Chapter Seven
Ambassador Cochrane
Kirk Personal Log Stardate 57872.0
We've reached Station NEZ-5 and are awaiting word from the ambassador. Kathryn has been holding classes for at least two hours of every day in the mess hall so that we can each keep up on our classes at the academy. I still don't know what to make of what she told me the day after Captain Sparks attacked the ship. To be Captain when I graduate is more than I expected and I'm happy to know that I will be. I just hope that my service will be all that they expect.
She went on to tell me that Quinn would be going to Command School upon graduation from the academy as well. That doesn't surprise me any more than Chad's refusal to enroll in Command School surprises me. Chad has never wanted to command. He's a pilot and he simply wants to fly.
I'm sure that word has reached the other cadets at the academy about my little spat with Captain Sparks. I wonder what they think of that. So many of them were so quick to condemn me for my so called celebrity status at the academy. Annika, Axum and the adult Icheb continually referring to me as Captain didn't help matters much. I wonder what they will think if and when they learn that I will be a captain in Stafleet when I graduate.
"Bridge to Captain Kirk," came the voice of Sonya Kemperson on the comm.
"Go ahead bridge," he said, smiling at Kathryn. They were having lunch in his quarters, talking about Starfleet when the call came.
"Captain, Ambassador Cochrane is ready for transport," she replied.
"Thank you, Ensign," he said. "I'll be in the transporter room."
"We'd better get down there," said Kathryn. She looked at her half eaten plate of chicken. "Rain check?"
"Absolutely," he replied as they made their way to the door. "I'll clean it up later."
They met Quinn and Johnathon as they stepped onto the lift. He smiled at them and wondered once again what the ambassador would be like. He hoped that he wasn't stuffy. He'd read the file on the man. Ambassador William Cochrane was in his eighties and supposedly very outspoken.
"Deck three," he said when the lift door closed. Seconds later the door opened on deck three and they stepped out.
"NEZ-5 Station reports ready for transfer Captain," said an Ensign Mitchel.
"Energize, Mr. Mitchel," he said, smiling at the boy.
Jim nearly gasped when he saw the ambassador. For eighty-seven years old the man had held up well. He didn't look a day over fifty with dark hair that just slightly tinged with grey at the temples and soft blue eyes. His assistant, Aubry Miller, was a thirty-five year old man that looked like a human but had close cropped black hair, slightly slanted dark eyes and Vulcan ears.
"Ambassador welcome to the Leviathan," said Jim. "I'm Cadet Captain James R. Kirk of Starfleet Academy."
"Admiral Kathryn Janeway," said Kathryn, stepping up beside him.
"This is my First Officer, Quinn Janeway, also of Starfleet Academy," Jim said, touching Quinn on the shoulder.
"James R. Kirk," said the ambassador as he looked him up and down. "So you are the child from another timeline. I was told there were two of you."
"Cadet Lieutenant Chad Dodds is on the bridge sir," said Jim. "He is assigned to Conn."
"Very well," said the man. "I'd like to meet with you both. I'm curious to know about this other timeline."
"I'll make sure that we're available to you," said Jim. "Allow me to show you to your quarters."
They walked back to the lift and were transported to deck two where Jim showed the ambassador to Quinn's quarters. It had been decided that Quinn would bunk with Jim for the return trip to New Moon Station. They exchanged pleasantries and then they excused themselves to allow the ambassador and his assistant to settle in.
After returning to his quarters to clean up the lunch dishes he went to the bridge. There he received a report from each station, finding the ship in working order and ready. He instructed Chad to break station orbit, lay in a course for New Moon Station and engage at warp five.
"The ambassador wants to talk to us about the other timeline," he said to Chad when alpha shift left the bridge.
"Well now is as good a time as any," replied Chad as they walked into the mess hall and found the ambassador sitting at a table with Kathryn. The man's back was turned to them but when he turned Chad gasped and grabbed Jim's arm.
"What's the matter with you?" Jim asked, looking at his friend hard.
"Jim, the ambassador looks just like my father!" Chad hissed.
"Maybe we should put this off," said Jim, thinking that the resemblance would be too much for Chad. Chad walked away toward the table though. Jim had no choice but to follow him.
Ambassador Cochrane stood with a stunned look on his face. For a long moment no one said anything. Mr. Miller and Kathryn stood as well, matching looks of confusion on their faces as they all waited for whatever was about to happen.
"Chase?" asked the ambassador with that stunned look still on his face.
"My name is Chad Dodds," replied Chad. "You look like . . ."
"Someone in my family," the ambassador said, cutting Chad off.
Both Jim and Kathryn were shocked when Chad and the ambassador walked off. Mr. Miller tried to follow but the ambassador turned and waived him off. Jim was too stunned to think about the fact that the man had waived off his assistant. He walked to the table and sat down across from Kathryn.
"Well that was different," he said.
"It certainly was," she replied. "He'd been talking about you and Chad all afternoon. I can't get over their reaction to each other."
"I think I may know what's going on," said Jim, a memory flashing through his head of a conversation he'd had with the teenaged Icheb.
