Critical Condition

[Voyager]

A few seconds after the AI was reactivated, Dolan woke up, surprising several of the doctors standing around his bed.  He sat up and quickly noticed Rajnus.

"Well, that was certainly surprising," said Dolan, with a hint of a smile.  He paused before continuing, "It seems my implants are going to reactivate eventually, though it might take some time and most likely without warning."  He paused again briefly and then said, "Well, it seems pretty unlikely I'll ever find my way back to my own timeline and time period.  Besides, why go back to oppression and war?  So, what ship have we been reassigned to? Just don't tell me it's one of those out-dated classes that the Federation doesn't produce anymore but still uses."

Dolan then took on a more serious demeanor and added, "Also, Captain, I request a transfer to either Chief of Security and Tactical or Chief Engineer.  I have a number of upgrades to propose, dealing with a number of systems and will most likely be very intense.  No offense, but while your systems are advanced, I know better ones.  Either of those positions will allow for me to carry out those proposals, if they are approved."  Dolan grinned.  "And I doubt the Temporal Prime Directive applies here."   He then awaited Rajnus's response.

[Voyager]

"I am a Symbiont," replied Dolan, "Admittedly a far more developed version than most.  Since I don't think it matters anymore, I think I can tell you everything.  You're probably going to keep it to yourself anyway...you have that aura of secrecy.  Anyway, back to what I am.  First, a little alternate universe lesson.  In 2592, Dr. Gustaf Brackman successfully combined an artificial intelligence with a human brain.  The outcome was deemed a "symbiont", due to the symbiotic nature of the brain and the AI.  Symbionts were and still are in my time, far superior to normal humans, with expanded memory, processing, and overall thinking capacity.  The Earth Empire couldn't overlook this and took advantage of the symbionts.  Symbionts were employed as the smartest minds in the Empire, pushing the human race forward.  They were particulary used in the military."

Dolan gave Rajnus a few moments to absorb this before continuing.  "However, the Earth Empire forced Dr. Brackman to install a "loyalty" program to bring any rebellious or disobedient symbionts under their complete control if he wanted to continue getting funding.  It was essentially slavery and Dr. Brackman eventually rebelled.  During the rebellion on Procyon in 2669, the Earth Empire activated the loyalty programming, instantly enslaving millions, possibly billions.  Fortunately, Dr. Brackman had developed countermeasures against the loyalty programming.  He fled to the far reaches of the galaxy, with some of his most loyal symbionts that hadn't succumbed to the loyalty programming, and formed the Cybran Nation, a group dedicated to freeing the Symbionts under the iron rule of the Earth Empire."

"Some time after, roughly 2679, the Aeon Illuminate made its appearance.  They are a group consisting of descendants of people who disagreed with the extermination of the sole alien race ever discovered.  Religious fanatics is a somewhat more detailed description.  They are determined to cleanse the galaxy of all humans that refuse to follow The Way, some religious concept of their's.   The Earth Empire tried to contain them but those efforts ultimately failed.  The Aeon were just beginning their war against the rest of humanity."

"The Earth Empire had to contend with the Cybrans and the Aeon, along with numerous internal problems and conflicts.  You have to understand, the Earth Empire was losing control of its colonies after the Third Expansion.  It spanned thousands of planets at that point and rebellion was imminent.  The Aeon was just the final push.  2819 is the date most recognize as the start of the Infinite War.  By 2924, the Earth Empire's territory is mostly gone, having to retract to protect itself from any further overextending.  Anarchy reigns throughout most of the galaxy at this point.  In 3256, the Earth Empire is dissolved and the United Earth Federation, more often called the UEF, takes its place.  The three factions continued to battle over the remenants of the Earth Empire, even now.  In the year I'm from, the Infinite War has already lasted over a thousand years, with no end in sight."

[Voyager]

"I am a Symbiont, a blending of man and machine, an upgraded human.  I am still human, Captain, but just with a few improvements in memory storage and recall and processing speed.  On the other hand, a robot would be just about how we are described within the UEF, nothing more than a tool to be used," Dolan answered simply.  "In addition, in my case anyway, I was also genetically engineered for everything the military likes - speed, coordination, reflexes."

