Whatever Happened to the Mystery Man

Posted on Fri Dec 26th, 2025 @ 4:51pm by Captain Nycolas Temple & Emilie Temple & Unknown
Edited on on Fri Dec 26th, 2025 @ 4:52pm

Mission: A Dawn on Drax
Location: Deck 5 - Daycare

ON:

In the Pandora's new Play Centre, Nyx was stood proudly while his children were busy playing. Although she was getting a little big and a little old for the play equipment, his daughter Kat was taking charge as "big sister", helping her little brother William climb, slide, crawl, and jump across the whole jungle gym. She was helping William to get acquainted with all of the new equipment, the slides, the monkey bars, the soft play mats, the interactive learning stations; hours of play possibilities for the kids of the Pandora.

After coming down the slide with William in tow, Kat brought him over to see their father, "Daddy!" She cried.

"Having fun guys?" Nyx asked with a smile.

"Yes!" They both replied in unison. Kat pulled on her father's arm, "We want to try the paint room."

"Yes please! Yes please!" William called out pleadingly, putting those baby blue eyes to good work on his father.

"Paint?" Nyx worriedly asked, looking down at their perfectly clean clothes. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea. I don't fancy trying to get paint out of your new outfits."

"You're so silly, Daddy." Kat sighed loudly, "It's not real paint."

"Oh." Nyx replied, "Well that's alright then. Let's wait till mummy gets here and we'll all go together."

"YES!" Kat fist pumped in the air.

"Do we have time to slide again?" William asked, looking around his dad's frame, trying to calculate how much time he had left before the painting would begin.

"Yes, yes, go." Nyx said warmly, patting his head. The two kids went barrelling off towards the play equipment again at full speed.

Nyx was stood watching for some time until Emilie approached from behind, placing an arm around his back. "Hey you." She smiled as she leaned into him.

Nyx turned and upon seeing his wife, broke into a large smile. He put his arm around her and pulled her in tight. "How is the new education centre?" He asked.

Emilie smiled, "Oh it's fantastic, Nyx. The new student rooms, the layout, the equipment. It's everything a teacher could need. And the students, too." She cooed, "I can't wait to get started."

Nyx was warmed to hear Emilie talk so enthusiastically about the Pandora's new school set-up. For the Temples coming back to the Pandora, it wasn't just about Nyx reclaiming his chair on his ship; it meant the whole family had to be happy with the move, too. Emilie was leaving behind the civilian life in Copenhagen that they had built over the past few years - the kids, too, would be leaving their friends and schools behind. Of course, Nyx had instructed the refurbishment team to do everything that they possibly could to make the education and play centres the best facilities in Starfleet. In the interest of making the transition a lot easier, of course.

He nodded, and tentatively asked, "So you're happy to take up your role again on the ship?"

"I am." Emilie said earnestly, looking up to her husband, "It's everything we need to give first class education for the Pandora's children, and for our children. I don't feel like they'll be missing out by rejoining the ship. And, nor will I. The revamped department is something I think I will enjoy running again."

"I'm so glad." Nyx replied, honestly relieved by the news. The couple embraced for a moment, cementing their commitment to the move back. As they pulled away, they could hear their children shouting for attention from the top of the jungle gym. Nyx and Emilie waved at them, as Nyx spoke out of the corner of his mouth. "Just a head's up, the kids want to go to the painting room? I don't know what or where that is."

"Oh of course, the holo-painting. It's near the school." Emilie nodded, already aware of the holographic painting space. She patted his arm, "How about I take the kids there? You've had them all morning while I explored the ship, I'm sure you have stuff to do."

"This is my stuff to do." Nyx leaned over and gently kissed the side of her head, "I don't need to go anywhere."

As if by divine intervention, cosmic karma, or pure co-incidence, a call came over the ship's tannoy. "Captain Temple to the Bridge. Captain Temple to the Bridge."

Emilie laughed a little, "You had that coming."

Nyx frowned, "I did. Are you sure you'd be alright to take them painting?"

"Yes," Emilie patted his arm again. "We'll meet for dinner, okay?" The two shared an embrace before Emilie left to wrangle the children. Nyx regretfully had to part with a hug to his kids.

=====

Moments later, Nyx stepped onto the turbo-lifts on Deck 5, telling the computer to take him up to the Bridge. The lift began to ascend in the ship before stopping unexpectedly in-between the decks. The lights flickered for a moment.

"Damn it." Nyx groaned. There were always some hiccups and malfunctions with a refurb, but the lifts had so-far been unaffected by the changes; they hadn't been changed. There wasn't any reason for them to be malfunctioning, as if that meant anything. He was about to move over to the panel when the lights flickered once more. This time, when they came back on again, a figure was standing in front of him.

Decked in a black jump suit and helmet, Nyx immediately recognised him. The mystery man. The masked figure who had called himself the Protector.

Nyx stiffened, his hand moving immediately to his waist band where his phaser would normally be. He cursed himself for being in his civilian clothes, his phaser upstairs next to his uniform.

"You don't need to worry." The mystery man said, an unusual casuality to his voice. "I come in peace."