"Enlighten me, please," she said, waiting.
"Well you know how upset Chad has been that there isn't a Dodds family in this timeline," he said. She nodded. "I talked about this with my roommate Icheb, or rather he talked to me about it. He said that it was possible that there had been a Dodds family in this timeline so long ago that the computer didn't have the records for them. He said that it was probably as simple as a girl child being born instead of a boy child, marrying and the name changed and died out."
"That is a possibility," she said slowly. "It's been discussed at length by Starfleet. Do you think it's possible that the ambassador is part of the family we couldn't find?"
"Kathryn I'm sitting in an alternate timeline after waking up from stasis over one hundred years after I was put to sleep," he said with a grin. "I believe that anything is possible."
"When you put it that way," she said, smiling. "This is very exciting. I hope this works out for Chad."
"Forgive me, Captain," said Aubry Miller, clearing his throat. "Can you tell me about the other timeline?"
"Well Chad and I were supposed to have that conversation with the ambassador so I guess it wouldn't hurt," he said, smiling. "What would you like to know?"
"I've been told that Starfleet and space travel existed so much sooner in the alternate timeline," he said.
"Well I grew up knowing about Starfleet and I was born in nineteen seventy-four," he said. "I know that in that timeline. Zephran Cochrane had taken the first warp flight on August fifth of nineteen sixty-three . . . "
"That's astounding," said Miller. "That was a thousand years before our timeline's scientist discovered warp flight."
"Yes," said Kathryn. "We've had endless discussions at Starfleet about this."
"Starfleet wasn't like it is here," said Jim. "In my timeline you couldn't go to the academy until after graduating from high school for one thing. Technology advanced rather rapidly in the nineteen eighties and an entire fleet of starships were constructed. We were known as the sister planet of Vulcan by nineteen eighty-five and many Vulcans were living on Earth while many Earthlings were living and studying on Vulcan."
"So the Voyager of that time was lost in the Delta Quadrant in the nineteen eighties?" Kathryn asked.
"No," he said. "That ship wasn't constructed until I'd been in stasis for almost fifty years."
"This is all so fascinating," said Miller. "You and your friend were put in stasis in nineteen ninety?"
"That's right," said Jim. "We were both very sick and though technology had advanced medical knowledge hadn't gotten as far. The diseases we were suffering from were extremely deadly. They put us in stasis because they believed that they would find the cure for both diseases within ten years. I don't know what happened or why we were in stasis for so long."
"And then you and your friend created a starship on the holodeck of Voyager?" Miller asked with wide eyes.
"Yes," Jim replied, smiling as he thought of Lexus. "With the help of a lieutenant from engineering we created our ship. We ran scenarios on the holodeck for months as Voyager raced to the Neutral Zone. Then we encountered Q and our ship became real, Voyager was sent to another alternate timeline and we were in Andromeda."
"Were you in our timeline while you were in Andromeda?" he asked.
"No," said Jim. "I don't believe so. Q sent us to Earth just as he said he would but he hinted that he was going to send us to an Earth we wouldn't know. Well at first we thought nothing of this because we hadn't set foot on Earth in over a hundred years. Then we got to Starfleet Command and learned the truth of our situation."
"Outstanding," breathed Miller.
"Yes," agreed Kathryn. No matter how many times she heard it the facts still amazed her. She wanted to choke the life out of Q for what he'd done but at the same time she'd come to love both Jim and Chad. Having them with her was a blessing that she wouldn't have if not for Q sending them to this timeline.
They were still talking when most of the crew had retired to quarters for the night. Chad and the ambassador still hadn't come back to the mess hall and Jim supposed they had much to talk about. He excused himself from the table with a yawn and made his way to his quarters. Quinn was there when he got there.
"I wondered if you were ever going to get away from them," said Quinn with a smile when Jim came in. "More talk about the timeline you came from?"
"Of course," Jim replied. "I had fun this time though. It was so different to talk to someone who was amazed by what I had to say. Aubry Miller was fascinated by the alternate timeline. Starfleet only listened and recorded what we had to say. They weren't all that fascinated. If they were they sure didn't let on to us."
"Well at least you didn't have to try to explain what its like to be a Q," sighed Quinn, sitting at the small dining table. "That's what Starfleet wanted from me during debriefing."
"That wouldn't be fun I imagine," Jim said, sitting across from him and yawning again.
"Long day?"
"Extremely," he replied. "How about yours?"
"Oh I spent most of the evening on the holodeck," explained Quinn. "At least until I was bumped out of there by Ambassador Cochrane and Chad."
"They're on the holodeck?" Jim asked.
"Yes," he replied. "Chad was giving the ambassador a tour of Lexus when I left."
"What time was this?"
"It wasn't that long ago," Quinn replied. "I don't know how long they plan to be on the holodeck."
"Just as long as Chad is ready for his shift in the morning," said Jim. "Right now I'm too tired to care."
"Was this what it was like for you on Lexus?" Quinn asked as they stripped down to their under clothes.
"Not even close," replied Jim. "On the Lexus I had no way to contact help in any situation. Here we had the Enterprise to help us with Captain Sparks. In Andromeda I would have had her in the brig for a long time with no solutions available to me."
