THE SECRET OF THE ATEAM
by Jipster
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The Secret of the A-Team by Jipster:
The wind was bellowing outside and the storm was approaching fast, the small
cabin lights flickered at various intervals,
"Hannibal there's no way we're going to be able to get Murdock back tonight,
we're staying right here till this storm has passed" Face stressed as he moved
away from the window
"but I have to get back my heads starting to float Faceman" Murdock whined, he
was lying on the floor staring at the ceiling
"I've had enough of this fools jive Hannibal, I'll take him back if I have to
man" BA raged, annoyed at having to step over Murdock to get to the kitchen
"The big guy ain't afraid of no rain Face guy" Murdock sneered
"The road out of here is just a river guys, no one is going anywhere" Hannibal
announced without looking up from his paper.
"The Russell brothers have been given three years, well worth the trip I feel"
Hannibal smiled as he finally put the paper down
"We were nearly caught out on that colonel, Decker was on our tails and it was
just a little too close for comfort, I can't wait to leave this place believe
me" Face stated taking the paper
"Yeah he almost had us man" BA stressed returning from the kitchen
Hannibal chuckled
"That will be on his tombstone don't you think... Decker He almost had us" he
smiled
"Barclay to transporter room two"
Lt. Reg Barclay nervously looked towards the sky as he heard Cmmr La Forge's
voice boom into his quarters, he picked up the tricorder from his desk plus
his phaser and proceeded to leave the room.
"Finally Lt. I was about to come and get you myself, I thought you had got
over this phobia" La Forge smiled, he still couldn't quite get his head round
Reg Barcley but he considered him a valued friend
"S-Sorry, I just need to psyche myself up that's all" Barclay nervously smiled
"Well lets get going, we have a planet to fix" La Forge mocked
Barclay stepped forward and entered the transporter room, he avoided eye
contact with the other engineers gathered, already beaming down. The very
noise of the transport made Barclay freeze but taping his neck kept him going
till he stood on the pad, looking at O'Brien it was hard for Barclay to look
comfortable so he didn't try, panic stricken he heard himself say energise and
watched as the room disappeared.
O'Brien smiled as he watched Barcley leave, then beeping noises alerted him to
the panel, he studied all the readouts but already knew something serious had
gone wrong, hitting his communicator he tried not to panic
"Chief O'Brien to Captain Picard"
"Picard here go ahead chief"
"I think we may have lost Lt. Barclay, his transporter pattern has vanished
and it's not in any of the buffers, it's as if he didn't even transport, I
have no record of it" O'Brien stressed
"La Forge to O'Brien, where's Barclay" La Forge requested from the planet
"I wish I knew" O'Brien sighed "I'll get back to you Cmmr, as soon as I know"
O'Brien responded as Picard entered the room.
Murdock was still lying on the floor when a strange sensation overcame him, it
was slight at first but grew stronger, tingling he found he couldn't move
"Hannibal, I think I'm....." was all he could manage before he saw the
surrounding area melt before his eyes
Hannibal looked over at the Captain, he stared as he waited for him to finish
his sentence, he looked fine but there was something going on he could tell,
he went over to him and knelt besides him,
"Murdock?" Hannibal smiled half expecting the pilot to pull some stunt but he
remained stock still, Hannibal shook him but no response, his eyes remained
fixed on the ceiling, growing concerned Hannibal gently slapped the Captains
face
"Murdock this isn't funny" Hannibal stressed as he continued to try and get
some response
Face and BA finally came over to see what was going on
"I think he's zoning on us guys, I can't get his attention" Hannibal stressed
Face and BA helped Hannibal carry Murdock to the sofa, still Murdock's eyes
remained opened and his body was tense, Hannibal continued to try and snap him
back
"I ain't ever seen the fool do this" BA stated
"There's a lot to Murdock we don't know about, he told us he needed to be back
at the VA, he hides a lot from us about his.. you know.. condition" Face
stressed
"Face is right BA, usually he'd be back at the VA now he rarely hangs on with
us out of choice, he always goes back because he don't like us seeing him like
this" Hannibal responded
"Man, he's going to be ok ain't he, we ain't got no medicines nothing, how can
we help him here" BA stressed
"We'll do our best BA, as soon as the storm has passed we'll get moving,
before hand if possible" Hannibal stated
Suddenly Murdock's body relaxed and his eyes closed, moaning softly Murdock
slowly opened his eyes and saw three concerned guys looking back at him.
"You ok Murdock?" Hannibal asked
"W-Who's Murdock?" Barclay asked confused
Murdock sat up and felt dizzy, composing himself he looked around and found
himself in a forest, just a few moments ago he'd been in a cabin with the
guys,
"Uh oh, I'm freewheeling" Murdock murmured "Come on this isn't happening I'm
in a cabin, I can't lose myself to this" Murdock clenched his eyes tight but
he was still standing in a forest when he opened them. He felt the breeze
against his face and suddenly it dawned on him that this wasn't his
imagination, he was physically there. He could smell, touch and walk around,
not even he could escape that well into his mind. He could hear voices and
hid behind a tree, looking down he noticed he was now wearing a jump suit
uniform thing, where was his jacket he wondered. He saw the people approaching
and noticed they were also wearing the jump suit uniform, years in the army
had taught him this was always a good sign so he decided to step forward
"Barclay!"
Murdock looked bemused as a short coloured guy approached him, he had some
strange device over his eyes
"Barclay, we thought we'd lost you, you ok" the guy continued as he tapped a
badge on his suit, Murdock looked down but he didn't appear to have one, must
be a rank thing he thought,
"La Forge to Enterprise, we have found Barclay, he looks ok but I'm beaming
back with him now, have sickbay on standby, two to beam up" La Forge ordered,
Murdock wondered if this guy was nuts like him, talking to his badge, but one
thing intrigued him more,
"One thing, who's Barclay?" Murdock asked before feeling the sensation of the
world melting again
Barclay tried to sit up and get an idea of where he was, he assumed O'Brien
had transported him to the wrong place although he found that highly unlikely.
He felt awful and began to realise things were not right, his head spun the
minute he attempted to sit up so he remained lying down
"Murdock are you ok? Do you need a doctor?"
Barclay tried to focus on the white haired guy in front of him, he noted the
younger man and the big man stood besides him
"Where am I?" Barclay managed hoping the answer would be in a dream
"You don't remember? We're just outside LA, in the cabin Face scammed, the
storm kept us here remember" Hannibal responded gently putting his hand on
Barclays arm. Barclay looked over to his arm and noted his dress for the
first time, some kind of ancient leather jacket and some other stuff he'd
never worn before, it looked like something out of a museum.
