Hello people! Well, this is a new story. It's a bit weird, and it's going to be really short, only a couple of chapters. I've got the entire storyline done out in my head, so no suggestions, thanks! But comments are always welcome. Send them to - shiningstar@oceanfree.net or leave comments on the guestbook on my website - http://stories.i8.com. If you like my writing then check out my two other stories on the archives - 'Powers That Be' and 'Shining Star'.
Only thanks are to Tim, who helped me with this story.
All characters and references to Star Trek are copyright of Paramount Pictures. I do not have their permission to do this, but since I'm not making a profit I think it's ok.
I do not know the Backstreet Boys, I don't know their sexualities, and this is fictional story. That means that it is made up and that none of it happened. If you're too young to read this then don't.
"Captain, I'm detecting a temporal breach on the surface." Said Seven of Nine, my temporal officer. It was her job to scan for the changes in the timeline that it was our job to prevent. The ship was kept in a state of temporal flux, so that any effects from a change in the timeline would not effect us. If the surface scans differed from what the computer said should be happening then we were supposed to investigate and correct any errors.
"Confirmed." Said Data, my first officer who was at the moment sitting in Ops, standard procedure for a temporal breach.
"Magnitude?" I asked.
"Unknown." Said Seven. "It's impossible to tell this early."
"Okay, what do we know?" I asked, pulling a display closer to me and calling up the scans which Seven was using.
"I'm isolating the location. North American Continent... United States of America... I've got it; the event took place in an arena just outside of Orlando, Florida." Said Data.
"What was going on?"
"I'm checking through the historical records... There was a concert in progress, a group called the Backstreet Boys." Said Seven.
"Commander." I said. "Scan the television satellites, and look for any mention of the concert on the news channels. Let's see if we can find out what's happened."
Data seemed to find what he was looking for because the next minute he activated the viewscreen and from the corporate logo in the corner I could see that we were on CNN.
"...And one of the huge girders supporting the stage just fell down, right above where the Backstreet Boys were dancing. There is a state of confusion here with thousands of fans milling around, a lot of them crying, but none of them knowing what to do. This is Emma Johnston, for CNN news." Once the reporter signed off the view flicked back to the Studio.
"And this just in, the Backstreet Boy's management have issued a teary press report. All five boys died instantly in the collapse. Their body's have been moved to an unknown location for post-mortems." Said the young looking anchor, barely controlling her own tears.
I was troubled. None of what was happening made sense to me. What would be the purpose behind trying to kill a musical group? Fine, I thought, I realise that someone might want to, but extraterrestrials? Time was far more fragile then anybody had realised, only when Voyager incorporated Temporal Shielding into their systems and saw the changes going on all around them was it discovered. Earth's history needed to be protected from change, to preserve the Federation's future. And so the USS Timeweave was constructed, with Starfleet's finest technology and it's best officers to insure that the future would still be the future in the morning. Inspiration struck and I jumped out of my seat and walked towards the nearest Turbolift. "You have the bridge Data." I said as the doors closed. "Main Sickbay." I said to the computer.
"But can it be done?" I asked.
"Theoretically, yes. But we'd need precise medical scans of each of the five bodies if we want to replicate them."
"How precise?"
"Ideally, I would like to have each of them up here so that I can use the computers scanners. A medical tricorder isn't going to be enough."
I nodded and tapped on my Com badge. "Data, I need to find the exact location of the bodies of the music group." I said.
"The Backstreet Boys." Prompted Data. "I've already had the bodies located. They are being brought to a morgue now."
"Once they are alone I want you to transport them up to Sickbay, one at a time, and we'll need enough notice of someone entering the morgue to beam them back again, just in case."
"Aye Captain." Said Data.
"Henessey, prep a surgical bay for post-mortem. Jordan, I need to you to work on the medical scanners, get them ready for a molecule by molecule scan." Ordered the Doctor. He looked at me. "You don't need to be here. I'll let you know when we're finished."
I was used to the Doctor's manner so I nodded to him and left to go to my Ready Room.
"Seven, could you join me in my Ready Room please?" I asked.
She entered the room. "Yes captain?"
"I plan to transport the five men out just before they get hit by the girder and replace them with replicated bodies. Suggestions?" I asked.
"We'll need at least two time jumps, we have to pinpoint the exact time that the girder falls, and then decide the most appropriate time to transport them out." Explained Seven.
