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Protostar Acting Chief Engineer’s Log
Stardate… um… I don’t know. Let’s call it day one.
I’m not really an Engineer, but for now, Hologram Janeway has entrusted me with this particular anomaly fracture. So, I have to learn Engineering.
But I’m alone.
I have a hologram of my friends that I keep on my workstation so I can talk to them. I don’t know how long it will be before I can talk to them again. I’ve decided to start some beginner Academy courses that Hologram Janeway recommended to help me learn how to make these repairs. I’ll be working on Advanced Multidimensional Calculus, Subspace Mathematics, and Quantum Computing.
I successfully tested out of Intro to Starship Systems. I think Dal would be proud of that.
If you guys ever get this log and I’m not here, I miss you already. Gwyndala’s face in the hologram keeps smiling at me and I think that means I need to keep positive.
Rok-Tahk out.
=/\>
Protostar Acting Chief Engineer’s Log
Rokdate 25
I’ve decided to avoid stardates for now because I still don’t understand how to track them in a fractured time anomaly.
I have passed my first and second semester classes for the Academy. My personal favorite so far has been Xenotechnology Fundamentals. I also loved Neural Network Programming.
I decided to create schematics of every possible starship class since the first warp ship launched by Zefram Cochrane. I’m comparing each of these schematics to help me understand why the Protostar was designed without a plasma distribution processor. Oo! Oo! And why the designers did not choose a more combustive elemental unit as a back-up.
That seems silly. But they are experts and I’m only a First Year Cadet.
On a personal note, I made a little representation of Murf to keep with me when I’m not studying. I also brought my mattress to the Bridge. I don’t like sleeping in the quarters that remind me of my friends. It makes me miss them too much.
Tomorrow, I will begin studying Advanced Warp Design and Environmental Systems, which are key to life support. For now, I’m going to go roll Murf around the corridors and see if I can get some exercise in.
Rok-Tahk out.
=/\>
Protostar Acting Chief Engineer’s Log
I have now passed my fifth semester classes for the Academy. Murf continues to roll up anytime I complete a course, as if enabling me to “Go Boldly” as Hologram Janeway says. But I can’t talk about her right now…
The Protostar has been kind enough to set a routine for me, operating at light mode for 12.5 hours out of every day and dark mode for 9.5.
Thus!
I just learned the word ‘thus’ in my Philosophies of Interspecies Communication.
Thus, I can calculate with some certainty that I have been gone for 75 ‘days’.
Oh wait, yeah.
Rokdate 75
I’ve been forgetting to add that to my homework and the computer always docks me 5% of my Standards KPI score. Without that, I would be a straight 100-level student in all my subjects.
Bad news, the Gwyndala model I’m making broke again. I just can’t get her hair right. The braids are so pretty and my fingers are so big. She’s my only one left, though. I have Dal, and Jankom, and I still have Murf and Zero.
I… I can’t bring myself to make a Hologram Janeway.
<user feed speech delay>
Oh, sorry. The computer just beeped at me to ask if I was done.
I guess I am.
Oh, except that. I’ve decided to mark a holiday at 100 days. I want to celebrate something and I think I can have my sixth semester completed. Or maybe I will just celebrate keeping the Protostar around. There’s this holiday that Brikarians celebrate called Concelebre. Families are together with lots of keening and chanting and rites. But there’s also presents and I’d like to make each of my friends a present.
And maybe even one for Hologram Janeway.
OK, now I gotta go because that’s a lot of stuff to do in 25 days.
<user feed speech delay>
Oops, I forgot again.
Rok-Tahk out.
=/\>
Rok-Tahk woke to the low chanting the computer had shown her from the Concelebre research. She’d set it the night before to play throughout the ship all day, but it didn’t have the right feeling to it.
“Computer, cease playback.”
“Alright Rok-Tahk.” The mechanical voice that Rok-Tahk had created was no Janeway, but it was someone to talk to.
