Game was Saturday 12/26/20; Thursday was Christmas Eve. Sadly, we did not have a Heidi.

Mel agrees to Malachi's request to hold an emergency staff briefing, and they depart the engineering briefing room. They head up to the main conference room on deck one, and note the ship is at yellow alert; the Tizit vessel looms outside their port windows, and Mel learns from Christopher Hall that Lieutenant Evan Kras is now in charge of the teams working to repair and support the Tizit vessel.

Hails go out, and soon the briefing room is jammed with all the senior staff and the junior officers that Malachi requested: Alexandria, Jen Kras, and Lieutenant Jericho MacDougal. As the officers settle in, Ssleestak works to try to assemble a coherent timeline of their apparent temporal journey; he posts the work in progress on the main viewscreen, with columns for each of the seven affected crewmembers. He quickly adds what he's gotten from everyone and realizes that everyone's memories come from the first few moments of the lost time, but nothing after that.

Mel realizes that for Malachi, his father Jericho simply does not exist right now. She calls the meeting to order and explains that Malachi is here to help explain what happened to the seven officers. Ssleestak suddenly interjects, "If we've volunteered to have our memories erased in that future, do we really want to know what happened?" Mel acknowledges Ssleestak's point, and notes that Swims is in full doctor-mode; she couldn't care less about whatever Malachi is about to say. She gestures to the boy and says simply, "Alright, Malachi, it's your show."

Malachi takes a deep breath and then says, "Right, I'm just going to plow into this. My name is Malachi, and my date of birth is stardate 53478.05; by the Terran calendar that's June 23rd, 2376. I am temporally displaced, and presumably my timeline no longer exists. I'm the son of Jetra Yaden and Jericho MacDougal." Jericho himself reels backwards in his chair, stunned into silence. Malachi continues, "There was a temporal incursion, which actually was an assassination attempt. Before I continue, I need to place myself in your current time. Have any of you heard of the planet called Kordikar?"

Mel replies, "We were there just last week, are you talking about the Krenim?" Malachi nods and admits he's not familiar with the exact details of their mission to Kordikar, other than Mr. Stack told him that he roared at a lady in the distant past, and when he got back to the present an old lady roared back. Ssleestak winces, but Malachi continues, "You were in my timeline for thirty-two minutes, aboard the Akira-class U.S.S. Solstice-A. I cannot say exactly where we were or what our original mission was, due the Temporal Prime Directive, but I will say we were diverted off course because Tom Paris did something stupid."¹⁾ Mel grumbles but reminds everyone that as far as anyone knows, Voyager is classified as lost.

Malachi nods, and refers to Mel as Miss Deline. Mel says curtly, "Captain Deline," but Malachi replies tentatively, "I'm trying to use rank-neutral terms just so I don't screw up and call someone by the wrong rank." Mel frowns but acknowledges the boy is correct to do so. Malachi also admits that he refrains from using profanity; Mel then retorts, "How can you do that under a ship commanded by Captain Kras?" Jen reddens in embarrassment, but Malachi shrugs and says sweetly, "I will admit it is difficult at times. Looking at you," as he directs his gaze to Jessa. He alludes to the fact that Jessa did something involving three kegs of blood wine, a Klingon monk that she headbutted, and ancient Bajoran.²⁾

Malachi gets back on track and explains, "As we were searching for Tom Paris, we were ambushed by three Oligarchy ships, and they were using temporal weaponry! Thankfully, my Mr. Dade once again violated the laws of physics and managed to avoid the worst of the fire before you switched bodies." Phillip smirks, but Jessa can see that Malachi is struggling. He notices her gaze end admits, "I do not wish to assume, but as my lifelong mental health professional, I'd like to talk to you later?" Jessa agrees without reservation.

Malachi goes on to explain that his Solstice defeated the Oligarchy with the help of Captain Shan'taar. Shan'taar starts in surprise and declares, "What? There's no way anyone's going to get me in command red!" Mel reminds him about how she used to be chief of security before she got promoted to captain, and Malachi adds, "You do, and it somehow involved more Andorian ale than anyone should ever drink and a three-way Ushaan-tor duel."

