Nonsense relished by the wisest (Backpost)

Posted on Mon Sep 1st, 2025 @ 1:01pm by The Commander & Commander Alex Flynn & Lieutenant JG Nimah
Edited on on Mon Sep 1st, 2025 @ 1:03pm

1,237 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Histories
Location: Public Immersion Tank 3 - DS13
Timeline: After 'A Dip'

"Ready to skidaddle?" Alex asked Nimah as she found her once more at the immersion tank where she'd left her earlier.

"Ready." Nimah replied with a nod.

"Okay great. Singh's just taken the rest of my afternoon, but I'm yours for another half hour, hopefully that'll be more than enough." Alex said, leading her out into the hallway.

"Before we get there, I should probably ask. Have you ever had any experience with extradimensional beings? Medusans, T-type energy-clouds, the Q continuum?" Alex asked as they stepped into a turbolift.

"No, ma'am. Though I sense I might, soon. Given the context of this conversation, of course." Nimah replied, smiling. She'd read about all the things that Flynn had just mentioned, of course. Most of them sounded pretty nasty - and she was honestly happy that she hadn't met them yet. Especially if saying something wrong meant being turned into a plant, or something.

By the time Flynn and Nimah reached pier one of the inner dock, it was fairly quiet, with only a handful of deck crew to be seen, mostly going back and forth to the Faraday. The Excalibur wasn't a ship most set foot on without good cause. A single security officer who had been paying attention to something on their terminal didn't notice their approach until they were almost at the threshold, but upon realising it was the XO, the officer gave a nod to both and returned their attention to the screen.

They crossed the umbilical, and Alex continued to lead them forward. "Ever been aboard an original connie before?"

"An original Constitution class? Well, no, not yet. I'm told the fleet mothballed most of them, or broke them down for scrap." Nimah's eye ridges lifted, though, at the implications behind the Commander's words. "Am I going to get that chance, now? It certainly sees that way to me!" Which did beg the question: what was so special about this old Constitution class, such that the Commander was taking her there personally? Did it have something to do with extradimensional beings, as she'd mentioned? Hmmm.

“Groovy.” Alex said with a nod. “You’re free to take a look in your own time if you’d like, but best we get to seeing the man himself. We’re making sure a command officer is present when he speaks to anyone. He’s very friendly, but.. well, he can be a lot. Because he knows a lot. I let one very promising young cadet have a chat with him unsupervised, and unfortunately she started asking questions, he started giving answers. Kind of unravelled her whole universe. She’s not with Starfleet anymore.” The weight of guilt became more evident as Alex’s explanation went on, but she was quite chipper about it.

“But, sorry, you asked a question, and I’m rambling. This particular connie was found under the frozen seas of Dreizhen V’s 25th moon, and we’ve managed to get her running and certified to fleet standard. There’s a little more to it than I can’t tell you at your current rank, but come see me again when you make Lieutenant.”

"Sorry, Commander - you've spoken much about another, but who exactly is this he you speak so carefully about?" Nimah raised an eyebrow. 'He' had to be someone of immense power, surely - the way Flynn spoke of them, she did so almost with a sort of reverence. With so much power and knowledge as to unravel someone's basic understanding of her world, one could only wonder (and shudder) at the possibilities. Somehow, with that knowledge now in mind, Nimah found herself doubting if she wanted to meet this person at all. That, combined with their earlier conversation about transdimensional beings... well, perhaps she'd just have to find out for herself what that meant.

"We call him The Commander. We found him in the Excalibur's sickbay. He kind of... died, but managed to upload his mind into it's systems. If he has another name I don't know it. Anything beyond that is, uh, maybe a question better put to him. And don't worry about asking, he likes curious people." Alex led them into the turbolift, gesturing to the throttle-control at hip-height next to the doorway. "You want to do the honours? For some reason the turbolift was the sort of system they thought needed a dead-man switch. Weird century. I do like the aesthetic though."

"Oh, um." Nimah grasped the throttle control tightly. "Okay, then. Which deck are we to go to, ma'am?"

"One. Straight to the top." Alex said, pointing at the roof.

As the door swished open, Alex moved straight out into the empty bridge. From the sound of chirping and pings, the systems were still active. "This is where the magic happens. Enough to make James Kirk feel at home." Flynn observed.

"Commander, you got a minute?" Alex asked the empty room.

"For you Commander Flynn? I've got several. And who might this young guest of yours be?" The Commander appeared from the shoulders up on the viewscreen.

"One of our new science officers. She's the first who's asked to meet our guests from other realities. I'll let her introduce herself." Alex said, deferring to Nimah with a smile. Alex sat at one of the terminals at the outside of the bridge, leaving the central space to the young Cardassian.

"Nimah. Science officer. Sir." Nimah was, admittedly, very, very confused at this point. Clearly the room wasn't empty, as much as it seemed that way. Her eyes were drawn instantly to the man on the viewscreen. There was something alien about him - human as he may have looked, Nimah knew deep in her heart that that likely wasn't the case.

"A genuine pleasure to meet you, miss Nimah. With all due respect to your comrades, you must be a rather unique young woman. Not many have asked to come here. Why don't we do this in person, instead?" The Commander suggested and the viewscreen parted down the middle, revealing a circular room with a smooth, bronzey-orange metallic texture, centered around a large column surrounded by computer systems with inlaid neon blue keys. Within the column, a great blue sphere of unknown composition floated up and down with the rhythms of some unseen buoyancy. He was standing right behind the walls as they parted, in the middle of view, much as he was on the viewscreen.

"Let's take a tour, shall we?"

"Oh, my-" Nimah's feet refused to budge. Not an inch. Hands shot to her mouth as she beheld the sight before her: technology so alien and so advanced she could barely comprehend the very first panel just feet away from her position, and the man standing so calmly amongst it all, like he'd been using it for years. Like it was home.

"This- this isn't 23rd century Starfleet technology, is it." Nimah's eyes darted between Flynn and the stranger with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. "It's too... too advanced. It's- is this all alien? I- It must be, there's no other way. I-"

"Inspired aesthetically by Starfleet, but no, not their work. No need to worry, my dear. Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous." The Commander smiled to Nimah, before looking back to Flynn, gesturing at her to join them.

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