Rok heaved herself through a morning routine, though she was excited for the day, she had started feeling really tired lately. After a nutritious breakfast, Rok grabbed the tray of ‘goodies’ she’d made over the past week and carried them to the makeshift feast table she’d created on the Bridge.
The table was small enough to accommodate her little friends but big enough to hold the presents and treats. Rok set the plate down and then called out, “Computer run lighting sequence Festive One.”
The computer obliged, finally revealing the lighting sequence Rok had been working on for weeks. The lights dimmed to a soothing pink and purple, while bokeh effects from the recessed lights in the ceiling hull created the effect of hanging red, green, and orange all over the Bridge.
Rok turned to Murf, “I know! Right? So pretty…. I thought it would be good for our first Concelebre.”
Rok smiled, truly happy imagining her friends around the table.
But the figure that drew the most happiness was a slender Captain, standing with her hands clasped behind her back.
“Oh yes, Hologram Janeway, I agree, I think Gwyndala’s hair looks very pretty, too. She did it so beautifully today. Now, we need to vote on our Bay-Lee. This is the royal for the day. Everyone, quick, who should be our Bay-Lee?”
Rok went around and fastidiously recorded each vote, ending in her own. “Oh! Guess what! Hologram Janeway is our Bay-Lee for the day!”
“No Jankom, on Brikar, the royal title comes *after* the given name… so she’ll be known as Janeway Bay-Lee!”
Rok did a little parade with Janeway Bay-Lee. Carrying her around and delightedly returning her to her seat.
“Time for TREATS!”
Rok was careful to only take one treat from the tray and then pass to all of her friends. Then, she pulled out a surprise bundle of gifts.
“I’m not sure how to do Concelebre for reals, so we’ll have to improvise some things. Here, I made these for you guys!”
Rok giggled as the ‘hugs’ from her friends and a final group hug filled her imagination. “I love you guys, too! Now… this one is for Dal. It’s a pair of cargo pants to wear the next time we go on a space station. And Gwyndala, this one is for you. It’s a mirror, so you can look at yourself because you’re so pretty. Murf! This one is for you. It’s a robotic hover frame so you don’t roll all over when I’m trying to talk to you. And look! I lined it with that good-smelling rock stuff you liked. Jankom, this one is for you. It’s all the tools from the whole ship in miniature, so that they are small enough for you to hold in your hands.”
Rok smiled at each one of these little moments, feeling warmed and happy. “And finally? Hologram Janeway? This…” Rok laid a tiny PADD in front of Janeway’s figure. “Is for you. It’s my straight 100-level report from my final semester at the Academy. I will get to graduate from the distance program if—”
Rok paused, her heart suddenly feeling very heavy. She couldn’t finish.
So she reached for the treat, but some of the joy of the moment was gone as she looked at each of the figures in front of her.
The weight of her isolation fell over her like a crashing wave, cold and chilling.
She turned away from the table and made her way to the supraglass hull to look out at the swirling stars outside.
“Lights?” a voice, demanding and firm, rang out over the Bridge. “Is someone having a party?”
Rok turned, shocked to see… not any of her friends, but a dark-haired woman in a black uniform with a black communicator.
“Who are you?” the woman asked.
“Rok-Tahk.”
“Ah, then I’m onboard the Protostar?”
Rok nodded, still wide-eyed.
“What’s the stardate?”
“Oh, um… I don’t know. It’s Rokdate 100.”
“Rokdate?”
“I’ve been stuck in this time anomaly for 100 days…”
“Ah…” the woman frowned.
“Who are you?” Rok tried to make it sound friendly, but it came out fighter.
“I am the Empress.”
“Of what?”
The woman laughed, “Of everything.”
“Why are you here with me?”
The Empress smiled, “It’s Concelebre, yes?”
Rok’s jaw dropped. “You know about Brikar holidays?”
“No, but I know about you, Rok.”
“Me?”
“Yes, where I’m from, you are vital to the success of several missions.”
“Where are you from?”
“A place I do not speak of.”
Rok looked out of the window and then turned to the figures around the table.
The Empress followed her gaze, narrowing her eyes as she landed on the figure of Hologram Janeway.