Mel guesses that this Oligarchy was trying to kill all of them, presumably by displacing their psyches through time, but Malachi replies, "While the Oligarchy would happily see any and all of you dead, they maintain a formal list of enemies to be eliminated. Number two on that list is Miss Tovan right here." The other officers turn to Alexandria as Mel asks, "Why?" Malachi sighs but responds, "Because she is the shield. To backtrack a bit, Jen Kras is the one who brought Alexandria Tovan back to this time." Jen shoots a murderous glare towards Alexandria, who looks absolutely confused.

Malachi looks uncomfortable, but states, "We're now about to get to the part where I am violating the Temporal Prime Directive, but this is because a threat from my time, the Oligarchy, may now be active here and now. Three ships ambushed the Solstice-A, and Miss Atuun destroyed one, while Captain Shan'taar destroyed the other. The third one vanished, possibly into a temporal rift that might have dropped it back here. Now, for some context. About eight years from now, The United Federation of Planets is going to reach an agreement with the Romulan Star Empire. This agreement is for one Starfleet ship and one Romulan ship to explore a region of space core-ward from the Romulan Star Empire. This region of space is relatively close to the Typhon Expense, and by that time, using the data you collect on this mission, Starfleet knew that there was an additional but related phenomenon called the Halo Nebula. The Starfleet ship selected was the Stargazer-A under the eventual command of Captain Marena Stadi. They made several first contacts, including the Oligarchy. The Oligarchy wield psionic weapons, and immediately proved hostile. Starfleet ships eventually developed psionic shields, but those don't stop temporal weaponry, which is why they are ambush was so devastating."

Malachi looks deeply troubled, but continues, "The Oligarchy formally operates under a different name. They call themselves House Ollikar." Jessa immediately asks, "Klingons?" Mel retorts, "Lots of planets have noble houses," but before she can continue, a loud cry of, "Bullshit!" echoes through the room. To everyone's surprise, the profanity came from the normally unflappable Armina Jasra! The counselor is now half out of her chair, supporting her weight on whitening knuckles against the table. Mel looks at Malachi questioningly, and the boy explains, "The Oligarchy is to Betazed as the Romulan Star Empire is to the Vulcans. They are Betazoids. They are powerful telepaths with no moral code whatsoever. Their creed is to dominate psychically whatever is in their path."

There is a moment of silence as the officers struggle to truly comprehend the idea of an evil Betazoid empire, and Ssleestak mentally creates a new list: Douchebag Civilizations of the Timestream. Malachi takes a deep breath and says softly, "Now we get to the really uncomfortable part of the conversation!" Jessa immediately sidles over to the replicator and replicates a mug of hot cocoa for the boy. Once the mug materializes on the pad, she grabs it and slides it over to him. Malachi takes the cocoa gratefully and takes a long sip. He then continues, "My understanding is that in the battle for Kordikar, the Solstice, the original Solstice, was erased from history for three minutes?"

The officers nod, and Malachi smiles painfully before stating, "Well, good news then. The Solstice now has a 'Do Not Erase' quantum tag blinking over the ship. The three minutes the Solstice was erased was enough to convince the Krenim Imperium that erasing the ship was too dangerous." Mel jokes, "Why? Did it make it worse?" Malachi replies tonelessly, "Yes. Yes, it did. Erasing the Solstice caused catastrophic damage. Trillions of people dead all throughout the galaxy. And all because the Solstice made a crucial discovery last year that changed everything, and all it cost was Mr. Fal's hands." Mel, Armina, Swims, Shan'taar, Jen, and Fal all look at each other as understanding dawns, but everyone else in the room is lost.