I'd already thought that, but I had to be sure. "Right, get on it."
She nodded curtly and left. I called up all the information that was available on the Backstreet Boys in the ship's computer and then connected to the terrestrial Internet. I was overwhelmed by what was available. I went through as much of it as I could before the Doctor informed me that he'd completed his scans. I left my Ready Room and went to the bridge and sat in my chair.
"All hands, this is the captain. Prepare for a temporal jump." I said. "Seven, are you ready?"
"Yes captain. I've set it for one hour before the event."
"Begin." I said.
The computer spoke its familiar sentence. "Temporal jump requires Level eight authorisation or higher."
"Authorise Temporal Jump. Lawlor four four two delta." I said.
"Authorisation excepted." Said the computer. The deflector dish discharged its energy in front of the ship, creating a crackling temporal ribbon that was just large enough to fly the ship through.
"Lieutenant, take us in." I said. The ship moved out of its Earth orbit and was enveloped in the ribbon. Once we'd flown out the other side we were in the past. Seven immediately left the bridge to begin preparations for her trip to the surface. Once she'd established the exact moment that we should switch the Backstreet Boys for replicated alternatives she beamed back up and we prepared for the second jump.
"Transfer complete captain." Said Data. Because of how precise the timing had to be the computer had been programmed to perform the switch. Because of preliminary injuries that Seven had noticed that had been caused by falling debris I'd decided to have them transported directly to Sickbay.
"We've got them captain." Said the Doctor. "They're all unconscious, but there are no injuries that we can't handle."
"Let me know as soon as any of them are conscious." I said, getting the usual 'Aye Captain' in response. I went to my ready room and skimmed through status reports. About an hour later the Doctor informed me that one of them was awake. I went straight down to the Main Sickbay.
"What sort of condition is he in?" I asked.
"Physically, he's alright. But I've put him on a light sedative because of the shock, he'll sound a bit drowsy."
"And the others?"
"Physically fine, except for this one." He said, walking over to the bed that Brian Littrell was lying in. "He's in a critical condition. The rest are still unconscious and I don't want to have to wake them up." Said the Doctor.
"Fine." I said, going over to speak to the one who was awake. I recognised him as Nick Carter from the background work that I'd been doing. "Hello Nick." I said softly.
"Hello." He said, smiling lazily, as if he wasn't in full control.
"Hi Nick." I said gently. "How are you feeling?"
"Ok." He said. He stared off into the distance trying to concentrate on something, which wasn't easy with the drugs that were in him. "Where am I?" He asked.
"You're... you're in a hospital Nick." I said.
He looked around him. "Funny hospital... hey, look - there's Kevin, and Howie, and AJ... all the guys." He frowned. "Where's Brian? I don't see Brian. He should be here, we're all here so where's Brian?" He asked, looking back up at me in confusion.
"Brian's in another room Nick. Don't worry." I said, trying to comfort him.
"I need Brian! Where is he? Is he hurt?" He asked. He gripped my arm with his hand.
"He's fine Nick." I said. The Doctor rushed over, hearing the commotion and sedated Nick again.
"Lieutenant Paris, report to the Main Sickbay." I said over the Com. A couple of minutes later he came in looking flustered.
"Yes captain?"
"You've got a good knowledge of this time period. I want you to programme the holodeck to emulate a hospital ward from this time period. Use the nearest holodeck, if there's someone using it, kick them out."
"Aye captain." He said stiffly. He still hadn't gotten used to the idea of a captain who was still in his twenties. Admittedly, it was very unusual; the youngest captain in Starfleet being put in charge of the most powerful starship in the fleet, but it was too good an assignment to pass up, so I'd taken it.
"Doctor, as soon as Lieutenant Paris is finished, I want you to move them over to the holodeck and keep the technology discreet, I don't want them suspecting anything until I have a chance to explain everything to them."
It was the next day before the Doctor pronounced the group well enough to be told the truth about the situation. Brian wasn't in the ward because he was much more badly injured and was only now emerging from 'critical' status. I changed quickly into what would have been considered to be 'suitable' clothing. It was an uncomfortable suit in some shade of grey that I was wearing. As soon as I entered the holodeck and went through the area that concealed the entrance and into the only ward that existed I was bombarded with questions.
"Where the hell is Brian?" Asked Kevin.
"Why can't we speak to our families?" Asked Howie.