“You did-dent answer why you’re here?” Rok moved between the figures and the Empress.
“I want to teach you quantum engineering.” The Empress spoke bluntly.
“During Concelebre?”
The Empress faked right and then stepped left to inspect the figures more closely. “Do you want to get back to them or be trapped here forever?”
Rok’s big eyes filled with tears.
The Empress turned to her. “The time to cry is not now. There will be time for tears. But today? We should celebrate by learning how to keep your beautiful ship in working order.”
Rok’s shoulders lifted. “Alright.”
“Have you completed your Academy core?”
“I have.”
“And what would a cadet call a superior officer?”
Rok’s eyes widened again, “What’s your rank?”
“I was Captain, but now, I’m Section 31. So let’s stick with ‘ma’am’, yes?”
Rok nodded, “Yes, ma’am.”
“We have a lot of work to do and very little time.” The Empress held up the plate with Rok’s remaining treat. “Better eat up.”
Rok inspected her face for a moment and then lightly smiled, “Yes, Ma’am.”
=/\>
Protostar Acting Chief Engineer’s Log
Rokdate 175
I have finally finished The Empress’s mechanical timed trials to standards, failing less than .03% for assemblies, .05% for repairs, and .09% for emergent resolutions.
I just got a message from her that says that she is impressed.
No, no, wait. I’ve been practicing my impression of her.
‘This is most impressive, Cadet Rok-Tahk.’
Oh… I don’t think an Acting Chief Engineer is supposed to giggle during a log report, but I can’t help it.
The Empress said that it is important to ‘hone my skills’ with the laser tools, so she has assigned me to create all new friend figures before the next Concelebre in twenty-five days. I’ve got Dal and Jankom, but I am still working with Gwyndala’s hair and Hologram Janeway’s teeny-tiny fingers around her coffee mug. Making all of them precisely to scale is exhausting!
But I will keep practicing because I am Starfleet now.
I asked if The Empress was coming for Concelebre and she hasn’t responded. I hope so. I’ve missed her.
Oops, delete delete…. I mean, she is missed by the whole crew.
I know that when I make a Chief report, I have to log the observations of me as a leader. I’m s’pos’dta save the personal observations for the other kind.
Rok-Tahk out.
=/\>
Rok-Tahk’s Personal Log
Rokdate 175
I really really really really really really really really really really really really REALLY miss the Empress.
The End.
=/\>
For the hundredth time that night, Rok pulled her eyes open to check the visual chronometer. Still only 0622… ugh!
The Empress had said that she would arrive at 0800. And Rok was more excited than even the day she’d first met Murf.
She recognized from her “Interspecies Psychology” that she was feeling sad about being alone. Maybe even… what was the word?
Oh, right Repressed.
No!
Depressed.
So of course, she’d be excited to have a diversion from the depression.
Wait.
Was it repression?
Rok checked the PADD on her nightstand.
No, it really was ‘depressed’.
Good.
Rok slumped. She didn’t want to try to sleep anymore, and everything was ready for Concelebre… so she had nothing to do. Her morning routine would take only 10 minutes, and besides, she’d carefully cleaned herself yesterday and even replicated a cover to wear that Gwyn would have approved of.
“Rok-Tahk?”
The Empress! She was early!
Rok ran out of her makeshift quarters in the heart of the ship to the Bridge, where she found The Empress lounging on the Captain’s chair, eating an apple.
“Hello!” Rok called out.
The Empress gave her a mildly pleasant smile as she stood. “It’s good to see you, Rok.”
And Rok could see she really meant it. Rok gulped back her tears. “I’m ready to work, Ma’am!”
“Good, that’s good. I’m pleased to hear that. But where are your treats?”
“They’re in the galley, Ma’am. Why do you ask? Do you want one?”
“No… I’ve just been talking about you with… someone. And that someone has some expertise in interspecies psychology. She thinks I’m being ‘too hard’ on you.” The Empress tilted her chin down to suppress a scowl. “She thinks I need to let you have more ‘festivities’.”