"My father did you wrong," Quinn said as they pulled the cover back on the bed.
"Your father did us wrong," agreed Jim. "But in a way I'm grateful for what he did. Being here in this timeline feels right to me now."
"You don't miss the other timeline?" he asked.
"I miss people from the other timeline," Jim replied. "The way they were there. Most of those people aren't in that timeline anymore anyway."
"You mean people on Voyager," said Quinn as they slid into the bed side by side.
"Right," Jim said with a yawn.
"I like being here but I still miss being a Q," said Quinn. Jim could hear vulnerability in his friend's voice. "I'm still angry at my father for all of this."
"I can understand that," said Jim. "Quinn, I don't even know what to say about what your father did to you. I know nothing about being anything other than what I am. Sure I remember life before space and the disease that put me in stasis but this is my reality. Being human is always who I've been."
"I'm still getting used to it," Quinn said quietly. "It's hard sometimes."
"You know that I'm always around," Jim said, turning onto his side so he could face his friend. "If you need to talk about anything any time just find me. I may not be able to help much but I can listen."
"You're a good friend, Jim," Quinn said, smiling. "Thank you."
Some time in the night the two young men had moved closer together. They slept with limbs entwined. Quinn's cheek was pressed against Jim's as they slept in the comfort of their embrace. Neither boy knew what was happening. It just felt right. They'd both needed a little comfort and they'd found it.
When they woke up both were embarrassed by the contact in the night. They smiled sheepishly at each other as they made the bed in silence. Jim showered first and emerged from the lavatory in his Starfleet issued robe. While Quinn was in the shower Jim thought about what it had felt like to hold him and smiled. He'd liked the contact but he wasn't sure what was going on.
"Breakfast?" Jim asked twenty minutes later when Quinn came out of the lavatory dressed in his uniform.
"Sure," said Quinn, looking at anything but Jim as he sat at the small table.
Jim was replicating eggs and bacon with hash browns and toast when he heard the door chime. They looked at each other and after the second chime Quinn shrugged. Jim sighed as he put the food on the table.
"Come," he said, relaxing when Chad walked into the room. "I can make more if you're hungry."
"I ate with William," replied Chad, shaking his head. "Jim he's awesome. We tracked his family history all the way to Miriam Dodds! She married a man named Cochrane in the early sixteen hundreds. He's got his entire family tree on a data pad all the way back to before the colonies were settled."
"So you've found your family," Jim said with a smile. His fork of eggs and hash browns paused just in front of his mouth.
"I sure have," he laughed. "William wants to spend the day on the bridge watching me fly!"
"Well you don't need my permission for that," said Jim. "He's more than welcome."
"Thank you," Chad said with the biggest smile Jim had ever seen on his friend's face.
He watched as Chad left. Quinn was smiling at him when their eyes met and he smiled back. He was happy for Chad. His friend had been so upset to learn that he had no family ties in this timeline. Of course neither of them actually had family ties in this timeline but at least there were people out there that shared their genetics.
"You're happy for him," Quinn said.
"I am," agreed Jim. "He's been so down about not having any family here."
"What about you?"
"I know that there are people out there that share my genetics," Jim said, thinking about the search Kathryn had helped him with while Chad and Quinn were in classes.
"I'm glad he's found a family," said Quinn.
They ate the rest of their meal in silence. As soon as the dishes were taken care of they headed for the bridge. Jim smiled when he saw Ambassador Cochrane standing beside the conn watching Chad's every move. The man had a small smile on his face and his eyes were filled with admiration and pride.
Jim got his reports from the beta shift as they relinquished stations and prepared for their time off. He was told that there was nothing to report. All systems were normal, there was no activity in the sector and all was well. He liked hearing that.
They arrived at Deep Space Nine three hours later. Jim and Quinn went back to their quarters to pack. He wondered how Chad would take the Ambassador's leaving. They'd been informed that upon reaching Deep Space Nine the ambassador would be beaming aboard the Enterprise and they would take him to his next posting. The cadet crew of the Leviathan would be returning to the academy to resume classes.
"Captain Kirk," said the ambassador as they stood in the corridor outside of the transporter room. "Chad tells me that you are the best friend he could ever have. I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk. Chad has told me a lot about the alternate timeline. I'm sure the two of us will have our chance to talk in the future. I'll be keeping in close contact with Chad as much as possible."
"Ambassador Cochrane, thank you," Jim said, shaking his hand. "It's been a pleasure to have you on the ship. Just making Chad happy makes me happy. He's been so down since we arrived in this timeline because he believed he had no family ties here."
"Well I showed him that was wrong," the ambassador said, smiling. "Perhaps I can show him more about the family in the future."
"I'm sure he would love that," replied Jim.
Jim let Chad have a moment with the ambassador just before the man was to transport to the Enterprise. He really was happy for Chad. It was nice to see him smile so much. As they all transported in groups of six to the station Jim thought it might be a good idea to start trying to contact members of his own family in this timeline.
THE LEXUS CHRONICLES