"You said that last time." Nyx retorted with a snarl, "And I ended up getting sucked into a gravitational vortex."

"And you came back again, didn't you?" Protector replied - joked, even. Yes, he had actually attempted to make light of the situation. "Everything worked out perfectly - exactly as it should have."

Nyx was still tensing his muscles - his mind switching between figuring out if he could land a decent blow against the uninvited guest, and wondering why the ship's anti-intrusion alarms weren't sounding. More of the mystery man's trickery, he figured.

"No thanks to your interference." Nyx hissed, pointing a finger. He took a slight step forward, narrowing the gap deliberately, "If all of that was exactly as it should be, you could have just told us what was going to happen."

If the mysterious visitor had noticed Nyx's movements, he didn't flinch. His demeanour didn't change at all, he remained rather nonchalantly standing in the corner, not looking the least bit menacing. Nyx knew from previous experience that if this man had wanted to kidnap him, he could have done so already. It may be that he actually just came to talk, as if they there were somehow friends now. Months had passed since Nyx had seen this man, and he had been helpful in providing the necessary clues to finding the Pandora. But Nyx couldn't quite get the taste of deception out of his mouth.

"I could only point the way, that was my role." The Protector shrugged, "I said that from the very beginning."

This is why I don't trust him. Nyx thought. "So why are you here now?" Nyx asked in a huff, perturbed by his presence.

"To let you know that the job is done; your mission was a success." He replied, "I am here to congratulate you and say a formal goodbye this time."

Nyx didn't want to believe the Protector's words, but there was a sincerity that he wasn't used to hearing. Still, the Captain was incredulous, "That's it? 'Good job and goodbye', after everything you put me and my crew through? I deserve some answers."

The Protector considered this for a moment, there was a slight tilt of his helmet. "Alright. Agreed... in part. What would you like to know?"

"Well, who are you? Why did you do all of this?" Nyx immediately responded with.

"To save the Pandora. And your crew." He replied. He paused, knowing this wasn't a sufficient answer. "Who do you think I am?"

Nyx frowned, "My leading theory is that you've come from the future. We have heard stories of people being able to travel through time in very specific circumstances for very specific reasons; I can only imagine you have done this to change something. But, in doing so, you have interfered with the past - our present - in order to achieve your goal. Such interference has consequences, some of which the Pandora may still yet suffer. l fear that those consequences are still to come."

"The future?" The man repeated.

"Perhaps even, myself? From the future?" Nyx guessed. "You knew my movements, you knew where the crew would be. You knew exactly how to reach every one of us. That implies some connection to the existing crew."

"I knew only what I was supposed to know, so that I could do my job. Yes, I had that information." The Protector replied plainly. "I do not come from your future, but I have seen it."

Nyx sighed, "So where do you come from then?"

"I come from an alternate reality." He explained, "You are aware of the multiple universes theory?"

"Yes." Nyx said warily, squaring his eyes. There were stories that he had heard - both in Starfleet Intelligence and from Section 31 about travel to and from alternate realities. Most of which was classified or explained away, but the old adage of 'where there's smoke...' always rang true in cases like this.

"Well I come from one where a great catastrophe occurred in our history." The Protector explained, "And It was caused by the Pandora. I cannot say how, but know that a great many lives were lost; it changed Starfleet and the Federation for the worst. We live in chaos and destruction as a consequence of that incident."

Nyx took a step back, taking in that news. "The Pandora.... caused this disaster? How?!"

"I cannot fully explain." Came his solemn reply, "But as soon as I figured out how, I tried to change my own past. I went back to stop that event from happening and I failed. I went back again and I failed again. A hundred times I tried. Probably more. But every time, the same incident occurred, like it was a completely unchangeable event in time. Every big move or small change could never effect the final outcome. It always ended in disaster. Eventually, my interference caught the attention of those who were attempting to protect the Time Directive and the so-called natural order of our universe. I had to accept that I could not change what had happened. I was left with no choice but to leave my universe."

"And you came to ours?" Nyx asked. "How is that even possible?"

The man shrugged, "The Jump Suit that you wore was an earlier prototype of the technology I used, but it is beyond the technological advancement of this time."

"I understand." Nyx replied, as frustrating as it was to agree with him, the man was right. They couldn't know - not yet. "So you just left behind your world? Can you go back?"

"I have nothing to go back to." The Protector said, a touch of emotion in his disguised voice. "Everything is gone, including my family and my home. I... reached a point where I had nothing to live for... Until one day I got the idea that maybe I could find a world where this disaster didn't occur."

Nyx nodded, "I get that, too. I do. But how do you know that this disaster isn't some unchangeable, fixed event here too? What makes you so sure that we're going to avoid it?"

"Because I didn't just come to this universe first." The Protector said, "I have spent my life travelling through every universe that I could. I developed the jump suit further. I found ways to evade detection and hide my identity in any multiple of realities. All of it was to find the key to what avoided the disaster and I found it here."

"And you know what the key is?" Nyx pressed, not completely letting his anger die - not yet, anyway, "Why couldn't you tell us what it is?"

"Because there is not just one decision. Every choice that me make - or don't make - creates a new ripple in reality, a new universe occurs." The Protector explained, "It is never just one decision that changes our trajectory, I had to fail so many times to see that happen. I had to visit multiple worlds to see the truth."