Rok smiled at this, wrapping large arms around The Empress’s slight frame. “Oh! Empress! Concelebre Felicitations!!”
The Empress inhaled disapprovingly, but tolerated the hug just the same.
When Rok released her, the Empress patted her arm with a forced smile. “And to you. Get the treats and I will begin your bokeh program to start the lighting. We can be festive while we work today.”
Rok grabbed the apple core from the Empress’s hand before dashing through the bridge doors to the galley. “Be right back! Don’t go anywhere!”
=/\>
Protostar Acting Chief Engineer’s Log
Rokdate 275
The Empress showed me how to use apples to map the timelines. See, she finds an apple from that timeline and the health or decay of an apple helps her track that timeline’s progress. When the Empress eats the apple, it means that a particular timeline has been repaired, as it should be.
Cool, right?
=/\>
Protostar Acting Chief Engineer’s Log
Rokdate 301
I JUST HAD THE BEST DAY WITH THE EMPRESS YESTERDAY!
She showed me this trick for making another ship’s crew think there’s three of the Protostar. And she wanted to talk about maintenance schedules because she travels to…
Wait. I’m not supposed to say that in an ‘fficial report.
So. We talked about maintenance schedules.
The end.
I mean… Chief Rok-Tahk out.
Acting Chief.
Acting Chief Rok-Tahk out.
=/\>
Protostar Acting Chief Engineer’s PERSONAL Log
Confidential.
Rokdate 301
So, don’t read this ok?
But like seriously. It’ll be boring. And not at all interesting.
And… it’s confidential anyway. I gotta get The Empress to show me how to confidential stuff up so no one can see it.
Except me.
Unless I’m never found….
Wait, no. She said I’d be found but it’d be awhile.
OK, but she was here for Concelebre, and it was wonderful to see her again. She’s so SWEEEEEET. But she told me some stuff about other timelines. And how we are gonna be in trouble. And how we’re gonna meet a very important Captain. And how in the other timelines, the Protostar needs more than just standard armor. So, for my thesis capstone, she’s assigned me to build armor that will protect against some madman villain person who chases Admiral Janeway through like fifteen timelines.
He’s a Case-on or something?
Anyway, I gotta get to work.
And… the Empress said that she’d come back for the next Concelebre! Oh no. I just realized!
I’ve only got 99 days until she comes back from her other timeline!
Gotta go.
The End.
Rok-Tahk Out.
Personally.
Rok-Tahk Personally Out.
Rok-Tahk Personal Log Out.
=/\>
Rok-Tahk Personal Log
Again.
Rok-Tahk In
No. Um… Rok Date 301.
Not confidential.
Ok, but sorta.
So, I’m gonna whisper this.
I wanna be just like the Empress when I grow up.
Rok-Tahk Out.
Acting Chief… nope, not this one.
Personally.
Just…
Happy Concelebre!
=/\>
Protostar Acting Chief Engineer’s Log
Rokdate 398
I’ve completed the armor upgrade the Empress requested. Guys, the armor is so good! It works! The Empress will be really happy. She might even give me a commendation for this one.
And now I’ve gotta dash because I only have two days to get ready for Concelebre!
Rok-Tahk out.
Protostar Acting Chief Engineer’s Log
Rokdate 417
The Empress didn’t make it.
<user feed speech delay>
I know I gotta do the log every day but I don’t have more to say.
The Protostar is fine.
But I’m pretty worried about her Acting Chief Engineer.
Rok-Tahk out.
***** =/\> *****
Rok-Tahk opened sleepy blue eyes and watched the nebula event through the supraglass hull. For the first time in 418 days, she didn’t care that the nebula had changed colors again. She didn’t rush to her notes station to document her findings like a good scientist.
She didn’t do anything except stare.
The little Murf motor she’d programmed to roam the ship at night rolled up and tapped into her arm.
Rok had fallen asleep on the floor again.
She knew that her friends would be so ashamed that she couldn’t even muster the energy to go to the bed she’d dragged into the heart of the ship.