[Voyager]

Dolan just smiled and replied, "I think I understand, sir.  Just not too sure about the god bit.  I would like to point out once again that while I might have implants and an AI inside my body, I am hardly a robot.  I am just as human as you are, with just a few additions to my body and modifications to my DNA.  Robot is a very insulting term to us Symbionts.  I don't think you would be very receptive of me if I just called you a tool of Starfleet.  That is what the UEF was using us Symbionts as...tools.  After over a thousand years of slavery, I think you'd understand why I don't like being called 'robot'."

[Voyager]

Unfazed by Rajnus's anger, Dolan replied calmly, "I am only trying to cover all aspects of the question.  By strange people, I'm assuming you mean the Section 31 people.  I'm afraid most of the relevant information is stored in an inactive implant, so you won't get the full story now.  As you seem to know very well, Section 31 belongs to the Federation and does its best to keep the peace' by whatever means possible.  I was captured by them, after which they disabled my AI and implants, and was then watched by them for about a month.  That's where those images come from.  Fortunately, I managed to download a lot of their Starfleet database, so I have a good familiarity with Starfleet technology and even some of its personnel.  I find it interesting now they had a file on you, Captain.  It seems they considered you a threat."

[Voyager]

"It seems you are very high up in Starfleet Intelligence.  I believe your rank is Director, is it not?  You have clearance in areas most people don't even know exist.  You've had some part in a number of major events throughout the galaxy.  It mostly consists of your career, both public and private, and your medical file."

Dolan paused for a moment before continuing.

"The list is very long for the other files, but it includes almost the entire Admiralty, some notable captains and crews of certain ships and starbases, most of Starfleet Intelligence, a number of scientists, and dozens of political figures, both in the Federation and out.  I suspect many of them are part of Section 31."

[Voyager]

Dolan replied, intrigued, "Understood, Captain.  As for what you can do with me, I have thousands of terabytes of information to offer to you, including weapon systems that it seems very few to none of the civilizations in this universe use, defensive systems a couple thousand of years ahead of this time, a transportation system that allows for almost instantaneous galactic travel, not to mention a far more advanced replication system, along with advances in nanotechnology.  Whether you want this information is up to you, since whether it violates the Temporal Prime Directive or not is difficult to interpret.  In any case, you better hope the Borg don't ever get anywhere near me or my knowledge.  I'd rather you kill me first."

Dolan added after a moment, "You also better hope no agents are on the station or en route.  It seems likely they would want to suppress my Symbiont side again."

[Simon Rajnus]

"Replication technology? what do you mean by that?" Rajnus asked curiously.

"As for your being years of ahead of this space in time, I dont doubt that but im curious if you have a shut down process that will destroy your implants or whatever you keep your technology stored so if anyone messes with you without your permission it would destroy you before the 'said' information falls into the wrong hands.  Thats a possible security measure we should look into if your creators havent thought of it yet." Rajnus added.

"As for you, I think its best you join intelligence as a field agent and still serve as my science officer till I need your expertise for anything else.  But you best continue to act as if you dont have implants, its safer for us and for you.  The files will read that your fine and the doctors know about patience confidentiality.  You may be a machine or a symbiont but you still fall under the category of a patient.  I think I best use your technology for good rather then evil dont you think ?.  Also dont worry about the Borg, I think with you on our side the Normandy will survive anything.  So with that said in addition to your science duties and field promotion to Agent within Starfleet Intelligence.  Youll keep your normal rank and will advance as anyone else under my command.  Also I expect my crew to respond to my orders without me actually giving them.  So if I come up with a tactical plan you will assist in the execution of that plan to the best of your abilities without being told how to do your job.  Is that also understood?.  I think that covers it." Rajnus added.

[Simon Rajnus]

"The USS Normandy is a Ambassador refit class." Rajnus said as he unlocked the door and canceled the Privacy mode, he then went over to the nearest console and deleted everything the doctors saw of Dolan's past, then made sure to delete their conversations and his as to make sure their was no trail leading back to Dolan's true nature.

"Alright that should do it, lets go.  Im sure the Normandy wouldnt want to launch without its Captain and Science officer." Rajnus said as he left the room.

[Simon Rajnus]

<Walks into the surgical bay and looks at the doctor, then at Dolan's unconscious body>

"Report." he ordered.

[Voyager]

"I demand to speak with Colonel Clarke!" shouted a voice that Dolan realized was his own.  "You have grossly violated UEF protocols!  No civilian ships are allowed to enter the war zone for any reason!  And why didn't you use a land gate anyway?!  They're much safer."

