Four weeks later.

"No."

Michael let out a heavy sigh as she paced around the hut. "We've been over this Mom. If we take her from the moment before T'Kuvma stabs her, it'd be the most ideal time. There is no time before that we can kidnap her and maintain the time line."

Gabrielle shook her head. "But you still saw your captain's body. Michael. If she disappears before her body is supposed to hit the ground, your past self will know something is wrong when she attempts to get to her; changing your personal time line in the now."

A huff passed her lips. Her arms coming to cross over her chest as they once again came to an impasse. She could feel the dregs of a headache coming along but there had to be a way to save Georgiou…

"Can't we risk it?"

"No." Her mother's voice held an immediate authority that she couldn't refute. "Your personal time line has already been altered once, Michael. I can't allow it happening again."

Michael eyed her mother for a long moment before shaking her head. Certainly not the first time she had brought that up and not elaborated but it was getting frustrating to get some details and not context. Even if her mind was processing things faster and easier that she almost felt the same as she had been before the assault. Almost. Her mother was holding onto some sentiment that she wasn't ready but she was really to call it BS right now in her mood and every shot down idea. Especially on how to save her captain.

"So what are you proposing, Mom? I can't just…let her die forever when we have the technology to save her."

"We're not here to play god, Michael." Gabrielle's voice hardened still.

"Says the woman trying to save the universe from a threat that you won't tell me about in a mud hut 930 years from our previous time line." Michael snarkily added, kicking an empty put out of the door loosening her arms to rest at her waist, her prosthetic fingers digging a little more into her flesh than her real but she paid it no heed. She was getting far used to it now and still not any used to her mother's cryptic habits. It was annoying.

"Don't." Her mother's tone touched on a new warning note, moving to pace around too from the far wall.

But the silence did help. Michael continued to pace but she knew her mother was right in that respect; she had seen her captain's body; it plagued her. It motivated her to try and not make the same mistake. Without seeing her… what was going to change? There had to be another moment.

A moment where Georgiou was alone. Not on the Shenzhou or on the ship of the dead…. The moments were too fast. The damage was far too extensive post-stab. She herself had been fixed up before she was taken to a technological facility to bring her consciousness back to her body.

"I used to love the idea of time travel…." Michael mused calmly, "Certainly not how I saw my future."

It broke the quiet tension as her mother snorted softly and loosened her shoulders. "You think I saw my future like this, baby girl?"

Michael shrugged. "I'd… certainly be surprised if you had. Would you change it if you knew you'd end up here?"

Gabrielle frowned after a moment then shrugged. "I doubt it. The threat we're up against… I'm needed here and now."

Michael knew better than to feel offended at the remark. She knew her mother's mission meant more to her than she did and she concurred. One woman or the universe. She knew what she'd choose.

"Can you tell me more? If I go back, we have the war to deal with and this threat. You said they were linked, yes?"

Her mother turned to look at her for a moment though nodded carefully. "You want to use my knowledge of the future to change it?"

Michael nodded. "You said it myself, my time line changed. I was never supposed to die on Discovery….nor get framed. So what was my time like before? Maybe we can use that again to not only end the war, but put steps in place before the threat is too high."

Gabrielle stared at her for a long moment, frowning deeply as she mulled her words over but it pleased Michael that she was getting through to her. Maybe she couldn't change what happened before her assault by those people, but after… after it was so much more flexible. If they change the war, then the threat could be resolved quickly. Her mother would no doubt still be trapped in the future but the rest of the universe would thrive…

"Mom, what it sounds like, you're trying to maintain an old time line of the Klingon war by returning me to it and you're keeping me in the dark so nothing hampers with it and to try to repeat the history you know." Michael started, allowing her mind to wander, guided by logic. "Our here and now is untouched by our new time line. We're too far away and the humans aren't technologically advanced. Changing the time line to a new won't affect you when you're this isolated. I also suspect that you can remember different time lines, even if the past ones are altered. You technically shouldn't remember what my original time line is if it never happened. A side effect of the suit or the time crystal."

Her mother's eyes widened a fraction but it certainly clicked. "Oh, that's a good point." She moved to the wall, where they had a plastered up a wall for their planning. On it so far was Georgiou and her time line up until her assault on the Discovery. "That said, If we're going to change the war then we need more than you to make a difference."

"Who are you thinking of kidnapping now?" She snorted softly, eyeing her mother warily. She didn't see a lot of relevant options of star fleet officers they could take without question.

"In your original time like, Michael. You make a difference to help end the war. Break the Klingon cloak, Discovery goes MIA for 9 months; the war is almost lost but discovery comes back and enforces an armistice with the Klingons." Her mother didn't sound to be holding back as she wrote this down with a marker pen

"MIA? The whole ship?" Definitely not what she saw coming… Lorca didn't seem the type to have the ship sit out the war for 9 months. He's been hell bent on stopping it.

Her mother nodded, scrawling on the wall still though fell silent. "The real Gabriel Lorca is dead, Michael. But, if we can get to him then that could be our way back into Starfleet."

Michael stared at her mother for a long moment. Not quite sure if she hard hear correctly. "What?" Lorca was dead? Yet her mother had put in a lot of effort to make sure he had survived that prison stunt. "Look, I'm grateful you're sharing now but it's no less cryptic as it was before. What do you mean Real Lorca?"

