With Faith

[Jack Ryder]

England, Earth - 1913

Jack Ryder sat at a small cafe, sipping tea and watching a young woman talk to a man who's face was obscured with bandages. Presumably from the Balkin's War. He was clearly trying to sell something and she was a shell buyer. Thankfully, Jack had brought enough 25th Century spy gear with him to be able to listen to them as clearly as if they were sitting across from him. Weeks of staking out this cafe had finally paid off.

"I assure you, this is worth far more than your employer is offering." he said in a low voice.

'And what you are offering is far too... fanciful to be worth what you are asking." she said and sipped her tea. "But my employer is intrigued by the item. That's why he even bothered to send me in the first place."

"Wouldn't you want to know the future? What it will mean for the British Empire? The World even?" he leaned forward.

"A pence and I can get the same future told to me at a carnival. And it would at least have the added benefit of candy floss." She laughed. "Why don't you take me to this... repository of future knowledge and perhaps I'll ask my employer for more money for you."

"Well if you see the item... then you must commit to him purchasing it." He said and crossed his arms. "Otherwise..."

"Oh threats... how fun." the young woman said and glanced over her shoulder. "As if I am simply another defenseless little girl."

"Compared to what I know... everyone is." he said cryptically. "Come to my flat. One hour."

"One hour." she stood up and nodded her head. "Until next we meet."

Jack finished his tea and left a coin on the saucer. Tossing a small tracking chit at the woman's skirt, it clung onto the fabric. He fixed his jacket and walked out of the back of the cafe and into what looked like a door way in the building next door. Instead, it was the control room of his time pod.

"Follow the tracker and let's confirm that our target is actually here." Jack said and leaned against the console. "Any sign of her tracker?"

"Negative Professor Ryder." the AI replied. "If she IS here, she isn't using any technology we can trace."

"Well let's hope our 'friend' that we're tracking can lead us to her." Jack looked at a padd. "Carly once told me she was mugged when she came to this time period when she was testing the Huntington's temporal drive. Although I think she was hiding something. This is probably the best version of her to 'borrow' to help us in our mission."

Meanwhile --

"This little toy of your's is quite ingenious." The bandaged man said with a crooked smile as he picked up the damaged PADD. "So much information in something so small, libraries worth of knowledge that I can literally fit in my pocket."

"You really have no idea what you're doing with that." Carly said and glared at him. "Besides, how do you know it's true?'

"The details of the war that gave me these scars... in full detail here." he held it up. "No one knows but my General and yet... this looks as if everyone knows. Clearly you are from the future." he touched her face. "As are you..."

"Pig." Carly said under her breath.

"Oh I know I am... although I made you squeal earlier." He chuckled and pulled the sheet off her body. "Maybe I'll do it again later. That's for the 'Pig' comment... it's going to get very chilly." he doused the fire in the fireplace and took her clothes from the rack and put them in a sack. "Not that you'll need these." he laughed and locked the door.

"Another fine mess you got yourself into Carly..." she said to herself and shivvered a little. Touching her forehead as much as she could, despite being shackled and bound to the frame of what was once a produce cart. She tried to reach out with her telepathy, but she was still too weak, considering she didn't dare eat or drink anything she was given and she had been kept for three days already.

"I would say." Jack said as he carefully, quietly opened the door. "You told me you were mugged... you didn't mention this and I can see why."

"Dad?" Carly said, a look of confusion on her face. "How...? Oh... right... time travel pod." she rolled her eyes. "Wait a sec... you never... nevermind." she shook her head. "Can you get me out of here?"

"Not dressed like that young lady." Jack teased.

"Young lady? You do realize I am chronologically older than you. Probably. That damn drive is taking forever... literally... to calibrate properly. At least I'm in the right timeline though." Carly said and rubbed her wrists as her father freed her. "You look... fancy. You do realize only rich people dressed like that. Or people trying to impress other people."

"Who's to say I'm not playing at being a rich man?" Jack said with a wink.

"They like to rob rich people dad." Carly reminded him and dug into the bag he brought. "Oh nice... " she held up the corset. "As if I'm not skinny enough?"

"It's bloody period alright... not like I had a lot of options, even for a rich man." Jack said as he glanced at his fob watch. "We only have a few minutes. Hurry."

A hurried five minutes later -

Carly and Jack walked down the street, Jack providing a measure of telepathic camouflage as they hunted down the missing tech that the bandaged man stole from her.