"Why isn't there a TV?" Asked Nick.
"Where's my phone? All I want to do is ring my mom." Said AJ.
I asked for silence and then started to try to explain. "I assure you that there are good explanations to all of your questions."
Kevin interrupted me. "There had better be. I don't know what kind of a hospital this is but I'm starting to think that it's not one. We've only ever seen one Doctor, who refuses to answer our questions, and no nurses, and this place looks wrong. If you've done anything to Brian or us you are never going to get away with it."
"Brian is not here because he's still in a critical condition and is being cared for in more suitable surroundings." I said.
"The accident?" Asked Nick. "I remember seeing something falling and then I woke up and saw your face, only we weren't here, we were somewhere else. I'm just glad that we survived that."
"Okay." I said. "I'm going to explain something to you. And I want you to listen to the entire thing with out saying anything. I guarantee that it'll answer all your questions." Getting nods from each of them I plunged on. "We're on a spaceship right now. The job of this spaceship is to make sure that everything that our history books say happened happens. According to our history, you didn't have that accident in Orlando. In that accident, if we hadn't gotten you out, you would have died. That means that someone has messed with the timeline, and we have to figure out who it was and why. That's why we saved you, we're hoping that you can help us. Everybody on Earth think that you died, that's why you can't talk to your families, and that's why you couldn't watch television up until now. I know that you're going to find it very hard to believe it, but it's true."
They all gave me incredulous looks. I didn't blame them. "You expect us to believe that?" Asked Kevin. It was clear that he spoke for the group, as most of the fan websites had said.
"Yes, I do. You said that you wanted to watch TV?" I asked. "Computer, Create an early twenty-first century television and link up to a television satellite that is broadcasting CNN." I ordered. A second later a television materialised on the floor. They gasped in astonishment. After a couple of headlines they started talking about the tragic accident that killed the Backstreet Boys.
"So far the investigation into what happened in Orlando has not yielded any clues as to the cause. We go now to our entertainment correspondent who is attending one of the many memorial services that have been organised by the fans of the boys. Of course, we say boys, but they were really young men in the prime of their lives..."
"Computer, switch to US MTV." A continuous stream of BSB tribute programs was being broadcast. "Delete television." I said, turning to the open-mouthed group. "Do you get the idea?"
"You could have faked those programs." Said Kevin, still not willing to believe.
"Don't be stupid Kevin. How could he have faked the TV?" Said Nick. "Look what happened! It appeared and disappeared right in front of us!"
I smiled gratefully at Nick for trying to make my job easier. "Deactivate program." I said, and everything surrounding us dematerialised to more gasps from the group.
"Can we see Brian?" Asked Nick.
"Of course, I should have thought of it sooner. This way." I said, leaving the holodeck and stepping out into the corridor. I walked briskly, because we were on the same deck as Main Sickbay we didn't take a Turbolift.
"How big is this ship?" Asked Nick. He was certainly the most willing to except what had happened. The others had dubious looks on their faces and were trailing a couple of metres behind.
"More then twelve thousand metres long, with fifty two decks." I said, I was immensely proud of the Timeweave and I loved to show her off to new people.
Nick nodded appreciatively. "That's fairly big alright. By the way, you seem to know a lot about us. But I don't know anything about you. What's your name?"
I laughed. "With everything that's been going on I've forgotten my manners. My name is Robert Lawlor."
"And you're captain of this ship?"
"That's right." I said. We had gotten to the entrance to the Main Sickbay, but instead of going straight in I waited for the others to catch up. Once they did I went towards the doors. As soon as they opened I heard multitudinous alarms going off and saw the doctor rushing with several of his assistants towards the bed that I knew Brian to be in. Nick ran in. The Doctor looked up at me.
"Get them out of here!" He shouted. I pulled Nick and the others out of the room and back into the corridor, getting strange looks from people passing by.
"What's wrong with you?!" Shouted Kevin. "Why can't we see Brian? What's wrong with him?"
"You'd only be getting in the Doctor's way if you were in there. I don't know what's wrong with Brian." I replied calmly. I looked over at Nick; he was very quiet, which was odd, considering that he was supposed to be incredibly close to Brian. "I'll bring you to your quarters, and I promise to let you know the minute I know anything."
There you have it! The first part of my new story! Make sure and let me know what you think of it. shiningstar@oceanfree.net.
Tim.