"Deja Vu"

Written by Admiral Karl Ninni
Story Concept by Admiral Greg Mortensen

The USS TITAN was on her way to her testing site where Federation Intelligence was to experiment with the ship and see what she was capable of. The Prometheus-Class starship was one of the two V'Pier N'Vorda received to put through some paces and determine if it was an acceptable design and correct any problems they might encounter, or he could recommend that the design be scrapped if too many faults where found.

The ship's complement was scarcely a skeleton crew, as they only staffed the bridge, with Admirals V'Pier and Scathach Cian overseeing the operation, Captain Rolian Tolwyn was in command, Lieutenant Riak at tactical, Lieutenant Zo Kyla at Ops, Ensign Gerek at the helm, with Lieutenant (JG) Taw Rhouse covering Sciences, and Captain Malice down in engineering.

Scathach was in the observation lounge gazing at the stars as they zipped past the windows. Rolian was in the turbolift on his way back up to the bridge as he was helping Malice make a few adjustments in main engineering a few minutes ago. V'Pier had retired to his quarters on the ship for some rest. The Counselor had noticed that V'Pier and Tolwyn had been acting a little strangely since getting on board the TITAN, but was not quite sure what to make of it. Gerek at the moment was in the galley getting something to eat for his dinner leaving Rhouse at the conn. Riak was walking in the corridors of the ship on her way to join Gerek in a meal. Zo was in the lavatory off the bridge, splashing her face with some cool water. She hated pulling these all-nighters and wanted a rest, and was a little peeved that the Admiral allowed himself some rest time but did not authorize anyone else to have any. It was at this time that the TITAN struck something.

Sensors had not shown anything in front of them, whatever it was came out of nowhere. Everyone was thrown to the floor and was startled, and almost immediately the TITAN was engulfed in an eerie wave of bluish-white energy that came from below the ship and penetrated everything.

V'Pier abruptly awoke from a deep sleep. His eyes focused on the ceiling above him. It looked hauntingly familiar, but he could not quite place it, it was not that of the TITAN or Starbase 51. He formed himself up from the bed where he was lying and noticed that his clothes began to shift out of some out-dated formal wear and into the standard duty uniform he usually wore. He could feel himself rocking from side to side and took in a better observation of where he was. He knew this place. It had been a long time, but he could never forget it. Was this someone's idea of a joke? He was not pleased at all. But who knew about this? Only Rolian.

"Computer, end program." He ordered aloud, with no response. "Computer, arch." Again, there was no heed to his words. "Am I dreaming?" He asked himself. He reached for his com-badge, only to find one he had conjured up on his body by sheer semi-conscious will. Decorative though it was, it was also non-functional. He needed the real thing to communicate with the crew. What was happening to him?

Rolian felt dizzy and his footing faltered, bumping into a man standing next to him. He looked around bewildered and confused. He was not on the turbo-lift speeding along to the bridge, but a much older elevator, descending, and was standing with several people. The man he bumped into mumbled something gruffly under his breath as he eyed Tolwyn up and down. The El-Aurian had a unnerving deja-vu about this. It all was so familiar, even down to the very scent of the air. He mind was still a little foggy and he could not think quite straight. Logic told him that he should not be here, but it all felt so familiar and 'right', he did not know exactly what to make of everything.

Scathach was disorientated and feeble, crumpling prostrate to the wooden deck below him. As he pushed himself up from the highly varnished planks he noticed he was wearing robes made from a very stiff damask brocade. Well, they were not robes, really, more like,.. a dress? A middle-aged woman hurried to his side and help him up followed by a highly distinguished older gentlemen wearing a monocle.

"Miss,.. oh Miss Dora! Are you alright? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" The matronly woman's attention was then directed towards the gentleman on Scathach's other side. "I told her the night air would do her no good, I did. I suggested she go back to her room, but she had to come out here and stare up and those stars. Obsessed with them, she is."

"Perhaps you should listen to your maid there. The advice of servants is usually sound, without you they would not be employed."

Scathach was reeling. Who were these people? Why were they calling him Miss Dora,, why was he in a dress, and most importantly, where was he? He quickly performed surface scans of their minds and was shocked to find that he could do so, they were real! No holographic projections, no hidden agendas, they were ordinary humans. He also got some information about where he was, an ocean liner called the TITANIC, on Earth, in the year 1912? What happened, he should be in the observation lounge on the TITAN, heading towards the testing area, and now he is here, as a Terran woman that lived over four hundred years ago? He gently shook loose from the grasp of the people on either side of him. He wondered what had happened to the others on board, were they here too? He would have to search for them. For now he would play along, despite what his scan had told him, he still thought this might the work of a third party testing them for some reason. The entity Q has been known to do this on several occasions, and if one of them was behind this, Scathach was not sure if he would be able to tell. They are omnipotent, and could easily make themselves immune to his probes.

"I am fine. Perhaps I shall return to my room. Thank you for your concern, sir. Good evening." Scathach turned to depart, and saw his reflection in the glass of a window. He was a woman! The maid was thanking the older gentleman again and was about to join Scathach back to the room. Thinking quickly, he reached up and pulled one of the earrings out of his ear. He had to get rid of the maid and be alone for his pursuit of other crew members. It would be all the harder if he could not recognize them on sight and had to telepathically sort through minds to see who was not supposed to belong.