"So father... speak to me. What happened and why do you need me, specifically this version of me?" Carly said and smiled slightly. "Clearly we succeed in this timeline, you're older than I remember seeing you."

"And you've never been younger... at least this version of you." Jack replied and glanced at his monocle. "Right this way." he gestured and they found a small shop. With a man trying to tinker with a tricorder.

"Ah, you found it." Carly said and knocked over a lamp that shattered on the ground.

"You bumbling woman!" the man at the counter said and left the tricorder to clean up the mess.

"Oh I am so sorry... I'll gladly pay for it." Carly said and made eye contact. "How do two crowns sound?" she said and made him forget all about the tricorder.

"Yes, yes.. .that's fine... " he said and cleaned up the mess as he was handed the money.

"Anything else?" Jack said as they left. "You changed his mind eh?"

"I dislike doing that, but it's more a change of mental focus... it's not what I was taught as an ethical telepath." Carly said and looked at the tricorder. "I can disable everything else, all the circuit boards will turn to dust"

"Smart trick." Jack mused and put his hand around her shoulders. "So... Carly... I need your help with something."

-- Later

"So... I'm just supposed to take this on faith?" Angel said as she looked her brother in the eyes over the comm view screen.

"Yes, that's what 'trust me' means." Jack replied with a smile.

"Jack..." she sighed heavily. "Last time you lost her, you went a little... nuts."

"Perhaps a little madness is necessary in these times." Jack said as he gestured with his hand. "I just wanted to tell you... this is on me. Not on you. Not on father. This is me... doing what I can."

"I really hope you're right. Your kids miss you by the way." Angel said softly.

"I miss them so bloody much, but if I do not do what I need to do... this will affect them as well." Jack said cryptically.

"Just be careful." Angel said and touched the screen. "I really don't want to lose another brother."

"And I do not wish to lose another child." Jack said as he nodded his head. "Take care of yourself. And father. And... the twins."

"Mine or your's?" Angel glanced down at her expanding bump.

"Both sets... told you they ran in the family." he teased. "Congrats again. That Nathan is amazing at producing children when you're having pre-war together time..."

"Yeah... well, it's bound to happen when I keep him all to myself for a week." Angel said and closed her eyes. "Just don't do anything stupid... that you can't fix."

"That my dear sister, is what I do." Jack said as he close the channel. Looking over at his daughter who was sitting at one of the consoles entering in computations, he looked at his fob watch and mused. "What we do."

"Faith, treachery and time travel... oh this timeline is going to be royally frakked up dad." Carly said and got up and stretched her arms. "Just remember, I need to resume my personal time stream at some point."

"Of course. In the meantime... let's remember the cardinal rules of time travel. Plan. Organize. Make the resulting change logical." Jack said and kissed her cheek. "I'm going to take a nap. It's been three days since I've slept."

[Becky Sandoval]

"So, the next question is: can I help in any way?" Becky offered as she entered the room. Handing a PADD to Angel, "The report you asked for ma'am."

[Angel Ryder]

"Yeah, keep me from ordering the Marines from hunting my brother down and dragging his skinny ass back here." Angel chuckled lightly and sipped her coffee. "Thank you." she held up the PADD. "Kitea's going to be meeting with some of our allies, going to transfer some of our scientific experiments to other places so we don't lose everything if Dominus decides to say 'fuck it' and blow Terra Alpha and Byron to hell." she rubbed her eyes. "Nathan thinks I'm nuts for staying here, I think he's nuts for accepting the assignment. I told him he could have hung back. Becky, never marry another CO."

[Becky Sandoval]

"I have no intention of marrying anyone," Becy said. She stood in front of Angel with her hands behind her back in parade rest. "It wouldn't be fair to him to have to deal with my PTSD, nightmares and my general... well, let's just say I'm not suited well for relationships. I've been alone too long, and too set in my ways. The first day he left the toilet seat up or boxers on the floor... well it likely won't be pretty. So, you're stuck with me ma'am.

"As far as getting things off Terra Alpha; e need our version of Memory Alpha, but maybe not so centralized. A network of the sum knowledge and history of the Alliance and its members."