"I-I-I mean what planet, how long have I been out of it?" Barclay stressed, he
was now assuming the locals had found him after the transport and taken him in
The white haired man glanced at the other two men and Barclay could sense a
lot of doubt from them
"Fool, your acting like you're from another planet man" BA raged "Been
watching too many movies, filling your head with trash, you were only out for
a couple of minutes it's still September '84" he continued
Barclay stared at the mean looking big guy and took in his words, it can't be
he thought, he couldn't have been transported back in time. He looked again
at the guys and realised they were dressed for the time, his surroundings from
what he could tell also matched. He successfully managed to finally sit up,
still feeling groggy he could tell the three men with him were never going to
understand; this was all well before their time
"Who is it you think I am" Barclay wearily asked
"Fool, you know who you are" BA responded
"BA, this isn't a game, you're Captain H.M. Murdock, do you know who we are?"
Hannibal had realised this was not a game, he had noticed a difference in
Murdock now and knew he was genuinely confused by his surroundings
"I-I-I'm not this Murdock guy, I'm Lt. Reginald Barclay of the ....I'm just
not Murdock ok" Barclay responded thinking better of telling them where he was
from. "I-I-I don't know you, this is very confusing I can tell, it's just a
coincidence I look like your friend I guess but believe me, w-w-where I come
from this really isn't that unusual. I'm sure it will be fixed soon" Barclay
tried a reassuring smile
"I ain't buying it Hannibal, he's stringing us along like fools, we'll not me"
BA stormed off to the back room
"Hannibal, this is just too weird to believe, he's scaring me with this trip"
Face responded
"I believe him, he's not Murdock he's this Barclay guy, can't you tell, his
whole composure, body language, not even Murdock could string us along this
long Face" Hannibal reasoned
Barclay stared at the older guy with a newfound respect
"Y-Y-You can believe I'm not your friend, I'm a whole new guy in his place?"
Barclay questioned
"Sure, if anything I know my team, and I know your not Murdock, so where do
you come from?" Hannibal smiled
Face joined Barclay on the sofa in resignation and watched as the Colonel
listened to Barclay's brief introduction, believing it more to be a Murdock
flight of fancy.
Dr Crusher stared at the readings one more time before addressing the gathered
members of the bridge crew, this she couldn't believe and she knew it was
going to be ground breaking stuff, she slowly turned round and looked at the
guy on the medibed
"This is not Lt. Barclay" Crusher announced
"Told you" Murdock responded smugly
"So who is he, he looks like Barclay" Picard asked
"From what I can tell, he's from the past, all the signs indicate he has never
left Earth and his readings also indicate a high level of pollution. I would
also say he has a slight disorder in his brain" Crusher tried to be diplomatic
in front of the patient
"It's true I'm just a crazy man" Murdock smiled then saw the stern looks and
decided to shut up
"I would imagine he is the proof that humans have often believed in, that they
have existed before in a former life, this man could be a previous life of our
Lt. Barclay" Data surmised
"It's possible I suppose and would explain the likeness but why have they
swapped, I'm assuming they have there's no way to tell but how did this
Barclay get here and where is our Barclay?" Troi asked
"My dear, my name is Captain H.M. Murdock if you please" Murdock announced in
his best English accent
The gathered crowd caught themselves staring at Murdock for a moment
"Captain?" Picard stepped forward "I must apologise for not greeting you
formally previously, I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the..." Picard hesitated
before deciding to shorten his intro "..Federation, welcome to my HQ" Picard
finished, his crew gave him approving looks to reassure him he'd not said too
much to this man from the past.
"So this is the future right? a future where jump suits rule and flashing
walls are common place" Murdock eyes lit up and he smiled as he sat up, he
felt good once the Dr had flashed something over his head, in fact he felt
totally fine, even the voices had stopped.
"There's a lot we can't talk about, we have to protect you and the past,
revealing even the smallest detail of the future could jeopardise everything,
I hope you understand" Riker stressed
"I guess so, couldn't give me a clue to the sports results could you?" Murdock
urged as Riker left him in sickbay.
"So let me get this straight, you are Reg Barclay, your from round here but
not how we would imagine. You now occupy the space that our friend Murdock
used to due to some 'technical failure' on your side. Your pretty sure
Murdock is occupying your original space and things will sort themselves out"
Hannibal was standing by the window, the sun was now shining as he watched a
disgruntled BA working on the van with Face. They had managed a few hours
sleep and woke to find the storm had passed, but this Barclay guy was still
around.
"You don't sound as convinced as last night" Barclay commented
"That's cos there's more and you ain't talking, I find it always helps when
both sides are completely honest, I don't like secrets" Hannibal sneered
"It's not secrets, it's truths that you can't know about for your own safety I
can only say so much" Barclay insisted, he was now facing Hannibal by the
window
"Let me try this, maybe then you'll understand what an open mind I have. I
fully believe you are not Murdock, despite the facts that you look like him,
talk like him. I know you are not in fact him despite my colleagues narrow
minds I can accept that. I could lose face with my team if this does turn out
to be a hoax and believe me if it is then Murdock is out of the team forever.
That's how strong my belief is because you don't know this but Murdock is like
a son to me understand and that's how I know" Hannibal insisted
Barclay looked to his feet, he could tell this Murdock guy played a big part
in this team and he was the intruder. He also knew and wanted to tell this
Hannibal guy everything but he risked so much, the prime directive did come
into play here about revealing details about futures technologies, events. He
looked up and saw Hannibal waiting for some kind of reply
"Sorry.. I can't" was all Barclay could say, Hannibal brushed past him clearly
annoyed he stopped at the door
"Then you should consider yourself as a prisoner because I can not trust a man
who can not trust me" Hannibal stated, he yelled for BA to come over, BA
arrived in no time
"BA I want you to tie this man up, he's not to leave your sights understand"
Hannibal ordered and walked out to the van
BA clearly looked confused, he was about to question Hannibal's decision but
thought better of it, he came over to Barclay shaking his head
"You've really done it now Fool, you've upset the colonel, that's not good
man, why'd do get on this other person fix?" BA asked
Barclay looked at the big guy and decided to stay quiet, just play along he
thought until the Enterprise arrived to help him.
"Captain we can't keep him in sickbay for ever, for one thing he can't stop
whining" Crusher objected
"Well you will just have to put up with it for now, I can't risk him seeing
more than he has to" Picard stated
"Doc, if he gets too bad I guess we could transport him to a holding cell" La
Forge suggested
"He is our guest, he is here through our mistake not his, we will not treat
him as a prisoner" Picard warned
"Well Captain he already feels like he is one" Crusher responded
"La Forge, Data have you come up with anything" Picard stressed changing the
subject
"We have studied the activity around the ship around the time of transport,
when Barclay transported there was definite rise in radiation from the cloud
outside. This is the cause and this type of radiation had been known to
interfere with transports in the past but never to such extremes as time
travelling" Data stated
"We understand that the cloud may be a remnant from Earth, Captain Murdock
told us that a heavy storm was hitting them when he was transported here.
