Summary: Jeff Jalando has been arrested for a crime he would commit in the past: the destruction of the Calhoun. However, someone beamed him over to the Calhoun in the past, letting him experience everything the crew experienced. Ultimately, Jalando found out that Kevin DeSerre, the First Officer of the Timeship Eternity, had been behind this. He found this out too late though, since DeSerre paralysed Jalando, programmed a phaser to fire at some explosives on the Calhoun, and beam out, leaving Jalando to be unable to do anything to stop this. The phaser fired, the explosives reacted, the Calhoun got destroyed.
And now, the conclusion: "Back to the Calhoun", part 5.
It was a quiet day on Pandora Station, as usual. The fact that this old Ceylon class station was not really the centre of the galaxy, was the biggest understatement Jalando ever heard. Still, he liked that. Nothing much happened around here. . . which meant nothing dangerous could come from this assignment. The most exciting thing which happened this whole month -April, 2392- was a report that the USS Solstice, the starship assigned to the Station, would be a few days late. But that didn't matter. The Solstice was away most of the time anyway.
First Officer Jeff Jalando smiled to himself. He might not have the most exciting job in the universe, nor the most eventful one, but at least he had a job. The lack of events allowed Jalando to relax more often, and to indulge himself in one of his passions: Science. He often requested scientific reports from other dutystations, since he had already scanned everything in range here.
At moments like these, when there was nothing to do -and there were a lot of those moments on this Station- Jalando thought about his career. From Ensign to First Officer in less than a year. Most people would find that surprising, but not Jalando. In fact, Jalando had been the only person who wanted the job. Apparently, most people wanted action and excitement. And that was something you just wouldn't find on Pandora Station. Still, that didn't bother this First Officer.
What did bother him though, was his future career. Within a year, Pandora Station would be given back to the civilians, and all the Starfleet people would have to be relocated to other dutystations. Maybe Jalando could arrange it to become First Officer on some sort of back-water 'nothing-every-happening-here' colony. Well, he hoped so. Because if there was one thing which Jalando wasn't suited for, it was the adventure which all those other people desired. Well, maybe he would just retire. Live on one of those colonies as a scientist, spending the rest of his life looking at PADDs with difficult equations. He smiled thinking of this. Ah, what a life that would be. There would be no adventure there, but. . . he wouldn't miss it. . . would he?
Jalando took a deep breath, and sat down in his chair. But this was when things didn't seem right anymore. . . his chair was supposed to be soft, and this chair was hard. . . metal-like. He looked up, and. . . saw that he no longer was in his office. There were figures standing around him. Three, or at least that was what Jalando could see at the moment. "Hello?" He asked, trying to hide the uncertainty in his voice. "Where. . . where am I?"
"You're on the Federation Timeship Eternity." A female voice, filled with authority, stated. "Welcome Commander Jalando." The person belonging to this voice, said. "I am sorry we had to drag you from your quarters like that, but. . ." There was a pause. "We need your help."
Jalando now blinked. "Help?" he asked, surprised about whatever was happening here. "Uhm. . . what do you mean?"
The Captain of the Timeship Eternity now started clarifying what she had just been saying. "As you are probably aware, Commander, about two years ago, the experimental transwarp ship the USS Calhoun exploded. This was not supposed to happen."
Now Jalando leaned forward. "Not?" What this woman was saying just didn't make any sense. It had happened, hadn't it? "What are you saying? Someone meddled with time, and caused the Calhoun to explode?" He shook his head. "Do you have any idea who did it?"
"Yes." The Captain now said, looking Jalando directly into the eyes. "You."
*****
Jalando just couldn't believe it. This Captain had explained everything: how her First Officer had set the Jalando from another timeline -or the same one, without the Calhoun's explosion- up to let it seem as if that Jalando was the guilty one. How Mr. DeSerre had also fooled this Captain, and how he got discovered via the use of temporal transporters. While the Eternity had been unable to apprehend DeSerre, this Captain did know that because of her interfering, the timeline had been changed. To do as little damage to the timeline as possible, they asked the Jalando from this timeline -an altered, wrong one, apparently- to step in.
And so now Jalando would be transported to the Calhoun of 2390, just before its explosion. Jalando did not like this at all. Not only was it terribly dangerous -he could even die!-, but that Captain of the Eternity had also made it perfectly clear that he was not the Jalando which should exist. No, he was a different Jalando. A wrong Jalando in a wrong timeline. That bothered him the most. Even if he was successful in saving the 'right' timeline, *his* timeline would be lost! *He* would be lost! Or well, he would probably live on in that other Jalando. Or. . . would he? It was all so terribly complicated.
