He Who Sits & Waits

Gray-suited business types packed Arcadia by the hordes.  It was as if, following all the crew reassignments, they had taken two-thirds of the ship's personnel and replaced them with these: Agents of the Department of Temporal Investigations.  They lined nearly every hall throughout the ship, scanning equipment in hands, poring over every deck, asking the remaining crew question after question, leaving no molecule unturned.  They filed in and out of the shuttle bay, and filled the hangar like it was some kind of convention.  April had to push through a sea of elbows, literally, to find a clearing, and the leader.  Starfleet reported they were coming, when he called to inform them of his discovery – a discovery he and Clicker were not alone in making.  He should have seen that too.  Starfleet had experts.  They had deduced the coincidence of Major Michael Wolf's arrival with the sudden outbreak of a disease, which threatened the entire Federation.

Temporal mechanics was a funny thing.  Effect could precede cause.  While April was not entirely certain that was the case here, there was definitely more going on than they at first perceived.  He was certain of that much.  In the late 21st century, diseases had taken a sharp upturn in abundance and variety on post-World War III Earth, the era Wolf came from.  While he could not have delivered the "new cancer" to the 24th century personally, it could have begun in the 21st century; and Wolf's "skip" through time somehow caused it to take over, in a very big way.  At the very moment he appeared, an entire retroactive history had been written, or rewritten, to accommodate it.  An alternate timeline.  The DTInvestigators meant to get to the bottom of the mystery – and they wasted no time doing it.

April did not realize, then, that he would never see Wolf again.  DTI detained Wolf instantly, the moment they arrived – moments after the starbase monitors finished their task, of examining the Arcadia's now approximately 100-person crew, and withdrew.  They had cleared biological review, and were labeled clean; all except April, for which he had to answer, very shortly.

Would have... if not for the addition of the temporal element.  The DTI leader, a curt thirtyish man named Brisk (no relation to the doctor, according to the doctor herself), had informed April that they were holding off until they had more information, before recommending his removal from his post as captain of the Arcadia.  In the meantime, he sat in his quarters, sealed off from the rest of the crew, just in case.  By now there was no hiding it.  In the moments of respite between exams, when it had time enough to flourish, the ship's grapevine could have delivered the news.  Crew members had seen him having it out with the DTIs.

One half of his quarters resembled the shuttle bay, a slice of the view before him, as he pushed through the bodies – or rather, his communications holoduplicate – searching for Brisk.  April was contaminated, but not a hologram.  At least, he hoped that was the case.

He at last found Brisk, huddled in a group of gray suits, nearly indistinguishable, over a section of the solar sail craft they beamed aboard when Wolf appeared.  No one noticed April at first, despite his Starfleet uniform, standing out like a sore thumb in the gray crowd.  It made him wonder if these new holocoms were working properly.  He forced his way into the group, and forced Brisk's attention.  April was not used to sitting on the sidelines, especially on his own ship.  He wanted to be involved; he wanted, at least, to know something.

His first concern was for the man.

"Agent Brisk," April started, in as polite of a tone as he could muster, despite his impatience.  "Where is Major Wolf?"

Brisk eyed him blankly.  He had a round, indiscriminate face; floppy blond hair, thin brown eyes with a detached stare.  He was shorter than April.

"Detained," Brisk said simply, after thinking about it; as if April should have known better than to ask.

"I realize that.  What I mean is—"

"Captain," Brisk said.  "I'm in the middle of work.  Please.  I understand you have many questions, but we are really quite busy here."

At least he was warmer than the last two DTIs April spoke to recently, over subspace.

"Mr. Brisk," April said, more firm.  "The man was uprooted from his own time.  All of this has to be very confusing for him.  I'd simply like to know if he's all right."

Brisk sighed; it was obvious he wasn't getting rid of April until he satisfied his inquisitive mind.  He stepped up beside April – not the least bit surprised to see him here; they must have been aware of the holosystems – and escorted him a short ways from his co-agents, giving them a gesture to continue whatever they were doing.  Once they had reached a small clearing in the throng, he stopped and faced April.  "The man you know as Major Michael Wolf, Captain, does not belong in this time.  He has been sent back to Earth."

April frowned.  "Why wasn't I informed?"

"You would have been, when we were ready to inform you.  You have to understand, Captain, our responsibilities far exceed your own.  We can't stop to give reports to every captain on every ship we have to deal with.  We've been through this, quite a bit, with others."

"So what's going to become of him?"

Brisk sighed again, deliberated over whether to tell April what he next told him.  "We'll erase his memories of this time, and send him back."

"Back... without his craft?  Won't that arouse suspicion?"

A tiny smile tugged at the DTI agent's features.  "If you simply must know, Captain... the other half of his craft was recovered, long ago.  Now we have this half, here."  Brisk gestured at the sprawling remains of the solar sail, dominating the shuttle bay.  "We are experienced temporal investigators.  Through analysis, we've confirmed that we're pursuing the correct course.  He was never meant to be in this time.  But temporal rifts... Well, they come, they go.  One of the unfortunate hazards of space travel, I'm sure you'll agree."

April nodded.

"He won't perish, if that's what's bothering you.  The other half of his craft was recovered by a Vulcan cruiser, on its way to Earth in 2081, shortly after his disappearance.  Once he's been returned – with this portion of the craft, after we've beamed it back to Earth, as well – they'll rescue him.  The timeline will be restored to its previous state, and all should return to normal."

"So the—" April began.

But Brisk had decided he had taken enough time out for the captain.  "Excuse me.  I must get back to work."  He turned and made his way back to his companions.

April lingered, pondering pressing it further, decided against it, and simply vanished.