There might be some kind of strange association, much of Earth pollution was
sent into space at the beginning of the last century and it appears it opened
a gate way" La Forge continued
"We have managed to control the radiation on board and we have successfully
transported a object from the ship to 1984 and back, all the tests showed the
object travelled back in time" Data added
"How can you be so sure?" Riker asked
"The levels of pollution and readings we took from Murdock all place the
object to within 200 yards of his last position on Earth in '84" La Forge
smiled proudly
"It will be safe for Human transportation?" Picard asked
"Yes and this time we have managed to control the level of radiation so it
only transports one at a time without bringing more pasts lives on board" Data
assured
"That's good to hear Mr Data" Picard smiled
"We have also set up a wide beam communication through the transporter, we
noticed that Barclays communicator was not on Murdock when he transported
here, we are assuming he still has it with him" La Forge noted
"He also still appears to have his phaser and tricorder sir" Data added
"Well let's hope Mr Barclay is up to speed on the prime directive then, all
dismissed" Picard announced and stood up to leave
The officers all walked onto the bridge
"Mr Worf, inform Chief O'Brien to inform me when he gets any communication
from Mr Barclay" Picard ordered and watched Worf send the message
"I better get back to sickbay, see how our guest is" Crusher frowned
Murdock lay on the bed staring at the open doorway, only it wasn't, he had
tried to simply walk through and was met with an electric field that had sent
him sprawling to the floor. He was still in the place the others referred to
as sickbay and was growing tired of it, he saw the doctor walk back in
"Hey doc, how long am I going to be cooped up in here like a deranged
hamster?" Murdock whined
"It's for you own safety, knowing too much about the future is dangerous" Dr
Crusher explained
"Well if this is the future I'd rather stay in the past, at least we knew how
to have fun" Murdock sulked "We didn't lock up our guests just in case they
didn't know how to play a computer game or something" he continued his moan
"Look I can understand your boredom, but we need to determine what happened
today before we can decide what to do with you, you have to understand we
might not be able to get you back, you might be here for a long time" Crusher
stressed
"I bet my guys are treating your guy with a lot more respect" Murdock stated
"Taking him prisoner, Hannibal isn't that a bit harsh, I mean Murdock is just
on a trip right" Face smiled
"Face I would never take Murdock prisoner" Hannibal stressed
"But.....Hannibal you don't honestly believe...your just playing along right"
Face joked
"Face that guy is not Murdock understand, you better get used to it" Hannibal
insisted
"Hannibal, your serious" Face realised
"Ok ask him anything, ask him how's Billy, ask him anything try and prove to
me he's Murdock" Hannibal stressed, he watched as BA brought Barclay over to
the van to set off.
Barclay fell into his seat, he now had two of the three angry with him, he
guessed the third was only a matter of time as he looked over at Face,
"So, er how's Billy?" Face asked
Barclay looked at him,
"I'm not Murdock, so who ever this Billy is I have absolutely no idea" Barclay
was growing tired of the situation and hoped the Enterprise was here soon
Face stared at the man then at Hannibal, he believed him, him, the con man
believed what could only be a con
"Come on Murdock enough already, just snap out of this it isn't funny no more"
Face insisted
Barclay put his head down to his chest, the strain of the whole thing was
clearly beginning to show. If only there was something, some way he could
show them he could be trusted and in time things would be back to normal. The
ties around his wrists were tight there was nothing he could do.
Face was now messing around with a box, there was an aerial protruding from it
and it was working as a distraction,
"Hey BA this radio got pretty beaten back there, think you can save it?" Face
asked
"Naw, took a look already, it's useless" BA commented
Barclay struggled to look at the box and saw some ancient workings
"You use that?" Barclay asked intrigued
"You know we do fool" BA stated
"How else would we stay in touch on missions?" Face smiled
Barclay suddenly had a thought, but dismissed it as soon as he looked down and
saw the clothes he was wearing but then a shiny metallic object caught his
eye, looking at Face he suddenly brightened,
"er, Face, Faceman could you take this badge off my shirt?" Barclay asked
Face looked at him and saw no reason why, he glanced at Hannibal and didn't
see a reaction
Face lifted Murdock's jacket, then his shirt, sitting on his T-shirt was a
strange looking badge and he soon realised it simply attached without any
pins,
"Where did you get this?" Face asked looking at it
"C-c-could you just bring it round to my hands, I-I-I just need to er tap it"
Barclay requested knowing it would get him some strange looks, but the
communicator was his last hope for a quick end to all this
"Murdock your weird, you know that" Face smiled finally believing Murdock was
back, he put the badge near Barclays hands and saw him tap it, a strange noise
was heard
"Now bring it round to the front of me" Barclay ordered and saw Face was
intrigued,
"Barclay to Enterprise"
"What are you doing now?" Face asked
"This is the Enterprise, is that really you Barclay?"
Face put the badge to his ear in shock, a voice had responded, BA slammed on
the breaks.
"Transporter room two to the bridge"
"Go ahead chief" Picard ordered
"Sir Barclay has just communicated with us, shall I patch him through"
"Go ahead, Barclay is that you?" Picard frowned
"Captain, it's good to hear your voice sir" Barclay enthused, he noted the
apprehension around him and obvious shock
"Are you ok, where are you" Picard asked relieved to find his missing crewmate
"I-I-I'm fine, I can't really explain where I am and I am in fact a prisoner
b-b-but that's just circumstances you see I look just like someone and his
friends are having trouble accepting me" Barclay stammered
"You look just like Captain HM Murdock I guess" Picard announced
"So he is there, he's ok and everything" Barclay smiled noting the change in
his three companions
"He's fine, we are just trying to keep him away from the obvious, it's proving
to be more difficult that we thought, he seems to be quite the escape artist"
Picard smiled
"I'm sure his friends here will be relieved to hear that sir, I'll keep in
touch, Barclay out"
Barclay looked at Hannibal,
"I-I-I could get Murdock on the communicator if you wish" Barclay stated
Hannibal opened his door and got out, walking round the van he opened the side
door
"Get out" Hannibal ordered Barclay, Barclay obliged with difficulties as his
hands were still tied, Hannibal grabbed him the last few steps and almost
threw him out, Face and BA followed
"What is that?" Hannibal ordered
Barclay saw he was looking at the communicator
"It's a device we use to communicate" Barclay replied
"It's obviously connected to some system, that I assume can locate you
anywhere, anytime" Hannibal suggested
"Yeah, it can be pretty accurate in determining the users destination" Barclay
replied
"You see we rely on not having certain people know where we are, it's how we
are able to survive, who do you work for and what have you done with Murdock"
Hannibal lifted his arm and showed Barclay his gun aimed directly at him
"Y-Y-You don't understand" Barclay insisted
"Your in communication with his captors, you talk to them right under our
noses after making us believe you have simply taken each others places.
