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"Dimensions of Reality"
[Previous post: "A Simple Favour"]
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EARTH.

Heart and soul of the United Federation of Planets, and home to the Human civilization.

A world that Adam had always been proud and happy to call home, a world that now stood in complete ruins.  Cities that were once universal beacons of accomplishments to the entire galaxy had been mercilessly reduced to rubble.  The millions of people who had once called this shinning marbled sphere home now only numbered in the hundreds.  Whoever they had been, their extermination of the Human race had been frightfully thorough.

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Setting: USS PARADOX, Auxiliary Controls
Stardate: 63073.1830

As a trained Flight Control Officer Adam's skills as a pilot had been more than adequate, but as a saboteur his training in Operations had been somewhat lacking.  At times he wondered if trying to perform Black Ops had truly been within his skills, but necessity had proven to be a strong motivator.

This ship had welcomed both him and his son, despite that fact that they had originated from a different dimension.  Adam still had not been entire sure as to what this meant, but he knew that he needed to help in whatever way he could to insure that the ship did not fall into the wrong hands.  If not for the sake of the ship itself, the father had rapidly made the decision to fight for the sake of his son.

So far Adam had managed to keep his presence on the ship a secret as he performed minor acts of sabotage.  The only hint of his success in his endeavor had been the sometimes loud cussing of some of the people who had come to take over the ship.  The real problem had been that there had been far more of them than him, and could repair the systems faster than he could sabotage them.

From Auxiliary Controls Adam hoped that he would be able to affect multiple systems all at once.  This would allow him to retreat and take some time to truly think of a better way to accomplish his final goal, whatever that might have been.  This had not been *his* universe, and therefore he knew very little as to whom he could trust and whom he should fear.

Having used all of his knowledge in Operations to set the computer to create a cascading overload in the ship's power system, Adam vanished once more into the maintenance corridors and quickly returned to the reason why he had been doing this.

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Setting: USS PARADOX, Cargo Bay 6
Stardate: 63073.1845

Shawn had always been a bright, imaginative young fellow.  A boy who could turn a few boxes and a piece of string into a game that would keep him entertained for hours. Maybe it had been because of the environment he had spent the last three years of his life in, a forgotten world that gave nothing even to those who worked their fingers to the bone.

The boy had been the pride and joy of both his parents who had given him everything they could to insure that he had a happy life.  On the YORKSHIRE Shawn had enjoyed the highest level of comfort available to a Starfleet family, and on NEW EARTH the boy had learned to make due with what little had been within his reach.

The change from living on a starship to surviving on a hostile planet had almost seemed easy for Shawn, but to lose his mother had been difficult and haunted the young child each and every night.  Adam sighed as he watched his son play with the small boxes he had found throughout the cargo bay.  For that brief moment in time, Shawn seemed almost content with his life.

Adam fought back tears as he wished that his wife had been here with them.  Together, they could have reclaimed this ship and found a new world to call their own.

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William Reeve (altrealityman@gmail.com)

Ensign Adam Russell
(in another reality)
former
Flight Control Officer
USS YORKSHIRE