"Oh, Winnie! I fear I lost an earring! Do stay and look for it for me, won't you?"

"Of course miss. Those are the ones you got for you birthday, aren't they? Hate to have you lose one of those. I'll see you in your suite later then." Scathach sighed and put a hand to his forehead. The mission ahead of him was not going to be easy, he estimated the number of people on board to be two thousand. Trying to locate just six out of that number was going to prove to be a challenge.

Gerek fell backward off the chair he was sitting on and hit the floor.. He screamed and put his hands on his head, it felt like a hundred daggers were stabbing at his brain. A slim woman with long, chestnut hair appeared over him, kneeled and then cradled him in her arms as she talked soothingly. He was in too much pain to care who she was or where she came from, all he cared about was that she was not dulling the pain in the least.

"I need the doctor!!" He screamed at her.

"Joseph, you only fell off your chair, bumped your head. You do not need a doctor."

The pain began to ebb down to a more tolerable level, and he was beginning to observe his surroundings. "Where am I, and who are you?"

"Tsk, Joseph, you didn't hit your head that hard. Now get up and finish your food." He stood up and saw that he was in a cafeteria of some sort, crowded and busy with many people. It was not he galley of the TITAN, this place looked ancient, everyone was dressed so strangely, and they were all human.

"Where am I?" He asked again as he re-took his seat.

The woman sighed. "You know that we are on the TITANIC, now mind your mother and finish your dinner."

"Mother??!! You are a hu-mon female that could not possibly be more than thirty!"

"The word is human, and I am twenty-seven for your information." The pain inside his head increased again, peaking at a high he did not think possible. The ensign could not bear it any longer and passed out, face first into his dish.

Kyla stumbled and knocked over a vanity set that was resting on a nearby table. She was not in the lavatory off the bridge of the TITAN, but an odd-looking obsolete one. She did not know where she was or how she got there, she just knew that she did not like being there. She caught a glance of herself in a mirror out of the corner of her eye and was startled. She turned her full attention to her reflection and stared at the stranger glaring back at her. She was wearing a white apron that had lacy edges over a highly starched black dress. She had a peculiar white hat on top of her head that was trimmed with the same lace as the apron. She put her hands to her face and followed the unfamiliar contours of its surface with her fingertips. She noticed that her hands were wet when another voice called to her from the other room.

"Clumsy girl. What did you break this time?" An aristocratic forty-something year old woman opened the door and entered. "My vanity set?! You oaf!" She glanced over at the bathtub and rushed over to shut off the water. "Are you even watching my bath?! The water is practically overflowing!" She stuck her hand in the water. "And to add insult to injury the water it too hot. You always draw my bath too hot, sometimes I think you would like me to scathe myself! Just do not stand there like a idiot and inspect yourself in the mirror, pick up what you knocked over and broke. Must I tell you to do everything?"

"Why don't you just shut up? I do not know who you are, but I know that I do like you."

The woman gasped and put a hand to her throat. "Why I never! A servant talking back? That will not be tolerated. At the end of this journey you can consider yourself terminated. And I have connections with the finest families, I shall make sure that they are informed about Eliza Webster and this incident. Do not expect finding employment to be easy. For now you can make me some tea. And remember to make it hot enough, you always seem to make it too cold."

"You're kidding me, right? Go make your own $^%#*& tea." Kyla stormed out of the room. She was flustered, did not know where she was or even who she was, but she did have to find out what happened to the others. Were they here too, where ever 'here' is?

Rhouse felt as if he had been bowled over with a boulder and fell flat on his back, knocking the wind out of him. He had been standing at a large wheel. Another man helped him back up to his feet while yet another man took control of the wheel.

"Ellerton, are you okay? What happened?"

Rhouse groggily answered back with a question. "What happened?"

"That's what I would like to know, Ensign."

"Where am I?" His head gradually began to clear and he knew he was not where he was supposed to be.

"Enough games, Ellerton, back to your post. Ambrose, give him the wheel again." The man who was steering the ship moved aside for Rhouse to take over.

"Who are you? You had better start answering some questions, or I'll,"

"You'll what? Are you threatening a superior officer?"

"I am warning you,"

"No, Ensign, I am warning you, stop this madness and stand your post, or,"

Rhouse fisted his right hand and delivered a well executed punch to the other man's face, forcing him down to the ground.

"Why you little rat *#@$%^*%!!" He scrambled to his feet and charged Rhouse, slamming him into the wall behind him. He then sat on Rhouse's chest and gave him two quick and powerful punches of his own. "Ambrose!! Bring this man to the brig!!"

Riak's steps fumbled and she tripped herself to the floor. As she pushed herself back up she saw that her hands were old with a few liver spots, and the fingers were slightly twisted with arthritis. Her fingers and knees ached and made an unnerving creaking noise as she stood upright. Her face felt itchy and when she scratched her cheek she felt the long hair of a beard. She gradually began to take in her surroundings, she was not in any corridor of the TITAN, and in the background she could hear some loud music and general merriment and revelry associated with a party.

"You okay, oldster? I saw you take a tumble from back there." A young man asked as he passed.

"Where am I?" She demanded.

"You're in steerage. of course, the party's this way."

"Why am I an old man?"