How'd you do it, that's some make up job you've got there. I have to say
you've impressed me but you got too confident, we ain't playing along any
more. You're going to take us to Murdock or suffer the consequences" Hannibal
signalled for BA to approach Barclay "I was hoping I could reason with you.
But you were stubborn, I'll give you that and now the truth is out then maybe
you could enlighten me as to how it was done" Hannibal smiled
Barclay looked at Hannibal in despair then at the approaching BA, he was going
to have to defend himself but he had hoped it wouldn't come to this. He
backed away to give him more time and quickly felt his pockets which prove
difficult with his hands tied behind his back but if his communicator had
survived the transport then so should his Phaser and Tricorder. He felt the
pocket and sure enough the phaser was there, he grabbed it and concentrating
he place it between his hands facing away from him and at the ties. He gently
pressed the settings to the lowest and pressed the fire button, the ties
disintegrated and he felt pain where the beam hit his wrist but he focused and
realised BA was on him. Changing the setting to stun and firing at BA he
watched BA fall to the ground instantly. Barclay rushed besides him so
Hannibal couldn't return fire
"He's ok, just stunned, I haven't harmed him" Barclay yelled "I was simply
defending myself understand" he added. He removed his tricorder to quickly
scan him the best he could, he would have preferred a medical tricorder but
that would be pushing his luck. He put his hands in the air as he got up and
moved away, "I can't simply take you to Murdock, t-t-that's the truth" Barclay
finished
Hannibal rushed to BA who was coming too, groggily he stood
"I'm ok Hannibal" he insisted, Hannibal was satisfied Barclay hadn't harmed
him
"Give up your weapon" Hannibal asked
"I can't your not to see this, it's....dangerous" Barclay stated
"I'm growing tired of your games mister, we are trained commandos, we are the
best around nothing is too dangerous to us" Hannibal sneered
"You said yourself about over confidence, I-I-I think you should trust me on
this" Barclay reasoned
"Hannibal we're just going round in circles here" Face exclaimed
"Enterprise to Barclay"
Barclay was about to respond when Hannibal stopped him, he walked over and
snatched the communicator and the phaser still holding the gun to Barclay
"I need to press it so you can respond" Barclay sighed matter of factly
Hannibal let him activate the communicator
"This is Colonel John Hannibal Smith, I'm holding Lt Barclay hostage until the
safe return of my Captain, until then he can not be contacted"
Hannibal held out the communicator once more for Barclay to end communications
and took a closer look at the phaser he'd taken. Pressing a couple of buttons
he jumped as it fired a beam at the van, the side of the engine became
engulfed in flames. Barclay used the surprise to grab the phaser back
"Now will you listen to me, what if BA or Face had been stood there?" Barclay
hissed
Hannibal composed himself and nodded his head, walking away he knew he's been
foolish
"Enterprise to Colonel John Hannibal Smith"
Barclay now clearly growing annoyed pressed the communicator for Hannibal to
respond
"Go ahead" Hannibal managed still reeling from the shock, he could hear BA
cursing as he inspected the damage to his van
"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Lt. Barclay is a much respected officer in
my crew and we wish no harm to come to him, I can assure you Captain Murdock
is not being held against his will, he is being looked after until we can sort
this out"
"Then what's the hold up" Hannibal asked
"Is Lt. Barclay there?" Picard pressed
"He's right here" Hannibal gestured to Barclay to speak
"I-I-I'm here Captain" Barclay stammered
"We are close to working out what happened Barclay, just stay put, the
transporter's picked up the high radiation leak from the planet and it put
them out of phase enough for you to do a mirror transport" Picard announce
"I see so the matter transported but the radiation caused it to mirror the
transport I guess on my time line, so this Murdock guy is let's say an earlier
me?" Barclay enthused
"It seems the only explanation so far, it appears that the radiation opened up
a sort of nexus along your timeline, allowing you to transport to another
life" Picard explained
"That is amazing sir" Barclay smiled still thinking of the concept
"Enough already, can you please explain what this is all about, time lines,
other lives, nexus, you expect me to buy all this?" Hannibal stressed
"Colonel, I'm giving Barclay permission to tell you the facts as he knows it,
we are close to repeating the transport Reg, we will sort everything out when
we get there understand, Picard out"
Hannibal was growing frustrated with the situation, he wanted just clear-cut
answers and they weren't coming, he grabbed Barclay by the shirt and shoved
him against the van, Barclay was taken by surprise and fell heavily to the
ground
For a moment Hannibal saw Murdock lying on the ground hurt, he felt guilt and
wanted to help but he reminded himself this wasn't Murdock, he knew he'd never
be able to hurt this guy even if he wasn't Murdock, he was somehow connected
to him.
Barclay rubbed his head and sat up looking up towards Hannibal, shaking his
head he couldn't believe the day he was having
"All I want is to go home, to have this all sorted out as much as you ok. I'm
not some master of a great plan to take your friend, I am in some ways this
Murdock guy. From what I'm led to believe; and it is just the minimal of
information, I'm your friend in the future" Barclay stressed
"What's the fool jiving about Hannibal?" BA asked
"OK I'm from the future ok, I have broken one hell of a rule telling you that
but it's true. I'm from the 24th Century, I'm an engineer on a star ship. In
my time humans have evolved to the point where war is no longer our obsession,
where space travel is commonplace. We mix with different species from
different planets, we transport and communicate with ease. That's how I got
here it was a transporter malfunction, it transported me here; and Murdock to
my time" Barclay yelled still sat on the floor. He imagined what Picard had
meant by sorting everything out was hopefully a memory wipe of the past two
days; although he couldn't quite figure how it would be done. He was so
tired of being here that he no longer cared,
"Ok so now your from the future, you know Hannibal I think we should just
check him back into the VA and be done with it you know cos he's sick, real
sick" Face protested
Barclay looked to the skies, it was no use. He stood up and started walking
briskly away, clearly angry he didn't look like he was going to stop
"Come back here right now" Hannibal ordered but Barclay kept going "Don't make
me shoot you" he warned
Barclay twisted round, a look of joyous confusion on his face
"Go on then shoot, destroy your one chance of ever seeing your friend again,
go on put me out of my misery" Barclay threw his hands up in utter despair and
arrogance as he continued to walk away
"By walking away your making it harder for us to ever see him again if you are
the key to all this" Hannibal yelled back
Barclay stopped still smiling he turned around
"You want me to hang around here? W-W-with guns in my face, being pushed from
pillar to post, you think I want to be anywhere near you guys, your crazy you
know that" Barclay responded "no wonder this Murdock guy is a crazy fool,
hanging around you can't be good for him!" he added
Hannibal walked slowly over to Barclay
"So where exactly are you planning to go?, if you live in a world where
mankind is so advance you might not be ready for the scum we are now because
we are in fact the good guys" Hannibal announced
Barclay stared at Hannibal realising he was right
"I would hate to think I was a bad guy in a previous life" he remarked
Suddenly sirens turned everybody's attention towards the distance where
flashing lights could be seen
"Decker!" Face yelled
"The vans not going anywhere man, Hannibal totalled it earlier" BA realised
Barclay took out his Tricorder and scanned the damage,
