Laraan looked at Orvos and realised she didn’t know how to answer his question. And that wouldn’t do, would it? If she did have this amazing new channel, curtesy of the added energy she carried in her from the time-displaced Laraan as she had merged with her, she needed to be able to use it - for as long as it lasted. Because she was by no means sure if it did last.
There were horror stories on her homeworld from Heleen who tried to do two channels and got depleted so fast that they died at a very young age - some just having passed the 100th birthday. And of course she knew her mother was doing it, but then she always had two other Heleen by her side - a healing channel and an energy channel, Laraan had no such thing, but then she herself was an energy channel.
Once the added energy from the Time-displaced Laraan ran out… maybe this whole mojo was over. She almost hoped so. But while she had it, she had to damn well learn how to wield it. For Stark, for the crew.

She took a breath and just started to channel again, drawing in energy from around her and channeling it into this other energy, or rather, it was a manipulation of energy she realised, now that she tried to do it more consciously. It was as if she took a hold of the energy around them, feeling its subtle vibration, and then simply stopping this vibration, bringing it all to a halt, as if frozen… her hands fisted as she concentrated on this mind image even more, increasing her channelling…

and realised that Stark had stopped moving. She quickly looked out of the bulk window and saw the starts again frozen in motion. She was doing it, she realised… also by the amount of energy that went into upholding this channel. She looked at Orvos, had he just blinked?

• Laraan, CNS

Orvos then sighed. “Let me guess, the stars aren’t moving either?” He then looked to Stark and Michail. Not a single movement. “Any better idea on how you did it?” he inquired. His senses were going to be wonky for a bit, he imagined. All this stop, start, stop, start. It was enough to make him tipsy. He certainly hoped it wouldn’t do that though. No need to have a ‘drunken’ El Aurian traipsing through the Athena’s halls getting into who knew what.

He looked outside the ship. Had she really frozen all of that? Perspective was everything. Perhaps she hadn’t so much as stopped time elsewhere, but increased the time around her to the point that everything seemed to be frozen in place? Tricky, but he would bring it up when necessary. Thankfully, the bits of the Nexus that had been infused into his body could help in times like this.

-Lt. Orvos Legen, CE

The fact that he was unaffected surprised her so much that she lost her concentration and everything resumed.

“I don’t know Orvos, this is literally the second time I’ve done that. I didn’t know you were fully immune to it all, that’s… amazing.” she said.

• Laraan

Michail

Orvos sighed. “There are a lot of things people don’t know about me. Shifts in time don’t effect me the same as it does others.”

He then looked to the others present. “And that goes nowhere! That is a highly guarded secret that nobody needs to be aware of.” He gave each one a stern look, but eased up a bit with Laraan, knowing her views of him and his age compared to her. He knew she would be careful. Then again, he also knew Stark would do well with it. The only one he was not completely sold on was Michail, but perhaps in time.

-Lt. Orvos Legen, CE

Stark nodded as many pieces of jigsaw puzzle started to fit more snugly together. Suspicions were nine tenths of the law of fact but confirmation was gold.

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Michail said nothing and his face was a study of neutrality.

Michail

Laraan was still a counselor, primed to read people and she studied Orvos’ expression carefull. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. If somebody on my homeworld had witnessed this, I’d be on my way to the mountains… that is our sort of detention and psychological profile readjustment.”
her gaze swung to Michail.
“Where do we go from here? This is all new to me, I don’t have full control over it the way I do about my first channel. I cannot help but thinking it’s all a part of this big plan of Q… or however you wanna call the old guy.” she said. She didn’t mind Orvos hearing it. With his ability, he was more certainly part of the big plan than anything else.

• Laraan, CNS

Michail was grinning from ear to ear, “Where do we go from here Laraan, the answer to that is simple and yet unbelievably complex. Within this room we have a joker in a pack of cards. We have Orvos, a man out of place and time, you a woman who can stop time and your husband who can communicate with time. If you then add T’Pon and S’Raal’s progeny then this gathering has been lovingly named “The Time Bandits”. He started to pace as he warmed to his subject, “The biggest issue with the Temporal War is that people from uptime know what’s going to happen and can stop it through a frightening array of time paradoxical insertions”. He pointed at the three standing before him. “You people have the uncanny ability to create temporal blind spots where things can be done that will leave absolutely NO record of what’s been done… a veritable trump card in a pack that up until now was always stacked against us”.

Michail

Laraan looked at each of them in turn and her eyes finally rested in the dark depth of Stark’s eyes. “Shouldn’t we tell the Captain, and S’Raal and T’Pon? I mean, if we are some weird kind of temporal x-men…?” she posed the question. Lack of communication in such an important and complex topic could cost lives as she well knew.

• Laraan, CNS