"It sounds as though you already know where the party is and stayed for awhile. Oh well, you are not passed out yet, so you still are good to go. C'mon, I'll lead the way.." The young man interlaced their arms

She shook out of his grip. "I do not want to follow you! I want to know what happened! Where am I, how did I get here and where is my crew?!"

"Stop screaming at me, you senile old man! You can find your own damn way around, drunk or not." He stomped off towards the loud and raucous crowd.

She was still woozy and felt light-headed, almost as though she were drunk. She needed to know where she was, why she was an old man, and if any of her shipmates were here as well. She weaved her down the hall and found herself standing in from of an elevator door. She stared at it for a moment, shocked that it did not open automatically. Riak saw the button on the wall, extended a stiff, hooked finger and pressed the button. The door still did not open. Frustrated she pushed it several more times violently before leaning against the opposite wall, slowly slouching down to the floor. She had to think of what to do. And she had to think quickly.

Aboard the TITAN, Malice pushed himself up off the floor using a control panel for support. Once standing, he tapped his communicator. "Malice to Tolwyn, what's going on up there?! It felt like we hit something!" He shook his head while reading a diagnostic display. "Whatever happened, the engines are off-line. From the look of things it may be awhile before I can get them back on. That energy, whatever it was, really did one hell of a job on engineering down here."

Rolian could hear himself being hailed by Malice, but he did not answer. He got up from the floor where he had slumped down to; this was not the busy elevator of the TITANIC liner that he had been on, but a much roomier, and emptier, car. The incredibly smooth ride came to a stop, and the doors opened. He peered into the room, it appeared to be a bridge of some sort, with various work stations and consoles. There was another man inside the room , and he gazed around it with his mouth agape in awe. Two shrieks could be heard from adjoining rooms, a long red-haired man ran in from one room and a woman ran in from another one. The red-head jumped and gasped at the sight of the main viewscreen.

"Malice to Tolwyn, are you guys alright up there?" No one paid him any heed.

"What, what is going on? I demand to know! I am Miss Dora Rathlin, first-class passenger, and I have the right!" The red-head stomped his foot.

"I, me, mirror," Was all the woman was able to stammer out before fainting to the floor. The open-mouthed and wide-eyed man went to check on her.

Rolian started to giggle. He was not sure why, he just did. And he could not stop. He was space-born again. After all these years on that rocky planet with the short-lived humans he was back in a space craft. He did not know how, or why, and he did not care. He could go anywhere he needed to. Except he remembered that Malice person saying the engines had to be repaired. He wondered if V'Pier was somewhere here too. He could be of more help in engineering that he could.

"If you are a woman I will eat my shoe, I will." The man in the blue and black suit responded.

Dora looked at herself and put her hands to her chest and screamed again. "What is happening?! I do not understand,!!!"

Rolian was not going to let a chance like this get away. He found what looked like a weapon of some sort in a holster at his side. He grabbed it and shot everyone present, they all fell to the ground unconscious. He had a ship to go exploring in again, or perhaps home, and for whatever reason, from what he saw he alone could blend in; this mysterious Malice knows his name even. If the ship was damaged in a collision like he heard the engineer suspect, he could write off the others' injuries as having been sustained then.

"Malice to anyone on the bridge,." There was an audible note of desperation in his voice.

"Tolwyn here." He gave his voice a wearied and groggy tone. "We have injured up here, all but me. I think it was that unusual energy flow you mentioned earlier."

V'Pier N'Vorda awoke from the nap he had been taking and glanced around the room with a perplexed expression. When his eyes got to the window he grew ecstatic and a grin spread across his face. He was space-born once again, and he could continue his mission. He had grown tired of the barbaric conditions on the planet he had spent the past couple of decades. He was curious to know how he had gotten on board from the TITANIC, maybe this was a rescue mission, no one tried to contact him about such a prospect, but the Founders were not known to share their plans He liked the pool-like bed he had risen from, his people obviously endeavored to make the time spent sleeping on board a ship more comfortable. He could get use to these accommodations he thought as he went down the stairs of the loft area of the suit and exited the room he was in. He wanted to see who had come to get him off that miserable rock and thank them for doing so. He did not know which way the bridge was, but felt confident that someone in the corridor could show him the way.

The corridors where devoid of any activity, but luckily he spied a sign for a 'turbolift', and he entered it. He did not see how to activate it though.

"Bridge, bridge,..." he said aloud as he scanned the turbolift for the mechanism that would activate it. The turbolift began to move on it's own. "Voice activated?" he thought to himself. "The Homeworld has been steadily advancing since my departure."

Joseph O'Diarmid got up off the floor where he had passed out. His eyes immediately began to swell with tears that he tried unsuccessfully to retain. He was in more pain then he ever had been in before, not that his nine years gave him much to compare it too. He was alone, and very much afraid. Where was his mother, his father, and sister? Where were all the other people who had come to eat supper with them? He surveyed the room and saw the stars through the windows of the galley. and walked over to them for a closer inspection. He soon came running out of the galley screaming. He had been looking out the window in terrified wonder when some ugly and frightening troll peered at him from outside. He did not realize that the pale face in the window was actually only his reflection. He ran right by Patrick McMurphy and forced the elderly man to say a prayer as he thought he had just seen a demon.