"He's right, you disintegrated the ignition chamber" Barclay noted
"How'd you know that?" BA asked
"I told you, I'm an engineer, you see one engine you've seen them all" Barclay
stated keeping the tricorder away from BA
"Well come on guys we can't hang around here" Hannibal signalled for them to
move into the woods. "BA stay with Mur-Barclay" Hannibal added as they all
went in different directions. The MPs were now getting out of their cars and
in pursuit, BA looked round and saw they were all heading in his direction
"Come on man they are on us" he barked
"Who? I thought you said we were the good guys" Barclay yelled back
"We are, they are the bad guys man" BA responded
"But they are law enforcement, define to me good and bad will ya" Barclay
cried
"Shut up fool, whoever you are just keep moving" BA insisted
They could hear the MPs yelling for them to stop but they kept moving,
suddenly bullets rang around them. Not stopping for breath BA and Barclay
kept moving, BA was just beginning to realise Barclay maybe genuine when he
heard him yell out in pain and fall to the floor, he'd been hit
"Murdock! Barclay, man" BA yelled rushing to his side
"Keep moving, remember I'm not wanted by these guys, I'm not Murdock, you
don't owe me nothing, please don't get caught, I might have changed history
already, your not supposed to be caught here, go, just go!" Barclay yelled
BA hesitated, he looked back and saw the MPs were reloading and closing on him
"For Murdock's sake keep moving!" Barclay insisted
BA could see Barclay had been hit in the lower back, he couldn't be moved
"Naw man, this has gone on long enough man, I ain't leaving you no matter what
version of Murdock you are understand!" BA stated
Barclay looked at the big guy,
"They are going to think I'm Murdock" Barclay whispered through the pain
"I know, but your not him are you" BA smiled
"I don't know if you believe it or not" Barclay remarked
"There's only one way to find out for sure and that's not to let you out of my
sight, if your telling the truth then your our only link to getting Murdock
back right" BA stressed. "And if you are Murdock, man your gonna need a
friend by your side" BA added looking at the injury and situation as the MPs
finally caught up followed by Colonel Decker
"Well, well, it's not the full house but I think I have the bonus card here"
Decker beamed as he recognised the fallen figure next to BA
"Captain HM Murdock, I always knew you were in on it, you'll be lucky to see
the light of day again" Decker stormed
"This ain't Murdock fool" BA snapped
Decker looked at him dumbstruck and took another look,
"Don't play games with me Baracus, I know what Murdock looks like and he's
down there" Decker insisted and saw BA shrug "Get this prisoner to the
hospital, we'll drop Baracus at the base on the way back" Decker ordered
looking around for any sign of the others
Picard walked briskly into sickbay and saw Murdock kicking the force field,
energy surges erupted around his foot
"That can't be good for you Captain" Picard frowned looking at Murdock
"I have electric shock therapy all the time, it's no different" Murdock
shrugged
"Computer remove force field" Picard announced, Murdock suddenly found himself
kicking the air and he cautiously stepped forward
"Can you get Operation wolf on that computer?" Murdock smiled
"We have decided to let you in on our secrets on one condition" Picard stated
"That is?" Murdock asked intrigued
"That you agree to have your memory wiped once this is all over, once you and
Barclay are in your rightful places and if any of your friends learn of future
you will personally take responsibility in ensuring they don't remember
anything either" Picard stated sternly
"Why do I have to take responsibility?" Murdock asked
"Because we find that people who have memory wipe become disorientated and
it's always good to have someone there to fill in some gaps, cover over the
spaces, can you do that?" Picard asked
"Hang on, if I have a memory wipe how will I remember to administer it to
anyone else?" Murdock questioned
"Obviously we are only going to do a partial wipe on your memory but
considering your mental state we figure your probably the best candidate for
the job, your mind is unusually open for someone of you time Captain. We are
confident you will be wise with the knowledge we allow you to keep" Picard
announced
"You mean I'm ahead of my time" Murdock beamed "I knew it" he added smugly
"Would you care to follow me?" Picard gestured
Murdock walked forward then seemed to reach for his back suddenly
"Are you ok Captain?" Picard asked concerned
"Yeah just got a shooting pain right in my lower back, teach me to kick force
fields I guess" Murdock smiled
Picard walked onto the bridge followed by Murdock
"I'm sorry we had to cut the tour short Captain but it appears we are close to
resolving this matter" Picard apologised
"And I was just beginning to enjoy myself, man I'm not sure I want to leave if
it's another century before holodecks are created" Murdock stressed
Troi looked up at him in mock surprise
"It seems you do have something in common with our Mr Barclay" she smiled
"Lets open communication with Lt. Barclay" Picard ordered, Murdock stood close
by
"This is not good Hannibal" Face remarked from a safe distance
"They haven't even called an ambulance, they are taking Barclay in the same
car as BA" Hannibal noted sickened
"Always the caring colonel Decker" Face joked he saw the look in Hannibal's
eyes "Oh no, Hannibal we haven't got any transport there's no way" Face
protested
"Your right Face, but we have to do something" Hannibal stressed as he
signalled for them to move
Suddenly he heard a beep from his pocket
"Picard to Barclay"
Hannibal rummaged in his pocket and retrieved the communicator, he tapped the
badge but there was no response
"It only works with Barclays hand" Face remembered
"Picard to Barclay come in Barclay"
Still Hannibal couldn't get it to work
"Enterprise to Colonel Hannibal Smith"
Hannibal looked up at Face, the voice was Murdock's, and he tapped it once
more this time he heard the activation sound
"Hannibal here"
"Colonel, what have you done with my doppelganger mate?" Murdock asked
sounding much more relaxed than Barclay had
"Murdock is that you?" Face asked
"Face man who else could it be, man have I got some stories to tell" Murdock
began but was soon silenced
"This is Captain Picard.... can someone please look after
Captain Murdock...sorry about that" Picard continued
Hannibal grinned as he tried to imagine what havoc Murdock was causing in the
future
"Where is Lt Barclay" Picard finally asked
Hannibal looked at Face and frowned
"There's been a situation here Captain, I'm afraid Barclay has been hurt, we
were chased by some MPs and I'm sorry but Barclay got caught up in it, he's
been arrested along with BA"
"Oh my this is not good Colonel, Barclay being in your time could have major
repercussions on the future as it is but if he has been arrested. We have
already seen that there is no link between your Murdock and our Barclay, this
could cause major problems if by sight they are convinced he is Murdock but
medical and science prove that he is not. He might become of major interest,
Colonel you have to make sure the Army do not discover Mr Barclay is not Mr
Murdock" Picard instructed
"Too late he's on the way to hospital now" Hannibal noted as they heard the
cars pull away
The communicator went silent for a second then came back to life
"We have perfected our transporters to recreate what happened between Barclay
and Murdock, we have been able to take away the problem so that the mirror
doesn't happen. We believe we are now able to transport between yours and our
times, we only have a five hour window however so we have to act fast" Picard
announced
"Did you get all that Hannibal?" Face mocked as Hannibal thought about it
"Can you both stay close together, keep this communication open, we are
attempting to bring you to us, standby" Picard instructed
"You know Hannibal I'm not sure about this" Face commented as they stood close
not really knowing what was about to happen, then the forest melted in a blue
haze
