Confrontation!!!!!!!!

Posted on Sun Sep 13th, 2020 @ 5:36am by Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani

Mission: Season 3: Episode 4: Cause and Effect
Location: Prison Cell-- Tower of London
Timeline: TBD
1945 words - 3.9 OF Standard Post Measure

James Westin was a man on a mission. After addressing Parliament, he had been informed of a servant girl being found
at the castle he and Josephine had used as their home. She had been taken in the hopes she knew the whereabouts of Josephine. Of equal importance James need to make sure she hadn't found the shuttle in the castle's basement and started
telling everyone she knew.

Entering the Tower he made his way to her cell. She was still in her shackles she had worn all the way from the castle. He
waved the guard away after he had the cell door opened. This was a conversation best done in private. He stepped into the cell and leaned against the stone wall. It was cool to the skin. A prisoner here for any length of time would soon come down with pneumonia.

"So Ann Bonney is it? I know of no servant girl by that name and I pride myself on knowing all the servants names." He eyed her "Now, just who are you and what game are you playing?" His voice was low and menacing. He couldn't have any slip ups now. Not when he was so close to seeing his plan implemented.

Miraj was sore form the bumpy ride, bleeding from where the chains had grated the skin on her wrists open, and cold from the chill. They'd come in through the south bank, and the sight of the gibbets with their grim cargo swinging gently over the docks there had turned her stomach. She was beginning to think she was in serious trouble. And then the door had opened, and the man had come in, and she knew she was.

She looked at the man in front of her, dressed in the finest clothes, and hoped it must be Westin. But before she said anything that risked the temporal prime directive, she'd check. Better safe than face a court martial less than a month after graduating. "Who are you?" she asked back.

He smiled brightly at her, showing a mouth of perfect teeth. When he spoke this time his voice was still low but not as menacing. "I am the person who holds your fate in his hands so I ask you again who are you?"

Miraj looked at him, wondering how far she could push this. The guard from outside had been dismissed, so he probably couldn't hear anything. But if this wasn't Westin she'd be breaking a whole lot of rules. "Anne Bonney," she said again. If he wasn't Westin, her own name was probably enough to get her hanged or whatever else they did to spies back then.

He shook his head, "No, I don't believe that is your real name at all. It sounds like a .....pirate name." he looked at her, appraising, take stock of her. "You don't have the look of someone from around here Ann Bonney. There is a refinement to you. No rough edges. I've seen that one time before but alas she is not here anymore."

Miraj narrowed her eyes. Anne Bonney wouldn't be born for another forty years. She wouldn't be a famous pirate for another sixty. And the refinement comment. He meant Lieutenant Carlysle, she was sure of it. Alright, time to take a gamble with her own veiled references. "No, she's not. She's a long way from you now." She looked up to the ceiling, to the sky above, and the moon she couldn't see. "I'd reckon about three hundred and eighty thousand kilometers away."

Westin smiled then has quickly as it appeared it vanished. He looked at her in a whole different light. "You are from the starship Josephine contacted aren't you? Then allow me to introduce myself Lt. Commander James Westin at your service. Though I am better known as the King's Advisor or Lord Protector." He began to pace the room, talking to her as he did. "I have no ill will towards you. Just let me be! I can make things better. There doesn't have to be any suffering "

"Make things better, sir?" Was he talking about changing history? That never went well. Temporal Investigations existed for a reason. "What suffering?"

Westin looked at Miraj, "Child, how can you not know of the great plagues and wars? I know when they occur I can stop them prevent them from ever happening. I'm not a Col. Green who is going to commit mass genocide! Or a Khan who wants to have a quarter of the world under his thumb. I want humanity to prosper and grow without the mass suffering and death."

Oh. Oh damn. Miraj realised that Westin's pot was well and truly cracked. "It's practically the stone age, sir. Suffering is kind of the defining feature." She let her hands fall into her lap, hoping to feel the contours of her combadge through her skirts. She found nothing. Her pockets must have got twisted round in the struggle to get her in chains. She'd have to pull them back round. She slipped a finger under the hem of her jacket and into the waist band and began to pull every so carefully. She had to keep him talking. "And won't that mess with the timeline too much? You can't save all those people without breaking everything else, can you?"

He shook his head, "NO! Think of the Da Vincis, the Galileos and Michelangelos that can be saved. Can you honestly say that isn't a good thing. Humanity will be truly enlightened. Think of the advancements they can bring in art, science in every aspect of human life." He stopped and looked at Miraj as she asked her last question. "I have to try young lady. What is the saying? Oh yes, nothing ventured, nothing gained. It is a chance I am willing to take to stop the needless suffering and loss of life."

