the turbolift. "Computer, recreation deck." When the turbolift stops, she exits, and starts looking for a good place to eat. ~Hmm, I'm not in the mood for Chinese ... No Vulcan ... Klingon? No ... they serve Gagh with everything there ...~ Vectra sees Jen, and hears her thoughts about Gagh, and chuckles. When Jen smells the odor of Italian food, ~Mmm, that smells good!~ She walks over to the Italian eatery, and orders Tortellini Alfredo and cappuccino. She takes her tray of food, placing her PADD on it, and looks for a good place to sit. She looks around, noting most of the tables are full.

Vectra is sitting at his corner table, going over all the data for the tactical department. ~Jack is supposed to do this! Oh well, I am the highest Tactical officer now ... I've gotta do what I've gotta do.~

Jen sees Vec sitting by himself, and goes to see if he wants company. "Mind if I join you? The tables seem quite full this evening!"

Vec points to a table across the room, and without looking up, and keeping a straight face, says, "There is a seat over there."

Jen's left eyebrow raises at that, ~Hmm Ok ...~ "Thank you, Lieutenant." She turns on her heel, and goes to the only free table. She sits down, and starts to eat, looking over the PADD she brought. ~The nerve!~

~WAIT! Jen, you really can't take a joke, can you?~

Jen's head pops up, and she looks at Vec. ~I can take a joke ... just not when it seems so darned sincere! And, if you didn't know, I've got a huge stubborn streak ... so, you'll have to come here, if you want to dine with me.~ She turns back to her food, and PADD.

Vec concentrates intently on Jen's food and PADD, until they finally lift off the table, and race across the room, to land opposite him at his table.

"Huh? What the ... " Jen looks up, to see her food levitating, then finally land at Vec's table. Shaking her head, she thinks, ~You men are impossible, you know that?~

Vec slowly waves to her, ~I've got your food, and your work ... come get it!~

She stands up, and walks over to Vec's table, sits down, and commences eating. "I guess I can't win, since I can't levitate things, Hmm?"

Smirking, "I never lose an argument!"

Again, the left eyebrow raises, "We'll see ..."

"I could tell you that Admiral James T. Kirk was on the bridge and argue, until you gave up. But, anyway, how is the nanite research going?"

She decides to let his Admiral comment float, and looks down at her PADD. "It's going well ... I think you're onto something there."

He tosses her another PADD, and says, "This is the exact power consumption of everything on that torpedo."

She catches the PADD, and looks at it. "Hmm, can we play around with a regenerating power supply? With the nanites fixing things ... that could make each torpedo self-supporting."

Finishing his meal, "That was great! Jen, I hate to tell you this, but it may be the 24th century, but perpetual energy hasn't been invented yet." He stops mid thought, and grabs her arm. "Hold onto your PADDs, we're going for a ride into the 26th century!" He

stands up. "Follow me!"

She shovels int he rest of her meal, and downs her cappuccino, then stands as well. "Where are we going?"

Vec walks off towards the turbolift. "You'll see."

"You know, life sure has been surprising since we met!"

"I like things this way." He taps the key pad in the turbolift, so as not to let her know where they are heading.

When the turbolift stops, he runs out, and stops at holodeck 3. "Ok ... how is a holodeck program going to put us two centuries into the future?" She follows him into the holodeck.

"Computer, begin the USS Firebird program, no characters or scenario, please."

"The program is loading."

The familiar yellow and black grid get replaced by the bridge of the USS Firebird. "Welcome to the USS Firebird. This ship is built from technologies I know from the Borg. They incorporate the knowledge of more than a million different races."

Looking around, she says, "Very impressive ... but why are we here? Have you shared any of this with Starfleet?"

"The technology on this ship, Starfleet will not develop for 251 years, 5 months, 3 days, 21 hours and 3 minutes."

Chuckling, "Ok ... so how are you keeping it a secret? And, just how does the Borg know about it now?"

"Not a word, that would be tampering with the Federation's all mighty prime directive. Have you ever been traveling at transwarp?"

"Transwarp? Speeds at Warp 10 or higher? You know that isn't possible!"

"Yes, ... exactly warp 10. The Borg can do it. When traveling at warp 10, one can see anywhere, anytime."

"Come on, now ... how could they? It's against the laws of physics!"

"When you combine the knowledge of over one million races, you learn a thing or two."

"Granted ... But laws are laws, aren't they?"

"By opening a tunnel in space, you don't actually stay where the laws apply to."

"Hmm ...," The science officer in her is much intrigued. "But how would you open such a tunnel?"

"When you travel at these speeds, you can see the future, the past, and everyplace is placed before you at one time." He taps the panel in front of him. "Welcome to the Quantum Slipstream Drive. It is similar to the Borg transwarp tunnel."

Jen goes to the panel he's working at, looking over his shoulder. He punches a button, and a bluish tunnel opens before them. The ship goes to full impulse, and they enter the stream. Jen looks up to the viewscreen. "We can go anywhere in the galaxy in four months."

She turns to him, and leans against the workstation. "Ok ... I can accept the theorem, but ... this is still the holodeck. How is this going to help us?"

Vec walks to the holodeck turbolift, and holds the door open. "Follow me."

Shaking her head in confusion, she pushes off the workstation and follows him into the turbolift.

"Main Engineering, please."

The turbolift moves, then opens to show engineering. Vec and Jen walk into Engineering. "Ok ... so what's in Engineering?"

"The Quantum drive."

"Let's see it, then."

"A source of a nearly perpetual energy." He walks up to the drive, which is only three feet tall.

Jen's left eyebrow raises, this time in interest. "Oh really? How does it work?"

"Because it stays outside of normal reality, it is not subject to our laws of nature."