[Angel Ryder]

"That's... the secondary mission." Angel said with a half smile. "Dad's been building a system but Nathan and I and the other 'eggheads' have been developing a way of storing it so that it doesn't get corrupted, edited unfairly or simply deleted." she stood up and activated a holographic display. "Cece... before she... we've been developing it as a sort of Cross Temporal database. Essentially it would exist inside and outside the current flow of time and space and reality in its own sort of self generated pocket. If reality and time change around us, we'd know what changed."

[Roger May]

"You 25th Century people... using old ideas and you think it's revolutionary." Roger said as he knocked on her door. "Dreadfully sorry to just barge in, but are those the reports for the crystalline matrix data flow tests?"

"Indeed they are Roger. Becky just brought them in." Angel said as she handed the padd to him. "Looks like we finally found the right elements."

"About bloody time. A supreme shame that even the Borg did not have the full recipe for them, I had hoped that at least a small part of our El-Aurian brethren had survived intact, but this will hopefully bring back a small part of our distant past and help ensure your future." Roger tapped his forehead. "Unfortunately the only similar database, exists in the living minds and memories of El-Aurians and Siofrans and well... as long lived as we are, we're not immortal. Eventually even what's up here... will fade like candy floss in the rain."

"So poetic... can tell you wrote music in a past life." Angel said with a wink of her eye.

"Ah that's the thing... there is history and power and data in music. That's where some of the cross temporal databank begins... " Roger said and bowed to Becky Sandoval. "And of course hard data... that you are wonderful at creating."

[Tess Ryder]

"Roger... what did I tell you about bothering Angelica?" Tess said as she crossed her arms and looked at him. "You could have just asked for the report over the comm."

"Ah, but then I would not get a chance to stretch my legs and see your lovely granddaughter." Roger said with a smile.

"I don't mind the flattery." Angel said as she walked over and hugged her grandmother. "How was the trip Buscia?"

"Oh I wish it didn't end, but it felt good." Tess looked at Roger. "In more than one way."

"I won't even pry." Angel winced and looked at the database prototype system. "Although Jack's line to me... when we started this. If time changes then who we were isn't who we'll be, to change time is to obliterate what we were."

"That already happened dear." Tess said and gestured with her hand. "The me that Cece and Mac and Jason grew up with... is not the same me that stands before you. That me is gone. This system you're creating, is to make sure that some part of us remains. We have to have faith that this is not our final stand and if it is... that it's meant to be."

"And that Becky... is where I get it from." Angel pointed to her grandmother.

[Becky Sandoval]

"And this is where I start getting a headache," Becky said with a sigh. "I have a Borg neuro-processor in my brain and temporal mechanics and paradoxes still make me want to eject myself from the nearest airlock. And to be honest, having seen two other versions of myself I'd just as soon not know a fourth or fifth or however many versions that might come. No thank you. I will revel in my ignorance."

[Angel Ryder]

"I watched the black box video footage of my counterpart Ang'Jhu t'Radiak burning and exploding when the Compound was attacked a couple years back. We were as different as well... the two of us. But I cared for her like a sister. We were just starting to get close. She took over for me when I was having Trinity." Angel said and sighed. "But she came from a reality where the Romulans got their shit together a lot sooner and stopped what would have turned into Terra Pax which turned into the Imperium a lot sooner and well... my father and mother were killed in the battle and my counterpart was raised with my old XO's counterpart as sisters. Given that her name translated to 'Angel' in Rhiannsu they called her 'Ang'Jhu' like Ang Angel vs Jhu/Angel... I guess." she gestured with her hand. "You are entirely a Becky though, I would never even dare call our Becca 'Becky' even dad when he's being a snot doesn't call her that. 'Sandy' is the name that he calls her when he's cruising for a smack."

[Becky Sandoval]

"That's you not me." She hesitated as a thought struck, and then she frowned realizing the implications. Sighing she began, "I have an idea on how to find Dominus... well, Bellatrix and by extension Dominus and their spawn. Bellatrix is me, and I her, and so is the Admiral. We may have all made different choices in our lives, and by God we have all lived very different lives as well. But, I'm pretty sure we're more alike than we'd care to admit. I would bet anything that she hates knowing I'm here. As much as I hate having her and the Admiral here. We're no longer unique. I could modify my nero-node to emit a sup-space signal and we let Bellatrix capture me. It'll give you their location and as Alice is fond of saying, 'Bob's your uncle'. Okay yeah, I don't know if she's fond of that particular idiom, but she is a Brit so..."