But nevertheless, armed -armed!- with a very advanced phaser, Jalando was here, standing on the transporterplatform. He had been asked to save one timeline, and thus destroy another. Destroy the timeline he knew was real. . . It was a dilemma. Given more time -he smiled wryly at his own lame choice of words- he might be able to think of a way for his timeline to exist as well.
But time was up. The Captain wished him good luck, told him that he was doing the right thing, and then activated the transporter. A moment later, Jalando had travelled back in time. . .
*****
"Clever, aren't you?" A man's voice was heard by Jalando, who, after rematerialising, quickly hid behind one of the many crates here. "Once the Calhoun explodes, Starfleet Temporal will find you there, and that will lead to your arrest, which will lead to you being transported into the past by me, which will again lead to the Calhoun's destruction." The man talking had to be Kevin DeSerre, the 'bad guy'. Jalando frowned, and swallowed. He grabbed his phaser, and realised that he probably had to shoot. But he didn't. He couldn't. "Don't try to understand it Jalando. Just accept it. It's fate, live with it." Jalando? Did this man just say Jalando's name? He had to know what was going on. . . he had to know. So he took a glimpse. Just a glimpse. What he saw baffled him: there, DeSerre was aiming such a futuristic phaser at. . . Jalando! Another Jalando, apparently. From the 'normal' timeline. Jalando -the one hidden behind the crates- winced. . . that was obviously the Jalando he had to save. . .
"Or better yet, die with it." DeSerre now said, after which Jalando heard a phaser being fired. A thud was heard a moment later. Anger now made its entrance in Jalando: DeSerre had just shot him! Or well, him from another timeline. But it was still him, wasn't it? Did this mean that his mission was over? That he had failed? No, this couldn't be, could it? Could it?
Doubt entered Jalando. The chance to do something about this had been his, and he hadn't taken it. He had failed. . . he had waited too long. And he found that he hated himself for that. This had been such an important mission. . . he should not have failed. It should have succeeded, even if it had meant his destruction. At least that way, he could have done something to have mattered, instead of staying this weak, pathetic First Officer of some meaningless Station. . .
Just as Jalando wanted to jump out of hiding and actually *do* something to stop DeSerre from doing more damage, he heard the man talking. . . talking? To whom? Quickly, Jalando took a peak, and saw to his surprise that the Jalando who had been shot wasn't dead. . . just immobilised. Maybe there was hope for success anyway. . .
"Oh don't worry, I won't kill you." Jalando heard DeSerre say to the other, paralysed Jalando. "Well, not yet anyway. In fact, you will kill yourself." This certainly did not make sense, and for a moment, Jalando wondered if DeSerre had lost his mind. But. . . further explanation told him that this was not the case. Well, further explanation after some very annoying chatter, actually. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" The cruel man asked the immobilised man. "Go on, do something to me. I dare you."
Silence. Jalando swallowed. Maybe he would have to do something. Yes. . . yes, he would. Now. Yes, now. In a moment. He swallowed again, and looked at his phaser. As far as he could see, it was set on stun. Good, he wouldn't kill anyone. Okay, time to do something. Anything. Time to be hero.
But all that happened was DeSerre laughing out loud while putting his phaser in the immobilised Jalando's hand. Why? Jalando blinked, and kept looking, careful that DeSerre wouldn't see him.
But the only Jalando DeSerre saw, was the paralysed one. "I've programmed this phaser to fire automatically in about a minute." DeSerre started, while Jalando -the one still standing- listened from behind the crates. "In the direction it's facing now, the phaserbeam will hit these containers. . . and we both know what disastrous reaction that would have. The Calhoun would explode if that would happen, would it not?" An ingenious plan. Terrible, diabolical and yes even evil, according to Jalando. But ingenious nonetheless. "Well, it will. And the best thing is, this way people will think you did it. You'll get all the blame, and nobody will expect me to be the one responsible. Isn't it great?"
Shocked by what he had heard, Jalando looked from behind the crates to this Mr. DeSerre. . . When the words hit him, he realised that what the Captain of the Federation Timeship Eternity had said, was the truth. . . *his* timeline was not the right one. . . the Calhoun was meant to survive. Jalando was meant to survive, but not in the way that he did now. No, the 'real' Jalando was the one lying there on the ground, paralysed, with that futuristic phaser in his hand.
