The meaning of time

Posted on Thu Feb 12th, 2026 @ 10:51am by Rear Admiral Indi Hawk & Treon Brevor

963 words; about a 5 minute read

It happened in the blink of an eye. Literally. One moment, Sena and Indi were standing in the latter's quarters, ready to get off the Starbase. The next moment, they were staring at sleek, blank walls of a large, white hall.

"What the-"

The sentence never got finished as a door opened in the middle of one of the walls. The door hadn't been there moments before, but it opened as it blinked into existence.

Indi looked over to Sena and nodded. "This is it..."

Four strangers, appearing Human, walked in and made their way over to the duo.

Knowing it would be useless to resist, Indi simply held out her hands, showing she wasn't about to defy the quartet.

Wordlessly, one pair of them got to Indi's sides, one pair next to Sena. They grabbed their upper arms and guided them through the door. Once through the door, they steered Sena to the left and Indi to the right.

Indi was walked down a white corridor and then into a white room.

Her yeoman was waiting for her, hands clasped behind her back, her face inscrutable.

Indi's guards simply left her and without a word, withdrew through another door. The door disappeared into the wall.

"So..." the yeoman circled Indi, finally coming to a stop in front of her. "You sent out a distress signal, Admiral. What did it say?"

Indi stood in front of the other woman, and pondered her options. She realised they had little use for her anymore. Now that she'd discovered that the simulation had been fake, they couldn't get information from her the easy way anymore. All she could do now, was stall. Play for time. Give anybody on the receiving end of her message a chance to find them.

It was at least a relief to her that the message had seemingly gotten through. If it hadn't, the woman in front of her - definitely NOT her yeoman - wouldn't be so curious as to what was in it. It was also unlikely they didn't already know its contents, as it was broadcast over an open channel, so she didn't find it necessary to lie.

A shrug. "My name, the situation as I saw it, the request for help."

"You are very inventive," the yeoman allowed. "A pity it will not help you."

She left it vague as to who "you" referred to.

"Besides the human who was caught with you, did you have contact with anybody else?"

Another easy question to answer honestly. Indi was sure they already knew who she'd been in contact with.

"I had contact with a lot of people. In my job as Head of Security on your little Starbase, I had to have contact with many people. If you're asking me whether or not I had contact with other humans, I honestly can't tell you. I'd refer that question to you, I'm sure your surveillance techniques have revealed it if I have."

"What made you suspicious that this wasn't Starbase 369?"

That was a trickier question. Did she want to answer that honestly? As long as her yeoman - No! It wasn't her yeoman! - as long as this woman believed what she was saying, it was all good and well to buy time. But why would she lie?

"I don't know how you thought to be able to keep a perfect simulation with one of my best friends in command of the place. You should have known I would get suspicious when old stories were told," she shrugged. No details, they weren't necessary. It was a slip up from whoever was holding her here, and they knew it.

Which sparked the question. "Who are you working for?"

The yeoman smiled. "You're not in a position to ask questions, Admiral."

The door once again appeared and two guards stepped forward. They were as bland-looking as the previous guards.

"Well," the yeoman continued, "it was certainly interesting working with you."

Indi knew she was approaching her expiration date. She had to buy time. But how? Who were these people? Why did they have a beef with Starbase 369? How was Sena doing by now? She had to buy time!

"I know I can take three humans in a fair fight," she spoke, a sense of urgency driving her now. "But I've got the feeling that it wouldn't be the case here. At least tell me who you are."

The yeoman considered her for a long moment. "We are not interested in a fair fight. I doubt Starfleet would either, if it had a choice. The Dominion War was rather fair, wouldn't you say?"

Of course! Indi nearly slapped her forehead, but then remembered the dire situation she was in. Not simulations of people she knew! Changelings! Of course! Glad she didn't get into a fight with them, she let out an audible sigh of relief.

"I have to admit that you did a very good job at impersonating everything and everybody at Starbase 369. If you hadn't gotten some very personal details wrong, I would probably never have found out. I would ask what you want with the information about the Starbase, but you wouldn't tell me that, so I won't ask. Did you use holo technology at all in the simulated starbase? Or was it all Changeling matter in one way or the other?"

Buy time. She had to buy time. Just buy time.

"You're very inquisitive," the yeoman remarked. "We have noticed that about Starfleet."

The yeoman didn't say anything, but she must have given the guards an order, for they both stepped forward and grabbed Indi's arms.

"This is it, right?" Indi looked straight at her yeoman. "I've run out of time.."

=/\=

LtCmdr Sena Tal apb Treon Brevor
&
RAdm Indi Hawk

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