SECTION 17

Despite these revelations about Reginald, you still think he’s the best person to help you restore your timeline. Now all you need to do is find him, and his current notoriety actually makes that far less of an issue than it might be. He’s exactly the type of person that Section 31 would be keeping tabs on in case he escalated his efforts and became an actual threat to the Federation.

You personally don’t see it. There’s a long way to go between “I will protect this wetland” to “I will bring down a government that spans hundreds of worlds.” But fortunately for you, Section 31 knows precisely where he is: on a ship near the Orion border. Even better, the ship is within range of the Section 31 long-range transporter network.

After grabbing a small phaser from the dresser drawer where you found your Section 31 uniform, you activate the transporter and feel yourself dematerialize.

Your signal bounces through multiple relays at ultraspace velocities, and soon you reappear in the dim corridor of what you assume is an Orion vessel. You quickly activate the sensor masking function in your uniform and take a look around. The interior design is somewhat similar to the ones from your timeline, only a bit more angular and with darker paint. Based on the lighting, it’s either ship’s night or the crew really likes their mood lighting.

You run a quick lifeform scan and check the readout on your sleeve. There are only nine lifeforms: 6 Orions, a Klingon, a Tzenkethi, and a human. That certainly narrows it down for you. With one of the Orions and the Klingon on the bridge and the others all in what appear to be their quarters, you make your way stealthily through the ship’s corridors until you are outside of the human’s room.

The door isn’t even locked. That actually makes you feel better about this new Reginald. It says a lot about his life situation if he feels safe and comfortable on his own ship. He should.

You slip inside the dark room. The only light is coming in from the stars outside.

At least until a moment later when they suddenly blaze to life.

In the second or two it takes your eyes to adjust, Reginald Bain springs from his bed with a loud cry of “AHA!” and is in front of you, poised to fight in his burgundy satin boxers and matching undershirt. While your Reginald is more fond of pajamas, in all other ways this man is the spitting image of your husband. It throws you for a bit to be in his presence.

And he seems thrown to see you there.

“You…don’t look like the usual assassins sent my way,” Reginald says. “Who are you with? The Qualor Two Gardening Club? If this is about those hyandal berry seeds, I am absolutely going to deliver them as promised. I just have this business on Leodalis Four to sort out. As soon as they relent and stop destroying that tidal region, the seeds will be yours.”

“I’m not here about the seeds, Reg…Mister Bain,” you say. “I need your help.”

“My help? Is your land being threatened by developers, Miss…?”

“Rosalyn. And believe it or not, my last name is Bain.”

“Is it now? A cousin?”

“Your wife.”

Reginald’s eyes widen in shock. He staggers back a bit and sits down on the bed. “Which world and how piss drunk was I?”

“It was a lovely ceremony held in the Reed Gardens near Sussex,” you reply. “We used to take the kids there a couple of times a year when they were little.”

“Kids? Now, madam…”

“Don’t worry. I don’t expect you to remember it. It was in another timeline. But we have a family, Reginald, and I need you to help me bring them back.”

“By restoring another timeline?”

“Precisely.”

“And just what am I doing in this other timeline?”

“You are a decorated Starfleet captain commanding a one-of-a-kind vessel, and in your spare time, when you aren’t with me or our children and grandchildren, you’re quite fond of gardening in the ship’s arboretum and at our home on Earth.”

Reginald smiles. “Oh, I do love my petunias. But I have work to do here. A cause to fight for! If you’re right, it will all be gone.”

“But you will have saved countless lives and several worlds. The timeline changed because of the Hobus supernova in 2387. It doesn’t happen in my timeline.”

“That was an ecological nightmare. Planets destroyed. Others devastated by the shockwave. And then the Romulans that did survive went and colonized worlds that might have been left as undisturbed pristine wilderness. We can really stop all that?”

“I’ve done it before.”

“You’ve stopped the Hobus supernova before?”

“Well, actually you did, but not this you. And it really doesn’t matter right now. Will you help me?”

“Absolutely!” Reginald exclaims, slapping his hands on his thighs. “What can I do?”

“I need a way to get back to Vulcan in 2387.”

“Time travel, eh? That’s a tough nut to crack. But it’s possible. Before I left Starfleet, I remember hearing about using a slingshot maneuver around a star. My ship could probably handle it. She’s brought me through many a scrape.

“There’s another possibility, though. Lorikel. No one goes there. No one dares. Except me. I dared. I just wanted to make sure no one was disturbing the local ecosystem, but my ship’s sensors picked up chronometric particles. And on the surface, I found a lone building. Inside was a lab, abandoned long ago. But inside the lab, left among the dust-covered tools and bits of equipment, was a box. And inside that box was a device labeled ‘Time Tunneler. Use at Your Own Risk.’ I took the box, but I’ve never been willing to take risk.”

“Do you still have it?” you ask eagerly.

“Yes. In the hold. The slingshot is probably safer, but this is your timeline that we’re trying to save. Which way to you want to go?”

If you decide to go with the tried and true slingshot maneuver, go to Section 2.

If you decide to test out the Time Tunneler, go to Section 11.