"Faceman, Colonel, it's good to see you!" Murdock exclaimed as they
materialised on the transporter pad, he rushed over and embraced Face man
Picard frowned then stepped forward
"I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise, I would
like to welcome you aboard" Picard offered his hand and Hannibal, wide eyed
acknowledged
"Hannibal Smith, Colonel and this is my supplies officer Lt. Templeton Peck"
Smith gestured towards Face
"Please call me Face" Face smiled as he saw Troi for the first time
"This is my First Officer Commander William Riker and the Ships Counsellor
Deanna Troi" Picard finished
"If you'd care to join me in my ready room" Picard requested
"Hang on, can someone please explain where we are first" Hannibal smiled
"Colonel, we are up there" Murdock looked skywards
"Explain Captain" Hannibal asked
"In the stars, didn't you hear the guy, we are in his Star ship and man it's
impressive" Murdock looked totally impressed with the surroundings
"So it's all true, Barclay is Barclay, he's from the future, this is that
future, you know Murdock I may be rooming with you after the events of today"
Face commented dryly, he noted Troi laughing to herself
"Of course if I could be counselled on the matter it might help" Face smiled
as he got between Murdock and Troi
"If I can be of any help Mr Peck" Troi replied coolly
"Please it's Face" Face responded not taking his eyes off Troi
"Hey Face, I saw her first man" Murdock grinned shoving Face aside
"Trouble counsellor?" Riker smiled as he looked back at Murdock and Face
pushing each other
"Nothing I can't handle Wil" Troi smiled back
"So is the big guy alright?" Murdock asked having got bored of fighting Face
"Decker has him, there was nothing we could do, when Barclay went down he
wouldn't leave him" Hannibal stated
"He thought it was me, that loveable big guy he is" Murdock grinned
"Is Lt. Barclay ok?" Troi asked
"From what I could gather he took a bullet in the lower back, it didn't look
good" Hannibal replied
"Is my Jacket ok?" Murdock asked
"Murdock, a mans been shot and you're worried about your jacket!" Face
exclaimed
"We go back a long way" Murdock protested
"The man who was shot is your future!" Face stressed
"Face is right HM, material things can be replaced" Troi reminded Murdock
"Not that Jacket, that jacket is everything to me" Murdock stated
"I didn't make a point to see if the Jacket survived Murdock, for me it's
whether the human survives that's important, anyway Murdock I think you are
quite fetching in the old pyjama suit your modelling" Face mocked
"It's all the craze here" Murdock stressed
They entered the bridge and for the first time Hannibal and Face saw the stars
"Just wish the old big guy was here to see this, boy he'd be comatosed for a
month!" Murdock smiled
"I never thought I'd see the day..." Face's thoughts drifted into the mass of
stars
"It's sure a place to lose yourself in" Hannibal smiled as Picard gestured
towards the ready room
Once seated Lt Cmmd Data and La Forge joined them,
"He's an android" Murdock announced as Data sat down next to Murdock
"An android?" Face looked bemused
"And this guy is blind and can see with that device over his eyes" Murdock
added
"Thank you Mr Murdock" Picard smiled
Hannibal could tell Murdock had worked his charm on these guys and was glad he
wasn't the only one who let Murdock get away with murder when it came to
authority
"OK, Gordi, what are our options?" Picard asked
"Well the fact we had a trouble free transport from Earth 1984 to now when we
beamed our two new guests aboard mean we have a direct link to Barclay" Gordi
began
"We see two options, we plant a locking device on Barclay and simply transport
him back, at the same time transport Mr Baracus so as to give the impression
they had escaped, I believe the A-Team were famous for it" Data remarked
"Are famous for it, I kept telling you to talk about us in the present text
not past" Murdock hissed. "Can you believe these guys know our destinies, how
we died man it spooks me. All we have to do is ask their computer what
happened and it will give us everything, dates times"
"Thank you Mr Murdock, I do not think this is necessary, Mr Data if you could
refrain from talking our of guests in the past tense, lets move on" Picard
frowned
"Our second option is to swap Murdock for Barclay before they get to the
hospital, we could recreate the injury so as not to disrupt the past or leave
any lose ends" La Forge finished
"Put a bullet in my back?" Murdock questioned
"The future is a very fragile concept Murdock, you being here and not there is
a major disruption" Data noted
"I have to say I prefer the first option, firstly if we swap Murdock then he
will never see the light of day again; remember we are innocent, we didn't rob
that bank. We are wrongly accused and this action could jeopardise
everything" Hannibal stressed. "And if I saw correctly the bullet was fairly
central, in our day that would have Murdock in a wheel chair for life. I
would hope you'd have advance medical technology to help Barclay, but don't
condemn Murdock because you made a mistake" Hannibal requested
"I agree Captain, this is our mistake but to expect Murdock to suffer the
consequences of that is not fair" Troi added
"Then we have to get Barclay and your friend out of their respective
situations without anyone seeing us" Riker realised
"All we need to do is get a positive lock on the two guys then everyone can
beam back" La Forge stated
"any suggestions?" Picard asked
Hannibal took out a cigar and lit up,
"Give me a moment" Hannibal asked
"Oh oh the colonels on the Jazz" Face and Murdock announced in unison
Face, Murdock and Troi had managed to excuse themselves from the discussion,
Murdock was just dying to show Face the ship
"You see I can now show you all this because when this is over they can erase
the part of the memory that would recall, so we won't remember a thing, isn't
that cool?" Murdock stressed
"Sounds great Murdock" Face frowned
"I can assure you it's a safe procedure, we find the times we live in now it's
really a necessity, your situation is a very good example" Troi explained
"This Face is your replacement, you would have no role here" Murdock announced
as they stopped besides a machine
"Computer can I have a twinkie and army issue id for the year 1984" Murdock
announced
Face stood in amazement as the two items materialised, Face grabbed the id
"It's perfect, I don't understand, what is this thing" Face turned to Troi
"It's a replicator, we use it as a food source but it can also be used to make
personal belongings or fake id's Murdock you were warned not to abuse the
machine" Troi stressed as she took the army id away from Face
They started to walk further down the corridor
"So this Barclay guy, he seemed ok, what's he like?" Face asked
"This starship represents the very best Starfleet has to offer, unfortunately
it has taken some time for Mr Barclay to realise he fits into that category"
Troi smiled. "But he is very much a valued member of the crew, he has saved
this ship a few times. He's very gifted, maybe a little eccentric but we just
had to get used to him" Troi added
"Sounds familiar" Face smiled looking at Murdock, who was busy pressing the
wall panels so he left a trail of lit panels behind him,
"Riker to Troi, can you please bring Murdock and Peck back to the ready room,
we are about to move on"
"Understood" Troi announced as she grabbed Murdock whom was in a world of his
own, Face chuckled
"Hey Face has the storm stopped" Murdock suddenly asked
"Yes Murdock, over two centuries ago" Face replied straight faced
"I want to see my friend" BA hollered, he had been placed into a secure room
whilst Decker did the paper work for the man he thought was Murdock. BA still
wasn't convinced about the Barclay jib but he did have that strange device and
the insistence of the man was wearing him down. He was worried about him,
even if he was this Barclay because he had taken the bullet low in the back
and the guy looked like Murdock. He had seen the pained expression too many
times before to simply dismiss it because he insists he's someone else,
nothing surprised him about Murdock any more.