"What are you talking about?  What is this UEF you're talking about?  What war zone?  And what gate?" A person that was dressed in a Starfleet Medical uniform looked quite paniked and confused.

"Is this someone's sick idea of a joke?!  Are you telling me you don't know what UEF is?!  Are you telling me you don't know about the war that has been going on for the last thousand years across the entire galaxy?!"

The doctor tapped a combadge on his chest and said, "Captain, the passenger we picked up seems a little confused."

Dolan tried to assault the doctor.  The collision with the force field around the surgical bay didn't seem to deter himself from trying to attack the doctor.  The strangeness of the situation caused Dolan to quickly deduce he was viewing his own memories, though he couldn't recall these events had ever occurred.

"I think you better come down here, Captain.  Quickly."  The forcefield flashed several more times before the doctor said, "Computer, activate the Emergency Medical Hologram Mark III."

Dolan saw the Mark III EMH activate and say the standard "Please state the nature of the medical emergency."  The doctor then quickly said something to the EMH who replied, "Certainly," before taking a hypospray and walking straight through the forcefield.  The view of the scene backed away quickly but the EMH was quick and managed to inject a sedative the past Dolan, as Dolan nicknamed the view he was occupying.  Before the past Dolan completely blacked out, he heard distantly, "...should try mind probes...link his mind to the holodeck...not making sense...confused..."

[Simon Rajnus]

"Sure, lets try to reactivate the AI." Rajnus said heading over to the console.  Then he began to look over the data and entered a command.  The activation of the AI failed, so Rajnus continued to enter several commands and it took 30 minutes but found a command that worked.  The AI was active.

"Their you go, Doctor." Rajnus said.

"Easy, doctor, you dont try to concentrate on your past, you look to your future." Rajnus added.

[Voyager]

"Now that you have a bit of background, I can tell you about my UEF days.  I was in a group of experimental symbionts by created by Dr. Brackman - he's over twelve hundred years old now - to infiltrate the UEF as a sleeper cell, to be activated when needed.  We were captured as children and soon reprogrammed with a much more aggressive loyalty program.  We were already bred for the military and were upgraded Symbionts with an upgraded loyalty program to boot, so it was only natural we were "assigned" to the military as a special company.  We were trained to fight the Aeon, since the UEF feared defection if confronted with the Cybrans, since it was likely the Liberation Matrix would be broadcast to us during the battle.  That's why I'm not a fanatical UEF officer now; I had a form of the Liberation Matrix hidden inside one of my implants.  It was activated when a group of Section 31 agents tried to tamper with me.  Of course, even they still succeeded, but it also made them keep me underwraps from everyone that didn't know about already know about it at the time.  In any case, I was an officer of the UEF and the head of the company of Symbionts.  I was however one of the few operators of an Armored Command Unit, ACU for short, in my company."

"You see, in my timeline, by 2110, replication technology had just about been perfected.  In 2316, this was used to develop ACUs, a formidable robot with the ability to form an army of robots within hours after deployment, using the planet's own mass and energy.  The result was a far less "human-heavy" method of maintaining order over countless worlds as the Earth Empire expanded.  But I'm getting side-tracked."

"My company was highly successful in our missions, with minimal losses and complete eradication of the enemy.  What you saw was likely my last mission before somehow falling into your timeline.  The UEF was still desperate for aid in the war.  The Aeon was making progress in conquering the galaxy and neither the Cybrans nor the UEF could stand against them.  My company was deployed onto Scorpii 18, where the Aeon had begun an offensive.  To shorten the whole event, I was gravely injured and was about to be evacuated to a nearby UEF-controlled world, when what can only be describe as a giant UFO crashed into the power plants powering the thing getting me to point B.  Somehow, that must have caused me to "jump" to your timeline and into the past and landed up by the Guardian of Forever.  And I'm going to assume you saw the rest, since you managed to find the AI and reactivate it."

[Simon Rajnus]

"Be quiet, I asked for WHAT! you were, not a blood history lesson.  Now you keep it short and simple or else.  Damn robot." Rajnus said starting to sound extremely impatient.

[Simon Rajnus]

"Then stop acting like it, and stop giving me a long term explaination to a very simple question.  You drive me insane sometimes.  NOW!, what are these images of strange people and Section 31 images being inside your head!" Rajnus asked questioningly.