"And they all ended up the same?" Nyx asked.

"Not every one. There was one reality where humanity didn't make it out of the early 21st century. One where they destroyed their planet before they destroyed each other." He replied. "There was one where the USS Pandora was a hyper-aroused garden snail."

Nyx furrowed his brow, "A snail? And that disaster was avoided?"

"No. It was worse. Far worse." The man sighed. "But every reality brought me closer to the correct sequence of events that allowed the Pandora to avoid the catastrophe. I found it here in this universe."

"What's the sequence?" Nyx asked. "Can I know now, now that we've apparently avoided it?"

"The Sky Burns. The Heavens Fall. The Two Become One. The Sun takes the Moon."

Nyx blinked, taking in those terms. "What?"

"The Sky Burns. The Heavens Fall. The Two Become One. The Sun takes the Moon." He repeated.

"The Sky Burns.... the Indigo Sky?" The realisation was starting to sink in with Nyx, "The Pandora causing that plasma wave, which initiated the Indigo Sky's renewal cycle."

The Protector nodded. "The release of that energy prevented it from building and causing a greater part of the tragedy."

"Oh. Nice." Nyx frowned. "Okay so the Heavens fall... I know we've been far out there but the Pandora has never been to Heaven."

"It's an interpretation." The Protector replied, "Another word for Heaven is - "

"Paradise." Nyx breathed out. "Paradise falling to the Breen caused our interference, which helped sparked a revolution in the Expanse." He began to nod. "The Two must be Hesiod Blue and Green? We saved the Hesians by moving them to the other planet. And prevented the Pithos experiment from being completed, but Hesiod Green was lost."

"It would have contributed to the disaster." The Protector nodded. "A power like that in the wrong hands..."

"And the Sun takes the Moon?" Nyx frowned, "The Pandora had been hidden in a bubble universe near to the Sun? Taking it out of action and hiding it away from Section 31 and those who wished to use the ship for their own schemes, was another factor?"

"Yes." The Protector replied, but his voice was a little less convinced on that one. "That is one interpretation of that."

"And that's it then, that's the full sequence of events that had to happen that avoided the catastrophe from occurring?" Nyx pressed, "You are sure of this?"

"You know enough now." The Protector said calmly, "I cannot say that there is not any further hardships for you and your crew, Captain Temple, or if there are any other trigger points to the disaster. All I can confirm is that the Pandora incident that destroyed so much of my universe has been averted here."

"But we did so with your interference?" Nyx pointed out. "Are you not part of the trigger sequence too?"

"Perhaps." The man answered. "It has been mt role to point the way, but your job to make the correct choices. You have to trust that what you have been through as a crew will guide you from here on out."

"But what if knowing this changes my decisions, or influences me to make a choice that ends up with the great catastrophe? Or stops me making a choice, even?" Nyx asked, "By revealing yourself, by telling me this, you have placed a seed of doubt in my mind."

"Perhaps that is the role that you must play." The Protector unhelpfully replied, "The sequence has it's triggers, you will never know if it means drinking coffee instead of tea, or making a choice with the Pandora. That, I cannot help you with."

"So I have a lifetime of doubting my decisions?" Nyx retorted. "Thanks."

"Nycolas Temple, you and your team have never doubted your decisions." The Protector sighed, "And you never will. You will continue to make the right choices because that is the right decision at the time. You will carry forward a reminder of your past into the future. Take that as a sign that you are on the right path."

"What reminder?" Nyx asked.

"You'll find out." The man shrugged.

Nyx frowned, but knew that this was going to be one of those clues he wasn't going to get an answer to just yet.

"Congratulations again, Captain. It's good to see the Pandora back on her feet and looking better." The Protector continued.

Nyx nodded, "We're ready to start a new chapter. Does this mean you won't visit us again?"

"I will, but not as you know me." The Protector replied, as cryptically as always. "Remember, I came from an alternate version of this universe. An alternate Pandora. That means there is the original version of me in this universe. That could be anyone."

"Oh great." Nyx laughed, "One more mystery to solve."

"Perhaps." The Protector shrugged again. "Good luck, Temple. Do great things."

The lights flickered once more and the Protector was gone. The turbo lift immediately began its ascent back up to the Bridge again. Nyx could only shake his head and wonder if he had received the answers he needed, or if he just found new questions. The doors opened onto the Bridge and he was greeted by an Engineering officer.

"Sorry about the lift, sir," Ensign Masterson said as she approached the captain. "We will run a full spectrum test on all of the lifts."

"That won't be necessary," Nyx replied warmly, "I have a feeling that it won't happen again."

Masterson frowned, "Oh. Well it's standard procedure after an interruption. Are you sure, sir?"

Nyx paused, for a moment doubting his words. Could this be a trigger? The thought struck him like lightning. But then he quickly shook his head, vowing to not doubt his instincts like that. He smiled to the Ensign, "Yes, I am sure. Proceed with other preparations instead."

The Engineer nodded and held up a PADD to Temple, launching into her report as they continued walking into the Bridge.

OFF