"Ok soldier we're moving" Crane announced as he entered the room
"How's my friend" BA asked
"Murdock?" Crane asked
"My Friend" BA insisted, he wasn't going to risk framing Murdock if it could
be proved he isn't
Crane sighed
"It's not good, first indications show his lower back has been smashed, they
don't rate his chances for walking again" Crane stated
BA shook his head sadly and preyed the guy would be ok, and that it wasn't
Murdock after all
Decker met them in the hallway, he looked sad
"I have just been told the news that Murdock is confirmed as paralysed from
the waist down, there's nothing they can do, he was a good soldier, a fine
pilot" Decker announced
"I keep saying he isn't Murdock" BA tried one more time
"Then you might find yourself rooming with him soon, unless that's the plan to
get out of this mess sergeant" Decker stated
"Sir"
"What is it" Decker asked as he turned towards the MP behind him
"We have confirmation on Baracus's fingerprints but he was right the other man
is not Murdock, his finger prints don't match, they are completely different
sir, we have no record of this guy" the MP stressed
"That's crazy, do it again, I want a second opinion" Decker ordered and swung
back round to face BA who looked back smugly "So if he's not Murdock who is
he, his twin, brother?" Decker sneered
"He's no relation, he's just a friend, he was doing nothing wrong and you shot
him in the back, paralysing him, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes sir!" BA
responded
"Take him to the car" Decker ordered
"OK so we are ready to go, finally" Riker announced
Hannibal, Face, Murdock and Data nodded their heads. Riker couldn't help but
feel he was in control of children as he turned and walked onto the pad,
Murdock was definitely a bad influence on Data but they definitely were
something else. He had read their profiles, although it had been strange to
read about what happened to them with them there and not even having
experienced it themselves yet.
"Everyone ready?" Riker asked as Murdock tried to decide which pad to stand on
"Energise" Riker announced and the five men beamed down, watched by Picard and
Troi
"This should be an interesting exercise for Wil" Picard commented and saw Troi
nodding her head in agreement.
"Ok guys you know the plan, Murdock your with me, Riker, Data and Face you get
Barclay" Hannibal announced and they made their separate ways.
Riker took command and signalled for Data and Face to stay low, they crept to
an open window and saw as the plans had shown on the Enterprise that it was
the staff room, they crawled inside, taking three coats they walked along the
corridor as doctors,
"Doctor!" The three froze and turned round to see a nurse "Can you come in
here, I think he's having some problems"
They all looked at each other then hesitantly approached the room and saw a
man waiting to be seen, Data stepped forward and examined the mans face
"This man is suffering from the tightening of his chest muscles, quite
commonplace for this time, I would suggest you get him lying down and on a
monitor immediately" Data ordered then left the room followed by the other two
"Well done Data" Riker hissed
"Keep this up and I'll be out of a job" Face added mockingly
They approached Barclay's room, a guard had been posted on the door, and Face
stepped forward and without a glance entered the room, followed by Riker and
Data
"I can tell your used to all this" Riker stated once the door was closed
"If you go looking to get captured you will, I wanted to go into this room, I
didn't give none of my attention to the soldier" Face smiled
Data meanwhile was looking at Barclay,
"He is paralysed in this time but I believe it is something we can fix on the
Enterprise" Data announced
"Let's get going then" Riker placed the communicator on Barclay "Riker to
Enterprise four to beam up directly to sickbay"
The blue haze emerged and disappeared leaving the machine alarms to go mad
Hannibal and Murdock had located BA sitting in the car, surrounded by MPs they
were moving in when Murdock suddenly doubled up in pain
"Captain what is it?" Hannibal asked moving them to one side
Murdock was struggling to remain quiet through the pain and was unable to talk
Hannibal looked over to the MPs and saw hurried movement, the majority was
running back into the hospital he saw a chance to get a communicator to BA but
he didn't want to leave Murdock, he pressed his communicator
"Hannibal to Enterprise, I have a problem, Murdock's had an attack or
something, I don't want to leave him but there is a perfect opportunity to get
to BA"
"Hold tight Hannibal, we're sending Data down to your position, phase one is
complete, Barclay is aboard the Enterprise"
Hannibal smiled as he saw the blue haze, without waiting to see Data he rushed
towards the car, he looked back and saw Data holding Murdock, he was beaming
him back to the Enterprise it seemed. Hannibal crouched low out of the guards
sight and opened the passenger door slightly
"BA" Hannibal whispered
BA looked down and saw Hannibal handing something out for him to grab, through
the mesh he was able to take it, it was one of Murdock's/Barclay's badges
"Just sit tight and don't let go, I'll see you in a minute" Hannibal smiled
BA looked back confused by Hannibal's words then the car melted a shade of
blue
"Where am I?" BA raged he looked round and saw people rushing around, he then
saw Face
"Hey Faceman what's going on?"