Patrick's joints did not creak and feel stiff as they usually did. His hands looked amazingly youthful, and his chest seemed to be over-developed, at least for a man of seventy. He was confused, and had one hell of a hangover. His mind was muddled, and he just contributed everything he saw, excluding the demon, to being intoxicated. He thought it would be a good idea to follow the foul creature he saw to stop it from doing evil deeds.

V'Pier pondered venturing out of his room to find Rolian, and morphed back into the period clothes he had been wearing when he first awoke. But where would his friend go? Perhaps up on deck?

He left the second-class suite he shared with Tolwyn and made way to the nearest elevator. Even after all these years, he still instinctively knew the ship's layout. He pushed the button and waited anxiously for the car's arrival.

He got out of the elevator, walked down a short corridor and up a small staircase to the deck above. There were a number of people out on the deck, but none of them were Rolian. He decided to take a brief walk around the deck just to make sure he did not miss him. He wanted to get to the bottom of this, and fast.

Scathach had just walked onto the second-class deck in his quest to find his crew. Being a first-class passenger, he pretty much had the run of the ship, and though he did get a few odd looks from people wondering what a first-class passenger would want down in second class, no one questioned him. He then felt the familiar presence of someone he knew well. V'Pier was around somewhere, but which one was he? His changeling form made him harder to discern psychically than the others. That was not completely a bad thing, he just started concentrating on the 'fuzzy' mind. Then he saw him from across the deck, V'Pier still looked like himself! Scathach quickened his step to meet up with his commanding officer. He called out his name and V'Pier turned around shocked that someone, let alone a strange woman, was using his real name and not the Terran one he had chosen to better blend in.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" The Admiral had a confrontational tone in his voice.

"I know I do not look it, but I'm Scathach. I have been looking for others but you are the first one I have come across."

"Where did you hear that name, and why shouldn't I believe you're some alien entity?" V'Pier demanded.

"Who else could know which changeling-in-a-jar you were? Who else knows you were in the CIA? Who knew you were a Founder before anyone else? Who knows why you really drink root beer? Who else knows your true age?" The Counselor quickly spurt out his supporting evidence.

"So how old am I then?"

Cian crossed his arms. "You just had your fifth-hundred and ninety-fifth birthday two months ago."

"Maybe it is you after all. Why are you in the body of a woman?" This fact slightly added to N'Vorda's bafflement.

"How come you still look like yourself?!" He snapped back.

"Yep, that's you alright!" V'Pier chuckled.

"So why do you look like yourself?" He repeated himself minus the sarcastic inflection.

"Well, it's a long story, and I'll tell you later if we live; let's just say this is not the first time I have been here."

"What do you mean if we live'?" Scathach asked as he rose an eyebrow.

"Well, in a few hours we are going to strike an iceberg and this ship will sink. There are not enough lifeboats for everyone on board, in fact only enough for half, and none of them are going to be filled to capacity. I hope we can find a way back by then. You think the others are here too?"

"I assumed we all were transported here somehow, but I think they will not be in their own bodies like myself. We will not recognize them on sight."

"Except for Rolian, he is here too, in fact he was the one I was looking for here. But he is not up here. I know that that he is fond of carousing, but where would he go on the ship?"

"Well, sneaking up to first class is out, you know Rolian is not fond of the hoity-toity airs associated with them. Second-class passengers are too modest and self-controlled, with a little attitude of their own. Steerage is the only acceptable answer, for the most part they are down to earth and honest. They like loud signing, dancing, and, perhaps most of all, drinking."

"Yeah, that sounds like the El-Aurian I know. But I do not think he would stay there."

"I know the way my mind felt when I got here, and I have safeguards against such attacks. Add that to the fact that he has been here before making him more confused, and this is all if he is conscious. If he is not, the other passengers will merely assume he got drunk off his rear and passed out."

The Changeling pulled Scathach by the arm. "Follow me to the elevator, I know the quickest routes on this ship."

Far below deck, Rolian was still dazed and got off the elevator mindlessly following the other passengers. The nearby giddy mob of people singing and dancing could be heard from the hall. He entered the crowded room and someone shoved a mug of ale at him. As he took it he scratched hi head with the other hand, still boggled about what was going on. No sooner had he begun to ponder about the happenings-on of his surroundings that someone latched onto his arm and pulled him into a dancing line winding its way around the large room. He had spilt his beer all over himself in the process of being dragged into this line of drunken-would-be-chorus-girls bopping this way and that, and for the first time noticed his clothing. He was not in uniform. His mind was slowly beginning to clear.

Riak slowly got to her feet and traced the steps of the gang of people who got off the elevator. It seemed as though she could do nothing quickly, and she felt rickety and creaky. She had a reason for following those people; she could have sworn that she had just seen Rolian in that group.

Kyla was lost on the ship. She had passed the same service corridor three times. How could she find anyone if she could not even get her bearings straight? How would she know whom to look for, she did not appear as herself, they probably would also be in the same predicament.

The Vulcan/Bajoran began thinking to herself. "Just standing here wondering how I am going to find them does no good. I had better get myself out in the open with other people, hopefully Scathach can still do a telepathic search. It'll probably be easier to let them find me than the other way around. I guess up on deck is the best place." And she made her way towards the stairs; she had gotten to know this deck of the ship quite well.