“Computer, morning report.”
As the computer babbled on about parameters and functionalities, Rok’s heart hurt a little bit more. The Empress had taught her how to program a dashboard report each morning, and the computer was so used to it that an audible prompt had accompanied days when Rok forgot to ask for it.
But lately, it wasn’t that she was forgetting.
The morning report hurt.
Because the Empress hadn’t arrived.
Rok’s body, normally fairly spry for someone her size, seemed to meld to the floor. She didn’t have any tears left, either. She’d cried them all out on Concelebre.
Alone.
The light from the nebula gently shifted and Rok realized that meant it was about 0700 hours. That was the daily time the Protostar’s orbit and the nebula happened to interact to reflect the baby star that was forming just one system over.
The light that filled the Bridge made Rok all the sadder.
She didn’t think she would ever be able to see her Concelebre bokeh effect program without feeling the twisty ache.
The twisty ache when she’d realized that the Empress wasn’t gonna make it.
And then, worse, thinking that maybe her count was off, so the twisty ache of hoping that the Empress would make it after that.
But she didn’t come.
Rok wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe something had come up.
No. No. Rok knew that the Empress had all timelines in the palm of her hand—literally when she carried her apples.
Rok hadn’t even known about time travel… another thing the Empress had shown her.
So, if the Empress had wanted to be there on a specific date, she would have been.
Rok didn’t want to think about the other option… that the Empress was—
Rok stopped that thought in its tracks. She couldn’t fathom that a person like the Empress could die. It wouldn’t compute.
The light from the nebula was now filling the bridge, making the consoles practically sparkle.
Rok realized this was a change in the nebula. Something to record…
But she didn’t feel like recording.
She rolled onto her side and closed her eyes, hoping to drift back into another sleep cycle.
But the dawning light seemed to have other ideas. It was now so bright Rok had to shade her eyes.
She quickly rose to check the stats of the ship and see what was happening.
When her fingers logged her in, the haptics on the console went a bit crazy. Something was happening with the baby star.
Rok replicated some eye protection and then went to watch. A collapsing gravitational field had finalized the last stages of star formation, and now, the star was ready to give off light. Rok watched in awe as the dawning light lit space around the Protostar with rainbow filaments.
Rok’s heartache was still present, but how could she stay sad in the face of this cosmic event? And she’d gotten to be here for it!
“Ahhhh, isn’t that beautiful?” The Empress stood next to her, eating an apple.
Rok, startled, took a step back. “You’re here!”
But then, she turned away. Her blue eyes closed over thick tears and she held her big hands together. “You did-dent come.”
The Empress was silent and Rok didn’t check to see what she was doing. Instead, Rok kept her eyes closed so she wouldn’t sob. But then, she felt the Empress’s hand on her face.
“Rok… I couldn’t come.” The Empress looked truly remorseful. “Remember how I explained to you that celestial events are deeply polarized by my particular time travel method?”
Rok opened her eyes to allow the tears now. The Empress was just gonna have to handle them.
Rok nodded. “I remember.”
The Empress gave her a light smile. “And you see this brilliant new star, this incredible celestial event?”
Rok nodded, the scientist within her tracking all of this data in a confirmed understanding.
The Empress studied her, waiting for the tears to calm.
“The new star may be a Concelebre miracle, but it kept me from you on a day you needed me. And for that, I apologize.”
Rok inhaled and allowed her exhale to settle her body. “Did you say Concelebre?” she asked quietly.
The Empress smiled. “I did. Shall we celebrate?”
Rok shook her head. “But I don’t have any treats and I haven’t made any friends for the party. I’ve been too busy with the armor.”
The Empress looked at the light filling the Bridge and then back at Rok with a raised eyebrow. “That armor seems to be working the way it should. How did you resolve the particulate resolution shards?”
Rok’s whole expression lit up. “Oh! Let me show you!” Rok’s fingers brushed away the haptics, the tiny notifications about the inputs from the star. “See, here’s the map I did to meld the shards to one another… I used the hafnium you recommended, but then, I remembered the White Dwarf Exclusion Principle from the final project in Interstellar Chemistry.” Rok’s voice creaked upward in her excitement.