Jalando swallowed, and looked at the phaser in his own hand. Except for their appearances and their names, this was also something both Jalando's had in common. The difference between the two of them though, was that this Jalando could use it. . .
"Well, if you don't mind, I'll be going now." DeSerre's voice made Jalando look up. He had made his choice. DeSerre would not be going anywhere. "Mister Jalando, I hope we never meet again. But then again, there isn't that much chance of that happening, now is there?"
"That's where you are wrong." Jalando shouted, and jumped out from his hiding place. He felt adrenaline pumping through his body, his heart was beating faster than he thought it could, and his body was trembling. . . but still, he kept the phaser aimed at DeSerre. A quick glance at the other Jalando was all this Bajoran-Betazoid needed to tell his other self about the situation. He knew the other Jalando would understand: he himself understood as well.
The surprise on DeSerre's face turned into what seemed to be a mild form of relaxation. This was something Jalando failed to understand. The man could be shot at any moment, and yet he was relaxing! Did he see Jalando's nerves ranging inside of him? Didn't he think that Jalando would shoot?
"My my." DeSerre's annoyingly calm voice filled the room. "Two of you. Either this is a twin of yours which I haven't had the pleasure of meeting," He spoke to the Jalando who was unable to answer, "Or my beloved Captain has asked assistance of the Jalando of another timeline. . ." He tilted his head sideways, and smirked. "That must be it. So." He now addressed the Jalando who was holding a phaser at him, apparently without any fear. "The Calhoun will explode in. . . let's say. . . thirty seconds. You're here to stop that, am I right? No don't bother to answer. Listen, if you want to prevent that phaser from firing, and thus destroying the ship with you on it as well, you'll have to. . . shoot me."
Jalando didn't move, but his eyes showed that he realised the necessity of it all. And DeSerre noticed that. "Oh, that's right. You cannot shoot me. Ever since the Jem'Hadar killed your big sister, you've been afraid to even touch a phaser. You cannot even fire a phaser on a hologram without having a nervous breakdown." He smiled, and nodded. "Oh yes. I've read your file." He turned around, facing the other Jalando. "Well, your file, actually."
The paralysed Jalando's eyes were filled with urgency. He knew. . . oh, he knew the situation the other Jalando was in now. He understood it completely, with all his heart. And yet, he also knew that if that man didn't get past DeSerre within fifteen seconds or so, this phaser would react with these explosives, and the Calhoun would explode, thereby changing history.
"Well, what's it going to be?" DeSerre's voice was loud now. . . clearly he was trying to put pressure on the Jalando who was aiming the phaser at him. "Shoot, or die! Decide. . . now!"
A moment of silence followed. . . and Jalando did not know what to do. He closed his eyes, and instantly saw the image of his sister. Adriana. She had fired, back then. She had fired her phaser to protect Jalando and his siblings. She had probably known that she could die for opening fire on a Jem'Hadar soldier. And yet she had fired anyway. She had been afraid. And yet she had fired anyway. Her courage allowed Jalando to live on. And it was her courage who now inspired Jalando. . . to do what was right.
Seconds were slowly passing by, while Jalando opened his eyes, looking directly in DeSerre's. So full of confidence. So full of arrogance. This man couldn't be allowed to win. Jalando would have to stop the other phaser. And there was only one way to get there.
"For you, Adriana." Jalando whispered, and activated the phaser. DeSerre's eyes which first showed confidence, now showed fear, as the man got thrust back by the power of this phaser. Seconds were passing by, and Jalando knew what he had done. He had just harmed another living being. He had fired a phaser at him at point-blank range. On the stun setting, yes. . . but this phaser was so powerful. . . maybe this man was dead already.
Seconds were passing by. The phaser in the paralysed Jalando's hand began to buzz. Time was up. The two Jalando's look at each other. . . and the Jalando left standing knew what had to be done. He raced past the now limb body of DeSerre, and jumped.
The phaser fired.
The phaserbeam made its way towards the crates filled with explosives. Within a tenth of a second, it would impact with those crates. . . if Jalando hadn't interfered. Just before the beam hit the crates, Jalando -the one who could still move- caught the beam in the chest. When Jalando hit the floor less than a second later, the danger was over. The Calhoun had been saved, and the transwarp project would continue. But Jalando. . . he was dying.