Scathach and V'Pier entered the dining hall they believed Rolian to be in. They could not see him from their current position, but Tolwyn saw V'Pier and the unknown young woman enter the room. What was she doing with him? She obviously did not belong down in steerage, what was she doing with V'Pier down here? Rolian saw the pair push their way into the room and stand in a corner. He could not make his way over to him, it was too packed.

"I don't see him, do you?" V'Pier asked.

"No, but he is here, I can feel it. So is,Riak? She is here as well. There is no questioning a Klingon mind when you sense one."

"We cannot push our way through, we would make no headway, he could be moving in the opposite direction, we cannot shout and be heard over all this noise."

"I think I see an opportunity arising, see that young couple dancing, they are attracting everyone's attention, you could easily navigate the floor in your natural state. You may only have a few minutes, but if anyone does happen to see you, they are drunk and will not believe it themselves. When you find him try and make it back over here, I'll wait. We can worry about finding Riak once we have him, since we will not be able to recognize her. Who knows, maybe she already found him. Now let me stand in front of you while you 'melt'." The young couple continued to seize the attention of most of the people, and no one noticed the man in the corner liquefy.

V'Pier navigated the floor with ease, and he quickly found himself on the other side of the room without finding Rolian. He went back through the crowd again, and just when he spotted the El-Aurian, another man stepped on the Changeling.

"Ach, be careful over here, boyos, someone spilt their ale. What a waste it is."

After that brief period of attention, the 'beer puddle' took his customary humanoid form. "Follow me." V'Pier instructed Rolian as he lead him by the arm. They snaked their way back to where V'Pier had left Scathach. The counselor shivered and rubbed his arms.

"Stop looking at me like that, Rolian, and wipe that goofy grin off your face. It's Scathach."

"What?! V'Pier, what's going on?"

"I wish we knew. This is Scathach, but obviously he is not himself. We are on board the TITANIC, and since you and I were here before, we got into ourselves. But it looks like everyone else got mixed up with other people for some reason."

"How could this happen? I do not understand,"

"I remember feeling like we had hit something on the TITAN, and some energy wave, but that's it. Could be any number of explanations. The main thing now is finding everyone and being able to get back." Scathach answered.

"How can we find them? Can we trace the energy fluctuations that occurred when we were swapped?" Tolwyn asked.

"I thought of that, but the point of entry is probably stagnant, while the ship is moving. Even if I triangulate the position, they probably would not have stayed there."

Scathach was curious. "How can you triangulate positions or measure energy fluctuations?"

V'Pier smiled. "We are back on the TITANIC. Back then, or is that right now," The Admiral paused for a second, "…oh well, in any case, I still had, or have, technology from the Homeworld, including a primitive tricorder. You two stand there and block me from view while I get some readings."

On the TITAN, V'Pier walked onto the bridge and was surprised, and even glad, to see Rolian standing there. He had grown fond of the solid in spite of himself; he was certain that the Founder would one day conquer the El-Aurians, as they will all other peoples, but if all of Rolian's people were like him it could prove to be one of the more friendly takeovers. He glanced over at the unconscious people on the floor.

"What happened to them? And why are you dressed like them?" He asked. "Are they servants for the Founders?"

"I do not know what's going on. I find myself in the elevator, walk in here and they all start freaking out, they all say that they are on the TITANIC. That man thinks he's a woman, that woman ran in screaming and mumbled right before she fainted, that guy has no clue what's going on and some strange person named 'Malice' keeps asking me what's happening up here. I don't know how he knows my name!" He threw up his arms annoyed and frustrated. "I stunned them with this sidearm, I could pass off as myself, but they were just acting too weird. They would have blown my cover and made that Malice guy suspicious."

Just then Malice entered from a turbolift, and V'Pier noticed that he too was wearing that strange style suit everyone was wearing. The Changeling quickly formed himself into the red variant of the uniform, since he liked that color best.

"I thought I had better get up here and help get them to sickbay; I could tell from engineering that the EMH was off-line, along with almost everything else. Where are Lt. Riak and Ens. Gerek?"

'Ehh, well, not here, I thought they we're on their way to help you." Tolwyn looked nervously over at V'Pier.

"I thought you said everyone but you was injured."

"What I meant was everyone but me who was on the bridge at the time was injured, and I did not realize that the, EMH was not working until after I sent them." Rolian bluffed.

"Oh, okay, I can use the help. Did you find out what happened yet?" Malice questioned as he took and observed some sensor readings himself. "Hmm, looks like we hit an array of some sort. Must have been cloaked which is why we did not pick it up. I am getting several unusual energy readings on board from the construct, that must be what screwed up everything. Should I try to fix the array?"

"No, let's get the engines working!" V'Pier shouted. "C'mon, I'll help you fix things up, Rolian will keep an eye on things up here."

"What about them?" Malice motioned towards the unconscious trio.

"It does not look like they are going anywhere soon. We have to get home fast, so let's fix these engines and get out of here." He marched to the turbolift. "Are you coming?!"

Malice and V'Pier entered main engineering. "Riak and Gerek are not here, I hope everything is okay."

"I am sure they are fine. I want to get moving."

"Admiral, are you okay? You are acting a little, odd."

"Admiral?" V'Pier asked himself. "What is this Admiral business? Did that thing put me into the future or something?" Then aloud "I am fine. I just want to get out of here."

"Computer, where are Lieutenant Riak and Ensign Gerek?"