Mel says quietly, "The Harbingers?" Malachi nods and says, "For those of you not in the know, the Harbingers are an extragalactic race that believes life itself is a mistake, and they strive to bring the peace of death to any they come across. The Solstice discovered a conduit leading to one of their armadas on the other side of the Galactic Barrier and woke it up. However, this is crucial because this gives Starfleet an early warning. If the Solstice is erased from history, there is no warning, so when the Harbinger armada attacks, no one is prepared."

Mel and the other officers nod as the implications start to fall into place, and then Malachi adds, "On Betazed, House Ollikar was cast out thousands of years ago for worshipping death itself. By now, they've become nothing more than a myth and a bedtime story to scare children, but they are very, very real, and they worship the Harbingers. There are members of House Ollikar still active even now on Betazed, and they will not be discovered until 2380. The most important thing I need you all to understand is that there already are Harbinger ships already in the Milky Way Galaxy, lurking in the depths of space, waiting for the armada's call. They've been responsible for many galactic genocides over millions of years. There are also individual Harbingers seeded throughout the galaxy, and there is one such Harbinger on Betazed!" Mel glances over to Armina and notes she is looking very regal and very, very pale.

Malachi takes another deep sip of his cocoa before stating, "My mother was House Ollikar. When their corruption was discovered on Betazed, she attacked everyone in main engineering. Some she killed, but Miss K'tral… She ripped everything from Miss K'tral. Language, motor skills, memory, all of it. Mr. Stack attacked and killed my mother that day to protect the entire crew. I suspect that when the temporal inversion hit and my Mr. Stack looked up to see my mom in main engineering, he went berserk and killed her once again to save the crew."

At this point tears are freely flowing down Malachi's face, so Mel asks carefully, "Your mother did not bring you into the fold?" Malachi snorts through his tears and retorts, "Oh, she tried. Believe me, she tried. However, being telepathic from birth makes it difficult to indoctrinate anyone into anything, but she ran into an even greater barrier. I was raised with both Betazoid and Scottish culture, and I have more information about Scottish clans, kilts, and history that I ever, ever needed. Thanks, dad!" Although Jericho goes sheet-white, some of the other officers chuckle at the thought that being raised Scottish overrides every other culture.³⁾

Malachi continues softly, "Once the Oligarchy ambush was defeated, we were able to find Tom Paris quickly and escape. You were with us for about half an hour, and you voluntarily agreed to have a Prophet wipe your memories completely, to protect the Temporal Prime Directive." Mel mutters something about her crew constantly running into the Temporal Prime Directive, and Malachi snorts and says, "Oh yeah, that's not going to change. On the other hand, in a few years the Kras Exception will be added to the Temporal Prime Directive; it just reads, 'Goddam Prophets.' My understanding, however, is that that is not the original wording Miss Kras used, and Starfleet didn't want to write her actual words down on an official document. Regardless, that third Oligarchy ship may now be here, in 2372, armed with both psionic and temporal weapons… and a cloaking device."

Mel grumbles, "Of course they have a cloaking device." Malachi shrugs helplessly but repeats his assertion: Alexandria Tovan was brought back to 2372 by Jen Kras and the Prophets to act as a shield for this ship. She's the only one powerful enough to shield the ship against hundreds of hostile telepaths. Alexandria's eyes narrow, as pieces begin to fall into place.⁴⁾ Ssleestak says slowly, "I have three questions. The first is, Malachi, are you done?" Malachi replies softly, "Yes." Ssleestak nods and says, "Thank you. You've done a good job telling us this." The other officers nod in agreement and Ssleestak continues, "My second question is can we go back to work? My final question is will there anyone on the ship who would want to be in the same room as me?"

Ssleestak looks utterly miserable, but Jessa immediately leans over to comfort him, and she states loudly, "I do." Several others nod but Ssleestak looks down to Jessa and says, "I'm glad you're not scared of me." Mel jumps in and asks, "So going back to question two, can we go back to work?" Swims says emphatically, "No. I have many tests to run in sickbay, especially if I am to formally exonerate Ssleestak." Mel sighs but agrees, and she tells Malachi, "Relax, drink your cocoa, and get some rest. I suspect you and Lieutenant MacDougal are going to have to have a long talk later. Everyone who can, head back to your stations. The rest of us are to head to sickbay."