Her mother sighed heavily. "He's from another dimension, Michael. He replaced his prime counterpart in Starfleet and left him to die in the Buran before it detonated. He's manipulated you onto Discovery and planning on using the spore drive to get to his old universe. You get back, of course and kidnapped the Georgiou from that world back into yours. She aids in ending the war but you stop Starfleet from committing genocide."

Michael sucked on her teeth as her mother went off… this was a lot of information to process at once. Yet, this was her old time line…her mother was just time with that? Being taken to a new time like by an imposter? There was logic… as fuzzy a those discovery time memories were; she had always felt there was more to Lorca's schemes than just war. He was intent on her… very specifically. He had gotten her out of prison and persuaded her to stay on the ship. She had found it odd at first but didn't want to question further

"O—okay….certainly not what I was expecting but… I see you want to cut out the whole MIA thing. If we expose Lorca as an imposter, his real self would be enough proof to back up the claim, yes?"

Her mother nodded, though pausing for a second then stepped away from the wall. "you just claiming a fact won't be good enough. Your brain damage, memory loss and augments will hardly help persuade Cornwell on the matter."

"Thanks." Her tone drying up but she had her point there. Still, this was a starting point. "So, you save Lorca from the Buran is now our current plan. Georgiou?"

"Let's put a pin on how to save her for now, Michael."

"Fine."

For now, with all this sudden revelation, she could do with a small mental break to process it all. But, it did give her a little more hope to the situation. Her mother was talking, a plan for forming and they could save more lives than they did in this 'original' time line she should have been on. Why did her past change? Who changed it and for what purpose? The results had been clear; she had been set up to die. Who wanted her dead, aside from the three officers? Who set her up?

"Mom." Maybe they needed to focus on that too. "I was set up and attacked….killed… is there any chance that… my assault and this threat you're up against could be related?"

Gabrielle looked to her sharply, a frown appearing on her face but didn't look to pass off the thought. "It's… I would have thought it's too early in the time line for this threat to be involved…unless somehow it's started much earlier than anticipated…" she sighed heavily out, flopping her head forwards against the wall. "Damn it…"

"Mom…" Michael reached out and touched her mother's shoulder. Maybe she should have opened that can of worms at a different time, not in the middle of such an intense brain storm session to start with. How a conversation of a recuse mission of her captain had turned….

"Look, it's okay, we can take a small break and figure out the whole time line after… Maybe you were right; it's a lot to process…" She eyed the fire for a moment, "I'll make us a tea and let's take a walk down to the settlement for fresh supplies."

Michael weaned the pen from her mother's fingers, despite the silent objection before she let go with an annoyed nod of agreement. Right now, she didn't need to know the real threat with what she knew already now but it was a good start nonetheless. They were after all, on a new time line, why should she stay ignorant on something that might never happen.

"So… to recap, beside the fact that I've read your reports…" Admiral Cornwell started as she paced around his ready room, "In order and within a day of each other, Michael Burnham gets framed, assaulted, killed and kidnapped, the last being from an unknown entity than can penetrate star ships and take out Klingon prison vessels… and you still don't have a lead? Not to mention, Lieutenant Stamets got involved with modifying his DNA with alien DNA, violating our rules against Eugenics. Suffice to say, Star fleet command is not happy."

Lorca stared ahead with his arms folded, his eyes following the admiral as she spoke. "That about sums it up, Admiral." He agreed, watching her hologram flicker "Lieutenant Stamets's actions were…impulsive but saved not only my life but also everyone else we were able to save at the prison ship."

"I do respect the outcome but Starfleet still has rules."

"Rules can be bent when the needs of the many outweigh it. We've saved hundreds of live that would have been lost. Morale has lifted considerably, I'm sure."

"Gabriel, this isn't something that's going to be passed off. If you don't come up with something tangible, your efforts of this… being will be struck and you'll be focused to the war effort much more. Section 31 is looking into it as well given your lack of luck to get anywhere with."

"We can get something, Kat."

"You've had a few weeks and got nothing. I will give you 36 hours from now to get me something otherwise you're out of that mission. Cornwell out. "

Lorca growled quickly as the hologram flickered off, feeling a welt of anger but he grabbed a fortune cookie and cracked it with a little satisfaction. He did need something. He needed something big. Big to throw off Cornwell and to satisfy the crew… Starting with Burnham. A good start to begin with. Maybe they'd find more to work with than just three homicidal Starfleet officers.

"Computer, send me all files related to Burnham's ledge beating of the spore drive and all footage on the ship of the 24 hours before and after the assault." He called out. The screen lit up and immediacy the computer started its collections. "Now, cross reference all usual crew behaviour, note when behaviours deviate."

"State the purpose of the mission objective."

"Someone set Burnham up to die and would act… out of character around the time of death. Before and after. Also note any unauthorised behaviours of the system."

"Working."

It took a long moment, and he allowed it. Finishing off the cookie and lent watching as the computer continued to process.

"5 crew members match the criteria of objectives." The computer spoke up.

"And?"

"Gabriel Lorca; changes of behaviour greatly noted in the 24 hours period prior to Michael Burnham's death."

He sighed heavily. "Remove me from the criteria."

The computer beeped and continued to list the three officers who assaulted Michael but his eyebrows drew in tightly as an image propped up on screen but it turned his stomach colder as he released who it was… and the Bat'leth she was holding in her hands.

"Lieutenant Airiam has shown changes of behaviour 24 hours prior to the death of Michael Burnham and has unauthorised access to Discovery's archives on 5 different occasions since then."

"What the fuck…"