Georgiou pursed her lips with a twinkle in her eye. “And what did you remember?”
Rok jumped excitedly. “That all known bonding agents are MAGNETIZED!”
“Through…?” The Empress prompted.
“Through the force of the object’s internal relation to the rest of its system!!” Rok-Tahk giggled and then began punching in codes to bring up the wall of schematics she’d excitedly created. “And now… look!”
The Empress nodded, gratified. “You’ve invented the first ever demagnetizing repellant, effectively bonding the shards while aligning them so that, thanks to the hafnium, they will be impenetrable.”
Rok beamed. “Yes! You were right! I did need to test it alone. If I’d been distracted, I would have missed the connection.”
“I’m impressed.” The Empress’s eyebrows raised over what could have been described as a grin.
Rok hugged her. But after a moment, the Empress returned the hug and allowed it to continue. The air around them was still and silent except for the beeping haptics in the background.
“Rok, I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?”
“I brought treats.” The Empress’s lilting accent made this pronouncement all the sweeter.
“Oh! Thank you!” Rok got teary-eyed again.
“And I also brought… a friend.”
“You mean you? Are you saying that you would describe yourself as my friend?” Rok blushed a little. “Because I think of you as a friend…”
The Empress lowered dark lashes over a shocking light pink tinge to her cheeks. “That’s very sweet, Rok, but I mean someone else. Someone I thought you’d like to meet.”
“Hello! Rok-Tahk, is it?” The woman entered the Bridge right on cue.
Rok’s jaw hung open, speechless.
“Rok-Tahk, this is Admiral Janeway.”
Rok remained speechless.
The Admiral extended her hand. “I heard that you’ve been working on a project that will help the Empress and me in another timeline?”
Rok nodded, stunned. “Oh… Admiral! I was just reading your entry about your first confrontation with the Borg.”
“Now, now, before we get too technical, I was also informed that we have a Concelebre to celebrate together?”
“Computer!” The Empress commanded from the Captain’s chair. “Run program Empress Concelebre with the following modifications!”
The Bokeh effect that Rok loved so dearly washed over the bridge as the Supraglass dimmed the light from the forming star. The beeping haptics seemed like music to Rok’s ears.
The Admiral nodded, delighted, “Beautiful!” She produced a tray of Apple Tarts. “Chief Torres sends her regrets but wanted you to have these.”
“You spoke with B’ELANNA TORRES about me?!?” Rok’s grin could have broken the sides of the Bridge for its width.
“We actually talk about you a lot. Your Demagnetizing Repellant Armor invention was the reason we were able to repair our current timeline.”
Rok’s mouth hung open. “My… invention?”
“Another Concelebre miracle…” said the Empress, now ready to move on from affection and such emotional talk. “I’ve always wanted to try a Klingon pastry…”
“No, wait! We have to vote on who is the Bay-Lee for the day!”
The Empress huffed.
“I vote the Empress.” Janeway said with a mischievous grin.
“Oo! Me too!”
“I don’t.” The Empress responded.
“Ayes have it!” Janeway smirked. “All hail Bay-Lee Georgiou!”
“No, no, we’ve gotta say it the Brikar way… Three Cheers for Georgiou Bay-Lee!”
The Empress’s shoulders dropped as she tried not to look happy about this development. So she focused on the haptics in the background. “What IS that noise?”
“Oh, sorry! It’s the notifications. See, every time this one rings, it means the new star is getting its wings!” Rok-Tahk de-activated the haptics and brushed away the schematics.
Janeway set out the treats and handed a glass to the Empress and Rok. “A toast?”
“Oh yes! I’ve always wanted to try this!” Rok held her glass lightly, but her excitement rang through her nervous energy.
“Give us a toast, then, Rok.”
Rok beamed at both of them, surrounded by the magic of a true Concelebre. “Happy Concelebre! To friends!”
“To friends…”