The two Jalando's looked each other in the eyes. The paralysed Jalando could do nothing else but shed a tear. . . while the dying Jalando looked back with what seemed to be a smile. "Remember." He said with great difficulty. "Remember. . . me. Remember, so. . . I did not die in vain." He winced in pain, and his breaths became more and more shallow. He would die within seconds. "I hope that. . . where you belong, things are a bit more. . ." He coughed, "interesting. . ."
The only thing the paralysed Jalando could do, was look at his dying self. It would be over soon. Very soon. The man's last breath would come quickly. And it did. With it, he uttered one last phrase. "Adriana would be. . . proud of me."
And that was it. Commander Jeff Jalando, First Officer of Pandora Station, was dead. And Commander Jeff Jalando, First Officer of Pandora Station, could do nothing else but wait until the effects of the phaserblast would fade away. . . and mourn for the person who had saved his life, and the universe as he knew it. . .
*****
On the Timeship Eternity, Jalando got beamed on board. The Captain of this Timeship smiled at him, although he did not smile back. "Ah, Commander." The Captain started talking. "I'm pleased to see that your mission is a success. The Calhoun survived, thanks to you, and. . . well, you." She said this as if this was nothing more than a joke to her.
"I do not see the humour in this, Captain." Jalando retorted. "The other Jalando. . . he gave his life for me. For the preservation of the timeline. He gave his *life*! I don't know if that means anything to you Captain, but it does to me! So excuse me for not laughing!" He wanted to walk away from the transporterpadd, but got stopped by the Captain.
"I do understand, Commander. But look at it from my point of view. Because the Calhoun was saved, this Jalando's timeline never happened. He never existed, so he never got to give his life for you. I don't know if that's any constellation, but it is to me. It has to be, in the temporal business."
Jalando looked at the Captain, a puzzled look on his face. "He never existed? But I saw him! How could he have saved us all if he never existed?"
The Captain once again showed him one of those mystery smiles she could show so well. "That, Commander Jalando, is called a temporal paradox. It's best to ignore it, especially if you want to keep your sanity." She paused, and took a deep breath. "What matters is, you managed to save the Calhoun, without too much meddling with the natural development of time there."
Jalando nodded slowly. "I've tried to keep out of most major events, although that didn't always work, I'm afraid." He swallowed, and suddenly thought of something. With a hint of alarm on his face, he turned to the Captain. "But what will happen if the Calhoun crew finds the bodies of the other Jalando, and DeSerre?"
The Captain only smiled vaguely. She didn't seem to be too happy when hearing the name of her former First Officer who had been the one responsible for all of this. "Well, about the corpse of that other Jalando. . . that's not a problem, since there never was another Jalando." She paused for a moment, but not long enough for Jalando to comment on that. "And as far DeSerre. . . well, he got beamed away before we could do that. Apparently he's still alive, and another temporal organisation -probably the one he was working for- has retrieved him. So I'm afraid he's still out there. . ."
Another moment of silence filled the room. Jalando didn't respond: he was too busy trying to comprehend what had happened. He was drawn out of his concentration though, by the Captain of this Timeship who once again addressed him. "Once we find him, we'll send out the agent who already has some experience in dealing with him." Both the Captain and Jalando looked at each other, and both knew whom she was talking about. It was only a matter of seconds, before the Captain of the Federation Timeship Eternity, spoke up. "You. . ."
*****
The next thing Jalando knew, he was sitting in the comfortable couch, in the safety of his own quarters. The glass filled with a nice, cold Betazoid drink was standing on the table, as if nothing had happened. In fact, *everything* around here looked as if nothing had happened. He looked at the chronometer, and realised that virtually no time at all had passed: he had gone to his quarters, got transported on board the Timeship, had this adventure, and got transported back to his quarters in. . . well, in no time at all! Maybe he was all imagining it. Maybe none of this had happened.
But it had happened. Of that, Jalando was sure. And one day. . . when Jalando would probably least expect it, he would be called upon again, to perform his duty. His duty as a Temporal Agent. He had gone Back to the Calhoun. Maybe, some day, if he were to be called into action again, he would go some other place. . . and most likely, some other time.
Until that day, Jalando would cherish the experiences this mission had given him. And while he stood up, picked up his drink and gazed out at the stars, he wondered. . . if he had been in the other Jalando's shoes. . . would he have fired? Would he have stepped over his fear, and do what needed to be done? Would he have jumped in front of the phaserblast, sacrificing himself so that the rest might live?
He took a sip of his drink, and realised that he'd probably would never know. Or maybe. . . some day. . .