"Lieutenant Riak and Ensign Gerek are deck ten." The computer droned out.

"I have to go get them. They could be hurt."

V'Pier snorted and shook his head. "Solids, if I live to be five-hundred I will never understand them. Fine, go, that just leaves more work for me." V'Pier arrogantly knocked shoulders with Malice as he walked past to begin repairs.

Almost as soon as Malice set foot on deck ten from the turbolift he could hear the frantic voice of Riak shouting out what sounded like prayers of some sort. He followed the bellowing chants to their origin and spied Patrick apparently attempting to bless Joseph. Now that he paid more attention to the words, it sounded like a Terran prayer. So why is a Romulan/Klingon mutt practicing Terran religion on a Ferengi? He stepped out into the open to let himself be seen.

Joseph ran over to the Trill's side and tried to hide behind him. "Please help me sir, she scares me!"

"Lieutenant, what is the meaning of this? What are you doing?"

"Do not try to protect the demon, he must be banished back to hell!!" Patrick shook with these words, pushed up his sleeves and fisted his hands. "I will get to him even if I have to go through you," At these words the Ferengi took off. "That creature must have brought me here with you, to this place where it keeps all it's tortured victims. He brought me here from the TITANIC, where did you come from?"

"Whoa, hold on there, if this is some sort of joke I do not find it funny."

"Joke? One minute I am on my way to have a few drinks on the boat and the next thing I know I end up here, young and with a set of boobs!! That demon put some kind of curse on me and I am going to beat him into taking it off!! Are you going to help me or not?!"

"I think I am going to have to go with the 'not.'" Malice drew his phaser and shot Patrick, with the latter collapsing to the floor. Joseph quietly crept up beside Malice.

"I don't know who she is, she has funny-looking ears, but she said she was on the TITANIC. I was there too, with Momma, Daddy and my sister, but now I can't find any of them, and there is some ugly troll after me too, I hope he does not come around, my head hurts me a lot too,"

"Well," Malice thought as he turned his weapon on the Ferengi and fired, stunning him. "I can at least solve the last problem." He was thoroughly confused.

Back on the bridge of the TITAN, Rolian was studying what he correctly assumed was helm control. "Does not look too hard to handle." He thought to himself. "I just hope I can convince that Malice that I know what I am doing."

Dora Rathlin quietly got herself to her knees. Her body, or at least the body she was in, ached slightly and felt stiff all over, it took her eyes a few seconds to focus. That strange man shot her with some sort of gun, yet she saw no bullet wound. He must have missed but she got herself so worked up over it that she fainted. If she did not make much noise and hurried, maybe she could make it to the door before he noticed she was alright. She began to crawl along the floor, being as silent as she could, but she thought every move she made sounded so loud that he was sure to hear her. Was this her imagination? Dora did not think so. She was going to have to do something before he noticed her worming her way around on the ground, and she did not fancy the idea of being shot in the back. She had made her decision, as unsavory as she found it, she was going to charge him for the weapon.

V'Pier sighed. "I have some good news and some bad news, which would you prefer to hear first?"

"What is the bad news?" Scathach asked.

"Well, it's like this, the entry points are not only stagnant over the ocean somewhere, but they are also rapidly closing. There is no way we could get back that route. The good news is that we are all giving off some unique residual energy emissions so I can track the others, and there are too few sources of this energy meaning that someone is still back on the TITAN meaning that while we try to find a solution on this end, the higher probability is that they shall find one in the future."

Scathach crossed his arms. "So you are telling me that I am probably stuck here, in the past, for the remainder of a pathetically short Terran life-span, in a body that is not even my own, but at least I will be with the rest of you? Unacceptable." The counselor paused to think for a moment. "I could telepathically skip from body to body, or infest myself into the background of one of you for a couple of centuries," He briskly looked over his shoulder to see who was behind him and saw Riak. "Riak? Look at her, she looks as if she may only have another year in her, if that!"

"What's happened to us? Where are we?" Riak demanded. "Who is she, Kyla?"

"It's a long story, we will discuss it later; and no, that's Scathach." Riak smirked and snorted upon hearing that.

"Humph! At least I made it into an attractive body, I suppose there is at least one parallel that must be followed," Riak growled at Scathach's remark.

"Enough bickering, I have isolated those unique energy patters I spoke about earlier. Unfortunately I cannot distinguish which individual is which, obviously this scans physical bodies and everyone that's left is in a human body now. The closest one is on this deck, follow me." The diverse quartet left the hall as inconspicuously as they could with V'Pier in the lead.

They found themselves outside of a door to a steerage cabin not very far from the cafeteria. V'Pier opened it before stepping in to reveal a startled woman sitting on the edge of her son's bunk.

"Who are you? Get out of my cabin!" The woman rose and walked towards V'Pier, while a small girl scrunched herself up in a corner of the opposite bunk.

"Scathach, some assistance please?"

Eileen O'Diarmid began a protest. "Scathach? What does,." When she saw the young aristocratic woman enter the room, Eileen was not able to finish her sentence, as she had collapsed to the floor almost instantaneously; the girl flopped over on top of some pillows.

"Admiral, is that you?" Gerek sat up in his bunk. "What's happened to us, who are they?" The Ensign walked over to V'Pier and lowered his voice for the last part of his sentence.

