The Search for Apples [part 15] - Mission Impossible

T'Kala's Personal Log: Stardate 63043.9, Earthdate January 1, 2386.

It was as the TDI had predicted - they're apparently somewhat good at that: predicting outcomes based on time probability - and just as the portents proclaimed, the ship had crashed on the barren world below I am now in orbit of.  A beacon has been repeating on all subspace frequencies advising wayward vessels caution, for this 'demon planet' is (as are all class Y planetoids) inhospitable.  As if walking on such a planet wasn't deadly enough, the fallen vessel I am to infiltrate is remnants of a crashed Borg sphere.

Devon would say something like, "You're lucky: at least it's 'dead in the water'!"  And he would partially be right, in his own unsophisticated explanation.  The vessel below did show signs of life, from what scans could actually be made to the demon planet's surface.  Refracted they may be, Borg life-signs almost always exhibit strange behaviors, being a combination of organic and cybernetic material... I doubt I would be able to ascertain if my target was aboard, even if the ship was in-tact.

My target: a girl claiming to be from the future; a future dominated by the Borg.  It may be a farce.  But it is certainly enough for the Temporal Department of Investigation to get involved; furthermore, for the organization to enlist my help in retrieving the woman, in whatever state she's in.  "Expendable," this Agent Jones had called me.  "Not affiliated with any organization," he had said.  He was right: at the risk of his department getting further involved, he is willing to equip me with the tools necessary for the extraction.  This risk was high, but his gamble was not: I will be replaced, shall I not return.  How many cadets would jump at the chance to do such a mission?  It's where opportunistic academy cadets favor their Klingon warrior counterparts: glory of a completed successful mission will allow them to shine in the eyes of their fellows.  Looking at the debris field below and the unknown dangers therein, however, I know what the veterans and captains mean when they explain that this career is more than you can be prepared for in the academy.

And, in full circle, my thoughts drift to my mother: that stone-cold admiral who's seen so many battles. So many missions with unparalleled danger.  Perhaps a new-found respect may help better our relations... shall I return.

Kabrina would cry right now.  She would try not to give in, stubborn as she is, fighting the urge would only lead to that eventuality.  So she would cry; perhaps even try to stop me from going it alone.  I wonder if I would do the same in that scenario?  The first relationship I've been in, Kabrina and Devon, I hold in special regard.  I care about them... about their future.  Whatever the outcome, the TDI has it within their power to expunge their records as well as mine.  While I have effectively ended my tenure at StarFleet with this ill-begotten mission, I intend to restore such to my loved ones.  Perhaps even the sacrifice I make may yet prove my point to my mother.  It is in this regard, that I send my personal logs in their entirety on encrypted transmission to her, in the event I do not return...

I expect once more to give a situation report upon my arrival on the surface of the planet, to rescue what the TDI refers to as the unstuck temporal-anomaly... namely: one called Eva.