Face walked briskly over
"I don't know Murdock looks bad, they don't know what's wrong" Face stressed
"Where am I?" BA asked impatiently
"This is a long story BA just don't ask ok" Face frowned "Believe me you
probably wouldn't really want to know anyway" Face smiled
"How's Murdock?" Hannibal asked suddenly making BA jump
"Where's you come from?" BA asked growing more insecure by the second
"It's not good Hannibal, what happened?" Face asked
"He just double up in pain, no warning" Hannibal explained
"It would appear Murdock is suffering the symptoms of Barclays injury without
having the actual injury" Crusher announced
"We were wondering if it would affect them occupying the same space" Data
stressed
"He's going to be ok doc?" Hannibal asked
"I'll do what I can, I can make him comfortable. You will find as Barclay
recovers he should as well, the further they are from each other the better
but I would like to monitor it for a couple of hours just to make sure I'm
correct. I wouldn't want Murdock to suffer any long term problems" Crusher
requested
"I understand, I'm sure BA would love to see where he really is" Hannibal
beamed
"This is really me isn't it, from the 21st century" Barclay stated
"sure is Barclay" Crusher acknowledged
"Really opens the old eyes, he is going to be ok?" Barclay asked, he was on
the next bed resting
"Well you are almost done, he won't be far behind, I was just about to wake
him in fact" Crusher smiled
"Y-you mean I can talk to him?" Barclay stammered
"Why not, you're two completely different people, you just live in different
times" Crusher stated
"But I'll be talking to myself" Barclay realised
"Hey there's nothing wrong with that manchuno" Murdock smiled, Crusher had
administered the spray and he had heard Barclays last words
"I-I-It's good to finally meet you, your friends are really something else"
Barclay smiled
"I'll swap em for a holodeck" Murdock mocked
"No, no I don't think so" Barclay almost blushed "Besides I think they prefer
you in their team" he added
"And I definitely think Barclay belongs here Mr Murdock, he moans less"
Crusher joked
"Ow you love me really doc, go on admit it" Murdock mocked "hey why am I here
anyway, I mean he was the one who was shot" Murdock asked
"You suffered the same symptoms, I had to treat you for paralysis as well"
Crusher remarked
"So we are connected then, me and him" Murdock asked "I mean this is just a
one off right, I don't want no pains whenever he gets hurt in the future, that
won't happen will it?" Murdock asked
"As long as you stay out of each others ways" Crusher stated
"He started it" Murdock moaned
"Y-you know I always wanted a brother doctor, but now I'm not so sure" Barclay
frowned
"Well it's time to go guys" Hannibal announced as he walked onto the pad
BA helped Murdock onto the platform followed by Face
"Murdock should be fine in a day or so, he will feel the pain subside, there's
no damage" Crusher announced
"And Murdock remember out little talk" Picard stated
Murdock saluted Captain Picard
"No problemo" he whispered
"Oh Murdock I did as you asked, we have left the van two blocks from the VA,
she's all fixed" La Forge added "It was always a dream to work on one of those
vehicles thanks" he added
"My van, he's talking bout my van!" BA yelled
"It's ok BA they have fixed it, I thought you deserved a break big guy"
Murdock smiled
"Begin energising" Picard ordered
They appeared outside the van,
"Now that's how to travel" Face announced and got into the van followed by
Murdock and the others
"She was right I feel better already" Murdock smiled "Oh guys look I have
something to show you" Murdock announced and took out a gadget
He pointed it at Hannibal and pressed the button quickly and did like wise to
the rest, they would be out cold for a couple of minutes that gave Murdock
time to think. He had had his mind partially erased but what he could
remember was enough, maybe too much. More then the enterprise staff had
realised, he looked around as the others woke up and quickly pretended he was
asleep
"Where are we?" BA asked
"I feel like I've been asleep for a week" Face added as Hannibal stretched
Murdock then pretending to wake up
"Home at last, I thought that mission would go on for ever, Hannibal no more
48 hour jobs can't you tell we need our beauty sleep" Murdock protested
"I hadn't realised" Hannibal reacted as Murdock jumped out, looking through
the passenger window Murdock grinned
"Now all of you go home and get some sleep, that's an order, there will be
more enterprise tomorrow guys" Murdock smiled as he saw the double takes and
walked off towards the VA
"So it's true, someone accessed the A-Team files from this terminal" Picard
frowned
"It had to be Murdock, how did he pick it up so quickly, this technology is
two centuries ahead of his time" Riker stressed
"It says here in his profile that he was a quick learner" Troi added
"Can we determine what files he looked at" Picard asked
"He seemed to concentrate on an autobiography written by Bosco Baracus; BA, he
seemed to take particular interest in a dream he had whilst awaiting the
firing squad. Two years from the date we met them BA dreams that he promised
never to call Captain Murdock a fool again" Data read
"Let me guess who's gonna remind him of that in two years time" Riker smiled
"He knows the team had a court marshal, faced a firing squad, rumoured to
survive this is not good" Picard announced
"I don't know, for me it explains a lot, it has always been 'how did they
escape a firing squad?', if one of them had a little bit of help" Troi smiled
"I believe we may have played our part in the famous A-Team legend" she
explained
"I never believed they existed, I just thought it was one of those made up
things, on the run for ten years, they faced a firing squad, only the bodies
disappeared and it was believed they somehow escaped, if only history knew
about their fourth member" Barclay smiled
"There's no mention of Murdock in any of the text on the A-Team after 'Nam,
when they faced the firing squad no one knows if Hannibal, BA or Faceman
survived. It was just a rumour like those Elvis sightings, the autobiography
by BA was thought to be fraudulent someone trying to cash in on the myth. I
guess the information Murdock got wasn't much" Picard mused
"It was probably enough to save the past though" Riker added
"I feel compelled to set the record straight, what harm could it do now if the
truth was told?" Barclay announced
"It might ruin one of the best stories ever written Barclay" Troi opposed
"People love the unknown aspect of the myth, that's why it's such a great one"
she added
"I just feel Murdock needs his place in history that's all, he was just as
much a part of the team as the others and the short time I spent with them I
know he played his part in creating that myth" Barcley protested
"It's the part he played that made them a myth Mr Barclay, no one has ever
considered that the A-Team were in fact four not three guys" Picard stated
"It must have been strange for Murdock to read about the his team and find
he's omitted from the whole thing, even BA really doesn't mention him in the
book" Riker noted
"He was the A-Teams biggest secret, if he had been mentioned he would have had
the book thrown at him in the court of law, you saw how close they all were,
they looked after each other" Troi stressed
"Well, Mr Barclay how does it feel to have been the A-Teams biggest secret in
a former life?" Picard smiled
"It's something to think about sir" Barclay sighed
Murdock entered his room and sat on his bed in the VA and the orderly locked
the door behind him. He had just had to complete a series of tests to prove
to Decker that he wasn't paralysed, the doctors thought he was more crazy than
Murdock and had suggested some time off. Murdock smiled to himself and
thought about the Enterprise, he knew he'd had a memory wipe but only a
partial one compared to the others. He wondered about the future, he now knew
the team would get caught. He didn't know how as BA wasn't specific but they
do and he'll know when it's time. BA didn't mention dates and he didn't have
time to find out but he knew that when Hannibal introduces a new member to the
team; by the name of Frankie Santana, then he has to keep a close eye on his
boys.
The End
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