Another Crashed Car

[Nick Ryder]

"Oh of course and honestly... I WAS planning on that for dinner if we didn't have a shuttle come crashing through our bloody window." Nick chuckled as he looked around. "I can see you having your afternoon tea in that little nook over there. Reading a book over there. Gale with a little car track set on the floor over there."

[Livvy Sandoval]

There was a roar of engines as a shuttle from the early 23rd century set down just outside the front door. It gleamed under the sunlight. The exit hatch parted and a woman stepped out. She could have been mistaken for Rebecca Sandoval if it hadn't been for the soft Klingon ridges on her forehead.

Her hair was cut short just above the shoulders, and was streaked with more grey than red. She wore a Terra Alpha Naval officer's uniform with the four pips of captain on the collar. Walking to the front door she rapped it with her knuckles.

[Nick Ryder]

Nick heard the shuttle engines and rolled his eyes. "I'll shoo whoever it is away, why don't you see if the terminal over there works, make sure the cred chip I set up works, I'd hate to get to the restaurant and find out that it doesn't work." he told Alice as he stepped outside and saw what looked like a grown up version of Livvy Sandoval, looking older than the future version they encountered.

"Alright... Captain. Whatever it is, I'm not interested. We're avoiding Terra Alpha and you're years too early to be coming here to tell us 'it's all clear', since the you I know right now is barely off her mother's teet." Nick said as he gave her a death glare. "Alice and I are trying to get away from all this. She's had more than enough and so have I and she is finally... FINALLY feeling like she can breathe. So the only words out of your lips should be 'I'm here because I'm tired of it too and want to hang out here for the foreseeable future and you're here to help get this estate refurbished or to tell us that Dominus royally fucks with my family and I should stay here for the rest of my life." he held up a finger. "You have one minute before Mrs Huntington-Ryder comes, make it good."

[Livvy Sandoval]

Livvy shook her head, "Uncle Nick I have all the time I want." She handed Nick the "keys" to the shuttle. "Nana always said this little adventure of yours was half-baked and ilconceived. The shuttle is a brand new construction so you won't have to worry about any duplicate paradoxes. Plus it has a few modern to your time amenities such as a replicator and phase cloak."

She handed Nick a PADD, "Accurate slingshot calculations, and timeline of the past 56 years. Oh Ethan and Trinity sent along some steaks and strawberries."

[Nick Ryder]

Nick looked at the padd and smirked. "Well alright then... and of course it's half baked, we were originally planning on Xenex until frickin' Merlin came to our shuttle and freaked her out even more. But this will be useful." he smiled as he looked at the calculations. "You look so much like your grandmother. I wish I could have said good bye to everyone else in person but, I had to do what I had to do. Clearly you're from far enough in the future that what we're dealing with in my era went well enough, Dominus didn't destroy the universe. I don't really want to know how it all shook out, at least not right now." he saluted her. "Thank you Captain. You saved me a day or so of hunting a suitable shuttle. I'm sure Alice will appreciate having fresh strawberries and a good steak too, considering the food in the cupboards here is from the Earth Romulan War, which is old even for this year." he glanced at his watch. "I trust no one else from our current era knows exactly where we are and you're just here because I set this up somehow... since we literally just got here."

[Livvy Sandoval]

"From your era? No, they don't have a clue. I won't tell you how we know, but our knowledge of the space-time continuum has expanded considerably since you left. We travel time, and reality much like you used to travel the stars."

[Nick Ryder]

"We stopped thinking with our ape brains. Good." Nick replied. "And I'm glad that this trip is still secret." he looked inside. "Alright she's coming... there's a carriage house over there if you want to use it as a way to beam back or whatever. Thank you." he put his hand on her shoulder.

[Livvy Sandoval]

Livvy shook her head, "You'll probably want to tell her. After all this might give her peace of mind about your future. Besides lies and secrets are toxic to a relationship. Look, I'd like you to do something. Go to the Sandoval Ranch outside of Santa Fe and tell Maria Sandoval where to find her son. He and his crew don't belong in the 25th century. That will earn you a valuable ally. Something that's in short supply for you in this era. You'll find she's the Federatoon Council liaison to Section 31, but she isn't S31."

[Nick Ryder]

"I'm making a mental note right now. And as for allies, I have a few. Hey do my mom and Roger May actually... y'know what... never mind, don't wanna know. Director V'Pier is in this era and he forgets more than he remembers sometimes, to him all us solids look alike, he just remembers which ones are the bigger pains in his ass, BUT that could be useful having a Council liaison to vouch for me. Cover's as a couple of 'sleeper' agents who're basically embedding themselves in case the Romulans or Klingons invade. This era was pretty skittish towards them." he smiled slightly. "It does put my mind at ease knowing the future isn't a complete shit show. Besides, if Alice and I never returned after Jackson took us, you'd all have to deal with this without us. At least I set up a few things to help and the AliceCore system" He looked around. "Besides, I promised Alice that someday we'd go to Earth, back to her home and after Gale was born, let him see his roots. This is a good place for us."

[Livvy Sandoval]

"No, the galaxy isn't a shit show. In fact it's very much the utopia you wanted the Alliance to be. Grandma died in her bed five years ago at the ripe old age of 131 with a smile on her face and her family around her."

Livvy stepped away from him, "Nicholas Ryder you are every bit my family as my own mother. You take care of yourself." She tapped her communicator, "Cross to the Timeship Erebus. One to beam up."

"Aye Captain. Give us a second to adjust the transporter beam to match the signature this time's transporter patterns."

"Acknowledged." Livvy grinned at Nick, "It's always good to have a Ryder on your ship. Always."