"We'll explain on the way."

"Does anyone have anything for a headache?" Gerek asked as they left the cabin.

Rolian turned from the helm of the TITAN just in time to see Dora descend upon him. She hit him with so much force that they flipped over the console and Dora pinned him to the floor, the phaser that had to this point never left the El-Aurian's hand shot across the carpet and hit the wall under the main viewscreen. The extremely shocked socialite pounced on the weapon, quickly twirled around and had it pointed at Tolwyn. He momentarily lay on the floor, the wind being knocked out of him. He then got himself to his feet and tried to catch his breath.

"Do not move or I will shoot. I want some answers and I want them now." She had the weapon firmly grasped with both hands, her arms extended and her elbows locked, but this did not steady her aim any, she was noticeably upset.

Rolian was not sure what to do. "With this guy's shakiness there was not much of a chance of him hitting me," Rolian thought, "but if he misses me he could damage some controls or something. No, look at the fear in his eyes, he does not have the nerve to shoot." So Rolian took a small step towards his ambusher.

"Do not come any closer, I will shoot!"

"C'mon, just give it up guy, lady, whoever you are, we both know you are not," When Tolwyn took another baby step towards her, Dora pushed the trigger, but the only reaction she got from the phaser was an error tone.

She pushed it a few more times furiously, each time preceding the same tone. In a panic she threw the phaser at Tolwyn, hitting him in the head. He ran up and punched her, she retaliated with a powerful backhanded slap that gave her a second to try to run past him towards the aft of the bridge, but he grabbed her by the hair with one hand and punched her in the gut with the other. When she was bent over from the stomach punch he still had a hold of her hair so he pulled back her head and slammed it into the helm console. Tolwyn then let her drop to the floor as he picked up his phaser to see what was wrong with it; it was nothing that he could see so he aimed at Dora and to his amusement, shot her again.

"I like this." He said aloud as he smirked. "It only works for me!"

At that moment Malice walked off the turbolift. He knew he would not be able to stun V'Pier, whomever he now was, the same way he had Gerek and Riak, so he had hoped to enlist the aid of some of the other crew, should they still be themselves.

"What happened here?"

"Oh, he, he was acting a little weird and then he tried to attack me,"

"So then more than just V'Pier, Riak and Gerek have been affected." The Trill stood at the tactical post re-examining the unusual energy patterns that the array had generated. "I didn't think of it before, it's not my area of expertise, but I believe that the energy signatures sensors are picking up could be the result of some temporal disturbance, should current beliefs be on the right track."

"So you are trying to tell me that we went through time?" Rolian had a significant air of doubt in his words.

"No, not us, just you. All of you. You yourself have been acting out of place, but passably so. You might have been able to pull it off for awhile too, better than the others. But you are not Rolian Tolwyn any more than that is Scathach whose head you just whacked. You are all giving off the energy as well, it was masked before by the array's output but now that the energy is dissipating it is clearly visible."

Rolian pointed his phaser at Malice. "I AM Rolian Tolwyn, just not the same man you know. Or perhaps just a younger version of him. We were on the TITANIC, in the year 1912, with these other people apparently, and for whatever reason swapped places with your people. Which is just fine with me, I am myself and V'Pier is himself, and we do not have to be stuck on Earth anymore."

"If you shoot me you will never get this ship to go anywhere. I am the engineer, remember? Without me you are dead in space."

"V'Pier can do the repairs himself." Tolwyn returned curtly

"If a 'time-swap' is precisely what happened, then I am afraid your friend has about four hundred years of catching up to do when it comes to technology. He can no more repair this ship on his own any more than you could. Even if he could, where would you go? You would be found out, neither of you have had the same experiences or training, at least yet, that these older bodies have. You would be found out in no time. And what about these others? Do you want them to stay in these others people's bodies, stuck in the wrong time?"

Rolian sighed heavily and lowered his weapon. "You are right. How do you propose we fix things?"

The engineer quickly drew his own sidearm and stunned Tolwyn. "Like I'm going to tell you."

"It's locked." Gerek simply stated about the door that the group was now huddled around. They made their way down to the crew's quarters, for that is where the energy flux lead them.

"There's no time for this." V'Pier took his natural form once more and seeped through a crevice in the door. Once on the inside, he unlocked the door. "Scathach, you need to take a look at this, are the closest thing we have to a doctor."

Scathach stepped to the to the fore and stood by the bunk's side. There was a body covered by a white, but blood-stained, sheet. He carefully peeled back the damp linen and examined the body.

"He's dead. The ethmoid bone has been broken and punctured his brain."

"Who was it? Rhouse or Zo?" Riak questioned.

"Did you not hear me? He is dead, there is no mind to read." Cian snapped. "This does not bode well. What if this man was meant to live through the experience? History has just been altered. When we get back it could be like nothing any of us remember it being."

N'Vorda looked at the clock on the well of the dead man's quarters. "We have already hit the iceberg and are taking on water. We had better find Kyla and make plans to save oursleves."

"What if the people we are in were supposed to die, and we save them? History,"

"I think I speak for everyone here when I say screw history! Regardless of whose bodies you are in you are still my crew and I am not about to let anyone die here! Stop being so damn philosophical and get realistic! We have to find Kyla, let's move it!" V'Pier stormed out into the hall and made a few calculations on his Founder tricorder. "I think she's up on the aft section of the deck."