She walks around the drive, inspecting it. "But, yet, it was built by humanoid hands."

"It channels quantum energy into a tunnel or slipstream. By entering this tunnel and keeping the quantum stream open, it allows the ship to travel hundreds, or even thousands of times faster than a normal warp drive."

"And how do you know when to exit the tunnel? Do sensors still work?"

"By slowing to less than two-thirds impulse power, the tunnel moves ahead of you, and you 'fall out' of it."

"Ok ... so, you just calculate before hand, how long to stay in ... "

"Sensors can only scan what is in the slip stream. However, energy will be detectable outside."

"That takes care of the present ... how do you change times within it?"

"You don't. Here's how it works ... When you move at transwarp of infinite velocity, you are doing just that -- time travel. You can occupy every point in the universe at anytime you want."

"Ok ... I'm confused. I can accept that this drive will take you to distant places much faster than we can get there now. But where does the infinite speed come in?"

"Infinite velocity means you can simultaneously visit everyplace at every point in history."

"Right ... the theory of Warp 10. I get that much."

"By opening the slipstream you travel at warp 10."

"Yet ... you just stated that we could travel a far distance, in next to no time ... how do you control the when of it?"

"You cannot scan outside the walls of the slip stream, but everything, every time, is within that stream. Here, I'll show you." He taps the panel in front of them. "This is the 'anchor' of time, it detects the time when the ship entered the slipstream. Then, it calculates how long you will be in the slip stream, and 'drops' you out in the exact amount of time that should have been taken, so you drop out of the slip stream at the exact right time."

"You know, this could take years of study to fully understand."

"Yes, I realize that."

"I'll just have to believe you for now."

"But why understand, if you can use it now?"

"Again, this only the holodeck ... we don't have this drive in real space."

Vec pulls something out of his pocket. "Meet Shuttle X. This mini version of a shuttle is equipped wit the real thing."

"Ok ... I'm really confused now. And, how is this mini shuttle going to help?"

"Allow me to demonstrate." He taps the shuttle twice, and a tiny slipstream opens and the ship vanishes. It reappears on Jen's shoulder after doing two hundred laps around the room. When it lands, she jumps, then looks at it. "Return." The little shuttle goes to impulse and flies into his pocket. "You see, it does work in real life."

"Ok ... you've got a mini shuttle that can do this ... why not use this drive on your torpedoes for the almost inexhaustible fuel?"

"Exactly what I was getting at. Except, Starfleet is going to have a lot of questions that I can't answer without breaking the prime directive."

"True ... but, you already have, by telling me. And, wouldn't internal sensors have picked up that shuttle?"

"I know you won't go squeal to them, and, as long as the shuttle is cloaked and shielded, sensors would never pick it up. I am going to use a particle displacement cloak so tacions won't decloak it. Also, the shuttle is moving so fast that the ship wouldn't be able to see it."

~Wow, maybe we should be working on more modifications to our own sensors.~ "Ok ... so if we use that in your torpedoes, Starfleet wouldn't see it either."

"I would have to report to someone how we plan on doing this."

She rubs her forehead with her hand, "Now, that is a problem, isn't it?"

"The lowest person I could tell is Ariell, but she would have to tell Starfleet, or risk her job."

"Very true ... I wouldn't want to put her in that position."

"Me neither."

"So, it looks like we're back at square one."

"We could falsify the logs but that would risk our jobs."

"I refuse to do that, myself."

"I wouldn't let you take the fall for it."

"Not that it didn't fly through my mind ... But, it's unacceptable. So, we've got the answer to our problems right before us, and we can't use it."

"Under any other circumstances, I wouldn't either."

She looks at him sharply, "Any other circumstances? You mean, you are going to use it?"

He gives her a sly smile. "Say the Commodore was to step onto the holodeck and see this all ..."

"Then you'd still be violating the Prime Directive."

"One way or another, my promise to the Commodore to get this communication to work, will be filled. Hmm, what if she found out accidentally? Like, say, I just left the program running, and she walked in?"

Jen starts pacing, not liking the turn of this conversation, "But it wouldn't be accidental ... not if you are planning it right now. Even if it looks like an accident, I would still know that it is premeditated."

"The next person in the holodeck would undoubtedly tell the Commodore. Anyway, the Prime Directive is invalid now."

"What if just the wrong person steps in here first? Someone who wouldn't take it to the Commodore?"

"Every Starfleet officer, in every unit knows about the Prime Directive. I have already violated it. Telling the Commodore would not be doing it again."

"I don't know Vec ... I leave that decision up to you ... I just know that I can't falsify documents, and use this drive when we claim we don't."

"Nor will I." Slightly angered, he says, "We have to tell tell someone. I am going to tell someone who can authorize this. I have to. Otherwise, this system will not work."

"So, when are you going to tell her? She's going to want to know ... and, people will have to build the drives."

"I will tell her as soon as possible. And, if I do not explain how the drive works, Starfleet will not be able to build one, hence, only part of the Prime Directive will be broken. And, only two people will have to know how to build the drives." He motions to the two of them.

"Vec, I'm a Science officer, not an Engineer!"

"I will simply let her onto the holodeck, and see the effects of this thing. You don't have to be an Engineer, we can use the holodeck, the replicator, and the transporters to build it."

"Ok ... well, you do what you have to. If the Commodore issues orders for me to help you create these drives, so be it ... I'll help you. This is all a logistics night mare ... all the logs to me classified ... and, here we are, planning the whole thing without the Commodore."

"I understand that, the records are to be secured."

"Maybe you should comm her and ask her to come down."

"I think I will." Vec taps his comm badge, "Lieutenant Vectra to Commodore Saint Dieux ..."

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