As the officers get up to either head to sickbay or back to the bridge, Ssleestak pulls Jericho aside and says, "I know this is a very strange situation, but I can tell you'd be a great father!" Ssleestak tries to encourage him, while Christopher heads to the replicator and taps the command. Christopher wanders back over to them and hands Jericho a cigar before swapping among the back and saying, "Congratulations, it's a boy." Mel winces at the brazen act, but it works; Jericho straightens and tells Ssleestak, "I appreciate the pep talk, sir. But next time, I do recommend a breath mint." Ssleestak licks his teeth and realizes Jericho is absolutely correct, while Jericho turns to Christopher and says, "Oh, and fuck you. Sir." Christopher laughs, and Jericho starts loudly singing Flower of Scotland. Malachite groans dramatically, but a few moments later he joins in with the song. Christopher mutters, "Oh yeah, he's definitely your kid!" and Mel jokes to Malachi, "Let me guess, growing up you had a sweet boy-soprano voice?" Malachi groans again and nods.

The seven officers and Swims head down to sickbay for the brain scans, and Jen and Malachi trail after them. They stand quietly while Ssleestak undergoes an intensive neural scan that leaves him feeling slightly fuzzy headed. However, after he is scanned exceptionally thoroughly, Swims declares, "This is enough to legally acquit Ssleestak." Mel smiles with relief, and then winces as she tries to figure out how she's going to report all this. She turns to Malachi and asks, "So, where did the baby come from?" Malachi shrugs and replies, "On that, like I said earlier, I have no idea. The typical response in my time is to simply blame the Prophets."

Fal lifts the baby and says, "I think she needs a change." Nurse Akorim Fala heads over to help, and also performs a quick quantum scan; the scan confirms that the infant is definitely from a different timeline. Fal asks Jen, "Why did you bring Fal Luca to me?" Jen shrugs and replies, "I'm not sure. I remember grabbing the baby before a bomb went off. Does the word Ohalavaru mean anything to you?" Fal thanks carefully and dredges up a dim memory of seeing that word in a book that he wasn't supposed to read. He says slowly, "The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I don't know anything other than that." Jen says flatly, "The Ohalavaru bombed a hasperat restaurant. I think it was one of yours, or Ota Verik's. I don't know; this is more bullshit from the Prophets."

The affected officers remain in sickbay for four hours while each of them is scanned in turn, so it is close to 2100 hours by the time they are released. Ssleestak heads down to main engineering and schedules an engineering staff meeting for 0815 hours tomorrow; he invites the security department to attend if they wish. Malachi MacDougal has scheduled a session with Counselor Jasra and has invited his father, so Ssleestak pulls Jericho aside and tells him, "I have a stash of Terran scotch if you need any. I keep it for K'tral, but you are welcome to it. It's in my quarters but knock first. I sleep naked." Jericho retorts, "I remember being a Gorn," and heads to the session with Armina. Ssleestak heads back to his cabin to sleep.

Although the alpha shift officers are cleared for duty tomorrow, Peel is not cleared for gamma shift, giving her the night off. Phillip leads her to the holodeck and calls up a program of the Howe Caverns on Earth. They quietly walk hand-in-hand through the caverns, enjoying the silence and the geodesic designs. After an hour, Peel suddenly cries out, "Why would I ever take an oath of pacifism? And how did I end up becoming an operations manager? I don't even know what half those buttons do! Why would I ever leave security?" Phillip admits he has no idea, and Peel mutters, "Captain Shan'taar. I think I would be happier under Captain Kras!" Phillip chuckles and realizes his girlfriend needs to stab something for things to make sense again; he offers to let her choose the next program. Peel asks carefully, "Gore level?" Phillip makes a face but tells her, "Whatever you want."