Malice did not like what he was about to do. He had re-routed all engineering controls to the bridge, and had sealed the control center off with command codes. The true V'Pier would be able to over-ride them, of course, but this imposter did not know how. He had beamed the crew that was on the bridge to separate cells in the brig, where they could do no harm. He prepared himself for what was next. He was going to beam over to the array, and see if he could control it. The computer was set to erect a force field around the bridge once he was on board the array, so that the Changeling could not attain access through a ventilation duct or something. It would be de-activated when given the command remotely by Malice. Sensor scans showed no life signs on the array, so he did not have to worry about that. What he was worried about was the cramped space inside. He drew in a deep breath. "Computer; energize."

Kyla saw a very diverse group walk up onto the deck, they did not fit together, was that V'Pier?

"That's her!" She heard him call out. She had already begun to run in their direction. "Before you even ask, we have no idea what happened or why. We are going back to my room; if you see a crewmember handing our lifejackets along the way, by all means take one. Scathach, you are not coming with the rest of us, you are going back to your suite and getting some clothes, specifically a warm dress and warm coats. We are going to need them."

"Luckily I know the room location from scanning the maid earlier. And I know what you are thinking, but I believe I am going to have to pilfer one of the maid's dresses, I do not think Rolian can fit in one of, well, mine."

Beads of perspiration were forming on Malice's brow and trickled down his face. There was hardly enough room inside the array to work, and apparently environmental controls for the construct were malfunctioning, making warmer than the Trill would have liked. But that was not his concern, He was trying to find the memory log of the structure so he could reverse what ever happened. He could not even get the unit back on-line. He did not know how long V'Pier, the one on the TITAN, would wait before trying to find him. He also did not know how long it would take him to find a way into onto the bridge, and if that V'Pier was anything like the one Malice knew, he would find a way.

The door to V'Pier and Rolian's room opened up just enough for Rolian and Scathach to enter with the items N'Vorda requested.

"Wait out here." Scathach said to people unseen.

"What is going on?" V'Pier asked.

"If I am going to mess up the past, I am going to do it in a big way. Outside I have other people who are coming with us. My maid Winnie is out there, along with Gerek's father, mother and sister. I even have Riak's wife."

"How do you know,"

"It is not important. Rolian, put this on." The counselor tossed him a dress. He hurriedly put it on over his regular clothing.

"It's too cold out there for just that." He said.

"Rolian, I am going to cover your face and chest, to give you a mask, and help you 'fill out' that dress more." He did not leave any time for the El-Aurian to protest, he simply did as he said he would, and added a bun of hair to the back of his head.

"I found that Miss Rathlin has an abundance of furs, so I have one for everyone, including the people in the hall. Now lets get the story straight, I, Dora Rathlin by body, am a first-class passenger. Winnie out there is my maid, along with Eliza Webster." Scathach pointed at Kyla, "Eileen and Joseph O'Diarmid are my cook and handyman, respectively, and they are travelling with their children, Joseph Junior," motioned towards Gerek, "and Deirdre. Patrick McMurphy is my gardener," nodded at Riak, "and Sheila McMurphy is the housekeeper. I am the only one here who might have enough clout to pull this off, so remember who you are, in body, and that you are with me, we should be fine. Nobody wants an angry first-class passenger."

"Everyone put on your furs and lifejackets, were going up on deck and getting in lifeboats." Tolwyn temporarily grew a second mouth on his right cheekbone for V'Pier.

"He he he! I found it!" Malice exclaimed out loud as he wiped his brow with his forearm. "Now if I could only access it,"

The troupe was in one of the first lifeboats and being lowered into the water when it happened a second time, a great surge of energy that made all it affected succumb to unconsciousness.

The groggy crew of the TITAN, minus V'Pier, found themselves back on that ship, in their own bodies, and in the brig.

"I guess they caused some trouble." Rolian half-joked.

Scathach put his hand to his forehead where there was a small gash. "Looks like Miss Rathlin got me into a fist-fight or something. Who knew she had it in her?" Malice rushed into the room, and looked around, trying to find some kind of indication that things were back to 'normal'. V'Pier was right behind him.

"V'Pier, I don't know what got into them, they just,"

"It's okay, Malice, you did it!" The Admiral gave the engineer a hardy embrace. "I do not know how, but you did."

"Well, it was nothing, really. The array had a quite simple 'return' command, for the last destination, which did just that."

"The array?" Gerek questioned.

"That is what happened, we rammed the array. It was cloaked with a system I have never seen before, and was covered with a shield. When we hit it it was not too badly damaged, but it did cause the trigger system to go off. Apparently strong warp fields nullify the energy, so that is why I was unaffected, I was in engineering."

"Why did it send us where it did?" Kyla asked.

"I don't know, I didn't get to how it worked, I just wanted to get you back. That is something we will have to wait to find out."

"One more question for now, why are they all in the brig and I was on the floor in engineering?"

"You all were problems, in one way or another, but I could not stun you to you into a brig, and I figured I would let you do some work on the engines while I tampered with the time machine. I did not know what else to do with you."

V'Pier pushed the master control for the brig cells and opened them. "C'mon, everyone to engineering. We have work to do if we want to get home. Once we get back we will all have a long talk about this."