There's never enough time

- 0440 -

Snowfire sighed as the final simulation ended, reaching up and rubbing her eyes. By the Godess I'm tired, she thought blearily, blinking sleepsand out of her eyes. She hadn't had more than four hours of sleep in the last thirty six hours. Even for her, that was pushing it by a fair margin. But there hadn't been time for sleep, not with the Horizon bearing down on them. She had had things to do and sleep - as usual for her - had been a secondary concern. But now she had what she needed. Or at least enough of it. She uploaded the results of the final sim onto her PADD, terminated and deleted the simulation, and checked her watch. Oh-Four-Forty. Thank the Godess.

Moving on autopilot, she made her way towards her quarters, unconsciously taking in the whirlwind of activity going on around her as the men and women manning Starbase 10 kicked their preparations into high gear. Reaching a set of temporary quarters on the Starbase itself, she set an alarm for 0645 and collapsed into the bed in the small room. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

- 0640 -

Snowfire. She twitched in her sleep. Snowfire, sister, you are needed. Violet eyelids flickered open and shut in the characteristic patterns of REM. Daughter, sister, clan-sib, open your eyes.

Murmurs of the Ilythiiri tongue slipped from her lips, her body shifting in discomfort.

You must WAKE!

Her eyes snapped open and she was suddenly, inexplicably, awake. She shook her head, trying to clear it of the web of dreams she had been caught inside, trying to make sense of what had happened. She glanced at her chrono and absently typed in the command to deactivate her alarm. Rising from the bed, she shucked off her uniform and slipped into the shower. She wasn't going to waste the opportunity waking up earlier presented.

Fifteen minutes later she walked through the doors of the Level 7 conference room in a fresh uniform, her hair slicked back into a neat ponytail. She glanced around, taking in the arriving officers, and then headed for the cluster from the Artemis. They had had the most practical experience with the Horizon anomaly and she wanted to see what they had to say. Well, that and she was intrigued by their captain.

"Captain Kheren, Commander O'Conner, Lieutenant Scott," she greeted formally, with due deference to their ranks. "It's good to see the people with the most practical knowledge here. I was wondering if I might pick your brains for a minute or two before the conference starts in earnest."

The Andorian watched the approach of the black-skinned, white-haired female alien with obvious attention and curiosity. She was definitely of the Vulcanoid type and not just from the shape of her ears and of her elfin features; Kheren had been around the kind long enough and close enough to recognize their caracteristic mental presence with his bioneural sensitive antennae. From the corner of his eye, he could see Tyvya stiffen as her own cranial appendages reacted as well; but she didn't have the mental shields he had learned from the Vulcans and so felt her natural Andorian distrust of telepaths kicks in a short moment before she could compose herself again.

It was the very first time both of them saw an Illythirii, and the peculiar colors of her uniform made her all the more stand out from the rest of the few Starfleet officers present. She was not very tall but she expressed an exceedingly high level of self-assurance that did not escape the keen senses of the captain of the Artemis, trained for decades in the subtleties of body language. She might have been holding a PADD with recognizable scientific data and her question one expected from a science officer... but she moved and stared at him like a fighter.

Fascinating individual, he couldn't help but admit to himself silently.

''Greetings, Lieutenant... K'Leysha, right? From the McKenzie if I recall correctly, '' said Kheren to welcome her. '' May I also introduce you to two others of my bridge officers with as much experience with the anomaly as we have: my acting chief of security, Lieutenant Tyvya, and my chief helmsman, Lieutenant Snow.''

Indicating in turn the Andorian giantess and the copper-skinned Human, he then answered her:

''We're all here to work together so, if we can provide you with anything that might help you help us all tackle this situation, we will sure do our best.''

But then, Kheren noticed the young Bolian and motioned him over by introducing him to the Illythirii woman.

''And here is my chief of ops, Lieutenant Junior Grade Danik Brie. He is the one who confirmed without a doubt the anomaly's high sensitivity to gravimetric forces in normal space.''

As the two officers exchanged the usual plaisantries humanoids usually did in such circumstances, the four oculars of the Andorian suddenly noticed the pair of blue collared officers that entered, one he recognized as Doctor Jolie Bindo of the McKenzie... no, the Lotus now... and the other the man he had noticed with her at the replimat yesterday.

And then he saw the tird one coming at the entrance behind them.

Shaved bald, the medium-sized individual had strikingly handsome features that an easy smile and mesmerizing purple eyes highlighted over the Lieutenant Commander pips he wore on the blue collar of his standard black and grey uniform. No one, and especially no woman in the room, could help it but glance at him as he entered.

He was Deltan.

There was no forgetting that face once you had seen it. And Kheren knew him very well indeed... and so did the newcomer the Artemis captain, as he widened his smile in his direction and swiftly came towards him.

''My, Doctor Nasaro-Myth! For a man who resigned from Starfleet...''

''If you don't mind, Captain Sir, I'll explain what happen. Your revered Admiral Kotari invoked a little known, seldom used, activation clause...''