Peel thinks about it and then declares, "Very well, since this apparently is now a thing, it's time for some education." She selects a program depicting the Battle of Culloden in April 1746, and they join in on the side of the Scottish. After about an hour, Peel calls for the computer to freeze program. She eyes Phillip's legs in a kilt appreciatively, but admits, "I can't tell what we're even fighting about, and I can't tell who's worse dressed!" She offers Phillip the chance to choose the next program, but Phillip decides that it is time for dinner instead.

The couple leaves the holodeck and heads up to Two-Forward; Phillip is happy to learn that Paj has gone back to his roots and prepared a roast beef dinner for tonight. Peel eyes the red, seasoned meat and declares, "Yes, please!" They settle in with their plates and Peel finds that she is definitely a roast beef fan. Phillip tells her, "Next time, I need to get you to have some prime rib. It's this, but better." They head back to their cabin after dinner and relax until Phillip heads to bed. Peel initially attempts to sleep with Phillip during gamma shift but gives up as this is normally when she is on duty. She spends the shift reading instead.

Fal realizes that he is utterly no idea how to take care of a baby; thankfully, Nurse Akorim agrees to babysit, and Doctor Vrax is more than happy to help. Fal listens to their pointers carefully and constructs a very long list of their tips and knowledge. He then heads down to the Temporal Fuckery Room and spends about an hour doing some administrative work. He is happy to see that a lot of additional data has been collected, and his department is already starting to assemble working theorems. After his administration work, Fal heads back to sickbay to relieve Nurse Akorim. He discovers that Vrax has already set up a nursery in the corner of sickbay, so he sits with Luca for a while. Finally, after sending Vrax and Akorim messages of profuse thanks, he heads to bed.

Jessa walks her dog Raj, and then heads to Two-Forward for a dinner. She wants something carb-heavy and asks Paj for a big plate of Terran mashed potatoes. Paj retorts sarcastically, "Do you want a trough?" Jessa replies, "A plate is fine, thank you." Soon a large plate of mashed potatoes and bacon appears, followed by a side of gravy. Jessa makes a gravy volcano in her potatoes, and after eating the comfort food she heads to bed.

Mel decides to investigate the cute baby, so she sticks around and watches as Vrax performs several scans on Luca. He declares that other than some tissue damage that seems to come from the very edge of some explosion, she is in perfect health. Mel provides a quick explanation, and then heads to Two-Forward for food. As she enjoys Paj's traditional roast beef dinner, she starts writing her 'Not My Engineer' report to Starfleet.

Once she has a working draft of her report, Mel does a little checking and finds her quartermasters are already hard at work converting space for their two new passengers. She heads to the bridge at 2200 hours and speaks briefly to Lieutenant Then'taan. He provides her the quick update on the Tizit vessel, and how repairs are likely to continue well into, and possibly all of, gamma shift. He lowers his voice and tells her, "So it seems the fact that Zug is on Starbase 212 has not gone unnoticed. I've struck up a bit of a friendship with the Tizit executive officer, and he tells me several economic blocs are already lining up to do business on the starbase." Mel thanks him for the update and then heads to bed.

The senior officers rise in the morning and note that the Tizit vessel still looms on the port side of their ship. They gather for the morning staff meeting, and Shan'taar reports that the Tizit crew has behaved and there have been no problems with the engineering teams that beamed over. Armina reports that the crew is a bit unsettled, due to the sudden appearance of a tween and a baby. Swims reports that her medical reports are ready to attach to Mel's report to Starfleet, and Fal announces that the science department is abuzz with all the new data. Phillip grouses, "We didn't move a micron last night, we're good. And I'm not mad about this at all."

That gets several chuckles, and then Christopher gives his report. He tells everyone that the engineering team had to deal with a last-minute surge in the Tizit EPS grid, and they should be done within the next two hours. He adds, "Apparently the teams are following the 'Simon protocols?'" That gets even more chuckles, although Christopher doesn't get the reference. He leans in and says carefully, "Captain, after speaking extensively with their CO, I've made an important discovery. Tizit vessels are not standardized. Overseers have freedom to customize their ships as they see fit, as long as the profits flow."