Miraj felt her pockets creep back to her hips. Just a little longer now, and she could reach her commbadge. Westin's sanity was 50 fathoms deep and diving fast. "Okay. I see that. But...but what about the other way round? How many Soongs and Khans and Hitlers and Dahmers and Bathories are going to survive when they might have died in the cradle?"

He shook his head, "No, no, no. You aren't listening, you refuse to see the glory this new age will bring. Any Soong, Khan. Hitler or any others that are evil and wish to subjugate mankind, pale in comparison to the good that will come from this new era. I have the ability to usher in this new era. I will be it's new messiah." His eyes gleamed with a fanatic's lust. he truly believed what he was saying.

Miraj was flummoxed by such a claim. What did you say to that. Anything. Keep him talking. "Soooo. How are you going to stop the genocide of the native americans? And what about the Atlantic Slave Trade?" She wracked her brains for the information they had crammed when they first arrived in this time. "And what about women suffrage? Or the serfs in Russia? Or the Bengali Famine? Or child labour?"

His smile was brilliant. You worry too much young lady. "Some suffering man was meant to endure. I am speaking of the world wars, the genocides. The overwhelming pestilences. Those will be erased and humanity can reach the heights it was meant to only sooner. Is that truly a bad thing? Can you honestly say that it is? I think not."

"oh, so you're not okay with" what was the population of London killed in the plague. Arri had told her. "A hundred thousand English people dieing. But a hundred million native americans is fine? Twelve million Africans, and all their descendants in slavery is something they're meant to endure?"

"No!" He exploded, his face red, then instantly calmed, "I am not saying that. I thought you would understand. I have the ability the power if you will to change mankind's path. besides, by changing mankind's destiny here and now, these disasters that you mentioned may never happen is that not so?" He challenged her.

"So, you've used your position with the king to call for an end to colonisation in the americas?" Nearly there. Her pockets slipped around under her skirts and she only needed a few more seconds to get the commbadge into surreptitious grabbing range. "Or the slave trade?" She would bet her ability to fly that he'd barely mentioned it. If at all. "What have you been doing with the King?"

"Why child, I've been doing what all advisor's have always done. I have been advising the King. Whispering in his ear, steering him in the right direction. This Spanish spies ploy is to keep the King preoccupied while I reset time if you will."

"And how are you going to do that?" Miraj was actually geuinely curious. Given that she'd lost the plot in temporal mechanics as soon as they'd finished section on Warp 10 slingshot manoevres, the only thing she really knew for sure was mucking about with time = bad.

He laughed mysteriously even as he wagged a finger at her. "That would be telling and I don't want to tell. Though that was a good effort on your behalf, to get me to reveal my plans. You will just have to be content to see the results. Assuming you are still here of course."

Miraj finally got her fingers on her commbadge. Now to get him closer. "I may well be. But the Miranda isn't. By now she's in the cargo bay in three pieces."

He chuckled at her comment. "A fact I had anticipated. "I have already removed the equipment and components I need. Now is there anything else you wish to tell me? For as delightful as this conversation is, I have other engagements to tend to."

Oh, rats. Who knows what else was being left behind. There was only one thing she could do about it. She squeezed her combadge, "I've just got one thing left to say."

Westin leaned closer. His eyes bright with future expectations. "Yes? I'm listening. What is it you want to say?"

Miraj took a deep breath. Then she flung her bound hands around his neck. "Elysium! Two to beam up!"

Westin's eyes opened in shock at hearing Miraj's command. "Noooooooooooo!" he screamed the sound echoing in the cell when the guard came to investigate. But when he got there, the Lord Protector and his prisoner had both vanished without trace.

=/\= USS Elysium Transporter Bay 1=/\=

The pair appeared on the transporter padd. Armed security officers raised their weapons. In the middle of them, Captain Lalor's holographic image smiled. "Lt. Commander Westin I presume."

Westin looked at the smiling face. He was broke, his grand plan for a better tomorrow for humanity dashed. He simply nodded at the Captain's holographic image. Then very quietly added, "I'm Westin."

Phoenix nodded. "Security escort the Commander to the brig. And someone help Ensign Derani to medical. Good job Ensign. The Miranda is currently in cargobay 3 you'll be pleased to know." She glanced at Westin. "Ms Carlyle reports that she also packed up Mr Westin's belongings. I am sure once we return to Earth, he will get some of them back."

Westin offered no resistance to the security officers as they moved to escort him to the brig. He again looked at the Phoenix's face. He moved like in a trance, so shattered was he. "May I have a book to read?" He asked her.

The Captain nodded. "Of course."