''In other words: they drafted you, '' finished Kheren with definite amusement in his voice and obvious pleasure in seeing again the man who had once saved his life on the operation table, years ago.

''I thought this was your idea...'' then said the Deltan, frowning yet still smiling at resuming a friendship he had missed.

''Well, Doc, there's a thing out there...''

''Why, even after three hundred years of space travel, is something we don't understand still called a thing?'' cut in Elliago nasaro-Myth with obviously feigned outrage, paraphrasing the famous quote. ''Anyway, I understand the difficulties.. I was there the first time, remember? I came to nurse you through them of course... as your Chief Medical Officer, if you would have me, Sir.''

'' Most obliged, Doc. Let me introduce you to the crowd here. Commander O'Conner and Lieutenant Tyvya you already know...''

Kheren proceeded to introduce the Deltan to the rest of the bridge crew, only his chief of science still missing minutes before the meeting... and finished with the Science officer of the McKenzie, Lieutenant Snowfire K'Leysha.

''Sir...''

Kheren half-turned towards Tyvya as she whispered:

''What about Doctor Aquila?''

''He was recalled, like Lieutenant Jackson... just in time, '' whispered back the captain, just loud enough for his officers to hear. Like their tactical chief Tyvya was now replacing, Caius Castiel Aquila had been transfered abruptly right upon their return from their survey mission of the anomaly. Aquila had been their CMO during their last mission that had sent them through time; one classified by the Office of Temporal Investigations. Speaking thus, they alone would really understand why, and on who's authority, he had been so suddenly replaced by the returning Deltan Doctor.

The Andorian could not help but wonder also if Elliago's sudden return, especially back to the Artemis, had not been also part of those same orders.

Snowfire acknowledged the newly arrived officers with a smiling nod, the suspicion of the Artemis's security officer only barely scratching her shields. Once it would have had sunk into her like a knife, but she could accept it now. She rasied an elegant eyebrow at the Captain's whisper, a sudden burst of tension slipping through the space around her. And then it receded as quickly as it had come. She didn't enquire. She knew that many where fairly uncomfortable around telepaths, and passive receptiveness was probably not going to help with that.

"It was the reaction to gravitational effects I wanted to enquire about actually." She asked. "I've run a few simulations and looked over your reports - considering my postgraduate area of study, as well as my people's scientific and technological speciality, it would be fair to say that I'm somewhat of an expert on gravitic manipulation. But I was wondering exactly how the Horizon reacted. From a personal viewpoint." She shrugged, eyes swirling with sparks of vivd interest. The Horizon was a puzzle she was equal parts terrified of and intrigued by, and her scientific side was determine to help deal with that consequences of that puzzle. "Reports give a lot, but there's something about the personal touch." She said in way of explanation.

''My science officer would have been more qualified to discuss this with you,'' Kheren answered then. ''But, to sumrize it in layman terms and as I understand it... or felt it as you say... Well, it is as if it was the opposite of a black hole... but not as a white hole that would push everything out; rather, it seems to be itself attracted by all masses it nears as it expands... even something as small as the gravitons of a ship's shields will make it react.''

He lifted both his callused fists between them to better illustrate what he said.

''It is somewhat like this: once it drops into normal space from subspace through fractures, he began,mimicking those fractures with his spreading fingers in one hand, it expands towards the surrounding masses, like those of star systems.''

His spreading hand slowly covered his fist, plainly showing what it all meant.

''Now, do not ask me why. What I can tell you, however, is that subspace fractures are what allows it to come from its own universe into our own and at high warp. Then it spreads out faster than the best impulse speed possible as it consumes the very fabric of normal space. And the closer and larger the masses accross its path, the faster and wider it does.''

Then, the tactician in him took over from his scienctific mind.

''At first, we calculated that a black hole could somewhat divert and even swallow it like a drain would do with a spill. Well, it would... but then, because it also moves through subspace, this anomaly can bypass such obstacle and continue expanding as it emerges at another nearby fractured point in our universe.''

Snowfire nodded steadily at the Andorian's succinct explanation, her hand coming up to rest on her chin as she listened and watched. The Captain had a gift for getting things across simply, and that was impresive when you considered what he was trying to explain.

"Interesting." She said in way of response, her tone calm. Her posture changed, becoming somewhat more confident as if an idea had just been given confirmation that it could work. "I thought so..." She paused for a second. "Although this is a question likely more suited to your science officer, how do you think the Horizon would react if, theoretically, one could project the effects of a singularity into subspace?"

Kheren was startled by the idea and pondered on it for a moment. before sighing.

''This is not a scientific asessment mind you but, I would say that it could react in a pretty messy way, to say the least,'' he said. ''Not only does subspace follow different laws of physics than normal space and which we barely understand, but it contains an infinite number of domains, of which we know very little. I would not dare try to blindly play with it on such a cosmic scale... Who knows, that may very well be what created that anomaly in the first place.''

He sighed again.

''And there is also another universe on the other side of that anomaly... one which we know nothing about so far except that it is definitely smaller than ours. The consequences of what we might do to save ourselves over here could become catastrophic over there unless we are very, very careful.''