Mel immediately grasps the implications; no Tizit vessel is alike so confrontations can be unpredictable. Christopher adds, "Unfortunately, by the time this is all said and done, we'll have been delayed at least sixteen hours. I've spoken to the Urathi, and they're still holding station in that dense cloud region nearby, with no problems. I'm also confident that the Tizit vessel hasn't picked them up on sensors." Mel nods thoughtfully and asks about their youngest crew member; Swims reports on Luca's tissue damage and that some of the equipment is being re-calibrated for infants as they speak.

Christopher leans back and asks, "And how about our Betazoid-Scottish tween? And that is a sentence I just said." After a few more snickers from around the table, Armina informs them that Malachi has moved in with Jericho temporarily. This means both MacDougal boys share Cabin 407 with Ensign Aurora Lo'vak. Armina adds, "Oh, and Alexandria is hiding from Jen. She may pop out of a Jefferies tube at random." Shan'taar grumbles, "How did I end up on a ship where a Romulan popping out of a Jefferies tube unannounced is not a big deal anymore?"

After the meeting breaks up, Ssleestak heads down to the engineering briefing room and finds almost his entire engineering staff present; only Master Chief Petty Officer Haquim ibn Ismail remains behind to run engineering. Ssleestak notes that Shan'taar is present as well, representing security. Ssleestak dives right in and stresses that while he knows he and Jericho are new to the engineering department, the department needs to trust each other, and he intends to be very clear, very honest, and chalks all this up to temporal fuckery. He states flatly, "An alternate future version of myself occupied my body and killed Ensign Yaden. That future no longer exists, and we will never know if what happened then would have happened, and it is important to note that our Ensign Yaden did nothing wrong. But I want to be clear, I would do that too, attack someone to protect my friends and my crew."

There is a moment of silence, and then Jericho asks, "Orders, Lieutenant?" Ssleestak realizes that Jericho's tacit support helps sway several members of his staff, so he asks, "Are there any more questions?" No one offers any, so he says, "Right then, back to business." The engineering staff returns to their stations, and Ssleestak learns off the record that Chief Haquim is essentially acting as engineering's third officer, and it would be best to never to actually tell him that. In his seventy-plus-years in Starfleet, Chief Haquim has made it clear that he is a career non-com. Ssleestak notes that carefully and decides to remind his department to take time to mourn their companion and to not besmirch her name. To his amusement, he notices that several crew members try to glean information about Malachi, which leads to Jericho saying, "Temporal Prime Directive," a lot.

At 0930 hours, Jessa is in her office rearranging her schedule to accommodate her new patient Malachi, when the ceiling above her suddenly collapses and a filthy Alexandria Tovan lands face first on her desk! Jessa stares at her, and then asks, "When did you last shower and eat?" Alexandria mumbles something into Jessa's table, just as Armina walks in, sees the sight, and declares, "Not my problem." She adds, "Oh, Alexandria, Jen is still looking for you. I'd recommend site-to-site beaming. Regardless, you want to get off deck four as quickly as possible."

Alexandria scuttles for the door and then to the nearest turbolift, and Jessa eyes Armina with a raised eyebrow. Armina shrugs without remorse and then helps Jessa clean up the mess. Jessa asks carefully about Armina's mental state, and Armina says flatly, "I've just learned that a horror story from my mythology is actually real. I will be seeing the counselors on the starbase when we return." Jessa hugs the normally unflappable senior counselor, and Armina does not resist.

Meanwhile, Phillip is stuck at flight control, openly bouncing up and down with impatience, as he just wants to go. However, it's not until 1030 hours when the Tizit vessel is finally repaired. After exchanging thanks and well wishes, the Tizit vessel jumps to warp six, and Mel orders, "Resume course."