SECTION 16

You replicate the three coffees and take them all to Lornstrum first. She eyes them suspiciously but takes one. You hand another to Reginald and take one for yourself. Without hesitation, you drink. Reginald shrugs and does the same. Seeing that, Lornstrum takes a long sip of her coffee.

“That is actually quite good,” she says. “I’ve never had Arcturan coffee before.”

“I’m betting there’s a reason for that,” you say.

“What do you mean? What did you do to that coffee?!?”

“Absolutely nothing,” you reply. “But I found out recently that it doesn’t agree with tachyons.”

Good for you paying attention to Admiral Larkin’s lecture earlier!

Or, if you just randomly served her Arcturan coffee, points for being lucky, I suppose.

Either way, Lornstrum begins to fade from existence as the tachyons protecting her from this timeline, a timeline in which she doesn’t exist, are washed away by the Arcturan coffee. She tries to fire her phaser, but it is fading as well. She lets out one silent scream of fury.

And then she’s gone.

You and Reginald are alone.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

“Absolutely fine, dear,” you reply.

“I have seen that woman before, haven’t I?” he says. “What does she want with you?”

How do you even begin to answer that? You’ve spent almost 45 years not telling your husband about Section 31 and your association with it. It’s required far more lying than you’ve been comfortable with, but you always felt it was for the best. Reginald has always been such a forthright Starfleet captain that the very idea of Section 31 would rankle him, much less your association with it.

But you’re retired now, and you’ve been carrying this secret around for far too long. Maybe it’s time to finally be honest with him.

If you come up with yet another lie, go to Section 27.

If you decide to tell Reginald the truth, go to Section 32.